Essay On The Waldstein Sonata by Beethoven.

The Evolution of the First Movement of Beethoven's 'Waldstein' Sonata Author(s): Barry Cooper Source: Music & Letters,
Vol. 58, No. 2 (Apr., 1977), pp. 170-191 Published by: Oxford University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/734475 . Accessed: 17/02/2014 19:10
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OF THE FIRST THE EVOLUTION BEETHOVEN'S OF MOVEMENT SONATA 'WALDSTEIN'

BY
ANY BARRY COOPER
examination of Beethoven's methods of composition is limited by several considerations. Even in works where ample sketches survivewe never know what went on in the composer's head before he startedsketchingand between each sketch,how long he spent on each sketch, or in what precise order the sketches were written. Nevertheless,where substantial sketches do survive for a work, a detailed study of them can give considerable insight into how it evolved, as has been shown by several recent writers.' Such an investigation is most satisfactorywhere sketches survive from all stages of composition up to the finishedautograph, and where this, too, has been preserved, providing a vital link between earlier sketchesand the printed edition. All this material survivesfor the 'Waldstein' Sonata, unlike most of the earlier sonatas, where the autographs are lost. The 'Waldstein' autograph has even been published in facsimile,2while what are apparently the complete sketches for all three of the original movements are found on though there are no extant Pp. I20-45 of the 'Eroica' sketchbook,3 sketches for the 'Introduzione' that replaced the original second movement, which was published separately as the 'Andante favori',WoO 57. The present study is concerned primarilywith the firstmovewill also be made to the other three movements ment,but reference associated with it, where thishelps to illuminate a specificproblem. The only previous study of the relevant sketches is in Gustav ;4 but Nottebohm Nottebohm's account of the 'Eroica' sketchbook only three devoting concentrated on the 'Eroica' Symphony itself, of this space half more than pages to this sonata movement-and movement, on the other writers Most consistsof musical examples. includingsome who have provided detailed analyses,do not mention the sketches; those that do, refernot to the sketchbookitselfbut to Nottebohm's account ofit.
1 See, for example, Alan Tyson, 'Stages in the Composition of Beethoven's Piano Trio xcvii (I 970-7 I), I--I 9. oftheRoyal Musical Association, Op. 70, No. I', Proceedings 2 The autograph is in the Bodmer Collection, Beethovenhaus, Bonn. The facsimile, in colour, was published by the Beethovenhaus in I954. (Autographs survive for Opp. 26, 27 two of these have also been published in facsimile.) No. 2 and 28 of the earlier sonatas; the first but a copy 3 Kno\wn as 'Landsberg 6', this sketchbook has been missing since 1945, surviveson microfilm. 4 Ein Skizzenbucl. aus demJa/hre vonBeethoven 1803, Leipzig, I88o.
I70
It would be possible to consider each section or theme of the movement in turn fromits origin to its final version, but it is more useful to consider the movement as a whole at each stage of its evolution. Although it is not always certain whether the order in which the sketchesappear in the sketchbookis the order in which they were writtendown, it seems possible to analyse Beethoven's work on the movement into eight separate stages: (i) preliminary and 'concept sketches'forall three original work, sketchfragments movements; (ii) outline of the whole first movement,followed by a gap in which Beethoven turnshis attentionto the second and third movements; (iii) intensive work on the development; (iv) a 'condraft'forthe development,withalternativesforcertain bars; tinuity (v) continuitydraft for the recapitulation; (vi) the same for the coda; (vii) a second attempt at almost the complete coda; (viii) finished autograph. The following table, showing where in the sketchbook each stage of the sketchingis found, will help to make this clear. i. Preliminarysketches p. I 20, lines 9-I6; I 23/I-3, ii. Complete outline iii. Workon development iv. development v. Continuity) recapitulation coda
6-I5,
I23/I6-I7;
I
I7
I22; I24/I-I I
26-7 I 28; I 29/I8
vii.
vi. drafts
coda
I29/I-I4
(i)
(2)
I 30/ I -9
I30/I0-I8; I 32/I -4 I3I/I,
i6-i8;
viii. Autograph
STAGE I (pp.
I 20,
I 23)
The earliest possible signs of the 'Waldstein' Sonata in the sketchbook are certain scales and keyboard exercises, mostly on two staves, to which Nottebohm has drawn attention.5Such exercises are common in Beethoven sketchbooks,and the ones here (pp. 96 and I07) may be of no significance.But as they are in I time and mostlyin C major, with one in E minor, they could be interpreted as evidence that Beethoven was working towards some kind of piano piece in C major in I time, with E as an importantsubsidiary key. The first clear sketchesfor the sonata are on p. I 20. Staves i-8 contain a sketch for the projected opera VestasFeuer, at which Beethoven had been workingon the previous few pages, but staves 9-I6 are devoted to brief sketches for the firstmovement of the sonata. The first6 shows Beethoven already concerned not so much with the shape of the firstsubject as with the problem of how to lead into it at the end of the development--a passage that was to
6
5Ibid.,
P. 58. Quoted ibid., p. 59 (Nottebohm's transcriptionof bars 3 and 4 is conjectural). I 7I
give a great deal of trouble. The othersketcheson thispage are in E major and seem to be an attempt at a second subject (Ex. i) and material to follow it, though there is little similaritywith the final version.The earliestsketchesforthe Andante (p. I 2 I /8-I 2) are also in E major; Beethoven soon changed this to F, but clearly he had decided at a very early stage that E was to be an important subsidiary key in the sonata.
