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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


LUIIART. 


The  Life  of 

Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

By  Alexander  Wheelock  Thayer 

Edited,  revised  and  amended  from  the  original 
English  manuscript  and  the  German  editions 
of  Hermann  Deiters  and  Hugo  Riemann,  con- 
cluded, and  all  the  documents  newly  translated 

By 

Henry  Edward  Krehbiel 


Volume  II 


Published  by 

The  Beethoven  Association 
New  York 


SECOND  PRIX  TING 


Copyright,  1921, 
By  Henry  Edward  Krehbiel 


From  the  press  of  G.  Schirmer,  Inc.,  New  York 
rrinted  in  the  U.  S.  A. 


PAGE 


Music 
Library 

ML 
Contents  of  Volume  II 

Chapter  I.  The  Year  1803 — Cherubini's  Operas  in  Vienna 
and  Rivalry  between  Schikaneder  and  the  Imperial 
Theatres — Beethoven's  Engagement  at  the  Theater- 
an-der-Wien — "Christus  am  Olberg"  again — Bridge- 
tower  and  the  "Kreutzer"  Sonata — Career  of  the 
Violinist — Negotiations  with  Thomson  for  the  Scottish 
Songs — New  Friends — Willibrord  Mahler's  Portrait  of 
Beethoven — Compositions  of  the  Year — A  Pianoforte 
from  Erard  1 

Chapter  IL  The  Year  1804 — Schikaneder  Sells  His 
Theatre  and  is  then  Dismissed  from  the  Manage- 
ment— Beethoven's  Contract  Ended  and  Renewed  by 
Baron  Braun — The  "Sinfonia  Eroica" — Prince  Louis 
Ferdinand  of  Prussia — Quarrel  between  Beethoven 
and  von  Breuning — The  "Waldstein"  Sonata — Sonnleith-  ^ 

ner,  Treitschke  and  Gaveaux — Paer  and  His  Opera 
"Leonora" — "Fidelio"  Begun — Beethoven's  Growing 
PbpTriarity-=— Publications   of   the   Year  22 

Chapter  HI.  The  Year  1805 — Schuppanzigh's  First  Quar- 
tet Concerts — First  Public  Performance  of  the 
"Eroica" — Pleyel — The  Opera  "Leonore,"  or  "Fidelio"; 
Jahn's  Study  of  the  Sketchbook — The  Singers  and  the 
Production — Vienna  Abandoned  by  the  Aristocracy  as 
French  Advance — Rockel's  Story  of  the  Revision  of  the 
Opera — Compositions  and  Publications  of  the  Year  41 

Chapter  IV.     The  Year   1806— Repetitions   of   "Fidelio": 

A  Revision  of   the  Book   by  von    Breuning — Changes  i^ 

in  the  Opera — The  "Leonore"  Overtures — A  Second 
Failure — Beethoven  Withdraws  the  Opera  from  the 
Theatre — Marriage  of  Karl  Kaspar  van  Beethoven — A 
Journey  to  Silesia — Beethoven  Leaves  Prince  Lich- 
nowsky's  Country-seat  in  Anger — George  Thomson  and 
His  Scottish  Songs — Compositions  and  Publications  of 

[v] 


1^  O  '^  ^n^  "^ 
_k_  V_'  '5_  C^"0/''*a> 


vi  Contents  of  Volume  II 

the  Year — The  "Appassionata"  Sonata  and  Rasoiimowi 
sky  Quartets — Reception  of  the  Quartets  in  Russia  and 
England — The  Concerto  for  Violin  57 

Chapter  V.  Beethoven's  Friends  and  Patrons  in  the 
First  Lustrum  of  the  Nineteenth  Century — Archduke 
Rudolph,  an  Imperial  Pupil — Count  Andreas  Rasou- 
mowsky — Countess  Erdody — Baroness  Ertmann — Marie 
Bigot — Therese  Malfatti — Nanette  Streicher — Doctor 
Zizius — Anecdotes  78 

Chapter  VI.  Princes  and  Counts  as  Theatrical  Direc- 
tors :  Beethoven  Appeals  for  an  Appointment — Vain 
Expectations — Subscription  Concerts  at  Prince  Lobko- 
witz's — The  Symphony  in  B-flat — Overture  to  "Corio- 
lan" — Contract  with  Clementi — Errors  in  the  Dates 
of  Important  Letters — The  Mass  in  C — ^A  Falling-out 
with  Hummel — The  "Leonore"  Overtures  again — Per- 
formances of  Beethoven's  Works  at  the  "Liebhaber" 
Concerts— The  Year  1807  98 

Chapter  VII.  The  Year  1808 — Johann  van  Beethoven 
Collects  a  Debt  and  Buys  an  Apothecary  Shop  in 
Linz — Wilhelm  Rust — Plans  for  New  Operas — Sketches 
for  "Macbeth" — Imitative  Music  and  the  "Pastoral" 
Symphony — Count  Oppersdorff  and  the  Fourth  Sym- 
phony— A  Call  to  Cassel — Organization  of  Rasoumow- 
sky's  Quartet — Appreciation  of  Beethoven  in  Vienna: 
Disagreement  with  Orchestral  Musicians — Mishaps  at 
the  Performance  of  the  Choral  Fantasia  114 

Chapter  \TIL  Jerome  Bonaparte's  Invitation — A  New 
Plan  to  Keep  Beethoven  in  Vienna — The  Annuity  Con- 
tract— Ries's  Disappointment — Farewell  to  Archduke 
Rudolph  in  a  Sonata — The  Siege  and  Capitulation  of 
Vienna — Seyfried's  "Studies" — Reissig's  Songs — An 
Abandoned  Concert — Commission  for  Music  to  "Eg- 
mont" — Increased  Cost  of  Living  in  Vienna — Dilatory 
Debtors— Products  of  1809  135 

Chapter  IX.  The  Years  1807-09  :  a  Retrospect— Beet- 
hoven's IntclN^ctual  Development  and  Attainments  : 
Growth  after  Ein.inripation  from  Domestic  Cares — His 
Natural  Disposition — Eager  in  S«'lf-Instniction — In- 
terest in  Oriental  Studies— His  Religious  Beliefs — Atti- 
tude towards  the  Church  163 


Contents  of  Volume  II  vii 

Chapter  X.  The  Year  1810 — Disappointing  Decrease  in 
Productivity — The  Music  for  "Egmont" — Money  from 
Clementi,  and  a  Marriage  Project — A  New  Infatuation 
Prompts  Attention  to  Dress — Therese  Malfatti — 
Beethoven's  Relations  with  Bettina  von  Arnim — Her 
Correspondence  with  Goethe — A  Question  of  Authen- 
ticity Discussed — Beethoven's  Letter  to  Bettina — An 
Active  Year  with  the  Pubhshers  170 

Chapter  XI.  The  Year  1811 — Bettina  von  Arnim — The 
Letters  between  Beethoven  and  Goethe — The  Great 
Trio  in  B-flat — Music  for  a  New  Theatre  in  Pesth: 
"The  Ruins  of  Athens"  and  "King  Stephen"— Com- 
positions and  Pubhcations  of  the  Year  196 

Chapter  XII.  The  Year  1812 — Reduction  of  Income  from 
the  Annuity — The  Austrian  "Finanzpatent" — Legal 
Obligation  of  the  Signers  to  the  Agreement — First 
Performance  of  the  Pianoforte  Concerto  in  E-flat — A 
Second  Visit  to  Teplitz — Beethoven  and  Goethe — 
Amalie  Sebald — Beethoven  in  Linz — He  Drives  His 
Brother  Johann  into  a  Detested  Marriage — Rode  and 
the  Sonata  Op.  96 — Spohr — The  Seventh  and  Eighth 
Symphonies — Malzel  and  His  Metronome — A  Canon* 
and  the  Allegretto  of  the  Eighth  Symphony  211 

Chapter  XIII.  The  Year  1813 — Beethoven's  Journal — • 
Illness  of  Karl  Kaspar  van  Beethoven — He  Requests 
the  Appointment  of  His  Brother  as  Guardian  of  His 
Son — Death  of  Prince  Kinsky — Obligations  under  the 
Annuity  Agreement — Beethoven's  Earnings — Malzel 
and  "Wellington's  Victory" — Battle  Pieces  and  Their- — — 
Popularity — Postponement  of  the  Projected  Visit  to 
London — The  Seventh  Symphony — Spohr  on  Beet- 
hoven's Conducting — Concerts,  Compositions  and  Pub- 
lications of  the  Year  239 

Chapter  XIV.     The  Year  1814— Success  of  "Wellington's 

Victory" — Umlauf    Rescues    a    Performance — Revival  /" 

and    Revision    of    "Fidelio" — Changes    Made    in    the         fr 
Opera — Success    Attained — The    Eighth    Symphony — 
Beethoven  Plays  in  the  Great  Trio  in  B-flat — ^Anton 

Schindler  Appears  on    the    Scene — The  Quarrel   with  

Malzel — Legal    Controversy     and     Compromise — Mo- 
scheles   and    the   Pianoforte    Score   of   "Fidelio" — The 


^J 


viii  Contexts  of  Volume  II 

Vienna  Congress — Tribute  from  a  Scottish  Poet — "Weis- 
senbach —  Tomaschek  —  Meyerbeer  —  Rasoumowsky's 
Palace  Destroyed  by  Fire  261 

Chapter  XV.  The  Year  1815 — New  Opera  Projects  Con- 
sidered— "Romulus  and  Remus" — Settlements  with 
the  Heirs  of  Prince  Kinsky — Unjust  Aspersions  on  the 
Conduct  of  Kinsky  and  Lobkowitz — "The  ]\Iount  of 
Olives"  in  England — Negotiations  with  English  Pub- 
lishers— Diabelli — Charles  Neate — Death  of  Karl  Kaspar 
van  Beethoven — His  Wishes  with  regard  to  the  Guar- 
dianship of  His  Son — Growth  of  Beethoven's  Intimacy 
with  Schindler — Compositions  and  Publications  of  the 
Year  3(M, 

Chapter  XVI.  The  Year  1816 — A  Commission  from  the  Ge- 
sellschaft  der  Musikfreunde — Guardianship  of  Nephew 
Karl — Giannatasio  del  Rio — Beethoven's  Music  in 
London — The  Philharmonic  Society — Three  Overtures 
Compose<I,  Bought  and  Discarded  —  Birchall  and 
Neate — The  Erdodys — Fanny  Giannatasio — "An  die 
^erne  Geliebte" — Major- General  Kyd — Accusations^ 
againsf  Neate^^Letters  to  Sir  George  Smart — Anselm 
Hiittenbrenner — The  Year's  Productions  329 

Chapter  XVII.  The  Year  1817 — Beethoven  and  the 
Public  Journals  of  Vienna — Fanny  Giannatasio's  Jour- 
nal— Extracts  from  Beethoven's  "Tagebuch" — The 
London  Philharmonic  Society  again — Propositions  Sub- 
mitted by  Ries — Nephew  Karl  and  His  Mother — Beet- 
hoven's Pedagogical  Suggestions  to  Czerny — Cipriani 
Potter — Marschner — Marie  Pachler-Koschak — Another 
^lysterious  Passion — Beethoven  and  Malzel's  Metro- 
nome— An  Unproductive  Year  358 

Chaptkr  XVni.  The  Year  1818— Gift  of  a  Pianoforte 
from  John  Broad  wood — The  Composer  Takes  Personal 
Charge  of  His  Nephew — His  Unfitness  as  Foster-father 
and  Guardian —Abandonment  of  His  Projected  Visit 
to  I/ondon  -The  (iesellschaft  der  Musikfreimde's 
Oratorio — The  Ne|)hew  an<l  a  Mother's  Legal  Struggle 
for  Possession  of  Her  Son — The  Case  Reviewed — The 
Predicate  "van"  and  Beethoven's  Nobility — Archduke 
Rudolph  Bceomes  Archl)ishop  of  Olmiitz — Work  on  the 
Mass  in  D,  Ninth  Symphony  and  Grand  Trio  in  B-flat     390 


\ 
/ 


Chapter  I 


The  Year  1803 — Cherubini's  Operas  in  Vienna — Beethoven's 
Engagement  at  the  Theater-an-der-Wien — "Christus  am 
Olberg"  again — Bridgetower  and  the  *'Kreutzer"  Sonata — 
Negotiations  with  Thomson — New  Friends — Mahler's 
Portrait  of  Beethoven. 

KOTZEBUE,  after  a  year  of  activity  in  Vienna  as  Alxinger's 
successor  in  the  direction,  under  the  banker  Baron  von 
Braun,  of  the  Court  Theatre,  then  a  year  of  exile  in  Siberia 
(1800),  whence  he  was  recalled  by  that  semi-maniac  Paul,  who  was 
moved  thereto  by  the  delight  which  the  little  drama  "Der 
Leibkutscher  Peters  III."  had  given  him — then  a  short  time  in 
Jena,  where  his  antagonism  to  Goethe  broke  out  into  an  open 
quarrel,  established  himself  in  Berlin.  There  he  began,  with 
Garlieb  Merkel  (1802),  the  publication  of  a  polemical  literary 
journal  called  the  "Freymiithige,"  Goethe,  the  Schlegels  and  their 
party  being  the  objects  of  their  polemics.  Spazier's  "Zeitung  fiir 
die  Elegante  Welt"  (Leipsic)  was  its  leading  opponent,  until  the 
establishment  of  a  new  literary  journal  at  Jena. 

At  the  beginning  of  1803,  Kotzebue  was  again  in  Vienna  on 
his  way  to  Italy.  Some  citations  from  the  "Freymiithige"  of 
this  time  have  an  especial  value,  as  coming,  beyond  a  doubt, 
from  his  pen.  His  position  in  society,  his  knowledge  from  ex- 
perience of  theatrical  affairs  in  Vienna,  his  personal  acquaint- 
ance with  Beethoven  and  the  other  persons  mentioned,  all 
combine  to  enable  him  to  speak  with  authority.  An  article  in 
No.  58  (April  12)  on  the  "Amusements  of  the  Viennese  after 
Carnival,"  gives  a  peep  into  the  salon-life  of  the  capital,  and 
introduces  to  us  divers  matters  of  so  much  interest,  as  to  ex- 
cuse the  want  of  novelty  in  certain  parts. 

....  Amateur  concerts  at  which  unconstrained  pleasure  prevails  are 
frequent.  The  beginning  is  usually  made  with  a  quartet  by  Haydn  or 
Mozart;  then  follows,  let  us  say,  an  air  by  Salieri  or  Paer,  then  a 
pianoforte  piece  with  or  without  another  instrument  ohhligato,  and  the 

I  1] 


2  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

concert  closes  as  a  rule  with  a  chorus  or  something  of  the  kind  from  a 
favorite  opera.     The  most  excellent  pianoforte  pieces  that  won  admira- 
tion during  the  last  carnival  were  a  new  quintet ^  by  Beethoven,  clever, 
serious,  full  of  deep  significance  and  character,  but  occasionally  a  little 
too  glaring,  here  and  there  Odenspriinge  in  the  manner  of  this  master; 
then  a  quartet  by  Anton  Eberl,  dedicated  to  the  Empress,  lighter  in 
character,   full   of   fine   yet   profound   invention,    originality,    fire    and 
strength,    brilliant    and    imposing.     Of    all    the    musical    compositions 
which    have    appeared   of    late   these   are   certainly   two   of   the  best. 
Beethoven  has  for  a  short  time  past  been  engaged,  at  a  considerable 
salary,    by   the   Theater-an-der-\Yien,   and   will   soon   produce   at  that 
playhouse   an  oratorio  of   his   composition   entitled  "Christus   am   01- 
berg."     Amongst  the  artists  on  the  violin  the  most  notable  are  Clement, 
Schuppanzigh  (who  gives  the  concerts  in  the  Augarten  in  the  summer) 
and  Luigi  Tomasini.     Clement  (Director  of  the  orchestra  an-der-Wien) 
is    an    admirable    concert    player;    Schuppanzigh    performs    quartets 
very   agreeably.     Good   dilettanti   are   Eppinger,    Molitor   and   others. 
Great  artists  on  the  pianoforte  are  Beethofen  [sic].  Hummel,  Madame 
Auernhammer  and  others.     The  famous  Abbe  Vogler  is  also  here  at 
present,  and  plays  fugues  in  particular  with  great  precision,  although 
his  rather  heavy  touch   betrays   the  organist.     Among  the   amateurs 
Baroness  Ertmann  plays  with  amazing  precision,  clearness  and  delicacy, 
and   Fraulein   Kurzbeck  touches  the  keys  with  high  intelligence   and 
deep   feeling.     Mesdames    von    Frank    and   Natorp,    formerly    Gerardi 
and   Sessi,   are  excellent  singers, 

A  few  words  may  be  added  to  this  picture  from  other  sources. 
Salieri's  dutie^s  being  now  confined  to  the  sacred  music  of  the 
Imperial  Chapel,  SUssmavr  being  far  gone  in  the  consumption 
of  which  he  died  on  Sept.  16  (of  this  year — 1803),  Conti  re- 
taining but  the  name  of  orchestral  director  (he  too  died  the  next 
year),  Liechtenstein  and  Weigl  were  now  the  conductors  of  the 
Lnperial  Opera;  Henneberg  and  Seyfried  held  the  same  posi- 
tion under  Schikaneder,  as  in  the  old  house,  so  now  in  the  new. 

Schu[)panzigh's  summer  concerts  in  the  Augarten,  and 
Salieri's  Widows  and  Orphans  concerts  at  Christmas  and  in 
Holy  Week,  were  still  the  only  regular  public  ones.  Vogler  had 
come  from  Prague  in  December,  and  Paer,  who  had  removed 
to  Dresden  at  Easter,  180^2,  was  again  in  Vienna  to  produce 
his  cantata  "Das  Heilige  Grab,"  at  the  Widows  and  Orphans 
Concert.  H  was  a  period  of  dearth  at  Vienna  in  operatic  com- 
position. At  the  Court  Theatre  Liechtenstein  had  failed  dis- 
astrously; Weigl  had  not  been  able  to  follow  up  the  success 
of  his  "Corsar,"  and  several  years  more  elapsed  before  he 
obtainccl  a  i)ermanent  name  in  musical  annals  by  his  "Schweizer- 
familie."     Salieri's  style  had  become  too  familiar  to  all  Vienna 

•Prohftlily  the  (Quintet  for  Pianoforte  and  WiniJ-Instriimenta,  Op.  16,  published 
in  March.  IMOi. 


Cherubini's  Operas  in  Vienna  3 

longer  to  possess  the  charms  of  freshness  and  novelty.  In  the 
Theater-an-der-Wien,  Teyber,  Henneberg,  Seyfried  and  others 
composed  to  order  and  executed  their  work  satisfactorily  enough 
— indeed,  sometimes  with  decided,  though  fleeting,  success. 
But  no  new  work,  for  some  time  past,  composed  to  the  order 
of  either  of  these  theatres,  had  possessed  such  qualities  as  to 
secure  a  brilliant  and  prolonged  existence.  From  another  source, 
however,  a  new,  fresh  and  powerful  musical  sensation  had  been 
experienced  during  the  past  year  at  both:  and  in  this  wise: 

Schikaneder  produced,  on  the  23rd  of  March,  a  new  opera 
which  had  been  very  favorably  received  at  Paris,  called  "Lodo- 
iska,"  the  music  composed  "by  a  certain  Cherubini.'*  The  ap- 
plause gained  by  this  opera  induced  the  Court  Theatre  to  send  for 
the  score  of  another  opera  by  the  same  composer,  and  prepare  it 
for  production  on  the  14th  of  August,  under  the  title  "Die  Tage 
der  Gefahr."  Schikaneder,  with  his  usual  shrewdness,  mean- 
time was  secretly  rehearsing  the  same  work,  of  which  Seyfried 
in  the  beginning  of  July  had  made  the  then  long  journey  to 
Munich  to  obtain  a  copy,  and  on  the  13th — one  day  in  advance 
of  the  rival  stage — the  musical  public  was  surprised  and  amused 
to  see  "announced  on  the  bill-board  of  the  Wiener  Theater  the 
new  opera  'Graf  Armand,  oder  Die  zwei  unvergessliche  Tage.' " 
In  the  adaptation  and  performance  of  the  work,  each  house 
had  its  points  of  superiority  and  of  inferiority;  on  the  whole, 
there  was  little  to  choose  between  them;  the  result  in  both  was 
splendid.  The  rivalry  between  the  two  stages  became  very 
spirited.  The  Court  Theatre  selected  from  the  new  composer's 
other  works  the  "Medea,"  and  brought  it  out  November  6. 
Schikaneder  followed,  December  18,  with  "Der  Bernardsberg" 
("Elise"),  "sadly  mutilated."  Twenty  years  later  Beethoven 
attested  the  ineffaceable  impression  which  Cherubini's  music 
had  made  upon  him.  While  the  music  of  the  new  master  was 
thus  attracting  and  delighting  crowded  audiences  at  both  theatres, 
the  wealthy  and  enterprising  Baron  Braun  went  to  Paris  and 
entered  into  negotiations  with  Cherubini,  which  resulted  in  his 
engagement  to  compose  one  or  more  operas  for  the  Vienna 
stage.  Besides  this  "a  large  number  of  new  theatrical  representa- 
tions from  Paris"  were  expected  (in  August,  1802)  upon  the 
Court  stage.  "Baron  Braun,  who  is  expected  to  return  from 
Paris,  is  bringing  the  most  excellent  ballets  and  operas  with 
him,  all  of  which  will  be  performed  here  most  carefully  ac- 
cording to  the  taste  of  the  French."  Thus  the  "Allg.  Mus. 
Zeitung." 


4  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

These  facts  bring  us  to  the  most  valuable  and  interesting  notice 
contained  in  the  article  from  the  "Freymiithige" — the  earliest  record 
of  Beethoven's  engagementascomposerfortheTheater-an-der-Wien. 

Zitterbarth,  the  merchant  with  whose  money  the  new  edifice 
had  been  built  and  put  in  successful  operation,  "who  had  no 
knowledge  of  theatrical  matters  outside  of  the  spoken  drama," 
left  the  stage  direction  entirely  in  the  hands  of  Schikaneder. 
In  the  department  of  opera  that  director  had  a  most  valuable 
assistant  in  Sebastian  Meier — the  second  husband  of  Mozart's 
sister-in-law,  Mme.  Hofer,  the  original  Queen  of  Night — a  man 
described  by  Castelli  as  a  moderately  gifted  bass  singer,  but 
a  very  good  actor,  and  of  the  noblest  and  most  refined  taste 
in  vocal  music,  opera  as  well  as  oratorio;  to  whom  the  praise 
is  due  of  having  induced  Schikaneder  to  bring  out  so  many  of 
the  finest  new  French  works,  those  of  Cherubini  included.  It 
is  probable,  therefore,  that,  just  now,  when  Baron  von  Braun 
was  reported  to  have  secured  Cherubini  for  his  theatre,  and  it 
became  necessary  to  discover  some  new  means  of  keeping  up  a 
successful  competition,  Meier's  advice  may  have  had  no  small 
weight  with  Schikaneder.  Defeat  was  certain  unless  the  operas, 
attractive  mainly  from  their  scenery  and  grotesque  humor, 
founded  upon  the  "Thousand  and  One  Nights"  and  their  thou- 
sand and  one  imitations,  and  set  to  trivial  and  commonplace 
tunes,  should  give  place  to  others  of  a  higher  order,  quickened 
by  music  more  serious,  dignified  and  significant. 

Whether  Abbe  Georg  Joseph  Vogler  was  really  a  great 
and  profound  musician,  as  C.  M.  von  Weber,  Gansbacher  and 
Meyerbeer  held  him  to  be,  or  a  charlatan,  was  a  matter  much 
disputed  in  those  days,  as  the  same  question  in  relation  to  cer- 
tain living  composers  is  in  ours.  Whatever  the  truth  was,  by 
his  polemical  writings,  his  extraordinary  self-laudation,  his  high 
tone  at  the  courts  whither  he  had  been  called,  his  monster  con- 
certs, and  his  almost  unperformable  works,  he  had  made  him- 
self an  object  of  profound  curiosity,  to  say  the  least.  More- 
over, his  music  for  the  drama  "Hermann  von  Staufen,  oder 
das  Vehmgericht,"  performed  October  3,  1801,  at  the  Theater- 
an-der-Wien  (if  the  same  as  in  "Hermann  von  Unna,"  as  it  doubt- 
less was),  was  well  fitted  to  awaken  confidence  in  his  talents. 
His  appearance  in  Vienna  just  now  was,  therefore,  a  piece  of 
good  fortune  for  Schikaneder,  who  immediately  engaged  him 
for  his  theatre. 

Whether  Beethoven  had  talents  for  operatic  composition, 
no  one  could  yet  know;  but  his  works  had  already  spread  to 


Engaged  to  Compose  an  Opera  5 

Paris,  London,  Edinburgh,  and  had  gained  him  the  fame  of 
being  the  greatest  living  instrumental  composer — Father  Haydn 
of  course  excepted — and  this  much  might  be  accepted  as  certain: 
viz.,  that  his  name  alone,  like  Vogler's,  would  secure  the  theatre 
from  pecuniary  loss  in  the  production  of  one  work;  and,  per- 
haps— who  could  foretell? — he  might  develop  powers  in  this 
new  field  which  would  raise  him  to  the  level  of  even  Cherubini! 
He  was  personally  known  to  Schikaneder,  having  played  in  the 
old  theatre,  and  his  "Prometheus"  music  was  a  success  at  the 
Court  Theatre,  So  he,  too,  was  engaged.  The  correspondent 
of  the  "Zeitung  flir  die  Elegante  Welt"  positively  states,  under 
date  of  June  29th:  "Beethoven  is  composing  an  opera  by  Schika- 
neder." There  is  nothing  very  improbable  in  this,  though  cir- 
cumstances intervened  which  prevented  the  execution  of  such 
a  project.  Still  the  fact  remains,  that  Schikaneder — that  strange 
compound  of  wit  and  absurdity;  of  poetic  instinct  and  gro- 
tesque humor;  of  shrewd  and  profitable  enterprise  and  lavish  prod- 
igality; who  lived  like  a  prince  and  died  like  a  pauper — has 
connected  his  name  honorably  with  both  Mozart  and  Beethoven. 

These  plain  and  obvious  facts  have  been  so  misrepresented 
as  to  make  it  appear  that  this  engagement  of  Beethoven  was 
a  grand  stroke  of  policy  conceived  and  executed  by  Baron  von 
Braun,  who,  at  the  Theater-an-der-Wien  ("newly  built  and  to 
be  opened  in  1804"),  had  suddenly  become  aware  of  a  genius 
and  talent,  to  which,  notwithstanding  the  "Prometheus"  music, 
at  the  Imperial  Opera,  he  had  been  oblivious  during  the  pre- 
ceding ten  years!  The  date  of  the  transaction  is  a  sufficient 
confutation  of  this;  as  also  of  the  notion  that  the  success  of 
the  "Christus  am  Olberg"  led  to  his  engagement.  On  the 
contrary,  it  was  his  engagement  that  enabled  Beethoven  to 
obtain  the  use  of  the  Theater-an-der-Wien  to  produce  that  work 
in  a  concert  to  which  we  now  come. 

The  "Wiener  Zeitung"  of  Saturday,  March  26  and  Wed- 
nesday, March  30,  1803,  contained  the  following 

Notice 

On  the  5th  (not  the  4th)  of  April,  Herr  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 
will  produce  a  new  oratorio  set  to  music  by  him,  "Christus  am  Olberg," 
in  the  R.  I,  privil.  Theater-an-der-Wien.  The  other  pieces  also  to 
be  performed  will  be  announced  on  the  large  bill-board. 

Beethoven  must  have  felt  no  small  confidence  in  the  power 
of  his  name  to  awaken  the  curiosity  and  interest  of  the  musical 
public,  for  he  "doubled  the  prices  of  the  first  chairs,  tripled  those 


6  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

of  the  reserved  and  demanded  12  ducats  (instead  of  4  florins) 
for  each  box.  But  it  was  his  first  pubhc  appearance  as  a  dra- 
matic vocal  composer,  and  on  his  posters  he  had  several  days  be- 
fore announced  with  much  pomp  that  all  the  works  would  be 
of  his  composition.  The  result,  however,  answered  his  expec- 
tations,  "for  the  concert  yielded  him  1800  florins." 

The  works  actually  performed  were  the  first  and  second 
Symphonies,  the  Pianoforte  Concerto  in  C  minor  and  "Christus 
am  Olberg";  some  others,  according  to  Ries,  were  intended, 
but,  owing  to  the  length  of  the  concert,  which  began  at  the  early 
hour  of  six,  were  omitted  in  the  performance.  As  no  copy  of 
the  printed  programme  has  been  discovered,  there  is  no  means 
of  deciding  what  these  pieces  were;  but  the  "Adelaide,"  the 
Scena  et  Aria  "Ah,  perfido!"  and  the  trio  "Tremate,  empj, 
tremate,"  suggest  themselves,  as  vocal  pieces  well  fitted  to  break 
the  monotony  of  such  a  mass  of  orchestral  music.  It  seems 
strange — knowing  as  we  do  Beethoven's  vast  talent  for  impro- 
visation— that   no   extempore  performance  is  reported. 

"The  symphonies  and  concertos,"  says  Seyfried,  "which 
Beethoven  produced  for  the  first  time  (1803  and  1808)  for  his  benefit 
at  the  Theater-an-der-Wien,  the  oratorio,  and  the  opera,  I  re- 
hearsed according  to  his  instructions  with  the  singers,  conducted 
all  the  orchestral  rehearsals  and  personally  conducted  the  per- 
formance. ^ 

The  final  general  rehearsal  was  held  in  the  theatre  on  the 
day  of  performance,  Tuesday,  April  5.  On  that  morning,  as 
was  often  the  case  when  Beethoven  needed  assistance  in  his 
labors,  young  Ries  was  called  to  him  early — about  5  o'clock. 
"I  found  him  in  bed,"  says  Ries,  "writing  on  separate  sheets 
of  paper.  To  my  question  what  it  was  he  answered,  'Trom- 
bones.' At  the  concert  the  trombone  parts  were  played  from 
these  sheets.  Had  the  copyist  forgotten  to  copy  these  parts? 
Were  they  an  afterthought?  I  was  too  young  at  the  time  to 
observe  the  artistic  interest  of  the  incident;  but  probably  the 
trombones  were  an  afterthought,  as  Beethoven  might  as  easily 
have  had  the  vncopied  parts  as  the  copied.''  The  correspondent 
of  the  "Zeitung  fiir  die  Elegante  Welt"  renders  a  probable  solu- 
tion of  Ries's  doubt  easy.  He  found  the  music  to  the  "Christus'* 
to  be  "on  the  whole  good,  and  there  are  a  few  admirable  passages, 
an  air  of  the  Seraph  with  trombone  accompaniment  in  par- 
ticular being  of  admirable  efl'ect."  Beethoven  had  probably 
found   the  aria   "Erzittre,   Erde"  to   fail  of   its   intended  effect, 

'"Cacilia."    IX,    p.    ^19. 


Production  of  "The  Mount  of  Olives"  7 

and  added  the  trombone  on  the  morning  of  the  final  rehearsal, 
to  be  retained  or  not  as  should  prove  advisable  upon  trial. ^  Ries 
continues: 

The  rehearsal  began  at  8  o'clock  in  the  morning.  It  was  a  ter- 
rible rehearsal,  and  at  half  after  2  everybody  was  exhausted  and  more 
or  less  dissatisfied.  Prince  Karl  Lichnowsky,  who  attended  the  rehearsal 
from  the  beginning,  had  sent  for  bread  and  butter,  cold  meat  and  wine 
in  large  baskets.  He  pleasantly  asked  all  to  help  themselves  and  this 
was  done  with  both  hands,  the  result  being  that  good  nature  was  re- 
stored again.  Then  the  Prince  requested  that  the  oratorio  be  rehearsed 
once  more  from  the  beginning,  so  that  it  might  go  well  in  the  evening 
and  Beethoven's  first  work  in  this  genre  be  worthily  presented.  And 
so  the  rehearsal  began  again. 

Seyfried  in  the  article  above  quoted  gives  a  reminiscence 
of    this    concert : 

At  the  performance  of  the  Concerto  he  asked  me  to  turn  the  pages 
for  him;  but — heaven  help  me! — that  was  easier  said  than  done.  I 
saw  almost  nothing  but  empty  leaves;  at  the  most  on  one  page  or  the 
other  a  few  Egyptian  hieroglyphs  wholly  unintelligible  to  me  scribbled 
down  to  serve  as  clues  for  him;  for  he  played  nearly  all  of  the  solo  part 
from  memory,  since,  as  was  so  often  the  case,  he  had  not  had  time  to 
put  it  all  on  paper.^  He  gave  me  a  secret  glance  whenever  he  was 
at  the  end  of  one  of  the  invisible  passages  and  my  scarcely  concealable 
anxiety  not  to  miss  the  decisive  moment  amused  him  greatly  and  he 
laughed  heartily  at  the  jovial  supper  which  we  ate  afterwards. 

The  impression  made  on  reading  the  few  contemporary 
notices  of  this  concert  is  that  the  new  works  produced  were, 
on  the  whole,  coldly  received.  The  short  report  (by  Kotzebue?) 
in  the  "Freymiithige"  said: 

Even  our  doughty  Beethofen,  whose  oratorio  "Christus  am  01- 
berg"  was  performed  for  the  first  time  at  surburban  Theater-an-der- 
Wien,  was  not  altogether  fortunate,  and  despite  the  efforts  of  his 
many  admirers  was  unable  to  achieve  really  marked  approbation. 
True,  the  two  symphonies  and  single  passages  in  the  oratorio  were 
voted  very  beautiful,  but  the  work  in  its  entirety  was  too  long,  too 
artificial  in  structure  and  lacking  expressiveness,  especially  in  the 
vocal  parts.  The  text,  by  F.  X.  Huber,  seemed  to  have  been  as  super- 
ficially written  as  the  music.  But  the  concert  brought  1800  florins 
to  Beethofen  and  he,  as  well  as  Abbe  Vogler,  has  been  engaged  for  the 
theatre.  He  is  to  write  one  opera,  Vogler  three;  for  this  they  are  to 
receive  10  per  cent,  of  the  receipts  at  the  first  ten  performances,  besides 
free  lodgings. 

iThe  English  editor  of  this  biography  found  trombone  parts  written  out  by  Beet- 
hoven among  Mr.  Thayer's  posthumous  papers;  they  belonged  to  the  Trio  in  the 
Scherzo  of  the  Ninth  Symphony,  and  Beethoven's  instructions  to  the  copyist  where 
to  introduce  them  in  the  score  plainly  showed  that  they  were  an  afterthought. 

^It  was  not  the  case  this  time,  for  the  manuscript  of  this  Concerto  bears  in  the 
composer's    hand    the    date    "1800." 


8  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

The  writer  in  the  "Allgemeine  Musikalische  Zeitung"  alone 
speaks  of  the  "Christus"  as  having  been  received  with  **extra- 
ordinary  approval."  Three  months  afterwards  another  cor- 
respondent flatly  contradicts  this:  "In  the  interest  of  truth," 
he  writes,  "I  am  obliged  to  contradict  a  report  in  the  'Musi- 
kalische Zeitung';  Beethoven's  cantata  did  not  please."  To 
this  Schindler  remarks:  "Even  the  composer  agreed  with  this 
to  this  extent — that  in  later  years  he  unhesitatingly  declared  that 
it  had  been  a  mistake  to  treat  the  part  of  Christ  in  the  modern 
vocal  style.  The  abandonment  of  the  work  after  the  first  per- 
formance, as  well  as  its  tardy  appearance  in  print  (about  1810), 
permit  us  to  conclude  that  the  author  was  not  particularly  sat- 
isfied with  the  manner  in  which  he  had  solved  the  problem,  and 
that  he  probably  made  material  changes  in  the  music."  The 
"Wiener  Zeitung"  of  July  30,  1803,  gives  all  the  comment  neces- 
sary on  the  "abandonment"  and  probable  changes  in  the  work, 
by  announcing  that  "the  favorable  reception"  of  the  oratorio 
had  induced  the  Society  of  Amateur  Concerts  to  resolve  to  repeat 
it  on  August  4.  Moreover,  Sebastian  Meier's  concert  of  March 
27,  1804,  opened  with  the  second  Symphony  of  Beethoven  and 
closed  with  "Christus  am  Olberg,"  being  its  fourth  perform- 
ance in  one  year.^ 

A  few  days  after  this  public  appearance  we  have  a  sight 
of  Beethoven  again  in  private  life.  Dr.  Joh.  Th.  Helm,  the 
famous  physician  and  professor  in  Prague,  then  a  young  man 
just  of  the  composer's  age  (he  was  born  December  11,  1770), 
accompanied  Count  Prichnowsky  on  a  visit  to  Vienna.  On 
the  morning  of  the  16th  of  April  these  two  gentlemen  met  Beet- 
hoven in  the  street,  who,  knowing  the  Count,  invited  them  to 
Schuppanzigli's,  "where  some  of  his  pianoforte  sonatas  which 
Kleinhals  had  transcribed  as  string  quartets  were  to  be  rehearsed. 
We  met,"  writes  Held,  in  his  manuscript  autobiography  (the 
citations  were  communicated  to  this  work  by  Dr.  Edmund 
Schebek   of    Prague) 

a  number  of  the  best  musicians  gathered  together,  such  as  the  violin- 
ists Krumhhol?:,  Moser  (of  Berlin),  the  nuihitto  Bridgethauer,  who 
in  London  had  been  in  the  service  of  the  then  Prince  of  Wales,  also 
a  Ilcrr  Schreiherand  the  Xi  years'  old-  Kraft  who  played  second.  Even 
then  Bcethovcrrs  muse*  transjjorted  me  to  higher  regions,  and  the 
desire   of   all    of    these   artists    to    have   our    musical    director    Wenzel 

'In  a  Convcrsfttion  Hook  from  Uic  year  lSi.5,  Hnlz  writes  that  till  thon  "Christus 
am  Olb«;rj?"  had  always  drawn  full  houses,  hut  that  the  court  official  in  charge  of 
mujiral  affairs  (Ifnfmu.tikgrnf)   had  not  allowod  further  performances  to  be  given. 

'Anton  Kraft  waa  lllj  years  old  at  the  time. 


Bridgetower  and  the  "Kreutzer  Sonata"  9 

Praupner  in  Vienna  confirmed  me  in  my  opinion  of  the  excellence  of 
his  conducting.  Since  then  I  have  often  met  Beethoven  at  concerts. 
His  piquant  conceits  modified  the  gloominess,  I  might  say  the  lugu- 
briousness,  of  his  countenance.  His  criticisms  were  very  keen,  as  I 
learned  most  clearly  at  concerts  of  the  harpist  Nadermann  of  Saxony 
and  Mara,  who  was  already  getting  along  in  years. 

The  "Bridgethauer,"  mentioned  by  Held — whose  incorrect 
writing  of  the  name  conveys  to  the  German  its  correct  pronun- 
ciation— was  the  "American  ship  captain  who  associated  much 
with  Beethoven"  mentioned  by  Schindler  and  his  copyists. 

George  Augustus  Polgreen  Bridgetower — a  bright  mulatto 
then  24  years  old,  son  of  an  African  father  and  German  or 
Polish  mother,  an  applauded  public  violinist  in  London  at  the 
age  of  ten  years,  and  long  in  the  service,  as  musician,  of  the  Prince 
of  Wales,  afterwards  George  IV — was  never  in  America  and  knew 
as  much  probably  of  a  ship  and  the  science  of  navigation  as 
ordinary  shipmasters  do  of  the  violin  and  the  mysteries  of  musical 
counterpoint.  In  1802  he  obtained  leave  of  absence  to  visit 
his  mother  in  Dresden  and  to  use  the  waters  of  Teplitz  and 
Carlsbad,  which  leave  was  prolonged  that  he  might  spend  a 
few  months  in  Vienna.  His  playing  in  public  and  private  at 
Dresden  had  secured  him  such  favorable  letters  of  introduc- 
tion as  gained  him  a  most  brilliant  reception  in  the  highest 
musical  circles  of  the  Austrian  capital,  where  he  arrived  a  few 
days  before  Held  met  him  at  Schuppanzigh's.  Beethoven, 
to  whom  he  was  introduced  by  Prince  Lichnowsky,  readily  gave 
him  aid  in  a  public  concert.  The  date  of  the  concert  has  not 
been  determined  precisely;  it  was  probably  on  May  24th.  It 
has  an  interest  on  account  of  Beethoven's  connection  with  it; 
for  the  day  of  the  concert  was  the  date  of  the  completion  and 
performance  of  the  "Kreutzer"   Sonata. 

The  famous  Sonata  in  A  minor.  Op.  47,  with  concertante  violin, 
dedicated  to  Rudolph  Kreutzer  in  Paris  [says  Ries  on  page  82  of  the 
"Notizen"],  wa,s  originally  composed  by  Beethoven  for  Bridgetower, 
an  English  artist.  Here  things  did  not  go  much  better  (Ries  is  refer- 
ring to  the  tardiness  of  the  composition  of  the  horn  sonata  which  Beet- 
hoven wrote  for  Punto),  although  a  large  part  of  the  first  Allegro  was 
ready  at  an  early  date.  Bridgetower  pressed  him  greatly  because 
the  date  of  his  concert  had  been  set  and  he  wanted  to  study  his  part. 
One  morning  Beethoven  summoned  me  at  half  after  4  o'clock  and  said: 
"Copy  the  violin  part  of  the  first  Allegro  quickly."  (His  ordinary  copy- 
ist was  otherwise  engaged.)  The  pianoforte  part  was  noted  down  only 
here  and  there  in  parts.  Bridgetower  had  to  play  the  marvellously 
beautiful  theme  and  variations  in  F  from  Beethoven's  manuscript 
at  the  concert  in  the  Augarten  at  8  o'clock  in  the  morning  because 
there  was  no  time  to  copy  it.     The  final  Allegro,  however,  was  beau- 


10 


The  Life  of  Ludwig  vax  Beethoven 


tifully  written,  since  it  originally  belonged  to  the  Sonata  in  A  major 
(Op.  30),  which  is  dedicated  to  Czar  Alexander.  In  its  place  Beet- 
hoven, thinking  it  too  brilliant  for  the  A  major  Sonata,  put  the  vari- 
ations which  now  form  the  finale.  ^ 

Brid^etower   was   thoughtful   enough   to   leave   in   his   copy 

of  tlie  Sonata  a  note  upon  that  first  performance  of  it,  as  follows: 

Relative  to  Beethoven's  Op.  47. 
When  I   accompanied   him  in  this   Sonata-Concertante   at   Wien, 
at  the  repetition  of  the  first  part  of  the  Presto,  I  imitated  the  flight, 
at  the  18th  bar,  of  the  pianoforte  of  this  movement  thus: 

l<na  volta  ^^f.  F^^S.^  _^ ^^g     ^ 


He  jumped  up,  embraced  me,  saying:  "Noch  cinmal,  mein  lieber 
Bursch!"  ("Once  again,  my  dear  boy!")  Then  he  held  the  open 
pedal  during  this  flight,  the  chord  of  C  as  at  the  ninth  bar. 

Beethoven's  expression  in  the  Andante  was  so  chaste,  which 
always  characterized  the  performance  of  all  his  slow  viovements,  that 
it  was  unanimously  hailed  to  be  repeated  twice, 

George  Polgreen   Bridgetower. 

Bridgetower  was  mentioned  in  a  letter  from  Beethoven 
to   Baron   von   Wetzlar,  in   this   language,    under   date  May   18: 

Although  we  have  never  addressed  each  other  I  do  not  hesitate 
to  recommend  to  you  the  bearer,  JVIr.  Brislulower,  a  very  capable 
virtuoso  who  has  a  comi)lete  command  of  his  instrument. 

Besides  his  concertos  he  plays  quartets  admirably,  I  greatly  wish  that 
you  make  him  known  to  otliers.  He  has  commended  himself  favorably 
to  Lobkowitz  and  Fries  and  all  other  eminent  lovers  (of  music). 

I  think  it  would  be  not  at  all  a  l)ad  idea  if  you  were  to  take  him 
for  an  <'vcning  to  Theresa  Schonfeld,  where  I  know  many  friends  as- 
semble and  at  your  house.  T  know  that  you  will  thank  me  for  having 
made  you  acquainted   with   him. 

'Tlif  follDwitif;  oliscrvntion  nn  ttio  sonata  l>y  rzcrny  is  also  intorosting:  "In  the 
Sonata  wrillt-n  for  nriilK<'t<<Wfr  and  dcdic  atid  to  Knntzir,  Op.  47  (of  which  the  first 
movement  wn-i  romposi-d  in  four  days  and  the  other  two  [?]  added  from  a  sonata 
already  completed),  the  eoncluding  passage 

s^r-  if!  If"  >p  ir  /yr ,  F  i^^ 


p^ 


i.t  said  to  Im"  Itorrowi-d  from  a  picfp  of  Krent/.er's  already  in  print.  I  had  this  assur- 
ance immediately  after  the  puMication  of  tlie  Hi-etlinven  Sonata  from  a  French  musi- 
cian nHO.5).  It  would  \m'  worth  while  to  in vesti^;iite  the  matter.  Perhaps  therein 
lies  the  rra.*on  of  il.s  c|<-dication."  .\nd  further:  "Mridiri-towcr  was  a  muhilto  and 
played  very  extravagantly;  when  he  played  the  sonata  with  Hccthoven  it  was  laughed 
at." 


The  Career  of  Bridgetower    ,  11 

Bridgetower,  when  advanced  in  years,  talking  with  Mr. 
Thirlw^all  about  Beethoven,  told  him  that  at  the  time  the  Sonata, 
Op.  47,  was  composed,  he  and  the  composer  were  constant  com- 
panions, and  that  the  first  copy  bore  a  dedication  to  him;  but 
before  he  departed  from  Vienna  they  had  a  quarrel  about  a 
girl,  and  Beethoven  then  dedicated  the  work  to  Rudolph 
Kreutzer.  ^ 

^Letters  and  other  documents,  some  of  which  were  placed  in  Mr.  Thayer's  hands 
by  Samuel  Appleby,  Esq.,  relative  to  Bridgetower,  are  printed  in  an  appendix  to  Vol. 
II  of  the  first  German  edition  of  this  biography  and  as  foot-notes  and  otherwise  in  Vol. 
III.  What  is  essential  in  the  memoranda  and  documents  can  be  put  into  a  much  smaller 
compass.  The  subscription  for  the  concert  amounted  to  1140  florins  and  the  list  was 
headed  by  the  English  envoy.  Bridgetower's  father  was  known  in  England  as  the 
"Abyssinian  Prince,"  and  Mr.  Thayer  speculates  whether  the  title  was  genuine  or 
but  a  sobriquet  given  to  him  suggested  by  Dr.  Johnson's  "Rasselas";  but  it  will  appear 
presently  that  he  was  called  an  "African  Prince,"  not  an  Abyssinian;  how  his  father  got 
to  Biala  in  Poland,  where  Bridgetower  was  born,  or  whether  his  mother  was  a  German 
or  a  Pole,  remains  a  mystery  which  has  not  yet  been  cleared  up.  The  first  memo- 
randum of  information  in  Mr.  Thayer's  collection  was  in  the  shape  of  an  excerpt  from 
a  communication  from  London  written  by  Abt  Vogler  and  printed  in  Bossier's  "Musi- 
kalische  Correspondenz"  on  July  7,  1790.  Abt  Vogler's  letter  bears  date  London, 
June   6,    1790;  in  it  he  said: 

"Last  Wednesday,  June  2nd,  I  attended  a  concert  here  in  Hanover  Square  where 
two  young  heroes  contested  with  each  other  on  the  violin  and  all  music-lovers  and 
cognoscenti  found  most  agreeable  entertainment  for  three  hours.  The  two  played 
concertos  alternately  and  both  won  the  warmest  applause.  The  quartet,  however, 
which  was  played  by  young  virtuosi  whose  combined  ages  did  not  reach  40  years, 
by  virtue  of  a  fine,  cheerful,  witty  and  yet  harmonious  performance  exceeded  all  the 
expectations  that  experienced  players  could  gratify.  The  first  violin  was  played  by 
Clement  of  Vienna,  eight  and  one-half,  the  second  by  Bridgetower  of  Africa,  ten  years 
of  age." 

The  Prince  of  Wales,  afterwards  King  George  IV,  took  the  youth  into  his  ser- 
vice as  first  violinist  in  the  Pavilion  at  Brighton.  The  next  piece  of  information 
which  reached  Thayer  told  of  Bridgetower's  first  concert  in  Dresden  on  July  24,  1802. 
A  second  concert  was  given  on  March  18,  1803,  at  which  a  brother  of  the  violinist, 
who  played  the  violoncello,  took  part.  A  letter  from  Friedrich  Lindemann,  a  member 
of  the  Prince  of  Wales's  orchestra,  dated  January  14,  1803,  contained  the  informa- 
tion that  a  letter  of  Bridgetower's  forwarded  to  Brighton  by  a  certain  "Billy"  Cole  had 
been  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Prince,  who  read  it  at  once,  appeared  to  be  highly  sat- 
isfied, and  granted  the  writer's  request  to  be  permitted  to  go  to  Vienna.  Thayer  did 
not  learn  the  dates  of  Bridgetower's  birth  or  death,  but  Dr.  Riemann  in  his  revision  of 
the  second  Volume  says  that  he  died  "between  1840  and  1850."     This  is  an  error. 

In  the  May  number  for  1908  of  "The  Musical  Times"  (London)  Mr.  F.  G.  Edwards 
printed  the  results  of  an  investigation  into  Bridgetower's  life,  and  provided  some  new 
and  definite  information  from  a  collection  of  letters  and  documents  in  the  possession 
of  Arthur  F.  Hill,  F.S.A.  From  this  article  it  appears  that  Bridgetower  was  a  pupil 
of  Barthelemon,  Giornovichi,  Thomas  Attwood  and — as  he  claimed — Haydn.  If  he 
really  was  a  pupil  of  Haydn,  he  must,  as  Mr.  Edwards  pointed  out,  have  been  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Vienna  before  he  had  completed  his  tenth  year.  To  this  the  present 
writer  adds  that  if  he  had  been  a  pupil  of  Haydn's  the  latter  would  not  have  omitted 
his  name  in  the  list  of  names  which  he  made  of  the  London  musicians  on  his  first  visit 
to  the  English  metropolis,  for  he  included  "Clement  petit,"  who  was  then  between 
ten  and  eleven  years  old.  (See,  "Music  and  Manners  in  the  Classical  Period,"  by  H.  E. 
Krehbiel,  p.  77.)  He  made  his  first  public  appearance  in  Paris  at  a  Concert  Spirituel  on 
April  13,  1789.  In  the  announcement  of  this  concert  he  was  described  as  "Mr.  Georges 
Bridgetower,  ne  aux  colonies  anglaises,  age  de  9  ans."  (Yet  his  passport  issued  by  the  police 
authorities,  gives  Biala  in  Poland  as  his  birthplace.)  A  concert  for  his  benefit  was  given  on 
May  27,  1789,  at  the  Salle  du  Pantheon.  Soon  thereafter  he  crossed  the  channel  and,  if 
his  father  is  to  be  believed,  he  played  for  the  first  time  in  England  before  George  III 
and  his  court  at  Windsor  Castle.     Next  he  appears  at  Bath,  the  "Morning  Post"  of 


1^2  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

WTien  Beethoven  removed  from  the  house  "am  Peter"  to 
the  theatre  building,  he  took  his  brother  Karl  (Kaspar)  to   live 

November  io,  1789,  reporting  "Amongst  those  added  to  the  Sunday  promenade  were 
the  African  Prince  in  the  Turkish  attire.  The  son  of  this  African  Prince  has  been 
celebrated  as  a  very  accomplished  musician."  The  same  newspaper,  on  December 
8,  a  fortnight  later,  tells  of  a  concert  given  on  the  Saturday  morning  immediately 
preceding  the  publication  which  was  "more  crowded  and  splendid  than  has  ever  been 
known  at  this  place,  upwards  of  550  people  being  present.  Rauzzini  was  enrap- 
tured, and  declared  that  he  had  never  heard  such  execution  before,  even  from  his  friend 
La  Motte,  who  was,  he  thought,  much  inferior  to  this  wonderful  boy.  The  father 
was  in  the  gallery,  and  so  affected  by  the  applause  bestowed  on  his  son,  that  tears 
of   pleasure   and   gratitude   flowed   in    profusion." 

It  would  seem  as  if  the  modern  methods  of  advertising  musical  artists  is  far 
behind  the  old  in  the  impudent  display  of  charlantanry.  The  plain  "Georges"  of 
the  first  Paris  concert,  the  later  George  Polgreen,  in  the  announcement  of  his  first 
concert  in  Bath  becomes  George  Augustus  Frederick.  Why.'  The  Christian  name 
of  the  Prince  of  Wales  was  George  Augustus  Frederick.  In  this  announcement  he 
is  described  as  "a  youth  of  Ten  Years  old.  Pupil  of  the  celebrated  H.\tdn."  The 
newspapers    were   amiable   or   gullible,   or   both. 

The  lad  played  a  concerto  between  "the  2d  and  3d  Acts"  of  "The  Messiah" 
at  a  performance  of  Handel's  oratorio  given  for  the  benefit  of  Rauzzini  on  Christmas 
eve  of  the  same  year.  He  gave  a  concert  in  Bristol  on  December  18,  1789,  leading 
the  band  "with  the  coolness  and  spirit  of  a  Cramer  to  the  astonishment  and  delight 
of  all  present,"  and  on  New  Year's  day,  1790.  Next  he  went  to  London,  where,  at 
Drury  Lane  Theatre  on  February  19,  1790,  he  played  a  solo  at  a  performance  of  "The 
Messiah.  '  Referring  to  the  Lenten  concerts  of  that  year,  Parke  says  in  his  "Musical 
Memoirs":  "Concertos  were  performed  on  the  oboe  by  me  and  on  the  violin  for  the 
first  time  by  Master  Bridgetower,  son  of  an  African  Prince,  who  was  attended  by  his 
father  habited  in  the  costume  of  his  country."  The  concert  described  by  Abt  Vogler 
was  under  the  patronage  of  the  Prince  of  Wales.  At  the  Handel  Commemoration 
of  1791  in  Westminster  Abbey,  Bridgetower  and  Hummel,  in  scarlet  coals,  sat  on  either 
side  of  Joah  Bates  at  the  organ  and  pulled  out  the  stops  for  him.  He  played  in  the 
orchestra  at  the  Haydn-Salomon  concerts  in  1791,  at  several  of  the  Lenten  concerts 
in  the  King's  Theatre  in  179i,  and  on  May  28  he  performed  a  concerto  by  Viotti  at 
Mr.  Bartheiemon's  concert,  the  announcement  stating  that  "Dr.  Haydn  will  preside 
at  the  pianoforte.  '  (Haydn's  note-book  contains  no  mention  of  the  concert,  which 
would  in  likelihood  have  been  the  case  had  Bridgetower  ever  been  his  pupil.)  He 
was  plainly  on  terms  of  intimacy  with  such  musicians  as  Viotti,  Francis  Cramer, 
Attwood,  and  later  of  Samuel  Wesley,  who  WTote  of  him  in  a  tone  of  enthusiastic 
appreciation. 

In  1S02,  being  then  in  the  Prince  of  Wales's  band  at  Brighton,  he  obtained 
leave,  as  Thayer  notes,  to  \-isit  Dresden  and  take  the  baths  at  Teplitz  and  Carlsbad; 
eventually,  too.  as  we  have  seen,  to  visit  Vienna.  The  passport  issued  to  him  in  Vienna 
for  his  return  to  London  described  him  as  "a  musician,  native  of  Poland,  aged  24  years, 
medium  height,  clean  shaven,  dark  brown  hair,  brown  eyes  and  straight,  rather  broad 
nose."  He  .seems  to  have  become  a  resident  of  London  and  to  have  continued  in  favor 
with  mutical  and  othiT  notables  for  a  considerable  space,  for  Dr.  Crotch  asks  his  aid 
in  se<  uriiig  tin-  patronage  of  the   Prince   Regent  for  a  concert. 

He  re<fived  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Music,  on  presentation  of  the  usual  exer- 
ci.*e,  from  the  I'nivcrsily  of  Cambridge  in  1811.  There  follow  some  years  during 
which  his  liff  remains  ob.srure,  but  in  which  he  lived  on  the  Continent.  He  was  in 
Romo  in  ISi.'t  and  lSi7;  bark  in  London  in  1S4.S,  when  Vincent  Novello  sent  him 
a  Idler  which  he  .signed  "your  much  oliliged  old  pupil  and  professional  admirer." 
John  Klla  nxt  him  in  Vimna  in  1845,  but  he  was  again  in  London  in  1846,  and  there 
he  died,  apparently  friendless  and  in  poverty,  on  February  29.  1S60.  In  the  registry 
of  his  death,  disco verr<l  by  Mr.  Edwards,  his  age  is  set  down  as  78  years;  but  he  must 
have  Iwen  eighty  if  ho  was  nine  when  he  played  at  the  first  concert  in  Paris  in  1789. 
He  waa  born  either  in  1779  or  17H0.  He  published  some  pianoforte  studies  in  1812 
uncler  the  title  "Diafonira  .Xrmonica"  whi<  h.  witli  a  few  other  printed  pieces,  are  to 
be  founcl  in  the  British  .Museum.  .\  ballad  entitled  "Henry,"  which  was  "Sung  by 
Mi.ss  Feron  and  dedicated  with  permi.ssion  to  Her  Royal  llighness  the  Princess  of 
Woles,"  was  evidently  compo.sed  in  1810. 


Summer  Lodgings  at  Dobling  13 

with  him,i  as  twenty  years  later  he  gave  a  room  to  his  factotum 
Schindler.  This  change  of  lodgings  took  place,  according  to 
Seyfried,  before  the  concert  of  April  5— which  is  confirmed 
by  the  brother's  new  address  being  contained  in  the  "Staats- 
Schematismus"  for  1803 — that  annual  publication  being  usually 
ready  for  distribution  in  April. ^  At  the  beginning  of  the  warm 
season  Beethoven,  as  was  his  annual  custom,  appears  to  have 
passed  some  weeks  in  Baden  to  refresh  himself  and  revive  his 
energies  after  the  irregular,  exciting  and  fatiguing  city  life  of 
the  winter,  before  retiring  to  the  summer  lodgings,  whose  posi- 
tion he  describes  in  a  note  to  Ries  ("Notizen,"  p.  128)  as  "in 
Oberdobling  No.  4,  the  street  to  the  left  where  you  go  down 
the  mountain  to  Heiligenstadt." 

The  Herrengasse  is  still  "die  Strasse  links"  at  the  extremity 
of  the  village,  as  it  was  then;  but  the  multiplication  of  houses 
and  the  change  in  their  numbers  render  it  uncertain  which 
in  those  days  bore  the  number  4.  At  all  events  it  had,  in  1803, 
gardens,  vineyards  or  green  fields  both  in  front  and  rear.  True, 
it  was  half  an  hour's  walk  farther  than  from  Heiligenstadt  to 
the  scenes  in  which  he  had  composed  the  second  Symphony, 
the  preceding  summer;  but,  to  compensate  for  this,  it  was  so 
much  nearer  the  city — was  in  the  more  immediate  vicinity  of 
that  arm  of  the  Danube  called  the  "Canal" — and  almost  under 
its  windows  was  the  gorge  of  the  Krottenbach,  which  separates 
Dobling  from  Heiligenstadt,  and  which,  as  it  extends  inland 
from  the  river,  spreads  into  a  fine  vale,  then  very  solitary  and 
still  very  beautiful.  This  was  the  house,  this  the  summer, 
and  these  the  scenes,  in  which    the  composer  wrought  out  the 

i"Hr.  Karl  v.  Beethoven  lives  auf-der-Wien  26."  "Staats-Schematismus,"  1803, 
p.  150;  and  ibid.  1804,  p.  154.  "Hr.  Ludwig  van  Beethofen,  auf-der-Wien  26." — See 
"Auskunftsbuch,"  1804,  p.  204.  "An-der-Wien,  No.  26.  Bartoloma  Zitterbarth,  K.  K. 
Prin.  Schauspielhaus." — See  "Vollstandiges  Verzeichniss  alier  ....  der  numerirten 
Hauser,  deren  Eigenthiimer,"  etc.,  etc.,  Wien,  1804,  p.  133. 

^A  letter  printed  in  1909  by  Leopold  Schmidt  in  his  collection  from  the  archives 
of  the  Simrock  firm,  confirms  the  change  of  lodgings  to  the  theatre  and  also  brother 
Karl's  activity  as  correspondent  and  arranger.  In  it  he  offers  a  grand  Sonata  for 
violin,  to  appear  simultaneously  in  London,  Leipsic,  Vienna  and  Bonn,  for  30  florins; 
a  grand  Symphony  for  400  florins.  When  the  "Kreutzer"  Sonata  was  published  (it 
was  announced  by  Trag  on  May  18,  1805)  Karl  acknowledged  the  receipt  of  a  copy 
in  a  letter  to  Simrock,  adding  that  all  the  other  publishers  sent  six  copies  of  the  works 
printed  by  them  and  asking  for  the  remaining  five.  Simrock  took  him  to  task  rather 
sharply  for  what  he  considered  a  piece  of  presumption,  in  a  letter  which  he  enclosed 
to  Ferdinand  Ries  with  the  statement  that  he  might  read  it  if  he  wanted  to.  "I  bought 
the  Sonata  of  Louis  van  Beethoven,"  says  the  indignant  publisher,  "and  in  his  letter 
concerning  it  there  is  not  a  word  about  giving  him  six  copies  in  addition  to  the  fees — 
a  matter  important  enough  to  have  been  mentioned;  I  was  under  the  impression  that 
Louis  van  Beethoven  composed  his  own  works;  what  I  am  certain  of  is  that  I  have 
fully  complied  with  all  the  conditions  of  the  contract  and  am  indebted  to  nobody." 
In  the  note  to  Ries  he  calls  Karl's  conduct  "impertinent  and  deserving  of  a  harsher 
treatment,    for  Herr  Karl  seems  to   me  incorrigible." 


14  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

conceptions  that  during  the  past  five  years  had  been  assuming 
form  and  consistency  in  his  mind,  to  which  Bernadotte  may 
have  given  the  original  impulse,  and  which  we  know  as  the 
"Heroic  Symphony."^ 

Let  us  turn  to  Stephan  von  Breuning  and  a  new  friend  or 
two.  Archduke  Karl,  by  a  commission  dated  January  9,  1801, 
had  been  made  Chief  of  the  "Staats-  und  Konferenzial-Departe- 
ment  fiir  das  Kriegs-  und  Marine-Wesen,"  and  retained  the 
position  still,  notwithstanding  his  assumption  of  the  functions 
of  Hoch-  und  Deutsch-Meister.  He  undertook  to  introduce  a 
wide-reaching  reform  at  the  War  Department,  which  demanded 
an  increase  in  the  number  of  Secretaries  and  scriveners.  Stephan 
von  Breuning  is  the  second  in  the  list  of  five  appointed  in  1804, 
Ignatz  von  Gleichenstein  the  fifth.  It  is  believed,  that  the  x\rchduke 
had  discovered  the  fine  business  talents,  the  zeal  in  the  discharge 
of  duty  and  the  perfect  trustworthiness  of  Breuning  at  the  Teu- 
tonic House,  and  that  at  his  special  invitation  the  young  man 
this  year  exchanged  the  service  of  the  Order  for  that  of  the  State. 
There  is  abundant  evidence,  that  the  young  Rhinelanders  then 
in  Vienna  were  bound  to  each  other  by  more  than  the  usual 
ties:  most  of  them  were  fugitives  from  French  tyranny,  and 
lial)le  to  conscription  if  found  in  the  places  of  their  birth,  though 
this  was  not  the  case  with  Breuning.  There  was,  in  addition 
to  the  ordinary  feeling  of  nationality,  a  common  sense  of  exile 
to  unite  them.  Between  Breuning  and  Gleichenstein  therefore 
— two  amia})Ie  and  talented  young  men  thus  thrown  into  daily 
intercourse — an  immediate  and  warm  friendship  would  natur- 
ally spring  up;  and  an  introduction  of  the  latter  to  Breuning's 
friend  Beethoven  would  inevitably  follow,  in  case  they  had  not 
known  each  other  in  the  old  Bonn  days. 

I  Another  young  Rhinelander,  to  whom  Beethoven  became 
much  attached,  and  who  returned  the  kindness  with  warm 
affection  for  him  jxTsonally  and  a  boundless  admiration  for  his 
genius,  became  known  to  the  composer  also  just  at  this  time. 
WilHbrord  Joseph  Miihler,  a  native  of  Coblentz — who  died  in 
1800,  at  the  age  of  8*2  years,  as  pensioned  Court  Secretary — 
was  a  man  of  remarkably  varied  artistic  talents,  by  which,  how- 
ever, since  he  eiilfivated  them  only  as  a  dilettante  and  without 

'Thftyer  ronsiderrd  the  "first  street  to  the  loft"  to  be  the  Hcrrongasse.  J.  Bock 
(Gnft<l<-(mu)  arRiH'd  in  "Die  Miisik."  Vol.  II,  No.  0,  that  tlu'  house  in  wliirh  the  "Eroica" 
Vfos  ri>nipos«Ml  wa.s  the  pn-.^t-nt  IIaiipt.stras.se  No.  9i  of  Dol>liii>»  unfl  hore  the  oUl  No. 
4  of  the  Hofzeile.  In  1SJ)0  the  owner  of  the  house  and  the  Miinnergesangsverein 
of  Dcihling  placed  a,  tablet  on  thi-  "Kroica"  house,  whose  occupants  "were  still  in  pos- 
session of  a  tradition  concerning  Heethoven's  occupation  of  it."     So  says  Dr.    RiemanD. 


Association  with  W.  J.  Mahler  15 

confining  himself  to  any  one  art,  he  achieved  no  great  distinc- 
tion. He  wrote  respectable  poetry  and  set  it  to  correct  and  not 
unpleasing  music;  sang  well  enough  to  be  recorded  in  Boeckh's 
"Merkwiirdigkeiten  der  Haupt-  und  Residenz-Stadt  Wien" 
(1823)  as  "amateur  singer,"  and  painted  sufficiently  well  to  be 
named,  on  another  page  of  Boeckh,  "amateur  portrait  painter." 
He  painted  that  portrait  of  the  composer,  about  1804-5,  which 
is  still  in  possession  of  the  Beethoven  family,  and  a  second  1814- 
15 — (Mr.  Mahler  could  not  recall  the  precise  date) — once  owned 
by  Prof.  Karajan.  Several  of  the  portraits  now  in  possession 
of  the  Gesellschaft  der  Musikfreunde  in  Vienna  are  from  his 
pencil;  but  two  or  three  of  the  very  best  specimens  of  his  skill 
have  been  sold  to  a  gentleman  in  Boston,  U.S.A.  ^ 

Soon  after  Beethoven  returned  from  his  summer  lodgings 
to  his  apartment  in  the  theatre  building,  Mahler,  who  had  then 
recently  arrived  in  Vienna,  was  taken  by  Breuning  thither  to 
be  introduced.  They  found  him  busily  at  work  finishing  the 
"Heroic  Symphony."  After  some  conversation,  at  the  desire 
of  Mahler  to  hear  him  play,  Beethoven,  instead  of  beginning 
an  extempore  performance,  gave  his  visitors  the  finale  of  the 
new  Symphony;  but  at  its  close,  without  a  pause,  he  continued 
in  free  fantasia  for  two  hours,  "during  all  which  time,"  said  Mr. 
Mahler  to  the  present  writer,  "there  was  not  a  measure  which 
was  faulty,  or  which  did  not  sound  original."  He  added,  that 
one  circumstance  attracted  his  particular  notice;  viz.:  "that 
Beethoven  played  with  his  hands  so  very  still;  wonderful  as 
his  execution  was,  there  was  no  tossing  of  them  to  and  fro,  up 
and  down;  they  seemed  to  glide  right  and  left  over  the  keys, 
the  fingers  alone  doing  the  work."  To  Mr.  Mahler,  as  to  most 
others  who  have  recorded  their  impressions  of  Beethoven's 
improvisations,  they  were  the  non  plus  ultra  of  the  art. 

There  was,  however,  be  it  noted  in  passing,  a  class  of  good 
musicians,  small  in  number  and  exceptional  in  taste,  who,  pre- 
cisely at  this  time,  had  discovered  a  rival  to  Beethoven,  in  this 
his  own  special  field.  Thus  Gansbacher  writes,  as  cited  by 
Frolich  in  his  "Biographic  Voglers": 

Sonnleithner  gave  a  musical  soiree  in  honor  of  Vogler  and  invited 
Beethoven  among  others.  Vogler  improvised  at  the  pianoforte  on 
a  theme  given  to  him  by  Beethoven,  4^^  measures  long,  first  an  Adagio 
and  then  fugued.  Vogler  then  gave  Beethoven  a  theme  of  three  meas- 
ures (the  scale  of  C  major,  alia  breve).  Beethoven's  excellent  piano- 
forte  playing,    combined    with    an    abundance   of    the    most    beautiful 

^Th.  von  Frimmel  discusses  the  Beethoven  portraits  in    his  "Neue    Beethoven- 
iana,"  p.  189  et  seq.,  and  "Beethoven-Studien,"  Vol.  II  (1905). 


16  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

thoughts,  surprised  me  beyond  measure,  but  could  not  stir  up  the 
enthusiasm  in  me  which  had  been  inspired  by  Vogler's  learned  playing, 
which  was  beyond  parallel  in  respect  of  its  harmonic  and  contrapuntal 
treatment. 

An  undated  note  of  Beethoven,  to  Mahler,  which  belongs 
to  a  somewhat  later  period — since  its  date  is  not  ascertainable 
nor  of  much  importance — may  be  inserted  here,  as  an  intro- 
duction to  Mr.  Mahler's  remarks  upon  the  portrait  to  which 
it  refers: 

I  beg  of  you  to  return  my  portrait  to  me  as  soon  as  you  have 
made  sufficient  use  of  it — if  you  need  it  longer  I  beg  of  you  at  least 
to  make  haste — I  have  promised  the  portrait  to  a  lady,  a  stranger 
who  saw  it  here,  that  she  may  hang  it  in  her  room  during  her  stay  of 
several  weeks.  Who  can  withstand  such  charming  importunities, 
as  a  matter  of  course  a  portion  of  the  lovely  favors  which  I  shall  thus 
gamer  will  also  fall  to  you. 

To  the  question  what  picture  is  here  referred  to,  Mr.  Mahler 
replied  in  substance:  "It  was  a  portrait,  which  I  painted  soon 
after  coming  to  Vienna,  in  which  Beethoven  is  represented, 
at  nearly  full  length,  sitting;  the  left  hand  rests  upon  a  lyre, 
the  right  is  extended,  as  if,  in  a  moment  of  musical  enthusiasm, 
he  was  beating  time;  in  the  background  is  a  temple  of  Apollo. 
Oh!  If  I  could  but  know  what  became  of  the  picture!" 

"What!"  was  the  answ^er,  to  the  great  satisfaction  of  the 
old  gentleman,  "the  picture  is  hanging  at  this  moment  in  the 
home  of  Madame  van  Beethoven,  w^idow,  in  the  Josephstadt, 
and  I  have  a  copy  of  it."^ 

The  extended  right  hand — though,  like  the  rest  of  the  pic- 
ture, not  very  artistically  executed — was  evidently  painted  with 
care.  It  is  rather  broad  for  the  length,  is  muscular  and  nervous, 
as  the  hand  of  a  great  pianist  necessarily  grows  through  much 
practice;  but,  on  the  whole,  is  neatly  formed  and  well  propor- 
tioned. Anatomically,  it  corresponds  so  perfectly  with  all 
the  authentic  descriptions  of  Beethoven's  person,  that  this  alone 
proves  it  to  have  been  copied  from  nature  and  not  drawn  after 
the  painter's  fancy.  Wlioever  saw  a  long,  delicate  hand  with 
fingers  excpiisitely  tapering,  like  Mendelssohn's,  joined  to  the 
short  stout   muscular  figure  of  a  Beethoven  or  a  Schubert.'* 

A  few  of  Beethoven's  letters  belonging  to  this  period  must 
be  introduced  here.  The  first,  dated  September  22,  1803,  ad- 
dressed   to    IIofTmeister,    is   as   follows: 

'A  ropy  of  this  porfrnit  whirh  holongod  to  Thayor  is  now  in  the  possession  of  Mrs. 
Jkbez  Fox,  and  is  presented  in  photogravure  as  frontispiece  to  the  present  volume. 


Correspondence  with  George  Thomson  17 

Herewith  I  declare  all  the  works  concerning  which  you  have 
written  to  me  to  be  your  property;  the  list  of  them  will  be  copied 
again  and  sent  to  you  signed  by  me  as  your  confessed  property.  I 
also  agree  to  the  price,  50  ducats.     Does  this  satisfy  you.^* 

Perhaps  I  may  be  able  to  send  you  instead  of  the  variations  for 
violin  and  violoncello  a  set  of  variations  for  four  hands  on  a  song  of 
mine  with  which  you  will  also  have  to  print  the  poem  by  Goethe,  as 
I  wrote  these  variations  in  an  album  as  a  souvenir  and  consider  them 
better  than  the  others;  are  you  content? 

The  transcriptions  are  not  by  me,  but  I  revised  them  and  improved 
them  in  part,  therefore  do  not  come  along  with  an  announcement  that 
I  had  arranged  them,  because  if  you  do  you  will  lie,  and,  I  haven't  either 
time  or  patience  for  such  work.     Are  you  agreed.'* 

Now  farewell,  I  can  wish  you  only  'large  success,  and  I  would 
willingly  give  you  everything  as  a  gift  if  it  were  possible  for  me  thus 
to  get  through  the  world,  but — consider,  everything  about  me  has 
an  official  appointment  and  knows  what  he  has  to  live  on,  but,  good 
God,  where  at  the  Imperial  Court  is  there  a  place  for  a  parvuni  talentum 
com  ego? 

In  this  year  began  the  correspondence  with  Thomson. 
George  Thomson,  a  Scotch  gentleman  (born  March  4,  1757,  at 
Limekilns,  Dunfermline,  died  at  Leith,  February  18,  1851),  distin- 
guished himself  by  tastes  and  acquirements  which  led  to  his 
appointment,  when  still  a  young  man,  as  "Secretary  to  the  Board 
of  Trustees  for  the  Encouragement  of  Arts  and  Manufactures 
in  Scotland" — a  Board  established  at  the  time  of  the  Union  of 
the  Kingdoms,  1707  (not  the  Crowns,  1603),  of  England  and 
Scotland — an  office  from  which  he  retired  upon  a  full  pension 
after  a  service  of  fifty  years.  He  was,  especially,  a  promoter 
of  all  good  music  and  an  earnest  reviver  of  ancient  Scotch  melody. 
As  one  means  of  improving  the  public  taste  and  at  the  same 
time  of  giving  currency  to  Scotch  national  airs,  he  had  published 
sonatas  with  such  melodies  for  themes,  composed  for  him  by 
Pleyel  in  Paris,  and  Kozeluch  in  Vienna — -two  instrumental 
composers  enjoying  then  a  European  reputation  now  difficult 
to  appreciate.  The  fame  of  the  new  composer  at  Vienna  hav- 
ing now  reached  Edinburgh,  Thomson  applied  to  him  for  works 
of  a  like  character.  Only  the  signature  of  the  reply  seems  to 
be  in  Beethoven's  hand: 

A  Monsieur 
George  Thomson,  Nr.  28  York  Place 

Edinburgh.     North  Britain 

Vienna  le  5.  8^^^  igOS. 
Monsieur! 
J'ai  regu  avec  bien  de  plaisir  votre  lettre  du  20  Juillet.     Entrant 
volontiers  dans  vos  propositions  je  dois  vous  declarer  que  je  suis  pret 
de  composer  pour  vous  six  sonates  telles  que  vous  les  desirez  y  intro- 


18  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

duisant  meme  les  airs  ecossais  d'une  maniere  laquelle  la  nation  Ecos- 
saise  trouvera  la  plus  favorable  et  le  plus  d'accord  avec  le  genie  de 
ses  chansons.  Quant  au  honoraire  je  crois  que  trois  cent  ducats  pour 
six  sonates  ne  sera  pas  trop,  vu  qu'en  Allemagne  on  me  donne  autant 
pour  pareil  nonibre  de  sonates  meme  sans  accompagnement. 

Je  vous  previens  en  meme  tems  que  vous  devez  accelerer  votre 
declaration,  par  ce  qu'on  me  propose  tant  d'engagements  qu'apres  quel- 
que  tems  je  ne  saurois  peutetre  aussitot  satisfaire  a  vos  demandes. — 
Je  vous  prie  de  me  pardonner,  que  cette  reponse  est  si  retardee  ce 
qui  n'a  ete  causee  que  par  mon  sejour  a  la  campagne  et  plusieurs 
occupations  tres  pressantes. — Aimant  de  preference  les  airs  eccossais 
je  me  plairai  particulierement  dans  la  composition  de  vos  sonates,  et 
j'ose  avancer  que  si  nos  interets  s'accorderront  sur  le  honoraire,  vous 
serez    parfaitement    contente. 

Agreez  les  assurances  de  mon  estime  distingue. 

Louis  van  Beethoven. 

Mr.  Thomson's  endorsement  of  this  letter  is  this: 

50  D.  1803.  Louis  van  Beethoven,  Vienna,  demands  300  ducats 
for  composing  six  Sonatas  for  me.  Replied  8th  Nov.  that  I  would  give 
no  more  than  150,  taking  3  of  the  Sonatas  when  ready  and  the  other  3 
in  six  months  after;  giving  him  leave  to  publish  in  Germany  oil  his  own 
account,  the  day  after  publication  in  London. 

The  sonatas  were  never  composed.  Not  long  afterwards, 
on  OctoV)er  ^'-2,  Beethoven,  enraged  at  efforts  to  reprint  his  works, 
issued  the  following  characteristic  fulmination  in  large  type, 
filling  an  entire  page  of  the  journal: 

Warning. 

Herr  Carl  Zulehner,  a  reprinter  at  Ma,yence,  has  announced  an 
edition  of  all  my  works  for  pianoforte  and  string  instruments.  I  hold 
it  to  be  my  duty  hereby  publicly  to  inform  all  friends  of  music  that 
I  have  not  the  slightest  part  in  this  edition.  I  should  not  have  offered 
to  make  a  collection  of  my  works,  a  proceeding  which  I  hold  to  be 
Iiremature  at  the  best,  without  first  consulting  with  the  publishers  and 
caring  for  the  correctness  which  is  wanting  in  some  of  the  individual 
pul)lications.  Mor<*over,  I  wish  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  the 
illicit  edition  in  ({ucstion  can  never  be  complete,  inasmuch  as  some 
new  works  will  soon  aj)i)ear  in  Paris,  which  Herr  Zulehner,  as  a  French 
sul)jrct,  will  not  be  permitted  to  reprint.  I  shall  soon  make  full  an- 
noniicernont  of  a  collection  of  my  works  to  be  made  under  my  super- 
vi.^ion   and   after   a  severe   revision.' 

'The  fniMirntion  of  a  rfimplftc  edition  of  his  rompositiona  freqiiontly  occupied 
the  mind  of  Hccthovcn.  In  1S()(J  lircilkopf  and  Hiirtcl  tried  to  get  all  of  IJeethovcn's 
wdrks  for  piililiration  l>y  them;  it  is  likely  that  similar  efforts  on  the  part  of  Viennese 
publishers  date  hack  as  far  as  ISO.S.  Later  the  plan  plays  a  role  in  the  correspondence 
with  Probst  and  Simrork.  As  late  as  iHH  it  was  urged  by  Andreas  Strcieher.  It 
has  alreacly  l)een  said  that  Heelhoven  at  an  early  date  rlesired  to  make  an  arrangement 
with  a  publisher  by  whi<  h  he  might  be  relievefi  of  anxiety  about  monetary  matters. 
He  wanted  to  give  all  his  compositions  to  one  publisher,  who  should  pay  him  a  fixed 
salary. 


Meissner's  Oratorio  Text  Rejected  19 

Alexander  Macco,  the  painter,  after  executing  a  portrait 
of  the  Queen  of  Prussia,  in  1801,  which  caused  much  discussion 
in  the  public  press  but  secured  to  him  a  pension  of  100  thalers, 
went  from  Berlin  to  Dresden,  Prague,  and,  in  the  summer  of 
1802,  to  Vienna.  Here  he  became  a  great  admirer  of  Beethoven, 
both  as  man  and  artist,  and  claimed  and  enjoyed  so  much  of 
his  society  as  the  state  of  his  mind  and  body  would  allow  him 
to  grant  to  any  stranger.  Macco  remained  but  a  few  months 
here  and  then  returned  to  Prague,  whence  he  wrote  the  next 
year  offering  to  Beethoven  for  composition  an  oratorio  text 
by  Prof.  A.  G.  Meissner — a  name  just  then  well  known  in  musical 
circles  because  of  the  publication  -of  the  first  volume  of  the  biog- 
raphy of  Kapellmeister  Naumann.  If  Meissner  had  not  re- 
moved from  Prague  to  Fulda  in  1805,  and  if  Europe  had  remained 
at  peace,  perhaps  Beethoven  might,  two  or  three  years  later, 
have  availed  himself  of  the  offer;  just  now  he  felt  bound 
to  decline  it,  which  he  did  in  a  letter  dated  November  2,  1803. 
In  it  he  said: 

I  am  sorry,  too,  that  I  could  not  be  oftener  with  you  in  Vienna, 
but  there  are  periods  in  human  life  which  have  to  be  overcome  and 
often  they  are  not  looked  upon  from  the  right  point  of  view,  it  appears 
that  as  a  great  artist  you  are  not  wholly  unfamiliar  with  such,  and  so 
— I  have  not,  as  1  observe,  lost  your  good  will,  of  which  fact  I  am  glad 
because  I  esteem  you  highly  and  wish  that  I  might  have  such  an  artist 
in  my  profession  to  associate  with.  Meissner's  proposal  is  very  wel- 
come, nothing  could  be  more  desirable  than  to  receive  such  a  poem  from 
him,  who  is  so  highly  honored  as  a  writer  and  who  understands  musical 
poetry  better  than  any  other  German  author,  but  at  present  it  is  im- 
possible for  me  to  write  this  oratorio  because  I  am  just  beginning  my 
opera  which,  together  with  the  performance,  may  occupy  me  till  Easter 
— if  Meissner  is  not  in  a  hurry  to  publish  his  poem  I  should  be  glad  if 
he  were  to  leave  the  composition  of  it  to  me,  and  if  the  poem  is  not 
completed  I  wish  he  would  not  hurry  it,  since  before  or  after  Easter 
I  would  come  to  Prague  and  let  him  hear  some  of  my  compositions, 
which  would  make  him  more  familiar  with  my  manner  of  writing,  and 
either — inspire  him  further — or  perhaps,  make  him  stop  altogether,  etc. 

Was,  then,  the  correspondent  of  the  "Zeitung  fiir  die 
Elegante  Welt"  right  .^^  Had  Beethoven  really  received  one  of 
Schikaneder's  heroic  texts .'^  This  much  is  certain:  that  in  the 
words  "because  I  am  just  beginning  my  opera,"  no  reference 
is  made  to  the  "Leonore"  ("Fidelio").  They  may  only  express 
his  expectation  of  beginning  such  a  work  immediately;  or  they 
may  refer  to  one  already  begun,  of  which  a  fragment  has  been 
preserved.  In  Rubric  II  of  the  sale  catalogue  of  Beethoven's 
manuscripts  and  music,  No.  67,  is  a  "vocal  piece  with  orchestra. 


20  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

complete,  but  not  entirely  orchestrated."  It  is  an  operatic 
trio^;  the  dramatis  personae  are  Poms,  Volivia,  Sartagones;  the 
handwriting  is  that  of  this  part  of  the  composer's  life;  and  the 
music  is  the  basis  of  the  subsequent  grand  duet  in  "Fidelio," 
"O  namenlose  Freude."  The  temptation  is  strong  to  believe 
that  Schikaneder  had  given  Beethoven  another  "Alexander," 
the  scenes  laid  in  India — a  supplement  to  that  with  which  his 
new  theatre  had  been  opened  two  years  before.  However  this 
was,  circumstances  occurred,  which  prevented  its  completion, 
or  indeed  the  composition  by  Beethoven  of  any  text  prepared 
by  Schikaneder. 

The  compositions  which  may  safely  be  dated  1803,  are  few 
in  comparison  with  those  of  1802.  The  works  published  in  the 
course  of  the  year  were  the  two  Pianoforte  Sonatas,  Op.  31,  Nos. 
1  and  2  (in  Nageli's  "Repertoire  des  Clavecinistes") ;  the  three 
Violin  Sonatas,  Op.  30  (Industrie-Comptoir) ;  the  two  sets  of 
Variations,  Op.  34  and  35  (Breitkopf  and  Hartel);  the  seven 
Bagatelles,  Op.  33  (Industrie-Comptoir);  the  Romanza  in  G 
for  Violin,  Op.  40  (Hoif meister  and  Kiihnel) ;  the  arrangement 
for  Pianoforte  and  Flute  (or  Violin)  Op.  41  of  the  Serenade  (Op. 
25),  which  was  not  made  by  Beethoven  but  examined  by  him 
and  "corrected  in  parts"  (HofiFmeister  and  Ktihnel);  the  two 
Preludes  for  Pianoforte,  Op.  39  (HofiPmeister  and  Ktihnel);  two 
songs,  "La  Partenza"  and  "Ich  Hebe  dich"  (Traeg) ;  a  song, 
"Das  Gliick  der  Freundschaft,"  Op.  88  (Lbschenkerl  in  Vienna 
and  Simrock  in  Bonn),  of  which  Nottebohm  found  a  sketch 
amongst  the  sketches  for  the  "Eroica"  Symphony  in  the  book 
used  in  1803  and  which,  therefore,  though  it  may  have  been 
jHi  early  work,  was  probably  rewritten  in  1803;  and  the  six 
Sacred  Songs  by  Gellert,  dedicated  to  Count  Browne  (Artaria). 
The  two  groat  works  of  the  year  were  the  "Kreutzer"  Sonata 
for  Violin  and  the  "Sinfonia  Eroica."  The  title  of  the  former, 
"Sonata  per  il  Pianoforte  ed  un  Violino  obligato  in  uno  stilo 
(stile)  molto  concertante  quasi  come  d'un  Concerto,"  is  found 
on  the  inner  side  of  the  last  sheet  of  the  sketchbook  of  1803  de- 
scribed by  Nottebohm.  Beethoven  wrote  the  word  "brillante" 
after  "stilo"  but  .scratched  it  out.  It  is  obvious  that  he  wished 
to  emphasize  the  difference  between  this  Sonata  and  its  prede- 
cessors. Siinrork's  tardiness  in  publishing  the  Sonata  annoyed 
Beethoven.  He  became  iinj)atient  and  wrote  to  the  publisher 
as  follows,   under  date  of  October  4,    1804: 

'Nottebohm,  "Skizrenbuch,  etc.,  1803,"  p.  56,  says  "quartet." 


Kreutzer  and  His  Sonata  21 

Dear,  best  Herr  Simrock,  I  have  been  waiting  with  longing  for 
the  Sonata  which  I  gave  you — but  in  vain — please  write  me  what  the 
condition  of  affairs  is  concerning  it — whether  or  not  you  accepted  it 
from  me  merely  as  food  for  moths — or  do  you  wish  to  obtain  a  special 
Imperial  privilegium  in  connection  with  it? — well  it  seems  to  me  that 
might  have  been  accomplished  long  ago. — Where  in  hiding  is  this  slow 
devil — who  is  to  drive  out  the  sonata — you  are  generally  the  quick 
devil,  are  known  as  Faust  once  was  as  being  in  league  with  the  imp 
of  darkness  and  for  this  reason  you  are  loved  by  your  comrades;  but 
again — where  in  hiding  is  your  devil — or  what  kind  of  a  devil  is  it  that 
sits  on  my  sonata  and  with  whom  you  have  a  misunderstanding? — Hurry, 
then,  and  tell  me  when  I  shall  see  the  sonata  given  to  the  light  of  day — 
when  you  have  told  me  the  date  I  will  at  once  send  a  little  note  to 
Kreutzer,  which  you  will  please  be  kind  enough  to  enclose  when  you 
send  a  copy  (as  you  in  any  event  will  send  your  copies  to  Paris  or  even, 
perhaps,  have  them  printed  there) — this  Kreutzer  is  a  dear,  good  fellow 
who  during  his  stay  here'  gave  me  much  pleasure.  I  prefer  his  un- 
assuming manner  and  unaffectedness  to  all  the  Exterieur  or  interieur 
of  all  the  virtuosi — as  the  sonata  is  written  for  a  thoroughly  capable 
violinist,  the  dedication  to  him  is  all  the  more  appropriate — although 
we  correspond  with  each  other  (i.e.,  a  letter  from  me  once  a  year) — • 
I  hope  he  will  not  have  learned  anything  about  it.  .  .  . 

As  a  proof  of  the  growing  appreciation  of  Beethoven  in 
foreign  lands  it  may  be  remarked  here  that  in  the  summer  of 
1803  he  received  an  Erard  pianoforte  as  a  gift  from  the  celebrated 
Parisian  maker.  The  instrument  belongs  to  the  museum  at 
Linz  and  used  to  bear  an  inscription,  on  the  authority,  of  Beet- 
hoven's brother  Johann,  that  it  was  given  to  the  composer  by 
the  city  of  Paris  in  1804.  The  archives  of  the  Erard  firm  show, 
however,  that  on  the  18th  of  Thermidor,  in  the  Xlth  year 
of  the  Republic  (1803),  Sebastien  Erard  made  a  present  of  "un 
piano  forme  clavecin"  to  Ludwig  van  Beethoven  in  Vienna. 

^Kreutzer  came  to   Vienna   with  Bernadotte  in   1789. 


Chapter  II 


The  Year  1804— The  "Sinfonia  Eroica"— Beethoven  and  Breu- 
ning — The  "Waldstein"  Sonata — Sonnleithner,  Treitschke 
and  Gaveaux — "Fideho"  Begun — Beethoven's  Popularitj^ 


DT7RIXG  the  winter  1803-04  negotiations  were  in  progress 
the  result  of  which  put  an  end  for  the  present  to  Beet- 
hoven's operatic  aspirations.     Let  Treitschke,  a  personal 
actor   in   the  scenes,  explain  :i 

On  February  24,  1801,  the  first  performance  of  "Die  Zauber- 
flote"  took  place  in  the  Royal  Imperial  Court  Theatre  beside  the  Karnth- 
nerthor.  Orchestra  and  chorus  as  well  as  the  representatives  of  Sarastro 
(Weinmliller),  the  Queen  of  Night  (Mme.  Rosenbaum),  Pamina  (De- 
moiselle Saal)  and  the  Moor  (Lippert)  were  much  better  than  before. 
It  remained  throughout  the  year  the  only  admired  German  opera. 
The  loss  of  large  receipts  and  the  circumstance  that  many  readings 
were  changed,  the  dialogue  shortened  and  the  name  of  the  author 
omitted  from  all  mention,  angered  S.  (Schikaneder)  greatly.  He  did 
not  hesitate  to  give  free  vent  to  his  gall,  and  to  parody  some  of  the 
vulnerable  passages  in  the  performance.  Thus  the  change  of  costume 
accompanying  the  metamorphosis  of  the  old  woman  into  Papagena 
seldom  succeeded.  Schikaneder,  when  he  repeated  the  opera  at  his 
theatre,  sent  a  couple  of  tailors  on  to  the  stage  who  slowly  accomplished 
the  disrobing,  etc.  These  incidents  would  be  trifles  had  they  not  been 
followed  by  such  significant  consequences;  for  from  that  time  dated 
the  hatred  and  jealousy  which  existed  between  the  German  operas 
of  the  two  theatres,  which  alternately  persecuted  every  novelty  and 
ended  in  Baron  von  Braun,  then  manager  of  the  Court  Theatre,  pur- 
chasing the  Theater-an-der-Wien  in  1804,  by  which  act  everything 
came  under  the  staff  of  a  single  shepherd  but  never  became  a  single 
flock. 

Zittcrbarth  harl,  some  months  before,  purchased  of  Schi- 
kaneder all  his  rights  in  the  i)roj)crty,  paying  him  100,000  florins 
for  the  j)rivik'gium  alone;  and,  therefore,  being  absolute  master, 
"had  permitted  a  dicker  down  to  the  sum  of  1,060,000  florins 
Vienna   standard.  .  .  .  The    contract    was    signed    on    February 

•"Orpheus,"    1841,    p.    248. 
[  22  1 


Clementi  Comes  to  Vienna  23 

11th  and  on  the  16th  the  Theater-an-der-Wien  under  the  new 
arrangement  was  opened  with  Mehul's  opera  'Ariodante.'  "^ 

Zitterbarth  had  retained  Schikaneder  as  director;  but  now 
Baron  Braun  dismissed  him,  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Court 
Theatres,  Joseph  von  Sonnleithner,  for  the  present  acted  in 
that  capacity. 

The  sale  of  the  theatre  made  void  the  contracts  with  Vogler 
and  Beethoven,  except  as  to  the  first  of  Vogler's  three  operas, 
"Samori"  (text  by  Huber),  which  being  ready  was  put  in  rehearsal 
and  produced  May  7th. 

It  was  no  time  for  Baron  Braun,  with  three  theatres  on 
his  hands,  to  make  new  contracts  with  composers,  until  the 
reins  were  fairly  in  his  grasp,  and  the  affairs  of  the  new  purchase 
brought  into  order  and  in  condition  to  work  smoothly;  nor  was 
there  any  necessity  of  haste;  the  repertory  was  so  well  supplied, 
that  the  list  of  new  pieces  for  the  year  reached  the  number  of 
forty-three,  of  which  eighteen  were  operas  or  Singspiele.  So 
Beethoven,  who  had  already  occupied  the  free  lodgings  in 
the  theatre  building  for  the  year  which  his  contract  with  Zitter- 
barth and  Schikaneder  granted  him,  was  compelled  to  move. 
Stephan  von  Breuning  even  then  lived  in  the  house  in  which 
in  1827  he  died.  It  was  the  large  pile  of  building  belonging  to 
the  Esterhazy  estates,  known  as  "das  rothe  Haus,"  which  stood 
at  a  right  angle  to  the  Schwarzspanier  house  and  church,  and 
fronted  upon  the  open  space  where  now  stands  the  new  Votiv- 
Kirche.     Here   also   Beethoven   now   took  apartments. ^ 

It  is  worth  noting,  that  this  was  the  year — October,  1803 
to  October,  1804 — of  C.  M.  von  Weber's  first  visit  to  Vienna, 
and  of  his  studies  under  Vogler.  He  was  then  but  eighteen 
years  old  and  "the  delicate  little  man"  made  no  very  favorable 
impression  upon  Beethoven.  But  at  a  later  period,  when  Weber's 
noble  dramatic  talent  became  developed  and  known,  no  former 
prejudice  prevented  the  great  symphonist's  due  appreciation 
and  hearty  acknowledgment  of  it. 

Among  the  noted  strangers  who  came  to  Vienna  this  spring 
was  Clementi. 

"He  sent  word  to  Beethoven  that  he  would  like  to  see  him." 
"Clementi  will  wait  a  long  time  before  Beethoven  goes  to  him," 
was  the  reply.     Thus  Czerny. 

When  he  came  (says  Ries)  Beethoven  wanted  to  go  to  him 
at  once,  but  his  brother  put  it  into  his  head  that  Clementi  ought  to 

lAllg.    Mus.    Zeit.  XXIV,    p.    320. 

'But  Ries  says  that  Beethoven  hired  these  lodgings  besides  those  in  the  theatre. 


24  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

make  the  first  visit.  Though  much  older  Clementi  would  probably 
have  done  so  had  not  gossip  begun  to  concern  itself  with  the  matter. 
Thus  it  came  about  that  Clementi  was  in  Vienna  a  long  time  without 
knowing  Beethoven  except  by  sight.  Often  we  dined  at  the  same  table 
in  the  Swan,  Clementi  with  his  pupil  Klengel  and  Beethoven  with  me; 
all  knew  each  other  but  no  one  spoke  to  the  other,  or  confined  himself 
to  a  greeting.  The  two  pupils  had  to  imitate  their  masters,  because 
they  feared  they  would  otherwise  lose  their  lessons.  This  would  surely 
have  been  the  case  with  me  because  there  was  no  possibility  of  a  middle- 
way  with  Beethoven.     ("Notizen,"  p.   101.) 

Early  in  the  Spring  a  fair  copy  of  the  "Sinfonia  Eroica"  had 
been  made  to  be  forwarded  to  Paris  through  the  French  embassy, 
as  Moritz  Lichnowsky  informed  Schindler. 

In  this  symphony  (says  Ries)  Beethoven  had  Buonaparte  in  his 
mind,  but  as  he  was  when  he  was  First  Consul.  Beethoven  esteemed 
him  greatly  at  the  time  and  likened  him  to  the  greatest  Roman  consuls. 
I  as  well  as  several  of  his  more  intimate  friends  saw  a  copy  of  the  score 
lying  upon  his  table,  with  the  word  "Buonaparte"  at  the  extreme  top 
of  the  title-page  and  at  the  extreme  bottom  "Luigi  van  Beethoven," 
but  not  another  word.  Whether,  and  with  what  the  space  between 
was  to  be  filled  out,  I  do  not  know.  I  was  the  first  to  bring  him  the 
intelligence  that  Buonaparte  had  proclaimed  himself  emperor,  where- 
upon he  flew  into  a  rage  and  cried  out:  "Is  then  he,  too,  nothing  more 
than  an  ordinary  human  being.'  Now  he,  too,  will  trample  on  all  the 
rights  of  man  and  indulge  only  his  ambition.  He  will  exalt  himself 
above  all  others,  become  a  tyrant!"  Beethoven  went  to  the  table, 
took  hold  of  the  title-page  by  the  top,  tore  it  in  two  and  threw  it  on 
the  floor.  The  first  page  was  rewritten  and  only  then  did  the  symphony 
receive  the  title:   "Sinfonia  eroica." 

There  can  be  no  mistake  in  this;  for  Count  Moritz  Lich- 
nowsky, who  happened  to  be  with  Beethoven  when  Ries  brought 
the  oflFensive  news,  described  the  scene  to  Schindler  years  before 
the  publication  of  the  "Notizen," 

The  Acts  of  the  French  Tribunate  and  Senate,  which  ele- 
vated the  First  Consul  to  the  dignity  of  Emperor,  are  dated 
May  3,  4,  and  17.  Napoleon's  assumption  of  the  crown  occurred 
on  the  18tli  and  the  solemn  proclamation  was  issued  on  the  20th. 
Even  in  those  days,  news  of  so  important  an  event  would  not 
have  required  ten  days  to  reach  Vienna.  At  the  very  latest, 
then,  a  fair  ropy  of  the  "Sinfonia  Eroica,"  was  complete  early 
in  ^^ay,  1804.  That  it  was  a  copy,  the  two  credible  witnesses, 
Ries  and  Lichnowsky,  attest.  Beethoven's  own  score — pur- 
chaser! at  the  sale  in  1S>27,  for  3  fl.  10  kr.,  Vienna  standard 
(less  than  .S'j  francs),  by  the  Vienna  composer  Hr.  Joseph  Des- 
sauer — could    not   have  been  the  one   referred   to   above.     It   is, 


The  "Eroica"  and  Napoleon  25 

from  beginning  to  end,  disfigured  by  erasures  and  corrections, 
and  the  title-page  could  never  have  answered  to  Ries'  descrip- 
tion.    It  is  this:  " 

(At  the  top:)         N.  B.  1.    Cues  for  the  other  instruments  are  to  be 
written  into  the  first  vioHn  part. 

Sinfonia  Grande 
[Here  two  words  are  erased] 

SOi  im  August 

del  Sigr 

Louis  van  Beethoven 

Sinfonie  3  Op.  55 

(At  the  bottom:)         N.  B.    2.    The  third  horn  is  so  written  that  it 

can  be  played  by      by  [sic]  a  prima'rio  as  well 
as  a  secundario. 

A  note  to  the  funeral  march,  is  evidently  a  direction  to  the 
copyist,  as  are  the  remarks  on  the  title-page: 

N.  B.  The  notes  in  the  bass  which  have  stems  upwards  are  for  the 
violoncellos,    those   downward   for   the   bass-viol. 

One  of  the  two  words  erased  from  the  title  was  "Bonaparte"; 
and  just  under  his  own  name  Beethoven  wrote  with  a  lead  pencil 
in  large  letters,  nearly  obliterated  but  still  legible,  "Composed 
on  Bonaparte." 

It  is  confidently  submitted,  therefore,  that  all  the  tradi- 
tions derived  from  Czerny,  Dr.  Bertolini  and  whomsoever, 
that  the  opening'  Allegro  is  a  description  of  a  naval  battle,  and 
that  the  Marcia  funebre  was  written  in  commemoration  of  Nelson 
or  Gen.  Abercrombie,  ^  are  mistakes,  and  that  Schindler  is  cor- 
rect; and  again,  that  the  date  "804  im  August,"  is  not  that  of 
the  composition  of  the  Symphony.  It  is  written  with  a  differ- 
ent ink,  darker  than  the  rest  of  the  title,  and  may  have  been 
inserted  long  afterwards,  Beethoven's  memory  playing  him 
false.  The  two  "violin  adagios  with  orchestral  accompaniment" 
offered  by  Kaspar  van  Beethoven  to  Andre  in  November,  1802, 

^See,  in  the  "Allg.  Mus.  Zeit."  Ill,  a  criticism  of  "Nelson's  Great  Seabattle," 
for  pianoforte,  violin  and  violoncello  by  Ferd.  Kauer.  Years  afterward  this  piece 
may  have  been  confounded  with  the  Symphony  in  Dr.  Bertolini's  memory.  From 
Otto  Jahn's  papers  we  learn  that  Dr.  Bertolini  told  him  that  the  first  idea  of  the  "Sin- 
fonia eroica"  was  suggested  to  Beethoven  by  Bonaparte's  expedition  to  Egypt  (May, 
1798);  and  the  rumor  of  Nelson's  death  at  the  battle  of  Aboukir  (June  2£),  at  which 
Nelson  was  wounded  in  the  head,  was  the  cause  of  the  funeral  march.  Czerny  wrote: 
"According  to  Beethoven's  long-time  friend.  Dr.  Bertolini,  the  first  idea  of  the  'Sin- 
fonia eroica'  was  suggested  by  the  death  of  the  English  general  Abercrombie;  hence 
the  naval  (not  land-military)  character  of  the  theme  and  the  entire  first  movement." 
Music  of  a  naval  character  to  celebrate  the  death  of  an  army  ofl5cer!  Czerny  seems 
to  have  been  at  least  temporarily  weak  either  in  history  or  logic. 


26  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

cannot  well  be  anything  but  the  two  Romances,  yet  that  in  G, 
Op.  40,  bears  the  date  1803.  Perhaps  Kaspar  wrote  before 
it  was  complete.  But  what  can  be  said  to  this.'^  It  is  perfectly 
well  known  that  Op.  124  was  performed  on  October  3,  1822; 
yet  the  copy  sent  to  Stumpff  in  London  bore  this  title:  "Over- 
ture by  Ludwig  van  Beethoven,  composed  for  the  opening  of 
the  Josephstadt  Theatre,  towards  the  end  of  September,  1823, 
and  performed  for  the  first  time  on  October  3,  1824,  Op.  124." 
That  the  "804  im  August"  may  be  an  error,  is  at  all  events  pos- 
sible, if  not  established  as  such.  "Afterwards,"  continues  Ries, 
"Prince  Lobkowitz  bought  this  composition  for  several  years'  [?] 
use,  and  it  was  performed  several  times  in  his  palace." 

There  is  "an  anecdote  told  by  a  person  who  enjoyed 
Beethoven's  society,"^  in  Schmidt's  "Wiener  Musik-Zeitung" 
(1843,  p.  28),  according  to  which,  as  may  readily  be  believed,  this 
work,  then  so  difficult,  new,  original,  strange  in  its  effects  and  of 
such  unusual  length,  did  not  please.  Some  time  after  this  humili- 
ating failure  Prince  Louis  Ferdinand  of  Prussia  paid  a  visit  to  the 
same  cavalier  (Lobkowitz)  in  his  countryseat.  .  .  .  To  give 
him  a  surprise,  the  new  and,  of  course,  to  him  utterly  unknown 
symphony,  was  played  to  the  Prince,  w^ho  "listened  to  it  with 
tense  attention  which  grew  with  every  movement."  At  the 
close  he  proved  his  admiration  by  requesting  the  favor  of  an 
immediate  repetition;  and,  after  an  hour's  pause,  as  his  stay 
was  too  limited  to  admit  of  another  concert,  a  second.  "The 
impression  made  by  the  music  was  general  and  its  lofty  con- 
tents   were   now   recognized." 

To  those  who  have  had  occasion  to  study  the  character 
of  Louis  Ferdinand  as  a  man  and  a  musician,  and  who  know 
that  at  the  precise  time  here  indicated  he  was  really  upon  a 
journey  that  took  him  near  certain  estates  of  Prince  Lobko- 
witz, there  is  nothing  improbable  in  the  anecdote.  If  it  be  true, 
and  the  occurrence  really  took  place  at  Raudnitz  or  some  other 
"countryseat"  of  the  Prince's,  the  rehearsals  and  first  perform- 
ances of  the  Symphony  at  Vienna  had  occurred,  weeks,  perhaps 

months,  before  "804  im  August."  However  this  be,  Ries  was 
present  at  the  first  rehearsal  and  incurred  the  danger  of  receiv- 
ing a  box  on  the  ear  from  his  master. 

In  the  first  Allegro  occurs  a  wicked  whim  (bose  Laune)  of  Beet- 
hoven's for  the  horn;  in  the  second  part,  several   measures  before  the 

'Dr.  Schmidt  is  of  opinion  that  that  this  anecdote  was  contributed  to  his  journal 
by  Hieronymus  Payer,  certainly  good  authority. 


A  Quarrel  with  von  Breuning        27 

theme  recurs  in  its  entirety,  Beethoven  has  the  horn  suggest  it  at  a 
place  where  the  two  vioHns  are  still  holding  a  second  chord.  To  one 
unfamiliar  with  the  score  this  must  always  sound  as  if  the  horn  player 
had  made  a  miscount  and  entered  at  the  wrong  place.  At  the  first 
rehearsal  of  the  symphony,  which  was  horrible,  but  at  which  the  horn 
player  made  his  entry  correctly,  I  stood  beside  Beethoven,  and,  think- 
ing that  a  blunder  had  been  made  I  said:  "Can't  the  damned  hornist 
count .f^ — it  sounds  infamously  false!"  I  think  I  came  pretty  close 
to  receiving  a  box  on  the  ear.  Beethoven  did  not  forgive  the  slip  for 
a  long  time.     (P.  79,  "Notizen.") 

It  was  bad  economy  for  two  young,  single  men,  each  ta 
have  and  pay  for  a  complete  suite  of  apartments  in  the  same 
house,  especially  for  two  who  were  connected  by  so  many  ties 
of  friendship  as  Breuning  and  Beethoven.  Either  lodging  con- 
tained ample  room  for  both;  and  Beethoven  therefore  very 
soon  gave  up  his  and  moved  into  the  other.  Breuning  had  his 
own  housekeeper  and  cook  and  they  also  usually  dined  together 
at  home.  This  arrangement  had  hardly  been  effected  when 
Beethoven  was  seized  with  a  severe  sickness,  which  when  conquered 
still  left  him  the  victim  of  an  obstinate  intermittent  fever. 

Every  language  has  its  proverbs  to  the  effect  that  he  who 
serves  not  himself  is  ill  served.  So  Beethoven  discovered,  when 
it  was  too  late,  that  due  notice  had  not  been  given  to  the  agent 
of  Esterhazy,  and  that  he  was  bound  for  the  rent  of  the  apart- 
ments previously  occupied.  The  question,  who  was  in  fault, 
came  up  one  day  at  dinner  in  the  beginning  of  July,  and  ended 
in  a  sudden  quarrel  in  which  Beethoven  became  so  angry  as  to 
leave  the  table  and  the  house  and  retire  to  Baden  with  the  de- 
termination to  sacrifice  the  rent  here  and  pay  for  another  lodg- 
ing, rather  than  remain  under  the  same  roof  with  Breuning. 
"Breuning,"  says  Ries,  "a  hot-head  like  Beethoven,  grew  so 
enraged  at  Beethoven's  conduct  because  the  incident  occurred 
in  the  presence  of  his  brother."  It  is  clear,  however,  that  he 
soon  became  cool  and  instantly  did  his  best  to  prevent  the  momen- 
tary breach  from  becoming  permanent,  by  writing — as  may  be 
gathered  from  Beethoven's  allusions  to  it — a  manly,  sensible 
and  friendly  invitation  to  forgive  and  forget.  But  Beethoven, 
worn  with  illness,  his  nerves  unstrung,  made  restless,  unhappy, 
petulant  by  his  increasing  deafness,  was  for  a  time  obstinate. 
His  wrath  must  run  its  course.  It  found  vent  in  the  following 
letters  to  Ries,  and  then  the  paroxysm  soon  passed. 

The  first  of  the  letters  was  written  in  the  beginning  of  1804, 

Dear  Ries:  Since  Breuning  did  not  scruple  by  his  conduct  ta 
present  my  character  to  you  and  the  landlord  as  that  of  a  miserable. 


28  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

beggarly,  contemptible  fellow  I  single  you  out  first  to  give  my  answer 
to  Breuning  by  word  of  mouth.  Only  to  the  one  and  first  point  of 
his  letter  which  I  answer  only  in  order  to  vindicate  my  character  in 
your  eyes.  Say  to  him,  then,  that  it  never  occurred  to  me  to  reproach 
him  because  of  the  tardiness  of  the  notice,  and  that,  if  Breuning  was 
really  to  blame  for  it,  my  desire  to  live  amicably  with  all  the  world  is 
much  too  precious  and  dear  to  me  that  I  should  give  pain  to  one  of 
my  friends  for  a  few  hundreds  and  more.  You  know  yourself  that 
altogether  jocularly  I  accused  you  of  being  to  blame  that  the  notice 
did  not  arrive  on  time.  I  am  sure  that  you  will  remember  this;  I 
had  forgotten  all  about  the  matter.  Now  my  brother  began  at  the 
table  and  said  that  he  believed  it  was  Breuning's  fault;  I  denied  it 
at  once  and  said  that  you  were  to  blame.  It  appears  to  me  that  was 
plain  enough  to  show  that  I  did  not  hold  him  to  blame.  Thereupon 
Breuning  jumped  up  like  a  madman  and  said  he  would  call  up  the  land- 
lord. This  conduct  in  the  presence  of  all  the  persons  with  whom  I 
associate  made  me  lose  my  self-control;  I  also  jumped  up,  upset  my 
chair,  went  away  and  did  not  return.  This  behavior  induced  Breuning 
to  put  me  in  such  a  light  before  you  and  the  house-steward,  and  to 
write  me  a  letter  also  which  I  have  answered  only  with  silence.  I 
have  nothing  more  to  say  to  Breuning.  His  mode  of  thought  and 
action  in  regard  to  me  proves  that  there  never  ought  to  have  been  a 
friendly  relationship  between  him  and  me  and  such  certainly  will  not 
exist  in  the  future.  I  have  told  you  all  this  because  your  statements 
degraded  all  my  habits  of  thinking  and  acting.  I  know  that  if  you 
had  known  the  facts  you  would  certainly  not  have  made  them,  and 
this   satisfies    me. 

Now  I  beg  of  you,  dear  Ries!  immediately  on  receipt  of  this  letter 
go  to  my  brother,  the  apothecary,  and  tell  him  that  I  shall  l(Nive  Baden 
in  a  few  days  and  that  he  must  engage  the  lodgings  in  Dobling  imme- 
diately you  have  informed  him.  I  was  near  to  coming  to-day;  I  am 
tired  of  being  here,  it  revolts  me.  Urge  him  for  heaven's  sake  to  rent 
the  lodgings  at  once  because  I  want  to  get  into  them  immediately. 
Tell  it  to  him  and  do  not  show  him  any  part  of  what  is  written  on  the 
other  page;  I  want  to  show  him  from  all  {)ossible  points  of  view  that 
I  am  not  so  small-minded  as  he  and  wrote  to  him  only  after  this 
(Breuning's)  letter,  although  my  resolution  to  end  our  friendship  is 
and  will  remain  firm. 

Your  friend 

Beethoven. 

Not    long    thereafter    there   followed    a  second   letter,   which 

Ries  gives  as  follows: 

Baden,  July  U,  1804. 
If  you,  dear  Ries,  are  able  to  find  better  quarters  I  shall  be  glad. 
I  want  them  on  a  large  (juiet  sfpuire  or  on  the  ramparts.  ...  I  will 
t.'ike  care  to  be  at  the  reiieursal  on  Wednesday.  It  is  not  pleasant 
to  mo  that  it  is  at  Schuppanzigh's.  He  ought  to  be  grateful  if  my 
humiliations  make  him  thinner.  Farewell,  dear  Ries!  We  are  having 
bad  we;ither  here  and  I  am  not  safe  from  people;  I  must  flee  in  order 
to  be  alone. 


End  of  a  Friendship  Threatened  29 

From  a  third  letter,  dated  "Baden,  July  24,  1804,"  Ries  prints 
the  following  excerpt: 

....  No  doubt  you  were  surprised  at  the  Breuning  affair;  believe 
me,  dear  (friend),  my  eruption  was  only  the  outburst  consequent  on 
many  unpleasant  encounters  between  us  before.  I  have  the  talent 
in  many  cases  to  conceal  my  sensitiveness  and  repress  it;  but  if  I  am 
irritated  at  a  time  when  I  am  more  susceptible  than  usual  to  anger, 
I  burst  out  more  violently  than  anybody  else.  Breuning  certainly 
has  excellent  qualities,  but  he  thinks  he  is  free  from  all  faults  and  his 
greatest  ones  are  those  which  he  thinks  he  sees  in  others.  He  has  a 
spirit  of  pettiness  which  I  have  despised  since  childhood.  My  judg- 
ment almost  predicted  the  course  which  afifairs  would  take  with  Breu- 
ning, since  our  modes  of  thinking,  acting  and  feeling  are  so  different, 
but  I  thought  these  difficulties  might  also  be  overcome; — experience 
has  refuted  me.  And  now,  no  more  friendship!  I  have  found  only 
two  friends  in  the  world  with  whom  I  have  never  had  a  misunderstand- 
ing, but  what  men!  One  is  dead,  the  other  still  lives.  Although  we 
have  not  heard  from  each  other  in  nearly  six  years  I  know  that  I  occupy 
the  first  place  in  his  heart  as  he  does  in  mine.  The  foundation  of  friend- 
ship demands  the  greatest  similarity  between  the  hearts  and  souls 
of  men.  I  ask  no  more  than  that  you  read  the  letter  which  I  wrote 
to  Breuning  and  his  letter  to  me.  No,  he  shall  never  again  hold  the 
place  in  my  heart  which  once  he  occupied.  He  who  can  think  a  friend 
capable  of  such  base  thoughts  and  be  guilty  of  such  base  conduct  towards 
him  is  not  worth  my  friendship. 

The  reader  knows  too  well  the  character  of  Breuning  to 
be  prejudiced  against  him  by  all  these  harsh  expressions  written 
by  Beethoven  in  a  fit  of  choler  of  which  he  heartily  repented 
and  "brought  forth  fruits  meet  for  repentance."  But,  as  Ries 
says,  "these  letters  together  with  their  consequences  are  too 
beautiful  a  testimony  to  Beethoven's  character  to  be  omitted 
here,"  the  more  so  as  they  introduce,  by  the  allusions  in  them, 
certain  matters  of  more  or  less  interest  from  the  "Notizen"  of 
Ries.     Thus  Ries  writes: 

One  evening  I  came  to  Baden  to  continue  my  lessons.  There 
I  found  a  handsome  young  woman  sitting  on  the  sofa  with  him.  Think- 
ing that  I  might  be  intruding  I  wanted  to  go  at  once,  but  Beethoven 
detained  me  and  said:  "Play  for  the  time  being."  He  and  the  lady 
remained  seated  behind  me.  I  had  already  played  for  a  long  time 
when  Beethoven  suddenly  called  out:  ''Ries,  play  some  love  music''; 
a  little  later,  "Something  melancholy  T'  then,  "Something  passionate  T'  etc. 

From  what  I  heard  I  could  come  to  the  conclusion  that  in  some 
manner  he  must  have  offended  the  lady  and  was  trying  to  make  amends 
by  an  exhibition  of  good  humor.  At  last  he  jumped  up  and  shouted: 
"Why,  all  those  things  are  by  me!"  I  had  played  nothing  but  move- 
ments from  his  works,  connecting  them  with  short  transition-phrases, 
which  seemed  to  please  him.  The  lady  soon  went  away  and  to  my 
great  amazement   Beethoven  did  not  know  who  she  was.     I    learned 


30  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

that  she  had  come  in  shortly  before  me  in  order  to  make  Beethoven's 
acquaintance.  We  followed  her  in  order  to  discover  her  lodgings  and 
later  her  station.  We  saw  her  from  a  distance  (it  was  moonlight),  ^ 
but  suddenly  she  disappeared.  Chatting  on  all  manner  of  topics  we 
■walked  for  an  hour  and  a  half  in  the  beautiful  valley  adjoining.  On 
going,  however,  Beethoven  said:  "I  must  find  out  who  she  is  and  you 
must  help  me."  A  long  time  afterward  I  met  her  in  Vienna  and  dis- 
covered that  she  was  the  mistress  of  a  foreign  prince.  I  reported  the 
intelligence  to  Beethoven,  but  never  heard  anything  more  about  her 
either  from  him  or  anybody  else. 

The  rehearsal  at  Schuppanzigh's  on  "Wednesday"  (18th)  men- 
tioned in  the  letter  of  July  14th,  was  for  the  benefit  of  Ries,  who 
was  to  play  in  the  first  of  the  second  series  of  the  regular  Augarten 
Thursday  concerts  which  took  place  the  next  day  (19th)  or, 
perhaps,  the  26th.     Ries  says  on  page  113  of  the  "Notizen": 

Beethoven  had  given  me  his  beautiful  Concerto  in  C  minor  (Op.  37) 
in  manuscript  so  that  I  might  make  my  first  public  appearance  as  his 
j)upil  with  it;  and  I  am  the  only  one  who  ever  appeared  as  such  while 
Beethoven  was  alive.  .  .  .  Beethoven  himself  conducted,  but  he  only 
turned  the  pages  and  never,  perhaps,  was  a  concerto  more  beautifully 
accompanied.  We  had  two  large  rehearsals.  I  had  asked  Beethoven 
to  write  a  cadenza  for  me,  but  he  refused  and  told  me  to  write  one 
myself  and  he  would  correct  it.  Beethoven  was  satisfied  with  my 
composition  and  made  few  changes;  but  there  was  an  extremely  bril- 
liant and  very  difficult  passage  in  it,  which,  though  he  liked  it,  seemed 
to  him  too  venturesome,  wherefore  he  told  me  to  write  another  in  its 
place.  A  week  before  the  concert  he  wanted  to  hear  the  cadenza  again. 
I  played  it  and  floundered  in  the  passage;  he  again,  this  time  a  little 
ill-naturedly,  told  me  to  change  it.  I  did  so,  but  the  new  passage  did 
not  satisfy  me;  I  therefore  studied  the  other,  and  zealously,  but  was 
not  quite  sure  of  it.  When  the  cadenza  was  reached  in  the  public 
concert  Beethoven  quietly  sat  down.  I  could  not  persuade  myself 
to  choose  the  easier  one.  When  I  boldly  began  the  more  difficult  one. 
Beethoven  violently  jerked  his  chair;  but  the  cadenza  went  through 
all  right  and  Beethoven  was  so  delighted  that  he  shouted  "Bravo!" 
loudly.  This  electrified  the  entire  audience  and  at  once  gave  me  a 
standing  among  the  artists.  Afterward,  while  expressing  his  satis- 
faction he  added:  "But  all  the  same  you  are  willful!  If  you  had  made 
a  slip  in  the  passage  I  would  never  have  given  you  another  lesson." 

A  little  farther  on  in  his  book  Ries  writes  (p.  115): 

The  pianoforte  part  of  the  C  minor  Concerto  was  never  completely 
irritten  out  in  the  score;  Beethoven  wrote  it  down  on  separate  sheets 
of  paper  expressly  for   ine. 

This  confirms  Soyfried,  as  quoted  on  a  preceding  page. 
"Xot  on  my  life  would  I  have  l)elieved  that  I  could  be  so 
lazy  as  I  am  here.     If  it  is  followed  by  an  outburst  of  industry, 

'"Full  moon,  July  ii."  almanac  of  1804. 


The  F  Minor  Sonata,  Op.  57  31 

something  worth  while  may  be  accomplished,"  Beethoven 
wrote  at  the  end  of  his  letter  of  July  24.  He  was  right.  His 
brother  Johann  secured  for  him  the  lodging  at  Dobling  where 
he  passed  the  rest  of  the  summer,  and  where  the  two  Sonatas 
Op.  53  and  54,  certainly  "something  worth  while,"  were  com- 
posed.    In  one  of  the  long  walks,  previously  described  by  Ries, 

in  which  we  went  so  far  astray  that  we  did  not  get  back  to  Dobling, 
where  Beethoven  lived,  until  nearly  8  o'clock,  he  had  been  all  the  time 
humming  and  sometimes  howling,  always  up  and  down,  without  sing- 
ing any  definite  notes.  In  answer  to  my  question  what  it  was  he  said: 
'*A  theme  for  the  last  movement  of  the  sonata  has  occurred  to  me." 
When  we  entered  the  room  he  ran  to  the  pianoforte  without  taking 
off  his  hat.  I  took  a  seat  in  a  corner  and  he  soon  forgot  all  about  me. 
Now  he  stormed  for  at  least  an  hour  with  the  beautiful  finale  of  the 
sonata.  Finally  he  got  up,  was  surprised  still  to  see  me  and  said:  "I 
cannot  give  you  a  lesson  to-day,  I  must  do  some  more  work." 

The  Sonata  in  question  was  that  in  F  minor,  Op.  57.  Ries 
had  in  the  meantime  fulfilled  Beethoven's  wish  for  a  new  lodg- 
ing on  the  ramparts,  by  engaging  for  him  one  on  the  Molker- 
bastei  three  or  four  houses  only  from  Prince  Lichnowsky  in 
the  Pasqualati  house — "from  the  fourth  storey  of  which  there 
was  a  beautiful  view,"  namely,  over  the  broad  Glacis,  the  north- 
western suburb  of  the  city  and  the  mountains  in  the  distance. 
"He  moved  out  of  this  several  times,"  says  Ries,  "but  always 
returned  to  it,  so  that,  as  I  afterwards  heard.  Baron  Pasqualati 
was  good-natured  enough  to  say:  'The  lodging  will  not  be  rented; 
Beethoven  will  come  back.'"  To  what  extent  Ries  was  correctly 
informed  in  this  we  will  not  now  conjecture.  The  lessons  of  Fors- 
ter's  little  boy  had  been  interrupted  so  long  as  his  teacher  dwelt 
in  the  distant  theatre  buildings:  they  were  now  renewed,  the  first 
being  particularly  impressed  upon  his  memory  by  a  severe  reproof 
from  Beethoven  for  ascending  the  four  lofty  flights  of  stairs 
too  rapidly,  and  entering  out  of  breath:  "Youngster,  you  will 
ruin  your  lungs  if  you  are  not  more  careful,"  said  he  in  substance. 

The  two  new  Sonatas  were  finished  and  were  now  made 
known  to  Beethoven's  intimates.  In  the  one  in  C  major.  Op. 
53,  there  was  a  long  Andante.  A  friend  of  Beethoven's  said 
to  him  that  the  Sonata  was  too  long,  for  which  he  was  terribly 
taken  to  task  by  the  composer.  But  after  quiet  reflection  Beet- 
hoven was  convinced  of  the  correctness  of  the  criticism.  The 
Andante  was  therefore  excluded  and  its  place  supplied  by  the 
interesting  Introduction  to  the  Rondo  which  it  now  has.  A 
year  after  the  publication  of  the  Sonata  it  also  appeared  sepa- 
rately.    In  these  particulars  Ries  is  confirmed  by  Czerny,  who 


32  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

adds:  "Because  of  its  popularity  (for  Beethoven  played  it  fre- 
quently in  society)  he  gave  it  the  title  'Andante  favori.'  I  am 
the  more  sure  of  this  since  Beethoven  sent  me  the  proof  together 
with  the  manuscript  for  revision."  The  arrangement  for  string 
quartet  may  have  been  made  much  later,  probably  by  Ries  (?). 

This  Andante  (Ries  continues)  has  left  a  painful  memory  in  me. 
When  Beethoven  played  it  for  the  first  time  to  our  friend  Krumpholtz 
and  me,  it  delighted  us  greatly  and  we  teased  him  until  he  repeated  it. 
Passing  the  door  of  Prince  Lichnowsky's  house  (by  the  Schottenthor) 
on  my  way  home  I  went  in  to  tell  the  Prince  of  the  new  and  glorious 
composition  of  Beethoven's,  and  was  persuaded  to  play  it  as  well  as 
I  could  remember  it.  Recalling  more  and  more  of  it  the  Prince  urged 
me  to  repeat  it.  In  this  way  it  happened  that  the  Prince  also  learned 
a  portion  of  the  piece.  To  give  Beethoven  a  surprise  the  Prince  went 
to  him  the  next  day  and  said  that  he  too  had  composed  something 
which  was  not  at  all  bad.  In  spite  of  Beethoven's  remark  that  he 
did  not  want  to  hear  it  the  Prince  sat  down  and  to  the  amazement 
of  the  composer  played  a  goodly  portion  of  the  Andante.  Beethoven 
was  greatly  angered,  and  this  was  the  reason  why  I  never  again  heard 
Beethoven  play. 

Prince  Louis  Ferdinand,  now  on  his  w^ay  into  Italy,  made 
a  short  stay  at  Vienna,  renewing  his  acquaintance  with  Beet- 
hoven; but  of  their  intercourse  few  particulars  are  known.  Ries 
relates  ("Notizen,"  p.  Ill),  that  an  old  countess  gave  a  little 
musical  entertainment  "to  which,  naturally,  Beethoven  was 
invited.  When  the  company  sat  down  to  supper,  plates  for 
the  high  nol)ility  only  were  placed  at  the  Prince's  table — none 
for  Beethoven.  He  flew  into  a  rage,  made  a  few  ugly  remarks, 
took  his  hat  and  went  away.  A  few  days  later  Prince  Louis 
gave  a  dinner  to  which  some  members  of  the  first  company, ' 
including  the  old  countess,  were  invited.  When  they  sat  down 
to  table  the  old  countess  was  placed  on  one  side  of  the  Prince, 
Beethoven  on  the  other,  a  mark  of  distinction  which  Beethoven 
always    referred    to    with    pleasure." 

The  Pianoforte  Concerto  in  C  minor  was  then  in  the  hands 
of  the  engraver;  upon  its  publication  in  November,  Prince  Louis 
Ferdinand's  name  appeared  upon  the  title.  Concerning  the 
compositi(ms  of  the  Prince,  Beethoven  remarked:  "Now  and 
then  there  are  pretty  bits  in  tiiem" — so  said  Czerny.  Before 
this  time  Beethoven  and  Breiming  "met  each  other  by  accident 
and  a  complete  reconciliation  took  place  and  every  inimical 
resolve  of  Hccthovcn's,  (h-spite  their  vigorous  expression  in  the 
two  letters,  was  wholly  forgotten." — (Ries.)  And  not  this  alone; 
he  "laid  his  peace  olFeriiig  on  the  altar  of  reconciliation."  It 
was  the  best  picture  of  himself  which  exists  from  those    years, 


Beethoven  and  Breuning  Reconciled  33 

a  beautiful  miniature  painted  upon  ivory  by  Hornemann,  still 
in  the  possession  of  Breuning's  heirs.  With  it  he  sent  the  fol- 
lowing  letter: 

Let  us  bury  behind  this  pictiu-e  forever,  my  dear  Steffen,  all  that 
for  a  time  has  passed  hehveen  us.  I  know  that  I  broke  your  heart. 
The  feelings  within  me  which  you  must  have  noticed  have  sufficiently 
punished  me  for  that.  It  was  not  wickedness  that  I  felt  towards  you; 
no,  if  that  were  so  I  should  never  again  be  worthy  of  your  friendship; 
passion  on  your  part  and  on  mine;  but  mistrust  of  you  arose  in  me; 
men  came  between  us  who  are  not  worthy  of  you  and  me.  My  por- 
trait was  long  ago  intended  for  you;  you  know  that  I  always  intended 
it  for  somebody.  To  whom  could  I  give  it  with  so  warm  a  heart  as 
to  you,  faithful,  good,  noble  Steffen!  Forgive  me  if  I  have  pained 
you;  I  suffered  no  less.  When  I  no  longer  saw  you  near  me  I  felt  for 
the  first  time  how  dear  to  my  heart  you  are  and  always  will  be. 

Surely  you  will  come  to  my  arms  again  as  in  past  days. 

Nor  was  the  reconciliation  on  Breuning's  part  less  perfect. 
On  the  13th  of  November  he  writes  to  Wegeler  and,  to  excuse 
his  long  silence,  says: 

He  who  has  been  my  friend  from  youth  is  often  largely  to  blame 
that  I  am  compelled  to  neglect  the  absent  ones.  You  cannot  conceive, 
my  dear  Wegeler,  what  an  indescribable,  I  might  say,  fearful  effect 
the  gradual  loss  of  hearing  has  had  upon  him.  Think  of  the  feeling 
of  being  unhappy  in  one  of  such  violent  temperament;  in  addition 
reservedness,  mistrust,  often  towards  his  best  friends,  in  many  things 
want  of  decision!  For  the  greater  part,  with  only  an  occasional  excep- 
tion when  he  gives  free  vent  to  his  feelings  on  the  spur  of  the  moment, 
intercourse  with  him  is  a  real  exertion,  at  which  one  can  scarcely  trust 
to  oneself.  From  May  until  the  beginning  of  this  month  we  lived  in 
the  same  house,  and  at  the  outset  I  took  him  into  my  rooms.  He  had 
scarcely  come  before  he  became  severely,  almost  dangerously  ill,  and 
this  was  followed  by  an  intermittent  fever.  Worry  and  the  care  of 
him  used  me  rather  severely.  Now  he  is  completely  well  again.  He 
lives  on  the  Ramparts,  I  in  one  of  the  newly-built  houses  of  Prince 
Esterhazy  in  front  of  the  Alstercaserne,  and  as  I  am  keeping  house 
he  eats  with  me  every  day. 

Not  a  word  about  the  quarrel!  Not  a  word  to  intimate 
that  Beethoven  had  not  occupied  his  rooms  with  him  until  at 
the  usual  time  for  changing  lodgings  he  had  crossed  the  Glacis 
to  Pasqualati's  house;  not  a  word  of  complaint — nothing  but 
deepest  pity  and   heartiest   sympathy. 

In  December  the  famous  Munich  oboist  Ramm  was  in 
Vienna  and  took  part  with  Beethoven  in  one  of  Prince  Lobko- 
witz's  private  concerts.  Beethoven  directed  the  performance 
of  the  "Sinfonia  Eroica"  and  in  the  second  part  of  the  first  Allegro, 
"w^here  the  music  is  pursued  for  so  many  measures  in  half-notes 


34  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

against  the  beat,"   he,   as  Ries  says,   threw  the   orchestra    into 
such  confusion  that  a  new  beginning  had  to  be  made. 

