Biamonti 627 – Three Musical Sketches: Two in B-flat Major, One in D Major (1815)

Sketchbook page: 51 (Nottebohm, Volume II, page 348 – no musical citation). These three sketches appear on a particularly rich page of the Scheide Skizzenbuch, which also includes: Biamonti 628 – A note for a march passage. Biamonti 629 – Symphony sketches. And most notably, in the first two lines: An early hint of the theme that would become the Scherzo of the Ninth Symphony

Nottebohm’s Commentary: In his Zweite Beethoveniana, page 158, Nottebohm transcribes only the first 8 measures of the first sketch in B-flat major. He writes: “In Beethoven’s notebooks, one can observe that when a larger composition is completed or nearly completed, we often find hints of new works—most of which remained unrealized. Thus, in a sketchbook from 1815, after the last drafts of the Sonata Op. 102 No. 2 and others (some abandoned, some reused), there appears a fugue sketch that would form the nucleus of the second movement of the Ninth Symphony. However, since this remained undeveloped, and since the defining theme of the Ninth does not appear on these pages, it cannot be considered the true beginning of that composition.”

Graziano Denini’s Interpretation: Graziano Denini suggests that these sketches likely represent initial ideas for a new symphony, referenced by Beethoven at the bottom of the page and catalogued as Biamonti 629. He notes:

• The first sketch in B-flat major may contain thematic material later echoed in the Ninth Symphony
• The second sketch, also in B-flat major, is rhythmically distinct and unrelated

• The third sketch, in D major, is brief and possibly orchestral in character