The publications of Gustav Nottebohm on Ludwig van Beethoven’s sketchbooks are well known to all scholars, later issued in two volumes under the titles Beethoveniana and Zweite Beethoveniana. In consulting the latter, one observes, among other matters, the absence of the sketchbook that must connect the material examined in Article LVIII, entitled «Ein Skizzenhefte aus dem Jahre 1824», with the six discussed in Article I, «Sechs Skizzenhefte aus den Jahren 1825 und 1826».
The sketchbook of 1824 concludes, in effect, with studies for the composition of the first movement of the String Quartet in A minor (Op. 132). In the sketchbooks corresponding to 1825 and 1826, the earliest drafts relate instead to the final movements of the String Quartet in B-flat major (Op. 130), composed, as is well known, after the A minor quartet, notwithstanding the apparent implication to the contrary suggested by its opus number.
The lacuna between the two is filled by a sketchbook hitherto unknown—one of the most significant among Beethoven’s working manuscripts—which, having been acquired in Vienna many years ago and subsequently presented by an Austrian gentleman to the Marquess of Bogaraya, a distinguished Madrid amateur (deceased some years since), is now in my possession through the generous gift of his widow.
It consists of forty oblong leaves of music paper in standard format (32 × 25 cm), evidently sewn together prior to use. Neither the ruling nor the colour of the leaves is uniform: some are yellowish, others greenish or white. The number of staves varies between eight—such as appear on the initial leaves—and twenty, several of which are ruled in ink, as if intended for orchestral score. The studies and annotations follow one another with such continuity as to leave no doubt that they were entered after the gathering had been stitched. Some are written in pencil, others in ink. In both media there is a striking inequality of handwriting, though without casting doubt upon their belonging to the same hand. At times a hard pencil or a finely cut pen traces characters of almost microscopic minuteness; at others, a blunt pencil or much-worn pen, haste in writing, or some other cause, produces a marked confusion in the script. If one adds to this the corrections, erasures, cross-references, and the habitual notation of minims, quavers, and the like by means of a mere vertical stroke whose point of attachment—indicating the pitch—remains frequently ambiguous; the scant precision in indicating exact note-values and accidentals; one may readily excuse any occasional deficiency that may be observed in the transcription, despite the scrupulous care with which it has been undertaken.
The sketchbook is furnished with a sturdy paper cover bearing the following title: «Autographe de Louis van Beethoven. Livre d’esquisses Contenant des molifs du Quatuor en La Mineur et d’autres etudes. L’authenticité en est garantie par Artaria et C. à Vienne 1847.» The red wax seal of Artaria & Co. securing the binding ribbons.
On a rapid survey of the sketchbook, several curious details at once present themselves. The first page contains only a few notes: certain trials or preliminary essays for the final Allegro comodo of the String Quartet in E-flat major (Op. 127). On the following pages appear sketches for the Andante and finale of the Quartet in A minor (Op. 132); these increase in substance on pages 10 and 11, where, at the close, he resolves decisively upon the Molto Adagio ultimately adopted. Studies for this movement and for the finale continue as far as page 37. It is noteworthy that, before their conclusion, there appears on page 26 an Andante in B-flat major, the first conception of the introduction to the Quartet, Op. 130.
Page 38 inaugurates studies for the first movement of this quartet—studies that were probably continued in another sketchbook or on loose leaves, for here the principal theme does not yet attain its definitive form. Of the Presto there survive, among other materials, two drafts on pages 42 and 43. In these there begin to emerge alternative motives for the Andante: detached ideas, subsequently abandoned, which seldom extend beyond eight or ten bars. On the following pages they increase; some reach fuller development, the entire phrase being written out, occasionally with harmonic indications.
Yet the governing idea does not immediately crystallise; the satisfying theme does not at once spring from his pen. Thus, in this labour of creative experiment, sixteen pages pass before a melody arrests his attention and he begins to subject it to melodic and rhythmic modification. He then abandons it, returns to another of the ideas left in earlier pages, and, fusing it with a new theme, writes out from page 63 to 67 the whole of the Andante con moto.
Intermingled with studies for the fugue, he resumes work on the forsaken theme; and in the arduous and painstaking process of creation—through minute retouchings, note by note and value by value—there finally emerges the Cavatina, whose melodic composition occupies page 75. The remainder consists of work and studies for the final fugue, published as Op. 133.
On certain pages are written memoranda, thematic indications, sketches for unrealised works, and, on pages 45, 46, and 47, a kind of disquisition, half in French and half in German, the handwriting in its latter portion so confused as to be almost indecipherable. Some pages bear, in the upper or lower margin, indications of the themes they contain—notations not always accurate and in a hand different from Beethoven’s, probably that of a previous owner of the sketchbook. Finally, affixed to the inside of the back cover with a red wax seal of Kletzer, is a letter from Beethoven to the publisher Diabelli concerning editorial matters.
A survey of the materials contained in this sketchbook affords a clear insight into Beethoven’s compositional procedure during the final years of his life. Ideas, in their primitive state, rarely appear with that intimate and profound expressive intensity which they subsequently acquire through progressive modification. Many, as they first issue from his pen, possess—if not an entirely Mozartean character—at least that distinctive flavour which marks the works of his youth.
Incessant revision, melodic refinement, and the precise concretisation of musical thought constitute his sole and constant preoccupation; harmony, by contrast, seems generally to arise without effort. Frequently, when a brief motive has struck his imagination, he subjects it to every variety of rhythmic transformation, augmenting and diminishing note-values until he discovers the form best suited to his intention. At times he appears to have found the final formula, only to return a few pages later to correct and modify it, always improving the theme, always increasing its nobility and purity. At other times he grows attached to a motive, works it extensively, then abandons it—or allows it to reappear incidentally within the completed work.
The data supplied by the biographies and correspondence of Ludwig van Beethoven enable us to determine with precision the period in which this sketchbook was written. Anton Schindler states that “in the winter of 1824–1825 Beethoven suffered a severe illness caused by an intestinal disorder. He passed the winter in a state of constant suffering, and only with the onset of spring did he begin somewhat to recover, removing to Baden, his preferred summer residence.” He adds: «La prima opera che intraprese dopo la grave infermità del 1825 fu il quartetto n. 12 con il notevole Adagio: e Canzona di ringraziamento offerta alla Divinità da un guarito». (“The first work he undertook after the grave illness of 1825 was the Quartet No. 12, with the remarkable Adagio: a Song of Thanksgiving offered to the Deity by one restored to health.”)
This information is confirmed by a letter of Ludwig van Beethoven, written from Vienna on 19 March 1825 and addressed to C. Neate: «Quant aux Quatuors, dont vous m’écrivez dans vos lettres, j’en ai achevé le premier et je suis à présent à composer le second, qui, comme le troisième, sera achevé dans peu de temps» (3).
These three quartets are undoubtedly those dedicated to Prince Nicola Galitzin, composed successively and without interruption, although they were later published as Opp. 127, 132, and 130. The letter to Neate must coincide with the beginning of the present sketchbook.
(1) See the earliest studies for the Canzona and the Cavatina.
(2) The citations from Schindler refer to the English translation of his Life of Beethoven, published in London under the title Moscheles: The Life of Beethoven (1841). The passage corresponds to vol. II, p. 38.
(3) Moscheles, The Life of Beethoven, II, 268.
According to Holtz, the Cavatina was composed in Baden during the summer of 1825—a date that accords with another letter of Beethoven’s to his nephew, dated 29 August, in which one reads: «The third quartet will consist of six movements and will be entirely finished in ten or twelve days» (1). It is therefore not unduly speculative to suppose that the sketchbook in question was written between February or March and August 1825.