On  the  same  evening  he  played  his  Quintet  for  Pianoforte  and 
Wind-instruments  with  Ramra  as  oboist.  In  the  last  Allegro  there 
are  several  holds  before  the  theme  is  resumed.  At  one  of  these  Beet- 
hoven suddenly  began  to  improvise,  took  the  Rondo  for  a  theme  and 
entertained  himself  and  the  others  for  a  considerable  time,  but  not 
the  other  players.  They  were  displeased  and  Ramm  even  very  angry. 
It  was  really  very  comical  to  see  them,  momentarily  expecting  the  per- 
formance to  be  resumed,  put  their  instruments  to  their  mouths  only 
to  put  them  down  again.  At  length  Beethoven  was  satisfied  and  dropped 
into  the  Rondo.     The  whole  company  was  transported  with   delight. 

Turn  we  again  to  the  Theater-an-der-Wien,  for  a  new  con- 
tract has  been  made  with  Beethoven,  by  which  his  operatic 
aspirations  and  hopes  are  again  awakened,  with  a  better  pros- 
pect of  their  gratification.  At  the  end  of  August  Sonnleithner 
retired  from  the  direction  and  Baron  Braun  took  the  extra- 
ordinary step  of  reinstating  his  former  rival  and  enemy, 
Schikanedcr — a  remarkable  proof  of  the  Baron's  high  opinion 
of  his  tact  and  skill  in  the  difficult  business  of  management. 

When  one  calls  to  mind  the  extraordinary  praises  which 
have  been  bestowed  upon  Baron  Braun  for  his  supposed  pat- 
ronage of  Beethoven,  it  is  worth  noting,  as  a  coincidence  if  noth- 
ing more,  that  now  when  Schikanedcr  finds  himself  in  a  strait 
for  novelty  and  new  attractions  for  his  stage,  the  project  of 
appealing  to  Beethoven's  genius  is  revived. 

Before  proceeding,  a  word  upon  Sonnleithner  and  Treitschke 
may  be  permitted. 

The  eldest  son,  born  1765,  of  Christoph  Sonnleithner, 
Doctor  of  Laws  and  Dean  of  the  Juridical  Faculty  at  Vienna, 
Joseph  Ferdinand  by  name,  was  educated  to  his  father's  pro- 
fession, and  early  rose  to  the  positions  of  Circuit  Commissioner 
and  Royal  Imperial  Court  Scrivener  {Kreis-Kommif>.sdr  iind 
K.  K.  IloJ-Concipist).  All  the  Sonnleithners,  from  Dr.  Chris- 
toph down  to  the  excellent  and  beloved  representative  of  the 
family,  I>e()[)()l(l,  his  grandson  who  died  in  1878,  have  stood  in 
the  front  ranks  of  musical  dilettanti,  as  composers,  singers,  in- 
strumental performers  and  writers  on  topics  pertaining  to  the 
art.  Joseph  Ferdinand  was  no  exception.  He  gave  his  atten- 
tion j)articularly  to  musical  and  theatrical  literature,  edited 
the  Court  'J'heatre  Calendars,  1794-5,  so  higiily  lauded  by  Gerber, 
and  prepared  himself  by  appro|)riate  studies  to  carry  out  Forkel's 
plan  of  a  "History  of  Music  in  Exami)les,"  which  was  to  reach 
the   great   extent   of   50   volumes,    folio.     To    this   end    he    spent 


SONNLEITHNER   AND    TrEITSCHKE  35 

nearly  three  years,  1798-1802,  in  an  extensive  tour  through 
northern  Europe  making  collections  of  rare,  old  music.  Upon  his 
return  to  Vienna,  resigning  this  project  again  into  the  hands  of 
Forkel,  he  became  one  of  the  earliest  partners,  if  not  one  of  the 
founders,  of  the  publishing  house  known  as  the  "Kunst-  und 
Industrie-Comptoir"  (Bureau  d'Arts  et  d'Industrie),  of  which 
Schreyvogel  was  the  recognized  head.  The  latter  had  been  ap- 
pointed Secretary  of  the  Court  Theatre  in  1802,  but  resigned,  and, 
on  February  14,  1804,  Sonnleithner  "was  appointed,  and  on  this 
account  was  most  honorably  retired  from  his  former  post  as 
Court  Scrivener."  On  what  grounds  he  has  been  called  an 
*'actor"  (Schauspieler)  is  unknown. 

One  of  his  colleagues  in  the  various  offices  of  the  Court 
Theatres  was  Georg  Friedrich  Treitschke,  born  in  1776,  a  native 
of  Leipsic,  who  came  to  the  Court  Theatre  in  1800  as  an  actor, 
but  whose  talents  and  fine  character  raised  him  in  the  course 
of  the  next  two  years  to  the  position  of  poet  and  stage-manager 
of  the  German  Court  Opera,  a  post  which  he  still  and  for  many 
years  continued  to  hold.  He  was  therefore  now  (1804)  in  close 
business  relations  with  Baron  Braun  and  Sonnleithner;  and, 
until  some  proof  be  adduced  of  lapse  of  memory — for  his  known 
probity  forbids  all  suspicion  of  intentional  or  careless  misrep- 
resentation— his  statements  in  regard  to  them  may  be  accepted 
with  perfect  confidence. 

Treitschke  wrote  thus  in  the  "Orpheus"  of   1841    (p.  258): 

At  the  end  of  1804  Baron  von  Braun,  the  new  owner  of  the  Royal 
Imperial  priv.  Theater-an-der-Wien,  commissioned  Ludwig  van  Beet- 
hoven, then  in  the  full  strength  of  youth,  to  write  an  opera  for  that 
playhouse.  Because  of  his  oratorio,  "Christus  am  Olberg,"  it  was 
believed  that  the  master  might  do  as  much  for  dramatic  music  as  he 
had  done  for  instrumental.  Besides  his  honorarium ^  he  was  offered 
free  lodgings  in  the  theatre  buildings.  Joseph  Sonnleithner  under- 
took to  provide  the  text,  and  chose  the  French  book,  "L' Amour  con- 
jugal," although  it  had  already  been  set  by  Gaveaux  and  to  Italian 
words  as  "Leonora"  by  Paer,  but  had  been  translated  from  both  drama- 
tizations into  German.  Beethoven  had  no  fear  of  his  predecessors  and 
went  to  work  with  eager  delight,  so  that  the  opera  was  nearly  finished  by 
the  middle  of  1805.2 

^This   honorarium   was   a   share  in   the   receipts. 

'In  the  second  (German)  edition  of  Thayer's  "Life,"  etc.,  Dr.  Riemann  amends 
this  statement  in  the  text  as  follows:  These  statements  of  Treltschke's  prove  to  be 
inaccurate,  inasmuch  as  it  has  definitively  been  determined  that  Beethoven  began 
work  on  "Leonore"  before  Paer's  opera  had  been  produced  in  Dresden,  i.e.,  October 
3,  1804.  This  is  proved  by  the  discovery  of  sketches  for  the  early  numbers  of 
the  opera  among  sketches  for  the  "Eroica"  symphony,  and  is  confirmed  by  Ries. 
The  latter  says:  "When  he  composed  'Leonore'  he  had  free  lodgings  for  a  year  in 
the  Wiedener  Theatre;  but  as  these  opened  on  the  courtyard  they   were  not   agree- 


36  The  Life  of  Ltjdwig  van  Beethoven 

Such  is  Treitschke's  simple  and  compendious  statement  of  the 
facts;  a  statement  which  has  been  affirmed  to  contain  "manifold 
errors,"  yet,  in  truth,  not  a  single  point  in  it  can  be  controverted. 

In  Paris,  at  the  close  of  the  18th  century,  Shakespeare's  "being 
taken  by  the  insolent  foe  and  redemption  thence"  was  by  far 
the  most  popular  subject  for  the  stage.  Doubtless  so  many 
facts  stranger  than  fiction  in  recent  narratives  of  escape  from 
dungeon  and  guillotine,  rendered  doubly  fascinating  by  beau- 
tiful exhibitions  of  disinterested  affection,  exalted  generosity 
and  heroic  self-sacrifice,  were  not  without  their  effect  upon  pub- 
lic taste.  Certain  it  is  that  no  other  class  of  subjects  is  so  numer- 
ously represented  in  the  French  drama  of  that  precise  period  as 
this.  "Les  deux  Journees"  by  J.  N.  Bouilly  stands  confessedly 
at  its  head.  In  Beethoven's  opinion  in  18*23,  this  and  "La  Vestale" 
were  the  two  best  texts  then  ever  written.  Two  years  before 
the  "Deux  Journees" — that  is,  on  February  19th,  1798 — the  same 
poet  had  produced  another  of  that  class  of  texts,  which,  if  less 
abounding  in  pleasing  and  exciting  scenes,  still  contained  one 
supreme  moment  that  cannot  readily  find  its  like.  This  was 
"Leonore,  ou  I'Amour  conjugal";  the  seventeenth  and  last  in 
Fetis'  list  of  Pierre  Gaveaux's  thirty-five  operas  and  operettas. 

Gaveaux  was  a  singer  at  the  Theatre  Feydeau  in  Paris — 
a  man  of  no  great  musical  science,  but  gifted  with  a  natural 
talent  for  melody  and  for  pleasing  though  not  always  correct 
instrumentation,  which  secured  the  suffrages  of  the  Feydeau 
audience  for  nearly  all  the  long  list  of  his  productions.  These 
were  mostly  short  pieces  in  one  act,  in  which  he  wrote  the  prin- 
cipal tenor  part  for  himself.  His  "Le  petit  Matelot"  (1794),  as 
"Der  kleine  Matrose,"  became  immediately  popular  throughout 
Germany;  Rellstab  at  Berlin  published  a  pianoforte  arrange- 
ment of  it  in  1798;  and  it  so  endured  the  fluctuations  in  public 

able  to  him.  He  therefore  hired,  at  the  same  time,  quarters  in  the  Rothes  Haus  on 
the  Al.serkaserne."  "Now,"  Nottebohm  continues,  "lieethoven  lived  in  the  Theater- 
an-der-Wien  in  May,  ISU.'J,  and  later  in  the  Rothes  Haus  in  the  sprinj?  of  1804."  Con- 
sequently he  must  have  w<irked  on  the  opera  hrforc  the  spring  of  1S04.  Nottebohm 
assumes  that  between  the  abandonment  of  work  on  Srhikaiiedfr's  text  and  the  begin- 
ing  of  work  on  "Leonore"  there  could  not  be  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  year.  It  is 
very  probablo  that  li<<thoven  dropped  work  on  Schikaneder's  text  when  the  latter's 
activity  as  director  came  to  an  end  on  February  11,  ISO*;  but  it  does  not  follow  that 
be  may  not  already  have  approached  the  setting  of  Houilly's  text,  as  translated  into 
Cernian  by  Sonnleif hncr.  who  now  undertook  the  work  of  administration.  At  any 
rate  it  is  an  error  to  iisscrt  that  the  commission  to  compose  the  b(iok  was  not  offered 
to  him  until  the  full  of  ISOJ.  Indeed,  the  question  is  whether  or  not  Beethoven's 
occupancy  of  lodgings  in  the  theatre  was  interrupted  at  all.  It  ought  also  to  be  borne 
in  mind  that  in  view  of  his  relations  with  IJaron  von  Braun  and  Sonnleithner,  Beet- 
hoven may  have  known  before  the  conelusi<m  of  the  contract  that  Schikam-der's  direc- 
tion was  to  be  terminated— reasons  enougii  for  believing  that  tiu-re  is  nothing  improb- 
able in  the  theory  that  the  composer  began  work  on  "Leonore"  before  the  end  of    1803. 


The  French  Original  of  "Fidelio"  37 

taste  as  still  to  be  performed  at  Frankfort-on-the-Main  in  1846. 
This  was  followed  by  his  "L'Amour  filial,"  and  others,  so  that, 
in  short,  whatever  faults  the  critics  found  in  his  music,  he  was 
one  of  those  French  composers,  to  whose  productions  the  man- 
agers of  German  opera  houses  ever  had  an  eye.  As  the 
"Leonore"  was  published  in  score  soon  after  its  production,  the 
names  of  its  authors,  Bouilly  and  Gaveaux,  as  well  as  its  success 
at  the  Theatre  Feydeau,  ensured  its  becoming  known  in  Ger- 
many, and,  but  for  the  use  of  its  subject  by  Paer,  it  might  perhaps 
have  been  simply  translated  and  performed  with  the  original  music. 
Rewritten  in  Italian,  it  was  one  of  the  first  texts  put  into  Paer's 
hands  after  his  removal  to  Dresden,  and  was  produced  on  the 
3d  of  October,  as  the  opening  piece  of  the  winter  season  1804-5. 

The  first  performance  was  another  triumph  for  Paer,  who, 
satisfied  with  it,  departed  for  Vienna  next  day  on  his  way  to  Italy. 
It  requires  no  great  sagacity  to  perceive,  on  the  one  hand,  that 
the  Directors  of  the  Imperial  Italian  Opera — on  whose  stage  at 
the  least  eleven  of  Paer's  works  had  been  given,  several  of  them 
originally  written  for  it — would  not  fail  to  secure  a  copy  of  the 
new  composition;  and,  on  the  other,  that  the  composer  would 
seek  the  fame  and  profit  of  its  reproduction  there.  ^  Jalin  in 
his  preface  to  Beethoven's  "Leonore"  has  discussed  the  great 
inferiority  of  the  Dresden  Italian  text  to  the  original;  its  defects 
would  be  equally  apparent  to  Sonnleithner;  and  this  consider- 
ation, with  perhaps  later  news  from  Dresden,  would  convince 
him  that  the  performance  of  Paer's  composition  at  Vienna  would 
be  at  best  a  doubtful  venture.^ 

At  this  point,  when  the  first  of  the  solo  sonatas  written 
for  the  enlarged  pianoforte  (Op.  53)  is  ready  for  the  press; 
when  the  Pianoforte  Concerto  in  C  minor  has  just  been  pub- 
lished; the  "Sinfonia  Eroica,"  with  its  daring  novelties  of  ideas  and 
construction  is  awaiting  public  performance,  and  the  composer 
has  entered  the  lists  to  compete  with  Cherubini  in  another  form 
of  the  art — here  seems  to  be  the  fitting  place  for  a  few  notes 
upon  the  degree  of  popularity,  and  the  extent  of  circulation,  to 
which  his  previous  compositions  had  already  attained. 

^Dr.  Riemann  here  inserts:  "If  this  was  not  the  case  the  explanation  lies  in  the 
fact  that  the  attention  of  Sonnleithner,  who  had  to  provide  texts  for  both  Beethoven 
and  Cherubini,  had  previously  been  directed  to  the  'Leonore'  of  Bouilly  and  Gaveaux, 
and  Beethoven  had  already  begun  work  on  it." 

^It  was  not  until  February  8,  1809,  that  Paer'a  opera  was  performed  in  Vienna, 
long  after  Beethoven  had  withdrawn  his  opera  and  when  Baron  von  Braun  was  no 
longer  Intendant.  The  story  to  which  Ferdinand  Killer  gave  currency  about  the 
production  of  Paer's  opera  and  the  attendance  of  Beethoven  upon  it  in  company  with 
the  composer  must  be  rejected  for  chronological  reasons.     (Riemann.) 


38  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

"\Ye  have  not  written  very  lucidly,  if  it  be  not  sufficiently 
clear  that,  at  Vienna,  the  works  of  no  other  of  the  younger  gen- 
eration of  composers  had  so  ready  and  extensive  a  sale  as  Beet- 
hoven's, notwithstanding  their  most  attractive  qualities  to  many, 
were  repellent  to  others.  That  was  a  question  of  taste.  But  in 
these  last  weeks  of  1804,  a  proof  of  their  general  popularity  was  in 
preparation  by  Schreyvogel  and  Rizzi,  which,  so  far  as  the  present 
writer  has  examined  the  German  periodical  press  from  1790  to 
1830,  is  without  a  parallel.  It  was  a  complete  classified  catalogue 
of  the  "Works  of  Herrn  Ludwig  van  Beethoven,"  published  as 
an  advertisement,  January  30,  1805,  in  the  "Wiener  Zeitung," 
announcing  them  as  "to  be  had  at  the  Kunst-  und  Industrie- 
Comptoir  at  Vienna  in  the  Kohlmarkt,  No.  269," 

At  the  end  of  1796 — a  few  sets  of  Variations  excepted — 
only  the  first  three  of  Beethoven's  opera  had  appeared.  Four 
years  afterwards  the  first  publishing  houses  of  Leipsic  contend 
with  those  of  Vienna  for  his  manuscripts,  notwithstanding  the 
worse  than  contemptuous  treatment  of  his  works  by  the  newly 
founded  musical  journal. 

In  January,  1801,  at  Breslau  "the  pianoforte  players  gladly 
venture  upon  Beethoven  and  spare  neither  time  nor  pains  to 
conquer  his  difficulties."  In  June,  Beethoven  has  "more  com- 
missions, almost,  than  it  was  possible  to  fill"  from  the  publishers 
— he  "demands  and  they  pay."  In  1802,  Nageli  of  Zurich,  passing 
all  the  older  composers  by,  applies  to  him  for  sonatas  with  which 
to  introduce  to  the  public  his  costly  enterprise  of  the  "Reper- 
toire des  Clavccinistes."  In  1803,  although  Simrock,  of  Bonn, 
had  a  branch  house  at  Paris,  and  printed  editions  of  his  towns- 
man's more  important  works  for  circulation  in  France,  Zulehner 
of  Mayence  finds  the  demand  for  them  sufficient  to  warrant 
the  announcement  of  a  complete  and  uniform  edition  of  the 
"Works  for  Pianoforte  and  String  Instruments."  In  May  of 
the  same  year  tlie  "Correspondence  des  Amateurs-Musiciens" 
informs  us  that  at  Paris  a  part  of  the  pianoforte  virtuosos  play 
only  Ilaydn,  Mozart  and  Beethoven,  and  si)ite  of  the  difficulties 
offered  by  their  works  there  are  "quehiuefois  des  Amateurs 
qui  croient  les  jouer";  and,  soon  after  this,  an  application  comes 
to  Beethoven  from  distant  Scotland  for  half  a  dozen  sonatas, 
on  Scotch  themes.^ 

'Id  September,  1804,  Muzio  C'Icmenti,  who  was  not  only  a  fine  musician  but  also 
a  clever  business  man,  made  an  arranRempnt  with  Rr'?itk<)pf  and  Hartel,  by  which 
he  secured  all  the  compositions  which  Beethoven  might  bring  that  firm,  for  England 
at  one-half  the  honorarium  paid  to  the  composer.  (See  an  article  by  Max  linger 
in  "The   Monthly  Record."   Nov. -Dec,   1908.) 


Popularity  of  Beethoven's  Music  39 

The  first  two  Concertos  for  Pianoforte  and  Orchestra,  pub- 
lished in  1801,  are  reported  to  have  been  played  in  public  within  two 
years  at  Berlin  and  Frankfort-on-the-Main;  the  third,  advertised 
in  November,  1804,  was  produced  the  next  month  at  Berlin.  The 
first  Symphony  had  hardly  left  Hoffmeister's  press,  when  it  was 
added  to  the  repertory  of  the  Gewandhaus  Concert,  at  Leipsic, 
and  during  the  three  following  years  was  repeatedly  performed 
at  Berlin,  Breslau,  Frankfort-on-the-Main,  Dresden,  Brunswick 
and  Munich;  the  second,  advertised  in  March,  1804,  was  the  opening 
symphony  of  Schick  and  Bohrer's  (Berlin)  concerts  in  the  Autumn. 
The  "Prometheus"  overture  was  played  in  the  same  concerts, 
December  2,  1803 — ten  days  earlier  than  the  oldest  discovered 
advertisement  of  its  publication.  The  instant  popularity  of 
the  Septet  in  all  its  forms  is  well  known. 

A  public  performance  of  the  Horn  Sonata,  March  20,  1803, 
at  the  concert  of  Dulon,  the  blind  flute  player,  is  worth  noting, 
because  the  pianist  was  "young  Bar" — Meyerbeer. 

In  our  day  and  generation,  to  offer  so  meagre  a  list  of  public 
productions  as  a  proof  of  popularity  in  the  case  of  a  new  author 
of  orchestral  works,  would  be  ridiculous.  In  the  multiplica- 
tion of  musical  journals  and  the  greatly  extended  interest  taken 
in  musical  news  wherever  an  orchestra  exists  equal  to  the  per- 
formance of  a  symphony,  there  is  also  someone  to  report  its 
doings.  This  is  as  it  should  be.  Then,  except  in  the  larger 
capitals,  this  was  rarely  so.  Hence  the  few  notes  above,  com- 
piled from  the  correspondence  of  the  single  musical  journal 
of  the  time,  are  more  than  suggestive — they  are  proof — of  many 
an  unrecorded  production  of  the  works  they  name.  But  more 
noteworthy  than  the  statistics  given  by  the  various  corre- 
spondents, is  this:  that,  whatever  praises  they  bestow  upon 
the  concertos  and  symphonies  of  others,  they  rank  Beethoven 
alone  with  Haydn  and  Mozart;  and  this  they  do,  even  before 
the  publication  of  the  third  Concerto  and  the  Second  Symphony. 

Beethoven,  then,  though  almost  unknown  personally  beyond 
the  limits  of  a  few  Austrian  cities — unaided  by  apostles  to  preach 
his  gospel,  owing  nothing  to  journalist  or  pamphleteer,  dis- 
daining, in  fact,  all  the  arts  by  which  dazzling  but  mediocre 
talent  pushes  itself  into  notoriety — had,  in  the  short  space  of 
eight  years,  by  simple  force  of  his  genius  as  manifested  in  his 
published  works,  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  all  writers  for 
the  pianoforte,  and  in  public  estimation  risen  to  the  level  of 
the  two  greatest  of  orchestral  composers.  The  unknown  student 
that  entered  Vienna  in  1792,  is  now  in  1804  a  recognized  member 


40  The  Life  of  Ludwig  vax  Beethoven 

of  the  great  triumvirate,  to  whose  names  in  1870,  in  spite  of 
all  the  polemics  of  preachers  of  a  new  gospel,  the  world  still  per- 
sists in  giving  the  place  of  highest  honor  in  the  roll  of  instrumental 
composers.  Then,  as  now — now,  as  then — they  are  Haydn, 
Mozart  and  Beethoven. 

The  lists  of  the  ascertained  compositions  and  publications 
for  the  year  1804  are  surprisingly  short;  but  as  no  really  sufficient 
reason  for  the  fact  can  be  given,  none  shall  be  attempted. ^  The 
former  are  only  the  two  Sonatas,  Op.  53  and  Op.  o4,  and  the 
"Andante  favori";  but  the  final  revision  of  the  "Sinfonia 
Eroica"  probably  was  made  at  the  beginning  of  the  year. 

The  publications  were  these: 
1 — Second   Symphony,    D    major.    Op.    36,    dedicated    to    Prince 
Carl   Lichnowsky,  advertised  by  the    Kunst-  und   Industrie- 
Comptoir,  Vienna,  March  10. 

The  arrangement  of  this  Symphony  for  pianoforte, 
violin  and  violoncello,  which  was  published  by  the  same 
firm  in  1806,  is  indirectly  claimed  by  Ries  as  his  work,  not- 
withstanding the  title  bears  the  words  "par  I'auteur  meme." 
Czerny  confirms  Ries  in  these  terms:  "The  arrangement 
of  the  second  Symphony  as  a  Pianoforte  Trio  was  made  by 
Ries;  Beethoven  gave  it  to  me  for  correction  of  certain  things 
with  which  he  was  dissatisfied." 
■2 — Song  with  pianoforte  accompaniment:   "Der  Wachtelschlag," 

advertised  with  the  preceding. 
3 — VII   Variations  on  "God  save  the  King,"  for  Pf.,  advertised 

with  the  preceding. 
4 — III  Marches  for  Pf.,  four  hands.  Op.  4.3,  dedicated  to  Princess 

Esterhazy,  advertised  with  the  preceding. 
5 — V  Variations  for  Pf.,  on  "Rule  Britannia,"  advertised  by  the 

same,  June  20th. 
6 — Sonata  in  E-flat  major,  Op.  31,  Xo.  3,  published   by  Nageli 
in  his  "Repertoire  des  Clavecinistes,"  Cat.  II. 

'Nottebohm's  rcsearrhes  ((rf.  "Zweite  Beethoveuiana,"  p.  416  et  seq.)  show  that 
Bt^thoven  sketrhfd  all  the  movementa  of  the  Triple  Concerto,  Op.  5G,  in  1801;  that 
the  bejpnninjj  of  the  wi>rk  on  the  "Waldatein"  Sonata.  Op.  53,  dates  back  to  180.S, 
or  at  the  lat>-<t  the  early  part  of  1S04;  sketches  for  Op.  .5  4  are  misiia^,  b'lt  the  three 
numbers  of  Op.  57  are  so  fully  represented  among  the  opera  sketched  that  Schindler's 
statement  that  the  so-called  "Appassionat.i*'  Sonata  was  compoied  at  Count  Bruns- 
wick's in  1806  is  to  be  understood  as  referring  only  to  its  definitive  working  out  and 
the  making  of  a  fair  copy;  the  date  of  the  performance  of  "I^onore"  ("Fidelio";, 
taken  in  connection  with  a  rfvl-^ion  of  the  air  in  E  major,  show  that  the  "Leonore  " 
sketchbook.  betwF^n  which  and  the  b-jok  of  1803  there  seems  to  have  Ijeen  another, 
of  which  no  trace  has  been  found,  may  have  extended  to  the  beginning  of  1805. 


Chapter  III 


The  Year  1805 — First  Public  Performance  of  the  "Heroic 
Symphony" — The  Opera  "Leonore,"  or  "Fideho" — A 
Study  of  the  Sketchbook — The  Singers  and  the  Pro- 
duction. 


THE  hfe  of  an  author  or  composer,  when  absorbed  in  the 
study  of  a  great  work,  falls  into  a  routine  of  daily  labor  that 
presents  few  salient  points  to  the  biographer.  Thus  it  was 
with  Beethoven  during  the  first  two-thirds  of  the  year  1805. 
What  has  been  preserved  of  his  correspondence  is  very  little  in 
quantity  and  of  slight  value.  Ries  was  away  with  Lichnowsky 
in  Silesia  during  all  the  warm  season,  and,  very  soon  after  his 
return,  was  forced  to  depart  again  from  Vienna  for  Bonn; 
hence  the  "Notizen"  fail  us  in  perhaps  the  most  interesting 
period  of  the  young  man's  four  years  of  pupilage  under  Beethoven 
— that  of  the  composition  of  "Leonore,"  or  "Fidelio."  The 
history  of  the  year  is,  in  the  main,  the  history  of  that  work;  and 
unfortunately  a  very  unsatisfactory  one.  Xot  to  break  the 
thread  of  the  story  hereafter,  the  few  events  of  the  first  half 
of  the  year  unconnected  with  it,  shall  first  be  disposed  of. 

Schuppanzigh  had  discovered  and  taught  a  boy  of  great 
genius  for  the  violin,  Joseph  Mayseder  by  name  (born  October 
16,  1789),  who  was  already,  in  his  sixteenth  year,  the  subject  of 
eulogistic  notices  in  the  public  press.  With  this  youth  as  second, 
Schreiber,  "in  the  service  of  Prince  Lobkowitz,"  for  the  viola, 
and  the  elder  Kraft,  violoncellist,  Schuppanzigh  during  the 
winter  1804-5  gave  quartets  "in  a  private  house  in  the  Heiligen- 
kreuzerhof,  the  listeners  paying  five  florins  in  advance  for  four 
performances."  Up  to  the  end  of  April  the  quartets  given  were 
by  Mozart,  Haydn,  Beethoven,  Eberl,  Romberg,  with  "occa- 
sionally larger  pieces.  Of  the  latter  great  pleasure  was  given 
by  the  beautiful  Beethoven  Sextet  in  E-flat.  a  composition  which 
shines  resplendent  by  reason  of  its  lively  melodies,  unconstrained 
harmonies,  and  a   wealth  of  new  and   surprising  ideas."     So  it 

[^1] 


42  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

is  reported  in  the  "Allg.  Mus.  Zeit.,"  VII,  535,  of  the  Sextet 
for  wind-instruments,  which  afterwards  received  the  opus  number 
71,  but  was  composed  "in  1796  at  the  latest,"  says  Nottebohm, 
and,  not  improbably  in  its  original  form,  in  Bonn. 

It  was  to  the  discredit  of  Vienna,  where  instrumental  per- 
formers of  rare  ability  so  abounded,  that  for  several  years  reg- 
ular public  orchestral  concerts,  save  those  at  the  Augarten  in 
summer,  had  been  abandoned.  Sensible  of  this,  the  bankers 
Wiirth  and  Fellner  during  the  winter  of  1803-4  "had  gathered 
together  on  all  Sunday  mornings  a  select  company  (nearly  all 
dilettanti)  for  concerts  restricted  for  the  greater  part  to  pieces  for 
full  orchestra,  such  as  symphonies  (among  them  Beethoven's  First 
and  Second),  overtures,  concertos,  which  they  played  in  really 
admirable  style."  There  were  also  "some  overtures  by  a  certain 
Count  Gallenberg"  who  "imitated,  or  rather  copied,  Mozart  and 
Cherubini  so  slavishly,  following  them  even  in  the  details  of  keys 
and  modulations  so  faithfully,  that  it  was  easy  to  tell  the  titles  of 
the  overtures  over  whose  lasts  his  had  been  made  with  the  greatest 
certainty."  Thus  the  correspondent  of  the  "Allg.  Mus.  Zeit." 
(VI,  467).  In  these  concerts  Clement  of  the  Theater-an-der- 
Wien    was   director. 

They  were  renewed  the  present  winter,  and  new  perform- 
ances of  Beethoven's  first  two  Symphonies,  and  the  Concerto 
in  C  minor  (Op.  37) — pianoforte  part  by  Ries^ — prepare  the 
way  for  the  production  of  "an  entirely  new  symphony" — "a 
long  composition  extremely  difficult  of  performance,  in  reality, 
a  tremendously  expanded,  daring  and  wild  fantasia";  wanting 
"nothing  in  the  way  of  startling  and  beautiful  passages,  in  which 
the  energetic  and  talented  composer  must  be  recognized;  but 
often  it  loses  itself  in  lawlessness";  the  writer  "belongs  to  Herr 
van  Beethoven's  sincerest  admirers,  but  in  this  composition 
he  must  confess  that  he  finds  too  much  that  is  glaring  and  bizarre, 
which  makes  a  survey  too  difficult;  and  the  principle  of  unity  is 
ahnost  wholly  lost  sight  of."  It  was  the  "Sinfonia  Eroica" — 
its  first  semi-pubh'c  production.  Its  first  really  public  perform- 
ance was  in  the  Tlieatcr-an-der-Wien,  on  Sunday  evening,  April 
7th,  where  it  began  the  second  part  of  a  concert  given  for  his 
own  benefit  by  Clement.  The  programme  announces  it  thus: 
"A  new  grand  symi)hony  in  D-sharp  by  Herrn  Ludwig  van  Beet- 
hoven, de<licated  to  his  Serene  Highness  Prince  Lobkowitz. 
The  composer  has  kindly  consented  to  conduct  the  work." 

'Again  played  by  him  at  the  opening  of  Schuppanzigh's  Augarten  concerts 
in  the  Spring. 


Public  Performance  of  the  "Eroica"  43 

Czerny  remembered,  and  told  Jahn,  that  on  this  occasion 
**somebody  in  the  gallery  cried  out:  'I'll  give  another  kreutzer 
if  the  thing  will  but  stop!'"  This  is  the  key-note  to  the  strain 
in  which  the  Symphony  was  criticized  in  communications  to 
the  press,  that  are  now  among  the  curiosities  of  musical  liter- 
ature. The  correspondent  of  the  "Freymiithige"  divided  the 
audience  into  three  parties. 

Some,  says  he,  Beethoven's  particular  friends,  assert  that  it  is 
just  this  symphony  which  is  his  masterpiece,  that  this  is  the  true  style 
for  high-class  music,  and  that  if  it  does  not  please  now,  it  is  because 
the  public  is  not  cultured  enough,  artistically,  to  grasp  all  these  lofty 
beauties;  after  a  few  thousand  years  have  passed  it  will  not  fail  of 
its  effect.  Another  faction  denies  that  the  work  has  any  artistic  value 
and  professes  to  see  in  it  an  untamed  striving  for  singularity  which 
had  failed,  however,  to  achieve  in  any  of  its  parts  beauty  or  true  sub- 
limity and  power.  By  means  of  strange  modulations  and  violent  tran- 
sitions, by  combining  the  most  heterogeneous  elements,  as  for  instance 
when  a  pastoral  in  the  largest  style  is  ripped  up  by  the  basses,  by  three 
horns,  etc.,  a  certain  undesirable  originality  may  be  achieved  with- 
out much  trouble;  but  genius  proclaims  itself  not  in  the  unusual  and 
the  fantastic,  but  in  the  beautiful  and  the  sublime.  Beethoven  him- 
self proved  the  correctness  of  this  axiom  in  his  earlier  works.  The 
third  party,  a  very  small  one,  stands  midway  between  the  others — • 
it  admits  that  the  symphony  contains  many  beauties,  but  concedes 
that  the  connection  is  often  disrupted  entirely,  and  that  the  inordinate 
length  of  this  longest,  and  perhaps  most  difficult  of  all  symphonies, 
wearies  even  the  cognoscenti,  and  is  unendurable  to  the  mere  music- 
lover;  it  wishes  that  H.  v.  B.  would  employ  his  acknowledgedly  great 
talents  in  giving  us  works  like  his  symphonies  in  C  and  D,  his  ingra- 
tiating Septet  in  E-flat,  the  intellectual  Quintet  in  D  (C  major.'')  and 
others  of  his  early  compositions  which  have  placed  B.  forever  in  the 
ranks  of  the  foremost  instrumental  composers.  It  fears,  however, 
that  if  Beethoven  continues  on  his  present  path  both  he  and  the  public 
will  be  the  sufferers.  .  .  .  The  public  and  Herr  van  Beethoven,  who 
conducted,  were  not  satisfied  with  each  other  on  this  evening;  the 
public  thought  the  symphony  too  heavy,  too  long,  and  Beethoven 
himself  too  discourteous,  because  he  did  not  nod  his  head  in  recog- 
nition of  the  applause  which  came  from  a  portion  of  the  audience. 

This  clear,  compendious  and  valuable  statement  of  the 
conflicting  opinions  of  the  first  auditors  of  the  "Eroica"  renders 
farther  citations  superfluous;  but  a  story — characteristic  enough 
to  be  true — may  be  added :  that  Beethoven,  in  reply  to  the  com- 
plaints of  too  great  length,  said,  in  substance:  "If  /  write  a  sym- 
phony an  hour  long  it  will  be  found  short  enough!"  He  refused 
positively  to  make  any  change  in  the  work,  but  deferred  to  public 
opinion  so  far,  as,  upon  its  publication,  to  aflSx  to  the  title  of 
the  Symphony  a  note  to  the  effect,  that  on  account  of  its  great 


44  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

length  it  should  be  played  near  the  beginning  of  a  concert,  before 
the   audience   was   become   weary. 

Beethoven,  though  choleric  and  violent  in  his  anger,  was 
placable.  The  theft  of  the  Quintet  in  C  dedicated  to  Count 
Fries,  as  related  by  Ries,  and  Beethoven's  warning  against  the 
pirated  edition,  will  be  remembered.  Nottebohm  has  sufficiently 
established  the  fact  that  the  engraved  plates  were  not  destroyed, 
as  supposed  by  Ries,  but  afterwards  again  used  with  the  composer's 
consent  and  even  his  corrections.  A  short  letter  to  the  offend- 
ing publisher  (June  1)  shows  that  his  wrath  was  already  appeased, 
and  seems  to  indicate  a  purpose  to  grant  him  the  copyright  of 
a  new  quintet — a  purpose  which,  under  the  pressure  of  his  opera, 
and  the  subsequent  invasion  of  the  French,  remained  unexecuted. 

Ignatz  Pleyel,  born  in  1757,  the  twenty-fourth  child  of  a 
schoolmaster  at  Ruppersthal,  a  village  a  few  miles  from  Vienna, 
a  favorite  pupil  of  Haydn  and  just  now  the  most  widely  known 
and  popular  living  instrumental  composer  except  his  master, 
came  from  Paris  this  season  to  revisit,  after  many  years'  absence, 
the  scenes  of  his  youth.  He  brought  with  him  his  last  new  quar- 
tets,   "which,"    writes    Czerny, 

were  performed  before  a  large  and  aristocratic  society  at  the  house  of 
Prince  Lohkowitz.  At  the  close,  Beethoven,  who  was  also  present, 
was  requested  to  phiy  something.  As  usual  he  let  himself  be  begged 
for  an  infinitely  long  time  and  at  last  almost  dragged  by  two  ladies 
to  the  pianoforte.  In  an  ill  humor  he  grabs  a  second  violin  part  of 
the  Pleyel  quartet  from  a  music  desk,  throws  it  on  the  rack  of  the  piano- 
forte and  begins  to  improvise.  He  had  never  been  heard  to  improvise 
more  brilliantly,  with  more  originality  and  splendor  than  on  this  even- 
ing! but  through  the  entire  improvisation  there  ran  through  the  middle 
voices  like  a  thread  or  cantiis  firmus  the  notes,  in  themselves  utterly 
.insignificant,  wiiich  he  found  on  the  accidentally  oj)ened  page  of  the 
quartet,  upon  which  he  built  up  the  most  daring  melodies  and  har- 
monies in  the  most  brilliant  concerto  style.  Old  Pleyel  could  show 
his  amazement  only  by  kissing  his  hands.  After  such  improvisations 
Beethoven  was  wonX.  to  break  out  into  ii  ringing  peal  of  amused  laugiiter. 

Beethoven's  abandonment  (if  there  really  was  one)  of  the 
rooms  in  the  theatre  in  the  spring  of  1<S(>1,  and  his  su)).sequent 
relin(iuishment  of  the  aj)arti7ients  in  "das  Rotlie  Haus"  to  share 
those  of  Hreuning,  comixllcd  his  brother  Kus|)ar  to  seek  a  lodg- 
ing of  his  own,  which  he  found  for  the  present  on  the  Hohen 
Markt.  But  the  new  contract,  with  Baron  Braun,  gave  the 
composer  again  a  right  to  the  ai)artments  in  the  theatre  build- 
ing, which  he  improved,  at  the  same  time  retaining  tlie  dwelling 
in  the  Pasf|ualati  house.     The  city  directory  for   180.5  gives  his 


The  Sketches  for  "Fidelio"  45 

address  at  the  theatre,  and  there  he  received  visitors;  at  the 
Pasqiiahiti  house  he  was  accustomed  to  sechide  himself  for  work, 
forbidding  his  servant  to  admit  any  person  whatever.  In  the 
summer  he  retired  to  Iletzendorf,  and  wrought  out  his  opera, 
sitting  in  the  same  crotched  oak  in  tlie  Sch()nl)runn  Garden  where, 
four  years  before,  he  Iiad  composed  the  "(.'hristus  am  Olberg." 
Thus  again  he  had  tlu-ee  lodgings  at  the  same  time,  as  in  the 
preceding  summer;  with  this  difference,  that  now  one  was  no 
expense  to  him.  The  thousand  times  repeated  story  of  Ries, 
that  in   1804  he  had  four  dwellings  at  once,  is  a  mistake. 

Before  his  migration  to  Iletzendorf — say  about  the  middle 
of  June — Beethoven  had  completely  sketched  the  music  of  his 
opera.  This  is  made  sufficiently  certain  by  one  of  those  whim- 
sical remarks  that  he  was  in  the  hal)it  of  making  on  the  blank 
spaces  of  whatever  manuscript  he  happened  to  have  before  him. 
In  this  case  he  writes:  *'June  2d  Finale  always  simpler.  All 
pianoforte  music  also.  God  knows  why  my  ])ianoforte  music 
always  makes  the  worst  impression,  especially  when  it  is  badly 
played."  This  is  in  the  midst  of  sketches  to  the  final  chorus 
of  the  opera,  and  is  written  upon  the  up])er  outer  corner  of  page 
291  of  the  "Leonore"  sketchbook  which  became  the  property 
of  Mr.  Paul  Mendelssohn,  of  Berlin.  The  principal  value  of 
this  manuscript  lies  of  course  in  the  insight  which  it  gives  the 
musician  into  the  master's  methods  of  composition;'  but  for 
the  biographer  the  volume  is  by  no  means  without  its  value. 
Its  striking  confirmation  of  the  previously  formed  opinion,  that 
two  current  notions  in  relation  to  the  composition  of  the  opera 
are  erroneous,  well  repays  the  toil  of  studying  it  through.  First: 
A  misinterpreted  sentence  in  Jalm's  article  on  "Leonore,  oder 
Fidelio,'*  has  originated  and  given  currency  to  the  idea  that 
Beethoven's  "daring  enthusiasm  for  the  welfare  of  men  and 
their  rights"  led  him  to  begin  his  sketches  for  the  opera  with 
the  "second  finale,  with  its  hymn-like  character."  But  the 
sketchbook,  if  it  proves  anything,  proves  this:  that  Beethoven 
began  at  the  beginning  and  took  up  all  the  principal  numbers 
in  order,  as  they  stood  in  Sonnleithner's  text;  that  the  final 
choruses  were  the  last  to  be  sketched;  and  that  this  sketch- 
book happens  to  begin  in  the  midst  of  the  chorus  of  prisoners 
(originally  the  second  finale)  because  the  previous  studies  are 
wanting. 

'See  Nottcbohm's  study  of  the  sketches  for  "Fidelio"  in  "Zwoite  Beethoveniana," 
p.  409  et  seq.;  also  what  Jahn  has  to  say,  and  the  results  of  Erich  Prieger's  labors 
in  connection  with  the  reprint  of  the  original  form  of  the  opera. 


46  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

This  volume  contains  the  first  sketches  of  Nos.  11,  18,  15a, 
17a  and  18a  (appendix)  of  Jahn's  edition;  Nos.  1  and  5  occur, 
but  not  in  the  original  studies;  Nos.  2,  3,  4,  6,  7,  8,  9  and  10  are 
either  entirely  wanting  or  only  come  up  in  mere  fragmentary 
afterthoughts,  as  No.  9,  on  page  51,  where  Beethoven  has  written 
at  the  top  of  the  page:  "in  the  duet  between  P.  and  R."  and  just 
below:  "dann  schleich  ich,"  with  a  hint  (4  bars  of  music  unisono) 
for  the  accompaniment.  Afterthoughts  for  the  duet  "Um  in 
die  Ehe" — Fidelio  and  Marcelline — occur  also  on  pages  23,  344, 
and  possibly  one  or  two  others,  but  not  more.  The  studies  for 
Fidelws  recitative  "Ach  brich  noch  nicht"  and  aria  "Komm 
Hoffnung"  (No.  11),  which  are  found  near  the  end  of  the  volume, 
seem  to  form  a  mairked  exception  to  the  rule;  but  if  these  are 
really  the  first  sketches,  their  appearance  after  the  final  scenes 
is  explained  by  two  remarks  in  Beethoven's  hand  on  page  344: 
"Duetto  with  Miiller  {Marcelline)  and  Fidelio  aside,"  and  "Aria 
for  Fidelio,  another  text  which  agrees  with  her."  These  notes 
clearly  indicate  a  change  of  plan  in  connection  with  the  duet, 
and  that  the  beautiful  air,  "Komm  Hoffnung,"  did  not  stand 
in  Sonnleithner's  original  text. 

The  other  current  error  thoroughly  exploded  by  the  sketch- 
book is  this,  namely,  that  the  noblest  passages  in  the  opera  are  a 
sort  of  spontaneous  outpouring  in  music  of  feelings  and  sentiments 
awakened,  or  rendered  intense  and  vivid,  by  the  unfortunate 
love-affairs  of  the  composer.  Now,  there  is  nothing  from  the 
first  page  to  the  last  of  this  manuscript  that  conveys  the  impres- 
sion of  any  such  spontaneity.  Every  number,  as  it  now  stands 
complete  in  the  score,  was  the  tardy  result  of  persevering  labor 
— of  the   most  painstaking  study. 

AVhere  Jahn  says:  "I  have  not  had  an  opportunity  to  study 
many  of  Beethoven's  sketchbooks,  but  I  have  found  no  instance 
in  which  one  was  not  compelled  to  recognize  that  the  material 
chosen  was  not  the  best,  or  to  de])lore  that  the  material  which 
he  rejected  had  not  been  used,"  he  might  have  added,  with  truth, 
that  some  of  the  first  ideas  noted  to  passages,  now  among 
the  gems  of  the  opera,  are  commonplace  and  trivial  to  such  a 
degree,  that  one  can  hardly  attribute  them  to  Beethoven.  Yet, 
there  they  are  in  his  own  hand.  Jahn's  compendious  general 
description  of  the  contents  of  this  manuscri])t  cannot  be 
improved,  excej)t  in  a  single  passage,  in  which,  probably  trusting 
his  memory  a  little  too  much,  he  conveys  the  mistaken  (as 
we  think)  impression,  that  the  aria  of  Marcelline  is  here  first 
sketched. 


Patient  Labor  on  the  Opera         47 

The  sketches  [says  he]  are,  naturally  enough,  of  very  different 
kinds;  in  part  they  are  widely  varying  efforts  to  give  musical  expression 
to  the  same  text,  and  many  numbers,  like  the  airs  of  Marcelline  and 
Pizarro,  the  grave  duet,  a  few  striking  passages,  appear  for  the  first 
time  with  motivi  wholly  different  from  those  now  to  be  found  in  the 
opera.  ...  At  other  times,  whole  pieces  are  written  down  in  a  breath 
essentially  as  they  have  remained. 

This  is  rather  too  strongly  expressed,  unless  Jahn  had  in  mind 

the  arias  of  Rocco  and  Marcelline. 

By  the  side  of  such  passages  are  examples  of  indefatigable  detail 
work,  which  cannot  find  a  conclusion,  of  turning  not  only  single  motivi 
and  melodies  but  the  tiniest  elements  of  them  this  way  and  that, 
and  out  of  all  conceivable  variations  to  draw  out  the  form  that  is 
best.  One  is  amazed  at  this  everlasting  experimentation  and  cannot 
conceive  how  it  will  be  possible  to  create  an  organic  whole  out  of 
such  musical  scraps.  But  if  one  compares  the  completed  art-work 
with  the  chaos  of  sketches  one  is  overwhelmed  with  wonder  at  the  cre- 
ative mind  which  surveyed  its  task  so  clearly,  grasped  the  foundation 
and  the  outlines  of  the  execution  so  firmly  and  surely  that  with  all  the 
sketches  and  attempts  in  details  the  whole  grows  naturally  from  its 
roots  and  develops.  And  though  the  sketches  frequently  create  the 
impression  of  uncertainty  and  groping,  admiration  comes  again  for 
the  marvelously  keen  self-criticism,  which,  after  everything  has  been 
tested    with   sovereign   certainty,    retains   the   best.^ 

In  the  notices  of  the  "Leonore"  sketchbook,  made  for  use 
in  this  work,  are  copied  eighteen  different  beginnings  to  Florestan' s 
air,  "In  des  Lebens  Friihlingstagen,"  and  ten  to  the  chorus, 
"Wer  ein  holdes  Weib";  others  being  omitted,  because  illegible 
or  little  more  than  repetitions.  The  studies  for  that  wondrous 
outburst  of  joy,  "O  namenlose  Freude,"  are  numerous;  but  the 
first  bars  of  the  duet  are  the  same  in  all  of  them,  having  been 
taken  by  Beethoven  from  an   "old  opera." 

It  certainly  seems  a  little  like  cold-blooded  cruelty  thus 
ruthlessly  to  demolish  the  structure  of  romance  which  has  been 
rising  for  thirty  years  on  the  sandy  foundation  laid  by  Schindler 
in  his  story  of  the  Countess  Guicciardi,  and  of  which,  through 
some  fancied  connection,  the  opera  "Leonore"  has  become  an 
imposing  part.  But  facts  are  stubborn  things,  and  here  they 
are   irreconcilable   with   the   romance. 

Inborn  genius  for  musical  composition,  untiring  industry, 
and  the  ambition  to  rival  Cherubini  in  his  own  field,  sufficiently 
explain  the  extraordinary  merits  of  this  work  of  Beethoven; 
want  of  practice  and  experience  in  operatic  writing,  its  defects. 

Beethoven's  seclusion  at  Hetzendorf  from  June  to  September 
(probably)   and  his  labor  of   reducing  the  chaos  of  the  sketch- 

ijahn,  "Gesammelte  Schriften,"  p.   244. 


48  The  Life  of  Ludavig  van  Beethoven 

book  into  the  order  and  beauty  of  the  score  of  "Leonore" — on 
which,  as  he  told  Schindler,  he  wrought  in  the  bright  summer 
days,  sitting  in  the  shades  of  Schonbrunn — are  unbroken  for  us 
except  by  his  first  meeting  with  Cherubini.  Some  time  in  July 
— for  that  master  arrived  in  Vienna  after  the  5th  of  that  month, 
and  Vogler  was  in  Salzburg  before  the  28th — "Cherubini,  Beet- 
hoven and  Vogler  were  gathered  together  at  Sonnleithner's;  every- 
body played,  Vogler  first,  and  without  ceasing,  so  that  the  com- 
pany meanwhile  sat  down  to  table.  Beethoven  was  full  of  atten- 
tion and  respect  toward  Cherubini."  Such  is  Jahn's  note  of 
a  communication  to  him  by  Grillparzer;  and  Czerny  told  him: 
"B.  did  not  give  Cherubini  a  friendly  reception  in  1805,  as  the 
latter  complained   to   Czerny  later." 

At  the  end  of  the  summer  season  Beethoven  returned  to 
town  with  his  opera  ready  to  be  put  in  rehearsal.  Here  Ries 
found  him.  "He  was  really  fond  of  me,"  says  he,  "and  gave 
me  a  comical  proof  of  the  fact  in  one  of  his  fits  of  absent- 
mindedness";  and  Ries  goes  on  to  relate  in  the  "Notizen": 

When  I  came  back  from  Silesia,  where,  on  Beethoven's  recommen- 
dation, I  had  spent  a  considerable  time  as  pianoforte  player  for  Prince 
Lichnowsky  on  his  estate,  I  went  into  his  room;  he  was  about  to  shave 
and  had  lathered  himself  up  to  the  eyes  (for  his  fearful  beard  extended 
so  far).  He  jumped  up,  embraced  me  cordially  and,  behold!  he  had 
transferred  the  soap  from  his  left  cheek  to  my  right  so  completely  that 
there  was  nothing  left  of  it  on  him.     Didn't  we  laugh! 

With  all  his  kindness  to  Ries,  Beethoven  had  neither  for- 
gotten nor  forgiven  the  affair  of  the  "Andante  favori": 

One  day  when  a  small  company  including  Beethoven  and  me 
breakfasted  with  Prince  (Lichnowsky)  after  the  concert  in  the  Augarten 
(8  o'clock  in  the  forenoon),  it  was  proposed  that  we  drive  to  Beethoven's 
house  and  hear  his  opera  "Leonore,"  which  had  not  yet  been  performed. 
Arrived  there  Beethoven  demanded  that  I  go  away,  and  inasmuch 
as  the  most  urgent  appeals  of  all  present  were  fruitless,  I  did  so  with 
tears  in  my  eyes.  The  entire  company  noticed  it  and  Prince  Lichnowsky, 
following  me,  askod  me  to  wait  in  an  anteroom,  because,  having  been 
the  cause  of  the  trouble,  he  wanted  to  have  it  settled.  But  tlie  feeling 
of  hurt  to  my  honor  would  not  admit  of  this.  I  heard  afterward  that 
Prince  Lichnowsky  had  sharply  rebuked  Beethoven  for  his  conduct, 
sinee  only  love  for  his  works  had  been  to  })lamc  for  the  incident  and 
consequently  for  his  anger.  But  the  only  result  of  these  representa- 
tions was  that  Beethoven  refused  to  play  any  more  for  the  company. 

It  so  happcnc<l,  that  Ries  thus  lost  his  only  opportunity 
ever  to  hear  the  "Leonore-Fidelio"  music  in  its  original  form; 
but  this  Beethoven  could  not  anticipate,  as  he  could  have  no 
suspicion  that  they  were  so  soon  to  be  parted.     Bonn,  being  now 


First  Performance  of  '*Fidelio"  49^^ 

under  French  rule,  Ries  was  liable  to  conscription,  and  notice 
came  that  he  was  among  the  first  drawn.  "He  was  therefore," 
says  the  'Harmonicon,'  "obliged  to  return  home  immediately, 
for  his  disobedience  would  have  exposed  his  father  and  family 
to  the  risk  of  ruin."  Before  Ries'  departure  from  Vienna,  Beet- 
hoven, himself  unable  to  afford  him  pecuniary  assistance,  again 
proved  his  kindly  feelings  towards  his  pupil  by  giving  him  a  letter 
commending  him  to  the  benevolence  of  Princess  Liechtenstein. 

"To  Beethoven's  rage,"  says  Ries,  "the  letter  was  not  delivered, 
but  I  kept  the  original,  written  on  an  unevenly  cut  quarto  sheet,  as  a 
proof  of  Beethoven's  friendship  and  love  for  me."  Three  years  will 
elapse  before  we  meet  Ries  again  in  Vienna — the  greater  part  of 
which  period  he  passed  at  Paris  in  such  discouraging  circumstances, 
that  he  thought  seriously  of  abandoning  his  profession. 

At  the  Theater-an-der-Wien  none  of  the  new  operas  pro- 
duced this  season  had  long  kept  the  stage;  although  two  of  them 
— Schikaneder's  "Swetard's  Zaubergiirtel,"  music  by  Fischer, 
and  his  "Vesta's  Feuer,"  music  by  J.  Weigl — were  brought  out 
"with  very  extraordinary  splendor  of  decorations  and  costumes." 
It  was  now  Autumn  and  the  receipts  did  not  cover  the  expenses 
of  the  theatre.     "From  the  distance,"  says   Treitschke, 

the  storm  of  war  rolled  towards  Vienna  and  robbed  the  spectators 
of  the  calm  essential  to  the  enjoyment  of  an  art-work.  But  just  for 
this  reason  all  possible  efforts  were  made  to  enliven  the  sparsely  attended 
spaces  of  the  house.  "Fidelio"  was  relied  upon  to  do  its  best,  and  so, 
under  far  from  happy  auspices,  the  opera  was  produced  on  November 
20  (1805).  It  was  possible  efficiently  to  cast  only  the  female  parts 
with  Miles.  Milder  and  Miiller;  the  men  left  all  the  more  to  be  desired. 

Anna  Milder  (born  December  13,  1785),  now  just  comple- 
ting her  twentieth  year,  was  that  pupil  of  Neukomm  to  whom 
Haydn  had  said  half  a  dozen  years  before:  "My  dear  child! 
You  have  a  voice  like  a  house!"  Schikaneder  gave  her  her 
first  engagement  and  she  began  her  theatrical  career  April  9, 
1803,  in  the  part  of  Juno  in  Siissmayr's  "Spiegel  von  Arkadien," 
with  a  new  grand  aria  composed  for  her  by  him.  Beethoven 
had  now  written  the  part  of  Fidelio  for  her.  In  later  years  it 
was  one  of  her  grand  performances;  though,  judging  from  the 
contemporary  criticisms,  it  was  now  somewhat  defective,  simply 
from  lack  of  stage  experience.  Louise  Miiller,  the  Marcelline, 
"had  already  (in  April,  1805)  developed  in  a  few  years  into  a 
tasteful  and  honest  singer,  although  she  did  not  have  the  help 
of  a  voice  of  especial  volume."  She  became,  in  the  opinion  of 
Castelli,  "a  most  amiable  actress  and  good  singer,  particularly 
in  the  comic  genre." 


50 


The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 


Dcmmer,  "trained  in  Cologne,"  is  reported  in  1799,  when 
singing  at  Frankfort-on-the-Main,  as  having  "a  firm,  enduring 
voice  with  a  high  range;  he  played  semi-comic  roles  admirably. 
He  was  best  in  airs  in  which  there  was  little  agility  and  more  sus- 
tained declamation."  Castelli  praises  him;  but  all  contemporary 
accounts  agree  that  he  was  not  equal  to  the  part  of  Florestaiiy 
for  which  he  was  now  selected. 

Sebastian  Meier,  brother-in-law  to  Mozart  (the  musical 
reformer  of  this  theatre),  "was  insignificant  as  a  singer,  but  a 
valiant  actor,"  says  Castelli,  who  knew  him  most  intimately. 
Schindler  has  an  anecdote  of  him  as  Pizarro,  apparently  derived 
from  Beethoven,  to  the  effect  that  he  had  a  high  opinion  of  his 
own  powers;  that  he  used  to  swear  by  Mozart  and  confidently 
undertake  everything.  In  view  of  this  Beethoven  resolved  to 
cure  him  of  his  weakness,  and  to  this  end  wrote  the  passage 
in   Pizarro's  air: 


Pizarro 


Bass 


Bald 


wird      sein 


Blul         ver  - 


rin  -  nen 


s 


Bald 


^ 


kriim  -   met 


sich  der 


Wurm 


^ 


I'r  rV^  in 


J  f  lip  r  '! 


^ 


the  voice  moves  over  a  series  of  scales,  played  by  all  the  strings,  so 
that  the  singer  at  each  note  which  he  has  to  utter,  hears  an  appogiatura 
of  a  minor  second  from  the  orchestra.  The  Pizarro  of  1805  was  unable 
with  all  his  gesticulation  and  writhing  to  avoid  the  difficulty,  the  more 
since  the  mischievous  players  in  the  orchestra  below  maliciously  em- 
phasized the  minor  second  by  accentuation.  Don  Pizarro,  snorting 
with  rage,  was  thus  at  the  mercy  of  the  bows  of  the  fiddlers.  Tliis  aroused 
laughter.  The  singer,  whose  conceit  was  thus  wounded,  thereupon 
flew  into  a  rage  and  hurled  at  the  composer  among  other  remarks  the 
words:  "My  brother-in-law  would  never  have  written  such  damned 
nonsense." 

AVeinkopf  {Dnn  Fernando)  had  "a  pure  and  expressive  bass 
voice,"  but  his  ])nrt  was  too  meagre  and  unimportant  to  affect 
the  success  or  failure  of  the  opera. 


Incidents  at  the  Rehearsals  51 

Cache   (Jaquino),  according   to  Castelli,    was  a  good  actor, 

who  was  also  made  serviceable  in  the  opera  because  Meyer,  the  stage- 
manager,  knew  that  good  acting,  in  comic  operas,  was  frequently  more 
effective  than  a  good  voice.  It  was  necessary  to  fiddle  his  song-parts 
into  his  head  before  he  came  to  rehearsals. 

Rothe  (Rocco)  was  so  inferior  both  as  actor  and  singer, 
that  his  name  is  not  to  be  found  in  any  of  the  ordinary  sources 
of  Vienna  theatrical  history. 

One  can  well  believe  that  very  considerable  difficulties 
attended  the  performance,  as  Treitschke  states.  His  words,  in  a 
passage  above  cited,  as  well  as  certain  expressions  of  Beethoven's 
a  few  months  later,  indicate  that  the  opera  was  hurriedly  put  upon 
the  stage,  and  the  inadequacy  of  the  singers  thus  increased  by  the 
lack  of  sufficient  rehearsals.  Seyfried  says,  *'I  directed  the  study 
of  the  parts  with  all  the  singers  according  to  his  suggestions,  also 
all  the  orchestral  rehearsals,  and  personally  conducted  the  per- 
formance." In  1805  Seyfried  was  young,  talented,  ambitious, 
zealous,  and  nothing  was  wanting  on  his  part  to  insure  success. 

Speaking  of  the  rehearsals  recalls  to  mind  one  of  those  bursts 
of  puerile  wrath,  which  were  passed  over  with  a  smile  by  some 
of  Beethoven's  friends,  but  gave  serious  offense  to  others.  Mahler 
remembered  that  at  one  of  the  general  rehearsals  the  third  bassoon 
was  absent;  at  which  Beethoven  fretted  and  fumed.  Lobko- 
witz,  who  was  present,  made  light  of  the  matter:  two  of  the 
bassoons  were  present,  said  he,  and  the  absence  of  the  third 
could  make  no  great  difference.  This  so  enraged  the  composer, 
that,  as  he  passed  the  Lobkowitz  Place,  on  his  way  home,  he 
could  not  restrain  the  impulse  to  turn  aside  and  shout  in  at  the 
great   door  of   the  palace:  "Lobkowitzian   ass!" 

There  were  various  stumbling-blocks  in  the  vocal  score  of 
"Leonore."  Schindler  on  this  point  has  some  judicious  remarks 
(in  his  third  edition),  and  they  are  borne  out  by  his  record  of 
conversations  with  Cherubini  and  Anna  Milder.  During  his 
years  of  frequent  intercourse  with  Beethoven  and  subsequently, 
"Leonore"  was  a  work  upon  whose  origin  and  failure  he  took 
much  pains  to  inform  himself,  and  its  history  as  finally  drawn 
up  by  him  is  much  more  satisfactory  and  correct  than  others 
of  greater  pretensions. 

Outside  the  narrow  circle  of  the  playhouse,  weightier  mat- 
ters than  a  new  opera  now  occupied  and  agitated  the  minds  of 
the  Viennese.  On  the  20th  October,  Ulm  fell.  On  the  30th 
Bernadotte  entered  Salzburg,  on  his  way  to  and  down  the  Danube. 
Vienna  was  defenceless.     The  nobility,   the  great  bankers  and 


52  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

merchants — all  whose  wealth  enabled  and  whose  vocations 
permitted  it — precisely  those  classes  of  society  in  which  Beet- 
hoven moved,  which  knew  how  to  appreciate  his  music,  and 
of  whose  sufiPrages  his  opera  was  assured,  fled  from  the  capital. 
On  November  9th  the  Empress  departed.  On  the  10th  the 
French  armies  had  reached  and  occupied  the  villages  a  few  miles 
west  of  the  city.  On  November  13th,  about  11  o'clock  in  the 
forenoon,  the  vanguard  of  the  enemy,  IVIurat  and  Lannes  at  the 
head,  15,000  strong,  representing  all  branches  of  the  service, 
entered  Vienna  in  order  of  battle,  flags  flying  and  music  sounding. 

On  the  I5th,  Bonaparte  issued  his  proclamation  from 
Schonbrunn,  which  he  made  his  headquarters.  Murat  quartered 
himself  in  the  palace  of  Archduke  Albert;  General  Hulin,  in  that 
of  Prince  Lobkowitz.  It  was  just  at  this  most  unlucky  of  all 
possible  periods  that  Beethoven's  opera  was  produced;  on  Novem- 
ber 20,  21  and  22. 

Beethoven's  friend,  Stephan  von  Breuning,  prepared  a 
pretty  surprise  for  him  by  printing  a  short  complimentary  poem 
and  having  it  distributed  in  the  theatre  at  the  second  perform- 
ance.    It  is    preserved    in   the    "Notizen"    (p.  34).^     Beethoven 

»To  the  opinions  of  the  reviewers  some  attention  must  be  given;  it  does  not 
seem  advisable  to  quote  them  in  extcnso.  The  "Freymiithige"  describes  the  military 
occupation  of  Vienna,  the  officers  quartered  in  the  city  proper,  the  private  soldiery 
in  the  suburbs.  At  first  the  theatres  were  empty,  but  gradually  the  French  began  to 
visit  them  and  at  the  time  of  writing  were  more  numerous  in  the  playhouses  than  the  Aus- 
trians.  "Fidolio,"  the  new  opera  by  Beethoven,  did  not  please.  It  was  given  a  few 
times  only  and  the  house  was  empty  after  the  first  performance.  The  musie  did  not 
meet  the  expectations  of  the  cognoscenti  and  music-lovers,  lacking  the  passionate  ex- 
pression which  is  so  compelling  in  Mozart  and  Cherubini.  The  music  is  beautiful 
in  places,  but  as  a  whole  the  oi)era  is  far  from  being  a  perfect  or  successful  work.  The 
"Zritung  fiir  the  Elegante  Welt"  records  that  the  music  is  "ineffective  and  repetitious," 
and  did  not  add  to  the  writer's  opinion  of  Beethoven's  talent  for  vocal  writing  formed 
on  hearing  his  cantata  ("("hristus  am  Olberg").  In  its  issue  of  January  8,  1S06,  the 
correspondent  of  the  "Allg.  Mus.  Zcituug"  says  that  he  had  expected  something  very 
different,  in  view  of  Beethnv(>n's  uiidisi)uled  talent.  Beethoven  had  often  sacrificed 
beauty  to  newness  and  singularity  and  therefore  something  new  and  original  had  been 
experted,  l)ut  these  were  the  qualities  which  were  least  noticeable.  The  music  is 
distinguish<'d  neither  by  invention  nor  execution.  The  overture  is  not  comparable 
with  that  of  "I'rornetlieus."  As  a  rule  there  is  nothing  new  in  the  vocal  parts;  they 
are  generally  too  long,  the  text  is  ceaselessly  repeated  and  the  cliaracterization  misses 
fire,  as,  for  instance,  in  the  duet  after  the  recognition.  A  canon  in  the  first  act  and 
an  aria  in  F  [E]  are  more  successful,  though  the  pretty  accompaniment  with  its  three 
horns  obhiigato  and  bassoon  is  somewhat  overioarled.  The  choruses,  especially  the 
song  of  the  prisoners,  are  a  failure.  Dr.  Henry  Reeve,  of  Xorwich,  England,  one  of 
the  (-arliest  collaborators  on  the  *'Ediiibur<;Ii  Review,"  then  a  young  man  of  2.5,  was 
in  \'ienna  at  the  time  of  the  French  invasion  and  attend<'d  the  se<-ond  representation 
of  the  f)pera  on  November  21sf.  Sir  Cieorge  drove  sent  a  copy  of  a  page  from  his 
journal  to  Thayer.  lie  thought  the  plot  a  sad  mixture  of  bad  action  and  romantic 
situations,  but  the  airs,  duets  and  choruses  wortliy  of  all  praise.  The  "overtures," 
of  which  there  was  one  for  every  act,  were  too  artificial  to  be  generally  agreeable  and 
an  nj)pre<-iati<m  of  their  beauties  wmld  re(juire  frequent  hearing.  Beethoven  sat 
at  the  pianoforte  and  conducted  the  performance — a  little,  dark,  young-looking  man, 
who  wore  spectacles. 


Recollections  of  a  Singer  53 

desired  to  retain  the  original  title  of  the  opera,  "Leonore,"  and 
the  directors  of  the  theatre  have  been  severely  censured  from 
that  day  to  this  for  persisting  in  giving  and  retaining  the  title 
"Fidelio";  but  unjustly;  for,  considering  the  relations  in  which 
Paer  stood  to  Baron  Braun,  it  was  surely  enough  to  have  taken 
his   subject,    without   stealing   his   title. 

A  young  man,  educated  at  the  University  of  Munich,  had 
for  some  time  past  been  private  secretary  to  the  Bavarian  Charge 
des  Affaires  at  Salzburg.  The  approach  of  the  French  armies 
after  the  fall  of  Ulm  made  his  position  and  prospects  very  un- 
certain. It  was  just  then  that  an  agent  of  Baron  Braun  came 
thither  in  search  of  a  young,  fresh  tenor  to  succeed  Demmer, 
whose  powers  were  fast  yielding  to  time.  The  engagement  was 
offered  him  and  thus  it  came  about,  that  J.  A.  Rockel,  in  the 
Autumn  of  1805,  became  first  tenor  in  the  Theater-an-der-Wien. 
After  appearing  in  divers  characters  with  much  success,  con- 
sidering his  inexperience,  he  was  offered  the  part  of  Florestan 
in  the  contemplated  revival  of  "Fidelio."  A  conversation  with 
the  singer  at  Bath  in  April,  1861,  is  authority  for  these  partic- 
ulars, and  a  letter  from  him  dated  February  26  of  the  same  year 
adds  more.     Rockel  WTote: 

It  was  in  December,  1805 — the  opera  house  An-der-Wien  and 
both  the  Court  theatres  of  Vienna  having  been  at  that  time  under 
the  intendance  of  Baron  Braun,  the  Court  Banker — when  Mr.  Meyer, 
brother-in-law  to  Mozart  and  Regisseur  of  the  opera  An-der-Wien, 
came  to  fetch  me  to  an  evening  meeting  in  the  palace  of  Prince  Charles 
Lichnowsky,  the  great  patron  of  Beethoven.  "Fidelio"  was  already 
a  month  previously  performed  An-der-Wien — unhappily  just  after 
the  entrance  of  the  French,  when  the  city  was  shut  against  the  suburbs. 
The  whole  theatre  was  taken  up  by  the  French,  and  only  a  few  friends 
of  Beethoven  ventured  to  hear  the  opera.  These  friends  were  now 
at  that  soiree,  to  bring  Beethoven  about,  to  consent  to  the  changes 
they  wanted  to  introduce  in  the  opera  in  order  to  remove  the  heavi- 
ness of  the  first  act.  The  necessity  of  these  improvements  was  already 
acknowledged  and  settled  among  themselves.  Meyer  had  prepared 
me  for  the  coming  storm,  when  Beethoven  should  hear  of  leaving 
out  three  whole  numbers  of  the  first  act. 

At  the  soiree  were  present  Prince  Tichnowsky  and  the  Princess, 
his  lady,  Beethoven  and  his  brother  Kaspar,  [Stephan]  von  Breuning, 
[Heinrich]  von  Collin,  the  poet,  the  tragedian  Lange  (another  brother- 
in-law  to  Mozart),  Treitschke,  Clement,  leader  of  the  orchestra,  Meyer 
and  myself;  whether  Kapellmeister  von  Seyfried  was  there  I  am  not 
certain  any  more,  though  I  should  think  so. 

I  had  arrived  in  Vienna  only  a  short  time  before,  and  met  Beetho- 
ven there  for  the  first  time. 

As  the  whole  opera  was  to  be  gone  through,  we  went  directly  to 
work.     Princess  L.  played  on  the  grand  piano  the  great  score  of  the 


54  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

opera  and  Clement,  sitting  in  a  corner  of  the  room,  accompanied  with 
his  violin  the  whole  opera  by  heart,  playing  all  the  solos  of  the  differ- 
ent instruments.  The  extraordinary  memory  of  Clement  having  been 
universally  known,  nobody  was  astonished  by  it,  except  myself.  Meyer 
and  I  made  ourselves  useful,  by  singing  as  well  as  we  could,  he  (basso) 
the  lower,  I  the  higher  parts  of  the  opera.  Though  the  friends  of  Beet- 
hoven were  fully  prepared  for  the  impending  battle,  they  had  never 
seen  him  in  that  excitement  before,  and  without  the  prayers  and  en- 
treaties of  the  very  delicate  and  invalid  princess,  who  was  a  second 
mother  to  Beethoven  and  acknowledged  by  himself  as  such,  his  united 
friends  were  not  likely  to  have  succeeded  in  this,  even  to  themselves, 
very  doubtful  enterprise.  But  when  after  their  united  endeavors 
from  seven  till  after  one  o'clock,  the  sacrifice  of  the  three  numbers 
was  accomplished,  and  when  we,  exhausted,  hungry  and  thirsty,  went 
to  restore  ourselves  by  a  splendid  supper — then,  none  was  happier 
and  gayer  than  Beethoven.  Had  I  seen  him  before  in  his  fury,  I  saw 
him  now  in  his  frolics.  When  he  saw  me,  opposite  to  him,  so  intently 
occupied  with  a  French  dish,  and  asked  me  what  I  was  eating,  and  I 
answered:  "I  don't  know!"  with  his  lion- voice  he  roared  out:  "He 
eats  like  a  wolf — without  knowing  what!     Ha,  ha,  ha!" 

The  condemned  three  numbers  were: 

1.  A  great  aria  with  chorus  of  Pizarro; 

2.  A  comic  duo  between  Leonora  (Fidelio)  and  Marcelline,  with  violin 

and   violoncello  solo; 

3.  A  comic  terzetto  between  Marcelline,  Jacquino  and  Rocco. 

Many  years  after,  Mr.  Schindler  found  the  scores  of  these  three 
pieces  amongst  the  rubbish  of  Beethoven's  music,  and  got  them 
as  a  present  from  him. 

A  question  has  been  raised  as  to  the  accuracy  of  Rockel's 
memory  in  his  statement  of  the  numbers  cancelled  on  this  occa- 
sion; to  which  it  may  be  remarked,  that  the  particulars  of  this 
first  and  extraordinary  meeting  with  Beethoven  would  naturally 
impress  themselves  very  deeply  upon  the  memory  of  the  young 
singer;  that  the  numbers  to  be  condemned  had  been  previously 
agreed  upon  by  the  parties  opposed  to  the  composer  in  the  trans- 
action, and  doubtless  made  known  to  R()ckel;  that  Rockel's 
relations  to  ]Mcyer  were  such  as  to  render  it  in  the  highest  degree 
improbable,  that  he  should  confound  Rocco\s  gold  aria  with  either 
of  the  Pizarro  airs  with  chorus  belonging  to  Meyer's  part;  that 
both  of  these  belong  to  the  first  and  second  original  acts — i.  e., 
to  the  first  act  of  the  opera  as  Rockel  knew  it;  that  he 
(Rockel)  in  his  letter  to  the  writer  is  not  reporting  upon  the 
pieces  actually  omitted  in  the  subsequent  performance  three  or 
four  months  later,  but  ui)()n  those  which,  at  this  meeting,  Beet- 
hoven was  with  great  difficulty  persuaded  to  omit:  that  the 
objections  made  to  them  were  not  to  the  music,  but  because 
they  retarded  the  action;   and,  therefore,  that  the  decision  now 


Works  Published  in  1805  55 

reached  was  by  no  means  final,  provided  the  end  desired  could 
be  attained  in  some  other  way.  Perhaps  it  may  yet  appear 
that  Beethoven,  now  cunningly  giving  way,  succeeded  in  win- 
ning the  game,  and  retaining  all  three  of  the  pieces  condemned. 
Outside  theatrical  circles  we  catch  also  a  glimpse  or  two  of 
Beethoven  in  these  months.  Pierre  Baillot,  the  violinist,  was 
in  Vienna  just  before  the  French  invasion  on  his  way  to  Moscow, 
and  was  taken  by  Anton  Reicha  to  see  Beethoven. 

They  did  not  find  him  in  his  lodgings  but  in  a  by  no  means  elegant 
inn  in  the  Vorstadt.  What  first  attracted  the  attention  of  the  French- 
man was  that  Beethoven  did  not  have  the  bulldog,  gloomy  expression 
which  he  had  expected  from  the  majority  of  his  portraits;  he  even 
thought  he  recognized  an  expression  of  good-nature  in  the  face  of  the 
composer.  The  conversation  had  just  got  well  under  way  when  it 
was  interrupted  by  a  terrific  snore.  It  came  from  a  stableman  or 
coachman  who  was  taking  his  little  nap  in  a  corner  of  the  room. 
Beethoven  gazed  at  the  snorer  a  few  moments  attentively  and  then 
broke  out  with  the  words:  "I  wish  I  were  as  stupid  as  that  fellow. "* 

Schindler  closes  his  account  of  these  last  five  years  in  Beet- 
hoven's life  with  great  propriety  and  elegance  by  quoting  a  pas- 
sage copied  by  the  master  from  Christian  Sturm's  "Betrach- 
tungen."  It  is  made  up  of  scattered  sentences  which  may  be 
found  on  page  197  of  the  ninth  edition  (Reutlingen,  1827): 

To  the  praise  of  Thy  goodness  I  must  confess  that  Thou  hast  tried 
all  means  to  draw  me  to  Thee.  Now  it  hath  pleased  Thee  to  let  me 
feel  the  heavy  hand  of  Thy  wrath,  and  to  humiliate  my  proud  heart 
by  manifold  chastisements.  Sickness  and  misfortune  hast  Thou  sent 
to  bring  me  to  a  contemplation  of  my  digressions.  But  one  thing 
only  do  I  ask,  O  God,  cease  not  to  labor  for  my  improvement.  Only 
let  me,  in  whatsoever  manner  pleases  Thee,  turn  to  Thee  and  be  fruit- 
ful  of   good   works. 

The  publications  for  the  year  1805  were  the  Two  Easy 
Sonatas,  G  minor  and  G  major.  Op.  49,  advertised  by  the  Kunst- 
und  Industrie-Comptoir,  on  January  23;  Trio  (arranged  from 
the  Septet)  for  Pf.,  Violin  (or  Clarinet)  and  Violoncello,  E-flat, 
Op.  38,  advertised  by  the  same  institution  on  the  same  date; 
Prelude  for  the  Pf.,  F  minor,  advertised  by  the  same  on  January 
30;  Romance  for  Violin  and  Orchestra,  F  major.  Op.  50,  adver- 
tised by  the  same  on  May  15;  Sonata  in  C  major  for  Pf.,  Op.  53, 
dedicated  to  Count  Waldstein,  advertised  with  the  Romance; 
song,  "An  die  Hoffnung,"  Op.  32,  advertised  by  the  same  on 
September  18;  Six  Variations  for  Pf.  four  hands,  on  "Ich  denke 

i"Signale  fur  die  Musikalische  Welt,"  June  21,  1866. 


56  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

Dein,"  advertised  by  the  same  on  January  23;  Minuet  in  E-flat 
for  Pf.,  advertised  by  same  on  January  30;  Scene  and  Air,  "Ah, 
perfido!  spergiuro,"  in  pianoforte  score,  published  by  Hoffmann 
and  Kiihnel. 

The  compositions  which  were  completed  were  the  opera 
"Leonore"  ("Fidelio")  in  its  first  form;  the  Concerto  for  Pf. 
and  Orchestra,  G  major,  Op.  58  (this  on  the  authority  of  Notte- 
bohm);  the  Pf.  Sonata  in  F  major.  Op.  54;  perhaps  also  may 
be  added  the  Concerto  for  Pf.,  Violin  and  Violoncello,  C  major. 
Op.  56.  It  was  sketched  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  and  was 
written,  as  Schindler  states,  for  Archduke  Rudolph,  Seidler,  violin, 
and  Kraft,  violoncello;  it  may  well  have  been  completed  so  as 
to  be  played  by  the  winter  of  1805-180G. 


Chapter  IV 

The  Year  1806— Repetition  of  "Fidelio"— Changes  in  the 
Opera — Its  Withdrawal — Journey  to  Silesia — Correspon- 
dence with  Thomson — ^The  Scottish  Songs. 

EXCERPTS  from  a  letter  written  on  June  2,  1806,  by 
Stephan  von  Breuning  to  his  sister  and  brother-in-law, 
make  a  fair  opening  for  the  story  of  the  year  1806.  In 
it  he  reports  on  "Fidelio."  The  letter,  though  written  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  year,  has  reference  to  the  period  between  the  original 
performance  late  in  1805  and  the  repetition  in  the  spring  of  1806, 
a  period  in  which  it  would  seem,  from  the  absence  of  all  epistolary 
writings,  Beethoven  was  in  no  mood,  or  too  much  occupied  other- 
wise, for  correspondence.     Von  Breuning  writes: 

Nothing,  perhaps,  has  caused  Beethoven  so  much  vexation  as  this 
work,  the  value  of  which  will  be  appreciated  only  in  the  future.  .  .  .  Beet- 
hoven, who  had  also  observed  a  few  imperfections  in  the  treatment  of  the 
text  in  the  opera,  withdrew  it  after  three  representations.  After  order 
had  been  restored  he  and  I  took  it  up  again.  I  remodelled  the  whole 
book  for  him,  quickening  and  enlivening  the  action;  he  curtailed  many 
pieces,  and  then  it  was  performed  three  ^  times  wnth  great  success.  Now, 
however,  his  enemies  in  the  theatre  arose,  and  as  he  had  offended  several 
persons,  especially  at  the  second  representation,  they  succeeded  in  pre- 
venting further  performances.  Before  this,  many  obstacles  had  been 
placed  in  his  way;  to  let  one  instance  stand  as  proof  for  the  others,  he 
could  not  even  get  permission  to  secure  an  announcement  of  the  opera 
under  the  changed  title  "Fidelio,"  as  it  is  called  in  the  French  original, 
and  as  it  was  put  into  print  after  the  changes  were  made.  Contrary  to 
promise  the  first  title  "Leonore"  appeared  on  the  poster.  This  is  all  the 
more  unpleasant  for  Beethoven  since  the  cessation  of  the  performances  on 
which  he  was  depending  for  his  honorarium,  which  consists  in  a  percentage 
of  the  receipts,  has  embarrassed  him  in  a  financial  way.  He  will  recover 
from  the  set-back  all  the  more  slowly  since  the  treatment  which  he  has 
received  has  robbed  him  of  a  great  deal  of  his  pleasure  in  and  love  for 
work.  .  .  . 

The  words  "Fidelio"  and  "Leonore"  are  here  misplaced, 
interchanged,  whether  by  Breuning  or  his  copyist  is  not  known. 

^Twice   only. 
[57] 


58  The  Life  of  Ludt^tig  vax  Beethoven 

The  letter  is  a  reflection  of  Beethoven's  disappointment  and  in- 
dignation at  fancied  injuries;  it  was  written  in  ignorance  of  divers 
material  facts,  and  contains  inaccuracies,  which — since  its  pub- 
lication by  Wegeler  in  1838 — have  colored  many  attempts  to  write 
the  early  history  of  the  opera. 

It  is  a  circumstance,  noteworthy  and  not  easily  to  be  explained, 
that  Breuning,  instead  of  Sonnleithner,  revised  the  text  and  made 
the  new  disposition  of  the  scenes.  For  the  alterations  and  sup- 
pressions, both  in  the  text  and  the  music,  made  at  this  time,  the 
reader  is  referred  to  the  edition  of  "Leonore"  prepared  by  Otto 
Jahn,  and  published  by  Breitkopf  and  Hartel  in  1852,  and  the 
preface  to  the  edition  of  the  "Fidelio"  of  180o  published  by  Erich 
Prieger. 

At  the  performances  in  November,  the  effect  of  the  overture 
had  been  ruined  by  a  passage  in  the  Allegro,  which  was  too  dif- 
ficult for  the  wood-wind  instruments.  "Instead  of  simply  removing 
this  obstacle  (31  measures),"  says  Schindler,  "Beethoven  thought 
it  advisable  to  rewrite  the  whole,  inasmuch  as  he  was  already 
engaged  upon  a  revision  of  other  parts  of  the  work.  He  retains  the 
motivi  of  the  Introduction  as  well  as  the  Allegro,  has  the  motive 
of  the  latter  played  by  violoncellos  and  violins  simultaneously  for 
the  sake  of  greater  sonority,  and  on  the  existing  foundation  rears 
a  new  structure,  including  several  new  thoughts."^ 

^In  the  chapter  immediately  preceding  the  present  one  in  the  revised  German 
edition  of  this  biography.  Dr.  Riemann  introduces  the  following:  "Through  the  efforts 
of  Otto  Jahn,  Gustav  Xottebohm  and  Erich  Prieger,  it  has  been  made  possible  meas- 
urably to  observe  the  transformations  which  'Fidelio'  underwent  between  its  first 
production  and  its  publication.  The  mysterious  disappearance  (possibly  theft)  of 
several  scores  made  it  extremely  difficult  to  determine  the  form  in  which  it  was  rep- 
resented— 'Fidelio'  in  three  acts  in  1805,  'Leonore'  in  two  acts  in  1806,  and  'Fidelio' 
in  two  acts  in  1814 — the  statements  touching  the  omissions  and  restorations  of  single 
numbers  being  insufficient  and  not  free  from  contradictions.  About  1850,  however. 
Otto  Jahn  succeeded  in  putting  together  a  score  of  the  second  revision  of  1806  from 
the  separate  parts;  of  this  he  published  a  vocal  score  with  pianoforte  accompaniment 
towards  the  close  of  1853  through  Breitkopf  and  Hartel.  He  also  gave  some  hints  con- 
cerning its  variations  from  the  score  of  1805.  After  another  half-century  Erich  Prieger 
collected  the  material  for  a  restoration  of  the  work  as  it  was  at  the  first  production 
in  1805,  compiled  a  vocal  score  and  gave  it  to  the  public  through  Breitkopf  and 
Hartel.  More  than  that — he  occasioned  its  performance  at  the  centennial  celebration 
in  the  Royal  Opera  House  in  Berlin."  From  Prieger's  preface  we  take  in  part  the 
following  statements : 

"In  1807  Breitkopf  and  Hartel  published  three  numbers  from  the  second  revision 
of  1806 — viz:  the  Trio  in  E-flat,  'Fin  Mann  ist  bald  gewonncn'  (afterwards  elided), 
the  canon  quartet,  and  the  duet  'Gut,  Sohnchen,  gut';  not  until  1810  was  a  vocal 
score  of  the  second  version  published.  It  came  from  the  press  of  Breitkopf  and  Har- 
tel, but  was  without  overtures  and  finales.  The  overture  in  C,  Xo.  3,  which  was  per- 
formed with  the  opera  in  1806,  was  published  by  Breitkopf  and  Hartel,  also  in  1810; 
the  overture  in  C,  No.  i.  with  which  the  representation  of  1805  began,  edited  by  Otto 
Jahn,  was  published  by  B.  and  H.  at  the  end  of  1853.  (It  was  performed  in  Leipsic  on 
January  i7  of  that  year.)  Nottebohm  notes  the  performance  of  the  four  overtures 
on  January  11,  1840,  and  a  publication  in  1842;  but  this  refers  to  the  work  as  dis- 
figured by  cuts.     The  so-called  'first'   C   major  overture  found  amongst    Beethoven's 


The  Overtures  to  "Fidelio"  59 

And  thus  for  Beethoven  the  winter  passed.  To  compete 
with  successful  new  works  which  Schikaneder  offered  the  Vienna 
audiences  of  1806,  was  no  light  matter;  and  it  is  easy  to  imagine, 

posthumous  effects  and  published  by  Haslinger  as  Op.  138  is  in  reality  the  first  of  the 
series,  the  one  which,  according  to  Schindler's  report  (third  edition,  I,  lil),  was  tried 
over  once  at  Prince  Lichnowsky's  and  put  aside  as  too  simple,  but  purchased  at  once 
by  Haslinger.  It  is  true  that  Xottebohm  discovered  sketches  for  the  overture  in 
company  with  sketches  for  the  symphony  in  C  minor  and,  from  this  fact,  argued  that 
the  overture  had  been  composed  between  April,  1807,  and  December,  1808  (see 
'Beethoveniana,'  pp.  60  et  seq.)\  but  in  his  analysis  of  the  sketchbook  of  1803,  extending 
from  October,  180£,  to  April,  1804,  he  shows  the  presence  of  sketches  for  'Leonore'  among 
such  for  the  'Eroica,'  which  proves  that  Beethoven  worked  on  the  opera  as  early  as  1803 
and  that  'these  labors  were  so  far  advanced  when  the  performance  of  Paer's  opera  became 
known  (October  3,  1804)  that  there  could  be  no  thought  of  an  abandonment.'  But 
this  demolishes  the  theory  that  Op.  138  must  have  been  composed  in  1807-08,  and 
we  are  compelled  to  believe  with  Kalischer  that  Schindler's  account  is  correct  and 
that  Haslinger  (Steiner  and  Co.)  had  for  years  been  in  possession  of  the  first  overture 
to  'Leonore'  which  'had  been  laid  aside  after  a  trial  in  1805,'  and  that  in  1823,  at 
a  time  when  Schindler  was  Beethoven's  confidant,  the  composer  demanded  that  it 
be  published  and  Haslinger  refused,  saying:  'We  bought  those  manuscripts  and  paid 
for  them;  consequently  they  are  our  property,  and  we  can  do  with  them  as  we  will.' 
Only  one  thing  remains  problematical,  and  that  is,  what  could  have  persuaded  Has- 
linger to  state  that  he  had  found  the  overture  in  a  packet  of  dances  which  he  pur- 
chased at  the  sale  of  Beethoven's  effects.  Kalischer  calls  attention  to  a  letter  from 
Fanny  Hensel  to  Rebekka  Dirichlet,  written  after  the  music  festival  at  Diisseldorf 
in  1836  under  the  direction  of  Mendelssohn  (see  'Die  Familie  Mendelssohn,' II,  9): 
'Oh,  Becky!  We  have  got  acquainted  with  an  overture  to  'Leonore';  a  new  piece.  It 
is  notorious  that  it  has  never  been  played;  it  did  not  please  Beethoven  and  he  put 
it  aside.  The  man  had  no  taste!  It  is  so  refined,  so  interesting,  so  fascinating  that 
I  know  few  things  which  can  be  compared  with  it.  Haslinger  has  printed  a  whole 
edition  and  will  not  release  it.  Perhaps  he  will  do  so  after  this  success.'  That  seems 
to  have  been  the  case;  but  Haslinger  permitted  the  work  to  be  played  as  early  as 
February  7,  18£8,  at  a  concert  of  Bernhard  Romberg's  and  elsewhere.  In  his  book 
'Beethoven's  Studien  im  Generalbass,  etc.,'  1832,  Sej'fried  connects  this  overture 
with  the  project,  never  carried  out,  of  a  production  of  the  opera  in  Prague  in  1807. 
'For  the  theatre  in  Prague,'  he  says,  'Beethoven  wrote  a  less  diflScult  overture  which. 
Haslinger,  afterward  R.  I.  Court  Music  Dealer,  acquired  at  auction;  to  which  Has- 
linger replied:  'This  overture  is  already  engraved  in  score  and  orchestral  parts  and, 
together  with  other  arrangements  of  it,  will  yet  appear  in  the  course  of  this  year.' 
Nottebohm,  too,  con^nnced  that  the  sketches  for  the  overture  had  to  be  placed  in  1807, 
and  doubtless  influenced  by  Seyfried's  statement,  accepted  the  theory  that  it  had 
been  intended  for  Prague.  Se\"fried"s  statement,  however,  in  view  of  the  involved  story 
of  the  manuscript  in  the  hands  of  Haslinger,  lacks  credibility,  and  is  probably  to  be 
charged  to  the  account  of  Haslinger,  who  maj-  not  have  wanted  to  tell  the  truth  for 
fear  that  it  might  lessen  the  market  value  of  the  work." — 

To  this  the  English  editor  feels  in  duty  bound  to  say  that  Xottebohm's  argu- 
ment seems  to  him  at  all  points  invulnerable.  The  autograph  of  the  overture  is  no 
longer  in  existence.  The  score  bought  by  Haslinger  and  the  parts  are  copies  which. 
Beethoven  corrected.  On  the  first  violin  part  the  copyist  had  written  "Ouvertura"; 
Beethoven  added  "in  C,  Characteristic  Overture."  Under  this  title  the  composition 
was  announced  by  Haslinger  in  1S£8.  He  did  not  publish  it  at  the  time,  but  there 
were  many  references  to  it  at  its  performance  at  Romberg's  concert  and  at  other 
times  as  a  "Characteristic"  overture  which  had  been  found  among  Beethoven's  post- 
humous papers.  Between  1828  and  1832,  when  Haslinger  finally  gave  the  work  to 
the  public,  somebody  made  the  discovery,  which  ought  to  have  been  made  at 
sight  of  the  manuscript,  certainly  at  the  first  performance  in  1828  (the  melody  of 
Florestan's  song  occurring  in  it  as  one  of  the  themes),  that  there  was  a  connection 
between  it  and  "Fidelio."  When  Haslinger  published  it,  therefore,  he  abandoned 
the  title  under  which  he  had  announced  it  four  years  before,  and  called  it:  "Over- 
ture in  C,  composed  in  the  year  1805  for  the  opera  'Leonore,'  etc."  Every  student 
knows  how  valuable  Xottebohm's  studies  of  the  sketches  are  in  the  determination 
of  dates.     Composers  usually  write  the  overtures  to  their  operas  last;  indeed,  they 


60  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

that  Beethoven  felt  this,  and  determined,  at  all  events  in  his 
own  field  of  instrumental  composition,  to  leave  no  doubt  who  was 
master.  Hence,  that  monumental  work,  the  great  overture  to 
"Leonore'*  in  its  second  form.  He  was,  as  usual,  dilatory  in 
meeting  his  engagements.  January  and  February  passed  and 
March  drew  to  its  close,  and  the  overture  was  not  ready.  This 
was  too  much  for  Baron  Braun's  patience.  He,  therefore,  selected 
the  best  night  of  the  season — Saturday,  March  29,  the  last  before 
the  closing  of  the  theatre  for  Holy  Week  and  Easter — and  gave 
Beethoven  distinctly  to  understand,  that  if  the  opera  was  not 
performed  on  that  evening,  it  should  not  be  given  at  all.  This 
was  effectual  and  the  new  score  was  sent  in;  but  so  late,  as  Rockel 
well  remembered,  as  to  allow  but  two  or  three  rehearsals  with 
pianoforte  and  one  only  with  orchestra;  and  these  were  directed 
by  Sej'iried — the  composer  appearing  at  neither. 

Beethoven  and  Breuning  supposed  that  a  change  of  title  from 
"Fidelio"  to  "Leonore"  had  been  agreed  to  by  the  directors,  and 
indeed  the  new  text-book  and  Breuning's  poem  on  the  occasion 
were  so  printed;  but  it  was  determined  otherwise.  By  the  new 
arrangement  of  the  scenes,  the  number  of  acts  was  reduced  to 
two.  The  new  playbill  therefore  substitutes  "Opera  in  two  Acts" 
for  "three";  excepting  this,  the  change  of  date,  and  of  Rockel's 

must  do  so  when  utilizing  thematic  material  drawn  from  the  vocal  numbers.  Mr. 
Thayer  has  already  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  vocal  numbers  were  taken 
up  in  the  order  of  their  occurrence,  as  Beethoven's  sketches  show.  They  also  show 
that  the  overture  was  sketched  after  all  the  vocal  numbers  had  been  planned.  And 
the  overture  thus  sketched  was  that  known  as  No.  2.  There  is  no  hint  of  the  over- 
ture No.  1  in  the  sketches  made  in  1S04>  and  the  beginning  of  180.5.  Schindler  says 
that  Haslinger  bought  the  overture  imraedialcly  after  it  had  been  laid  aside  by  Beet- 
hoven. That  would  have  been  in  ISO.).  But  Haslinger  was  not  in  Vienna  till  1810. 
If  Steiner  and  Co.,  with  which  firm  Haslinger  associated  himself  shortly  after  his  arrival 
in  the  Austrian  capital  and  of  which  the  firm  of  Tobias  Haslinger  was  the  successor, 
was  meant  by  Schindler,  it  remains  a  mystery  that  the  publishers,  so  intimately  con- 
nected with  Beethoven,  should  have  kept  an  overture  under  lock  and  key  for  23  years 
and  then  have  given  it  out  as  a  work  bought  at  the  sale  of  Beethoven's  effects.  That 
circumstance  could  only  awaken  the  suspicion  that  the  composer  did  not  think  it  worthy 
of  his  name  and  fame.  If  he  did  so  think,  he  would  not  have  demanded  that  Haslinger 
publish  it  in  1823.  Judging  by  internal  evidence  the  overture  certainly  seems  to  be 
an  earlier  work  than  the  overtures  which  the  world  knows  by  the  titles  "Leonore," 
Nos.  2  anil  3;  but  contemijorary  reports  fa  letter  from  N'iettna  printed  in  the  "Journal 
des  Luxus  tind  der  .Moden,  "  Weimar,  1808)  olfer  evidence  in  addition  to  the  testimony 
of  Seyfried  that  Beethoven  <lid  write  a  new  overture  for  the  projected  Prague  per- 
formance. No  doul)t  Beethoven  was  convinced,  soon  after  the  revival  in  1806,  that 
the  third  "lA-onore"  was  too  long  and  too  severe  a  piece  for  its  purpose;  he  was  still  of 
that  opinion  wlien  he  reviserl  the  ojjera  for  tin;  revival  of  1814,  as  is  <'videnced  by  his 
composing  the  "l''ideIio"  overture  in  K,  and.  more  than  that,  consenting  to  the  use 
of  the  overture  to  "The  Ruins  of  Athens"  at  the  first  performance.  Mr.  Thayer  was 
quite  as  capable  of  judging  of  the  value  of  the  <'vidence  in  the  case  as  his  erlitors;  he 
was  familiar  with  N'otteliohm'st  contention;  and  in  his  history  of  the  year  1807  he  un- 
hesitatingly sets  down  the  overture  known  as  "Leonore,  No.  1"  as  that  designed  for 
Prague.  There  is  no  new  evideiiee  so  far  as  this  writer  knows  which  could  justify 
a  reversal   of  the    opinion   which  has   prevailed   amongst   musical  scholars  since  1872. 


Unsuccessful  Performances  61 

for  Demmer's  name  as  Florestan,  it  is  a  facsimile  of  the  pre- 
vious ones,  and  announces:  "Fidelio  oder  die  Eheliche  Liebe." 
For  this  determination  the  directors  may  well  have  urged,  not 
only  a  proper  regard  for  the  composer  of  "Sargino"  and  the 
(Italian)  "Leonore,"  but  the  manifest  impropriety  of  misleading 
the  public  by  giving  a  new  title  to  a  work  which  remained  essentially 
unchanged.  As  on  the  original  production,  Breuning  wrote  a 
poem:  "To  Herr  Ludwig  van  Beethoven,  on  the  occasion  of  the  re- 
production of  the  opera  composed  by  him  and  first  performed  on 
November  20,  1805,  now  given  under  the  new  title  'Leonore.' " 

The  correspondent  of  the  "Allg.  Mus.  Zeit.,"  under  date  of 
April  2,  writes:  "Beethoven  has  again  produced  his  opera  'Fidelio' 
on  the  stage  with  many  alterations  and  abbreviations.  An 
entire  act  has  been  omitted,  but  the  piece  has  benefited  and  pleased 
better."  On  Thursday,  the  10th,  it  was  given  again.  The  fol- 
lowing letters  from  Beethoven  to  Sebastian  Meier,  referring  to 
this  performance,  complain  of  "many  blunders"  in  the  choruses, 
ask  for  new  rehearsals,  and  say: 

Please  ask  Mr.  Seyfried  to  conduct  my  opera  to-day,  I  want  to  look 
at  and  hear  it  from  a  distance,  thus  at  least  my  patience  will  not  be  so 
greatly  tried  as  if  I  were  to  hear  my  music  bungled  close  at  hand!  I 
cannot  think  otherwise  than  that  it  is  done  purposely.  I  will  say 
nothing  about  the  wind-instruments,  but  that  all  fp,  crescendo,  all 
decres.  and  aAlJorte,  ff,  have  been  elided  from  my  opera;  at  any  rate  they 
are  not  played.  All  delight  in  composing  departs  when  one  hears  it 
(one's  music)  played  thus  ! 

Seyfried's  autograph  record  of  all  performances  in  the  Theater- 
an-der-Wien,  through  a  long  series  of  years,  gives  "Sargino" 
instead  of  "Fidelio,"  for  Saturday  the  12th — and  "Agnes  Ber- 
nauer"  for  the  Sunday  and  Monday  following.  That  this  old, 
well-known  drama  was  so  repeated  affords  a  strong  presumption 
that  an  opera — we  think  "Fidelio" — was  withdrawn  "because 
obstacles  had  suddenly  appeared"  after  it  was  too  late  to  supply 
its  place  with  another.  At  all  events,  the  production  of  "Fidelio" 
on  Thursday,  April  10th,  was  the  last;  for  which  fact,  two  explan- 
ations are  given — that  in  Breuning's  letter,  and  one  by  Rockel  in 
his  letter  to  the  author.  Breuning  attributes  it  to  the  composer's 
enemies — to  a  cabal,  to  "several  persons  whom  Beethoven  had 
offended,  especially  at  the  second  representation";  Rockel,  to 
Beethoven's  own  imprudence  and  folly. 

Breuning,  a  Secretary  in  the  War  Office,  could  have  had  little 
leisure  for  theatrical  matters  in  those  melancholy  days  during 
the  French  occupation  and  immediately  after;  it  is  a  cause  of 


62  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

surprise,  that  he  found  time  for  the  revision  of  the  "Fidelio" 
text;  his  record,  therefore,  could  hardly  have  been  made  except 
upon  the  representations  of  his  friend — the  last  man  to  admit 
that  he  was  in  fault.  But  Rockel  was  behind  the  scenes  in  a 
double  sense:  he  sang  the  part  of  Florestan  and  while  Beethoven's 
"friends  were,  most  of  them,  married  men,  not  able  to  walk  and 
dine  out  with  him  (as  he  writes)  like  myself,  another  bachelor, 
to  whom  he  took  a  fancy — I  could  call  upon  him  in  the  morning 
and  in  fine  weather  stroll  and  dine  with  him  in  the  country." 
Breuning  and  Rockel  are  alike  men  of  unimpeachable  veracity; 
but  the  latter  speaks  from  personal  knowledge  and  observation. 

Breuning's  statement  is  improbable.  Who  were  Beethoven's 
enemies.'^  Who  formed  the  cabal .^  Baron  Braun,  Schikaneder, 
Seyfried,  the  Stage-manager  Meier,  Director  Clement,  the  solo 
singers  (Mile.  Milder,  Weinkopf,  Rockel),  were  all  his  friends; 
and,  for  anything  now  known,  so  were  Mile.  JNIiiller,  Rothe  and 
Cache.  As  to  orchestra  and  chorus,  they  might  refuse  to  play 
under  Beethoven  as  conductor — nothing  more;  and,  as  he  had 
already  conducted  four  if  not  five  times,  this  would  create  no 
great  difficulty,  as  the  baton  would  necessarily  pass  into  the  hands 
of  Seyfried  at  the  first  or  second  subsequent  performance.  More- 
over, now  that  the  opera  was  fairly  upon  the  stage  and  making 
its  way,  it  was  for  the  interest  of  all  parties,  from  Baron  Braun 
down  to  the  scene-shifters,  to  continue  it  so  long  as  it  would  draw 
an  audience.  That  it  was  making  its  way  is  proved  not  only 
by  all  the  contemporary  accounts,  but  by  this:  that  notwith- 
standing the  necessarily  empty  houses  in  November,  Beethov^en's 
percentage  of  the  receipts  finally  amounted  to  nearly  200 
florins. 

In  the  second  of  the  notes  to  Meier,  Beethoven  is  guilty  of 
monstrous  injustice.  A  moment's  reflection  shows  this.  The 
orchestra  and  chorus  had  duly  rehearsed  and  three  times  pub- 
licly performed  "Fidelio"  as  first  written.  Since  then  (see  Jahn's 
edition)  most  of  the  numbers,  perhaps  every  one,  had  been 
more  or  less  changed.  Now  every  musician  knows  that  it  is 
easier  to  play  a  ])iece  of  new  music  corrt^-tly  at  sight,  than  a  well- 
known  composition  in  which  material  alterations  have  been  made. 
And  yet,  because  some  forty  men — playing  on  a  dozen  different 
instruments,  and  aft<'r  a  single  reluvirsal  at  which  the  com])oser 
was  not  present  to  explain  his  intentions— did  not  effect  the 
impossibility  of  reading  the  music  correctly  and  at  the  same  time 
note  all  the  nuirks  of  expression,  Beethoven  writes:  "I  cannot 
think  otherwise  than  that  is  done  purposely!" 


The  Composer  in  a  Rage  63 

All  things  considered,  there  can  be  no  hesitation  in  preferring 
the  testimony  of  the  singer  of  Florestan,  to  that  of  the  Court 
War  Councillor. 

When  the  opera  was  produced  in  the  beginning  of  the  following 
year  (writes  Rockel)  it  was  exceedingly  well  received  by  a  select  public, 
which  became  more  numerous  and  enthusiastic  with  each  new  representa- 
tion; and  no  doubt  the  opera  would  have  become  a  favorite  if  the  evil 
genius  of  the  composer  had  not  prevented  it,  and  as  he,  Beethoven,  was 
paid  for  his  work  by  a  percentage,  instead  of  a  mere  honorarium,  an 
advantage  which  none  enjoyed  before  him,  it  would  have  considerably 
advanced  his  pecuniary  arrangements.  Having  had  no  theatrical  ex- 
perience, he  was  estimating  the  receipts  of  the  house  much  higher  than 
they  really  were;  he  believed  himself  cheated  in  his  percentage,  and  with- 
out consulting  his  real  friends  on  such  a  delicate  point,  he  hastened  to 
Baron  Braun — that  high-minded  and  honorable  nobleman — and  sub- 
mitted his  complaint.  The  Baron,  seeing  Beethoven  excited  and  con- 
scious of  his  one  susceptibility  (i.  e.,  suspicious  temper),  did  what  he  could 
to  cure  him  of  his  suspicions  against  his  employees,  of  whose  honesty  he 
was  sure.  Were  there  any  fraud,  the  Baron  said,  his  own  loss  would  be 
beyond  comparison  more  considerable  than  Beethoven's.  He  hoped 
that  the  receipts  would  increase  with  each  representation;  until  now, 
only  the  first  ranks,  stalls  and  pit  were  occupied;  by  and  by  the  upper 
ranks  would  likewise  contribute  their  shares. 

"I  don't  write  for  the  galleries!  "  exclaimed  Beethoven. 

"No.'^"  replied  the  Baron,  "My  dear  Sir,  even  Mozart  did  not  dis- 
dain to  write  for  the  galleries." 

Now  it  was  at  an  end.  "I  will  not  give  the  opera  any  more,"  said 
Beethoven,  "I  want  my  score  back."  Here  Baron  Braun  rang  the  bell, 
gave  orders  for  the  delivery  of  the  score  to  the  composer,  and  the  opera 
was  buried  for  a  long  time.  From  this  encounter  between  Beethoven 
and  Baron  Braun  one  might  conclude  that  the  former's  feelings  had  been 
injured  by  the  comparison  with  Mozart;  but  since  he  revered  Mozart 
highly,  it  is  probable  that  he  took  offence  more  at  the  manner  in  which 
they  were  uttered  than  at  the  words  themselves. — He  now  realized  plainly 
that  he  had  acted  against  his  own  interests,  and  in  all  probability  the 
parties  would  have  come  to  an  amicable  understanding  through  the  medi- 
ation of  friends  if  Baron  Braun  had  not  very  soon  after  retired  from  the 
management  of  the  united  theatres,  a  circumstance  that  led  to  a  radical 
change  of  conditions. 

In  truth,  Beethoven  had  overshot  the  mark.  The  overture 
was  too  novel  in  form  and  grand  in  substance  to  be  immediately 
understood;  and,  in  1806,  there  was  not  an  audience  in  Europe 
able  to  find,  in  the  fire  and  expression  of  the  principal  vocal  num- 
bers, an  adequate  compensation  for  the  superficial  graces  and 
melodic  beauties  of  the  favorite  operas  of  the  time,  and  which 
seemed  to  them  to  be  wanting  in  "Fidelio."  Even  Cherubini, 
who  was  all  this  time  in  Vienna,  failed  to  comprehend  fully  a 
work  which,  though  a  first  and  only  experiment,  was  destined  to 


64  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

an  ever-increasing  popularity,  when  nearly  all  his  own  then 
universally  admired  operas  had  disappeared  from  the  stage. 
Schindler  records  that  he  "told  the  musicians  of  Paris  concern- 
ing the  overture  that  because  of  its  confusion  of  modulations  he 
was  unable  to  recognize  the  principal  key."  And  farther,  that  he 
(Cherubini),  in  listening  to  "Fidelio,"  had  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  till  then  Beethoven  had  paid  too  little  heed  to  the  art  of 
singing,  for  which  Salieri  was  not  to  blame. 

In  1836,  Schindler  conversed  with  the  Fidelio  of  1805-06, 
Madame  Milder-Hauptmann,  on  the  subject:  "She  said,  among 
other  things,  that  she,  too,  had  had  severe  struggles  with  the  mas- 
ter chiefly  about  the  unbeautiful,  unsingable  passages,  unsuited 
to  her  voice,  in  the  Adagio  of  the  air  in  E  major — but  all  in  vain, 
until,  in  1814,  she  declared  that  she  would  never  sing  the  air  again 
in  its  then  shape.     That  worked." 

Anselm  Hiittenbrenner,  who  became  a  pupil  of  Salieri  a 
dozen  years  later,  wrote  in  a  letter  to  Ferdinand  Luib,  under  date 
February  21,  1858:  "Speaking  of  Beethoven  Salieri  told  me  the 
composer  had  submitted  'Fidelio'  to  him  for  an  opinion:  he  had 
taken  exception  to  many  things  and  advised  Beethoven  to  make 
certain  changes;  but  Beethoven  had  'Fidelio'  performed  just  as 
he  had  written  it — and  never  visited  Salieri  again."  These  last 
words  are  too  strong;  Beethoven's  pique  against  his  old  master 
was  in  time  forgotten;  for  Moscheles  (also  in  a  letter  to  Luib) 
writes  on  February  28,  1858:  "I  cannot  recall  seeing  Schubert  at 
Salieri's,  but  I  do  remember  the  interesting  circumstance  that 
once  I  saw  a  sheet  of  paper  lying  at  Salieri's  on  which  in  great 
letters  written  by  Beethoven  were  the  words:  'The  pupil  Beet- 
hoven was  here!*  " 

A  letter  by  Beethoven  to  Baron  von  Braun  refers  to  the 
incidents  just  described  and  asks  permission  to  get  from  the 
theatre  orchestral  parts,  as  follows: 

Flauto  prima,  the  three  trombones  and  the  fonr  horn  parts  of  my 
opera.  I  need  tliesc  |)arts,  })ut  only  for  a  day,  in  order  to  have  a  few 
trifles  coj)ied  for  myself  which  could  not  be  written  into  the  score  for  want  of 
room,  also  hcf-ause  Prince  Lobkountz  thinks  of  giving  the  opera  at  his  house 
and  has  askod  it  of  inc. 

There  were  otlicr  reasons  why  Beethoven  desired  to  render  his 
score  perfect.  ^^lK'ther  the  opera  was  performed  in  the  Lobko- 
witz  palace  is  not  recorded;  but  Breuning  ends  his  letter  of  June 
2nd  thus:  "I  will  not  write  you  the  news  that  Prince  Lichnowsky 
has  now  sent  the  oj)era  to  the  Queen  of  Prussia,  and  that  I  hope 


IVIarriage  of  Karl  Kaspar  van  Beethoven         65 

the  performances  in  Berlin  will  show  the  Viennese  what  they  have 
at  home." 

Breuning's  hope  was  vain;  the  opera  was  not  given  in  Berlin. 

The  order  of  time  requires  a  passing  notice  of  a  family 
event  which  proved  in  the  end  a  cause  of  infinite  trouble  and  vex- 
ation to  Beethoven  and  all  connected  with  him  by  the  ties  of 
kindred  or  friendship.  Whether  his  brother  Kaspar's  salary  was 
increased  above  250  florins,  before  his  appointment  in  1809  as 
Liquidators'-iidjunct  with  1000  florins  and  160  fl.  for  lodgings,  does 
not  appear;  beyond  a  doubt  it  had  been.  But,  be  this  as  it  may, 
he  now  found  himself  in  a  position  to  marry,  and  on  the  25th  of 
May  "a  marriage  contract  was  closed  between  Carl  Caspar  v. 
Beethoven,  R.  I.  Officer  of  the  Revenue,  and  of  this  city  (Vienna) 
and  Theresia  Reiss,  daughter  of  Anton  Reiss,  civilian,  upholsterer." 
Their  only  child,  a  son,  was  born — according  to  the  baptismal 
certificate — on  September  4th,  1806. 

Reiss  was  a  man  of  considerable  wealth,  for  one  in  his  sphere 
of  life,  and  able,  it  is  said,  to  give  his  daughter  a  marriage  portion 
of  2000  florins;  it  appears,  too,  that  the  valuable  house  in  the 
Alservorstadt,  owned  by  Karl  at  the  time  of  his  death,  was  an 
inheritance  of  his  wife  from  her  father's  estate;  indeed,  half  the 
right  to  the  property  was  legally  secured  to  her.  So  much 
has  been  wantonly  and  falsely  written  upon  this  marriage  and 
its  consequences,  as  to  render  it  proper  to  add  here:  Karl  van 
Beethoven's  character  and  temperament  were  not  fitted  to  render 
a  wife  permanently  happy;  on  the  other  hand  his  wife,  before  her 
husband's  death,  dishonored  him  by  an  intrigue  with  a  medical 
student;  but  there  is  no  reason  whatever  to  believe  that  the  mar- 
riage, at  the  time  it  took  place,  was  not  considered  a  good  one  for, 
and  by,  all  parties  concerned. 

The  notices  of  Beethoven's  own  movements  during  this  year 
are  scanty.  "Fidelio"  and  studies  to  instrumental  works  em- 
ployed him  during  the  winter  (1805-6),  but  not  to  the  exclusion  of 
the  claims  of  social  intercourse,  as  one  of  his  characteristic  mem- 
oranda indicates.  It  is  written  with  lead  pencil  on  a  page  of  the 
new  quartet  sketches:  "Just  as  you  are  now  plunging  into  the 
whirlpool  of  society — just  so  possible  is  it  to  compose  operas  in 
spite  of  social  obstacles.  Let  your  deafness  no  longer  be  a  secret 
— even  in  art." 

Breuning's  report  (June  2),  that  Beethoven  "had  lost  a  great 
deal  of  his  pleasure  in  and  love  for  work,"  had  even  then  ceased 
to  be  true.  On  the  26th  of  May,  the  first  of  the  Rasoumowski 
Quartets  had  been  begun — and  with  it   began  a  series  of  works 


66  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

which  distinguished  the  year  1806  as  one  of  astonishing  productive- 
ness— but  more  on  this  point  in  due  time.  It  is  quite  certain 
that  he  took  no  summer  lodgings:  this  and  other  considerations 
confirm  Schindler's  statement,  that,  when  the  revision  of  a  copy 
of  his  opera  for  Berlin  had  been  finished,  he  went  into  Hungary 
to  enjoy  "a  short  rest  with  his  friend  Count  Brunswick."  Thence 
he  journeyed  into  Silesia  to  the  seat  of  Prince  Lichnowsky  near 
Troppau. 

Two  documents  now  come  up  for  consideration  w^hich  fill  a 
hiatus  left  by  the  author  in  the  original  edition  of  this  work.  They 
are  the  letters  to  which  reference  was  made  by  the  English  editor 
in  his  comments  on  Beethoven's  love-affairs  (Vol.  I,  p.  344). 
Both  are  addressed  to  Breitkopf  and  Hartel,  the  first  dated 
*'Vienna,  July  5,  1806,"  the  second  "Gratz,  den  3ten  Heumonath, 
1806" — "Heumonath"  meaning  July.  The  inaccuracy  of  the 
latter  date  is  too  obvious  to  call  for  extended  comment;  Beethoven 
could  not  apologize  on  the  third  day  of  the  month  for  tardiness  in 
replying  to  a  letter  in  answer  to  one  which  he  had  dispatched  on  the 
fifth.  It  is  not  permissible  to  play  fast  and  loose  with  Beethoven's 
dates,  despite  their  frequent  faultiness;  we  must  accept  them  when 
they  are  upheld  by  corroborative  evidence,  but  reject  them  when  it 
is  plainly  impossible  to  conceive  them  as  correct.  In  explanation 
of  the  obvious  incorrectness  of  the  second  date  it  is  suggested  that 
when  Beethoven  wrote  "Heumonath,"  i.  e.,  July,  he  meant  to 
write  "Herbstmonath,"  i.  e.,  September.  Irrespective  of  their 
dates,  however,  the  letters  furnish  evidence  of  Beethoven's 
creative  activity  during  the  summer  of  1806.  The  first  letter  is 
as  follows: 

Vienna,  July  5,  1806. 

I  inform  you  that  my  brother  is  going  to  Leipsic  on  business  of  his 
chancelhiry  and  I  have  given  him  to  carry  the  overture  to  my  opera  in 
pianoforte  arrangement,  my  oratorio  and  a  new  pianoforte  concerto — 
you  may  also  negotiate  with  him  touching  some  new  violin  quartets  of 
which  I  have  already  completed  one  and  am  purposing  to  devote  myself 
ahnost  wholly  to  this  work.  As  soon  as  you  have  come  to  an  under- 
standing with  my  brother  I  will  send  you  the  pianoforte  arrangement  of 
my  opera — you  may  also  have  the  score. 

I  hear  that  the  symphony  which  I  sent  you  last  year  and  which  you 
returned  to  me  has  been  roundly  abused  in  the  Musikal.  Zeitung,  I  have 
not  read  it,  if  you  think  that  you  do  me  harm  by  this  you  are  mistaken, 
on  the  contrary  you  bring  your  newspaper  into  discredit  by  such  things — 
all  the  more  since  I  have  not  made  any  secret  of  the  fact  that  you  sent  back 
thiii  symphony  and  other  conij)ositions — Please  present  my  compliments 
to  Ilcrr  V.  llochlitz,  I  hope  his  bad  blood  toward  me  has  become  a  little 
diluted,  say  to  him  that  i  am  by  no  means  so  ignorant  of  foreign 


Negotiations  with  Breitkopf  and  Hartel  67 

literature  not  to  know  that  Herr  v.  Rochlitz  has  written  some  very  pretty 
things,  and  if  I  should  ever  come  to  Leipsic  I  am  convinced  that  we  shall 
become  right  good  friends  without  causing  injury  or  loss  to  his  criticisms. . . . 

The  pianoforte  concerto  referred  to  is  that  in  G  major,  Op.  58; 
the  Quartets,  the  set  Op.  59;  the  symphony,  the  "Eroica."  The 
second  letter  was  written  from  Prince  Lichnowsky's  castle,  Gratz, 
near  Troppau  in  Silesia.  Breitkopf  and  Hartel's  endorsement 
shows  that  it  was  received  and  answered  in  September: 

Gratz,  Heu-Monath  3rd,  1806. 

Rather  too  much  to  do  and  the  little  journey  here  I  could  not 
answer  your  letter  at  once — although  I  at  once  decided  to  accept  your 
offer,  since  my  comfort,  too,  will  be  promoted  by  such  an  arrangement  and 
many  unavoidable  disorders  obviated — I  willingly  obligate  myself  not 
to  sell  any  more  of  my  works  to  any  one  except  you  nor  abroad  except 
in  the  cases  now  specified,  viz:  whenever  advantageous  offers  are  made 
to  me  by  foreign  publishers  I  will  inform  you  of  the  fact;  and  if  you  are 
otherwise  inclined  I  will  at  once  arrange  that  you  shall  have  the  same  work 
for  Germany  for  a  smaller  honorarium. — The  second  case  is  this:  if  I 
should  leave  Germany,  which  is  easily  possible,  that  you  may  still  •par- 
ticipate as  above,  if  you  so  desire — If  these  conditions  are  agreeable  to 
you  write  me — I  believe  the  plan  mutually  helpful — as  soon  as  I  learn 
your  opinion  of  the  matter — you  may  have  at  once  3  violin  quartets,  a 
new  pianoforte  concerto,  a  new  symphony,  the  score  of  my  opera  and 
my  oratorio. 

My  present  place  of  sojourn  is  here  in  Silesia  so  long  as  autumn 
lasts — with  Prince  Lichnowsky — who  sends  greetings  to  you — My 
address  is  L.  v.  Beethoven  in  Troppau. 

Breitkopf  and  Hartel's  endorsement  is  as  follows:  ''Resp. 
(i.  e.,  responsum).  Let  him  propose  the  honorarium;  if  acceptable 
we  will  send  him  a  contract  for  three  years."  In  reply  to  this 
Beethoven  wrote  a  letter  dated  Vienna,  Nov.  18,  1806,  in  which  he 
said: 

Partly  my  distractions  in  Silesia,  partly  the  events  which  have 
taken  place  in  your  country,  were  to  blame  that  I  did  not  answer  your 
letter  before  now — should  the  present  condition  of  affairs  prevent  your 
entering  into  an  engagement  with  me,  you  are  not  bound  to  anything — 
only  I  beg  you  to  answer  at  once  by  post,  so  that  in  case  you  do  not  care 
to  make  a  contract  with  me — I  need  not  let  my  works  lie  idle.^  With  re- 
gard to  a  contract  for  three  years  I  am  disposed  to  enter  into  it  with  you 
at  once  if  you  will  agree  that  I  sell  several  works  to  England  or  Scotland. 
It  is  understood  of  course  that  the  works  which  you  have  received  from  me 
or  which  I  sold  you  belong  only  to  yon,  namely  are  your  sole  property  and  have 
nothing  to  do  with  those  of  France,  England  or  Scotland — but  I  must  have  the 
privilege  to  dispose  of  other  works  in  those  countries — But  in  Germany,^  you 
and  no  other  publisher  would  be  the  oivner  of  my  works.  I  would  willingly 
renounce  the  sale  of  my  works  in  those  countries,  but  I  have  received 


68  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

from  Scotland  such  weighty  offers  and  such  an  honorarium  as  I  could  not 
ask  of  you,  besides  a  connection  with  foreign  countries  is  always  im- 
portant for  the  fame  of  an  artist  and  in  the  event  of  his  travelling — As, 
for  instance,  in  the  case  of  Scotland,  I  have  the  right  to  sell  the  same 
works  in  Germany  and  France,  I  would  gladly  let  you  have  them  for 
Germany  and  France — so  that  only  London  and  Edinburgh  (in  Scot- 
land) would  be  lost  to  your  sales.  .  .  .  For  the  present  I  offer  you  three 
quartets  and  a  pianoforte  concerto — I  cannot  give  you  the  promised 
symphony  yet — because  a  gentleman  of  quality  has  taken  it  from  me, 
but  I  have  the  privilege  of  publishing  it  in  half  a  year.  I  ask  of  you  600 
florins  for  the  three  quartets  and  300  fl.  for  the  concerto,  both  amounts 
in  Convention  Florins  according  to  the  20  florin  scale. 

The  negotiations  were  without  result  and  the  compositions 
mentioned  were  published  by  the  Industrie-Comptoir.  The  sym- 
phony referred  to  was  doubtless  the  fourth,  in  B-flat,  and  the 
"gentleman  of  quality"  in  all  likelihood  Count  von  Oppersdorff, 
to  whom  it  was  dedicated. 

In  October  Breuning  wrote  to  Wegeler:  "Beethoven  is  at 
present  in  Silesia  with  Prince  Lichnowsky  and  will  not  return  till 
near  the  end  of  this  month.  His  circumstances  are  none  of  the 
best  at  present,  since  his  opera,  owing  to  the  cabals  of  his  opponents, 
was  performed  but  seldom,  and  therefore  yielded  him  nothing. 
His  spirits  are  generally  low  and,  to  judge  by  his  letters,  the  so- 
journ in  the  country  has  not  cheered  him."  This  visit  to  the 
Prince  came  to  an  abrupt  termination  in  a  scene  which  has  been 
a  fruitful  theme  for  the  silly  race  of  musical  novelette  writers. 
The  simple  truth  is  related  by  Se\'fried  in  the  appendix  to  his 
"Studien"  (page  23)  and  is  here  copied  literally  except  for  a  few 
additional  words  interspersed,  derived  by  the  present  writer  from 
a  conversation  with  the  daughter  of  Moritz  Lichnowsky: 

When  he  (Beethoven)  did  not  feel  in  the  mood  it  recjuired  repeated 
and  varied  urgings  to  get  him  to  sit  down  to  the  pianoforte.  Before  he 
began  playing  he  was  in  the  habit  of  hitting  the  keys  with  the  flat  of  his 
hand,  or  running  a  single  finger  up  and  down  the  keyl)oard,  in  short,  doing 
all  manner  of  things  to  kill  time  and  laughing  heartily,  as  was  his  wont, 
at  the  folly.  Once  while  spending  a  summer  with  a  Mjecenas  at  his  country- 
seat,  he  was  so  pestered  by  the  guests  (French  oflicers),  who  wished  to 
hear  him  play,  that  he  grew  angry  and  refused  to  do  what  he  denounced 
as  menial  labor.  A  threat  of  arrest,  made  surely  in  jest,  was  taken 
seriously  by  him  and  resulted  in  Beethoven's  walking  by  night  to  the 
nearest  city,  Troppau,  whence  he  hurried  as  on  the  wings  of  the  wind  by 
extra  post  to  Vienna.' 

'FrimnicI,  in  his  "Beethoven"  (second  edition.  IHO.S.  p.  4i),  tells  the  story  in 
essrntially  the  same  manner  on  the  authority  of  a  gran<ison  of  Dr.  Wciser,  house  phy- 
sician cif  Prinre  Liclinnwsky;  Dr.  W^-iser's  version  had  [jrcviousiy  been  printed  by 
Franz  Xaver  Ua<h  in  \\\>'  "Witn<T  Di-iitsche  ZiitunR"  of  Aucust  31,  1873.  In  both 
cases  the  story  ends  with  Beethoven's  sending  a  letter  to  Lichnowsky  containing  thia 


Thomson  and  Scottish  Songs  69 

In  the  "Grenzboten,"  Vol.  XVI,  No.  14,  April  3,  1857,  Fraulein  Gian- 
natasio  del  Rio  relates  that,  in  1816,  Beethoven  told  how  once  during 
the  invasion  when  the  Prince  had  a  number  of  Frenchmen  as  his  guests,  he 
(the  Prince)  repeatedly  tried  to  coerce  him  to  play  for  them  on  the  piano- 
forte and  that  he  had  stoutly  refused;  which  led  to  a  scene  between  him 
and  the  Prince,  whereupon  B.  indiscreetly  and  suddenly  left  the  house. — 
He  once  said  that  it  is  easy  to  get  along  with  nobility,  but  it  was 
necessary  to  have  something  to  impress  them  with. 

To  propitiate  him  for  the  humiliation  which  he  had  suffered, 
the  bust  of  his  patron  had  to  become  a  sacrifice;  he  dashed  it  into 
pieces  from  its  place  on  a  cabinet  to  the  floor.  Alois  Fuchs  re- 
corded an  anecdote  which  illustrates  the  feeling  which  made 
Beethoven  so  unwilling  to  play  before  the  French  officers.  After 
the  battle  at  Jena  (October  14,  1806)  Beethoven  met  his  friend 
Krumpholz,  to  whom  he  was  warmly  attached,  and,  as  usual, 
asked  him,  "What's  the  news?"  Krumpholz  answered  that  the 
latest  news  was  the  report  just  received  that  the  great  hero 
Napoleon  had  won  another  decisive  victory  over  the  Prussians. 
Greatly  angered,  Beethoven  replied  to  this:  "It's  a  pity  that  I  do 
not  understand  the  art  of  war  as  well  as  I  do  the  art  of  music, 
I  would  conquer  him!" 

A  very  natural  query  arises  here:  how  did  Beethoven  meet  the 
expenses  of  these  costly  journeys.^  In  answer  it  may  be  said  that 
there  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  he  borrowed  and  used  his 
brother  Johann's  scanty  savings. 

A  letter  by  Beethoven,  dated  November  1,  introduces  a  new 
topic.  At  the  time  of  the  Union  of  the  Kingdoms  of  England  and 
Scotland,  1707,  a  "Board  of  Trustees  for  the  Encouragement  of 
Arts  and  Manufactures  in  Scotland"  was  established.  About  1785 
George  Thomson  became  its  Secretary.  He  had  some  knowledge 
of  musical  science,  and  was  an  enthusiastic  lover  of  Scottish  airs 
and  melodies.  His  official  position  brought  him  into  correspon- 
dence with  educated  and  influential  people  in  all  parts  of  the  king- 
dom, and  afforded  him  singular  facilities  for  the  execution  of  an 
early  formed  project — that  of  making  the  most  extensive  collec- 
tion possible  of  the  music  of  Scotland.  Many  compilations, 
various  in  extent  and  merit,  had  been  published,  but  all  of  them, 
as  Thomson  justly  remarks,  "more  or  less  defective  and  ex- 
ceptionable." In  one  of  his  prefaces  he  says: 

To  furnish  a  collection  of  all  the  fine  airs,  both  of  the  plaintive 
and  the  lively  kind,  unmixed  with  trifling  and  inferior  ones — to  obtain 

passage:  "Prince,  what  you  are  you  are  by  accident  and  birth;  what  I  am  I  am  through 
myself.  There  have  been  and  will  still  be  thousands  of  princes;  there  is  only  one 
Beethoven."  Authentic  or  not,  the  e.xpressioQ  might  well  have  come  from  the  lips 
of   Beethoven  in  a   fit   of  anger. 


70  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

the  most  suitable  and  finished  accompaniments,  with  the  addition  of 
characteristic  symphonies  to  introduce  and  conclude  each  air — and  to 
substitute  congenial  and  interesting  songs,  every  way  worthy  of  the  music, 
in  the  room  of  insipid  or  exceptionable  verses,  were  the  great  objects  of 
the  present  publication.  .  .  . 

For  the  composition  of  the  symphonies  and  accompaniments,  he 
entered  into  terms  with  Mr.  Pleyel,  who  fulfilled  part  of  his  engagement 
satisfactorily;  but  having  then  stopped  short,  the  editor  found  it 
necessary  to  turn  his  eyes  elsewhere.  He  was  so  fortunate,  however, 
as  to  engage  Mr.  Kozeluch,  and  afterwards,  Dr.  Haydn,  to  proceed  with 
the  work,  which  they  have  finished  in  such  a  manner  as  to  leave  him 
nothing  to  regret  on  Mr.  Pleyel's  breach  of  engagement,  etc.,  etc. 

Doubtless  Thomson  would  have  applied  sooner  to  Haydn, 
had  he  known  that  the  great  master  would  condescend  to  such 
a  labor.  The  appearance  of  William  Napier's  two  volumes  of 
"Original  Scots  Songs,  in  three  parts,  the  Harmony  by  Haydn,'* 
removed  any  doubt  on  this  point.  For  Napier,  Haydn  simply 
added  a  violin  part  and  a  figured  bass;  for  Thomson,  a  full  piano- 
forte score,  parts  for  violin  and  violoncello,  and  an  instrumental 
introduction  and  coda.  A  very  remarkable  feature  of  the  enter- 
prise was,  that  the  composers  of  the  accompaniments  had  no 
knowledge  of  the  texts,  and  the  WTiters  of  the  poetry  no  knowledge 
of  the  accompaniments.  The  poets,  in  many  cases,  had  a  stanza 
of  the  original  song  as  a  model  for  the  metre  and  rhythm;  in  all 
others,  they  and  the  composers  alike  received  the  bare  melody, 
with  nothing  else  to  guide  them  in  their  work  but  Italian  musical 
terms:  allegro,  moderato,  andante,  etc.,  etc.,  affettuoso,  espres- 
sivo,  scherzando,  and  the  like.  This  is  also  true  of  the  Welsh  and 
Irish  melodies.  Beethoven  began  his  labors  for  Thomson  with 
the  last  named.  In  the  preface  to  the  first  volume,  dated  "Edin- 
burgh, anno  1814,'*  after  describing  his  work  in  collecting  Irish 
airs,  Thomson  says: 

They  were  sent  to  Haydn  to  be  harmonized  along  with  the  Scottish 
and  Welsh  airs;  but  after  that  celebrated  composer  had  finished  the 
greater  part  of  those  two  works,  his  declining  health  only  enabled  him 
to  harmonize  a  few  of  the  Irish  Melodies;  and  upon  his  death,  it  became 
necessary  to  find  another  composer  to  whom  the  task  of  harmonizing 
them  should  be  committed.'  Of  all  composers  that  are  now  living,  it  is 
acknowledged  by  every  intelligent  and  unprejudiced  musician,  that  the 
only  one,  who  occupies  the  same  distinguished  rank  with  the  late  Haydn 
is  Bertiioven.  Possessing  the  most  original  genius  and  inventive  fancy, 
united  to  profound  science,  refined  taste  and  an  enthusiastic  love  of  his 
art — his  comf)ositions,  like  those  of  his  illustrious  predecessor,  will  bear 
endless  repetition  and  afford  ever  new  delight.     To  this  composer,  there- 

'Thomson's  mrmory  was  a  little  at  fault  when  this  preface  was  written;  the  pro- 
posal was  made  to  Heethoven  before  Haydn's  death. 


