The James Fuld Collection of music manuscripts, renowned for its outstanding first-edition scores, was formally acquired by the Morgan earlier this year. The collection also contains exemplary manuscripts, including this sketch by Beethoven for his Seventh Symphony. This rare work is the lower part of a leaf from the Petter Sketchbook, named after Gustav A. Petter (1828–1868), one of its former owners. It contains musical ideas for the second movement of the symphony. Undoubtedly the popularity of this movement made it desirable to admirers and collectors and led to the dismemberment of the book and dispersal of several of its leaves.

In this SundayArts Choice, curator for the Morgan’s department of music manuscripts and printed music Fran Barulich describes this recent addition to the Morgan’s collection and shows the superb sketchbook of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony.