Ludwig van Beethoven, Skizzenblatt zum Streichquartett op. 18,3, Autograph

Number 3 first

Beethoven composed his six String Quartets op. 18 between 1798 and 1800, commissioned by Prince Franz Joseph Maximilian von Lobkowitz. Many sketches for op. 18 have survived which clearly show the genesis of the quartets. Beethoven mainly worked on the compositions in three sketchbooks. The first of these is now in the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin Preußischer Kulturbesitz and has the call number Mus. ms. autogr. Beethoven Grasnick 1 (after its previous owner). "Grasnick 1" originally had 48 leaves - a standard size in Beethoven's times. However the first nine leaves were removed, probably even before the collector of autograph scores Friedrich August Grasnick acquired it in the middle of the nineteenth century. Most of the leaves which were removed have been traced and in the meantime the majority have been identified. Two of them are the sketch leaves shown here with sketches for the third quartet from op. 18. These leaves do not only come from the beginning of the "Grasnick 1" sketchbook, they were also adjacent. This can be seen from two relatively small ink blots which often occur when a quill is used. As the ink did not dry very quickly, the drops of ink on one page stained the opposite one. On the reverse of HCB Mh 64 (there image 2), above the third stave from the bottom approximately a third of the way along the line, a small smudged drop can be seen in the middle of the musical text. The impression of this drop is on the other sketch leaf HCB Mh 65 (image 1), on the front. It is much easier to see here as the stave is empty at this point. This simple little impression, which could easily be overlooked, proves that both leaves were bound in the same book, one after the other. Research has shown that Beethoven began his work on the String Quartets op. 18 in the "Grasnick 1" Sketchbook in 1798. On the first leaves of the book (of which the ones shown here form a part) there are sketches for the third quartet. This fact tells us something else about the genesis. The sequence of the six Quartets op. 18 as we know it today is not actually the one in which they were composed. Beethoven quite clearly began his work on them with Quartet no. 3. (J.R.)