Hess 326 – Short Piece in the Style of a Four-Voice Fugue in C Major

The musical examples on this page are curated by Graziano Denini.

This piece, composed in 1803, appears on page 109 of the Wielhorsky Sketchbook. It is incomplete, consisting of a fugal exposition of 17 bars, followed by the word “Schluss” (“End”) and an additional 12 bars. Entries Hess 324, 325, and 326 all originate from this sketchbook. According to Mark Zimmer and Albert Willem Holsbergen on the essential website Unheard Beethoven, the sketch for this playful little fugue is found among Beethoven’s drafts for the oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives, dating it to 1800–1801.

They humorously note: “How fortunate that Beethoven’s counterpoint teacher, Albrechsberger, never saw this fugue: no doubt it would have shortened his life considerably.”

Why? Because Beethoven breaks several traditional rules of counterpoint: The fugue subject is answered in the subdominant rather than the dominant — a liberty Albrechsberger might have tolerated. There are concealed fifths and octaves, which are typically avoided in strict counterpoint.

Immediately after the exposition, Beethoven writes the ending of the fugue, skipping the development section. The middle section, a three-part stretto based on the fugue subject, was reconstructed by Albert Willem Holsbergen.

As Zimmer and Holsbergen emphasize, those who understand that music theory offers guidance rather than rigid laws will overlook these “flaws” and instead enjoy Beethoven’s creative spirit and playfulness. He clearly delighted in crafting a fugue from an unlikely subject, reveling in the challenge and the fun.

Musicologist James F. Green, in his New Hess Catalogue, confirms: “Short piece in the style of a four-voice fugue in C major, page 109. [The piece is incomplete. We have, in Beethoven’s hand, the exposition of the fugue (17 bars), followed by the word ‘Schluss’ and another 12 bars. The central section appears to be lost.]”