Sketches for Unused Laendler for WoO 15, Biamonti 316 (1802)

Sketches for Unused Laendler for WoO 15, Biamonti 316 (1802)
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Author: Mark S. Zimmer
Length: 8:09
Unused Laendler for WoO 15, Biamonti 316 (1802)

These sketches are found on folios 22 and 23 of the Kessler sketchbook interlaced with sketches for the six laender in D and D minor that were eventually chosen for the set of dances for two violins and bass that is now catalogued by Kinsky-Halm as WoO 15.

The first dance sketched is represented here; the first half of it eventually became the first half of WoO 15 nr. 1, but the B section is completely different. Number 2 is unused, although it is somewhat similar to the eventual nr. 5 of WoO 15, it was considered different enough for inclusion here. Only the first pizzicato is actually marked in the score, but it obviously carries over to the other similar figures.

The third unused dance is again comparable to #5 of WoO 15, but it's different enough for inclusion. The A section has 10 bars, leading one to wonder whether the first two measures are really meant to be part of the dance, since it interrupts the usual 8-bar structure. Unlike the others, the fourth sketch has neither a repeat sign nor a double bar between the A and B sections. Since there is not a proper conclusion, but it dovetails nicely back to the beginning, the sketch is here given an ABA structure. Simply adding a concluding D would give the dance 9 bars instead of 8, indicating that this interpretation must be the correct one.

Although all of the other sketches are in D or D minor, there are also present 2 fragments in B minor (the relative minor to D major). These are the only sketches to provide a line for the bassist. This is an interesting contemplated inclusion of a third key for the set, but it clearly never got very far. The sixth dance is again comparable to #5 of WoO 15 but still different enough to merit separate consideration.

Concluding are two additional sketches, the last of which sounds rather too much like one of the movements from Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, which might explain its eventual exclusion from the set. These many unused dances, mostly complete, demonstrate the fertile imagination of Beethoven to produce so many dances in what looks to have been a single sitting.

The original sketches for the violin voices (and the brief bass segment) are presented here as another world premiere for The Unheard Beethoven.

WoO: 15
Biamonti: 316



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