Appendix 3 - Textual problems perpetuated in some printed scores

Summary

Note: this appendix is not intended as a substitute for the detailed observations on the sources normally included in a critical report.

Allegro ma non troppo

bb. 19, 21, 23, 119, 121, 401, 403: Only in b. 23 does Beethoven annotate dots over the final two quavers, and then only in the oboes. Many editors (e.g. Altmann) have extended dots to each of these bars, but Tyson adds dots to the other woodwind only in b. 23.

bb. 29, 31, 35 and parallel passages (bb. 225, 227, 231 and bb. 498, 500, 504): These passages are among the most controversial, making editors question whether Beethoven was simply careless in failing to bring the note-lengths into conformity or whether, at least at some stage in the gestation of the work, he intended to emphasise harmonic changes with a crotchet instead of a quaver at bb. 31, 227 and 500 and highlight the phrase ending/beginning at bb. 35, 231 and 504. The autograph suggests the latter, for bb. 29–35 are carefully annotated, with quavers in all relevant parts in b. 29, crotchets in b. 31, and crotchets in b. 35. The second passage (bb. 225–31) seems more hastily written with less care for detail, b. 225 giving quavers in every part and b. 227 likewise, except for the crotchet in the second violins, but b. 231 offering a mixture of ten quavers and three crotchets (hns, tpts and vcs/dbs); b. 498 also gives a real mixture of note-values (four quavers and six crotchets).