WoO 34 – Little Piece for Two Violins – For Boucher, 29 April 1822, Hess 42 – Kinsky – Halm 34.

Official title: WoO 34 Instrumentalstück (A-dur) für zwei Violinen Widmung: — NGAXII/2 AGA-SBG VI/2 (Hess 42)

Published in facsimile in the Revue Internationale de Musique, Paris, 1 March 1898; in print in Beethoven’s biography by Frimmel, Berlin, 1901; and more recently by M.A.L., p. 383, and by Willy Hess in the sixth volume of Supplemente zur GA, 1963. The manuscript is held in the library of the Paris Conservatory, Bibliothèque nationale de France, département Musique, MS-23 (Max Unger, pp. 92–93); it is a short seven-measure piece written for the French violinist Alexandre Boucher, who had come to visit Beethoven with a letter of recommendation from Goethe.

Origin and publication: Written on 29 April 1822 in Vienna. The first edition of the score appeared posthumously in 1901 in Theodor von Frimmel’s biography of Beethoven, but a facsimile of the autograph score had already been published in 1898 in the Revue Internationale de Musique.

During a concert tour in Vienna, the violin virtuoso Alexandre-Jean Boucher (1778–1861) visited Beethoven on 29 April 1822 with a letter of recommendation from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. During the visit, Beethoven noted down a seven-measure instrumental piece for the violinist, with a dated dedication. Boucher’s impressions of the meeting are recorded in a letter from Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy to Goethe dated 24 May 1822: “My parents have just received a long letter from the violinist Boucher. […] He was with Beethoven, and here are the words in which he describes how Beethoven received him: ‘La reception que Beethoven m’a faite a étonné non seulement ses deux amis qui me conduisirent chez lui, mais aussi tout le monde musical d’ici. Il me sauta au cou (contre son habitude), en disant: Goethe m’a écrit sur vous, il vous aime, vous estime, je n’ai pas besoin de vous entendre pour vous apprécier’” (Kopitz/Cadenbach, vol. 1, p. 90). First performance unknown. Sketches unknown.

Title: Folio 1 recto “Écrit le 29tieme avril 1822, comme Monsieur Boucher grand Violon me faisait l’honneur de me faire une visite. – Louis van Beethoven.” 2 folios in total. 2 pages of musical text: Folio 1 recto WoO 34, folio 2 verso, in another hand, two staves with the title “Russe”; folio 1 verso and 2 recto blank. Paper: horizontal format, 12.5 × 18.5 cm, 10 staves.

Provenance: Charles Malherbe, Paris – 1912 — Since 1964 in F-Pn. Facsimile: Gallica – Revue Internationale de Musique 1.3.1898.