Biamonti 261 – “Ich sah sie heut, o Liebe!”, complete melody sketch, around 1800.

Reported by Nottebohm, Zweite Beethoveniana, page 575, which provides the initial measures and considers it roughly from the same period as the two previous sketches.

It is located at the British Museum in the Miscellanea Kafka, Sheet 39r, lines 14-15. The sketch is in G major and consists of 8 measures, beginning with an upbeat, and is complete. The text and its author are currently unknown; only the first stanza is provided by Beethoven in the manuscript. It is mentioned by Nottebohm in his book Zweite Beethoveniana on page 575, which describes it as follows: “Ungefähr zur selben Zeit entstanden Entwürfe zur Composition eines Gedichtes aus Goethe’s Faust und ein im Entwurf vollständiges Lied mit diesem Anfang” [“At approximately the same time, drafts were made for the composition of a poem from Goethe’s Faust and a fully sketched song with this beginning”].
[The first two measures of the song follow]. The song is also mentioned by Hans Boettcher in Beethoven als Liederkomponist, App. V (presumed dating: 1803(!)).