Ex. 1
7u~~
~~
t$
iP
--A
Apart from the Sonata in G, Op. 3I No. i, where the second subject startsin the mediant major but is mostlyin the minor, the only other sonata where the mediant major has such prominence iS Op. 2 No. 3, which is also in C major, the slow movement being in E. One ought also to compare the LeonoreOvertures 2 and 3 (i 805-6), which are both in C with the second subject in E; and another similar work is the Mass in C (I807), where the 'Christe' section is in E major, using a block-chord theme not unlike that of the 'Waldstein' Sonata. Beethoven seems to have had a special interestin the relationship of E major to C major, and from the start of his work on this sonata he was determined to exploit this interest. Other apparently early sketchesforthe sonata appear on p. I23 of the sketchbook. Their fragmentarynature, together with the primitive state of many of them, seems to indicate that at least some of them were made before those on p. I22, which are much more advanced and coherent. Some of the material on p. I 23 is not used at all in later sketches or the autograph-including a very strange sketch in i on stave 4 (Ex. 2), which might have been
Ex. 2
wb I I mWr Ir
.[?J [?]
,^^t
^#,_
FE
W I
intended as a possible theme for the Finale. The sketches with ideas retained up to the autograph-those on staves 6-io and I7are all of sections that one might expect to cause difficulty:the second subject sketched in the tonic (for the recapitulation); the fourbars of, the development; the end of the approach to, and first development; and the extra material incorporated near the start of the recapitulation (bars I67-73 in the final version). The latter
172
passage is at this early stage an extended episode of some sixteen bars that wanders into several keys and takes a long time reestablishing the tonic.7 (The final version is remarkably neat and concise by comparison.) As for the C major sketch for the second melodic outline fromthe final subject, it shows a slightlydifferent versionbut is actually closer than the one in E major on the opposite which was evidently writtenlater-this is only four page (I22/3), bars long and has the second phrase falling instead of rising. Both versions were superseded by one in the bottom right-handcorner of p. I23 that gives every indication of having been added fairly hastily some time after all the other sketches on these two pages. It is writtenin a large, bold hand, with different ink fromthe other sketches,and it is placed at a distance fromthem. It has the theme as in the finalversionof the recapitulation-starting in A major and modulating via A minor to C major. This sketch,unlike the others on p. I23, must belong to Stage II or perhaps even later in the compositional process. The sketcheson pp. I22 and I 24 give a broad surveyof the whole movement-we finddraftsof extended sectionsfromthe exposition, development, coda and, by implication, the recapitulation. Not all are set down in the order in which theyfinallyappeared, however: p. I22/I is a sketch for bars 3I-34; is of bars 78-82; I22/3 I22/2 is of bars 35-38 (or possibly 39-42, the second half of the second subject); and the end of stave 3 to stave 5 is an eleven-bar sketch representingbars 66-77 inclusive. Only on stave 6 does Beethoven begin a continuitydraftfora substantial portion of the exposition. The apparently haphazard order of these lines raises several queries. Did Beethoven write down these sketches in the order in which theyappear in the movement? This seems hardly likely,as he would not have set them out so illogically. Did he set them down in the same order that appears in the sketchbook? If so, he was thinkingthroughthispart of the movementin an odd way. Was he uncertain in what order the elements he had writtendown would finally appear? This is also hard to believe: they could scarcely appear in any order otherthan the one theydo. A likelyexplanation is that hewas thinkingof the whole of the second half of the exposition at once and writingdown any section-beginning, middle or end-which crystallizedin his mind. If this is so, then we can see him workingat thissectionfromboth ends, sketching first the lead-in to the second subject, and the codetta, then the second subject itself and the bars beforethe codetta, with a gap in the middle which stillhad to be thoughtout. At thisstage thereis no sign of eitherthe tripletfiguration ofbars 42-57 or the semiquavers ofbars 58-65, and
I Quoted ibid., p. 6o. STAGE II (pp. I22,
I23/I6-I7,
I24/ I-'
I)
'73
Beethoven probably envisaged the missingsectionas being no longer than about fouror fivebars. Having obtained a roughidea ofthesecond halfofthe exposition, Beethoven is ready on stave 6 to begin a continuitydraft for the half. Clearly he had given farmore thoughtto thisthan appears first in the sketchbook, for he ran straight through 30 bars without stopping and almost without alteration. There are, of course, fromthe final version. The sketch begins with a several differences semiquaver pattern similar to that of bars I4-I5, rather than with repeated quavers; bars 7-8 appear in the major then in the minor, ofbars 9-IO is with the minorversionofbar 7 deleted; the figuration less smooth than in the final version; and bar 2I iS missing.But by half of the expositionis already not and large thissketchof the first farfromthe finalversion. By contrastthe development sketchesthat follow (p. I22/II-I4, I5-I 8) are much less advanced; in fact,theyare even more primitive sketchesforthe second half of the exposition than the fragmentary sketchapparently plunges into the The first of the page. at the top arpeggio middle of the development with a long diminished-seventh (Ex. 3) which, though not appearing in the finalversion,anticipates After this, triplet a similar arpeggio in the Finale (bars 46I-4). appearance of any tripletsin the figurationis introduced-the first sketchesapart fromtwo bars on p. I23 apparently intended forthe coda. But these tripletsare undeveloped and occupy only fourbars before giving way to semiquaver figuration representing the retransition.
Ex. 3 .7-
_ _ __ i ~~~~~~~~I
__ _etc.
11
pir
IFFL19P
6-LV
The second development sketch (p. I22/I5 ff.) is an attempt at a continuity draft for the whole development and on into the few bars are almost as in the finalversion, recapitulation.8The first and the next few have a similar harmonic direction, through G minor and C minor to F minor, over an identical time span (I 4 bars). On reaching F (apparently major, though some flatsmay have been omitted), Beethoven plunges straightinto four bars of triplets(Ex. 4); thisis followedby a gap (stave I8) which may imply that the four bars are to recur transposed to C. If so, the next part of the sketch-two more bars of tripletsand then repeated g" quavers for the right hand-follows on neatly. At the end of the is written'Vi-', and the sketch continues at '-le' line (D. I22/I8)
' Beethoven clearly regards the development as starting at bar go rather than 86, for this is where the sketch starts and spatially it begins significantlynearer the margin than any other line on the page except the one forthe start of the exposition. I74
Ex. 4
ti
r,l 9
tstl ,_
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~[sicl
O _^
P?