The gaps observable in it with respect to the first movement of the Quartet in B-flat major, the complete absence of studies for the Alla danza tedesca, and the sketches for the Andante con moto ma non troppo and the Cavatina mentioned by Gustav Nottebohm (2), allow us to infer that, at least during the composition of these movements, Beethoven made use of another sketchbook or of loose sheets, whose whereabouts are unknown (3).
Finally, in concluding these remarks concerning the composition of the works contained herein, the reader may find it of interest to recall the following paragraphs from Anton Schindler:
“At the beginning of the year 1824, Beethoven received from a Russian prince a highly flattering letter requesting that he write one or two instrumental quartets to be dedicated to him. The terms proposed were most advantageous, it being stipulated, as a condition, that the Prince should possess both works as sole proprietor for one year, after which Beethoven would have the right to publish them… The sum agreed upon for the quartets was 125 ducats. Beethoven, however, received from St Petersburg nothing but letters filled with questions concerning doubtful or difficult passages in these works, letters to which he replied immediately, supplying every kind of explanation. It would be desirable, for the exact understanding of the works in question, that these letters should be published. One of them, written by Beethoven, I sent in the year 1828 to Professor Marx in Berlin, for the Berlinische Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung, but have heard nothing further of it” (Schindler’s note) (1).
With regard to the order adopted in presenting the sketches and studies contained in this sketchbook, I have preferred to group them by work and by movement, leaving until the end the indication of unused themes, so that the evolution and transformation of the employed motives—from their first embryonic form to their definitive shape—may be followed with greater ease.
- Quartet in A minor, Op. 132
The studies for the first movement are to be found in one of the sketchbooks previously examined, as noted at the outset. Of the second movement (Allegro ma non tanto), there is no trace here; and if, as may reasonably be supposed, this was the first sketchbook in which Beethoven worked after the severe illness he suffered at that time, it would be well founded to believe that his first composition after recovering his health was the incomparable Adagio of this quartet—the beautiful Canzona di ringraziamento.
- – Song of Thanksgiving offered to the Deity by one restored to health, in the Lydian mode
- a) Molto adagio
The composition of this marvellous movement is found here in its entirety. The logical unfolding of the motives and their transformations, together with the absence of related studies in other sketchbooks, justify this conclusion. On page 5 there appears the first idea, bearing an almost Mozartean character.
EXAMPLE NO. 1
It is curious to observe that the first two bars—the only ones set upon two staves—appear to have been written after the remainder of the line, and are in fact an exact reproduction of the seventh and eighth bars, in which the accompanying formula is absent. They constitute the generative idea of the entire Canzona. He first subjects them to the following modification of note-values:
EXAMPLE NO. 2
On the left-hand page, beneath the initial sketch, he writes this further version:
EXAMPLE NO. 3
in which he once more modifies the theme, completing it and continuing it thereafter in the established form. The following pages offer no new studies; they are devoted to notes on the theme of the quartet’s finale and to fresh themes for the Andante. On page 10 no fewer than four or five are set down, among them the following:
EXAMPLE NO. 4
some of them heavily corrected and subsequently cancelled, especially Nos. II and III.
Written in ink on the following page (88) appear these:
EXAMPLE NO. 5
and immediately beneath, the jotting:
EXAMPLE NO. 6
perhaps the first idea for the Andante which twice interrupts the Molto Adagio, and beside which stand these words written by Ludwig van Beethoven:
Dock Du gabst mir wieder Kräfte mich des Abends zu finden,
and on the following line:
Du gabst mir Kräfte.
Whether these words are one of those solitary effusions so frequent in Beethoven’s manuscripts, or whether they conceal some more recondite meaning difficult to determine, the first impulse is to relate them to the themes beside which they appear—especially when one reflects upon their affinity with the expressive sense of the Molto Adagio, and above all with the superscription that introduces the Andante: Neue Kraft fühlend.
In this light it is not unreasonable to suppose that he was responding to some physical or moral distress later overcome, and even more—that such a state of mind may have formed the point of departure for the composition of the second element (Andante) of the Canzona.
On the same page there appear, in pencil, the following bars, in which the melody and character—gradually diverging from the primitive idea—return perceptibly towards it, once again modifying rhythm and proportional values.
EXAMPLE NO. 7
Page 12 contains these studies:
EXAMPLE NO. 8
in which the last four bars are cancelled,
EXAMPLE NO. 9
the notes of the final two bars being heavily corrected.
The following example is subjected to more than one correction, first in pencil and then in ink. From what can be discerned, the original version was:
EXAMPLE NO. 10
In the final correction four bars remain thus:
EXAMPLE NO. 11
to which the newly inserted versions are appended.
Between Studies 8 and 9 there appears the following line—the only one on the page not referring to the Canzona:
EXAMPLE NO. 12
Its position, its character, and the presence of an A-sharp in the second bar—an alteration unnecessary in a melody unequivocally in A major and explicable only if immediately preceded by a passage wholly in flats—suggest that Beethoven, at this juncture of his labours, wished to oppose to the overflowing calm mysticism of the Canzona another melody, equally serene but expansive and joyful in character: if the one expressed thanksgiving to the Deity, the other might signify rebirth into life, the joy of living once more. This conjecture is borne out by the opening lines of the following page, where the contrast subsists, although the second motive has been wholly transformed.
EXAMPLE NO. 13
On the same page (13) there appears a sketch of the entire Canzona.
EXAMPLE NO. 14
Numerous corrections and cancellations leave it transformed thus:
EXAMPLE NO. 15
Among other noteworthy features, this is the first time that the initial period loses its affirmative character through the harmonic resolution upon the chord of the sixth degree; the periods consist of groups of seven notes, without being preceded by the anticipation already foreshadowed in the preceding draft; and in the correction he concerns himself solely with retouching the written part, later attending to the alternate bars, disregarding all else.
Up to this point he has been shaping the periods—always derived from the primitive idea—perfecting their melodic contour and seeking the harmony that would most fully enhance their expressive sense. Indeed, some of the earliest inserted drafts (Nos. 4 and 8) render not implausible the suspicion that Beethoven had conceived both the form and the expression in their entirety from the outset.
Since we are in the realm of conjecture, might it not be supposed that what chiefly struck his imagination was the natural harmony of the five notes written at the beginning, and above all the serenity and tranquillity imparted by the chord of the sixth degree? Although the phrase still retains an affirmative sense, it forfeits part of the grandeur it would possess were it to rely upon the primary functions of tonic, subdominant, and dominant; and this quality diminishes further in the successive transformations and periods that arise from the original idea, acquiring instead a more mystical and fervent character—a prayer imbued with abnegation, in which the soul turns towards God not to supplicate in anguish, but to render thanks and express gratitude.
This religious character, this mystical expression, together with the absence in the primitive idea of B-flat—whether melodically or harmonically—despite the clearly defined tonality of F major, may well have suggested to him the modes of the Christian Church and guided the direction of the composition along that path.
This hypothesis is confirmed by the form of the first Molto Adagio: a chorale alternating with interludes in organ-like fugal style.
That Beethoven conceived the two elements as independent is demonstrated by the earlier studies devoted exclusively to the composition and refinement of what might be regarded as the chorale portion, entirely disregarding the interludes. The severity of style and the absence of ornamental melos seem to corroborate this view.
As for the modality employed, everything suggests that it was chosen from the outset—namely, as soon as his attention had been fixed upon the beauty of the initial idea. Apart from certain studies, such as No. 7 (perhaps reflecting discouragement at not yet finding what he sought) or No. 11 (where his freedom of conception leads him momentarily to transcend modal constraints), the prevailing tendency is consistently to submit to it; and, what is even more significant, though habitually sparing in harmonic indications, he works and retouches the bass with as much care as the upper part.
His affection and devotion for Greek and Roman authors probably led him to designate the modality as Lydian, following the erroneous nomenclature of Christian theorists. Taking into account the scant principles of ancient Greek compositional art that have reached us, the present Molto Adagio cannot properly be regarded as written in the Lydian mode—among other reasons, because of the complete absence of the lower degree of that scale (C) in Beethoven’s melos. François-Auguste Gevaert considers it Hypolydian, and one might further add that it belongs to the plagal form of that modality; only that, instead of confining its ambitus to the regular hexachord (C–A), through suppression of B-natural, it would have to be regarded as extended throughout the compass of the Phrygian octave.
In the plagal Hypolydian mode, the harshness of the B-natural—the upper extreme note of its heptachord (C–B), forming a tritone with the final (F)—led to the mutilation of the scale through suppression of the upper note, reducing it to the hexachord C–A. In melodies of wider ambitus, either the B-natural disappeared or was converted into B-flat. Beethoven employs B-natural in only one period of the upper part (the third); and it is noteworthy that therein not only does the harmonic sentiment shift slightly, without altering its diatonic basis, but the sincere, tranquil, and mystical ethos hitherto unfolding in the Canzona is modified, acquiring a certain exaltation and heightened inspiration—owing not merely to melodic and harmonic context, but also to the intensity demanded by the sonority of the quartet.
Viewed from the standpoint of Greek art, that period might be considered metabolic or modulatory in relation both to its ethos and its harmonic substance: a slight excursion towards the Phrygian mode and towards a more ardent ethos. The tessitura in which it is written—mesoïdes—and the rhythm—a major spondee, a variety of the dactyl—contribute powerfully, the former through its natural and effortless sonority, the latter through its severe, grand, and highly ideal character, to heighten the sentiment expressed in the Canzona.
These observations concern principally the chorale portion. The interludes, whether in ambitus, style, or polyphony, cannot be said to acknowledge Greek musical principles as their antecedent; they should rather be classified as imitations of organ style—parenthetical passages intended to prepare and enhance the serene beauty of the prayer.
The importance they assume in the subsequent reappearances of the Molto Adagio—functioning in both cases as a decorative ground to the melody, first transposed to the upper octave, then fragmented into imitations of its opening period—requires that they be regarded as an independent element of the chorale, bound to it by the ties of modality and ethos.
Both elements, the one by its nature, disposition, and transformations, the other by its primitive chorale form, its isochronous rhythm, and even by certain melodic successions, seem to recognise as their more immediate antecedent the melopoeia and style of the Christian Church rather than Hellenic music.
This view appears further confirmed by certain studies to be discussed later, which suggest that Beethoven intended to treat the melos of the Canzona as a kind of cantus firmus entrusted to an inner voice.
In whatever way these indications—advanced with every reservation—are interpreted, their purpose is merely to establish a probable point of departure, the initial idea that may have determined the expressive direction of the composition. For, on the one hand, the unity of sentiment between chorale and interludes, and on the other, their perfect fusion in intensifying the mystical and fervent expression of the whole, relegate all such considerations to a secondary plane when set beside the manner in which Ludwig van Beethoven gives voice, with the full intensity of his incomparable artistic soul, to that boundless gratitude and selfless devotion towards God in thanksgiving for a received benefit.
Returning to the composition of the Canzona, page 14 is devoted to the Andante; on page 15 he once more insists upon refining the Molto Adagio, with an excess of cancellations, corrections, vide, meilleur, and numerical cross-references. Here the definitive form already appears, save for certain alterations in the interludes.
Example No. 16
Linked with some early drafts of the Andante appears the following study, which I have preferred to reproduce exactly as found in the manuscript. To understand it, one must observe that all the interludes, their corrections through rhythmic and melodic alterations in the lower staves, their combinations with the cantus firmus, together with that melody and the figured bass, are written in ink and belong to a single version. The added white notes are in pencil and constitute a later correction, apparently intended to conclude the Adagio at bar 29, modulating to A major (the dominant of D major).
Example No. 17
Analogous studies occur elsewhere in the sketchbook (pp. 17, 19, 20, 21), whose reproduction I omit here to avoid excessive length. Page 18 offers the following modification of the interlude and the study below:
Example No. 18
repeated on page 19 in this form:
Example No. 19
among other studies akin to No. 17; among them, the following is particularly curious, probably conceived as a conclusion to the movement, and in which the first nine bars form the skeleton of the third appearance of the Molto Adagio:
Example No. 20
Pages 20 and 21 contain unused studies in which the theme of the Molto Adagio unfolds in various imitations and combinations, at times incorporating the interlude motive in the following rhythmic and melodic guises:
Example No. 21
With this the account of the composition of the Molto Adagio concludes.
- b) Andante
The probable origin of its composition has already been noted in the sketches marked Nos. 6, 12, and 13 (pp. 11–13 of the sketchbook). The choice of character and its subsequent refinement are here less severe and more spontaneous than in the preceding movement. If the earliest drafts show no analogy with the theme ultimately adopted—save for their opposition in character to that which dominates the Molto Adagio—those on page 14 already display a closer kinship.
The one written on the first line of that page is:
Example No. 22
in which the bass progression is identical with that ultimately used, though the melody differs considerably. The following jotting on the same page:
Example No. 23
though written in a different rhythm, approaches even more closely; and in the subsequent examples on page 14:
Examples Nos. 24–25–26–27
one readily recognises the working-out of bars 21 and following of the Andante.
In the final four staves of page 15, immediately after the passage cited as No. 16, amid numerous cancellations and corrections, appears this study:
Example No. 28
notable chiefly for the successive revisions and refinements of the third bar. On page 16 stands:
Example No. 29
a link leading back to the Molto Adagio, and this further passage:
Example No. 30
in the same sense as the preceding.
The rhythmic disposition and distribution among the quartet instruments for the passage beginning at bar 21 prompted Beethoven to write several trials, among them the following on page 22:
Example No. 31
where there also appears this projected link to the Molto Adagio:
Example No. 32
further perfected on the following page:
Example No. 33
Finally, on page 25, with these bars:
Example No. 34
the sketches relating to this movement conclude, consecrating the definitive form of the opening, save for minor ornamental details or octave transpositions.
Final Movement
- a) Alla marcia assai vivace
No sooner had the character of the Allegro appassionato taken shape in Beethoven’s mind, and as he advanced in the composition of the Canzona and the clarification of its expressive character, than the first idea of the March appeared, as an introduction to the final Allegro.
The first sketch occurs on page 18:
Example No. 35
A few pages later (p. 25) appears this further sketch:
Example No. 36
the only manifestations of it in the sketchbook.
- b) Più allegro
As is well known, and as will be noted again later, the principal theme of the Allegro appassionato had once been intended as the instrumental finale of the Ninth Symphony.
When its use for this quartet was decided upon—and its original key of D minor naturally altered to A minor—it seems that something of its original atmosphere still lingered in Beethoven’s mind, and that his thought once more inclined towards the path that had led him to employ voices in the choral symphony. Once again he is drawn towards vocal style, sketching a first recitative in which certain phrases betray immediate kinship with that of the Ninth Symphony.