Beethoven's  Suggested  Arrangements  71 

fore,  the  Editor  eagerly  applied  for  symphonies  and  accompaniments  to 
the  Irish  Melodies;  and  to  his  inexpressible  satisfaction,  Beethoven  under- 
took the  composition.  After  years  of  anxious  suspense  and  teazing 
disappointment,  by  the  miscarriage  of  letters  and  manuscripts,  owing  to 
the  unprecedented  difficulty  of  communication  between  England  and 
Vienna,  the  long  expected  symphonies  and  accompaniments  at  last 
reached  the  Editor,  three  other  copies  having  previously  been  lost  upon 
the  road. 

Near  the  close  of  his  preface,  Thomson  says:  "After  the  volume 
was  printed  and  some  copies  of  it  had  been  circulated,  an  oppor- 
tunity occurred  of  sending  it  to  Beethoven,  who  corrected  the  few 
inaccuracies  that  had  escaped  the  notice  of  the  Editor  and  his 
friends;  and  he  trusts  it  will  be  found  without  a  single  error." 

Following  is  a  translation  of  the  letter  to  Thomson  referred  to: 

Vienna,  November  1,  1806. 
Dear  Sir: 

A  little  excursion  to  Silesia  which  I  have  made  is  the  reason  why  I 
have  postponed  till  now  answering  your  letter  of  July  1.  On  my  return  to 
Vienna  I  hasten  to  communicate  to  you  what  I  have  to  say  and  what 
I  have  decided  as  to  the  proposals  you  were  so  kind  as  to  make  me.  I 
will  speak  with  all  candor  and  exactitude,  which  I  like  in  business  affairs, 
and  which  alone  can  forestall  any  complaint  on  either  side.  Here,  then, 
my  dear  Sir,  are  my  statements : 

1™*'.  I  am  not  indisposed,  on  the  whole,  to  accept  your  proposi- 
tions. 

2^^°.  I  will  take  care  to  make  the  compositions  easy  and  pleasing, 
as  far  as  I  can  and  as  far  as  is  consistent  with  that  elevation  and  origin- 
ality of  style  which,  as  you  yourself  say,  favorably  characterize  my  works 
and  from  wdiich  I  shall  never  derogate. 

3"^'°.  I  cannot  bring  myself  to  write  for  the  flute,  as  this  instrument 
is  too  limited  and  imperfect. 

4*^°.  In  order  to  give  the  compositions  which  you  will  publish 
greater  variety  and  to  leave  myself  a  freer  field  in  them,  though  the  task 
of  making  them  easy  would  always  be  an  embarrassment  to  me,  I  shall 
promise  you  only  three  trios  for  violin,  viola  and  violoncello,  and  three 
quintets  for  two  violins,  two  violas  and  one  violoncello.  Instead  of  the 
remaining  three  trios,  I  will  send  you  three  quartets  and,  finally,  two 
sonatas  for  pianoforte  with  an  accompanying  instrument,  and  a  quintet 
for  two  violins  and  flute.  In  a  word,  I  would  ask  you  with  regard  to  the 
second  series  of  the  compositions  you  ask  for,  to  rely  upon  my  taste  and 
good  faith  and  I  assure  you  that  you  shall  be  entirely  satisfied. 

If  you  cannot  agree  to  any  of  these  changes,  I  shall  not  insist  upon 
them  obstinately. 

5^°.  I  should  be  glad  if  the  second  series  of  compositions  were 
published  six  months  after  the  first. 

VI".  I  desire  a  clearer  explanation  of  the  expression  which  I  find 
in  your  letter  that  no  copy  printed  under  my  name  shall  be  introduced  into 
Great  Britain;  for  if  you  agree  that  these  compositions  are  to  be  published 


72  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

also  in  Germany  and  even  in  France,  I  do  not  understand  how  I  shall  be 
able  to  prevent  copies  from  being  taken  to  your  country. 

rjmo^  Finally  as  to  the  honorarium,  I  shall  expect  j'ou  to  send  me 
100  pounds  sterling,  or  200  Vienna  ducats  in  gold,  and  not  in  Vienna 
bank-notes,  which  under  the  present  circumstances  are  at  too  great  a  dis- 
count; for  if  paid  in  these  notes  the  sum  would  be  as  little  in  proportion 
to  the  works  which  I  should  deliver  to  you  as  to  the  fees  which  I  receive 
for  all  my  other  compositions.  Even  a  fee  of  200  ducats  in  gold  is  by 
no  means  excessive  payment  for  ail  that  is  demanded  to  meet  your  wishes. 

The  best  way  of  making  the  payment  will  be  for  you,  on  the  dates 
\^hen  I  forward  you  the  first  and  second  series  of  compositions,  to  send 
me  each  time  by  post  a  bill  of  exchange  for  100  ducats  in  gold  drawn  upon 
a  house  in  Hamburg;  or  for  you  to  commission  somebody  in  Vienna  to 
hand  me  such  a  bill  of  exchange  each  time,  as  he  receives  from  me  the 
first  and  second  series. 

At  the  same  time  please  let  me  know  the  date  on  which  each  series 
will  be  published  by  you  in  order  that  I  may  engage  the  publishers  who 
issue  these  compositions  in  Germany  and  France,  to  abide  by  the  same. 

I  hope  that  you  will  find  my  explanations  reasonable  and  of  such  a 
sort  that  we  can  reach  some  definite  agreement.  In  this  case  it  will  be 
best  to  draw  up  a  formal  contract  which  please  have  the  kindness  to  pre- 
pare in  duplicate;  and  I  will  return  you  one  copy  signed  by  me. 

I  await  your  answer,  that  I  may  begin  on  the  work;  and  I  remain 
with  distinguished  consideration,  my  dear  Sir, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

Louis  van  Beethoven. 
P.S. 

I  shall  be  glad  to  meet  your  wish  that  I  provide  little  Scottish  songs 
with  harmonized  accompaniments;  and  in  this  matter  I  await  a  more 
definite  proposal;  since  it  is  well  known  to  me  that  Herr  Haydn  was  paid 
one  pound  sterling  for  each  song. 

The  original  of  this  letter — in  possession  of  the  heirs  of  Mr. 
Thomson — is  in  French,  the  signature  only  being  in  Beethoven's 
hand.  Of  its  various  propositions,  that  in  the  postscript  alone 
led  to  any  results. 

And  now  to  the  compositions  of  the  year.  A  song  translated 
by  Breuning  from  a  French  opera,  *'Le  Secret,"  was  probably  the 
first  fruits  of  the  newly  awakened  "desire  and  love  for  work," 
which  proved  so  nobly  productive  during  his  summer  absence 
from  Vienna;  it  is  the  one  published  at  different  times  under  the 
titles  "Em[)findungen  bei  Lydiens  Untreue,"  and  "AIs  die 
Geliebte  sich  trennen  wollte."  A  slight  token  of  gratitude  for  the 
recent  zealous  kindness  of  Breuning  in  the  matter  of  the  opera,  such 
as  this  song,  wouhl  not  long  be  delayed  even  })y  Beethoven.  But, 
whether  or  not  this  was  the  first  composition  after  the  with- 
drawal of  "Fidelio,"  it  is  certain  that,  just  one  week  })efore  the 
date  of  Brcuning's  letter,  Beethoven  had  set  himself  resolutely 
to  work  upon  grander  themes  than  Empfindungen  bei  Lydiens  or 


Compositions  of  1806  73 

any  other  Madchens  Untreue.  These  are  now  to  be  considered. 
He  began  the  quartets,  Op.  59,  on  May  26.  Certain  studies  to 
"Fidelio,"  not  previously  mentioned,  are  contained  in  a  sketch- 
book of  the  Landsberger  Collection  of  Autographs,  the  principal 
contents  of  which  are  sketches  for  the  second,  fourth,  fifth, 
sixth  and  ninth  Symphonies,  and  for  "Fidelio."  This,  at  first  view, 
seems  to  confirm  an  assertion  of  Czerny's — not  accepted  by  Schind- 
ler,  who  in  this  case  is  the  better  authority — namely,  that  the 
Ninth  Symphony,  except  its  choral  Finale,  was  projected  many 
years  before  its  composition;  but  the  book  itself  affords  a  strong 
argument  against  it;  it  being,  as  the  present  writer  is  convinced, 
not  a  manuscript  in  its  original  form,  but  one  made  up  of  parts  of 
several  different  books,  stitched  together  subsequently  for  the 
better  preservation  of  these  various  symphonic  studies.  In  it, 
however,  the  sketches  for  the  Fourth  Symphony  are  in  immediate 
connection  with  those  for  "Fidelio."  The  list,  then,  of  impor- 
tant works  sketched  during  the  progress  of  the  opera,  is  this: 
Triple  Concerto,  Op.  56;  Sonata  in  F  minor.  Op.  57;  Pf.  Concerto 
in  G,  Op.  58:  Rasoumowsky  Quartets,  Op.  59;  Fourth  Symphony, 
B-flat,  Op.  60;  Fifth  Symphony,  C  minor,  Op.  67;  Sixth  Symphony, 
"Pastorale,"  Op.  68.  Omitting  the  first  as  belonging  to  1805, 
and  the  last  two  as  belonging  to  1807-1808,  the  other  four,  we 
conceive,  may  be  dated  1806.  They  afford  a  striking  example  of 
Beethoven's  habit  of  working  on  several  compositions  at  the  same 
time,  and,  moreover,  as  we  believe,  of  his  practice  in  such  cases 
of  giving  the  works  opus  numbers  in  the  order  of  their  completion. 
In  this  order  we  will  take  them  up.  "The  first  work  which  fol- 
lowed the  exertions  caused  by  the  opera,"  writes  Schindler,  "was 
the  Sonata  in  F  minor.  Op.  57.  .  .  .  The  master  composed  it 
straightway  from  beginning  to  end,  during  a  short  period  of  rest 
at  the  house  of  his  friend  Count  Brunswick,  to  whom,  as  is  known, 
the  sonata  is  dedicated." 

Beethoven,  journeying  into  Silesia  after  his  visit  to  Bruns- 
wick, took  the  manuscript  and  had  it  also  with  him  on  his  return 
to  Vienna  per  extra  post  from  Troppau  after  the  explosion  at 
Lichnowsky's.  "During  his  journey,"  wrote  M.  Bigot  half  a 
century  afterwards  on  a  printed  copy  belonging  to  the  pianist 
Mortier  de  Fontaine, 

he  encountered  a  storm  and  pouring  rain  which  penetrated  the  trunk 
into  which  he  had  put  the  Sonata  in  F  minor  which  he  had  just  composed. 
After  reaching  Vienna  he  came  to  see  us  and  laughingly  showed  the 
work,  which  was  still  wet,  to  my  wife,  who  at  once  began  to  look 
carefully  at  it.     Impelled  by  the  striking  beginning  she  sat  down  at  the 


74  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

pianoforte  and  began  playing  it.  Beethoven  had  not  expected  this  and 
was  surprised  to  note  that  Madame  Bigot  did  not  hesitate  at  all  because 
of  the  many  erasures  and  alterations  which  he  had  made.  It  was  the 
original  manuscript  which  he  was  carrying  to  his  publisher  for  printing. 
When  Mme.  Bigot  had  finished  playing  she  begged  him  to  give  it  to  her; 
he  consented,  and  faithfully  brought  it  to  her  after  it  had  been  printed. 

Czerny  says,  very  justly,  of  the  unauthorized  change  after- 
wards made  in  the  title:  "In  a  new  edition  of  the  Sonata  in  F 
minor,  Op.  57,  which  Beethoven  himself  considered  his  greatest, 
the  title  *Appassionata,'  for  which  it  is  too  great,  was  added  to 
it.  This  title  would  be  more  fitly  applied  to  the  E-flat  Sonata, 
Op.  7,  which  he  composed  in  a  very  impassioned  mood." 

The  Pf.  Concerto  in  G,  Op.  58,  is  dated  by  Schindler  1804, 
"according  to  information  given  by  F.  Ries";  the  new  edition  of 
Breitkopf  and  Hartel's  thematic  catalogue  says  (p.  197):  "The 
Concerto  w^as  finished  in  the  year  1805,"  without  mentioning  its 
authority.  If  it  had  nothing  better  than  Ries's  anecdote  to  offer 
in  proof,  the  opinion  may  still  be  entertained  confidently,  that 
this  work  remained  still  unfinished  until  the  approach  of  the 
concert  season,  towards  the  end  of  the  year  1806.  ^ 

The  Quartets,  Op.  59,  certainly  belong  to  this  year.  "Quartetto 
1™°.  .  .  .  Begun  on  May  26,  1806,"  are  Beethoven's  own  words; 
and  the  opus  number,  the  reports  of  their  production  during  the 
next  winter,  and,  especially,  the  date  of  their  publication,  mak- 
ing allowance  for  Rasoumowsky's  right  to  them  for  a  year,  all 
point  to  November  or  December  as  the  latest  possible  date  for 
their  completion.  The  idea  of  employing  popular  airs  as  themes 
was  by  no  means  new  to  Beethoven.  Without  referring  to  the 
example  set  by  Haydn,  Pleyel,  Kozeluch,  it  had  been  proposed  to 
him  by  Thomson;  and  as  to  Russian  melodies,  he  must  have  read 
the  "Allg.  Musik-Zeitung"  very  carelessly  not  to  have  had  his 
curiosity  aroused  ))y  the  articles  on  Russian  music  published  in 
that  journal  in  ISO'S — a  curiosity  which,  in  the  constant  inter- 
course between  Vienna,  Moscow  and  St.  Petersburg,  there  would 
be  no  difficulty  in  gratifying.  Czerny  writes,  however,  "He  had 
pledged  himself  to  weave  a  Russian  melody  into  every  quartet." 
But  Lenz,  himself  a  Russian  and  a  musician,  says:  "The  Russian 
themes  are  confined  to  the  Finale  of  No.  1  and  the  third  move- 
ment of  the  second  Quartet."  This  is  a  case  in  which  Czerny 's 
authority  can  scarcely  be  gainsaid;  otherw'ise,  it  might  be  sup- 
posed that  the  composer  of  his  own  motion  introduced  these  two 

'Rut  on  March  il.  ISOfi,  Hcotlioven  ofTerod  tlic  Concerto  to  Iloffraeister  and 
KUhnel  topethtr  with  "(hristii.s  am  Olberg"  for  (JOO  florins.  The  work,  if  not  com- 
pleted, must  have  been  well  under  way  early  in  the  year. 


The  Rasoumowsky  Quartets  75 

themes  in  compliment  to  Rasoumowsky.  "The  Adagio,  E  major, 
in  the  second  Rasoumowsky  Quartet,  occurred  to  him  when  con- 
templating the  starry  sky  and  thinking  of  the  music  of  the 
spheres,"  writes  Czerny  in  Jahn's  notes. 

Perhaps  no  work  of  Beethoven's  met  a  more  discouraging 
reception  from  musicians,  than  these  now  famous  Quartets.  One 
friendly  contemporary  voice  alone  is  heard — that  of  the  "Allg. 
Mus.  Zeit."  Czerny  told  Jahn,  that  "when  Schuppanzigh  first 
played  the  Rasoumowsky  Quartet  in  F,  they  laughed  and  were 
convinced  that  Beethoven  was  playing  a  joke  and  that  it  was 
not  the  quartet  which  had  been  promised."  And  when  Gyrowetz 
bought  these  Quartets  he  said:  "Pity  to  waste  the  money!" 
The  Allegretto  vivace  of  the  first  of  these  quartets  was  long  a 
rock  of  offence.  "When  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  1812,"  says 
Lenz,  "the  movement  was  to  be  played  for  the  first  time  in  the 
musical  circle  of  Field  jMarshal  Count  SoltikofI  in  Moscow, 
Bernhard  Romberg  trampled  under  foot  as  a  contemptible  mysti- 
fication the  bass  part  which  he  was  to  play.  The  Quartet  was  laid 
aside.  When,  a  few  years  later,  it  was  played  at  the  house  of 
Privy  Councillor  Lwoff,  father  of  the  famous  violinist,  in  St.  Peters- 
burg, the  company  broke  out  in  laughter  when  the  bass  played 
his  solo  on  one  note. — The  Quartet  was  again  laid  aside." 

Thomas  Appleby,  father  of  Samuel  Appleby,  collector  of 
valuable  papers  referring  to  the  violinist  Bridgetower,  was  a 
leader  in  the  musical  world  of  Manchester,  England,  and  a  prin- 
cipal director  of  concerts  there.  When  these  quartets  came  out  in 
London,  Clementi  sent  a  copy  of  them  to  him.  They  were  opened 
and  throwTi  upon  the  pianoforte.  Next  day  Felix  Radicati  and 
his  wife,  Mme.  Bertinotti,  called  and  presented  letters,  they  being 
upon  a  concert  tour.  During  the  conversation  the  Italian  went 
to  the  pianoforte,  took  up  the  quartets  and  seeing  what  they  were, 
exclaimed  (in  substance) :  "Have  you  got  these  here!  Ha!  Beet- 
hoven, as  the  world  says,  and  as  I  believe,  is  music-mad; — for 
these  are  not  music.  He  submitted  them  to  me  in  manuscript 
and,  at  his  request,  I  fingered  them  for  him.  I  said  to  him,  that 
he  surely  did  not  consider  these  works  to  be  music.^ — to  which 
he  replied,  'Oh,  they  are  not  for  you,  but  for  a  later  age! 

Young  Appleby  believed  in  them,  in  spite  of  Radicati,  and 
after  he  had  studied  his  part  thoroughly,  his  father  invited  players 
of  the  other  instruments  to  his  house  and  the  first  in  F  was  tried. 
The  first  movement  was  declared  by  all  except  Appleby  to  be 
"crazy  music."  At  the  end  of  the  violoncello  solo  on  one  note, 
they  all  burst  out  laughing;  the  next  four  bars  all  agreed  were 


76  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

beautiful.  Ludlow,  an  organist,  who  played  the  bass,  found  so 
much  to  admire  and  so  much  to  condemn  in  the  half  of  this 
second  movement,  which  they  succeeded  in  playing,  as  to  call  it 
"patchwork  by  a  madman."  They  gave  up  the  attempt  to  play 
it,  and  not  until  1813,  in  London,  did  the  young  man  succeed  in 
hearing  the  three  Quartets  entire,  and  finding  them,  as  he  had 
believed,  worthy  of  their  author. 

The  Symphony  in  B-flat,  Op.  60,  was  the  great  work  of  this 
summer  season.  Sketches  prove  that  its  successor,  the  fifth  in 
C  minor,  had  been  commenced,  and  was  laid  aside  to  give  place 
to  this.  Nothing  more  is  known  of  the  history  of  its  composition 
except  what  is  imparted  by  the  author's  inscription  on  the  manu- 
script: "Sinfonia  4^  1806.*^    L.  v.  Bthvn." 

In  singular  contrast  to  these  grand  works  and  contemporary 
with  their  completion,  as  if  written  for  amusement  and  recreation 
after  the  fatigue  of  severer  studies,  are  the  thirty-two  Variations 
for  Pianoforte  in  C  minor.  They  belong  to  this  Autumn,  and  are 
among  the  compositions  which  their  author  would  gladly  have 
seen  pass  into  oblivion.  Jahn's  notes  contain  an  anecdote  in 
point.  "Beethoven  once  found  Streicher's  daughter  practising 
these  Variations.  After  he  had  listened  for  a  while  he  asked  her: 
"By  whom  is  that.^"  "By  you."  "Such  nonsense  by  me.^  O 
Beethoven,  what  an  ass  you  were!" 

Although  the  composer  did  hot  succeed  in  bringing  his  new 
Symphony  and  Concerto  to  public  performance  this  year,  an 
opportunity  offered  itself  for  him  to  give  the  general  public  as 
fine  a  taste  of  his  quality  as  composer  for  the  violin,  as  he  had 
just  given  to  the  frequenters  of  Rasoumowsky's  quartet  parties 
in  the  Op.  59,  namely.  Op.  61,  the  work  superscribed  by  its  author: 
Concerto  par  Clemenza  pour  Clement,  primo  Violino  e  Direttore 
al  Theatro  a  Vienne,  dal  L.  v.  Bthvn.,  1806; — or,  as  it  stands  on 
Franz  Clement's  concert  programme  of  December  23  in  the  Theater- 
an-der-Wien:  "2.  A  new  Violin  Concerto  by  Hrn.  Ludwig  van 
Beethoven,  played  by  Hrn.  Clement."  It  was  preceded  by  an 
overture  by  Mehul,  and  followed  by  selections  from  Mozart, 
Cherubini  and  Handel,  closing  with  a  fantasia  by  the  concert- 
giver.  When  Dr.  Bertolini  told  Jahn  that  "Beethoven  as  a  rule 
never  finished  commissioned  works  until  the  last  minute,"  he 
named  this  (Joncerto  as  an  instance  in  point;  and  another  contem- 
porary notes  that  Clement  played  the  solo  a  vista,  without  pre- 
vious rehearsal.     The  list  of  publications  this  year  is  short: 

LI'""  Sonata  pour  le  Pianoforte,  F  major,  advertised  April  9 
in  the  "Wiener  Zeitung"  by  the  Kunst-  und  Industrie-Comptoir. 


The  Year's  Publications  77 

There  is  no  tradition  that  Beethoven  ever  explained  why  he  called 
this  his  fifty -first,  or  the  F  minor  his  fifty-fourth  Sonata.  The  best 
that  Czerny  could  suggest  is  that  "perhaps  he  sketched  that 
number  in  manuscript  and  then  destroyed  them  or  used  them  in 
another  form."  Others  have  made  lists  of  all  the  works  in  sonata- 
form,  including  the  symphonies;  but  none  has  been  so  probably 
right  as  to  produce  conviction. 

Grand  Trio  pour  deux  Hauthois  et  un  Cor  Anglais,  C  major, 
advertised  by  Artaria  and  Co.,  April  12,  without  opus  number. 
At  a  later  date  it  was  called  Op.  87.  The  same  work  for  two 
violins  and  viola,  and  as  a  sonata  for  pianoforte  and  violin,  was 
advertised  at  the  same  time.  "Andante"  (Favori)  in  F  major,  for 
Pianoforte.  This  was  originally  the  second  movement  of  the 
Sonata,  Op.  53 — according  to  the  anecdote  before  given  from 
Ries's  "Notizen." 

"Sinfonia  eroica,"  Op.  55,  dedicated  to  Prince  Lobkowitz, 
advertised  by  the  Kunst-  und  Industrie-Comptoir  on  October  29. 

Besides  these  works,  Johann  Traeg  advertised  on  June  18 
"6  Grands  Trios  pour  le  Pianoforte,  violon  oblige  et  violoncello  ad 
lib.,"  Op.  60,  Nos.  1  and  2.  These  are  arrangements  of  the  Quar- 
tets, Op.  18.  Also  "3  Grands  Trios  pour  le  Pianoforte,  Violon  et 
Violoncello,"  Op.  61,  No.  1;  arrangements  of  the  Trios,  Op.  9.  Be- 
fore February,  1807,  the  other  numbers  of  the  two  works  had  been 
completed  and  had  left  the  press.  The  opus  numbers  were  not 
recognized  by  Beethoven,  for,  as  is  seen  above,  60  and  61  belong 
to  original  works  of  a  very  different  order. 


Chapter  V 


Beethoven's  Friends  and  Patrons  in  the  First  Lustrum  of 
the  Nineteenth  Century — An  Imperial  Pupil,  Archduke 
Rudolph — Count  Rasoumowsky — Countess  Erdody — 
Baroness  Ertmann — Marie  Bigot — Therese  Malfatti — 
Nanette   Streicher — Zizius — ^Anecdotes. 

HE  who  dwells  with  wife  and  children  in  a  fixed  abode,  usually 
finds  himself,  as  age  draws  on,  one  of  a  small  circle  of  old 
friends;  and  hoary  heads,  surrounded  by  their  descendants, 
the  inheritors  of  parental  friendships,  sit  at  the  same  tables  and 
make  merry  where  they  had  gathered  in  the  prime  of  life.  The 
unmarried  man,  who  can  call  no  spot  on  earth's  surface  his  own, 
who  spends  his  life  in  hired  lodgings,  here  to-day  and  there  to- 
morrow, has,  as  a  rule,  few  friendships  of  long  standing.  By 
divergency  in  tastes,  opinions,  habits,  increasing  with  the  years, 
often  by  the  mere  interruption  of  social  intercourse,  or  by  a 
thousand  equally  insignificant  causes,  the  old  ties  are  sundered. 
In  the  memoranda  and  correspondence  of  such  a  man  familiar 
names  disappear,  even  when  not  removed  by  death,  and  strange 
ones  take  their  places.  The  mere  passing  acquaintance  of  one 
period  becomes  the  chosen  friend  of  another;  while  the  former 
friend  sinks  into  the  mere  acquaintance,  or  is  forgotten.  Fre- 
quently no  cause  for  the  change  can  be  assigned.  One  can  only 
say — it  happened  so. 

Thus  it  was  with  Beethoven,  even  to  a  remarkable  degree; 
in  part  because  of  his  increasing  infirmity,  in  part  owing  to 
peculiarities  of  his  character.  It  was  his  misfortune,  also,  that — 
having  no  pecuniary  resource  but  the  exercise  of  his  talents  for 
musical  composition,  and  being  at  the  same  time  too  proud  and  too 
loyal  to  his  ideas  of  art  to  write  for  popular  applause — he  was 
all  his  life  long  thrown  more  or  less  upon  the  generosity  of  patrons. 
But  death,  misfortune  or  other  causes  deprived  him  of  old  patrons, 
as  of  old  friends,  and  compelled  him  to  seek,  or  at  least  accept,  the 
kindness  of  new  ones.     A  part  of  this  chapter  must  be  devoted  to 

[78] 


A  Talented  Archduke  79 

certain  new  names  in  both  categories,  which  become  prominentia 
his  history  in  the  years  immediately  before  us. 

Archduke  Rudolph  Johann  Joseph  Rainer,  youngest  son  of 
Emperor  Leopold  II,  and  half-brother  of  Emperor  Franz,  was 
born  January  8,  1788,  and  therefore  was,  at  the  end  of  1805,  just 
closing  his  seventeenth  year.  Like  his  unfortunate  uncle.  Elector 
Maximilian,  he  was  destined  to  the  church,  and  like  him,  too,  he 
had  much  musical  taste  and  capacity.  His  private  tutors  were 
all  men  of  fine  culture,  and  one  of  them,  Joseph  Edler  von  Baumeis- 
ter,  Doctor  of  I^aws,  remained  in  later  years  in  his  service  and  will 
be  met  with  hereafter.  In  music  he,  with  the  children  of  the  im- 
perial family,  was  instructed  by  the  R.  I.  Court  Composer,  Anton 
Tayber,  and  made  such  good  progress  that,  if  tradition  may  be 
trusted,  he,  while  still  but  a  boy,  played  to  general  satisfaction  in 
the  salons  of  Lobkowitz  and  others.  But  an  archduke  has  not 
much  to  fear  from  hostile  criticism;  a  better  proof  that  he  really 
possessed  musical  talent  and  taste  is  afforded  by  the  fact  that, 
so  soon  as  he  could  emancipate  himself  from  Tayber,  and  have  a 
voice  in  the  selection  of  a  teacher,  he  became  a  pupil  of  Beethoven. 
It  is  largely  possible  that  the  old  relation  of  the  composer  to  Max- 
imilian may  have  had  some  influence  upon  the  determination  of 
his  nephew;  and  it  is  very  probable  that  Rudolph's  decision  was 
based  upon  the  great  reputation  of  Beethoven  and  the  respect  in 
which,  as  he  saw,  the  artist  was  held  by  the  Schwarzenbergs, 
Liechtensteins,  Kinskys,  and  their  compeers.  But  whatever 
weight  be  allowed  to  these  and  like  considerations,  it  must  have 
been  something  more  than  a  capricious  desire  to  call  the  great 
pianist  "master,"  which  made  him  his  pupil,  friend  and  patron 
until  death  parted  them.  One  necessarily  thinks  better  of  his 
musical  talents  for  this,  just  as  Maximilian's  musical  taste  and 
insight  stand  higher  in  our  estimation  because  of  his  early  ap- 
preciation of  Mozart's  genius. 

The  precise  date  of  Beethoven's  engagement  has  eluded  the 
research  of  even  the  accurate  and  indefatigable  Kochel.  There 
is  so  little  doubt,  however,  that  he  was  the  immediate  successor  of 
Tayber,  as  to  render  reasonably  certain  that  it  occurred  at  the  end 
of  the  young  Archduke's  fifteenth  year — that  is,  in  the  winter  of 
1803-4.  It  is  perhaps  worth  remarking,  that  the  "Staats-Sche- 
matismus"  for  1803  first  gives,  in  the  R.  I.  Household,  a  separate 
chamber  to  the  boys,  Rainer  and  Rudolph;  three  years  later 
"Archduke  Rudolph,  coadjutor  of  the  Archbishopric  of  Olmiitz," 
is  given  one  alone;  but  before  1808  he  certainly  was  the  pupil  of 
Beethoven. 


80  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

In  Fraulein   Giannatasio's  notices  from  the  years  1816-18/ 

she  relates: 

At  that  time  Beethoven  gave  lessons  to  Archduke  Rudolph,  a 
brother  of  Emperor  Franz,  I  once  asked  him  if  the  Archduke  played 
well.  "When  he  is  feeling  just  right,"  was  the  answer,  accompanied  by 
a  smile.  He  also  laughingly  referred  to  the  fact  that  he  would  sometimes 
hit  him  on  the  fingers,  and  that  when  the  august  gentleman  once  tried  to 
refer  him  to  his  place,  he  pointed  for  justification  to  a  passage  from  a 
poet,  Goethe,  I  think. 

It  must  have  been  a  mistake  of  the  young  lady's  to  make  Beet- 
hoven speak  here  in  the  present  tense;  for  it  is  incredible  that  he 
should  have  taken  such  a  liberty  in  1816-17,  when  Rudolph  was 
a  man  of  some  thirty  years;  or  indeed  at  any  time  after  the  first 
lessons  in  his  boyhood.  The  anecdote  therefore  in  some  degree 
supports  the  conjecture  above  offered.  So  also  does  Schindler's 
statement — a  point  on  which  he  was  likely  to  be  well  informed  by 
the  master  himself — that  the  pianoforte  part  of  the  Triple  Con- 
certo, Op.  56,  was  written  for  the  Archduke;  for  this  work  was 
sketched,  at  the  latest,  in  the  spring  of  1805,  and  surely  would  not 
have  been  undertaken  until  the  composer  thoroughly  knew  his 
pupil's  powers,  and  that  his  performance  would  do  the  master  no 
discredit.  And  finally,  what  Ries  relates  is  in  the  tone  of  one 
who  had  personal  knowledge  of  the  circumstances  detailed;  and 
thus  determines  the  date  as  not  later  than  1804: 

Etiquette  and  all  that  is  connected  with  it  was  never  known  to 
Beethoven  [?]  nor  was  he  ever  willing  to  learn  it.  For  this  reason 
he  often  caused  great  embarrassment  in  the  household  of  Archduke 
Rudolph  when  he  first  went  to  him.  An  attempt  was  made  by  force  to 
teach  him  to  have  regard  for  certain  things.  But  this  was  intolerable  to 
him;  he  would  promise,  indeed,  to  mend  his  ways  but — that  was  the  end 
of  it.  Finally  one  day  when,  as  he  expressed  it,  he  was  being  tutored  [als 
man  ihn,  wie  er  es  nannte,  hofmeisterte]  he  angrily  forced  his  way  to  the 
Archduke  and  flatly  declared  that  while  he  had  the  greatest  reverence  for 
his  person,  he  could  not  trouble  himself  to  observe  all  the  regulations 
which  were  daily  forced  upon  him.  The  Archduke  laughed  good- 
naturedly  and  commanded  that  Beethoven  be  permitted  to  go  his  own 
gait  undisturbed — it  was  his  nature  and  could  not  be  altered. 

At  all  events  it  may  be  accepted  as  certain  that  Beethoven 
had  now,  1805-6,  formed  those  relations  with  the  Archduke,  which 
were  strengthened  and  more  advantageous  to  him  with  each 
successive  year,  until  death  put  an  end  to  them. 

Two  brothers,  differing  in  age  by  nineteen  years,  owed  their 
rise  from  the  condition  of  singers  at  the  Russian  Court  into  posi- 

'See  the  "Grenzboten,"  April  3.  1857. 


Count  Andreas  Rasoumowsky  81 

tions  of  great  wealth  and  political  importance  to  their  gratification 
of  the  lascivious  lusts  of  two  imperial  princesses,  afterwards 
known  in  history  as  the  Empresses  Elizabeth  Petrowna  and 
Catherine  II.  Thus  the  two  Rasums,  born  in  1709  and  1728, 
of  half-Cossack  parentage,  in  the  obscure  Ukraine  village  of 
Lemeschi,  became  the  Counts  Rasoumowsky,  nobles  of  the  Russian 
Empire.  They  were  men  of  rare  ability,  and,  like  Shakespeare's 
Duncan,  "bore  their  faculties  so  meek,"  that  none  of  the  mon- 
archs  under  whom  they  served,  not  even  those  who  personally 
disliked  either  of  them,  made  him  the  victim  of  imperial  caprice 
or  ill  will.  A  whimsical  proof  of  the  rapidity  with  which  the  new 
name  became  known  throughout  Europe  is  its  introduction  in 
1762  into  a  farce  of  the  English  wit,  Samuel  Foote.^  The 
Empresses  provided  their  paramours  with  wives  from  noble 
families  and  continued  their  kindness  to  the  children  born  of 
these  unions — one  of  whom  came  in  time  to  occupy  a  rather 
prominent  place  among  the  patrons  of  Beethoven. 

Andreas  Kyrillovitch  (born  October  22,  1752),  fourth  son  of 
the  younger  Rasoumowsky,  was  destined  for  the  navy  and  re- 
ceived the  best  education  possible  in  those  days  for  his  profession, 
even  to  serving  in  what  was  then  the  best  of  all  schools,  an  English 
man-of-war.  He  had  been  elevated  to  the  rank  of  captain  when, 
at  the  age  of  25,  he  was  transferred  to  the  diplomatic  service.  He 
was  Ambassador  successively  at  Venice,  Naples,  Copenhagen  and 
Stockholm;  less  famous,  perhaps,  for  his  diplomacy  than  notorious 
for  the  profuseness  of  his  expenditures,  and  for  his  amours  with 
women  of  the  highest  rank,  the  Queen  of  Naples  not  excepted. 

Rasoumowsky  was  personally  widely  known  at  Vienna,  where 
he  had  married  (November  4,  1788)  Elizabeth,  Countess  Thun, 
elder  sister  of  the  Princess  Charles  Lichnowsky,  and  whither  he 
was  transferred  as  Ambassador  early  in  1792,  being  officially 
presented  to  the  Emperor  on  Friday,  May  25,  as  the  "Wiener 
Zeitung"  records.  Near  the  end  of  Czar  Paul's  reign  (in  March, 
1799)  he  was  superseded  by  Count  Kalichev;  but  on  the  accession 
of  Alexander  was  restored,  his  "presentation  audience"  taking 
place  October  14,  1801.  His  dwelling  and  office  had  formerly 
been  in  the  Johannes-Gasse,  but  now  (1805-6)  he  was  in  the 
Wallzeil,  but  on  the  point  of  removing  to  a  new  palace  built  by 
himself.  Schnitzer  says:  "Rasoumowsky  lived  in  Vienna  like  a 
prince,   encouraging  art  and  science,  surrounded  by  a  luxurious 

^Young  Wilding:  "Oh  how  they  [the  women]  melt  at  the  Gothic  names  of  Gen- 
eral Swapinhach,  Count  Rousoumotfsky,  Prince  Montecuculi  and  Marshal  Fustin- 
burgh."  ("The   Liar.") 


82  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

library  and  other  collections  and  admired  and  envied  by  all ;  what 
advantages  accrued  from  all  this  to  Russian  affairs  is  another 
question."  This  palace,  afterwards  nearly  destroyed  by  fire  and 
rebuilt,  is  now,  after  various  vicissitudes,  the  seat  of  the  Imperial 
Geological  Institute,  Landstrasse,  Rasoumowsky-Gasse  No.  3. 

True  to  the  traditions  of  his  family,  the  Count  was  a  musician 
and  one  of  the  best  connoisseurs  and  players  of  Haydn's  quartets, 
in  which  he  was  accustomed  to  play  the  second  violin.  It  is 
affirmed,  evidently  on  good  authority,  that  he  had  studied  these 
works  under  that  master  himself.  It  would  seem  a  matter  of 
course,  that  this  man,  so  nearly  connected,  too,  with  Lichnowsky, 
was  one  of  the  first  to  appreciate  and  encourage  the  genius  of  the 
young  Beethoven  upon  his  removal  from  Rome  to  Vienna.  In 
fact,  this  has  been  affirmed  most  positively  and  discoursed  upon 
at  great  length;  and  yet  the  few  known  data  on  this  point — all 
of  a  negative  character — are  in  conflict  with  that  opinion.  Neither 
Wegeler  nor  Ries  mentions  Rasoumowsky.  Whatever  Seyfried 
and  Schindler  may  conjecture,  all  the  facts  given  by  them  belong 
to  the  period  on  which  we  are  now  entering.  Up  to  Op.  58,  in- 
clusive, not  a  composition  of  Beethoven's  is  dedicated  to  Rasou- 
mowsky. Just  now  (end  of  1805),  the  Count  has  given  the  composer 
an  order  for  quartets  with  Russian  themes,  original  or  imitated; 
but  only  once,  in  all  the  contemporary  printed  or  manuscript 
authorities  yet  discovered,  have  the  two  names  been  brought 
into  connection;  namely,  in  the  subscription  to  the  Trios  in  1795, 
where  we  find  the  Countess  of  Thun,  her  daughters  and  the  Lich- 
nowskys  down  (in  the  aggregate)  for  32  copies,  and  "S.  E.  le 
Comte  Rasoumoffsky,  Embassadeur  de  Russie" — for  one. 

The  Hungarian  Count  Peter  Erdody  married,  June  6,  1796, 
the  Countess  Anna  Marie  Niczky  (born  1779),  then  just  seventeen 
years  of  age.  Reichardt  describes  her,  in  December,  1808,  as  a 
"very  beautiful,  fine  little  woman  who  from  her  first  confinement 
(1799)  was  afflicted  with  an  incurable  disease  which  for  ten  years 
has  kept  her  in  bed  for  all  but  two  to  three  months" — in  which  he 
greatly  exaggerates  the  evil  of  her  condition — "but  nevertheless 
gave  birth  to  three  healthy  and  dear  children  who  cling  to  her  like 
burs;  whose  sole  entertainment  was  found  in  music;  who  plays  even 
Beethoven's  pieces  right  well  and  limi)s  with  still  swollen  feet 
from  one  pianoforte  to  another,  yet  is  so  merry  and  friendly  and 
good — nil  this  often  saddens  me  during  an  otherwise  joyous  meal 
participated  in  by  six  or  eight  good  musical  souls."  There  is 
nothing  to  show  how  or  when  the  very  great  intimacy  between  the 
Countess  and  Beethoven  began;  but  for  many  years  she  is  prom- 


Countess  Erdody  and  Baroness  Ertmann         83 

inent  among  the  most  useful  and  valued  of  his  many  female  friends, 
and  it  is  not  at  all  improbable  that  the  vicinity  of  the  Erdody 
estate  at  Jedlersee  am  Marchfelde  was  one  reason  for  his  frequent 
choice  of  summer  lodgings  in  the  villages  on  the  Danube,  north  of 
the  city.  Their  intercourse  was  at  length  (about  1820)  abruptly 
terminated  by  the  banishment  for  life  of  the  Countess  beyond  the 
limits  of  the  Austrian  Empire — unhappily,  for  reasons  that  can- 
not be  impugned.  It  is  a  sad  and  revolting  story,  over  which  a 
veil  may  be  drawn.  There  is  no  necessity,  arising  from  Beethoven's 
relations  to  her,  to  give  it  now  the  publicity  which  was  then 
so  carefully  and  effectually  avoided.  It  is  even  possible  that 
Beethoven's  heart  was  never  wrung  by  a  knowledge  of  the 
particulars. 

The  Baroness  Dorothea  von  Ertmann,  wife  of  an  Austrian 
officer  who  was  stationed  in  those  years  at  or  near  Vienna,  studied 
Beethoven's  compositions  with  the  composer,  and  became,  as  all 
contemporary  authorities  agree,  if  not  the  greatest  player  of  these 
works  at  least  the  greatest  of  her  sex.  Reichardt,  a  most  com- 
petent judge,  heard  her  repeatedly  in  the  winter  of  1808-09  and 
recorded  a  highly  favorable  impression  of  her. 

Well  might  the  master  call  her  his  "Dorothea-Cacilia!"  In 
that  delightful  letter,  in  which  the  young  Felix  Mendelssohn 
describes  his  visit  at  Milan  (1831)  to  the  Ertmanns,  "the  most 
agreeable,  cultured  people  conceivable,  both  in  love  as  if  they 
were  a  bridal  couple,  and  yet  married  34  years,"  where  he  and  the 
lady  delighted  each  other  by  turns  in  the  performance  of  Beet- 
hoven's compositions  and  "the  old  General,  who  now  appeared  in 
his  stately  gray  commander's  uniform,  wearing  many  orders,  was 
very  happy  and  wept  with  joy";  and  in  the  intervals  he  told  "the 
loveliest  anecdotes  about  Beethoven,  how,  in  the  evening  when 
she  played  for  him,  he  used  the  candle  snuffers  as  a  toothpick,  etc." 
In  this  letter  there  is  one  touching  and  beautiful  reminiscence  of 
the  Baroness.  "She  related,"  says  Mendelssohn,  "that  when  she 
lost  her  last  child,  Beethoven  at  first  did  not  want  to  come  into 
the  house;  at  length  he  invited  her  to  visit  him,  and  when  she 
came  he  sat  himself  down  at  the  pianoforte  and  said  simply:  *We 
will  now  talk  to  each  other  in  tones,'  and  for  over  an  hour  played 
without  stopping,  and  as  she  remarked:  'he  told  me  everything, 
and  at  last  brought  me  comfort.'" 

It  was  noted  in  a  former  chapter,  that  the  leading  female 
pianists  also  of  Vienna  were  divided  into  fro  and  anti  Beet- 
hovenists.  The  former  party  just  at  this  time  gained  a  valuable 
accession  in  a  young  lady  who,  during  her  five  years'  residence 


84  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

there,  became  one  of  the  most  devoted  as  well  as  most  highly  ac- 
complished players  of  Beethoven's  compositions — Marie  Bigot. 
From  1809  to  her  death  in  18^20  she  lived  in  Paris,  where  her 
superiority,  first  as  dilettante,  then  as  professional  player  and 
teacher,  made  her  the  subject  of  one  of  the  most  pleasing  sketches 
in  Fetis's  "Biographic  Universelle  des  Musiciens."  From  this  we 
learn  that  she  was  born  of  a  family  named  Kiene  on  March  3, 
1786,  at  Colmar  in  Alsatia  and  married  M.  Bigot,  who  took  her  to 
Vienna  in  1804.  In  the  Austrian  capital  she  became  acquainted 
with  Haydn,  and  formed  a  friendship  also  with  Beethoven  and 
Salieri.  Such  associations  naturally  fired  her  ardently  musical 
nature,  and  at  20  years  of  age  she  had  already  developed  great 
skill  and  originality.  The  first  time  that  she  played  in  the  pre- 
sence of  Haydn,  the  old  gentleman  was  so  moved  that  he  clasped 
her  in  his  arms  and  cried:  "O,  my  dear  child,  I  did  not  write  this 
music — it  is  you  who  have  composed  it!"  And  upon  the  printed 
sheet  from  which  she  had  played  he  wrote:  "On  February  20, 
1805,  Joseph  Haydn  was  happy."  The  melancholy  genius  of 
Beethoven  found  an  interpreter  in  Madame  Bigot,  whose  en- 
thusiasm and  depth  of  feeling  added  new  beauties  to  those  which 
he  had  conceived.  One  day  she  played  a  sonata  which  he  had 
just  composed,  in  such  a  manner  as  to  draw  from  him  the  re- 
mark: "That  is  not  exactly  the  character  which  I  wanted  to  give 
this  piece;  but  go  right  on.  If  it  is  not  wholly  mine  it  is  something 
better."     (Si  ce  7i'est  pas  tout  a  fait  moi,  c'est  mieux  que  moi.) 

Bigot,  according  to  Reichardt,  was  "an  honest,  cultivated 
Berliner,  liibrarian  of  Count  Rasoumowsky."  As  this  was  pre- 
cisely in  those  years  when  Beethoven  w^as  most  patronized  by  that 
nobleman,  the  composer  and  the  lady  were  thus  brought  often 
together  and  very  warm,  friendly  relations  resulted.  Jahn  pos- 
sessed for  many  years  the  copy  of  a  very  characteristic  letter  of 
Beethoven  to  the  Bigots,  which  leads  one  to  suspect  that  his 
attentions  to  the  young  wife  had  at  one  time  the  appearance  of 
being  a  little  too  pointed.  The  letter  is  undated;  but  as  the  pre- 
cise date  happens  to  be  of  no  importance,  and  was  of  course  before 
1809,  it  may  be  inserted  here  in  order  to  explode  at  the  outset  the 
nonsense  which  has  l)een  published  concerning  a  fancied  inordinate 
passion  of  the  master  for  the  young  lady.  Perhaps  for  this  very 
reason  Jahn  finally  sent  it  to  the  "Grenzboten"  (II,  1867): 

Dear  Marie,  dear  Bigot! 

It  is  only  with  the  deepest  regret  that  I  am  compelled  to  recognize 
that  the  j)urest  and  most  harmless  feelings  can  often  he  misunderstood — 
as  affectionately  as  you  have  met  me  I  have  never  thought  of  interpret- 


Beethoven  and  Madame  Bigot  85 

ing  it  otherwise  than  that  you  were  giving  me  your  friendship.  You 
must  deem  me  very  vain  and  contemptible  if  you  assume  that  the  ad- 
vances of  such  excellent  persons  as  yourselves  could  make  me  believe 
that  I  had  at  once  won  your  love — moreover,  it  is  one  of  my  first  prin- 
ciples never  to  stand  in  other  than  friendly  relations  with  the  wife  of 
another  man,  I  do  not  wish  by  such  relations  to  fill  my  soul  with  dis- 
trust against  her  who  may  some  day  share  my  fate  with  me — and  thus 
ruin  for  myself  the  loveliest  and  purest  life.  It  is  possible  that  I  have 
jested  with  Bigot  a  few  times  in  a  way  that  was  not  too  refined,  I  told 
you  myself  that  I  am  occasionally  ill  behaved.  I  am  natural  in  my  in- 
tercourse with  all  my  friends  and  hate  all  restraint.  I  count  Bigot 
amongst  them,  if  something  that  I  do  displeases  him,  friendship  demands 
that  he  tell  me  so — and  I  will  certainly  have  a  care  never  to  offend  again — 
but  how  can  good  Marie  put  so  bad  a  construction  on  my  actions.  .  .  . 

With  regard  to  my  invitation  to  go  driving  with  you  and  Caroline 
it  was  but  natural  that  I  should  believe,  Bigot  having  opposed  your 
going  with  me  alone,  that  both  of  you  deemed  it  unbecoming  or  ob- 
jectionable— and  when  I  wrote  I  had  no  other  purpose  than  to  make  you 
understand  that  I  saw  no  harm  in  it,  and  when  I  declared  that  it  was  a 
matter  of  great  importance  to  me  that  you  should  not  refuse  it  was  only 
to  persuade  you  to  enjoy  the  gloriously  beautiful  day,  I  had  your  and 
Caroline's  pleasure  in  mind  more  than  my  own  and  I  thought  to  compel 
you  to  accede  to  my  wishes  when  I  said  that  mistrust  on  your  part  or  a 
refusal  would  really  offend  me — you  ought  really  to  ponder  how  you  will 
make  amends  for  having  spoilt  for  me  a  day  that  was  so  bright  because  of 
my  cheerful  mood  and  the  cheerful  weather — if  I  said  that  you  misunder- 
stood me,  your  present  judgment  of  me  shows  that  I  may  have  been 
right,  not  to  think  about  that  which  you  thought  about  in  connection 
with  the  matter — when  I  said  that  something  evil  might  come  of  it  if  I 
came  to  you,  that  was  more  than  anything  else  a  joke  which  had  only 
the  one  purpose  of  showing  how  everything  about  you  attracts  me,  that 
I  have  no  greater  wish  than  always  to  live  with  you,  is  also  the  truth — 
even  in  case  there  was  a  hidden  meaning  in  it  even  the  most  sacred 
friendship  can  yet  have  secrets,  but  to  misinterpret  the  secret  of  a  friend 
— because  one  cannot  at  once  guess  it,  that  you  ought  not  to  do — dear 
Bigot,  dear  Marie,  never,  never  will  you  find  me  ignoble,  from  child- 
hood I  learned  to  love  virtue — and  all  that  is  beautifid  and  good — you 
have  hurt  me  to  the  heart.  It  shall  only  serve  to  make  our  friendship 
the  firmer.  I  am  really  not  at  all  well  to-day  and  I  shall  scarcely  be  able 
to  see  you,  yesterday  after  the  quartets  my  feelings  and  imagination 
continually  called  up  before  me  the  fact  that  I  had  made  you  suffer,  I 
went  to  the  Ridotto  (ball)  last  night  to  seek  distraction,  but  in  vain, 
everywhere  I  was  haunted  by  the  vision  of  all  of  you,  ceaselessly  it  said 
to  me  they  are  so  good  and  probably  are  suffering  because  of  you.  De- 
jected in  spirits  I  hurried  away.  ^     Write  me  a  few  lines. 

Your  true 

Friend  Beethoven 

embraces  you  all. 

^In  June,  1906,  Dr.  Kalischer  published  two  short  notes  written  by  Beethoven 
to  Bigot.  They  are  without  date.  The  first  explains  Beethoven's  departure  from 
Bigot's  house  on  the  occasion  of  a  visit  as  due  to  a  sudden  attack  of  fever;  the  second. 


86  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

Gleichenstein  introduced  Beethoven  to  a  family  named 
Malfatti.  The  culture,  refinement,  musical  taste  and  high 
character  of  the  parents,  and  the  uncommon  grace  and  beauty  of 
their  two  charming  children,  young  girls  now  of  twelve  to  four- 
teen years,  rendered  the  house  very  attractive  to  the  composer. 
There  was  less  than  a  year's  difference  in  the  ages  of  the  children; 
Therese  was  born  January  1st  and  Anna  December  7th  of  the 
same  year;  whether  1792  or  1793,  our  friendly  authority  was  not 
certain.  Anna  became,  in  due  time  (1811),  the  wife  of  Gleichen- 
stein; and  Therese  was  at  one  time  the  object  of  one  of  Beethoven's 
short-lived,  unrequited  passions.  Her  niece  writes:  "That 
Beethoven  loved  my  aunt,  and  wished  to  marry  her,  and  also  that 
her  parents  would  never  have  given  their  consent,  is  true."^  There 
is  nothing  to  determine  conclusively  when  the  master's  fondness 
assumed  this  in  tenser  form;  but  there  are  good  reasons  (which 
may  perhaps  appear  hereafter)  for  believing,  that  it  was  at  least 
five  years  later  than  our  present  date.  His  attentions  to  the 
young  lady,  at  all  events,  attracted  no  notice  outside  the  family 
circle,  nor  did  her  rejection  of  them  prevent  the  continuance  of 
warm,  friendly  relations  between  the  parties,  up  to  and  after  her 
marriage  in  1817.     Dr.  Sonnleithner  establishes  both  these  facts: 

Frau  Therese  Baroness  von  Drosdick,  nee  Malfatti  (died  in  Vienna, 
60  years  old,  on  April  27,  1851),  was  the  wife  of  Court  Councillor  Wilhelm 
Baron  von  Drosdick.  She  was  a  beautiful,  lively  and  intellectual  woman, 
a  very  good  pianoforte  player  and,  besides,  the  cousin  of  the  famous 
physician  and  friend  of  Beethoven's,  Dr.  von  Malfatti.  Herein  lies  the 
explanation  of  an  unusually  kind  relationship  with  Beethoven  which 
resulted  in  a  less  severe  regard  for  conventional  forms.  Nothing  is  known 
of  a  particular  intimacy  between  her  and  Beethoven.  A  relative  of  the 
Baroness,  who  knew  her  intimately,  knows  also  that  she  and  Beethoven 
formed  a  lasting  friendship,  but  as  to  any  warmer  feeling  on  either  side 
he  knew  nothing,  nor  anything  to  the  contrary;  but  he  says:  "When 
conversation  turned  on  Beethoven,  she  spoke  of  him  reverentially,  but 
with  a  certain  reserve." 

Through  these  Malfattis,  Beethoven  became  also  known 
personally  to  the  physician  of  the  same  name  and  "they  were  great 

accompanying  some  music,  reads  as  follows:  "I  intended  to  visit  you  last  night,  but 
recalled  in  time  that  you  are  not  at  home  on  Saturdays — and  I  discover  that  I  must 
viitii  you  very  often  or  not  at  all — I  do  not  yet  know  which  shall  be  my  choice,  but  I 
almost  believe  the  latter — because  by  so  doing  I  shall  evade  all  compulsion  of  having 
to   come  to  you." 

'Here  Dr.  Riemann  has  introduced  into  the  text:  "The  serious  interest  which 
Beethoven  felt  for  Therese  could  be  questioned  or  ignored  by  the  biographers  so  long 
as  certain  letters  of  (Jleichenstein  were  accepted  as  belonging  to  the  year  1807,  which 
we  must  certainly  now  assign  to  the  spring  of  1810,  a  time  when  Therese  had  passed 
her  18th  year  and  may  have  been  20  since  (if  the  record  of  her  age  at  her  death  is  cor- 
rect) she  may  have  been  born  in  1791,  so  that,  in  view  moreover  of  the  Italian  origin 
of  her  family,  it  was  scarcely  apposite  to  speak  of  her  as  'half  a  child'  in  1810." 


Malfatti,  Bertolini  and  Mme.  Streicher  87 

friends  for  a  long  time.  Towards  each  other  they  were  like  two 
hard  millstones,  and  they  separated.  Malfatti  used  to  say  of 
Beethoven :  *He  is  a  disorderly  (konfuser)  fellow — but  all  the  same 
he  may  be  the  greatest  genius.'  "  The  assistant  of  Malfatti,  Dr. 
Bertolini,  was  long  the  confidential  physician  of  Beethoven;  and 
through  him  he  became  personally  known  to  the  present  head  of 
the  great  firm  of  "Miller  &  Co.,"  wholesale  merchants  in  Vienna, 
who  for  many  years  was  fond  of  describing  his  interviews,  in  youth, 
with  the  "great  Beethoven."  Though  nothing  specially  worthy 
of  record  took  place,  Mr.  Miller's  recollections  are  interesting  as 
additional  testimony  to  the  activity  of  the  master's  mind  and  his 
enjoyment  of  jocose,  witty  and  improving  conversation.  Through 
a  caprice  of  Beethoven,  his  cordial  relations  to  Dr.  Bertolini 
came  to  an  abrupt  end  about  1815;  but  the  doctor,  though  pained 
and  mortified,  retained  his  respect  and  veneration  for  his  former 
friend  to  the  last.  In  1831,  he  gave  a  singular  proof  of  his  delicate 
regard  for  Beethoven's  reputation;  supposing  himself  to  be  at  the 
point  of  death  from  cholera,  and  being  too  feeble  to  examine  his 
large  collection  of  the  composer's  letters  and  notes  to  him,  he 
ordered  them  all  to  be  burned,  because  a  few  were  not  of  a  nature 
to  be  risked  in  careless  hands. 

The  reader  will  not  have  forgotten  Marie  Anna  Stein  of 
Augsburg — pianoforte-maker  Stein's  "Madl,"  as  Mozart  called  her. 
After  the  death  of  her  father  (February  29,  1792),  she,  being  then 
just  23  years  of  age,  assisted  by  her  brother,  Matthaus  Andreas,  a 
youth  of  sixteen  years,  took  charge  of  and  continued  his  business. 
The  great  reputation  of  the  Stein  instruments  led  to  the  removal 
of  the  Steins  to  Vienna.  An  imperial  patent,  issued  January  17, 
1794,  empowered  Nanette  and  Andreas  Stein  to  establish  their 
business  "in  the  Landstrasse  301,  zur  Rothen  Rose,"  and  in 
the  following  July  they  arrived,  accompanied  by  Johann  Andreas 
Streicher,  an  "admirable  pianist  and  teacher"  of  Munich,  to  whom 
Nanette  was  engaged.  The  business  flourished  nobly  under  the 
firm-name  "Geschwister  Stein"  until  1802,  "when  they  separated 
and  each  carried  on  an  independent  business."  It  is  known  that 
Beethoven,  immediately  upon  the  arrival  of  the  Steins,  renewed 
his  intercourse  with  them,  of  which,  however,  there  is  but  a  single 
record  worth  quoting,  until  a  period  several  years  later  than 
that  before  us.     Reichardt  writes  in  his  letter  of  February  7,  1809: 

Streicher  has  abandoned  the  soft,  yielding,  repercussive  tone  of  the 
other  Vienna  instruments,  and  at  Beethoven's  wish  and  advice  given  his 
instruments  greater  resonance  and  elasticity,  so  that  the  virtuoso  who 
plays  with  strength  and  significance  may  have  the  instrument  in  better 


88  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

command  for  sustained  and  expressive  tones.  He  has  thereby  given  his 
instruments  a  larger  and  more  varied  character,  so  that  they  must  give 
greater  satisfaction  than  the  others  to  all  virtuosi  who  seek  something 
more  than  mere  easy  brilliancy  in  their  style  of  playing. 

This  shows  us  Beethoven  in  a  new  character — that  of  an 
improver  of  the  pianoforte.  The  "young  Stein"  mentioned  by 
Ries,  was  Nanette's  brother  Carl  Friedrich,  who  followed  his 
sister  to  Vienna  in  1804. 

One  of  Beethoven's  characteristic  notes  to  Zmeskall,  not 
dated,  but  belonging  in  these  years,  adds  another  name  to  the  long 
list  which  proves  that,  however  unpopular  the  composer  may 
have  been  with  his  brother  musicians,  he  possessed  qualities  and 
tastes  that  endeared  him  to  the  best  class  of  rising  young  men  in 
the  learned  professions: 

The  Jahn  brothers  are  as  little  attractive  to  me  as  to  you.  But 
they  have  so  pestered  me,  and  finally  referred  me  to  you  as  one  of  their 
visitors,  that  at  the  last  I  consented.  Come  then  in  God's  name,  it  may 
be  I  will  call  for  you  at  Zizius's,  if  not,  come  there  direct,  so  that  I  may 
not  be  left  there  without  the  company  of  human  beings.  We  will  let 
our  commissions  wait  until  you  are  better  able  to  look  after  them.  If 
you  cannot,  come  to  the  Swan  to-day  where  I  shall  surely  go. 

Dr.  Johann  Zizius,  of  Bohemia  (born  January  7,  ITT'S),  appears 
at  the  early  age  of  28,  in  the  Staats-Schematismus  for  1800,  as 
professor  of  political  science  to  the  R.  I.  Staff  of  Guards;  three 
years  later  he  has  the  same  professorship  in  the  Theresianum, 
which  he  retained  to  his  death  in  1824,  filling  also  in  his  later  years 
the  chair  of  constitutional  law  in  the  University.  Dr.  Sonn- 
leithner  made  his  acquaintance  about  1820.  In  his  very  valuable 
and  interesting  "Musikalische  Skizzen  aus  AIt-^Yien"  ("Recen- 
sion en,"  1863),  he  describes  Zizius  in  a  way  which  shows  him 
to  have  been  a  man  after  Beethoven's  own  heart  until  his  in- 
creasing infirmity  excluded  him  in  great  measure  from  mixed 
society. 

The  attraction  of  Beethoven's  personal  character  for  young 
persons  of  more  than  ordinary  genius  and  culture  has  been  already 
noted.  Another  illustration  of  this  was  Julius  Franz  Borgias 
Schneller,  born  (1777)  at  Strasburg,  educated  at  Freiberg  in  the 
Breisgau,  and  just  now  (1805)  professor  of  history  in  the  Lyceum 
at  Linz  on  the  Danube.  Driven  into  exile  because  of  his  active 
resistance  to  the  French,  he  had  made  his  way  to  Vienna,  where 
his  fine  qualities  of  head  and  heart  made  him  a  welcome  guest  in- 
literary  circles  and  gained  him  the  affection  of  the  young  writers 
of   the  capital.     In   1803,   he  received  his  appointment  at  Linz, 


Beethoven  and  his  Predecessors  89 

whence,  three  years  later,  he  was  advanced  to  the  same  position 
in  the  new  university  at  Gratz.  Perhaps  the  most  beloved  of  his 
friends  was  Gleichenstein. 

We  pass  to  the  notices  of  Ries,  Czerny  and  others,  which 
record  divers  characteristic  anecdotes  and  personal  traits  of  the 
master,  not  susceptible  of  exact  chronological  arrangement  but 
which  belong  to  this  period.  "Of  all  composers,"  says  Ries 
("Notizen,"  p.  84),  "Beethoven  valued  most  highly  Mozart  and 
Handel,  then  S.  Bach.  Whenever  I  found  him  with  music  in  his 
hand  or  lying  on  his  desk  it  was  surely  compositions  of  these 
heroes.  Haydn  seldom  escaped  without  a  few  sly  thrusts." 
Compare  this  with  what  Jahn  heard  from  Czerny:  "Once  Beet- 
hoven saw  at  my  house  the  scores  of  six  quartets  by  Mozart.  He 
opened  the  fifth,  in  A,  and  said :  'That's  a  work !  that's  where  Mozart 
said  to  the  world :  Behold  what  I  might  have  done  for  you  if  the 
time  were  here!'"  And,  touching  Handel:  "Graun's  *Tod  Jesu' 
was  unknown  to  Beethoven.  My  father  brought  the  score  to 
him,  which  he  played  through  a  vista  in  a  masterly  manner.  When 
he  came  to  a  place  where  Graun  had  written  a  twofold  ending  to  be 
left  to  the  choice  of  the  performer,  he  said:  *The  man  must  have 
had  the  gripes  not  to  be  able  to  say  which  ending  is  the  better!' 
At  the  end  he  said  that  the  fugues  were  passable,  the  rest  ordinary. 
Then  he  picked  up  Handel's  *Messiah'  with  the  words:  'Here 
is  a  different  fellow!'  and  played  the  most  interesting  numbers 
and  called  our  attention  to  several  resemblances  to  Haydn's 
'Creation,'  etc."  "Once,"  says  Ries  (p.  100),  "when  after  a  lesson 
we  were  talking  about  fugue  themes,  I  sitting  at  the  pianoforte  and 
he  beside  me,  I  played  the  first  fugue  theme  from  Graun's  'Tod 
Jesu';  he  began  to  play  it  after  me  with  his  left  hand,  then  brought 
in  the  right  and  developed  it  for  perhaps  half  an  hour.  I  am  still 
unable  to  understand  how  he  could  have  endured  the  uncom- 
fortable position  so  long.  His  enthusiasm  made  him  insensible 
to  external  impressions."  In  another  place  (p.  87)  he  relates: 
"During  a  walk  I  mentioned  to  Beethoven  two  pure  fifth  pro- 
gressions which  sound  striking  and  beautiful  in  his  C  minor 
Quartet  (Op.  18).  He  did  not  know  them  and  denied  that  they 
were  fifths.  It  being  his  habit  always  to  carry  ruled  paper  with 
him,  I  asked  him  for  a  sheet  and  wrote  down  the  passage  in  all 
four  voices;  seeing  that  I  was  right  he  said:  'Well,  and  who  has 
forbidden  them?'  Not  knowing  how  to  take  the  question,  I 
had  him  repeat  it  several  times  until  I  finally  answered  in 
amazement:  'But  they  are  first  principles!'  The  question  was 
repeated   again,   whereupon   I   answered:   'Marpurg,    Kirnberger, 


90  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

Fux,  etc.,  etc.,  all  theoreticians!' — 'And  I  allow  them  thus!^  was 
his  answer."  ^ 

We  quote  again  from  Ries  (p.  106): 

I  recall  only  two  instances  in  which  Beethoven  told  me  to  add  a  few 
notes  to  his  composition:  once  in  the  theme  of  the  rondo  of  the  'Sonate 
Pathetique'  (Op.  13),  and  again  in  the  theme  of  the  rondo  of  his  first 
Concerto  in  C  major,  where  he  gave  me  some  passages  in  double  notes 
to  make  it  more  brilliant.  He  played  this  last  rondo,  in  fact,  with  an 
expression  peculiar  to  himself.  In  general  he  played  his  own  composi- 
tions very  freakishly,  holding  firmly  to  the  measure,  however,  as  a  rule 
and  occasionally,  but  not  often,  hurrying  the  tempo.  At  times  he  would 
hold  the  tempo  back  in  his  crescendo  with  ritardando,  which  made  a 
very  beautiful  and  highly  striking  effect.  In  playing  he  would  give 
a  passage  now  in  the  right  hand,  now  in  the  left,  a  lovely  and  abso- 
lutely inimitable  expression;  but  he  very  seldom  added  notes  or  orna- 
ments ....  (p.  100).  He  played  his  own  compositions  very  unwillingly. 
Once  he  was  making  serious  preparations  for  a  long  trip  which  we  were 
to  make  together,  on  which  I  was  to  arrange  the  concerts  and  play  his 
concertos  as  well  as  other  compositions.  He  was  to  conduct  and  im- 
provise. 

And  now  something  more  on  the  subject  of  Beethoven's  im- 
provisations. Says  Ries:  "This  last  was  certainly  the  most  extra- 
ordinary (performance)  any  one  was  ever  privileged  to  listen  to, 
especially  when  he  was  in  good  humor  or  excited.  Not  a  single 
artist  of  all  that  I  have  heard  ever  reached  the  plane  in  this  re- 
spect which  Beethoven  occupied.  The  wealth  of  ideas  which 
crowded  in  upon  him,  the  moods  to  which  he  surrendered  himself, 
the  variety  of  treatment,  the  difficulties  which  offered  themselves 
or  were  introduced  by  him,  were  inexhaustible."     And   Czerny: 

Beethoven's  improvisation  (with  which  he  created  the  greatest 
sensation  in  the  first  years  of  his  sojourn  in  Vienna  and  even  caused 
Mozart  to  wonder)  was  of  the  most  varied  kind,  whether  he  was  treating 
themes  chosen  by  himself  or  set  for  him  by  others. 

1.  In  the  first-movement  form  or  the  final  rondo  of  a  sonata,  when 
he  regularly  closed  the  first  section  and  introduced  a  second  melody  in 
a  related  key,  etc.,  but  in  the  second  section  gave  himself  freely  to  all 
manner  of  treatment  of  the  motivi.  In  Allegros  the  work  was  enlivened 
by  bravura  passages  which  were  mostly  more  difficult  than  those  to  be 
found  in  his  compositions, 

2.  In  the  free-variation  form,  about  Hke  his  Choral  Fantasia,  Op. 
80,  or  the  choral  finale  of  his  Ninth  Symphony,  l)oth  of  which  give  a  faith- 
ful illustration  of  his  improvisations  in  this  form. 

^Quid  licet  Jori  non  licet  tori;  the  maxim  otipht  to  be  repeated  every  time  this 
familiar  story  i.s  told.  Moreover,  those  who  repeat  Beethoven's  remark  oftenest 
always  omit  a  very  significant  word  in  it:  "Und  so  erlaube  ich  sie!"  i.e.,  "When  used 
in  the  manner  illustrated  in  the  meaimre  in  question,  I  allow  them."  Beethoven 
gave  no  general  license. 


Beethoven's  Improvisations  91 

3.  In  the  mixed  genre,  where,  in  the  potpourri  style,  one  thought 
follows  upon  another,  as  in  his  solo  Fantasia,  Op.  77.  Often  a  few  tones 
would  suffice  to  enable  him  to  improvise  an  entire  piece  (as,  for  instance, 
the  Finale  of  the  third  Sonata,  D  major,  of  Op.  10). 

Nobody  equalled  him  in  the  rapidity  of  his  scales,  double  trills, 
skips,  etc. — not  even  Hummel.  His  bearing  while  playing  was  master- 
fully quiet,  noble  and  beautiful,  without  the  slightest  grimace  (only 
bent  forward  low,  as  his  deafness  grew  upon  him) ;  his  fingers  were  very 
powerful,  not  long,  and  broadened  at  the  tips  by  much  playing,  for  he 
told  me  very  often  indeed  that  he  generally  had  to  practise  until  after 
midnight  in  his  youth. 

In  teaching  he  laid  great  stress  on  a  correct  position  of  the  fingers 
(after  the  school  of  Emanuel  Bach,  which  he  used  in  teaching  me);  he 
could  scarcely  span  a  tenth.  He  made  frequent  use  of  the  pedals,  much 
more  frequent  than  is  indicated  in  his  works.  His  playing  of  the  scores 
of  Handel  and  Gluck  and  the  fugues  of  Seb.  Bach  was  unique,  in  that  in 
the  former  he  introduced  a  full-voicedness  and  a  spirit  which  gave  these 
works  a  new  shape. 

He  was  also  the  greatest  a  vista  player  of  his  time  (even  in  score- 
reading)  ;  he  scanned  every  new  and  unfamiliar  composition  like  a  divin- 
ation and  his  judgment  was  always  correct,  but,  especially  in  his  younger 
years,  very  keen,  biting,  unsparing.  Much  that  the  world  admired  then 
and  still  admires  he  saw  in  an  entirely  different  light  from  the  lofty 
point  of  view  of  his  genius. 

Extraordinary  as  his  playing  was  when  he  improvised,  it  was  fre- 
quently less  successful  when  he  played  his  printed  compositions,  for, 
as  he  never  had  patience  or  time  to  practise,  the  result  would  generally 
depend  on  accident  or  his  mood;  and  as  his  playing,  like  his  compositions, 
was  far  ahead  of  his  time,  the  pianofortes  of  the  period  (until  1810),  still 
extremely  weak  and  imperfect,  could  not  endure  his  gigantic  style  of 
performance.  Hence  it  was  that  Hummel's  purling,  brilliant  style,  well 
calculated  to  suit  the  manner  of  the  time,  was  much  more  comprehen- 
sible and  pleasing  to  the  public.  But  Beethoven's  performance  of  slow 
and  sustained  passages  produced  an  almost  magical  effect  upon  every 
listener  and,  so  far  as  I  know,  was  never  surpassed. 

Pass  we  to  certain  minor  characteristic  traits  which  Ries  has 
recorded  of  his  master: 

Beethoven  recalled  his  youth,  and  his  Bonn  friends,  with  great  pleas- 
ure, although  his  memory  told  of  hard  times,  on  the  whole.  Of  his  mother, 
in  particular,  he  spoke  with  love  and  feeling,  calling  her  often  an  honest, 
good-hearted  woman.  He  spoke  but  little  and  unwillingly  of  his  father, 
who  was  most  to  blame  for  the  family  misery,  but  a  single  hard  word 
against  him  uttered  by  another  would  anger  him.  On  the  whole  he  was 
a  thoroughly  good  and  kind  man,  on  whom  his  moods  and  impetuousness 
played  shabby  tricks.  He  would  have  forgiven  anybody,  no  matter 
how  grievously  he  had  injured  him  or  whatever  wrong  he  had  done  him, 
if  he  had  found  him  in  an  unfortunate  position.     ("Notizen,"  p.  122.) 

Beethoven  was  often  extremely  violent.  One  day  we  were  eating 
our  noonday  meal  at  the  Swan  inn;  the  waiter  brought  him  the  wrong 
dish.     Scarcely  had  Beethoven  spoken  a  few  words  about  the  matter. 


92  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

which  the  waiter  answered  in  a  manner  not  altogether  modest,  when 
Beethoven  seized  the  dish  (it  was  a  mess  of  lungs  with  plenty  of  gravy) 
and  threw  it  at  the  waiter's  head.  The  poor  fellow  had  an  armful  of 
other  dishes  (an  adeptness  which  Viennese  waiters  possess  in  a  high 
degree)  and  could  not  help  himself;  the  gravy  ran  down  his  face.  He 
and  Beethoven  screamed  and  vituperated  while  all  the  other  guests 
roared  with  laughter.  Finally,  Beethoven  himself  was  overcome  with 
the  comicalness  of  the  situation,  as  the  waiter  who  wanted  to  scold  could 
not,  because  he  was  kept  busy  licking  from  his  chops  the  gravy  that  ran 
down  his  face,  making  the  most  ridiculous  grimaces  the  while.  It  was 
a  picture  worthy  of  Hogarth.     ("Notizen,"  p.  121.) 

Beethoven  knew  scarcely  anything  about  money,  because  of  which 
he  had  frequent  quarrels;  since  he  was  always  mistrustful,  and  frequently 
thought  himself  cheated  when  it  was  not  the  case.  Easily  excited,  he 
called  people  cheats,  for  which  in  the  case  of  waiters  he  had  to  make  good 
with  tips.  At  length  his  peculiarities  and  absentmindedness  became 
known  in  the  inns  which  he  frequented  most  often  and  he  was  permitted 
to  go  his  way,  even  when  he  went  without  paying  his  bill.  ''"Notizen," 
p.  122.) 

Beethoven  had  taken  lessons  on  the  violin  even  after  he  reached 
Vienna  from  Krumpholz  and  frequently  when  I  was  there  we  played  his 
Sonatas  for  Pianoforte  and  Violin  together.  But  it  was  really  a  horrible 
music;  for  in  his  enthusiastic  zeal  he  never  heard  when  he  began  a  passage 
with  bad  fingering. 

In  his  behavior  Beethoven  was  awkward  and  helpless;  his  uncouth 
movements  were  often  destitute  of  all  grace.  He  seldom  took  anything 
into  his  hands  without  dropping  and  breaking  it.  Thus  he  frequently 
knocked  his  ink-well  into  the  pianoforte  which  stood  near  by  the  side  of 
his  writing-table.  No  piece  of  furniture  was  safe  from  him,  least  of  all 
a  costly  piece.  Everything  was  overturned,  soiled  and  destroyed.  It 
is  hard  to  comprehend  how  he  accomplished  so  much  as  to  be  able  to  shave 
himself,  even  leaving  out  of  consideration  the  number  of  cuts  on  his 
cheeks.     He  could  never  learn  to  dance  in  time.     ("Notizen,"  p.   119.) 

Beethoven  attached  no  value  to  his  manuscripts;  after  they  were 
printed  they  lay  for  the  greater  part  in  an  anteroom  or  on  the  floor 
among  other  pieces  of  music.  I  often  put  his  music  to  rights;  but  when- 
ever he  hunted  something,  everything  was  thrown  into  confusion  again. 
I  might  at  that  time  have  carried  away  the  original  manuscripts  of  all 
his  printed  pieces;  and  if  I  had  asked  him  for  them  he  would  unquestion- 
ably have  given  them  to  me  without  a  thought.     ("Notizen,"  p.  113.) 

Beethoven  felt  the  loss  of  Ries  very  sensibly;  hut  it  was  in  part 
supplied  by  young  llockel,  to  whom  he  took  a  great  liking.  In- 
viting him  to  call,  he  told  him  he  would  give  special  orders  to  his 
servant  to  admit  him  at  all  times,  even  in  the  morning  when  liusy. 
It  was  agreed  that,  when  Rockel  was  admitted,  if  he  found  Beet- 
hoven very  nmch  occupied  he  should  pass  through  the  room  into 
the  bed-chamber  beyond — both  rooms  overlooked  the  Glacis  from 
the  fourth  story  of  the  Pasqualati  house  on  the  Molker  Bastei — 
and  there  await  him  a  reasonable  time;  if  the  composer  came  not, 


Characteristics  of  the  Composer  93 

Rockel  should  quietly  pass  out  again.  It  happened  one  morning 
upon  his  first  visit,  that  Rockel  found  at  the  street  door  a  carriage 
with  a  lady  in  it;  and,  on  reaching  the  fourth  storey,  there,  at 
Beethoven's  door,  was  Prince  Lichnowsky  in  a  dispute  with  the 
servant  about  being  admitted.  The  man  declared  he  dared  not 
admit  anybody,  as  his  master  was  busy  and  had  given  express 
orders  not  to  admit  any  person  whatever.  Rockel,  however,  hav- 
ing the  entree,  informed  Beethoven  that  Lichnowsky  was  out- 
side. Though  in  ill  humor,  he  could  no  longer  refuse  to  see  him. 
The  Prince  and  his  wufe  had  come  to  take  Beethoven  out  for  an 
airing;  and  he  finally  consented,  but,  as  he  entered  the  carriage, 
Rockel  noticed  that  his  face  was  still  cloudy. 

That  Beethoven  and  Ignatz  von  Seyfried  were  brought  much 
together  in  these  years,  the  reader  already  knows.  Their  ac- 
quaintance during  thirty  years — which,  for  at  least  half  of  the 
time,  was  really  the  "friendly  relationship"  which  Seyfried 
names  it — was,  he  says,  "never  weakened,  never  disturbed  by 
even  the  smallest  quarrel — not  that  we  were  both  always  of  a  mind, 
or  could  be,  but  we  always  spoke  freely  and  frankly  to  each  other, 
without  reserve,  according  to  our  convictions,  without  conceitedly 
trying  to  force  upon   one  another   our  opinions    as   infallible." 

Besides,  Beethoven  was  much  too  straightforward,  open  and  tolerant 
to  give  offence  to  another  by  disapprobation,  or  contradiction;  he  was 
wont  to  laugh  heartily  at  what  did  not  please  him  and  I  confidently 
believe  that  I  may  safely  say  that  in  all  his  life  he  never,  at  least  not 
consciously,  made  an  enemy;  only  those  to  whom  his  peculiarities  were 
unknown  were  unable  quite  to  understand  how  to  get  along  with  him; 
I  am  speaking  here  of  an  earlier  time,  before  the  misfortune  of  deafness 
had  come  upon  him;  if,  on  the  contrary,  Beethoven  sometimes  carried 
things  to  an  extreme  in  his  rude  honesty  in  the  case  of  many,  mostly 
those  who  had  imposed  themselves  upon  him  as  protectors,  the  fault  lay 
only  in  this,  that  the  honest  German  always  carried  his  heart  on  his  tongue 
and  understood  everything  better  than  how  to  flatter;  also  because, 
conscious  of  his  own  merit,  he  would  never  permit  himself  to  be  made  the 
plaything  of  the  vain  whims  of  the  Maecenases  who  were  eager  to  boast 
of  their  association  with  the  name  and  fame  of  the  celebrated  master. 
And  so  he  was  misunderstood  only  by  those  who  had  not  the  patience 
to  get  acquainted  with  the  apparent  eccentric.  When  he  composed 
"Fidelio,"  the  oratorio  "Christus  am  Olberg,"  the  symphonies  in 
E-flat,  C  minor  and  F,  the  Pianoforte  Concertos  in  C  minor  and  G  major, 
and  the  Violin  Concerto  in  D,  we  were  living  in  the  same  house '  and  (since 
we  were  each  carrying  on  a  bachelor's  apartment)  we  dined  at  the  same 
restaurant  and  chatted  away  many  an  unforgettable  hour  in  the  con- 
fidential intimacy  of  colleagues,  for  Beethoven  was  then  merry,  ready  for 
any  jest,  happy,  full  of  life,  witty  and  not  seldom  satirical.    No  physical 

^Seyfried's   memory   has   here  in  part   played   him  false. 


94  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

ill  had  then  afflicted  him  [?];  no  loss  of  the  sense  which  is  peculiarly  in- 
dispensable to  the  musician  had  darkened  his  life;  only  weak  eyes  had 
remained  with  him  as  the  results  of  the  smallpox  with  which  he  had  been 
afflicted  in  his  childhood,  and  these  compelled  him  even  in  his  early 
youth  to  resort  to  concave,  very  strong  (highly  magnifying)  spectacles.^ 
He  had  me  play  the  pieces  mentioned,  recognized  throughout  the 
musical  world  as  masterpieces,  and,  without  giving  me  time  to  think, 
demanded  to  know  my  opinion  of  them;  I  was  permitted  to  give  it 
without  restraint,  without  fearing  that  I  should  offend  any  artistic  con- 
ceit— a  fault  which  was  utterly  foreign  to  his  nature. 

The  above  is  from  "Cacilia,"  Vol.  IX,  218,  219.  In  the  so- 
called  "Studien"  (appendix)  are  other  reminiscences,  which  form 
an  admirable  supplement  to  it.  Those  which  belong  to  the  years 
1800-1805  follow: 

Our  master  could  not  be  presented  as  a  model  in  respect  of  con- 
ducting, and  the  orchestra  always  had  to  have  a  care  in  order  not  to  be 
led  astray  by  its  mentor;  for  he  had  ears  only  for  his  composition  and 
was  ceaselessly  occupied  by  manifold  gesticulations  to  indicate  the  de- 
sired expression.  He  used  to  suggest  a  diminuendo  by  crouching  down 
more  and  more,  and  at  a  pianissimo  he  would  almost  creep  under  the 
desk.  When  the  volume  of  sound  grew  he  rose  up  also  as  if  out  of  a 
stage-trap,  and  with  the  entrance  of  the  power  of  the  band  he  would 
stand  upon  the  tips  of  his  toes  almost  as  big  as  a  giant,  and  waving 
his  arms,  seemed  about  to  soar  upwards  to  the  skies.  Everything  about 
him  was  active,  not  a  bit  of  his  organism  idle,  and  the  man  was  com- 
parable to  a  perpetuum  mobile.  He  did  not  belong  to  those  capricious 
composers  whom  no  orchestra  in  the  world  can  satisfy.  At  times,  indeed, 
he  was  altogether  too  considerate  and  did  not  even  repeat  passages  which 
went  badly  at  the  rehearsal:  "It  will  go  better  next  time,"  he  would  say. 
He  was  very  particular  about  expression,  the  delicate  nuances,  the 
equable  distribution  of  light  and  shade  as  well  as  an  effective  tempo 
ruhato,  and  without  betraying  vexation,  would  discuss  them  with  the 
individual  players.  When  he  then  observed  that  the  players  would 
enter  into  his  intentions  and  play  together  with  increasing  ardor,  in- 
spired by  the  magical  power  of  his  creations,  his  face  would  be  trans- 
figured with  joy,  all  his  features  beamed  pleasure  and  satisfaction,  a 
pleased  smile  would  play  around  his  lips  and  a  thundering  "Bravi  tutti!" 
reward  the  successful  achievement.  It  was  the  first  and  loftiest  trium- 
phal moment  for  the  genius,  compared  with  which,  as  he  confessed,  the 
tempestuous  applause  of  a  receptive  audience  was  as  nothing.  When 
playing  at  first  sight,  there  were  frequent  pauses  for  the  purpose  of  cor- 
recting the  parts  and  then  the  thread  would  be  broken;  but  he  was 
patient  even  then;  but  when  things  went  to  pieces,  particularly  in  the 
scherzos  of  his  syni|)h<)nics  at  a  sudden  and  unexpected  change  of  rhythm, 
he  would  shout  with  laughter  and  say  he  had  expected  notliing  else,  but 
was  reckoning  on  it  from  the  beginning;  he  was  ahnost  childishly  glad 
that  he  had  been  successful  in  "unhorsing  such  excellent  riders." 

'Another   alight    mistake.     Schindler    was    in    possession    of     Heethoven's    glasses 
and  they  were  by  no  means  "very  strong." 


Deafness  and  Disorderliness  95 

Before  Beethoven  was  afflicted  with  his  organic  ailment,  he  attended 
the  opera  frequently  and  with  enjoyment,  especially  the  admirable  and 
flourishing  Theater-an-der-Wien,  perhaps,  also,  for  convenience'  sake, 
since  he  had  scarcely  to  do  more  than  to  step  from  his  room  into  the 
parterre.  There  he  was  fascinated  more  especially  by  the  creations  of 
Cherubini  and  Mehul,  which  at  that  time  were  just  beginning  to  stir  up 
the  enthusiasm  of  all  Vienna.  There  he  would  plant  himself  hard  against 
the  orchestra  rail  and,  dumb  as  a  dunce,  remain  till  the  last  stroke  of  the 
bows.  This  was  the  only  sign,  however,  that  the  art  work  had  interested 
him;  if,  on  the  contrary,  the  piece  did  not  please  him  he  would  turn  on 
his  heel  at  the  first  fall  of  the  curtain  and  take  himself  away.  It  was, 
in  fact,  difficult,  yes,  utterly  impossible  to  tell  from  his  features  whether 
or  not  he  was  pleased  or  displeased;  he  was  always  the  same,  apparently 
cold,  and  just  as  reserved  in  his  judgments  concerning  his  companions 
in  art;  his  mind  was  at  work  ceaselessly,  but  the  physical  shell  was  like 
soulless  marble.  Strangely  enough,  on  the  other  hand,  hearing  wretched 
music  was  a  treat  to  him  which  he  proclaimed  by  a  peal  of  laughter. 
Everybody  who  knew  him  intimately  knew  that  in  this  art  he  was  a 
virtuoso,  but  it  was  a  pity  that  those  who  were  near  him  were  seldom 
able  to  fathom  the  cause  of  such  explosions,  since  he  often  laughed  at 
his  most  secret  thoughts  and  conceits  without  giving  an  accounting  of 
them. 

He  was  never  found  on  the  street  without  a  small  note-book  in 
which  he  was  wont  to  record  his  passing  ideas.  Whenever  conversation 
turned  on  the  subject  he  would  parody  Joan  of  Arc's  words:  "I  dare  not 
come  without  my  banner!" — and  he  adhered  to  his  self-given  rule  with 
unparalleled  tenacity;  although  otherwise  a  truly  admirable  disorder 
prevailed  in  his  household.  Books  and  music  were  scattered  in  every 
corner;  here  the  remnants  of  a  cold  luncheon;  here  sealed  or  half-emptied 
bottles;  here  upon  a  stand  the  hurried  sketches  of  a  quartet;  here  the 
remains  of  a  dejeuner;  there  on  the  pianoforte,  on  scribbled  paper  the 
material  for  a  glorious  symphony  still  slumbering  in  embryo;  here  a 
proof-sheet  awaiting  salvation;  friendly  and  business  letters  covering 
the  floor;  between  the  windows  a  respectable  loaf  of  strachino,  ad  latus 
a  considerable  ruin  of  a  genuine  Veronese  salami — yet  despite  this  varied 
mess  our  master  had  a  habit,  quite  contrary  to  the  reality,  of  proclaim- 
ing his  accuracy  and  love  of  order  on  all  occasions  with  Ciceronian 
eloquence.  Only  when  it  became  necessary  to  spend  days,  hours, 
sometimes  weeks,  in  finding  something  necessary  and  all  efforts  remained 
fruitless,  did  he  adopt  a  different  tone,  and  the  innocent  were  made  to 
bear  the  blame.  "Yes,  yes,"  was  the  complaint,  "that's  a  misfortune! 
Nothing  is  permitted  to  remain  where  I  put  it;  everything  is  moved  about; 
everything  is  done  to  vex  me;  O  men,  men!"  But  his  servants  knew  the 
good-natured  grumbler;  let  him  growl  to  his  heart's  content,  and — in  a 
few  minutes  all  would  be  forgotten,  until  another  occasion  brought  with 
it  a  renewal  of  the  scene. 

He  often  made  merry  over  his  illegible  handwriting  and  excused  him- 
self by  saying:  "Life  is  too  short  to  paint  letters  or  notes;  and  prettier 
notes  would  scarcely  help  me  out  of  needs. "^ 

'One  of  Beethoven's  puns,  the  point  of  which  is  lost  in  the  translation:  "Schonere 
Noten  brachten  mich  schwerlich  aus  den  Nothen." 


96  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

The  whole  forenoon,  from  the  first  ray  of  light  till  the  meal  hour, 
was  devoted  to  mechanical  labor,  i.  e.,  to  transcribing;  the  rest  of  the  day 
was  given  to  thought  and  the  ordering  of  ideas.  Hardly  had  he  put 
the  last  bit  in  his  mouth  before  he  began  his  customary  promenade,  un- 
less he  had  some  other  excursion  in  petto;  that  is  to  say,  he  hurried  in 
double-quick  time  several  times  around  the  city,  as  if  urged  on  by  a  goad; 
and  this,  let  the  weather  be  what  it  might. 

And  his  hearing — how  was  it  with  that? 

A  question  not  to  be  answered  to  full  satisfaction.  It  is  clear 
that  the  "Notizen"  of  Wegeler  and  Ries,  the  Biography  (first 
editions)  of  Schindler,  and  especially  the  papers  from  Beethoven's 
own  hand  printed  in  those  volumes,  have  given  currency  to  a  very 
exaggerated  idea  of  the  progress  of  his  infirmity.  On  the  other 
hand,  Se\'iried  as  evidently  errs  in  the  other  direction ;  and  yet  Carl 
Czerny,  both  in  his  published  and  manuscripts  notices,  goes  even 
farther.  For  instance,  he  writes  to  Jahn:  "Although  he  had  suf- 
fered from  pains  in  his  ears  and  the  like  ever  since  1800,  he  still 
heard  speech  and  music  perfectly  well  until  nearly  1812,"  and 
adds  in  confirmation:  "As  late  as  the  years  1811-1812  I  studied 
things  with  him  and  he  corrected  with  great  care,  as  well  as  ten 
years  before."  This,  however,  proves  nothing,  as  Beethoven 
performed  feats  of  this  kind  still  more  remarkable  down  to  the 
last  year  of  his  life.  Beethoven's  Lamentation,  the  testament  of 
1802,  is  one  extreme,  the  statements  of  Se;yfried  and  Czerny  the 
other;  the  truth  lies  somewhere  between. 

In  June,  1801,  Beethoven  is  "obliged  to  lean  down  to  the 
orchestral  rail  to  hear  a  drama."  The  next  summer  he  cannot 
hear  a  flute  or  pipe  to  which  Ries  calls  his  attention.  In  1804, 
as  Dolezalek  tells  Jahn,  "in  the  rehearsals  to  the  'Eroica'  he  did 
not  always  hear  the  wind-instruments  distinctly  and  missed  them 
when  they  were  playing."  The  evil  was  then  making,  if  slow, 
still  sure  progress.  "In  those  years,'*  says  Schindler,  "there  w^as 
a  priest  named  Pater  \Yeiss  in  the  Metropolitan  Church  of  St. 
Stephen  who  occupied  himself  with  healing  the  deaf  and  had 
accomplished  many  fortunate  cures.  He  was  not  a  mere  em- 
piricist, but  was  familiar  with  the  physiology  of  the  ear;  he 
effected  his  cures  with  simple  remedies,  and  enjoyed  a  wide  fame 
among  the  people,  and  also  the  respect  of  medical  practitioners. 
With  the  consent  of  his  physician  our  terrified  tone-poet  had  also 
entrusted  his  case  to  the  priest."  Precisely  when  this  was,  is  un- 
known; it  could  not,  however,  have  been  until  after  Dr.  Schmidt's 
treatment  had  proved  hopeless.  The  so-called  Fischoff  Manu- 
script, evidently  on  the  authority  of  Zmeskall  himself,  gives  a 
more   particular    account  than    Schindler   of    Pater    Weiss's    ex- 


Neglect  of  Medical  Treatment  97 

perience  with  his  new  patient.  "Herr  v.  Zmeskall  with  great 
difficulty  persuaded  Beethoven  to  go  there  with  him.  At  first 
he  followed  the  advice  of  the  physician;  but  as  he  had  to  go  to  him 
every  day  in  order  to  have  a  fluid  dropped  into  his  ear,  this  grew 
unpleasant,  the  more  since,  in  his  impatience,  he  felt  little  or  no 
improvement;  and  he  remained  away.  The  physician,  questioned 
by  Zmeskall,  told  him  the  facts,  and  Zmeskall  begged  him  to 
accommodate  himself  to  the  self-willed  invalid,  and  consult  his 
convenience.  The  priest,  honestly  desirous  to  help  Beethoven, 
went  to  his  lodgings,  but  his  efforts  were  in  vain,  inasmuch  as 
Beethoven  in  a  few  days  refused  him  entrance,  and  thus  neglected 
possible  help  or  at  least  an  amelioration  of  his  condition." 

Probably  the  evil  was  of  such  a  nature  that,  with  all  the 
resources  of  our  present  medical  science,  it  could  hardly  have 
been  impeded,  much  less  arrested.  This  is  poor  consolation,  but 
the  best  we  have.  The  sufferer  now  resigned  himself  to  his  fate. 
On  a  page  of  twenty-one  leaves  of  sketches  to  the  Rasoumowsky 
Quartets,  Op.  59,  stands  written  in  pencil — if  correctly  deciphered 
— these  words  from  his  hand: 

Even  as  you  have  plunged  into  the  whirlpool  of  society,  you  will 
find  it  possible  to  compose  operas  in  spite  of  social  obstacles. 

Let  your  deafness  no  longer  remain  a  secret — not  even  in  art ! 


Chapter  VI 


Princes  as  Theatrical  Directors — Disappointed  Expectations — 
Subscription  Concerts  at  Prince  Lobkowitz's — The  Sym- 
phony in  B-flat — The  "Coriolan"  Overture — Contract 
with  Clementi— The  Mass  in  C— The  Year  1807. 

A  CONTROVERSY  for  the  possession  of  the  two  Court 
Theatres  and  that  An-der-Wien  involved  certain  legal 
questions  which,  in  September,  1806,  were  decided  by  the 
proper  tribunal  against  the  old  directors,  who  were  thus  at  the 
end  of  the  year  compelled  to  retire.  Peter,  Baron  von  Braun, 
closed  his  twelve  years'  administration  with  a  circular  letter  ad- 
dressed to  his  recent  subordinates,  dated  December  28,  in  which, 
after  bidding  them  an  affectionate  adieu,  he  said:  "With  imperial 
consent  I  have  turned  over  the  vice-direction  of  the  Royal  Im- 
perial Court  Theatre  to  a  company  composed  of  the  following 
cavaliers:  the  Princes  Lobkowitz,  Schwarzenberg  and  Esterhazy 
and  the  Counts  Esterhazy,  Lodron,  Ferdinand  Palffy,  Stephen 
Zichy  and  Niklas  Esterhazy." 

Beethoven  naturally  saw  in  this  change  a  most  hopeful  pros- 
pect of  an  improvement  in  his  own  theatrical  fortunes,  and  im- 
mediately, acting  on  a  hint  from  Lobkowitz,  addressed  to  the  new 
directors  a  petition  and  proposals  for  a  permanent  engagement, 
with  a  fixed  salary,  in  their  service.     The  document  was  as  follows: 

To  the  Worshipful  R.  I.  Theatre  Direction: 

The  undersigned  flatters  himself  that  during  his  past  sojourn  in 
Vienna  he  has  won  some  favor  with  not  only  the  high  nobility  but  also 
the  general  public,  and  has  secured  an  honorable  acceptance  of  his  works 
at  home  and  abroad. 

Nevertheless,  he  has  been  obliged  to  struggle  with  difficulties  of  all 
kinds  and  has  not  yet  been  able  to  establish  himself  here  in  a  position 
which  would  enable  him  to  fulfil  his  desire  to  live  wholly  for  art,  to  de- 
velop his  talents  to  a  still  higher  degree  of  perfection,  which  must  be  the 
goal  of  every  true  artist,  and  to  make  certain  for  the  future  the  for- 
tuitous advantages  of  the  present. 

Inasmuch  as  the  undersigned  has  always  striven  less  for  a  liveli- 
hood than  for  the  interests  of  art,  the  ennoblement  of  taste  and  the 

[98] 


Plans  to  Keep  Beethoven  in  Vienna  99 

uplifting  of  his  genius  toward  higher  ideals  and  perfection,  it  necessarily 
happens  that  he  often  was  compelled  to  sacrifice  profit  and  advantage  to 
the  Muse.  Yet  works  of  this  kind  won  for  him  a  reputation  in  foreign 
lands  which  assures  him  of  a  favorable  reception  in  a  number  of  con- 
siderable cities  and  a  lot  commensurate  with  his  talents  and  opportunities. 

But  in  spite  of  this  the  undersigned  cannot  deny  that  the  many 
years  during  which  he  has  lived  here  and  the  favor  and  approval  which 
he  has  enjoyed  from  high  and  low  have  aroused  in  him  a  wish  wholly 
to  fulfil  the  expectations  which  he  has  been  fortunate  enough  to  awaken; 
and  let  him  say  also,  the  patriotism  of  a  German  has  made  this  place 
more  estimable  and  desirable  than  any  other. 

He  can,  therefore,  not  forbear  before  deciding  to  leave  the  city  so 
dear  to  him,  to  follow  the  suggestion  kindly  made  to  him  by  His  Serene 
Highness  the  ruling  Prince  Lobkowitz,  who  intimated  that  a  Worshipful 
Direction  was  not  disinclined  under  proper  conditions  to  engage  the 
undersigned  for  the  service  of  the  theatre  under  their  management  and 
to  ensure  his  further  sojourn  here  by  offering  him  the  means  of  a  perma- 
nent livelihood  favorable  to  the  exercise  of  his  talent. 

Inasmuch  as  this  intimation  is  in  perfect  accord  with  the  desires  of 
the  undersigned,  he  takes  the  liberty  to  submit  an  expression  of  his  will- 
ingness as  well  as  the  following  stipulations  for  the  favorable  consideration 
of  the  Worshipful  Direction: 

1.  He  promises  and  contracts  to  compose  every  year  at  least  one 
grand  opera,  to  be  selected  jointly  by  the  Worshipful  Direction  and  the 
undersigned;  in  return  he  asks  a  fixed  remuneration  of  2400  florins  per 
annum  and  the  gross  receipts  of  the  third  performance  of  each  of  such 
operas. 

2.  He  agrees  to  deliver  gratis  each  year  a  small  operetta,  diver- 
tissement, choruses  or  occasional  pieces  according  to  the  wishes  or  needs 
of  the  Worshipful  Direction,  but  hopes  that  the  Worshipful  Direction 
will  not  hesitate  in  return  for  such  works  to  give  him  one  day  in  each 
year  for  a  benefit  concert  in  the  theatre  building. 

If  one  reflects  what  an  expenditure  of  capacity  and  time  is  required 
for  the  making  of  an  opera  to  the  absolute  exclusion  of  every  other  in- 
tellectual occupation,  and  further,  that  in  cities  where  the  author  and 
his  family  have  a  share  in  the  receipts  at  every  performance,  a  single 
successful  work  may  make  the  fortune  of  an  author;  and  still  further  how 
small  a  compensation,  owing  to  the  monetary  condition  and  high  prices 
for  necessaries  which  prevail  here,  is  at  the  command  of  a  local  artist 
to  whom  foreign  lands  are  open,  the  above  conditions  can  certainly  not 
be  thought  to  be  excessive  or  unreasonable. 

But  whether  or  not  the  Worshipful  Direction  confirms  and  accepts 
this  offer,  the  undersigned  appends  the  request  that  he  be  given  a  day 
for  a  musical  concert  in  one  of  the  theatre  buildings;  for,  in  case  the  pro- 
position is  accepted,  the  undersigned  will  at  once  require  his  time  and 
powers  for  the  composition  of  the  opera  and  therefore  be  unable  to  use 
them  for  his  profit  in  another  direction.  In  the  event  of  a  declination  of 
the  present  offer,  moreover,  since  the  permission  for  a  concert  granted 
last  year  could  not  be  utilized  because  of  various  obstacles  which  inter- 
vened, the  undersigned  would  look  upon  the  fulfilment  of  last  year's 
promise  as  a  highest  sign  of  the  great  favor  heretofore  enjoyed  by  him. 


100  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

and  he  requests  that  in  the  first  case  the  day  be  set  on  the  Feast  of  the 
Annunciation,  in  the  second  on  one  of  the  approaching  Christmas 
hohdays. 

Ludwig  van  Beethoven,  m.  p. 
Vienna,  1807. 

Neither  of  these  requests  was  granted  directly;  one  of  them 
only  indirectly.  Nor  is  it  known  that  any  formal  written  reply 
was  conveyed  to  the  petitioner.  The  cause  of  this  has  been 
strangely  suggested  to  lie  in  an  old  grudge — the  very  existence  of 
which  is  a  mere  conjecture — cherished  against  Beethoven  by 
Count  Palffy,  director  of  the  German  Drama.  But  it  is  quite 
needless  to  go  so  far  for  a  reason.  The  composer's  well-known 
increasing  infirmity  of  hearing,  his  habits  of  procrastination,  and 
above  all  his  inability,  so  often  proved,  to  keep  the  peace  with 
orchestra  and  singers — all  this  was  too  well  known  to  the  new 
directors,  whatever  may  have  been  their  own  personal  wishes, 
to  justify  the  risk  of  attaching  him  permanently  to  an  institution 
for  the  success  of  which  they  were  responsible  to  the  Emperor. 
It  is  very  evident,  that  they  temporized  with  him.  His  petition 
must  have  been  presented  at  the  very  beginning  of  the  year;  other- 
wise the  grant  of  a  theatre  for  a  concert  at  the  Feast  of  the  An- 
nunciation (March  25)  would  have  been  useless,  for  want  of  time 
to  make  the  necessary  preparations;  and  an  allusion  to  the 
"princely  rabble"  in  a  letter  written  in  May,  proves  that  no 
answer  had  then  been  given  him;  and  a  reference  to  the  matter 
by  the  correspondent  of  the  "Allg.  Mus.  Zeitung"  near  the  end  of 
the  year  shows  that  at  least  none  had  then  been  made  public. 
So  far  as  is  known,  the  Directors  chose  to  let  the  matter  drop 
quietly  and  gave  him  none;  nor  did  they  revive  "Fidelio" — for 
which  abundant  reasons  suggest  themselves.  But  they  gave 
Beethoven  ample  proof  that  no  motives  of  personal  animosity, 
no  lack  of  admiration  for  his  talents  or  appreciation  of  his  genius, 
governed  their  decision.  Prince  Esterhazy  ordered  the  com- 
position of  a  mass,  and  immediate  preparations  were  made  for 
the  performance  of  his  orchestral  works  "in  a  very  select  circle 
that  contributed  a  very  considerable  sum  for  the  benefit  of  the 
composer,"  as  a  writer  in  the  "Allg.  Mus.  Zeitung"  remarks. 
These  performances  took  place  in  March  "at  the  house  of  Prince 
L."  according  to  the  "Journal  des  Luxus." 

Was  "Prince  L."  Lobkowitz  or  Lichnowsky?  The  details 
above  given  point  decisively  to  the  former.  It  is  true  that  the 
paroxysm  of  wrath,  in  which  Beethoven  had  so  unceremoniously 
parted   from    Lichnowsky  in  the  Autumn,    had    so  far   subsided 


The  Symphony  in  B-flat  101 

that  he  now  granted  the  Prince  the  use  of  his  new  manuscript 
overture;  but  the  contemporary  notice,  from  which  this  fact  is 
derived,  is  in  such  terms  as  of  itself  to  preclude  the  idea  that 
this  performance  of  it  was  in  one  of  the  two  subscription 
concerts.  In  these  subscription  concerts  three  new  works  were 
performed :  the  Fourth  Symphony,  ^  in  B-flat  major,  the  Fourth 
Pf.  Concerto,  in  G  major,  and  the  "Coriolan"  Overture.  About 
the  latter  something  is  to  be  said.  The  manuscript  bears  the 
composer's  own  date,  1807.  Collin's  tragedy  was  originally  per- 
formed November  24,  1802,  with  "between-acts  music"  arranged 
by  Abbe  Stadler  from  Mozart's  "Idomeneus."  The  next  year  Lange 
assumed  the  leading  part  with  a  success  of  which  he  justly  boasts 
in  his  autobiography,  and  played  it  so  often  down  to  March  5, 
1805,  as  to  make  the  work  thoroughly  familiar  to  the  theatre- 
going  public.  From  that  date  to  the  end  of  October,  1809  (how 
much  longer  we  have  no  means  at  hand  of  knowing),  it  was  played 
but  once — namely,  on  April  24,  1807.  The  overture  was  assuredly 
not  written  for  that  one  exceptional  performance;  for,  if  so,  it 
would  not  have  been  played  in  March  in  two  different  concerts. 
Nor  was  it  played,  April  24th,  in  the  theatre;  if  it  had  been,  the 
correspondent  of  the  "Allg.  Mus.  Zeitung,"  writing  after  its 
public  performance  in  the  Liebhaber  Concerts  near  the  end  of 
the  year,  could  not  have  spoken  of  it  as  *'a  new  overture."  It 
is,  therefore,  obvious  that  this  work  was  composed  for  these 
subscription  concerts.     Beethoven  had  at  this  time  written  but 

^The  genesis  of  the  fourth  symphony,  in  B-flat,  Op.  60,  is  but  imperfectly  known. 
Nottebohm's  studies  of  the  sketchbooks,  which  are  so  frequently  helpful,  fail  us  utterly 
here.  The  autograph  score  bears  the  inscription,  "Sinfonia  4'*,  1806,  L.  v.  Bthvn." 
Having  been  played  in  March,  1807,  at  one  of  the  two  subscription  concerts  at  Lobko- 
witz's,  it  was,  of  course,  finished  at  that  time.  Beethoven  referred  to  it  in  his  letter 
to  Breitkopf  and  Hartel  from  Gratz  on  September  3,  1806.  This  is  not  convincing 
proof  that  it  was  all  ready  at  the  time,  but  certainly  that  it  was  well  under  way.  On 
November  18  he  wrote  to  the  same  firm  that  he  could  not  then  give  them  the  promised 
symphony,  because  a  gentleman  of  quality  had  purchased  its  use  for  six  months.  It  is 
within  the  bounds  of  possibility  that  this  reference  was  to  the  symphony  in  C  minor,  the 
sketches  for  which  date  back  at  least  to  1805,  though  it  was  not  completed  till  March, 
1808,  at  the  earliest.  It  would  seem  that  work  on  the  C  minor  symphony  was  laid 
aside  in  favor  of  the  fourth,  which  was  either  written  or  sketched  in  the  late  summer 
and  fall  of  1806,  and  completed  in  Vienna  in  time  for  the  performance  in  March,  1807. 

The  symphony  is  dedicated  to  Count  Oppersdorff,  a  Silesian  nobleman.  The 
castle  of  the  Counts  Oppersdorff  lies  near  the  town  of  Ober-Glogau,  which  in  early 
times  was  under  their  rule.  Count  Franz  von  Oppersdorff,  who  died  in  Berlin  in  1818, 
was  a  zealous  lover  of  music  who  maintained  in  his  castle  an  orchestra  which  he  strove 
to  keep  complete  in  point  of  numbers  by  requiring  all  the  officials  in  his  employ  to  be 
able  to  play  upon  an  orchestral  instrument.  Partly  through  bonds  of  blood  and  mar- 
riage, partly  through  those  of  friendship,  the  family  of  Oppersdorff  was  related  to  many 
of  the  noble  families  of  Austria — Lobkowitz,  Lichnowsky,  etc.  The  castle  of  Lich- 
nowsky  at  Gratz,  near  Troppau,  was  scarcely  a  day's  journey  from  Ober-GIogau. 
Thus  it  happened  that  Prince  Lichnowsky,  in  company  with  Beethoven,  paid  a  visit 
to  Count  Oppersdorff  at  his  castle,  on  which  occasion  the  orchestra  played  the  Second 
Symphony.     This,  as  the  evidence  indicates,  was  in  the  fall  of  1806. 


102  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

three  overtures — two  to  "FidelIo"(one  of  which  was  laid  aside), 
and  that  to  "Prometheus,"  which  had  long  ceased  to  be  a  novelty. 
He  needed  a  new  one.  Collin's  tragedy  was  thoroughly  well 
known  and  offered  a  subject  splendidly  suited  to  his  genius.  An 
overture  to  it  was  a  compliment  to  his  influential  friend,  the 
author,  and,  if  successful,  would  be  a  new  proof  of  his  talent  for 
dramatic  composition — certainly,  an  important  consideration  just 
then,  pending  his  application  for  a  permanent  engagement  at  the 
theatre.  How  nobly  the  character  of  Coriolanns  is  mirrored  in 
Beethoven's  music  is  well  enough  known;  but  the  admirable  adap- 
tation of  the  overture  to  the  play  is  duly  appreciated  by  those 
only,  who  have  read  Collin's  almost  forgotten  work. 

The  year  1807  was  one  of  the  years  of  Beethoven's  life  dis- 
tinguished by  the  grandeur  and  extent  of  his  compositions;  and 
it  was  probably  more  to  avoid  interruption  in  his  labor  than  on 
account  of  ill  health,  that  early  in  April  he  removed  to  Baden. 
A  letter  (to  Herr  von  Troxler)  in  which  occur  these  words:  "I  am 
coming  to  Vienna.  I  wish  very  much  that  you  would  go  with 
me  on  Tuesday  to  Clementi,  as  I  can  make  myself  better  under- 
stood to  foreigners  with  my  notes  than  by  my  speech,"  seems  to 
introduce  a  matter  of  business  which  called  him  to  the  city  for  a 
few  days. 

Clementi,  called  to  Rome  by  the  death  of  his  brother,  had 
arrived  in  Vienna  on  his  way  thither,  and  embraced  the  opportunity 
to  acquire  the  exclusive  right  of  publication  in  England  of  various 
works  of  Beethoven,  whose  great  reputation,  the  rapidly  growing 
taste  for  his  music,  and  the  great  difficulty  of  obtaining  continen- 
tal publications  in  those  days  of  "Napoleonic  ideas,"  combined  to 
render  such  a  right  in  that  country  one  of  considerable  value. 
Clementi  reported  the  results  of  the  negotiations  with  Beethoven  in 
a  letter  to  his  partner,  F.  W.  Collard,  with  whom  he  had  been 
associated  in  business  for  five  years,  which  J.  S.  Shedlock  made 
public  in  the  "Athenaeum"  of  London  on  August  1,  1902.  It 
runs  as  follows: 

Messrs.  Clementi  and  Co.,  No,  26  Cheapside,  London. 

Vienna,  April  2!2d,  1807. 
Dear  Collard: 

By  a  little  management  and  without  committing  myself,  I  have 
at  last  made  a  coinf)lete  conquest  of  the  haughty  bcautij,  Beethoven,  who 
first  began  at  public  places  to  grin  and  coquet  with  me,  which  of  course 
I  took  care  not  to  discourage;  then  slid  into  familiar  chat,  till  meeting 
him  by  chance  one  day  in  the  street — "Where  do  you  lodge?"  says  he; 
"I  have  not  seen  you  this  long  while!"— upon  which  I  gave  him  my 
address.     Two  days  after  I  found  on  my  table  his  card  brought  by  him- 


Clementi  Secures  a  Contract  103 

self,  from  the  maid's  description  of  his  lovely  form.  This  will  do, 
thought  I.  Three  days  after  that  he  calls  again,  and  finds  me  at  home. 
Conceive  then  the  mutual  ecstasy  of  such  a  meeting!  I  took  pretty 
good  care  to  improve  it  to  our  house's  advantage,  therefore,  as  soon  as 
decency  would  allow,  after  praising  very  handsomely  some  of  his  com- 
positions: "Are  you  engaged  with  any  publisher  in  London?" — "No" 
says  he.  "Suppose,  then,  that  you  prefer  me. ^ — "With  all  my  heart." 
"Done.  What  have  you  ready.?" — "I'll  bring  you  a  Hst."  In  short  I 
agree  with  him  to  take  in  MSS.  three  quartets,  a  symphony,  an  overture 
and  a  concerto  for  the  violin,  which  is  beautiful,  and  which,  at  my  request 
he  will  adapt  for  the  pianoforte  with  and  without  additional  keys;  and 
a  concerto  for  the  pianoforte,  for  all  which  we  are  to  pay  him  two  hundred 
pounds  sterling.  The  property,  however,  is  only  for  the  British  Domin- 
ions. To-day  sets  off  a  courier  for  London  through  Russia,  and  he  will 
bring  over  to  you  two  or  three  of  the  mentioned  articles. 

Remember  that  the  violin  concerto  he  will  adapt  himself  and  send 
it  as  soon  as  he  can. 

The  quartets,  etc.,  you  may  get  Cramer  or  some  other  very  clever 
fellow  to  adapt  for  the  Piano-forte.  The  symphony  and  the  overture  are 
wonderfully  fine  so  that  I  think  I  have  made  a  very  good  bargain.  What 
do  you  think. f*  I  have  likewise  engaged  him  to  compose  two  sonatas  and 
a  fantasia  for  the  Piano-forte  which  he  is  to  deliver  to  our  house  for  sixty 
pounds  sterling  (mind  I  have  treated  for  Pounds,  not  Guineas) .  In  short  he 
has  promised  to  treat  with  no  one  but  me  for  the  British  Dominions. 

In  proportion  as  you  receive  his  compositions  you  are  to  remit 
him  the  money;  that  is,  he  considers  the  whole  as  consisting  of  six 
articles,  viz:  three  quartets,  symphony,  overture.  Piano-forte  concerto, 
violin  concerto,  and  the  adaptation  of  the  said  concerto,  for  which  he  is 
to  receive  £200. 

For  three  articles  you'll  remit  £lOO  and  so  on  in  proportion.  The 
agreement  says  also  that  as  soon  as  you  receive  the  compositions,  you 
are  to  pay  into  the  hands  of  Messrs.  E.  W.  and  E.  Lee,  the  stated  sum, 
who  are  to  authorize  Messrs.  J.  G.  Schuller  and  Comp.  in  Vienna  to  pay 
to  Mr.  van  Beethoven,  the  value  of  the  said  sum,  according  to  the 
course  of  exchange,  and  the  said  Messrs.  Schuller  and  Co.  are  to  re- 
imburse themselves  on  Messrs.  R.  W.  and  E.  Lee.  On  account  of  the 
impediments  by  war,  etc.,  I  begged  Beethoven  to  allow  us  4  months 
(after  the  setting  of  his  MSS.)  to  publish  in.  He  said  he  would  write 
to  your  house  in  French  stating  the  time,  for  of  course  he  sends  them  like- 
wise to  Paris,  etc.,  etc.,  and  they  must  appear  on  the  same  day.  You 
are  also  by  agreement  to  send  Beethoven  by  a  convenient  opportunity, 
two  sets  of  each  of  the  new  compositions  you  print  of  his.  .  .  .  Mr.  van 
Beethoven  says,  you  may  publish  the  3  articles  he  sends  by  this  courier 
on  the  1st  of  September,  next.^ 

The  closing  of  the  contract  with  Clementi  had  been  preceded 
by  negotiations  with  Breitkopf  and  Hartel  for  the  same  composi- 
tions. On  the  same  day  that  Clementi  wrote  to  Collard  he  also 
wrote  a  letter  to  the  Leipsic  publishers  in  which  he  said  that  he  had 

^Dr.  Riemann,  who  introduced  this  letter  in  the  body  of  the  text  of  this  biog- 
raphy, preceded  it  with  the  following  observations  on  the  significance  of  the  transac- 


104  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

purchased  the  right  of  publication  for  the  British  Dominions  in 
consequence  of  their  letter  of  January  20th,  in  which  they  had  said 
that  because  of  the  war  they  had  declined  Beethoven's  proposition. 
He  also  promised  to  ask  Beethoven  to  treat  with  them  for  the 
German  rights.  (This  fact  is  already  known  to  the  readers  from 
the  letters  written  by  Beethoven  to  Breitkopf  and  Hartel  dated 
September  3  and  November  18,  1806.)  Count  Gleichenstein 
witnessed  the  signing  of  the  contract  (which  is  in  French),  the 
substance  of  which  is  as  follows : 

Beethoven  grants  Clementi  the  manuscripts  of  the  works  after- 
wards enumerated,  with  the  right  to  publish  them  in  Great  Britain,  but 
reserving  the  rights  for  other  countries.  The  works  are:  three  Quartets, 
one  Symphony  ("the  fourth  that  he  has  composed"),  the  Overture  to 
"Coriolan,"  a  Concerto  for  Violin  and  the  arrangement  of  the  same  for 
Pianoforte  "with  additional  notes." 

Clementi  is  to  pay  for  these  works  the  equivalent  of  £200  in  Vien- 
nese funds  at  Schuller  and  Co.'s  as  soon  as  the  arrival  of  the  manuscripts 
is  reported  from  London.  If  Beethoven  cannot  deliver  all  the  composi- 
tions at  once  he  is  to  be  paid  only  in  proportion.  Beethoven  engages  to 
sell  these  works  in  Germany,  France  or  elsewhere  only  on  condition  that 
they  shall  not  be  published  until  four  months  after  they  have  been  des- 
patched to  England.  In  the  case  of  the  Violin  Concerto,  the  Symphony 
and  the  Overture,  which  have  just  been  sent  off,  not  until  September  1, 
1807.  Beethoven  also  agrees  to  compose  on  the  same  terms,  within 
a  time  not  fixed,  and  at  his  own  convenience,  three  Sonatas  or  two 
Sonatas  and  a  Fantasia  for  Pianoforte  with  or  without  accompaniment, 
as  he  chooses,  for  which  he  is  to  be  paid  £60.  Clementi  engages  to  send 
Beethoven  two  copies  of  each  work.  The  contract  is  executed  in  dupli- 
cate and  signed  at  Vienna,  April  20,  1807,  by  Clementi  and  Beethoven,  i 

The  quartets,  in  parts,  had  been  lent  to  Count  Franz  Bruns- 
wick and  were  still  in  Hungary,  which  gave  occasion  to  one  of 
Beethoven's  peculiarly  whimsical  and  humorous  epistles: 

tion  between  Beethoven  and  Clementi:  "This  business  plays  an  extraordinarily  im- 
portant role  in  the  next  three  years  of  Beethoven's  life  (until  the  spring  of  ISIO).  The 
publication  of  its  details  has  made  portions  of  the  account  in  the  first  edition  of  this 
work  wholly  untenable,  since  those  portions  were  based  on  the  assumption  that  the 
conclusion  of  the  contract  with  Clementi  had  been  followed  also  by  the  prompt  pay- 
ment of  the  honorarium  (in  1807),  whereas,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  payment  was  delayed 
for  three  years,  as  has  been  plainly  shown  by  the  correspondence  between  Clementi 
and  Collard.  Clementi,  it  would  seem,  spent  the  eight  years  following  1802,  when  he 
went  to  St.  Petersburg  with  Field,  till  1810,  entirely  on  the  Continent  (in  St.  Peters- 
burg, Berlin,  Leipsic,  Rome)  and  sojourned  several  times  in  Vienna.  We  know 
from  Ries's  account  that  he  did  not  come  into  contact  with  Beethoven  during  his 
extended  stay  in  1804,  but  we  also  know  that  as  early  as  the  fall  of  1804,  he  tried  to 
secure  the  right   of  publishing   Beethoven's   works  in   England." 

^This  is  given  from  Jahn's  copy,  to  which  is  appended  the  following  note:  "Titles 
of  the  6  works  with  changed  dedications:  3  quartets,  the  name  Rasouraowsky  changed 
in  Beethoven's  handwriting  to  d  son  Allesse  le  Prince  Charles  de  Lichnowsky.  The 
name  of  Frau  von  Breuning  stricken  out  of  the  detlication  of  the  arrangement  of  the* 
Concerto.  The  Pianoforte  Concirto  originally  dedicated  with  a  German  title  to 
Archduke  Rudolph,  then  with  a  French  title  d  son  ami  Gleichenstein."  None  of  these 
changes  was  made;  the  "six  works"  came  out  with  the  dedications  originally  intended. 


The  Famous  Love-Letter  Again  105 

To  Count  Franz  von  Brunswick: 

Dear,  dear  B !  I  have  only  to  say  to  you  that  I  came  to  a  right 
satisfactory  arrangement  with  Clementi.  I  shall  receive  200  pounds 
Sterling — and  besides  I  am  privileged  to  sell  the  same  works  in  Germany 
and  France.  He  has  also  offered  me  other  commissions — so  that  I  am 
enabled  to  hope  through  them  to  achieve  the  dignity  of  a  true  artist 
w^hile  still  young.  /  need,  dear  B,  the  Quartets.  I  have  already  asked 
your  sister  to  write  to  you  about  them,  it  takes  too  long  to  copy  them  from 
my  score — therefore  make  haste  and  send  them  direct  to  me  by  Letter 
Post.  You  shall  have  them  back  in  4  or  5  days  at  the  latest.  I  beg 
you  urgently  for  them,  since  otherwise  I  might  lose  a  great  deal. 

If  you  can  arrange  it  that  the  Hungarians  want  me  to  come  for  a 
few  concerts,  do  it — you  may  have  me  for  200  florins  in  gold — then  I  will 
bring  my  opera  along.     I  will  not  get  along  with  the  princely  rabble. 

Whenever  we  (several)  {amici)  drink  your  wine,  we  drink  you,  i.e., 
we  drink  your  health.  Farewell — hurry — hurry — hurry  and  send  me  the 
quartets — otherwise  you  may  embarrass  me  greatly. 

Schuppanzigh  has  married — it  is  said  with  One  very  like  him. 
What  a  family  ?  ?  .?  .? 

Kiss  your  sister  Therese,  tell  her  I  fear  I  shall  become  great  without 
the  help  of  a  monument  reared  by  her.  Send  me  to-morrow  the  quartets 
— quar-tets — t-e-t-s. 

Your  friend  Beethoven.  ^ 

If  an  English  publisher  could  afford  to  pay  so  high  a  price  for 
the  manuscripts  of  a  German  composer,  why  not  a  French  one.^ 
So  Beethoven  reasoned,  and,  Bonn  being  then  French,  he  wrote 
to  Simrock  proposing  a  contract  like  that  made  with  Clementi. 
The  letter,  which  was  dictated  and  signed  by  Beethoven  but 
written  by  another,  expresses  a  desire  to  sell  six  new  works  to  a 
publishing  house  in  France,  one  in  England  and  one  in  Vienna 
simultaneously,  with  the  understanding  that  they  are  to  appear 
only  after  a  certain  date.  They  are  a  symphony,  an  overture  for 
Collin's  "Coriolan,"  a  violin  concerto,  3  quartets,  1  concerto  for 
the  pianoforte,  the  violin  concerto  arranged  for  pianoforte  "avee 
des  notes  additionelles."     The  price,  "very  cheap,"  is  to  be  1200 

iThis  letter  (to  which  allusion  has  been  made  in  the  chapter  devoted  to  Beet- 
hoven's love-affairs)  was  first  printed  from  the  original  owned  by  Count  Geza  von 
Brunswick  in  the  "Blatter  fur  Theater  und  Musik"  (No.  34).  If  the  date,  "May  11, 
1806,"  was  written  by  Beethoven  and  is  not  an  error  by  a  copyist,  it  provides  another 
instance  of  the  composer's  irresponsibility  in  dating  his  letters;  for  the  reference  to 
the  contract  with  Clementi  is  irrefutable  evidence  that  it  was  written  in  1807.  Beet- 
hoven's remark  about  getting  great  without  the  help  of  a  monument  reared  by  Therese 
von  Brunswick  is  evidently  an  allusion  to  the  fact  that  the  Countess  erected  a  mon- 
ument to  her  father  in  the  grounds  of  the  family-seat  in  Hungary,  and  might  properly 
enough  be  cited,  together  with  the  commissioned  kiss,  as  proof  of  the  intimacy  between 
the  Brunswicks  and  Beethoven.  Had  there  been  talk  of  another  family  monument 
at  Martonvasari*  Beethoven's  remark  might  easily  be  thus  interpreted.  The  sister 
whom  he  had  asked  to  write  about  the  quartets  was  doubtless  Josephine,  Countess 
von  Deym.  The  sportive  remark  about  Schuppanzigh's  marriage  with  one  like  him 
is  explained  by  the  fact  that  the  violinist  was  of  Falstaffian  proportions. 


106  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

jBorins,  Augsburg  current.  As  regards  the  day  of  publication,  he 
thinks  he  can  fix  the  first  of  September  of  that  year  for  the  first 
three,  and  the  first  of  October  for  the  second  three. 

Simrock  answered  that  owing  to  unfavorable  circumstances 
due  to  the  war,  all  he  could  offer,  in  his  "lean  condition,"  was  1600 
livres.  He  also  proposed  that  in  case  Beethoven  found  his  offer 
fair,  he  should  send  the  works  without  delay  to  Breuning.  Sim- 
rock  would  at  once  pay  Breuning  300  livres  in  cash  and  give  him 
a  bill  of  exchange  for  1300  livres,  payable  in  two  years,  provided 
nobody  reprinted  any  of  his  works  in  France,  he  taking  all  measures 
to  protect  his  property  under  the  laws. 

A  series  of  letters  written  from  Baden  and  bearing  dates  in  June 
and  July,  addressed  to  Gleichenstein,  are  of  no  special  interest 
or  importance  except  as  they,  when  read  together,  establish  beyond 
cavil  that  Beethoven  made  no  journey  to  any  distant  watering- 
place  during  the  time  which  they  cover.  By  proving  this  they 
have  a  powerful  bearing  on  the  vexed  question  touching  the  true 
date  of  Beethoven's  famous  love-letter  supposed  by  Schindler  to 
have  been  addressed  to  the  young  Countess  Guicciardi.  That  it 
was  written  in  1806  or  1807  was  long  since  made  certain;  and  it 
was  only  in  a  mistaken  deference  to  Beethoven's  "Evening, 
Monday,  July  6" — which,  if  correct,  would  be  decisive  in  favor  of 
the  latter  year — that  the  letter  was  not  inserted  in  its  proper 
place  as  belonging  to  the  year  1806.  That  this  deference  was  a 
mistake,  and  that  Beethoven  should  have  written  "July  7,"  is 
made  certain  by  Simrock's  letter,  which,  by  determining  the 
dates  of  the  notes  to  Gleichenstein,  affords  positive  evidence  that 
the  composer  passed  the  months  of  June  and  July,  1807,  in  Baden. 
A  cursory  examination  of  the  composer's  correspondence  brings 
to  light  other  similar  mistakes.  There  is  a  letter  to  Breitkopf 
and  Hartel  with  this  date,  "Wednesday,  November  2,  1809" — 
Wednesday  was  the  1st;  a  letter  to  Countess  Erdody  has  "29 
February,  1815" — in  that  year  February  had  l)ut  28  days;  and  a 
letter  to  Zmeskall  is  dated  "Wednesday,  July  3rd,  1817"— July  3rd 
that  year  falling  on  a  Thursday.  Referring  the  reader  to  what  has 
appeared  in  a  previous  chapter,  for  the  letter  and  a  complete  dis- 
cussion of  the  question  of  its  date,  it  need  only  be  added  here, 
that  it  was,  beyond  a  doubt,  written  from  some  Hungarian  watering- 
place  (as  Schindler  says),  where  Beethoven  tarried  for  a  time 
after  his  visit  to  Brunswick  and  before  that  to  Prince  Lichnowsky. 
This  fact  being  established,  it  follows,  as  a  necessary  consequence, 
that  it  was  not  written  to  Julia  Guicciardi — already  nearly  three 
years  the  wife  of  Gallenberg — nor  to  Therese  Malfatti — then  a 


Composition  of  the  Mass  in  C  107 

girl  but  thirteen  or  at  most  fourteen  years — nor,  in  short,  to  any 
person  whose  name  has  ever  been  given  by  biographer  or  novelist 
as  among  the  objects  of  Beethoven's  fleeting  passions.  Thus  we 
are  led  to  the  obvious  and  rational  conclusion,  that  a  mutual 
appreciation  had  grown  up  between  the  composer  and  some  lady 
not  yet  known;  that  there  were  obstacles  to  marriage  just  now 
insuperable,  but  not  of  such  a  nature  as  to  forbid  the  expectation 
of  conquering  them  in  the  future;  and  that — in  1807  as  in  1806 
— they  were  happy  in  their  love  and  looking  forward  with  hope.  ^ 
The  following  letter  to  Prince  Esterhazy,  dated  July  26, 
belongs  to  the  same  period  and  refers  to  the  composition  of  the 
Mass  in  C  : 

Most  Serene,  most  Gracious  Prince! 

Having  been  told  that  you,  my  Prince,  have  asked  concerning  the 
mass  which  you  commissioned  me  to  write  for  you,  I  take  the  liberty, 
my  Serene  Prince,  to  inform  you  that  you  shall  receive  the  same  at  the 
latest  by  the  20th  of  the  month  of  August — which  will  leave  plenty  of 
time  to  have  it  performed  on  the  name-day  of  her  Serene  Highness,  the 
Princess — an  extraordinarily  favorable  offer  which  I  received  from  Lon- 
don when  I  had  the  misfortune  to  make  a  failure  of  my  benefit  at  the 
theatre,  which  made  me  grasp  the  need  with  joy,  retarded  the  com- 
pletion of  the  mass,  much  as  I  wished.  Serene  Prince,  to  appear  with  it 
before  you,  and  to  this  was  added  an  illness  of  the  head,  which  at  first 
permitted  me  to  work  not  at  all  and  now  but  little;  since  everything  is 
so  eagerly  interpreted  against  me,  I  inclose  a  letter  from  my  physician — • 
may  I  add  that  I  shall  give  the  mass  into  your  hands  with  great  fear 
since  you,  Serene  Highness,  are  accustomed  to  have  the  inimitable 
masterpieces  of  the  great  Haydn  performed  for  you. 

At  the  end  of  July,  Beethoven  removed  from  Baden  to 
Heiligenstadt,  devoting  his  time  there  to  the  C  minor  Symphony 
and  the  Mass  in  C.     One  of  Czerny's  notes  relates  to  the  mass: 

Once  when  he  (Beethoven)  was  walking  in  the  country  with  the 
Countess  Erdody  and  other  ladies,  they  heard  some  village  musicians  and 
laughed  at  some  false  notes  which  they  played,  especially  the  violon- 
cellist, who,  fumbling  for  the  C  major  chord,  produced  something  like 
the  following : 


g 


Beethoven  used  this  figure  for  the  "Credo"  of  his  first  mass,  which  he 
chanced  to  be  composing  at  the  time. 

iThe  Editor  of  the  English  edition  feels  it  to  be  his  duty  to  permit  Thayer  to 
reiterate  his  argument  in  favor  of  the  year  1807,  as  that  in  which  the  love-letter  was 
written,  notwithstanding  Dr.  Riemann's  curt  rejection  of  it  in  the  German  edition. 
The  question  is  still   an  open  one. 


108  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

The  name-day  of  Princess  Esterhazy,  nee  Princess  Marie  von 
Liechtenstein,  for  which  Beethoven  promises  in  the  letter  above 
given  to  have  the  Mass  ready,  was  the  8th  of  September.  In  the 
years  when  this  date  did  not  fall  upon  a  Sunday  it  was  the  custom 
at  Eisenstadt  to  celebrate  it  on  the  first  Sunday  following.  In 
1807  the  8th  fell  on  a  Tuesday  and  the  first  performance  of  Beet- 
hoven's Mass,  therefore,  took  place  on  the  13th.  Haydn,  as 
Pohl  informs  us,  had  written  his  masses  for  this  day  and  had  gone 
to  Eisenstadt  from  Vienna  to  conduct  their  performance.  So 
Beethoven  now;  who  seems  to  have  had  his  troubles  with  the 
singers  here  as  in  Vienna,  if  one  may  found  such  an  opinion  upon 
an  energetic  note  of  Prince  Esterhazy  copied  and  printed  by 
Pohl.  In  this  note,  which  is  dated  September  1''2,  1807,  the  Prince 
calls  upon  his  vice-chapelmaster,  Johann  Fuchs,  to  explain  why 
the  singers  in  his  employ  were  not  always  on  hand  at  his  musical 
affairs.  He  had  heard  on  that  day  with  displeasure  that  at  the 
rehearsal  of  Beethoven's  Mass  only  one  of  the  five  contraltos  was 
present,  and  he  stringently  commanded  all  the  singers  and  instru- 
mentalists in  his  service  to  be  on  hand  at  the  performance  of  the 
mass  on  the  following  day. 

