Cadenza for the First Movement of the Piano Concerto in C minor, Opus 37
This cadenza, consisting of 145 bars, includes the syllables “Vi-de” from bar 88 onwards, thus indicating the possibility of a shorter conclusion of approximately twenty bars in length. Giovanni Biamonti, on page 393 of his Catalogo cronologico e critico delle opere di Beethoven (Turin, ILTE, 1968), states that he received a letter from Willy Hess in which it was claimed that this cadenza was composed by Sigismund Thalberg. Biamonti writes verbatim: “Altra cadenza scritta per lo stesso tempo, di cui al n. 80 del catalogo Hess, non è di Beethoven, ma di Thalberg, come da recente comunicazione dello Hess medesimo.” (“Another cadenza written for the same movement, listed as no. 80 in Hess’s catalogue, is not by Beethoven but by Thalberg, as per a recent communication from Hess himself.”)
The cadenza, as noted, features the syllables “Vi-de” after bar 88, drawing attention again to the prospect of a more concise ending, roughly twenty measures in duration. Max Unger—whose research is the sole source of what we currently know about this piece—has expressed his wish not to disclose any further details about its discovery for the time being. At present, Unger is unable to determine whether the sketches in the Bodmer Collection for an unidentified cadenza to this concerto (catalogued as Mh 71 in Unger’s listing and now classified as SBH 637 and SV 118) are the same as those previously mentioned. This remains to be verified.
As reiterated by Biamonti, Hess’s attribution of the cadenza to Thalberg was based on information provided by Fritz Kaiser. This attribution has no relation to the sketches preserved in the Bodmer Collection at the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn (see Dorfmüller, p. 83). It is likely that Unger harboured doubts as to the authenticity of the cadenza as a work of Beethoven; this would plausibly explain his reluctance to share further information with Hess. More surprising, then, is Hess’s decision to include the cadenza in his catalogue despite lacking a fuller understanding of its provenance.