on p. I24/I (this confirmsthat most of p. I23 must have been filledalready with Stage I sketches). In this sketchforthe retransition, unlike any others, Beethoven introduces more development material immediately after the beginning of the recapitulation:
Ex. 5
[1.21
1 I13
There are no more sketchesfor the recapitulation at this stage. Beethoven seems already to have decided that it would be perfectly regular apart fromthe divergence in bars I67-73. The only other problem would be the key of the second subject, which is sorted out on p. I23/i6-I7, as has already been seen. The other sketcheson p. I24 are apparently all for the coda. The firsttwo have little cohesion or sense of direction and contain material soon discarded; but the third, an alternative marked 'oder', shows Beethoven already well on the way to the final version. This sketch is worth quoting in full (Ex. 6). The coda here begins in A flat,an easy key to reach fromC since the modulation can be the same as that from E to C in the first-time bars of the exposition. The word 'Cadenza' seems to indicate that there is a short episode probably of bravura figuration,the details of which had still to be worked out. Judging by the size of the rest of the coda, one would expect this 'cadenza' to last about ten or twelve bars. The word also betraysthe influence of the concerto; this influenceis continued in the final bars, which have somethingof the feelingof a final orchestralritornello.Since the general shape of thiscoda sketchis preservedin the finalversion, it seems legitimate to regard this notion of a cadenza as having survivedin bars 259-94 of the sonata as we know it, particularlyin
175
Ex 6
'i oder
19
1 I nJ 1 IU if 6_
FE FEM
_ P I.
FL].
r .q:
"[if
NWi00b_
i Fri
A9
*i_
Cadenza-
Isici
r.i ;i LJ
sc In
the passage (barS 278 if.) that begins in classic concerto fashion, with a I chord on the dominant. By the time Beethoven had finishedthis sketch he had done a rough outline of the whole movement. To judge by what we know of his procedure in other cases," he would not have foundit difficult to make (or at least to begin) an autograph score fromthese continuity drafts,fillingin the occasional gaps and elaborating the figuration. Had he done this, the main differencebetween this hypothetical score and the actual, autograph would be in length. in the sketches for one Making due allow-ancc for bars miissing reason or another, the length of the movement at this stage was about 190 bars, made up of approximately 6i, 38, 63 and 28 bars respectively for the four sections of the movement. In the final version,however,thishas been expanded to 30 2bars (89 +66 +93 + 54). How do these lengthscompare with those of Beethoven's earlier sonatas? The shorterversionof about 190o bars is similar to the first movements of many of them (taking into account the varying sonatas); it is slightlylonger than some, lengthsof bars in different to draw different slightlyshorterthan others, but not sufficiently than any But the finalversionis noticeably longer attentionto itself.
sketchbooks Beethoven's between on therelationship discussions 9 See LewisLockwood's ofDefiniSome Problems and Autographs: Sketches in 'On Beethoven's and hisautographs, Unfinished and 'Beethoven's xlii (I970), 32-47, ActaMusicologica, tionand Interpretation', 624-46. lvi (I970), of I8I5: Sourcesand Problems',TheMusicalQuarterly, Piano Concerto
176
previous one, just as the 'Eroica' Symphony,sketchedearlier in the same sketchbook, is markedly longer than all earlier symphonies, although the early sketchesdo not suggest that it will be. In many of Beethoven's other works we also find early sketchesthat suggest much shorter movements than eventually emerged, and it seems to have been the material he was using that forced him to expand have ended movements as he worked on them. He may therefore up with movements much longer than originally planned, or he may have expected such expansion to take place during the course ofcomposition. But eitherway, the 'Waldstein' Sonata is unusual in that the sketchesof Stage II are already of a movement of normal length,even beforethey had undergone much expansion. Beethoven seems to have been temporarily satisfied by the sketchesof Stage II, anyway, and on p. I25 of the sketchbook he turned his attention to the Andante and Finale, writing 'Rondo' at the head of the page.10Staves i-6 have Finale sketches,7-I2 have are blank. The Andante is taking Andante sketches, and I3-I8 shape well, but the Finale is at this stage in I and the theme11is totally unlike the eventual theme, which had clearly not occurred to Beethoven at thisstage.
STAGE III
Having had a rest from the firstmovement on p. I25, Beethoven returnedto it on the page-opening I26-7. The movement as it was would have been perfectlyadequate as an opening sonata movement, but Beethoven was no longer satisfiedwith what was merely adequate, and his apparent temporarysatisfaction, representedby the 'interval' on p. I25, now gives way to renewed determination. He is principally concerned here with the development section, though there are a few sketchesforthe coda, the Andante and the Finale. The first sketch(staves I-3) is ofthe startofthe development (frombar go), and it was only at thisstage that Beethoven replaced the semiquaver figuration of the main theme with repeated quavers a change which he later carried back to the exposition. In this sketch he reaches F minor after only ten bars, whereas in the previous sketchand the final version this takes fourteen.Staves 5-6 contain an alternative to this sketch (frombar 94) up to bar ioo, where Beethoven has reached C major or minor. Staves 7 and 9 show him tryingto develop the motif 4 4n sequence, while on stave 8, marked 'oder', is another idea later discarded (Ex. 7). The lower half of the page is rather fragmentaryand is concerned mainly with the coda. Most of the ideas were eventually rejected, but the second attempt at the end of the coda (stave I7) comes close to the final version (see Ex. 8).
10
(pp. I26-7)
11 Quoted in Nottebohm, op. cit., p. 63.
Both the Andante and the Finale are in rondo form.
