Draft of a Presto in A (for string quartet?), Hess 334
This is apparently intended to be the beginning of a composition. Only a single voice is written out in the sketch. It appears amongst sketches for the quartet op. 18 nr. 5, and may be an early effort at a movement for this quartet. The piece consists of two eight-bar phrases, with the accents on the off-beat. First published in the 1846 "Beethoven-Album," it is there described as a draft of a Presto, although the tempo indication given is only Allegro. It is from page 64 of the sketchbook Grasnick 2, located in the Berlin Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz. This notebook primarily includes sketches for the six string quartets, op. 18. Upon investigation of these sketches, we found that the sketch appears to continue for a few more measures; we give both versions here.
Hess: 334