WoO 21 – Polonaise in D major for military orchestra
Biamonti 520
WoO 21 – Polonaise in D major for military orchestra, summer 1810, published in full score in the Supplement to the Gesamtausgabe (GA), 1888. GA no. 289 (series 25/26) – B. 275 – KH. (WoO) 21 – T. 153.
The original manuscript is held in the library of the Paris Conservatoire of Music and bears the precise inscription: “par Beethoven 1810 a (sic) Baden.” Orchestra: piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 horns, trumpets, bass drum, military drum, triangle, cymbals, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon.
Instrumentation: piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 2 horns, trombone, triangle, percussion, drum, bass drum.
Origin and publication: According to Beethoven’s own note, the autograph score was written in Baden in 1810, that is, between late July and early October of that year. The first edition was published posthumously in 1888 as part of the AGA by Breitkopf & Härtel in Leipzig.
The sketches for the Polacca WoO 21 are interspersed with those for the incidental music to the tragedy Egmont, Op. 84. Since Op. 84 was composed from October 1809 and first performed on 15 June 1810, the Polacca must have been sketched before that performance date. It is likely that Beethoven took to Baden the sketches he had written between autumn 1809 and spring 1810 and completed the full score during his summer stay there.
Sketches: D-HVkm, unsigned (SV 328), folios 1v–2r. Dating: October 1809–June 1810. Facsimile and transcription: Fecker/Kestner-Museum pp. 368–373. Score: F-Pc (in: Pn), Ms 30. Dated “1810.”
Title: Title page: fol. 1r, title at upper left “Polonaise,” at right “par Beethoven 1810 a Baden.” Seven folios; twelve pages of musical text on fols. 1r–6v; folio 7 blank. Paper: horizontal format, 23.5 × 32 cm, 16 staves, two types: (a) fols. 1–2; (b) pp. 3, 6, 7 (pp. 4–5 cannot be determined with certainty). Provenance: from the collection of Aloys Fuchs, Vienna. — Gilhofer & Ranschburg (Auction Catalogue VIII, March 1901, no. 790). — Charles Malherbe, Paris, from 1901. With his estate transferred to F-Pc in 1912. Since 1964 in F-Pn.
Facsimile: Gallica. Descriptions: Mühlenweg/NGA II/4 (in preparation). – Unger/Conservatoire p. 96f.