I77
Ex. 7
Q
Ex. 8
oderF
Jletc.-
Art
r-
The top line of the opposite page (I 27) is also successful:forthe first time Beethoven sketchesthe lefthand of bars I 7 I-3 exactly as it will appear in the final version, superseding the long, rambling versionwe saw on p. I 23.12 Stave 2 has a long scale figure(presumably an attempt at the righthand part of the retransition),and on staves 3-7 are more Andante sketches. On stave 8 intensive work begins on the development, the first7 bars of which are sketched almost as in thefinalversion; the nextfewbars (97-I03) are omitted, probably because Beethoven had already decided roughly their shape, and sketchingis resumed fromthe end of bar I o3. Previously on reaching F in proceeding satisfactorily he had had difficulty ahead confidently, developing the material minor,but now he forges and harmonic pattern as in the autograph. in a new rhythmic This takes Beethoven through to bar iii, where the triplet figurationbegins. He had already used triplets at this poin:t,in Stage II, but thereit was only forabout ten bars, which will clearly sketcheson p. I 27 (staves io, i i and I5, The triplet no longersuffice. the last apparently a continuation fromstave 9) are still confused, however, and do not link together.At this stage, then, Beethoven had decided he wanted an extended tripletsection-much longer than he had previouslyhad-but had not sorted out the details of and how it would all fittogether. or harmonic progression figuration The tripletsare essentiallynon-thematic: although analysts might say they develop the 'theme' found immediately after the second subject (bar 50 of the expQsition),Beethoven had not sketched this 'theme' at this stage of his work on the tripletsin the development. have regarded themnot in melodic termsbut as a He musttherefore contrastto the preceding semiquavers,and as a decoration rhythmic that span several bars and mightmodulate to harmonic progressions to remote keys. We should be wary of tryingto pick out themes eitherby dividing them into groups or by placing fromthe triplets, of each threeor six. special emphasis on the first two are interesting sketches.The first(Ex. 9), On D. I27/Iq-I4
12
See note 7 above.
178
= .X-%11* I
_ fi _, I ,.
I
--
rf.
tr-
marked 'finis' and intended for the coda, is a very beautiful one, and it is a pity therewas no room forit in the finalversion; but this does contain a development of the idea (bar 26I). The other sketch (Ex. Io), very much on its own in the bottom right-handcorner,is similar to the theme of the Finale, although it is in I time strikingly and seems to belong to the firstmovement. This raises several interesting questions. Had Beethoven thought of the Finale theme at this stage? Did he notice the similarity, and how close is it? Was this idea incorporated into the firstmovement? And if so, should one give it special emphasis in performance?
Ex.10
The answer to the firstquestion is that the Finale theme first appears on the page opposite this sketch (p. I26). It is also in the bottom right-hand corner and rather isolated; indeed, both sketchesgive the impression that they may have been added after the rest of these two pages. They are in a similar kind of graphic styleand could well have been written down at about the same time. This suggests that Beethoven did notice their similarity.Even if they were writtenat different times,both would have been clearly visible at the same time, being on facing pages, and it would have been perfectly natural to look across to the sketchon the corresponding part of the opposite page. Ex. I I shows the Finale sketch.The differences are obvious--in length, pitch, rhythmand range. Yet there are many similarities, especially if the last two bars of Ex. IO are ignored: both passages consistof an eight-beat phrase which is repeated; both have a low first note, a high G on the second beat, and then descend in a typeof arpeggio to the lower G on the sixth beat beforerisingto C on the seventh. The similarityof Ex. io to the final version of the Finale
Ex. 11
'79
notesare G and E, and an extra and fourth wherethethird theme, ofthe notonlyare four beat,is evengreater: E is added on theeighth but octave transposition), sevennotesthe same pitch (apart from thesame direction-up-down-downmovein exactly boththemes down-up-up. It is hard to believe that Beethovencould have especiallyas he was working overlookedsuch a close similarity, on bothideas at thesametime. but could easilyevolveintoits finalversion, The Finale sketch what happened to the othersketch?On p. I28 it appears again, thesecondhalfofthe for draft thistimein themiddleofa continuity the return just before situated movement, of the first development to semiquavers.In the finalversionof the sonata thesesix bars two notesare part of bars I36-4I; the first become the left-hand decorated,the e' is replaced by an f'# and the last two bars are as the same theme, but it is easilyrecognisable different, slightly If this themehas the still movingup-down-down-cown-up-up. to give the lefthand earlier,it is tempting suggested importance special emphasisin bars I36-9 whilekeepingthe righthand soft. thisinterpretation evidenceto support provides And theautograph right-hand 'f' besideboth" writes (see Plate I): in bar I 36 Beethoven of the bar, but onlyone 'p? stavesat the beginning and left-hand that stave,thusimplying laterin thebar; thisis fortheright-hand This is a loud. Bar I 38 has similarmarkings. hand remains theleft Most of the sonata have in generaloverlooked. detail thateditors one and of the bar have just one 'f' at the beginning editions 'p' of thesketches thestavesat theend. We can now see from between in is at this actually point melody Stages III-IV thatthe leading wantedthis thatBeethoven theautograph, theleft hand,and, from emphasized.
STAGE
ofthe for thesecondhalf drafts with continuity StageIV is concerned of bar i i2. This was the part at the triplets starting development, that still had not been fullyworkedout in Stage III. The first to bar I42, through right sketch (p. I28/I-2, 4-6) tracesthesection bar I24, out and then,from written figuration withthetriplet first someofthe outlined. Although progressions just theharmonic with and melodicoutlinewere to be alteredsubdetailsof figuration thesame lengthas is exactly thissketch in laterversions, stantially bar isessentially and moreover every version, thepassagein thefinal timeharmonic We findhere forthe first the same harmonically. such as the one to E flatminorand the enharmonic progressions thelatter (from Nevertheless partofthissketch changeto B minor. on stavesI0-I3, which a of substitute bar I23) is deletedin favour handwhilekeeping theleft for melodic pattern different hasa slightly harmonies. same the to and thence on intotheretransition carries This secondsketch
I8o
IV (p.
I28)
..........u
~.
