Ludwig van Beethoven, Skizzenblatt zur Klaviersonate op. 101, 1. und 4. Satz, Autograph

Sketches for op. 101

This single leaf contains sketches for the Piano Sonata op. 101. It previously belonged to a sketchbook which Beethoven used between 1815 and 1816. It is now known as the Scheide Sketchbook, named after its current owner William Scheide.

Beethoven jotted down ideas for the first and last movements of the sonata on the front. The page is divided exactly in half: the upper eight staves for the first and the lower eight for the last movement. As can also be seen from the word "augmentation" (a specialist contrapuntal term, which is also used in fugue composition), Beethoven had at this time already decided on the formal structure of the sonata. The two outer movements complement each other, the first movement "mit der innigsten Empfindung" (with the innermost feeling) and the last movement with its contrapuntal techniques, similar to those of a fugue. Sieghard Brandenburg describes this in his commentary to the facsimile of the sonata (München 1998): "Clearly the two poles between which the musical activity is played out were decided upon at an early stage. (...) The old model prelude-fugue, antithetically sharpened, was probably the starting point for the composition."

On the reverse the composer is much further. Here you can see a detailed draft for the first movement. Bars 55 - 94 are already completely thought out and as they occur in the sonata, but not quite as full and complex as in the finished sonata. According to Brandenburg the continuation can be found on the next page in the sketchbook. (J.R.)