Beethoven's Sketches for the Piano Sonata Opus 106, Hammerklavier: The Sketching of a Performance

Chronological and biographical information as well as insight into Beethoven's compositional processes have long justified the difficult and laborious study of Beethoven's sketches; but to date such study has not included any bearing this knowledge might have on performance choices. Although the limited sketch sources for Beethoven's Piano Sonata Opus 106, the Hammerklavier, suggest that the number of missing sketches for Opus 106 is much greater than the number of sketches we actually have, closer study of them reveals the Hammerklavier to be the self-referential record of Beethoven's difficulties with its composition. This requires the performer of Opus 106 to make the same difficult decisions during his/her live performance that Beethoven made during the fifteen months of its composition, as documented on the pages of his sketches. It is from the sketches that we learn just what kind of performative act a performance of the Hammerklavier is meant to be.