'V~~~~~~~~~.
the start of the recapitulation (bar I56). It shows that Beethoven wanted to build, on a dominant pedal, a right-handpart that would rise to high f"', hover there briefly and plunge down rapidly, withoutpause, into the recapitulation. The details of thisneeded to be worked out very carefully, however; Beethoven had already sketched the end of the retransitionseveral times at earlier stages (on pp. I20, I22, I23, I24 and twice on I27), which shows that he was particularlyconcerned about it, that he was aware that it was giving difficulty, and that although he had decided on the lefthand motiffromthe outset (p. I 20) and the risingand plunging shape of the right hand from soon after,he still had no clear vision of the length or rhythmicdetails of the retransition.At the present stage he was workingon the link between bar I42, where his development sketcheshad now reached, and his previous sketchesforthe last two or three bars of the retransition. The substitutesketch (staves I2-I 3) is very close to the final version but three bars shorter--eleven instead of fourteen (bars
I42-55)---with
(Ex. I2). On stave I 4 is an even shorterversion of only ten bars. On staves i6-i8, still not satisfied,Beethoven triessomethingquite different: on reaching the dominant at bar I42, instead of retaining it he interpolatessome further development of the rhythmic figures of bars 3 and 4, moving into D minor then gradually back to a G chord which becomes the dominant seventhas in previoussketches (a total of 24 bars). In the end none of these three versions was adopted; there are no sketches coinciding with the final version. Beethoven had produced several reasonably satisfactoryversions of the basic shape of the retransition,ranging from about ten to twenty bars, and it is precisely because of this that he spends so long in deciding which to adopt. He seems to be huntingforsomethingneat and concise, yetsufficiently long and weightyto serve as a preparation for the recapitulation. The 24-bar version is too long, while the ten-bar one is too short and square, and brings in the seventh of the chord too early. Only when Beethoven comes to write the autograph does he findexactly the rightbalance between the two extremes.
Ex. 12
-,J - 1 . ,jP ,, 1 1 I F
the righthand risingto a top f"' quite rapidly
rn
. i 4w F,
!i
1 JF
l-'J~ -I
q-
~~~
turns Beethoven thedevelopment, oiut Having moreor'lessworked on p. 129. forthe recapitulation draft his atten'tion to a continuity quite quicklysince it is largelyregularand This can be sketched formuchoftheexposition. existed already' draft sincea continuity at bars I67-73 withtheinterpolation quite closely, This is followed does notdetail Beethoven easily.Strangely, in perfectly now fitting thattakesplace at bars I8I-3 the exposition from the divergence how he is threeblank bars,as ifhe knowsroughly butjust writes to A'minor.The preparation the modulation goingto consolidate in fully, but the actual four-bar forthe secondsubjectis sketched much squarer and being in version fromthe final lead-in differs ofthesefour version final The 13). (Ex. obvious more rhythmically disguises effectively it in way the bars is, of course,veryingenious irregular and overlapping of means by outline the four-square phrase-lengths.
Ea. 13_r
_ _ . u _
STAGE V (p. I29/I-14)
wr
ti^ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~70 -__ ___
elaborabut thetriplet complete The secondsubjectis sketched need not by blankbars- Beethoven largely tionofit is represented ofa themehe has write out whatis reallya verysimpledecoration ofbars 2 I -I8 now appear down. The triplet patterns just written in theshort As notedalready, thefirst time. for form in their diatonic in wereno triplets movement (Stage II, p. I22) there version ofthe' But subsequent' and onlya fewin thedevelopment. the exposition section; in an extendedtriplet resulted workon the development into triplets as it were,inserts backwards working now Beethoven, too). into the exposition (and by implication the recapitulation is not derivedfrom draft ofthiscontinuity Much oftheremainder without it any 'Vi-de' markings but proceeds previoussketches, of the recapitulation the end to alteration'up and almostwithout on stave I4. (bar 248), whichis reached
STAGE VI (p I 30/1-9) Beethoven clearly regards the coda (bars 249-302) as a separate
forthison a draft forhe beginsa continuity stageof composition, on p. I 29 beneaththerecapitulathancontinuing newpage rather tion.This coda sketchbeginsin D flat,as in the autograph(the are had begunin A flat).Its generaloutlines coda sketch previous several there are but final important of the version those to similar seemsto showthesortofcoda Beethoven As thissketch differences.
I82
had he feltunable to use notes above f"t',13 mighthave written

and for purposes of comparison with the final version, it is quoted in full (Ex. 14).
Ex. 14
[t?]=
rXt:XrE:ftWniiD:b;:LFriLWJ
rBr:S2vlJ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_ gol
rECffFt
a el
[W] C Cl r o IlS;
[ '2:'
1[>]?
> lr
Laft
f
:rS
2 l4>
- Ir $ r $ If $ -~~~~~~~~~
@ Wf
lgr
>
IrffX
prlErf>
13 This is the first sonata to take account of the extended compass (to c"") of the Erard piano sent to Beethoven in the summer of I803.
I83
Underneath thiscoda sketch,on p. I 30/ I 0-I 4, and also on p. I 3 I /I, are furthershort ideas for the coda. The one on p. I3I, which contains an idea eventually rejected (Ex. I5), is notable as it includes a high g"'. Below this sketch are some Andante sketches (p. I3 /2-I 5), and afterBeethoven had made these he filledin the bottomfourlinesofp. I 30 and the bottomthreeofp. I 3 I (continuing overleaf to p. I32/I) with a second continuitydraftfor the coda, three bars of the previous coda draft.This deleting all but the first second draftalso contains high notes-a top a"' followedby top g"' version). (p. I 3 I /I 6; seebar 276 ofthefinal
Ex. 15
STAGE VII (pp.
