ABSTRACT

Since Gustav Nottebohm's attempt at a comprehensive survey in the nineteenth century, neglect has befallen many primary sources relating to the genesis of Beethoven's most significant works. As the years went by, Beethoven spent more and more time in sketching. It is also becoming clear that the sketches grew more and more diverse, both in their function and in their physical makeup. A cover provided by the first owners of 'Kullak', the firm of Artaria and Co., still survives. During the years 1824–6, when quartet writing was practically the composer's sole musical preoccupation, he became increasingly dependent on a third kind of sketching, for which the term 'score sketches' is perhaps the least misleading. Although the difficulty of deciphering Beethoven's late sketches has probably been 'superstitiously exaggerated', as Joseph Kerman once suggested, it is the art of interpreting a private, telegraphic musical code rather than safe, scientific analysis which is demanded.