Ludwig van Beethoven, "Edel sei der Mensch", Kanon für sechs Stimmen WoO 185, Stimme, Autograph

Unknown dedication

Beethoven wrote many of his canons more or less spontaneously as entries in his visitors' or friends' albums or as mementoes. This might have been the case with the autograph manuscript shown here. He made a note of the source in the title, "Worte aus dem Gedicht von Göthe Das Göttliche" (Words from a poem by Goethe "Das Göttliche"). The leaf is missing the bottom right-hand corner. As a few upstrokes are still visible above the torn-off corner, it is not improbable that there was a dedication. Unfortunately the provenance of the autograph manuscript cannot be followed back far enough to be able to determine to whom it was dedicated. (J.R.)