Unfinished Concertante in D, Gardi 3 (1802) Score Fragment mp3 version

Unfinished Concertante in D, Gardi 3 (1802)

Beethoven occasionally got quite far along in a large-scale piece, then for one reason or another completely abandoned the project. That is the case with this Concertante in D, a triple concerto apparently for violin, cello and piano, which predates the familiar Triple Concerto, op. 56, by several years.

Beethoven enthusiastically began sketching this Concertante in the Kessler Sketchbook, which he used in the first half of 1802. A few sketches appear at folios 38v through 38r, and then a rather confident continuity draft begins at folio 41v. At about measure 40, however, Beethoven became dissatisfied and rewrote the second half of his continuity draft, messily scratching out much of what had gone before.

At about the same time, Beethoven must have begun preparing a full orchestral score, which bears the same paper watermark as the Kessler. This score, today a fragment of twelve leaves, catalogued as Artaria 183, is held by the Berlin Staatsbibliothek. The first few pages are missing, and the score begins at what is bar 43 of the revised Kessler continuity draft, continuing on through the entrances of the solo strings at bars 113-126. A few ideas for further solo parts are found at folio 41r f the Kessler sketchbook, but the corresponding versions in the score are much better developed.

It is clear, however, that Artaria 183 is missing its initial pages, and is not just a score that for some reason begins in the middle; the first note of the viola part has a tie to the preceding (now missing) page. Whether Beethoven ever continued any farther than bar 126 in score, however, is open to question. The last measure of the solo violin part does end at the end of the page, but by this point the score, which had been fairly full (though by no means completely voiced) has tapered off into something of a continuity draft itself. Little is sketched beyond the first exposition, however, and only a few brief, random and quite undeveloped ideas for later movements appear to be extant. Importantly, however, one of these ideas is labeled as being for "the Concertante," indicating exactly the form that Beethoven had in mind for this piece.

The principal study of these materials was done by Richard Kramer, whose work on the Concertante is published in Beethoven Studies 2 (1977). Kramer observes that "The very existence of a fragmentary score for the first movement of the concertante stands as evidence that Beethoven would work intermittently between sketchbook and score within a single movement....Much remained to be worked out in the sketchbook: the solo exposition is not sufficiently drafted; the development has not even been attempted; the recapitulation would surely require at least some sketching. With fundamental aspects of the first movement still unsettled, Beethoven has begun the transfer from sketchbook to score." This is therefore a critical piece to understanding Beethoven's compositional process.

Why did Beethoven abandon this concertante, only to take up the format from scratch just a little later? Kramer suggests that a letter from brother Carl to Breitkopf & Haertel, dated 22 April 1802 may have an answer: "My brother would have written to you himself, but he is not in the mood for it at present, for the theatre director Baron von Braun, who is known as a stupid and coarse fellow, has refused him the theatre for his Akademie, and turned it over to other thoroughly mediocre performers." If Beethoven were preparing this Concertante for such an Akademie concert, the loss of the theatre may have discouraged him. We find Carl in another letter to Breitkopf & Haertel dated 14 October 1803, offering a "Konzertant fuer alle Instrumente fuer Klavier, Violonzello und Violin." Since the first known sketches for the Triple Concerto do not date until months later, in 1804, it is entirely possible that Ludwig was considering a return to this Concertante.

Beethoven's dissatisfaction in this first attempt may be due to the limited potential of the material he had chosen. Even though the solo entrances are beautiful, as Kramer observes, the principal theme is both short and stunted, and it is probably incapable of supporting such a large-scale composition. Kramer sees the Triple Concerto as "at once a reaction to the failed attempt, and ... a realization of images and concepts latent in the fragment. The muted opening bars, barely articulate in the low strings, are common to both works (though we must infer some of this quality from the inconclusive sketches in 'Kessler'). In both cases, this initial idea is detached from, or introductory to, a principal thematic event, though in Opus 56 he two are motivically akin."

We present here the Concertante materials for the first movement in two versions: the Artaria 183 full score, and also the continuity draft of the first 42 bars followed by the Artaria 183 score. Both versions are represented in MIDI and mp3 formats, the latter making use of samples from Garritan Personal Orchestra.

These materials are world premieres for The Unheard Beethoven.

Gardi: 3

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