Whether or not this conjecture be justified, two facts at least are significant: in the Ninth Symphony he abandoned a theme destined for an instrumental finale in favour of a choral conclusion preceded by a recitative; in the Quartet in A minor, when he resolves to employ that theme, he precedes it with an instrumental recitative—one that presents itself to his mind when the movement is already far advanced.
If this formal parallel is curious, no less so is what may be observed regarding the poetic sense. The Molto Adagio, the Andante, the March, the recitative, and the finale form a chain of logically connected sentiments: first, the peace and fervent mysticism with which a soul renders thanks to God for restored health; then the awakening to life, with its ingenuous joy and delight in existence; finally, in full vigour, the march—the virile affirmation of a noble and energetic spirit; thereafter the recitative, the most human portion of life, with its enthusiasms and discouragements, as introduction to a passionate poem filled with sorrow and bitterness, whose nostalgic character, laments, and sufferings penetrate the soul with vigorous intensity, seizing and stirring it with trembling vibrations of feeling.
The first sketch of the recitative is as follows (p. 28), in which the lower staves present different versions of what was written in the upper one:
Example 37
On the same page there is, among others, this variant:
Example 38
On page thirty there is this other version, with many corrections, which almost constitutes the final form:
Example 39
Finally, at the beginning of the sketchbook, when the theme of the finale is beginning to take shape, these two introductory drafts appear on pages 6 and 7:
Example 40
- c) Allegro appassionato
On the first pages of the sketchbook, even before the theme of the Molto Adagio is defined, notes for the final movement already begin to appear. Page 5 supplies the first: one in the form of thematic working-out,
Example 42
and another, a continuation of No. 40:
Example 43
The second part of this latter is later used in another motive for the same final movement.
The following page (17) begins with this study:
Example 44
This is followed by the theme almost in its definitive form, which, judging from the appearance of the notes, does not seem to have been written at the same time as the copied bars: this addition is probably much later. On page nine two very curious studies are written. On the first line, in ink:
Example 45
In the two final staves, in pencil and with rather carefully written notes, this other:
Example 46
The first is the exact reproduction of another note belonging to the autumn of 1823 and inserted among the drafts for the choral finale of the Symphony No. 9 and the first indications for the Six Bagatelles, Op. 126. It was originally intended as the instrumental finale of the Ninth Symphony, later abandoned and replaced by the choral finale (1). The second reproduces, apart from a few small variants, another note found in a sketchbook of 1824 among the studies for the first movement of this Quartet in A minor (2). It is noteworthy that the definitive composition of the theme was formed through the fusion of both motives, taking advantage of the first and third bars of the one in D minor, and the second, fourth, and following bars of the one in A minor.
Many pages pass before further notes for the finale are encountered. On p. 19 there are these two:
Examples 47–48
It is worth noting that the first idea, later used as the second theme of the finale, appears here as its first theme (as suggested by the indication Finale and the key), and that the second bears some resemblance to that included in No. 43, where the Allegro appassionato theme is first sketched. Also headed Finale is this one on p. 22:
Example 49
not without a certain analogy to No. 42. Page 24 includes this sketch derived from the earlier ones and later transformed into the second theme after some alteration:
Example 50
And on page twenty-five these two curious ones appear: the first indicating the bass, and the second, perhaps conceived for the cadence group and later replaced by another motive:
Examples 51–52
The last line of this page arouses particular interest:
Example 53
It contains an indication for the accompaniment of the first theme, a new study of the motive previously worked out, and a melodic note on the final words of the Agnus Dei.
In one of the sketchbooks studied by Gustav Nottebohm, earlier than this one and dating from 1824, there are two analogous notes: the first preceded by the words Messe aus cis moll, and the second with the same melodic line as that first inserted here, later reproduced a second time a tone higher, both with the same text: “Dona nobis pacem” (1).
Is this in fact an unknown project for a new Mass, or do these notes correspond to a state of exaltation of spirit, a prayer to obtain peace and tranquillity?
The indication appearing on the first of those cited by Nottebohm suggests the former; the absence in any known sketchbook of further indication of such a Mass, the silence of Schindler, Holz, and Beethoven’s contemporaries about it, and above all the striking coincidence that the three notes refer to the same words, suggest the possibility of the latter.
In any case, the detail is significant enough not to pass unnoticed.
The last study on the theme worked out in the preceding pages provides a complete melody:
Example 54
By its character and key it appears destined to constitute the first theme of the finale. Perhaps at this point Beethoven still hesitated whether to use the theme already employed or this other one. Page 27 contains this note:
Example 55
On pages 29 and 30 these studies are brought together to begin the sketch of the Allegro appassionato. The first copy is worth knowing not only for its melodic interest but also for its expressive indications:
Example 56
On the following pages (31, 32, and 33) he reproduces it again, already outlining the entire plan of the exposition of this movement. The opening bars, continuation of the recitative (No. 39), are written in pencil and corrected in ink. At the top appears the indication All.° in pencil, with the later addition in ink “ma non troppo.” If one considers that the marking in the score, Allegro appassionato, refers more to expression than to tempo, and that in this first copy the character and sentiment of the finale are already definitively established, one understands the importance of the addition “ma non troppo” to the original Allegro tempo.
Example 57
The other notes relating to this movement are brief studies. The most notable are:
Example 58 (for the finale)
Example 59 (for the episode preceding the Presto)
Example 60 (belonging to the greater finale)
In addition to the indications for accompaniment form that may be seen in studies 35, 38, 46, 53, 56, and 57, there are also these, revealing a laborious search for the appropriate formula:
Example 61
The first appears on p. 36, and the remaining two on p. 54a, among the studies for the Andante of the Quartet in B-flat.
Finally, note an interesting detail. The first time the finale theme appears in this sketchbook it bears the indication Presto (1); later, through modifications of character, it becomes Allegro; later still he adds ma non troppo; and in the definitive work he uses it as Allegro appassionato, also employing the original Presto conception as the final peroration.
III. Quartet in B-flat, Op. 130
- a) Adagio ma non troppo. Allegro
A proof of the meticulous care with which Ludwig van Beethoven conceived and planned these quartets is the following note written at the head of p. 11 of the sketchbook, where the first studies for the Molto Adagio of the Quartet in A minor appear—many pages before he begins composing the Quartet in B-flat.
The note reads: “Last quartet with a grave and weighty introduction.” And indeed, many pages later (p. 26), among the attempts for the composition of the Allegro appassionato of Op. 132, appears this first study of the announced Introduction, at first reduced to four bars, then expanded with the characteristic Vide, and finally modified in a second version (63), probably prior to the continuation of the Vide:
Example 62
A third, very brief note appears on the following page (27):
Example 64
No others are found until p. 37, where these brief studies appear:
Example 65
These form, on p. 38, a sketch of the introduction used:
Example 66
Its ending already foreshadows the motive of the Allegro, as do certain marginal notes on p. 37. On p. 39 the plan begins to take clearer shape in the following two studies, the first of which considerably reduces the introduction:
Examples 67–68
The same page contains attempts in search of a different theme and of modifications or developments of the previous ones, some of which seem to constitute the embryo of the Presto. The most interesting among them are:
Example 69
Page 40 contains a new theme for this first movement, immediately abandoned, as the word meilleur written in large letters at the head of the two following staves seems to indicate. The decision in favour of the earlier idea admits no further doubt, since it appears developed, with its numerical cross-references, in a form fairly similar to the definitive one, except for the motives marked with the numbers 60 and 70.
Example 70
On page 41 his thoughts return to the introduction, fixing there a new motive that later becomes, considerably modified, the beginning of the second theme of the Allegro, presented in the definitive work by the cello:
Example 71
Finally, on pp. 41 and 42 new modifications for the Allegro motive appear:
Example 72
Here the work on this first movement ends.
From the preceding studies two points emerge clearly. The first concerns character. In all Beethoven’s earlier works—quartets, sonatas, symphonies—the first movement always has a fundamental character: it forms the solid cement upon which the entire work rests. In the late quartets, especially in Opp. 132 and 130, by the nature of the themes and the manner of their presentation, the first movement has, particularly in the exposition, something of the prelude, of improvisation, of recitative.
Its character is more insinuating than grandiloquent: it represents the opening that prepares the listener for the discourse to follow.
The second point concerns the meter. The 3/4 meter used in the Introduction continues in all the studies of the Allegro. In the definitive work it remains only in the Adagio; the Allegro is in common time, thereby heightening the melodic opposition between the two through rhythmic contrast.
- B) PRESTO
The first rhythmic idea with which the Presto trio then unfolds is found right at the beginning of the notebook, on p. 8. Later, in the 39th, among the works for the formation of the theme of the Altar, it manifests itself again again, as it was indicated before. Here are the two notes:example 73
Further on, on page 43, the plan of a scherzo in B flat is already outlined, full of grace and vivacity, and whose ideas are direct descendants of those previously mentioned
Example 74
On the left page (42) and taking advantage of the space left by the one already written, a circumstance that leads us to assume that this first copy, although written a page earlier, is later than the one already inserted, the following appears, which constitutes the first three repetitions of the soon definitive one. In it, the aggregation of the four bars that intersperses the 30-50 call and the final vide to suppress the contrast between both rhythms are curious. The proof must not be satisfactory when the first version was definitively adopted.
Example 75
A little further on page 45, there is this other point, probably continuation of the trio and then not used
Example 76
One more observation to conclude what refers to this time. Since the motifs that Beethoven uses without first subjecting them to some modifications are very rare, I have tried to find what could serve as an antecedent to that used in the first repetition. There is none in the notebook, although it offers a certain rhythmic analogy with the original form of the first motif of the Allegro, but in a notebook of the year 1824, studied by Nottebohm, and among the members of the quartet in A minor, op. 132, there appears one that Nottebohm believes was intended for the third movement of that work, and which offers a remarkable analogy, or better still, a complete symmetry with the one used here in spite of being written one in binary rhythm and the other in ternary (1).
[C) Andante con moto, ma non troppo].
The packaging of the first theme of this time is supremely original. In the first pages of the notebook there are some notes in a certain way analogous to some drawings of this Andante, although for their melodic context they seem rather small essays or rehearsals related to the 1′ Andante con moto of the quartet in E flat, op. 127.In any way these notes, contained in p. 8, before beginning the formal studies for the Canzona, do not appear again in the following pages.
(1) NOTTEBOHM, Beethoven’s Zweite, p. 549.
Already in the one in which the Presto is drawn (number 75) and in the following ones, loose ideas for L’Andante begin to appear; among them the following (p. 48) with the two staves written, apparently in the key of F and in the tone of G, or G flat.
Example 77
There follow some pages with new themes for this tempo, in which there is no return to meet any in relation to the previous one, and in 55, preceded by the indication « Cantabile dopo (?) prelude”, the following appears:
example 78
Cantabile after (?) prelude. On which on the following two pages (56 and 57) he writes these notes in G, and in search of the complement for the theme. Example 79From a note begun on the previous pages, a melody arises in 59 which contains, although in embryo, the beginning of the Cavatina; deals with its transformation and modifications in the following (pp. 60 and 61), and in 62 he returns to insist on the theme abandoned:
Example 80
As you can see, all the notes contain the clear idea, always looking for a complement that ends and defines it. Finally, on page 63 the following idea arises for the final of the quartet
Example 81
and taking advantage of the last four bars of it and merging them with the one repeated so many times before, he already forms the main theme of the Andante and immediately devotes himself to its composition. This occupies pages 63, 64, 65, 66 and 67 entirely with a multitude of Videos, calls, scrapes and corrections of all kinds. It is impossible to reproduce it in this article, due to its excessive extension. As examples, here is the beginning, two studies and the ending.
example 82
Already from this time notes or studies relating to this quartet begin to appear in other notebooks of Beethoven. Andante Nottebohm mentions one of this in a notebook of the year 1825, reduced to the main motif of the theme in augmented values (1). A noteworthy peculiarity. 11 the theme written for the finale (no. 81) brings the indication of humor on the four bars used for the motif of the Andante. In the quartet’s score, the Andante marks little joking, coinciding with the character previously assigned to the theme. Precisely because these notes on the character of ideas are not usually abundant in the notebook, it is of great interest, for every time I heard this time, the interpretation suffered from an excess of slowness: it was not so joking and humorous as, it seems, Beethoven wished.
(1) Beethoven’s Zweite, p. 3.
[d) To the German dance] Of it there are only these two unimportant notes, one in B flat on p. 68 and another at 60. Nottebohm, supported by Schindler’s testimony, says that this motif was written, primitively, in A major (1) and intended for the quartet in A minor, op. 132. In the first two notebooks of the six studied by Nottebohm as belonging to the years 1825 and 1826, two other notes on the same theme appear: one in B flat, with the title of Allemande and another in G, quite extensive (2).
[e) Cavatina]
“The tempo of this quartet, which Beethoven placed above the others, was the Cavatina in E flat. He had composed it during the summer of 1825 and confessed that in writing it he could not restrain his tears”.
“Never,” he added, “has any melody come out of my pen. produced so great an effect, nor caused such a profound emotion” (3).
This Cavatina, so full of feeling, so saturated with emotion, is, however, one of Beethoven’s most laborious and least spontaneous creations. Of it it can be assured that, above all, the principle conquered him from note to note, from sentence to sentence, that every design passes; for great evolutions before becoming definitively fixed, and that with what his immense genius squandered to form this splendid Melody, there was enough to shape many others.
(1) Beethoveniana XVIII, page 53.
(2) Beethoveniana Zweite I, page 3.
(3) WILDER, Beethoven,- sa vie et son oeuvre. Paris, 1855, p. 474.
The works that refer to it can be divided into three groups: those that preceded the composition of the Andante con moto of this quartet, those that he made after the end of this time, in this same notebook, and those that are found in one of those studied by Nottebohm. there is a work subjected to great modifications, and which, although without melodic analogy with the Cavatina, could perhaps constitute its precedent or starting point.
A note on p. 41
Example 87
is a precursor of a more extensive work on p. 59. It is written in eight staves separated into groups of two, and although it seems to constitute a single melody for the aspect of the writing, the apparent incongruity of some lines with those preceding it, and the doubt whether or not they are a continuation of the previous ones, has led me to separate with the sign || the end of each line and the beginning of the next. The tonality seems to be in the beginning that of F sostenuto minor and in the last line D major.
Example 88
The same procedure that followed with the generating idea of the Canzona, he uses here by studying in all kinds of quantitative combinations the bars 2, 3″ and 4″ of the last line of the previous study. The tone already seems to be D flat.
Example 89
As can be seen, only two points appear clearly established: affection for the theme and the conception of it always preceded by a brief introduction or preparation. Page 60 offers a new, more extensive study with its various continuations countermarked with the Vide and the sign that relates to the ending.
