Ludwig van Beethoven, Skizzenblatt, Autograph

A case for scholars?

There are sketches on the front side of this single leaf in Beethoven's handwriting. Most of them are in ink, a few notes are also in pencil. The reverse is empty. In the left margin there are no stitch holes. Unlike others, this leaf was probably not removed from a sketchbook. The paper enables it to be dated to around 1816/1817. Beethoven made sketches on this leaf for different works. The characteristic style of the musical structure and of the melody changes, as do the keys, metre and number of parts. Up till now none of the sketches could be assigned to a known work. But who knows, maybe one day the leaf will prove to be a missing link, providing scholars with a key to the genesis of a work or the reconstruction of a sketchbook. (J.R.)