Dear Daniele, here is the description of the Kinky-Halm which may be illuminating:
Period of composition: When the work was written cannot be determined exactly. However, the assumption based on the report of the London-based musician Edward Schultz (in the London magazine »The Harmonicon« from January 1824, German in Thayer- D.-R. IV2,456-458) that the work was composed in 1823 is refuted by a recently surfaced letter from Beethoven dated July 19, 1816. In this letter from the master to G. Härtel, auctioned at Gerd Rosen on February 1, 1951, among the works offered to the publisher, the second item is: "Variations with introduction on a Müller theme and from my earlier composition, however not to be counted among the reprehensible ones." A relatively early period of composition is also suggested by the fact that the signature on the autograph features German lettering, a characteristic that Beethoven abandoned after 1817 in favor of Latin script. The date of the first performance has not been determined.
The song theme, not specified in the original edition, comes from Wenzel Müller's two-act Singspiel "Die Schwestern von Prag" (text after Philipp Hafner's comedy by Joachim Perinet), which was first performed in 1794 at Marinelli's Leopoldstädter Theater in Vienna (see Gerber's N. L. III, 516, No. 9) and appeared on the program in later years - 1806, 1813, 1814. The folk-style song also appears in Matthäus Stegmayers popular Quodlibet "Rochus Pumpernickel" (music by I. v. Seyfried, Vienna 1809).
Autograph: Wildegg (Switzerland), Louis Koch Collection. Title inscription: "Variazionen I für Piano / Violin u Violonschell" (only the last syllable "schell" in Latin script); heading of the first page of music (entirely in German lettering, including the signature): "Veränderungen / mit einer Einleitung u. anhang. von L. v. Beethoven". 18 twelve-line sheets in landscape format with title and 33 pages of music; the back of the title page and the last page are blank. Careful transcription as a model for the copyist with relatively few changes and improvements. - Reproduction of page 31 (measures 23-31 of the "Appendix") in P. Bekkers "Beethoven", p. 117 of the illustrations. — The previous owner of the autograph, which has remained unknown to Thayer and Nottebohm, was the Weber researcher Friedrich Wilhelm Jähns in Berlin. - Cf. NB J. V, 55, No. 18 and Kinsky's catalog of the Koch Collection, No. 69, p. 78f., where the aforementioned letter is not yet taken into account.
We are interested in the description of the manuscript:
Autograph: Wildegg (Switzerland), Louis Koch collection. Title inscription: "Variazionen I for piano / violin u Violonschell" (only the last syllable of "schell" in Latin characters); heading of the first page of music (entirely in German characters, and also the signature), .....modifications with an introduction and notes by L. v. Beethoven. 18 sheets of twelve lines in landscape format with titles and 33 pages of music, ..., back of the title page and the last page blank. Accurate transcription as a model for the copyist with relatively few changes and improvements -
in reality this manuscript is kept today at the Beethoven Haus in Bonn, former Bodmer collection:
Beethoven-Haus Bonn, H. C. Bodmer Collection, HCB BMh 12/52
clearly this manuscript was transcribed entirely from a previous manuscript. Only the prelude and postlude show evident traces of typical Beethovenian composition, while the variations are an earlier work; but despite this, it is interesting to see how Beethoven nevertheless made substantial changes; this interesting thought of Daniele's makes me reflect on the possibility of recreating through this manuscript the first series of variations that were written at least 25 years earlier. It would be a great piece of work to eventually put on the site!
A hug. Armando