I30-32)
PF; I ~~~~~~~~O
I e./
1A ,D
lTheappearance of these high notes is of considerable interest. BeforeStage VII thereare no clear examples of any notes abovef"'. One note on p. I22/I looks like anf '", but it could be a d "'p,which would make equal musical sense. There is also a section in the recapitulation sketch (bars 229-34) where highernotes are implied, and are indeed used in the autograph, but this,too, proves nothing, forthere are many such implicationsin sketchesforearlier sonatas, where the printed edition avoids them somehow-often rather Thus evidence thatBeethoven mighthave envisaged uncomfortably. and against it must be set occasionally using higher notes is flimsy, these facts: (a) up to p. I30 there has not been a single high g "', though thiswould be an obvious note fora C major sonata (it often appears in Finale sketches after p. 131); (b) high f"' frequently occurs, which might imply that this was the highest note on the keyboard and that Beethoven had devised a sonata that would that might naturally fitthe compass exactly; (c) certain figurations have used the higher notes, for example the diminished seventh arpeggio of Ex. 3, turn back on themselvesas if restrictedby the compass of the keyboard. Thus the evidence stronglysupports the hypothesisthat Beethoven did not initiallyintend to use notes above f"', and it was only at Stage VII, when he came to revise the coda sketch,that he at last admitted them. Can we deduce from this that the Erard piano arrived when Beethoven had completed Stage VI, and induced him to revise the coda to take advantage of the higher notes? Here we must turn to the archives of the Erard external evidence. It is known fromtn pianos on 6 August i803.14 firmthat Beethoven was sentone of tiheir
14
I964, ed. ElliotForbes,Princeton, See Thayer's LifeofBeethoven,
i.
335.
184
To date the sketches,however,it is necessaryto consider where they stand in relation to sketches for other works composed about the same time. Work on the sonata as a whole occupies pp. 120-145 of the sketchbook; practically nothing else is found on these pages. Scattered over pp. 96-I20 (only) are sketches for part of Vestas Feuer; and from p. I46 onwards are the firstsketches for Leonore. Since the sonata fitsso exactly into the pages between these two works,with neither any gap nor any overlap (indeed the sketches for VestasFeuerstop on p. 12o/8 and those for the sonata begin on p. I 20/9), it is highlyprobable that the sonata was not begun until about the time Beethoven abandoned VestasFeuer,and that it was fullysketchedby about the time he began workon Leonore. Beethoven undertook to write Vestas Feuerin the springof I803, but he made a slow start,forwe read in a letterdated 2 November 'I am only now beginning at my I803, towork opera'.15 He never really got beyond the 'beginning' stage, but the implication is that he would not have reached p. I 20 at the date of the letter.By the end of the year, however, he had returned the libretto to Schikaneder (its author), and in a letter dated 4 January I804 he writes: 'I have quickly had an old French libretto adapted and am now beginningto workon it'.16 If the 'Waldstein' Sonata was sketchedin itsentirety between the time Beethoven abandoned VestasFeuer and the time he began theouterdate limitsmustbe 2 November I 803 and 4January Leonore, I 804. He therefore had the upper notes of the Erard piano available throughoutthe time of sketchingthe sonata, and yet did two complete sketchesof the first movement,plus several short sketchesfor the last two, without using these notes. But one must remember that Beethoven was not writingpurely for instruments in his own possession,nor was his piano the only one in Vienna with the larger compass. Such pianos, some actually made in Vienna, were gradually becoming more and more common at the time,17 and so Beethoven would have been bound to decide at some point that theywere now sufficiently plentifulfor him to risk using the extra notes that he wanted. He seems to have made this decision, as we now see, when he reached pp. I30-3I of the sketchbook, by which time he had almost finished sketchingthe first movementofthissonata. This second draftofthe coda on p. I 30 differs in many ways from the first. The first was one bar longer than the finalversion,but this sketch is longer still, having bars 249-52 repeated in E flat minor (going to B flatminor) beforeproceeding with material corresponding to bars 253 if. This timethe righthand is sketchedforbars 255-8, and this fitswith the previous draft (which showed the lefthand),
16
17 See William Newman, 'Beethoven's Pianos versus his Piano Ideals', Journal of the American MusicologicalSociety, xxiii (0970), 492.
15 The Letters ofBeethoven, trans. and ed. Emily Anderson, London, I96I, Ibid., i. I05-6.
i. ioo.
I85
there Thereafter from the finalversion. slightly thoughbothdiffer fromthe previouscoda sketch: are two main sectionsthat differ and organised one is the'passagebars 271-82, whichis now better has a clearersense of direction;the otheris the cadence at bars bars."' byfour 288-95,whichis alteredand extended Beethovenwas now ready to writeout the autographwithout, and it forthe movement, makingany moresketches apparently, fromthe sketchbook would have been possibleto workdirectly he had decided on mentally any alterations drafts, incorporating has imovement ofthefirst The autograph thesketches. sincemaking showingthat Beethovenhad a clear 'idea of veryfew deletions, the 'Introit out. By contrast writing almostall the detailsbefore has numersecondmovement duzione'whichreplacedtheoriginal survive deletionsand 'Vi-de' marks.No sketches ous alterations, write it without Did Beethoven for it,as we have alreadyobserved. sketching? anypreliminary has,in additionto manyminor oftheexposition The autograph such from the draft forit-differences continuity differences only in bar 4 and so on-several alterations ofgrace-notes as theaddition of repeated ideas. These include the substitution of fundamental in barsJ-2 and a morecontinuous a semiquaver tremolo quaversfor however, in bar i i. Many ofthealterations, figuration semiquaver draft thesetwo,can be foundas earlyas the continuity including and so we mustdeduce that,whenwriting forthe recapitulation, n workednot from Beethove out the autographof the exposition, This fortherecapitulation. thesketch but from sketches exposition is almost would have caused no problem as the recapitulation regular. entirely followsthe half of the development(bars 90-iII) The first are a third motifs higher too; a few oftheright-hand closely sketches areno other significant ortransposed up ordownan octave,butthere had Beethoven In the secondhalfof the development differences. of bars i I2-42 at speakingreachedthe finalversion harmonically he had Stage IV, as'we have seen,so whenhe wrotetheautograph whichhe figuration, to workout the detailsof the triplet merely We have also seen unimportant. relati7vely considered presumably to theleft-hand partofbars 136-9,and that thathe drawsattention at the retransition unsuccessful attempts he had made numerous (bars 142-55). In the autographbars i42-6 followone of the from anything considerably sketches (p. I 28), butbars 147-5 I differ these bars separhave sketched Beethoven may in the sketchbook. before writing atelyon somescrapofpaper,now'lost,immediately is perhapsstrengthened by a out the autograph.This supposition
