BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Friday, September 29, 1820 (approximately)
William Kinderman suggests that Beethoven completes a continuity draft of the third movement of the piano sonata #30, op.109, around the end of September. Only one page of this draft survives, held by the Library of Congress. There would thus be a complete draft of the sonata in existence by about this time, but Beethoven will continue to tinker with it until December.
Although he sketches out nine variations for this movement in desk sketchbook Artaria 195, only six variations make the cut and are included in the autograph. Some of those included are substantially modified from the sketch versions.
Maurizio Pollini here performs the third movement of sonata #30:
And here are the surviving sketches for the three unused variations, in our newest update to the site: