Characteristic paper from the early years
This engraver's model in Beethoven's hand for the Rondo for Wind Instruments WoO 25 is one of the manuscripts that was badly damaged by an incendiary device in the museum in 1960. It is very brown and fragile, and there are water stains on every page. The Beethoven-Archiv has photographs of the autograph score which were made before 1960 and are easier to read.
The paper which Beethoven used for the Rondo belongs to the sort that he used between the years 1793 and 1796. It has a very distinctive feature, making identification of the pages easy: it is the only type of paper which Beethoven used early on (before 1800) that was ruled with staves across the double page spread, that is across two pages and the middle fold. It is unclear whether Beethoven bought a large batch of this paper in 1793 or whether he kept buying smaller quantities as necessary. But one thing is certain: he used this paper more regularly than any other in his early years. (J.R.)
