Biamonti 402 – Beginning of an “Agnus Dei”, circa 1803. (Page 166). Mentioned by Nottebohm, page 71, without reproducing the music.

It is found on page 166, lines 9–15, of the Eroica Sketchbook, Landsberg 6.

This is a sketch for the beginning of an Agnus Dei, apparently for one voice with instrumental accompaniment. However, the repetitions of the initial Allegro motif suggest a fugato, with—this is only a hypothesis—the theme on line 11 acting as a countersubject.

It begins with the words qui tollis peccata mundi; thus, an entire introductory section with Agnus Dei is missing, which perhaps could be intoned following Gregorian melody (?).

It is difficult to transcribe due to the absence of clefs and key signatures. Beethoven imagines a first part, possibly slow, of at least 9 bars, which must be considered “as introduction” (written in Italian in the text) [example 1], followed by a second part in Allegro [example 2]. For me, the da capo should be considered from the Allegro.

Line 11 is written only in its second half and must be joined to the corresponding bars of the upper line: Beethoven likely wrote the bass part on line 10 first, then superimposed the melodic part found on line 11, which is connected by extended bar lines. The passage continues on the next two lines (12–13) with the parts arranged in the correct order. As for the clef assigned to the melody, Beethoven places a soprano clef at the beginning of line 12; therefore, as L. Lockwood and A. Gosman have also done, the entire section with text could be considered in soprano clef. A deciphering issue arises on line 12 from the third measure to the end, as I cannot grasp the meaning of the written melody; I therefore relied on the transcription by Lockwood and Gosman.

Finally, note Beethoven’s syllabification: he writes at the beginning pe-cca-ta (note the incorrect syllabification) and mis-e-re-re.