Ludwig van Beethoven, Elf Bagatellen für Klavier op. 119, 8-9, Autograph, Fragment

Little pieces

Beethoven's Bagatelles op. 119 are not, as are the later Bagatelles op. 126, a cycle of piano pieces. They are rather a collection of separate pieces. Of the eleven pieces which make up op. 119, Beethoven originally wrote the present nos. 7- 11 for the third part of Friedrich Stark's Viennese piano tutor, published in June 1821. The autograph score thus bears the title: "Little pieces for Hr. v. Starke's clavicembalum 1 January 1821 by L. v. Bthwn." The five pieces were numbered consecutively in the autograph score, Beethoven wrote the number in front of every Bagatelle: the present no. 7 was the "1=te" (first), no. 8 the "2=te" (second), etc. Sadly this autograph score has not survived in its complete form, as it was split into three parts. The Beethoven-Haus acquired the middle part shown here in 1926. It contains no. 8 in complete form (entitled "2=te") as well as the first nine bars of no. 9, with the flyleaf "3=te". The "1=te" Bagatelle is in a private collection, the second part of no. 9 and nos. 10 and 11 (respectively the "4=te" and "5=te") are in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris. (J.R.)