Biamonti 822 – Modulation Exercises, probably written, according to De Roda, for the harmony lessons Beethoven gave to his nephew Karl between February and August 1825 (De Roda, p. 105).

These two exercises are preserved in the De Roda Skizzenbuch, named after its last owner and its principal analyst. De Roda notes (p. 105) that certain pages contain examples or exercises in modulation, which he believes were written by Beethoven during Karl’s harmony lessons of that period. He adds that most of these attempts are “truly childish”, and introduces his assessment by saying: “As models, see the following (example 142 follows).” The dating can likely be refined to June 1825, the month Karl left Beethoven’s household amid renewed tensions caused by Beethoven’s suspicion that the boy was meeting his mother in secret. Biamonti lists only the first of the two exercises and refers to the second merely with the remark “seven more bars follow,” presenting them as though they were consecutive. In reality, they occur on separate and widely spaced folios; for this reason they are more correctly distinguished as Biamonti 822a and Biamonti 822b.

Biamonti 822a appears on folio 19-recto (manuscript page 37), staves 1–2. It consists of two bars of a modulation exercise written during the period when Beethoven was also teaching counterpoint to Karl. Strictly speaking, this is not a true modulation but rather a means of enriching a dominant–tonic cadence. The progression moves from C major, using contrary motion between the outer voices, towards a sharpened dominant which is then reinterpreted enharmonically as a German sixth. This, in turn, leads to a dominant chord with double suspension that resolves in the usual way to the tonic.

Biamonti 822b is found on folio 25-recto (manuscript page 49), staves 13–14. It is likewise likely to have been written as a modulation exercise for Karl during the same period, although it is not connected with the first. Spanning seven bars, it is harmonically more interesting and makes use of a chromatic bass. Beginning on the fourth degree of C major—functioning in fact as a II in 6/3—it proceeds chromatically to the dominant of the relative minor. This dominant then becomes, through enharmonic reinterpretation, a German sixth of A-flat major, and it resolves in the expected manner.