Ludwig van Beethoven, Skizzenblatt zur Messe op. 123, Autograph

Reconstruction of the sketches for the Gloria

The leaf shown here contains sketches for the Gloria of the Missa solemnis op. 123. The central fold and the stitch holes along it can be clearly seen. They show that the leaf was once part of a book. It belonged to a pocket sketchbook which Beethoven used in the late summer of 1819. The book no longer exists in its entirety. Four further leaves belonging to the same sketchbook have been identified in different libraries on account of the measurements of the stitch holes, the paper and their content. Three of them are in the miscellany Artaria 180 in the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin Preußischer Kulturbesitz, and the other one is in the Biblioteka Bodmeriana in Geneva. The sketches on all of the leaves are primarily for the Gloria. (J.R.)