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Remarkable unsigned AMQ by Ludwig van Beethoven on both sides of an off-white 5 x 2 leaf fragment, consisting of a previously unrecorded and unpublished work, inscribed below in French and Italian [translated], "Writing of Beethoven given to me by Proff. Fischoff of Vienna, 18/8/847, Catherine Watts." The front features two measures of music in G minor marked "Adagio" and scored for piano keyboard in the character of a lament, and is highly expressive in the way in which the serious character of the first measure is heightened through the move to the augmented-sixth chord with motivic intensification in the second measure; the reverse is comprised of a double system, both in bass clef and in the key of E flat, showing two and half bars of an arpeggiated figure in E flat major, with a partial third stave of music above. In fine condition, with scattered light staining and foxing, primarily in the margins.
A former composition student under Ignaz von Seyfried, Joseph Fischhof (1804–1857) was a Czech-Austrian pianist and composer, who, in 1833, became professor of piano at the Vienna Conservatory of Music. Fischof amassed a number of literary works on music during his career, with his collection of Beethoven scores and manuscripts serving great purpose to biographers of the revered German composer. Although these figurations remain difficult to fully identify without proper context, the semblance in arpeggios gleaned from other works, namely the 'Eroica' Variations and Fugue for Piano, Op. 35, add significantly to the overall appeal and intrigue. This piece might be regarded as a kind of model harmonic/melodic idea, reflecting a slow sorrowful character.
