Ludwig van Beethoven, Skizzenblatt zur Ouvertüre zu "Ungarns erster Wohltäter" op. 117, Autograph

Organizing a piano

Beethoven often obviously used paper for his sketches which he had left over from another project, as is the case with these ones. The page has been prepared for a score and has been divided into three large bars using a ruler. He did not need these bars for the sketches he was making, so he ignored them. In many places you can clearly make out additional small bar lines, which he drew while composing. On the front Beethoven made a note for himself on the sixth stave, "Kleines Klawir zum Componiren" (Small piano for composing). Beethoven worked on op. 117 in summer 1811 while he was taking the waters in Teplitz. He probably did not (yet) have a private piano and made this note, so as not to forget to organize one, or to be more exact, to have his friend Franz Oliva organize one for him. Oliva had accompanied Beethoven to Teplitz and was essentially responsible for keeping contact with the outside world and running errands, as, unlike the composer, he could hear well. (J.R.)