In addition to the WoO 85 Waltz for piano that Beethoven wrote for Carl Friedrich Müller towards the end of 1825 (Day 353), he also wrote an Écossaise for piano, catalogued as WoO 86.
Écossaise is the French word for “Scottish” and refers to a Scottish country dance in 2/4 time. Some piano écossaises attributed to Beethoven are of doubtful authenticity (Day 194) and other écossaises were written for military band (Day 242). WoO 86 is therefore the only Écossaise specifically written for piano that is definitely by Beethoven. Beethoven’s autograph is on page 5 of this little treasure kept by Müller of Beethoven’s contributions to his collections:
I have not been able to track down Müller’s published collection in which this Écossaise appears, but I know that it also includes Franz Schubert’s “Cotillon” (D. 976). A 1928 article in The Music Quarterly shows the title page:
Although many YouTube videos exist of young pianists purportedly playing Beethoven’s WoO 86 Écossaise, some of these videos are mislabeled, and are actually performances of the six likely spurious WoO 83 Écossaises (Day 194).
#Beethoven250 Day 354
Écossaise in E♭ Major for Piano (WoO 86), 1825
A live performance by a young man justifiably proud of his accomplishment.