Beethoven's compositional method

Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 30 sketch

Beethoven's sketches give scholars an insight into his compositional process.[7] The sketches do not dictate how audiences should interpret or experience the piece. However, they do reveal information about Beethoven himself and act more as a bibliographic aid rather than an analytical tool.[7]

According to biographers, Beethoven's compositional process was undergone in two distinct phases. First, he would sketch the main thematic ideas and motifs. Once he had these sketched, he would compose the piece through what was considered by scholars to be a laborious and painstaking process.[8]

Beethoven was known to make many drafts and corrections before finishing a composition. Unlike Mozart, who would often compose the entire piece before writing it down, Beethoven made many sketches with various edits at every stage.[7] His conception of pieces was evidently a process of compiling fragments of musical ideas until they became a whole composition. The process is argued to have been a slow process and one that Beethoven wrestled with until the composition was completed.[7] The sketches illustrate this process through providing evidence of his many drafts.

Many scholars have analysed his sketches as a means of understanding more about his compositions and their creation. Analysis of the sketches are not limited to analysis of the musical content but examination of every detail including handwriting style and ink. Analysis of ink colour and thickness in Beethoven's ‘Kafka' notebook demonstrated three distinct periods of composition from the years 1798 to 1801 and 1800 to 1803.[9]

Gustav Nottebohm was a music scholar based in Vienna for most of his career. He is one of the first authorities in textual criticism of music.[10] He is most famous for the work he did on Beethoven's sketches; he was one of the first scholars to study them. He was the first one to demonstrate how important the documents were in understanding Beethoven's compositional process. Nottebohm's access to Beethoven's drafts, sketches and notes as well as his published compositions enabled him to discover patterns in Beethoven's style of composition and gain an understanding of his process.[11]

One of the most analysed documents of Beethoven's is the Kafka sketchbook. The sketchbook contains a variety of complete and incomplete compositions from the 1780s and 1790s. The Kafka sketchbook became very useful for scholars to get an insight into the conception of Beethoven's works.[12]

Original title page for Beethoven's Eroica Symphony

The majority of the Eroica Symphony is transcribed in what scholars termed the Eroica sketchbook. The first task for academics after discovering the sketchbook was to attempt to sort all the drafts and sketches of compositions into chronological order. The ordering process would not simply apply to entire compositions but rather every individual notation that was marked on the page.[13] One method of achieving this was by comparing how similar a draft is to the final publication. Scholars who used this method were working under the assumption that every edit to a composition made it more similar to the final product.[13] This method does not account for the potential times when Beethoven returned to an original idea after previously altering it. Because of this, it became customary for scholars to focus their attention more on the way in which the notation was transcribed as opposed to what is actually written on the score. For example, a marking crowded between other notations might suggest to scholars that it was an afterthought.[13] Through close examination of these sketches, scholars managed to sort the pieces into chronological order. This would then allow academics to begin to search for patterns in Beethoven's compositional method.[13]

For decades scholars believed that all the surviving sketches and drafts for the Eroica Symphony were transcribed in the Eroica sketchbook. However, in 1962 the Wielhorsky sketchbook was found to also contain sketches from the Eroica Symphony.[14] It was the sketchbook used before the Eroica sketchbook and was Beethoven's primary sketchbook from 1802 to 1803. The earliest drafts of this symphony were transcribed in this sketchbook.[14] Nathan Fishman was the first scholar to reveal his transcriptions of the sketchbook. The sketches in the Wielhorsky sketchbook were intended as a loose outline for the Eroica Symphony containing some of the main themes and some plans for specific sections. The sketches suggest that the Eroica Symphony was constructed based on the material in the final movement so in a sense, was composed backwards.[14] The sketchbook also suggests that the symphony was not always intended to be as large as it ended up being. The Eroica Symphony diverged from the conventions of symphonies at the time in terms of its sheer magnitude. The Wielhorsky sketchbook suggests that the symphony was not composed around the idea of drifting from these norms but over time, across many drafts, it ended up achieving this.[14]

British Library Egerton MS 2795 was another sketchbook that Beethoven used to document his compositions which dates back to 1825. This notebook is 8 by 5 inches which was small enough to fit into most pockets during Beethoven's time. He was said to have carried this notebook around on his trips to the countryside.[12] The compositions in the notebooks are written in pencil and are therefore difficult for scholars to interpret. His serious work was transcribed at home in a larger book in ink. Scholars have been able to confirm that the Egerton was used in conjunction with the large book.[12]

Beethoven's 13th string quartet, Quartet in B-flat, Op. 130, was transcribed in the Egerton notebook. However, drafts of this piece were also found in a larger 80-page book. The version in the book was significantly different from the final composition. One of the major differences was that the first movement was written in 3/4 time rather than 4/4 like what is heard in the published piece.[12] This gives scholars an insight into how some of Beethoven's pieces were created.

The primary sketchbook for Beethoven's symphony reveals that the first movement was most likely composed loosely from start to finish. The piece's physical order in the sketchbook matches its chronological order.[15] The sketches also suggest that Beethoven struggled immensely with the retransition and the coda sections. The retransition section for example, has at least fourteen distinct drafts.[15] This amount of drafts not only suggests to scholars that these sections troubled Beethoven, but it also allows scholars to track the changes made and draw conclusions as to why they were made. The sketches show how Beethoven was struggling to decide whether a particular sequence should resolve to the tonic for a powerful resolution or move to the sub-dominant for a less impactful tonic arrival. The sketches suggest that Beethoven wrote both endings to the section, compared them, and then chose what he felt was the right resolution.[15]

Beethoven's letters also provide insight on his compositional process. Scholars analysed a letter written by Beethoven in 1802 addressed to a woman who had asked him to compose a sonata for her. She had requested a specific tonal plan and structure. He replied that he would compose a sonata in following with her general plan but that he would decide the tonal scheme. This suggests to scholars that Beethoven was able to compose to a request to a certain extent.[8] He also wrote in a letter from 1814 stating that he always composes with the whole piece in mind. He wrote a similar sentiment in another letter; he conveyed that he only transcribes his compositions once he has fully realised them in his head. This, however, contrasts with the compositional process suggested by his sketches. Scholars overcame this contradiction by reasoning that Beethoven's letters would be more biased than the sketches as they convey his own subjective perception of his compositional habits.[8]