Example 90
In it are to be noted the alteration that the introduction undergoes and the different melodic continuations, of which it seems that in the end only the previous idea remains. The attempts on the following page follow (61)
Example 91
probably a continuation of the previous study, and a few lines further down, the note
Example 92
It seems that it condenses the only definitive thing that is left of all the previous works. Having found the complement for the Andante motif on p. 62, forgets for a moment all the idea of Cavatina, but as soon as he finishes that composition, he returns to insist on the abandoned theme, on p. 68,
Example 93
again in D flat, and where the first bars of the Cavatina are already closer to its final form. Pag. 70 is completely occupied by this beautiful melody, in the finale of which the progressively modified theme appears. It is noteworthy that this is the first time that it is written in E flat, and that, as in the earlier draft (number 88), it is preceded by periods unrelated to it. Example 94Later, on the following page 71 he continues it as follows:Example 95At this point it seems that he abandoned this notebook, and followed his work in one of those studied by Nottebohm in the article “Sechs Skizzenhefte aus den Jahren 1825 und 1826” (1), studies certainly later than those already inserted for the greater purification of the melodic line. Given Beethoven’s writing system and the way of expounding the | In the midst of notes, there is nothing strange that in Nottebohm’s translation, the notes need to be raised or lowered by a degree, to interpret the composer’s thought correctly. Here are the main notes inserted by Nottebohm.
Example 96
You can also add to them this other one that is found on page 74 of the notebook
Example 97
The composition of the cavatina for the union of these scattered elements occupies page 75.
The great confusion of the first nine bars made him go back to writing them, numbered, on the front page. 11 is found a few pages later, at the 78th. The photograph of the main page will undoubtedly demonstrate more than all the descriptions that could be made. Its title “Cavatina”, written in pencil, like the whole of it, the rectification “Arietta quasi Cavatina”, in ink, is used only for this title and to indicate two or three notes of the bass in lines 8a and 10 to the intervention of the second violin in the third bar (deleted in the clarification of p. 74), the many numberings and corrections, revealing the insatiable desire to improve and perfect it, all in the end, makes that page a historical document of undeniable value. In it, starting from the first 9 bars made clear on the previous page, following the numbering 1, 2, 3 (this modified in the lower staff) of the first line, 4 of the end of the second, and 5 and the following of the third, and completing it with what is written on p. 78 (where there is also the scraped ending that is inserted after the final chord) it is not difficult for the boy to reconstruct the following sketch of such an admirable creation.
Example 98
But this is not yet the final version. From the previous copy, to the one written in the quartet, there is a considerable increase, but the fundamental ideas of the melody are already here completely defined: their constitution, their outline have already acquired in the Beethoven spirit a life of their own, a definite soul.
[f) Final. Allegro].
This quartet in its first version — the one sent to Prince Nicholas Galitzin — had as its final tempo the “Great Fugue” published later as opus 133. He did not manage to record himself in this way, and in the first edition that Artaria published in 1857, after Beethoven’s death, he already figured with the ending he has now.
The data and antecedents of the escape that are in the notebook will be mentioned in the following article. As for the present ending, it was composed in November 1826, and it is evident that, having finished this notebook more than a year earlier, it contains nothing that does not refer to it.
This quartet in its first version — the one sent to Prince Nicholas Galitzin — had as its final tempo the “Great Fugue” published later as opus 133. He did not manage to record himself in this way, and in the first edition that Artaria published in 1857, after Beethoven’s death, he already figured with the ending he has now.
The data and antecedents of the escape that are in the notebook will be mentioned in the following article. As for the present ending, it was composed in November 1826, and it is evident that, having finished this notebook more than a year earlier, it contains nothing that does not refer to it.
(1) NOTTEBOHM, Beethoveniana XXI. Beethoven’s letzte Composition, pag. 79.
(2) MOSCHELES, The life of Beethoven, II, pag. 169.
(3) Zweite Beethoveniana, Der erste Entwurf zum Finale des Quartetts, op. 130, pag. 524
- Great Fugue, op. cit. 133.
PSecondly, it was intended for the final of the Quartet in A minor op. 132. The first studies on them are found in a notebook of the year 1824 (1), which contains the composition of the Quartet in Eb, op. 127, and the first movement of op. 132. The theme of the fugue, and even more so the first notes on its formation, present such an analogy with the introduction of the quartet in A minor, that there is no doubt that at first it was conceived to form part of it.
Later, during its composition and until after the Andante con moto ma non troppo of the Bb quartet is finished, there is no longer any note of it in the notebook, but starting from page 69, they multiply, counting to 23. In the other notebook that Beethoven used at the same time, many them also appear, some of which are very interesting because they include as a countersubject the theme of the Andante con moto of the quartet in Bb.
Having finished the composition of this quartet in the final time, and thus sent in the original manuscript to Prince Nicholas Galitzin, he changed Beethoven again on purpose and in November 1826 composed, as mentioned above, the finale that this quartet has today, but at the request of the publisher Artaria he decided to publish the fugue as an independent work, and so it appeared in May 1827,
(1) NOTTEBOHM, Zweite Beethoveniana, LVIII, p. 550.
after Beethoven’s death. The manuscript of that one bears the title of Overture. The first notes on page 69 are the following, in some of which the countersubject recalls certain passages of the finale of the Ninth Symphony.
Example 99
In 71 there is a new theme in Eb for finale, with which the subject of the escape also merges.
Example 100
Example 101
and 73 these others, in which some of the countersubjects used are already outlined with greater resemblance.
Example 102
continue in 77, some of them being very interesting.
Example 103
in 79, there is a long study of the first part of the fugue, in a form quite like the definitive one, and in 80, the last of the notebook, some other short studies of one or two bars.
- Unused Themes.
Beethoven used to write down as many musical themes and ideas as came to his imagination. Some he used immediately, in the work he had in his hands, others he used later, others were forgotten forever. Of the former, there are no examples to cite. Of the latter, the most frequent, it has been possible to see in previous pages the example of an instrumental finale designed for the Ninth Symphony and used for the last movement of the quartet in A minor, and that of a note written among the first studies for this quartet, probably the generator of the Presto, of the quartet in Bb. Of the third, there are some examples in the notebooks studied by Nottebohm, although it is a frequent case to use such ideas in short compositions as lieder, Canon, etc.
After finishing the works related to this qua¬derno, Beethoven wrote very little: the quartets in C sharp minor, (op. 131) and in F (op. 135), the Canons 13 and 18, the last movement of the quartet op. 130, and the Letzter Gedanke published by Diabelli (1), and in addition to this a waltz, a Scotsman, and the Canon Freu’ dich des Lebens! published by Breitkopf in his supplement to the works of Beethoven (series 25).
In none of these productions are the themes of the notebook used. Therefore nothing can be conjectured about them or their probable fate. The only statement that can be made with some foundation is that all of them, apart from those of which we will discuss later, were conceived with the quartet of string instruments in mind, since, from the nature of the ideas, nor from the indications that accompany them,
(1) NOTTEBOHM, Thematic Directory, etc., pag. 208
nor can it be inserted by any other sign or even suspected that he thought of allocating them to symphonic, vocal or piano works. The few times they are accompanied by complete harmonic indications, they never exceed the four parts of the string quartet, adapting to the extension and technique of its instruments. For this reason I preferred to group them into three divisions: themes that refer to different works; Themes for the Quartet in A minor considering as such those found among the works for the composition of this quartet, and themes for the Bb Quartet
A: Different works.
Only a small number of notes can be qualified as extraneous to the quartets: some refer to the Oratorio La Vittoria della Croce, which did not come to be written; another to an overture on the name of Bacb, which had the same fate; and another to a three-voice Canon, not complete in the notebook, nor published. It is worth mentioning some antecedents of the Oratory. Schindler says: Having finished the Ninth Symphony, Beethoven proposed to devote himself without loss of time to a work worthy of him: to the composition of an Oratorio, written for his friend C. Bernard and entitled “The Victory of the Cross” (1).
