From piano concerto to Eighth Symphony
As with many sketchbooks, this one received its name from one of its previous owners, Gustav Adolf Petter, who acquired it in 1846. It remained in his possession until his death in 1868. Petter gave away (or sold) several single leaves from the book and had the remaining 74 leaves rebound. The Petter Sketchbook and the leaves belonging to it mainly contain sketches and drafts for the Seventh and Eighth Symphonies. The sketches are chronological, those for the Eighth Symphony begin on leaf 35 immediately following the last ones for the Seventh. What is interesting is that Beethoven did not first of all plan the Eighth as a symphony but rather as a piano concerto. Thus on leaf 37v (image 74) we can see a longer passage - the theme will later open the symphony - and ends in line 13 with a pause. Right after this there is quite clearly a cadenza for the piano. On leaf 39v and the following two pages Beethoven sketched out two alternative versions of an orchestral exposition, which both end with the word "Solo", that is with the entry of a solo piano. At the bottom of leaf 40r and the top of leaf 40v (images 79 and 80) Beethoven wrote "tutti" and "solo" several times, terms which particularly occur in concertos. On the following leaves Beethoven slowly disregards the idea of a concerto. This happens first of all when he occupies himself with a different piano concerto on leaf 42r (image 83). At the start he does not seem sure whether it should be a "Concert in g", an "adagio in Es" (adagio in E flat) or a "Concert in g oder E moll" (Concerto in G or E minor) and finally in the bottom line, a "Polonaise allein für Klavier" (Polonaise for piano solo). On the next leaf he works on the latter for piano and orchestra. It is only on leaf 45r (image 89) that we come across the entry "3te Sinf" on the top left. All the entries that follow are for the Eighth Symphony. Between leaves 35 and 44 Beethoven obviously had different ideas in his head - for the most part for piano and orchestra but also or other projects. However, on leaf 45 he finally made a decision: against the piano concerto and for the symphony. (J.R.)
