Ludwig van Beethoven, Skizzenblatt zur Disposition der Schottischen Lieder op. 108, Autograph

A new order for the Scottish songs

This bifolium contains a draft for the disposition of the Scottish songs op. 108. A few bars of music (either the beginning of the piano accompaniment or a song incipit), the tempo marking and an ordinal number at the beginning of the line lay down the sequence of the collection. Weber-Bockholdt, who published the Scottish songs in the New Complete Edition, connects this draft for the order to the engraver's model of the German edition (HCB Mh 52). After Beethoven had already published the songs in England in 1818, he sold them to the German publisher Schlesinger in Berlin in 1820. This edition appeared in 1822. Beethoven rearranged the order of the songs for the German original edition. Once the engraver's model had been copied, he renumbered the songs. Beethoven planned the new order on the bifolium shown here. (J.R.)