First the organization of the concert, in which the C-overture, the Mass in D and the Ninth Symphony were performed for the first time, and then the commission of Prince Nicholas Galitzin to compose other quartets, distracted him from his purpose to the point of no longer thinking. At the Oratorio neither in the tenth symphony, nor in another work which he had almost put together, and which was to be the great effort of his life, the pinnacle of his artistic retching: the composition of the music for Goethe’s Faust” (2). Despite Schindler’s testimony, Beethoven did not have to abandon his intention to compose the Oratorio at all, when on the third page of this notebook, after the quartet
(1) MOSCHELES, The life of Beethoven, II, S. (2) MOSCHELES, The life of Beethoven, II, 34. — Schindler later adds a great Requiem to the planned works.
in Eb (op. 127) and in the first two movements of the one in A minore, he wrote the following indication in red pencil:
Just once a FI. IObo IClarin —fag—etc. The former which harmony.
and later in black pencil:
die ouverture vom Oratorium tobn leidmschaftichen. Mord die Seiden, zulest die Soliste Gloria des Kreuzes (1).
On the front page (2a) there are these two notes that were perhaps intended for the oratory.
Example 104
(1) Only once a flute 1″, oboe 1st, clarinet 1st, bassoon 1st, etc. the former, whose harmony… (In the overture of the Oratorio the pagans rise passionately (for) the death (of Christ) at the end the soloists: “Glory to the Cross”. The anterior, like almost all of Beethoven’s notes, is written by suppressing many words. Those that appear in the translation, in brackets, clarify the meaning that I believe the writing should have in the text.
As well as this other on page four, a link of a slow tempo with an allegro.
Example 105
to which it comes after the next, without separation of bars or bars, and which, despite being written in a different bar and tonality, could have been thought of as a continuation of the antecedent.
Example 106
Of the Overture on the name of Bach, Nottebohm cites a note in a notebook of the year 1824 (1); here you can find another one with the lab on page 51
Example 107
The melodic succession B-a-c-h was used later in a Canon sent to Kuhlau, which forms part of a letter dated 3 September 1825 (2) and is published by Breitkopf and Hartel in the complete collection of Beethoven’s works (series 23, No. 43).
Example 108 (Biamonti 811)
which constitute, it seems, the indication for a three-part Canon, neither completed nor published in the notebook.
B: Quartet in A minor, op. 132.
Among the works for this quartet are various theme notes for the Andante. Some do not fall outside the category of mere indications of motives, others, more developed, explain this in a complete way. The last, in F# minor, is especially noteworthy, not only for its painful and tragic character, so genuinely Beethovenian, but also for the spaces it left in its composition.
example 109 (Biamonti 812)
Example 110
Example 111
Example 112
Example 113
Example 114
The following motifs, although without indication of movement, may also have been intended for Andante of this quartet.
Example 115
Example 116
(1) NOTTEBOHM, Zweite Beethoveniana, LVI1I, page 542.
(2) CHANTAVOINE, Correspondence de Beethoven, page 257
There are also some short studies in these pages, without direct relation to what is used later. The following ones, derived from the same idea, are interesting for the persistence with which they appear on the first pages and for their analogy with number 70 of these insertions, corresponding to the first movement of the quartet in Bb, op. 130, in the part preceding the indication “three more times and then 70”.
Example 117
For the conclusion of the quartet in A minor there is only a brief note on page 6, preceded by a brief introduction or preparation.
Example 118
c: Quartet in Bb, op. 130.
For the initial time there are no other notes than those ascertained in the appropriate place. To the Scherzo (second movement) perhaps belong these two: the first, corresponding to page 42, the same in which the sketch of the Presto is found, and the second, two pages later, although the latter could also very well constitute a study for the finale of the second theme of the first Allegro.
Example 119 (biamonti 814)
Example 120
In various places in this study it has been said that Beethoven, before deciding on the theme of the Andante, fixed many ideas. The first (page 43) is preceded by the indication “Adagio in muted E”, written in Eb, and with the indication at the end of “First part in C minor, without repetition”.example 121On page 48 it is a kind of barcarola in G minor. At the end of it appear some strokes and tricks made in pen, and immediately after the last bar the word Gut (good). The musical notation is by Beethoven; The gut does not seem to be his hand.
Example 122
page 50 contains enough ideas for the andante and the finale. These four refer to the first:
Example 123 (Biamonti 814)
Example 124
Example 125
Example 126
In 53 there are two very interesting ones, the first for its long and wide melody, and the second for its mysterious character.
Example 127
Example 128
A few pages ahead are these two notes:
Example 129
Example 130
None of the previous notes is followed by any work of modification or improvement: they are ideas that came at random, noted down and left there to be used later or not, but forgotten as soon as they are written, at least as far as their use for this quartet is concerned. Only one of the reasons given in these pages reveals the intention to use it immediately, judging by the modifications and work to which it is subjected. Here is the first idea and the main changes it undergoes on pages 53, 54 and 55, again in F sharp major.
Example 131 (Biamonti 819)
They continue again on pages 56 and 57, although transforming his tonality into D.
Example 132
and it is curious to observe how these studies could very well be the inspirers of the one inserted with the number 89, which corresponds to page 59 of the notebook, which constitutes the starting point for the composition of the Cavatina of the quartet in Bb. In any case, these motifs, in spite of their various modifications, are not used either in this work or in the poems. Some other notes of those scattered in these pages can also be considered as motifs and indications for this period of this quartet, in spite of the fact that the corresponding movement is not specified in them. In doubt that they constitute works of a different nature, I prefer to give them with this caveat.
Example 133 (Biamonti 820)
For the final time, some ideas are noted. The first, right at the beginning of the notebook (p. 27) with an essay for escape
Example 134
Example 135
another on page 50
Example 136
a third to the 54
Example 137
another at 68, whose tempo is reminiscent of Haydn’s.
Example 138
and finally the following bars, Beginning of a Fugue, on page 79, which, although without the indication of a finale, could very well, because of their character and their tonality, have been designed for the finale of this quartet.
Example 139
In addition to these, there are some others of a different key from the Bb: one in F, written after the number 135 and which is perhaps part of it,
Example 140.
another inscription following 128
Example 141
and another note Without any indication
Example 142
in some pages there are also examples or practices of modulations, which were probably written by Beethoven in the harmony lessons he gave to his nephew Charles at that time. Most of them are childish. As models see the following:
Example 143
D — Writings.
They are not many, but the pencil of some is so faded and the calligraphy of others is so confused, that you can hardly read a few detached words: There are three lines of pencil on the page, but this one is so shabby that you can only read the following words:
Als Tobas
gut betragen
hatte
Page 8 contains this news in a handwriting visibly different from Beethoven’s.
- Bruder und H. Carl waren gestern bei mir wie ich es gewilnscht habe um 2 Uhr.
A long dissertation occupies pages 45, 46 and 47. It is all written by Beethoven’s hand, the first part in French mixed with some Italian words, the rest in German. The first part seems to argue that the first of these two realizations is more correct
Example 144
Here are his words reproduced as they are written: On ne doute pas de pouvoir faire un
Example 145
eh bien
Example 146
is the same thing and only an arpeggio of the chord
Example 147
but in case if Viola had
Example 148
the singable of it would be ouneroit (?) and which is ancore plus the viola had an armonia at that moment, which was a passage against the mode, since
Example 149
le basse fondamental de ceci
esempio 150
l’ accord mineur, mais
esempio 151
reste dans le mode, piusque le basse fondamental de
Examples 152 and 153
Le ges (1) dans cet passage n’est rien que un anticipation che fera chaque chanteur et voilà le principe, ce qu’on a à observer dans tous les autres voix, puisque la vrai nature trouve toujours tes principes dans l’ art.
