WoO 99 No. 9 – “Per te d’amico aprile”: Beethoven’s Two Versions and Salieri’s Revisions
“Per te d’amico aprile” (Trio) WoO 99 No. 9
The manuscript is located, together with several other Italian Songs, in Berlin in the State Library, manuscript Artaria 166a, pages 32 (at the bottom), 33–34. As we have often done in the commentary on these Songs, we reproduce here what W. Hess wrote in the appendix to Volume I of his Supplemente zur GA.
Hess 216, Thayer Stück 18 Komponiert nach Nottebohm um 1795, Artaria 166 Seite 32 unten bis Seite 34. Erstdruck Nottebohm a.a. O. S. 209-210. Beethoven gibt hier ausnahmsweise die drei Stimmen an und setzt Terzetto darüber. Auf der zweiten Seite (Seite 33) findet sich am rechten Rande noch folgende Notiz von der Hand Beethovens: “NB. U, I, O sono vocali ingrati, dove evita di fare molte note o colorature.” Salieri korrigiert ziemlich einschneidend. Von allen vom ihm geänderten Stellen die ursprüngliche Fassung hier: 
In Takt 10 stand im Alt als letztes Achtel zuerst ein “b” (unison mit Sopran), was Beethoven selber geändert hat. Eine frühere Lesart des Sopranes vom Auftakt zu Takt 13 bis zum Anfang von Takt 14 ist nocht mit Sicherheit zu eruieren. Beethovens falsche Schreibweise “Filomela” hat Nottebohm mit übernommen. Richtig ist “Filomena” laut freundlicher Mitteilung von Professor G. Biamonti in Rom.
In the first version, bars 7 to 9 were erased and completely rewritten; Salieri then took up the Contralto and Bass parts again, adding to them the Soprano melody from the second version.
In the second version, it is very complicated to decipher the notes written by Beethoven in the contralto part in bar 6: as far as I can decipher, Beethoven’s first idea was to write in the first beat the quavers G–A♭–B♭ followed by C, but these would clash with the Soprano melody (F–G–A♭ followed by B♭). Ronge writes for the contralto B–C–D, but these are, as can be seen also from the examples below, visibly incorrect. I therefore decided to leave the original Contralto part as I read it.
Bar 6 – first beat: Original. 
Ronge version.
Still in the second version, in the last bar, Beethoven writes only one note for the Contralto and the Bass; for me, given also the movement of the Soprano part, this must be considered as two dotted crotchets to be sung on the same pitch.
Finally, on the right margin of the second page (p. 33) there is the following note in Beethoven’s hand, but probably suggested by Salieri: “NB. U, I, O are ungrateful vowels, where avoid making many notes or coloraturas.”
Artaria 166a – Page 32 (staves 9-12)
Artaria 166a – Page 33 (complete)
Artaria 166a – Page 34 (staves 1-3)
