Page 4 - NW-UM0017-Fantasia-Sonata-unv12

Preface

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There are more unfinished than finished compositions of Beethoven preserved. In the Kafka-collection of sketches alone
there are for example about 600 fragments that contain ideas for individual compositions. An example: Gustav Nottebohm
estimated that Beethoven altogether started at least 50 symphonies. Some sketches are a few bars long, but often a
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sketch has a number of elements in common with the final version of a published work, which means the sketch can be
seen as a preliminary study. As an example, one could mention the sketch of a planned sonata in C minor, 1798 . This
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sonata has similarities with the Sonata Pathétique Opus 13 which was later composed. This sketch could be a preliminary
study for what later became the Pathétique.

There are also examples of sketches that ultimately were not used for the final version, such as the sketches of the finale
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of the Ninth Symphony Opus 125. Another problem relates to compositions that are partially or completely lost, but from
which we know they existed, as in the case of the early Violin Concerto in C major WoO 5. Of this work 259 bars are
preserved in clean copy, Reinschrift, and exactly at bar 259 it was torn in two pieces. From other works fragmentary scores
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exist that give the impression that they at one time must have been complete. Think of the Oboe Concerto in F major WoO
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206 and the Romance cantabile in E minor WoO 207.

Some important sketches that Beethoven has composed in the course of time are:
Fantasia Sonata in D major Unv 12 , 1792-1793; Symphony in C major Unv 2 , 1795-1796; Triple Concerto in D major Unv
5, 1802; Vestas Feuer Unv 15, 1803; Piano Concerto No.6 in D major Unv 6, 1815; Piano Trio in F minor Unv 10, 1816;
String Quintet in D minor Unv 7 , 1817; Mass in C sharp minor , 1823-1824; Overture on B A C H , 1822-1825; Symphony
No.10 in E flat major/C minor Unv 3, 1822-1825; String Quintet in C major WoO 62, 1826-1827. Of the Symphony in C
major Unv 2 Beethoven composed extended sketches in 1795-1796. The sketches are for the first movement of the
symphony and contain a number of ideas for the other movements. The symphony would begin with an introduction in 3/4
time and partly in 2/2 time and an allegro with a theme that Beethoven ultimately used in the finale of the first symphony.
The reason that Beethoven never elaborated these sketches is unknown. Perhaps he was not satisfied and later got ideas
for the final First Symphony in C major Opus 21 that corresponded perfectly with its objectives. Presumably, the Triple
Concerto in D major Unv 5 was replaced by a better idea in C major. The work that we now know as Opus 56. This also
applies somewhat to the opera fragment Vestas Feuer Unv 15, libretto by Schikaneder. He wrote a 275 long first scene,
almost entirely put in score, but apparently Beethoven was annoyed by the libretto and the fact that Schikaneder refused
to improve it. So, he finally worked on Leonore Hess 110 and Vestas Feuer Unv 15 remained unfinished.

From 1813 to 1817 Beethoven worked on the Piano Concerto No.6 in D major Unv 6 . Again, however, Beethoven stopped
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the further development of this concert, although this work is already well elaborated. After that, Beethoven is also engaged
in a Piano Trio in F minor Unv 10 but this work was laid aside halfway through the first movement. Then there is the
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opening section of a String Quintet in D minor Unv 7 with a subsequent fugue, that the composer ultimately used in the
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Ninth Symphony Opus 125 Of the remaining sketches of this period fewer fragments have survived, including the
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B A C H overture and the Mass in C sharp minor. Of the Tenth Symphony Unv 3 about 50 loose sketches are preserved.
The composer has never put these sketches in score, unlike most of the pieces above for which scores exist.

1 The Kafka Sketchbook, autograph miscellany from circa 1786 to 1799, London 1970, published by The Trustees of the
British Museum
2 Gustav Nottebohm, p. 13, 1887
3 The Kafka Sketchbook f.117 r.
4 This sketch was used as a theme for the last movement Allegro appassionato of the String Quartet No.15 in A minor Opus 132.
Joseph Kerman: The Beethoven quartets, p. 262, London, Oxford University Press 1967
5 a/ Kinsky-Halm, Ludwig van Beethoven, Thematisch-bibliographisches Werkverzeichnis, Volume 2, p. 13, G. Henle Verlag,
München 2014
b/ Concerto in C major for Violin and Orchestra WoO5, reconstruction of the first movement by Cees Nieuwenhuizen Opus 71,
Upstream Music UM 0011, Alkmaar, The Netherlands, 2005
6 Concerto in F major for Oboe and Orchestra WoO 206, reconstruction of the first and second movement by
Cees Nieuwenhuizen Opus 91, Upstream Music UM 0099, Alkmaar, The Netherlands, 2019
7 Concerto No.6 in D major for Pianoforte and Orchestra Unv 6, reconstruction of the first movement by
Cees Nieuwenhuizen Opus 83, Upstream Music UM 0023, Alkmaar, The Netherlands, 2017
8 Trio in F minor for Violin, Violoncello and Pianoforte Unv 10, reconstruction of the first movement by
Cees Nieuwenhuizen Opus 89, Upstream Music UM 0038, Alkmaar, The Netherlands, 2019
9 Maestoso and Fugue in D minor for String Orchestra Unv 7/Opus 137, arrangement Cees Nieuwenhuizen Opus 66,
Upstream Music UM 0008, Alkmaar, The Netherlands, 2005
10 Symphony No.10, Barry Cooper, Universal edition, 1988. Dr. Barry Cooper: Newly identified for Beethoven’s tenth symphony,
a realization in the Beethoven newsletter 3, pp. 25-31, 1988

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