
	Beethoven digital about us \| contents \| search \| legal \| location \| links \| patrons \| contact us \|

back to "Landsberg 9"

Ludwig van Beethoven, Skizzenblatt zu Fidelio op. 72, Autograph

Beethoven-Haus Bonn, Sammlung H. C. Bodmer, HCB Mh 88

					Image 1 / 2

Things worth knowing
Reserved for the second act of Fidelio

This single sketch leaf contains sketches for Florestan's aria in the second act of the opera Fidelio op. 72. The leaf was once part of a sketchbook as can be seen from the stitch holes in the left margin. According to current research it belonged to a sketchbook which is now part of a miscellany in the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin Preußischer Kulturbesitz and bears the call number Mus. ms. autogr. Beethoven Landsberg 9. Landsberg 9 contains three different groups of sketches, which are independent of each other: from pages 1-16 sketches for the Hammerklavier Sonata op. 106 and from pages 69-72 for the first movement of the Fifth Symphony. The large middle part of the sketchbook (pages 17-68) is interesting as far as Fidelio is concerned and in connection with this sketch leaf. These pages are completely devoted to Beethoven's work on the 1814 revision of Fidelio. According to the scholars Johnson, Tyson and Winter this sketch leaf is from the middle of Landsberg 9. However they believe that the pages in Landsberg 9 were turned around over time. In their reconstruction the logically correct sequence would first be pages 41-68 and then pages 17-40. They put the Bonn sketch leaf at the point in between these two bundles. This theory is supported by the comment on this leaf: Beethoven wrote "Musick zum 2ten Akt" (Music for the 2nd act) at the top. Beethoven probably made this comment before he wrote anything else on the leaf and used it to "reserve" the second half of the sketchbook in advance for his work on the second act. (J.R.)

Library indexing

Glossary