18
STAGE VIiI
(Autograph)
op.cit.,p. 6o. Quoted in Nottebohm,
i86
whichmight be a pencilsignat theend ofbar 146 oftheautograph, reminder to switchfrom one sketchto anotherat thispoint.Bars from thesketches. differences 152-5 showonlyminor ifwe bear in is almostentirely The recapitulation predictable, mindthatit would moreor less matchtheexposition exceptin the few places that the sketches indicateit will not. The coda (bars continuity draftsfor it, one of which was crossedout, but the of an amalgam,drawingsometimes autographcoda is something on one,sometimes both(wheretheycoincide) theother, sometimes neither. Bars 249-54 followthe earlierdraft, but and sometimes fromboth drafts. Bars 259 and 26I-70 bars 255-8 differ slightly followboth,while bar 260 follows just the later one; bars 27 i-6 approximateto the later sketchbut are verydifferent fromthe earlier one; bars27 7-83 are considerably different from either draft, thoughmuchcloserto the later; bars 284-9 followboth sketches; bars 2go-6 followthe earlierbut are verydifferent from thelater; and bars 297-302 moreor less coincidewithboth versions. Thus for itwouldnothavebeenstrictly Beethoven towrite outa necessary draftmatching the finalversionof the coda, forhe had written down almostall the materialalready.But he musthave thought hard about the overall shape of it, and consideredmentally the various options available, beforedeciding exactly which comofideas to adoptin theautograph. bination All thatremainsto be considered now is the alterations to the itself. autograph They can be groupedintothree basic types. In the first typethereis no change of actual concept: eitherBeethoven writes downsomething he does notintend, through carelessness, or elsebecauseofsomenotational difficulty he realises thatwhathe has written or is writingis not entirely clear. A surprisingly large numberof alterations come into thiscategory, and in generalall alterations shouldfirst be considered forthispossibility, before they are regarded as compositionaladjustments."'An example of is the first carelessness left-hand noteof bar I 72, whereBeethoven writes an ab and has to alterit tof,whichhad alreadybeendecided on in thesketchbook. The greatest notational problems comein the left-hand partsof bars II4 and iI8, wherealthoughthe idea is simplethe notationhas to be quite complex; both thesebars are crossed out and rewritten, though by the timethefigure reappears in bar I22 the difficulty has been overcome.It is not alwaysabsoa correction is of thisfirst lutelycertainwhefher typeor not,but
For example, thealterations in Op. 26 to whichLewisLockwoodhas devotedso much attention (see 'On Beethoven's Sketches and Autographs', p. 32) are probablyof thistype. It would have been easy forBeethoven to alterwhat Lockwoodcalls 'A I' to 'A 2' simply byaddingan upwardcrotchet tailto theAb and filling in thebass; butbythetimeBeethoven got as faras he did with'A I' he probablyrealisedthatadding an upwAard tail would look confusing whenfollowed by thenextbar,wherehe wanteda downward tail to theAb Which would be tied to theprevious Ab. Thus rather thanallow thishe preferred to write out the bar again withthetailspointing in theopposite direction.
249-302),
however, shows several new ideas. There had been two
i87
there seem to be at least ten examples in the movement-in bars alteration). 46, 73, 90, I 04, I I 4, I I 8, I 30, I 66, I 72 and 288 (first The second typeis the simple change ofmind,withoutany direct link with the sketchbook. The change may be made immediately or it may be made much later-conceivably even some weeks after the autograph has been finished.The alteration to bar 42, for example, must have been made immediately,for the earlier version, which had a differenttriplet pattern, is deleted and the whole bar is written out immediately afterwards,before bar 43. The change in the lefthand in bar 27, however,where the notes B-e-g-b are replaced by a#-b-g-e, must have been made somewhat later, for the earlier version is still found in the recapitulation and is similarlyaltered. Other alterations that can be classed as 'simple changes' are those in bars i8, 96, two in 229 (both righthand) and 246. The latter is interesting:Beethoven initiallywrote a first-time bar and a repeat of the entiredevelopment and recapitulation,but there is no sign of this intentionin the sketches. is where the earlier The thirdtype,perhaps the mostinteresting, version coincides with the continuitydraft in the sketchbook. In these cases Beethoven could either have deliberately copied the sketchand thendecided to make an alteration,or have decided on a about it while copying from new version but temporarilyforgotten the sketchbook.This typeof alterationis rare-there are only three is in bar 25, where in the right in the whole movement. The first hand Beethoven initiallywritesa crotchetb" tied to a semiquaver, as in bar 23. This versionappears in the sketchesforboth the exposition (p. I 22/9) and the recapitulation (p. I29/4); only afterthis is copied into the autograph does he decide that it is betterto let the music run on with continuous semiquavers in the righthand. The amendment must have been made fairlypromptly,for the earlier versiondoes not appear in the autograph of the recapitulation. The second case is in the lefthand of bars 228-30, where in the earlier versionthe quaver passage is begun on a g (Ex. I 6). This is as in the
Ex. 16
sketchbook(p. I 29/I I), though thisversionhad not been used in the exposition and presumably would not have been intended in the recapitulation. Probably Beethoven copied the passage directly from the sketchbook before realising he had wanted a slightly lower version. The other example of an alteration in this thirdtype is the substitutionof a'4 for a't in bar 239. In the sketch, bars
235-8 were in the major and 239-42 in the minor; in the autograph
235-8 are in the minor and Beethoven begins the next fourbars in
i 88
