Ludwig van Beethoven, Skizzenblatt zu nicht ausgeführten Werken, Autograph

A case for scholars

Here you can see a single leaf, which Beethoven wrote in pencil. He used paper in an upright format, otherwise used for copies of parts, and not standard paper for sketches. Maybe he did not have any other paper to hand at the time. The paper, Kiesling paper, comes from a manufacturer in Bohemia; Beethoven used it mainly between the years 1810 and 1812. The sketches on the leaf look as though they were intended for the piano. Are they sketches for a piano composition? Or had Beethoven copied another composition? At the end of the page there are two letters - "d. c.", "da capo", i.e. play it again. So perhaps this is more likely to be a copy. Beethoven scholars still have a great deal of work ahead of them. (J.R.)