Zeichnung dasselbe ist in der Kunst in der Nature. Melodie und Harmonie sind obig. Kaun in der Generalbass Kuler.
The end of this notebook is joined to the cover by a seal of wax by Kletzer, the following letter :
Ich habe gestern statt der französischen Auflage der Sonate in C Moll mein Manuscript in zweistimmig geschickt und bitte mir selbes zurück zu stellen; Wenn Sie die französische zurilk verlangen, so werde ich es Ihnen gleich zu stellen, obschon es mir lieb wäre es behalten zu können. Der Text der Gorrectur der Variat. wird wohl vollendet sein und bitte ich Sie mir selben sur iveiteren über-zengung gefalligst mir zu senden. Was die versprochenen 8 Exempl. anbetrift, so habe ich überlegt, dass mir Ihr erster Antrag alle 8 auf schönes Vapier doch sehr willkommen wäre in der Ausführung, da ich mir damit einige meiner Freunde verbinden könnte.
Der Metronom soll beachtet werden wenn gleich etwas späiier, da ich zu sehr gedrangt jetzt bin.
Ihr Freund
BEETHOVEN.
And on the forehead:
Für seiner Wohlgeboren H. A. Diabelli auf m Graben
«All’illustre signore A. Diabelli, in Graben. Ieri ho mandato, invece della edizione francese della sonata in do minore, il mio manoscritto in due particelle, pregandola che me lo ritorni.
« Se mi richiede di nuovo l’edizione francese, glie la manderò subito, malgrado il mio desiderio dì non privarmene. Il testo della correzione della Variazione sarà già terminato, e la prego d’aver la bontà di restituirmelo per mia convinzione. In quanto ai promessi otto esemplari ho pensato di accettare con piacere la sua primitiva offerta di farli in carta buona, perché in questo modo potrei far cosa grata ad alcuni miei amici. Il metronomo si terrà in conto, quantunque sia un po’ tardi, perché adesso ho troppa fretta. Il suo amico Beethoven».
Although the preceding letter is not dated, it is not difficult to fix it approximately or at least to affirm that it belongs to the last years of Beethoven’s life, basing itself on the details that are dealt with in it: the metronomization of a work, the Sonata in C minor, the corrections of some Variations and what refers to the “eight copies”.
From what it says in it that “the metronome will be taken into account”, it can be assured that it is later than the year 1817. The invention of the metronome dates from 1815, and although Schindler states that Beethoven put metronomic indications only to the Symphonies 7th and 9′ and to the piano sonatas op. 106, 109, 110 and 111 (1), Nottebohm, with a large copy of data (2), corrects this statement by showing that from 1817 editions of Beethoven’s works began to appear with metronomic indications set 0 authorized by him, and that not only the works cited by Schindler, but many others bear in the original manuscript the metronomic number affixed by Beethoven himself. The detail relating to the Sonata does not illustrate much for the determination of the date. There are several sonatas in C minor: three for piano (op. 10, no. 1, op. 13 (pathetic) and op. Ili) and one for piano and violin (op. 30, no. 1). The sending of the manuscript in two particles seems to indicate that it refers to the last.
A greater illustration can be given by the mention that “the text of the correction of the Variation will already be finished”. As an independent work, Beethoven has the “Variations on a Valtzer by Diabelli”, op. 120, composed in 1823 and brought to light in that same year in Vienna by Cappi and Diabelli, to whom the letter probably referred. The circumstance of having the same publishing house published a posthumous edition of the sonata in C minor (op. III), the second movement of which — Arietta — with variations was specially corrected by Beethoven himself, for this edition, makes it possible to doubt between the work quoted above and this one, although I am inclined to suppose, from the regularity of the handwriting and other circumstances, that the letter is dated the year 1823, and alludes to the “Variations on Diabelli’s Waltz.”
What is said of the “eight copies” could perhaps refer to those that were made of the Mass in D. In the winter of 1823 Beethoven opened a subscription to manuscript copies of the Mass, among the European courts. He believed that he could obtain 10 or 12 copies, between those who refused and the others who did not respond to the invitation, the number was reduced to six: the Emperor of Russia, the kings of Prussia, Saxony and France, Prince Anton von Kadziwill and the “Cecilia” Club of Frankfurt am Main. In my difficulty of proving whether the House of Cappi and Diabelli was commissioned to make those copies, and whether, in fact, the passage of the letter refers to the examples of the Mass, I prefer to give this as not certain. If I were to rely on them, this would be a new fact to affirm that the letter belongs to 1823.
(1) The life of Beethoven, II, p. 105.
(2) Beethoveniana, XXVI, p. 126.
Before finishing.
The great interest which all that relates to Beethoven now arouses, has induced me to publish this notebook with the prolixity and detail that the reader has seen. At first I doubted whether to do it this way or to follow the way of Nottebohm. The authority of the latter impelled me to the second way: my desire to communicate to others the impressions and emotions I had felt in deciphering the autographs — a very difficult and tiring job — advised me to use the first system. I ended up deciding the importance of Beethoven’s last quarters for the history of music.
The general opinion considers the Ninth Symphony and the Mass in D as the culminating degree of Beethoven’s conception. It is not here that the origin of this belief can be studied, but it can be ascertained that alongside these works and perhaps above them must be placed the last quartets, and especially the one in A minor. Beethoven himself recognized this when he wrote to the publisher Schott in September 1824: “Apollo and the Muses will not want to give me up to death any longer, because I still owe them a great deal and it is necessary that before my transit to the Champs-Elysées I leave behind what I spirit inspires in me and tells me to finish. It seems to me that so far, he has only written a few notes. I wish the best of luck to the efforts you make for Art. Only it and science serve to make us glimpse and hope for a higher life” (1).
And in fact, the first thing Beethoven wrote after this letter,
(1) CHANTAVOINE, Correspondence de Beethoven. pag. 239.
The first thing that inspired the Spirit, to use his own words, was the quartet in A minor, it was the notebook whose pages we have just gone through. It represents the latest trend of his art, first a continuation of tradition, then dramatic and descriptive, inspired by nature, life and imaginative creations; later, in his last creations, he reconcentrated in his soul and in his sad solitudes, deepening into them, and immersing himself in his transcendental spiritualism.
Considering all this from another point of view, one will certainly have found an abundant place for curiosity, but also for teaching for the composer. Who has not believed that these unsurpassed creations were the product of a moment of sublime inspiration, that the Song and the finale of the quartet in A minor, and the Cavatina of the quartet in B, sprang from a single effort, by the inspiration of the Spirit of which Beethoven spoke? And yet, all this constitutes an exciting, difficult work, impossible to believe, if it did not appear so clearly.
From the beginning it is easy to recognize that the idea has arisen, but instead of arriving at its realization in a slow way, it follows a path of soundings, of trials, of painful efforts; he comes to the end after a long struggle, overcoming the rebellions of his pen, indolent to give shape to the dictates of his genius. And not that Beethoven lacked spontaneity: the unused loose notes prove the opposite, some of which alone would be enough to give fame to a composer.
It is that by instinct or by system he distrusted what is easy, what comes suddenly to the imagination; it is that his art, so deep and so true, was nourished only by meditation and purification. And this is why it is so great, so definitive, so Beethovenian.
December 1904.
CECILIO DE RODA.