the minor, either deliberately or throughfollowingthe sketchbook too closely, before altering it to major. The a'Q's in bar 240 are clearly marked and are not altered fromflats. These three alterations of the third type show how closely the final continuitydraftis related to the autograph. In all probability Beethoven had the sketchbook open in frontof him when writing out the autograph. The only real alteration fromstill later was the substitutionofJ for j in the lefthand in bar I05; this happened after the music had been engraved, at the proof stage, as is clear frommarksat thispoint in the original edition.20 It seems reasonable to assume that the most importantfeatures of the movement were generally those Beethoven conceived first, and that towards the end of his work he was concerned mainly with sortingout minor details. Two principal featuresof the movement are therefore the contrastbetween the key areas of C and E, and the nature of the retransition, which is most unusual in building up toff and then plunging without pause straightinto a pp recapitulation. Both featuresare presentfromthe verystart; the basic outline of the retransitionis present in all the sketches for it, and it is just the precise details, and the length, that took so long to work out. A similar order of priorities is visible in otherparts of the movement-for example, the melodic shape of the development tripletsis less important than the fact that this is a rhythmiccontrastto the first half of the development. But although Beethoven begins by workingon basic fragments, and later fillsin details of figuration,he can also be seen to work through the movement in four sections, from exposition to coda. The analysis of sonata movements into four sections is so fundamental that composers are more or less obliged to work at four independent compositional problems. Thus in this movement pp. I20 and I23 are mainly fragments; p. I22 is mainly on the exposition and development; p. I24 consists of more fragments (mainly links); pp. I26-8 are devoted mainly to the development; p. I29 contains therecapitulation and pp. I 30-32 havecoda sketches. Once a section is sketched more or less complete it is usually abandoned until the autograph; we find no exposition sketches after p. I22, very few development sketches after p. I28 and no recapitulation sketches after p. I29. The development comes nearest to upsetting this scheme, for parts of it needed several sketches. It was clearly the most difficultpart to compose not surprisingly since, unlike the exposition, there was no set plan for the composer to follow. Beethoven also worked through the three movementsroughlyin order; he did not simply allocate a different
20 See Dagmar Weise, 'Zum Faksimiledruck von Beethovens Waldsteinsonate', Beethovenii (1955-6), 102-I I. Jahrbuch,
I 89
part of the sketchbookto each, for there are a few sketchesfor the last two movementsmixed up with the main work on the first. Several other points have emerged from this study. For the performerthe most significantis probably the discovery that in bars I36-9 the left hand has the tune and should be played forte throughout.For the analyst there is the likelihood that these bars are directlyrelated to the Finale theme, even if the exact nature of the relationship is uncertain. (A possible interpretation,for example, is that Beethoven's workon these bars, moving away from his original idea, affected his work on the Finale theme, which the shape of this sketch. Details rejected in one develops towards movement can be successfullyadapted in another.) The analyst should also consider the influenceof the concertoon thismovement. Several writershave commented on the concerto-likestyleof some sections--for example the second subject, which is stated in a quasi-orchestralversion and repeated with pianistic decorations-principles. and the movementcould almost be analysed on ritornello labelled actually cadenza the To these featurescan now be added contrast the that is point analytical in the sketchbook. Another not offiguration; between bars i and I 4 is essentiallyone ofregister, tremolo semiquaver a as opening the sketched originally Beethoven and only altered it halfway through the sketches--presumably because such rapid figuration at such a low pitch would lack clarity. movementis considerablylonger than in any previous The first piano sonata, yet this was not conceived as a primary feature,for continuity drafts on pp. I22-4 clearly represent a much shorter movement. Indeed Beethoven seems to have been temporarily satisfiedwith this, for he turned his attention to the second and movement thirdmovementson p. I 25. When he returnedto the first on p. I 26 it was primarilyto the development,which had previously part of the movement, and this was the been the least satisfactory section to which most attention was given in the sketches as a whole. Beethoven found the main themes of the movement fairly easily but had trouble over the non-thematicparts, which include most of the development; he was well rewarded, however, for the development is a magnificentpiece of expansive writingin which the material slowly unfolds over a relentlessrhythmicdrive that allows not a single proper breathingspace throughout.And it seems to have been the expansion of the development that really determined the eventual size of the movement as a whole; its long tripletsection demanded balancing sections in the exposition and recapitulation. Beethoven's preliminary work on the other two movements--especiallythe Andante--on pp. I2 i and I 25, may also movement. As well as increased have influencedthe size of the first length there is the increased keyboard compass required, the highestnote being a"' (not until the 'Appassionata', Op. 57, did he
I 90
require a top c""). But as we have seen, this cannot be directly related to his Erard piano since this probably arrived several months before the earliest sketches, which do not use the higher notes. Many of the conclusions reached contain an element of conjecture; far more must have taken place in Beethoven's mind than is writtendown on paper. Yet however skeletal the sketches and even the autograph are fromthis point of view, they show certain definitefeaturesfrom which reasonable deductions may be made about theirmostprobable interpretation.21
21 I should like to acknowledge the generous assistance given by ProfessorJosephKerman and Dr. Alan Tyson in the preparation of thisarticle.
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The Evolution of the First Movement of Beethoven's 'Waldstein' Sonata Author(s): Barry Cooper Source: Music & Letters,

OF THE FIRST THE EVOLUTION BEETHOVEN'S OF MOVEMENT SONATA 'WALDSTEIN'

26-7 I 28; I 29/I8

P. 58. Quoted ibid., p. 59 (Nottebohm's transcriptionof bars 3 and 4 is conjectural). I 7I

11 Quoted in Nottebohm, op. cit., p. 63.

Both the Andante and the Finale are in rondo form.

See note 7 above.

the righthand risingto a top f"' quite rapidly

STAGE V (p. I29/I-14)

ti^ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~70 - _

had he feltunable to use notes above f"t',13 mighthave written

STAGE VII (pp.

I964, ed. ElliotForbes,Princeton, See Thayer's LifeofBeethoven,

op.cit.,p. 6o. Quoted in Nottebohm,

however, shows several new ideas. There had been two

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