Opus 033 – Seven Bagatelles for Piano
I) Andante grazioso, quasi allegretto – II) Scherzo – Allegro – III) Allegretto – IV) Andante – V) Allegro, ma non troppo – VI) Allegretto quasi andante (with a certain speaking expression) – VII) Presto
Opus 33 Seven Bagatelles for piano, Opus 33, late 1802, published in Vienna, Bureau d’arts et d’industrie, May 1803. GA. No. 183 (series 18/1) – B. 33 – KH. 33 – L. II, p. 192 – N. 33 – T, 2 (pp. 1 and 183).
The original manuscript is preserved at the Beethovenhaus, Bodmer collection. On the first page (at the top, in the centre) appears the French title “Des Bagatelles.” Below, on the left, is the indication of the movement: Andante grazioso. On the right, at the top, the phrase “par Louis van Beethoven,” 1782, also considered to be in the composer’s hand, although written in a different script from the title and not corresponding to the period of the manuscript (likely dating to around 1802), and probably added after the work had been written.
This date of 1782 (Beethoven was only 12 years old at the time) can only refer to a distant origin of the first Bagatelle, or at most (as Nottebohm suggests, Sk., I, p. 40) indicate that the composer may have drawn on some theme or sketch from his youth. With the title Bagatelles, not new even at that time in the field of musical nomenclature, Beethoven designated three collections of “little pieces” for piano, composed at different periods and grouped respectively under opus numbers 33, 119, and 126: preliminary sketches for larger works that were planned and then abandoned; sudden inspirations hastily noted down on the stave in often elementary form, without a specific purpose, and held in reserve awaiting suitable opportunities, then set aside or forgotten; finally reconsidered for some circumstantial reason (perhaps even simply for commercial use), revised, refined, and assembled into series. It is clear from this that, in assigning the date “late 1802” to the present set, we are not referring to the original creation of the individual pieces, but to the point at which they were coordinated for publication, which is likely when they received their final form.
First Bagatelle. Andante grazioso quasi Allegretto. Slightly pastoral in tone, possibly dating from the Bonn period; but the first three bars are also found in the Wielhorsky sketchbook, p. 44 (Fish., p. 52), first line, just after the sketches for the Variations Op. 35. The theme bears some resemblance to the opening of the Allegro (teneramente) of the String Quartet Op. 127, also in E-flat major.
Second Bagatelle. Scherzo. Allegro. Entitled Scherzo, and indeed in style and character it resembles pages from the early piano sonatas or the Op. 18 quartets, with its rhythmic liveliness alternating with the melodic interest of the minor section in the second part, and the movement structure of the Trio.
Third Bagatelle. Similar in character to the first; even simpler and more idyllic, with its rocking melody modulating from F to D major.
Fourth Bagatelle. Suggests the delicate sonorities of a music box; also calls to mind the Larghetto in the same key from Mozart’s Piano Concerto K. 537, and the Gavotte from Gluck’s Paride ed Elena.
Fifth Bagatelle. Shares with the second a contrast between dominant rhythmic liveliness and the lighter melodic character of the middle (minor) section. Because of its “bold opening leap”, Thayer-Riemann associates both this and the second Bagatelle with the third from Op. 119.
Sixth Bagatelle. Carries a specific expressive indication: “Con una certa espressione parlante” (in Italian). Beethoven perhaps intended to suggest a sort of conversational attitude between the two simple thematic elements: one with a certain calm nonchalance or playfulness, and the other, echoing the first, pressing upward in a brief questioning progression, then silenced by the return of the former. There is a certain thematic resemblance to the opening of the first movement of the Piano Sonata Op. 90, and also to the second part of the Allegretto from Sonata Op. 10 No. 2.
Seventh Bagatelle. Presto. A kind of dynamic-technical study. A brief, clear sketch with the indication Minuetto (not matching, in its tempo, the Presto of the final version) is found in the Landsberg sketchbook, followed by a Trio later left unused. One is reminded of the opening of Rossini’s Semiramide overture.
[By Biamonti Giovanni – Catalogo cronologico e tematico delle opere di Beethoven comprese quelle inedite e gli abbozzi non utilizzati, Torino, ILTE 1968]
Official title: Opus 33 Sieben Bagatellen für Klavier Widmung: – NGAVII/6 AGA 183 = Serie 18/1
Origin and Publication: The surviving sketches for Nos. 1 and 5–7 date back to the years 1801/02. The inscription of the date “1782” on the manuscript is clearly a mistake by Beethoven for “1802” — a type of error he made frequently. The first edition was published in May 1803 by the Kunst- und Industrie-Comptoir in Vienna. The sketches for Bagatelle No. 7, found in the Landsberg 7 sketchbook, show that the piece was originally conceived as a Minuet with Trio. The Minuet section later became the Presto; the musical material for the Trio was not used in the final piece. Both the Opus 33 Bagatelles and the Sonata Op. 31 No. 3 were published by Kühnel and his successor Peters in Leipzig.
The Catalogue des Oeuvres by Artaria, appended to Opus 106, also included the opus number 33.
First performance unknown.
1803 (May). Vienna, Kunst- und Industrie-Comptoir (Bureau d’Arts et d’Industrie), VN/PN 171. – Title: “Bagatelles / pour le Pianoforte, / composées par / LOUIS VAN BEETHOVEN / Oeuvre 33. / 1 f 24 Xr. / Proprieté du Bureau d’Arts et d’Industrie.”
The sketches will be featured in an article specially created for the Beethovenian Music Research Center, www.lvbeethoven.org
