Biamonti 546 – Sketch of an introduction to the Eighth Symphony left unused, summer – October 1812. Thayer 170. It is found on page 70 of the Petter sketchbook referred to in number 543, and is reported as such in the Thayer catalog. Eleven bars in total, after which the main theme began. Nottebohm, II page 111, does not include them, merely stating that from the early sketches of the symphony—more inclined toward theme formation—one can see how much difference there is compared to the final version.

New information from the Beethoven Music Research Center (November 2025): This introductory sketch to the Eighth Symphony is indeed found in the Petter Sketchbook as described by Thayer. However, Biamonti’s count of the total number of bars in this sketch is unclear; Nottebohm does not provide a transcription nor does he refer to any number of bars, while Thayer, in his listing, transcribes the first 4 bars and informs us that: “at the eleventh bar the theme enters”; where are the 6 missing bars? Thayer writes: “Sehr interessante Skizzen zu dem 1: und letzten Satze dieser Symphonie folgen auf die Skizzen zur 7. Symphonie in dem Petter’schen Notirbuche. Beethoven wollte ursprünglich mit einer grossen Einleitung anfangen, ungefähr so beginnend (schwer zu entziffern) bis zum 11ten Takt, wo das Thema eintritt” [“Very interesting sketches for the first and last movements of this symphony follow the sketches for the Seventh Symphony in the Petter sketchbook. Beethoven originally wanted to begin with a grand introduction, starting more or less like this [musical example follows] (hard to decipher) up to the eleventh bar, where the theme enters…”].

Thayer may have considered, in counting the bars of this slow introduction, the 7 bars that follow—still on staves 12–13—this beginning of the introduction. However, the two parts of this hypothetical second section are written with separate bar lines that do not continue from one staff to the next; this section, to me, could be a standalone melody of 13 bars written at the bottom of two half-empty staves or, better said, an experiment in writing a motif repeated in 3 different ways.

Coming to the analysis of the manuscript: Beethoven writes the arpeggios of the first and third bars in Bass Clef using quavers (eighth notes), while those of the second bar are in semiquavers (sixteenth notes); in fact, they should all be considered as written in semiquavers. Even Thayer’s transcription of the fragment leaves us somewhat perplexed. In fact:

1. In the first bar (Bass Clef): I believe the “A” is missing in the first movement
2. In the second bar (Bass Clef): the first crotchet (quarter note) is, in my opinion, a “G#” and not an “A”
3. Still in the second bar (Treble Clef): even in the tremolo we find the “G#”
4. In the third bar (Bass Clef): the arpeggio begins with a natural G