A LITTLE-KNOWN BEETHOVEN SKETCH IN MOSCOW

Abstract

SOVIET museums, libraries, and archives possess many Beethoven memorabilia letters, musical manuscripts, and complete sketchbooks.' Beethoven's circle of admirers and patrons included members of the Russian aristocracy Razumovsky, Galitzin, Browne, Wielhorsky, and even the imperial couple, Czar Alexander I and Czarina Elizabeth. It is a curious fact, however, that none of the letters and manuscripts sent by Beethoven to Russia has remained in Russian hands; these materials have been sold or given away and are now in Western collections. The present Soviet holdings of Beethoveniana consist mainly of materials acquired after the composer's death by Russian collectors and were either held in private libraries or presented to public institutions. The first to report such holdings was Vladimir Stasov, the distinguished scholar and librarian, in his catalogue of 1856, Musical Autographs in the Imperial Public Library in St. Petersburg. After the 1917 Revolution all important private collections were nationalized, and their holdings were transferred to museums, libraries, and state archives. During the transitional years some materials were misplaced and reappeared years later, almost by accident. Thus, the so-called sketchbook was discovered in the early 1920s among property left behind by Russian emigres; its previous owner is unknown. The so-called sketchbook was acquired by Count Mikhail Wielhorsky (Vielgorsky) about 1853-56 for his private library and remained in the hands of his heirs until the early twentieth century. Its last known owner, M. A. Venevitinov (Wielhorsky's grandson), died in 1901, and the sketchbook disappeared from public eye, only to be rediscovered in 1939 in a Moscow archive. At present,