Hess 305: канон "Geschlagen ist der Feind"

Время создания: 1813 г.
Примечание: набросок

This 8 bar canon draft can be found amidst the sketches for Wellingtonís Victory, opus 91 (1813). Given the text of the canon ('The enemy has been beaten') it seems plausible that at one stage Beethoven was thinking of giving the Battle Symphony a choral ending. If so, then this would constitute a link between the Choral Fantasy, op.80, and the Ninth Symphony.

For a change, Beethoven's handwriting is reasonably clear, but clef and key signature are missing. Therefore it was of great help that Hess and Unger had already identified the piece as being in D major.

A canon on the melody of the draft itself appears to be impossible, so the question becomes: is this really a canon like Hess and Unger claim? The answer is yes, because above the sketch Beethoven has scribbled a few words, of which the third seems to read 'canon'. Therefore we can agree with Unger's assesment that Hess 305 is the first section of a round.