Biamonti 770 – “Alle Lande loben ihren Gott” (All lands praise their God), late February 1823

This fragment appears in a conversation notebook dated February 25–28, 1823 (ILTE Notebook, page 992). Schindler believed that in this fragment Beethoven was parodying those masters he referred to as “old state composers” and their stereotyped style.

It is found in Conversation Notebook No. 24 (No. 25 in the Staatsbibliothek Berlin catalog), which covers the period from February 23 to March 2, 1823, specifically on folios 9 verso and 10 recto. Notebook 24, like most of the conversation notebooks, is housed in the Staatsbibliothek in Berlin. It is written in pencil but is very legible. Unlike other scattered sketches in the conversation notebooks (see Biamonti 747), Beethoven here notes both the bass clef and the cut time signature, as well as the complete text. Given the melodic contour, I attempted to reconstruct a Canon at the Octave, which is presented below alongside the original melody.