Bagatelle in G minor, WoO 61a (mp3)

Bagatelle in G minor, WoO 61a (Sept. 27, 1825).

This wonderful little miniature was written out for Sarah Burney Payne, on the date noted. It is one of the very last pieces for piano written by Beethoven.

Sarah Burney Payne (born 1796) should not be confused with her aunt, the novelist Sarah Harriet Burney (1772-1844). Confusing the two ladies goes back to Thayer's Beethoven biography, and the mistake seems to have been copied by everyone since then.

One of the books in Beethoven´s library was Charles Burney's ´General History of Music´. Krehbiel (p.109) calls it 'the gift, probably of an English admirer'. Was Sarah Burney Payne that English admirer ? Did she bring her grandfather´s book with her, when she visited Beethoven on that 27th of September 1825, giving it to him as a present, and receiving this little bagatelle in return ?

Opus:        
WoO: 61
Hess:        
Biamonti:        

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