Dal sito www.unheardbeethoven.org . This sketch is jotted down on p.67 of the Scheide-sketchbook of 1815. Written on top of it is “als deutscher vom letzten Stueck”. This is more Beethovenian than correct German, but means something like “German dance to end with.”

Later on, Beethoven copied down the tune once more, now on p.105 of the Scheide-sketchbook, amidst sketches for the unfinished Piano Trio in F minor from 1816. Gustav Nottebohm suggests that the sketch may have been intended for the Trio.

A German dance this may be, but then a dance of despair and disilussion! The pauses on the third beats of the first four measures suggest a resistance against any movement.

In the present harmonization I have ignored the possible link to the unfinished Piano Trio. Not because Nottebohm might be wrong, but because he might be right: the sketches for the Trio do require a thorough and seperate investigation first. Meanwhile it is possible to present the Biamonti 634-sketch as a small, independent piece for piano.

The harmonization of the sketch is by Albert Willem Holsbergen. Reproduced here by kind permission of Mr. William Scheide.