Biamonti 582. Sketch for a String Quartet – 1814 (Autumn)
Biamonti 582 – Sketch for a String Quartet, Autumn 1814. Found in the Paris Conservatory Library on a sheet also containing sketches for the Overture “zur Namensfeier” (Overture for the Name Day) Op. 115 and for the chorus with bass solo “Es ist vollbracht.”
New news from the Beethovenian Music Research Center (May 2026): This sketch for a string quartet appears to have been written on a page previously set, perhaps for an orchestral score; all 14 staves are divided by five vertical lines; Between the second and third vertical lines, there is a further division between lines 3 and 6. The outline for this quartet should be in Ab major, taking into account the temporary alterations we find written, and should be in contrapuntal form: a two-bar theme expressed by the first violin is answered by a similar figure reported in the cello. Note the harmonic notation in numbers in the second line of the score (lines 7-10), as in the Ciphered Bass.