Ludwig van Beethoven, "An Laura", Lied für Singstimme und Klavier WoO 112, Autograph, Fragment

Photographs of the original before it was destroyed

This autograph score of the song "An Laura" WoO 112 was ruined by the incendiary device let off in the Beethoven-Haus museum in 1960, which destroyed some manuscripts and damaged others. Luckily all the autograph scores in the Beethoven-Archiv had been photographed before 1960 so that the appearance of the manuscript can still be examined. As there is no title on the autograph score, the exact model for the text cannot be ascertained. Friedrich Matthisson first published his poem in 1785 in Voss and Goeckingk's "Musen Almanach" in Hamburg under the title "An Serena". In 1787 the poem appeared unchanged in the first edition of Matthisson's poems but under the new title "An Laura". Only the first and third verses have been written out under the music in the autograph score. At the end of the first verse Beethoven notated bar 25 twice, as prima volta and then seconda volta. There is no doubt that the first part was to be repeated for the second verse. (J.R.)