Biamonti 625 – Sketch for Gesang der Geister über den Wassern (Goethe), 1815.

Sketchbook page: 49 (Nottebohm cites page 48) Text: “Vom Himmel kommt es, zum Himmel steigt es, wieder der, ieder wieder nieder. Erde muss es ewig wechseind.” This is a musical prosody sketch based on Goethe’s poem Gesang der Geister über den Wassern (“Song of the Spirits over the Waters”), which Beethoven would later set in Opus 121.

Notes by Graziano Denini: The sketch is written in pencil, making the notes difficult to decipher. There are three distinct musical fragments, each corresponding to different lines of Goethe’s poem: The third sketch (first in textual order) contains nearly vanished notes above the word “zum”—possibly: C – B – A – B – G. The first sketch (second in textual order) shows two eighth notes on “nieder”, whereas Nottebohm transcribes two sixteenth notes. Denini argues these are two separate melodic ideas, not one. The second sketch (third in textual order) contains a disputed note on “es” and rhythmic discrepancies on “Erde”—Denini sees a dotted quarter and eighth note, while Nottebohm sees a dotted eighth and sixteenth. These three sketches correspond to lines 3–8 of Goethe’s poem. Curiously, the opening lines of the poem are missing from Beethoven’s sketch.