Ludwig van Beethoven, Fidelio op. 72, 3. Fassung 1814, Terzett "Euch werde Lohn in bessern Welten", Partitur, Überprüfte Abschrift, Fragment

Beethoven as proofreader

Beethoven spent many years struggling with his only opera. Countless versions, sketches and drafts have survived, dating from the new year 1803/1804 - when the opera was still called Leonore - and its present-day form from 1814 - Fidelio. Changes and reworkings can be easily identified. Beethoven crossed bits out with thick, decided strokes, writing over the older version with a thick quill. He provided explanatory notes on the ensuing chaos for his copyist, using words such as "aus" (out) diagonally across crossed out passages, or "gut" (good) next to passages which were to remain or had been corrected. The copy shown here was obviously the model for the correction which Beethoven made to the trio "Euch werde Lohn" ("May you be rewarded") in 1814, as it can be found in the manuscript HCB Mh 47h. In 1806 Beethoven had cut 31 bars from the trio and removed the corresponding leaves from the other copy. He now restored the cut, but only had the copy shown here - the pages he had removed were no longer available. The copyist is to be admired, as he was able to find his way through the jumble of corrections, cuts and restored revisions, and managed to copy everything correctly. (J.R.)