The  Mass  was  produced  on  the  next  day — the  13th.  "It  was 
the  custom  at  this  court,"  says  Schindler, 

that  after  the  religious  service  the  local  as  well  as  foreign  musical 
notabilities  met  in  the  chambers  of  the  Prince  for  the  purpose  of  con- 
versing with  him  about  the  works  which  had  been  performed.  When 
Beethoven  entered  the  room,  the  Prince  turned  to  him  with  the  question: 
"But,  my  dear  Beethoven,  what  is  this  that  you  have  done  again?" 
The  impression  made  by  this  singular  question,  which  was  probably 
followed  by  other  critical  remarks,  was  the  more  painful  on  our  artist 
because  he  saw  the  chapelmaster  standing  near  the  Prince  laugh.  Think- 
ing that  he  was  being  ridiculed,  nothing  could  keep  him  at  the  place 
where  his  work  had  been  so  misunderstood  and  besides,  as  he  thought, 
where  a  brother  in  art  had  rejoiced  over  his  discomfiture.  He  left 
Eisenstadt  the  same  day. 

The  laughing  chapelmaster  was  J.  N.  Hummel,  who  had  been 
called  to  the  post  in  1804  in  place  of  Haydn,  recently  pensioned 
because  of  his  infirmities,  due  to  old  age.     Schindler  continues: 

Thence  dates  the  falling-out  with  Hummel,  between  whom  and 
Beethoven  there  never  existed  a  real  intimate  fritnidship.  Unfortunately 
they  never  came  to  an  explanation  which  miglit  have  disclosed  that  the 
unlucky  laugh  was  not  directed  at  Beethoven,  but  at  the  singular  manner 
in  which  the  Prince  had  criticized  the  mass  (in  which  there  is  still  much 
that  might  be  complained  of).  But  there  were  other  things  which  fed 
the  hate  of  Beethoven.  One  of  these  was  that  the  two  had  an  inclina- 
tion for  the  same  girl;  the  other,  the  tendency  which  Hummel  had  first 


Ill  Feeling  between  Beethoven  and  Hummel    109 

introduced  not  only  in  pianoforte  playing  but  also  composition.  .  .  .  Not 
until  the  last  days  of  Beethoven,  post  tot  discrimina  rerum,  was  the  cloud 
which  had  settled  between  the  two  artists  dispelled. 

In  the  earlier  editions  of  his  book,  Schindler  gives  a  still 
gloomier  tinge  to  the  story: 

His  hatred  of  Hummel  because  of  this  (the  laugh  after  the  mass) 
was  so  deeply  rooted  that  I  know  of  no  second  one  like  it  in  his  entire 
history.  After  the  lapse  of  14  years  he  told  me  the  story  with  a  bitter- 
ness as  if  it  had  happened  the  day  before.  But  this  dark  cloud  was  dis- 
sipated by  the  strength  of  his  spirit,  and  this  would  have  happened  much 
earlier  had  Hummel  approached  him  in  a  friendly  manner  instead  of 
always  holding  himself  aloof. 

That  Schindler  heard  Beethoven  speak  of  the  occurrence  in 
Eisenstadt,  fourteen  years  thereafter,  with  "great  bitterness"  is  not 
to  be  doubted;  but  this  does  not  prove  the  existence  of  so  lasting 
and  deep  a  hatred  towards  Hummel  as  is  asserted.  That  he  was 
dissatisfied  with  Hummel's  later  course  as  pianist  and  composer  is 
most  probable,  and  hardly  needs  Schindler's  testimony;  but  it  is 
not  so  with  other  statements  of  his;  and  facts  have  come  to  light 
since  his  book  appeared  (1840)  which  he  could  not  well  have 
known,  but  which  leave  little  doubt  that  he  was  greatly  mis- 
taken in  his  view  of  the  relations  between  the  two  men.  That 
something  very  like  an  "intimate  friendship"  had  characterized 
their  intercourse,  the  reader  already  knows;  and  that,  three  or  four 
years  later,  they  were  again  friendly,  if  not  intimate,  will  in  due  time 
appear.  As  to  the  girl  whom  both  loved,  but  who  favored  Hummel, 
if  Schindler  refers  to  the  sister  of  Rbckel — afterwards  the  wife  of 
Hummel — it  is  known  from  Rockel  himself  that  there  is  nothing  in 
the  story.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  he  had  in  mind  a  ludicrous  anec- 
dote— not  quite  fit  to  be  printed — the  "wife  of  a  citizen,"  who  plays 
the  third  role  in  the  comedy,  was  not  of  such  a  character  as  to  cause 
any  lasting  ill  blood  between  the  rivals  for  her  passing  favor. 

In  short,  while  we  accept  the  Eisenstadt  anecdote,  as  being 
originally  derived  from  Beethoven  himself,  we  must  view  all  that 
Schindler  adds  in  connection  with  it  with  a  certain  amount  of 
distrust  and  doubt — if  not  reject  it  altogether — as  a  new  illustra- 
tion of  his  proneness  to  accept  without  examination  old  impres- 
sions for  established  facts. 

This  year  is  remarkable  not  only  in  Beethoven's  life,  but  in 
the  history  of  music,  as  that  in  which  was  completed  the  C  minor 
Symphony.  This  wondrous  work  was  no  sudden  inspiration. 
Themes  for  the  Allegro,  Andante  and  Scherzo  are  found  in  sketch- 
books belonging,  at  the  very  latest,  to  the  years  1800  and  1801. 


110  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

There  are  studies  also  preserved,  which  show  that  Beethoven 
wrought  upon  it  while  engaged  on  "Fidelio"  and  the  Pianoforte 
Concerto  in  G — that  is,  in  1804-6,  when,  as  before  noted,  he  laid  it 
aside  for  the  composition  of  the  fourth,  in  B-flat  major.  That  is 
all  that  is  known  of  the  rise  and  progress  of  this  famous  symphony, 
except  that  it  was  completed  this  year  in  the  composer's  favorite 
haunts  about  Heiligenstadt.  ^ 

In  the  "Journal  des  Luxus"  of  January,  1808,  there  appeared 
a  letter  in  which  it  was  stated  that  "Beethoven's  opera  'Fidelio,' 
which  despite  all  contradictory  reports  has  extraordinary  beauties, 
is  to  be  performed  in  Prague  in  the  near  future  with  a  new  over- 
ture." The  composer  was  also  said  to  have  "already  begun  a 
second  mass."  Of  this  mass  we  hear  nothing  more,  but  there 
was  a  foundation  of  fact  in  the  other  item  of  news.  Guardasoni 
had  for  some  time  kept  alive  the  Italian  opera  in  Prague,  only 
because  his  contract  required  it.  It  had  sunk  so  low  in  the  esteem 
of  the  public,  that  performances  were  actually  given  to  audiences 
of  less  than  twenty  persons  in  the  parterre — the  boxes  and  gal- 
leries being  empty  in  proportion.  That  manager  died  early  in 
1806,  and  the  Bohemian  States  immediately  raised  Carl  Liebich 
from  his  position  of  stage-manager  of  the  German  drama  to  that 
of  General  Director,  with  instructions  to  dismiss  the  Italian  and 
engage  a  German  operatic  company.  Such  a  change  required 
time;  and  not  until  April  24th,  1807,  did  the  Italians  make  their 
last  appearance,  selecting  for  the  occasion  Mozart's  *'Clemenza 
di  Tito" — originally  composed  for  that  stage.  On  the  2d  of  May 
the  new  German  opera  opened  with  Cherubini's  "Faniska." 

Beethoven,  in  view  of  his  relations  to  the  Bohemian  nobles, 
naturally  expected,  and  seems  to  have  had  the  promise,  that  his 
"Fidelio"  should  be  brought  out  there  as  well  as  its  rival,  and,  as 
Seyfried  expresses  it,  "planned  a  new  and  less  difficult  overture 
for  the  Prague  theatre."  This  was  the  composition  published  in 
1832  with  the  title:  "Overture  in  C,  composed  in  the  year  1805, 
for  the  opera  'Leonore'  by  Ludwig  van  Beethoven" — an  erroneous 

•Nottebohm  concludes  from  a  study  of  the  sketches  that  the  Symphony  in  C 
minor  was  completed  in  March,  1808,  and  the  "Pastoral"  Symphony  later,  though  the 
two  were  sketched  during  the  same  period,  in  part,  and  there  is  a  remote  possibility  that 
the  latter,  which  was  written  down  with  unusual  speed,  was  finished  as  soon  as  the  former. 
In  support  of  this  theory  is  the  circumstance  that  at  the  concert  on  December  ii,  1808, 
at  which  both  were  produced,  the  "Pastoral"  was  numbered  5  and  the  C  minor  6. 
Both  symphonies  were  offered  to  Breitkopf  and  Hartel  in  June,  1808,  and  bought  by  the 
firm  in  September.  In  the  letter  offering  them  Beethoven  observed  the  present  num- 
bering. .\  stipulation  in  the  letter  that  the  symphonies  should  not  be  published  until 
six  months  after  June  1,  suggests  the  probability  that  the  right  to  perform  them  in 
private  had  been  sold  to  Prince  Lobkowitz  and  Count  Rasoumowsky,  to  whom  in 
common  the  works  are  dedicated. 


"In  Questa  Tomba  Oscura"  111 

date,  which  continued  current  and  unchallenged  for  nearly  forty 
years.  Schindler's  story — that  it  was  tried  at  Prince  Lichnowsky's 
and  laid  aside  as  inadequate  to  the  subject — was  therefore  based 
on  misinformation;  but  that  it  was  played  either  at  Lichnowsky's 
or  Lobkowitz's  is  very  probable,  and,  if  so,  it  may  well  have  made 
but  a  tame  and  feeble  impression  on  auditors  who  had  heard  the 
glorious  "Leonore"  Overture  the  year  before.  A  tragical  and 
lamentable  consequence  of  establishing  the  true  date  of  Op.  138 — 
of  the  discovery  that  the  supposed  No.  I  is  really  No.  Ill  of  the 
"Leonore-Fidelio"  overtures — is  this;  that  so  much  eloquent 
dissertation  on  the  astonishing  development  of  Beethoven's  powers 
as  exhibited  in  his  progress  from  No.  I  to  No.  Ill,  has  lost  its  basis, 
and  all  the  fine  writing  on  this  topic  is,  at  a  blow,  made  ridiculous 
and  absurd!  As  to  the  performance  of  "Fidelio"  at  Prague,  Beet- 
hoven was  disappointed.  It  was  not  given.  Another  paragraph 
from  the  "Journal  des  Luxus,  etc."  (November,  1806)  gives  the  only 
satisfactory  notice,  known  to  us,  of  the  origin  of  one  of  Beethoven's 
minor  but  well-known  compositions. 

A  bit  of  musical  pleasantry  (says  the  journal  last  mentioned) 
recently  gave  rise  to  a  competition  amongst  a  number  of  famous  com- 
posers. Countess  Rzewuska^  improvised  an  aria  at  the  pianoforte;  the 
poet  Carpani  at  once  improvised  a  text  for  it.  He  imagined  a  lover 
who  had  died  of  grief  because  of  the  indifference  of  his  ladylove;  she, 
repenting  of  her  hard-heartedness,  bedews  the  grave;  and  now  the  shade 
calls  to  her: 

In  questa  tomba  oscura 

Lasciami  riposar; 
Quando  viveva,  ingrata, 
Dovevi  a  me  pensar. 

Lascia  che  I'ombra  ignude 

Godansi  pace  almen, 
E  non  bagnar  mie  ceneri 

D'inutile  velen. 

These  words  have  been  set  by  Paer,  Salieri,  Weigl,  Zingarelli,  CherubinI, 
Asioli  and  other  great  masters  and  amateurs.  Zingarelli  alone  provided 
ten  compositions  of  them;  in  all  about  fifty  have  been  collected  and  the 
poet  purposes  to  give  them  to  the  public  in  a  volume. 

The  number  of  the  compositions  was  increased  to  sixty-three, 
and  they  were  published  in  1808,  the  last  (No.  63)  being  by  Beet- 
hoven. This  was  by  no  means  considered  the  best  at  the  time, 
although  it  alone  now  survives. 

Though  disappointed  in  December,  as  he  had  been  in  March, 
in   the  hope  of  obtaining  the   use   of   a  theatre   for  a  concert, 

^Query:  The  same  whom  in  1812  Count  Ferd.  Waldstein  married? 


112  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

Beethoven  was  not  thereby  prevented  from  coming  prominently 
before  the  public  as  composer  and  director.  It  was  on  this  wise: 
The  want  of  better  opportunities  to  hear  good  symphony  music 
well  performed,  than  Schuppanzigh's  Concerts — which  were 
also  confined  to  the  summer  months — and  the  occasional  hastily 
arranged  "Academies"  of  composers  and  virtuosos,  afforded, 
induced  a  number  of  music-lovers  early  in  the  winter  to  form  an 
institute  under  the  modest  title:  "Concert  of  Music-Lovers" 
{Liebhaber-Concert).  Says  the  "Wiener  Vaterlandische  Blatter"  of 
May  27,  1808:  "An  orchestra  was  organized,  whose  members 
were  chosen  from  the  best  of  the  local  music-lovers  (dilettanti). 
A  few  wind-instruments  only — French  horns,  trumpets,  etc.,  were 
drafted  from  the  Vienna  theatres.  .  .  .  The  audiences  were  com- 
posed exclusively  of  the  nobility  of  the  town  and  foreigners  of  note, 
and  among  these  classes  the  preference  was  given  to  the  cogno- 
scenti and  amateurs."  The  hall  "zur  Mehlgrube,"  which  was 
first  engaged,  proved  to  be  too  small,  and  the  concerts  were  trans- 
ferred to  the  hall  of  the  University,  where  "in  twenty  meetings 
symphonies,  overtures,  concertos  and  vocal,  pieces  were  performed 
zealously  and  affectionately  and  received  with  general  approval." 
"Banker  Hiiring  was  a  director  in  the  earlier  concerts  but  gave  way 
to  Clement  'because  of  disagreements.'  "  The  works  of  Beethoven 
reported  as  having  been  performed  in  these  concerts,  are  the  Sym- 
phony in  D  (in  the  first  concert),  the  overture  to  "Prometheus" 
in  November,  the  "Eroica"  Symphony  and  "Coriolan"  Overture  in 
December,  and  about  New  Year  the  Fourth  Symphony  in  B-flat, 
which  also  on  the  15th  of  November  had  been  played  in  the  Burg- 
theater  at  a  concert  for  the  public  charities.  Most,  if  not  all  of  these 
works  were  directed  by  their  composer.  The  works  ascertained  as 
belonging  to  this  year  are:  (1)  The  transcription  of  the  Violin  Con- 
certo for  Pianoforte,  made  (as  dementi's  letter  to  CoUard  says) 
at  dementi's  request;  (2)  the  overture  to  "Coriolan";  (3)  the 
Mass  in  C;^  (4)  the  so-called  "Leonore"  Overture,  No.  I,  published 

'On  June  8,  180S,  Beethoven  offered  the  Mass  in  C  to  Breitkopf  and  Hiirtel,  along 
with  the  fifth  and  sixth  symphonies  and  the  sonata  for  pianoforte  and  violoncello.  Op. 
69,  for  900  florins.  He  wrote:  "I  do  not  like  to  say  anything  about  my  mass  or  myself, 
but  I  believe  I  have  treated  the  text  as  it  has  seldom  been  treated."  The  answer  of 
Breitkopf  and  Hiirtel  is  not  of  record,  but  to  the  offer  which  it  contained,  Beethoven 
replied  on  .July  10  with  a  httcr  in  which  he  offered  the  mass,  two  symphonies,  the  sonata 
for  'cello  and  two  other  pianoforte  sonatas  (or  in  place  of  these,  "probably"  another 
symphony)  for  700  florins.  Then  he  says:  "You  see  that  I  give  more  and  take  less — 
but  that  is  the  limit;  you  mii.tt  take  the  mass,  or  I  cannot  gire  you  the  other  works — for  I 
am  considering  honor  and  not  profit  merely.  'There  is  no  demand  for  church  music,' 
you  say,  and  you  are  right,  if  the  music  comes  from  mere  thorough-bassists,  but  if  you 
will  only  have  the  mass  performed  once  you  will  see  if  there  will  not  be  music-lovers  who 
will  want  it.  .  .  .  I  will  guarantee  its  success  in  any  event."  In  a  third  letter,  without 
date,  which  throws  light  on  the  well-nigh  insuperable  difficulties  experienced  by  a  famous 


The  Publications  of  the  Year  1807  113 

as  Op.  138;  (5)  the  Symphony  in  C  minor;  (6)  the  Arietta,  "In 
questa  tomba."  The  original  publications  of  the  year  were  few, 
viz.,  (1)  "LIV^  Sonata"  for  Pianoforte,  Op.  57,  dedicated  to  Count 
Brunswick,  advertised  in  the  "Wiener  Zeitung"  of  February  18, 
by  the  Kunst-  und  Industrie-Comptoir;  (2)  Thirty-two  Variations 
in  C  minor,  advertised  by  the  same  firm  on  April  29;  (3)  Concerto 
concertant  for  Pianoforte,  Violin  and  Violoncello,  Op.  56,  dedi- 
cated to  Prince  Lobkowitz,  advertised  in  the  "Wiener  Zeitung" 
on  July  1. 

The  following  advertisements  are  evidence  of  the  great  and 
increasing  popularity  of  Beethoven's  name:  On  March  21,  Traeg 
announces  12  Ecossaises  and  12  Waltzes  for  two  violins  and  bass 
(2  flutes,  2  horns  ad  lib.);  also  for  pianoforte;  other  works  are 
being  arranged;  on  April  20,  the  Kunst-  und  Industrie-Comptoir 
announces  an  arrangement  of  the  "Eroica"  Symphony  for  piano- 
forte, violin,  viola  and  violoncello;  on  May  27  (Artaria),  a  Sonata 
for  Pianoforte  and  Violoncello,  Op.  64,  transcribed  from  Op.  3; 
on  June  13  (Traeg),  the  Symphony  in  D  major  arranged  by  Ries 
as  a  Quintet  with  double-bass,  flute,  2  horns  ad  lib.;  on  September  12 
(the  Chemical  Printing  Works),  a  Polonaise,  Op.  8,  for  two  violins 
and  for  violin  and  guitar. 

composer  a  century  or  so  ago  in  securing  the  publication  of  a  large  ecclesiastical  work, 
Beethoven  says:  "To  the  repeated  proposal  made  by  you  through  Wagener,  I  reply  that 
I  am  ready  to  relieve  you  of  everything  concerning  the  mass — /  make  you  a  present  of  it, 
you  need  not  pay  even  the  cost  of  copying,  firmly  convinced  that  if  you  once  have  it  per- 
formed in  your  winter  concerts  at  Leipsic  you  will  surely  provide  it  with  a  German  text 
and  publish  it.  .  .  .  The  reason  for  my  having  wished  to  bind  you  to  publish  this  mass 
is  in  the  first  place  and  chiefly  because  it  is  dear  to  my  heart  and  in  spite  of  the  coldness  of 
our  age  to  such  works."  A  later  letter  (of  date  April  5,  1809)  to  Breitkopf  and  Hartel 
shows  that  the  gift  of  the  mass  was  not  accepted.  Beethoven  changed  its  dedication 
several  times.  On  October  5,  1810,  he  wrote  to  Breitkopf  and  Hartel  that  it  was 
dedicated  to  Zmeskall;  on  October  9,  1811,  he  gives  notice  that  a  change  in  the  dedication 
would  have  to  be  made  because  "the  woman  is  now  married  and  the  name  must  be 
changed;  let  the  matter  rest,  therefore,  write  to  me  when  you  will  publish  it  and  then  the 
work's  saint  will  doubtless  be  found."  Eventually  the  "saint"  proved  to  be  Prince 
Kinsky. 


Chapter  VII 


The  Year  1808 — Beethoven's  Brother  Johann — Plans  for  New 
Operas — The  "Pastoral  Symphony"  and  "Choral  Fan- 
tasia"— A  Call  to  Cassel — ^Appreciation  in  Vienna. 


f  I  ^HE  history  of  the  year  1808  must  be  preceded  by  the  follow- 
ing letter  to  Gleichenstein: 


1 


^& 


Dear  good  Gleichenstein: 

Please  be  so  kind  as  to  give  this  to  the  copyist  to-morrow — it  con- 
cerns the  symphony  as  you  see — in  case  he  is  not  through  with  the  quartet 
to-morrow,  take  it  away  and  deliver  it  at  the  Industriecomptoir.  .  .  .  You 
may  say  to  my  brother  that  I  shall  certainly  not  write  to  him  again.  I 
know  the  cause,  it  is  this,  because  he  has  lent  me  money  and  spent  some 
on  my  account  he  is  already  concerned,  I  know  my  brothers,  since  I  can- 
not yet  pay  it  back  to  him,  and  the  other  probably  who  is  filled  with  the 
spirit  of  revenge  against  me  and  him  too — it  were  best  if  I  were  to  col- 
lect the  whole  1500  florins  (from  the  Industriecomptoir)  and  pay  him 
with  it,  then  the  matter  will  be  at  an  end — heaven  forefend  that  I  should 
be  obliged  to  receive  benefactions  from  my  brothers.  ^ 

Beethoven. 

Of  all  the  known  letters  of  Beethoven,  perhaps  no  one  is  so 
much  to  be  regretted  as  this,  written  near  the  end  of  1807,  just 
when  the  contracts  with  the  Kunst-  und  Industrie-Comptoir,  and 
Simrock — he  had  received  nothing  as  yet  on  the  Clementi  contract 
— made  his  pecuniary  resources  abundant,  doubtless  increased  by 
a  handsome  honorarium  out  of  the  receipts  of  the  Liebhaber  Con- 
certs. True,  the  letter  was  intended  for  Gleichenstein's  eye  alone; 
still  it  is  sad  to  know  that  even  in  a  moment  of  spleen  or  anger 
and  in  the  privacy  of  intimate  friendship,  the  great  master  could 

'This  letter  was  doubtless  followed  by  a  billet  to  Gleichenstein  reading  as  follows: 
"I  think — you  would  better  have  them  pay  you  60  florins  more  than  the  1500  or,  if  you 
think  that  it  would  be  consistent  with  my  honesty — the  sum  of  1000 — I  leave  this  wholly 
to  you,  however,  only  honesty  and  justice  must  be  the  polestar  which  is  to  guide  you." 
The  transaction  to  which  the  letter  and  note  refer  must  have  been  the  sale  of  the  com- 
positions, the  British  rights  for  which  had  been  sold  to  Clementi.  The  quartet  was 
probably  one  of  the  Rasoumowsky  set  and  the  symphony  that  in  H-flat,  since  the  fifth 
and  sixth  were  not  published  by  the  Viennese  Bureau  but  by  Breitkopf  and  Iliirtel. 

[114] 


Sl-\nders  against  Johann  van  Beethoven         115 

so  far  forget  his  own  dignity,  and  write  thus  abusively  of  his 
brother  Johann,  whose  claim  was  just  and  whose  future  career 
was  dependent  upon  its  payment  at  this  time. 

The  case,  in  few  words,  was  this:— Eleonore  Ordley,  sole  heir 
of  her  sister,  Theresia  Tiller,  was,  in  the  autumn  of  1807,  seeking  a 
purchaser  for  the  house  and  "registered  apothecary  shop"  which, 
until  1872,  still  existed  directly  between  the  market-place  and  the 
bridge  at  Linz  on  the  Danube,  and  was  willing  to  dispose  of  them 
on  such  terms  of  payment,  as  to  render  it  possible  even  for  Johann 
van  Beethoven  with  his  slender  means  to  become  their  owner. 
"I  know  my  brothers,"  writes  Beethoven.  His  brothers  also  knew 
him;  and  Johann  had  every  reason  to  fear  that  if  he  did  not  secure 
his  debt  now  when  his  brother's  means  were  abundant,  he  might  at 
the  crisis  of  his  negotiation  find  himself  penniless.  His  demand 
w^as  too  just  to  be  resisted  and  Gleichenstein  evidently  drew  the 
money  from  the  Kunst-  und  Industrie-Comptoir  and  paid  it;  for  on 
the  13th  of  March,  1808,  the  contract  of  sale  was  signed  at  Vienna. 
By  the  terms  of  the  contract  which  fixed  the  price  at  25,000  florins, 
the  vendee  agreed  to  assume  incumbrances  on  the  property 
amounting  to  12,600  florins,  pay  10,400  florins  in  cash  and  5% 
interest  on  2,000  florins  to  the  vendor  during  her  life,  and  to  be  in 
Linz  and  take  possession  of  the  property  on  or  before  March  20, 
i.e.,  within  a  week  after  the  signing  of  the  contract. 

The  expenses  incurred  in  the  negotiations,  in  his  journey  to 
Linz,  and  in  taking  possession,  left  the  indigent  purchaser  barely 
funds  sufficient  to  make  his  first  payment  and  ratify  the  contract; 
in  fact,  he  had  only  300  florins  left.  The  profits  of  his  shop  and  the 
rents  of  his  house  were  so  small,  that  Johann  was  almost  at  his 
wit's  end  how  to  meet  his  next  engagements.  He  sold  the  iron 
gratings  of  the  w^indows — but  they  produced  too  little  to  carry  him 
through.  It  was  a  comical  piece  of  good  luck  for  him  that  the  jars 
and  pots  upon  his  shelves  were  of  pure,  solid  English  tin — a  metal 
which  Napoleon's  non-intercourse  decrees  fulminated  against 
England  had  just  then  raised  enormously  in  price.  The  cunning 
apothecary  sold  his  tin,  furnished  his  shop  with  earthenware,  and 
met  his  payments  with  the  profits  of  the  transaction.  But  it  is 
an  ill  wind  that  blows  nobody  any  good;  the  reverses  of  the 
Austrian  arms  in  April,  1809,  opened  the  road  for  the  French 
armies  to  Linz,  and  gave  Apothecary  Beethoven  an  opportunity 
to  make  large  contracts  for  the  supply  of  medicines  to  the 
enemy's  commissariat,  which  not  only  relieved  him  in  his  present 
necessities  but  laid  the  foundation  for  his  subsequent  moderate 
fortune. 


IIG  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

This  concise  record  of  facts  effectually  disposes  of  the  current 
errors,  which  are,  first:  that  about  1802-3  Beethoven  established 
his  brother  in  Linz  as  apothecary,  advancing  to  him  the  necessary 
capital;  second:  that,  through  his  personal  influence,  he  obtained 
for  Johann  profitable  contracts  with  the  Austrian  Commissariat 
for  medicines — which  contracts  were  the  basis  of  his  subsequent 
prosperity;  third:  that  consequently,  in  obtaining  monies  from  his 
brother,  Beethoven  was  only  sharing  in  the  profits  on  capital 
furnished  by  himself;  and,  fourth:  that  hence,  Johann's  urgent 
request  for  payment  in  1807  was  an  exhibition  of  vile  selfishness 
and  base  ingratitude!     All  this  is  the  exact  reverse  of  the  truth. 

No  other  performances  of  Beethoven's  works  at  the  Liebhaber 
Concerts,  than  those  before  enumerated,  are  reported;  perhaps 
none  were  given,  for  reasons  indicated  in  a  letter  from  Stephan 
von  Breuning  to  Wegeler,  written  in  March,  1808:  "Beethoven 
came  near  losing  a  finger  by  a  Panaritium  [felon],  but  he  is 
again  in  good  health.  He  escaped  a  great  misfortune,  which, 
added  to  his  deafness,  would  have  completely  ruined  his  good 
humor,  which,  as  it  is,  is  of  rare  occurrence." 

The  series  of  concerts  closed  with  the  famous  one  of  March 
27th,  at  which  in  honor  of  Haydn,  whose  76th  birthday  fell  on  the 
31st,  his  "Creation"  with  Carpani's  Italian  text  was  given.  It  is 
pleasant  to  know  that  Beethoven  was  one  of  those  who,  "with 
members  of  the  high  nobility,"  stood  at  the  door  of  the  hall  of  the 
university  to  receive  the  venerable  guest  on  his  arrival  there  in 
Prince  Esterhazy's  coach,  and  who  accompanied  him  as  "sitting 
in  an  armchair  he  was  carried,  lifted  high,  and  on  his  entrance  into 
the  hall  was  received  with  the  sound  of  trumpets  and  drums  by  the 
numerous  gathering  and  greeted  with  joyous  shouts  of  'Long 
live  Havdn!'" 

Some  pains  have  been  taken  in  other  chapters  to  show  that 
the  want  of  taste  and  appreciation  so  often  alleged  for  the  works 
of  Beethoven  at  Vienna  is  a  mistake.  On  the  contrary,  generally 
in  the  concerts  of  those  years,  whenever  an  orchestra  equal  to  the 
task  was  engaged,  few  as  his  published  orchestral  compositions 
then  were,  they  are  as  often  to  be  found  on  the  programmes  as 
those  of  Mozart  or  even  Haydn;  none  were  more  likely  to  fill  the 
house.  Thus,  immediately  after  the  close  of  the  Liebhaber 
Concerts,  Sebastian  Meier's  annual  benefit  in  the  Theater-an-der- 
Wien  opened  with  the  "Sinfonia  Eroica."  This  was  on  IMonday 
evening,  April  11.  Two  days  after  (13th)  the  Charity  Institute's 
Concert  in  the  Burg  Theatre  offered  a  programme  of  six  numbers; 
No.  1  was  Beethoven's  Fourth  Symphony  in  B-flat;  No.  5,  one  of 


Rust's  Meetings  with  the  Composer  117 

his  Pianoforte  Concertos,  played  bj^  Friedrich  Stein;  and  No.  6, 
the  "Coriohm"  Overture — all  directed  by  the  composer;  and,  at  a 
benefit  concert  in  May,  in  the  Au^artensaal,  occurred  the  first 
known  public  performance  of  the  Triple  Concerto,  Op.  56. 

The  once  famous  musical  wonder-child,  Wilhelm  Rust,  of 
Dessau,  at  the  time  a  young  man  of  some  twenty-two  years,  had 
come  to  Vienna  in  1807,  and  was  now  supporting  himself  by  giving 
"children  instructions  in  reading  and  elementary  natural  science." 
In  a  letter  to  his  "best  sister,  Jette."  dated  Haking  (a  village 
near  Vienna),  July  9,  1808,  he  wrote  of  Beethoven. 

You  want  much  to  hear  sometliing  about  Beethoven;  unfortunately 
I  must  say  first  of  all  that  it  has  not  been  possil)le  for  me  to  get  inti- 
nuitely  acquainted  with  him.  What  else  I  know  I  will  tell  you  now: 
He  is  as  original  and  singular  as  a  man  as  are  his  compositions.  On  the 
other  hand  he  is  also  very  childlike  and  certainly  very  sincere.  He  is  a 
creat  lover  of  truth  and  in  this  goes  too  far  very  often;  for  he  never 
Halters  and  therefore  makes  many  enemies.  A  good  fellow  played  for 
him,  and  when  he  was  finished  Beethoven  said  to  him:  "You  will  have  to 
j)lay  a  long  time  before  you  will  realize  that  you  can  do  nothing."  I  do 
not  know  whether  you  heard  that  I  also  played  for  him.  He  praised  my 
playing,  particularly  in  the  Bach  fugue,  and  said:  "You  play  that  well," 
which  is  much  for  him.  Still  he  could  not  omit  calling  my  attention  to 
two  mistakes.  In  a  Scherzo  I  had  not  played  the  notes  crisply  enough 
and  at  another  time  I  had  struck  one  note  twice  instead  of  binding  it. 
He  must  be  unable  to  endure  the  French;  for  once  when  Prince 
Lichnowsky  had  some  French  guests,  he  asked  Beethoven,  who  was  also 
with  him,  to  play  for  them  as  they  had  requested;  but  he  refused  and 
said  he  would  not  play  for  Frenchmen.  In  consequence  he  and  Lich- 
nowsky had  a  falling  out.^ 

Once  I  met  him  at  a  restaurant  where  he  sat  with  a  few  acquain- 
tances, lie  berated  Vienna  soundly  and  the  decay  of  its  nnisic.  In 
this  he  is  certainly  right,  and  I  was  glad  to  hear  his  judgment,  wiiich  con- 
firmed mine.  Last  winter  I  frequently  attended  the  Liebhaber  Concerts, 
the  first  of  which  under  Beethoven's  direction  were  very  beautiful;  but 
after  he  retired  they  became  so  poor  that  there  was  not  one  in  which 
something  was  not  bungletl.  .  .  . 

It  is  very  possible  that  Beethoven  will  leave  Vienna;  at  any  rate  he 
has  frequently  sj)oken  of  doing  so  and  said:  "They  are  forcing  me  to  it." 
lie  also  asked  me  once  how  the  orchestras  were  in  the  North.  You 
wanted  to  know  if  any  new  sonatas  by  him  have  been  puV)lished.  His 
last  works  were  symphonies  and  he  is  now  writing  an  opera,  which  is  the 
reason  why  I  caiuiot  go  to  him  any  more.  Last  year  he  composed  a 
})Iece  which  I  have  not  heard  and  an  overture  "Coriolan"  which  is  ex- 
trat)rdinarily  beautiful.  Perhaps  you  have  had  an  opportunity  to  hear 
it  in  Berlin.  The  theme  and  variations  in  C  minor  which  you  refer  to 
I  also  have;  it  is  very  beautiful,  etc. 

'Alois  Furhs  rolatod  that  whon  IV-cth<>von  hoard  from  Krumpholz  of  Napoleon's 
victory  at  Joaa  be  exclaimeil:  "I'ity  that  1  do  not  understand  the  art  of  war  as  well  as  I 
do  the  art  of  music;  I  would  conquer  him  yet!" 


118  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

In  December  Rust,  writing  to  his  brother  Carl,  was  obliged  to 
correct  what  he  had  said  about  Beethoven's  new  opera;  "All  new 
products  which  have  appeared  here  are  more  or  less  mediocre 
except  those  of  Beethoven,  I  think  I  have  written  you  that  he 
has  not  yet  begun  his  new  opera.  I  have  not  yet  heard  his  first 
opera;  it  has  not  been  performed  since  I  have  been  here."  These 
last  sentences  of  Rust  remind  us  of  the  once  current  notion  that 
disgust  and  disappointment  at  the  (assumed)  failure  of  "Fidelio" 
prevented  Beethoven  from  ever  undertaking  the  composition  of 
another  opera.  The  error  was  long  since  exploded,  and,  indeed, 
amply  refuted  by  his  proposition  to  the  "princely  theatre  rabble" 
for  a  permanent  engagement.  It  is  now  universally  known  how 
earnestly  Beethoven  all  his  life  long  sought  a  satisfactory  text 
for  an  opera  or  an  oratorio;  his  friends  always  knew  it;  and  his 
essays  in  vocal  composition  had,  in  spite  of  the  critics,  so  favor- 
ably impressed  them  and  the  dramatic  writers  of  the  day,  that 
all  were  eager  to  serve  him. 

Thus  Schindler  writes  to  Gleichenstein  from  Gratz,  on  March 
19,  1807:  "Speak  at  once  to  our  friend  Beethoven  and  particu- 
larly with  the  worthy  Breuning,  and  learn  if  Beethoven  has  a  mind 
to  set  a  comic  opera  to  music.  I  have  read  it,  and  found  it  varied 
in  situation,  beautiful  in  diction."     Nothing  came  of  this. 

A  somewhat  more  promising  offer  came  from  another  quarter, 
but  also  without  result.  The  celebrated  Orientalist,  Hammer- 
Purgstall,  had  just  returned  from  the  East  to  Vienna.  Although 
but  thirty-three  years  of  age,  he  was  already  famous,  and  his 
translations  and  other  writings  were  the  talk  of  the  day.  An 
autograph  note  by  Beethoven  without  address  or  date,  preserved 
in  the  Fetter  Collection,  was  evidently  written  to  him: 

Almost  put  to  shame  by  your  courtesy  and  kindness  in  communi- 
cating your  still  unknown  literary  treasures  in  manuscript,  I  thank  j'ou 
heartily  while  returning  the  opera  texts;  overwhelmed  in  my  artistic 
calling  it  is  impossible  for  me  just  now  to  go  into  details  about  the  Indian 
opera  particularly,  as  soon  as  time  permits  I  shall  visit  you  in  order  to 
discuss  this  subject  as  well  as  the  oratorio,  "The  Deluge,"  with  you. 

No  oratorio  on  the  subject  of  the  deluge  appears  in  the  cata- 
logue of  Hammer-Purgstall's  works.  ^ 

'Nevertheless  a  letter,  of  which  a  copy  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  Thayer  at  a  later 
date,  indicates  that  an  oratorio  "Die  Sundfluth"  was  written  by  Hammcr-Purgstall, 
and  also  that  the  correspondence  between  Beethoven  and  the  Orientalist  took  place  in 
1809.  It  is  dated  "Ash  Wednesday,"  the  year  not  being  mentioned,  but  refers  to  the 
departure  of  the  Persian  Ambassador  and  the  fact  that  H.  Schick  had  acquainted  the 
writer  with  Beethoven's  desire  to  have  an  Indian  chorus  of  a  religious  character  for 
composition. 


An  Operatic  "Macbeth"  in  Contemplation       119 

The  new  directors  of  the  theatres  began  their  operatic  per- 
formances at  the  Karnthnerthor  January  1  and  2,  and  at  the  Burg 
January  4,  1807,  with  Gluck's  "Iphigenia  in  Tauris."  It  was  new 
to  Collin  and  awakened  in  his  mind  new  ideas  of  the  ancient 
tragedy,  which  he  determined  to  embody  in  a  text  for  a  musical 
drama  in  oratorio  form.  According  to  his  biographer,  Laban,  he 
projected  one  on  the  Liberation  of  Jerusalem,  to  offer  to  Beethoven 
for  setting;  but  it  was  never  finished.  Another  essay  in  the 
field  of  musical  drama  was  a  "Macbeth,"  after  Shakespeare,  also 
left  unfinished  in  the  middle  of  the  second  act,  "because  it  threat- 
ened to  become  too  gloomy,"  He  carried  to  completion  a  grand 
opera  libretto,  "Bradamante,"  for  which  he  had  an  unusual  pre- 
dilection. It  also  was  offered  to  Beethoven,  but  "seemed  too 
venturesome"  to  him  in  respect  of  its  use  of  the  supernatural;  there 
were  probably  other  reasons  why  it  did  not  appeal  to  him.  "And 
so  it  happened  that  although  at  a  later  period  Beethoven  wanted  to 
undertake  its  composition,  Collin  gave  the  book  to  Reichardt,  who 
set  it  to  music  during  his  sojourn  in  Vienna  in  1808." 

A  writer  in  Cotta's  "Morgenblatt"  remarks:  "The  clever 
Beethoven  has  a  notion  to  compose  Goethe's  'Faust'  as  soon  as  he 
has  found  somebody  who  will  adapt  it  for  the  stage  for  him," 
Nottebohm  ("Zweite  Beethoveniana,"  p.  225  et  seq.)  says  that  the 
first  act  of  Collin's  "Macbeth"  was  printed  in  1809  and  must  have 
been  written  in  1808  at  the  latest.  He  also  prints  a  sketch  showing 
that  Beethoven  had  begun  its  composition.  The  "Macbeth" 
project  therefore  preceded  the  negotiations  about  "Bradamante." 
Collin's  opera  begins,  like  Shakespeare's,  with  the  witches'  scene, 
and  the  sketch  referred  to  is  preceded  by  the  directions:  "Over- 
ture Macbeth  falls  immediately  into  the  chorus  of  witches."^ 

The  consequence  of  Beethoven's  fastidiousness  and  indecision 
was  that  on  removing  again  to  Heiligenstadt  for  the  summer,  he 
had  no  text  for  a  vocal  composition  and  devoted  his  time  and 
energies  to  an  instrumental  composition — the  "Sinfonia  Pastorale." 

Those  who  think  programme  music  for  the  orchestra  is  a 
recent  invention,  and  they  who  suppose  the  "Pastoral"  Symphony 
to  be  an  original  attempt  to  portray  nature  in  music,  are  alike  mis- 
taken. It  was  never  so  much  the  ambition  of  Beethoven  to  in- 
vent new  forms  of  musical  works,  as  to  surpass  his  contempo- 
raries in  the  use  of  those  already  existing.     There  were  few  great 

^Rockel  in  his  letter  to  Thayer  says:  "That  Beethoven  did  not  abandon  the  idea 
of  composing  another  opera  was  shown  by  the  impatience  with  which  he  could  scarcely 
wait  for  his  friend  Collin  to  make  an  opera  book  for  him  of  Shakespeare's  'Macbeth.' 
At  Beethoven's  request,  I  read  the  first  act  and  found  that  it  followed  the  great  original 
closely;  unfortunately  Collin's  death  prevented  the  completion  of  the  work." 


120  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

battles  in  those  stormy  years,  that  were  not  fought  over  again  by 
orchestras,  military  bands,  organs  and  pianofortes;  and  pages 
might  be  filled  with  a  catalogue  of  programme  music,  long  since 
dead,  buried  and  forgotten. 

A  remark  of  Ries,  confirmed  by  other  testimony,  as  well  as  by 
the  form  and  substance  of  many  of  his  master's  works,  if  already 
quoted,  will  bear  repetition:  "Beethoven  in  composing  his  pieces 
often  thought  of  a  particular  thing,  although  he  frequently  laughed 
at  musical  paintings  and  scolded  particularly  about  trivialities  of 
this  sort.  Haydn's  'Creation'  and  'The  Seasons'  were  frequently 
ridiculed,  though  Beethoven  never  failed  to  recognize  Haydn's 
high  deserts,"  etc.  But  Beethoven  himself  did  not  disdain  occa- 
sionally to  introduce  imitations  into  his  works.  The  difference 
between  him  and  others  in  this  regard  was  this:  they  undertook 
to  give  musical  imitations  of  things  essentially  unmusical — he 
never. 

On  a  bright,  sunny  day  in  April,  1823,  Beethoven  took 
Schindler  for  a  long  ramble  through  the  scenes  in  which  he  had 
composed  his  Fifth  and  Sixth  symphonies.     Schindler  writes: 

After  we  had  looked  at  the  bath-house  and  its  adjacent  garden  at 
Heiligenstadt  and  he  had  given  expression  to  many  agreeable  recollections 
touching  his  creations,  we  continued  our  walk  towards  the  Kahlenberg 
in  the  direction  past  Grinzing  [?].  Passing  through  the  pleasant 
meadow- valley  between  Heiligenstadt  and  the  latter  village, '  which  is 
traversed  by  a  gently  murmuring  brook  which  hurries  down  from  a 
near-by  mountain  and  is  bordered  with  high  elms,  Beethoven  repeatedly 
stopped  and  let  his  glances  roam,  full  of  happiness,  over  the  glorious 
landscape.  Then  seating  himself  on  the  turf  and  leaning  against  an  elm, 
Beethoven  asked  me  if  there  were  any  yellowhammers  to  be  heard  in  the 
trees  around  us.  But  all  was  still.  He  then  said:  "Here  I  composed  the 
'Scene  by  the  Brook'  and  the  yellowhammers  up  there,  the  quails,  night- 
ingales and  cuckoos  round  about,  composed  with  me."  To  my  question 
why  he  had  not  also  put  the  yellowhammers  into  the  scene,  he  drew  out 
his  sketchbook  and  wrote: 


"That's  the  composer  up  there,"  he  remarked,  "hasn't  she  a  more  im- 
portant role  to  play  than  the  others?      They  are  meant  only  for  a  joke." 

^Schindler  here  is  mistaken.  The  "walk  toward  the  Kahlenberg"  took  them 
northerly  into  the  valley  between  Hciligpnstadt  and  Nussdorf,  whf-re  an  excessively 
idealized  bust  of  the  composer  now  marks  the  "Scene  by  llie  Brook."  After  thirty 
years  of  absence  from  \'ienna,  Schindler's  memory  harl  lost  the  exact  topography  of 
these  scenes;  and  a  friend  to  whom  he  wrote  for  information  upon  it  mistook  thi-  (»rin- 
zing  brook  and  valley  for  the  true  ones.  This  ex[)lanation  of  his  error  was  made  by 
Schindler  to  the  present  writer  very  soon  after  the  third  edition  of  his  (Schindler's)  book 
appeared. 


Jokes  in  the  "Pastoral  Symphony"  121 

And  really  the  entrance  of  this  figure  in  G  major  gives  the  tone-picture 
a  new  charm.  Speaking  now  of  the  whole  work  and  its  parts,  Beethoven 
said  that  the  melody  of  this  variation  from  the  species  of  the  yellow- 
hammers  was  pretty  plainly  imitated  in  the  scale  written  down  in 
Andante  rhythm  and  the  same  pitch,  i  As  a  reason  for  not  having 
mentioned  this  fellow-composer  he  said  that  had  he  printed  the  name  it 
would  only  have  served  to  increase  the  number  of  ill-natured  interpre- 
tations of  the  movement  which  has  made  the  introduction  of  the  work 
difficult  not  only  in  Vienna  but  also  in  other  places.  Not  infrequently 
the  symphony,  because  of  its  second  mo\'ement,  had  been  declared  to  be 
child's  play.     In  some  places  it  shared  the  fate  of  the  "Eroica." 

Equally  interesting,  valuable  and  grateful  is  Schindler's  ac- 
count of  the  origin  of  Beethoven's  "Merrymaking  of  the  Country- 
folk" in  this  symphony.     Somewhat  curtailed  it  is  this: 

There  are  facts  to  tell  us  of  how  particular  was  the  interest  which 
Beethoven  took  in  Austrian  dance-music.  Until  his  arrival  in  Vienna 
(1792),  according  to  his  own  statement,  he  had  not  become  acquainted  with 
any  folkmusic  except  that  of  the  mountains,  with  its  strange  and  peculiar 
rhythms.  How  much  attention  he  afterwards  bestowed  on  dance-music 
is  proved  by  the  catalogue  of  his  works.  He  even  made  essays  in  Aus- 
trian dance-music,  but  the  players  refused  to  grant  Austrian  citizen- 
ship to  these  efforts.  The  last  effort  dates  from  1819  and,  strangely 
enough,  falls  in  the  middle  of  his  work  on  the  "Missa  Solemnis."  In  the 
tavern  "To  the  Three  Ravens"  in  the  vordern  Brilhl  near  Modling  there 
had  played  a  band  of  seven  men.  This  band  was  one  of  the  first  that 
gave  the  young  musician  from  the  Rhine  an  opportunity  to  hear  the 
national  tunes  of  his  new  home  in  an  unadulterated  form.  Beethoven 
made  the  acquaintance  of  the  musicians  and  composed  several  sets  of 
Ldndler  and  other  dances  for  them.  In  the  year  mentioned  (1819),  he 
had  again  complied  with  the  wishes  of  the  band.  I  was  present  when 
the  new  opus  was  handed  to  the  leader  of  the  company.  The  master  in 
high  good  humor  remarked  that  he  had  so  arranged  the  dances  that  one 
musician  after  the  other  might  put  down  his  instrument  at  intervals  and 
take  a  rest,  or  even  a  nap.  After  the  leader  had  gone  away  full  of  joy 
because  of  the  present  of  the  famous  composer,  Beethoven  asked  me  if  I 
had  not  observed  how  village  musicians  often  played  in  their  sleep, 
occasionally  letting  their  instruments  fall  and  remaining  entirely  quiet, 
then  awaking  with  a  start,  throwing  in  a  few  vigorous  blows  or  strokes 
at  a  venture,  but  generally  in  the  right  key,  and  then  falling  asleep  again; 
he  had  tried  to  copy  these  poor  people  in  his  "Pastoral"  symphony. 
Now,  reader,  take  up  the  score  and  see  the  arrangement  on  pages  106, 
107,  108  and  109.  Note  the  stereotyped  accompaniment  figure  of  the 
two  violins  on  page  105  and  the  following;  note  the  sleep-drunken  second 

i"But  the  note  of  the  yellowhammer,  both  in  England  and  in  Austria,  is  not  an 
arpeggio — cannot  in  any  way  be  twisted  into  one,  or  represented  by  one.  It  is  a  quick 
succession  of  the  same  note,  ending  with  a  longer  one,  sometimes  rising  above  the  pre- 
ceding note,  but  more  frequently  falling.  In  fact,  Schindler  himself  tells  us  that  it  was 
the  origin  of  the  mighty  theme  which  opened  the  C  minor  Symphony!" — Grove,  "Beet- 
hoven and  His  Nine  Symphonies,"  p.  211. 


122  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

bassoon  1  with  his  repetition  of  a  few  tones,  while  contra -bass,  violon- 
cello and  viola  keep  quiet;  on  page  108  we  see  the  viola  wake  up  and  ap- 
parently awaken  the  violoncello — and  the  second  horn  also  sounds  three 
notes,  but  at  once  sinks  into  silence  again.  At  length  contra-bass  and 
the  two  bassoons  gather  themselves  together  for  a  new  eflFort  and  the 
clarinet  has  time  to  take  a  rest.  Moreover,  the  Allegro  in  2-4  time  on 
page  110  is  based  in  form  and  character  on  the  old-time  Austrian  dances. 
There  were  dances  in  which  3-4  time  gave  way  suddenly  to  2-4.  As 
late  as  the  third  decade  of  the  nineteenth  century  I  myself  saw  such 
dances  executed  in  forest  villages  only  a  few  hours  distant  from  the 
metropolis — Laab,  Kaltenleutgeben  and  Gaden. 

The  subject  of  Beethoven's  imitations,  even  in  play,  are  there- 
fore musical,  not  incongruous;  and  in  his  "Portrait  musical  de  la 
Nature"  are  so  suggestive  as  to  aid  and  intensify  the  "expression  of 
feelings,"  which  was  his  professed  aim. 

Beethoven  wrote  to  Count  Oppersdorff  on  November  1: 

You  will  view  me  in  a  false  light,  but  necessity  compelled  me  to 
sell  the  symphony  which  was  written  for  you  and  also  another  to  some- 
one else — but  be  assured  that  you  shall  soon  receive  the  one  intended  for 
you  soon.  ...  I  live  right  under  Prince  Lichnowsky,  in  case  you  ever 
make  me  a  visit  in  Vienna,  at  Countess  Erdody's.  My  circumstances 
are  improving — without  the  help  of  persons  ivho  wish  to  treat  their  friends 
with  a  threshing.  I  have  also  been  called  to  be  Chapelmaster  to  the  King 
of  Westphalia,  and  it  is  easily  possible  that  I  shall  accept  the  call. 

Such  an  apology  for  not  having  dedicated  the  promised  Sym- 
phony to  Oppersdorff,  and  the  promise  soon  to  supply  its  place 
with  another,  are  ample  testimony  that  the  relations  between  the 
composer  and  that  nobleman  were  of  a  character  well  w'orth  the 
trouble  of  investigation  by  any  one  who  has  the  opportunity  to 
make  it.  Whatever  information  can  be  obtained  upon  this  matter 
will  be  new.2 

'Carl  Holz  related  a  story  to  Jahn,  which  he  may  very  well  have  heard  from 
Beethoven  himself.  Jahn's  memorandum  of  it  is  in  the  following  words:  "Scherzo  of 
the  Pastorale.  In  Heiligenstadt  a  drunken  bassoonist  thrown  out  of  the  tavern,  who 
then  blows  the  bass  notes." 

^Some  of  the  information  for  which  Thayer  hoped  was  supplied  by  his  translator. 
Dr.  Deiters,  and  has  been  printed  as  a  foot-note  in  the  preceding  chapter.  Something 
more  appears  from  several  documents  which  have  come  to  light  since  Mr.  Thayer  wrote, 
but,  it  must  be  confessed,  it  seems  more  bewildering  than  illuminative.  One  of  these 
is  a  letter  which  was  published  in  the  "Signale"  of  Leipsic  in  September,  1880.  It  is 
without  date,  but  an  allusion  to  the  felon  with  which  Beethoven  was  afflicted  fixes 
the  time  of  its  writing  about  March,  1808.  The  significant  part  of  the  letter  is  as  follows: 
"To-day  I  have  little  time  to  write  more  to  you,  I  only  want  to  inform  you  that  your  sym- 
phony has  long  been  ready  and  I  will  send  it  to  you  by  the  next  post — you  may  retain  50 
florins,  for  the  copying,  which  I  will  have  done  for  you,  will  cost  that  sum  at  least — in 
case  you  do  not  want  the  symphony,  however,  let  me  know  the  fact  before  the  next  post 
— in  case  you  accept  it,  rejoice  me  as  soon  as  possible  with  the  300  florins  still  due  me — 
The  last  piece  in  the  symphony  is  with  3  trombones  and  flautino — not  with  3  kettle- 
drums, but  will  make  more  noise  than  6  kettledrums  and,  indeed,  better  noise — I  am 
still  under  treatment  for  my  poor  innocent  finger  and  because  of  it  have  not  been  able  to 


Count  Oppersdorff  and  the  Fourth  Symphony   123 

The  allusion  in  the  above  letter  to  Lichnowsky's  lodging 
renders  it  certain  that  the  Prince  had  made  no  recent  change. 
Now  Carl  Czerny  writes  to  Ferdinand  Luib  (May  28,  1852): 
"About  1804,  he  (Beethoven)  already  lived  on  the  Molkerbastei 
in  the  vicinity  of  Prince  Lichnowsky,  who  lived  in  the  house  (now 
demolished)  over  the  Schottenthor.  In  the  years  1806-7-8-9,  he 
certainly  lived  on  the  Molkerbastei  with  Pasqualati,  and,  as  I 
believe,  for  a  time  hard  by.  It  is  thus  ascertained,  that,  on 
returning  from  Heiligenstadt  at  the  close  of  the  summer,  1808, 
Beethoven  left  the  rooms  which  he  had  now  occupied  for  four  years, 
for  others  in  the  "house  (now  demolished)  over  the  Schottenthor." 
In  his  words:  "persons  who  wish  to  treat  their  friends  with  a 

go  out  for  a  fortnight — farewell — let  me  hear  something  from  you  soon,  dear  Count — it 
goes  ill  with  me."  The  document  which  Dr.  Riemann  says  "obviously"  accompanied 
this  letter  (though  we  cannot  see  why)  runs  as  follows:  "Receipt  for  500  florins  from 
Count  Oppersdorff  for  a  Sinfonie  which  I  have  written  for  him."  This  is  dated  "1807 
on  the  3rd  of  February."  There  is  another  receipt  for  150  florins  dated  March  29,  1808, 
but  nothing  to  show  what  the  money  was  paid  for  except  a  memorandum  accompanying 
it  which  seems  to  be  partly  in  the  handwriting  of  Beethoven,  partly  in  that  of  Oppers- 
dorff, and  states  that  200  florins  had  been  paid  in  June,  1807,  for  the  "5  Sinfoni " 
(the  numeral  is  vague),  but  that  the  symphony  had  not  been  received.  The  reference 
to  the  trombones  in  the  finale  of  the  symphony  proves  that  it  was  the  fifth  that  was  in 
question. 

On  November  1,  1808,  Beethoven  writes  the  letter  printed  above  in  the  body  of 
the  text.  Why  Dr.  Riemann  should  have  thought  it  necessary  to  consider  the  first 
letter  of  contemporaneous  date  with  the  first  receipt  is  not  plain,  nor  why  he  should 
surmise  that  Beethoven  had  enclosed  the  receipt  in  the  letter  before  he  received  the 
money  which  was  not  paid  at  the  time.  To  this  Editor  it  seems  as  if  the  confused 
tangle  might  be  explained  in  part,  at  least,  as  follows,  though  the  explanation  leaves 
Beethoven  under  a  suspicion  which  cannot  be  dispelled  until  more  is  learned  of  the 
dealings  between  him  and  Count  Oppersdorff:  On  the  occasion  of  Beethoven's  visit  to 
Count  Oppersdorff  in  company  with  Lichnowsky  in  the  summer  or  fall  of  1806,  the  Count 
commissioned  the  composer  to  write  a  symphony  for  him;  Beethoven  had  begun  work 
on  the  Fifth  Symphony,  but  laid  it  aside  and  during  the  remainder  of  his  stay  at 
Gratz  and  in  the  winter  of  1807  wrote  the  Symphony  in  B-flat  which  is  dedicated  to 
Count  Oppersdorff;  for  this  he  received  500  florins  on  February  3,  1807;  he  did  not  send 
the  Count  the  score,  as  was  the  custom,  for  exclusive  use  during  a  fixed  period,  but  turned 
it  over  to  Lobkowitz  for  performance,  being  in  urgent  need  of  money;  a  year  later  he 
substituted  the  Fifth  for  the  Fourth  and  accepted  from  Count  Oppersdorff  150  florins 
in  March  and  200  in  June  for .  it  without  delivering  it,  this  sum  being,  it  may  be  presumed, 
a  bonus  for  the  larger  work,  the  Count  apparently  having  asked  for  something  employing 
an  unusual  apparatus  (hence  the  "3  kettledrums");  this  symphony  was  also  withheld 
in  the  end,  for  reasons  which  are  not  known,  and  Oppersdorff  had  to  content  himself  with 
the  mere  dedication  of  the  Symphony  in  B-flat  originally  designed  for  him. 

Dr.  Riemann's  comment  on  the  transactions  is  this:  "The  letter  of  November  1, 
1808,  proves  conclusively  that  Count  Oppersdorff  could  not  have  received  either  the 
C  minor  or  the  B-flat  Symphony  for  his  use  for  the  customary  half  year;  for  the  B-flat 
Symphony  was  performed  by  Lobkowitz  in  March,  1807;  it  was  sold  to  Clementi  and  also 
to  thelndustriecomptoirin  thesummer,  delivered  for  publication  at  the  latest  in  the  fall  of 
1807  when  Beethoven  had  to  return  the  1500  florins  to  his  brother  Johann.  The  C 
minor  Symphony  was  performed  at  the  concert  in  the  Theater-an-der-Wien  on  Decem- 
ber 22,  1808,  offered  to  Breitkopf  and  Hiirtel  as  early  as  June,  1808,  sold  on  September  14, 
1808,  and  published  in  April,  1809.  To  all  appearances.  Count  Oppersdorff  was  com- 
pelled to  look  upon  the  350  florins  as  remuneration  for  the  mere  dedication  of  the 
Symphony  in  B-flat  which  was  published  by  the  Industriecomptoir  in  March,  1808  (score 
not  until  1821  by  Simrock).  The  name  of  Count  Oppersdorff  does  not  appear  again 
in  the  life-history  of  Beethoven." 


124  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

threshing,"  he  doubtless  refers  to  Lichnowsky.  Now,  it  is  hardly 
conceivable  that  he  should  have  taken  up  his  abode  in  the  very 
house  in  part  occupied  by  the  Prince,  unless  at  the  time  they  had 
been,  ostensibly  at  least,  on  amicable  terms.  It  has  been  seen 
that  the  old  quarrel  of  1806  was  so  far  made  up,  as  to  admit  of  the 
loan  by  the  composer  to  Lichnowsky  of  the  "Coriolan"  overture 
in  manuscript.  There  must  have  been,  therefore,  some  new  and 
very  recent  outbreak  between  them.  But  here  again,  doubtless 
through  the  good  offices  of  the  motherly  Princess  Christine,  all 
difficulties  between  them  were  soon  adjusted. 

The  circumstance  that  the  composer's  new  apartments  were 
in  the  lodging  of  Count  Peter  Erdody  strongly  suggests  the  prob- 
ability that  his  great  intimacj^  with  the  Countess  dates  from  the 
time  when  he  became  her  near  neighbor  upon  his  moving  into 
the  Pasqualati  house  four  years  before. 

The  close  of  the  letter  to  Oppersdorff  contains  the  earliest 
discovered  allusion  to  one  of  the  most  singular  events  in  Beet- 
hoven's life.  In  the  autumn  of  1807,  Jerome  Bonaparte,  the 
Corsican  lawyer's  youngest  son,  who  had  spent  his  boyhood  and 
youth  mostly  at  sea,  and  had  not  yet  completed  his  23d  year, 
found  himself  at  Cassel,  bearing  the  pompous  title  of  "King  of 
Westphalia."  What  could  have  induced  this  half -educated,  frivo- 
lous, prodigal  and  effeminate  young  satrap  and  sybarite  to  sanction 
an  invitation  to  his  court  of  the  composer  most  distinguished  since 
Handel  for  his  masculine  vigor  and  manly  independence  in  his  art, 
is  one  of  those  small  mysteries  which  seem  impenetrable.  The 
precise  time  when,  and  by  what  agency  this  call  was  communicated 
to  Beethoven  are  alike  unknown;  we  only  know  that  before  the 
first  of  November,  1808,  "Beethoven  received  the  same  through 
the  High  Chamberlain  of  the  King  of  Westphalia,  Count  Truchsess- 
Waldburg,  that  it  was  to  the  office  of  first  Chapelmaster" ; 
and  that  it  led  to  events,  which  will  be  noticed  hereafter.  The 
lists  of  "Arrivals  in  Vienna"  during  this  season  contain  the  names 
of  several  old  and  new  friends  of  Beethoven,  the  dates  of  whose 
arrival  avail  in  some  instances  to  correct  certain  current  errors. 
The  following  seem  worth  copying: 

June  1,  Joseph  Linke,  musician,  from  Breslau;  June  23,  Count  von 
Brunswick,  comes  from  Pressburg;  July  2,  Dominik  Dragonetti,  musician, 
from  Venice  [London],  comes  from  Trieste;  July  10,  Alexander  Macco, 
painter  of  Anspach,  comes  from  Munich;  July  11,  Count  Rasoumowsky, 
comes  from  Carlsbad;  August  27,  Herr  Ferdinand  Ries,  musical  com- 
poser of  Bonn;  Nov.  24,  Joh.  Fried.  Reichardt,  Chapelmaster  of  Hesse- 
Cassel. 


Founding  of  the  Rasoumowsky  Quartet         125 

In  the  carefully  considered  "tlbersicht  des  gegenwartigen 
Zustandes  der  Tonkunst  in  Wien"  of  the  "Vaterlandische  Blatter" 
for  May  27  and  31,  1808,  it  is  noted  that  the  violinists  Anton 
Wranitzky  and  Herr  Volta  are  "in  the  service  of  Prince  Lobko- 
witz;  Herr  Schlesinger  in  that  of  the  Graf  Erdody;  Herr  Schmid- 
gen  of  Count  Armade;  Breimann  of  Esterhazy";  and  the  like  of 
various  performers  on  other  instruments.  But  no  such  note 
follows  the  name  of  Schuppanzigh,  "who  is  particularly  dis- 
tinguished among  quartet  players  and  probably  stands  alone  as 
a  performer  of  Beethoven's  compositions."  Nor  do  the  names 
of  Weiss  and  Linke  appear  in  the  article.  This  of  itself  is  per- 
haps enough  to  expose  the  mistake  as  to  the  time  when  the  famous 
Rasoumowsky  Quartet  was  founded,  and  to  correct  the  erro- 
neous conclusions  drawn  from  it.  But  the  date  of  Linke's  arrival 
in  Vienna  is  proof  positive. 

Rasoumowsky  lived  in  his  new  palace  on  the  Donau  Canal, 
into  which  he  had  very  recently  removed  from  the  Wallzeil  and 
in  which  he  had  put  his  domestic  establishment  on  a  footing  of 
great  splendor.  It  suited  his  taste  to  have  the  first  string  quartet 
of  Europe  in  his  service.  His  own  skill  rendered  him  amply 
competent  to  play  the  second  violin,  which  he  usually  did;  but  the 
young  Mayseder,  or  some  other  of  the  first  violinists  of  the  city, 
was  ever  ready  to  take  his  part  when  required.  Three  permanent 
engagements  only  were,  therefore,  necessary,  and  these  now,  in 
late  summer  or  early  autumn,  1808,  were  made.  To  Schuppan- 
zigh— then  the  first  of  quartet  players,  but  still  without  any  per- 
manent engagement — was  given  the  appointment  for  life  of 
violino  primo,  and  to  him  was  entrusted  the  selection  of  the  others. 
He  recommended  Weiss  for  the  viola,  whom  Rasoumowsky  ac- 
cepted and  to  whom,  for  himself  and  family,  he  granted  a  suitable 
lodging  in  one  of  the  houses  connected  with  the  palace. 

Schuppanzigh  had  been  so  favorably  impressed  with  the 
talents  and  skill  of  Linke  as  to  secure  him  the  place  of  violon- 
cellist. He  was  a  young  man  of  25  years — slightly  deformed  in 
person — an  orphan  from  his  childhood. 

As  before  stated,  Forster  was  the  Count's  instructor  in  musi- 
cal theory,  the  accomplished  Bigot  was  librarian  and  his  talented 
wife  pianist.  These  were  the  years  (1808-1815)  when,  says  Sey- 
fried,  "as  is  known  Beethoven  was,  as  it  were,  cock  of  the  walk  in 
the  princely  establishment;  everything  that  he  composed  was 
rehearsed  hot  from  the  griddle  and  performed  to  the  nicety  of  a 
hair,  according  to  his  ideas,  just  as  he  wanted  it  and  not  other- 
wise, with  affectionate  interest,  obedience  and  devotion  such  as 


126  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

could  spring  only  from  such  ardent  admirers  of  his  lofty  genius,  and 
with  a  penetration  into  the  most  secret  intentions  of  the  com- 
poser and  the  most  perfect  comprehension  of  his  intellectual 
tendencies;  so  that  these  quartet  players  achieved  that  universal 
celebrity  concerning  which  there  was  but  one  voice  in  the  art- 
world." 

The  date  of  Dragonetti's  arrival  in  Vienna,  on  this,  his  second 
visit,  disposes  of  an  English  tradition,  that  Beethoven  wrote  the 
famous  contrabass  passage  in  the  Scherzo  of  the  C  minor  Symphony 
expressly  for  him.  The  story  contains  doubtless  so  much  of  truth 
as  this:  that  it  was  the  display  of  the  possibilities  of  that  instru- 
ment, made  by  its  greatest  master,  which  induced  Beethoven  to 
venture  the  introduction  into  that  symphony  of  what  has  so  often 
proved  a  stumbling-block  and  rock  of  offence  to  contrabassists  of 
no  common  and  ordinary  skill. 

But  a  new  topic  demands  our  attention.  Beethoven  in  his 
later  years,  in  moments  of  spleen  and  ill  humor,  gave  utterance 
both  in  conversation  and  in  writing  to  expressions,  which  have 
smce  served  as  the  basis  of  bitter  diatribes  against  the  Vienna 
public.  Czerny — than  whom  no  man  could  be  better  informed 
on  the  subject  of  the  master's  actual  position — takes  occasion  in 
his  notes  for  Jahn  to  remark: 

It  has  repeatedly  been  said  in  foreign  lands  that  Beethoven  was 
not  respected  in  Vienna  and  was  suppressed.  The  truth  is  that  already 
as  a  youth  he  received  all  manner  of  support  from  our  high  aristocracy 
and  enjoyed  as  much  care  and  respect  as  ever  fell  to  the  lot  of  a  young 
artist.  .  . .  Later,  too,  when  he  estranged  many  by  his  hypochondria,  noth- 
ing was  charged  against  his  often  very  striking  peculiarities;  hence  his 
predilection  for  Vienna,  and  it  is  doubtful  if  he  would  have  been  left  so 
undisturbed  in  any  other  country.  It  is  true  that  as  an  artist  he  had 
to  fight  cabals,  but  the  public  was  innocent  in  this.  He  was  always  mar- 
velled at  and  respected  as  an  extraordinary  being  and  his  greatness 
was  suspected  even  by  those  who  did  not  understand  him.  Whether  or 
not  to  be  rich  rested  with  him,  but  he  was  not  made  for  domestic  order. 

Upon  the  correctness  of  these  statements,  in  so  far  as  they 
relate  to  Beethoven's  last  years,  the  reader  will  have  ample  means 
of  judging  hereafter;  he  knows,  that  Czerny  is  right,  up  to  the 
present  date.  Indeed,  this  month  of  November,  to  which  the 
letter  to  Oppersdorff  has  brought  us,  affords  him  excellent  con- 
firmation. For,  as  in  the  spring  so  now  in  autumn,  it  is  Beetho- 
ven's popularity  that  must  insure  success  to  the  Grand  Concert 
for  the  public  charities;  it  is  his  name  that  is  known  to  be  more 
attractive  to  the  \'ienna  public  than  any  other,  save  that  of 
the  venerable  Haydn;    and  as  Haydn's  oratorios  are  the  staple 


The  Court  Theatres  Change  Managers         127 

productions  at  the  great  charity  concerts  of  vocal  music  in  the  Burg 
theatre,  so  the  younger  master's  symphonies,  concertos  and  over- 
tures form  the  most  alluring  programmes  for  the  instrumental 
"Academies"  in  the  other  theatres — at  all  events,  in  1808,  this 
was  the  opinion  of  Joseph  Hartl.  Beethoven's  "princely  rab- 
ble" had,  after  a  year's  experience  and  pecuniary  losses,  turned 
over  the  direction  of  the  theatre  to  Government  Councillor,  now 
Court  Councillor,  Joseph  Hartl.  It  was  not  so  much  for  his  love 
of  art,  as  for  the  great  reputation  which  his  administrative  talents 
had  gained  him,  that  Hartl  was  called  to  assume  the  labors  of 
directing  the  three  theatres,  then  sunk  "into  the  most  embarrass- 
ing conditions" — a  call  which  he  accepted.  For  three  years  he 
administered  them  wisely,  and  with  all  the  success  possible  in  the 
troubled  state  of  the  public  business  and  finances. 

A  supervisor  of  the  public  charities,  who  at  the  same  time  con- 
trolled the  theatres,  he  was  of  course  able  to  secure  the  highest 
talent  for  benevolent  concerts  on  terms  advantageous  to  all  parties 
concerned ;  and  thus  it  came  about,  that  at  the  concert  for  public 
charities  in  the  Theater-an-der-Wien  on  the  evening  of  Leopold's 
day,  Tuesday,  November  loth,  Beethoven  conducted  one  of  his 
symphonies,  the  "Coriolan"  Overture,  and  a  pianoforte  concerto — 
perhaps  he  played  the  solo  of  the  last;  but  the  want  of  any  detailed 
report  of  the  concert  leaves  the  point  in  doubt.  Which  of  the 
symphonies  and  concertos  were  performed  on  this  occasion  is  not 
recorded;  it  is  only  known  that  they  were  not  new.  In  return 
for  Beethoven's  noble  contribution  of  his  works  and  personal  ser- 
vices to  the  charity  concerts  of  April  17  and  November  15, 
Hartl  gave  him  the  free  use  of  the  Theater-an-der-Wien  for  an 
Akademie,  thus  advertised  in  the  "Wiener  Zeitung"  of  December  17. 

Musical  Academy. 

On  Thursday,  December  22,  Ludwig  van  Beethoven  will  have  the 
honor  to  give  a  musical  academy  in  the  R.  I.  Priv.  Theater-an-der- 
Wien.  All  the  pieces  are  of  his  composition,  entirely  new,  and  not  yet 
heard  in  public.  .  .  .  First  Part:  1,  A  Symphony,  entitled :  "A  Recollection 
of  Country  Life,"  in  F  major  (No.  5).  2,  Aria.  3,  3  Hymns  with  Latin 
text,  composed  in  the  church  style  with  chorus  and  solos.  4,  Pianoforte 
Concerto  played  by  himself. 

Second  Part.  1,  Grand  Symphony  in  C  minor  (No.  6).  2,  Holy, 
with  Latin  text  composed  in  the  church  style  with  chorus  and  solos. 
3,  Fantasia  for  Pianoforte  alone.  4,  Fantasia  for  the  Pianoforte  which 
ends  with  the  gradual  entrance  of  the  entire  orchestra  and  the  introduc- 
tion of  choruses  as  a  finale. 

Boxes  and  reserved  seats  are  to  be  had  in  the  Krugerstrasse 
No.   1074,  first  storey.     Beginning  at  half  past  six  o'clock. 


128  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

The  importance  of  the  works  produced  on  this  occasion,  the 
whimsical  occurrences  that  are  related  as  having  taken  place,  and 
the  somewhat  conflicting  statements  of  persons  present,  justify 
an  effort  to  sift  the  evidence  and  get  at  the  truth,  even  at  the  risk 
of  being  tedious.  It  is  unfortunate  that  the  concert  of  November 
15  was  so  completely  forgotten  by  all  whose  contemporary  notices 
or  later  reminiscences  are  now  the  only  sources  of  information; 
for  it  is  certain  that,  either  in  the  rehearsals  or  at  the  public  per- 
formance, something  happened  which  caused  a  very  serious  mis- 
understanding and  breach  between  Beethoven  and  the  orchestra; 
but  even  this  is  suflScient  to  remove  some  difficulties  otherwise  in- 
superable. Ries  records  in  the  "Xotizen"  (p.  84)  that  a  scene  is 
said  once  to  have  happened  in  which  the  orchestra  compelled  the 
composer  to  realize  his  injustice  "and  in  all  seriousness  insisted 
that  he  should  not  conduct.  In  consequence,  at  the  rehearsal, 
Beethoven  had  to  remain  in  an  anteroom,  and  it  was  a  long  time 
before  the  quarrel  was  settled."  Such  a  quarrel  did  arise  at  the 
time  of  the  November  concert.  In  Spohr's  Autobiography  is  a 
story  of  Beethoven's  first  sweeping  off  the  candles  at  the  piano 
and  then  knocking  down  a  choir  boy  deputed  to  hold  one  of  them, 
by  his  too  energetic  motions  at  this  concert,  the  two  incidents 
setting  the  audience  into  a  "bacchanalian  jubilation"  of  laughter. 
It  is  absolutely  certain,  however,  that  nothing  of  the  kind  occurred 
at  the  concert  itself,  and  that  the  story  has  its  only  foundation  in 
Spohr's  fancy. 

Compare  now  these  statements  by  Ries  and  Spohr  with 
citations  from  notes  of  a  conversation  with  Rockel:  "Beethoven 
had  made  the  orchestra  of  the  Theater-an-der-Wien  so  angry  with 
him  that  only  the  leaders,  Seyfried,  Clement,  etc.,  would  have 
anything  to  do  with  him,  and  it  was  only  after  much  persuasion 
and  upon  condition  that  Beethoven  should  not  be  in  the  room 
during  the  rehearsals,  that  the  rank  and  file  consented  to  play. 
During  the  rehearsals,  in  the  large  room  back  of  the  theatre, 
Beethoven  walked  up  and  down  in  an  anteroom,  and  often  Rockel 
with  him.  After  a  movement  Sevfried  would  come  to  him  for 
criticisms."  Rockel  believed  the  story  (i.e.,  if  told  of  a  rehearsal) 
of  Beethoven  in  his  zeal  having  knocked  the  candles  off  the 
pianoforte,  and  he  himself  saw  the  boys,  one  on  each  side, 
holding  candles  for  him. 

But  the  concert-giver's  troubles  were  not  ended  even  by  his 
yielding  to  the  demands  of  the  orchestra.  A  solo  singer  was  to  be 
foimd  and  vocal  pieces  to  be  selected.  In  a  note  to  Rockel 
Beethoven  wrote:  ".  .  .  .  in  the  matter  of  the  vocal  pieces  I  think 


Production  of  the  Choral  Fantasia  129 

that  we  ought  to  have  one  of  the  women  singers  who  will  sing  for 
us,  sing  an  aria  first — then  we  will  make  two  numbers  out  of  the 
Mass,  but  with  German  text,  find  out  who  can  do  this  for  us. 
It  need  not  be  a  masterpiece,  provided  it  suits  the  Mass  well." 
And  again:  "Be  clever  in  regard  to  Milder — say  to  her  only  that 
to-day  you  are  begging  her  in  my  name  not  to  sing  anywhere  else, 
to-morrow  I  will  come  in  person  to  kiss  the  hem  of  her  garment — 
but  do  not  forget  Marconi.  ..." 

Milder  was  to  sing  the  aria  "Ah,  perfido!  spergiuro,"  said 
Rockel,  and  accepted  the  invitation  at  once.  But  an  unlucky 
quarrel  provoked  by  Beethoven  resulted  in  her  refusal.  After 
other  attempts,  Rockel  engaged  Fraulein  Kilitzky,  Schuppanzigh's 
sister-in-law.  Being  a  young  and  inexperienced  singer,  her 
friends  wrought  her  up  to  such  a  point  that  when  Beethoven  led 
her  upon  the  stage  and  left  her,  stage  fright  overcame  her  and  she 
made  wretched  work  of  the  aria.  Reichardt  in  a  letter  describes 
the  Akademie: 

I  accepted  the  kind  offer  of  Prince  Lobkowitz  to  let  me  sit  in  his  box 
with  hearty  thanks.  There  we  endured,  in  the  bitterest  cold,  too,  from 
half  past  six,  to  half  past  ten,  and  made  the  experience  that  it  is  easy 
to  get  too  much  of  a  good  thing  and  still  more  of  a  loud.  Nevertheless, 
I  could  no  more  leave  the  box  before  the  end  than  could  the  exceedingly 
good-natured  and  delicate  Prince,  for  the  box  was  in  the  first  balcony 
near  the  stage,  so  that  the  orchestra  and  Beethoven  conducting  it  iil  the 
middle  below  us,  were  near  at  hand;  thus  many  a  failure  in  the  perform- 
ance vexed  our  patience  in  the  highest  degree.  .  .  .  Singers  and  orches- 
tra were  composed  of  heterogeneous  elements,  and  it  had  been  found 
impossible  to  get  a  single  full  rehearsal  for  all  the  pieces  to  be  performed, 
all  filled  with  the  greatest  difficulties. 

Such  a  programme,  exclusive  of  the  Choral  Fantasia,  was 
certainly  an  ariiple  provision  for  an  evening's  entertainment  of  the 
most  insatiably  musical  enthusiast;  nor  could  a  grander  termina- 
tion of  the  concert  be  desired  than  the  Finale  of  the  C  minor 
Symphony;  but  to  defer  that  work  until  the  close  was  to  incur  the 
risk  of  endangering  its  effect  by  presenting  it  to  an  audience  too 
weary  for  the  close  attention  needful  on  first  hearing  to  its  fair  - 
comprehension  and  appreciation.  This  Beethoven  felt,  and  so, 
says  Czerny, 

there  came  to  him  shortly  before  the  idea  of  writing  a  brilliant  piece 
for  this  concert.  He  chose  a  song  which  he  had  composed  many  years 
before,!  planned  the  variations,  the  chorus,  etc.,  and  the  poet  Kuffner 
was  called  upon  to  write  the  words  in  a  hurry  according  to  Beethoven's 

^Czerny  did  not  know  that  Beethoven  had  formed  the  idea  of  this  work  full  eight 
years  before.     See  notice  on  the  Petter  sketchbook  ante,  Chapter  II. 


130  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

hints.  Thus  originated  the  Choral  Fantasia,  Op.  80.  It  was  finished 
so  late  that  it  could  scarcely  be  sufiiciently  rehearsed.  Beethoven 
related  this  in  my  presence  in  order  to  explain  why,  at  the  concert,  he  had 
had  it  repeated.  "Some  of  the  instruments  had  counted  wrong  in  the 
rests,"  he  said;  "if  I  had  let  them  play  a  few  measures  more  the  most 
horrible  dissonances  would  have  resulted.  I  had  to  make  an  interrup- 
tion." 

The  particulars  of  this  scene,  in  which  Reichardt  suffered  so, 
are  more  or  less  circumstantially  related  by  Ries,  Seyfried,  Czerny, 
Moscheles  and  Dolezalek.  Their  statements  when  compared  are 
not  inconsistent  and  supplement  each  other,  except  as  to  Ries, 
whose  memory  evidently  exaggerated  what  really  occurred.  Sub- 
stantially they  are  as  follows: 

Seyfried  (Appendix  to  "Beethoven's  Studien,"  p.  15) :  When  the 
master  brought  out  his  orchestral  Fantasia  with  choruses,  he  arranged 
with  me  at  the  somewhat  hurried  rehearsal,  ^^-ith  wet  voice-parts  as 
usual,  that  the  second  variation  should  be  played  without  the  repeat. 
In  the  evening,  however,  absorbed  in  his  creation,  he  forgot  all  about  the 
instructions  which  he  had  given,  repeated  the  first  part  while  the  or- 
chestra accompanied  the  second,  which  sounded  not  altogether  edifying. 
A  trifle  too  late,  the  Concertmaster,  Unrath,  noticed  the  mistake,  looked 
in  surprise  at  his  lost  companions,  stopped  playing  and  called  out 
drily:  "Again!"  A  little  displeased,  the  violinist  Anton  Wranitsky  asked 
"\Yith  repeats?"  "Yes,"  came  the  answer,  and  now  the  thing  went 
straight  as  a  string. 

The  "Allg.  Mus.  Zeit."  reported:  The  ^^^nd-inst^uments  varied  the 
theme  which  Beethoven  had  previously  played  on  the  pianoforte.  The 
turn  came  to  the  oboes.  The  clarinets,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  make  a 
mistake  in  the  count  and  enter  at  once.  A  curious  mixture  of  tones 
results.  Beethoven  jumps  up,  tries  to  silence  the  clarinets,  but  does  not 
succeed  until  he  has  called  out  quite  loudly  and  rather  ill-temperedly : 
"Stop,  stop!    That  will  not  do!    Again — again!" 

Czerny:  In  the  Pianoforte  with  chorus  he  called  out  at  the  mistake: 
"Wrong,  badly  played,  ^\Tong,  again!"  Several  musicians  wanted  to  go 
away. 

Dolezalek:  He  jumped  up,  ran  to  the  desks  and  pointed  out  the 
place. 

Moscheles:  I  remember  having  been  present  at  the  performance  in 
question,  seated  in  a  corner  of  the  gallery,  in  the  Theater-an-der-Wien. 
During  the  last  movement  of  the  Fantasia  I  perceived  that,  hke  a 
run-away  carriage  going  down-hill,  an  overturn  was  inevitable.  Almost 
immediately  after  it  was,  that  I  saw  Beethoven  give  the  signal  for  stop- 
ping. His  voice  was  not  heard;  but  he  had  prol^ably  given  directions 
where  to  begin  again,  and  after  a  moment's  respectful  silence  on  the  part 
of  the  audience,  the  orchestra  recommenced  and  the  performance  pro- 
ceeded without  further  mistakes  or  stoppage.  To  those  who  are  ac- 
quainted with  the  work,  it  may  be  interesting  to  know  the  precise  point 
at  which  the  mistake  occurred.  It  was  in  the  passage  where  for  several 
pages  every  three  bars  make  up  a  triple  rhythm. 


The  Fourth  Pianoforte  Concerto  131 

Seyfried  says  further:  At  first  he  could  not  understand  that  he  had 
in  a  manner  humiliated  the  musicians.  He  thought  it  was  a  duty  to 
correct  an  error  that  had  been  made  and  that  the  audience  was  entitled 
to  hear  everything  properly  played,  for  its  money.  But  he  readily  and 
heartily  begged  the  pardon  of  the  orchestra  for  the  humiliation  to  which 
he  had  subjected  it,  and  was  honest  enough  to  spread  the  story  himself 
and  assume  all  responsibility  for  his  own  absence  of  mind. 

The  pecuniary  results  of  this  concert  to  Beethoven  are  not 
known. 

One  of  the  two  December  concerts  for  the  Widows  and 
Orphans  Fund  was  on  the  22d,  the  same  evening  as  Beethoven's; 
the  other  on  the  next.  The  vocal  work  selected  was,  in  compliment 
to  the  venerable  Haydn,  his  "Ritorno  di  Tobia,"  first  performed 
in  these  concerts  thirty-three  years  before.  Being  too  short  to 
fill  out  the  evening,  it  was  preceded,  on  the  22d,  by  an  orchestral 
fantasia  of  Neukomm — on  the  23d  by  a  pianoforte  concerto  of 
Beethoven.     Ries  says 

that  Beethoven  asked  him  to  play  his  fourth  Concerto  in  G,  giving  him 
only  five  days  in  which  to  learn  it.  Thinking  the  time  too  short,  Ries 
asked  permission  to  play  the  C  minor  Concerto  instead.  Beethoven  in 
a  rage  went  to  young  Stein,  who  was  wise  enough  to  accept  the  offer; 
but  as  he  could  not  prepare  the  Concerto  in  time,  he  begged  Beethoven, 
on  the  day  before  the  concert,  as  Ries  had  done,  for  permission  to  play 
the  C  minor  Concerto.  Beethoven  had  to  acquiesce.  Whether  the 
fault  was  the  theatre's,  the  orchestra's,  or  the  player's,  says  Ries,  the 
Concerto  made  no  effect.     Beethoven  was  very  angry. 

For  this  concert  Beethoven  received  100  florins  from  Ester- 
hazy,  who  apparently  ranked  the  composer  with  the  leading  actors 
of  the  theatre.  Towards  the  close  of  1808,  Clementi  again  ar- 
rived in  Vienna  and  was  not  a  little  surprised  to  learn  from  Beet- 
hoven that  he  had  not  yet  received  from  London  payment  for  the 
compositions  which  he  had  sold  to  Clementi  in  April,  1807.  He 
wrote  on  December  28,  1808,  to  his  partner  asking  that  the  money, 
£200,  due  Beethoven,  as  he  had  delivered  the  six  compositions 
contracted  for,  be  sent  at  once.  But  in  September,  1809,  the 
account  had  not  yet  been  liquidated,  as  we  shall  see.  There  is 
reason  to  believe  that  a  large  number  of  compositions  of  greater 
or  less  extent  was  projected  and  in  part  sketched  during  this 
year;  but  the  number  know^n  to  have  been  completed,  and  there- 
fore properly  bearing  the  date  1808,  is  small.  These  compositions 
are:  The  "Pastoral"  Symphony,  Op.  69;  the  Sonata  for  Piano- 
forte and  Violoncello,  Op.  69;  the  Trios  for  Pianoforte,  Violin  and 
Violoncello,  in  D  and  E-flat,  Op.  70;  the  Fantasia  for  Pianoforte, 


[32  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

Orchestra   and   Chorus,   Op.    80;   the   Song   (with   four  melodies) 

"Die  Sehnsucht." 

*  * 


The  Sonata  for  Pianoforte  and  'cello  was  sketched  in  1807, 
and  practically  completed  in  that  year,  the  only  sketches  appear- 
ing among  those  of  1808  being  a  couple  evidently  made  while  the 
work  was  being  written  out.  The  earlier  sketches  appear  among 
those  of  the  C  minor  Symphony.  It  is  dedicated  to  Gleichen- 
stein.  On  June  8  Beethoven  offered  it,  as  has  been  seen,  to  Breit- 
kopf  and  Hiirtel,  and  it  was  included  in  the  works  for  which 
Hartel  signed  a  contract  in  person  on  September  14.  On  January 
7,  1809,  Beethoven  wrote  to  Breitkopf  and  Hartel  asking  that 
Gleichenstein's  title  "K.  K.  Hofconcipist"  be  elided  from  the 
dedication,  because  it  was  distasteful  to  him.  It  was  published  in 
1809,  but  with  a  large  number  of  errors  which  gave  occasion  to  three 
letters  from  the  composer  to  the  publishers.  (La  Mara,  "Musiker- 
briefe  aus  fiinf  Jahrhunderten,"  1886;  Frimmel,  "11.  Beethoven 
Jahrbuch";  Kalischer,  "Beethoven's  Samtliche  Briefe,"  II,  262 — 
where  the  date  is  incorrectly  given  as  1815.) 

The  two  Trios  are  dedicated  to  Countess  Erdbdy,  in  w^hose 
house  Beethoven  lived  when  they  were  written.  The  first  sketches 
for  them  found  by  Xottebohm  belong  to  the  second  in  E-flat  and 
occur  amongst  the  sketches  for  the  Finale  of  the  "Pastoral" 
symphony.  The  Trios  are  not  mentioned  in  the  first  letter,  in 
which  Beethoven  offers  the  Fifth  and  Sixth  Symphonies  besides 
other  works  to  Breitkopf  and  Hartel.  In  the  second  letter,  of 
July,  Beethoven  speaks  of  two  pianoforte  sonatas,  and  in  a  later 
letter  of  two  trios.  This  has  led  to  the  conclusion  that  Beethoven 
first  conceived  them  as  solo  sonatas  and  later  developed  them  as 
trios.  Beethoven  played  them  at  Countess  Erdbdy's  in  the  Christ- 
mastide  of  1808,  when  Reichardt  was  present;  he  wrote  an  en- 
thusiastic account  of  them  under  date  December  31.  On  May 
26,  Beethoven  wrote  to  Breitkopf  and  Hartel  suggesting  changes 
in  the  text  and  also  asking  that  the  name  of  Archduke  Rudolph 
be  substituted  for  that  of  Countess  Erdbdy  in  the  dedication. 
The  reason  given  was  that  the  Archduke  had  become  fond  of  the 
works  and  Beethoven  had  observed  that  in  such  cases  his  patron 
felt  a  gentle  regret  when  the  music  was  dedicated  to  somebody 
else.  Beethoven,  of  course,  says  nothing  of  his  quarrel  with  the 
Countess  (of  which  something  will  be  said  in  the  next  chapter). 
There  was   a   reconciliation,  and   Beethoven's   solicitude   for   the 


Summary  of  a  Year's  Work  133 

feelings  of  the  Archduke  seems  to  have  evaporated;  at  any  rate, 
the  original  dedication  remained. 

The  Choral  Fantasia  was  obviously  finished  only  a  short  time 
before  its  performance  and  is  plainly  one  of  the  few  compositions 
on  which  Beethoven  worked  continuously  after  once  beginning  it, 
though  the  plan  of  the  work  had  occurred  to  him  long  before. 
The  early  sketch,  to  which  allusion  has  been  made,  shows  that  the 
use  of  the  melody  of  the  song  "Gegenliebe"  was  part  of  the  original 
scheme.  A  sketchbook  of  1808,  whose  contents  were  analyzed 
by  Nottebohm  ("Zweite  Beethoveniana,"  p.  495),  is  devoted 
entirely  to  the  Fantasia  and  the  Pianoforte  Concerto  in  E-flat, 
which  was  not  worked  out  till  later.  The  most  interesting  dis- 
closures of  Nottebohm's  study  are  that  there  is  no  hint  of  a  piano- 
forte introduction  such  as  Beethoven  improvised  at  the  per- 
formance; that  Beethoven  first  thought  of  beginning  with  the 
string  quartet  of  the  orchestra;  that  work  was  begun  before  a 
text  had  been  found;  and  that,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Choral  Sym- 
phony, of  which  the  Fantasia  is  so  interesting  a  prototype  in 
miniature,  Beethoven  thought  of  paving  the  way  for  the  intro- 
duction of  the  voices  by  words  calling  attention  to  the  new- 
comers among  the  harmonious  company  {Hort  ihr  wohl  ?) .  Czerny's 
statement  that  the  text  was  written  by  KuflPner  is  questioned  by 
Nottebohm,  who  points  out  that  the  poem  is  not  included  in  the 
collected  writings  of  that  author,  though  all  manner  of  fragments 
and  trifles  are.  Because  of  the  ingenuity  and  effectiveness  with 
which  the  words  were  adapted  to  the  music,  Nottebohm  sus- 
pects Treitschke  of  having  written  them  in  accordance  with 
Beethoven's  suggestions  as  to  form  and  contents.  The  intro- 
ductory pianoforte  fantasia  which  was  published  to  take  the 
place  of  Beethoven's  improvisation  at  the  first  performance, 
was  composed  in  1809. 


The  publications  of  the  year  1808  were: 

1.  Trois  Quatuors  pour  deux  Violons,  Alto  et  Violoncello,  com- 
poses par  Louis  van  Beethoven.  (Euvre  dO"^.  Dedicated  to  His  Excel- 
lency Count  von  Rasoumowsky.  Advertised  by  the  Kunst-  and  In- 
dustrie-Comptoir  in  the  "Wiener  Zeitung"  of  January  9. 

2.  Ouverture  de  Coriolan,  Tragedie  de  M.  de  Collin,  etc.,  composee 
et  dediee  a  Monsieur  de  Collin,  etc..  Op.  62.  Advertised  in  the  same  place 
on  the  same  date. 

3.  "Sehnsucht,"  by  Goethe,  No.  1  of  the  four  melodies  published 
as  a  supplement  to  the  periodical  "Prometheus"  in  April. 


134  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

4.  Fourth  Concerto  for  Pianoforte  and  Orchestra.  Dedicated  to 
His  Highness,  Archduke  Rudolph  of  Austria,  Op.  58.  Advertised .  by 
the  Kunst-  und  Industrie-Comptoir  in  the  "Wiener  Zeitung"  on  August  10. 

5.  Concerto  pour  le  Pianoforte  avec  accompagnement  de  grand 
Orchestre,  arrange  d'apres  son  1^  Concerto  de  Violon  et  dedie  a  Madame  de 
Breuning.     CEuvre  61.     Advertised  in  the  same  journal  on  August  10. 

6.  "/n  questa  toraha  oscnra,"  the  last  of  63  settings  of  the  same 
text  by  various  composers,  published  by  T.  MoUo,  and  advertised  in  the 
"Wiener  Zeitung"  of  September  3. 


Chapter  VIII 


Jerome  Bonaparte's  Invitation — The  Annuity  Contract — 
Operatic  Projects— Seyfried's  "Studies"— The  Siege  of 
Vienna — Increased  Cost  of  Living — Dilatory  Debtors — 
The  Year  1809. 


THE  offer  of  an  honorable  position  in  Cassel — permanent,  so 
long  as  Napoleon's  star  might  remain  in  the  ascendant  and 
his  satellite  retain  his  nominal  kingship  of  Westphalia — was 
one  no  less  gratifying  to  Beethoven,  than  surprising  and  perplexing 
to  his  friends.  Knowing  both  the  strong  and  the  weak  points  of 
his  character,  they  saw  the  extreme  improbability  that,  with  his 
increasing  deafness,  his  removal  thither  could  in  the  end  re- 
dound to  his  profit,  honor,  or  happiness.  On  the  other  hand,  they 
saw  him — at  the  very  moment  when  he  was  giving  new  proofs 
of  those  stupendous  powers  which  elevate  him  far  above  all  other 
instrumental  composers — forced  to  consider  the  question  of 
seeking  in  a  small  provincial  capital  that  permanent  provision 
for  his  future  necessities  which,  in  the  home  of  his  choice  at  the 
end  of  sixteen  years'  residence,  he  saw  no  hope  of  obtaining. 
What  an  inexcusable,  unpardonable  disgrace  to  Vienna  would  be 
the  departure  of  Beethoven  under  such  circumstances!  It  was 
the  first  time  the  question  had  been  presented;  but  being  presented 
it  was  promptly  met  by  a  request  from  persons  of  "high  and  the 
highest  rank  that  he  state  the  conditions  under  which"  he  would 
decline  the  call  to  Cassel  and  remain  in  Vienna. 

Here  was  one  of  those  happy  opportunities  for  conferences, 
notes,  letters  and  despatches  innumerable,  which  Beethoven  all 
his  life  seems  to  have  so  eagerly  embraced  and  enjoyed.  Several 
of  his  notes  to  Gleichenstein  on  the  topic  have  been  preserved, 
but  are  not  worth  transcribing,  except  those  containing  instruc- 
tions for  the  drafting  of  the  conditions  of  his  remaining  in  Vienna. 
A  letter  dated  January  7,  1809,  by  Beethoven  to  Breitkopf  and 
Hartel,  indicates  that  at  the  opening  of  the  year  1809,  Beethoven 
was  still  firmly  resolved  to  go  to  Cassel.     In  it  occurs  this  passage: 

[135] 


136  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

At  last  I  am  forced  by  the  intrigues  and  cabals  and  contemptible 
actions  of  all  kinds  to  leave  the  only  surviving  German  fatherland  on  the 
invitation  of  his  Royal  Majesty  of  ^Yestphalia,  I  am  going  thither  as 
chapelmaster  with  an  annual  salary  of  600  ducats  in  gold — I  have  only 
to-day  sent  my  assurance  that  I  will  come  by  post  and  am  only  waiting 
my  decree  before  making  preparations  for  my  journey  which  will  be  by 
way  of  Leipsic — therefore  in  order  that  my  journey  shall  be  the  more 
brilliant  for  me  I  beg  of  you  if  not  too  prejudicial  to  your  interests  not  to 
make  anything  known  of  my  works  till  Easter — in  the  case  of  the  sonata 
which  is  dedicated  to  Baron  Gleichenstein,  please  omit  the  "K.  K. 
Concipist,"  as  it  is  distasteful  to  him.  In  all  probability  abusive  letters 
■will  again  be  written  from  here  about  my  last  musical  academy  to  the 
"Musikalische  Zeitung";  I  do  not  ask  that  what  is  against  me  be  sup- 
pressed; yet  somebody  ought  to  be  convinced  that  nobody  has  more 
personal  enemies  here  than  I;  this  is  the  more  easily  to  be  understood, 
since  the  state  of  music  here  is  steadily  growing  worse — we  have  chapel- 
masters  who  know  so  little  about  conducting  that  they  can  scarcely 
read  a  score  themselves — it  is  worst  of  all,  of  course,  auf  der  Wieden — 
there  I  had  to  give  my  academy  and  all  kinds  of  obstacles  were  put  in  my 
way.  The  Widows'  Concert,  and  Herr  Salieri  is  among  the  first,  was 
guilty  of  the  hideous  act  of  threatening  to  expel  every  musician  who 
played  for  me — notwithstanding  that  several  mistakes  which  I  could 
not  help  were  made,  the  public  accepted  everji;hing  enthusiastically — 
nevertheless,  scribblers  from  here  will  certainly  not  fail  again  to  send 
miserable  stuff  against  me  to  the  "Musikalische  Zeitung" — the  musicians 
were  particularly  angry  because  when  a  blunder  was  made  through 
carelessness  in  the  simplest,  plainest  place  in  the  world,  I  suddenly 
commanded  silence  and  loudly  called  Again — such  a  thing  had  never 
happened  to  them  before;  the  public  at  this  showed  its  enjoyment — but 
it  is  daily  growing  worse.  The  day  before  my  concert,  in  the  easy  little 
opera  Milton,  at  the  theatre  in  the  city,  the  orchestra  fell  into  such 
disorder  that  chapelmaster  and  director  and  orchestra  veritably  suffered 
shipwreck — for  the  chapelmaster  instead  of  being  ahead  was  behind 
in  his  beat  and  then  came  the  director. 

(On  the  back  of  the  cover) : 

I  beg  of  you  to  say  nothing  with  certainty  about  my  appointment 
in  Westphalia  until  I  write  to  you  that  I  have  received  my  decree. — 
Farewell,  etc. 

It  seems  likely  that  the  suggestion  that  formal  stipulations 
for  a  contract  under  which  Beethoven  would  decline  the  offer 
from  Cassel  and  remain  in  Vienna  be  drawn  up  came  from  Coun- 
tess Erdody.  At  any  rate  Beethoven  writes  to  Gleichenstein: 
"Countess  Erdody  is  of  the  opinion  that  you  ought  to  outline  a 
plan  with  her  according  to  which  you  might  negotiate  in  case  they 
approach  you  as  she  is  convinced  they  will.  If  you  have  time 
this  afternoon,  the  Countess  will  be  glad  to  see  you." 

The  outline  of  the  proposition  which  was  to  be  submitted 
to  certain  noble  gentlemen  was  drawn  up  by  Beethoven  for 
Gleichenstein  as  follows: 


Plan  to  Keep  Beethoven  in  Vienna  137 

(On  the  outside:  "Outline  for  a  Musical  Constitution.") 
First  the  offer  of  the  King  of  Westphalia  is  to  be  set  forth.  B.  can- 
not be  held  down  to  any  obligation  on  account  of  this  salary  since  the 
chief  object,  viz.,  the  invention  of  new  works  would  suffer  thereby — this 
remuneration  must  be  assured  to  Beethoven  until  he  voluntarily  re- 
nounces it — the  Imperial  title  also  if  possible — to  alternate  with  Salieri 
and  Eibeler — the  promise  of  active  court  service  as  soon  as  possible — or 
adjunction  if  it  be  worth  while.  Contract  with  the  theatres  likewise 
Math  the  title  of  Member  of  one  of  the  Committees  of  Theatrical  Direc- 
tion— a  fixed  day  forever  for  a  concert,  even  if  there  be  a  change  in  the 
directorate  in  the  theatre,  in  return  for  which  Beethoven  binds  himself 
to  compose  a  new  work  every  year  for  one  of  the  charity  concerts  as  may 
be  thought  most  useful — or  to  conduct  two — a  place  at  a  money  changer's 
or  such  kind  where  Beethoven  would  receive  the  stipulated  salary — the 
salary  must  be  paid  also  by  the  heirs. 

On  some  of  these  points  Beethoven  changed  his  mind  and 
wrote  again  thus: 

It  is  probably  too  late  to-day — I  could  not  get  your  writing  back 
from  E. — until  now,  inasmuch  as  A.  wanted  to  add  a  few  items,  buts, 
and  inasmuches — I  beg  of  you  to  have  everything  turn  on  the  true  and 
proper  practice  of  my  art,  thus  you  will  write  what  is  in  my  heart  and 
head — the  introduction  is  what  I  am  to  get  in  Westphalia,  600  ducats  in 
gold,  150  ducats  travelling  expenses,  for  which  I  have  to  do  nothing 
except  conduct  the  King's  concerts  which  are  short  and  not  numerous — 
I  am  not  even  bound  to  conduct  any  opera  that  I  may  write — from  all 
which  it  is  clear  that  I  can  devote  myself  wholly  to  the  most  important 
purpose  of  my  art  to  compose  works  of  magnitude — also  an  orchestra  at 
my  disposal. 

N.  B.  The  title  of  Member  of  one  of  the  Theatrical  Committees  is 
dropped — It  could  bring  nothing  but  vexation — in  respect  of  the  Im- 
perial duties  I  think  the  point  must  be  handled  delicately — not  less  than 
the  demand  for  the  title  of  Imperial  Chapelmaster,  than  a  regard  to  my 
being  placed  in  a  position  through  a  court  salary  to  give  up  the  sum  which 
the  gentlemen  are  now  paying  me.  I  think  that  this  might  best  be 
expressed  as  a  hope  or  a  highest  wish  sometime  to  enter  the  Imperial 
service,  when  I  could  at  once  accept  as  much  less  as  the  sum  received 
from  his  Imperial  Majesty  amounts  to. 

(On  the  top  of  the  last  page) : 
N,  B.     We  shall  need  it  to-morrow  at  12  o'clock,  because  we  must 
then  go  to  Kinsky.     I  hope  to  see  you  to-day. 

Under  these  instructions  the  "Conditions"  were  drawn  up 
by  some  person  unknown,  in  manner  and  form  following: 

It  must  be  the  striving  and  aim  of  every  true  artist  to  achieve  a 
position  in  which  he  can  devote  himself  wholly  to  the  elaboration  of 
larger  works  and  not  be  hindered  by  other  matters  or  economical  con- 
siderations. A  musical  composer  can,  therefore,  have  no  livelier  desire 
than  to  be  left  undisturbedly  to  the  invention  of  works  of  magnitude  and 
then  to  produce  them  in  public.     In  doing  this  he  must  also  keep  his  old 


138  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

age  in  view  and  seek  to  make  ample  provision  for  himself  against  that 

time. 

The  King  of  Westphalia  has  offered  Beethoven  a  salary  of  600  ducats 
in  gold  for  life  and  150  ducats  travelling  expenses,  on  the  single  condition 
that  he  occasionally  play  for  him  and  conduct  his  chamber  concerts,  which 
are  to  be  not  numerous  and  short. 

This  offer  is  certainly  entirely  in  the  interest  of  art  and  the  artist. 

Beethoven,  however,  has  so  great  a  predilection  for  life  in  this  city, 
so  much  gratitude  for  the  many  proofs  of  good  will  which  he  has  received 
here,  and  so  much  patriotism  for  his  second  fatherland,  that  he  will 
never  cease  to  count  himself  among  Austrian  artists  and  will  never  make 
his  domicile  elsewhere  if  the  opportunities  mentioned  above  are  measur- 
ably offered  him  here. 

Persons  of  high  and  the  highest  ranks,  having  asked  him  to  state 
under  what  conditions  he  would  be  willing  to  remain  here,  he  has  com- 
plied with  the  request  as  follows: 

1.  Beethoven  should  receive  from  a  great  personage  assurance  of 
a  salary  for  life  even  if  a  number  of  persons  of  rank  contribute  to  the  sum. 
This  salary  under  the  existing  conditions  of  high  cost  of  living,  could  not 
be  less  than  4000  florins  a  year.  Beethoven  desires  that  the  donors  of 
this  salary  consider  themselves  co-authors  of  his  new  works  in  the  large 
forms,  because  they  place  him  in  a  position  to  devote  himself  to  their 
production  and  relieve  him  of  the  need  of  attending  to  other  affairs. 

2.  Beethoven  should  always  have  freedom  to  make  artistic  tours, 
because  only  by  such  can  he  make  himself  very  well  known  and  acquire 
some  property. 

3.  It  would  be  his  greatest  desire  and  most  ardent  wish  sometime 
to  enter  into  the  actual  Imperial  service  and  by  reason  of  the  salary  ex- 
pected from  such  a  source  to  be  able  to  waive  in  whole  or  in  part  the 
compensation  set  forth  above;  meanwhile  the  title  merely  of  an  Imperial 
Chapel  master  would  make  him  very  happy;  if  it  could  be  obtained  for 
him  his  stay  here  would  be  still  dearer  to  him. 

Should  this  desire  some  day  be  fulfilled  and  he  receive  a  salary  from 
His  Majesty,  Beethoven  will  forgo  his  claim  on  as  much  of  the  4000 
florins  as  the  Imperial  salary  amounts  to,  and  if  this  is  4000  florins,  then 
he  would  forgo  the  entire  4000  florins  above  specified. 

4.  As  Beethoven  desires  to  perform  his  new  works  in  public,  he 
desires  an  assurance  from  the  Court  Theatrical  Directors,  for  themselves 
and  their  successors,  that  on  Palm  Sunday  of  each  year  he  shall  have  the 
use  of  the  Thcater-an-der-Wien  for  a  concert  for  his  own  benefit. 

In  return  for  this  assurance,  Beethoven  would  bind  himself  to  ar- 
range and  conduct  a  charity  concert  every  year  or,  in  case  of  inability  to 
do  this,  to  contribute  a  new  work  for  such  a  concert. ' 

The  conditions  proving  acceptable,  the  business  was  con- 
cluded and  Beethoven  retained  in  Vienna  by  this 

'The  agreement  between  this  memorial  and  the  letters  written  on  the  subject 
(apparently  to  Gleichenstein — though  Thayer  was  not  willing  to  commit  himself  on  this 
point)  make  it  most  prol)able  that  he  was  the  author  of  the  docunient.  Even  the  senti- 
mental suggestion  that  the  contributors  might  look  upon  themselves  as  co-authors  of  the 
great  works  to  come,  went  out  from  Beethoven  in  one  of  the  notes  probably  sent  to 
Gleichenstein. 


Beethoven  Guaranteed  an  Annuity  139 

Agreement: 

The  daily  proofs  which  Herr  Ludwig  van  Beethoven  is  giving  of  his 
extraordinary  talents  and  genius  as  musician  and  composer,  awaken  the 
desire  that  he  surpass  the  great  expectations  which  are  justified  by  his 
past  achievements. 

But  as  it  has  been  demonstrated  that  only  one  who  is  as  free  from 
care  as  possible  can  devote  himself  to  a  single  department  of  activity  and 
create  works  of  magnitude  which  are  exalted  and  which  ennoble  art,  the 
undersigned  have  decided  to  place  Herr  Ludwig  van  Beethoven  in  a  posi- 
tion where  the  necessaries  of  life  shall  not  cause  him  embarrassment  or 
clog  his  powerful  genius. 

To  this  end  they  bind  themselves  to  pay  him  the  fixed  sum  of  4000 
(four  thousand)  florins  a  year,  as  follows : 

His  Imperial  Highness,  Archduke  Rudolph Fl.  1500 

The  Highborn  Prince  Lobkowitz "      700 

The  Highborn  Prince  Ferdinand  Kinsky "    1800 

Total Fl.  4000 

which  Herr  van  Beethoven  is  to  collect  in  semi-annual  installments, 
pro  rata,  against  voucher,  from  each  of  these  contributors. 

The  undersigned  are  pledged  to  pay  this  annual  salary  until  Herr 
van  Beethoven  receives  an  appointment  which  shall  yield  him  the 
equivalent  of  the  above  sum. 

Should  such  an  appointment  not  be  received  and  Herr  Ludwig  van 
Beethoven  be  prevented  from  practising  his  art  by  an  unfortunate  ac- 
cident or  old  age,  the  participants  herein  grant  him  the  salary  for  life. 

In  consideration  of  this  Herr  Ludwig  van  Beethoven  pledges  him- 
self to  make  his  domicile  in  Vienna,  where  the  makers  of  this  document 
live,  or  in  a  city  in  one  of  the  other  hereditary  countries  of  His  Austrian 
Imperial  Majesty,  and  to  depart  from  this  domicile  only  for  such  set 
times  as  may  be  called  for  by  his  business  or  the  interests  of  art,  touching 
which,  however,  the  high  contributors  must  be  consulted  and  to  which 
they  must  give  their  consent. 

Given  in  Vienna,  March  1,  1809. 

(L.  S.)         Rudolph, 

Archduke. 
(L.  S.)         Prince  von  Lobkowitz, 

Duke  of  Raudnitz. 
(L,  S.)         Ferdinand  Prince  Kinsky. 

This  document  bears  in  Beethoven's  hand  these  words: 

Received 

On  February  26,  1809 

from  the  hands 

of  Archduke 
Rudolph,  R.  H. 

The  remarks  in  a  former  chapter  upon  the  singular  attraction 
for  the  young  of  Beethoven  and  his  works  are  supported  by  this 
contract.     Lobkowitz,  it  is  true,  was  near  the  master's  age,  being 


140  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

then  35;  but  Rudolph  and  Kinsky  were  respectively  but  21  and  27. 
Ries,  who  was  then  much  with  Beethoven,  asserts  that  the  con- 
tract with  the  King  of  Westphalia  "was  all  ready;  it  lacked  only 
the  signature"  before  his  Vienna  friends  moved  in  the  matter 
and  "settled  a  salary  on  him  for  life."     He  continues: 

The  first  fact  I  knew;  of  the  second  I  was  in  ignorance  until  sud- 
denly Chajiclmaster  Reichardt  came  to  me  and  said:  "Beethoven  posi- 
tively would  not  accept  the  post  in  Cassel;  would  I  as  Beethoven's 
only  pupil  go  there  on  a  smaller  salary?"  I  did  not  believe  the  first, 
went  at  once  to  Beethoven  to  learn  the  truth  about  it  and  to  ask  his 
advice.  I  was  turned  away  for  three  weeks — even  my  letters  on  the 
subject  were  unanswered.  Finally  I  found  Beethoven  at  the  Ridotto. 
I  went  to  him  and  told  him  the  reason  of  my  inquiries,  whereupon  he 
said  in  a  cutting  tone:  "<So — do  you  think  that  you  can  fill  a  position  which 
was  offered  to  me?''  He  remained  cold  and  repellant.  The  next  morn- 
ing I  went  to  him  to  get  an  understanding.  His  servant  said  to  me 
gruffly:  "My  master  is  not  at  home,"  although  I  heard  him  singing  and 
playing  in  the  next  room.  Since  the  servant  positively  refused  to  an- 
nounce me  I  resolved  to  go  right  in;  but  he  sprang  to  the  door  and  pushed 
me  back.  Enraged  by  this  I  grabbed  him  by  the  throat  and  hurled 
him  down.  Beethoven,  hearing  the  racket,  dashed  out  and  found  his 
servant  still  lying  on  the  floor  and  me  pale  as  death.  Angrily  excited, 
I  so  deluged  him  with  reproaches  that  he  stood  motionless  and  speech- 
less with  surprise.  When  the  matter  was  finally  explained  to  him  he 
said,  "I  did  not  understand  it  so;  I  was  told  that  you  were  trying  to  get 
the  appointment  behind  my  back."  On  my  assuring  him  that  I  had  not 
yet  even  given  an  answer,  he  at  once  went  out  with  me  to  make  the 
mistake  good.  But  it  was  too  late;  I  did  not  get  the  appointment,  though 
it  would  have  been  a  piece  of  great  good  fortune  for  me  at  that  time. 

It  requires  no  great  sagacity  to  perceive  from  the  text  of  the 
"Agreement,"  that  neither  of  its  signers  had  any  expectation  that 
Beethoven  could  ever  perform  the  duties  of  an  Imperial  Conductor 
acceptably;  and  his  hope  of  obtaining  the  title  must  have  rested 
upon  the  influence,  which  he  supposed  Archduke  Rudolph  might 
exert  upon  Emperor  Franz.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the  composer  was 
justly  elated  by  the  favorable  change  in  his  pecuniary  condition; 
and  his  very  natural  exultation  peeps  out  in  the  correspondence 
of  the  time.  While  the  business  was  still  undecided,  Gleichen- 
stein  had  departed  on  a  visit  to  his  native  Freiburg,  via  Munich, 
taking  with  him  a  letter  of  introduction,  the  contents  of  which 
Beethoven  himself  thus  epitomises: 

Here,  my  dear  fellow,  is  the  letter  to  Winter.  First  it  says  that 
you  are  my  friend — secondly,  what  you  are,  namely  K.  K.  Hojconcipist — 
thirdly,  that  you  are  not  a  connoisseur  of  music  but  nevertheless  a  friend 
of  all  that  is  beautiful  and  good — in  view  of  which  I  have  asked  the  chapel- 
master  in  case  anything  of  his  is  performed  to  let  you  participate  in  it.  .  .  . 


The  Invitation  to  Cassel  Declined  141 

On  March  18,  Gleichenstein  received  a  copy  or  abstract  of  the 
contract  enclosed  in  this: 

You  see  my  dear,  good  Gleichenstein  how  honorable  my  remaining 
here  has  turned  out  for  me — the  title  of  Imperial  Chapelmaster  will  also 
come  later,  etc.  Write  to  me  as  soon  as  possible  if  you  think  that  I 
ought  to  make  the  journey  in  the  present  warlike  state  of  affairs — and  if 
you  are  still  firmly  resolved  to  travel  with  me;  several  have  advised  me 
against  it,  but  in  this  matter  I  shall  follow  you  imphcitly;  since  you 
already  have  a  carriage  it  would  have  to  be  arranged  that  for  a  stretch 
you  travel  towards  me  and  I  towards  you.  Write  quickly.  Now  you 
can  help  me  hunt  a  wife,  if  you  find  a  beautiful  one  in  F.  who  yields  a 
sigh  to  my  harmonies,  but  it  must  be  no  Elise  Burger,  tackle  her  at 
once.  But  she  must  be  beautiful,  for  I  cannot  love  what  is  not  beautiful 
— else  I  should  love  myself. 

The  jesting  on  matrimony  in  this  letter  and  the  allusion  to 
Burger's  unlucky  marriage  with  Christine  Elizabeth  Hahn,  attest 
the  writer's  lightness  of  spirit,  but  are  not  to  be  taken  seriously; 
for  we  shall  soon  find  reason  to  believe  that  at  this  moment  he 
had  a  very  different  project  in  view  than  to  make  a  wife  of  the 
greatest  beauty  in  Freiburg.  ^ 

Under  date  "Vienna,  March  4,  1809,"  Beethoven  wrote  a  letter 
to  Breitkopf  and  Hartel  in  which  he  informed  them,  by  means  of  an 
inclosure  to  which  he  called  their  attention,  of  his  change  of  plans 
touching  the  appointment  at  Cassel  and  told  them  that  he  was 
contemplating  a  "little  journey,"  provided  the  "threatening  storm- 
clouds  did  not  become  more  dense."  The  letter  accompanied  the 
Violoncello  Sonata  dedicated  to  Baron  Gleichenstein  and  the  Fifth 
and  Sixth  Symphonies,  together  with  a  memorandum  of  slight  im- 
provements w^hich  had  suggested  themselves  to  him  at  the  perform- 
ance; also  a  formula  for  the  dedication  of  the  Trios  (then  numbered 
62)  to  Countess  Erdody.  About  this  time  came  out  new  composi- 
tions and  new  editions  or  arrangements  of  old  ones  which  occupied 
the  opus  numbers  from  59  to  66  and  compelled  Beethoven  to 
change  these  proposed  numbers,  59-62  to  67-70.  The  "Allg.  Mus. 
Zeit."  had  printed  a  notice  about  the  offer  from  Cassel  in  which 
Reichardt  w^as  represented  as  having  been  the  intermediary  in  the 

^On  this  letter  Dr.  Riemann  comments  as  follows:  "This  letter  proves  conclusively 
that  in  the  spring  of  1809,  Beethoven  was  not  yet  thinking  of  a  union  with  Therese 
Malfatti  and  that  all  letters  to  Gleichenstein  containing  hints  of  that  nature  are  of  later 
date.  But  it  may  safely  be  assumed  that  the  settlement  of  a  fixed  income  upon  him 
together  with  the  receipts  from  his  compositions  set  Beethoven  seriously  to  thinking  of 
marriage.  Although  Dr.  Malfatti,  uncle  of  the  sisters  Therese  and  Anna,  had  been 
Beethoven's  house  physician  since  the  death  of  Dr.  Schmidt  (February  13,  1808),  it  was 
not  until  some  time  in  the  course  of  the  year  1809,  that  Beethoven's  inclination  towards 
Therese  gradually  developed  until  it  led  to  a  formal  proposal  of  marriage  in  the  spring  of 
1810." 


142  The  Life  of  Ll'dwig  van  Beethoven 

negotiations.     This   brought    out   from    Beethoven   a   correction 
dated  April  5,  addressed  to  Breitkopf  and  Hartel: 

Your  letter  was  received  by  me  with  pleasure.  I  thank  you  for  the 
article  in  the  A.  M.  Z.,  only  I  wish  that  when  occasion  offers,  you  would 
make  a  correction  in  respect  of  Reichardt,  I  was  not  at  all  engaged  by  R., 
on  the  contrary,  the  Chief  Chamberlain  of  his  Majesty,  the  King  of 
Westphalia,  Count  Truchsess-Waldburg,  conveyed  to  me  the  offer  of 
First  Chapelmaster  of  H,  R.  H.,  the  King  of  Westphalia.  This  offer  was 
made  before  Reichardt  came  to  Vienna  and  he  was  surprised,  as  he  himself 
said,  that  nothing  of  it  had  reached  his  ears.  R.  took  all  manner  of  'pains 
to  dissuade  me  from  going  there.  As  I  have  besides  very  many  reasons 
for  questioning  the  character  of  Mr.  R. — and  he  may,  for  political  reasons, 
perhaps  have  communicated  this  to  you — I  think  that  I  am  entitled  to  the 
greater  credence  and  that  on  an  occasion  which  might  easily  be  created, 
you  will  print  the  truth  about  the  affair — since  it  is  important  as  touching 
my  honor.  Also  by  next  post  I  shall  send  you  all  three  works,  the 
oratorio,  opera,  mass — and  ask  no  more  for  them  than  250  florins  in 
convention  money — I  do  not  believe  that  you  will  complain  at  this — 
I  cannot  find  the  letter  just  now  in  which  Simrock  offered  100  florins, 
convention  money,  for  the  mass,  here  too  I  could  get  this  sum  and  even 
something  more  from  the  Chemical  Printing  Co.,  for  them;  I  am  not 
hoaxing  you,  that  you  know — I  nevertheless  send  you  all  three  works 
because  I  know  that  you  will  not  take  advantage  of  the  fact.  Make 
the  inscriptions  in  French  as  you  please.  Next  time  you  shall  receive  a 
few  lines  about  the  other  matter — it  is  impossible  to-day. 

Your  most  obedient 

Friend  and  Servant 

Beethoven. 

It  need  not  be  a  pompous  retraction,  but  the  truth  ought  to  be  made 
plain. 

Do  not  forget  the  First  Chapelmaster,  I  laugh  at  such  things,  but 
there  are  Miserables  who  know  how  to  dish  up  such  things  in  the  manner, 
of  the  cook. 

The  allusions  to  a  tour  in  the  letters  to  Gleichenstein  and 
Breitkopf  and  Hartel,  and  the  provision  made  in  the  Agreement  for 
the  composer's  temporary  absence  from  Austria,  acquire  a  par- 
ticular significance  from  one  of  the  notes  of  Rockel's  conversation, 
namely:  "Beethoven  in  those  days  was  full  of  the  project  of 
traveling,  and  a  plan  was  marked  out  of  visiting  the  German  cities, 
then  England  and  finally  Spain;  upon  which  last  Rockel  laid  great 
stress.  He  was  to  have  accompanied  Beethoven;  but  he  could 
not  leave  Vienna,  on  account  of  having  so  many  of  his  brothers  and 
sisters^  sent  to  him  to  care  for." 

'"One  of  these  sisters,"  writes  Thayer,  "was  sent  to  him  (in  1S07-S?),  she  then 
being  but  some  twelve  years  of  age.  lie  gave  her  a  good  education,  and  brought  her 
out  as  a  singer,  when  Hummel  fell  in  love  with  her,  married  her  and  withdrew  her 
from  the  stage.  I  asked  Riickel  if  she  could  by  any  possibility  have  been  the  person 
with  whom  Beethoven  in  1809-10  had  a  marriage  project?  He  proved  to  me  that 
she  was  not.     So  that  story  is  put  at  rest." 


Relations  with  Franz  Oliva  143 

In  March,  1809,  Beethoven,  forwarding  a  letter  to  his  brother, 
"to  be  delivered  at  the  apothecary  shop  'To  the  Golden  Crown'  " 
in  Linz,  enclosed  in  it  an  envelope,  inside  of  which  he  wrote  the 
words  quoted  in  a  previous  chapter,  in  which  he  prayed  God  to 
put  feeling  in  place  of  insensibility  into  his  brothers,  and  be- 
moaned the  fact  that,  needing  some  one  to  help  him,  he  knew  not 
whither  to  turn.  The  breach  between  Beethoven  and  his  brother 
Karl  was  now,  in  business  matters,  complete;  and  he  needed  some 
one  to  perform  for  him  many  little  offices  which  he  could  not  with 
propriety  demand  of  Zmeskall,  Gleichenstein  or  Rockel,  even  had 
they  had  the  leisure  and  the  will.  Hence,  about  this  time,  was 
formed  his  connection  with  a  certain  Franz  Oliva,  clerk  in  the 
employ  of  Offenheimer  and  Herz.  A  singular  obscurity  rests 
upon  this  man's  personal  history  and  the  exact  nature  of  his  re- 
lations to  Beethoven — an  obscurity  which  even  the  indefatigable 
investigator  Ferdinand  Luib  did  not  succeed  in  removing.  What 
is  certain  is  this:  the  relations  between  them  were  exceedingly 
close  up  to  the  spring  of  1812;  afterwards  less  so;  but  never  broken 
off  entirely  until  the  departure  of  Oliva  in  1820  to  St.  Petersburg, 
where  he  found  it  for  his  interest  to  establish  himself  as  a  teacher 
of  languages.  In  due  time  the  "Wiener  Zeitung"  published  an 
official  notice  from  the  Austrian  Government  calling  upon  him 
immediately  to  return  and  justify  himself  for  overstaying  his 
leave  of  absence  under  pain  otherwise  of  being  proceeded  against 
under  the  emigration  laws  of  the  country.  Oliva's  reply  to  this 
was  a  very  practical  one;  he  took  a  wife,  fixed  his  Lares  and 
Penates  in  St.  Petersburg  and  begat  a  daughter,  who,  under  date 
of  August  26,  answered  a  letter  of  Otto  Jahn's  inquiring  about  her 
father's  relations  and  correspondence  with  Beethoven  by  saying 
that  a  fire  and  the  death  of  Oliva  from  cholera  in  1848,  had  caused 
the  loss  and  dissipation  of  Beethoven's  letters  and  that  she  was 
unable  to  write  the  details  of  the  intercourse  between  her  father 
and  Beethoven.  Inasmuch  as  she  fixed  the  beginning  of  this 
intercourse  in  1814,  it  is  not  likely  that  her  contribution  to  this 
history  would  have  been  valuable. 

But  the  threatening  war-clouds  became  more  dense.  The 
same  French  armies  which  laid  the  foundations  for  Johann  van 
Beethoven's  prosperity  not  only  prevented  Ludwig's  contem- 
plated journey  but  affected  him  disastrously  both  pecuniarily  and 
professionally.  On  May  4th,  the  Empress  left  Vienna  with  the 
Imperial  family.  Archduke  Rudolph  accompanied  her,  and  Beet- 
hoven mourned  his  departure  in  the  well-known  first  movement  of 
the  Sonata,  Op.  81a.     This  work  has  been  described  by  Marx  as  a 


144  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

"Soul  picture,  which  brings  before  the  mind  the  Parting — let  us 
assume  of  two  lovers;  the  deserted — let  us  assume  again  sweet- 
heart or  wife — and  Reunion  of  the  Parted  Ones."  But  unfor- 
tunately for  that  writer  Beethoven's  manuscript  bears  these  in- 
scriptions in  his  own  hand:  "The  Farew^ell,  Vienna,  May  4,  1809, 
on  the  departure  of  His  Imperial  Highness  the  revered  Archduke 
Rudolph";  on  the  Finale:  "The  Arrival  of  His  Imperial  Highness 
the  revered  Archduke  Rudolph,  January  30,  1810." 

With  a  garrison  of  16,000  troops,  1000  students  and  artists,  the 
civil  militia  and  a  small  number  of  summoned  men.  Archduke 
^Maximilian  was  ordered  to  defend  Vienna.  Thus  it  came  about 
that  Beethoven,  on  the  10th  of  May,  found  himself  shut  up  in  a 
beleaguered  city. 

Beethoven's  experiment  of  lodging  with  Countess  Erdbdy, 
as  might  have  been  predicted,  was  not  a  successful  one;  he  was  too 
irritable,  whimsical,  obstinate;  too  ready  to  take  offense,  too  lax 
in  asking  or  giving  explanations.  We  have  seen  in  divers  cases, 
how,  when  he  discovered  himself  to  be  in  the  wrong,  he  gladly 
made  every  due  acknowledgment;  but,  as  in  the  case  of  Ries,  this 
was  often  too  late  to  remedy  the  mischief  already  caused.  Before 
the  close  of  the  winter,  he  was  evidently  becoming  discontented; 
so  much  so  as  to  take  ill  even  the  singular  proof  of  the  Countess* 
good  will  spoken  of  in  the  following  note: 

I  think,  my  dear  Zmeskall,  that  even  after  the  war  is  over,  if  ever 
it  begins,  you  will  be  ready  to  carry  on  negotiations  for  peace.  What  a 
glorious  office!  !  I  leave  it  wholly  in  your  hands  to  settle  the  affair  about 
my  servant,  but  the  Countess  must  not  have  the  slightest  influence  over 
him.  She  has,  as  she  says,  given  him  25  fl.  and  5  fl.  a  month  only  to 
make  him  remain  with  me.  Now  I  must  necessarily  believe  in  this 
magnanimity — but  do  not  wish  it  to  be  continued.  .  .  . 

Another  note  bears  Zmeskall's  date:  "March  7,  1809": 

I  might  easily  have  thought  it.  About  the  blows,  this  is  dragged  in 
by  the  hair  of  the  head;  this  story  is  at  least  3  months  old — and  is  by 
no  means — what  he  now  makes  out  of  it — the  whole  miserable  affair 
was  brought  about  by  a  huckster  woman  and  other  wretches — but  I 
shall  not  lose  much,  because  he  was  really  spoiled  in  the  house  where  I  am. 

What  cause  of  dissension,  beyond  the  ill-advised  gratifications 
to  the  servant,  had  arisen  between  Beethoven  and  the  Countess  is 
not  known;  but  something  had  occurred,  the  blame  of  which  he 
soon  saw  was  all  his  own,  and  for  which  he  thus  humbly  expresses 
his  contrition  and  beseeches  forgiveness: 

My  dear  Countess,  I  have  erred,  that  is  true — forgive  me,  it  was 
assuredly  not  intentional  malice  on  my  part,  if  I  have  pained  you — only 


French  Occupation  of  Vienna  145 

since  last  night  do  I  know  the  truth  about  the  matter,  and  I  am  very 
sorry  that  I  acted  as  I  did — read  your  billet  coolly  and  judge  for  yourself 
if  I  deserve  all  and  if  you  did  not  pay  me  back  six-fold  since  I  offended 
you  unintentionally;  send  my  note  back  to  me  to-day,  and  write  me  only 
one  word  that  you  are  no  longer  angry,  I  shall  suffer  infinitely  if  you  do 
not  do  this,  I  can  do  nothing  if  things  are  to  continue  thus — I  await  your 
forgiveness. 

There  are  sufficient  grounds  for  belief  that  an  immediate 
reconciliation  took  place;  nevertheless,  Beethoven  decided  to  go 
into  another  lodging,  and  one  was  found  for  him  in  the  "Klepper- 
stall  in  der  Teinfaltstrasse  im  Sten  Stock  beym  Advokaten 
Gotischa,"  as  he  describes  it  in  a  letter  to  Breitkopf  and  Hartel 
dated  August  3,  1809.  He  does  not  seem  to  have  occupied 
the  lodging,  however,  for  as  a  letter  written  to  Zmeskall  in  the 
same  month  ^  shows  he  was  still  in  Baden,  much  interested  in 
the  exhibitions  of  an  aeronaut  named  Degen.  If  he  took  posses- 
sion at  all  he  soon  gave  it  up  and  removed  to  one  in  the  Walfisch- 
gasse  looking  out  over  the  city  wall  and  glacis  directly  upon  the 
place  where  the  Polytechnic  Institute  now  stands. 

The  French  commanders  demanded  the  capitulation  of 
Vienna,  but  Archduke  Maximilian  rejected  the  demands,  and  the 
French  erected  a  battery  on  the  Spittelberg  to  shell  the  city. 
Every  shot  directed  by  this  battery  against  the  Karnthnerthor 
and  the  Wasserkunst  Bastei  was  liable  to  plunge  into  Beethoven's 
windows. 

At  9  o'clock  at  night  (on  the  11th)  the  battery  of  20  howit- 
zers opened  fire.  Rich  and  poor,  high  and  low,  young  and  old  at 
once  found  themselves  crowded  indiscriminately  in  cellars  and 
fireproof  vaults. 

Beethoven  took  refuge  in  the  Rauhensteingasse  and  "spent 
the  greater  part  of  the  time  in  a  cellar  in  the  house  of  his  brother 
Kaspar  (Karl),  where  he  covered  his  head  with  pillows  so  as  not  to 
hear  the  cannons,"  so  says  Ries.  More  probably  Beethoven  took 
this  wise  precaution  to  save  his  feeble  organs  of  hearing  from  the 
effect  of  the  sharp  reports  of  bursting  shells,  for  it  does  not  appear 
that  either  the  cannons  on  the  bastions  or  those  mounted  in  the 
streets  were  fired.  "At  half-past  2  (the  afternoon  of  the  12th)  the 
white  flag  was  sent  up  as  notice  of  capitulation  to  the  outposts  of 
the  enemy." 

The  occupation  of  the  capital  by  the  French  and  the 
gathering  together  of  opposing  armies  for  the  terrible  battles  of 
Aspern,  Esslingen,  Wagram  and  Znaim  produced  the  inevitable 

^The  letter  is  incorrectly  dated  "1811"  in  the  Kalischer  Collection. 


146  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

effects  of  increased  consumption  and  deficient  supply  of  the  neces- 
saries of  life.     Even  before  the  capitulation  "the  rate  of  interest 
went  up  fearfully,  especially  in  the  sale  of  food,  particularly  bread, 
and  because  of  the  disappearance  of  copper  coins."     From  the 
capitulation  to  the  armistice  of  July  12th,  two  months,  "the  enemy 
had  drawn  from  the  city  nearly  10,000,000  florins  and  demanded 
enormous  requisitions  of  supplies."     There  was  one  requisition, 
perhaps  more  than  one,  which  touched  Beethoven  directly:    "A 
forced  loan  on  the  houses  of  the  city  and  the  suburbs  amounting 
to  one-quarter  of  the  rentals  from  owners  or  the  parties  to  a  con- 
tract for  rent  on  from  101  to  1000  florins  and  one-third  on  from 
1001  to  2000  florins,  etc."     Perhaps  at  no  other  time  was  Beet- 
hoven so  well  able  to  meet  the  extraordinary  demands  upon  his 
purse  as  now.    He  had  received  from  Archduke  Rudolph  750  florins 
and  from  Prince  Lobkowitz  350  florins,  his  first  payment  of  the 
annuity;  and  doubtless  Breitkopf  and  Hartel  and  his  other  pub- 
lishers had  remitted  money  or  bills.     Still  he  must  have  felt  the 
pressure  of  the  time  severely  before  Vienna  again  became  free. 
To  whom  could  he  go  for  aid?     Kinsky  departed  to  Prague  on 
February    26;    his    wife    and    Prince    Lobkowitz   on   March    14. 
The  Lichnowskys,  Palfys,  Waldstein,  etc.,  were  all  away;  some 
in  the  war;  some  in  the  civil  service;  some  on  their  estates — the 
Erdodys,  for  instance,  took  refuge  in  Hungary  or  Croatia.     Of 
personal  friends,  Breuning  seems  to  have  remained — no  other  is 
known  to  have  done  so.     Bigot  and  his  wife  went  off  to  Paris, 
never  to  return;  Zmeskall  and  the  public  officials  in  general  had 
followed  the  Court  and  the  Ministers  to  places  of  safety.     The 
posts  were  interrupted  and  for  many  weeks  communication  with 
the  country  prohibited.     It  was  not  until  near  the  end  of  July 
that  the  Prater,  the  Augarten,  Schwarzenberg  Garten,  and  the 
Schcinbrunner  Garten  were  opened  to  the  public.     For  Beethoven, 
this  confi.nemont  during  this  season  of  the  year  when  he  was  ac- 
customed to  ])reathe  inspiration  in  vale  and  forest,  was  almost 
intoleral)le,  and  increased  if  possible  his  old  hatred  of  Napoleon 
and  the  French.     Young  Rust  met  him  one  day  in  a  coffee-house 
and  saw  him  shake  his  fist  at  a  passing  French  officer,  with  the  ex- 
clamation: "If  I,  as  general,  knew  as  much  about  strategy  as  I  the 
composer  know  of  counterpoint,  I'd  give  you  something  to  do!" 

Under  such  circumstances,  and  with  no  immediately  pressing 
necessity  for  composition,  even  the  genius  of  a  Beethoven  must 
sleep.  We  may  suppose,  that  under  the  impulse  of  the  departure 
of  the  Archduke,  Beethoven  completed  the  "Farewell"  and  "Ab- 
sence" of  the  Sonata,  Op.  81a;  and  that  he  gave  the  final  touches  to 


A  Member  of  the  Dutch  Institute  147 

the  Pianoforte  Concerto  in  E-flat,  Op.  73,  and  made  some  studies 
for  new  symphonies,  and  sonatas;  but  the  fountain  soon  ran  dry, 
and   the  tedious  weeks  of   this  miserable  summer  were  mainly 
devoted  to  the  laborious  task  of  selecting  and  copying  in  order 
extracts   from   the  theoretical   works   of   C.   P.   E.   Bach,   Turk, 
Kirnberger,  Fux  and  Albrechtsberger,  for  subsequent  use  in  the 
instruction  of  Archduke  Rudolph — a  task  which,  in  our  opinion, 
he  had  for  some  time  had  in  mind,  and  had  begun,  at  the  very 
latest,  early  in  the  year.     The  "Materials  for  Thoroughbass"  and 
"Materials  for  Counterpoint" — as  two  of  his  books  are  respec- 
tively headed  by  him — are  largely  the  basis  of  that  extraordinary 
imposition  upon  the  musical  public,   prepared   by  Sej'fried  and 
published  by  Haslinger  as  Beethoven's  Studies  under  Haydn  and 
Albrechtsberger — an  imposition  which  was  successful  for  30  years! 
Schindler  early  warned  the  public  against  the  fraud.     His  charges 
were    never    answered;    nor    was    his    challenge    to    prove    the 
genuineness  of  the  work  taken  up. 

Some  time  in  August  a  letter  from  Amsterdam,  which  was 
preserved  by  the  widow  of  Beethoven's  nephew  Karl,  was  re- 
ceived by  the  composer,  notifying  to  him  his  appointment  as  a 
Correspondent  of  the  Fourth  Class  of  the  Royal  Institute  of 
Science,  Literature  and  the  Fine  Arts.  It  gave  occasion  shortly 
after  its  receipt  for  a  letter  to  Breitkopf  and  Hartel  in  which 
Beethoven  says:  "Do  you  know  that  I  have  become  a  member  of 
the  Society  of  Fine  Arts  and  Sciences.^ — after  all  a  title — ha-ha,  it 
makes  me  laugh!"  In  another  letter  to  Breitkopf  and  Hartel, 
dated  August  8,  he  says  he  has  sent  them  the  Sextet  for  Wind- 
instruments,  Op.  71,  and  two  German  songs  as  a  "return  gift  for 
all  the  things  which  I  have  asked  as  gifts  from  yon"  "The  Sextet  is 
one  of  my  early  things  and,  besides,  was  written  in  one  night; 
nothing  more  can  be  said  of  it  except  that  it  was  written  by  an 
author  who  at  least  has  done  better  things — hut  to  7nany  people 
such  things  are  the  best."  He  also  asks  for  the  complete  works  of 
Goethe  and  Schiller,  his  "favorite  poets,  with  Ossian  and  Homer." 
One  of  the  two  songs  referred  to  was  undoubtedly  "Ich  denke 
dein."  The  second  song  was  probably  the  "Lied  aus  der 
Feme,"  the  first  of  five  settings  which  Beethoven  made  of  poems 
by  C.  L.  Reissig  and  which  gave  rise  to  much  annoyance.  In  a 
letter  to  Breitkopf  and  Hartel,  dated  February  4,  1810,  he  wrote: 

The  "Gesang  in  der  Feme"  which  my  brother  sent  you  recently  ^  was 
written  by  a  dilettante,  as  you  no  doubt  observed  for  yourselves,  who 

'If  the   estrangement  between   Beethoven  and   his   brother  was    of   eariier    date 
than  this,  it  would  appear  as  if  the  siege  of  Vienna  had  brought  them  together  again. 


148  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

pressed  me  urgently  to  set  it  to  music,  but  has  also  taken  the  liberty  to 
have  the  a(ria)  printed,  I  therefore  have  thought  it  well  to  give  you  a  proof 
of  my  friendly  feeling  by  informing  you  of  the  fact,  I  hope  you  will  print 
it  at  once  on  receipt,  you  can  send  it  here  and  elsewhere  as  you  please, 
if  you  make  haste  you  may  have  it  here  before  it  can  be  printed  here,  I 
know  for  a  certainty  that  it  will  be  published  by  Artaria — I  wrote  the  A. 
only  as  a  favor,  and  as  a  favor  I  give  it  to  you — but  I  beg  you  to  send  me 
the  following  book,  namely  "Bechstein's  Natural  History  of  Birds  in  two 
large  volumes  with  copper-plates,"  with  which  I  wish  to  give  great 
pleasure  to  a  good  friend  of  mine  ...  I  am  not  yet  sound  in  health — we 
are  given  poor  food  and  have  to  pay  incredibly — things  are  not  quite  in 
order  with  my  appointment,  I  have  not  yet  received  a  heller  from 
Kinsky — I  fear  or  rather  almost  hope  that  I  shall  be  compelled  to  go 
away  perhaps  even  for  the  sake  of  my  health,  it  may  be  a  long  time  before 
conditions  grow  better  than  they  are  now — there  can  be  no  thought  of 
what  they  were. 

In  this  letter  Beethoven  offers  Breitkopf  and  Hartel  the 
Fantasia  (Op.  77),  the  Choral  Fantasia  (Op.  80),  three  Pianoforte 
Sonatas  (Op.  78,  79  and  81a),  the  Variations  (Op.  76,  in  D  major), 
the  Quartet  (Op.  74),  the  Pf.  Concerto  in  E-flat,  and  "l'-2  songs 
with  pianoforte  accompaniment,  texts  partly  in  German,  partly 
in  Italian,  nearly  all  composed  throughout."  That  among  these 
songs  were  four  others  to  Reissig's  words  ("An  den  fern  en  Gelieb- 
ten,"  "Der  Zufriedene,"  "Der  Jungling  in  der  Fremde"  and  "Der 
Liebende"),  which  were  not  published  till  some  years  later,  is  a 
natural  conclusion  from  a  passage  in  a  letter  to  Breitkopf  and 
Hartel,  dated  September  11,  1810: 

That  Cavalry  Captain  Reissig  ever  paid  me  anything  for  my  com- 
positions is  an  abominable  lie,  I  composed  them  for  him  as  a  friendly 
favor  because  he  was  a  cripple  at  the  time  and  excited  my  compassion. 
In  writing  this  I  declare  that  Breitkopf  and  Hartel  are  the  sole  owners 
of  the  songs  which  I  have  sent  you,  of  which  the  words  are  by  Cavalry 
Captain  Reissig. 

In  a  still  angrier  mood  he  recurs  to  the  songs  again  in  a  letter 
of  October  15: 

You  ought  to  add  "ich  denke  dein"  to  this  collection,  I  have  seen  it 
printed  separately  and  somewhere  in  it  I  do  not  remember  where,  not 
having  it,  a  wrong  mordent.  Another  thing:  you  ought  to  publish  the 
*'Gesang  aus  der  Feme"  at  once  if  you  have  not  already  done  so,  the 
poetry  is  by  that  rascal  Reissig,  it  was  not  published  at  the  time  and  it 
took  nearly  half  a  year  before  this  rascal  told  me  that,  as  he  said,  he  had 
had  it  "printed  by  Artaria  only  for  his  friends."  I  sent  it  to  you  by  letter- 
post  and  received  for  it  instead  of  thanks,  stench  {statt  Dank  Stank). 

Beethoven's  longing  desire  for  the  country  was  not  to  be  gra- 
tified immediately.     Manager  Hartl  had  projected  a  new  charity, 


A  Concert  for  the  French  Invaders  149 

a  theatrical  poor  fund,  and  as  usual  called  upon  hini  to  give  at- 
traction to  the  first  public  concert  for  its  benefit,  by  directing  one 
or  more  of  his  works.  During  the  French  occupation  the  ordinary 
performances  of  both  Court  Theatres  were  given  in  the  Karnth- 
nerthor.  At  the  Burg — the  real  Court  Theatre,  forming,  indeed, 
a  part  of  the  Imperial  residence — after  being  closed  some  weeks, 
a  French  company  opened  on  the  18th  of  July,  played  for  a  time 
alternately  with  a  German  one,  and  then  held — as  if  in  bitter 
irony — exclusive  possession  of  the  stage.  Was  not  Vienna  a 
French  city.^  the  Burg  a  French  palace.^  Did  not  Napoleon's 
eagle  head  the  "Wiener  Zeitung".?  At  Schonbrunn  the  theatre 
was  devoted  almost  exclusively  to  Italian  opera  and  ballet,  for 
the  amusement  of  the  French  Court.  Under  these  circumstances 
Hartl  might  reasonably  expect  munificent  support  from  the  con- 
querors for  at  least  one  charity  concert  for  the  benefit  of  the 
actors  and  their  families.  Hence,  as  on  the  8th  of  September 
(the  Nativity  of  the  Virgin  Mary)  the  Court  Theatres  would  be 
closed,  he  selected  that  day.  The  programme  has  eluded 
search;  but  one  number  was  the  "Sinfonia  Eroica,"  conducted  by 
its  author.  Was  this  selected,  in  the  expectation  that  Napoleon 
would  be  present,  to  do  him  homage.'^  If  so,  it  failed  of  its  aim. 
The  day  before.  Napoleon  journeyed  from  Schonbrunn  to  Krems 
and  Molk.  Or  was  it  in  bitter  sarcasm  that  Beethoven  chose  it.^^ 
An  undated  letter  to  von  Collin  refers  to  this  concert.  In 
it  he  asked  the  Court  Secretary  to  rewrite  a  note  which  he  had 
addressed  to  Beethoven  when  Hartl  gave  him  the  commission 
for  the  concert,  and  which  he  had  lost.     He  goes  on : 

I  beg  of  you,  dear  Friend,  to  recall  to  mind  the  contents  as  near 
as  I  can  recollect:  "that  you  wrote  to  me  that  you  had  spoken  to  H.  v. 
Hartl  concerning  a  day  for  a  concert  and  that  then  he  gave  you  instruc- 
tions to  write  to  me  that  if  at  this  year's  concert  for  the  theatrical  poor, 
I  gave  important  tvorks  for  performance,  and  would  myself  conduct,  I 
might  at  once  pick  out  a  day  for  a  concert  at  the  Theater-an-der-Wien, 
and  that  under  these  conditions  I  might  have  a  day  every  year.  Vive 
vale." 

Give  to  this  note  the  earliest  date  possible,  still  there  remain 
to  Beethoven  less  than  four  months  to  the  Christmas  holidays,  in 
which  to  complete,  copy  and  rehearse  whatever  new  works  he 
intended  to  produce  in  the  concert.  The  Pianoforte  Concerto  in 
E-flat  major  is  the  only  work  known  to  have  been  ready;  what 
others  may  he  have  had  in  contemplation.^  The  question  is, 
in  itself,  rather  interesting  than  important;  its  bearing,  however, 
upon  other  matters  hereafter  warrants  its  discussion  at  some  length. 


150  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

Let  us  turn  again  for  a  moment  to  the  so-called  "Studien." 
On  the  margin  of  the  "Materialien  zum  Generalbass,"  Beethoven 
wrote:  "from  101  to  1000  florins  a  quarter — all  residents  or  par- 
ties to  rent-contracts  without  distinction."  This  was,  of  course, 
written  at  the  time  of  the  forced  contribution  of  June  28th,  but  is 
no  proof  that  the  book  was  then  just  begun.  It  shows  merely 
that  it  was  lying  before  him,  offered  him  a  convenient  vacant 
space  for  the  memorandum.^  Again  on  page  17,  on  the  upper 
margin,  stands:  "Printer's  errors  in  the  sonata  for  pianoforte  with 
ohhligato  violoncello."  This  sonata,  beyond  all  question,  was  the 
one  dedicated  to  Gleichenstein,  published  early  in  April  by  Breit- 
kopf  and  Hartel,  and  sent  to  the  composer  before  the  breaking  of 
post  communications  by  the  advance  of  Napoleon's  armies. 
Now,  whether  Beethoven's  words  were  merely  a  memorandum,  or 
— as  Nottebohm  is  of  opinion — were  the  heading  of  a  sheet  in- 
tended to  receive  a  list  of  the  printer's  errors — in  either  case  we 
must  suppose  them  to  have  been  written  immediately  upon  the 
composer's  first  examination  of  the  printed  work — at  the  latest 
in  April. 2 

Now,  it  cannot  be  reasonably  supposed  that  the  idea  of 
selecting  and  arranging  such  a  series  of  "Studien"  for  the  Arch- 
duke's instruction  as  these  bound  sheets  contain  was  suddenly 
conceived  and  executed  with  no  previous  study  nor  protracted 
examination  of  the  then  existing  authorities,  and  all  during  the 
few  weeks  when  Beethoven  was  confined  to  the  city.  It  is  equally 
improbable  that  the  Archduke's  studies  in  the  theory  of  music 
did  not  begin  until  after  his  return  to  Vienna  (January,  1810), 
when  he  was  22  years  of  age.  We  can  discover  no  objection  to  the 
following  hypothesis  as  to  the  origin  of  the  bound  sheets  in  ques- 
tion; namely,  that  Beethoven  began  by  making  his  extracts  from 
Bach,  Turk,  etc.,  as  they  were  needed  in  the  progress  of  his  les- 
sons; and  that  the  execution  of  the  task  complete  was  an  after- 
thought, arising  from  want  of  occupation  at  a  time  when  he  felt 
himself  unfitted  for  original  composition.  The  inference  is,  that, 
for  several  months,  his  thoughts  had  been  more  than  ordinarily 
turned  toward  theoretical  studies. 

'In  view  of  the  many  indications,  especially  in  the  letters  to  Breitkopf  and  Hiirtel, 
that  Beethoven  did  not  work  with  any  continuity  from  the  beginning  of  May  to  the 
end  of  July,  this  memorandum  assumes  a  different  aspect  and  might  serve  to  prove 
that  the  resumption  of  work  on  the  first  movement  of  the  E-flat  Concerto  was  not 
made  till  June  or  July,  and  that  the  entire  Meinert  sketchbook  belongs  to  the  period 
from  July   to  October. 

*Xor  is  this  longer  to  be  maintained,  since  Beethoven  reports  these  errors  to 
Breitkopf  and  Hartel  on  July  26,  1809,  "having  had  attention  drawn  to  them  by  a  good 
friend." 


Study-Material  for  a  Royal  Pupil  151 

Now,  to  the  question  just  proposed. 

In  the  late  Gustav  Fetter's  Collection  of  Autography  (in 
Vienna)  is  a  sketchbook  of  Beethoven's — 148  pages  in  extent — 
largely  devoted  to  studies  for  two  works,  but  containing  themes 
and  hints  for  many  others,  with  an  occasional  characteristic  note 
or  name:  random,  not  always  strictly  musical.  Those  who  have 
had  occasion  to  study  this  book — the  present  writer  included — 
have  heretofore  assumed,  that  it  belongs  to  the  year  1812.  The 
correctness  of  this  assumption  must  be  tested.  "^ 

On  the  first  page  are  two  measures  of  music — merely  a  suc- 
cession of  chords — with  this  remark:   "Such    (passages)    should 
produce  another  effect  than  the  miserable  enharmonic   evasions 
which  every  school  Miserabili  can  write,  they  ought  to  disclose  the 
change  to  every  hearer."     This,  though  not  fixing  the  date,  does 
at  least  suggest  the  time  when  its  writer's  mind  was  unusually 
occupied   with   theoretical   studies.     On   the  same  page  is  this: 
"Cotton  in  my  ears  at  the  pianoforte  frees  my  hearing  from  the 
unpleasant   buzzing    {das  unangenehme  rauschendeY* — which  sug- 
gests a  time  when  his  organs  of  hearing  were  still  very  sensitive, 
and  he  had  not  yet  abandoned  his  pianoforte  playing.     Suggestions 
so  vague  cannot  be  offered  as  argument;  but  if  any  weight  be 
granted  to  them,  it  is  in  favor  of  the  winter  1808-9.     Something 
more  than  a  mere  suggestion  is  offered  on  page  18.     Here  Beet- 
hoven   has   written:  "Overture  Macbeth,  the  chorus  of  witches 
comes  in  at  once."     Whether  the  succeeding  sketches  belong  to 
this  overture  is  a  question  for  a  musician.     Now  that  first  act  of 
"Macbeth,"  read  by  Rockel  in  1808,  together  with  the  first  act 
of   the  Oratorio,  "Die  Befreiung  Jerusalems" — both  written   for 
Beethoven — lay  before  the  composer  in  print  early  in  the  year 
1809.     Collin  had  inserted  them  in  the  "Hoftheater-Taschenbuch" 
of  that  year.     The  poet  died  in   1811,  leaving  both  unfinished. 
To  suppose  that  Beethoven,  in  1812,  gave  thought  to  an  incom- 
plete text  by  a  deceased   poet,  is  absurd.     His  memorandum  is 
evidently  the  record  of  an  idea  which  occurred  to  his  mind  on 
perusing  the  fragment,  and  determines  the  date  of  the  first  part 
of  the  sketchbook  to  be  the  beginning  of  1809.     Passing  to  the 
middle  of  page  22,  one  comes  upon  this: 


Viole 


l;  If  r  ir  LT 


segue 


iNottebohm,  "Zweite  Beethoveniana,"  p.  188  et  seq.,  contends  that  the  pages 
in  the  so-called  "Pettersches  Skizzenbuch"  containing  the  sketches  for  "Macbeth" 
and  the  D  major  Trio  were  not  originally  part  of  the  book  and  that  it  dates  from  1812. 
Neverthless,  Thayer,  who  was  familiar  with  the  views  divergent  from  his,  is  entitled 
to  have  his  argument  set  forth  as  he  wrote  it. 


152 


The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 


With  few  interruptions,  such  as  a  theme  for  a  "symphony  with- 
out drums,"  "good  triplets  of  another  sort,"  the  Allegretto  and 
Finale  of  the  Seventh  Symphony  are  the  subjects  of  the  studies  for 
more  than  forty  pages.  That  modest  gem — the  theme  of  the 
Allegretto — is  still  the  same  throughout;  but  how  astonishing  the 
number  and  variety  of  forms  for  its  setting,  that  were  tested, 
before  the  majestic,  the  sublime  simplicity  was  attained,  which 
satisfied  the  exquisite  taste  of  its  creator! 

On  page  71  begin  the  sketches  for  the  first,  on  page  83,  for 
the  last  movement  of  the  Eighth  Symphony.  These  two  Sym- 
phonies, then,  were  the  grand  orchestral  works  in  preparation  for 
the  proposed  concert.  Scattered  along  this  part  of  the  sketchbook 
are  divers  subjects  for  pianoforte  works;  as  if  Beethoven  had  in 
mind  a  companion  piece  to  the  E-flat  Concerto  for  the  farther 
display  of  his  powers.  In  our  notes  we  find,  "Overture-Concerto," 
p.  73;  p.  83  "Concerto  in  G" — "Concerto  in  G  or  E  minor" — 
"Adagio  in  E-flat" — "Finale  Tutti";  and  near  the  bottom  of  the 
same  page — "Polonaise  for  Pianoforte  alone."  But  the  master  had 
no  new  vocal  work  for  the  occasion.  Do  not  the  following  memo- 
randa— accompanied  in  the  sketchbook  by  numerous  studies — 
show  how  the  deficiency  was  to  be  supplied.^     Immediately  fol- 


lowing the 


"Polonaise"  we  read: 


Freude  schoner  Gotter  Funken  Tochter.    Work  out  the  overture. 

Again  on  leaf  43: 

Freude  schoner  Gotter  Funken  Tochter  aus  Elysium.     Detached 
fragments,  like  princes  are  beggars,  etc.,  not  the  whole. 

On  the  same  page  again: 


whole. 


Detached  fragments  from  Schiller's  Freude  brought  together  in  a 


One  of  the  sketches  (according  to  our  copy)  begins  thus: 


Overture 
SchlUer 


^ 


>  >  \r  I  I  if  t  > 


Freu 


-  de. 


scho 


ner 


Got 


^ 


M  ij  M  If  M  ir  ^  ^ 


ter 


fun 


ken, 


Toch 


-  ter 


At  or  near  this  point  the  book  was  for  the  present  laid  aside; 
for  the  intended  concert  was  abandoned,  and  Beethoven's  studies 
were  abruptly  turned  in  other  directions. 


Music  to  "Egmont"  Projected  153 

The  explanation  of  this  is  easy. 

In  the  hsts  of  "newly  performed  plays"  in  the  two  Vienna 
Court  Theatres  from  August  1,  1803  to  July  31,  1805,  and  from 
August  1,  1806  to  December  31,  1807,  Schiller's  name  does  not 
once  occur;  not  so  in  the  lists  after  Hartl's  undertaking  the  direc- 
tion, January  1,  1808.     Here  we  find: 

1808:  February  13,  "Macbeth,"  after  Shakespeare;  July  23,  "Kabale 
und  Liebe";  December  17,  "Phaedra,"  after  Racine;  1809:  August  23, 
"Don  Carlos"— all  by  Schiller. 

Thus  had  Schiller  suddenly  become  a  leading  topic  in  the 
conversation  of  theatrical  circles.  One  sees  now  how  Collin  and 
Beethoven  hit  upon  the  "Macbeth"  as  a  subject  for  opera;  and 
how  the  composer's  youthful  idea  [see  Vol.  I,  p.  132]  of  making  the 
"Ode  to  Joy"  the  subject  of  a  composition  was  recalled  to  mind. 

It  does  not  appear  from  any  records  at  hand,  that  either  of  the^> 
above-named  dramas  was  produced  with  music  composed  for  it; 
but  Hartl  now  determined,  with  his  next  Schiller  drama,  to  put  one 
by  Goethe  in  rehearsal  and  to  provide  both  with  original  music. 
*'When  it  was  decided,"  writes  Czerny, 

to  perform  Schiller's  "Tell"  and  Goethe's  "Egmont"  in  the  city  theatres 
the  question  arose  who  should  compose  the  music.  Beethoven  and 
Gyrowetz  were  chosen.  Beethoven  wanted  very  much  to  have  "Tell." 
But  a  lot  of  intrigues  were  at  once  set  on  foot  to  have  "Egmont," 
supposed  to  be  less  adaptable  for  music,  assigned  to  him.  It  turned  out, 
however,  that  he  could  make  masterly  music  for  this  drama  also  and  he 
applied  the  full  power  of  his  genius  to  it.  ^ 

Perhaps  Beethoven's  experience  with  the  "Ode  to  Joy"  and 
the  "Egmont"  just  at  this  time  was  the  origin  of  a  fine  remark  to 
CzQrny.  "Once,  when  the  talk  was  about  Schiller,  he  said  to  me: 
*Schiller's  poems  are  very  difficult  to  set  to  music.  The  composer 
must  be  able  to  lift  himself  far  above  the  poet;  who  can  do  that 
in  the  case  of  Schiller.'^     In  this  respect  Goethe  is  much  easier." 

The  order  for  the  immortal  "Egmont"  music,  by  presenting 
the  completion  of  new  compositions,  necessarily  caused  the  con- 
cert to  be  abandoned,  and  Beethoven  was  at  last  able  to  seek  the 
much  needed  rest  and  recreation,  both  physical  and  mental, 
away  from  the  city,  its  cares  and  duties.  It  needs  scarcely  to  be  j 
said  that  the  condition  of  affairs  prevented  Beethoven  from  going 
into  the  country  until  late  in  the  summer  of  1809. 

To  what  "happy  corner  in  the  country,"  if  indeed  to  any,  he  now 
retired,  is  not  positively  known.     "He  was  often  in  Hungary," 

^Czerny's  statements  must  be  corrected  in  a  few  respects  in  view  oi  Beethoven's  own 
statements  in  a  letter  to  Breitkopf  and  Hartel.  dated  August  21,  1810.  as  will  appear  later. 


154  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

says  Czerny,  and  there  is  no  good  reason  to  doubt  that  he  went 
thither  now  to  pass  several  weeks  with  the  Brunswicks.  It  was 
already  his  practice  to  grant  manuscript  copies  of  his  new  works 
for  the  collection  of  Archduke  Rudolph,  whose  catalogue,  there- 
fore, is  of  the  highest  authority  in  determining  their  dates. 
From  this  source  it  is  known  that  the  Pianoforte  Fantasia,  Op. 
77,  previously  sketched,  and  the  great  F-sharp  Pianoforte  Sonata, 
Op.  78,  were  completed  in  October.  The  dedication  of  these  two 
works  to  Count  Franz  and  his  sister  Therese  leads  to  the 
inference,  that  they  are  memorials  of  happy  hours  spent  in  their 
domestic  circle.^ 

Beethoven  himself  speaks  in  very  strong  terms  of  his  ex- 
traordinary industry  during  these  weeks,  the  only  probable 
explanation  of  which,  we  think,  is,  that  he  now  composed  or 
completed  and  prepared  for  publication  several  songs  and  minor 
pianoforte  works — in  part  previously  sketched,  in  part  quite  new. 
There  are  several  such  compositions,  known  to  belong  to  this  period 
of  his  life,  although  their  exact  date  has  not  been  ascertained. 

It  is  conjectured,  also,  that,  at  this  time  and  through  the  in- 
fluence of  Count  Brunswick,  Beethoven  received  the  order  for 
his  other  principal  contributions  to  dramatic  music.  In  1808 
Emperor  Franz  had  sanctioned  the  building  at  Pesth  of  "an 
entirely  new  grand  theatre  with  Ridotto  room,  casino,  restau- 
rant and  coffee-house,"  an  enterprise  which,  notwithstanding  the 
catastrophe  of  1809,  it  was  now  thought  would  be  completed  in 
1810.-  It  was  time  therefore  to  consider  the  programme  for  its 
opening  performances,  and  as  no  living  musician  could  give  the 
occasion  so  much  splendor  as  Beethoven,  it  was  of  high  impor- 
tance that  his  consent  to  compose  the  music  should  be  secured  as 
early  as  possible.  This,  through  Brunswick  and  other  Hungarian 
friends,  was  no  difficult  task;  more  especially  as  the  master  had  a 
work  of  the  character  required  in  hand — the  "Egmont"  music. 
Another  reason  for  hastening  the  business  with  the  composer 
may  have  been,  that  his  consent  or  refusal  must  have  some  in- 
fluence upon  the  form  and  character  of  the  drama  or  dramas,  which 
were  still  to  be  written.  After  Beethoven's  return  to  the  Wal- 
fischgasse,  his  time  appears  still  to  have  been  exceedingly  occupied 
in  composition;  so  much  so  as  to  yield  nothing  eventful  for  a 
biographer  to  record.     There  is,   however,   one  deeply  touching 

'"The  statement  in  the  first  edition,  that  Beethoven  perhaps  spent  some  time 
with  the  Brunswicks  in  Hungary  in  the  summer  of  1809,  lacks  all  evidence"  (says 
Dr.  Riemann). 

'In  their  efforts  in  later  years  to  sustain  this  theatre  in  brilliant  style,  "the 
Counts  Raday  and  Brunswick  were  ruined." 


Concerned  about  von  Breuning       155 

and  interesting  letter  to  Gleichenstein  which  must  be  copied  com- 
plete. Its  date  is  determined  by  these  circumstances,  namely: 
Poor  Breuning  had,  in  April,  1808,  married  Julie,  the  beautiful  and 
highly  accomplished  daughter  of  Staff  Physician  von  Vering. 
Less  than  one  year  thereafter  the  young  wife,  by  an  imprudent 
use  of  cold  foot-baths,  brought  upon  herself  a  hemorrhage  of  the 
lungs  and  died  suddenly,  only  19  years  of  age,  March  21,  1809. 
The  letter  dates  from  this  period: 

Dear  good  Gleichenstein!  It  is  impossible  for  me  to  refrain  from 
letting  you  know  of  my  anxiety  for  Breuning's  convulsive  and  feverish 
condition,  and  to  beg  of  you  that  you  strive  to  form  a  closer  attachment 
to  him  or  rather  to  bind  him  closer  to  you;  the  condition  of  my  affairs 
allows  me  much  too  little  opportunity  to  perform  the  high  duties  of  friend- 
ship, I  beg  of  you,  I  adjure  you  in  the  name  of  the  good  and  noble  senti- 
ments which  you  surely  feel  to  take  from  me  upon  yourself  this  truly 
tormenting  care,  it  will  be  particularly  beneficial  if  you  can  ask  him  to  go 
here  and  there  with  you,  and  (no  matter  how  much  he  may  seek  to 
goad  you  to  diligence)  restrain  him  from  his  immoderate,  and  what  seems 
to  me  unnecessary,  labors.  You  would  not  believe  in  what  an  over- 
wrought state  I  have  occasionally  found  him — you  probably  know  of  his 
worry  of  yesterday.  All  results  of  the  fearful  irritability,  which,  if  he 
does  not  overcome  it,  will  certainly  be  his  ruin. 

I  therefore  place  upon  you,  my  dear  Gleichenstein,  the  care  of  one 
of  my  best  and  most  proved  friends,  the  more  since  your  occupation  al- 
ready creates  a  sort  of  bond  between  you,  and  this  you  will  strengthen  by 
frequently  showing  concern  for  his  welfare,  which  you  can  easily  do  in- 
asmuch as  he  is  well  disposed  towards  you — but  your  noble  heart,  which 
I  know  right  well,  surely  needs  no  injunctions  in  respect  of  this;  act  for 
me  and  for  your  good  Breuning.     I  embrace  you  with  all  my  heart. 

It  was  upon  finding  himself  in  the  Walfischgasse  without  a 
servant  that  Beethoven  seems  first  to  have  thought  of  trying  the 
experiment  of  living  independently  of  hotels  and  eating-houses, 
and  dining  at  home.  It  was  therefore  of  importance  to  him,  if 
possible,  to  obtain  the  joint  service  of  some  man  and  wife,  and 
such  a  couple  now  offered  themselves  as  servant  and  housekeeper. 
This,  with  the  remark  that  the  rehearsal  mentioned  was  of  the 
Lobkowitz  Quartet,  Op.  74,  is  suflficient  introduction  to  the  follow- 
ing excerpts  from  the  Zmeskall  correspondence: 

To-day  comes  Herzog,  who  wishes  to  become  my  servant  for  30  fl., 
you  may  negotiate  with  him  with  his  wife  ohligato — wood,  candles,  no  livery 
— I  must  have  somebody  to  cook,  as  long  as  the  present  wretched  food 
continues  I  shall  remain  ill — to-day  I  eat  at  home,  because  of  the  better 
wine,  if  you  will  order  what  you  want,  I  should  be  glad  to  have  you  come 
to  me  also,  you  will  get  the  wine  gratis  and  better  than  that  at  the  beastly 
Swan. 

Here  comes  Herzog  with  his  wife — listen  to  their  condescension — 
she  will  cook  when  I  want  her  to — also  mend,  etc.,  for  this  is  a  highly 


156  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

important  matter — I  will  come  to  you  afterward  in  order  to  hear  the 
result — perhaps  it  would  be  best  to  ask  what  ser\'ice  they  are  going  to 
perform  for  me? 

Shakespeare's  clowns  in  "A  Midsummer  Night's  Dream" 
have  enriched  theatrical  speech  with  "lamentable  comedy"  and 
"very  tragical  mirth";  phrases  not  inappropriate  to  the  domestic 
dramas  in  which  Beethoven  and  his  servants  were  the  actors,  and 
which  he  made  the  subjects  of  numberless  Jeremiads  both  in 
conversation  and  in  letters  to  his  friends — especially  to  Zmeskall 
and  Mme.  Streicher.  As  one  example — and  surely  one  is  enough — 
take  the  case  of  the  Herzogs.  They  were  engaged  and  were  still 
in  Beethoven's  employ  when  the  departure  of  Napoleon  and  his 
armies  enabled  those  belonging  to  the  public  service  to  return  and 
resume  their  duties  in  the  Capital — Zmeskall  among  them.  As 
in  the  spring  he  had  to  accommodate  himself  to  "peace  negotiations" 
between  Beethoven  and  his  servant,  so  now  he  must  again  offi- 
ciate in  this  "glorious  office"  between  him  and  the  Herzogs. 
The  imagination  can  readily  form  a  lively  and  correct  picture  of 
Beethoven's  troubles,  partly  serious,  partly  tragi-comic,  with  these 
people,  during  that  wretched  summer,  shut  up  in  the  city,  all  the 
necessaries  of  life  at  famine  prices,  and  they  on  his  hands  to  be 
provided  for.  The  situation  certainly  was  not  one  fitted  to 
sweeten  the  temper  of  either  party;  no  doubt  both  had  good  cause 
of  complaint.  We  have,  however,  only  the  master's  side  of  the 
question  and  not  the  whole  of  that.  One  who  invariably  has 
trouble  with  his  servants  must  sometimes  himself  be  in  fault;  so, 
perhaps,  the  Herzogs  were  not  such  "very  bad  people"  after  all. 


His  friend  Clement  of  the  Theater-an-der-Wien  gave  Beethoven 
a  pleasing  compliment  by  reproducing  in  his  annual  concert 
(December  24)  the  "Christus  am  Olberg."  On  the  same  evening, 
by  the  way,  Dobenz's  oratorio,  "Die  Siindfluth,"  with  music  by 
Kauer,  was  sung  at  the  Leopoldstadt  Theatre,  as  it  would  seem, 
from  the  sarcastic  notice  in  the  "Allg.  Mus.  Zeit.,"  with  appro- 
priate scenery!  If  Beethoven  heard  it,  which  is  doubtful  unless 
at  rehearsal,  he  found  he  had  little  reason  to  mourn  his  non- 
acceptance  of  that  text. 

Negotiations  had  been  resumed  about  this  time  between 
George  Thomson  of  Edinburgh  and  Beethoven,  touching  the  ar- 
rangement of  national  melodies.     In  a  letter  dated  September  25, 


Arrangements  of  Welsh  and  Irish  Songs        157 

1809,  Thomson  sent  Beethoven  43  Welsh  and  Irish  melodies  with 
the  request  to  provide  them  as  soon  as  possible  with  ritornellos 
and  accompaniments  for  pianoforte  or  pedal  harp,  and  violin  or 
violoncello,  and  held  out  the  promise  of  100  ducats,  Vienna 
standard,  or  even  more  as  payment.  Besides  this,  Thomson  had 
requested  him  to  write  three  quintets,  two  for  two  violins,  viola, 
flute  and  violoncello,  one  without  flute  but  two  violas  instead 
(with  bassoon  or  double-bass  ad  lib.),  and  also  three  sonatas  for 
pianoforte  and  violin.  For  these  works  he  offered  him  120  ducats 
Vienna  standard.  "I  make  you  this  offer,"  said  Thomson,  "more 
to  show  you  my  taste  and  predilection  for  your  music  than  in  the 
hope  to  profit  by  the  publication."^  To  this  proposition  Beet- 
hoven replied  as  follows — in  French  and  his  own  wretched  hand, 
under  date  of  November  23,  1809: 

I  will  compose  the  ritornellos  to  the  43  little  songs,  but  I  ask  10 
pounds  or  20  ducats  de  Vienne  more  than  you  offer,  that  is  instead  of 
50  pounds  Sterling,  or  100  ducats  V.  S.  I  ask  60  pounds  Sterling  or  120 
ducats  V.  S.  This  work,  moreover,  is  of  a  kind  that  gives  a  composer 
but  little  pleasure,  but  I  shall  nevertheless  always  be  ready  to  oblige  you 
since  I  know  that  you  can  do  a  good  business  with  it.  As  regards  the 
quintets  and  the  three  sonatas,  I  find  the  honorarium  too  little  for  me — I 
ask  of  you  for  them  the  sum  of  120,  i.  e.,  one  hundred  and  twenty  pounds 
Sterling  or  two  hundred  and  forty  ducats  V.  S.,  you  offered  me  60  pounds 
Sterling  and  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  gratify  you  for  such  an  honorarium 
— we  are  living  here  in  a  time  when  a  frightful  price  is  asked  for  every- 
thing, we  are  paying  almost  three  times  as  much  as  formerly — but  if  you 
are  agreed  with  the  sums  that  I  ask  I  will  serve  you  with  pleasure.  So 
far  as  the  publication  of  the  works  here  in  Germany  is  concerned,  I 
think  that  I  would  bind  myself  not  to  publish  them  sooner  than  after 
seven  or  eight  months  if  you  tliink  this  time  long  enough  for  your  pur- 
poses. As  regards  the  double-bass  or  bassoon  I  wish  that  you  would  give 
me  a  free  hand,  I  may,  perhaps  find  something  that  will  be  even  more 
agreeable  to  you — also  we  might  use  a  bassoon  or  other  wind-instruraent 
with  the  flute  and  write  only  the  third  quintet  for  two  violins,  two  violas 
and  violoncello,  since  in  this  way  the  style  would  be  purer.  In  short, 
rest  assured  that  you  are  dealing  with  a  true  artist  who,  indeed,  likes  to 
be  decently  paid,  but  who  loves  fame  and  also  the  fame  of  art  more — and 
who  is  never  satisfied  with  himself  and  is  always  striving  to  make  greater 
progress  in  his  art. 

As  regards  the  songs  I  have  already  begun  them  and  will  deliver 
them  in  about  a  week  to  Fries — therefore  please  send  me  an  answer  soon, 
my  dear  sir. 

Next  time  please  send  me  the  words  of  the  songs  along  with  them 
as  it  is  very  necessary  for  me  to  have  them  in  order  to  get  the  correct 
expression — they  will  be  translated  for  me. 

^See  the  entire  correspondence  between  Beethoven  and  Thomson  in  the  appendix 
to  the  original  edition  of  this  biography. 


158  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

September  came  and  still  no  payment  from  Clementi  and  Co. 
for  the  works  bought  by  them  in  April,  1807.  Clementi  was  in 
Rome  and  thither,  it  would  seem,  Beethoven  sent  several  letters 
asking  for  payment.  Clementi  now  came  to  Vienna  and  sent  a 
letter  to  his  London  partner,  Collard,  which,  though  dateless  as  to 
year  and  day,  was,  no  doubt,  the  result  of  Beethoven's  importunities. 
In  it  he  complains  of  having  written  five  or  six  letters  to  them  for 
money  with  which  to  meet  Beethoven's  demands,  the  composer 
having  "plagued"  him  with  several  letters — but  in  vain.  At 
last  a  firm  of  Viennese  bankers  informs  him  that  a  credit  for  £400 
has  been  sent  him,  but  no  letter.  He  concludes  that  of  this  sum 
£100  are  meant  for  Beethoven  and  £300  for  himself,  and  that 
they  had  received  but  half  of  Beethoven's  manuscripts.  "A  most 
shabby  figure  you  have  made  me  cut  in  this  affair ! — and  that  with 
one  of  the  first  composers  of  the  day!  You  certainly  might  have 
found  means  in  the  course  of  two  years  and  a  half  to  have 
satisfied  his  demands.  Don't  lose  a  moment  and  send  me  word 
what  you  have  received  from  him,  that  I  may  settle  with  him." 

Towards  the  end  of  the  year  Beethoven  took  ill,  as  he  informs 
Breitkopf  and  Hartel  in  a  letter  which  was  dated  December  4  (but 
from  which  the  figure  was  stricken;  the  letter  may  have  been 
delayed  or  Beethoven  become  doubtful,  as  usual,  about  the  day  of 
the  month).  In  this  he  writes:  "A  fever  which  shook  me  up 
thoroughly,  prevented  me  from  sending  these  tardily  found  errata 
[in  the  two  Trios]  at  once."  On  January  2,  1810,  he  writes  an- 
other letter  which  begins:  "Scarcely  recovered — my  illness  threw 
me  back  again  for  two  weeks — is  it  a  wonder — we  have  not  even 
eatable  bread,"  concluding  with:  "I  am  too  weak  to-day  to  answer 
your  kind  letter  more  fully,  but  in  a  few  days  touching  every- 
thing else  in  vour  letter." 

Beethoven  had  now  entered  his  fortieth  year,  a  year  which 
forms  a  marked  and  striking  era  in  his  life,  but  of  which  the  most 
important  event  is  veiled  in  all  the  obscurity  with  which  the  care 
and  efforts  of  the  parties  concerned  could  envelop  it.  In  the 
hope  of  a  solution,  at  least  probable,  of  the  mystery  which  it 
presents,  many  minutiae  of  the  years  1807-09  have  been  re- 
served to  be  presented  consecutively,  since  only  thus  can  their 
relations  to  and  their  bearings  upon  the  problem  before  us  be  well 
understood.  The  next  chapter  must,  therefore,  be  but  an  intro- 
duction to  the  history  of  the  year  1810. 

The  compositions  and  publications  of  this  year  remain  to 
be  enumerated — a  task  of  some  difficulty,  requiring  a  prelim- 
inary remark  or  two.     The  great  cost  of  living  and  the  various 


Beethoven  in  Financial  Straits  159 

extraordinary  demands  upon  his  purse  this  year,  deranged  Beet- 
hoven's pecuniary  affairs  seriously;  from  the  same  cause  the  Vienna 
publishers  were  not  in  a  condition  to  pay  him  adequately  and  in 
advance  for  his  manuscripts.     The   dilatoriness   of    the   London 
publishers  has  just  been  mentioned.     Happily  his  relations  with 
Breitkopf  and   Hartel  were  such,   that  they   were  ready  to  re- 
munerate  him    handsomely   for   whatever    new  compositions   he 
might  send  them;  and  there  seems  to  have  been  an  arrangement 
made,  under  which  divers  new  works  of  this  period  were  published 
simultaneously  by  them  in   Leipsic  and  by  Artaria  in  Vienna. 
Nevertheless,  Beethoven  was  pressed  for  money,  not  only  from 
the  causes  above  stated,  but  from  the  need  of  an  extra  supply,  in 
case  the  project  of  marriage,  now  in  his  mind,  should  be  effected. 
Of  course  he  counted  with  certainty  upon  the  regular  payment  of 
his  annuity,  now  that  the  war  was  over,  and  a  lasting  peace  ap- 
parently secured  by  the  rumored  union  between  Napoleon  and 
Archduchess  Marie  Louise.     But  a  semi-annual  payment  of  this 
annuity  was  far  from  suflBcient  to  meet  the  expenses  of  establish- 
ing himself  as  a  married  man.     Now  that  his  concert  was  aban- 
doned, no  immediate  profit  could  arise  from  the  completion  of  the 
new  symphonies;  nor  was  there  any  immediate  need  of  his  begin- 
ning the  "Egmont"  music.    It  is  obvious,  therefore,  that  his  labors, 
during  the  "several  weeks  in  succession"  when  he  worked  "so  that 
it  seemed  rather  for  death  than  immortality,"   were,  as  before 
said,  the  completion  and  correction  for  the  press  of  various  more 
or  less  important  works  existing  in  the  sketchbooks,  and  the  com- 
position of  divers  smaller  pieces,  such  as  would  meet  with  a  ready 
sale,  and  hence  be  promptly  and  liberally  paid  for  by  publishers. 
It  is  not  at  all  surprising  to  find  among  them  a  number  of  songs 
the  texts  of  which  were  apt  expressions  of  his  feelings  at  this  junc- 
ture.    Such  considerations  render  it  extremely  probable,  perhaps 
certain,  that  a  larger  number  of  minor  productions   belong   by 
date  of  completion  to  this  year,  than  they,  who  have  endeavored 
to  ascertain  the  chronology  of  Beethoven's  works,  have  hereto- 
fore suspected.     But  the  following  list  contains  only   works  of 
which  the  date  is  certain — or  probable  almost  to  certainty. 
Compositions  of  1809: 

1.  Concerto  for  Pianoforte,  E-flat  major.  Op.  73. 

2.  "Quartette  per  due  Violini,  Viola  e  Violoncello,  da  Luigi  van 
Beethoven,  1809,"  Op.  74,  E-flat  major. 

3.  Sonata  for  Pianoforte:  "Das  Lebewohl,  Wien  am  4ten  Mai 
1809,"  etc. ;  "Die  Abwesenheit.  Die  Ankunft  des  . .  .  Erzh.  Rudolph,  den 
30.  Janner  1810,"  Op.  81a,  E-flat.  We  suppose  the  sonata  to  have 
been  completed  in  1809,  and  ready  for  presentation  to  the  Archduke 


160  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

upon   his   return;   but   as   this   was   delayed   until   January   30th, "Die 
Ankunft,"  of  course,  took  this  date. 

4.  March  in  F  major  for  Military  Band.  "For  the  Bohemian 
Landwehr,  1809";  also  inscribed  by  Beethoven:  "For  His  Royal  Highness, 
the  Archduke  Anton,  1809." 

5.  Variations  for  the  Pianoforte,  D  major,  Op.  76. 

6.  Fantasia  for  Pianoforte,  G  major,  Op.  77. 

7.  Sonata  for  Pianoforte,  F-sharp  major.  Op.  78. 

8.  Sonatina  for  Pianoforte,  G  major.  Op.  79. 

9.  Songs  from  "Bliimchen  der  Einsamkeit"  by  C.  L.  Reisslg: 

(a)  "An  den  fernen  Geliebten."     A  copy  bears  the  words  in 

Beethoven's  hand:  "Fifth  song,"  "1809,"  and  correc- 
tions in  the  song  itself.  Op.  75,  No.  5. 

(b)  "Der  Zufriedene,"  Op.  75,  No.  6. 

(c)  "Lied  aus  der  Feme,"  "1809." 

(d)  "Der  Liebende." 

(e)  "Der  Jungling  in  der  Fremde." 

10.  Other  Songs: 

(a)  "Gretel's  Warnung."     A  copy  bears  the  words  in  Beet- 

hoven's hand:  "Fourth  song,"  "1809,"  and  corrections 
in  the  song  itself. 

(b)  "Andenken,"  by  Matthison. 

(c)  "Die  laute  Klage,"  by  Herder. 

(d)  "L'amante  impaziente,"   "1809";  and  probably  all  the 

numbers  of 

(e)  "Four  Ariettas  and  a  Duet,"  Op.  82. 

*  * 

* 

The  first  sketches  for  the  Fifth  Pianoforte  Concerto,  E-flat, 
Op.  73,  dedicated  to  Archduke  Rudolph,  are  found  in  the  so-called 
Grasnick  sketchbook  after  the  sketches  for  the  Choral  Fantasia  as 
it  was  performed  for  the  first  time  on  December  2*2,  1808,  and  the 
pianoforte  introduction  to  the  same  which,  as  we  have  seen,  is  of  a 
later  date  ("Zweite  Beethoveniana,"  p.  495  et  seq.).  It  is  mentioned 
by  Beethoven  in  the  correspondence  with  his  publishers  for  the 
first  time  on  February  4,  1810.  It  was  in  their  hands  on  August 
21  of  that  year,  when  Beethoven  prescribed  the  dedication  to  his 
distinguished  pupil,  and  was  published  in  February,  1811.  The 
Concerto  had  then  already  been  played  in  public  by  Johann 
Schneider  with  brilliant  success  toward  the  close  of  1810,  and,  as 
the  "Allg.  Mus.  Zeit."  reported,  put  a  numerous  audience  into 
such  "a  state  of  enthusiasm  that  it  could  hardly  content  itself 
with  the  ordinary  expressions  of  recognition  and  enjoyment." 

The  E-flat  Quartet,  Op.  74  (the  so-called  "Harp  Quartet"), 
dedicated  to  Prince  Lobkowitz,  was  written  simultaneous! v  with 
the  Concerto  and  Pianoforte  Sonata  in  the  same  key.     Beethoven 


The  Composer's  Work  in  1809  161 

was  evidently  hard  at  work  on  them  when  he  wrote  to  Breitkopf 
and  Hartel  on  "Weinmonath"  [October]  1908":  "Next  time  about 
the  quartet  which  I  am  writing — I  do  not  hke  to  occupy  myself 
with  solo  sonatas  for  the  pianoforte,  but  I  promise  you  a  few.'* 
Nottebohm  says  ("Zweite  Beethoveniana,"  p.  91),  that  the  four 
movements  of  the  Quartet  were  begun  and  finished  in  the  order 
in  which  they  appeared  in  print.  According  to  a  note  by  Arch- 
duke Rudolph,  the  Fantasia,  Op.  77,  was  composed  in  October. 
The  three  Pianoforte  Sonatas,  Op.  78,  79  and  81a,  are  closely  con- 
nected in  time,  notwithstanding  their  diversity  of  sentiment. 
Sketches  for  Op.  78  have  not  been  found,  but  those  for  the  other 
two  are  in  the  sketchbook  of  Carl  Meinert  ("Zweite  Beethoven- 
iana," p.  255),  which  ends  with  the  sketches  for  the  Fantasia,  Op.  77, 
composed  for  Count  Franz  von  Brunswick;  and  it  is  likely  that 
the  Sonata,  Op.  78,  dedicated  to  Countess  Therese  von  Brunswick, 
was  conceived  and  written  immediately  after  the  Fantasia  (in 
October).  The  three  sonatas  were  doubtless  in  the  mind  of 
Beethoven  when  he  promised  Breitkopf  and  Hartel  "a  few"  on 
October  19.  On  February  4,  1810,  he  offers  to  the  publishers 
"three  pianoforte  solo  sonatas — N.B.,  of  which  the  third  is  composed 
of  three  movements.  Parting,  Absence  and  Return,  and  would 
have  to  be  published  alone."  On  August  21,  1810,  Beethoven 
wrote  about  the  dedication:  "The  sonata  in  F-sharp  major — A 
Madame  la  Comtesse  Therese  de  Brunswick;  the  fantasia  for  piano- 
forte solo — .4  vion  ami  Monsieur  le  comte  Frangois  de  Brunswick — 
as  regards  the  two  sonatas  publish  them  separately,  or,  if  you  want 
to  publish  them  together,  inscribe  the  one  in  G  major  Sonata 
facile  or  sonatina,  which  you  might  also  do  in  case  you  [do  not] 
publish  them  together."  Breitkopf  and  Hartel  published  the 
sonatas  separately  and  Op.  79  therefore  received  no  dedication. 
The  notion,  once  current,  that  Op.  79  (sometimes  called  the 
"Cuckoo  Sonata")  was  an  older  work,  is  disproved  by  the  sketches 
of  1809  (Nottebohm,  "Zweit.  Beeth.,"  p.  269).  ^The  E-flat  Sonata, 
Op.  81a,  seems  to  have  been  completely  sketched  before  October 
and  held  in  readiness  against  the  return  of  the  Archduke,  as  has 
been  said.  Breitkopf  and  Hartel  pubHshed  it  in  the  fall  of  1811, 
without  either  dates  or  dedication  and  with  the  French  title: 
"Les  Adieux,  I'Absence  et  le  Retour,"  much  to  Beethoven's  dis- 
satisfaction. The  Variations  in  D,  dedicated  "to  his  friend" 
Oliva,  anticipate  by  two  years  the  use  of  the  same  theme  as  a 
Turkish  march  in  the  incidental  music  which  Beethoven  wrote  for 
Kotzebue's  "Ruins  of  Athens."  Nottebohm  ("Zweit.  Beeth." 
p.  272,  foot-note)  says  of  it:  "Tradition  has  it  that  the  theme  is  a 


162  The  Life  of  Ludwig  vax  Beethoven 

Russian  melody.  This  is  improbable  and  incapable  of  proof. 
The  theme  is  not  to  be  found  in  any  collection  of  Russian  melodies 
known  to  us.  Had  Beethoven  borrowed  the  theme  he  would,  as 
he  always  did,  have  mentioned  the  fact  in  connection  with  the 
Variations  and  the  'Ruins  of  Athens'  (a  singular  idea  to  use  a 
Russian  melody  for  a  Turkish  march!).  It  may  be  that  a  Russian 
folktune  which  was  popular  in  Vienna  between  1810  and  1820, 
which  bears  some  resemblance  to  this  melody  and  on  which,  be- 
sides Gelinek  and  others,  Beethoven  too  made  Variations  (Op. 
107,  No.  3),  gave  rise  to  the  confounding  of  the  two."  The 
Military  March  in  F  was  designed  for  Archduke  Anton  and  was 
chosen  for  a  "carrousel"  at  the  court  at  Laxenburg.  It  is  the 
"horse  music"  of  Beethoven's  correspondence  with  Archduke 
Rudolph.  The  year  also  saw  the  beginning  of  the  arrangements 
of  the  Irish  melodies  for  Thomson. 

The  publications  of  the  year  1809  were: 

1.  The  Fourth  Symphony,  in  B-flat,  Op.  60.  "Dediee  a  Monsieur 
le  Comte  Oppersdorff";  published  in  March  by  the  Kunst-  und  Industrie- 
Comptoir. 

2.  Concerto  for  Violin  and  Orchestra,  D  major,  Op.  61.  Dediee 
a  son  ami  Monsieur  de  Breuning,  Secretaire  aidique,  etc.  Vienna,  Kunst- 
und  Industrie-Comptoir,  in  March. 

3.  Sonata  for  Pianoforte  and  Violoncello.  A  major,  Op.  69. 
Dediee  a  Monsieur  de  Gleichenstein.  Leipsic,  Breitkopf  and  Hartel, 
in  April. 

4.  Two  Trios  for  Pianoforte,  Violin  and  Violoncello,  D  major, 
E-flat,  Op.  70.  Dedies  a  Madame  la  Comtesse  Marie  d'Erdody  nee  Com- 
tesse  Niszky.     Breitkopf  and  Hartel,  No.  1  in  April,  No.  2  in  August. 

5.  Fifth  Symphony,  in  C  minor,  Op.  67.  Dediee  a  son  Altesse 
Serenissime  Monseigneur  le  Prince  regnant  de  Lobkowitz,  Due  de  Raudnitz, 
et  a  son  Excellence  Monsieur  le  Comte  de  Rasoumoffsky.  Breitkopf  and 
Hartel,  in  April. 

6.  Sixth  Symphony  (Sinfonia  pastorale),  F  major,  Op.  68.  The 
same  dedication  as  the  Fifth  Symphony.     Breitkopf  and  Hartel,  in  Maj'. 

7.  Song:  "Als  die  Geliebte  sich  trennen  wollte."  Supplement 
No.  II,  to  the  "Allg.  Mus.  Zeit.,"  November  22.     Breitkopf  and  Hartel. 


Chapter  IX 


The  Years  1807-09— A  Retrospect— Beethoven's  Intellectual 
Attainments — Interest  in  Exotic  Literatures — His  Re- 
ligion. 

A  POPULAR  conception  of  Beethoven's  character,  namely, 
that  a  predisposition  to  gloom  and  melancholy  formed  its 
basis,  appears  to  the  present  writer  to  be  a  grave  mistake. 
The  question  is  not  what  he  became  in  later  years — tempora 
mutantur  et  nos  mutamur  in  illis — but  what  was  the  normal  con- 
stitution of  his  mind  in  this  regard.  Exaggerated  reports  of  his 
sadness  and  infelicity  during  the  last  third  of  his  life  became 
current  even  before  its  close,  and  prepared  the  public  to  give 
undue  importance  to  the  melancholy  letters  and  papers  of  earlier 
years,  which  from  time  to  time  were  exhumed  and  published. 
The  reader  upon  examination  will  be  surprised  to  find  how  few 
in  number  they  are,  at  what  wide  intervals  they  were  written, 
and  how  easy  it  is  to  account  for  their  tone. 

Beethoven's  childhood  was  excessively  laborious,  though 
not  so  cheerless  as  has  been  represented;  and,  however  flattering 
to  occupy  at  the  age  of  twelve  years  the  place  of  a  man  in  theatre 
and  chapel,  his  boyhood  could  not  have  been  a  happy  one.  His 
brightest  days  up  to  the  middle  of  his  seventeenth  year  were 
undoubtedly  those  spent  in  Vienna  in  1787 — the  date  of  the  ear- 
liest of  those  papers  from  his  own  pen,  on  which  the  popular 
conception  of  his  character  is  founded.  But  the  letter  to  Dr. 
Schaden,  written  to  explain  and  excuse  the  non-payment  of  a 
debt,  takes  its  tone,  not  from  any  predisposition  to  gloom  and 
melancholy,  but  from  the  manifold  troubles  which  just  then  be- 
set him — the  bitter  disappointment  of  his  sudden  recall  from 
Vienna;  the  death  of  his  mother;  the  hopeless  poverty  of  his 
family;  hence,  the  pangs  of  wounded  pride  and  self-respect;  the 
depression  of  spirits  caused  by  asthmatic  maladies,  and  his  utter 
hopelessness  of  any  timely  change  for  the  better,  such  as,  in  fact, 
one  short  year  was  to  bring. 

[  163  1 


164  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

It  is  clear  that  Beethoven's  character  could  not  develop 
itself  normally,  until  he  had  become  to  a  considerable  degree  in- 
dependent of  his  father;  and,  consequently,  that  certain  pecu- 
liarities related  of  him  in  his  boyhood  were  probably  less  the 
results  of  his  natural  tendencies  than  the  consequence  of  these 
being  checked  and  obstructed  by  adverse  circumstances.  Soon 
after  the  letter  to  Dr.  Schaden  came  the  turning-point  in  the  boy's 
fortunes.  Beethoven  was  now  substantially  emancipated  from 
his  father;  his  talents  opened  to  him  a  higher  and  finer-toned 
circle  of  society;  a  love  for  the  best  literature  was  cherished,  if  not 
created;  and  no  long  time  elapsed  before  his  father's  increasing 
moral  infirmities  made  him  virtually  the  head  of  the  family.  The 
nobler  qualities  of  his  head  and  heart  now  received  a  culture  im- 
possible before.  At  last  his  character  could  and  did  develop 
itself  normally.  In  all  the  following  fourteen  years — during  which 
the  boy  organist  of  Bonn  rises  step  by  step  to  the  position  of  first 
of  pianists  and  most  promising  of  the  young  composers  in  Vienna — 
one  seeks  in  vain  for  any  trace  of  the  assumed  constitutional  ten- 
dency to  melancholy.  Now  come  the  pathetic  letters  to  Wegeler 
and  the  "Testament"  of  1802 — dark,  gloomy,  despondent.  But 
these  were  all  written  under  the  first  pressure  of  a  malady  which, 
he  justly  foreboded,  would  in  time  unfit  him  for  general  society 
and  debar  him  from  every  field  of  the  musician's  activity  and 
ambition  save  that  of  composition.  It  is  perhaps  worthy  of 
remark,  that  among  the  well-known  phenomena  of  mental  action 
are  the  intellectual  prostration  and  the  consequent  depression  of 
spirits  which  follow  the  completion  of  any  great  work  in  litera- 
ture or  art  that  has  been  for  some  time  engrossing  the  attention, 
absorbing  the  thoughts  and  straining  the  faculties;  and  that  the 
"Testament"  of  1802  belongs  in  the  precise  period  of  reaction 
after  completing  that  first  of  his  great  works,  the  Second  Sym- 
phony. The  "Testament"  is  indeed  a  cry  of  agony;  but,  in  the 
paroxysms  of  intense  physical  suffering,  cries  of  agony  are  not 
proofs  of  a  naturally  weak  or  defective  constitution  of  the  body; 
that  sort  of  patient  suffers  less — but  dies.  Had  Beethoven's 
temperament  really  been  of  the  gloomy  and  melancholy  cast  sup- 
posed, suicide,  insanity  or — through  seeking  temporary  allevia- 
tion of  mental  suffering  in  sensual  indulgences — moral  ship- 
wreck would  soon  have  ended  his  career.  "Strength  is  the  mo- 
rality of  men  who  distinguish  themselves  above  others,  and  it  is 
also  mine,"  he  wrote  to  his  "Dearest  Baron  Muck  Carter": — 
"Beethoven  was,  in  fact,  the  personification  of  strength,"  said  the 
aged  poet  Castelli  to  the  present  writer.     The  thought  of  suicide 


A  Happy  Period  in  the  Composer's  Life         165 

is  alluded  to  in  both  the  "Testament"  and  the  letter  to  Wegeler; 
but  with  him  the  "To  be  or  not  to  be?"  was  only  a  momentary, 
a  passing,  question;  not  because  "conscience  does  make  cowards 
of  us  all,"  but  by  reason  of  innate  manliness  to  bear  "the  slings 
and  arrows  of  outrageous  fortune"  with  courage  and  fortitude, 
until  time  and  patience  should  bring  resignation.  How  bravely 
he  sustained  his  heavy  burden  to  the  end  of  1806,  has  been  amply 
recorded  in  this  work.  The  famous  love-letter  affords  its  own 
sufficient  explanation  of  whatever  degree  of  melancholy  it  ex- 
hibits in  the  bitterness  of  parting  and  separation — the  wretched 
life  in  Vienna,  the  uncertainty  of  his  pecuniary  resources,  the 
impossibility  of  marriage  without  some  decided  change  for  the 
better  in  his  condition  and  prospects.  When,  a  few  months 
later,  the  question  of  the  possession  of  the  theatres  was  decided 
against  Braun,  Beethoven  had  reason  to  hope  that  this  change 
was  assured;  since  the  position  of  Lobkowitz,  both  socially  and  in 
connection  with  the  theatres,  gave  to  his  hint,  that  the  composer 
should  apply  for  a  permanent  engagement,  almost  the  force  of  a 
promise  that  he  should  receive  it.  In  view  of  Beethoven's  ab- 
horrence of  all  restrictions  on  his  personal  freedom,  it  is  by  no 
means  certain  that  the  final  non-acceptance  of  his  proposals 
caused  him  any  very  severe  and  lasting  disappointment. 

Whether  so  or  not,  and  notwithstanding  the  prolonged 
uncertainty  of  his  future  prospects  and  the  occasional  charac- 
teristic complaints  in  his  letters,  still  these  three_years:— 1807-8-9 
— were  unquestionably  the  happiest  in  the  lasOialf  of  his  life. 
That  it  was  a  period  of  extraordinary  activity  and  productive- 
ness, of  a  corresponding  augmentation  and  extension  of  his 
fame,  of  animated  and  joyous  social  intercourse,  and  was  brightly 
tinted  with  so  much  of  the  romance  of  love  as  a  man  of  middle- 
age  is  apt  to  indulge  in — all  this  the  reader  knows. 

The  coming  of  Reichardt  to  Vienna  and  the  recording  of  his 
observations  on  the  musical  life  of  the  Austrian  capital  in  his 
book  entitled  "Confidential  Letters,  etc.,"  were  fortunate  inci- 
dents for  the  lovers  of  Beethoven.  Reichardt's  was  one  of  the 
great  names  in  music.  He  stood  in  the  front  rank  both  as  com- 
poser and  writer  on  the  art.  His  personal  character  was  un- 
spotted; his  intellectual  powers  great  and  highly  cultivated  in 
other  fields  than  music;  nor  had  his  dismissal  from  his  position  of 
Royal  Chapelmaster  by  Frederick  W'illiam  II  been  founded  upon 
reasons  which  injured  his  reputation  abroad.  He  therefore 
found  all,  even  the  highest,  musical  salons  of  Vienna  open  to  him, 
and  he  received  attention  which  under  the  circumstances  was 


166  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

doubly  grateful.  A  colossal  self-esteem,  a  vanity  almost  boundless 
alone  could  have  sent  such  pages  as  his  "Letters"  to  the  press 
without  a  more  thorough  expurgation.  But  this  is  nothing  to  the 
present  generation,  which  owes  him  a  large  debt  of  gratitude  for 
the  most  lively  and  complete  picture  existing  of  the  musical  life 
at  Vienna  at  that  period,  and  especially  for  his  notices  of  Beethoven, 
the  date  of  which  (winter  of  1808-09)  adds  doubly  to  their  value. 
They  should  be  read  in  connection  with  this  biography.  ^ 

And  here  a  word  upon  the  compositions  of  these  years. 
The  notion,  that  the  beauties  of  the  opera  "Leonore"  were  in 
great  measure  the  offspring  of  an  old,  unfortunate  affection  for 
Fraulein  von  Breuning  and  of  a  still  more  unlucky  recent  passion  for 
Julia  Guicciardi,  was  treated  in  its  place  as  unworthy  of  serious 
refutation;  but  nowhere  in  this  work  has  anything  been  said  affirm- 
ing or  implying  that  the  moral  and  mental  condition  of  the  man 
Beethoven  would  not  produce  its  natural  and  legitimate  effect 
upon  Beethoven  the  composer.  Now,  examine  the  lists  of  compo- 
sitions which  terminate  the  preceding^  chapters,  and  say  whether 
any  but  a  strong,  healthy,  sound,  elastic  mind  could  have  pro- 
duced them?  To  specify  only  the  very  greatest;  there  are  in  the 
last  months  of  1806,  after  the  visit  to  the  Brunswicks,  the  placid 
and  serene  Fourth  Symphony — the  most  perfect  in  form  of  them 
all — and  the  noble  Violin  Concerto;  in  1807,  the  Mass  in  C  and  the 
C  minor  Symphony;  in  1808,  the  "Pastoral"  Symphony  and  the 
Choral  Fantasia;  and  in  1809,  the  conception  and  partial  execu- 
tion of  the  Seventh,  perhaps  also  the  Eighth,  Symphony  and  the 
glorious  "Egmont"  music. 

Are  such  the  works  of  a  melancholy,  gloomy  temperament  or 
of  a  forlorn,  sentimental  lover,  sighing  like  a  furnace  and  making 
"a  woeful  ballad  to  his  mistress'  eyebrow.'^" 

Beethoven,  during  the  fifteen  years  since  Wegeler's  vain  effort  to 
induce  him  to  attend  lectures  on  Kant,  had  become  to  some  con- 
siderable degree  a  self-taught  man ;  he  had  read  and  studied  much, 
and  had  acquired  a  knowledge  of  the  ordinary  literary  topics  of  the 
time,  which  justified  that  fine  passage  in  the  letter  to  Breitkopf  and 
Hartel,  touching  his  abihty  to  acquire  knowledge  from  even  the 
most  learned  treatises.  Strikingly  in  point  is  the  interest  which 
he  exhibits  during  these  and  following  years  in  the  Oriental  re- 
searches of  Hammer  and  his  associates.     His  notes  and  excerpts 

'See  Reichardl's  "Vertraute  Briefe,  geschrieben  auf  einer  Reise  nach  Wien  und 
den  Osterreichischen  Staaten  zu  Ende  das  Jahres  1808  und  zu  Anfang  1809,"  under 
date  November  30,  December  5,  December  10,  December  16,  December  25,  December 
SI,  1808,  and  January  15,  March  6,  March  27  and  Xo.  37  (without  date),  1809. 


Appreciation  of  Serious  Literature  167 

prove  a  very  extensive  knowledge  of  their  translations,  both  pub- 
lished and  in  manuscript;  and,  moreover,  that  this  strange  litera- 
ture was  perhaps  even  more  attractive  to  him  in  its  religious, 
than  in  its  lyric  and  dramatic  aspects.  In  these  excerpts — indeed, 
generally  in  extracts  from  books  and  in  his  underscoring  of  favorite 
passages  in  them — Beethoven  exhibits  a  keen  perception  and  taste 
for  the  lofty  and  sublime,  far  beyond  the  grasp  of  any  common  or 
uncultivated  mind.  "The  moral  law  in  us  and  the  starry  heavens 
above  us.  Kant!  !  !"  is  one  of  the  brief  notes  from  his  hand,  which 
now  and  then  enliven  the  tedious  and  thankless  task  of  decipher- 
ing the  Conversation  Books.  The  following,  given  here  from  his 
own  manuscript,  is  perhaps  the  finest  of  his  transcriptions  from 
Hindu  literature: 

God  is  immaterial;  since  he  is  invisible  he  can  have  no  form,  but 
from  what  we  observe  in  his  works  we  may  conclude  that  he  is  eternal, 
omnipotent,  omniscient  and  omnipresent — The  mighty  one  is  he  who  is 
free  from  all  desire;  he  alone;  there  is  no  greater  than  he. 

Brahma;  his  spirit  is  enwrapped  in  himself.  He,  the  mighty  one, 
is  present  in  every  part  of  space — his  omniscience  is  in  spirit  by  himself 
and  the  conception  of  him  comprehends  every  other  one;  of  all  com- 
prehensive attributes  that  of  omniscience  is  the  greatest.  For  it  there  is 
no  threefold  existence.  It  is  independent  of  everything.  O  God,  thou  art 
the  true,  eternal,  blessed,  immutable  hght  of  all  times  and  all  spaces. 
Thy  wisdom  embraces  thousands  upon  thousands  of  laws,  and  yet  thou 
dost  always  act  freely  and  for  thy  honor.  Thou  wert  before  all  that  we 
revere.  To  thee  be  praise  and  adoration.  Thou  alone  art  the  truly 
blessed  one  (Bhagavan);  thou,  the  essence  of  all  laws,  the  image  of  all 
wisdom,  present  throughout  the  universe,  thou  upholdest  all  things. 

Sun,  ether,  Brahma  [these  words  are  crossed  out]. 

Beethoven's  enjoyment  of  Persian  literature  as  revealed  to 
him  in  the  translations  and  essays  of  Herder  and  von  Hammer 
will  now  readily  be  conceived  by  the  reader;  as  also  the  delight 
with  which  he  read  that  collection  of  exquisite  imitations  of  Per- 
sian poetry  with  its  long  series  of  (then)  fresh  notices  of  the  man- 
ners, customs,  books  and  authors  of  Persia,  which  some  years 
later  Goethe  published  with  the  title  "West-Ostlicher  Divan." 
Even  that  long  essay,  apparently  so  out  of  place  in  the  work — 
"Israel  in  der  Wiiste" — in  which  the  character  of  Moses  is  handled 
so  unmercifully,  was  upon  a  topic  already  of  curious  interest  to 
Beethoven.  This  appears  from  one  of  his  copied  papers — one 
which,  as  Schindler  avers,  "he  considered  to  be  the  sum  of  the 
loftiest  and  purest  religion."  The  history  of  this  paper  is  this: 
;  The  Hebrew  chronicler  describes  the  great  lawgiver  of  his  nation 
as  being  "learned  in  all  the  wisdom  of  the  Egyptians."  This 
leads  Schiller,  in  his  fine  essay  on  "Die  Sendung  Moses,"  into  a 


168  The  Life  of  Ludwig  vax  Beethoven 

discussion    of    the   nature   and    character   of    this    wisdom.     The 
following  sentences  are  from  his  account: 

The  epoptse  (Egj'ptian  priests)  recognized  a  single,  highest  cause  of 
all  things,  a  primeval  force,  natural  force,  the  essence  of  all  essences, 
which  was  the  same  as  the  demiurgos  of  the  Greek  philosophers.  There 
is  nothing  more  elevated  than  the  simple  grandeur  with  which  they  spoke 
of  the  creator  of  the  universe.  In  order  to  distinguish  him  the  more 
emphatically  they  gave  him  no  name.  A  name,  said  they,  is  only  a  need 
for  pointing  a  difference;  he  who  is  only,  has  no  need  of  a  name,  for  there 
is  no  one  with  whom  he  could  be  confounded.  Under  an  ancient  monu- 
ment of  Isis  were  to  be  read  the  words: 'T  AM  THAT  WHICH  IS,"and 
upon  a  pyramid  at  Sais  the  strange  primeval  inscription:  'T  AM  ALL, 
WHAT  IS,  WHAT  WAS,  WHAT  WILL  BE;  NO  MORTAL  MAN 
HAS  EVER  LIFTED  MY  VEIL."  No  one  was  permitted  to  enter 
the  temple  of  Serapis  who  did  not  bear  upon  his  breast  or  forehead  the 
name  lao,  or  I-ha-ho — a  name  similar  in  sound  to  the  Hebrew  Jehovah 
and  in  all  likelihood  of  the  same  meaning;  and  no  name  was  uttered  with 
greater  reverence  in  Egj'pt  than  this  name  lao.  In  the  hymn  which  the 
hierophant,  or  guardian  of  the  sanctuary,  sang  to  the  candidate  for  ini- 
tiation, this  was  the  first  division  in  the  instruction  concerning  the  nature 
of  the  divinitv:  "HE  IS  ONLY  AND  SOLELY  OF  HIMSELF,  AND 
TO  THIS  ONLY  ONE  ALL  THINGS  OWE  THEIR  EXISTENCE." 

The  sentences  here  printed  in  capital  letters  "Beethoven 
copied  with  his  own  hand  and  kept  (them),  framed  and  under  glass, 
always  before  him  on  his  writing-table." 

Beethoven  was  now  at  an  age  when  men  of  thoughtful  and 
independent  minds  have  settled  opinions  on  such  important  sub- 
jects as  have  received  their  attention,  among  which,  to  all  men, 
religion  stands  preeminent.  Few  change  their  faith  after  forty; 
there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  Beethoven  did;  no  place,  there- 
fore, more  fit  than  this  will  be  found  to  remark  upon  a  topic  to 
which  the  preceding  pages  directly  lead — his  religious  views. 
Schindler  writes  in  the  appendix  to  his  biography  of  Beethoven: 

Beethoven  was  brought  up  in  the  Catholic  religion.  That  he  was 
truly  religious  is  proved  by  his  whole  life,  and  many  evidences  were 
brought  forward  in  the  biographical  part  (of  this  work).  It  was  one  of 
his  peculiarities  that  he  never  spoke  on  religious  topics  or  concerning  the 
dogmas  of  the  various  Christian  churches  in  order  to  give  his  opinion 
about  them.  It  may  be  said  with  considerable  certainty,  however,  that 
his  religious  views  rested  less  upon  the  creed  of  the  church,  than  that 
they  had  their  origin  in  deism.  Without  having  a  manufactured  theory 
before  him  he  plainly  recognized  the  existence  of  God  in  the  world  as  well 
as  the  world  in  God.  This  theory  he  found  in  the  whole  of  Nature,  and 
his  guides  seem  to  have  been  the  oft-mentioned  book.  Christian  Sturm's 
"Betrachtungen  der  Werke  Gottes  in  der  Natur,"  and  tlie  philosophical 
systems  of  the  Greek  wi.s<3  men.     It  would  be  diflScult  for  anybody  to 


The  Composer's  Attitude  towards  the  Church  169 

assert  the  contrary,  who  had  seen  how  he  appHed  the  contents  of  those 
writings  in  his  own  internal  Hfe. 

As  an  argument  against  Schindler  and  to  prove  Beethoven's 
orthodoxy  in  respect  to  the  Roman  Catholic  tenets,  the  fervid 
sentiment  and  sublime  devotion  expressed  in  the  music  of  the 
"Missa  Solemnis"  have  been  urged;  but  the  words  of  the  Mass 
were  simply  a  text  on  which  he  could  lavish  all  the  resources  of  his 
art  in  the  expression  of  his  religious  feelings.  It  should  not  be 
forgotten  that  the  only  Mass  which  can  be  ranked  with  Beethoven's 
in  D,  was  the  composition  of  the  sturdy  Lutheran,  J.  S.  Bach,  and 
that  the  great  epic  poem  of  trinitarian  Christianity  was  by  the 
Arian,  John  Milton.  Perhaps  Schindler  would  have  his  readers 
understand  more  than  is  clearly  expressed.  If  he  means,  that 
Beethoven  rejected  the  trinitarian  dogma;  that  the  Deity  of  his 
faith  is  a  personal  God,  a  universal  Father,  to  whom  his  human 
children  may  hopefully  appeal  for  mercy  in  time  of  temptation,  for 
aid  in  time  of  need,  for  consolation  in  time  of  sorrow — if  this  be 
Schindler's  "deism,"  it  may  be  affirmed  unhesitatingly,  that 
everything  known  to  the  present  writer,  which  bears  at  all  on  the 
subject,  confirms  his  view.  Beethoven  had  the  habit  in  moments 
of  temptation  and  distress,  of  writing  down  short  prayers  for 
divine  support  and  assistance,  many  of  which  are  preserved;  but 
neither  in  them,  nor  in  any  of  his  memoranda  or  conversations,  is 
there  the  remotest  indication  that  he  believed  in  the  necessity  of 
any  mediator  between  the  soul  of  man  and  the  Divine  Father, 
under  whatsoever  name  known — priest,  prophet,  saint,  virgin  or 
Messiah;  but  an  even  stronger  religious  sentiment,  a  more  ardent 
spirit  of  devotion,  a  firmer  reliance  on  the  goodness  and  mercy 
of  God  are  revealed  in  them,  than  Schindler  seems  to  have 
apprehended. 


Chapter  X 


The  Year  1810 — Decrease  in  Productivity — Beethoven's  Pro- 
ject of  Marriage — Therese  Malfatti — Bettina  von  Arnim 
and  Her  Correspondence  with  Goethe — The  Music  to 
"Egmont" — Productions  of  the  Year. 


"o^ 


THE  topics  last  under  notice  have  carried  us  far  onward, 
even  to  the  last  years  of  Beethoven.  We  now  return  to  the 
end  of  1809 — to  the  master  in  the  full  vigor  and  maturity 
of  his  powers.  The  last  months  of  this  year  had  been  marked  by 
an  untiring  and  efficient  industry;  his  sketchbooks  abounded  in 
the  noblest  themes,  hints  and  protracted  studies  for  orchestral, 
chamber  and  vocal  compositions;  and  several  important  works — 
among  them  the  Seventh  Symphony — were  well  advanced.  The 
princes,  whose  generosity  had  just  placed  him,  for  the  present  at 
least,  beyond  the  reach  of  pecuniary  anxieties,  may  well  have  ex- 
pected the  immediate  fulfillment  of  "the  desire  that  he  surpass 
the  great  expectations  which  are  justified  by  his  past  achieve- 
ments." They  were  bitterly  disappointed.  Kinsky  did  not  live 
to  hear  any  new  orchestral  work  from  that  recently  so  prolific 
pen;  Lobkowitz,  whose  dissatisfaction  is  upon  record,  heard  but 
three;  while  the  Archduke  saw  the  years  pass  away  comparatively 
fruitless,  hardly  more  being  accomplished  in  ten,  than  formerly  in 
two — the  marvellous  year  1814  excepted.  The  close  of  1809  ter- 
minated a  decade  (1800-1809)  during  which — if  quality  be  con- 
sidered, as  well  as  number,  variety,  extent  and  originality — 
Beethoven's  works  offer  a  more  splendid  exhibition  of  intellectual 
power  than  those  of  any  other  composer  produced  within  a  like 
term  of  years;  and  New  Year,  1810,  began  another  (1810-19), 
which,  compared  with  the  preceding,  exhibits  an  astonishing  de- 
crease in  the  composer's  productiveness.  The  contrast  is  rendered 
more  striking  by  the  fact  that  many  of  the  principal  works  com- 
pleted in  the  second  decade  belong  in  plan  and  partly  in  execution 
to  the  first. 

[  170] 


First  Perfor^lynce  of  the  *'Egmont"  Music      171 

Schindler's  division  of  Beethoven's  life  into  three  distinctly 
marked  periods  appears  forced — rather  fanciful  than  real;  but 
whoever  makes  himself  even  moderately  conversant  with  the 
subject,  soon  perceives  that  a  change  in  the  man  did  take  place 
too  great  and  sudden  to  be  attributed  to  the  ordinary  effect  of 
advancing  years;  but  when?  The  abrupt  pause  in  his  triumphant 
career  as  composer  just  mentioned,  would  seem  to  determine  the 
time;  and,  if  so,  the  natural  inference  is,  that  both  were  effects  of  the 
same  cause.  There  was  a  point  in  the  life  of  Handel  when  his 
indefatigable  pen  dropped  from  his  hand  and  many  weary  months 
passed  before  he  could  resume  it.  The  failure  of  his  operas,  his 
diastrous  theatrical  speculation,  consequent  bankruptcy,  and  the 
culmination  of  his  distresses  in  a  partial  paralysis  of  his  physical 
powers,  were  the  causes.  The  cessation  of  Beethoven's  labors, 
though  less  absolute  than  in  Handel's  case,  is  even  more  remarkable, 
as  it  continued  longer  and  was  not  produced  by  any  such  natural 
and  obvious  causes.  The  fact  is  certain,  and  will  probably  find  a 
sufficient  explanation  when  we  come  to  the  details  of  the  master's 
private  history  during  this  period;  if  not,  it  is  another  question  the 
solution  of  which  must  await  the  accident  of  time  or  the  keener 
penetration  and  wider  knowledge  of  some  other  investigator. 

Beethoven's  studies  were  now,  for  the  third  time,  diverted  \ 
from  important  works  in  hand  to  an  order  from  the  directors  of 
the  theatres — the  "Egmont"  music.  The  persevering  diligence  of 
the  last  months,  of  which  he  speaks  in  his  letters,  was  evidently 
for  the  purpose  of  clearing  his  desk  of  a  mass  of  manuscript 
compositions  sold  to  Breitkopf  and  Hartel,  before  attacking 
Goethe's  tragedy — as  decks  are  cleared  for  action  before  a  naval 
battle.  If  so,  he  could  hardly  have  seriously  engaged  upon  the 
"Egmont"  before  the  new  year;  but  nothing  is  known,  which 
fixes  the  exact  date  of  either  the  beginning  or  completion  of  the 
work.  Its  overture  bears  the  composer's  own  date  "1810";  its 
first  performance  was  on  the  evening  of  Thursday,  May  24. 
The  Cldrchen  was  played  by  Anionic  Adamberger — a  young 
actress  alike  distinguished  for  her  beauty,  her  genius  and  her 
virtues — whose  marriage  in  1817  to  the  distinguished  archaeolo- 
gist von  Arneth  was  a  distinct  loss  to  the  Vienna  stage.  The 
two  songs  which  Cldrchen  has  to  sing,  necessarily  brought  Frau- 
lein  Adamberger  for  the  moment  into  personal  relations  with 
Beethoven,  of  which  she  wrote  to  the  present  author  the  follow- 
ing simple  and  pleasing  account  under  date  January  5,  1867: 

....  I  approached  him  (Beethoven)  without  embarrassment  when  my 
aunt  of  blessed  memory,  my  teacher  and  benefactress,  called  me  to  her 


172  The  Life  of  Ludwig  vax  Beethoven 

room  and  presented  me  to  him.  To  his  question:  "Can  you  sing?"  I 
rephed  without  embarrassment  \s4th  a  decided  "No!"  Beethoven  re- 
garded me  with  amazement  and  said  laughingly:  "No?  But  I  am  to  com- 
pose the  songs  in  'Egmont'  for  you."  I  answered  very  simply  that  I 
had  sung  only  four  months  and  had  then  ceased  because  of  hoarseness 
and  the  fear  that  continued  exertion  in  the  practice  of  declamation  might 
injure  my  voice.  Then  he  said  jovially  with  an  adoption  of  the  Viennese 
dialect:  "That  will  be  a  pretty  how  do  you  do!" — but  on  his  part  it 
turned  out  to  be  something  glorious. 

We  went  to  the  pianoforte  and  rummaging  around  in  my  music  .... 
he  found  on  top  of  the  pile  the  well-known  rondo  with  recitative  from 
Zingarelli's  "Romeo  and  Juliet."  "Do  you  sing  that?''  he  asked  with  a 
laugh  which  shook  him  as  he  sat  down  hesitatingly  to  play  the  accom- 
paniment. Just  as  innocently  and  unsuspiciously  as  I  had  chatted  with 
him  and  laughed,  I  now  reeled  off  the  air.  Then  a  kind  look  came  into 
his  eye,  he  stroked  my  forehead  with  his  hand  and  said:  "Very  well,  now 
I  know" — came  back  in  three  days  and  sang  the  songs  for  me  a  few  times. 
After  I  had  memorized  them  in  a  few  days  he  left  me  with  the  words: 
"There,  that's  right.  So,  so  that's  the  way,  now  sing  thus,  don't  let 
anybody  persuade  you  to  do  differently  and  see  that  you  do  not  put  a 
mortant  in  it."  He  went;  I  never  saw  him  again  in  my  room.  Only  at 
the  rehearsal  when  conducting  he  frequently  nodded  to  me  pleasantly 
and  benevolently.  One  of  the  old  gentlemen  expressed  the  opinion  that  the 
songs  which  the  master,  counting  on  certain  effects,  had  set  for  orchestra, 
ought  to  be  accompanied  on  a  guitar.  Then  he  turned  his  head  most 
comically  and,  with  his  eyes  flaming,  said,  "He  knows!".  .  .  . 

Long  afterwards,  in  a  Conversation  Book,  an  unknown  hand 
writes:  "I  remember  still  the  torment  vou  had  with  the  kettle- 
drums  at  the  rehearsal  of  'Egmont'."  Nothing  more  is  known  of 
the  history  of  this  work.  Beethoven's  name  appears  on  both  this 
year's  concerts  for  the  Theatrical  Poor  Fund — March  25,  with  the 
first  movements  of  the  Fourth  Symphony;  April  17,  with  the 
"Coriolan"  Overture;  but  it  does  not  appear  that  he  conducted  on 
either  occasion;  it  is,  however,  probable  that  he  did  conduct  the 
rehearsals  and  performance  of  a  symphony  in  Schuppanzigh's 
first  Augarten  concert  in  May. 

Add  to  the  above  the  subsequent  notices  of  a  few  songs  and  the 
Quartet,  Op.  95,  and  the  meagre  history  of  Beethoven  as  composer 
for  1810  is  exhausted;  what  remains  is  of  purely  private  and  per- 
sonal nature.  Kinsky's  active  service  in  the  campaign  of  1809 
and  his  subsequent  duties  in  Bohemia  had  prevented  him  hitherto 
from  discharging  his  obligations  under  the  annuity  contract;  but 
the  Archduke,  perhaps  Lobkowitz  also,  was  promptly  meeting  his; 
and  these  payments,  together  with  the  honorable  remuneration 
granted  by  Breitkopf  and  Hartel  for  manuscripts,  supplied  Beet- 
hoven with  ample  means  for  comfort,  even  for  luxury.  He  had  at 
this  time  no  grounds  for  complaint  upon  that  score. 


Thoughts  Hymeneal  and  Sartorial  173 

It  was  in  1810  that  Beethoven  received  from  Clementi  and 
Co.  the  long-deferred  honorarium  for  the  British  copyrights 
bought  in  April,  1807,  Exactly  when  this  money  was  received  by 
Beethoven  cannot  be  determined  from  the  existing  evidence,  but 
it  seems  to  have  been  before  February  4,  1810,  on  which  date 
Beethoven  wrote  to  Breitkopf  and  Hartel  offering  them  the  com- 
positions from  Op.  73  to  83  (exclusive  of  75),  and  remarking  that 
he  was  about  to  send  the  same  works  to  London.  He  would 
scarcely  have  had  such  a  purpose  in  mind  unless  he  had  had  a  set- 
tlement with  his  London  publishers.  Additional  evidence,  though 
of  little  weight,  is  provided  by  the  circumstance  that  at  the  same 
time  he  was  contemplating  a  change  of  lodgings,  as  a  letter  to  Pro- 
fessor Loeb,  written  on  February  8,  shows;  it  was  to  his  old  home 
in  the  house  of  Baron  Pasqualati,  which  he  had  occupied  two  years 
before  and  which  he  now  took  again  at  an  annual  rental  of  500 
florins. 

A  number  of  letters  to  Gleichenstein  and  Zmeskall  to  which 
attention  must  now  be  called  seem  to  show  us  Beethoven  in  the 
character  of  a  man  so  deeply  smitten  with  the  charms  of  a  newly- 
acquired  lady  friend  that  he  turns  his  attention  seriously  to  his 
wardrobe  and  personal  appearance  and  thinks  unusually  long  and 
frequently  of  the  social  pleasures  enjoyed  at  the  home  of  his 
charmer.  A  desire  to  save  space  alone  prevents  the  publication  of 
the  letters  in  full,  but  the  reader  may  find  them  in  the  published 
Collections  of  the  composer's  letters.^  In  the  first  of  these  he 
sends  Gleichenstein  300  florins  which  the  Count  was  to  expend  for 
him  in  the  purchase  of  linen  and  nankeen  for  shirts  and  *'at  least 
half  a  dozen  neckties."  On  the  same  day,  he  informs  his  cor- 
respondent that  acting  on  his  advice  he  had  paid  Lind  300  florins. 

'The  letters  to  Gleichenstein  were  placed  by  Nohl  and  after  him^  by  Thayer 
in  the  year  1807.  Their  references  to  money  matters  and  incidents  which  seem  to  point 
to  the  acquisition  of  a  larger  sum  than  usual,  especially  the  first,  which  indicates  that 
Beethoven  had  recently  had  an  English  bill  of  exchange  cashed  by  his  banker,  con- 
nect them  pretty  obviously  with  the  payment  received  from  Clementi  and  Co.  Bring- 
ing these  letters  into  connection  with  others  which  were  indubitably  written  in  1810, 
Dr.  Riemann  makes  the  argument  which  follows  in  the  body  of  the  text  as  to  the  per- 
son whom  Beethoven  expected  to  marry  when  he  sent  to  Wegeler  on  May  2d  of  that 
year  for  a  copy  of  his  baptismal  certificate.  Thayer  pursued  the  theory  that  the 
lady  was  Countess  Therese  von  Brunswick.  The  English  editor  has  thought  it  wise 
to  follow  Dr.  Riemann  in  assigning  the  letters  to  the  year  1810,  and  permitting  his 
German  associate  to  make  his  argument  in  favor  of  Therese  Malfatti,  as  he  has  already 
permitted  Thayer  to  urge  that  the  "Immortal  Beloved"  of  the  love-letter  and  the 
hoped-for  bride  of  1810  were  one  and  the  same  person.  The  personality  of  the  "Im- 
mortal Beloved"  is  not  implicated  in  Dr.  Riemann's  contention,  but  only  the  date 
when  the  tender  relations  between  Beethoven  and  Countess  Brunswick  came  to  an 
end.  On  that  point  there  is  no  evidence.  Thayer,  as  we  have  sefen  and  shall  see  again, 
believed  that  Beethoven  had  proposed  marriage  to  Therese  Malfatti;  but  he  thought 
it  was  in  1811.  Of  the  evidence  introduced  by  the  Clementi  incident,  Thayer  knew 
nothing,  as  it  was  not  unearthed  until  five  years  after  his  death. 


174  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

Henickstein  had  paid  him  twenty-seven  and  a  half  florins  for  a 
pound  sterling  and  invited  him  and  Gleichensteiij  to  dine  the 
next  day  with  Clementi.  Very  significantly  the  letter  ends  with: 
*'Greet  everything  that  is  dear  to  you  and  me.  How  gladly  would 
I  like  to  add  to  whom  we  are  dear????"  Lind  was  a  tailor 
and  Henickstein  the  son  of  a  banker.  The  next  day  he  writes 
that  on  the  previous  evening  the  Archduke  had  requested  his 
presence  on  the  day  set  for  the  dinner  and  he  had  been  obliged 
to  send  Henickstein  a  declination.  The  day  after  that  he  con- 
cludes a  note  telling  about  the  meeting  at  the  Archduke's  with 
"Farewell.  This  evening  I  will  come  to  the  dear  Malfattis."  Here 
is  the  next  letter  in  full: 

As  I  shall  have  enough  time  this  morning,  I  shall  come  to  the  Savage 
(zum  ivilden  Mann — a  restaurant)  in  the  Prater.  I  fancy  that  I  shall 
find  no  savages  there  but  beautiful  Graces,  and  for  them  I  must  don  my 
armor.  I  know  you  will  not  think  me  a  sponge  because  I  come  only  for 
dinner,  and  so  I  will  come  straight.  If  I  find  you  at  home,  well  and  good; 
if  not,  I'll  hurry  to  the  Prater  to  embrace  you. 

On  the  day  after  that  he  sends  Gleichenstein  an  S.  (a  sonata, 
doubtless)  which  he  had  "promised  Therese"  and  adds:  "Give 
my  compliments  to  all  of  them.  It  seems  as  if  the  wounds  with 
which  wicked  men  have  pierced  my  soul  might  be  healed  by  them"; 
he  sends  50  florins  more  for  cravats  and  makes  a  boast  of  it  that 
Gigons,  Malfatti's  little  dog,  had  supped  with  him  and  accom- 
panied him  home.  This  is  the  first  of  the  only  two  allusions  which 
Beethoven  makes  in  all  the  papers,  printed  or  written,  relating  to 
him,  of  a  domestic  pet  animal.  Another  letter  reads:  "I  beg  of 
you  to  let  me  know  when  the  M.  remain  at  home  of  an  evening. 
You  surely  had  a  pleasant  sleep — I  slept  little,  but  I  prefer  such 
an  awaking  to  all  sleep."  Again  he  writes  to  say  that  he  wished 
"Madame  M."  would  give  him  permission  to  pick  out  a  piano- 
forte for  her  which  she  wished  to  buy  "at  Schanz's."  Though 
it  was  his  rule  never  to  accept  commissions  on  such  sales,  he  wanted 
to  save  money  for  the  lady  on  this  purchase. 

Now  we  reach  the  notes  to  Zmeskall,  the  first  of  which  is 
endorsed  by  the  recipient  as  having  been  received  on  April  18, 
1810.  From  Zmeskall's  lodgings  in  the  Walfischgasse  it  was  but 
a  few  steps  around  the  corner  in  the  Kiirnthnerthorstrasse  to  an 
entrance  of  the  Biirgerspital  where  Zmeskall  lived,  of  whose 
readiness  to  oblige  him  he  could  and  did  avail  himself  to  an  extent 
which  at  length  excited  misgivings  in  his  own  mind  that  he  was 
really  going  too  far  and  abusing  his  friend's  kindness.  This  time 
Beethoven's  want  was  of  a  very  peculiar  nature,  namely  a  looking- 


Intercourse  with  the  Malfatti  Family  175 

glass;  that  it  was  not  for  shaving  purposes  but  for  a  more  general 
control  of  his  j:oilet  is  indicated  by  the  second  note: 

(April  18,  1810.) 

Dear  Zmeskall  do  send  me  your  looking-glass  which  hangs  beside 
your  window  for  a  few  hours,  mine  is  broken,  if  you  would  be  so  kind  as  to 
buy  me  one  like  it  to-day  it  would  be  a  great  favor,  I'll  recoup  you  for 
your  expenditure  at  once — forgive  my  importunity  dear  Z. 

Dear  Z.  do  not  get  angry  at  my  little  note — think  of  the  situation 
which  I  am  in,  like  Hercules  once  at  Queen  Oraphale's  ?  ?  ?  I  asked  you  to 
buy  me  a  looking-glass  like  yours,  and  beg  you  as  soon  as  you  are  not 
using  yours  which  I  am  returning  to  send  it  back  to  me  for  mine  is  bro- 
ken— farewell  and  don't  again  write  to  me  about  the  great  man — for  I 
never  felt  the  strength  or  weakness  of  human  nature  as  I  feel  it  just  now. 

Remain  fond  of  me. 

(Without  date — the  original  in  Boston.) 

Do  not  get  vexed,  dear  Z.  because  of  my  continued  demands  upon 
you — let  me  know  how  much  you  paid  for  the  looking-glass? 

Farewell  we  shall  see  each  other  soon  in  the  Swan  as  the  food  is 
daily  growing  worse  in  the  (illegible) — I  have  had  another  violent  attack 
of  colic  since  day  before  yesterday,  but  it  is  better  to-day. 

Your  friend 

Beethoven. 

The  date  of  the  first  note  (April  18)  is  important  as  show- 
ing that  at  the  time  Beethoven  was  not  in  the  country  but  still 
in  Vienna  and  that,  consequently,  the  8th  mentioned  in  the  letter 
to  Therese  Malfatti  which  follows,  w^as  not  the  8th  of  April, 
but  of  May.  From  this  letter  we  deduce  that  Beethoven's  in- 
tercourse with  the  Malfatti  family  in  Vienna  had  become  more 
animated  and  intimate,  that  Beethoven  improvised  at  the  piano- 
forte and  that  at  the  punchbowl  his  spirits  rose  rather  high  ("for- 
get the  nonsense").  The  conclusion  points  pretty  plainly  towards 
a  desire  to  be  united  with  the  family  in  closer  bonds.  The 
Malfattis  had  probably  gone  to  their  country  home  towards  the 
end  of  April  or  beginning  of  May.  The  following  letter  to 
Gleichenstein  was  probably  written  on  the  day  after  the  merry 
evening  of  which  the  letter  to  Therese  speaks : 

Your  report  plunged  me  from  the  regions  of  happiness  into  the 
depths.  Why  the  adjunction,  You  would  let  me  know  when  there  would 
be  another  musicale,  am  I  nothing  more  than  your  musician  or  that  of  the 
others.'^ — that  at  least  is  the  interpretation,  I  can  therefore  seek  support 
only  in  my  own  breast,  there  is  none  for  me  outside  of  it;  no,  nothing 
but  wounds  has  friendship  and  kindred  feelings  for  me.  So  be  it  then, 
for  you,  poor  B.  there  is  no  happiness  in  the  outer  world,  you  must  create 
it  in  yourself,  only  in  the  world  of  ideality  will  you  find  friends. 

I  beg  of  you  to  set  my  mind  at  rest  as  to  whether  I  was  guilty  of  any 
impropriety  yesterday,  or  if  you  cannot  do  that  then  tell  me  the  truth, 


176  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

I  hear  it  as  willingly  as  I  speak  it — there  is  still  time,  the  truth  may  yet 
help  me.  Farewell — don't  let  your  only  friend  Dorner  know  anything  of 
this. 

The  letter  to  Therese  reads: 

With  this  you  are  receiving,  honored  Therese,  what  I  promised,  and 
if  there  were  not  the  best  of  reasons  against  it,  you  would  receive  more  in 
order  to  show  that  I  always  do  more  for  my  friends  than  I  promise — I 
hope  and  have  no  doubt  that  you  keep  yourself  as  well  occupied  as 
pleasantly  entertained — but  not  so  much  that  you  cannot  also  think  of 
me.  It  would  perhaps  be  presuming  upon  your  kindness  or  placing  too 
high  a  value  upon  myself  if  I  were  to  write  you:  "people  are  only  together 
when  they  are  in  each  other's  company,  even  the  distant  one,  the  absent 
one  lives  for  us,"  who  would  dare  to  write  such  a  sentiment  to  the  volatile 
T.  who  handles  everything  in  this  world  so  lightly?  Do  not  forget,  in 
laying  out  your  occupation,  the  pianoforte,  or  music  generally;  you  have 
so  beautiful  a  talent  for  it,  why  not  cultivate  it  exclusively,  you  who  have 
so  much  feeling  for  everything  that  is  beautiful  and  good,  why  will  you 
not  make  use  of  it  in  order  to  learn  the  more  perfect  things  in  so  beautiful 
an  art,  which  always  reflects  its  light  upon  us — I  live  very  solitarily  and 
quietly,  although  now  and  then  lights  try  to  arouse  me  there  is  still  for  me 
a  void  which  cannot  be  filled  since  you  are  all  gone  and  which  defies 
even  my  art  which  has  always  been  so  faithful  to  me — your  pianoforte 
is  ordered  and  you  will  have  it  soon — explain  for  yourself  the  difference 
between  the  treatment  of  a  theme  which  I  invented  one  evening  and  the 
manner  in  which  I  finally  wrote  it  down,  but  don't  get  the  punch  to  help 
you — how  lucky  you  were  to  be  able  to  go  to  the  country  so  soon,  I 
shall  not  have  this  pleasure  until  the  8th,  I  rejoice  in  the  prospect  like  a 
child,  how  joyous  I  am  when  I  can  walk  amongst  bushes  and  trees, 
herbs,  rocks,  nobody  can  love  the  country  as  I  do — since  woods,  trees, 
rocks,  return  the  answer  which  man  wants  to  hear. 

(Four  lines  stricken  out). 

You  will  soon  receive  four  of  my  compositions  whereat  you  should 
not  have  to  complain  too  much  about  the  difficulties — have  you  read 
Goethe's  "Wilhelm  Meister,"  Shakespeare  translated  by  Schlegel,  one 
has  so  much  leisure  in  the  country  it  might  be  agreeable  if  I  were  to  send 
you  these  works.  Chance  has  brought  it  about  that  I  have  an  acquain- 
tance in  your  neighborhood,  perhaps  you  will  see  me  at  your  home  early 
some  morning  for  half  an  hour  and  then  away,  you  see  I  wish  to  be  as 
little  tedious  as  possible.  Commend  me  to  the  good  will  of  your  father, 
your  mother,  although  I  have  no  right  as  yet  to  ask  it  of  them,  also  to 
your  aunt  M.  Farewell,  honored  T.  I  wish  you  all  that  is  good  and  beau- 
tiful in  life,  think  of  me  and  willingly — forget  the  nonsense — be  convinced 
no  one  can  wish  that  your  life  may  be  more  joyous  and  more  happy  than 
I,  even  if  you  have  no  sympathy  for 

Your  devoted  servant  and  friend 

Beethoven. 
N.  B.    It  would  really  be  very  nice  of  you  if  you  were  to  write  a  few  lines 
to  say  what  I  can  do  for  you  here? 

Under  such  circumstances  Beethoven  wrote  the  famous 
letter  of   May   2,  1810  to   Wegeler  in   Coblenz,   asking  him   to 


Preparations  for  Marriage  177 

procure  a  copy  of  his  baptismal  certificate  for  him.     In  this  letter 
he  says: 

A  few  years  ago  my  quiet,  retired  mode  of  life  ceased,  and  I  was 
forcibly  drawn  into  activities  of  the  world;  I  have  not  yet  formed  a 
favorable  opinion  of  it  but  rather  one  against  it — but  who  is  there  could 
escape  the  influence  of  the  external  storms?  Yet  I  should  be  happy, 
perhaps  one  of  the  happiest  of  men,  if  the  demon  had  not  taken  possession 
of  my  ears.  If  I  had  not  read  somewhere  that  a  man  may  not  volun- 
tarily part  with  his  life  so  long  as  a  good  deed  remains  for  him  to  perform, 
I  should  long  ago  have  been  no  more — and  indeed  by  my  own  hands. 
O,  life  is  so  beautiful,  but  to  me  it  is  poisoned. 

You  will  not  decline  to  accede  to  my  friendly  request  if  I  beg  of  you 
to  secure  my  baptismal  certificate  for  me.  Whatever  expense  may  at- 
tach to  the  matter,  since  you  have  an  account  with  Steffen  Breuning,  you 
can  recoup  yourself  at  once  from  that  source  and  I  will  make  it  good  at 
once  to  Steffen  here.  If  you  should  yourself  think  it  worth  while  to  in- 
vestigate the  matter  and  make  the  trip  from  Coblenz  to  Bonn,  charge 
everything  to  me.  But  one  thing  must  be  borne  in  mind,  namely,  that 
there  was  a  brother  born  before  I  was,  who  was  also  named  Ludwig  with  the 
addition  Maria,  but  who  died.  To  fix  my  age  beyond  doubt,  this  brother 
must  first  be  found,  inasmuch  as  I  already  know  that  in  this  respect  a 
mistake  has  been  made  by  others,  and  I  have  been  said  to  be  older  than 
I  am.  Unfortunately  I  myself  lived  for  a  time  without  knowing  my  age. 
I  had  a  family  register  but  it  has  been  lost  heaven  knows  how.  There- 
fore do  not  be  bored  if  I  urge  you  to  attend  to  this  matter,  to  find  Maria 
and  the  present  Ludwig  who  was  born  after  him.  The  sooner  you  send 
me  the  baptismal  certificate  the  greater  will  be  my  obligation. 

To  the  "Notizen"  (1838)  Wegeler  published  a  few  pages  of 
appendix  on  the  occasion  of  the  Beethoven  festival  at  Bonn 
(1845),  giving  therein  a  most  valuable  paragraph  explanatory  of 
this  important  letter: 

It  seems  that  Beethoven,  once  in  his  life,  entertained  the  idea  of 
marrying,  after  having  been  in  love  many  times,  as  is  related  in  the 
"Notizen"  (pp.  40,  42  et  seq.  and  117  et  seq.).  Many  persons  as  well  as 
myself  were  impressed  by  the  urgency  with  which  in  his  letter  of  May 
10  [sic]  he  besought  me  to  secure  his  baptismal  certificate  for  him.  He 
wants  to  pay  all  the  expenditures,  even  a  journey  from  Coblenz  to  Bonn. 
And  then  he  adds  explicit  instructions  which  I  was  to  observe  in  looking 
up  the  certificate  in  order  to  get  the  right  one.  I  found  the  solution  of 
the  riddle  in  a  letter  written  to  me  three  months  later  by  my  brother- 
in-law  St.  V.  Breuning.  In  this  he  says:  "Beethoven  tells  me  at  least 
once  a  week  that  he  intends  to  write  to  you;  but  I  believe  his  marriage 
project  has  fallen  through,  and  for  this  reason  he  no  longer  feels  the 
lively  desire  to  thank  you  for  your  trouble  in  getting  him  the  baptismal 
certificate."  In  the  thirty-ninth  year  of  his  life  Beethoven  had  not  given 
up  thoughts  of  marriage. 

We  know  now  that  the  marriage  project  fell  through  early 
in  May,  soon  after  he  had  written  the  letter  to  Wegeler.     Two 


178  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

short  letters  to  Gleichenstein  instruct  us  slightly  touching  the 
conclusion  of  this  psychological  drama  which,  no  doubt,  tore  the 
heart  of  Beethoven.  It  would  seem  as  if  at  first  Beethoven 
wanted  to  visit  the  Malfattis  at  their  country  home,  but  at  the 
last  preferred  to  send  a  formal  proposal  of  marriage  by  the  hands 
of  Gleichenstein.  We  have  no  testimony  concerning  the  refusal 
beyond  the  utterance  of  the  niece  and  the  cessation  of  all  cor- 
respondence on  the  subject.     Here  are  the  letters: 

You  are  living  on  a  calm  and  peaceful  sea  or,  possibly,  are  already 
in  a  safe  harbor — you  do  not  feel  the  distress  of  the  friend  who  is  still  in 
the  storm — or  you  dare  not  feel  it — what  will  they  think  of  me  in  the  star 
Venus  Urania,  how  will  they  judge  me  without  seeing  me — my  pride  is 
so  humbled,  I  would  go  there  with  you  uninvited — let  me  see  you  at 
my  lodging  to-morrow  morning,  I  shall  expect  you  at  about  9  o'clock 
at  breakfast — Dorner  can  come  with  you  at  another  time — if  you  were 
but  franker  with  me,  you  are  certainly  concealing  something  from  me, 
you  want  to  spare  me  and  this  uncertainty  is  more  painful  than  the  most 
fatal  certainty — Farewell  if  you  cannot  come  let  me  know  in  advance — 
think  and  act  for  me — I  cannot  entrust  to  paper  more  of  what  is  going 
on  witliin  me. 

Dear  friend,  so  cursedly  late — press  them  all  warmly  to  your  heart — 
why  can  I  not  be  with  you.'*  Farewell,  I  will  be  with  you  on  Wednesday 
morning — the  letter  is  written  so  that  the  whole  world  may  read  it — if 
you  find  that  the  paper  covering  is  not  clean  enough,  put  another  one  on, 
I  cannot  tell  at  night  whether  it  is  clean — farewell,  dear  friend,  think  and 
act  also  for  your  faithful  friend. 

Beethoven's  relations  with  another  fair  friend  now  demand 
attention.  In  the  Vienna  suburban  road  Erdbeergasse  stands  the 
lofty  house  then  numbered  98,  its  rear  windows  overlooking 
Rasoumowsky's  gardens,  the  Donau  canal  and  the  Prater,  whence 
on  May  15,  1810,  Elizabeth  Brentano  (Bettina)  wrote  to  Goethe: 

Here  I  live  in  the  house  of  the  deceased  Birkenstock,  surrounded  by 
two  thousand  copperplate  engravings,  as  many  hand-drawings,  as  many 
hundred  old  ash  urns  and  Etruscan  lamps,  marble  vases,  antique  frag- 
ments of  hands  and  feet,  paintings,  Chinese  garments,  coins,  geological 
collections,  sea  insects,  telescopes  and  numberless  maps,  plans  of  an- 
cient empires  and  cities  sunk  in  ruin,  artistically  carved  walking-sticks, 
precious  documents,  and  finally  the  sword  of  Emperor  Carolus. 

Joseph  Melchior  von  Birkenstock  (born  in  1738),  the  honored, 
trusted  and  valued  servant  of  Maria  Theresia  and  Kaiser  Joseph, 
the  friend  and  brother-in-law  of  the  celebrated  Sonnenfels — the 
esteemed  correspondent  of  so  many  of  the  noblest  men  of  his  time, 
including  the  American  philosopher  Franklin  and  the  Scotch 
historian  Robertson,  the  reformer  of  the  Austrian  school  system, 
the  promoter  of  all  liberal  ideas  so  long  as  in  those  days  progress 


Intimate  Relations  with  the  Brentanos         179 

was  allowed — was  pensioned  in  1803,  and  thenceforth  lived  for 
science,  art  and  literature  until  his  death,  October  30,  1809.  His 
house,  filled  almost  to  repletion  with  the  artistic,  archaeological, 
scientific  collections  of  which  Bettina  speaks,  was  one  of  those  truly 
noble  seats  of  learning,  high  culture  and  refinement,  where  Beet- 
hoven, to  his  manifest  intellectual  gain,   was  a  welcome  guest. 

Sophie  Brentano,  older  than  Bettina,  very  beautiful  not- 
withstanding the  loss  of  an  eye,  and,  like  all  the  members  of  that 
remarkable  family,  very  highly  talented  and  accomplished,  had 
made  a  long  visit  to  Vienna  as  Count  Heberstein's  bride — their 
marriage  being  prevented  by  her  untimely  death.  "She  brought 
about  the  marriage  of  her  brother  Franz  with  Antonie  von  Birken- 
stock,"  says  Jahn.  "The  young  wife,  who  did  not  feel  at  home  in 
Frankfort" — and  also  because  of  the  precarious  health  of  her  father, 
we  may  add — "persuaded  Brentano  to  remove  to  Vienna,  where 
for  several  years  she  occupied  a  home  in  the  Birkenstock  house 
which  Bettina  describes  so  beautifully.  In  this  house,  where  music 
was  cultivated,  Beethoven  came  and  went  in  friendly  fashion. 
His  'little  friend,'  for  whose  encouragement  in  pianoforte  playing 
he  wrote  the  little  trio  in  a  single  movement  in  1812,  was  her 
daughter  Maximiliane  Brentano,  later  Madame  Plittersdorf, 
to  whom  ten  years  later  he  dedicated  the  Sonata  in  E  major 
(Op.  109).  After  Birkenstock's  death  he  tried  to  give  a  practical 
turn  to  his  friendship  by  seeking  to  persuade  Archduke  Rudolph 
to  buy  a  part  of  his  collection.  More  effective,  evidently  was  the 
help  which  Brentano  extended  to  him,  who,  when  he  came  into 
financial  straits  and  needed  a  loan,  always  found  an  open  purse. 
Madame  Antonie  Brentano  was  frequently  ill  for  weeks  at  a  time 
during  her  sojourn  in  Vienna,  so  that  she  had  to  remain  in  her 
room  inaccessible  to  all  visitors.  At  such  times  Beethoven  used 
to  come  regularly,  seat  himself  at  a  pianoforte  in  her  anteroom 
without  a  word  and  improvise;  after  he  had  finished  'telling  her 
everything  and  bringing  comfort,'  in  his  language,  he  would  go 
as  he  had  come  without  taking  notice  of  another  person." 

The  credibility  of  Madame  von  Arnim's  contribution  to 
Beethoven  literature  has  been  questioned  in  all  degrees  of  severity, 
from  simple  doubts  as  to  particular  passages  to  broad  denunciation 
of  the  whole  as  gross  distortions  of  fact,  or  even  as  figments  of  the 
imagination.  Dogmatism  is  rarely  in  proportion  to  knowledge, 
unless,  perhaps,  in  inverse  ratio.  The  bitterest  attacks  upon  the 
veracity  of  Mme.  von  Arnim  have  been  made  by  those  whose 
ignorance  of  the  subject  is  most  conspicuous;  but  among  the 
doubters  are  people  of  candor,  good  judgment  and  wide  knowledge 


180  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

of  Beethoven's  history;  and  a  decent  respect  for  the  opinions  of  such 
renders  it  just  and  proper  to  explain  why  so  much  of  these  con- 
tributions has  been  admitted  into  the  text  as  being  substantially 
true. 

At  the  very  outset  we  are  met  by  a  statement  in  Schindler's 
book  (Ed.  1840)  which  if  correct  destroys  at  once  the  credibility 
of  Mme.  von  Arnim's  account  of  her  first  interview  with  Beetho- 
ven. It  is  this:  "Beethoven  became  acquainted  with  the  Bren- 
tano  family  in  Frankfort  through  her  [Bettina]."  A  later  writer, 
Ludwig  Nohl,  supports  the  assertion  on  the  authority  of  "Frau 
Brentano,  now  87  years  old" — Birkenstock's  daughter.  But 
Schindler,  after  his  long  residence  in  and  near  Frankfort,  writes 
(1860) :  "There  still  lives  one  of  the  oldest  friends  of  our  master 
during  life,  with  whom  he  became  acquainted  already  oh  his 
arrival  in  Vienna  (1792)  in  the  house  of  her  father."  This  was 
the  above-mentioned  lady  "now  87  years  old."  The  other  writer 
also  withdraws  his  statement  in  a  later  publication  where  he 
speaks  of  this  aged  lady's  daughter,  "Maxe,  who  as  a  child  in 
1808  [?]  in  Vienna,  often  sat  at  Birkenstock's  on  his  (Beethoven's) 
knees." 

Any  possible  doubt  on  the  subject  is  dispelled  by  a  communi- 
cation made  to  this  author  in  1872,  by  the  then  head  of  the  Brentano 
family  living  in  Frankfort,  who  wrote: 

The  friendly  relations  between  Beethoven  and  the  family  Brentano 
in  Frankfort  already  existed  when  Frau  von  Brentano  (Antonie)  visited 
her  father  in  Vienna,  whither  she  went  with  her  older  children  for  an 
extended  period  because  her  father,  Court  Councillor  Birkenstock,  had 
been  ailing  for  a  considerable  time.  This  friendly  intercourse  was 
continued  after  the  death  of  Councillor  Birkenstock  on  October  30, 
1809,  and  during  the  three  years'  sojourn  of  the  Brentano  family  in 
Vienna.  Beethoven  often  came  to  the  house  of  Birkenstock,  later  of 
Brentano,  attended  the  quartet  concerts  which  were  given  there  by  the 
best  musicians  of  Vienna,  and  often  rejoiced  his  friends  with  his  glorious 
pianoforte  playing.  The  Brentano  children  occasionally  carried  fruit 
and  flowers  to  him  in  his  lodging;  he  in  return  gave  them  bonbons  and 
always  exhibited  great  friendship  for  them. 

Beethoven,  through  his  familiar  intercourse  with  the  Bren- 
tanos,  must,  of  course,  have  known  of  the  expected  visit  of  Bettina 
and  of  her  relations  to  Goethe.  Her  account  of  their  first  meeting, 
therefore,  is  in  all  respects  credible;  nor  has  it  been,  so  far  as  is 
known,  questioned.  It  is  twice  given  by  her  own  pen  in  the 
"Brief wechsel"  with  Goethe  under  date  1810,  and  in  the  Piickler- 
Muskau  correspondence  as  belonging  to  1832.  At  this  last-named 
date  she  had  not  yet  received  from  Chancellor  von  Mtiller  her 


Mme.  von  Arnim's  Letter  to  Goethe  181 

letter  to  Goethe,  and  wrote  from  memory,  confining  her  narrative 
to  the  minor  incidents  of  the  meeting.  The  two  accounts  differ, 
but  they  do  not  contradict,  they  only  supplement  each  other. 
The  present  writer  had  the  honor  of  an  interview  or  two 
with  Mme.  von  Arnim  in  1849-50,  and  heard  the  story  from  her 
lips;  in  1854-5,  it  was  his  good  fortune  to  meet  her  often  in  two 
charming  family  circles — her  own  and  that  of  the  brothers  Grimm, 
Thus  at  an  interval  of  five  years  he  had  the  opportunity  of  com- 
paring her  statements,  of  questioning  her  freely  and  of  convincing 
himself,  up  to  this  point,  of  her  simple  honesty  and  truth. 

But  the  rock  of  offense  does  not  lie  here;  it  is  in  the  long 
discourse  of  Beethoven  which  will  presently  be  given  in  these 
pages.  Schindler  objects  to  this,  both  in  its  matter  and  form, 
on  the  ground  that  he  had  never  heard  "the  master"  talk  in 
this  manner.  But  the  Beethoven  whom  Schindler  knew  in  his 
last  years  was  not  the  Beethoven  of  1810,  and  Anton  Schindler 
certainly  was  not  an  Elizabeth  Brentano.  There  happens  to  be 
proof  that  just  in  the  former  period  the  composer  could  talk 
freely  and  eloquently.  Jahn  says:  "Beethoven's  personality  and 
nature,  moreover,  were  calculated  to  make  a  significant  but 
winning  impression  upon  women,"  and  cites  Mme.  Hummel 
(Elizabeth  Rockel)  in  proof.  "As  a  matron  advanced  in  years," 
says  he,  "and  still  winning  because  of  her  charming  graciousness, 
she  spoke  with  ingratiating  warmth  of  the  good  fortune  of  having 
been  observed  by  Beethoven  and  to  have  been  on  friendly  re- 
lations with  him.  'Whoever  saw  him  in  good  humor,  intel- 
lectually animated,  when  he  gave  utterance  to  his  thoughts  in 
such  a  mood,'  said  she  with  glowing  eyes,  'can  never  forget  the 
impression  which  he  made.'  " 

There  are  two  hypotheses  as  to  the  genesis  of  this  letter  to 
Goethe.  The  one:  that  Mme.  von  Arnim  in  preparing  the 
"Briefwechsel"  for  publication  wrote  out  her  own  crude  and  neb- 
ulous thoughts  and  gave  them  to  the  public  in  the  form  of  a 
fictitious  report  of  a  conversation  of  Beethoven,  The  other: 
that  she  found  Beethoven  fresh  from  the  composition  of  the 
"Egmont"  music,  full  of  enthusiasm  for  Goethe  and  vehemently 
desirous  that  his,  the  great  composer's,  views  upon  music  should 
be  known  and  comprehended  by  the  great  poet;  that  he,  happening 
to  get  upon  this  topic  at  their  first  interview,  imparted  those  views 
to  her  with  that  express  purpose;  and  that  she,  so  far  as  she  was 
able  to  follow  and  understand  the  speaker,  and  so  far  as  her 
memory  could  recall  his  words  a  few  hours  after,  correctly  records 
and  reports  them. 


182  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

The  first  hypothesis  rests  now  on  precisely  the  same  founda- 
tion as  when  Schindler  wrote,  namely,  on  the  presumption  that 
Beethoven  could  not  have  spoken  thus;  but  a  discourse  uttered 
under  such  circumstances  and  with  such  a  purpose,  poured  into 
the  willing  ear  of  a  beautiful,  highly  cultivated  and  remarkably 
fascinating  young  woman,  one  who  possessed  the  higher  artistic 
and  intellectual  qualities  of  character  in  an  extraordinary  degree 
— such  a  discourse  might  well  abound  in  thoughts  and  expressions 
which  the  prosaic  Schindler  in  the  most  prosaic  period  of  his 
master's  life  never  drew  from  him. 

Two  significant  minor  points  may  be  noted:  there  was  a 
Latin  word  in  use  by  the  Breuning  family  in  the  old  Bonn  days 
with  a  meaning  not  given  in  the  dictionaries.  This  we  learn  from 
Wegeler's  "Notizen,"  and  only  there.  Yet  Mme.  v.  Arnim  puts 
this  word,  raptus,  in  precisely  this  local  sense  into  Beethoven's 
mouth  several  years  before  the  publication  of  the  "Notizen"! 
Again:  when  the  discoveries  of  Galvani  and  Volta  were  still  a 
novel  topic  of  general  interest,  when,  through  them,  physiologists, 
as  Dubois-Raymond  expressed  it,  "believed  that  at  length  they 
should  realize  their  visions  of  a  vital  power";  and  when  the  semi- 
scientific  world  was  full  of  the  theories  of  Mesmer  and  his  disciples 
— at  that  time,  the  first  years  of  the  nineteenth  century,  custom 
gave  the  word  elektrisch  (electrical)  a  significance  long  since 
lost,  which  well  conveyed  the  thought  Beethoven  is  made  to 
express.  But  in  1834-5,  to  introduce  this  word  in  that  sense, 
retrospectively,  into  a  fictitious  conversation  purporting  to  be  of 
the  year  1810,  shows,  no  less  than  the  raptus,  an  exquisite  tact  so 
rare,  that  it  might  well  be  termed  a  most  felicitous  stroke  of 
genius,  one  of  which  any  writer  of  romance  might  be  vain. 

Julius  Merz,  in  his  "Athenaeum  fiir  Wissenschaft,  Kunst  und 
Leben"  (Nuremberg,  January,  1839),  printed  for  the  opening 
article  "Drei  Briefe  von  Beethoven  an  Bettina."  The  third  of 
these  letters  was  copied  the  next  July  into  Schilling's  ephemeral 
musical  periodical  the  "Jahrblicher"  (Carlsruhe),  with  remarks 
by  the  editor  expressing  doubts  of  its  authenticity.  But  Schind- 
ler, whose  book  was  just  then  going  to  press,  copied  a  large  portion 
of  it  as  genuine;  and  in  his  second  edition  (1845)  reprinted  all 
three  entire,  without  adding  a  word  of  doubt  or  misgiving.  They 
had  appeared  in  English  in  1841,  from  a  copy  given  to  Mr.  Henry 
F.  Chorley  by  Mme.  von  Arnim;  and  since  then  have  been  re- 
printed in  various  languages  probably  more  frequently,  and  become 
more  universally  known,  than  any  other  chapter  in  Beethoven 
literature.     Here  and  there  a  reader  shared  in  Schilling's  doubts; 


Authenticity  of  the  Bettina  Letters  183 

but  twenty  years  elapsed  before  these  doubts  were  put  into  such 
form,  and  by  an  author  of  such  position,  that  a  reasonable  self- 
respect  could  allow  Mme.  von  Arnim  to  take  notice  of  them;  and 
then  it  was  too  late — she  lay  upon  her  death-bed.  Her  silence 
under  the  attacks  made  upon  her  veracity  is  therefore  no  evidence 
against  her. 

A.  B.  Marx,  the  author  here  referred  to,  produces  but  one 
argument  which  demands  notice  here,  and  this  is  the  occur- 
rence of  certain  "repetitions":  "liebe,  liebste,"  "liebe,  gute," 
"bald,  bald"  which  he  declared  to  be  "very  womanish  and  very 
un-Beethovenian."  Now,  on  the  contrary,  in  the  text  of  this 
volume  there  is  abundant  proof  that  just  these  expressions  are 
very  Beethovenian  and  characteristic  of  his  letters  to  favorite 
women  at  the  precise  period  in  question. 

It  is  true,  as  he  says,  that  w^hen  Marx  wrote,  nothing  of  the 
kind  had  ever  been  published;  a  fortiori,  nothing  twenty  years 
before;  but  this  fact,  on  which  he  laid  such  stress,  instead  of  sup- 
porting really  demolishes  his  argument.  It  was  in  the  autumn  of 
1838  that  Mr.  Merz  received  the  letters.  At  that  time  specimens 
of  Beethoven's  correspondence  had  been  published  by  Seyfried 
in  the  pseudo-"Studien,"  by  Schumann  in  the  "Neue  Zeitschrift," 
by  Gottfried  Weber  in  the  "Cacilia,"  by  Wegeler  in  the  "Noti- 
zen";  and  a  few  others  were  scattered  in  books  and  periodicals. 
Imitators,  counterfeiters,  fabricators  of  false  documents,  must  have 
samples,  patterns,  models;  but  all  the  Beethoven  letters  then  in 
print  were  so  far  from  being  the  patterns  or  models  of  the  Bettina 
letters  that  the  contrast  between  them  was  the  main  argument 
against  the  authenticity  of  the  latter.  If,  then,  Mme.  von  Arnim 
introduced  so  many  expressions  which  we  know  (but  she  could  not) 
are  not  "very  womanish  and  very  un-Beethovenian"  into  a  fic- 
titious correspondence,  she  did  so  not  only  without  a  pattern  or 
model,  but  against  all  patterns  and  models.  Credat  Judoeus 
Apella,  non  ego. 

There  are  points  of  doubt  and  difficulty  in  the  third 
letter  which  the  warmest  advocates  of  its  authenticity  have  not 
been  able  fully  to  overcome;  but  as  Marx  had  not  sufficient 
knowledge  of  his  subject  to  perceive  them,  and  the  question  of  the 
acceptance  or  rejection  of  this  letter  will  rest  upon  grounds  to  be 
given  in  the  text,  these  points  need  not  be  noticed  here.  Another 
one  must  be,  namely:  suppose  that  letter  should  be  proved  coun- 
terfeit, does  it  follow  that  the  others  are  so.^  Not  at  all;  but 
that  they  are  the  authentic  letters  whose  manner  and  style  are 
imitated. 


184  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

In  1848,  Mme.  von  Arnim  published  two  volumes  of  charac- 
teristic correspondence  with  Herr  Nathusius  under  the  title: 
"Ilius  Pamphilius  und  die  Ambrosia."  In  one  of  his  letters 
Pamphilius  requests  autographs  of  Goethe's  mother  and  Beet- 
hoven, for  a  collection  which  he  is  making.  This  gives  her  oc- 
casion in  various  letters  to  express  her  admiration  and  reverence 
for  the  composer  in  terms  which  come  warm  from  the  heart.  At 
length  (Vol.  II,  p.  205)  she  writes:  "Herewith  I  am  sending  you  the 
letters  of  Goethe  and  Beethoven  for  your  autograph  collection." 
She  prints  all  three  in  the  pages  following;  but  a  comparison  of  the 
several  passages  relating  to  them  leads  to  the  inference,  that  only 
one  autograph  was  sent.  Is  all  this  a  mystification.^  Was  there 
no  Pamphilius?  No  autograph  collection.'^  No  contribution  of  a 
letter  in  Beethoven's  hand  to  it.^     Herr  Nathusius  knows. 

Mme.  von  Arnim,  then,  gave  the  letters  to  the  public  three 
times;  in  the  "Athenaeum,"  January,  1839;  in  English  translation, 
through  Chorley,  1841;  in  the  "Pamphilius  und  Ambrosia,"  in 
1848.  It  is  patent  to  the  feeblest  common  sense,  that,  if  not 
genuine,  either  the  same  copy,  or  copies  carefully  collated  so  as  to 
avoid  all  suspicious  variations,  would  have  been  sent  to  the  printer; 
and  that  the  two  German  publications  would  differ  only  by  such 
small  errors  as  compositors  make  and  proof-readers  overlook — 
such  as  are  found  in  Schindler's  reprint  from  the  "Athenaeum," 
and  in  Marx's  from  Schindler.  But  the  variations  of  the  "Pam- 
philius" copy  from  that  in  the  "Athenaeum"  are  such  as  cannot 
be  printer's  errors,  but  precisely  such  as  two  persons,  inexperienced 
in  the  task,  would  make  in  deciphering  Beethoven's  very  illegible 
writing;  one  (Mr.  Merz)  correcting  the  punctuation  and  faults  in 
the  use  of  capital  letters  (as  Wegeler  has  evidently  done),  and 
the  other  (Mme.  von  Arnim)  retaining  these  striking  charac- 
teristics of  the  composer's  letters.  The  change  of  the  familiar 
"Bettine,"  which  Beethoven  learned  in  her  brother's  family,  to 
the  more  formal  "Freundin,"  can  hardly  be  made  a  point  of 
objection.  Marx's  argument  had  been  so  completely  upset,  that, 
in  renewing  (1863)  his  attack  upon  the  then  deceased  Mme.  von 
Arnim,  he  was  compelled  to  base  it  upon  other  considerations. 
It  was  then  that  the  present  writer  compared  the  letters  printed 
in  the  "Athenaeum"  with  the  copies  in  the  "Pamphilius,"  which 
convinced  him,  on  the  grounds  above  noted,  of  their  authenticity, 
at  least  in  part,  and  led  to  a  correspondence,  of  which  an  abstract 
here  follows:  On  July  9,  1863,  the  present  author  requested  Mr. 
Wheeler,  American  Consul  at  Nuremberg,  to  see  Mr.  Merz, 
learn  from  him  the  circumstances  under  which  he  obtained  the 


First  Meeting  with  Bettixa  185 

letters,  and  whether  he  printed  from  Beethoven's  autograph. 
Mr.  Wheeler  replied  on  August  9th:  "He  [Mr.  Merz]  states, 
that  he  enjoyed  the  personal  acquaintance  of  that  lady  (Mme. 
von  Arnim),  and  was  at  the  time  in  Berlin  on  a  visit;  and  being 
at  her  residence  on  a  certain  occasion,  she  gave  him  these  letters, 
remarking:  'There  is  something  for  the  Athenaeum.'  After  pub- 
lishing the  letters,  Mr.  Merz  feels  confident,  he  returned  the  letters 
to  Mme.  V.  Arnim."  The  author  now,  on  August  2oth,  requested 
Mr.  Wheeler  if  possible  to  obtain  from  Mr.  Merz  his  written 
statement  that  he  had  printed  the  letters  from  the  original  auto- 
graphs. Mr.  Wheeler,  on  September  24th,  replied.  .  .  .  "Yester- 
day he  [Merz]  was  good  enough  to  write  me  the  note  you  requested; 
I  trust  it  may  be  found  of  the  tenor  wished."  The  note  which 
was  enclosed  in  this  letter  is  this:  "I  can  certify  that  at  the  time 
in  question  I  had  in  my  possession  the  letters  referred  to  in  the 
January  number  of  the  'Athenaeum,'  but  gave  them  back  again. 
Nuremberg,  September  23,  1863.  Julius  Merz,  book  publisher." 
It  may  be  said  that  this  note  does  not  explicitly  cover  the  whole 
ground.  True,  it  is  the  testimony  of  a  conscientious  man  who, 
after  the  lapse  of  twenty-five  years,  remembers  deciphering  cer- 
tain letters  of  Beethoven  which  he  printed,  but  does  not  venture 
to  declare  that  all  that  he  printed  lay  before  him  in  the  hand- 
writing of  the  master.  There  is  another  witness  who  is  reported 
to  have  been  less  distrustful  of  his  memory.  Herr  Ludwig  Nohl, 
in  a  note  to  these  letters  ("Briefe  Beethoven's,"  p.  71),  says: 
"Their  authenticity  (barring,  perhaps,  a  few  words  in  the  middle 
of  the  third  letter)  was  never  doubtful  in  my  mind  and  will 
not  be  now  after  Beethoven's  letters  have  been  made  public. 
Though  superfluous,  it  may  yet  be  said  for  the  benefit  of  such  as 
are  not  wholly  willing  to  accept  internal  evidence,  that  Prof. 
Moriz  Carriere,  in  a  conversation  on  the  subject  of  Beethoven's 
letters  in  December,  1864,  expressly  stated  that  the  three  letters  to 
Bettina  were  genuine;  he  saw  them  himself  in  her  house  in  Berlin 
in  1839,  read  them  through  with  the  greatest  interest  and  care,  and 
because  of  their  significant  contents  had  urged  their  immediate 
publication.  When  they  were  printed  a  short  time  afterward, 
no  changes  in  the  reprint  struck  his  attention;  on  the  contrary, 
he  could  still  remember  that  the  much  controverted  terms, 
particularly  the  anecdote  about  Goethe  in  the  third  letter,  were 
precisely  so  in  the  original." 

And  now  to  the  matter,  the  discussion  of  which  has  detained 
us  so  long.  One  day  in  May,  Beethoven,  sitting  at  the  pianoforte 
with  a  song  just  composed  before  him,  was  surprised  by  a  pair  of 


186  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

hands  being  placed  upon  his  shoulders.  He  looked  up  "gloomily" 
but  his  face  brightened  as  he  saw  a  beautiful  young  woman  who, 
putting  her  mouth  to  his  ear  said:  "My  name  is  Brentano."  She 
needed  no  further  introduction.  He  smiled,  gave  her  his  hand 
without  rising  and  said:  "I  have  just  made  a  beautiful  song  for  you; 
do  you  want  to  hear  it.''"  Thereupon  he  sang — raspingly,  in- 
cisively, not  gently  or  sweetly  (the  voice  was  hard),  but  tran- 
scending training  and  agreeableness  by  reason  of  the  cry  of  passion 
which  reacted  on  the  hearer — "Kennst  du  das  Land.^"  He  asked: 
"Well,  how  do  you  like  it.^^"  She  nodded.  "It  is  beautiful, 
isn't  it.-*"  he  said  enthusiastically,  "marvellously  beautiful;  I'll 
sing  it  again."  He  sang  it  again,  looked  at  her  with  a  triumphant 
expression,  and  seeing  her  cheeks  and  eyes  glow,  rejoiced  over  her 
happy  approval.  "Aha!"  said  he,  "most  people  are  touched  by  a 
good  thing;  but  they  are  not  artist-natures.  Artists  are  fiery; 
they  do  not  weep."  He  then  sang  another  song  of  Goethe's, 
"Trocknet  nicht  Thranen  der  ewigen  Liebe." 

There  was  a  large  dinner  party  that  day  at  Franz  Brentano's 
in  the  Birkenstock  house  and  Bettina — for  it  was  she — told 
Beethoven  he  must  change  his  old  coat  for  a  better,  and  accompany 
her  thither.  "Oh,"  said  he  jokingly,  "I  have  several  good  coats," 
and  took  her  to  the  wardrobe  to  see  them.  Changing  his  coat  he 
went  down  with  her  to  the  street,  but  stopped  there  and  said  he 
must  return  for  a  moment.  He  came  down  again  laughing  with 
the  old  coat  on.  She  remonstrated;  he  went  up  again,  dressed 
himself  properly  and  went  with  her.^  But,  notwithstanding  his 
rather  clumsy  drollery,  she  soon  discovered  a  greatness  in  the 
man  for  which  she  was  wholly  unprepared.  His  genius  burst 
upon  her  with  a  splendor  of  which  she  had  formed  no  previous 
conception,  and  the  sudden  revelation  astonished,  dazzled,  en- 
raptured her.  It  is  just  this,  which  gives  the  tone  to  her  letter 
upon  Beethoven  addressed  to  Goethe.  In  fact,  the  Beethoven  of 
our  conceptions  was  not  then  known;  the  first  attempt  to  describe 
or  convey  in  words,  what  the  finer  appreciative  spirits  had  begun 
to  feel  in  his  music,  was  E.  T.  A.  Hoffmann's  article  on  the  C  minor 
Symphony,  in  the  "Allg.  Mus.  Zeit."  of  July  21st — five  weeks 
later. 

'This  account  of  the  first  meeting  of  Bettina  and  Beethoven  is  compiled  from 
her  letters  to  Goethe  and  Piickler-Muskau,  and  notes  of  her  conversation  with  the 
writer.  How  deep  and  clear  the  impressions  of  their  first  interviews  with  Beethoven, 
even  to  minute  incidents,  remained  upon  the  memories  of  both  Mme.  von  Arnim  and 
Mme.  von  Arncth,  when  seventy  years  of  age,  the  writer  had  opportunity  to  know 
by  hearing  them  from  their  own  lips.  In  the  printed  letters  of  the  former  to  Piickler- 
Muskau,  the  part  relating  to  this  first  meeting  is  lucid  and  satisfactory,  but  the  con- 
fusion of  memory  visible  in  the  rest  of  the  letter  renders  it  nearly  worthless. 


Bettina's  Letter  to  Goethe  187 

The  essential  parts  of  Bettina's  long  communication  are  these: 

(To  Goethe)  Vienna,  May  28. 

When  I  saw  him  of  whom  I  shall  now  speak  to  you,  I  forgot  the 
whole  world — as  the  world  still  vanishes  when  memory  recalls  the  scene — 
yes,  it  vanishes.  ...  It  is  Beethoven  of  whom  I  now  wish  to  tell  you,  and 
who  made  me  forget  the  world  and  you;  I  am  still  in  my  nonage,  it  is  true, 
but  I  am  not  mistaken  when  I  say — what  no  one,  perhaps,  now  understands 
and  believes — he  stalks  far  ahead  of  the  culture  of  mankind.  Shall  we 
ever  overtake  him.'' — I  doubt  it,  but  grant  that  he  may  live  until  the 
mighty  and  exalted  enigma  lying  in  his  soul  is  fully  developed,  may 
reach  its  loftiest  goal,  then  surely  he  wilJ  place  the  key  to  his  heavenly 
knowledge  in  our  hands  so  that  we  may  be  advanced  another  step  to- 
wards true  happiness. 

To  you,  I  am  sure,  I  may  confess  I  believe  in  a  divine  magic  which 
is  the  essence  of  intellectual  life.  This  magic  Beethoven  practises  in  his 
art.  Everything  that  he  can  tell  you  about  is  pure  magic,  every  posture 
is  the  organization  of  a  higher  existence,  and  therefore  Beethoven  feels 
himself  to  be  the  founder  of  a  new  sensuous  basis  in  the  intellectual  life;, 
you  will  understand  what  I  am  trying  to  say  and  how  much  of  it  is  true 
Who  could  replace  this  mind  for  us?  From  whom  could  we  expect  so 
much.'*  All  human  activities  toss  around  him  like  mechanism,  he  alone 
begets  independently  in  himself  the  unsuspected,  uncreated.  What  to 
him  is  intercourse  with  the  world — to  him  who  is  at  his  sacred  daily  task 
before  sunrise  and  who  after  sunset  scarcely  looks  about  him,  who  for- 
gets sustenance  for  his  body  and  who  is  carried  in  a  trice,  by  the  stream 
of  his  enthusiasm,  past  the  shores  of  work-a-day  things.^ 

He  himself  said :  "When  I  open  my  eyes  I  must  sigh,  for  what  I  see 
is  contrary  to  my  religion,  and  I  must  despise  the  world  which  does  not 
know  that  music  is  a  higher  revelation  than  all  wisdom  and  philosophy, 
the  wine  which  inspires  one  to  new  generative  processes,  and  I  am  the 
Bacchus  who  presses  out  this  glorious  wine  for  mankind  and  makes  them 
spiritually  drunken.  When  they  are  again  become  sober  they  have  drawn 
from  the  sea  all  that  they  brought  with  them,  all  that  they  can  bring^ 
with  them  to  dry  land.  I  have  not  a  single  friend;  I  must  live  alone. 
But  well  I  know  that  God  is  nearer  to  me  than  to  other  artists;  I  as- 
sociate with  him  without  fear;  I  have  always  recognized  and  understood 
him  and  have  no  fear  for  my  music — it  can  meet  no  evil  fate.  Those 
who  understand  it  must  be  freed  by  it  from  all  the  miseries  which  the 
others  drag  about  with  themselves." 

All  this  Beethoven  said  to  me  the  first  time  I  saw  him ;  a  feeling  of 
reverential  awe  came  over  me  when  he  expressed  himself  to  me  with  such 
friendly  frankness,  seeing  that  I  must  have  appeared  so  utterly  insignifi- 
cant to  him,  I  was  surprised,  too,  for  I  had  been  told  that  he  was  un- 
sociable and  would  converse  with  nobody.  They  were  afraid  to  take  me 
to  him;  I  had  to  hunt  him  up  alone.  He  has  three  lodgings  in  which  he 
conceals  himself  alternately — one  in  the  country,  one  in  the  city  and  the 
third  on  the  bastion.  It  was  in  the  last  that  I  found  him  in  the  third 
storey,  walked  in  unannounced.     He  was  seated  at  the  pianoforte. 

He  accompanied  me  home  and  on  the  way  he  said  the  many  beauti- 
ful things  about  art,  speaking  so  loud  and  stopping  in  the  street  that  it 
took  courage  to  Hsten  to  him.     He  spoke  with  great  earnestness  and  much 


188  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

too  surprisingly  not  to  make  me  forget  the  street.  They  were  greatly 
surprised  to  see  him  enter  a  large  dinner  party  at  home  with  me.  After 
dinner,  without  being  asked,  he  sat  down  to  the  instrument  and  played 
long  and  marvellously;  there  was  a  simultaneous  fermentation  of  his 
pride  and  his  genius.  When  he  is  in  such  a  state  of  exaltation  his  spirit 
begets  the  incomprehensible  and  his  fingers  accomplish  the  impossible. 

In  the  letter  to  Piickler-Muskau  in  which  Mme.  von  Arnim 
dwells  more  upon  the  incidents  of  this  meeting,  she  writes  thus: 

There  was  surprise  when  I  entered  a  gathering  of  more  than  40 
people  who  sat  at  table,  hand  in  hand  with  Beethoven.  Without  ado 
he  seated  himself,  said  little  (doubtless  because  he  was  deaf).  Twice  he 
took  his  writing-tablet  out  of  his  pocket  and  made  a  few  marks  in  it. 
After  dinner  the  entire  company  went  up  to  the  tower  of  the  house  to 
look  at  the  view;  when  they  were  gone  down  again  and  he  and  I  alone,  he 
drew  forth  his  tablet,  looked  at  it,  wrote  and  elided,  then  said :  "My  song 
is  finished."  He  leaned  against  the  window-frame  and  sang  it  out  upon 
the  air.  Then  he  said:  "That  sounds,  doesn't  it.^  It  belongs  to  you  if 
you  like  it,  I  made  it  for  you,  you  inspired  it,  I  read  it  in  your  eyes  just 
as  it  was  written." 

In  the  Goethe  letter  she  continues: 

Since  then  he  comes  to  me  every  day,  or  I  go  to  him.  For  this  I 
neglect  social  meetings,  galleries,  the  theatre,  and  even  the  tower  of  St. 
Stephen's.  Beethoven  says  "Ah!  What  do  you  want  to  see  there .^  I 
will  call  for  you  towards  evening;  we  will  walk  through  the  alleys  of 
Schonbrunn."  Yesterday  I  went  with  him  to  a  glorious  garden  in  full 
bloom,  all  the  hot-beds  open — the  perfume  was  bewildering;  Beethoven 
stopped  in  the  oppressive  sunshine  and  said:  "Not  only  because  of  their 
contents,  but  also  because  of  their  rhythm,  Goethe's  poems  have  great 
power  over  me,  I  am  tuned  up  and  stimulated  to  composition  by  this 
language  which  builds  itself  into  higher  orders  as  if  through  the  work  of 
spirits  and  already  bears  in  itself  the  mystery  of  the  harmonies. 

"Then  from  the  focus  of  enthusiasm  I  must  discharge  melody  in  all 
directions;  I  pursue  it,  capture  it  again  passionately;  I  see  it  flying  away 
and  disappearing  in  the  mass  of  varied  agitations;  now  I  seize  upon  it 
again  with  renewed  passion;  I  cannot  tear  myself  from  it;  I  am  impelled 
with  hurried  modulations  to  multiply  it,  and,  at  length  I  conquer  it: 
— behold,  a  symphony !  Music,  verily,  is  the  mediator  between  intellec- 
tual and  sensuous  life.  I  should  like  to  talk  with  Goethe  about  this — 
would  he  understand  me.'".  .  .  .  "Speak  to  Goethe  about  me,"  he  said; 
"tell  him  to  hear  my  symphonies  and  he  will  say  that  I  am  right  in  saying 
that  music  is  the  one  incorporeal  entrance  into  the  higher  world  of  knowl- 
edge which  comprehends  mankind  but  which  mankind  cannot  compre- 
hend. .  .  .  We  do  not  know  what  knowledge  brings  us.  The  encased 
seed  needs  the  moist,  electrically  warm  soil  to  sprout,  to  think,  to  express 
itself.  Music  is  the  electrical  soil  in  which  the  mind  thinks,  lives, 
feels.  Philosophy  is  a  precipitate  of  the  mind's  electrical  essence;  its 
needs  which  seek  a  basis  in  a  primeval  principle  are  elevated  by  it,  and 
although  the  mind  is  not  supreme  over  what  it  generates  through  it,  it  is 
yet  happy  in  the  process.     Thus  every  real  creation  of  art  is  independent. 


Goethe's  Reply  to  Bettina  189 

more  powerful  than  the  artist  himself  and  returns  to  the  divine  through 
its  manifestation.  It  is  one  with  man  only  in  this,  that  it  bears  testi- 
mony of  the  mediation  of  the  divine  in  him.  .  .  .  Everything  electrical 
stimulates  the  mind  to  musical,  fluent,  out-streaming  generation. 

"I  am  electrical  in  my  nature.  I  must  interrupt  the  flow  of  my 
undemonstrable  wisdom  or  I  might  neglect  my  rehearsal.  Write  to 
Goethe  if  you  understand  what  I  have  said,  but  I  cannot  be  answerable 
for  anything  and  will  gladly  be  instructed  by  him."  I  promised  to 
write  you  everything  to  the  best  of  my  understanding.  .  .  .  Last 
night  I  wrote  down  all  that  he  had  said;  this  morning  I  read  it  over  to 
him.  He  remarked:  ''^Did  I  say  that?  Well,  then  I  had  a  raptus!"  He 
read  it  again  attentively  and  struck  out  the  above  and  wrote  between 
the  lines,  for  he  is  greatly  desirous  that  you  shall  understand  him.  Re- 
joice me  now  with  a  speedy  answer,  which  shall  show  Beethoven  that 
you  appreciate  him.  It  has  always  been  our  purpose  to  discuss  music; 
it  was  also  my  desire,  but  through  Beethoven  I  feel  for  the  first  time 
that  I  am  not  fit  for  the  task. 

To  this  letter  Goethe  answered : 

Your  letter,  heartily  beloved  child,  reached  me  at  a  happy  time. 
You  have  been  at  great  pains  to  picture  for  me  a  great  and  beautiful 
nature  in  its  achievements  and  its  strivings,  its  needs  and  the  super- 
abundance of  its  gifts.  It  has  given  me  great  pleasure  to  accept  this 
picture  of  a  truly  great  spirit.  Without  desiring  at  all  to  classify  it, 
it  yet  requires  a  psychological  feat  to  extract  the  sum  of  agreement; 
but  I  feel  no  desire  to  contradict  what  I  can  grasp  of  your  hurried  ex- 
plosion; on  the  contrary,  I  should  prefer  for  the  present  to  admit  an 
agreement  between  my  nature  and  that  which  is  recognizable  in  these 
manifold  utterances.  The  ordinary  human  mind  might,  perhaps,  find 
contradictions  in  it;  but  before  that  which  is  uttered  by  one  possessed 
of  such  a  daemon,  an  ordinary  layman  must  stand  in  reverence,  and  it  is 
immaterial  whether  he  speaks  from  feeling  or  knowledge,  for  here  the 
gods  are  at  work  strewing  seeds  for  future  discernment  and  we  can  only 
wish  that  they  may  proceed  undisturbedly  to  development.  But  before 
they  can  become  general,  the  clouds  which  veil  the  human  mind  must 
be  dispersed.  Give  Beethoven  my  heartiest  greetings  and  tell  him  that 
I  would  willingly  make  sacrifices  to  have  his  acquaintance,  when  an  ex- 
change of  thoughts  and  feelings  would  surely  be  beautifully  profitable; 
mayhap  you  may  be  able  to  persuade  him  to  make  a  journey  to  Karlsbad 
whither  I  go  nearly  every  year  and  would  have  the  greatest  leisure  to 
listen  to  him  and  learn  from  him.  To  think  of  teaching  him  would  be  an 
insolence  even  in  one  with  greater  insight  than  mine,  since  he  has  the 
guiding  light  of  his  genius  which  frequently  illumines  his  mind  like  a 
stroke  of  lightning  while  we  sit  in  darkness  and  scarcely  suspect  the 
direction  from  which  daylight  will  break  upon  us. 

It  would  give  me  great  joy  if  Beethoven  were  to  make  me  a  present 
of  the  two  songs  of  mine  which  he  has  composed,  but  neatly  and  plainly 
written.  I  am  very  eager  to  hear  them.  It  is  one  of  my  greatest  enjoy- 
ments, for  which  I  am  very  grateful,  to  have  the  old  moods  of  such  a  poem 
(as  Beethoven  very  correctly  says)  newly  aroused  in  me.  .  .  . 

June  6,  1810. 


190  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

(Bettina  to  Goethe) 

Dearest  friend!  I  communicated  your  beautiful  letter  to  Beethoven 
so  far  as  it  concerned  him.  He  was  full  of  joy  and  cried:  "If  there  is 
any  one  who  can  make  him  understand  music,  I  am  the  man!"  The 
idea  of  hunting  you  up  at  Karlsbad  filled  him  with  enthusiasm.  He 
struck  his  forehead  a  blow  and  said:  "Might  I  not  have  done  that  earlier.? 
— but,  in  truth,  I  did  think  of  it  but  omitted  to  do  it  because  of  timidity 
which  often  torments  me  as  if  I  were  not  a  real  man :  but  I  am  no  longer 
afraid  of  Goethe."  You  may  count,  therefore,  on  seeing  him  next 
year.  .  .  . 

I  am  enclosing  both  songs  by  Beethoven;  the  other  two  are  by  me. 
Beethoven  has  seen  them  and  said  many  pretty  things  about  them, 
such  as  that  if  I  had  devoted  myself  to  this  lovely  art  I  might  cherish 
great  hopes;  but  I  merely  graze  it  in  flight,  for  my  art  is  only  to  laugh  and 
sigh  in  a  little  pocket — more  than  that  there  is  none  for  me. 

Bettina. 

By  the  middle  of  June  she  was  in  Bohemia. 

There  are  a  few  letters  from  this  period  to  which  attention 
may  be  paid.  On  July  9,  1810,  Beethoven  wrote  to  Zmeskall 
telling  him  of  his  distracted  state  of  mind:  he  ought  to  go  away 
from  Vienna  for  the  sake  of  his  health,  but  Archduke  Rudolph 
wanted  him  to  remain  near  him;  so  he  was  one  day  in  Schon- 
brunn,  the  next  in  Vienna.  "Every  day  there  come  new  inquiries 
from  strangers,  new  acquaintances,  new  conditions  even  as  regards 
art — sometimes  I  feel  as  if  I  should  go  mad  because  of  my  un- 
deserved fame;  fortune  is  seeking  me  and  on  that  account  I  almost 
apprehend  a  new  misfortune."  On  July  17th,  he  sent  to  Thomson 
the  Scotch  songs  which  he  had  arranged,  accompanied  by  a  letter 
(in  French)  in  which  he  discusses  business  matters,  gives  some  in- 
structions touching  the  repetitions  in  the  songs,  repeats  his  offer 
to  compose  three  quintets  and  three  sonatas  and  to  send  him 
such  arrangements  for  quartet  and  quintet  as  have  been  made  of 
his  symphonies.     Soon  thereafter  he  wrote  to  Bettina  Brentano:^ 

^From  the  "Athenaeum."  There  are  a  few  variations  in  the  letter  as  printed  in  the 
Nuremburg  journal  and  in  "Ilius  Pamphilius" — "Bettine"  is  changed  to  "friend," 
"frog"  to  "fish,"  "and  on  the  bastion"  is  omitted,  "fascinated"  (gebannt)  is  altered  to 
"seized"  (gepackt).     A  few  other  differences  are  grammatical  errors. 

It  seems  proper  at  this  place  for  the  English  Editor  to  remark  that  Mr.  Thayer's 
argument  in  favor  of  the  authenticity  of  the  Bettina  letters  was  printed  in  the  Appendix 
to  Vol.  Ill  of  the  original  edition  with  a  concluding  foot-note  by  Dr.  Deiters  in  which  he 
said  that  he  had  not  been  convinced  by  his  author's  painstaking  exposition  that  the  letters 
are  genuine.  Dr.  Riemann  in  the  second  Germanedition  prints  the  letters  and  the  argument 
in  the  text,  distributing  the  latter  in  two  chapters  and  appending  a  foot-note  in  which  he 
gives  it  as  his  opinion  that  only  the  second  (that  dated  February  10,  1811,  the  autograph 
of  which  is  in  existence)  is  authentic  as  a  letter,  while  the  other  two,  though  probably 
based  on  observations  made  by  Beethoven  to  Bettina,  were  put  into  epistolary  shape  by 
her.  One  of  Bettina's  letters  to  Pilckler-Muskau,  which  tells  of  Beethoven's  rudeness  to 
Goethe  as  illustrated  in  the  anecdote  which  plays  so  important  a  role  in  the  third  letter, 
would  seem  to  bear  out  this  theory.  But  it  is  also  likely  that  Beethoven's  original  letters 
were  tricked  out  by  her  for  literary  effect,  which  would  help  to  explain  the  disappearance 


Beethoven's  Letter  to  Bettina  191 

Vienna,  August  11,  1810. 
Dearest  Bettine: 

No  lovelier  spring  than  this,  that  say  I  and  feel  it,  too,  because  I 
have  made  your  acquaintance.  You  must  have  seen  for  yourself  that  in 
society  I  am  like  a  frog  on  the  sand  which  flounders  about  and  cannot 
get  away  until  some  benevolent  Galatea  puts  him  into  the  mighty  sea 
again.  I  was  right  high  and  dry,  dearest  Bettine,  I  was  surprised  by  you 
at  a  moment  when  ill-humor  had  complete  control  of  me;  but  of  a  truth 
it  vanished  at  sight  of  you,  I  knew  at  once  that  you  belonged  to  another 
world  than  this  absurd  one  to  which  with  the  best  of  wills  one  cannot 
open  his  ears.  I  am  a  miserable  man  and  am  complaining  about  the 
others!  ! — Surely  you  will  pardon  this  with  your  good  heart  which  looks 
out  of  your  eyes  and  your  sense  which  lies  in  your  ears — at  least  your 
ears  know  how  to  flatter  when  they  give  heed.  My  ears,  unfortunately, 
are  a  barrier  through  which  I  cannot  easily  have  friendly  intercourse 
with  mankind — otherwise! — Perhaps! — I  should  have  had  more  con- 
fidence in  you.  As  it  is  I  could  only  understand  the  big,  wise  look  of 
your  eyes,  which  did  for  me  what  I  shall  never  forget.  Dear  Bettine, 
dearest  girl!  Art! — who  understands  it,  with  whom  can  one  converse 
about  this  great  goddess! — How  dear  to  me  are  the  few  days  in  which 
we  chatted,  or  rather  corresponded  with  each  other,  I  have  preserved  all 
the  little  bits  of  paper  on  which  your  bright,  dear,  dearest  answers  are 
written.  And  so  I  owe  it  to  my  bad  ears  that  the  best  portion  of  these 
fleeting  conversations  is  written  down.  Since  you  have  been  gone  I 
have  had  vexatious  hours,  hours  of  shadow,  in  which  nothing  can  be  done; 
I  walked  about  in  the  Schonbrunn  Alley  for  fully  three  hours  after  you 
were  gone,  and  on  the  bastion;  but  no  angel  who  might  fascinate  me  as 
you  do.  Angel.  Pardon,  dearest  Bettine,  this  departure  from  the  key. 
I  must  have  such  intervals  in  which  to  unburden  my  heart.  You  have 
written  to  Goethe,  haven't  you.?* — would  that  I  might  put  my  head  in 
a  bag  so  that  I  could  see  and  hear  nothing  of  what  is  going  on  in  the  world. 
Since  you,  dearest  angel,  cannot  meet  me.  But  I  shall  get  a  letter  from 
you,  shall  I  not.'' — Hope  sustains  me,  it  sustains  half  of  the  world,  and  I 
have  had  her  as  neighbor  all  my  life,  if  I  had  not  what  would  have  become 
of  me.' — I  am  sending  you  herewith,  written  with  my  own  hand,  "Kennst 
du  das  Land,"  as  a  souvenir  of  the  hour  in  which  I  learned  to  know  you, 
I  am  sending  also  the  other  which  I  have  composed  since  I  parted  with 
you  dear,  dearest  heart! 

Herz,  mein  Herz,  was  soil  das  geben, 

Was  bedranget  dich  so  sehr.?* 
Welch  ein  fremdes,  neues  Leben! 

Ich  erkenne  dich  nicht  mehr. 

Yes,  dearest  Bettine,  answer  this,  write  me  what  it  is  shall  happen 

to  me  since  my  heart  has  become  such  a  rebel.     Write  to  your  most 

faithful  friend — 

Beethoven. 

of  the  autographs  of  the  letters  of  IBIO  and  1812.  The  second  letter,  which  was  printed 
in  facsimile  in  the  Marx-Behncke  critical  biography  of  Beethoven  (4th  ed.,  1884),  was 
in  possession  of  Pastor  Nathusius  in  Quedlinburg  in  1902. 


192  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

The  cessation  in  Beethoven's  productiveness  in  this  period  is 
partly  explained  by  the  vast  amount  of  labor  entailed  by  the  prep- 
aration of  manuscripts  for  publication,  the  correction  of  proofs, 
etc.  Of  this  there  is  evidence  in  a  number  of  letters  to  Breitkopf 
and  Hartel.  On  July  2  he  wrote  demanding  an  honorarium  of 
250  florins  for  works  that  he  had  specified,  and  sending  the  first 
installment,  two  sonatas  for  pianoforte,  five  variations  for  piano- 
forte and  six  ariettas  (probably  Op.  75).  The  second  install- 
ment, he  said,  should  be  a  Concerto  in  E-flat,  the  Choral  Fan- 
tasia and  three  Ariettas.  The  third,  the  Characteristic  Sonata 
"Farewell,  Absence  and  Return,"  five  Italian  ariettas  and  the 
score  of  "Egmont."  On  August  21,  1810,  he  wrote  to  the  firm  at 
great  length.  He  sends  a  draft  of  a  plan  for  a  complete  edition  of 
his  works,  in  which  Breitkopf  and  Hartel  were  to  figure  as  the 
principal  publishers.  He  asks  what  they  are  willing  to  pay  for 
"a  concerto,  quartet,  etc.,  and  then  you  will  be  able  to  see  that 
250  ducats  is  a  small  honorarium.".  .  .  "I  do  not  aim  at  being  a 
musical  usurer,  as  you  think,  who  composes  only  in  order  to  get 
rich,  by  no  means,  but  I  love  a  life  of  independence  and  cannot 
achieve  this  without  a  little  fortune,  and  then  the  honorarium  must, 
like  everything  else  that  he  undertakes,  bring  some  honor  to  the 
artist."  He  gives  directions  as  to  the  dedications.  Of  the 
"Egmont"  he  says:  "As  soon  as  you  have  received  the  score  you 
will  best  know  what  use  to  make  of  it  and  how  to  direct  the  atten- 
tion of  the  public  to  it — I  WTote  it  purely  out  of  love  for  the  poet, 
and  to  show  this  I  accepted  nothing  from  the  theatre  directors 
who  accepted  it,  and  as  a  reward,  as  ever  and  always,  have  treated 
my  work  with  great  indifference.  There  is  nothing  smaller  than 
our  great  folk,  but  I  make  an  exception  in  favor  of  the  archdukes 
— give  me  your  opinion  as  to  a  complete  edition  of  my  works,  one 
of  the  chief  obstacles  seems  to  be  in  the  case  of  new  works  which 
I  shall  continue  to  bring  into  the  world  I  shall  have  to  suffer  in  the 
matter  of  publication.".  .  . 

Without  date,  but  endorsed  by  the  firm  as  of  August  21st,  is 
the  following  little  note  containing  an  important  correction  in  the 
Scherzo  of  the  Fifth  Symphony : 

...  I  have  found  another  error  in  the  Symphony  in  C  minor,  namely,  in 
the  third  movement  in  ^4  time  where,  after  the  t^  k|  tl  the  minor  returns 
again,  it  reads  (I  just  take  the  bass  part)  thus: 


r  '•  \^  -^^'-l^Jr  \^  i  ^  \^  *^ 


The  two  measures  marked  by  a  X  are  redundant  and  must  be  stricken 
out,  of  course  also  in  all  the  parts  that  are  pausing. 


Sorrows  Borne  in  Silence  193 

If  the  correspondence  in  this  chapter  seems  in  tone  and  char- 
acter at  variance  with  the  assumption  that,  for  some  reason  or 
other,  this  was  a  disastrous  year  to  Beethoven,  it  must  not  be 
forgotten  that  there  are  troubles  and  sorrows  which  must  be 
borne  in  silence — when  to  complain  and  lament  is  apter  to  excite 
ridicule  than  compassion.  Though  the  burden  be  almost  in- 
supportable, the  sufferer  must  perform  his  duties  and  pursue  the 
business  of  life  with  a  serene  countenance,  and  permit  no  outward 
sign  to  reveal  the  secret  pain.  "The  setting  of  a  great  hope  is  like 
the  setting  of  the  sun,"  says  Longfellow.  "The  brightness  of  our 
life  is  gone.  Shadows  of  evening  fall  around  us  and  the  world 
seems  but  a  dim  reflection — itself  a  broader  shadow.  We  look 
forward  into  the  coming  lonely  night.  The  soul  withdraws  into 
itself."  When  "surprised"  by  Bettina,  Beethoven's  great  hope 
had  set  and  "ill  humor  had  complete  control"  of  him.  His 
"marriage  project  had  fallen  through."  Whoever  the  lady  was, 
the  blow  had  now  fallen  and  must  be  borne  in  silence.  Its  dis- 
astrous effect  upon  Beethoven's  professional  energies  is  therefore 
for  us  the  only  measure  of  its  severity.  True,  he  writes  to  Zmes- 
kall  and  talks  of  his  art  as  if  great  things  were  in  prospect;  but 
he  had  no  heart  for  such  labor,  and  not  until  October  did  he  take  up 
and  finish  the  Quartetto  Serioso  for  his  friend.  The  long  bright 
summer  days,  that  in  other  years  had  awakened  his  powers  to 
new  and  joyous  activity  and  added  annually  one  at  least  to  the 
list  of  his  grandest  works,  came  and  departed,  leaving  no  memorial 
but  a  few  songs  and  minor  instrumental  works — the  latter  ap- 
parently composed  to  order.  He  took  no  country  lodging  this 
summer — alternating  between  Baden  and  Vienna,  and  indulging 
in  lonely  rambles  among  the  hills  and  forests.  We  think  it  must 
have  been  in  this  period  of  song  composition  and  oriental  studies 
that,  on  such  an  excursion,  he  had  with  him  the  undated  paper 
containing  a  selection  from  the  songs  in  Herder's  "Morgen- 
landische  Blumenlese"  and  wrote  upon  it  in  pencil: 

My  decree  [meaning  the  annuity  contract]  says  only  "to  remain  in 
the  country" — perhaps  this  would  be  complied  with  by  any  spot.  My 
unhappy  ears  do  not  torment  me  here.  It  seems  as  if  in  the  country 
every  tree  said  to  me  "Holy!  Holy!  "  Who  can  give  complete  expression 
to  the  ecstasy  of  the  woods.'^  If  everything  else  fails  the  country  remains 
even  in  winter — such  as  Gaden,  Untercr  Briihl,  etc. — easy  to  hire  a 
lodging  from  a  peasant,  certainly  cheap  at  this  time. 

Another  half-sheet  in  the  Library  of  the  Musikfreunde  in 
Vienna,  mostly  covered  with  rude  musical  sketches,  is  a  suitable 


194  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

pendant  to  the  above,  as  it  contains  these  words:  "Without  the 
society  of  some  loved  person  it  would  not  be  possible  to  live  even 
in  the  country." 

It  is  well  known  that  Beethoven's  duties  to  Archduke 
Rudolph  soon  became  irksome  and  at  last  almost  insupportable. 
It  was,  however,  for  his  good  that  he  was  compelled  to  perform 
them  and  be  master  of  himself  to  that  extent;  it  was  also  for- 
tunate that  Elizabeth  Brentano  came  just  at  the  crisis  with  beauty, 
grace  and  genius  to  turn  his  thoughts  into  other  channels.  Nor 
was  it  without  benefit  to  him  that  Thomson's  melodies,  which 
required  no  severe  study,  gave  some  desultory  but  profitable  em- 
ployment to  his  mind.  Just  at  the  close  of  the  year  it  was  ru- 
mored that  he  contemplated  a  journey  into  Italy  "next  spring,  in 
order  to  seek  restoration  of  his  health,  which  had  suffered  greatly 
for  several  years,  under  southern  skies."  There  was  some  foun- 
dation for  this,  for  some  years  later  Beethoven  himself  states  in 
one  of  his  letters:  'T  declined  a  call  to  Naples." 

The  compositions  of  the  year  1810  are: 

1.  The  incidental  music  to  Goethe's  "Egmont."  It  was  composed 
between  October,  1809  and  May,  1810,  and  the  first  performance  took 
place  on  the  24th  day  of  the  latter  month.  There  are  sketches  for  the 
song  "Freudvoll  und  Leidvoll"  in  a  sketchbook  used  in  1809;  but 
Nottebohra  does  not  recognize  them  as  having  been  conceived  for  use 
in  the  tragedy,  since  there  are  indications  that  the  song  was  to  have 
pianoforte  accompaniment  and  be  sung  in  part  by  two  voices.  In  a 
sketchbook  begun  early  in  January,  1810  (Nottebohm,  "Zweite  Beetho- 
veniana,"  p.  276),  on  the  first  twenty-nine  pages  there  are  sketches  for 
seven  numbers  in  the  following  order,  viz:  7,  1,  8,  9,  2,  3,  6.  Sketches 
for  the  overture  are  not  to  be  found  in  the  book,  but  in  other  places  in 
connection  with  sketches  for  the  Pianoforte  Trio  in  B-flat,  Op.  97,  which 
was  also  in  hand  in  1809.  Beethoven's  admiration  for  Goethe  (stimu- 
lated, it  is  fair  to  assume,  by  his  intercourse  with  Elizabeth  Brentano) 
is  shown  by  the  fact  that,  besides  the  "Egmont"  lyrics,  others  of  Goethe's 
poems  were  sketched  or  completed  in  the  year  which  saw  the  production  of 
the  tragedy.  "Egmont"  was  first  performed  on  May  24,  1810.  Though 
Beethoven  contemplated  dedicating  it  to  Archduke  Rudolph,  it  eventually 
appeared  without  a  dedication.  Beethoven  offered  the  music  to  Breit- 
kopf  and  Hiirtel  in  a  letter  dated  May  6  (1810)  for  1400  florins  in  silver. 

2.  Two  songs:  "Kennst  du  das  Land"  and  "Herz,  mein  Herz." 

3.  Three  songs:  "Wonne  der  Wehmuth,"  "Sehnsucht,"  and  "Mit 
einem  gemalten  Bande."  The  manuscript  bears  the  following  inscrip- 
tion in  Beethoven's  hand:  "3  Gesange — 1810 — Poesie  von  Goethe  in 
Musik  gesetzt  von  Ludwig  van  Beethoven." 

4.  Forty-three  Irish  melodies,  with  ritornellos  and  accompaniments 
for  pianoforte,  violin  and  violoncello  (completed). 

5.  Ecossaise  for  military  band. 

6.  Polonaise  for  military  band. 


Works  Published  in  1810  195 

7.  March  in  F  major  for  military  band.  "Composed  in  1810,  in 
Baden,  for  Archduke  Anton — 3rd  Summer-month." 

8.  String  Quartet,  F  minor.  Op.  95.  The  autograph  manuscript 
preserved  in  the  Royal  Imperial  Court  Library  at  Vienna  bears  the  in- 
scription: ''Quartetto  serioso — 1810 — in  the  month  of  October.  Dedi- 
cated to  Herr  von  Zmeskall  and  written  in  the  month  of  October  by  his 
friend  L.  v.  Beethoven." 

The  publications  of  the  year  were: 

1.  "Das  Lied  aus  der  Feme."  Published  by  Breitkopf  and 
Hartel,  in  February. 

2.  "Andenken,"  song  by  Matthison.  Breitkopf  and  Hartel,  in 
March. 

3.  The  opera  "Leonore,"  in  two  acts,  etc.,  without  overture  and 
finales.     Breitkopf  and  Hartel,  in  March. 

4.  Sesietto  pour  2  Clarinettes,  2  Cors  et  2  Bassons,  par  L.  v.  Beet- 
hoven.    In  parts,  by  Breitkopf  and  Hartel,  in  April. 

5.  Ouverture  a  grand  Orchestre  de  VOpera  Leonore,  etc.  ("Leonore, 
No.  3"),  by  Breitkopf  and  Hartel,  in  July. 

6.  Five  Songs:  Lied  aus  der  Feme  ("Als  mir  noch  die  Thrane" — 
thirteen  pages  composed  stanza  by  stanza,  newly  published);  Der 
Liebende  ("Welch'  ein  wunderbares  Leben");  Der  JiingUng  in  der 
Fremde  ("Der  Friihling  entbluhet");  An  den  fernen  Geliebten  ("Einst 
wohnten  siisse  Ruh") ;  Der  Zufriedene  ("Zwar  schuf  das  Gllickhienieden"), 
published  in  "Achtzehn  deutsche  Gedichte  mit  Begleitung  des  Piano- 
forte von  verschiedenen  Meistern  ....  Erzherzog  Rudolph  ....  gewid- 
met  von  C.  L.  Reissig,"  by  Artaria  and  Co.,  Vienna,  in  July. 

7.  "Die  Sehnsucht  von  Goethe,  mit  vier  Melodien  nebst  Clavier- 

begleitung "  No.  38,  Vienna  and  Pesth,  Kunst- und  Industrie-Comptoir, 

in  September.     A  later  edition  bears  the  imprint  of  S.  A.  Steiner  and  Co. 

8.  Variations  pour  le  Pianoforte  composees  et  dediees  a  son  Ami 
Oliva  par  L.  v.  Beethoven.     (Euv.  76.     Breitkopf  and  Hartel,  in  October. 

9.  Quatuor  pour  deux  Violons,  etc.,  compose  et  dedie  a  son  Altesse 
le  Prince  regnant  de  Lobkowitz,  Due  de  Raudnitz,  par,  etc.  Op.  74.  Breit- 
kopf and  Hartel,  in  November. 

10.  Six  Songs  with  accompaniment  for  the  Pianoforte.  Op.  75. 
Dedicated  to  Princess  Kinsky.  Breitkopf  and  Hartel,  in  November. 
Mignon  ("Kennst  du  das  Land");  Neue  Liebe,  neues  Leben  ("Herz, 
mein  Herz");  Aus  Goethe's  Faust  ("Es  war  einmal  ein  Konig");  Gretel's 
Warnung  ("Mit  Liebesblick  und  Spiel  und  Sang");  An  den  fernen  Gelieb- 
ten ("Einst  wohnten  siisse  Ruh");  Der  Zufriedene  ("Zwar  schuf  das 
Gliick  hienieden").  The  last  two  had  been  published  in  July  in  Reissig's 
Collection  (see  No.  6). 

11.  Fantaisie  pour  le  Pianoforte  composee  et  dediee  a  son  Ami 
Monsieur  le  Conte  Frangois  de  Brunswick  par  L.  v.  Beethoven.  Op.  77. 
Breitkopf  and  Hartel,  in  November. 

12.  Sonate  pour  le  Pianoforte  composee  et  dediee  a  Madame  la  Comtesse 
Therese  de  Brunswick,  etc.     Op.  78.     Breitkopf  and  Hartel,  in  November. 

13.  Sonatine   pour   le   Pianoforte,   etc.      Op.    79.     Breitkopf   and 

Hartel,  in  November. 

14.  Sextuor  pour  2  Violons,  Alto,  Violoncelb  et  2  Cors  obliges. 
Op.  81  (81b),  by  Simrock,  Bonn,  in  the  spring. 


Chapter  XI 


Bettina  Brentano  Again — Letters  Between  Beethoven  and 
Goethe — The  B-flat  Trio — The  Theatre  in  Pesth — Opera 
Projects — Therese  Malfatti — Sojourn  in  Tephtz. 

BEETHOVEN'S   intercourse   with   the   Brentanos   kept   his 
interest  in  Bettina  ahve  and  to  this  we  owe  a  characteristic 
and  welcome  letter  which,  like  the  first,  is  here  taken  from 
the  Nuremberg  "Athenaeum": 

Vienna,  February  10,  1811. 
Beloved,  dear  Bettine ! 

I  have  already  received  two  letters  from  you  and  observe  from  your 
letters  to  your  brother  ["to  Tonie"  in  the  "Ilius  Pamphilius,"  Tonie  being 
her  sister-in-law],  that  you  still  think  of  me  and  much  too  favorably. 
I  carried  your  first  letter  around  with  me  all  summer  and  it  often  made 
me  happy;  even  if  I  do  not  write  to  you  often  and  you  never  see  me  I  yet 
write  you  a  thousand  times  a  thousand  letters  in  my  thoughts.  I  could 
have  imagined  how  you  feel  amidst  the  cosmopolitan  rabble  in  Berlin 
even  if  you  had  not  written  about  it  to  me;  much  chatter  without  deeds 
about  art!  !  !  !  !  The  best  description  of  it  is  in  Schiller's  poem  "Die 
Fliisse,"  where  the  Spree  speaks. 

You  are  to  be  married,  dear  Bettine,  or  have  already  been,  and  I 
could  not  see  you  once  more  before  then;  may  all  happiness  with  which 
marriage  blesses  the  married,  fiow  upon  you.  What  shall  I  tell  you  about 
myself?  "Pity  my  fate,"  I  cry  with  Johanna;  if  I  can  save  a  few 
years  for  myself  for  that  and  all  other  weal  and  woe  I  shall  thank 
Him  the  all-comprehending  and  Exalted.  If  you  write  to  Goethe,  hunt 
out  all  the  words  to  express  my  deepest  reverence  and  admiration  for 
him.  I  am  about  to  write  to  him  myself  concerning  Egmont  for  which  I 
have  composed  music  and,  indeed,  purely  out  of  love  for  his  poems  which 
make  me  happy,  but  who  can  suj93ciently  thank  a  great  poet,  the  most 
precious  jewel  of  a  nation.'^  And  now  no  more,  dear  good  Bettine.  It 
was  4  o'clock  before  I  got  home  this  morning  from  a  bacchanalian  feast  at 
which  I  had  to  laugh  so  much  that  I  shall  have  to  weep  correspondingly 
to-day;  boisterous  joy  often  forces  me  in  upon  myself  powerfully.  As  to 
Clemens,!  many  thanks  for  his  kind  offer.  As  to  the  cantata,  the  subject 
is  not  sufficiently  important  for  us  here,  it  is  a  different  matter  in  Berlin, 

'Clemens  Brentano,  brother  of  Bettina  and  Franz,  who  had  written  the  text  of  a 
cantata  on  the  death  of  Queen  Louise. 

[196] 


Beethoven  Writes  to  Goethe  197 

and  as  concerns  affection,  the  sister  has  monopolized  it  so  much  that 
little  will  be  left  for  the  brother,  does  that  suffice  him? 

Now,  farewell  dear,  dear  Bettine,  I  kiss  you  upon  your  forehead  and 
thus  impress  upon  you  as  with  a  seal  all  my  thoughts  of  you.  Write 
soon,  soon,  often  to  your  friend 

Beethoven. 
Beethoven  lives  on  the  Molker 
Bastei  in  the  Pascolati  House. 

This  letter  invites  attention  to  several  erroneous  comments 
which  have  been  made  on  the  Bettina  letters  and  the  history  of  the 
"Egmont"  music.  Czerny's  statement  that  Beethoven  did  not 
compose  the  music  to  the  tragedy  out  of  love  for  Goethe's  poems 
but  would  have  preferred  a  commission  for  Schiller's  "Tell"  is 
contradicted  by  Beethoven  himself  in  a  letter  to  Breitkopf  and 
Hartel  which  was  written  six  weeks  before  the  letter  to  Bettina. 
In  his  book  "Die  Briefe  Beethovens  an  Bettina  von  Arnini" 
(1882),  Dr.  Deiters  expressed  a  doubt  that  Beethoven  would  have 
written  in  February,  1811,  that  he  was  "about  to  write  to  Goethe" 
about  his  work  which  was  finished  early  in  1810;  but  this  objection 
to  the  authenticity  of  the  letter  is  removed  by  the  fact  that  it  was 
two  months  more  before  the  purpose  thus  expressed  was  carried 
out.  In  the  Goethe  archives  in  Weimar  there  is  a  letter  from 
Beethoven  which  was  first  given  to  the  world  in  1890,  by  Dr. 
Theodor  Frimmel  in  his  "Neue  Beethoveniana"  (p.  345).  It 
runs  as  follows: 

Vienna,  April  12,  1811. 

Only  a  moment's  time  offers  me  the  urgent  opportunity  inasmuch 
as  a  friend  of  mine  who  is  a  great  admirer  of  yours  (like  myself)  is  hastily 
departing  from  here,  to  thank  you  for  the  long  time  that  I  have  known  you 
(for  I  know  you  since  my  childhood) — that  is  so  little  for  so  much — 
Bettine  Brentano  has  assured  me  that  you  will  graciously,  even  kindly 
receive  me,  but  how  can  I  think  of  such  a  reception  when  I  can  only 
approach  you  with  the  greatest  reverence  and  with  an  unutterably  deep 
feeling  for  your  glorious  creations — ^you  will  soon  receive  the  music  to 
Egmont  from  Leipsic  through  Breitkopf  and  Hartel,  this  glorious  Egmont 
which  I  read  so  ardently,  thought  over  and  experienced  again  and  gave 
out  in  music — I  would  greatly  like  to  have  your  judgment  on  it  and 
your  blame,  too  ....  will  be  beneficial  to  me  and  my  art,  and  be  accepted 
as  gladly  as  the  highest  praise. 

Your  Excellency's 

Great  admirer 

Ludwig  van  Beethoven.  ^ 

^Goethe's  answer  to  this  letter  is  printed  in  the  Weimar  Collection  of  the  poet's 
correspondence.  Vol.  XXII,  No.  615.     It  is  worth  producing  here: 

Carlsbad,  June  25,  1811. 
Your  friendly  letter,  very  highly  esteemed  Sir,  was  received  through  Herr  von 
Oliva  much  to  my  pleasure.     For  the  kindly  feelings  which  it  expresses  towards  me  I  am 


198  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

The  music  to  "Egmont"  was  not  published  till  January,  1812, 
and  Goethe  had  to  wait  a  long  time  before  he  was  able  to  form  an 
opinion  concerning  it.  This  was  not  Beethoven's  fault,  however; 
on  October  9,  1811,  we  find  him  writing  to  Breitkopf  and  Hartel: 

Do  send  the  whole  whole  [sic]  score  copied  at  my  expense  for  aught 
I  care  (the  score,  that  is)  to  Goethe,  how  can  a  German  publisher  be  so 
discourteous,  so  rude  to  the  first  of  German  poets?  Therefore,  quick 
with  the  score  to  Weimar. 

This  injunction  was  not  obeyed,  and  on  January  28,  1812, 
Beethoven  makes  another  urgent  request: 

I  therefore  again  beg  of  you  humbly  to  take  care  of  these  letters — 
and  with  the  letter  to  Goethe i  to  send  the  Egmont  (score),  but  not  in  the 
customary  way  with  here  and  there  a  piece  wanting,  etc.,  but  properly, 
this  cannot  be  postponed  longer,  I  have  pledged  my  word  and  am  the 
more  particular  to  have  the  pledge  redeemed  when  I  can  compel  some- 
body else,  like  you,  to  do  it — ha,  ha,  ha !  You  deserve  that  I  employ  such 
language  towards  you,  towards  such  a  sinner  who  if  I  had  my  way  would 
walk  in  a  hairy  shirt  of  penance  for  all  the  flagitiousness  practised  on  my 
works. 

Beethoven  had  had  the  intention  of  sending  the  score  of  the 
"Egmont"  music  to  Goethe  from  the  moment  he  began  on  it,  as 
appears  from  a  memorandum  on  the  autograph  manuscript  of  the 
Quartet  in  E-flat,  Op.  74,  written  in  1809:  "Score  of  Egmont  to 
Goethe  at  once." 

On  the  28th  of  February,  Beethoven  sent  his  friend  Mahler 
an  invitation  to  a  concert.  Mahler  accepted  the  invitation  and 
received  a  ticket  "extra-ordinaire,"  signed  "B^  de  Neuwirth," 
admitting  him  free  to  three  midday  concerts  on  Thursdays, 
February  28,  March  14  and  28.     Beethoven's  elasticity  of  tem- 

heartily  grateful  and  I  can  assure  you  that  I  honestly  reciprocate  them,  for  I  have  never 
heard  any  of  your  works  performed  by  expert  artists  or  amateurs  without  wishing  that 
I  might  sometime  have  an  opportunity  to  admire  you  at  the  pianoforte  and  find  delight 
in  your  extraordinary  talents.  Good  Bettina  Brentano  surely  deserves  the  friendly 
sympathy  which  you  have  extended  to  her.  She  speaks  rapturously  and  most  affection- 
ately of  you  and  counts  the  hours  spent  with  you  among  the  happiest  of  her  life. 

I  shall  probably  find  the  music  which  you  have  designed  for  Egmont  when  I  return 
home  and  am  thankful  in  advance — for  I  have  heard  it  spoken  of  with  praise  by  several, 
and  purpose  to  produce  it  in  connection  with  the  play  mentioned  on  our  stage  this  winter, 
when  I  hope  thereby  to  give  myself  as  well  as  your  numerous  admirers  in  our  neighbor- 
hood a  great  treat.  But  I  hope  most  of  all  correctly  to  have  understood  Herr  von  Oliva, 
who  has  made  us  hope  that  in  a  journey  which  you  are  contemplating  you  will  visit 
Weimar.  I  hope  it  will  be  at  a  time  when  the  court  as  well  as  the  entire  musical  public 
will  be  gathered  together.  I  am  sure  that  you  would  find  worthy  acceptance  of  your 
services  and  aims.  But  in  this  nobody  can  be  more  interested  than  I,  who,  with  the 
wish  that  all  may  go  well  with  you,  commend  myself  to  your  kind  thought  and  thank 
you  most  sincerely  for  all  the  goodness  which  you  have  created  in  us. 

'This  second  letter  does  not  seem  to  have  been  preserved. 


The  Pl\noforte  Trio  in  B-fk-vt  199 

perament  therefore  was  doing  him  good  service  in  enabling  him  to 
recover  from  the  crushing  blow  of  the  preceding  year;  he  was  now 
able  not  only  to  find  diversion  and  amusement  in  society,  the 
theatre  and  the  concertroom,  but  the  spirit  of  composition  was 
again  awakened.  In  three  weeks — March  3rd  to  the  26th — 
he  produced  the  glorious  B-flat  Trio,  Op.  97,  which  had  been 
sketched  in  1810. 

There  were  now,  or  soon  to  be,  in  the  hands  of  Breitkopf 
and  Hartel's  engravers  the  Pianoforte  Concerto,  Op.  73,  the 
Fantasia,  Op.  80,  the  Sonate  "Les  Adieux,"  Op.  81a,  the  Ariettes 
and  Songs,  Op.  82  and  83,  and  the  "Christus  am  Olberg." 
The  revision  of  these  works  for  the  press,  with  the  correction  of  the 
proofs  and  his  duties  to  the  Archduke,  are  all  the  professional 
labors  of  Beethoven  in  these  months  of  which  we  find  any  trace. 
Hence,  that  high  appreciation  of  his  greatness,  which  induced  his 
admirers  and  friends  even  then  to  attach  such  value  to  the  most 
trivial  written  communications  from  him  as  to  secure  their 
preservation,  now  does  us  excellent  service;  for — the  dates  of  the 
Trio  excepted — his  correspondence  furnishes  the  only  materials 
for  the  history  of  the  first  half  of  this  year.     To  this  we  turn. 

There  is  a  note,  which  may  be  dated  about  the  end  of  March, 
apologizing  to  the  Archduke  for  his  absence,  on  the  ground  of 
having  been  for  two  weeks  again  with  his  "tormenting  headache.'* 
"During  the  festivities  for  the  Princess  of  Baden  (March  5-12), 
and  because  of  the  sore  finger  of  Your  Imp.  Highness,"  he  adds, 
"I  began  to  work  somewhat  industriously,  of  which,  among  other 
things,  a  new  Trio  for  the  piano  is  a  fruit.'*  Soon  after  he  sends 
the  new  Trio  to  the  Archduke  to  have  it  copied,  "but  only  in  your 
palace,  as  otherwise  one  is  never  safe  from  theft."  He  proceeds 
thus: 

I  am  improving  and  in  a  few  days  I  shall  again  have  the  honor  to 
wait  upon  you  for  the  purpose  of  making  up  for  lost  time.  I  am  always 
anxiously  concerned  when  I  cannot  be  as  zealously  and  as  often  as  I 
should  wish  with  Your  Imperial  Highness.  It  is  surely  true  when  I  say 
that  it  causes  me  much  suffering,  but  I  am  not  likely  to  have  so  bad 
an  attack  again  soon.  Keep  me  graciously  in  your  memory.  Times 
will  come  when  I  shall  show  you  two  and  threefold  that  I  am  worthy 
of  it. 

These  professions  may  well  excite  a  smile;  for  "it  is  surely 
true"  when  we  say,  that  his  duties  to  the  Archduke  had  already 
become  extremely  irksome;  and  that  the  necessity  of  sacrificing 
in  some  small  degree  to  them  his  previous  independence  grew 
daily  more  annoying  and  vexatious;  so  much  so  that,  in  fact,  he 


200  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

availed  himself  of  any  and  every  excuse  to  avoid  them.  The 
Archduke  made  a  point  of  adding  a  complete  collection  of  Beet- 
hoven's music  to  his  lilDrary;  and  the  master  lent  his  aid  in  this 
both  by  presenting  all  his  new  productions  in  manuscript  and  in 
giving  titles  of  older  printed  works — gaining  thereby  a  secure 
depository  for  his  compositions,  where  they  were  ever  at  his 
service.  Thus  (May  18)  he  sends  for  the  Sonata  "Das  Lebewohl, 
etc.,"  "as  I  haven't  it  myself  and  must  send  the  corrections"; 
some  time  after  for  the  Scottish  songs,  "as  two  numbers,  one  in 
my  handwriting,  have  been  lost  and  they  must  be  copied  again 
so  that  they  may  be  sent  away."^ 

Here  is  the  place  for  a  letter  to  Breitkopf  and  Hartel: 

Vienna,  May  6th. 
Errors — errors — you  yourselves  are  one  large  error — here  I  must 
send  my  copyist,  there  I  must  go  myself  if  I  wish  that  my  works  shall  not 
appear — as  a  mere  error — it  appears  as  if  the  musical  tribunal  at  L.  was 
unable  to  produce  a  single  decent  proof-reader,  besides  which  you  send 
out  the  works  before  you  receive  the  corrections — at  least  in  the  case  of 
larger  works  with  various  parts  you  might  count  the  measures — but  the 
Fantasia  shows  how  this  is  done — look  in  the  overture  to  Egmont,  where 
a  whole  measure  is  missing. 

^At  this  point  in  the  biography,  Thayer,  believing  that  the  broken  marriage 
engagement  which  had  had  so  powerful  an  effect  on  Beethoven's  spirits  and  intellectual 
energies  in  1810  had  been  one  entered  into  with  Countess  Therese  Brunswick,  introduces 
the  letters  to  Gleichenstein  and  makes  the  following  comments,  which  the  English 
Editor  prefers  to  introduce  in  a  foot-note  rather  than  to  put  them  in  the  body  of  the  text, 
as  is  done  in  the  second  German  edition,  and  give  them  a  false  interpretation:  ''The  al- 
lusion to  Gleichenstein's  marriage  with  the  younger  of  the  sisters  Malfatti,  which  took 
place  near  the  end  of  May,  sufficiently  indicates  the  date  of  these  notes;  and  the  state- 
ment made  in  a  former  chapter — that  Beethov'en  once  offered  his  hand  in  marriage  to 
the  elder,  Therese — accounts  satisfactorily  for  the  strong  excitement  under  which  they 
were  written;  for,  that  this  offer  was  not  made  before  this  time  (1811)  has  been — nor 
after,  soon  will  be — -made  clear. 

"There  is  nothing  inconsistent  with  ordinary  experience  and  observation — certainly 
not  with  Beethoven's  character  as  a  lover — in  placing  this  occurrence  here,  a  year  after 
the  failure  of  the  marriage  project.  His  weakness  was  not  in  seeking  a  wife,  for  this  was 
wise  and  prudent,  but  in  the  selection  of  the  person;  in  imagining  that  the  young  girl's 
admiration  for  the  artist — her  respect  and  regard  for  the  friend  of  her  parents  and  of 
Gleichenstein — had  with  increasing  years  (she  was  now  nineteen)  grown  into  a  warmer 
feeling;  and  in  misconceiving  the  attentions,  civilities  and  courtesies  extended  to  him 
by  all  the  members  of  the  family,  as  encouragement  to  a  suit,  the  possibility  of  which 
had,  probably,  never  entered  the  mind  of  any  one  of  them.  .\s  Gleichenstein  could  not 
have  been  ignorant  of  his  friend's  recent  love-troubles,  one  may  well  conceive  the  sur- 
prise, dismay  and  perplexity,  which  this  sudden  whim  must  have  caused  him.  It 
placed  him  in  a  dilemma  of  singular  difficulty.  How  he  escaped  from  it,  there  are  no  means 
of  knowing;  the  affair  was,  however,  so  managed,  that  the  rejection  of  Beethoven's  pro- 
posal caused  no  interruption — or  at  most  a  temporary  one — in  the  friendly  relations  of  all 
the  parties  immediately  concerned.  .\t  this  distance  of  time  and  in  the  feeble  light 
afforded  us,  the  whole  matter  has  all  the  appearance  of  a  mere  whimsical  episode  in  the 
composer's  life  causing  hira  some  fleeting  disquiet  and  mortification;  but  there  is  no 
reason  to  infer  that  his  disappointment  was  either  very  severe  or  very  lasting.  If, 
however,  this  be  a  mistaken  view,  it  was  all  the  more  fortunate  that  a  previous  engage- 
ment now  forced  him  to  turn  his  thoughts  again  to  composition  and  gave  him  no  leisure 
to  play  the  love-lorn  Corydon." 


Music  for  *'The  Ruins  of  Athens"  201 

— Here  the  list  of  errors  (  ).  .  ,  .  Make  as  many  errors  as  you 
please,  permit  as  many  errors  as  you  please — you  are  still  highly  es- 
teemed by  me,  it  is  the  custom  of  men  that  we  esteem  them  because  they 
have  not  made  still  greater  errors. 

About  this  time  Gottfried  Chr.  Hiirtel's  wife  died,  and  on  May 
20th  Beethoven  wrote  to  him  a  letter  of  condolence  in  which  he 
said:  "It  appears  to  me  that  in  view  of  such  a  separation  which 
confronts  nearly  every  husband  one  ought  to  be  dissuaded  from 
entering  this  state."  To  a  suggestion  made  by  his  publishers  he 
replies:  "What  you  say  about  an  opera,  would  surely  be  desirable, 
the  directors,  too,  would  pay  well  for  one,  the  conditions  are  just 
now  unfavorable,  it  is  true,  but  if  you  will  write  me  what  the  poet 
demands  I  will  make  inquiry  concerning  the  matter ;  I  have  written  to 
Paris  for  books,  successful  melodramas,  comedies,  etc.  (for  I  do  not 
dare  to  write  an  original  opera  with  any  of  our  local  poets),  which  I 
shall  then  have  adapted — O,  poverty  of  intellect — and  pocket!" 

The  new  theatre  at  Pesth  was  so  far  advanced  in  1810,  that 
the  authorities  began  their  preliminary  arrangements  for  its 
formal  opening  on  the  Emperor's  name-day,  October  4th,  1811, 
by  applying  to  Heinrich  von  Collin  to  write  an  appropriate  drama, 
on  some  subject  drawn  from  Hungarian  history,  for  the  occasion. 
"The  piece  was  to  be  associated  with  a  lyrical  prologue  and  a 
musical  epilogue."  "The  fear  that  he  could  not  complete  the 
work  within  the  prescribed  time  and  that  his  labors  would  be 
disturbed,  compelled  Collin  to  decline  the  commission  with 
thanks."  The  order  was  then  given  to  Kotzebue,  who  accepted 
it  and,  with  characteristic  rapidity,  responded  with  the  prologue 
"Ungarn's  erster  Wohltater"  (Hungary's  first  Benefactor),  the 
drama  "Bela's  Flucht"  (Bela's  Flight),  and  the  epilogue  "Die 
Ruinen  von  Athen"  (The  Ruins  of  Athens).  As  Emperor  Franz 
had  twice  fled  from  his  capital  within  five  years,  it  is  not  surprising 
that  "  'Bela's  Flight'  for  various  reasons  cannot  be  given"  and 
gave  place  to  a  local  piece  ("The  Elevation  of  Pesth  into  a  Royal 
Free  City").  Kotzebue's  other  two  pieces  were  accepted  and  sent 
to  Beethoven  in  May  of  this  year.  The  composition  of  the  music 
to  them  was  the  engagement  above  mentioned,  and,  of  course, 
formed  his  principal  employment  during  the  summer. 

Hartl  had  now  retired  from  the  direction  of  the  Court  Theatres, 
and  Lobkowitz  and  Palffy  were  again  at  the  helms  respectively 
of  the  theatre  next  to  the  Karnthnerthor  and  that  An-der-Wien. 
Beethoven  was  busy  with  dramatic  compositions  and  so,  very 
naturally,  the  project  of  another  operatic  work  was  revived.  He 
had  also  obtained  a  subject  that  pleased  him — a  French  melodrama. 


202  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

"Les  Ruines  de  Babylon" — probably  from  the  Prussian  Baron 
Friedr.  Job.  Drieberg.  This  composer,  much  more  favorably 
known  for  his  researches  into  ancient  Greek  music  than  for  his 
operas,  had  been  five  years  in  Paris,  "where  he  studied  composi- 
tion under  Spontini  and  probably  for  a  short  time  also  under 
Cherubini,"  and  now  for  two  years  in  Vienna. 

A  series  of  notes  from  Beethoven  to  Drieberg,  Treitschke 
and  Count  Palffy,  written  in  June  and  July,  1811,  show  how  the 
operatic  project  was  shaping  itself  in  his  mind.  On  June  6,  he  is 
anxious  to  know  if  Treitschke  has  read  the  book,  and  wishes  to 
re-read  it  himself  before  beginning  work  on  it;  to  the  same  on  July 
13,  he  writes  that  he  has  now  received  the  translation  of  the  melo- 
drama with  directions  from  Palffy  to  discuss  it  wath  him.  He 
expresses  dismay  to  Palffy  on  July  11,  because  he  has  heard  that 
a  benefit  performance  of  the  melodrama  "Les  ruines  de  Babilone" 
is  projected,  sets  forth  how  hard  he  had  worked  to  find  a  suitable 
libretto,  as  he  had  in  this,  and  how  much  more  desirable  it  would 
be  to  have  it  given  as  an  opera;  and  finally  hopes  that  Palffy  will 
forbid  the  intended  performance. 

"It  is  said,"  writes  the  correspondent  of  the  "x\llg.  Mus. 
Zeit."  under  date  January  8,  "that  Beethoven  may  next  Spring 
undertake  a  journey  to  Italy  for  the  purpose  of  restoring  his  health, 
which  has  suffered  severely  during  the  last  few  years."  One 
effect  of  his  maladies  was  to  produce  long-continued  pains  in  the 
head,  and  it  was  finally  thought  best  by  his  physician,  Malfatti,  to 
abandon  the  journey  and  try  the  waters  of  Teplitz.  This  Beet- 
hoven decided  to  do  and  to  take  with  him  as  friend  and  companion 
young  Oliva.  In  a  letter  to  Count  Brunswick  he  thanks  him 
for  agreeing  to  make  the  journey  with  him,  and  tells  him  that 
on  the  advice  of  his  physician  he  must  spend  two  whole  months 
at  Teplitz  until  the  middle  of  August,  wherefore  he  could  not 
accompany  the  Count.  He  adds:  "I  pray  you  so  to  arrange  your 
affairs  as  to  be  here  [i.  e.,  Vienna]  at  the  latest  by  July  2  or  3,  as 
otherwise  it  will  be  too  late  for  me,  and  the  doctor  is  already 
grumbling  that  I  am  w^aiting  so  long,  although  he  himself  says 
that  the  companionship  of  such  a  dear  good  friend  w^ould  benefit 
me."  In  another  letter  he  says:  "I  cannot  accept  your  refusal; 
I  have  permitted  Oliva  to  go  away  alone,  and  on  your  account;  I 
must  have  some  trusted  one  at  my  side  if  everyday  life  is  not  to 
become  burdensome.  ...  As  I  do  not  know  how  you  came  to  have 
the  portrait^  it  would  be  best  if  you  were  to  bring  it  with  you,  no 

'It  is  not  a  violent  presumption  that  the  portrait  referred  to  here  was  that  of  Count 
Brunswick's  sister  Thcrese;  at  least  there  is  strong  support  for  it  in  a  letter  published  by 


Work  on  Thomson's  Commission  203 

doubt  a  sympathetic  artist  will  be  found  who  will  copy  it  for 
friendship's  sake." 

Brunswick  did  not  come  to  Vienna,  where  Beethoven  re- 
mained till  the  end  of  July,  as  we  see  from  a  note  to  Zmeskall  after 
the  return  from  Teplitz  and  a  letter  to  Breitkopf  and  Kartel  after 
he  had  been  at  the  watering-place  three  weeks.  Meanwhile 
Beethoven  worked  on  the  Scottish  Songs  for  Thomson  and  an- 
nounced their  completion  on  July  20,  in  a  letter  in  which  he  com- 
plains that,  because  the  three  copies  of  the  53  songs  which  he  had 
previously  sent  to  Thomson  had  not  been  received,  he  had  been 
obliged  practically  to  rewrite  them  from  his  sketches — which  may 
have  been  a  somewhat  exaggerated  statement  of  the  facts.  In 
it,  furthermore,  he  says:  "Your  offer  of  100  ducats  in  gold  for  the 
three  sonatas  is  accepted  for  your  sake  and  I  am  also  willing  to 
compose  three  quintets  for  100  gold  ducats;  but  for  the  dozen 
English  songs  my  price  is  60  ducats  in  gold  (for  four  songs  the 
price  is  25  ducats).  For  the  cantata  on  the  naval  battle  in  the 
Baltic  sea,  I  ask  50  ducats;  but  on  condition  that  the  text  contains 
no  invectives  against  the  Danes,  otherwise  I  cannot  undertake  it.^ 

Marie  Lipsius  (La  Mara)  in  Breitkopf  and  Hartel's  "Mittheilungen"  for  March,  1910 
(p.  4102) .  It  is  from  Beethoven  to  Therese  Brunswick,  the  original  of  which  has  not  been 
found,  but  which  exists  in  the  form  of  a  transcript  in  a  letter  written  by  Therese  to  her 
sister  Josephine,  dated  February  2,  1811,  now  in  the  possession  of  Theresa's  grandniece, 
Irene  de  Gerando-Teleki.     The  letter  reads  as  follows: 

"Through  Franz  I  have  also  received  a  souvenir  of  our  noble  Beethoven  which 
gave  me  much  joy;  I  do  not  mean  his  sonatas,  which  are  very  beautiful,  but  a  little 
writing  which  I  will  immediately  copy  literally: 

"  'Even  without  prompting,  people  of  the  better  kind  think  of  each  other,  this  is  the 
case  with  you  and  me,  dear  and  honored  Therese;  I  still  owe  you  grateful  thanks  for  your 
beautiful  picture  and  while  accusing  myself  as  your  debtor  I  must  at  the  same  time 
appear  before  you  in  the  character  of  a  beggar  in  asking  you  if  perchance  you  feel  the 
genius  of  painting  stirring  within  you  to  duplicate  the  little  hand-drawing  which  I  was 
unlucky  enough  to  lose.  It  was  an  eagle  looking  into  the  sun,  I  cannot  forget  it;  but 
do  not  think  that  I  think  of  myself  in  such  a  connection,  although  it  has  been  ascribed  to 
me,  many  look  upon  a  heroic  play  without  being  in  the  least  like  it.  Farewell,  dear 
Therese,  and  think  occasionally  of  your  truly  revering  friend 

Beethoven.' " 

Therese  complied  with  Beethoven's  request.  On  February  23  she  admonished  her 
sister:  "My  request  to  you,  dear  Josephine,  is  to  reproduce  that  picture  which  you  alone 
are  able  to  do;  it  would  not  be  possible  for  me  to  create  anything  of  the  kind."  And 
later  she  repeats  in  French:  "You  have  told  me  nothing  about  Beethoven's  eagle.  May 
I  answer  that  he  shall  receive  it.^"  If  the  picture  referred  to  by  Beethoven  in  his  letter 
to  the  Countess  was  in  his  possession  before  February  11,  1811,  as  appears  from  the 
Countess'  letter  to  her  sister,  how  came  it  to  be  in  the  hands  of  Count  Brunswick  in 
July.'     Here  is  another  unsolved  riddle. 

iThis  letter,  in  French  with  Beethoven's  autograph  signature,  is  preserved  in  the 
British  Museum.  The  cantata  referred  to  was  to  have  been  a  setting  of  Campbell's 
"Battle  of  the  Baltic."  Returning  to  England  from  the  Continent  in  1801,  the  poet  saw 
the  preparations  for  the  Battle  of  Copenhagen.  Campbell  was  highly  esteemed  in 
Germany,  especially  by  Goethe  and  Freiligrath,  the  latter  of  whom  imitated  his  "The 
Last  Man." 


204  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

....  I  will  not  fail  to  send  you  the  arrangements  of  my  sym- 
phonies in  a  very  short  time,  and  will  gladly  undertake  the 
composition  of  an  oratorio  if  the  words  be  noble  and  distinguished 
and  the  honorarium  of  600  ducats  in  gold  be  agreeable  to  you." 
Beethoven  arrived  in  Teplitz  about  August  1,  possibly  a  day 
or  two  earlier,  and  for  three  weeks  was  chiefly  concerned  with  his 
cure  and  the  correction  of  proofs,  as  appears  from  a  letter,  dated 
on  August  23,  to  Breitkopf  and  Hartel.  In  this,  speaking  about 
the  "Christus  am  Olberg,"  he  says: 

Here  and  there  the  text  must  remain  as  in  the  original.  I  know  that 
the  text  is  extremely  bad,  but  after  one  has  conceived  a  unit  out  of  even 
a  bad  text,  it  is  difficult  to  avoid  spoiling  it  by  individual  changes,  and 
if  great  stress  be  laid  upon  a  single  word  it  must  be  left,  and  he  is  a  bad 
composer  who  does  not  know  how  or  try  to  make  the  best  possible  thing 
out  of  a  bad  text,  and  if  this  is  the  case  a  few  changes  will  certainly  not 
improve  the  whole. 

He  has  words  of  approval  for  Mozart's  "Don  Giovanni"  and 
of  dispraise  for  Italian  musicians  in  general,  as  see: 

The  favorable  reception  of  Mozart's  "Don  Juan"  rejoices  me  as 
much  as  if  it  were  my  own  work.  Although  I  know  plenty  of  unpre- 
judiced Italians  who  render  justice  to  the  German,  the  backwardness  and 
easy-going  disposition  of  the  Italian  musicians  are  no  doubt  responsible 
for  the  same  deficiencies  in  the  nation;  but  I  have  become  acquainted 
with  many  Italian  amateurs  who  prefer  our  music  to  their  Paisiello,  etc. 
(I  have  been  more  just  to  him  than  his  own  countrymen.) 

Varnhagen  von  Ense,  then  a  young  man  of  25  years  and 
lieutenant  in  the  Austrian  service,  came  from  Prague  to  Teplitz 
this  summer  to  pass  a  few  wrecks  with  "The  goddess  of  his  heart's 
most  dear  delight,"  Rahel  Levin.  In  his  "Denkwurdigkeiten" 
we  first  meet  Beethoven  since  his  letter  to  Thomson — a  solitary 
rambler  in  the  Schlossgarten  at  Teplitz,  whither,  as  Brunswick 
could  not  or  would  not  accompany  him,  he  had  journeyed  alone. 
Varnhagen  was  with  Beethoven  every  day  and  came  into  more 
intimate  relations  with  him  through  his  eager  desire  to  write  texts 
for  him  for  dramatic  compositions  or  to  revise  such  texts.  With 
Tiedge  and  the  Countess  von  der  Recke,  Beethoven  formed  a 
warm  friendship.  Varnhagen  wrote  to  Rahel:  "Only  Oliva  could 
I  endure  about  me  for  any  length  of  time;  he  was  sympathetic,  but 
deeply  depressed  because  of  violent  altercations  which  he  had  with 
Beethoven."  From  the  source  of  these  communications  we  also 
learn  that  Varnhagen  was  expected  to  adapt  an  opera  text  for 
Beethoven  and  to  revise  and  improve  another.  In  a  letter  of 
September  18,  Varnhagen  himself  wrote  to  Rahel  as  follows  on  the 


Beethoven  as  Cupid's  Messenger  205 

subject:  "I  may  translate  a  French  piece  as  an  opera  for  Beethoven; 
the  other  text  might  be  written  later,  but  this  contains  the  entire 
scenic  arrangement.  It  is  entitled  'Giafar'  and  might  bring  me 
from  8  to  10  ducats."  But  later,  "Of  Beethoven  and  Oliva  I 
hear  and  see  nothing;  the  latter  must  have  been  unable  to  make 
anything  out  of  the  opera  which  I  was  to  make  from  a  French 
melodrama  and  which,  unfortunately,  another  had  begun." 

Soon  after  Beethoven's  arrival  in  Teplitz  there  must  have 
occurred  the  incident  of  Beethoven's  visit  to  the  grave  of  Seume, 
which  was  referred  to  in  a  previous  chapter  in  connection  with  the 
C-sharp  minor  Sonata.  Seume  had  died  on  June  13,  1810,  at 
Teplitz.  There  were  other  visitors,  not  mentioned  by  Varnhagen, 
with  whom  Beethoven  formed  relations  more  or  less  cordial  and 
intimate.  One  was  the  Royal  Imperial  Gubernialrath  and 
Steyermarkischer  Kammerprokurator  Ritter  von  Varena  of  Gratz; 
another  was  Ludwig  Loewe,  the  actor,  just  then  engaged  for  the 
theatre  at  Prague.     "Thereby  hangs  a  tale." 

Loewe  had  an  honorable  love-affair  with  Therese,  the  daughter  of 
the  landlord  of  the  inn  "Zura  Stern"  in  Teplitz.  For  ''this  reason,'* 
as  Loewe  told  this  author's  informant,  "he  always  came  to  the  inn  after 
the  guests  had  departed;  Beethoven,  being  hard  of  hearing  and  melan- 
choly, for  this  reason  always  came  later,  so  that  he  would  meet  nobody. 
The  landlord,  father  of  the  girl,  discovered  their  relations,  took  Loewe  to 
task,  and  the  latter  voluntarily  agreed  to  remain  away  in  order  to  spare 
the  girl,  whom  he  dearly  loved.  After  a  time  he  met  Beethoven  in  the 
Augarten,  and  the  latter,  who  was  warmly  attached  to  him,  asked  him 
why  he  no  longer  came  to  the  Stern.  Loewe  told  him  of  his  misfortune 
and  asked  the  composer  if  he  would  carry  a  letter  to  Therese.  Beethoven 
not  only  agreed  in  the  friendliest  manner  to  do  so,  but  also  offered  to 
see  that  he  got  an  answer,  and  thereafter  cared  for  the  correspondence." 
Loewe  did  not  know  when  Beethoven  departed  from  Teplitz;  he  himself 
went  to  fill  his  engagement  at  Prague.  "The  lovers  pledged  each  other 
to  fidelity,  but  a  few  weeks  later  Loewe  received  intelligence  of  the  death 
of  his  Therese." 

Another  visitor  at  Teplitz  was  Prince  Kinsky;  and  this  gave 
the  composer  an  opportunity  to  obtain  the  arrears  of  his  annuity. 
On  the  still  existing  envelope  of  the  contract  of  1809  is  written: 
"Kinsky  am  letzten  August  behoben."  Another  was  Amalie 
Sebald,  who  had  come  with  Countess  von  der  Recke  from  Berlin, 
a  member  of  a  family  who  for  years  had  furnished  members  to 
Fasch's  Singakademie,  where  she  had  appeared  as  a  solo  singer. 
She  was  said  to  have  "a  fascinatingly  lovely  singing  voice." 
Among  the  friends  of  Carl  Maria  von  Weber  when  he  was  in 
Berlin  in  1812,  were  Amalie  Sebald  and  her  sister  Auguste,  also 
"highly  musical"  and  a  singer.     For  Amalie,  Weber  conceived  a 


206  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

warm  and  deep  affection;  and  now  Beethoven  was  taken  an  un- 
resisting captive  by  her  charms.  She  is  mentioned — the  reader 
will  note  how  familiarly — in  this  letter  to  Tiedge,  dated  Teplitz, 
September  6,  1811: 

Every  day  the  following  letter  to  you,  you,  you,  has  floated  in  my 
mind;  I  wanted  only  two  words  at  parting,  but  not  a  single  word  did  I 
receive;  the  Countess  sends  (through  another)  a  feminine  handgrasp; 
that  at  least  is  something  to  talk  about  and  for  it  I  kiss  her  hands  in  my 
thoughts,  but  the  poet  is  dumb.  Concerning  Amalie,  I  know  at  least  that 
she  is  alive.  Every  day  I  give  myself  a  drubbing  for  not  having  made 
your  acquaintance  earlier  in  Teplitz.  It  is  abominable  to  know  the  good 
for  a  short  time  and  at  once  to  lose  it  again.  Nothing  is  more  insufferable 
than  to  be  obliged  to  reproach  one's  self  with  one's  own  mistakes.  I 
tell  you  that  I  shall  probably  be  obliged  to  stay  here  till  the  end  of  this 
month ;  write  me  only  how  long  you  will  still  stay  in  Dresden ;  I  may  feel 
disposed  to  take  a  jump  to  the  Saxon  capital;  on  the  day  that  you  went 
away  from  here  I  received  a  letter  from  my  gracious  Wiesbadenian  Arch- 
duke, that  he  will  not  remain  long  in  Moravia  and  has  left  it  for  me  to 
say  whether  or  not  I  will  come;  this  I  interpreted  to  the  best  of  my  wishes 
and  desires  and  so  you  see  me  still  within  these  walls  where  I  sinned  so 
deeply  against  you  and  myself;  but  I  comfort  myself  with  the  thought  that 
if  you  call  it  a  sin  I  am  at  least  a  downright  sinner  and  not  a  poor  one. . . . 
Now  fare  as  well  as  poor  humanity  may;  to  the  Countess  a  right  tender 
yet  reverential  handgrasp,  to  Amalie  an  ardent  kiss  when  no  one  sees  us, 
and  we  two  embrace  each  other  like  men  who  are  permitted  to  love  and 
honor  each  other;  I  expect  at  least  a  word  without  reserve,  and  for  this 
I  am  a  man. 

The  desire  here  expressed  to  visit  his  new  friends  in  Dresden, 
could  not  be  gratified,  owing  to  the  necessity  of  completing  and 
forwarding  the  music  composed  for  the  opening  of  the  Pesth 
theatre.  How  long  Beethoven  remained  in  Teplitz  cannot  be  said 
with  exactness,  though  there  is  evidence  in  a  couple  of  letters  to 
Breitkopf  and  Hartel  and  Countess  von  der  Recke  which,  taken 
in  connection  with  an  established  incident  of  his  journey,  fixes 
the  date  approximately.  The  letter  to  Breitkopf  and  Hartel  of 
October  9,  1811,  has  so  large  an  interest  on  other  accounts  as  to 
merit  translation  and  publication: 

From  here  a  thousand  excuses  and  a  thousand  thanks  for  your 
pleasant  invitation  to  Leipsic;  it  pained  me  greatly  not  to  be  able  to  follow 
my  inclination  to  go  there  and  to  surrounding  places,  but  this  time  there 
was  work  in  every  direction,  the  Hungarian  Diet  is  (in  session),  there  is 
already  talk  that  the  Archduke  is  to  become  primas  of  Hungary  and  aban- 
don the  Bishopric  of  Olmlitz;  I  have  offered  to  the  Archduke,  who  as 
primas  of  Hungary  will  have  an  income  of  not  less  than  3  millions,  to  go 
through  a  clean  million  on  my  own  account  (it  is  understood  that  I  would 
therewith  set  all  the  good  musical  spirits  into  action  in  my  behalf);  in 
Teplitz  I  received  no  further  news,  as  nothing  was  known  of  my  purpose 


Breitkopf  and  Hartel  Arraigned  207 

to  leave  the  place,  I  think  concerning  the  journey  which  I  am  contem- 
plating that  in  view  of  my  attachment  for  him  I  must  yield  (though  not 
without  some  unwillingness),  the  more  since  I  may  be  needed  at  festivi- 
ties; therefore,  having  chosen  the  pro,  quick  to  Vienna,  where  the  first 
thunderous  proclamation  that  I  heard  was  that  my  gracious  lord  had 
given  up  all  thoughts  of  priesthood  and  priestly  activities  and  nothing 
is  to  come  of  the  whole  business. 

It  is  said  that  he  is  to  become  a  general  (an  easy  thing  to  under- 
stand, you  know)  and  I  am  to  be  Quartermaster-General  in  the  Battle 
which  I  do  not  intend  to  lose — what  do  you  say  to  that?  The  Hungarians 
provided  me  with  another  incident;  in  stepping  into  my  carriage  to  go  to 
Teplitz,  I  received  a  parcel  from  Of  en  (Bud  a)  with  the  request  to  compose 
something  for  the  opening  of  the  new  theatre  at  Pesth;  after  spending 
three  weeks  in  Teplitz,  feeling  fairly  well  I  sat  down,  in  defiance  of  my 
doctor's  orders,  to  help  the  Mustachios,  who  are  heartily  well  disposed 
towards  me,  sent  my  packet  thither  on  September  13,  under  the  impression 
that  the  performance  was  to  come  off  on  the  1st  of  8ber,  whereas  the 
matter  is  put  off  for  a  whole  month. »  I  received  the  letter  in  which  this 
was  intimated,  through  a  misunderstanding,  only  after  my  arrival  here, 
and  yet  this  theatrical  incident  determined  me  to  go  to  Vienna.  Mean- 
while, postponed  is  not  abandoned,  I  have  tasted  of  travel,  it  has  done 
me  great  good,  now  I  should  like  at  once  to  go  away  again — I  have  just 
received  the  Lebewohl,  etc.,  I  see  after  all  you  have  given  French  titles 
to  other  copies,  why,  lebe  wohP  is  surely  something  very  different  from 
les  adieux,  the  former  we  say  heartily  to  a  single  person,  the  latter  to  whole 
congregations,  whole  cities — since  you  permit  me  to  be  criticized  so 
shamefully  you  must  submit  to  the  same  treatment,  you  would  also  have 
needed  fewer  plates  and  the  turning  of  the  pages  which  has  now  been 
made  very  difficult  would  have  been  easier,  and  with  this  Basta — But 
how  in  the  name  of  heaven  did  you  come  to  dedicate  my  Fantasia  with  Or- 
chestra to  the  King  of  Bavaria?  Do  answer  me  that  at  once;  if  you  are 
thereby  going  to  procure  me  an  honorable  gift,  I  will  thank  you,  such  a 
thing  is  hardly  agreeable  to  me,  did  you,  possibly,  dedicate  it  yourself  ? 
what  is  the  connection,  one  is  not  permitted  to  dedicate  things  to  kings 
without  being  requested — and  then  there  was  no  dedication  of  the  Leheioohl 
to  the  Archduke,  why  were  not  the  year,  day  and  date  printed  as  I  wrote 
them,  in  the  future  you  will  agree  in  writing  to  retain  all  superscrip- 
tions unchanged  as  I  write  them.  Let  whomsoever  you  please  review 
the  oratorio  and  everything  else,  I  am  sorry  that  I  ever  said  a  word  about 
the  miserable  business,  who  can  mind  what  such  a  reviewer  says  when  he 
sees  how  the  most  wretched  scribblers  are  elevated  by  them  and  how 
they  treat  most  insultingly  art  works  to  which  they  cannot  at  once 
apply  their  standard  as  the  shoemaker  does  his  last,  as  indeed  they  must 
do  because  of  their  unfitness — if  there  is  anything  to  be  considered  in 
connection  with  the  oratorio  it  is  that  it  is  my  first  and  early  work  in  this 
form,  was  composed  in  14  days  amidst  all  possible  tumult  and  other  un- 
pleasant alarming  circumstances  (my  brother  was  mortally  ill). 

Rochlitz,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  spoke  unfavorably  concerning  the 
chorus  of  disciples  "Wir  haben  ihn  gesehen"  in  C  major  even  before  it  had 

'It  was  four  months  before  the  performance  took  place. 
^Fare  well. 


208  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

been  given  to  you  for  publication;  he  called  it  comic,  an  impression  which 
here  at  least  was  not  shown  by  the  local  public  and  amongst  my  friends 
there  are  also  critics;  that  I  should  write  a  very  different  oratorio  now, 
than  then,  is  certain — and  now  criticize  as  long  as  you  please,  I  wish  you 
much  pleasure,  and  if  it  should  hurt  a  little  like  the  sting  of  a  gnat  it  will 
soon  be  over,  and  then  the  whole  thing  is  a  little  joke  cri-  cri-  cri-  cri- 
cri-  crit-  i-  i-  i-  i-  size-  size.  Not  in  all  eternity,  that  you  cannot  do,  herewith 
God  be  with  you. ... 

Tw^o  days  later  he  WTote  letters  of  apology  for  his  sudden 
departure  to  Elise  von  der  Recke  and  Tiedge,  promising  the  former 
a  setting  of  one  of  her  poems.  From  the  letters  to  Breitkopf  and 
Hartel  and  Tiedge,  it  would  appear  that  Beethoven  composed  the 
music  to  "The  Ruins  of  Athens"  and  "King  Stephen"  wathin  a 
month  and  sent  it  to  its  destination  on  Monday,  September  16, 
and  then  departed  from  Teplitz  without  saying  farewell  to  his 
friends.  From  Varnhagen's  "Denkwiirdigkeiten"  w^e  learn  that 
"Beethoven,  who  returned  to  Vienna  from  Teplitz  with  his  friend 
and  mine,  Oliva,  did  not  remain  long  in  Prague";  and  from  the 
correspondence  with  Rahel  (II,  p.  154),  that  Oliva  went  on  to  Vienna 
on  September  23,  without  Beethoven,  who  made  a  rather  wide 
detour  to  visit  Lichnowsky.  Of  this  visit  we  learn  in  one  of  Jahn's 
notices,  namely:  "In  the  year  1811,  B.  was  at  Prince  Lichnowsky's 
on  his  estate  Gratz  near  Troppau.  The  Mass  in  C  was  performed 
at  Troppau,  for  which  everything  possible  w^as  drummed  up;  the 
master  of  athletics  w^as  put  at  the  tympani;  in  the  Sanctus, 
Beethoven  himself  had  to  show  him  how  to  play  the  solo. 
The  rehearsals  lasted  three  days.  After  the  performance  Beet- 
hoven improvised  on  the  organ  for  half  an  hour  to  the  astonish- 
ment of  every  one;  Fuchs  was  the  soprano  soloist."  Beethoven 
returned  to  Vienna  refreshed  and  invigorated  both  in  body  and 
mind;  and  something  of  his  old  frolicsome  humor  again  enlivens 
his  notes  to  Zmeskall:  He  expects  him  to  dine  with  him  at  the 
Swan  (which  was  at  that  time  exceptional,  as  Beethoven  had  his 
own  cook) ;  he  begs  for  more  quills,  and  promises  shortly  a  whole 
parcel  of  them,  so  that  Zmeskall  "will  not  have  to  pull  out  his 
own";  he  may  receive  "the  great  decoration  of  the  Order  of  the 
'Cello";  and  so  on. 

Beethoven's  notes  to  Zmeskall  are  a  barometer  that  indicates 
very  correctly  the  rising  and  sinking  of  his  spirits;  they  were  now 
high — at  composition  point — and,  as  the  Archduke  did  not  return 
from  Pressburg  until  the  7th  November,  he  had  at  least  one  month 
for  continuing  without  hindrance  the  studies,  whatever  they  were, 
that  followed  the  completion  of  the  music  for  Pesth.     In  our 


A  Season  in  Financial  Doldrums  209 

judgment  they  are  those,  which  occupy  the  last  leaves  of  the 
sketchbook  (Fetter's)  partly  filled  in  the  Spring  of  1809.  ^ 

There  was  no  call  nor  special  inducement  for  the  immediate 
completion  of  any  orchestral  work.  Since  the  "Egmont"  Overture 
and  the  "Pastoral"  Symphony,  produced  by  Schuppanzigh  in 
May,  and  the  "Coriolan"  Overture  at  a  charity  concert  on  July 
14,  there  is  but  one  notice  of  the  performance  of  any  one  of  Beet- 
hoven's greater  compositions,  and  even  this  (November  15)  is  very 
doubtful.  In  truth,  this  was  no  season  for  grand  musical  enter- 
tainments with  a  view  to  private  emolument.  The  Finance 
Patent  of  February  shed  its  baleful  influence  on  the  just  and  the 
unjust  and  compelled  all  classes  alike  to  study  and  practise 
economy.  Even  the  old  favorite  of  the  Vienna  public,  Franz 
Clement,  returning  from  a  musical  tour  in  Russia,  and  Sebastian 
Meier,  "although  Handel's  'Acis  and  Galatea'  was  performed"  in 
their  annual  Akademies,  "had  few  hearers."  Two  or  three 
virtuosos  were  able  to  fill  small  halls;  but  no  performances  on  a 
grand  scale  were  ventured,  except  for  charities;  at  these  the  wealthy 
appeared  in  force,  it  being  a  pleasant  and  fashionable  method  of 
doing  something  to  alleviate  the  general  distress.  Beethoven 
was  not  the  man  to  hasten  his  works  to  completion  when  there 
was  no  prospect  of  making  either  in  public  or  in  private  any  present 
use  of  them. 

The  ascertained  compositions  of  this  year  were: 

I.  Trio  in  B-flat  major,  Op.  97. 

II.  Music  to  "Die  Ruinen  von  Athen,"  Epilogue  by  A.  von  Kotzebue. 

III.  Music  to  "Konig  Stephan,   Ungarn's  erster  Wohlthater,"  a 

Prologue  by  A.  von  Kotzebue. 

IV.  Song  by  Stoll,  "An  die  Geliebte." 

The  publications: 

I.  Grand  Concerto  four  le  Pianoforte  avec  accompagnement  de 
rOrchestre  compose  et  dedie  a  son  Altesse  Imperiale  Rodolphe  Archiduc,  etc. 
Op.  73.     E-flat.     Breitkopf  and  Hartel,  in  February. 

II.  Four  Ariettas  and  a  Duet.  Op.  82.  (With  Italian  and  German 
words:  "Dimmi  ben  mio,"  "T'intendo,"  "Che  fa,  che  fa  il  mio  bene," 
"Che  fa  il  mio  bene"  and  "Odi  I'aura.")     Breitkopf  and  Hartel,  March. 

HI.  Overture  to  Goethe's  "Egmont."  Op.  84.  Orchestral  parts. 
Breitkopf  and  Hartel,  March. 

IV.  Fantasia  for  Pianoforte,  Orchestra  and  Chorus;  dedicated  to 
Maximilian  Joseph,  King  of  Bavaria.  Op.  80.  Breitkopf  and  Hartel, 
July. 

'Nottebohm  contends  that  the  book  extends  from  the  end  of  1811  to  the  beginning 
of  1813.     See  "Zweit.  Beeth.,"  pp.  289,  290. 


210  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

V.  Les  Adieux,  V Absence  et  le  Retour.  Sonate  pour  le  Pianoforte 
composee  et  dediee  a  son  Altesse  Imperiale  VArchiduc  Rodolphe,  etc.  Op.  81. 
E-flat.     Breitkopf  and  Hartel,  July. 

VI.  Three  Songs  by  Goethe  with  Pianoforte  accompaniment. 
Dedicated  to  Princess  Kinsky.  ("Trocknet  nicht,"  "Was  zieht  mir  das 
Herz,"  "Kleine  Blumen,  kleine  Blatter.")  Op.  83.  Breitkopf  and 
Hartel,  October, 

VII.  "Christus  am  Olberg."  Oratorio.  Op.  85.  Score.  Breit- 
kopf and  Hartel,  October. 


Chapter  XII 


The  Year  1812 — Beethoven's  Finances — The  Austrian 
"Finanzpatent" — Beethoven  and  Graz — Second  Sojourn 
in  TepHtz — Beethoven  and  Goethe — AinaUe  Sebald — 
Beethoven  in  Linz — Meddles  with  his  Brother^s  Domestic 
Affairs — Rode  and  the  Sonata,  Op.  96 — Spohr — Malzel 
and  his  Metronome — The  Canon  to  Malzel. 

BEETHOVEN  must  again,  for  the  present,  be  made  his  own 
biographer.  The  selections  from  his  correspondence  taken 
for  this  purpose  will  all  gain  in  interest  and  perspicuity  by 
first  giving  the  notes  to  Zmeskall  and  the  Archduke  so  as  to  afford 
a  sort  of  background  for  the  more  important  ones,  and  by  intro- 
ducing here  the  explanations  which  numerous  allusions  demand  in 
a  short  series  of  observations.     Schindler  writes  in  1840: 

In  1811,  the  Austrian  Finanzpatent  reduced  these  4000  florins  to  one- 
fifth  [the  reference  being  to  Beethoven's  annuity];  [and  in  I860]:  How 
severely  our  composer  was  hit  by  it  is  seen  in  the  circumstance  that  also 
all  contracts  which  had  to  do  with  paper  money  were  reduced  to  one- 
fifth  of  the  specified  sum.  In  accordance  with  this  Beethoven's  annuity 
of  4000  florins  in  bank-notes  became  subject  to  reduction.  It  was 
reduced  to  800  florins  in  paper  money. 

An  error  of  some  kind  must  be  here  involved.  This  seems  so 
obvious  and  palpable,  as  to  render  it  hardly  credible  that,  in  all 
the  long  years  since  1840,  it  has  not  caught  the  attention  of  some 
one  writer  on  Beethoven  and  induced  him  to  cast  his  eye  for  a 
moment  upon  the  Patent  itself.  The  depreciation  of  a  national 
paper  currency  to  null  and  its  subsequent  repudiation  by  the 
Government  that  emitted  it  is,  in  effect,  a  domestic  forced  loan 
equal  in  amount  to  the  sum  issued;  and  the  more  gradual  its 
depreciation,  so  much  the  more  likely  is  the  public  burden  to  be 
general  and  in  some  degree  equalized.  Such  a  forced  loan  was 
the  "Continental  Currency"  issued  by  the  American  Congress  to 
sustain  the  war  against  England  in  1775-83;  and  such  were  the 
French  "Assignats"  a  few  years  later;  and  such,  to  the  amount  of 
80  per  centum  of  all  the  paper  in  circulation,  was  the  substitution 

[211] 


212 


The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 


of  notes  of  redemption  for  the  bank-notes  at  the  rate  of  one  for 
five,  by  the  Austrian  Finanz-Patent,  promulgated  February  20th, 
and  put  in  force  March  loth,  1811.     But  if  Schindler  be  correct, 
the  Imperial  Royal  Government  went  farther  and  committed  the 
folly   and    injustice — with    little    or    no    advantage    to    itself — 
of  issuing   and   enforcing   a   decree  which,  in   its   effect,   simply 
confiscated   80  per  centum  of   all   domestic  indebtedness — where 
the  payment  in  specie  or  its  equivalent  was  not  stipulated — to  the 
gain  of  the  debtor  and  the  loss  of  the  creditor!     According  to 
more  modern  ideas  of  national  economy,  those  ordinances  of  the 
Finanz-Patent    of    February    20,    which    relate   to    "continuing, 
periodically  recurring  payments  of  interest,  incomes,  farm-rents, 
pensions,  maintenance   moneys,  annuities,  etc.,"  were  certainly 
unwise  and  uncalled-for;   but  they  involved  no  such  blunder  as 
that.     The  Government   assumed  that    every  contract  of  pecu- 
niary obligation  between  Austrian  subjects,  wherein  special  pay- 
ment or  its  equivalent  was  not  stipulated,  was  payable  in  bank- 
notes; and  that  the  real  indebtedness  under  any  such  contract  was 
in  justice  and  equity  to  be  determined  and  measured  by  the  value 
in  silver  of  the  bank-notes  at  the  date  of  the  instrument.     This 
second  proposition  is  fallacious  and  deceptive,  because  such  con- 
tracts rested    upon   the   necessary  presumptions  that  the  faith 
and  honor  of  the  supreme  authority  were  pledged  to  the  future 
redemption  of  its  paper  at  par  and  that  the  pledge  would  be  re- 
deemed.   But  this  was  not  seen  or  was  not  regarded.  Consequently, 
there  w^as  annexed  to  the  Finanz-Patent  a  table  showing  decimally 
the   average  equivalent  of   the  silver  florin   in   the   bank-notes, 
month  by  month,  from  January,  1799  to  March,  1811.     This  table 
was  made  a  "Scala  liber  den  Cours  der  Bancozettel  nach  welchem 
die  Zahlungen  zufolge  des  Paragraphs  13   und    14  des  Patents 
vom  20  Hornung,  1811,  zu  leisten  sind."     ("Scale  of  the  rate  of 
exchange  according  to  which  payments  are  to  be  made  in  ac- 
cordance with  paragraphs  13  and  14  of  the  Patent  of  February  20, 
1811.")     We  copy  two  of  the  months  as  examples: 


1799 
1.03 
1.0.) 

1800 

1801 

180^2 

1803 

1804 

1805 

1806 

1807 

1808 

1809 

1810 

1811 

Jan. 

1.13 

1.16 

1.19 

1.30 

1.34 

1.33 

1.47 

1.90 

2.04 

2.21 

4.69 

5.00 

Mar. 

1.14 

1.14 

1.18 

1.^27 

1.34 

1.^29 

1.49 

2.06 

2.10 

2.48 

3.31 

5.00 

Beethoven's  annuity  contract  bore  date  March  1,  1809,  when 
one  florin  in  silver  was  equal  to  two  and  forty-eight  hundredths  in 
bank-notes.     Hence  his  4000  did  not  shrink  to  800  but  to  1612i^» 


'Kinsky,  725,  80;  Archduke  Rudolph,  604,  84;  Lobkowitz,  282,  26. 


Legal  Aspect  of  the  Annuity  Contract         213 

in  paper  money;  but  this  paper  money  then  was  intended  to  be, 
and  for  some  time  was,  equal  to  silver.  More  than  this  he  could 
not  legally  demand;  but  the  original  reasons  for  the  contract,  the 
intentions  of  the  donors  and  the  mutual  understanding  of  the 
parties  gave  him  a  perfect  claim  in  equity  for  the  full  amount  of 
4000  florins  in  notes  of  redemption.  Nor  did  the  princes  hesitate 
to  admit  its  justice.  They  were  men  of  honor  and  this  was  a 
debt  of  honor.  Archduke  Rudolph  immediately  gave  the  necessary 
order  and  instructions  in  writing;  and  Beethoven's  anxiety  because 
the  others  had  not  yet  given  him  the  same  security  was  justified 
by  the  event,  although  he  might  have  expressed  it  rather  more 
delicately.^ 

The  opening  of  the  new  theatre  in  Pesth  not  having  taken 
place  in  October  as  proposed,  was  deferred  to  Sunday,  February 
9th,  that  it  might  bear  the  character  of  a  festivity  in  honor  of  the 
Emperor's  birthday  (October  12th).  The  performances  were 
repeated  on  the  10th  and  1 1th  to  crowded  audiences  which  received 
Beethoven's  music  to  "King  Stephen"  and  "The  Ruins  of  Athens" 
(reported  to  be  "very  original,  excellent  and  worthy  of  its  master") 
with  clamorous  applause.  Beethoven  had  been  so  favorably 
impressed  with  Kotzebue's  texts  that  in  January,  181''2,  he  applied 
to  him  for  an  opera  text: 

Highly  respected,  highly  honored  Sir: 

While  writing  music  for  the  Hungarians  to  your  prologue  and  epi- 
logue, I  could  not  refrain  from  the  lively  wish  to  possess  an  opera  from  your 
unique  talent,  romantic,  serious,  heroico-comic  or  sentimental,  as  you 
please;  in  short,  anything  to  your  liking  I  would  accept  with  pleasure. 
True,  I  should  prefer  a  big  subject  from  history  and  particularly  one  from 
the  darker  periods,  Attila,  etc.,  for  instance;  but  I  should  accept  with 
thanks  anything  and  any  subject  coming  from  you,  from  your  poetical 
spirit,  which  I  could  translate  into  my  musical. 

Prince  Lobkowitz,  who  sends  his  greetings,  and  who  now  has  the 
sole  direction  of  the  opera,  will  certainly  grant  you  an  honorarium  com- 
mensurate with  your  deserts.     Do  not  refuse  my  request,  you  will  find 

^After  the  large  payment  for  a  year  and  a  quarter  which  Beethoven  received  from 
Kinsky  on  July  31,  1810,  the  Prince  continued  to  pay  450  florins  regularly  every  quarter 
but  on  July  26  (from  March  to  May),  1811,  with  the  memorandum:  "450  bank-notes,  or 
90  florins  notes  of  redemption,"  and  again  the  same  on  August  30  (for  June-August), 
1811; — i.  e.,  one-fifth  of  the  stipulated  sum.  It  was  not  until  the  issuance  of  the  Court 
Decree  of  September  13,  1811,  that  the  more  favorable  rate  of  the  above  table  was  es- 
tablished. It  is  to  be  assumed  that  the  payments  thereafter  were  made  in  accordance 
with  the  scale,  185  florins  in  notes  of  redemption  for  450  florins;  the  receipts  have  not 
been  preserved.  (See  "Beethoven  und  Prinz  Kinsky,"  Frimmels  "II.  Beethoven- 
Jahrbuch,"  1909,  by  V.  Kratochvil.)  Lobkowitz's  payments  were  suspended  in  Septem- 
ber, 1811,  for  nearly  four  years,  his  assumption  of  the  management  of  the  theatres 
having  thrown  his  financial  affairs  into  disorder  and  caused  the  sequestration  of  his 
estates. 


214  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

that  I  shall  always  be  deeply  grateful  for  your  compliance.  Awaiting 
your  favorable  and  speedy  answer,  I  subscribe  myself 

Your  admirer 

Ludwig  van  Beethoven. 
Vienna,  January  28,  1812. 

As  the  date  of  this  letter  plainly  shows,  it  was  sent  to  Breitkopf 
and  Hartel  together  with  one  to  Goethe,  with  the  request  that 
the  two  be  forwarded  to  their  destinations. 

Vienna,  January  28,  1812. 
As  a  punishment  for  your  absolute  silence  I  charge  you  with  the 
immediate  delivery  of  these  two  letters;  a  windbag  of  a  Livonian  prom- 
ised to  look  after  a  letter  to  K.  for  me,  but  probably,  the  Livonians  like 
the  Russians  being  windbags  and  braggarts,  he  did  nothing  of  the  sort, 
although  he  gave  himself  out  to  be  a  great  friend  of  his.  ...  If  the 
3  songs  by  Goethe  are  not  yet  printed  hurry  with  them ;  I  should  like  soon 
to  present  them  to  Princess  Kynsky,  one  of  the  handsomest,  stoutest 
women  in  Vienna — and  the  songs  from  Egmont,  why  are  they  not  yet 
out,  in  fact  why  not  out,  out,  out  with  the  whole  of  E.' — do  you  perhaps 
want  a  close  tacked  on  to  an  entreacte  here  and  there,  that  might  be, 
but  have  it  done  by  a  Leipsic  Corrector  of  the  Music.  Zeitung,  that  kind 
of  thing  they  understand  like  a  slap  in  the  face.  Please  charge  the  post- 
age to  me — it  seems  to  me,  I  hear  a  whisper,  that  you  are  looking  out  for 
a  new  wife,  to  this  I  ascribe  all  the  confusion  mentioned  above.  I  wish 
you  a  Xantippe  like  the  wife  of  the  holy  Greek  Socrates,  so  that  I  might 
see  a  German  Verleger,  which  is  saying  a  great  deal,  verlegen,  ja  rechi  in 
Verlegenheit.  ^ 

Among  the  suflFerers  by  the  Finanz-Pafent  were  the  L^rsuline 
nuns  at  Graz,  w  hose  institution,  since  1802,  had  at  no  time  less  than 
50  wards  and  always  more  than  350  pupils.  At  this  juncture  they 
were  excessively  poor  and  in  debt.  In  the  hope  of  gaining 
them  some  substantial  aid  Beethoven's  new  friend,  Varena,  now 
wrote  to  him  offering  to  pay  him  properly  for  the  use  of  some  of  his 
compositions  in  a  concert  for  their  benefit  to  be  given  on  Easter 
Sunday,  March  29.  Beethoven  at  once  presented  two  of  his  new 
compositions  to  the  Art  Society  of  Graz  for  gratuitous  use  at 
charity  concerts.  At  the  concert  on  Easter  Sunday  there  were 
eight  numbers,  Beethoven  being  represented  by  the  overture  to 
"King  Stephen,"  the  march  with  chorus  from  "The  Ruins  of 
Athens,"  the  overture  to  "Egmont,"  and  the  Septet.  The  nuns 
gained  on  the  occasion  the  handsome  sum  of  1836  fl.  24k.  Vienna 
Standard. 

Walter  Scott  somewhere  remarks:  "It  is  seldom  that  the  same 
circle  of  personages,  who  have  surrounded  an  individual  at  his 
first  outset  in  life,  continue  to  have  an  interest  in  his  career  till  his 

'An  untranslatable  pun. 


Passing  of  Old  Friends,  Coming  of  New        215 

fate  comes  to  a  crisis.  On  the  contrary,  and  more  especially  if 
the  events  of  his  life  be  of  a  varied  character  and  worth  com- 
municating to  others,  or  to  the  world,  the  hero's  later  connections 
are  usually  totally  separated  from  those  with  whom  he  began  the 
voyage,  but  whom  the  individual  has  outsailed,  or  who  have 
drifted  astray,  or  foundered  on  the  passage." 

A  few  years  more  and  this  will  begin  to  be  very  true  of  Beet- 
hoven. The  old  familiar  names  will  rapidly  disappear  and  new 
ones  take  their  places;  some  half  a  dozen  perhaps  will  remain 
to  the  end.  But  this  is  not  yet.  The  old  friends,  Lichnowsky, 
Rasoumowsky,  Erdody  and  that  class,  Streicher,  Zizius,  Breuning 
and  their  class,  are  his  friends  still.  We  see  less  of  them,  because 
Beethoven  is  no  longer  the  great  pianist  performing  in  the  saloons 
of  the  nobles,  or  playing  his  new  compositions  in  the  lodgings  of 
his  untitled  admirers.  His  astonishing  playing  in  the  concert 
of  December,  1808 — which  completed  full  thirty  years  since  his 
appearance  in  Cologne  as  a  prodigy — proved  to  be,  as  it  happened, 
the  splendid  close  of  his  career  as  a  virtuoso.  He  had  surely  earned 
the  right  to  retire  and  leave  that  field  to  his  pupils,  of  whom 
Baroness  Ertmann  and  Carl  Czerny  were  preeminent  as  per- 
formers of  his  music.  In  the  more  private  concerts  he  had  already 
long  given  place  to  the  Baroness;  and  now  Czerny  began  to  take  it 
before  the  public,  even  to  the  extent  of  introducing  his  last  new 
composition  for  pianoforte  and  orchestra.  Theodor  Korner, 
lately  arrived  in  Vienna,  writes  home  under  date  February  15: 

On  Wednesday,  for  the  benefit  of  the  Society  of  Noble  Ladies  for 
Charity,  a  concert  and  tableaux,  representing  three  pictures  by  Raphael, 
Poussin  and  Troyes  as  described  by  Goethe  in  his  "Elective  Affinities," 
were  given.  The  pictures  offered  a  glorious  treat,  a  new  pianoforte  con- 
certo by  Beethoven  failed. 

Castelli's  "Thalia"  gives  the  reason,  why  this  noble  work 
on  this,  its  first  public  performance  in  Vienna,  was  so  coldly 
received : 

If  this  composition,  which  formed  the  concert  which  had  been 
announced,  failed  to  receive  the  applause  which  it  deserved,  the  reason 
is  to  be  sought  partly  in  the  subjective  character  of  the  work,  partly  in 
the  objective  nature  of  the  listeners.  Beethoven,  full  of  proud  confidence 
in  himself,  never  writes  for  the  multitude;  he  demands  understanding  and 
feeling,  and  because  of  the  intentional  difficulties,  he  can  receive  these 
only  at  the  hands  of  the  knowing,  a  majority  of  whom  is  not  to  be  found 
on  such  occasions,  etc. 

That  was  precisely  the  truth.     The  work  was  out  of  place 
The  warblings  of  Fraulein  Sessi  and  Herr  Siboni,  and  Mayseder's 


^ 


216  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

variations  on  the  march  in  "Aline,"  were  suited  to  the  occasion 
and  the  audience.  Instead  of  Beethoven's  majestic  work,  Chapel- 
master  Himmel,  who  had  recently  been  in  Vienna,  should  have 
been  engaged  to  remain  and  exhibit  his  brilliant  finger  gymnastics. 

The  new  symphony,  to  which  there  are  allusions  in  this 
correspondence,  was  the  Seventh,  which  he  took  up  and  completed 
this  spring  (May  13),  with  the  hope  of  producing  it  in  a  concert 
about  the  time  of  Pentecost — but  the  project  fell  through.  ^ 

Explanatory  of  the  Zmeskall  correspondence,  it  is  to  be  noted, 
that  with  the  approach  of  the  inclement  season,  Beethoven 
ceased  to  cross  the  wind-swept  Glacis  to  dine  with  Breuning;  that 
the  "greatest  thanks"  of  one  of  the  notes  is  merely  for  keeping  his 
pens  in  order;  and  that  Zmeskall  had  been  making  experiments  to 
determine  whether  the  oscillations  of  a  simple  weight  and  string 
(without  lever)  might  not  answer  as  a  practicable  and  con- 
venient metrometer. 

The  works  of  Beethoven  publicly  performed  in  Vienna  dur- 
ing this  half  year,  so  far  as  has  been  learned,  were  the  Pianoforte 
Concerto  as  above  stated;  on  March  22nd,  march  with  chorus 
from  "The  Ruins  of  Athens,"  in  Clement's  concert;  on  April  16th, 
the  "Coriolan"  Overture  in  Streicher's  Pianoforte  Warerooms, 
conducted  by  Schuppanzigh — the  first  piece  in  the  concert, 
which  opened  the  way  for  the  great  performance  of  Handel's 
"Timotheus"  in  November,  which  in  turn  led  to  the  foundation  of 
the  Society  of  the  Friends  of  Music;  on  April  24th,  the  "Egmont" 
Overture  in  the  Concert  for  the  Theatrical  Poor  Fund ;  and  on  May 
5th,  the  overture  to  "Prometheus,"  and  the  C  minor  Symphony 
in  Schuppanzigh's  first  Augarten  Morning  Concert  of  the  season. 
His  (Schuppanzigh's)  quartet  productions  were  on  Thursdays,  at 
noon;  "As  it  is  nearly  12  o'clock  and  I  am  going  to  Schuppan- 
zigh's," says  Beethoven  in  a  note  to  Zmeskall,  on  Thursday, 
Febriiarv  20 — unfortunatelv  onlv  as  an  auditor.  No  record  of 
the  programmes  during  the  season  has  been  discovered. 

^Under  date  of  London,  14th  February,  1875,  Mr.  E.  Speyer  writes:  "My  father 
....  on  a  visit  to  Vienna  in  18.32,  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  Abbe  Stadler,  who 
communicated  to  him  the  following  curious  fact  in  relation  to  Beethoven's  Seventh 
Symphony,  viz:   Th  it  the  theme  of  the  Trio 


i^w  f^rr  \r  ^  i  lOr  ir  m  ir  r 


^ 


etc. 


was  nothing  more  nor  less  than  a  Lower-Austrian  Pilgrimage  Hymn  (Wallfahrtgesang), 
which  the  Abb«»  himself  had  frequently  heard  sung."  This  correspondent's  father  was 
the  VV.  Speyer,  or  Speier,  whose  name  so  often  appears  in  old  volumes  of  the  "AUg. 
Mus.  Zeit." 


Rejects  Imputations  ox  his  Conduct  217 

And  now  turn  we  to  the  selection  from  the  Zmeskall  cor- 
respondence: 

(To  Zmeskall) 

January  19  (extract):  Unfortunately  I  am  always  too  much  at 
liberty  and  you  never. 

February  2:  The  enclosed  billet  is  at  least  8  days  old. 

Not  extra-ordinary  but  very  ordinary  quill-cutter,  whose  virtuosity 
assuredly  shows  a  falHng  off  in  this  specimen,  these  need  a  few  new 
quill-repairs. 

When  will  you  throw  off  your  chains,  when? 

You  are  thinking  again  of  me — accursed  be  for  me  the  life  in  this 
Austrian  Barbary — I  shall  now  go  mostlj'  to  the  Swan,  as  I  cannot 
escape  too  much  attention  in  the  other  inns. 

Farewell,  as  well  as  I  wish  that  you  may  without  me. 

Most  Extraordinary  one  we  beg  that  your  servant  find  some  one  to 
clean  out  the  rooms,  as  he  knows  the  quarters  he  can  at  once  fix  the  price — 
but  soon. 

Carnival  Ragamuffin!  !!!!!!!!!!!! 


*■»' 


February  8:  Most  Extraordinary,  foremost  Oscillator  of  the  world 
and  that  without  lever!  !  !  ! 

We  are  indebted  to  you  for  the  greatest  thanks  for  having  endowed 
us  with  a  portion  of  your  oscillatory  power,  we  wish  to  thank  you  for  the 
same  in  person,  and  therefore  invite  you  to  come  to  the  Swan  to-morrow, 
an  inn  whose  name  bears  evidence  that  it  was  made  for  the  occasion  when 
the  talk  is  about  such  things. 

(February  19.)  Dear  Z:  Only  yesterday  did  I  receive  written  notice 
that  the  Archduke  will  pay  his  share  in  notes  of  redemption — I  beg  you 
now  to  note  down  for  me  approximately  what  you  said  on  Saturday  so 
that  I  may  send  it  to  the  other  2.  They  want  to  give  me  a  certificate 
that  the  Archduke  pays  in  N.  R.,  but  I  think  this  is  unnecessary,  the  more 
since  these  courtiers  in  spite  of  their  apparent  friendship  for  me  say  that 
my  demands  are  not  just  I  I  !  !  !  O  heaven  help  me  to  bear  this;  I  am  no 
Hercules  who  can  help  Atlas  bear  up  the  world  or  do  it  in  his  stead.  It 
was  only  yesterday  that  I  heard  in  detail  how  beautifully  Herr  Baron 
Kraft  had  spoken  about  me  at  Zizius's,  had  judged  me — never  mind  dear 
Z.  it  will  not  be  for  much  longer  that  I  shall  continue  the  shameful  manner 
in  which  I  am  living  here.  Art,  the  persecuted  one,  finds  everywhere  an 
asylum,  did  not  Daedalus,  shut  up  in  the  labyrinth  invent  the  wings 
which  carried  him  upivards  into  the  air,  and  I,  too,  will  find  them,  these 
wings. 

The  correspondence  with  the  Archduke,  of  course  including 
the  notes  to  his  "spiritual  adviser,"  Baumeister,  and  his  "cham- 
berlain," Schweiger,  in  the  very  profuseness  of  its  expressions  of 
devotion,  awakens  some  mistrust  of  its  writer's  sincerity.  There  is 
too  much  of  profession.  True  zeal  in  and  a  hearty  performance  of 
one's  duty  need  few  verbal  attestations. 


218  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

(To  Baumeister) 

March  12,  1812. 
P.P. 

Please  send  me  the  overture  to  the  epilogue  Ungarn's  Wohlthater,  it 
must  be  hurriedly  copied  in  order  to  be  sent  to  Gratz  for  use  there  in  a 
concert  for  the  poor.  I  count  myself  altogether  too  happy  when  my 
art  is  enlisted  for  such  charitable  purposes.  You  need,  therefore,  only 
tell  H.  I.  High,  our  gracious  lord,  about  it  and  he  will  certainly  be  glad  to 
have  it  delivered  to  you,  the  more  gladly  since  you  know  that  all  the 
property  of  my  small  intellectual  faculties  is  the  sole  property  of  H.  I. 
Highness — as  soon  as  the  overture  is  copied  I  will  immediately  return 
it  to  H.  Imp.  Highness. 

In  a  note  to  the  Archduke  he  excuses  his  absence  the  two 
previous  days  because  he  was  "unexpectedly"  ill,  "at  just  the  time 
when  he  was  about  to  go"  to  him.  In  another  he  has  "oftener 
than  usual"  waited  upon  him  "in  the  evening  hour,  but  no  one 
was  to  be  found."  In  another  "certain  unexpected  circum- 
stances prevent"  his  attendance  "to-day,  but,"  he  says,  "I  shall 
make  use  of  the  gracious  privilege  of  waiting  upon  you  to-morrow 
evening."     In  still  another: 

I  have  suffered  much  during  the  last  few  days,  twofold  I  may  say 
because  I  could  not  follow  my  sincerest  desire  to  devote  a  great  deal  of 
time  to  you;  but  I  hope  I  shall  be  through  with  it  (I  mean  my  illness) 
this  spring  and  summer. 

The  last  of  these  selections  affords  another  illustration  of  the 
usefulness  of  the  Archduke's  library  to  the  composer.  Its  date 
has  also  some  importance  in  the  discussion  of  the  famous  love- 
letter;  and  it  is  the  final  notice  of  Beethoven  before  his  departure 
from  Vienna  for  the  summer. 

(To  Baumeister) 

Sunday,  June  28,  1812. 
I  beg  of  you  most  politely  that  you  lend  me  the  two  trios  for  piano- 
forte, violin  and  violoncello  of  my  composition  for  to-day.  The  first  is  in 
D  major,  the  2nd  in  E-flat,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  H.  Imp.  Highness  has 
written  copies  of  them  in  his  library.  Also  the  sonata  in  A  major  with 
pianoforte  and  violoncello — separately  printed— also  the  sonata  in 
A  minor  with  pianoforte  and  violin,  is  also  only  printed  separately. 
You  will  receive  everything  back  again  to-morrow  morning. 

A  very  interesting  series  of  letters  to  Varena,  and  one  very 
creditable  to  Beethoven,  began  at  the  end  of  January  this  year  and 
ended,  so  far  as  is  known,  in  1815.  Could  the  space  be  spared 
they  would  all  be  printed  here;  but  they  may  be  read  in  the 
published  collections  of  Beethoven's  letters. 

The  arrangements  of  the  Irish  and  Scottish  songs  for  Thomson 
were  continued  in  this  year.     A  French  letter  to  Thomson  under 


Thoughts  of  a  Visit  to  Exgl.\xd  219 

date  February  29,  1812,  chiefly  devoted  to  business  matters,  yet 
contains  some  expressions  which  are  characteristic  of  Beethoven's 
views  and  predilections, 

Haydn  himself  assured  me,  that  he  also  got  4  ducats  in  gold  for 
each  song,  yet  he  wrote  only  for  violin  and  pianoforte  without  ritor- 
nellos  or  violoncello.  ^  As  regards  Herr  Kozeluch,  who  delivers  each 
song  to  you  for  2  ducats,  I  congratulate  you  and  the  English  and  Scotch 
publishers  on  a  taste  which  approves  him.  In  this  field  I  esteem  myself 
a  little  higher  than  Herr  Kozeluch  (Miserabilis),  and  I  hope  and  be- 
lieve that  you  have  sufficient  discrimination  to  do  me  justice. 

He  repeats  his  request  that  the  texts  be  sent  with  the  Scot- 
tish songs,  asks  if  violin  and  violoncello  are  to  be  treated  obbligato 
or  if  the  pianoforte  might  compose  an  ensemble  in  itself,  and 
closes,  after  having  again  demanded  9  ducats  in  gold,  with:  "we 
need  the  gold  here,  for  our  country  is  at  present  only  a  paper 
fountain,  and  I  in  particular,  for  I  shall  probably  leave  this  country 
and  go  to  England  and  then  to  Edinburgh  in  Scotland,  and  rejoice 
in  the  prospect  of  there  making  your  personal   acquaintaince." 

The  letter  to  Brunswick  which  follows,  has  been  printed  with 
the  date  1809;  but  in  that  year  Beethoven  was  not  in  the  Pa- 
squalati  house;  he  was  then  on  the  most  cordial  terms  with  Oliva 
(barring  the  disagreement  at  Teplitz  in  1811);  and  his  satisfaction 
with  the  "honorable  decree" — the  annuity  contract — which  re- 
tained him  in  Vienna,  was  at  the  flood.  The  date,  1812,  renders 
every  point  in  the  letter,  except  who  is  meant  by  "R,"  perfectly 
intelligible.2  "T"  is  the  manuscript  Trio,  Op.  97;  "S,"  the 
printed  sonata,  "Les  Adieux,  etc.,"  Op.  81a;  "the  quartet"  is 
Op.  95,  also  in  manuscript;  "nothing  decisive"  refers  to  the  non- 
receipt  of  the  desired  written  instructions  from  Kinsky  and 
Lobkowitz  to  their  cashiers  respecting  the  notes  of  redemption, 
and  the  "unhappy  war"  was  that  movement  by  Napoleon  which 
proved  to  be  the  fatal  invasion  of  Russia. 

The  letter  reads: 

Dear  friend!    Brother! 

I  ought  to  have  written  you  earlier;  I  did  so  1000  times  in  my  heart. 
You  ought  to  have  received  the  T.  and  S.  much  earlier;  I  cannot  under- 
stand how  R.  could  have  detained  these  so  long  from  you.  To  the  best 
of  my  recollection  I  told  you  that  I  would  send  both  sonata  and  trio,  do  as 

iRere  Beethoven  was  mistaken.  Haydn  composed  accompaniments  for  a  volume 
of  Scottish  songs  for  Napier,  a  London  publisher,  without  ritornellos  or  violoncello;  he 
wrote  as  Beethoven  wrote  for  Thomson — with  violoncello  part  as  well  as  ritornellos. 
In  a  later  letter  (of  February  19)  the  same  error  is  repeated. 

^Laub  and  Jahn  read  "R";  Kochel,  "M."  The  former  might  be  the  publisher 
Rizzi,  the  latter  Mollo. 


220  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

you  feel  inclined,  keep  the  sonata  or  send  it  to  Forrayi  as  you  please, 
the  quartet  was  designed  for  you  long  ago,  my  disorderliness  alone  is  to 
blame  that  you  receive  it  only  now.  And  speaking  of  disorder  I  am 
unfortunately  compelled  to  tell  you  that  it  still  persecutes  me  on  every 
hand,  nothing  decisive  has  been  done  in  my  affairs;  the  unhappy  war 
may  delay  the  final  settlement  still  more  or  make  the  matter  worse. 
At  one  time  I  resolve  upon  one  thing,  at  another  time  upon  a  different 
one,  unfortunately  I  must  remain  in  the  neighborhood  until  the  matter 
is  settled.  O  unhappy  decree,  seductive  as  a  siren,  against  which  I 
should  have  stopped  my  ears  with  wax  and  had  myself  bound  so  that  I 
could  not  sign,  like  Ulysses.  If  the  billows  of  war  roll  nearer  here  I  shall 
come  to  Hungary;  perhaps  in  any  event,  if  I  must  care  for  my  miserable 
self  I  shall  no  doubt  beat  my  way  through — away,  nobler,  loftier  plans! 
Infinite  are  our  strivings,  the  vulgar  puts  an  end  to  all! 

Farewell  dear  brother,  be  such  to  me,  I  have  no  one  to  whom  I  can 
give  the  name,  do  as  much  good  around  you  as  the  evil  times  will  permit. 

In  the  future  put  the  following  directions  on  the  coverings  of  letters 
to  me. 

"To  H.  B.  V.  Pasqualati." 

The  rascal  Oliva  (no  noble  r-s-1  however)  is  going  to  Hungary,  do  not 
have  too  much  to  do  with  him;  I  am  glad  that  this  connection  which  was 
brought  about  by  sheer  necessity,  will  by  this  be  entirely  broken  off. — 
More  by  word  of  mouth — I  am  now  in  Baden,  now  here — to  be  inquired 
for  in  Baden  at  the  Sauerhof . 

The  cause  of  the  estrangement  between  Beethoven  and 
Oliva  is  hinted  at  in  two  letters  from  Oliva  to  Varnhagen.  On 
March  25,  Oliva  writes:  "I  should  like  to  write  you  a  great  deal 
about  the  things  that  sadden  me,  about  Stoll,  and  Beethoven 
still  more,  but  I  must  postpone  it — I  was  ill  lately  and  it  moves  me 
greatly  to  write  about  things  which  are  so  painful";  and  in  a  letter 
of  June  3,  after  asking  Varnhagen  in  behalf  of  Beethoven  to  de- 
liver a  letter  to  Prince  Kinsky  and  seek  to  persuade  the  Prince  to 
come  to  a  decision  in  the  matter  of  paying  the  annuity  contract 
in  notes  of  redemption,  he  adds:  "Concerning  my  unfortunate 
affairs  I  can  onh'  say  that  Of."  [Offenheimer,  the  Vienna  banker, 
Oliva's  employer,  is  meant]  "has  treated  me  very  shabbily  and 
I  am  compelled  to  seek  another  engagement,  perhaps  I  shall 
accept  Beethoven's  renewed  offer  and  go  with  him  to  England. 
Stoll  cheated  me  in  a  very  miserable  manner  and  even  sought  to 
bring  about  a  rupture  with  Beethoven,  in  which  he  was  almost 
successful;  I  am  completely  separated  from  him."  Beethoven's 
wrath,  to  which  he  gave  expression  in  his  letter  to  Brunswick,  seems 
to  have  been  assuaged  and  their  friendship  continued  as  before 
until  the  departure  of  Oliva  for  Russia  in  1820. 

^"Andreas  Baron  von  Forraj',  husband  of  Countess  Julie  Brunswiek,  a  cousin 
of  Count  Franz  Brunswick,  was  a  good  pianoforte  player  and  great  music  lover,"  says 
Kochel. 


Notable  Gathering  at  Teplitz  221 

There  is  a  little  Trio  in  one  movement,  which  bears  the 
superscription  in  Beethoven's  hand:  "Vienna,  June  2,  ISI'2.  For 
my  little  friend  INIax.  Brentano  to  encourage  her  in  pianoforte 
playing."  On  one  of  his  visits  to  the  Brentanos,  soon  after,  "the 
little  maiden,  whom  he  occasionally  teased,  in  a  fit  of  childish 
petulance  unexpectedly  poured  a  bottle  of  ice-cold  water  over 
his  head  when  he  was  overheated."^ 

This  was  the  year  in  which  Beethoven  allowed  a  mask 
to  be  taken,  at  the  desire  of  Streicher,  who  wished  to  add  his  bust 
to  those  which  already  adorned  his  pianoforte  warerooms.  The 
bust  was  executed  by  Professor  Klein,  a  pupil  of  the  famous 
sculptor  Fischer,  and  still  adorns  the  hall  for  which  it  was  designed. 
The  effigy  is  the  one  which  has  been  so  often  copied  and  is 
generally  attributed  to  Dannhauser.  That  artist  was  born  in  1805, 
and  must  have  been  indeed  remarkably  precocious,  if  Beethoven 
consented  to  have  him,  at  the  age  of  seven  years,  plaster  his  face 
with  gypsum!  In  May,  the  son  of  the  Corsican  advocate 
Bonaparte  held  court  at  Dresden  and  received  his  father-in-law, 
Emperor  Franz,  Frederick  William  of  Prussia,  the  princes  of  the 
Rheinbund,  etc.,  etc.  Before  the  end  of  June,  he  had  crossed  the 
Niemen  with  his  half  million  of  men  on  his  fatal  march  to  Moscow. 
As  if  from  a  presentiment  and  in  the  hope  of  the  disastrous  failure 
of  the  foolhardy  invasion  of  Russia,  Teplitz  (that  neutral  ground, 
but  central  point  of  plot  and  agitation  against  the  parvenu 
Emperor)  became  the  scene  of  a  virtual  congress  of  imperial 
personages,  or  their  representatives,  accompanied  by  families, 
ministers  and  retinues.  Ostensibly  they  met  for  health,  recreation, 
social  diversion;  but  views  and  opinions  were  exchanged  and  ar- 
rangements made  for  such  concerted  action  as  the  result  in  Russia 
might  render  politic.  Herr  Aug.  Rob.  Hiekel,  Magisterial 
Adjunct  in  Teplitz,  has  kindly  communicated  copious  excerpts 
from  the  lists  of  arrivals  that  summer,  from  which  these  are 
selected,  through  the  friendly  mediation  of  Dr.  Schebek  of 
Prague,  which  is  gratefully  acknowledged: 

May  29.  Emperor  Franz,  with  a  large  retinue — Wrbna,  Althaer, 
Kinsky,  Zichy,  etc.,  etc. 

June  4.  Marie  Louise,  Empress  of  France  and  retinue;  the  Grand 
Duke  of  Wtirzburg  and  retinue. 

July  2.  The  Empress  of  Austria  and  household;  the  Duke  Anton 
of  Saxony,  with  wife  and  household. 

July  7.  The  Duke  of  Saxe- Weimar. 

July  14.  The  King  of  Saxony  with  wife  and  royal  household. 

^Related  by  Court  Councillor  Wittescheck  and  confirmed  by  Schindler,  who  had 
"this  fact"  from  Maximiliane — then  Frau  von  Plittersdorf. 


222  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

July  25.  Prince  Maximilian  of  Saxony  with  wife  and  royal  house- 
hold. 

August  11,  15.  Prince  Wittgenstein,  Baron  von  Humboldt,  and  the 
Prince  of  Curland,  in  Prussian  service,  etc.,  etc. 

Passing  from  the  royal  and  diplomatic  circles,  we  note: 

April  19.  Baroness  von  der  Recke,  with  Demoiselle  Meissner  and 
Herr  Tiedge. 

Jidy  7.  Herr  Ludwig  van  Beethoven,  Composer,  of  Vienna,  lives 
in  the  Eiche,  No.  62. ' 

July  8.  Herr  Carl,  Prince  von  Lichnowsky. 

July  15.  Hr.  Johann  Wolfgang  von  Goethe,  Grand  Ducal  Privy 
Councillor  of  Weimar,  etc.,  etc.,  in  the  Gold.  Schiff,  No.  116. 

July  24.  Herr  Ludwig  Baron  von  Arnim,  landowner,  with  wife, 
then  his  sister-in-law,  Frau  v.  Savigny,  of  Berlin. 

August  5.  Hr.  Joachim,  Baron  v.  Muench-Bellinghausen. 

August  7.  Hr.  Clemens  Brentano,  Partikulier  of  Prague. 

August  9.  Frau  Wilhelmine  Sebald,  wife  of  the  Royal  Prussian 
Commissioner  of  Justice,  with  sister  Madame  Sommer,  of  Berlin. 

August  18.  Hr.  Fried.  Karl  von  Savigny,  Professor,  etc.,  of  Berlin. 

August  19.  Hr.  Varnhagen  von  Ense,  R.  I.  Lieutenant  v.  Vogelsang, 
of  Prague. 

No  hint  anywhere  appears  that  Beethoven  renewed  his  in- 
tercourse with  Tiedge  and  Countess  von  der  Recke— they  had,  no 
doubt,  departed  before  his  arrival — nor  that  a  meeting  took  place 
between  him  and  any  one  of  those  persons  who  arrived  on  and 
between  the  1st  of  August  and  the  19th  of  the  same  month. 
With  Varnhagen,'-  too,  the  meetings  during  the  sojourn  at  Teplitz 
this  year  seem  to  have  been  few  and  fleeting.  On  June  9,  Varn- 
hagen had  reported  to  Oliva  in  Vienna  concerning  the  success  of 
his  visit  to  Prince  Kinsky.  On  July  5  Beethoven  arrived  in  Prague 
in  company  with  Oliva's  friend  Willisen.  Varnhagen  writes  to 
Rahel  on  July  2:  "I  am  writing  after  the  arrival  of  Beethoven  and 
Willisen."  As  appears  from  a  letter  from  Beethoven  to  Princess 
Kinsky  dated  December  20,  1812,  Beethoven  called  upon  the 
Prince  and  received  60  ducats  on  account.  Unfortunately  he 
delayed  the  definitive  settlement  of  the  annuity  matter;  had  he 

'Dr.  Riemann,  who  believes  that  Beethoven's  "Immortal  Beloved"  was  Countess 
Therese  Brunswick  hut  places  the  love-letter,  or  letters,  in  the  year  1812,  accounts  for 
this  date  on  the  hypothesis  that  Beethoven  reached  Teplitz  (whence  he  assumes,  of 
course,  that  the  letters  were  sent)  on  the  fifth  of  the  month  but  was  registered  on  the 
seventh,  on  which  day  he  was  reported  from  his  lodgings. 

^The  following  information  about  Beethoven's  association  with  Varnhagen  in  the 
summer  of  1812,  and  much  that  is  new  about  Beethoven's  meetings  with  Goethe,  is  Dr. 
Riemann's  contribution  to  Thayer's  biography.  It  is  based  on  the  correspondence 
between  Varnhagen  and  Rahel  Levin,  a  study:  "Beethoven,  Goethe  und  Varnhagen  von 
Ense  mit  ungedrucktcn  liriefen  an  Beethoven,  Oliva,  Varnhagen,  etc.,"  by  Dr. 
Emil  Jacobs,  published  in  the  second  December  installment  of  "Die  Musik,"  1904,  and 
the  Weimar  Collection  of  Goethe's  letters. 


Beethoven  Meets  Goethe  223 

attended  to  it  at  once  he  would  have  been  spared  the  negotiations 
which  followed  the  sudden  death  of  the  Prince. 

On  July  14th,  Beethoven  wrote  a  letter  to  Varnhagen 
from  Teplitz  in  which  he  said:  "There  is  not  much  to  be 
said  about  Teplitz,  few  people  and  among  the  few  nothing 
extraordinary,  wherefore  I  live  alone!  alone!  alone!"  Three 
days  later  Beethoven  wrote  to  Breitkopf  and  Hartel,  promising 
some  corrections  in  the  Mass  in  C  with  the  words:  "We  say  to  you 
only  that  we  have  been  here  since  the  5th  of  July,  how  are  we? — on 
that  point  much  cannot  yet  be  said,  on  the  whole  there  are  not 
such  interesting  people  here  as  were  last  year  and  are  few — the 
multitude  seems  fewer  than  few." 

On  July  19,  Goethe  enters  Beethoven's  name  for  the  first  time 
among  his  "visits" — no  doubt  those  made  by  him.  On  the  same 
day  he  writes  to  his  wife,  who  had  gone  on  to  Karlsbad  for  a  cure: 

Say  to  His  Serene  Highness  Prince  Friedrich,  that  I  can  never  be 
with  Beethoven  without  wishing  that  it  were  in  the  goldenen  Strauss. 
A  more  self-contained,  energetic,  sincere  artist  I  never  saw.  I  can  under- 
stand right  well  how  singular  must  be  his  attitude  towards  the  world. 

Already  on  the  next  day  Beethoven  made  a  pleasure  trip  with 
Goethe  to  Bilin,  and  on  the  21st  and  23rd  Goethe  spent  the  evening 
with  Beethoven.  Hence  the  note  on  the  21st,  "He  played  delight- 
fully." As  Arnim  and  Bettina  are  mentioned  in  the  list  of  arrivals, 
it  is  easily  possible  that  this  was  the  evening  concerning  which 
Bettina  reported  to  Piickler-Muskau.  On  the  27th  of  July,  Beet- 
hoven went  to  Karlsbad  on  the  advice  of  his  physician.  Dr.  Stauden- 
heimer,  and  he  did  not  return  to  Teplitz  till  after  September  8th, 
Goethe  having  already  journeyed  to  Karlsbad  on  August  11th. 
That  there  was  no  estrangement  between  them  is  proved  by  the 
letter  of  Goethe  to  Christiane  advising  him  to  give  Beethoven  a 
letter  addressed  to  him;  he  therefore  expected  Beethoven  to 
return,  which  he  did  not  do,  because  Staudenheimer  sent  him 
further  on  to  Franzensbrunn.  Goethe's  letter  says:  "Herr  van 
Beethoven  went  from  here  to  Karlsbad  a  few  days  ago;  if  you  can 
find  him,  he  would  bring  me  a  letter  in  the  shortest  time."  On 
August  2nd,  Beethoven  is  still  looked  upon  as  the  possible  courier: 
"If  I  receive  the  consignment  through  Beethoven  I  will  write  again, 
then  nothing  more  will  be  necessary"  (because  Goethe  himself  went 
to  Karlsbad).  In  Karlsbad  Goethe  and  Beethoven  may  have  met 
each  other  only  between  September  8  and  11.  On  September  12, 
Goethe  departed;  but  on  the  8th  he  had  written  in  his  journal: 
"Beethoven's  arrival." 


224  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

In   view   of   these   things,   Beethoven's   report   to  Archduke 

Rudolph  from  Franzensbrunn  on  August  12th,  which  will  appear 

presently,  will  be  read  with  greater  interest,  and  the  only  known 

utterance  of  Goethe  touching  Beethoven  in  the  letter  to  Zelter  be 

viewed  with  different  eyes: 

I  made  Beethoven's  acquaintance  in  Teplitz.  His  talent  amazed 
me;  unfortunately  he  is  an  utterly  untamed  personality,  not  altogether  in 
the  wrong  in  holding  the  world  to  be  detestable,  but  who  does  not  make  it 
any  the  more  enjoyable  either  for  himself  or  others  by  his  attitude.  He  is 
very  excusable,  on  the  other  hand,  and  much  to  be  pitied,  as  his  hearing 
is  leaving  him,  which,  perhaps,  mars  the  musical  part  of  his  nature  less 
than  the  social.  He  is  of  a  laconic  nature  and  will  become  doubly  so 
because  of  this  lack. 

Many  things  which  have  been  reported  and  had  so  much 
of  a  legendary  sound  as  to  cause  them  to  be  received  with  doubt, 
may,  under  the  circumstances,  serve  to  complete  the  story  of  the 
relations  between  Goethe  and  Beethoven;  such,  for  instance,  as  the 
familiar  anecdote  according  to  which,  when  Goethe  expressed  his 
vexation  at  the  incessant  greetings  from  passers-by,  Beethoven  is 
said  to  have  replied:  *'Do  not  let  that  trouble  your  Excellency, 
perhaps  the  greetings  are  intended  for  me."  This  is  variously 
related  to  have  occurred  in  a  carriage  at  Karlsbad  and  in  the  Prater, 
and  during  a  walk  together  on  the  old  walls  at  Vienna;  while  the 
late  Joseph  Tiirk,  the  Vienna  jeweler,  who  was  in  Teplitz  in  the 
summer  of  1812,  makes  that  place  the  scene  of  the  story.  It 
may,  therefore,  possibly  have  some  foundation  in  truth. 

Rochlitz,  in  1822,  reporting  a  conversation  with  Beethoven, 
has  him  say:  "In  Karlsbad  I  got  acquainted  with  him  (Goethe)"; 
but  he  makes  him  also  say:  "at  that  time,  while  I  was  veritably 
burning  with  enthusiasm  {so  recht  im  Feuer  sass),  I  also  conceived 
my  music  for  his  Egmont."  But  this  music  was  composed  two 
years  before.  Beethoven's  allusion  here  to  the  "Egmont"  music 
certainly,  and  to  meeting  with  Goethe  in  Karlsbad  probably,  if 
correctly  reported,  prove  nothing  but  the  truth  of  Schindler's 
observation:  "Beethoven's  memory  of  the  past  always  proved  to 
be  very  weak."  Dr.  Eduard  Knoll,  of  Karlsbad,  in  a  detailed  in- 
vestigation of  the  dates  of  the  visit  of  Goethe  and  Beethoven  to 
Teplitz  and  Karlsbad — which  also  fixes  August  6th  as  the  date  of 
the  Beethoven-Polledro  concert — comes  to  the  same  conclusion 
as  the  present  writer,  namely:  "In  all  probability  Beethoven 
came  in  contact  with  Goethe  only  in  Teplitz,  for  during  Beet- 
hoven's presence  in  Karlsbad,  it  can  be  proved  Goethe  was  not 
there.  But  even  in  Teplitz  the  period  of  their  mutual  presence 
was  a  rather  limited  one." 


Help  for  Sufferers  at  Baden  225 

On  July  26th,  a  large  portion  of  the  town  of  Baden,  near 
Vienna,  including  the  palace  of  Archduke  Anton,  the  cloister  of 
the  Augustines,  the  theatre  and  casino,  the  parochial  church  and 
the  palace  of  Count  Esterhazy,  was  destroyed  by  a  conflagration 
which  broke  out  between  noon  and  1  o'clock.  In  all,  117  houses 
were  burned.  "From  Karlsbad  under  date  of  August  7,  it  is 
reported,"  writes  the  "Wiener  Zeitung"  of  August  29th,  that 
"scarcely  had  the  misfortune  which  recently  befel  the  inhabitants 
of  Baden  become  known  here  before  the  well-known  musicians 
Herr  van  Beethoven  and  Herr  Polledro^  formed  the  benevolent 
purpose  to  give  a  concert  for  the  benefit  of  the  sufferers.  As 
many  of  the  guests  of  high  station  were  already  prepared  to 
depart  and  it  became  necessary  to  seize  the  favorable  moment, 
and  in  the  conviction  that  he  who  helps  quickly  helps  two- 
fold, this  purpose  was  carried  out  within  twelve  hours.  .  .  . 
Universal  and  rousing  applause  and  receipts  amounting  to  954 
florins,  Vienna  Standard,  rewarded  the  philanthropic  efforts" 
of  the  concert-givers.  Beethoven  himself  gives  a  very  different 
aspect  to  this  concert  in  a  letter  to  Archduke  Rudolph: 

Franzensbrunn,  August  12,  1812. 
It  has  long  been  my  duty  to  recall  myself  to  your  memory,  but  my 
occupations  in  behalf  of  my  health  in  part  and  partly  my  insignificance 
made  me  hesitate.  In  Prague  I  missed  Y.  I.  H.  by  just  a  night;  for 
when  I  went  in  the  morning  to  attend  upon  you,  you  had  departed  the 
night  before.  In  Toplitz  I  heard  Turkish^  music  4  times  a  day,  the  only 
musical  report  which  I  am  able  to  make.  /  ivas  much  together  with 
Goethe.  From  Toplitz,  however,  my  physician,  Staudenheim,  com- 
manded me  to  go  to  Karlsbad  and  from  there  here,  and  presumably  I 
shall  have  to  go  from  here  again  to  Toplitz — what  excursions!  and  yet 
but  little  certainty  touching  an  improvement  in  my  condition!  Till 
now  I  have  had  always  the  best  of  reports  concerning  the  state  of  Y.  I. 
H.'s  health,  also  your  continued  favorable  disposition  and  devotion  to 
the  musical  muse.  Of  an  academy  which  I  gave  for  the  benefit  of  the 
city  of  Baden  destroyed  by  fire  with  the  help  of  Herr  Polledro,  Y.  I.  H. 
is  likely  to  have  heard.  The  receipts  were  nearly  1000  florins  V.  S.  and 
if  I  had  not  been  embarrassed  in  the  arrangements  2000  florins  might 
easily  have  been  taken  in.  It  was,  so  to  speak,  a  poor  concert  for  the  poor. 
I  found  at  the  publisher's  here  only  some  of  my  earlier  sonatas  with 
violin,  and  as  Polledro  insisted  I  had  to  play  an  old  one.  The  entire 
concert  consisted  of  a  trio  played  by  Polledro,  the  violin  sonata  by  me, 
another  piece  by  Polledro  and  then  an  improvisation  by  me.  Meanwhile 
I  am  glad  that  the  poor  Badensians  benefited  somewhat  by  the  affair. 
Pray  you  accept  my  wish  for  your  high  welfare  and  the  prayer  to  be 
graciously  remembered  by  you. 

^Giovanni  Battista  Polledro  (1781-1853),  violinist,  concertmaster  in  Dresden  in 
1814,  Court  Chapelmaster  in  Turin  in  1824. 

''By  Turkish  music  is  meant  military  music  with  drums,  cymbals,  etc. 


226  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

Three  days  before,  Beethoven  had  written  in  a  letter  to 
Breitkopf  and  Hartel : 

I  must  refrain  from  writing  more,  and  instead  splash  around  in  the 
water  again.  Scarcely  have  I  filled  my  interior  with  an  ample  quantity 
of  it  than  I  must  have  it  dashed  over  my  exterior.  I  will  answer  the  rest 
of  your  letter  soon.  Goethe  is  too  fond  of  the  atmosphere  of  the  Courts,  more 
so  than  is  becoming  to  a  poet.  Why  laugh  at  the  absurdities  of  virtuosi 
when  poets  who  ought  to  be  the  first  teachers  of  a  nation,  forget  all  else 
for  the  sake  of  this  glitter. 

Beethoven  arrived  in  Franzensbrunn  on  August  8,  and  on 
September  7  returned  to  Karlsbad,  where  he  remained  only  a  few 
days;  after  the  16th  of  September,  he  was  again  in  Teplitz.^  His 
arrival  in  Franzensbrunn  was  simultaneous  with  that  of  the  family 
Brentano  from  Vienna. 

Madame  von  Arnim  in  her  letter  to  Puckler-Muskau  gives 
some  account  of  the  intercourse  between  Goethe  and  Beethoven: 

They  got  acquainted  with  each  other  in  Teplitz.  Goethe  was  with 
him!  he  played  for  him;  seeing  that  Goethe  appeared  to  be  greatly  moved 
he  said:  "O,  Sir,  I  did  not  expect  that  from  you;  I  gave  a  concert  in  Berlin 
several  years  ago,  I  did  my  best  and  thought  that  I  had  done  really  well 
and  was  counting  on  considerable  applause,  but  behold!  when  I  had 
given  expression  to  my  greatest  enthusiasm,  there  was  not  the  slightest 
applause,  that  was  too  much  for  me.  I  could  not  understand  it;  but  the 
riddle  was  finally  resolved  by  this:  the  Berlin  public  is  extremely  cultured 
and  waved  its  thanks  to  me  with  handkerchiefs  wet  with  the  tears  of  emo- 
tion. This  was  all  wasted  on  a  rude  enthusiast  like  myself;  I  had  thought 
that  I  had  merely  a  romatic,  not  an  artistic  audience  before  me.  But  I 
accept  it  gladly  from  you,  Goethe;  when  your  poems  went  through  my 
brain  they  threw  off  music  and  I  was  proud  to  think  that  I  could  try  to 
swing  myself  up  to  the  same  heights  which  you  had  reached,  but  I  never 
knew  it  in  my  life  and  would  least  of  all  have  done  it  in  your  presence, 
here  enthusiasm  would  have  had  to  have  an  entirely  different  outlet. 
You  must  know  yourself  how  good  it  feels  to  be  applauded  by  intelligent 
hands;  if  you  do  not  recognize  me  and  esteem  me  as  a  peer,  who  shall  do 
so.'  By  which  pack  of  beggars  shall  I  permit  myself  to  be  understood.^" 
Thus  did  he  push  Goethe  into  a  corner,  who  at  first  did  not  know  how  he 
could  set  matters  to  rights,  for  he  felt  that  Beethoven  was  right.  The 
Empress  and  the  Austrian  archdukes  were  in  Teplitz  and  Goethe  was 
greatly  distinguished  by  them,  and  it  was  by  no  means  a  matter  of  in- 
difference to  him  to  disclose  his  devotion  to  the  Empress;  he  intimated 
as  much  with  much  solemn  modesty  to  Beethoven.  "Nonsense,"  said 
the  latter,  "that's  not  the  way;  you're  doing  no  good  by  such  methods, 
you  must  plainly  make  them  understand  what  they  have  in  having  you 
or  they  will  never  find  out;  there  isn't  a  princess  who  will  appreciate 
Tasso  any  longer  than  the  shoe  of  vanity  squeezes  her  foot — I  treated 

^Dr.  Riemann  adds:  "perhaps  because  he  had  heard  that  the  Sebalds  were  in 
Teplitz";  but,  as  the  letter  to  the  Archduke  shows,  he  was  already  expecting  to  be  ordered 
back  to  Teplitz  on  August  12. 


Rebuking  the  Courtier  Goethe  227 

them  differently;  when  I  was  asked  to  give  lessons  to  Duke  Rainer, ^  he 
let  me  wait  in  the  antechamber,  and  for  that  I  gave  his  fingers  a  good 
twisting;  when  he  asked  me  why  I  was  so  impatient  I  said  that  he  had 
wasted  my  time  in  the  anteroom  and  I  could  wait  no  longer  with  patience. 
After  that  he  never  let  me  wait  again;  yes,  I  would  have  showed  him  that 
that  was  a  piece  of  folly  which  only  shows  their  bestiality.  I  said  to  him: 
"You  can  hang  an  order  on  one,  but  it  would  not  make  him  the  least  bit 
better;  you  can  make  a  court  councillor  or  a  privy  councillor,  but  not  a 
Goethe  or  a  Beethoven;  for  that  which  you  cannot  make  and  which  you 
are  far  from  being,  therefore,  you  must  learn  to  have  respect,  it  will  do 
you  good."  While  they  were  walking  there  came  towards  them  the  whole 
court,  the  Empress  and  the  Dukes;  Beethoven  said:  "Keep  hold  of  my 
arm,  they  must  make  room  for  us,  not  we  for  them."  Goethe  was  of  a 
different  opinion,  and  the  situation  became  awkward  for  him;  he  let  go  of 
Beethoven's  arm  and  took  a  stand  at  the  side  with  his  hat  off,  while 
Beethoven  with  folded  arms  walked  right  through  the  dukes  and  only 
tilted  his  hat  slightly  while  the  dukes  stepped  aside  to  make  room  for  him, 
and  all  greeted  him  pleasantly;  on  the  other  side  he  stopped  and  waited 
for  Goethe,  who  had  permitted  the  company  to  pass  by  him  where  he 
stood  with  bowed  head.  "Well,"  he  said,  "I've  waited  for  you  because 
I  honor  and  respect  you  as  you  deserve,  but  you  did  those  yonder  too 
much  honor."  -^    . 

In  these  passages  we  have  the  substance  of  a  large  portion  of 
the  famous  third  of  the  Beethoven-Bettina  letters.  Are  they  an 
abstract  of  that  letter  or  is  the  letter  an  expansion  of  them?  In 
other  words,  the  question  is  forced  upon  us:  Is  that  letter  authen- 
tic? The  last  paragraph  of  the  Puckler  letter  affords  a  decisive 
answer:  "Afterward  Beethoven  came  running  to  us  and  told  us 
everything,  and  was  as  happy  as  a  child  at  having  teased  Goethe 
so  greatly,  etc.,  etc."  Who  were  they  to  whom  Beethoven  came 
running.?  They  are  named  in  Herr  Hiekel's  list  of  visitors: 
Ludwig  (Achim)  von  Arnim,  his  young  wife  Bettina  Brentano 
and  Frau  von  Savigny,  her  sister!  In  the  pseudo-letter  we  read: 
"Yesterday  we  met  the  entire  imperial  family."  Therefore,  if 
the  letter  to  Puckler  be  true— and  it  bears  all  the  marks  of  being 
so— and  if  the  other  be  authentic,  Beethoven  is  made  to  relate  the 
story  one  day  and  write  a  long  letter  containing  it  to  the  same  per- 
son the  next!  It  follows:  when  such  a  letter  in  Beethoven's 
well-known  handwriting  shall  be  seen  and  accepted  as  authentic 
by  competent  judges,  its  genuineness  may  be  conceded  but, 
henceforth,  until  then,  never.^ 

Beethoven  returned  to  Teplitz  with  no  amelioration,  but 
rather  an  increase  of  his  maladies,  and  was  compelled  to  remain 

'Meaning  Rudolph. 

2The  credit  of  suggesting  this  crushing  argument  against  the  authenticity  of  the 
letter  belongs  to  Dr.  Deiters. — A.W.T. 


228  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

until  near  or  perhaps  quite  the  end  of  September.  To  his  great 
satisfaction,  he  found  there  the  young  lady  who  had  so  power- 
fully attracted  him  the  previous  summer.  The  character  of 
their  renewed  acquaintance  is  sufficiently  obvious  from  the  series 
of  notes  following,  which  are  given  in  the  order  which  appears  to 
correspond  best  with  their  contents. 

Teplitz,  September  16,  1812. 
For  Amalie  von  Sebald: 

Tyrant — I?  Your  tyrant?  Only  a  misapprehension  can  lead  you 
to  say  this  even  if  your  judgment  of  me  indicated  no  agreement  of 
thought  with  me!  But  no  blame  to  you  on  this  account;  it  is  rather  a 
piece  of  good  fortune  for  you — yesterday  I  was  not  wholly  well,  since  this 
morning  I  have  grown  worse;  something  indigestible  was  the  cause,  and 
the  irascible  part  of  me  appears  to  seize  upon  the  bad  as  well  as  the  good; 
but  do  not  apply  this  to  my  moral  nature;  people  say  nothing,  they  are 
only  people;  they  generally  see  only  themselves  in  others,  and  that  is 
nothing;  away  with  this,  the  good,  the  beautiful  needs  no  people.  It  is 
here  without  help  and  that,  after  all,  appears  to  be  the  reason  of  our  agree- 
ment. Farewell,  dear  Amalie;  if  the  moon  shines  brighter  for  me  this 
evening  than  the  sun  by  day  you  will  see  with  you  the  least  of  men. 

Your  friend 

Beethoven. 

Dear,  good  Amalie.  After  leaving  you  yesterday  my  condition 
grew  worse  and  from  last  night  till  now  I  have  not  left  my  bed,  I  wanted 
to  send  you  word  yesterday  but  thought  it  would  look  as  if  I  wanted  to 
appear  important  in  your  eyes,  so  I  refrained.  What  dream  of  yours  is 
this  that  you  are  nothing  to  me,  we  will  talk  about  that  by  word  of  mouth, 
dear  Amalie;  I  have  always  wished  only  that  my  presence  might  bring 
you  rest  and  peace,  and  that  you  would  have  confidence  in  me;  I  hope  to 
be  better  to-morrow  and  that  we  may  spend  the  few  hours  which  remain 
of  your  sojourn  in  the  enjoyment  of  nature  to  our  mutual  uplift  and  en- 
livenment.  Good  night,  dear  Amalie,  many  thanks  for  your  kind 
thought  of  your  friend 

Beethoven. 
I  will  look  through  Tiedge. 

I  only  wish  to  report  that  the  tyrant  is  slavishly  chained  to  his  bed. 
So  it  is!  I  shall  be  glad  if  I  get  along  with  the  loss  of  to-day.  My  prom- 
enade yesterday  at  sun-up  in  the  woods,  where  it  was  very  misty,  has  in- 
creased my  indisposition  and  probably  delayed  my  improvement.  Busy 
yourself  meanwhile  with  Russians,  Lapps,  Samoyeds,  etc.,  and  do  not 
sing  too  often  the  song,  "Es  lebe  hochi" 

Your  friend  Beethoven. 

I  am  already  better.  If  you  think  it  proper  to  come  to  me  alone 
you  can  give  me  a  great  pleasure,  but  if  you  think  it  improper  you  know 
how  I  honor  the  liberty  of  all  people,  and  no  matter  how  you  act 
in  this  and  all  other  cases,  according  to  your  principles  or  caprice,  you  will 
always  find  me  kind  and 

Your  friend  Beethoven. 


Beethoven  and  Amalie  von  Sebald  229 

I  cannot  yet  say  anything  definite  about  myself,  sometimes  I  feel 
better  and  next  things  appear  to  be  in  the  old  rut,  or  to  be  preparing  a 
long  sickness  for  me.  If  I  could  give  expression  to  my  tiiouglits  con- 
cerning my  sickness  as  definitely  as  I  can  express  my  thoughts  in  music, 
I  should  soon  help  myself.  To-day  too,  I  must  keep  to  my  bed.  Farewell, 
and  rejoice  in  your  good  health,  dear  Amalie. 

Your  friend 

Beethoven. 

The  sickness  does  not  seem  to  increase  exactly,  but  still  to  crawl 
onward,  so  no  standstill!  this  is  all  that  I  can  tell  you  about  it.  I  must 
give  up  the  thought  of  seeing  you  at  home,  mayhap  your  Samoyeds 
will  relieve  you  of  their  journey  to  the  Polar  regions,  if  so  come  to 

Beethoven. 

Thank  you  for  all  the  things  which  you  think  good  for  my  body,  the 
necessities  have  been  cared  for — also  my  illness  seems  less  o})stinate.  I 
deeply  sympathize  with  you  in  the  sorrow  which  must  come  to  you  be- 
cause of  the  sickness  of  your  mother.  You  know  that  I  like  to  see  you, 
but  I  cannot  receive  you  otherwise  than  lying  in  bed.  I  may  be  able  to 
get  up  to-morrow. — Farewell,  dear  Amalie — 

Your  somewhat  weak 

Beethoven. 
(In  Amalie  Sebald's  handwriting) : 

My  tyrant  commands  an  account — here  it  is: 
A  fowl  1  fl.  V.  S. 

The  soup      9  kr. 
With  all  my  heart  I  hope  that  it  may  agree  with  you. 

(In  Beethoven's  handwriting) : 

Tyrants  do  not  pay,  but  the  bill  must  be  receipted,  and  you  can  do 
that  best  if  you  come  in  person.  N.  B.  With  the  bill  to  your  humbled 
tyrant.  1 

Hard  upon  the  first  letter  to  Amalie  Sebald  there  followed  a 
letter  to  Breitkopf  and  Hartel  which  confirms  the  statement  con- 
cerning his  illness  and  its  cause  and  discloses  his  desire  to  leave 
Vienna,  though  temporarily,  for  concert  purposes. 

Beethoven's  health  must  have  rapidly  improved  after  the 
16th  of  September,  for  Chapelmaster  Gloggl's  "Linzer  Musik- 
Zeitung"  announces  his  arrival  in  that  place  on  October  5th: 

'An  album  once  owned  by  Amalie  Sebald  contains  this  inscription: 
Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

Den  Sie,  wenn  Sie  auch  wollten, 
Doch  nicht  vergessen  soUten. 

Teplitz,  August  8,  1812. 

The  couplet  might  be  rudely  translated: 

Whom,  even  if  you  would 

Forget,  you  never  should. 
"At  that  date,"  says  Thayer,  Beethoven  "was  not  in  Teplitz;  the  1812  should  doubtless 
be  1811,  and  was  probably  added  long  afterwards  by  some  one  who  knew  nothing  of 
their  meeting  the  previous  year." 


230  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

Now  we  have  had  the  long  wished  for  pleasure  of  having  within  our 
metropolis  for  several  days  the  Orpheus  and  greatest  musical  poet  of  our 
time,  Herr  L.  van  Beethoven,  and  if  Apollo  is  favorable  to  us  we  shall 
also  have  an  opportunity  to  admire  his  art  and  report  upon  it  to  the 
readers  of  this  journal. 

He  had  come  thither,  probably  direct  via  Prague  and  Budweis,  to 
pass  a  few  weeks  with  his  brother  Johann,  who  gave  him  a  large 
room  affording  him  a  delightful  view  of  the  Danube  with  its  busy 
landing-place  and  the  lovely  country  beyond.  Franz  Gloggl — 
later  a  music  publisher  in  Vienna,  then  a  youth  in  Linz — shortly 
before  his  death  wrote  down  his  reminiscences  of  the  composer, 
for  use  in  this  work. 

Beethoven  (he  wrote)  was  on  intimate  terms  of  friendship  with  my 
father,  chapelmaster  of  the  cathedral  in  Linz,  and  when  he  was  there  in 
1812,  he  was  at  our  house  every  day  and  several  times  took  meals  with  us. 
My  father  asked  him  for  an  Aequale  for  6  trombones,  as  in  his  collection 
of  old  instruments  he  had  a  soprano  and  a  quart  trombone,  ^  whereas  only 
alto,  tenor  and  bass  trombones  were  commonly  used.  Beethoven  wanted 
to  hear  an  Aequale  such  as  was  played  at  funerals  in  Linz,  and  my  father 
appointed  three  trombone  players  one  afternoon  when  Beethoven  was 
expected  to  dine  with  us  and  had  them  play  an  Aequale  as  desired,  after 
which  Beethoven  sat  down  and  composed  one  for  6-  trombones,  which  my 
father  had  his  trombonists  play,  etc. 

Among  the  cavaliers  who  were  in  Linz  was  Count  von  Donhoff,  a 
great  admirer  of  Beethoven,  who  gave  several  soirees  in  his  honor  during 
the  composer's  sojourn.  I  was  present  at  one  of  these.  Pieces  were 
played  and  some  of  Beethoven's  songs  were  sung,  and  he  was  requested 
to  improvise  on  the  pianoforte,  which  he  did  not  wish  to  do.  A  table  had 
been  spread  with  food  in  an  adjoining  room  and  finally  the  company 
gathered  about  it.  I  was  a  young  lad  and  Beethoven  interested  me  so 
greatly  that  I  remained  always  near  him.  Search  was  made  for  him  in 
vain  and  finally  the  company  sat  down  without  him.  He  was  in  the  next 
room  and  now  began  to  improvise;  all  grew  quiet  and  listened  to  him. 
I  remained  standing  beside  him  at  the  pianoforte.  He  played  for  about 
an  hour  and  one  by  one  all  gathered  around  him.  Then  it  occurred  to 
him  that  he  had  been  called  to  the  table  long  before — he  hurried  from  his 
chair  to  the  dining-room.  At  the  door  stood  a  table  holding  porcelain 
dishes.  He  stumbled  against  it  and  the  dishes  fell  to  the  floor.  Count 
Donhoff,  a  wealthy  cavalier,  laughed  at  the  mishap  and  the  company 
again  sat  down  to  the  table  with  Beethoven.  There  was  no  more  thought 
of  playing  music,  for  after  Beethoven's  fantasia  half  of  the  pianoforte 
strings  were  broken.  I  recall  this  fantasia  because  I  was  so  fortunate  as 
to  have  heard  it  so  near  him. 

One  of  Beethoven's  memoranda,   copied   into   the   Fischoff 
Manuscript,  is  this:  "In  1812,  I  was  in  Linz  on  account  of  B." 

^A  bass  trombone  in  F,  a  fourth  lower  than  the  tenor  trombone. 
^A  slip  of  memory;  the  composition,  which  was  used  at  Beethoven's  funeral,  is  for 
4  trombones. 


Interference  with  a  Brother's  Affairs         231 

Supposing  this  B.  to  stand  for  Beethoven's  brother  it  confirms 
certain  very  unpleasant  information  obtained  in  Linz  (1860), 
from  perfectly  competent  authority,  namely,  that  the  principal 
object  of  the  journey  thither  was  to  interfere  in  Johann's  domestic 
affairs. 

Soon  after  coming  to  Linz,  the  apothecary,  being  unmarried 
and  having  a  house  much  too  large  for  his  necessities,  leased  a 
part  of  it  to  a  physician  from  Vienna,  whose  wife's  sister  some  time 
later  joined  them.  She,  Therese  Obermeyer,  was  described  as 
possessing  a  very  graceful  and  finely  porportioned  figure,  and  a 
pleasing,  though  not  beautiful,  face.  Johann  van  Beethoven 
soon  became  acquainted  with  her,  liked  her,  and  made  her  his 
housekeeper  and — something  more. 

When  it  is  considered,  that  the  apothecary  was  a  man  of  some 
thirty-five  years,  that  he  had  gained  his  present  position  entirely 
by  his  own  enterprise,  perseverance  and  good  fortune,  and  that, 
beyond  advice  and  remonstrance,  his  brother  had  no  more  right 
to  meddle  in  his  private  concerns  than  any  stranger,  it  seems  hardly 
credible  that  Beethoven,  with  all  his  eccentricities  of  character, 
could  have  come  to  Linz  with  precisely  this  purpose  in  view. 
But,  according  to  the  evidence,  this  was  so.  Had  the  motive  of 
his  visit  been  simply  fraternal  affection,  and  had  he  then  and  there 
first  discovered  his  brother's  improper  connection  with  Therese, 
he  could  justly  have  employed  earnest  expostulation  and  entreaty 
to  the  end  of  breaking  it  off — but  nothing  more;  if  unheeded,  he 
could  leave  the  house.  But  to  come  thither  for  this  express 
object,  and  employ  force  to  accomplish  it,  was  an  indefensible 
assumption  of  authority.  Such,  at  all  events,  was  Johann's 
opinion,  and  he  refused  to  submit  to  his  brother's  dictation. 
Excited  by  opposition,  Ludwig  resorted  to  any  and  every  means 
to  accomplish  his  purpose.  He  saw  the  Bishop  about  it.  He 
applied  to  the  civil  authorities.  He  pushed  the  affair  so  earnestly, 
as  at  last  to  obtain  an  order  to  the  police  to  remove  the  girl  to 
Vienna  if,  on  a  certain  day,  she  should  be  still  found  in  Linz.  The 
disgrace  to  the  poor  girl;  the  strong  liking  which  Johann  had  for 
her;  his  natural  mortification  at  not  being  allowed  to  be  master  in 
his  own  house;  these  and  other  similiar  causes  wrought  him  up 
almost  to  desperation.  Beethoven,  having  carried  his  point, 
might  certainly  have  borne  his  brother's  anger  with  equanimity; 
might  have  felt  pity  for  him  and  sought  to  soothe  him  in  his  trouble. 
But  no;  when  Johann  entered  his  room  with  reproaches  and  up- 
braidings,  he,  too,  became  angry  and  a  scene  ensued  on  which — 
let  the  curtain  be  drawn.     It  was,  unhappily,  more  disgraceful  to 


232  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

Ludwig  than  Johann.  The  apothecary,  to  use  the  language  of  the 
card-table,  still  had  the  commanding  trump.  Should  he  play  it? 
The  answer  is  in  the  parochial  register  at  Linz.  It  is  the  record  of 
marriage,  November  8th,  1812,  of  Johann  van  Beethoven  to 
Therese  Obermeyer.  There  is  some  slight  reason  to  think  that  the 
journey  to  Linz  was  suddenlj^  undertaken  in  consequence  of  a  false 
report  that  Johann  was  about  to  marry  Therese,  and  with  the 
intention  to  prevent  it.  Whether  this  be  true  or  not  he  lost  the 
game  and  immediately  hastened  away  to  Vienna,  angry  and 
mortified  that  the  measures  he  had  taken  had  led  to  the  verv 
result  which  he  wished  to  prevent;  had  given  to  the  unchaste  girl 
the  legal  right  to  call  him  "brother,"  and  had  put  it  in  Johann's 
power — should  he  in  the  future  have  cause  to  rue  his  wedding-day 
— to  reproach  him  as  the  author  of  his  misfortune.  Indeed,  when 
that  unhappy  future  came,  Johann  always  declared  that  Ludwig 
had  driven  him  into  this  marriage;  how  the  composer  then  viewed 
the  matter,  we  shall  see  when  the  time  comes.  One  sister-in-law 
had  already  been  to  Beethoven  a  bitter  source  of  shame  and 
mortification ;  and  now  the  other  ? — Time  must  show.  Here  we 
part  from  the  apothecary,  and  it  will  be  long  before  we  meet  him 
again. 

Beethoven's  professional  occupation  in  Linz  was  the  comple- 
tion of  the  Eighth  Symphony,  which,  on  Johann  van  Beethoven's 
doubtful  authority,  was  wrought  out  from  the  sketches  during 
walks  to  and  upon  the  Postlingberg.^  Schindler's  account  of  the 
origin  of  the  famous  Allegretto  Scherzando  adds  a  new  name  to 
our  dramatis  personoB. 

Johann  Nepomuk  Malzel  was  the  son  of  an  organ-builder  of 
Ratisbon.  He  received  a  thorough  musical  education,  and  be- 
gan life  on  his  own  account  as  a  performer  upon  and  a  teacher  of 
the  pianoforte  of  no  mean  ability;  but  his  extraordinary  taste  for 
mechanism  and  talent  for  invention  soon  led  him  to  exchange  the 
music-room  for  the  workshop.  It  is  somewhere  related,  that, 
having  been  appointed  "Court  Mechanician"  at  Vienna  and  hav- 
ing a  work  to  execute  for  the  Empress,  rooms  were  assigned  him, 
in  1809,  in  Schonbrunn.  Soon  after  this.  Napoleon  took  possession 
of  that  palace,  and  while  there  played  a  game  with  Kempelen's 
chess  player  (of  which  Malzel  had  become  proprietor),  Allgaier 

'Beethoven  had  begun  to  work  industriously  on  the  Eighth  Symphony  before  he 
went  to  Teplitz;  indeed,  he  seems  to  have  reported  to  Breitkopf  and  Hartel  in  a  letter 
which  has  not  been  preserved,  but  which  was  sent  from  Franzensbrunn,  that  he  had 
finished  two  symphonies;  for  the  "Allg.  Mus.  Zcit."of  September  2,  1812,  says:  "L.  van 
Beethoven,  who  took  the  cures  first  at  Tciplitz,  then  in  Karlsbad  and  is  now  in  Eger,  has 
....  again  composed  two  newsvmphonies."  But  the  autograph  bears  the  inscription: 
"Linz  in  October,  1812." 


Association  with  Malzel  233 

being  (probably)  the  person  concealed  in  the  chest.  The  truth 
of  the  anecdote  we  cannot  warrant.  From  Schonbriinn,  Malzel 
removed  to  rooms  in  Stein's  pianoforte  manufactory,  and  began 
the  construction  of  a  new  and  improved  panharmonicon,  having 
sold  his  first  one  in  Paris.  This  was  his  principal  employment  in 
the  year  1812.  Carl  Stein  (from  whom  the  author  derived  this 
information)  remembered  distinctly  the  frequent  visits  of  Beet- 
hoven to  Malzel's  workshop,  the  great  intimacy  of  the  two  men, 
and  the  persevering  efforts  of  the  mechanician  to  construct  an 
ear-trumpet  which  the  deaf  composer  should  find  of  practical 
use  and  benefit.  It  is  well  known,  that  of  the  four  instruments 
constructed,  one  was  so  far  satisfactory  as  to  be  used  occasionally 
for  some  eight  or  ten  years.  The  necessity  and  practicability  of 
inventing  some  kind  of  machine  by  which  composers  should 
be  able  to  indicate  exactly  the  duration  of  a  piece  of  music — in 
other  words,  the  rapidity  of  its  execution — had  been  for  several 
years  subjects  of  wide  discussion.  An  article  in  the  "Wiener 
Vaterlandische  Blatter"  of  October  13,  1813,  entitled  "Malzel's 
musikalischer  Chronometer,"  reads: 

On  his  journeys  through  Germany,  France  and  Italy,  as  a  conse- 
quence of  his  approved  knowledge  of  mechanics  and  music,  Herr  Malzel 
had  repeatedly  been  solicited  by  the  most  celebrated  composers  and  con- 
servatories to  devote  his  talent  to  an  invention  which  should  be  useful  to 
the  many,  after  many  efforts  by  others  had  proved  defective.  He 
undertook  the  solution  of  the  problem  and  succeeded  in  completely  satis- 
fying the  first  composers  of  Vienna  with  the  model  which  was  recently 
exhibited,  which  will  be  followed  soon  by  the  recognition  of  all  others  in 
the  countries  mentioned.  The  model  has  endured  the  most  varied  tests 
which  the  composers  Salieri,  Beethoven,  Weigl,  Gyrowetz  and  Hummel 
applied  to  it.  Court  Chapelmaster  Salieri  made  the  first  application  of 
this  chronometer  to  a  work  of  magnitude,  Haydn's  "Creation,"  and  noted 
all  the  tempos  according  to  the  different  degrees  on  the  score,  etc.  Herr 
Beethoven  looks  upon  this  invention  as  a  welcome  means  with  which  to 
secure  the  performance  of  his  brilliant  compositions  in  all  places  in  the 
tempos  conceived  by  him,  which  to  his  regret  have  so  often  been  mis- 
understood. 

The  "Allg.  Mus.  Zeit."  of  December  1st  devotes  some  two 
pages  to  the  instrument,  from  which  a  few  words  of  description 
are  enough  for  our  purpose: 

The  external  parts  of  this  chronometer  ....  consist  of  a  small 
lever  which  is  set  in  motion  by  a  toothed  wheel,  the  only  one  in  the  whole 
apparatus,  by  means  of  which  and  the  resultant  blows  on  a  little  wooden 
anvil,  the  measures  are  divided  into  equal  intervals  of  time. 

That  "chronometer"  was  not  what  is  now  known  as  Malzel's 
"metronome." 


234  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

It  is  now  to  be  seen  whether  Schindler's  account  of  the 
Allegretto  Scherzando  will  bear  examination.     It  is  this: 

In  the  Spring  of  the  year  ISl'^,  Beethoven,  the  mechanician  Malzel, 
Count  von  Brunswick,  Stephan  von  Breuning  and  others,  sat  together  at 
a  farewell  meal,  the  first  about  to  undertake  the  visit  to  his  brother 
Johann  in  Linz,  there  to  work  out  his  Eighth  Symphony  and  afterward 
to  visit  the  Bohemian  baths — Malzel,  however,  to  journey  to  England  to 
exploit  his  famous  trumpet-player  automaton.  The  latter  project  had 
to  be  abandoned,  however,  and  indefinitely  postponed.  The  time- 
machine — metronome — invented  by  this  mechanician,  was  already  in 
such  a  state  of  forwardness  that  Salieri,  Beethoven,  Weigl  and  other 
musical  notabilities  had  given  a  public  testimonial  of  its  utility.  Beetho- 
ven, generally  merry,  witty,  satirical,  "unbuttoned,"  as  he  called  it, 
at  this  farewell  meal  improvised  the  following  canon,  which  was  at  once 
sung  by  the  participants. 

Schindler  here  prints  the  now  well-known  canon  and  adds: 
*'Out  of  this  canon  was  developed  the  Allegretto  Scherzando." 
That  Malzel's  "ta,  ta,  ta,"  suggested  the  Allegretto,  and  that  at 
a  farewell  meal  the  canon  on  that  subject  was  sung,  is  doubtless 
true;  but  it  is  by  no  means  certain  that  the  canon  preceded  the 
symphony.  Schindler  was  then  a  youth  of  17  years,  "in  the  last 
course  of  the  gymnasium  at  Olmiitz,"  and  consequently  relates  his 
story  on  the  authority  of  another — Count  Brunswick.  There 
may  have  been  a  slight  lapse  of  memory  on  the  part  of  Brunswick 
as  to  date,  but  it  is  far  more  probable  that  Schindler  unconsciously 
adapted  what  he  heard  to  his  own  preconceived  notions.  At  all 
events,  the  preceding  pages  show  that  he  was  in  the  wrong  as  to 
the  metronome,  as  to  the  proposed  journeys  of  both  Beethoven  and 
Malzel,  and  therefore,  probably,  as  to  the  date  of  the  farewell 
meal.  On  this  last  point,  the  lists  of  "Arrivals  in  Vienna"  offer 
very  strong  negative  evidence,  namely:  Forray  comes  from 
Pesth-Ofen  in  1809-1  Q-ll;  Countess  Brunswick,  1811;  but  no 
Count  Brunswick  after  March,  1810,  until  the  end  of  February, 
1813 — four  months  after  the  Eighth  Symphony  is  completed. 
At  that  date,  we  shall  find  reasons  in  plenty  for  the  farewell 
gathering — though  none  in  the  "Spring  of  1812."  The  canon 
could  not  have  contained  the  word  "Metronome"  until  1817; 
nor  could  the  "ta,  ta,  ta,"  have  represented  the  beat  of  a  pendulum 
of  an  instrument  not  yet  invented;  it  was  an  imitation  of  the  beat 
of  the  lever  on  the  anvil. 

The  Conversation  Books  show,  in  Schindler's  own  hand, 
how  he  became  possessed  of  the  canon.  Beethoven,  during  the 
first  years  of  their  acquaintance,  was  in  the  habit  of  meeting 
frequently     evenings     a     captain    of    the    Arcierenlcihgarde    des 


Canon  and  Allegretto  Scherzando  235 

Kaisers,  a  certain  Herr  Pinterics,  well  known  then  in  musical 
circles,  and  Oliva,  "in  a  retired  room  in  the  Blumenstock  in  the 
Ballgasschen."     In  a  Conversation  Book  (1830)  Schindler  writes: 

The  motif  of  the  canon,  2d  movement  of  the  8th  symphony — I  can- 
not find  the  original — you  will,  I  hope,  have  the  kindness  to  write  it  down 
for  me.  Herr  Pintericks  at  that  time  sang  the  bass,  the  Captain  2d  tenor, 
Oliva  2d  bass.  [Again  in  1824]:  I  am  just  in  the  second  movement  of 
the  8th  symphony— ta,  ta,  ta — the  canon  on  Malzel — it  was  really  a  very 
jolly  evening  when  we  sang  this  canon  in  the  "Kamehl" — Malzel,  the 
bass.  At  that  time  I  still  sang  soprano.  I  think  it  was  the  end  of  1817.' 
The  time  when  I  was  permitted  to  appear  before  Your  Majesty — 
1816 — 1815 — after  the  performance  of  the  Symphony  in  A. — I  was  still 
young  at  that  time,  but  very  courageous,  wasn't  I? 

On  the  first  of  these  occasions,  therefore,  the  word  "Chro- 
nometer" must  have  been  sung;  on  the  second,  as  Malzel  had  re- 
turned to  Vienna  with  the  "Metronome,"  that  word  was  substi- 
tuted, and  of  course  retained  in  the  copy  made  in  1820.  The 
necessary  conclusion  is  this:  If  the  canon  was  written  before  the 
Symphony,  it  was  not  improvised  at  the  farewell  meal;  if  it  was 
improvised  on  that  occasion,  it  was  but  the  reproduction  of  the 
Allegretto  theme  in  canon-form. 

Pierre  Rode,  who  at  his  culmination  had  occupied  perhaps 
the  first  place  among  living  violinists,  being  driven  from  Russia, 
made  a  concert  tour  in  Germany  and  came  in  December  to  Vienna. 
Spohr,  whose  judgment  of  violin  playing  cannot  be  impugned, 
had  heard  him  ten  years  before  with  delight  and  astonishment, 
and  now  again  in  a  public  concert  on  January  6.  He  now  thought 
that  he  had  retrograded;  he  found  his  playing  "cold  and  full  of 
mannerisms";  he  "missed  the  former  daring  in  the  overcoming 
of  difficulties,"  and  felt  himself  "particularly  unsatisfied  by  his 
cantabile  playing."  "The  public,  too,  seemed  dissatisfied,"  he 
says,  "at  least  he  could  not  warm  it  into  enthusiasm."  Still, 
Rode  had  a  great  name;  paid  to  and  received  from  the  nobles  the 
customary  homage;  and  exhibited  his  still  great  talents  in  their 
saloons.  Beethoven  must  have  still  thought  well  of  his  powers,  for 
he  now  took  up  and  completed  his  Sonata,  Op.  96,  to  be  played  at 
one  of  Lobkowitz's  evening  concerts  by  him  and  Archduke 
Rudolph.  From  the  tone  of  two  notes  to  the  Archduke  (printed 
by  Kochel),  the  composer  seems  to  have  been  less  satisfied  by 
Rode's  performances  than  he  had  expected  to  be: 

To-morrow  morning  at  the  earliest  hour,  the  copyist  will  be  able  to 
begin  on  the  last  movement,  as  I  meanwhile  am  writing  on  other  works, 

'Correct.     Malzel  was  then  for  a  few  months  again  in  Vienna. 


236  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

I  did  not  make  great  haste  for  the  sake  of  mere  punctuality  in  the  last 
movement,  the  more  because  I  had,  in  writing  it,  to  consider  the  playing 
of  Rode;  in  our  finales  we  like  rushing  and  resounding  passages,  but  these 
are  not  in  Rode's  style  and  this — embarrassed  me  a  little.  For  the  rest 
all  is  likely  to  go  well  on  Tuesday.  I  take  the  liberty  of  doubting  if  I 
can  appear  that  evening  at  Your  Imp.  Highness's,  notwithstanding  my 
zeal  in  service;  but  to  make  it  good  I  shall  come  to-morrow  morning, 
to-morrow  afternoon,  to  meet  the  wishes  of  my  exalted  pupil  in  all 
respects. 

The  date  of  the  concert  was  December  29th.  Therefore,  if 
the  sketches  for  the  second,  third  and  fourth  movements  of  this 
noble  sonata  do  not  belong  to  the  year  1811,  as  argued  near  the 
close  of  the  preceding  chapter,  the  entire  work,  except  the  first 
movement,  was  produced  in  twelve  or  fifteen  days  at  most. 

Though  it  may  be  slightly  in  advance  of  strict  chronological 
order,  it  would  seem  well  to  quote  here  what  Spohr  in  his  Auto- 
biography writes  of  his  personal  intercourse  with  Beethoven, 
It  is  interesting  and  doubly  acceptable  as  the  only  sketch  of  the 
kind  belonging  to  just  this  period;  it  is,  moreover,  trustworthy.  In 
general,  W'hat  he  relates  of  the  composer  in  that  work  so  abounds 
with  unaccountable  errors  as  to  necessitate  the  utmost  caution 
in  accepting  it;  it  is  pervaded  by  a  harsh  and  grating  tone;  and 
leaves  the  impression,  that  his  memory  retained  most  vividly  and 
unconsciously  exaggerated  whatever  tended  to  place  Beethoven  in 
a  ridiculous  light.  What  is  here  copied  is,  at  least  comparatively, 
free  from  these  objections: 

After  my  arrival  in  Vienna  (about  December  1),  I  at  once  hunted  up 
Beethoven,  but  did  not  find  him  and  therefore  left  my  card.  I  now 
hoped  to  meet  him  in  one  of  the  musical  soirees  to  which  I  was  frequently 
invited,  but  soon  learned  that  since  his  deafness  had  so  increased  that  he 
could  no  longer  hear  music  distinctly  in  all  its  context  he  had  with- 
drawn from  all  musical  parties  and,  indeed,  become  very  shy  of  society. 
I  made  another  attempt  to  visit  him,  but  again  in  vain.  At  last,  most 
unexpectedly,  I  met  him  in  the  eating-place  which  I  was  in  the  habit  of 
patronizing  every  Wednesday  with  my  wife.  I  had,  by  this  time,  al- 
ready given  a  concert  (December  17),  and  twice  performed  my  oratorio 
(January  21  and  24).  The  Vienna  newspapers  had  reported  favorably  upon 
them.  Hence,  Beethoven  knew  of  me  when  I  introduced  myself  to  him 
and  greeted  me  in  an  extremely  friendly  manner.  We  sat  down  together 
at  a  table,  and  Beethoven  became  very  chatty,  which  greatly  surprised 
the  table  company,  as  he  generally  looked  straight  ahead,  morose  and 
curt  of  speech.  It  was  a  difficult  task  to  make  him  understand,  as 
one  had  to  shout  so  loudly  that  it  could  be  heard  three  rooms  distant. 
Afterward,  Beethoven  came  often  to  this  eating-house  and  visited  me  at 
my  lodgings,  and  thus  we  soon  learned  to  know  each  other  well.  Beet- 
hoven was  frequently  somewhat  blunt,  not  to  say  rude;  but  an  honest 
eye  gleamed  from  under  his  bushy  eyebrows. 


Spohr's  Account  of  Beethoven       237 

After  my  return  from  Gotha  (end  of  May,  1813),  I  met  him  occasion- 
ally at  the  Theater-an-der-Wien,  hard  behind  the  orchestra,  where  Count 
Palffy  had  given  him  a  free  seat.  After  the  opera  he  generally  accom- 
panied me  home  and  spent  the  remainder  of  the  evening  with  me.  There 
he  was  pleasant  toward  Dorette  and  the  children.  He  very  seldom 
spoke  about  music.  When  he  did  so  his  judgments  were  very  severe  and 
so  decided  that  it  seemed  as  if  there  could  be  no  contradiction.  He 
did  not  take  the  least  interest  in  the  works  of  others;  for  this  reason  I 
did  not  have  the  courage  to  show  him  mine.  His  favorite  topic  of  con- 
versation at  the  time  was  severe  criticism  of  the  two  theatrical  manage- 
ments of  Prince  Lobkowitz  and  Count  Palffy.  He  was  sometimes  over- 
loud  in  his  abuse  of  the  latter  w'hen  we  were  still  inside  the  theatre,  so 
that  not  only  the  public  but  also  the  Count  in  his  office  might  have  heard 
him.  This  embarrassed  me  greatly  and  I  continually  tried  to  turn  the 
conversation  into  something  else.  The  rude,  repelling  conduct  of  Beet- 
hoven at  this  time  was  due  partly  to  his  deafness,  which  he  not  yet  learned 
to  endure  with  resignation,  partly  to  the  unsettled  condition  of  his 
financial  affairs.  He  was  not  a  good  housekeeper  and  had  the  ill-luck 
to  be  robbed  by  those  about  him.  So  he  often  lacked  necessities.  In 
the  early  part  of  our  acquaintance  I  once  asked  him,  after  he  had  been 
absent  from  the  eating-house:  "You  were  not  ill,  were  you?" — "My 
boots  were,  and  as  I  have  only  one  pair  I  had  house-arrest,"  was  the 
answer. 

Beethoven  had  other  cares,  troubles  and  anxieties  in  the  com- 
ing year — to  which  these  reminiscences  in  strictness  belong  and 
serve  as  a  sort  of  introduction — not  known  to  Spohr.  Theirs  w^as 
not  the  confidential  intercourse  which  lays  bare  the  heart  of  friend 
to  friend.  As  Varnhagen  last  year,  so  Theodor  Korner  this  and 
the  next  informs  us  that  Beethoven's  desire  again  to  try  his  for- 
tune on  the  operatic  stage  was  in  no  wise  abated.  On  June  6th 
the  youthful  poet  writes:  "If  Weinlig  does  not  intend  soon  to 
compose  my  Alfred,  let  him  send  it  back  to  me;  I  would  then, 
having  bettered  my  knowledge  of  the  theatre  and  especially  of 
opera  texts,  strike  out  several  things,  inasmuch  as  it  is  much  too 
long,  and  give  it  to  the  Karnthner  Theatre,  as  I  am  everlastingly 
plagued  for  opera  texts  by  Beethoven,  Weigl,  Gyrowetz,  etc." 
On  February  10,  1813,  he  writes:  "Beethoven  has  asked  me  for 
'The  Return  of  Ulysses.'  If  Gluck  were  alive,  that  would  be  a 
subject  for  his  Muse." 

The  ascertained  compositions  of  1812  were: 

I.  "Sinfonie.  L.  v.  Beethoven,  1812,  13ten  Mai."     A  major.  Op.  92. 

II.  "Trio  in  einem  Satze."  B-flat.  "Wien  am  2ten  Juni  1812.  Fur 
seine  kleine  Freundin  Max.  Brentano  zu  ihrer  Aufmunterung  im  Clavier- 
spielen." 

III.  "Sinfonia— Linz  im  Monath  October  1812."     F  major.  Op.  93. 

IV.  Three  Equali  for  four  trombones.    "Linz  den  2ten  9ber  1812." 

V.  Sonata  for  Pianoforte  and  Violin.    G  major.  Op.  96. 


238  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

VI.  Irish  airs  nearly  or  quite  completed  for  Thomson,  and 

VII.  Welsh  airs  probably  continued. 

The  publications: 

I.  Music  to  "Egmont"  except  the  overture.  Op.  84.  Breitkopf  and 
Hartel,  in  January. 

II.  Messa  a  quattro  voci  colV accompagnamento  delV Orchestra,  com- 
posta  da  Luigi  van  Beethoven.  "Drey  Hymnen  fUr  vier  Singstimmen  mit 
Begleitung  des  Orchesters,  in  Musik  gesetzt  und  Sr.  Durchlaucht  dem 
Herrn  Fursten  von  Kinsky  zugeeignet  von  Ludw.  v.  Beethoven,  86. 
Werk.    Partitur."     Breitkopf  and  Hartel,  in  October. 


Chapter  XIII 

The  Year  1813 — Beethoven's  Journal — Death  of  Prince 
Kinsky— Beethoven's  Earnings— Malzel  and  "WelHng- 
ton's  Victory" — The  A  major  Symphony — The  Concerts 
of  December  8  and  12. 

SHORT  as  Bettina's  stay  in  Vienna  was,  it  occurred  at  the  very 
crisis  of  Beethoven's  unlucky  marriage  project;  and  her 
society  served  a  good  purpose  in  distracting  his  thoughts; 
while  her  known  relations  to  her  future  husband  prevented  the 
growth  of  any  such  feeling  on  his  part  as  some  have  conjectured 
did  really  awaken.  Next  came  the  rather  absurd  affair  with 
Fraulein  Malfatti;  but  this  was  so  little  of  an  earnest  nature  ^  as 
in  turn  to  be  quite  forgotten,  so  soon  as  the  rejected  lover  came 
fairly  under  the  influence  of  the  remarkable  mental  and  personal 
charms  of  Amalie  von  Sebald,  in  whom  he  found  all  that  his 

^Thayer  is  writing  from  the  point  of  view  touching  Beethoven's  love-affairs  which 
was  justified  by  all  the  evidence  that  had  been  discovered  up  to  the  time  of  his  writing 
and,  in  fact,  up  to  the  time  of  his  death.  He  thought  that  the  object  of  the  love-letters, 
which  he  insisted  in  placing  in  1806,  was  "in  greatest  probability"  Countess  Brunswick; 
he  knew  that  Beethoven  had  proposed  marriage  to  Therese  Malfatti,  but  plainly  thought 
the  passion  for  her  neither  profound  nor  lasting;  he  was  inclined  to  believe  that  the 
broken  marriage  engagement  of  1810,  was  with  the  Countess  Brunswick  and  that  she 
dropped  out  of  his  life  with  the  failure  of  his  marriage  project.  The  discovery  of 
the  letter  of  February,  1811,  from  Therese  to  her  sister  in  which  his  letter  to  her  about 
the  portrait  is  quoted,  shows  Thayer  to  have  been  in  error  in  this.  In  his  revision  of  the 
chapter  before  us.  Dr.  Riemann  proceeded  from  an  entirely  different  point  of  view.  In 
his  belief  the  love-letters  were  written  in  1812,  and  to  Therese  Brunswick.  In  place  of 
the  opening  passages  which  the  English  Editor  has  thought  proper  to  retain,  he  sub- 
stituted the  following: 

"The  convincing  reasons  advanced  in  the  preceding  chapter  for  placing  the  love- 
letter  of  July  6-7  in  the  year  1812,  give  an  entirely  different  light  to  the  so-called 
'Journal'  in  the  Fischoff  manuscript.  If  that  day,  in  the  beginning  of  July,  1812,  which 
led  to  a  mutual  confession  of  love  forms  a  climax  in  Beethoven's  heart-history,  which  can 
scarcely  be  doubted,  the  entry  in  the  journal  makes  it  sure  that  the  obstacles  to  a  con- 
jugal union  which  are  intimated  have  not  disappeared,  but,  on  the  contrary,  have  proved 
to  be  insuperable.  The  first  entry  is  dated  merely  1812,  and  in  likelihood  was  written 
at  the  end  of  the  year.  Whether  or  not  the  initial  which  shows  a  flourish  is  really  an 
A  is  a  fair  question.  Those  who  see  more  than  superficial  playfulness  in  the  relations 
between  Beethoven  and  Amalie  Sebald  will  of  course  see  her  name  in  the  letter."  It 
should  be  observed  here  that  in  the  chapter  devoted  to  the  year  1812,  Dr.  Riemann 
interpolated  an  extended  argument,  following  the  lines  of  Dr.  San-Galli's  brochure,  to 
show  that  the  letters  were  written  in  1812  from  Teplitz — Dr.  San-Galli  says  to  Amalie 
Sebald,  Dr.  Riemann  to  Countess  Brunswick. 

[  239  ] 


240  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

warmest  wishes  could  desire.  The  renewal  in  the  last  summer  of 
his  acquaintance  with  her  completely  cured  him  of  his  recent 
unfortunate  passions,  but,  there  is  too  much  reason  to  believe,  at 
the  cost  of  plunging  him  into  a  new  one,  not  the  less  powerful 
because  utterly  hopeless,  and  so  firmly  rooted  that  in  1816  "it 
was  still  as  on  the  first  day." 

The  so-called  journal  {Tagehuch)  of  the  Fischoff  MS.  begins: 
thus: 

Submission,  absolute  submission  to  your  fate,  only  this  can  give  you 
the  sacrifice  ...  to  the  servitude — O,  hard  struggle!  Turn  everything 
which  remains  to  be  done  to  planning  the  long  journey — you  must  your- 
self find  all  that  your  most  blessed  wish  can  offer,  you  must  force  it  to 
your  will — keep  always  of  the  same  mind. 

Thou  mayest  no  longer  he  a  man,  not  for  thyself,  only  for  others,  for 
thee  there  is  no  longer  happiness  except  in  thyself,  in  thy  art — O  God,  give 
me  strength  to  conquer  myself,  nothing  must  chain  me  to  life.  Thus 
everything  connected  with  A  will  go  to  destruction. 

The  date  given  is  simply  1812;  but  the  month  of  September  in 
Teplitz  suggests  itself  instantly  for  the  first  two  paragraphs,  and 
the  time  when  Beethoven  was  busy  with  the  Eighth  Symphony 
for  the  other.     The  next-following  in  the  manuscript  is  dated: 

May  13,  1813. 
To  forgo  a  great  act  which  might  have  been  and  remain  so — O, 
what  a  difference  compared  with  an  unstudied  life  which  often  rose  in  my 
fancy — O  fearful  conditions  which  do  not  suppress  my  feeling  for 
domesticity,  but  whose  execution  O  God,  God  look  down  upon  the  un- 
happy B.,  do  not  permit  it  to  last  thus  much  longer — 

Learn  to  keep  silent,  O  friend!     Speech  is  like  silver. 
But  to  hold  one's  peace  at  the  right  moment  is  pure  gold. 

It  is  obvious  that  the  hated  "servitude"  is  the  instruction  of 
the  Archduke  in  music,  and  that  the  new  feeling  which  he  has  to 
defy,  and  if  possible  conquer,  lest  everything  go  to  destruction,  is 
the  absorbing  affection  for  Amalie  Sebald  which  he  had  uncon- 
sciously suffered  to  gain  tyrannical  sway  over  his  mind  and  heart. 
The  "great  act"  of  the  last  citation  is  the  "long  journey"  of  the 
first — of  which  hereafter.  ^ 

Other  causes  also  joined  to  render  his  case  now  truly  pitiable. 
The  result  of  his  interference  with  his  brother  Johann,  vexatious 

'Here  is  Dr.  Riemann's  interpretation:  "That  the  reference  is  to  the  obstacles 
standing  in  the  way  of  a  marriage,  can  scarcely  be  controverted.  Compare  with  this 
what  Fanny  Giannatasio  del  Rio  says  on  September  16,  1816,  in  her  journal:  Five  years 
before  he  had  got  acquainted  with  a  person,  union  with  whom  would  have  been  to  him 
the  greatest  happiness  of  his  life.  'It  is  still  as  on  the  first  day,  I  have  not  been  able  to 
get  it  out  of  my  mind.'  The  words 'got  accjuainted  five  years  ago'  apply  rather  to  Amalie 
Sebald  or  Bettina  von  Arnim  than  to  Therese  Brunswick;  but  it  should  be  borne  in 
mind  that  the  young  woman  is  reporting  a  conversation  overheard  from  some  distance 
between  Beethoven  and  her  father." 


Misfortunes  of  Karl  van  Beethoven  241 

and  mortifying  as  it  was,  was  of  little  moment  in  comparison  with 
the  anxiety  and  distress  caused  by  the  condition  of  his  brother 
Karl.  In  1809,  Karl  had  been  advanced  to  the  position  of  Deputy 
Liquidator  with  1000  fl.  salary  and  160  fl.  rent  money;  but  all 
salaries  being  then  paid  in  bank-notes,  the  minor  public  officials, 
especially  after  the  Fiuanz-Patent,  were  reduced  to  extreme 
poverty.  Karl  van  Beethoven  was  already  owner  of  the  house  in 
the  Alservorstadt  near  the  Herrnalser  Linie,  which  contained 
lodgings  for  some  ten  or  tw^elve  small  families,  enclosed  a  court- 
garden  with  fruit  trees,  etc.,  and  was  valued  (1816)  at  16400  fl.: 
so  long  as  he  remained  in  the  Rauhen^teingasse,  the  whole  of  this 
house  w^as  rented,  and,  after  deducting  interest  and  taxes,  gave 
him  a  very  desirable  addition  to  his  miserable  salary.  When 
Beethoven  writes,  that  he  had  wholly  to  support  "an  unfortunate 
sick  brother  together  with  his  family,"  it  must  be  therefore  un- 
derstood cum  grano;  but  that  he  had  for  some  time  been  obliged 
very  largely  to  aid  them  in  obtaining  even  the  necessaries  of  life 
is  beyond  question.  Just  now,  when  his  own  pecuniary  pros- 
pects were  so  clouded,  his  anxieties  were  increased  by  Karl's 
wretched  state  of  health,  which  partly  disabled  him  for  his  official 
duties,  and  seems  to  have  forced  him  to  pay  for  occasional  as- 
sistance. In  March,  he  appeared  rapidly  to  be  sinking  from  con- 
sumption, and  he  became  so  hopeless  of  improvement  in  April 
as  to  induce  him — in  his  wellfounded  distrust  of  the  virtue  and 
prudence  of  his  unhappy  wife — to  execute  the  following 

Declaration. 

Inasmuch  as  I  am  convinced  of  the  frank  and  upright  disposition  of 
my  brother  Ludwig  van  Beethoven,  I  desire  that  after  my  death  he 
undertake  the  guardianship  of  my  son,  Karl  Beethoven,  a  minor.  I 
therefore  request  the  honorable  court  to  appoint  my  brother  mentioned 
to  the  guardianship  after  my  death  and  beg  my  dear  brother  to  accept 
the  office  and  to  aid  my  son  with  word  and  deed  in  all  cases. » 

Vienna,  April  12,  1813. 

Happily  for  all  parties  concerned,  Spring  "brought  healing 
on  its  wings."  Karl's  health  improved;  he  was  advanced  to  the 
position  of  Cashier  of  the  "Universal-Staats-Schulden  Kasse," 
with  40  fl.  increase  of  rent  money;  and  now,  at  last,  the  decree 
was  issued  for  the  payment  of  all  salaries  (of  public  officials)  in 
silver.  Twelve  hundred  florins  in  silver,  used  with  reasonable 
economy,  was  amply  suflBcient  to  relieve  Ludwig  of  this  part 
of  his  troubles. 

iThis  document  is  signed  and  sealed  by  Karl  v.  Beethoven.  R.  I.  Cashier,  Ludwig 
van  Beethoven,  and  Baron  Johann  von  Pasqualati,  Peter  von  Leben  and  Fr.  Ohva  as 
witnesses. 


242  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

In  a  letter  to  Rudolph  written  in  January,  Beethoven  said 
bitterly:  "neither  word,  nor  honor,  nor  written  agreement,  seems 
binding." — The  words  relate  to  non-payments  of  the  Kinsky  and 
Lobkowitz  subscriptions  to  his  annuity. 

Kinsky,  on  the  2nd  or  3rd  of  the  preceding  November,  while 
riding  at  Weldus  near  Prague,  was — by  the  breaking  of  his  saddle- 
girth — thrown  from  his  horse  with  such  force  as  to  crush  his  skull, 
and  survived  but  ten  hours.  In  settling  his  affairs,  the  question 
arose  whether,  under  the  Finanz-Patent,  Beethoven  was  entitled  to 
more  than  the  subscription  as  computed  by  the  scale:  or,  more 
correctly,  there  being  no  question  under  the  law,  Beethoven 
raised  one,  by  claiming  the  full  nominal  sum  (1800  fl.)  in  notes  of 
redemption.  The  curators  of  the  estates — as  it  was  their  sworn 
duty  to  do — refused  to  admit  the  claim  until  it  should  be  es- 
tablished by  competent  judicial  authority;  and,  pending  the 
decision,  withheld  all  payments.  As  to  Lobkowitz,  his  profuse 
expenditures  had  brought  him  to  a  suspension  of  payments  and 
had  deprived  him  of  the  control  of  his  vast  estates.  What  has 
just  been  said  of  the  Kinsky  subscription  for  Beethoven  applies, 
therefore,  literally  to  his.  Hence,  nothing  of  the  annuity  was  paid 
by  the  Kinsky  curators  from  November  3rd,  1812,  to  March  31st, 
1815;  nor  by  those  of  Lobkowitz  from  September  1st,  1811,  until 
after  April  19th,  1815.  From  the  abundant  correspondence  called 
out  by  these  differences  of  opinion,  as  to  whether  law  or  equity 
should  rule  in  the  case,  three  letters  to  the  widowed  Princess 
Kinsky  may  be  selected  as  explanatory  of  Beethoven's  views. 
In  the  first  of  these  letters,  dated  at  Vienna,  December  30th,  1812, 
Beethoven  rehearses  the  story  of  the  origin  of  the  annuity  contract, 
the  disarrangement  of  the  governmental  finances.  Archduke 
Rudolph's  prompt  compliance  with  the  request  that  payments  be 
made  in  notes  of  redemption  instead  of  bank-notes,  and  thus 
reaches  the  visit  of  Varnhagen  von  Ense  to  Prince  Kinsky  at 
Prague.     He  quotes  a  letter  written  by  Varnhagen  as  follows: 

Yesterday  I  had  an  exhaustive  talk  with  Prince  v.  Kinsky.  Ac- 
companied by  expressions  of  highest  praise  for  Beethoven,  he  complied 
at  once  with  his  request  and  from  now  on  will  send  him  notes  of  redemp- 
tion and  will  pay  the  arrears  and  the  future  sums  in  this  currency.  The 
cashier  here  will  receive  the  necessary  instructions  and  Beethoven  can 
collect  everything  here  when  he  passes  through,  or  if  he  prefers  in  Vienna 
as  soon  as  the  Prince  shall  have  returned. 

Prague,  July  9,  1812. » 

'This  date  is  obviously  an  error  of  the  copyists.  The  letter  was  written  to  Oliva 
who,  on  January  27,  1813,  recalling  it  to  Varnhagen's  mind,  copies  it  as  "your  letter  of 
June  9,  of  last  year."  Moreover,  Beethoven  was  in  Prague  several  days  before  July  9, 
1812. 


Appeals  to  Prince  Kixsky's  Heirs  243 

Continuing,  Beethoven  tells  the  Princess  of  his  visit  to  Kinsky, 
who  confirmed  the  statements  in  the  letter  and  paid  CO  ducats  on 
account— as  the  equivalent  of  600  florins,  Vienna  Standard. 
It  was  agreed  that  the  arrears  should  be  paid  when  the  Prince 
should  come  to  Vienna  and  instructions  he  given  to  his  agents. 
Beethoven's  illness  kept  him  at  Teplitz  longer  than  he  had  expected. 
Nevertheless,  through  Oliva  he  reminded  the  Prince,  then  in 
Vienna,  in  December  of  his  promises,  who  again  confirmed  them 
and  added  that  he  would  arrange  matters  at  his  exchequer  in  a  few 
days.  ^  After  the  departure  of  the  Prince  with  his  family  he  had 
made  inquiries  and  learned  to  his  astonishment  that  nothing  had 
been  done  in  the  matter.  In  conclusion  he  expressed  the  convic- 
tion that  the  heirs  of  the  noble  Prince  would  act  in  the  spirit  of 
magnanimity  which  had  inspired  him  and  pay  the  arrears  and 
give  directions  for  the  future  payments  in  notes  of  redemption. 

In  the  second  letter  he  repeats  the  request,  having  learned 
first  from  the  Prince's  representatives  that  nothing  could  be  done 
in  the  matter  until  a  guardian  had  been  appointed,  which  office 
had  been  assumed  by  Her  Highness.  "You  will  easily  see,"  he 
continues, 

how  painful  it  is  to  be  deprived  so  long  of  money  which  had  been 
counted  on,  the  more  since  I  am  obliged  wholly  to  support  an  unfortunate 
sick  brother  and  his  family  and  have  inconsiderately  exhausted  my  re- 
sources, hoping  by  the  collection  of  my  salary  to  care  for  my  own  liveli- 
hood. The  complete  righteousness  of  my  claims  you  may  see  in  the  fact 
that  I  faithfully  reported  the  receipt  of  the  60  ducats  which  the  Prince 
of  blessed  memory  paid  me  on  account  in  Prague,  although  the  princely 
council  told  me  that  I  might  have  concealed  the  fact,  as  the  Prince  had 
not  told  him,  the  councillor,  or  his  cashier  anything  about  it. 

The  third  letter,  dated  February  12,  1813,  again  urges  the 
duty  of  the  heirs  to  carry  out  the  intentions  of  the  Prince  and 
formulates  his  petition  as  follows: 

Namely,  I  pray  Your  Serene  Highness  graciously  to  command  that 
the  salary  in  arrears  from  September  1,  1811,  be  computed  in  Vienna 
currency  according  to  the  scale  of  the  day  of  contract,  at  1088.42  florins, 
and  paid,  and  to  leave  the  question  whether  and  to  what  extent  this 
salary  be  payable  to  me  in  Vienna  currency  open  until  the  affairs  of  the 
estate  be  brought  in  order  and  it  becomes  necessary  to  lay  the  subject 
before  the  authorities  so  that  my  just  demands  be  realized  by  their  ap- 
proval and  determination. 

The  payment  of  the  CO  ducats  on  account  of  the  salary  which 
by  the  Prince's  consent  was  to  be  paid  in  notes  of  redemption  is 
again  advanced  as  evidence  of  the  Prince's  intentions,  as  is  also 
the  plea  on  the  score  of  his  necessities.     The  first  and  third  letters 


244  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

are  written  in  a  strange  hand  and  merely  signed  by  Beethoven. 
The  petition  contained  in  the  third  was  not  granted. 

Schindler  has  enlarged  upon  Beethoven's  inexperience  and  lack 
of  skill  in  matters  of  business,  and  of  his  propensity  to  waste  his 
resources  in  needless  changes  of  lodgings;  Wegeler  and  others  in- 
form us  of  his  ignorance  of  the  value  of  money;  Karl  van  Beethoven 
had  been  a  great  expense  to  him;  and  five-eighths  of  his  annuity 
had  for  some  time  remained  unpaid.  Still,  it  is  impossible  to  ac- 
count satisfactorily  for  the  very  low  state  of  his  finances  at  this 
time.  He  must  have  been  strangely  imprudent  in  non-husband- 
ing his  resources.  From  March  1,  1809,  to  March  1,  1813,  he  had 
received  from  Kinsky  rather  more  than  five  semi-annual  payments 
(the  "60  ducats"  included),  from  Lobkowitz  five  and  from  the 
Archduke  seven — five  of  them  in  notes  of  redemption;  in  all, 
11500  florins.  In  the  Spring  of  1810,  Collard  (Clementi)  had 
paid  him  £200;  from  Thomson  he  had  received  150  ducats,  if  not 
in  July,  1810,  at  least  in  July,  1811,  and  90  ducats  more  in  February, 
1813,  and  within  the  last  years  Breitkopf  and  Hartel  had  certainly 
paid  him  several  thousand  florins  for  the  many  works  of  magnitude 
purchased  by  them;  besides  all  this  he  had  borrowed  at  least  1100 
florins  from  Brentano,  for  two  or  three  years  only  after  this  he 
notes:  *T  owe  F.  A.  B.  2300  fl.,  once  1100  and  60  ducats";  and  we 
know  of  no  time  after  the  beginning  of  1814,  when  he  was  under 
the  necessity  of  applying  to  that  generous  friend  for  any  sums 
like  these.  But,  whatever  was  the  cause,  and  whoever  was  in 
fault,  Beethoven  was  now,  up  to  the  time  when  his  brother  Karl 
received  his  new  appointment,  learning  by  harsh  experience  a 
lesson  in  economy — happily  to  his  profit. 

To  finish  this  topic  at  once,  we  pass  on  to  the  summer,  which 
the  composer  spent  in  Baden,  meeting  there  his  friends  the 
Streichers.  Frau  Streicher  afterwards  related  to  Schindler,  that 
she  "found  Beethoven  in  the  summer  of  1813,  in  the  most  desolate 
state  as  regards  his  physical  and  domestic  needs — not  only  did 
he  not  have  a  single  good  coat,  but  not  a  whole  shirt,"  and,  adds 
Schindler,  "I  must  hesitate  to  describe  his  condition  exactly  as  it 
was."  Frau  Streicher,  after  her  return  to  the  city,  "put  his  ward- 
robe and  household  affairs  to  rights  and,  with  the  help  of  her 
husband,  saw  to  the  provision  of  the  necessities,"  and,  what  was 
still  better,  they  impressed  upon  him  the  necessity  of  "putting 
money  by  against  the  future,  and  Beethoven  obeyed  in  every 
particular."  A  small  sura  received  from  Gratz,  and  the  750  fl. 
due  from  the  Archduke,  September  1st,  relieved  him  for  the 
moment;    but    before    the    end    of    the    year,   he   was   again   so 


A  Period  of  Adversity  245 

reduced,  probably  by  the  necessary  expenditures  made  on  his 
account  by  the  Streichers,  as  to  obtain  a  loan  of  50  ducats  from 
Malzel. 

The  tone  of  the  correspondence  during  the  first  half  of  this 
year  is  far  less  depressed  than  might  be  expected  under  the  ad- 
verse circumstances  just  detailed,  to  which  is  to  be  added  constant 
ill  health;  indeed,  his  notes  to  Zmeskall  are  enlivened  by  divers 
gleams  of  his  old  humor.  For  the  better  understanding  of  the 
selections  here  made  it  is  to  be  premised,  that 

(a)  Brunswick  arrived  in  Vienna,  February  21;  that 

(b)  Beethoven  contributed  a  "newly  composed  Triumphal 
March"  to  Kuffner's  tragedy  "Tarpeia"  for  its  first  performance 
in  the  Burgtheater,  March  26;  that 

(c)  One  of  his  symphonies  was  the  principal  attraction  of  the 
Theatrical  Poor  Fund  Concert  in  the  Karnthnerthortheater, 
April  16;    that 

(d)  He  could  justly  claim  the  use  of  that  theatre  from  Prince 
Lobkowitz  for  a  benefit  concert;  that 

(e)  Varena  had  again  applied  to  him  for  music  for  another 
charity  concert  in  Gratz;  that 

(f)  Louis  Bonaparte,  Ex-King  of  Holland,  then  residing  in 
Gratz,  was  the  "rich  third  party"  referred  to  in  one  of  the  letters; 
and 

(g)  That  the  pecuniary  embarrassments  of  Lobkowitz  reached 
their  climax  this  summerand  recalled  Beethoven  from  Baden  to  take 
the  needful  steps  to  secure  himself  from  farther  loss,  if  possible. 

On  January  24th,  he  writes  to  Zmeskall: 

We  inform  you,  best  Z.,  of  this  and  the  other  thing  from  which  you 
may  choose  the  best,  and  are  most  horribly  well-disposed  toward  you. 
We  hear  that  you  have  letters  from  B.  addressed  to  us  and  beg  you  to 
send  them.  Are  you  at  liberty  to-day?  If  so,  you  will  find  me  in  the  Swan 
— if  not,  we  will  find  each  other  somewhere  else. 

Your  friend 

Author 

Beethoven  Bonnensis. 

Between  this  letter  and  the  next  there  falls  a  rather  long 
letter  in  French  to  Thomson,  dated  February  19,  1813,  which 
informs  us  touching  the  progress  of  the  work  on  the  British  songs. 
Beethoven  writes: 

I  have  received  your  valued  letters  of  August  5,  October  30  and 
December  21,  and  learned  with  pleasure  that  you  have  received  the  62 
songs  which  I  have  set  for  you  at  last  and  that  you  are  satisfied  with  all 
but  9  of  them  which  you  specify  and  in  which  you  would  like  to  have  me 


246  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

change  the  ritornelles  and  accompaniments.  I  regret  that  I  cannot 
accommodate  you  in  this.  I  am  not  in  the  habit  of  rewriting  my  compo- 
sitions. I  have  never  done  it,  being  convinced  that  any  partial  alteration 
changes  the  character  of  the  entire  composition.  I  regret  that  you  will 
suffer  the  loss;  but  you  can  scarcely  put  the  blame  on  me,  since  it  ought  to 
have  been  your  affair  to  advise  me  more  explicitly  of  the  taste  of  your 
country  and  the  small  skill  of  your  players.  Having  now  received  your 
instruction  on  these  points  I  have  composed  the  songs  wholly  anew  and, 
as  I  hope,  so  that  they  will  meet  your  expectations. 

You  may  believe  that  it  was  only  with  great  reluctance  that  I 
determined  to  do  violence  to  my  ideas  and  that  I  should  never  have  been 
willing  to  do  so  had  I  not  feared  that  a  refusal  would  cause  a  loss  to  you, 
as  in  your  collection  you  wanted  to  have  my  compositions  exclusively 
and  that  otherwise  you  might  have  had  your  care  and  expense  to  pro- 
duce a  complete  work  in  vain.  .  .  .  The  last  two  songs  in  your  letter 
of  December  21,  pleased  me  very  much.    For  this  reason  I  composed  them 


con  amore,  particularly  the  second  one.     You  noted  it  in   -f^  ^V     =. 

but  as  this  key  seems  too  little  natural  and  so  little  in  harmony  with  the 
direction  Amoroso  that  it  might  better  be  written  Barbaresco,  I  have  set 
it  in  a  more  appropriate  key. 

Further  on  in  the  letter  he  asks  Thomson  to  tell  him  whether 
Andantino  was  to  be  understood  as  meaning  faster  or  slower 
than  Andante,  "for  this  term,  like  so  many  in  music,  is  of  so  in- 
definite a  significance  that  Andantino  sometimes  approaches  an 
Allegro  and  sometimes,  on  the  other  hand,  is  played  like  Adagio.'^ 

A  rather  long  note  to  Zmeskall  of  February  25,  being  about 
a  servant,  is  not  worth  copying.  It  begins:  'T  have,  my  dear  Z., 
been  almost  continuously  ill  since  I  saw  you  last,"  and  closes 
after  the  signature  with  the  word  ^'Miserabilis."  Omitting  others 
of  similar  contents  we  come  to  this  interesting  letter  to  Varena: 

Dear  Sir! 

Xo  doubt  Rode  was  right  in  all  that  he  said  about  me ;  my  health  is 
not  of  the  best  and  without  fault  of  my  own  my  condition  otherwise  is 
perhaps  more  unfavorable  than  at  any  time  in  my  life;  but  neither  this 
nor  anything  else  shall  dissuade  me  from  helping  the  equally  innocent 
sufferers,  the  Convent  ladies,  so  far  as  my  modest  talents  will  permit. 
To  this  end,  two  entirely  new  symphonies  are  at  your  services,  an  air 
for  bass  voice  Avith  chorus,  several  smaller  single  choruses — if  you  need 
the  overture  to  Hungary's  Benefactor  which  you  performed  last  year,  it 
is  at  your  service. 

The  overture  to  "The  Ruins  of  Athens,"  although  in  a  smaller  style, 
is  also  at  your  service.  Amongst  the  choruses  is  a  chorus  of  Dervishes, 
an  attractive  thing  [literally:  "a  good  signboard"]  for  a  mixed  public. 

In  my  opinion  you  would  do  best  to  choose  a  day  on  which  you 
could  give  the  oratorio  "Christus  am  Olberg";  since  then  it  has  been 
played  all  over;  this  would  then  fill  half  of  the  concert;  for  the  second 


Help  for  the  Ursulines  at  Gratz  247 

half  you  would  play  a  new  symphony,  the  overture  and  different  choruses, 
as  also  the  bass  air  with  chorus  mentioned;  thus  the  evening  would  not 
be  without  variety;  but  you  would  better  talk  this  over  with  the  musical 
councillors  in  your  city  and  let  them  decide.  What  you  say  concerning 
remuneration  for  me  from  a  third  person  I  think  I  can  guess  who  he  is; 
if  I  were  in  my  former  condition  I  would  flatly  say:  "Beethoven  never 
takes  pay  when  the  benefitting  of  humanity  is  concerned,"  but  now, 
placed  in  a  condition  through  my  great  benevolence  (the  cause  of  which 
can  bring  me  no  shame)  and  other  circumstances  which  are  to  blame,  which 
are  caused  by  men  without  honesty  or  honor,  I  say  frankly  I  would  not 
decline  such  an  offer  from  a  rich  third  party;  but  there  is  no  thought  of  a 
demand;  even  if  there  should  prove  to  be  nothing  in  the  talk  about  a 
third  person,  be  convinced  that  I  am  just  as  willing  now  to  be  of  service 
to  my  friends,  the  reverend  women,  as  I  was  last  year  without  the  least 
reward,  and  as  I  shall  always  be  to  suffering  humanity  as  long  as  I  breathe. 
And  now  farewell.  Write  to  me  soon  and  I  will  care  for  all  that  is 
necessary  with  the  greatest  zeal. 

My  best  wishes  for  the  convent. 

Closely  connected  with  this  in  subject,  and  no  doubt  in  time, 
is  the  following  letter  to  Znieskall: 

See  to  the  delivery  of  this  letter  to  Brunswick  at  once  to-day,  so  that 
it  may  arrive  as  soon  as  possible  and  correctly.  Pardon  me  the  burdens 
which  I  place  upon  you.  I  have  just  been  asked  again  to  send  works  to 
Gratz  in  the  Steirmark  for  a,  concert  to  be  given  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Ursulines  and  their  educational  convent.  Last  year  such  a  concert 
yielded  generous  receipts.  With  this  academy  and  that  which  I  gave  in 
Karlsbad  for  the  benefit  of  the  sufferers  from  the  fire  in  Baden  three 
academies  have  been  given  in  one  year  for,  by  and  through  me — to  me 
everywhere  a  deaf  ear  is  turned  [literally:  "for  me  everybody  wears  his 
ears  on  his  feet"]. 

Thereupon  he  wrote  again  to  Varena: 

Vienna,  April  8,  1813. 
My  dear  V ! 

I  received  with  much  pleasure  your  letter  but  again  with  much  dis- 
pleasure the  100  florins  sent  by  the  poor  cloister  ladies;  meanwhile  they 
are  deposited  with  me  to  be  applied  to  the  payment  of  the  expenses  for 
copying.  Whatever  remains  will  be  returned  to  the  noble  cloister  women 
together  with  a  view  of  the  accounts. 

For  such  occasions  I  never  accept  anything — I  thought  that  the 
third  person  to  whom  you  referred  was  perhaps  the  ex-King  of  Holland 
and — yes,  from  him  who  probably  took  from  the  Hollanders  in  a  less 
righteous  way  I  would  have  had  no  hesitation  in  accepting  something  in 
my  present  condition;  now,  however,  I  beg  kindly  that  nothing  more  be 
said  on  the  subject.  Write  me  your  opinion  as  to  whether  if  I  came  to 
Gratz  I  could  give  a  concert;  for  it  is  not  likely  that  Vienna  will  long  re- 
main my  place  of  residence;  perhaps  it  is  already  too  late,  but  your  opinion 
on  the  subject  will  always  be  welcome. 

The  works  will  be  copied  and  as  soon  as  possible  you  shall  have 
them — do  whatever  you  please  with  the  oratorio;  wherever  it  can  do 
any  good  my  purposes  will  best  be  subserved. 


248  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

All  things  beautiful  to  our  Ursulines,  whom  I  am  glad  to  be  able  to 
serve  again. 

Numbers  8  and  9  of  Kochel's  "Drei-und-achtzig  Original- 
Briefe"  by  Beethoven  to  Archduke  Rudolph  and  his  chamberlain, 
pray  the  Archduke  to  intercede  for  him  with  the  Rector  of  the 
University  for  permission  to  give  two  concerts  in  the  hall  of  the 
University.  The  result  is  shown  in  a  note  to  Zmeskall  dated 
April  19: 

The  hall  of  the  University,  my  dear  Z.,  is — refused,  I  received  this 
information  day  before  yesterday,  but  being  ill  yesterday  I  could  not 
come  to  you  to  talk  it  over,  nor  to-day.  There  will  remain  nothing  prob- 
ably except  the  Karnthnerthortheater  or  that  An-der-Wien,  and  I  fancy 
only  one  A  (cademy).  If  that  will  not  go  we  must  resort  to  the  Augarten, 
there  of  course  we  must  give  2  A.  Think  the  matter  over  a  bit,  my  dear, 
and  give  me  your  opinion.  It  may  be  that  the  symphonies  will  be  re- 
hearsed to-morrow  at  the  Archduke's,  if  I  can  go  out,  of  which  I  shall  let 
you  know. 

The  rehearsal  took  place  on  Resurrection  Day,  April  18,  as 
we  learn  from  the  48th  letter  in  the  Kochel  Collection,  which, 
together  with  the  preceding  two  (Nos.  46  and  47),  belong  in  the 
year  1813,  not  in  1819,  as  Kochel  surmised.  The  following  little 
note  to  Zmeskall  refers  to  the  rehearsal: 

Meanwhile  I  thank  you,  dear  Z.,  and  inform  you  that  the  rehearsal 
will  take  place  at  the  Archduke's  to-morrow  afternoon  at  3  o'clock — but 
I  shall  give  you  the  particulars  to-morrow  morning — for  the  present  I 
have  announced  it. 

Your 

Beethoven. 
To  Zmeskall  he  wrote  on  April  23: 

Dear  Z. :  All  will  go  well,  the  Archduke  will  take  this  Prince  Fitzly 
Putzly  soundly  by  the  ears — let  me  know  if  you  intend  to  eat  at  the  inn 
to-day  or  when  you  do?  Then  tell  me  please  whether  "Sentivant"  is 
correctly  spelled,  as  I  want  to  write  to  him  at  the  same  time  for  the  chorus. 
I  must  yet  consult  with  you  about  the  day  to  be  chosen,  moreover  you 
must  not  let  anything  be  observed  about  the  enlistment  of  the  Archduke, 
for  Prince  Fitzly  Putzly  will  not  come  to  the  Archduke  till  Sunday,  if  this 
wicked  debtor  were  to  observe  anything  in  advance  he  would  try  to  get 
out  of  it. 

(On  April  26) :  Lobkowitz  will  give  me  the  theatre  for  a  day  after 
May  15,  it  seems  to  me  this  is  about  as  good  as  none  at  all — and  I  am 
almost  of  a  mind  to  give  up  all  thoughts  of  a  concert.  He  above  will  surely 
not  let  me  go  utterly  to  ruin. 

(On  May  10):  I  beg  of  you,  dear  Z.,  not  to  let  anything  be  heard 
about  what  I  said  to  you  concerning  Prince  L.,  as  the  matter  is  really 
going  forward  and  without  this  step  nothing  would  ever  have  been  certain. 
I  have  looked  for  you  at  the  S.  every  day,  but  in  vain. 


Pictures  with  Musical  Accompaniment         249 

There  follows  another  long  letter  to  Varena: 

My  dear  V! 

There  can  be  no  harm  in  notifying  you  in  advance  of  what  I  am 
sending  you;  you  may  be  able  to  use  more  or  less  of  it.  You  will  receive 
3  choruses  which  are  not  long  and  which  you  can  use  at  different  inter- 
vals in  the  concert — a  large  scene  for  bass  voice  with  chorus;  it  is  from  the 
"Ruins  of  Athens"  and  occurs  where  the  picture  of  our  Emperor  appears 
in  view  (in  Ofen,  Hungary,  this  came  upon  the  stage  from  below).  You 
may  be  able  to  use  something  of  the  kind  to — stimulate  the  multitude. 

In  case  of  need  the  bass  voice  might  be  changed  to  a  contralto. 
You  will  receive  only  the  score  of  these  pieces;  had  I  known  which  you 
would  use  I  could  have  had  them  copied  for  you  here;  I  shall  receive  the 
scores  and  H.  von  Rettig  will  kindly  look  after  them  for  you;  besides,  you 
will  receive  a  march  already  copied  for  the  instruments.  Instead  of  a 
symphony  you  will  receive  two  symphonies;  first,  the  one  which  you 
desired  to  have  written  out  and  duplicate;  2nd,  another  one,  also  copied, 
which  it  appears  to  me  you  have  not  yet  had  performed  in  Gratz.  As 
everything  else  is  copied  you  can  have  the  vocal  pieces  copied  easily 
and  in  time. 

Hr.  von  Rettich  will  no  doubt  find  some  extraordinary  occasion  to 
have  everything  delivered  to  you  quickly,  as  everybody  is  willing  to  help 
in  such  benevolent  causes.     Why  can  I  not  do  more  for  the  good  ladies! 

I  should  have  liked  to  send  you  two  entirely  new  symphonies  of 
mine,  but  my  present  condition  commands  me  unfortunately  to  think  of 
myself,  and  I  do  not  know  but  that  I  may  be  obliged  to  leave  this  place  as 
a  fugitive  from  the  country,  for  this  thank  the  excellent  princes  who  have 
made  it  impossible  for  me  to  work  for  the  good  and  the  useful  as  is  my 
wont.  Many  thanks  for  your  wine  and  thank  also  the  worthy  ladies  for 
the  sweetmeats  which  they  sent  me. 

(To  the  same,  without  date) : 

P.P.  I  inform  you  in  haste  that  in  case  the  first  two  of  the  four  horn 
parts  are  difiicult  for  your  players,  you  replace  them  with  2  violas,  but 
solo  players;  the  other  2  in  C  are  easy  and  can  be  played  by  2  hornists. 

For  the  sake  of  my  health  I  am  hurrying  to  Baden  for  a  measure  of 
improvement.  The  cost  of  copying  the  scores  was  8  fl.  24  kr.,  for  which 
I  shall  get  a  receipt.  I  have  charged  3  fl.  for  my  servant  to  get  the  things 
together,  making  a  total  of  11  fl.  24  kr. ;  after  deducting  this  sum  I  shall 
return  the  rest  of  the  100  fl,  in  a  few  days — it  is  impossible  at  this 
moment. 

In  case  you  write  to  me  please  enclose  your  letter  to  the  following 
address  in  V.,  namely:  To  Hrn.  Oliva,  to  be  delivered  to  the  Brothers 
Offenheimer  in  the  Bauernmarkt. 

In  a  letter  to  the  Archduke,  who  was  then  in  Baden  (also 
written  on  May  27),  Beethoven  reports  his  arrival  there.  From 
Baden  the  correspondence  with  Varena  was  continued,  as  appears 
from  a  letter  of  July  4,  1813,  in  which  Beethoven  says: 

Pardon  this  very  belated  answer,  the  reason  is  still  the  old  one,  my 
troubles,  contending  for  my  rights,  and  all  this  goes  very  slowly,  since  I 


250  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

am  dealing  with  a  princely  rascal,  Prince  Lobkowitz;  another  noble  prince, 
one  of  an  opposite  character,  died,  but  he  as  little  as  I  was  thinking  of  his 
death  and  in  my  affairs  he  left  nothing  in  writing;  this  must  now  be  fought 
out  in  the  law  courts  at  Prague.  What  an  occupation  for  an  artist  to  whom 
nothing  is  so  dear  as  his  art!  and  I  was  brought  into  all  this  by  11.  I.  H. 
Archduke  Rudolph.  .  .  . 

Receive  my  thanks  for  the  150  fl.  from  the  Forest  Preservation 
Society,!  commend  me  to  the  esteemed  Society,  but  I  am  humiliated 
by  the  fact;  why  do  you  (or  they)  place  so  high  an  estimate  on  the 
little  favor  which  I  have  shown  the  reverend  ladies.''  I  hope  that  my 
troubles  will  soon  come  to  an  end  and  that  I  may  come  into  posses- 
sion of  my  own;  as  soon  as  this  happens  I  shall  come  in  the  fall  to  Gratz 
and  then  the  150  fl.  shall  be  dealt  with,  and  I  shall  then  give  a  large 
concert  for  the  benefit  of  the  good  Ursulines,  or  some  other  institution 
which  may  be  recommended  to  me  as  the  most  needy  and  most  useful.  . . . 

We  learn  from  the  "Aufmerksame"  of  Gratz,  that  "Christus 
am  Olberg,"  sent  there  by  Beethoven  in  the  preceding  year,  was 
sung  as  the  second  part  of  a  concert  for  the  poor  on  Palm  Sun- 
day, April  11,  with  applause  which  did  honor  to  the  good  taste 
of  the  musical  public  of  the  Styrian  capital. 

In  Vienna  the  C  minor  symphony  opened  and  the  new  march 
from  "Tarpeia"  closed  Schuppanzigh's  concert  on  the  1st  of  May 
in  the  Augarten;  but  no  such  enthusiasm  was  awakened  as  to 
induce  Beethoven  to  risk  the  trouble  and  expense  of  producing  his 
new  symphonies,  and  the  projected  "Academies"  were  abandoned. 

Recalled  to  Vienna  early  in  July,  Beethoven  wrote  thence  to 
Archduke  Rudolph: 

From  day  to  day  I  thought  that  I  should  be  able  to  return  to  Baden, 
meanwhile  the  dissonances  which  are  keeping  me  here  may  possibly  de- 
tain me  till  next  week.  It  is  a  torture  for  me  to  stay  in  the  city  in  the 
summertime  and  when  I  reflect  that  I  am  also  hindered  from  attending 
upon  Y.  I.  H.  it  tortures  and  repels  me  the  more.  Meanwhile  it  is  the 
Lobkowitz  and  Kinsky  matter  which  keeps  me  here;  instead  of  thinking 
about  a  number  of  measures  I  must  ponder  a  number  of  walks  (Gdnge — 
passages)  which  I  must  make;  without  this  I  should  scarcely  live  to  see 
the  end  of  the  matter.  Your  I.  H.  has  doubtless  heard  of  Lobkowitz's 
misfortunes.  It  is  pitiable,  but  to  be  so  rich  is  not  fortunate!  It  is 
said  that  Count  Fries  alone  paid  1900  ducats  in  gold  to  Duport^  and 
took  a  mortgage  on  the  old  Lobkowitz  house.  The  details  are  incredible. 
I  hear  that  Rasoumowsky  will  come  to  Baden  and  bring  his  Quartet, 
which  would  be  a  very  handsome  thing,  as  Y.  I.  H.  would  certainly  be 
nicely  entertained.  I  know  of  no  more  delightful  enjoyment  in  the 
country  than  quartet  music.  Graciously  accept,  Y.  I.  H.,  my  sincerest 
wishes  for  your  good  health  and  pity  me  for  being  obliged  to  remain  here 

'Thus  the  title  in  the  first  edition;  Dr.  Riemann  changes  the  word  to  "The  highly 
esteemed  Society"  and  says  that  it  meant  the  Association  of  the  Friends  of  Art  and 
Music  for  the  purpose  of  giving  the  charity  concerts. 

*The  celebrated  dancer  and  ballet-master. 


Malzel's  Musical  Machines  251 

under  such  repulsive  circumstances.     Meanwhile  I  shall  try  to  make  up 
twofold  all  that  you  also  lose  in  Baden. 

Beethoven  soon  returned  to  Baden,  where  for  the  present  he 
may  be  left  in  the  enjoyment  of  nature,  taking  such  pleasure  as 
his  deafness  still  granted  in  Rasoumowsky's  quartets,  and  sub- 
mitting with  what  patience  he  could  to  his  servitude  with  the 
Archduke. 

Malzel,  during  the  past  winter,  had  opened  his  "Kiinstler- 
cabinet"  as  a  public  exhibition.  There  w'ere  marbles,  bronzes  and. 
paintings  and  a  variety  of  contributions,  scientific  or  curious,  fronn 
various  artists — among  them  a  large  electrical  machine  wuth 
apparatus  for  popular  experiments,  but  the  principal  attractions", 
were  his  own  Mechanical  Trumpeter  and  the  new  Panharmonicon. 
The  Trumpeter  executed  a  French  cavalry  march  with  signals- 
and  melodies  which  Malzel  himself  accompanied  on  the  piano- 
forte. The  Panharmonicon  combined  the  common  instru- 
ments then  employed  in  military  bands,  with  a  powerful 
bellows — the  whole  being  inclosed  in  a  case.  The  motive  powxr 
was  automatic  and  the  keys  w^ere  touched  by  pins  fixed  in  a  re- 
volving cylinder,  as  in  the  common  hand-organ  or  music-box. 
Compositions  of  considerable  extent  had  each  its  own  cylinder. 
The  first  pieces  made  ready  were  Cherubini's  "Lodoiska"  Overture, 
Haydn's  "Military"  Symphony,  the  overture  and  a  chorus  from 
Handel's  "Timotheus";  and  by  the  end  of  January,  Malzel  was  at 
work  upon  an  echo  piece  composed  for  him  some  years  before  by 
Cherubini.  In  the  course  of  the  summer  he  added  a  "few- 
marches"  composed  by  the  popular  young  pianist,  Moscheles,  who 
during  their  preparation  much  frequented  the  workshop. 

Beethoven's  "long  journey"  and  "great  act"  both  refer  to 
a  proposed  journey  to  England  with  Malzel,  seriously  contem- 
plated during  the  first  months  of  this  year.  Brunswick's  visit  to 
Vienna  occurred  just  when  the  project  seemed  ripe  for  execution; 
as  it  was  on  his  authority  that  Schindler  reports  the  "farewell 
meal"  and  the  singing  of  the  canon,  this  may  be  accepted  as 
credible. 

The  condition  of  Karl  van  Beethoven's  health  forced  his 
brother  to  defer  the  journey;  and  Malzel,  too,  found  reason  to 
wait  until  the  end  of  the  year— the  idea  of  his  really  very  beautiful 
and  striking  exhibition,  the  "Conflagration  of  Moscow,"  had 
occurred  to  him  and  he  willingly  remained  in  Vienna  to  work  it 
out.  The  change  for  the  better  in  Karl  van  Beethoven's  health 
and  pecuniary  condition,  and  the  completion  of  the  "Conflagra- 
tion," left  both  Beethoven  and  Malzel  late  in  autumn  free  for 


252  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

their  departure.  The  mechanician  was  not  only  a  man  of  un- 
questionable inventive  genius,  but  he  also  understood  the  public; 
knew  as  by  instinct  how  to  excite  and  gratify  curiosity  without 
disappointing  expectation,  and  had  the  tact  and  skill  so  to  arrange 
his  exhibitions  as  to  dismiss  his  visitors  grateful  for  an  amusement 
for  which  they  had  paid.  He  was  personally  both  respected  and 
popular.  He  knew  by  experience  the  principal  cities  of  the  Conti- 
nent, and  London  well  enough  to  foresee,  that  the  noble  compo- 
sitions of  Handel,  Haydn  and  Cherubini  secured  the  success  of  his 
Panharmonicon  there;  but  that  if  he  could  add  to  its  repertory 
some  new,  striking  and  popular  piece,  bearing  the  now  great  name 
of  Beethoven,  he  would  increase  both  its  attractiveness  and  the 
public  interest  and  curiosity  in  the  composer.  Battles  and  sieges 
had  for  many  years  been  favorite  subjects  for  descriptive  music, 
and  the  grand  engagements  of  the  last  fifty  years  w  ere  few  indeed 
which  had  not  been  fought  over  again  by  orchestras,  bands  and 
all  sorts  of  instruments.  Poor  Koczwara — who  hanged  himself 
in  jest  at  London  in  1792 — was  the  author  of  a  "Grande  Battaille" 
(in  D)  for  orchestra,  and  the  "Battaille  de  Prague"  for  pianoforte 
trio  "avec  tambour,"  or  pianoforte  solo,  commemorative  of  a  vic- 
tory of  Frederick  II  of  Prussia.  This,  for  forty  years,  was  a  show- 
piece throughout  Europe  and  even  in  America.  Devenne  com- 
posed the  "Battle  of  Gemappe";  Neubauer,  of  Martinestie; 
Jadin,  of  Austerlitz;  Fuchs,  of  Jena;  and  so  on,  for  orchestra.  The 
grand  battle  piece  for  two  flutes,  which  is  generally  supposed  to 
have  existed  but  in  a  joke,  the  point  of  which  is  its  absurdity,  was 
really  published — it  was  an  arrangement  of  Fuchs'  "Jena."  For 
the  pianoforte  solo,  or  with  the  accompaniment  of  two  or  more 
instruments,  the  press  teemed  with  battles.  Among  them  were 
those  of  Fleurus,  Wurzburg,  Marengo,  Jena  (by  others  than  Fuchs), 
Wagram,  the  bombardment  of  Vienna.  Steibelt  produced  two 
land  engagements  and  a  "Combat  naval";  Kauer,  "Nelson's 
Battle";  and  so  on  indefinitely. 

When,  therefore,  the  news  of  Wellington's  magnificent  victory 
at  Vittoria,  June  21,  1813,  reached  Vienna,  Miilzel  saw  instantly 
that  it  presented  the  subject  of  a  composition  for  his  Panhar- 
monicon than  which  none  could  be  conceived  better  fitted  to 
strike  the  popular  taste  in  England.  A  work  which  should  do 
homage  to  the  hero,  flatter  national  feeling  by  the  introduction  of 
"Rule  Britannia"  and  "God  save  the  King,"  gratify  the  national 
hatred  of  the  French,  celebrate  British  victory  and  Gallic  defeat, 
bear  the  great  name  of  Beethoven  and  be  illuminated  by  his 
genius — what  more  could  be  desired.'     He  wrought  out  the  plan 


"Wellington's  Victory,  or  The  Battle  of  Vittoria"  253 

and  explained  it  to  the  composer,  who,  for  once,  consented  to 
work  out  the  ideas  of  another.  In  a  sketchbook  for  this  composi- 
tion, having  signals  for  the  battle  on  its  first  page,  we  read:  "Wel- 
lington's Victory  Vittoria,  only  God  save  the  King,  but  a  great 
victory  overture  for  Wellington";  and  in  the  so-called  "Tagebuch" : 
"I  must  show  the  EngHsh  a  little  what  a  blessing  there  is  in  God 
save  the  King";  perhaps,  also,  another  remark  just  after  this  was 
occasioned  by  his  experience  on  this  work:  "It  is  certain  that  one 
writes  most  beautifully  when  one  writes  for  the  public,  also  that 
one  writes  rapidly."  There  is  nothing  in  this  at  all  contra- 
dictory to  Moscheles's  positive  and  unimpeachable  testimony  on 
the  origin  of  the  work.  In  a  note  to  his  English  edition  of 
Schindler's  book  he  writes: 

I  witnessed  the  origin  and  progress  of  this  work,  and  remember  that 
not  only  did  Malzel  decidedly  induce  Beethoven  to  write  it,  but  even 
laid  before  him  the  whole  design  of  it;  himself  wrote  all  the  drum-marches 
and  the  trumpet-flourishes  of  the  French  and  English  armies;  gave  the 
composer  some  hints,  how  he  should  herald  the  English  army  by  the  tune 
of  "Rule  Britannia";  how  he  should  introduce  "Malbrook"  in  a  dismal 
strain;  how  he  should  depict  the  horrors  of  the  battle  and  arrange  "God 
save  the  King"  with  effects  representing  the  hurrahs  of  a  multitude. 
Even  the  unhappy  idea  of  converting  the  melody  of  "God  save  the  King" 
into  a  subject  of  a  fugue  in  quick  movement,  emanates  from  Malzel. 
All  this  I  saw  in  sketches  and  score,  brought  by  Beethoven  to  Malzel's 
workshop,  then  the  only  suitable  place  of  reception  he  was  provided  with. 

The  same,  in  general  and  in  most  of  its  particulars,  was  re- 
lated to  the  author  by  Carl  Stein,  who  was  daily  in  Malzel's  rooms 
— they  being,  as  before  noted,  in  his  father's  pianoforte  manufac- 
tory— and  who  was  firmly  of  the  opinion,  that  Malzel  was  after- 
wards very  unfairly,  not  to  say  unjustly,  treated  by  Beethoven  in 
the  matter  of  this  composition.  The  composer  himself  says: 
"I  had  already  before  then  conceived  the  idea  of  a  battle  which 
was  not  practicable  on  his  Panharmonica,"  thus  by  implication 
fully  admitting  that  this  idea  was  not  his  own;  moreover,  the  copy 
of  a  part  of  the  Panharmonicon  score,  in  the  Artaria  Collection, 
has  on  the  cover,  in  his  own  hand:  "On  Wellington's  Victory  at 
Vittoria,  1813,  written  for  Hr.  Malzel  by  Ludwig  van  Beethoven." 
This  is  all  more  or  less  confirmatory  of  Moscheles,  if  indeed  any 
confirmation  be  needed.  It  is  almost  too  obvious  for  mention, 
that  Malzel's  share  in  the  work  was  even  more  than  indicated 
above,  because  whoever  WTote  for  the  Panharmonicon  must  be 
frequently  instructed  by  him  as  to  its  capacities  and  limitations, 
whether  a  Beethoven  or  the  young  Moscheles.  We  may  reason- 
ably assume,  that  the  general  plan  of  "Wellington's  Victory"  was 


254  Thf  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

dfixed  during  the  composer's  occasional  visits  to  the  city  in  August 
and  September,  and  such  alterations  in  the  score  determined  upon 
as  the  nature  of  the  instrument  demanded;  so  that  early  in  October 
the  whole  was  ready  for  Malzel  to  transfer  to  its  cylinder. 

On  Beethoven's  return  to  his  city  lodging,  between  the  15th 
and  20th  of  September,  his  notes  to  Zmeskall  become  as  usual 
numerous,  the  principal  topic  just  now  being  the  engagement  of  a 
new  servant.  While  with  the  assistance  and  under  the  direction 
of  the  excellent  Streichers,  Beethoven  got  his  lodgings  and  ward- 
robe into  decent  order,  with  the  aid  of  Zmeskall  he  obtained  that 
servant  spoken  of  by  Schindler, 

who  was  a  tailor  and  carried  on  his  trade  in  the  anteroom  of  the  composer. 
With  the  help  of  his  wife  he  attended  the  master  with  touching  care  till 
into  the  year  1816 — and  this  regulated  mode  of  life  did  our  friend  much 
_good.     Would  that  it  might  have  endured  a  few  years  longer. 

At  this  stage  of  the  case  there  came  also  evidences  of  love  and 
admiration  from  Princess  Lichnowsky,  which  are  well  worth  more  de- 
tailed notice.  The  Prince  was  in  the  habit  of  frequently  visiting  his 
favorite  in  his  workshop.  In  accordance  with  a  mutual  understanding 
no  notice  was  to  be  taken  of  his  presence,  so  that  the  master  might  not  be 
disturbed.  After  the  morning  greeting  the  Prince  was  in  the  habit  of 
looking  through  any  piece  of  music  that  chanced  to  be  at  hand,  watching 
the  master  at  his  work  for  a  while  and  then  leaving  the  room  with  a  friendly 
**adieu."  Nevertheless,  these  visits  disturbed  Beethoven,  who  occasion- 
ally locked  the  door.  Unvexed,  the  Prince  would  walk  down  the  three 
flights  of  stairs.  As  the  sartorial  servant  sat  in  the  anteroom,  His 
Serene  Highness  would  join  him  and  wait  until  the  door  opened  and  he 
could  speak  a  friendly  greeting  to  the  Prince  of  Music.  The  need  was 
thus  satisfied.  But  it  was  not  given  long  to  the  honored  Maecenas  of 
Art  to  rejoice  in  his  favorite  and  his  creations. 

This  is  touching  and  trustworthy. 

To  return  to  "Wellington's  Victory."  Schindler,  supposing 
the  Panharmonicon  to  have  played  it,  remarked  in  the  first  edition 
of  his  book:  "The  effect  of  the  piece  was  so  unexpected  that  Mal- 
zel requested  our  Beethoven  to  instrumentate  it  for  orchestra." 
He  is  mistaken  as  to  the  reason;  for  Malzel  had  only,  in  Beethoven's 
words,  "begun  to  engrave."  In  truth,  he  was  musician  enough  to 
see  from  the  score,  how  verv  effective  it  would  be  if  instrumentated 
for  grand  orchestra,  and  sagacious  enough  to  perceive,  that  the 
composition  in  that  form  might  prove  of  far  greater  advantage  to 
them  in  London  and  probably  be  more  attractive  afterwards 
when  performed  by  the  Panharmonicon.  But  there  was  another 
consideration  far  more  important. 

Before  the  age  of  steam  a  journey  from  Vienna  to  London 
with  the  many  huge  cases  required  for  even  a  part  of  Malzel 's 


A  Benefit  for  Wounded  Soldiers  255 

collection,  was  a  very  expensive  undertaking.  The  problem 
now  was,  how  to  provide  the  necessary  funds.  Beethoven's  were 
exhausted  and  his  own  were  very  limited.  To  go  alone  and  give 
exhibitions  at  the  principal  cities  on  the  way,  involved  little  or 
no  risk  for  Malzel,  as  the  experience  of  the  next  year  proved;  but 
to  make  the  journey  direct,  with  Beethoven  for  his  companion, 
was  impossible  until  in  some  manner  a  considerable  sum  of  ready 
money  could  be  provided. 

The  only  resource  of  the  composer,  except  borrowing,  was, 
of  course,  the  production  of  the  two  new  Symphonies,  one  of  which 
had  been  copied  for  trial  with  small  orchestra  at  the  Archduke's, 
thus  diminishing  somewhat  the  expenses  of  a  concert.  It  was  five 
years  since  he  had  had  a  benefit,  and  therefore  one  full  house 
might  be  counted  on  with  reasonable  certainty;  but  no  concert  of 
his  had  ever  been  repeated,  and  a  single  full  house  would  leave 
but  a  small  margin  of  profit.  Moreover,  his  fruitless  efforts  in  the 
Spring  to  arrange  an  "Akademie"  were  discouraging.  Unless  the 
new  Symphonies  could  be  produced  without  cost  to  himself,  and 
the  interest  and  curiosity  of  the  public  so  aroused  as  to  insure  the 
success  of  two  or  three  subsequent  concerts,  no  adequate  fund 
for  the  journey  could  be  gained;  but  if  so  great  a  sensation  could 
in  some  manner  be  made  as  to  secure  this  object,  the  fame  of  it 
would  precede  and  nobly  herald  them  in  London. 

Beethoven  was  helpless;  but  Malzel's  sagacity  was  equal  to 
the  occasion.  He  knew  that  for  the  highly  cultivated  classes  of 
music-lovers,  able  and  ready  to  appreciate  the  best,  nothing  better 
could  be  desired  than  new  Symphonies  by  Beethoven;  but  such 
auditors  are  always  limited  in  number;  the  programme  must 
also  contain  something  \surprising^__sensationa^^ 
^ulguSjto  catch  the  ear  of  the__multItude][an3~open^ 
HiTTrumpeter  was  not  enough;  it  had  lost  its  noveltyPattlioTTgh 
with  an  orchestra  instead  of  pianoforte  accompaniment,  it  would 
be  something.  Beethoven  alone  could,  if  he  would,  produce  what 
was  indispensable.  Time  pressed,  Malzel  had  long  since  closed 
his  exhibition,  and  every  day  of  delay  was  a  serious  expense. 
The  "Conflagration  of  Moscow,"  the  model  of  his  Chronometer  and 
the  cjdinders  for  his  Panharmonicon  were  all  finished,  except  the 
"Victory,"  and  this  would  soon  be  ready.  Before  the  end  of  the 
year,  therefore,  he  could  be  in  Munich,  as  his  interest  impera- 
tively demanded,  provided  Beethoven  should  not  be  his  companion. 
There  was  nothing  to  detain  him  in  Vi^inaj  after  the  "Victory" 
was  completed,  but  his  relations  to  the  composer.  Him  he 
knew  too  well  to  hope  from  him  any  work  deliberately  written 


^56  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

with  a  view  to  please  the  multitude,  had  the  time  allowed,  which 
it  did  not. 
-^  Preparations  were  making  in  October  for  two  grand  perform- 
ances on  the  11th  and  14th  of  November,  in  the  R.  I.  Winter 
Riding  Academy,  of  Handel's  "Timotheus"  for  the  benefit  of  the 
widows  and  orphans  of  Austrians  and  Bavarians  who  had  fallen 
in  the  late  campaign  against  Napoleon.  On  this  hint  Malzel 
formed  his  plan.  This  was,  if  Beethoven  would  consent  to  in- 
strumentate  the  "Victory"  for  orchestra — in  doing  which,  being 
freed  from  the  limitations  of  the  Panharmonicon,  he  could  give  free 
play  to  his  fancy — he  (Malzel)  would  return  to  him  the  score, 
risk  the  sacrifice  of  it  for  its  original  purpose,  remain  in  Vienna, 
and  make  it  the  popular  attraction  of  a  grand  charity  concert  for 
the  benefit  of  the  Austrians  and  Bavarians  wounded  in  the  battle 
at  Hanau,  trusting  that  it  would  open  the  way  for  two  or  more 
concerts  to  be  given  for  their  own  benefit.  Under  all  the  cir- 
cumstances, it  is  difficult  to  decide,  whether  to  admire  the  more 
Malzel's  good  judgment,  or  his  courageous  trust  in  it  and  in 
Beethoven's  genius.  He  disclosed  his  plan  and  purposes  to  the 
composer,  they  were  approved  by  him,  and  the  score  was  returned. 

While  Beethoven  wrought  zealously  on  his  task,  Malzel  busied 
himself  with  the  preparations  for  the  concert.  His  personal 
popularity,  the  charitable  object  in  view,  curiosity  to  study 
Beethoven's  new  productions,  especially  the  battle-piece,  secured 
the  services  of  nearly  all  the  leading  musicians,  some  of  whom 
were  there  only  in  passing  or  temporarily — Dragonetti,  Meyer- 
beer, the  bassoon-player  Romberg,  and  others.  Tomaschek,  who 
heard  the  "Victory"  next  year,  writes  that  he  was  "very  painfully 
affected  to  see  a  Beethoven,  whom  Providence  had  probably 
assigned  to  the  highest  throne  in  the  realm  of  music,  among  the 
rudest  materialists.  I  was  told,  it  is  true,  that  he  himself  had 
declared  the  work  to  be  folly,  and  that  he  liked  it  only  because  with 
it  he  had  thoroughly  thrashed  the  Viennese."  There  is  no  doubt 
that  this  was  so;  nor  that  they,  who  engaged  in  its  performance, 
viewed  it  as  a  stupendous  musical  joke,  and  engaged  in  it  con 
amore  as  in  a  gigantic  professional  frolic. 

The  University  Hall  was  granted  on  this  occasion  and  the  8th 
of  December  was  fixed  for  the  concert.  Young  Gloggl  was  in 
Vienna,  visited  Beethoven,  and  was  by  him  granted  the  privilege 
of  attending  the  rehearsals.     "I  remember,"  he  writes, 

that  in  one  rehearsal  the  violin-players  refused  to  play  a  passage  in  the 
symphony  and  rebuked  him  for  writing  difficulties  which  were  incapable 
of  performance.     But  Beethoven  begged  the  gentlemen  to  take  the  parts 


Spohr  Describes  Beethoven's  Conducting       257 

home  with  them — if  they  were  to  practise  it  at  home  it  would  surely  go. 
The  next  day  at  the  rehearsal  the  passage  went  excellently,  and  the  gentle- 
men themselves  seemed  to  rejoice  that  they  had  given  Beethoven  the 
pleasure. 

Spohr,  playing  among  the  violins, 

for  the  first  time  saw  Beethoven  conduct  and  was  surprised  in  the 
highest  degree,  although  he  had  been  told  beforehand  of  what  he  now  saw 
with  his  own  eyes.  Beethoven  had  accustomed  himself  [he  says]  to  indi- 
cate expression  to  the  orchestra  by  all  manner  of  singular  bodily  move- 
ments. At  'piano  he  crouched  down  lower  and  lower  as  he  desired  the 
degree  of  softness.  If  a  crescendo  then  entered  he  gradually  rose  again 
and  at  the  entrance  of  the  forte  jumped  into  the  air.  Sometimes,  too, 
he  unconsciously  shouted  to  strengthen  the  Jorte.  It  was  obvious  that 
the  poor  man  could  no  longer  hear  the  piano  of  his  music.  This  was 
strikingly  illustrated  in  the  second  portion  of  the  first  Allegro  of  the 
symphony.  In  one  place  there  are  two  holds,  one  immediately  after  the 
other,  of  which  the  second  is  pianissimo.  This,  Beethoven  had  probably 
overlooked,  for  he  began  again  to  beat  time  before  the  orchestra  had 
begun  to  play  the  second  hold.  Without  knowing  it,  therefore,  he  had 
hurried  ten  or  twelve  measures  ahead  of  the  orchestra,  when  it  began 
again  and,  indeed,  pianissimo.  Beethoven  to  indicate  this  had  in  his 
wonted  manner  crouched  clean  under  the  desk.  At  the  succeeding  cre- 
scendo he  again  became  visible,  straightened  himself  out  more  and  more 
and  jumped  into  the  air  at  the  point  where  according  to  his  calculation 
the  forte  ought  to  begin.  When  this  did  not  follow  his  movement  he 
looked  about  in  a  startled  way,  stared  at  the  orchestra  to  see  it  still 
playing  pianissimo  and  found  his  bearings  only  when  the  long-expected 
forte  came  and  was  audible  to  him.  Fortunately  this  comical  incident 
did  not  take  place  at  the  performance. 

Malzel's  first  placards  announcing  the  concert  spoke  of  the 
battle-piece  as  his  property;  but  Beethoven  objecting  to  this, 
others  were  substituted  in  which  it  was  said  to  have  been  composed 
"out  of  friendship,  for  his  visit  to  London."  No  hint  was  con- 
veyed of  Malzel's  share  in  the  composition.     The  programme  was: 

I.  "An  entirely  new  Symphony,"  by  Beethoven  (the  Seventh,  in  A         />^ 

major). 

II.  Two  Marches  played  by  Malzel's  Mechanical  Trumpeter,  with 

full  orchestral  accompaniment — the  one  by  Dussek,  the  atlier 
by  Pleyel. 

III.  "Wellington's  Victory." 

The  success  of  the  performances  was  so  unequivocal  and 
splendid  as  to  cause  their  repetition  on  Sunday,  the  12th,  at  noon, 
at  the  same  prices,  10  fl.  and  5  fl.  "The  net  receipts  of  the  two 
performances,  after  deducting  the  unavoidable  costs,  were  4006 
florins,  which  were  reverently  turned  over  to  the  'hohen  Kriegs- 
Prasidio'    for    the    purposes    announced"    ("Wiener     Zeitung," 


258  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

December  20).  The  "Wiener  Zeitung,"  "Allg.  Mus.  Zeit."  of 
Leipsic,  and  the  "Beobachter,"  contained  excessively  laudatory 
notices  of  the  music  and  vivid  descriptions  of  its  effect  upon  the 
auditors,  whose  "applause  rose  to  the  point  of  ecstasy."  The 
statements  of  the  contemporary  public  prints  are  confirmed  by 
the  veteran  Spohr,  who  reports  that  the  Allegretto  of  the  Seventh 
Symphony  "was  demanded  da  capo  at  both  concerts." 

Schindler  calls  this  rightly  "one  of  the  most  important 
moments  in  the  life  of  the  master,  at  which  all  the  hitherto  diver- 
gent voices,  save  those  of  the  professional  musicians,  united  in 
proclaiming  him  worthy  of  the  laurel."  "A  work  like  the  battle- 
symphony  had  to  come,"  adds  Schindler  with  good  judgment, 
"in  order  that  divergent  opinions  might  be  united  and  the  mouths 
of  all  opponents,  of  whatever  kind,  be  silenced."  Schindler  also 
preserved  a  "Note  of  Thanks"  prepared  for  the  "Wiener  Zeitung" 
and  signed  by  Beethoven,  which  ends  with  a  just  and  merited 
tribute  to  Malzel: 

(For  the  "Intelligenz-Blatt"  of  the  "Wiener  Zeitung.") 

I  esteem  it  to  be  my  duty  to  thank  all  the  honored  participants  in 
the  Academy  given  on  December  8,  and  12,  for  the  benefit  of  the  sick 
and  wounded  Austrian  and  Bavarian  soldiers  who  fought  in  the  battle 
at  Hanau. 

It  was  an  unusual  congregation  of  admirable  artists  wherein  every 
individual  was  inspired  by  the  single  thought  of  contributing  something 
by  his  art  for  the  benefit  of  the  fatherland,  and  cooperated  without  con- 
sidering rank  in  subordinate  places  in  the  excellent  execution  of  the  whole. 

While  Herr  Schuppanzigh  at  the  head  of  the  violins  carried  the 
orchestra  by  his  fiery  and  expressive  playing,  Hr.  Chief-Chapelmaster 
Salieri  did  not  scruple  to  beat  time  for  the  drummers  and  salvos;  Hr. 
Spohr  and  Hr,  Mayseder,  each  worthy  of  leadership  because  of  his  art, 
collaborated  in  the  second  and  third  places  and  Hr.  Siboni  and  Giuliani 
also  occupied  subordinate  positions. 

To  me  the  direction  of  the  whole  was  assigned  only  because  the 
music  was  of  my  composition;  had  it  been  by  another,  I  should  have  been 
as  willing  as  Hr.  HummeP  to  take  my  place  at  the  big  drum,  as  we  were 
all  filled  with  nothing  but  the  pure  love  of  country  and  of  joyful  sacrifice 
of  our  powers  for  those  who  sacrificed  so  much  for  us. 

But  our  greatest  thanks  are  due  to  Hr.  Malzel,  since  it  was  he  who 
first  conceived  the  idea  of  this  academy  and  there  fell  to  him  afterward  the 

^In  a  foot-note  to  Schindler's  account  of  the  performance  of  the  battle-piece,  Mo- 
scheles,  the  English  translator,  says:  "I  must  claim  for  ray  friend  Meyerbeer  the  place 
here  assigned  to  Hummel,  who  had  to  act  in  the  cannonade;  and  this  I  may  the  more 
firmly  assert  as  the  cymbals  having  been  intrusted  to  me,  Meyerbeer  and  I  had  to 
play  from  one  and  the  same  part."  At  the  repetitions  of  the  work  on  January  2  and  24 
ensuing.  Hummel  directed  what  may  well  be  called  the  "battery."  As  there  were  two 
large  drums,  one  on  one  side  of  the  stage  and  one  on  the  other,  Hummel  no  doubt 
played  one  and  Meyerbeer  the  other.  Being  pianists,  nothing  but  instruments  of  per- 
cussion could  have  been  assigned  them. 


Compositions  and  Publications  of  1813  259 

management,  care  and  arrangement — the  most  arduous  labors  of  all. 
I  must  also  thank  him  in  particular,  because  by  the  projection  of  this 
academy,  he  gave  me  the  opportunity,  long  and  ardently  desired,  by 
means  of  the  composition  especially  written  for  this  philanthropic  purpose 
and  delivered  to  him  without  pay,  to  lay  a  work  of  magnitude  upon  the 
altar  of  the  fatherland  under  the  existing  conditions. 

Ludwig  van  Beethoven. 

Why  was  this  document  not  printed.'^  Beethoven  had  sud- 
denly quarreled  with  Malzel. 

Evidence  of  the  impatience  with  which  Beethoven  conducted 
the  controversy  with  the  heirs  of  Prince  Kinsky,  concerning  the 
payment  of  the  annuity  installments,  is  given  by  a  letter  dated 
''Vienna,  December  18,  1813,"  to  Dr.  Beyer,  a  lawyer  in  Prague, 
in  which  he  says: 

I  have  many  times  cursed  this  unhappy  decree  through  which  I 
have  been  plunged  into  numberless  sorrows.  Oliva  is  no  longer  here  and 
it  is  unendurable  to  lose  so  much  time  in  the  matter,  which  I  steal  from 
my  art  only  to  see  things  at  a  standstill.  I  have  now  sent  a  new  opinion 
to  Wolff,  he  wanted  to  begin  legal  proceedings,  but  I  think  it  better  as  I 
have  written  to  Wolff,  first  to  send  a  petition  to  the  general  courts — give 
me  your  help  in  the  matter  and  do  not  let  me  go  to  destruction,  here, 
surrounded  by  innumerable  enemies  in  everything  that  I  do,  I  am  almost 
desperate.  My  brother,  whom  I  have  overwhelmed  with  benevolences, 
with  whose  consent  I  certainly  am  ....  partly  in  misery  is — my  greatest 
enemy!  ...  I  would  gladly  have  taken  the  entire  matter  out  of  Wolff's 
hands  and  placed  it  in  yours,  but  we  should  only  make  new  enemies. 

The  ascertained  compositions  of  this  year  are: 

I.  Triumphal  March,  C  major,  for  Kuffner's  "Tarpeia." 

II.  "Wellington's  Victory." 

III.  Song:  "Der  Bardengeist"  ("On  November  3d,  1813"). 

IV.  Canon:  "Kurz  ist  der  Schmerz."  (First  form.)  "For  Herrn 
Naue  as  a  souvenir  from  L.  v.  Beethoven,  Vienna,  November  23,  1813." 
Johann  Friedrich  Naue,  successor  to  Tiirk  as  Musik-Direktor,  etc.,  at 
Halle,  born  in  1790,  appears  to  have  been  in  Vienna  on  a  visit  this 
Autumn. 

V.  Irish  airs  quite,  or  nearly,  completed. 

Publications : 

In  Thomson's  preface  to  the  First  Volume  of  "A  Select  Collection 
of  Original  Irish  Airs,"  dated  "Edinburgh,  Anno  1814,"  he  remarks: 
"After  the  volume  was  printed  and  some  copies  of  it  had  been  circulated, 
an  opportunity  occurred  of  sending  it  to  Beethoven,  who  corrected  the 
few  inaccuracies  that  had  escaped  the  notice  of  the  Editor  and  his 
friends;    and  he  trusts  it  will  be  found  without  a  single  error." 

It  is  to  be  inferred  from  this,  that  the  first  volume  was  published,  at 
the  latest,  this  year;  but  the  corrections  were  not  sent  to  Thomson  until 
September,  1814.     The  songs  were  originally  printed  in  numbers.    Thus 


260  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

of  the  first  volume  of  the  Scotch  Songs,  principally  by  Kozeluch  and 
Pleyel,  the  First,  Third,  and  Fourth  Sets,  now  before  the  writer,  contain 
25  songs  each. 

It  may  be  assumed  then  that  at  least  a  part  of  the  Irish  Songs  came 
from  the  press  in  1813.  The  song  "Der  Bardengeist"  was  published  as 
a  supplement  to  the  "Musenalmanach"  of  Joh.  Erichson  for  1814.  The 
preface  of  the  almanac  is  dated  November  20,  1813,  and  the  book  was 
doubtless  published  before  New  Year's  Day,  1814. 


Chapter  XIV 


The  Year  1814— Popular  Performances  Repeated— Revision 
of  "Fidelio" — The  Opera  Succeeds — Anton  Schindler  En- 
ters Beethoven's  Life — The  Quarrel  with  Malzel — Mosche- 
les — ^The  Vienna  Congress— J.  W.  Tomaschek — Count 
Rasoumowsky's  Palace  Burned — Compositions  of  the 
Year. 


O 


N  the  last  day  of  1813,  the  "Wiener  Zeitung"  contained 
this  public  notice: 

Musical  Academy 

The  desire  of  a  large  number  of  music-lovers  whom  I  esteem  as 
worthy  of  honor,  to  hear  again  my  grand  instrumental  composition  on 
I' Wellington's  Victory  at  Vittoria,"  makes  it  my  pleasant  duty  herewith  to 
inform  the  valued  public  that  on  Sunday,  the  2d  of  January,  I  shall  have 
the  honor  to  perform  the  aforementioned  composition  with  added  vocal 
pieces  and  choruses  and  aided  by  the  most  admirable  musicians  of  Vienna 
in  the  R.  I.  large  Ridotto  Room  for  my  benefit. 

Tickets  of  admission  are  to  be  had  daily  in  the  Kohlmarkt  in  the 
house  of  Baron  v.  Haggenmuller,  to  the  right  of  the  court  on  the  ground 
floor,  in  the  comptoir  of  Baron  v.  Pasqualati;  parterre  2  fl.  gallery  3  fl. 
Vienna  standard. 

Ludwig  van  Beethoven. 

Malzel  saw,  therefore,  that  the  objects  for  which  he  had 
sacrificed  the  "Battle,"  for  which  he  had  lost  so  many  precious 
weeks  and  had  spent  so  much  labor  and  pains,  were  accomplished 
in  so  far  as  Beethoven's  new  works  were  now  the  subjects  of 
general  interest  and  curiosity,  and  their  repeated  performance  to 
large  and  profitable  audiences  was  secured.  To  his  courage  and 
sagacity  this  was  wholly  due.  It  is  thoroughly  unjust  to  deny  or 
ignore  the  value  of  his  services.  What  his  feelings  were  now,  to 
find  himself  deprived  of  all  share  in  the  benefit  resulting  from  them, 
and  therefore  left  without  compensation,  may  readily  be  conceived. 
His  Mechanical  Trumpeter  was  necessarily  discarded  with  him- 
self, and  Beethoven  had  to  find  something  to  take  its  place  on  the 

[261] 


262  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

programme.     Hence  this  note   (in  December)    to   Moritz   Lich- 
nowsky: 

If  you,  worthy  Count,  want  to  take  part  in  our  consultation  I 
inform  you  that  it  will  be  held  this  afternoon  at  half  after  3  o'clock  in  the 
Spielmann  house  on  the  Graben  1188  in  the  fourth  storey  at  Hr.  Wein- 
miiller's — it  would  rejoice  me  time  permitting  if  you  were  to  attend. 

Entirely  your 

Beethoven, 

The  result  of  this  conference  was  the  selection  of  Nos.  6,  7  and 
8  of  the  "Ruins  of  Athens"  music,  viz:  the  "Solemn  March  with 
Chorus"  and  the  concluding  Bass  Air,  sung  by  Weinmliller,  with  the 
choruses.  The  last  was  exceedingly  appropriate  in  a  concert  in 
the  Redouten-Saal,  it  being  the  number  in  which  (as  in  the  old 
Bonnian  "Blick  in  die  Zukiinft")  the  bust  of  the  monarch  is  made 
suddenly  to  appear.  To  insure  the  effectiveness  of  this  is  the 
object  of  a  humorous  note  to  Zmeskall,  on  New  Year's  Day. 

All  would  be  well  if  there  were  but  a  curtain,  without  it  the  Air  will 
fall  through.  Only  to-day  do  I  learn  this  from  S.  and  it  grieves  me — let 
there  be  a  curtain  even  if  it  be  only  a  bed-curtain,  only  a  sort  of  screen 
which  can  be  removed  for  the  moment,  a  veil,  etc.  There  must  be  some- 
thing, the  Air  is  too  dramatic,  too  much  written  for  the  theatre,  to  be 
effective  in  a  concert ;  without  a  curtain  or  something  of  the  sort  all  of  its 
meaning  will  be  lost! — lost! — lost! — To  the  devil  with  everything! 
The  Court  will  probably  come,  Baron  Schweiger  asked  me  to  go  there  at 
once,  Archduke  Karl  admitted  me  to  his  presence  and  promised  to  come. 
The  Empress  did  not  accept  nor  did  she  decline. 

Hangings!  !  !  or  the  Air  and  I  will  hang  to-morrow.  Farewell  in 
the  new  year,  I  press  you  as  warmly  to  my  heart  as  in  the  old — with  or 
without  curtain. 

The  orchestra  was  for  the  most  part  composed  of  the  same 
professional  and  amateur  artists  as  had  taken  part  in  the  two 
previous  concerts,  so  that  the  rehearsals  were  comparatively  in- 
expensive, the  only  new  music  being  the  selections  from  "The 
Ruins";  but  Salieri,  as  director  of  the  cannonade,  gave  place  to 
Hummel.  Franz  Wild,  the  singer,  was  present  and  records  in  his 
"Autobiography"  his  reminiscences  of  the  occasion  thus: 

He  (Beethoven)  mounted  the  conductor's  platform,  and  the  orches- 
tra, knowing  his  weakness,  found  itself  plunged  into  an  anxious  excitement 
which  was  justified  only  too  soon;  for  scarcely  had  the  music  begun 
before  its  creator  offered  a  bewildering  spectacle.  At  the  piano  passages 
he  sank  upon  his  knee,  at  the  forte  he  leaped  up,  so  that  his  figure,  now 
shrivelling  to  that  of  a  dwarf,  disappeared  under  the  desk  and  anon 
stretched  up  far  above  it  like  a  giant,  his  hands  and  arms  working  as  if 
with  the  beginning  of  the  music  a  thousand  lives  had  entered  every 
member.     At  first  this  happened  without  disturbance  of  the  effect  of  the 


Success  of  the  Battle  Music  263 

composition,  for  the  disappearance  and  appearance  of  his  body  was 
synchronous  with  the  dying  away  and  the  swelhng  of  the  music;  but  all  at 
once  the  genius  ran  ahead  of  his  orchestra  and  the  master  disappeared  at 
the  forte  passages  and  appeared  again  at  the  piano.  Now  danger  was  im- 
minent and  at  the  critical  moment  Chapelmaster  Umlauf  took  the  com- 
mander's staff  and  it  was  indicated  to  the  orchestra  that  he  alone  was  to 
be  obeyed.  For  a  long  time  Beethoven  noticed  nothing  of  the  change; 
when  he  finally  observed  it,  a  smile  came  to  his  lips  which,  if  ever  a  one 
which  kind  fate  permitted  me  to  see  could  be  called  so,  deserved  to  be 
called  "heavenly." 

The  composer  had  every  reason  to  be  satisfied  with  the 
result,  for  not  only  was  it  pecuniarly  profitable  but 

the  applause  was  general  and  reached  the  highest  ecstasy.  Many 
things  had  to  be  repeated,  and  there  was  a  unanimous  expression  of  a 
desire  on  the  part  of  all  the  hearers  to  hear  the  compositions  again  and 
often,  and  to  have  occasion  more  frequently  to  laud  and  admire  our  native 
composer  for  works  of  his  brilliant  invention. 

So  speaks  the  "Wiener  Zeitung"  on  the  9th,  which  on  the  24tli 
of  January  printed  this: 

Note  of  Thanks. 

I  had  the  good  fortune  on  the  occasion  of  a  performance  of  my  com- 
positions at  the  concert  given  by  me  on  January  2,  to  have  the  support 
and  help  of  a  large  number  of  the  most  admirable  and  celebrated  artists 
of  the  city,  and  to  see  my  works  brilliantly  made  known  by  the  hands 
of  such  virtuosos.  Though  these  artists  may  have  felt  themselves  re- 
warded by  their  own  zeal  for  art  and  the  pleasure  which  they  gave  the 
public  through  their  talents,  it  is  yet  my  duty  publicly  to  express  to  them 
my  thanks  for  their  mark  of  friendship  for  me  and  ready  support. 

Ludwig  van  Beethoven. 

*'Only  in  this  room"  (the  large  Redoutensaal),  says  Schindler, 
"was  the  opportunity  offered  to  put  into  execution  the  manifold 
intentions  of  the  composer  in  the  Battle  Symphony.  With  the 
help  of  the  long  corridors  and  the  rooms  opposite  to  each  other 
the  opposing  forces  were  enabled  to  approach  each  other  and  the 
desired  illusion  was  strikingly  achieved."  Schindler  was  among 
the  listeners  on  this  occasion  and  gives  assurance  that  the 
enthusiasm  awakened  by  the  performance,  "heightened  by  the 
patriotic  feeling  of  those  memorable  days,"  was  overwhelming. 

Among  the  direct  consequences  of  this  sudden  and  boundless 
popularity  of  Beethoven's  music,  to  which  Malzel  had  given  the 
occasion  and  impulse,  was  one  all  the  more  gratifying,  because 
totally  unexpected — the  revival  of  "Fidelio." 

"The  Inspizienten  of  the  R.  I.  Court  Opera,  Saal,  Vogel  and 
Weinmiiller,  about  this  time  were  granted  a  performance  for  their 


264  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

benefit,  the  choice  of  a  work  being  left  to  them,  without  cost." 
There  was  then  no  opera,  German,  French  or  Italian,  likely  to 
draw  a  remunerative  house  in  the  repertory  of  the  theatre,  which 
could  be  produced  without  expense  to  the  institution.  The 
sensation  caused  by  Beethoven's  new  music,  including  the  num- 
bers from  "The  Ruins  of  Athens"  in  which  Weinmiiller  had  just 
sung,  suggested  "Fidelio."  All  three  had  been  in  Vienna  at  its 
production  and  therefore  knew  it  sufficiently  to  judge  of  its  fitness 
for  them  as  singers,  and  the  probability  of  its  now  being  successful; 
at  all  events  the  name  of  Beethoven  would  surely  secure  for  their 
night  a  numerous  audience.  "Beethoven  was  approached  for  the 
loan  of  the  opera,"  says  Treitschke,  who  had  this  year  been  re- 
appointed stage-manager  and  poet  at  the  Kiirnthnerthor-Theater 
after  having  been  employed  some  years  at  the  Theater-an-der- 
Wien,  "and  very  unselfishly  declared  his  willingness,  but  on  the 
unequivocal  condition  that  many  changes  be  made." 

At  the  same  time  he  proposed  my  humble  self  as  the  person  to 
make  these  changes.  I  had  enjoyed  his  more  intimate  friendship  for 
some  time,  and  my  twofold  position  as  stage-manager  and  opera-poet 
made  his  wish  a  pious  duty.  With  Sonnleithner's  permission  I  first  took 
up  the  dialogue,  wrote  it  almost  wholly  anew,  succinct  and  clear  as  pos- 
sible— an  essential  thing  in  the  case  of  Singspiele. 

The  principal  changes  made  by  Treitschke  were,  by  his  own 
account,  these: 

The  scene  of  the  entire  first  act  was  laid  in  an  open  court;  the  posi- 
tions of  Nos.  1  and  2,  were  exchanged;  later  the  guard  entered  to  a 
newly  composed  march;  ieo/iore's  Air  received  a  new  introduction,  and 
only  the  last  movement,  "O  du,  ftir  den  ich  alles  trug,"  was  retained. 
The  succeeding  scene  and  duet — according  to  Seyfried's  description  "a 
charming  duettino  for  soprano  voices  with  concertante  parts  for  violin 
and  violoncello,  C  major,  6/8  time" — which  was  in  the  old  book,  Beethoven 
tore  out  of  the  score;  the  former  (he  said)  was  unnecessary,  the  latter  a 
concert-piece;  I  was  compelled  to  agree  with  him;  the  purpose  in  view 
was  to  save  the  opera  as  a  whole.  A  little  terzetto  for  Rocco,  Mar- 
celline  and  Jacquino  which  followed  ("a  most  melodious  terzetto  in  E- 
flat"  as  Se;y'fried  says)  fared  no  better.  There  had  been  a  want  of  action 
and  the  music  did  not  warm  the  hearers.  A  new  dialogue  was  desired  to 
give  more  occasion  for  the  first  finale.  My  friend  was  again  right  in 
demanding  a  different  ending.  I  made  many  plans;  at  length  we  came 
to  an  agreement:  to  bring  together  the  return  of  the  prisoners  at  the 
command  of  Pizarro  and  their  lamentation. 

The  second  act  offered  a  great  difficulty  at  the  very  outset.  Beet- 
hoven at  first  wanted  to  distinguish  poor  Florestan  with  an  aria,  but 
I  offered  the  objection  that  it  would  not  be  possible  to  allow  a  man 
nearly  dead  of  hunger  to  sing  bravura.     ^Ye  composed  one  thing  and 


Treitschke's  Revision  of  "Fidelio"  265 

another;  at  last,  in  my  opinion,  I  hit  the  nail  on  the  head.    I  wrote  words 
which  describe  the  last  blazing  up  of  hfe  before  its  extinguishment: 

"Und  spur'  ich  nicht  linde,  sanft  sauselnde  Luft, 

Und  ist  nicht  mein  Grab  mir  erhellet  ? 
Ich  seh',  wie  ein  Engel,  in  rosigem  Duft, 

Sich  trostend  zur  Seite  mir  stellet. 
Ein  Engel,  Leonoren,  der  Gattin  so  gleich! 
Der  fuhrt  mich  zur  Freiheit,— ins  himmlische  Reich!" 

What  I  am  now  relating  will  live  forever  in  my  memory.  Beet- 
hoven came  to  me  about  seven  o'clock  in  the  evening.  After  we  had 
discussed  other  things,  he  asked  how  matters  stood  with  the  aria.?  It 
was  just  finished,  I  handed  it  to  him.  He  read,  ran  up  and  down  the 
room,  muttered,  growled,  as  was  his  habit  instead  of  singing — and  tore 
open  the  pianoforte.  My^  wife  had  often  vainly  begged  him  to  play; 
to-day  he  placed  the  text  in  front  of  him  and  began  to  improvise  mar- 
vellously— music  which  no  magic  could  hold  fast.  Out  of  it  he  seemed  to 
conjure  the  motive  of  the  aria.  The  hours  went  by,  but  Beethoven  im- 
provised on.  Supper,  which  he  had  purposed  to  eat  with  us,  was  served, 
but — he  would  not  permit  himself  to  be  disturbed.  It  was  late  when  he 
embraced  me,  and  declining  the  meal,  he  hurried  home.  The  next  day 
the  admirable  composition  was  finished. 

Concerning  this  air,  Rockel  writes: 

Measurably  to  satisfy  the  new  Florestan  (the  Italian  Radichi),  who 
wanted  to  be  applauded  after  his  air,  which  was  not  possible  nor  fitting 
to  the  situation  nor  desirable  after  the  'pianissimo  conclusion  of  Florestan's 
air  with  the  con  sordino  accompaniment  of  the  violins,  without  writing  a 
new  air,  Beethoven  cut  the  Adagio  in  two  and  concluded  with  an  Allegro 
in  the  high  register  of  the  singer;  but  as  the  noise  of  applause  would  not 
have  been  increased  by  Rocco  and  Fidelio,  who  enter  at  this  moment  to 
dig  a  grave  for  the  supposedly  dead  man,  the  composer  concluded  the 
noisy  Allegro  with  a  coda  for  the  orchestra  ending  with  a  new  pianis- 
simo, by  which  device  the  silence  essential  to  the  succeeding  scene  was 
again  restored. 

Treitschke  continues: 

Nearly  all  the  rest  in  the  second  act  was  confined  to  abbreviations 
and  changes  in  the  poetry.  I  think  that  a  careful  comparison  of  the 
two  printed  texts  will  justify  my  reasons.  The  grandiose  quartet:  "Er 
sterbe,"  etc.,  was  interrupted  by  me  with  a  short  pause  during  which 
Jacquino  and  other  persons  report  the  arrival  of  the  Minister  and  make 
the  accomplishment  of  the  murder  impossible  by  summoning  Pizarro 
away.  After  the  next  duet  Rocco  comes  and  accompanies  Florestan  and 
Leonore  to  the  Minister. 

At  this  point,  Treitschke  avoided  what  had  always  appeared 
to  him  to  be  "a  great  fault" — namely,  that  the  dungeon  was  the 
scene  of  the  entire  second  act — by  introducing  a  change  in  the 
scenery  so  that  the  conclusion  should  be  "in  full  daylight  upon 
a  bright  green  courtyard  of  the  palace." 


266  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

Before  the  middle  of  February  the  alterations  to  be  made 
were  determined  by  musician  and  poet,  and  each  began  his  task; 
both  were  hindered  by  frequent  interruptions,  and  its  completion 
deferred.^ 

Beethoven's  attention  to  it  was  immediately  called  away  by 
the  concert  of  which  these  two  notes  speak: 

No.  I. 

(To  Brunswick.) 

Vienna,  February  13,  1814,  Dear  friend  and  brother!  You  wrote 
to  me  recently,  I  write  to  you  now — you  no  doubt  rejoice  over  all  victories 
— also  over  mine — on  the  27th  of  this  month  I  shall  give  a  second  concert 
in  the  large  Ridotto  Room — Come  up — You  know  it  now.  Thus  I  am 
gradually  rescuing  myself  from  my  misery,  for  from  my  salaries  I  have 
not  yet  received  a  penny. ^  Schuppanzigh  has  written  to  Michalcovics' 
whether  it  would  be  worth  while  to  come  to  Of  en;  what  do  you  think? 
Of  course  such  a  thing  would  have  to  take  place  in  a  theatre.  My  opera 
is  going  to  be  performed,  but  I  am  writing  much  of  it  over.  I  hope  you  are 
living  contentedly,  that  is  not  a  little,  so  far  as  I  am  concerned,  good 
heavens,  my  kingdom  is  in  the  air,  like  the  wind  the  tones  often  whirl  in 
my  soul — I  embrace  you. 

No.  II. 

(To  Archduke  Rudolph.) 

I  hope  for  pardon  for  my  non-attendance.  Your  displeasure  would 
punish  me  when  I  am  innocent;  in  a  few  days  I  will  make  it  all  up.  They 
intend  to  perform  my  opera  "Fidelio"  again.  This  gives  me  a  great  deal 
of  work,  and  despite  my  healthy  appearance  I  am  not  well.  For  my 
second  concert  the  arrangements  have  been  made  in  part,  I  must  com- 
pose something  new  for  Milder  in  it.  Meanwhile  I  hear,  and  it  is 
comforting  to  me,  that  Y.  I.  H.  is  in  better  health,^  I  hope,  unless  I  am 

^Concerning  the  revision  of  "Fidelio"  there  is  much  information  in  the  so-called 
Dessauer  sketchbook  (now  in  the  archives  of  the  Gesellschaft  der  Musikfreunde  in 
Vienna),  which  unquestionably  belongs  in  the  year  1814.  This  sketchbook  contains 
first  of  all  the  two  new  finales  for  the  opera.  On  page  li  is  the  remark:  "For  Milder, 
B-flat  above,"  which  no  doubt  refers  to  the  measure  before  the  last  in  Leonores  aria. 
Then  follow,  p.  8'2,  Florestan's  air,  p.  90  the  melodrama,  p.  108  the  recitative  "Ab- 
scheulicher,  wo  eilst  du  hin,"  p.  112  "Un  lieto  Brindisi,"  p.  123  sketches  for  a  symphony 
"2nd  movement  Comi,"  p.  133  "Sanft  wie  du  lebtest"  (the  "Elegiac  song"),  p.  141 
"Symphony,  2nd  movement,"  p.  142  "Sanft  wie  du  lebtest,"  again,  p.  148  "Ihr 
weisen  Griinder  (Homage  Cantata),  p.  160  "Europa  steht"  ("Der  glorreiche  Augen- 
blick")  with  only  two  or  three  measures  of  music,  pp.  161-164  again  "Ihr  weisen 
Griinder."  Besides  these,  Nottebohm  recognized  sketches  for  the  Farewell  song  for 
Tuscher  ("Die  Stunde  schlagt"),  for  the  first  movement  of  the  Sonata,  Op. 90,  and  to 
the  overtures  to  "Fidelio"  and  "Namensfeier." 

^Beethoven  here,  of  course,  alludes  only  to  the  arrears  in  payments  on  his  annuity 
of  Lobkowitz  and  Kinsky. 

Uohann  Alois  Michalcovics,  "Konigl.  Stadthaltereiagent  '  in  Of  en,  had  been  some 
years  before  in  the  same  office  with  Zmeskall  in  Vienna,  and  a  member  of  that  jovial 
mu.sical  circle  of  which  young  Beethoven  was  the  prominent  figure.  Like  Zmeskall  and 
Brunswick,  he  was  a  fine  violoncellist. 

*The  Archduke  was  so  troubled  with  gout  in  his  hands  that  he  had  to  abandon 
pianoforte  playing. 


"Wellington's  Victory"  Repeated      267 

flattering  myself  too  much,  soon  again  to  contribute  to  it.  In  the  mean- 
time I  have  taken  the  liberty  to  inform  my  Lord  Falstaff^  that  he  will 
soon  graciously  be  permitted  to  appear  before  Y.  I.  H. 

The  "Wiener  Zeitung"  of  February  24th  contains  the  ad- 
vertisement of  the  "Akademie,  next  Sunday,  the  27th  inst.  in 
the  large  Redoutensaal,"  announcing  "a  new  symphony  not  yet 
heard  and  an  entirely  new  as  yet  unheard  terzetto"  as  novelties. 
To  Hummel,  Beethoven  now  wrote: 

I  beg  of  you  conduct  this  time  again  the  drumheads  and  can- 
nonades with  your  admirable  chapelmastei  and  field-marshall's  baton — 
do  it,  I  beg  of  you,  and  if  ever  I  am  wanted  to  cannonade  you,  I  shall  be 
at  your  service  body  and  soul. 

The  report  in  the  "Allg.  Mus.  Zeit."  contains  the  programme 
in  full  with  a  few  short  and  pertinent  observations: 

1.  The  new  symphony  (A  major)  which  was  received  with  so  much 
applause,  again.  The  reception  was  as  animated  as  at  the  first  time; 
the  Andante  (A  minor)  the  crown  of  modern  instrumental  music,  as  at 
the  first  performance  had  to  be  repeated. 

2.  An  entirely  new  Italian  terzetto  (B-flat  major)  beautifully 
sung  by  Mad.  Milder-Hauptmann,  Hrn.  Siboni  and  Hrn.  Weinmiiller, 
is  conceived  at  the  outset  wholly  in  the  Italian  style,  but  ends  with  a 
fiery  Allegro  in  Beethoven's  individual  style.     It  was  applauded. 

3.  An  entirely  new,  hitherto  unheard  symphony  (F  major,  "^/i 
time).  The  greatest  interest  of  the  listeners  seemed  centered  on  this,  the 
newest  product  of  B's  muse,  and  expectation  was  tense,  but  this  was  not 
suflaciently  gratified  after  the  single  hearing,  and  the  applause  which  it 
received  was  not  accompanied  by  that  enthusiasm  which  distinguishes  a 

.work  which  gives  universal  delight;  in  short — as  the  Italians  say — it  did 
not  create  a  furore.  This  reviewer  is  of  the  opinion  that  the  reason  does 
not  lie  by  any  means  in  weaker  or  less  artistic  workmanship  (for  here 
as  in  all  of  B's  works  of  this  class  there  breathes  that  peculiar  sj)irit  by 
which  his  originality  always  asserts  itself) ;  but  partly  in  the  faulty  judg- 
ment which  permitted  this  symphony  to  follow  that  in  A  major,  partly 
in  the  surfeit  of  beauty  and  excellence  which  must  necessarily  be  followed 
by  a  reaction.  If  this  symphony  should  be  performed  alone  hereafter, 
we  have  no  doubt  of  its  success. 

4.  At  the  close,  "Wellington's  Victory  in  the  battle  of  Vittoria"  was 
given  again,  the  first  part,  the  Battle,  having  to  be  repeated.  The 
performance  left  nothing  to  be  desired;  and  the  attendance  was  again  very 
large. 

The  "something  new  for  Milder"  resulted  in  something  rather 
old;  for  the  terzetto  in  which  she  sang  was  the  "Tremate,  empj, 
tremate,"  fully  sketched  in  1801-1802,  but  now  first  written  out 
and  completed  in  its  present  form. 

'Schuppanzigh. 


268  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

Schindler  discovered  among  Beethoven's  papers,  and  has 
communicated  substantially  in  his  book,  certain  accounts  of  ex- 
penses incurred  in  this  concert.  Only  the  Eighth  Symphony  and  the 
terzetto  had  to  be  copied;  for  these  "the  specification  amounted 
in  total:  452  written  pages  at  12  kreutzers,  makes  90  florins,  24 
kr.;  the  specified  cost  of  the  orchestra  alone  at  this  concert 
amounted  to  344  florins.  Nevertheless,  only  7  first  violinists  and 
only  6  seconds  who  were  paid  some  5  some  7  fl.  are  mentioned  by 
name,  because  in  each  part  twice  as  many  dilettanti  had  played." 
One  of  Beethoven's  own  memoranda  gives  the  exact  number  of  the 
string  instruments:  "At  my  last  concert  in  the  large  Ridotto- 
room  there  were  18  first  violins,  18  second,  14  violas,  12  violon- 
cellos, 17  contra-basses,  2  contra-bassoons."  Whether  the  au- 
dience numbered  5000,  as  Schindler  reports,  or  3000,  which  is 
more  likely,  the  clear  pecuniary  profits  of  the  two  concerts  were 
very  large.  Czerny  remembered  that  on  this  occasion  the  Eighth 
Symphony  "by  no  means  pleased"  and  Beethoven  was  angry 
thereat,  "because  it  is  much  better,"  he  said.  Another  of  his 
reminiscences  is  that  Beethoven  "often  related  with  much  pleasure 
how,  when  walking  on  the  Kahlenberg  after  the  performance  of  the 
Eighth  Symphony,  he  got  some  cherries  from  a  couple  of  girls  and 
when  he  asked  the  price  of  one  of  them,  she  replied:  'I'll  take 
nothing  from  you.  We  saw  you  in  the  Ridotto-room  when  we 
heard  your  beautiful  music'  " 

The  University  Law  Students  had  a  composition  by  Beethoven 
on  the  programme  of  their  concert,  on  February  12;  the  Medical 
Students  opened  their  concert,  March  6,  with  the  "Egmont" 
Overture;  and  the  Regiment  Deutschmeister,  theirs  of  March  25 
with  that  to  "Coriolan" ;  with  these  concerts  Beethoven  had  nothing 
to  do;  but  in  the  Annual  Spring  "Akademie,"  March  25,  in  the 
Karnthnerthor-Theater  for  the  Theatre  Poor  Fund,  he  conducted 
the  "Egmont"  Overture  and  "Wellington's  Victory." 

Both  poet  and  composer  had  now  been  again  delayed  in  their 
"Fidelio"  studies,  in  this  wise:  The  French  Armies  had  so  often 
taken  possession  of  the  capitals  of  the  various  Continental  states, 
that  the  motives  are  inconceivable,  which  induced  Schwarzenberg 
to  restrain  the  approach  of  the  allied  armies  on  Paris,  until 
Bliicher's  persistence,  enforced  by  his  victories,  at  last  compelled 
the  Commander-in-Chief  to  yield  the  point.  When  this  became 
known  in  Vienna,  it  was  determined  to  celebrate  the  event,  so 
soon  as  news  of  it  should  arrive,  by  an  appropriate  performance  in 
the  Court  Opera.  To  this  end,  Treitschke  wrote  a  Sijigspiel  in 
one  act  entitled  "Gute  Nachricht"  ("Good  News").     Of  the  nine 


First  Performance  of  the  Trio  in  B-flat       269 

pieces  of  music  in  it,  the  overture  was  given  to  Hummel  and  the 
concluding  chorus,  "Germania,  wie  stehst  du  jetzt  im  Glanze  da," 
to  Beethoven. 

In  a  note  to  Treitschke,  called  out  by  the  proposed  changes  in 
the  scenery  of  "Fidelio,"  Beethoven  wrote: 

The  arrival  of  the  Spaniards,  which  is  only  suggested  in  the  play, 
not  visibly  presented,  might  be  utilized  for  the  multitude  to  open  the  big 
hole  of  the  Wiedener  Theatre  [the  stage] — and  there  might  be  a  good  deal 
of  spectacle  besides  and  the  music  would  not  be  wholly  lost,  and  I  should 
willingly  add  something  new  if  it  were  asked. 

Towards  the  end  of  March,  Beethoven  received  the  new  text 
to  "Fidelio."  To  Treitschke  he  wrote:  "I  have  read  your  amend- 
ments to  the  opera  with  great  pleasure;  they  determine  me  to  re- 
build the  ruins  of  an  old  castle."  A  letter  to  the  poet  refers  again 
to  the  chorus  which  he  had  composed  for  Treitschke's  Singspiel: 

I  beg  you,  dear  T.,  to  send  me  the  score  of  the  song  so  that  the  inter- 
polated note  may  be  written  into  all  the  instruments — I  shall  not  take 
it  at  all  amiss  if  you  have  it  newly  composed  by  Gyrowetz  or  anybody 
else — preferably  Weinmiiller — I  make  no  pretensions  in  the  matter, 
but  I  will  not  suffer  that  any  man — no  matter  who  he  may  be — change 
my  compositions, 

Beethoven's  attention  was  now  again  called  away  from  the 
opera  by  a  concert  in  the  hall  of  the  Hotel  zum  Romischen 
Kaiser,  arranged  by  the  landlord  and  Schuppanzigh  for  a  military 
charity.  Czerny  relates  that  a  new  grand  trio  had  then  for  some 
time  been  a  subject  of  conversation  among  Beethoven's  friends, 
though  no  one  had  heard  it.  This  work,  Op.  97,  in  B-flat  major, 
w^as  to  open  the  second  part  of  the  concert  and  the  composer  had 
consented  to  play  in  it.  Spohr  was  by  chance  in  Beethoven's 
rooms  at  one  of  the  rehearsals  and  heard  him  play — the  only  time. 
'Tt  was  not  a  treat,"  he  writes: 

for,  in  the  first  place,  the  pianoforte  was  badly  out  of  tune,  which  Beet- 
hoven minded  little,  since  he  did  not  hear  it;  and  secondly,  there  was 
scarcely  anything  left  of  the  virtuosity  of  the  artist  which  had  formerly 
been  so  greatly  admired.  In  forte  passages  the  poor  deaf  man  pounded 
on  the  keys  till  the  strings  jangled,  and  in  piano  he  played  so  softly  that 
whole  groups  of  tones  were  omitted,  so  that  the  music  was  unintelligible 
unless  one  could  look  into  the  pianoforte  part.  I  was  deeply  saddened  at 
so  hard  a  fate.  If  it  is  a  great  misfortune  for  any  one  to  be  deaf,  how 
shall  a  musician  endure  it  without  giving  way  to  despair.'*  Beethoven's 
continual  melancholy  was  no  longer  a  riddle  to  me.' 

lAt  this  time  Moscheles  was  a  regular  listener  at  the  quartet  performances  at 
Schuppanzigh's.  Concerning  one  of  them,  he  writes  ("Aus  Moscheles'  Leben,"  I,  p.  18): 
"I  sat  beside  Spohr,  we  exchanged  opinions  about  what  we  heard:  Spohr  spoke  with 
great  heat  against  Beethoven  and  his  imitators." 


270  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

The  concert  took  place  at  noon  on  Monday,  April  11. 
Moscheles  was  present  and  wrote  in  his  diary: 

In  the  case  of  how  many  compositions  is  the  word  "new"  misappHed! 
But  never  in  Beethoven's,  and  least  of  all  in  this,  which  again  is  full  of 
originality.  His  playing,  aside  from  its  intellectual  element,  satisfied 
me  less,  being  wanting  in  clarity  and  precision;  but  I  observed  many 
traces  of  the  grand  style  of  playing  which  I  had  long  recognized  in  his 
compositions. 

In  those  days  a  well-to-do  music-lover,  named  Pettenkofer, 
gathered  a  number  of  young  people  into  his  house  every  Saturday 
for  the  performance  of  instrumental  music.  One  evening  a  pupil 
of  Schuppanzigh's  requested  his  neighbor  at  the  music-stand,  a 
youth  of  18  years,  to  take  a  note  from  his  teacher  next  day  to 
Beethoven,  proposing  a  rehearsal  of  the  Trio,  and  requiring  no 
answer  but  "yes"  or  "no."  "I  undertook  the  commission  with 
joy,"  he  records: 

The  desire  to  be  able  to  stand  for  even  a  moment  beside  the  man 
whose  works  had  for  several  years  inspired  me  with  the  greatest  reverence 
for  their  author,  was  now  to  be  so  unexpectedly  and  strangely  realized. 
The  next  morning  the  bearer  of  the  note,  with  beating  heart,  climbed  the 
four  flights  in  the  Pasqualati  house,  and  was  at  once  led  by  the  sartorial 
servant  to  the  writing  table  of  the  master.  After  he  had  read  the  missive, 
he  turned  to  me  and  said  "Yes";  with  a  few  rapidly  added  questions  the 
audience  came  to  an  end;  but  at  the  door  I  permitted  myself  to  tarry 
a  little  while  to  observe  the  man,  who  had  already  resumed  his  writing, 
closely. 

}         This  youth  was  Anton  Schindler.     He  continues  his  narrative: 

This,  almost  the  most  important  event  in  the  life-history  of  the  poor 
student  up  to  that  time,  was  soon  followed  by  the  acquaintanceship  of 
Schuppanzigh.  He  gave  me  a  ticket  for  the  concert  of  April  11,  given 
by  him.  .  .  .  On  this  occasion  I  approached  the  great  master  with  more 
confidence,  and  greeted  him  reverently.  He  answered  pleasantly  and 
showed  that  he  remembered  the  carrier  of  the  note. 

And  thus  ended  all  personal  intercourse  between  Schindler  and 
Beethoven  until  the  end  of  the  year — a  fact  to  be  noted. 

A  few  weeks  later  Beethoven  played  in  the  Trio  again  at  a 
morning  concert  of  Schuppanzigh's  in  the  Prater,  and  thus — 
excepting  once  accompanying  a  song — he  took  leave  of  the 
public  as  a  pianist. 

"Gute  Nachricht"  was  first  played  also  on  the  evening  of 
Monday,  April  11 ;  for  the  news  of  the  triumphal  entry  of  the  allied 
armies  (March  31),  as  Moscheles  records  in  his  diary,  reached 
Vienna  the  day  before.     It  was  repeated  on  the  12th,  14th,  17th, 


Beethoven  Quarrels  with  Malzel  271 

24th  and  May  3rd,  in  the  Karnthnerthor-Theater,  and  on  June 
11th  and  14th  in  the  Burg. 

Meantime  an  event  had  occurred,  the  effect  of  which  on  Beet- 
hoven is  nowhere  indicated;  but  let  us  hope  and  believe  that  it, 
for  the  moment,  unfitted  him  for  labor — Prince  Carl  Lichnowsky, 
his  old  friend  and  protector,  died  April  15.  It  is  gratifying  that 
the  last  notice  of  him  in  our  work  is  that  touching  reminiscence 
by  Schindler,  which  proves  that  time  had  neither  cooled  nor 
diminished  the  warm  affection  that  he  had  conceived  twenty  years 
before  for  the  young  Bonn  pianist. 

The  following  note  to  Zmeskall  was  written  about  this  time: 

Dear  Z. :  I  am  not  going  on  the  journey,  at  least  I  am  not  going  to 
hurry — the  matter  must  be  pondered  more  carefully — meanwhile  the 
work  has  already  been  sent  to  the  Prince  Regent : — // 1  am  wanted  I  can 
he  had,  and  then  liberty  remains  with  me  to  say  yes  or  no.  Liberty!  !  ! 
What  more  do  I  want.'*  ?  ? 

I  should  like  to  consult  with  you  about  how  to  settle  myself  in  my 
lodging. 

This  new  lodging,  for  which  Beethoven  now  left  the  Pa- 
squalati  house,  was  in  the  1st  storey  of  the  Bartenstein  house,  also 
on  the  Molker  Bastei  (No.  96);  so  that  he  still  remained  in  the 
immediate  vicinity  of  his  friends,  Princess  Christine  Lichnowsky 
and  the  Erdodys. 

The  other  matters  mentioned  in  the  note  call  our  attention 
again  to  Malzel,  who,  notwithstanding  his  bitter  disappointment 
at  the  turn  which  his  affairs  with  Beethoven  had  taken,  had  still 
lingered  in  Vienna  several  weeks  in  the  hope  of  making  some 
kind  of  amicable  arrangement  with  him.  As  his  side  of  the  story 
was  never  made  public,  there  is  little  to  add  to  the  information 
on  the  subject  contained  in  the  papers  of  Beethoven,  preserved 
by  Schindler.  From  them  these  facts  appear;  that  Beethoven 
repaid  the  fifty  ducats  of  borrowed  money;  that  Malzel  and  he  had 
several  interviews  at  the  office  of  the  lawyer,  Dr.  Adlersburg, 
which  had  for  their  subject  the  "Battle  of  Vittoria"  and  the  journey 
to  England;  that  he  made  various  propositions  which  Beethoven 
would  not  accept  "to  get  the  work,  or  at  least  the  right  of  first 
performance  for  himself,"  and  the  like;  that,  incensed  by  the 
conduct  of  the  composer  and  hopeless  of  benefit  from  any  farther 
consultation,  he  did  not  appear  at  the  last  one  appointed;  and  that 
he  obtained  by  stealth  so  many  of  the  single  parts  of  the  "Battle" 
as  to  be  enabled  therefrom  to  have  a  pretty  correct  score  of  the 
work  written  out,  with  which  he  departed  to  Munich  and  there 
produced  it  in  two  concerts  on  the  16th  and  17th  of  March. 


272  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

When  this  became  known  in  Vienna^  Beethoven's  wrath  was 
excited  and,  instead  of  treating  the  matter  with  contemptuous 
silence,  or  at  most  making  an  appeal  to  the  public  in  the  news- 
papers, he  committed  the  absurdity  of  instituting  a  lawsuit  against 
a  man  already  far  on  his  way  to  the  other  extremity  of  Europe,  at 
the  same  time  in  all  haste  preparing  a  copy  of  the  "Battle"  and 
sending  it  to  the  Prince  Regent  of  England,  that  at  least  he  might 
prevent  Malzel  from  producing  it  there  as  a  novelty.  It  was  a 
costly  and  utterly  useless  precaution;  for,  on  the  one  hand,  Malzel 
found  in  London  no  inducement  to  attempt  orchestral  concerts, 
and  on  the  other,  the  score  sent  by  Beethoven  lay  buried  in  the 
library  of  the  Prince,  who  neither  then  nor  ever  took  the  slightest 
notice  of  it  (except  to  permit  its  performance,  as  we  shall  presently 
see)  or  made  any  acknowledgment  to  the  composer. 

Casting  aside  all  extraneous  matter  contained  in  Beethoven's 
documents,  the  real  question  at  issue  is  very  clear.  The  two 
leading  facts — one  of  which  is  admitted  by  implication,  and  the 
other  explicitly  stated  by  Beethoven  himself — are  already  known 
to  the  reader:  First,  that  the  plan  of  the  work  was  Malzel's; 
second,  that  the  composer  wrought  it  out  for  the  Panharmonicon 
gratis.  In  this  form,  therefore,  the  composition  beyond  all  doubt 
was  Malzel's  property.  There  was,  therefore,  but  one  point  to  be 
decided:  Did  the  arrangement  of  the  work  for  orchestra  at 
Malzel's  suggestion  and  request,  transfer  the  proprietorship .^^  If 
it  did,  Beethoven  had  a  basis  for  his  suit;  if  it  did  not,  he  had  none. 
This  question  was  never  decided;  for  after  the  process  had  lingered 
through  several  years,  the  two  men  met,  made  peace,  Beethoven 
withdrew  his  complaint,  and  each  paid  the  half  of  all  expenses 
that  had  been  incurred  1^ 

i"In  April,  1814,  Beethoven  received  from  Munich  news  of  the  performance  of  the 
Battle  Symphony  in  that  city  by  Malzel,  and  also  a  report  that  the  latter  had  said  that 
he  had  to  recompense  himself  with  this  work  for  a  debt  of  400  ducats  which  Beethoven 
owed  him."     Schindler  I,  3rd  ed.,  p.  236. 

*The  documents  in  the  controversy  between  Beethoven  and  Malzel  alluded  to, 
together  with  Mr.  Thayer's  comments  on  them,  are  appended  in  this  foot-note  to 
prevent  a  too  long  interruption  of  the  biographical  narrative: 

Deposition 

Of  my  own  volition  I  had  composed  a  Battle  Symphony  for  Malzel  for  his  Pan- 
harmonica  without  pay.  After  he  had  had  it  for  a  while  he  brought  me  the  score,  the 
engraving  of  which  he  had  already  begun — [Beethoven  probably  meant  that  Malzel 
had  begun  the  preparation  of  the  cylinder — H.E.K.]  and  wanted  it  arranged  for  full 
orchestra.  I  had  previously  formed  the  idea  of  a  Battle  (Music)  which,  however,  was 
not  applicable  to  his  Panharraonica.  We  agreed  to  perform  this  work  and  others  of 
mine  in  a  concert  for  the  benefit  of  the  soldiers.  Meanwhile  I  got  into  the  most  terrible 
financial  embarrassment.  Deserted  by  the  whole  world  here  in  Vienna,  in  expectation 
of  a  bill  of  exchange,  etc.,  Malzel  offered  me  50  ducats  in  gold.  I  took  them  and  told 
him  that  I  would  give  them  back  to  him  here,  or  would  let  him  take  the  work  with  him  to 


Documents  in  the  Malzel  Case  273 

Thus  had  been  caused  a  new  interruption  of  the  work  on 
"Fidelio." 

"The  beneficiaries,"  says  Treitschke,  "urged  its  completion 
to  take  advantage  of  the  favorable  season;  but  Beethoven  made 
slow  progress.  To  one  of  the  poet's  notes  urging  haste,  Beethoven 
wrote,  probably  in  April: 

The  damned  Academy,  which  I  was  compelled  to  give  partly  by 
my  bad  circumstances,  has  set  me  back  so  far  as  the  opera  is  concerned. 

London  in  case  I  did  not  go  with  him — in  which  latter  case  I  would  refer  him  to  an  Eng- 
lish publisher  who  would  pay  him  these  50  ducat''.  The  Academies  were  now  given. 
In  the  meantime  Malzel's  plan  and  character  were  developed.  Without  ray  consent  he 
printed  on  the  placards  that  it  was  his  property.  Incensed  at  this  he  had  to  have  these 
torn  down.  Now  he  printed:  "Out  of  friendship  for  his  journey  to  London";  to  this  I 
consented,  because  I  thought  that  I  was  still  at  liberty  to  fix  the  conditions  on  which  I 
would  let  him  have  the  work.  I  remember  that  I  quarrelled  violently  with  him  while 
the  notices  were  printing,  but  the  too  short  time — I  was  still  writing  on  the  work.  In 
the  heat  of  my  inspiration,  immersed  in  my  work,  I  scarcely  thought  of  Malzel. 
Immediately  after  the  first  Academy  in  the  University  Hall,  I  was  told  on  all  hands  by 
trustworthy  persons  that  Malzel  was  spreading  it  broadcast  that  he  had  loaned  me  400 
ducats  in  gold.  I  thereupon  had  the  following  printed  in  the  newspaper,  but  the  news- 
paper writers  did  not  print  it  as  Malzel  is  befriended  with  all  of  them.  Immediately 
after  the  first  Academy  I  gave  back  to  Malzel  his  50  ducats,  telling  him  that  having 
learned  his  character  here,  I  would  never  travel  with  him,  righteously  enraged  because 
he  had  printed  on  the  placards,  without  my  consent,  that  all  the  arrangements  for  the 
Academy  were  badly  made  and  his  bad  patriotic  character  showed  itself  in  the  follow- 
ing expressions — I  [unprintable] — if  only  they  will  say  in  London  that  the  public  here 
paid  10  florins;  not  for  the  wounded  but  for  this  did  I  do  this — and  also  that  I  would 
not  let  him  have  the  work  for  London  except  on  conditions  concerning  which  I  would  let 
him  know.  He  now  asserted  that  it  was  a  gift  of  friendship  and  had  this  expression 
printed  in  the  newspaper  without  asking  me  about  it  in  the  least.  Inasmuch  as  Malzel 
is  a  coarse  fellow,  entirely  without  education,  or  culture,  it  may  easily  be  imagined  how 
he  conducted  himself  toward  me  during  this  period  and  increased  my  anger  more  and 
more.  .\nd  who  would  force  a  gift  of  friendship  upon  such  a  fellow.'  I  was  now 
offered  an  opportunity  to  send  the  work  to  the  Prince  Regent.  It  was  now  impossible 
to  give  him  the  work  unconditionally.  He  then  came  to  you  and  made  proposals. 
He  was  told  on  what  day  to  come  for  his  answer;  but  he  did  not  come,  went  away  and 
performed  the  work  in  Munich.  How  did  he  get  it.''  Theft  was  impossible — Herr 
Malzel  had  a  few  of  the  parts  at  home  for  a  few  days  and  from  these  he  had  the  whole 
put  together  by  some  musical  handicraftsman,  and  with  this  he  is  now  trading  around 
in  the  world.  Herr  Malzel  promised  me  hearing  machines.  To  encourage  him  I  com- 
posed the  Victory  Symphony  for  his  Panharmonica.  His  machines  were  finally  finished, 
but  were  useless  for  me.  For  this  small  trouble  Herr  Malzel  thinks  that  after  I  had 
set  the  Victory  Symphony  for  grand  orchestra  and  composed  the  Battle  for  it,  I  ought 
to  have  him  the  sole  owner  of  this  work.  Now,  assuming  that  I  really  felt  under  some 
obligation  for  the  hearing  machines,  it  is  cancelled  by  the  fact  that  he  made  at  least  500 
florins  convention  coin,  out  of  the  Battle  stolen  from  me  or  compiled  in  a  mutilated 
manner.  He  has  therefore  paid  himself.  He  had  the  audacity  to  say  here  that  he  had 
the  Battle;  indeed  he  showed  it  in  writing  to  several  persons — but  I  did  not  believe  it, 
and  I  was  right,  inasmuch  as  the  whole  was  not  compiled  by  me  but  by  another.  Moreover, 
the  honor  which  he  credits  to  himself  alone  might  be  a  reward.  /  iiias  not  mentioned  at 
all  by  the  Court  War  Council,  and  yet  everything  in  the  two  academies  was  of  my  com- 
position. If,  as  he  said,  Herr  Malzel  delayed  his  journey  to  London  because  of  the 
Battle,  it  was  merely  a  hoax.  Herr  Malzel  remained  until  he  had  finished  his  patch- 
work (?),  the  first  attempts  not  being  successful. 

Beethoven,  m.  p. 
II. 
Explanation  and  Appeal  to  the  Musicians  of  London 
BY  LuDWiG  van  Beethoven 
Herr    Malzel,  who  is  at   present  in  London,  on  his  way  thither  performed  my 
Victory  Symphony  and   Wellington  s  Battle  at   Vittoria  in   Munich,   and.   according  to 


274  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

The  cantata  which  I  wanted  to  give  robbed  me  of  5  or  6  days. 

Now,  of  course,  everything  must  be  done  at  once  and  I  could  write 
something  new  more  quickly  than  add  new  things  to  old — I  am  ac- 
customed in  writing,  even  in  my  instrumental  music — to  keep  the  whole 
in  view,  but  here  my  whole,  has — in  a  manner — been  distributed  every- 
where and  I  have  got  to  think  myself  back  into  my  work  ever  and  anon — 
it  is  not  likely  that  it  will  be  possible  to  give  the  opera  in  a  fortnight,  I 
think  that  it  will  be  4  weeks. 

Meanwhile  the  first  act  will  be  finished  in  a  few  days — but  there 
remains  much  to  do  in  the  2nd  Act,  and  also  a  new  overture,  which  will 

report,  will  also  give  concert  performances  of  it  in  London  as  he  was  also  willing  to  do 
in  Frankfort.  This  leads  me  publicly  to  declare:  that  I  never  under  any  circumstances 
yielded  or  gave  these  works  to  Herr  Malzel,  that  nobody  possesses  a  copy  of  them,  and 
that  the  only  one  which  I  gave  out  was  sent  to  his  Royal  Highness,  the  Prince  Regent 
of  England. 

The  performance  of  these  works  on  the  part  of  Herrn  Malzel,  therefore,  is  a  fraud 
on  the  public,  inasmuch  as  according  to  this  explanation  he  is  not  in  possession  of  them, 
or  if  he  is  in  possession  of  them  an  infringement  on  my  rights,  as  he  has  obtained  them 
in  an  illegal  manner. 

But  even  in  the  latter  case  the  public  will  be  deceived,  for  that  which  Herr  Malzel 
will  give  them  to  hear  under  the  title:  Wellington  s  Battle  at  Vittoria  and  Victory  Sym- 
phony, must  obviously  be  a  spurious  or  mutilated  work,  since  he  never  received  anything 
of  these  works  from  me  except  a  single  part  for  a  few  days. 

This  suspicion  becomes  certainty  when  I  add  the  assurance  of  musicians  of  this 
city  whose  names  I  am  empowered  to  mention  in  case  of  necessity,  that  Herr  Malzel 
said  to  them  on  leaving  Vienna  that  he  was  in  possession  of  the  work  and  showed  them 
parts  of  it,  which,  however,  as  I  have  already  proved,  could  be  nothing  else  than  muti- 
lated and  spurious  parts. 

Whether  Herr  Malzel  is  capable  of  doing  me  such  an  injury? — is  answered  by  the 
circumstance  that  he  had  himself  announced  as  the  sole  undertaker  of  my  two  concerts 
given  here  in  Vienna  for  the  benefit  of  the  soldiers  wounded  in  the  war,  at  which  only 
works  of  mine  were  performed,  in  the  public  prints,  without  an  allusion  to  my  name. 

I  therefore  call  upon  the  musical  artists  of  London  not  to  suffer  such  an  injury  to 
me,  their  colleague,  by  a  performance  arranged  by  Herrn  Malzel  of  the  Battle  of  Vittoria 
and  the  Victory  Symphony,  and  to  prevent  such  an  imposition  on  the  London  public 
in  the  manner  set  forth. 

Vienna,  July  25,  1814. 

III. 

Certificate 

We,  the  undersigned,  certify  in  the  interest  of  truth  and  can  vouch  under  oath 
if  necessary:  that  there  were  several  conferences  between  Herrn  Louis  van  Beethoven 
and  the  Court  Mechanician,  Herrn  Malzel  of  this  city,  at  the  house  of  the  undersigned. 
Dr.  Carl  v.  Adlersburg,  the  which  had  for  their  subject  the  musical  composition  called: 
"The  Battle  of  Vittoria"  and  the  visit  to  England;  at  these,  Herr  Malzel  made  several 
propositions  to  Herrn  van  Beethoven  to  secure  the  work  aforementioned,  or  at  least  the 
right  of  first  performance  for  himself.  But  as  Herr  Malzel  did  not  appear  at  the  last 
meeting  arranged  for,  nothing  came  of  the  matter,  the  propositions  made  to  the  former 
not  having  been  accepted  by  him. 

Vienna,  October  20,  1814.  Joh.  Freiherr  v.  Pasqualati, 

[L.  S.]  K.  K.  priv.  Grosshdndler. 

Carl  Edler  von  Adlersburg, 
HoJ-  und  Gerichts- Advocat 
[L.  S.]  K.  K.  Offentlicher  Notar. 

The  so-called  "Deposition"  is,  says  Thayer,  in  truth,  nothing  more  than  an 
ex-parte  statement  prepared  for  the  use  of  his  lawyer  by  a  very  angry  man,  in  whom  a 
tendency  to  suspicion  and  jealousy  had  strengthened  with  advancing  years  and  with 


The  Merits  of  Malzel's  Case  275 

be  the  easiest  because  I  can  compose  it  entirely  new.  Before  my  Acade- 
my a  few  things  only  were  sketched  here  and  there,  in  the  first  as  well  as 
the  second  act,  it  was  not  until  a  few  days  ago  that  I  could  begin  to 
write  the  matters  out.  The  score  of  the  opera  is  as  frightfully  written 
as  any  that  ever  I  saw,  I  had  to  look  through  note  after  note  (it  is  probably 
a  pilfered  one)  in  short  I  assure  you,  dear  T.  the  opera  will  secure  for  me 
the  crown  of  martyrdom,  if  you  had  not  given  yourself  so  much  pains 
with  it  and  revised  everything  so  successfully,  for  which  I  shall  be  eter- 
nally grateful  to  you,  I  could  scarcely  be  able  to  force  myself  (to  do  the 
work).  You  have  thereby  saved  some  good  remainders  of  a  stranded 
ship. 

the  increase  of  an  incurable  infirmity.  Malzel's  contra-statement  to  his  lawyer  is  lost. 
He  had  no  young  disciple  planning  with  zeal  to  preserve  it  and  give  it,  with  his  version  of 
the  story,  to  posterity. 

No  one,  who  is  ignorant  of  Schindler's  honestly  meant,  but  partisan  representa- 
tions, or  who,  knowing  them,  can  disabuse  his  mind  of  any  prejudgment  thence  arising, 
can  read  Beethoven's  statement  without  misgivings;  all  the  more,  if  the  facts  proved 
by  Moscheles  and  Stein — tacitly  admitted,  though  utterly  suppressed,  in  the  document 
— are  known  to  him.  Nor  will  he  be  convinced  by  all  the  force  of  the  harsh  language 
of  denunciation,  that  Malzel  did  not  act  honestly  and  in  good  faith,  when  he  called  the 
"Victory"  his  property. 

There  is  nothing  in  the  first  part  of  the  statement  that  requires  comment;  though 
in  passing  it  may  be  observed,  that  the  pathos  of  "deserted  by  the  whole  world  here  in 
Vienna"  would  be  increased  if  one  could  forget  the  Archduke,  the  Brentanos,  the 
Streichers,  Breitkopf  and  Hartel,  Zmeskall,  and  others.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  (in 
Beethoven's  favor)  that  the  paper  was  written  several  months  after  the  events  of  which  it 
speaks;  that  it  was  drawn  up  at  a  time  when  its  writer  was  excessively  busy;  that  it 
bears  all  the  marks  of  haste  and  want  of  reflection;  that  it  was  obviously  intended  for 
his  lawyer's  eye  alone;  that  there  is  evident  confusion  of  memory  as  to  times  and 
events;  and  that — be  it  repeated — it  is  the  ex-parte  statement  of  an  angry  man.  Take 
the  "400  ducats  in  gold";  here  Beethoven's  memory  must  have  played  him  false,  cer- 
tainly as  to  the  time,  probably  as  to  the  substance  of  what  he  heard  from  the  "trust- 
worthy persons."  Malzel  could  have  had  no  possible  motive  to  utter  so  glaring  a  false- 
hood; but  every  motive  not  to  do  so.  A  few  weeks  later,  he  might  and  very  probably 
did  assert,  that  the  damages  to  him  arising  from  the  sacrifice  of  the  "Victory"  as  a 
piece  for  his  Panharmonicon,  from  the  expense  of  his  prolonged  stay  in  Vienna,  from  the 
loss  of  the  holiday  season  in  Munich,  from  the  time,  study  and  labor  spent  in  experiments 
on  Beethoven's  ear-trumpets,  and  from  his  exclusion  from  all  share  in  these  profitable 
concerts,  which  he  alone  had  made  possible — that  these  damages  were  not  less  than  400 
ducats.  Nor  does  such  an  estimate  appear  to  be  a  gross  exaggeration.  "I  therefore 
had  the  following  printed  in  the  newspaper,"  continues  Beethoven.  If  the  passage 
which  follows  be  what  he  desired  to  have  printed,  the  reasons  why  the  editors  refused 
are  sufficiently  obvious;  if  they  had  cherished  no  regard  for  Malzel  and  had  believed  him 
iu  the  wrong,  they  must  have  suppressed  such  a  communication  for  Beethoven's  own  sake. 

The  character  of  Malzel — drawn  in  a  few  dark  lines  by  his  opponent — has  no 
bearing  on  the  real  point  at  issue;  it  may,  however,  be  observed  as  remarkable,  that 
Beethoven  alone  made  the  discovery,  and  this  not  until — after  some  years  of  close  inti- 
macy and  friendship — he  had  quarrelled  with  him.  There  are  not  many,  who  having  so 
sagaciously  planted  and  seen  the  harvest  gathered  in  by  another — who,  smarting  under 
the  disappointment,  and  irritated  by  the  loss  of  so  much  time,  pains  and  labor—would 
sit  down  quietly,  exhibit  Job's  patience,  and  refrain  from  all  expressions  of  feeling  not 
suited  to  a  lady's  boudoir;  nor  is  it  to  be  supposed  that  Malzel  acted  this  Christian  part; 
but  then  Beethoven  was  hardly  the  man  to  cast  the  first  stone  at  the  sinner. 

The  sudden  resolution  to  send  the  "Wellington's  Victory"  to  the  Prince  Regent  of 
England,  was  obviously  part  and  parcel  of  the  proceedings  against  Malzel,  the  object 
being  to  defeat  there  any  production  of  the  work  by  him.  Beethoven  himself  was  the 
only  loser  by  it.     The  prince  never  said  "thank  you"  for  it. 

In  the  argument  against  the  correctness  of  Malzel's  copy  of  the  work,  Beethoven 
is,  to  say  the  least,  unfortunate.  His  opponent  may  have  had,  from  him,  only  single 
parts  (in  the  second  paper  it  stands  "a  single  part"!);  but  the  circumstances  were  such 


276  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

If  you  think  that  the  delay  with  the  opera  will  be  too  long,  postpone 
it  till  some  future  time,  I  shall  go  ahead  now  until  everything  is  ended, 
and  just  like  you  have  changed  and  improved  it,  which  I  see  more  and 
more  clearly  every  moment,  but  it  cannot  go  so  fast  as  if  I  were  compos- 
ing something  new — and  in  14  days  that  is  impossible— do  as  you  think 
best,  but  as  a  friend  of  mine,  there  is  no  want  of  zeal  on  my  part. 

Your  Beethoven. 

The  repetitions  of  the  "Gute  Nachricht"  came  to  a  con- 
clusion with  the  performance  in  the   Karnthnerthor-Theater  on 

that  Malzel  could  have  had  no  difficulty  in  obtaining  temporary  use  of  most  if  not  all 
the  parts,  and  there  were  plenty  of  "musical  handicraftsmen"  amply  capable,  after  so 
many  rehearsals  and  public  performances,  of  producing  a  copy  in  the  main  correct. 

It  is  painful  to  one  who  loves  and  reveres  the  memory  of  Beethoven,  to  peruse 
the  closing  passages  of  this  document;  it  is,  fortunately,  not  necessary  to  comment  upon 
their  character.  It  was  not  necessary  for  Beethoven  to  speak  of  Malzel's  share  in  the 
composition  of  the  work,  in  the  first  of  these  papers;  the  opposing  lawyer  would  attend 
to  that;  but  was  it  just  and  ingenuous  to  suppress  it  entirely  in  the  appeal  to  the  London 
musicians.''  Schindler  asserts  that  this  appeal  prevented  Malzel  from  producing  it. 
It  could  have  had  no  such  effect.  The  simple  truth  is,  that  in  those  days  for  a  stranger  like 
Malzel  lo  undertake  orchestral  concerts  in  London  would  have  been  madness.  The 
new  Philharmonic  Society,  composed  of  all  the  best  resident  musicians,  had  hardly 
achieved  an  assured  existence. 

The  third  paper  is  testimony  to  a  single  fact  and  is  so  impartially  drawn,  so 
skilfully  worded,  as  not  to  afford  a  point  for  or  against  either  of  the  parties.  Schindler 
closes  his  history  of  the  affair  thus:  "The  legal  proceedings  in  Vienna  were  without  re- 
sult, however,  the  defendant  being  far  away  and  his  representatives  knowing  how  to 
protract  the  case  unduly,  whereby  the  plaintiff  was  subjected  to  considerable  expense  and 
ever  new  annoyances.  For  this  reason  our  master  refrained  from  prosecuting  the  case 
further,  since  meanwhile  the  facts  had  become  widely  known  and  had  frightened  the 
false  friend  from  making  new  attempts.  The  court  costs  were  divided  evenly  by  the 
litigants.  Malzel  never  returned  to  Vienna,  but  at  a  later  period  appealed  in  a  letter  to 
the  friend  whom  he  had  swindled  when  he  thought  that  he  needed  his  recommendation 
for  the  metronome.  This  letter,  dated  Paris,  April  19,  1818,  is  here.  In  it  he  rep- 
resents to  Beethoven  that  he  was  at  work  for  him  upon  a  hearing  machine  for  use  in 
conducting;  he  even  invites  him  to  accompany  him  on  a  journey  to  England.  The 
master  expressed  his  satisfaction  with  the  metronome  to  the  mechanician;  but  he  never 
heard  more  concerning  the  machines." 

Now  Schindler's  own  account  of  the  first  two  occasions  when  he  spoke  with  Beet- 
hoven, copied  into  the  text,  partly  with  a  view  to  this,  shows  that  he  could  have  no 
personal  knowledge  of  the  Malzel  affair,  except  its  issue;  and  an  examination  of  his 
pages  proves  further,  that  his  account  of  it  is  but  a  paraphrase  of  Beethoven's  state- 
ment. His  own  words,  written  in  a  Conversation  Book,  demonstrate  that  the  greater 
portion  of  the  above  citation  is  nonsense;  for  those  words  inform  us  that  Malzel  re- 
turned to  Vienna  in  the  autumn  of  1817;  that,  then  and  there,  peace  was  made  between 
the  parties,  and  the  old  friendship  restored;  and  that  thereupon  they  passed  a  jovial 
evening  together  in  the  "Kamehl,"  where  Schindler  himself  sang  soprano  in  the  "Ta, 
ta,  ta,"  canon  to  the  bass  of  Malzel!  What  is  the  historic  value  of  a  narrative  so  made 
up  and  ending  with  such  an  astounding  lapse  of  memory.' 

Malzel  spent  his  last  years  mostly  in  Philadelphia  and  other  American  cities.  A 
few  men  of  advanced  years  are  still  living  there,  unless  recently  passed  away — (Thayer 
is  writing  in  the  eighth  decade  of  the  nineteenth  century) — who  retain  an  affectionate 
and  respectful  memory  of  him  as  a  gentleman  and  man  of  culture;  they  will  rejoice  in 
this,  at  the  least,  partial  vindication  of  their  old  friend.  Candor  and  justice  compel 
the  painful  admission  that  Beethoven's  course  with  Malzel  is  a  blot — one  of  the  few — 
upon  his  character,  which  no  amount  of  misrepresentation  of  the  facts  can  wholly 
efface;  whoever  can  convince  himself  that  the  composer's  conduct  was  legally  and  tech- 
nically just  and  right,  must  still  feel  that  it  was  neither  noble  nor  generous. 

Malzel  died  suddenly  on  July  21,  1838,  on  an  .\merican  brig,  while  on  a  voyage 
between  the  United  States  and  the  West  Indies. 


Rehearsals  for  the  Revised  "Fidelio"  277 

May  3,  and  the  beneficiaries  became  more  and  more  impatient. 
Hence,  Treitschke  wrote  again  to  Beethoven,  asked  him  what  use 
was  to  be  made  of  the  chorus  "Germania,"  and  urged  him  to 
make  haste  with  the  work  on  "Fidelio."  Notwithstanding  so 
much  was  wanting,  the  rehearsals  had  begun  in  the  middle  of 
April,  and  the  performance  was  now  fixed  for  the  23rd  of  May. 
Beethoven's  memorandum  of  his  revisal  of  the  opera  reads: 
"The  opera  Fidelio  [?]  March  to  15th  of  May,  newly  written  and 
improved."  May  15th  was  Sunday,  the  "Tuesday"  of  his  an- 
swer to  Treitschke  was  therefore  the  17  th,  and  the  date,  doubtless, 
about  the  14th: 

Your  satisfaction  with  the  chorus  delights  me  infinitely.  I  was  of 
the  opinion  that  you  ought  to  apply  all  the  works  to  your  'profit  and 
therefore  mine  also,  but  if  you  do  not  want  to  do  this  I  should  like  to  have 
you  sell  it  outright  for  the  benefit  of  the  poor. 

Your  copyists [illegible]  and  Wranitzky  were  here  yesterday 

about  the  matter,  I  told  them,  most  worthy  man,  that  you  were  entire 
master  in  the  affair.  For  this  reason  I  await  now  your  frank  opinion — 
your  copyist  is — an  ass! — but  he  is  completely  lacking  in  the  well-known 
splendid  Eselshaut^ — therefore  my  copyist  has  undertaken  the  work  of 
copying,  and  hy  Tuesday  little  will  remain  to  he  done,  and  my  copyist  will 
bring  everything  to  the  rehearsal.  As  for  the  rest  the  whole  matter  of 
the  opera  is  the  most  wearisome  thing  in  the  world,  and  I  am  dissatisfied 
with  most  of  it — and — there  is  hardly  a  piece  in  it  to  which  in  my  present 
state  of  dissatisfaction  I  ought  not  to  have  patched  on  some  saiisfaction. 
That  is  the  great  difference  between  being  able  to  surrender  to  free 
reflection  or  enthusiasm. 

Wholly  your  Beethoven. 

"The  final  rehearsal,"  says  Treitschke,  "was  on  May  22d, 
but  the  promised  new  overture  was  still  in  the  pen  of  the  creator." 
It  was  then,  on  the  20th  or  21st,  that  Beethoven  dined  with  his 
friend  Bertolini  in  the  Romischer  Kaiser.  After  dinner  he  took  a 
bill  of  fare,  drew  lines  on  the  blank  side  and  began  to  write. 
"Come,  let  us  go,"  said  Bertolini;  "No,  wait  a  little;  I  have  the 
idea  for  my  overture,"  replied  Beethoven,  who  remained  and 
finished  his  sketches  then  and  there.     Treitschke  continues: 

The  orchestra  was  called  to  rehearsal  on  the  morning  of  the  per- 
formance. B.  did  not  come.  After  waiting  a  long  time  we  drove  to  his 
lodgings  to  bring  him,  but — he  lay  in  bed,  sleeping  soundly,  beside  him 
stood  a  goblet  with  wine  and  a  biscuit  in  it,  the  sheets  of  the  overture 
were  scattered  on  the  bed  and  floor.  A  burnt-out  candle  showed  that 
he  had  worked  far  into  the  night.  The  impossibility  of  completing  the 
overture  was  plain;  for  this  occasion  his  overture  to  "Prometheus"  [?] 

^Eselshaut — "Ass's  Skin." — A  fairy  play  of  that  name  with  music  by  Hummel  was 
performed  on  March  10,  1814.,  in  the  Theater-an-der-Wien. 


278  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

was  taken  and  the  announcement  that  because  of  obstacles  which  had 
presented  themselves  the  new  overture  would  have  to  be  dispensed  with 
to-day,  enabled  the  numerous  audience  to  guess  the  sufficient  reason. 

Schindler  says  an  overture  to  "Leonore,"  Seyfried  the  overture 
to  "The  Ruins  of  Athens,"  was  played  on  this  occasion.  The 
"Sammler"  in  its  contemporary  notice  confirms  Seyfried:  "The 
overture  played  at  the  first  performance  does  not  belong  to  the 
opera  and  was  originally  written  for  the  opening  of  the  theatre 
at  Pesth."  In  1823,  Beethoven  in  conversation  happened  to 
speak  of  this  substitution  and  remarked:  "The  people  applauded, 
but  I  stood  ashamed;  it  did  not  belong  to  the  rest."  In  the  manu- 
script book  of  the  text  prepared  for  use  in  the  theatre  on  this 
occasion,  one  is  surprised  to  see  the  title  begun  thus: 

"Leonore,  Fidelio 

An  Opera  in  Two  Acts,  etc." 

The  word  "Leonore"  is  crossed  out  and  "Fidelio"  written  at 
the  side  in  red  pencil  afterwards  inked  over.  There  was  then  on 
the  part  of  some  one — whom? — an  intention  subsequently  aban- 
doned, of  thus  changing  the  title.  Again,  in  the  list  of  "proper- 
ties," stands 

a    u  ■        }  Mme.  Honig. 
2  chams    J  ° 

and  the  same  name  occurs  in  the  list  of  the 

Dramatis  Person.e 

Herr  Saal Don  Fernando,  minister. 

Herr  Vogel Don  Pizarro,  Governor  of  a  State's  prison. 

Herr  Radichi Florestan,  a  prisoner. 

M.  Honig Leonore,  his  wife,  under  the  name  of  Fidelio. 

Hr.  Weinmuller Rokko,  jailer. 

Mile.  Bondra Marzelline,  his  daughter. 

Hr.  Friihwald Jaquino. 

Prisoners  of  State,  etc.,  etc. 

Madame  Honig  was  a  new  soprano,  engaged  after  the  "Hof- 
theater-Taschenbuch"  for  1814  had  been  printed,  whose  name 
appears  in  that  for  1815.  Though  appointed  to  the  part  when 
this  text-book  was  copied,  she  gave  place  before  the  day  of  per- 
formance to  the  original  Fidelio,  Mme.  Milder-Hauptmann. 

The  opera  was  capitally  prepared  (says  Treitschke),  Beethoven 
conducted,  his  ardor  often  rushed  him  out  of  time,  but  Chapelmaster 


Tobias  Haslinger  Becomes  Music  Publisher    279 

Umlauf,  behind  his  back,  guided  everything  to  success   with  eye  and 
hand,  i     The  applause  was  great  and  increased  with  every  representation. 

"Herr  v.  B.,"  says  the  "Sammler,"  "was  stormily  called  out 
already  after  the  first  act,  and  enthusiastically  greeted."  The 
opera  was  first  repeated  on  the  26th,  when  the  new  overture  in 
E  major  "was  received  with  tumultuous  applause  and  the  com- 
poser again  called  out  twice  at  this  repetition." 

The  chorus  "Germania,"  in  pianoforte  arrangement,  was 
published  in  June  "im  K.  K.  Hof theater- Verlag."  A  character- 
istic note  of  Beethoven  to  Treitschke  asks  for  the  manuscript  for 
the  purpose  of  correcting  the  proof  and  introduces  to  our  acquain- 
tance a  personage  or  two,  who  will  often  meet  us  henceforth  to  the 
end,  and  therefore  merit  a  short  personal  paragraph  here. 

The  "K.  K.  Priv.  Chemische  Druckerey,"  the  property  of 
Rochus  Krasinzky  and  Sigmund  Anton  Steiner,  passed  about  1810 
into  the  hands  of  Steiner  alone.  In  that  year  Tobias  Haslinger 
(of  Zell  in  Upper  Austria),  who  had  been  one  of  Chapelmaster 
Gloggl's  singing-boys  at  Linz  and  assistant  in  his  music-shop,  came 
to  Vienna  with  the  design  of  establishing  himself  in  business,  and 
there  soon  became  acquainted  with  Steiner.  He  detailed  to  him 
his  purposes  and  plans  and  induced  him  to  withdraw  his  prints 
and  other  wares  from  Grund's  bookstore  in  the  Singerstrasse,  and 
open  a  shop  of  his  own  in  the  narrow  passage  then  existing  at  the 
northeast  corner  of  the  Graben,  known  as  the  "Paternoster- 
Gassel,"  employing  him  (Haslinger)  as  bookkeeper  and  manager; 
from  which  position  he  soon  rose  to  be  partner  in  the  firm,  "S.  A. 
Steiner  and  Co."  Beethoven  conceived  an  odd  and  whimsical 
liking  for  the  young  man,  and  in  a  few  years  his  relations  to  the 
firm  became  very  much  the  same  as  those  which  formerly  existed 
between  him  and  the  "Kunst-  und  Industrie-Comptoir."  Has- 
linger had  learned  divers  instruments  in  Linz,  had  begun  the  study 
of  composition  there  and  continued  it  in  Vienna.  His  Opus  10, 
"Ideal  einer  Schlacht,"  for  the  pianoforte,  had  just  been  published 
— the  subject  of  Homeric  laughter  to  Jupiter-Beethoven  and  the 


a  mist 

well  remember  that  the  opera  ('Fidelio')  was  rehearsed  and  conducted  by 

Dr.  Sonnleithner's  authority  is  justly  so  decisive  in  all  matters  pertaining  to  the  musical 

annals  of  Vienna,  and  even  the  slightest  errors  are  so  very  rare  in  his  writings,  that  if 

one  occurs  it  must  be  corrected  upon  unimpeachable  authority,  to  prevent  its  passing 

into  history.     Now,  in  the  manuscript  text-book  above  cited,  is  written  below  the  list 

of  properties:  "Herr  Umlauf,  conducts";  and  near  the  end  of  the  manuscript  overture  to 

"Fidelio"   stands   in   Beethoven's   hand:   "Indicate  to    Umlauf   where  the  trombones 

enter."     Treitschke  is  thus  so  fully  confirmed  as  to  leave  no  doubt  that  in  this  instance 

Dr.  Sonnleithner's  memory  played  him  false. 


280  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

other  gods.  He  made  his  place  of  business  attractive  and  it 
became  a  favorite  resort  of  composers,  musicians,  singers,  writers 
for  the  theatre,  the  public  press,  and  the  like.  In  his  correspon- 
dence with  the  firm  Beethoven  was  "Generalissimus";  Steiner 
"Lieutenant-General";  Haslinger  "Adjutant"  or  rather  "Adju- 
tanterl"  (the  diminutive  of  Adjutant);  their  assistants  were 
"Subalterns";  and  the  shop,  "Office  of  the  Lieutenant-General." 
These  titles  make  their  appearance  in  a  note,  typical  of  many, 
written  to  Treitschke: 

The  thoughts  and  endeavors  {DicJden  und  Trachten)  of  Hr.  v, 
Treitschke  are  directed  to  the  duty  of  immediately  delivering  the  manu- 
script to  the  subaltern  of  the  Lieutenant-General's  office,  so  that  the 
engraved  page  scratched  full  of  errors  may  immediately  be  rescratched 
as  it  ought  to  be,  and,  indeed,  all  the  more,  as  otherwise  the  thoughts  and 
endeavors  will  be  frightfully  scratched  and  beaten. 

Given  in  Paternoster  Lane,  at  the  primitive  publishing  house  of  all 
who  publish.    June  4,  1814.  ^ 

One  of  Beethoven's  minor  productions  (still  unpublished) 
was  now  composed  for  his  friend  Bertolini.  The  occasion  was  an 
evening  festival  arranged  by  the  doctor  at  his  own  expense  on  the 
name-day  (St.  John's  day)  and  in  honor  of  Malfatti.  It  was  a 
little  piece  for  four  voices  with  pianoforte  accompaniment  to  a 
text  written  by  Abbate  Bondi: 

Un  lieto  brindisi 
Tutti  a  Giovanni, 
Cantiam  cosi,  cosi. 
Viva  longhi  anni,  etc.,  etc. 

Invitations  were  extended  not  only  to  Malfatti's  relatives  and 
personal  friends  but  to  a  large  number  of  artists  of  the  various 
professions,  resident  or  temporarily  in  Vienna — Dragonetti  among 
the  musicians.  The  scene  was  Malfatti's  villa  in  Weinhaus. 
There  they  feasted;  the  wine  flowed;  the  cantata  was  sung;  Beet- 
hoven, "thoroughly  unbuttoned,"  improvised;  fun  and  frolic 
ruled  the  hour.  "The  sport  cost  me  a  few  hundred  florins," 
laughingly  said  the  good  doctor  fifty  years  afterwards. 

"Fidelio"  was  repeated  on  May  26,  June  2d  and  4th  and  on 
Tuesday,  June  7th.  The  theatre  was  then  "closed  because  of 
preparations  for  the  spectacle  to  be  presented  on  the  return  of  the 
Emperor."  After  this  the  theatre  closed  again  for  two  days  and 
on  the  21st  was  reopened  with  "Fidelio."  A  letter  to  Treitschke 
was  written  about  this  time: 

^Beethoven's  play  on  words  cannot  be  reproduced  in  translation. 


MoscHELEs's  Pianoforte  Score  281 

^  Dear  and  worthy  Tr. !  What  you  say  about  a  quarter  of  the 
receipts  is  understood,  of  course!  and  for  a  moment  only  I  must  moreover 
remain  your  debtor,  but  I  will  not  forget  that  I  am— us  regards  a  benefit 
performance  for  me  I  should  like  to  have  the  day  set  on  a  week  from 
yesterday,  that  is  next  Thursday. 

I  called  on  Hrn.  Palffy  to-day  but  did  not  find  him  in.  Do  not  let 
the  opera  rest  too  much !     It  is  surely  injurious. 

The  day  here  proposed  for  the  benefit  was  not  granted. 
The  "Wiener  Zeitung"  of  July  1st  contained  a  "Musical  Notice" 
which  may  be  quoted  as  a  comment  on  the  first  topic  of  the  above 
note: 

The  undersigned,  at  the  request  of  the  Herren  Artaria  and  Co., 
herewith  declares  that  he  has  given  the  score  of  his  opera  Fidelio  to 
the  aforesaid  art  establishment  for  publication  under  his  direction  in  a 
complete  pianoforte  score,  quartets,  or  arrangements  for  military  band. 
The  present  musical  version  is  not  to  be  confounded  with  an  earlier  one, 
since  hardly  a  musical  number  has  been  left  unchanged,  and  more  than  half 
of  the  opera  was  composed  anew.  Scores  in  the  only  authorized  copy 
and  also  the  book  in  manuscript  may  be  had  of  the  reviser  of  the  book, 
Herrn  F.  Treitschke,  R.  I.  Court  Poet.  Other  unauthorized  copies  will 
be  punished  by  law. 

Ludwig  van  Beethoven. 
Vienna,  June  28,  1814. 

Moscheles,  then  just  twenty  years  of  age,  wrote  about  this 
time  in  his  diary:  "The  offer  has  been  made  to  me  to  make  the 
pianoforte  score  of  the  masterpiece  'Fidelio.'  What  could  be 
more  desirable.'^"  "We  now  find  entries,'*  says  his  widow,  "of 
how  he  carried  two,  and  again  two  numbers  to  Beethoven,  w^ho 
looked  through  them;  and  then,  alternately,  'he  changed  little' 
or  'he  changed  nothing,'  or  sometimes  'he  simplified  it'  or  'he 
reinforced  it.'  One  note  reads,  'Coming  early  to  Beethoven,  he 
was  still  in  bed;  this  day  he  was  particularly  merry,  leaped  up  at 
once,  and,  as  he  was,  went  to  the  window,  which  opened  on  the 
Schottenbastei,  to  look  through  the  arranged  numbers.  Natur- 
ally the  street  boys  assembled  under  the  window  until  he  cried  out : 
*Damn  the  youngsters,  what  do  they  want.'^'  I  smilingly  pointed 
to  his  garment.  'Yes,  yes,  you  are  right,'  said  he  and  hastily 
threw  a  dressing-gown  over  his  shoulders.^  W^hen  we  reached 
the  last  great  duet,  'Namenlose  Freude,'  w^here  I  had  written 
down  the  text  'Ret-terin  des  Gat-ten,'  he  crossed  it  out  and  wrote 
'Rett-erin  des  Gatt-en';  for  it  was  not  possible  to  sing  on  't.' 
Under  the  last  number  I  had  written  'fine  with  God's  help.'     He 

'He  had  forgotten,  evidently,  that  he  no  longer  lived  in  the  fourth  storey. 


282  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

was  not  at  home  when  I  carried  it  to  him;  and  when  he  sent  it  back 
under  mine  were  the  words:  'O  man,  help  yourself.'  " 

Before  bidding  Moscheles  farewell  for  the  next  half  a  dozen 
years,  let  us  look  at  a  few  sentences  from  the  preface  to  the 
English  translation  of  Schindler's  book,  partly  for  the  information 
they  impart  and  partly  to  prevent  a  mistake  or  two  from  passing 
into  history  on  his  authority.     He  thus  writes: 

In  the  year  1809 1  my  studies  with  my  master,  Weber  (Dionysius), 
closed;  and  being  then  also  fatherless,  I  chose  Vienna  for  my  residence  to 
work  out  my  future  musical  career.  Above  all,  I  longed  to  see  and  be- 
come acquainted  with  that  man,  who  had  exercised  so  powerful  an  in- 
fluence over  my  whole  being;  whom  though  I  scarcely  understood,  I 
blindly  worshipped.  I  learnt  that  Beethoven  was  most  difficult  of 
access  and  would  admit  no  pupil  but  Hies;  and  for  a  long  time  my  anxiety 
to  see  him  remained  ungratified.  In  the  year  1810,  however,  the  longed- 
for  opportunity  presented  itself.  I  happened  to  be  one  morning  in  the 
music-shop  of  Domenico  Artaria,  who  had  just  been  publishing  some  of 
my  early  attempts  at  composition,  when  a  man  entered  with  short  and 
hasty  steps,  and,  gliding  through  the  circle  of  ladies  and  professors 
assembled  on  business,  or  talking  over  musical  matters,  without  looking 
up,  as  though  he  wished  to  pass  unnoticed,  made  his  way  direct  for 
Artaria's  private  office  at  the  bottom  of  the  shop.  Presently  Artaria 
called  me  in  and  said:  "This  is  Beethoven!"  and  to  the  composer,  "This 
is  the  youth  of  whom  I  have  just  spoken  to  you."  Beethoven  gave  me 
a  friendly  nod  and  said  he  had  just  heard  a  favorable  account  of  me.  To 
some  modest  and  humble  expressions,  which  I  stammered  forth,  he  made 
no  reply  and  seemed  to  wish  to  break  off  the  conversation. 2.  .  .  J 
never  missed  the  Schuppanzigh  Quartets,  at  which  he  was  often  present, 
or  the  delightful  concerts  at  the  Augarten,  where  he  conducted  his  own 
Symphonies.^  I  also  heard  him  play  several  times,  which,  however,  he 
did  but  rarely,  either  in  public  or  in  private.  The  productions  which 
made  the  most  lasting  impression  upon  me,  were  his  Fantasia  with 
orchestral  accompaniments  and  chorus  and  his  Concerto  in  C  minor.  I 
also  used  to  meet  him  at  the  lodgings  of  Zmeskall  and  Zizius,  two  of  his 
friends,  through  whose  musical  meetings  Beethov«en's  works  first  made 
their  way  to  public  attention  [.'']:  but,  in  place  of  better  acquaintance 
with  the  great  man,  I  had  mostly  to  content  myself  on  his  part  with  a 
distant  salute. 

It  was  in  the  year  1814,  when  Artaria  undertook  to  publish  a  piano- 
forte arrangement  of  Beethoven's  "Fidelio,"  that  he  asked  the  composer 
whether  I  might  be  permitted  to  make  it:  Beethoven  assented  upon 
condition  that  he  should  see  my  arrangement  of  each  of  the  pieces,  before 
it  was  given  into  the  engraver's  hands.  Nothing  could  be  more  welcome 
to  me,  since  I  looked  upon  this  as  the  long  wished-for  opportunity  to 
approach  nearer  to  the  great  man  and  to  profit  by  his  remarks  and 

'It  should  be  1808. 

'Probably  on  account  of  his  deafness;  for  Moscheles  adds:  "I  had  seen  Artaria 
speaking  close  to  his  car." 

'Can  there  be  any  doubt  now  that  Beethoven  took  Bcttina  to  one  of  the  rehearsals? 


Publishers  Steal  the  Pianoforte  Score         283 

corrections.  During  my  frequent  visits,  the  number  of  which  I  tried  to 
multiply  by  all  possible  excuses,  he  treated  me  with  the  kindest  indul- 
gence. Although  his  increasing  deafness  was  a  considerable  hindrance 
to  our  conversation,  yet  he  gave  me  many  instructive  hints,  and  even 
played  to  me  such  parts  as  he  wished  to  have  arranged  in  a  particular 
manner  for  the  pianoforte.  I  thought  it,  however,  my  duty  not  to  put 
his  kindness  to  the  test  by  robbing  him  of  his  valuable  time  by  any 
subsequent  visits;  but  I  often  saw  him  at  Malzel's,  where  he  used  to 
discuss  the  different  plans  and  models  of  a  Metronome  (the  Chronom- 
eter), which  the  latter  was  going  to  manufacture,  and  to  talk  over  the 
"Battle  of  Vittoria,"  which  he  wrote  at  Malzel's  suggestion.  Although 
I  knew  Mr.  Schindler,  and  was  aware  that  he  was  much  with  Beethoven 
at  that  time  [?],  I  did  not  avail  myself  of  my  acquaintance  with  him  for 
the  purpose  of  intruding  myself  upon  the  composer. 

As  to  the  "Fidelio,"  Moscheles  told  the  writer  (February 
22,  1856)  that  he  was  selected  to  arrange  it  because  Beethoven 
was  on  bad  terms  with  Hummel;  and  that  to  hasten  the  work. 
Hummel  did  arrange  one  of  the  finales;  but  when  Beethoven  re- 
ceived it  and  looked  it  through,  he  tore  it  to  pieces  without  re- 
mark, or  explaining  why  he  did  so.  Two  errors  in  these  last 
sentences  will  at  once  strike  the  reader — that  Schindler  was  then 
much  with  Beethoven,  and  that  Beethoven  was  on  bad  terms 
with  Hummel.  The  explanation  is  easy.  Moscheles  had  trans- 
lated Schindler's  book,  and  unconsciously  had  adopted  certain 
ideas  from  it,  which  in  course  of  time  had  taken  the  form  of  memo- 
ries. This  is  a  common  experience  with  us  all.  The  true  reason 
why  Beethoven  rejected  Hummel  as  the  arranger  of  "Fidelio"  is 
obvious:  Hummel  was  a  man  of  sufficient  talent  and  genius  to 
have  a  style  of  his  own — and  one  (as  is  well  known)  not  much  to 
Beethoven's  taste;  "Fidelio"  arranged  by  him  would  necessarily 
exhibit  more  or  less  of  this  style;  moreover,  Beethoven  could  not 
feel  the  same  freedom  in  discarding,  correcting,  making  suggestions 
if  the  work  were  done  by  him,  as  when  performed  by  a  young  man 
like  Moscheles. 

So  the  score  was  not  now  published — a  mistake,  as  the  event 
proved,  and  as  Beethoven  himself  confessed  in  the  note  to 
Treitschke  below.  "In  accordance  with  his  wish,"  says  Treitschke, 
in  concluding  the  relation  from  which  so  much  has  been  cited,  ^ 
"I  offered  our  work  to  foreign  theatres;  several  ordered  it,  other* 
declined  because  they  already  had  the  opera  by  Paer.  Still 
others  preferred  to  get  it  in  a  cheaper  way  by  hiring  cunning 
copyists  who,  as  is  still  the  custom,  stole  the  text  and  music  and 
sacrificed  them  for  a  few  florins'  profit.     It  was  of  little  use  to  us 

^In  August  Schmidt's  "Musikalisches  Taschenbuch,  Orpheus,"  for  1841. 


284  The  Life  of  Ludwig  vax  Beethovex 

that  others  translated  'Fidelio'  into  several  languages  and  made 
large  sums  by  it.  The  composer  received  scarcely  more  than  a 
handsome  laurel-wreath,  and  I  a  little  leaf,  and  the  sincere  affec- 
tion of  the  Immortal." 

Meantime  the  season  had  far  advanced,  the  summer  heats 
were  approaching,  the  departure  of  the  nobility  and  the  wealthy 
for  their  country-seats  was  near,  and  Beethoven  thought,  perhaps 
justly,  that  new  attractions  must  be  added  to  "Fidelio"  and  the 
public  journals  moved  to  say  an  appropriate  word,  to  secure 
him  a  full  house  at  his  benefit,  so  long  deferred.  Doubtless 
with  this  last  object  in  view,  he  now  gave  the  "Friedensblatter" 
the  song  "An  die  Geliebte"  (text  by  Stoll),  which  was  engraved 
as  a  supplement  to  the  number  for  July  12,  and  a  notice 
closing  with 

A  Word  to  His  Admirers. 

How  often  in  your  chagrin,  that  his  depth  was  not  sufficiently 
appreciated,  have  you  said  that  van  Beethoven  composes  only  for  pos- 
terity! You  have,  no  doubt,  been  convinced  of  your  error  since  if  not 
before  the  general  enthusiasm  aroused  by  his  immortal  opera  "Fidelio"; 
and  also  that  the  present  finds  kindred  souls  and  sympathetic  hearts  for 
that  which  is  great  and  beautiful  without  withholding  its  just  privileges 
from  the  future. 

This  was  certainly  to  the  purpose.  The  earliest  hint  as  to 
what  the  new  attractions  of  the  opera  were  to  be  is  found  in  a 
note  to  Treitschke: 

For  heaven's  sake,  dear  friend!  It  seems  that  you  have  no  instinct 
for  money-making!  See  to  it  that  "Fidelio"  is  not  given  before  my  bene- 
fit, this  was  the  arrangement  with  Schreyvogel — since  Saturday  when 
you  last  saw  me  at  the  theatre,  I  have  been  confined  to  my  bed  and  room, 
and  not  until  yesterday  did  I  feel  a  trace  of  improvement.  I  might 
have  visited  you  to-day  did  I  not  know  that  poets  Wke  faiaken  observe 
Sunday!  We  must  talk  about  sending  out  the  opera  so  that  you  may 
receive  your  quarter  and  that  it  is  not  sent  out  in  stolen  copies  all  over 
the  world.  I  know  nothing  of  business  but  think  that  if  we  were  to  sell 
the  score  to  a  publisher  here  and  it  were  to  be  printed,  the  result  would  be 
better  for  you  and  me.  If  I  understand  you  correctly  I  ought  to  have  the 
song  by  this  time — please,  dear  friend,  hurry  it  up  I  Are  you  angry  .'^ 
Have  I  offended  you?  If  so,  it  was  done  inadvertently,  and  therefore 
forgive  an  ignoramus  and  musician.  Farewell,  let  me  know  something 
soon. 

Milder  has  had  her  aria  for  a  fortnight,  I  shall  learn  to-day  or 
to-morrow  whether  she  knows  it.     It  will  not  take  her  long.^ 

'Judging  from  the  internal  evidence  this  letter  is  of  date,  July  10.  On  Saturday, 
July  2,  "Coriolan"  was  given,  and  Beethoven  may  well  have  been  present.  The  note 
was  written  on  a  Sunday.     July  10  was  a  Sunday. 


The  Great  Air  in  "Fidelio"  285 

Beethoven's  benefit  performance  of  "Fidelio"  took  place  on 
Monday  evening,  July  18,  1814.  The  song  so  impatiently 
awaited  could  have  been  no  other  than  Rocco's  "gold  aria"  which 
had  been  sung  only  in  the  two  performances  of  1805.  Beethoven, 
desiring  now  to  give  Weinmiiller  a  solo,  restored  it  to  the  score. 
Jahn,  in  his  edition  of  "Leonore,"  gives  two  texts — the  original 
by  Sonnleithner  and  one  which  he  conjectures  may  have  been 
written  by  Breuning.  From  them  Treitschke  now  prepared  a 
text,  as  we  have  it,  by  changing  somewhat  and  improving  Sonn- 
leithner's  first  stanza  and  joining  to  it  the  second  stanza  of  the 
other,  unchanged  except  by  the  omission  of  its  close. 

As  to  the  new  piece  for  Milder,  Treitschke  says  explicitly  it 
was  "a  grand  aria  for  Leonore^  but  as  it  checked  the  rapid  move- 
ment of  the  rest  it  was  again  omitted."  In  the  advertisement  of 
his  benefit  Beethoven  says  only:  "For  this  performance  ....  two 
new  pieces  have  been  added."  The  notice  in  the  "Friedensblatter" 
next  day  is  somewhat  more  explicit:  "  'Fidelio'  will  be  given  with 
two  entirely  new  arias  to  be  sung  by  Mme.  Milder  and  Hrn. 
Weinmiiller,  for  the  benefit  of  the  composer";  and  from  the 
"Sammler"  we  learn  that  at  the  performance  the  new  air  sung  by 
Madame  Milder-Hauptmann  "was  very  effective  and  the  ex- 
cellent performance  seemed  to  labor  under  peculiarly  great 
difficulties."  What  is  known  from  printed  sources  concerning 
this  air  is  this:  it  was  in  E-flat  major  with  four  horns  ohhligati;^ 
the  text  was  "Komm'  Hoffnung,  etc.";  it  was  not  the  aria  already 
sung  by  the  Milder  six  times  this  season;  it  was  one  which  the 
composer  is  not  certain  that  she  can  sing  after  fourteen  days' 
study;  it  was  not  the  one  which  Moscheles  had  arranged  for  the 
new  edition  of  the  opera. 

Now  we  read  in  the  "Fidelio"  sketchbook  about  the  time  when 
Beethoven  wrote  to  Treitschke  about  "sending  out  the  opera" 
(p.  107):  "Hamburg,  15  ducats  in  gold;  Gratz,  12  fl.;  Frankfort, 
15  ducats  in  gold;  Stuttgart,  12  ducats  in  gold;  Carlsruhe, 
12  ducats  in  gold;  Darmstadt,  12  ducats  in  gold" — evidently  the 
price  of  the  opera;  and  on  the  next  page,  "Abscheulicher,  wo 
eilst  du  hin!"  i.e.,  sketches  for  the  recitative;  but  sketches 
for  the  aria  are  not  known.  Are  not  our  informants  in  error.^ 
Was  not  the  new  air  after  all  the  one  which  Moscheles  arranged 
and  which  is  still  sung?     And  if  not,  what  has  become  of  it.^' 

'Seyfried  had  long  been  accustomed  to  write  for  four  horns.  Speaking  of  his  own 
compositions  in  1806,  he  says:  "Moreover  I  wrote  ...  for  my  excellent  horn-players 
several  diveriimenti  for  four  obbligati  French  horns." 

^Dr.  Riemann  opines  that  the  confusion  of  opinion  concerning  the  air  sprang  from 
the  erroneous  statement  of  the  reporter  of  the  "AUg.  Mus.  Zeitung"  that  the  new  air  of 


286  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

Shortly  before  the  performance  on  July  14,  1814,  Beethoven 
wrote  a  letter  to  Archduke  Rudolph  in  which  he  said : 

The  management  of  the  theatre  is  so  honest  that  in  spite  of  a  prom- 
ise, it  has  already  performed  my  opera  "Fidelio"  without  thinking  of 
my  benefit.  This  amiable  honesty  it  would  have  practised  again  had 
I  not  been  on  guard  like  a  former  French  Danube  watchman.  Finally 
after  considerable  exertion  on  my  part  it  has  been  arranged  that  my 
benefit  of  "Fidelio"  shall  take  place  on  Monday,  July  18.  This  benefit 
is  rather  an  exception  ^  at  this  time  of  the  year,  but  a  benefit  for  the 
author  may  become  a  little  festival  if  the  work  has  had  at  least  a  modi- 
cum of  success.  To  this  festival  the  master  humbly  invites  his  exalted 
pupil,  and  hopes — yes  I  hope  that  your  Imperial  Highness  will  graciously 
accept  and  illumine  the  occasion  with  your  presence.  It  would  be  nice 
if  Y.  I.  H.  would  try  to  persuade  the  other  Imperial  Highnesses  to  attend 
this  representation  of  my  opera.  I  shall  observe  here  all  that  respectful 
homage  demands.  Because  of  Vogel's  illness  I  was  unable  to  gratify  my 
desire  to  give  the  role  of  Pizarro  to  Forti,  for  which  his  voice  is  better 
adapted — but  because  of  this  there  are  daily  rehearsals,  which  will 
benefit  the  performance,  but  make  it  impossible  to  wait  upon  Y.  I.  H.  in 
Baden  before  the  benefit. 

Next  day,  Friday  the  15th,  appeared,  over  his  own  signature, 
the  advertisement  of  "Beethoven's  Benefit"  on  Monday,  the 
18th.  "Boxes  and  reserved  seats  may  be  ordered  Saturday  and 
Sunday  in  the  lodgings  of  the  undersigned  on  the  Molkerbastei, 
in  the  Baron  Pasqualati  house.  No.  94,  in  the  first  storey." 
Imagine  his  comical  consternation  when  the  "Wiener  Zeitung" 
came  to  hand  and  he  read  the  "Pasqualatischen"  instead  of  the 
"Bartenstein'schen"  house!  But  the  number  was  correct  and 
that  would  save  his  friends  the  needless  ascent  of  four  flights  to 
his  old  lodging.  The  contemporary  reports  of  the  performance 
are  numerous  and  all  very  eulogistic.  Forti,  as  Pizarro,  was 
"entirely  satisfactory";  the  "gold  aria,"  although  well  sung  by 
Weinmiiller,  "did  not  make  a  great  effect";  "beautiful  and  of 
large  artistic  value  was  the  aria  in  E-flat  major  with  four  [!] 
obbligato  French  horns,  but  the  reviewer  is  of  the  opinion  that  it 
retards  the  rapid  progress  of  the  first  act.  The  house  was  very 
full;  the  applause  extraordinary;  the  enthusiasm  for  the  composer, 
who  has  now  become  a  favorite  of  the  public,  manifested  itself  in 
calls  before  the  curtain  after  every  act."     All  free  tickets  were 

the  benefit  performance  was  accompanied  by  four  horns;  and  that  the  error  was  pardon- 
able, inasmuch  as  the  three  horns  actually  used  are  supplemented  by  a  fourth  obbligato 
part  for  the  bassoon.  Nottebohm  ("Zweite  Beethoveniana,"  pp.  30!2-30G),  is  of  the 
opinion  that  Beethoven  did  not  compose  the  scena  anew  for  the  benefit  performance  of 
1814.  Hut  what  shall  we  say  to  Beethoven's  announcement:  "For  this  performance 
two  new  pieces  have  been  added"? 

'Another  untranslatable  play  on  words:  "Diese  Einnahme  ist  wohl  mehr  eine 
Ausnahme,"  etc. 


The  Latronxe-Hofel  Portrait  287 

invalid;  the  pecuniary  results  must  therefore  have  been  in  a 
high  degree  satisfactory. 

Another  consequence  of  Beethoven's  sudden  popularity,  was 
the  publication  of  a  new  engraving  of  him  by  Artaria,  the  crayon 
drawing  for  which  was  executed  by  Latronne,  a  French  artist 
then  in  Vienna.  Blasius  Hofel,  a  young  man  of  22  years,  was 
employed  to  engrave  it.  He  told  the  writer,  ^  how  very  desirous 
he  was  of  producing  a  good  likeness — a  matter  of  great  importance 
to  the  young  artist — but  that  Latronne's  drawing  was  not  a  good 
one,  probably  for  want  of  a  sufficient  number  of  sittings.  Hofel 
often  saw  Beethoven  at  Artaria's  and,  when  his  work  was  well 
advanced,  asked  him  for  a  sitting  or  two.  The  request  was 
readily  granted.  At  the  time  set,  the  engraver  appeared  with 
his  plate.  Beethoven  seated  himself  in  position  and  for  perhaps 
five  minutes  remained  reasonably  quiet;  then  suddenly  springing 
up  went  to  the  pianoforte  and  began  to  extemporize,  to  Hofel's 
great  annoyance.  The  servant  relieved  his  embarrassment  by 
assuring  him  that  he  could  now  seat  himself  near  the  instrument 
and  work  at  his  leisure,  for  his  master  had  quite  forgotten  him 
and  no  longer  knew  that  anyone  was  in  the  room.  This  Hofel 
did;  wrought  so  long  as  he  wished,  and  then  departed  with  not  the 
slightest  notice  from  Beethoven.  The  result  was  so  satisfactory, 
that  only  two  sittings  of  less  than  one  hour  each  were  needed. 
It  is  well  known  that  Hofel's  is  the  best  of  all  the  engravings  made 
of  Beethoven.  In  1851,  Alois  Fuchs  showed  to  the  writer  his 
great  collection,  and  when  he  came  to  this,  exclaimed  with  strong 
emphasis:    "Thus  I  learned  to  know  him!" 

Hofel  in  course  of  the  conversation  unconsciously  corroborated 
the  statements  of  Madame  Streicher,  as  reported  by  Schindler,  in 
regard  to  Beethoven's  wretched  condition  in  1812-13.  The  effect 
upon  him  of  his  pecuniary  embarrassments,  his  various  disappoint- 
ments, and  of  a  mind  ill  at  ease,  was  very  plainly  to  be  seen  in  his 
personal  habits  and  appearance.  He  was  at  that  time  much  ac- 
customed to  dine  at  an  inn  where  Hofel  often  saw  him  in  a  dis- 
tant corner,  at  a  table,  which  though  large  was  avoided  by  the 
other  guests  owing  to  the  very  uninviting  habits  into  which  he 
had  fallen;  the  particulars  may  be  omitted.  Not  infrequently 
he  departed  without  paying  his  bill,  or  with  the  remark  that  his 
brother  would  settle  it;  which  Karl  did.  He  had  grown  so 
negligent  of  his  person  as  to  appear  there  sometimes  positively 
"schmutzig"  (dirty).  Now,  however,  under  the  kind  care  of  the 
Streichers,  cheered  and  inspirited  by  the  glory  and  emolument  of 

'June  23rd,  1860,  in  Salzburg. 


288  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

the  past  eight  months,  he  became  his  better  self  again;  and — 
though  now  and  to  the  end,  so  careless  and  indifferent  to  mere 
externals  as  occasionally  to  offend  the  sensitiveness  of  very  nice 
and  fastidious  people — he  again,  as  before  quoted  from  Czerny, 
"paid  attention  to  his  appearance."  From  a  note  of  apology  to 
the  Archduke,  written  while  busy  with  the  "arrangements  for  my 
opera,"  we  learn  that  Beethoven  contemplated  another  visit  to 
Teplitz;  but  the  public  announcement  of  a  royal  congress  to 
meet  in  Vienna,  August  1,  put  an  end  to  that  project,  and  Baden 
again  became  his  summer  retreat,  for  recreation  but  not  for  rest. 
Sketches  for  the  "Elegiac  Song"  ("Sanft  wie  du  lebtest")  are  found 
among  the  studies  for  the  new  "Fidelio,"  and  this  short  work  w\as 
probably  now  completed  in  season  to  be  copied  and  delivered  to 
his  friend  Pasqualati  on  or  before  the  23rd  of  August,  that  day 
being  the  third  anniversary  of  the  death  of  his  "transfigured 
wife,"  in  honor  of  whose  memory  it  was  composed.  The  Sonata 
in  E  minor.  Op.  90,  bears  date  x\ugust  16.  Then  comes  a 
cantata — as  it  is  named  in  the  "Fidelio"  sketchbook,  where  some 
hints  for  it  are  noted ;  in  fact,  it  is  but  a  chorus  with  orchestra — 
a  piece  of  flattery  intended  for  the  royal  personages  of  the  coming 

congress. 

Ihr  weisen  Griinder  gliicklicher  Staaten, 

Neigt  euer  Ohr  dem  Jubelsang, 

Es  ist  die  Nachwelt,  die  eui-e  Thaten 

Mit  Segen  preist  Aeonen  lang. 

Vom  Sohn  auf  Enkel  im  Herzen  hegen 

Wir  eures  Ruhmes  Heiligthum, 

Stets  fanden  in  der  Nachwelt  Segen 

Begllickende  Fiirsten  ihren  Ruhm. 

This  is  the  text;  but  as  the  congress  was  deferred,  there  was  no 
haste,  and  the  chorus  was  not  finished  until  September  3rd. 

Meanwhile  the  controversy  with  the  Kinsky  heirs  had  entered 
upon  a  new  phase.  Dr.  Johann  Kanka,  a  lawyer  in  Prague, 
in  a  communication  to  the  author,^  wrote: 

The  information  (concerning  Beethoven)  which  I  am  able  to  give, 
refers  for  the  greater  part  to  business  relations  out  of  which,  because  of 
my  personal  and  official  position,  grew  the  friendly  intercourse  with  Beet- 
hoven which  was  cultivated  for  several  years. 

Then,  after  a  rather  protracted  history  of  the  annuity  and 
the  effect  produced  upon  it  by  the  Finanz-Patent  of  1811,  "whereby 
Beethoven's  means  of  subsistence  were  materially  reduced  and 
his  longer  residence  in  Vienna  rendered  impossible,"  he  continues: 

'Received  July  4,  1859.     The  venerable  man  was  then  eighty-seven  years  of  age. 


A  Compromise  with  Prince  Kinsky's  Heirs      289 

In  this  fateful  crisis,  I,  as  the  judicially  appointed  curator  of  the 
estate  of  Prince  Kinsky  and  later  of  that  of  Prince  Lobkowitz,  was 
enabled  to  bring  about  a  more  temperate  presentation  of  the  case 
already  presented  to  the  authorities  charged  with  testamentary  and 
guardianship  affairs,  touching  the  contractual  annuities  to  be  paid  to 
Beethoven — a  presentation  which  reconciled  a  severely  literal  inter- 
pretation of  the  law  -uath  the  righteous  demands  of  equity,  and  by 
paving  the  way  for  mutual  concessions  to  secure  a  satisfactory  judicial 
decision  which  Beethoven,  actuated  throughout  his  life  by  the  noblest  of 
feelings,  bore  in  faithful  remembrance  and  described  to  his  few  trusted 
friends  as  the  firm  cement  of  the  friendly  relations  which  we  bore 
towards  each  other,  and  the  reason  of  his  continued  residence  in 
Vienna. 

Dr.  Kanka  closed  with  the  promise  to  grant  for  use  in  this 
work,  such  letters  of  Beethoven — "precious  relics" — as  remained 
in  his  possession — a  promise  fulfilled  a  few  days  afterwards. 
Thus,  in  half  a  dozen  lines — indeed,  by  the  single  statement  that 
he  was  the  curator  of  the  Kinsky  estate  and  as  such  effected  a 
compromise  between  the  parties — the  venerable  doctor  exposes 
the  mistakes  and  destroys  the  hypotheses  of  all  who  treated  the 
topic  at  length  from  Schindler  onward.  Beethoven's  lawyer  in 
Vienna  was  Dr.  Adlersburg,  and  his  "legal  friend"  in  Prague,  Dr. 
Wolf,  who  must  have  already  become  heartily  weary  of  his 
client,  for  Beethoven  himself  writes  in  a  letter  to  the  court  at 
Prague: 

My  continual  urging  of  him  to  take  an  interest  in  the  matter,  also, 
I  must  confess,  the  reproaches  made  against  him  that  he  had  not  pursued 
the  matter  zealously  enough  because  the  steps  which  he  took  against  the 
guardians  remained  without  fruit,  may  have  misled  him  into  beginning 
the  litigation. 

That,  as  is  here  insinuated,  Wolf  instituted  the  suit  against 
the  Kinsky  heirs  without  explicit  instructions  from  his  client,  is 
doubtful;  but  at  all  events  that  proceeding  brought  matters  to  a 
crisis,  and  led  to  an  interview  in  the  course  of  the  summer  between 
Beethoven  and  the  Verlassenschafts-Curator,  with  the  object,  on 
the  part  of  the  latter,  of  effecting  a  settlement  of  the  affair  by 
compromise.  Kanka,  a  fine  musician  and  composer,  an  old  friend, 
or  rather  acquaintance  of  Beethoven's,  and  of  the  same  age,  was 
a  man  also  whose  legal  talents  and  knowledge  must  have  no 
less  deeply  than  favorably  impressed  him.  The  letters  written 
during  the  next  six  months  to  his  new  friend,  show  us  how  Beet- 
hoven first  relinquished  the  notion  of  a  legal  claim  to  the  1800 
florins  in  notes  of  redemption,  then  abandoned  the  claim  in  equity, 
and  at  length  came  into  a  rational  view  of  the  matter,  saw  the 


290  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

necessity  of  compromising,  and  sought  no  more  than  to  effect  this 
on  the  best  terms  possible.^ 

There  is  a  letter  to  Thomson  dated  September  15,  and  another 
in  October,  the  day  not  specified.  Both  are  in  Italian  and  only 
signed  by  Beethoven.  In  the  first,  the  demand  of  "4  zecchini" 
per  melody  is  renewed  and  "mille  ringraziamente"  sent  to  the 
author  of  a  sonnet  printed  in  the  "Edinburgh  Magazine"  which 
Thomson  had  enclosed  to  the  composer.  The  occasion  of  the 
poem  was  the  performance  of  selections  of  Beethoven's  music  at 
a  rural  festival  of  artists  in  England.  The  hour  was  advanced 
to  near  midnight,  when  Grahame,  the  Scotch  poet,  who  was 
present,  inspired  by  the  music  and  by  the  beauty  of  the  bright 
moonlit  night,  inprovised  the  lines: 

Hark!  from  Germania's  shore  how  wildly  floats 

That  strain  divine  upon  the  dying  gale; 
O'er  Ocean's  bosom  swell  the  liquid  notes 

And  soar  in  triumph  to  yon  crescent  pale. 
It  changes  now!  and  tells  of  woe  and  death; 

Of  deep  romantic  horror  murmurs  low; 

Now  rises  with  majestic,  solemn  flow, 
While  shadowy  silence  soothes  the  wind's  rude  breath. 
What  magic  hand  awakes  the  noon  of  night 

With  such  unearthly  melody,  that  bears 

The  raptured  soul  beyond  the  tuneful  spheres 
To  stray  amid  high  visions  of  delight? 
Enchanter  Beethoven!  I  feel  thy  power 
Thrill  every  trembling  nerve  in  this  lone  witching  hour. 

Beethoven's  thanks  came  too  late;  Grahame  was  dead.  The 
letter  of  October  again  presses  the  demand  of  "4  zecchini,"  but  is 
for  the  most  part  devoted  to  urging  Thomson  to  purchase  for 
publication  the  "^Vellington's  Victory" — about  as  preposterous 
as  if  Professor  Max  Mliller  had  solicited  the  editor  of  a  popular 
magazine,  to  which  he  had  contributed  articles,  to  undertake  a 
Sanskrit  dictionary.     Our  narrative  brings  us  to  a  letter 

To  Count  Moritz  von  Lichnowsky. 

Baden,  Sept.  21,  1841  [sic]. 
Worthy  honored  Count 

and  friend. 
I  did  not  receive  your  letter,  unfortunately  until  yesterday — cordial 
thanks  for  your  thought  of  me  and  all  manner  of  lovely  messages  to  the 

'The  letters  written  by  Beethoven  to  Dr.  Kanka,  Archduke  Rudolph  and  Baron 
Pasqualati,  relative  to  this  subject,  are  printed  in  full  in  the  German  editions  of  this 
biography:  Appendix  VIII  to  Vol.  Ill  in  the  first  edition,  Appendix  III  to  Vol.  Ill  in  the 
second.  As  they  contribute  nothing  to  the  facts  in  the  controversy  with  Prince  Kinsky's 
heirs,  the  English  Editor  felt  himself  justified  in  omitting  them  here  with  this  direction  to 
the  curious  student  where  they  may  be  found. 


Prince  Lichnowsky's  Roiniance  291 

worthy  Princess  Christine — yesterday,  I  made  a  lonely  promenade  with  a 
friend  in  the  Briihl  and  you  up  came  particularly  in  our  friendly  con- 
versation and  behold  on  arriving  here  yesterday  I  find  your  good  letter — 
I  see  that  you  still  persist  in  overwhelming  me  with  kindnesses,  as  I  do 
not  want  you  to  think  that  a  step  which  I  have  taken  was  prompted  by 
a  new  interest  or  anything  of  that  kind,  I  tell  you  that  a  new  sonata  of 
mine  will  soon  appear  which  I  have  dedicated  to  you.  I  wanted  to  sur- 
prise you,  for  the  dedication  was  set  apart  for  you  a  long  time  ago,  but 
your  letter  of  yesterday  leads  me  to  make  the  disclosure,  no  new  cause 
was  needed  for  the  public  expression  of  my  feelings  for  your  friendship  and 
kindness — but  you  would  give  me  pain  with  anything  resembling  a  gift, 
since  you  would  totally  misapprehend  my  purpose,  and  everything  of 
the  kind  I  could  only  refuse. 

I  kiss  the  hands  of  the  Princess  for  her  thought  of  me  and  her 
kindness,  I  have  never  forgotten  how  much  I  owe  you  all,  even  if  an  unfortu- 
nate circumstance  brought  about  conditions  under  which  I  could  not  show 
it  as  I  should  have  liked  to  do — what  you  tell  me  about  Lord  Castleregt, 
the  matter  is  already  well  introduced,  if  I  were  to  have  an  opinion  on  the 
subject,  it  would  be  that  I  think  that  Lord  Castleregt  ought  not  to  write 
about  the  work  on  Wellington  until  the  Lord  has  heard  it  here — I  am 
soon  coming  to  the  city  where  we  will  talk  over  everything  concerning 
a  grand  concert — nothing  can  be  done  with  the  court,  I  have  made  an  offer 
—but 

Adagio 


St 


^m 


but,     but,    but,  but,    but,       but 
and      yet      Sl-len  •  ti     -    uml 

Farewell,  my  honored  friend  and  think  of  me  always  as  worthy  of 
your  kindness — 

Your 

Beethoven. 

I  kiss  the  hands  of  the  honored  Princess  C.  a  thousand  times. 

Beethoven's  "Lord  Castleregt"  was  Viscount  Castlereagh, 
now  in  Vienna  as  British  plenipotentiary  in  the  coming  congress; 
and  his  object  was  to  obtain  through  him  some  recognition  from 
the  Prince  Regent  for  the  dedication  of  the  "Wellington's  Victory." 
Nothing  came  of  it. 

The  Sonata  was  the  Op.  90,  dated  "August  16,  1814"— the 
subject  of  one  of  Schindler's  authentic  and  pleasantest  anecdotes. 
Lichnowsky,  after  the  decease  of  his  first  wife,  fell  in  love  with 
Fraulein  Stummer,  a  singer  just  now  transferred  from  the  Theater- 
an-der-Wien  to  the  Hoftheater,  whose  talents  and  unblemished 
character  rendered  her  worthy  of  the  Count's  affection.  Differ- 
ence in  social  position  long  prevented  their  marriage,  nor  was  it 
solemnized  until  some  time  after  the  death  of  Prince  Karl. 


292  The  Life  of  Ludavig  van  Beethoven 

When  Count  Lichnowsky  received  a  copy  of  the  Sonata  dedicated 
to  him  (writes  Schindler),  it  seemed  to  him  that  his  friend  Beethoven  had 
intended  to  give  expression  to  a  definite  idea  in  the  two  movements  of 
which  it  is  composed.  He  made  no  delay  in  asking  Beethoven  about  it. 
As  the  latter  was  never  secretive  about  anything,  least  of  all  when  a 
witticism  or  joke  was  in  question,  he  could  not  hold  back  his  explanation 
long.  Amidst  peals  of  laughter  he  told  the  Count  that  he  had  tried  to 
set  his  courtship  of  his  wife  to  music,  observing  also,  that  if  the  Count 
wanted  a  superscription  he  might  write  over  the  first  movement  "Struggle 
between  head  and  heart"  and  over  the  second  "Conversation  with  the 
loved  one."  Obvious  reasons  made  Beethoven  refrain  from  publishing 
the  Sonata  with  these  superscriptions.  .  .  .  This  circumstance  shows 
again  that  Beethoven  frequently  put  a  poetic  idea  at  the  bottom  of  his 
works,  if  he  did  not  always  do  so. 

The  only  new  work  suitable  for  a  grand  concert  which  Beet- 
hoven now  had,  was  the  chorus;  "Ihr  weisen  Griinder."  Over 
the  title  of  the  manuscript  is  written  in  pencil  by  him:  "About 
this  time  the  Overture  in  C."  This  work  he  had  now  in  hand; 
also  a  vocal  composition  of  considerable  length.  The  author  of 
the  text,  whoever  he  was,  must  have  profoundly  studied  and 
heartily  adopted  the  principles  of  composition  as  set  forth  by 
Martinus  Scriblerus  in  his  "Treatise  on  Bathos,  or  the  Art  of 
Sinking  in  Poetry":  for  anything  more  stilted  in  style,  yet  more 
absurdly  prosaic,  with  nowhere  a  spark  of  poetic  fire  to  illuminate 
its  dreary  pages,  is  hardly  conceivable.  It  begins  something  like 
this: 

Nach  Frankreichs  unheilvollem  Sturz,  die  Gottverlassene 
Erhob  sich  auf  den  blutigen  Triimmern,  ein  diister  Schreckensbild, 
Gigantisch  hoch  empor,  die  Geieraugen  weithin  nach  Raube  drehend, 
Mit  starker  Hand  schwingend  die  eherne  Sklavengeissel ! 
,,\Yer  ist  mir  gleich.^"  erscholl  mit  Macht  des  Frevlers  Stimme, 
,,Mein  fester  Sitz  ist  Frankreich;  Italien  meiner  Stirne  Schmuck; 
Meiner  Fiisse  Schemel  Hispania;  nun,  Deutschland,  du  bist  mein; 
Vertilgen  will  ich  Albion  vom  Grund:   zum  Knecht  soil  mir  Moskwa 
dienen." 

Und  furchtbar  zog  der  Riese  aus, 
Brach  ein  ins  deutsche  Kaiserhaus, 
Griff  frevelnd  nach  Hispaniens  Land, 
Verheerte  schwer  der  Moskwa  Strand, 
Und  an  der  Po  und  an  der  Spree 
Erschall  der  Volker  lautes  Weh. 

(And  so  forth,  ad  nauseam.) 

Neither  the  Overture  nor  the  Cantata  was  finished,  when  the 
arrival  at  Vienna  of  the  King  of  Wurtemberg  on  the  22d  of  Sep- 
tember, of  the  King  of  Denmark  on  the  23d  and  the  announcement 
of  the  coming  of  the  Russian  Emperor  with  the  King  of  Prussia 


Alois  Weissenbach's  Enthusiasm  293 

on  Sunday  the  25th,  brought  Beethoven  back  to  the  city.  Owing 
to  the  failure  of  Lobkowitz,  the  Court  theatres  had  passed  under 
the  management  of  Palffy.  If  there  be  any  truth  whatever  in  his 
alleged  hostility  to  Beethoven,  it  is  not  a  little  remarkable  that 
the  first  grand  opera  performed  in  the  presence  of  the  monarchs — 
Monday  the  26th — was  "Fidelio."  One  of  the  audience  on  that 
evening,  in  a  published  account  of  his  "Journey  to  the  Congress," 
records:  "To-day  I  went  to  the  Court  Theatre  and  was  carried 
to  heaven — the  opera  'Fidelio'  by  L.  v.  Beethoven  was  given." 
Then  follow  some  fifteen  pages  of  enthusiastic  eulogy.  That 
auditor  was  Alois  Weissenbach,  R.  I.  Councillor,  Professor  of 
Surgery  and  Head  Surgeon  of  the  St.  John's  Hospital  in  Salzburg, 
where  after  sixteen  years'  service  in  the  Austrian  armies  he  had  set- 
tled, devoting  his  leisure  to  poetry  and  the  drama.  His  tragedy 
"Der  Brautkranz"  in  iambics,  five  acts,  was  produced  January 
14,  1809,  at  the  Karnthnerthor- Theater.  Whether  his  "Barmeci- 
den"  and  "Glaube  und  Liebe"  were  also  brought  out  in  Vienna 
we  have  no  means  of  deciding.  At  all  events,  he  was  a  man  of 
high  reputation.     Of  him  Franz  GraefTer  writes: 

That  Weissenbach  was  a  passionate  admirer  of  Beethoven's  is  a 
matter  of  course;  their  natures  were  akin,  even  physically,  for  the  Tyrolean 
was  just  as  hard  of  hearing.  Both  were  manly,  straightforward,  liberal, 
upright  figures.  Weissenbach  comes  to  Vienna  in  1814,  and  "Fidelio"  is 
performed.  An  indescribable  longing  seizes  him  to  make  the  personal 
acquaintance  of  the  author  of  the  immortal  work.  When  he  reaches  his 
lodgings  a  card  of  invitation  from  Beethoven  lies  on  his  table.  Beethoven 
had  been  there  himself.  What  a  mysterious,  magnetic  play  of  congenial 
spirits!  The  next  day  he  received  kiss  and  handgrasp.  Afterward  it 
was  possible  often  to  sit  at  table  with  them  in  the  rooms  on  the  ground 
floor  of  the  Roman  Emperor.  But  it  was  pitiful  to  hear  them  shout  at 
each  other.  It  was  therefore  not  possible  thoroughly  to  enjoy  them. 
Strangely  enough  in  a  little  room,  as  also  in  the  inn  Zur  Rose  in  the 
WoUzeile,  Weissenbach  heard  much  better,  and  conversed  more  freely 
and  animatedly.  Otherwise  the  most  prolific,  amiable,  lively  of  social 
companions.  A  blooming  man,  aging,  always  neatly  and  elegantly  clad. 
How  learned  he  was  as  a  physician  will  not  be  forgotten. 

Weissenbach  himself  writes: 

Completely  filled  with  the  gloriousness  of  the  creative  genius  of  this 
music,  I  went  from  the  theatre  home  with  the  firm  resolve  not  to  leave 
Vienna  without  having  made  the  personal  acquaintance  of  so  admirable 
a  man;  and  strangely  enough!  when  I  reached  my  lodgings  I  found 
Beethoven's  visiting  card  upon  my  table  with  a  cordial  invitation  to 
breakfast  with  him  in  the  morning.  And  I  drank  coffee  with  him  and 
received  his  handgrasp  and  kiss.  Yes,  mine  is  the  proud  privilege  of 
proclaiming  publicly,  Beethoven  honored  me  with  the  confidence  of  his 
heart.     I  do  not  know  if  these  pages  will  ever  fall  into  his  hands:  if  he 


294  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

learns  that  they  mention  his  name  either  in  praise  or  blame  he  will  indeed 
(I  know  him  and  know  his  strong  self-reliance)  not  read  them  at  all; 
herein,  too,  he  maintains  his  independence,  he  whose  cradle  and  throne 
the  Lord  established  away  from  this  earth.  .  ,  .  Beethoven's  body  has 
a  strength  and  rudeness  which  is  seldom  the  blessing  of  chosen  spirits. 
He  is  pictured  in  his  countenance.  If  Gall,  the  phrenologist,  has  cor- 
rectly located  the  mind,  the  musical  genius  of  Beethoven  is  manifest  in 
the  formation  of  his  head.  The  sturdiness  of  his  body,  however,  is  in  his 
flesh  and  bones  only;  his  nervous  system  is  irritable  in  the  highest  degree 
and  even  unhealthy.  How  it  has  often  pained  me  to  observe  that  in  this 
organism  the  harmony  of  the  mind  was  so  easily  put  out  of  tune.  He 
once  went  through  a  terrible  typhus  and  from  that  time  dates  the  decay 
of  his  nervous  system  and  probably  also  his  melancholy  loss  of  hearing. 
Often  and  long  have  I  spoken  with  him  on  this  subject;  it  is  a  greater 
misfortune  for  him  than  for  the  world.  It  is  significant  that  before  that 
illness  his  hearing  was  unsurpassably  keen  and  delicate,  and  that  even  now 
he  is  painfully  sensible  to  discordant  sounds;  perhaps  because  he  is  him- 
self euphony.  .  .  .  His  character  is  in  complete  agreement  with  the 
glory  of  his  talent.  Never  in  my  life  have  I  met  a  more  childlike  nature 
paired  with  so  powerful  and  defiant  a  will;  if  heaven  had  bestowed  nothing 
upon  him  but  his  heart,  this  alone  would  have  made  him  one  of  those  in 
whose  presence  many  would  be  obliged  to  stand  up  and  do  obeisance. 
Most  intimately  does  that  heart  cling  to  everything  good  and  beautiful 
by  a  natural  impulse  which  surpasses  all  education  by  far.  .  .  .  There  is 
nothing  in  the  world,  no  earthly  greatness,  nor  wealth,  nor  rank,  nor 
state  can  bribe  it;  here  I  could  speak  of  instances  in  which  I  was  a 
witness. 

Remarks  follow  upon  Beethoven's  ignorance  of  the  value  of 
money,  of  the  absolute  purity  of  his  morals  (which,  unfortunately, 
is  not  true)  and  of  the  irregularity  of  his  life.  "This  irregularity 
reaches  its  climax  in  his  periods  of  productiveness.  Then  he  is 
frequently  absent  days  at  a  time  without  any  one  knowing  whither 
he  is  gone."  [.'*] 

We  know  no  reason  to  suppose  that  Beethoven  received 
Weissenbach's  poem  before  the  interview  with  him;  but,  on  the 
contrary,  think  the  citations  above  preclude  such  a  hypothesis. 
Moreover,  the  composer's  anxiety  to  have  an  interview  at  the 
earliest  possible  moment  arose  far  more  probably  from  a  hint  or 
the  hope,  that  he  might  obtain  a  text  better  than  the  one  in 
hand,  than  from  any  desire  to  discuss  one  already  received. 
What  is  certain  is  this:  Beethoven  did  obtain  from  Weissenbach 
the  poem  "Der  glorreiche  Augenblick,"  and  cast  the  other  aside 
unfinished — as  it  remains  to  this  day. 

First,  Beethoven  had  to  complete  his  overture,  the  supposed 
scope  and  design  of  which  may  occupy  us  a  moment. 

Scott  said,  that  when  he  wrote  "Waverly,  or  'Tis  Sixty  Years 
Since,"  it  had  already  become  impossible  for  the  people  of  England 


Europe  After  the  Vienna  Congress  295 

and  Scotland,  in  their  greatly  changed  and  improved  condition, 
to  form  any  correct  conception  of  the  state  of  public  feeling  in  those 
kingdoms  in  1745,  when  the  Pretender  made  that  last  effort  against 
the  House  of  Brunswick  which  is  the  subject  of  "Waverly,"  and 
the  defeat  of  which  is  commemorated  by  Handel  in  "Judas 
Maccabaeus."  It  is  equally  difficult  for  us  to  conceive  adequately 
the  sensations  caused  by  the  downfall  of  Napoleon  at  the  time  of 
which  we  are  writing. 

When  monarchs  play  chess  witii  armies,  "check  to  the  king'* 
means  the  shock  of  contending  foes  and  all  the  horrors  of  war;  but 
in  perusing  the  history  of  Bonaparte's  campaigns,  we  become  so 
interested  in  the  "game"  as  to  forget  the  attendant  ruin,  devas- 
tation and  destruction,  the  blood,  carnage  and  death,  that  made 
all  central  Europe  for  twenty  long  years  one  vast  charnel-house. 
But  only  in  proportion  as  the  imagination  is  able  to  form  a  vivid 
picture  of  the  horrors  of  those  years,  can  it  conceive  that  inex- 
pressible sense  of  relief,  the  universal  joy  and  jubilee,  w^hich  out- 
side of  France  pervaded  all  classes  of  society,  from  prince  to  peas- 
ant, at  the  fall  of  the  usurper,  conqueror  and  tyrant.  And  this 
not  more  because  of  that  event,  than  because  of  the  all-prevailing 
trust,  that  men's  rights,  political  and  religious — now  doubly  theirs 
by  nature  and  by  purchase  at  such  infinite  cost — would  be  gladly 
and  gratefully  accorded  to  them.  For  sovereign  and  subject  had 
shared  danger  and  suffering  and  every  evil  fortune  together,  and 
been  brought  into  new  and  kindlier  relations  by  common  calam- 
ities; thus  the  sentiment  of  loyalty — the  affectionate  veneration  of 
subject  for  sovereign — had  been  developed  to  a  degree  wholly 
unprecedented.  Nothing  presaged  or  foreboded  the  near  advent 
and  thirty  years'  sway  of  Metternichism.  No  one  dreamed,  that 
within  six  years  the  "rulers"  at  this  moment  "of  happy  states" 
would  solemnly  declare,  "all  popular  and  constitutional  rights  to 
be  holden  no  otherwise  than  as  grants  and  indulgences  from 
crowned  heads'';^  that  they  would  snuff  treason  in  every  effort  of 
the  people  to  hold  princes  to  their  pledged  words;  and  that  their 
vigilance  would  effectually  prevent  the  access  of  any  Leonore  to 
the  Pellicos,  Liebers  and  Reuters  languishing  for  such  treasons  in 
their  state  prisons.  At  that  time  all  this  was  hidden  in  the  future; 
the  very  intoxication  of  joy  and  extravagant  loyalty  then  ruled  the 
hour.  It  was,  as  we  believe,  to  give  these  sentiments  musical 
expression,  that  Beethoven  now  took  up  and  wrought  out  certain 
themes  and  motives,  noted  by  him  five  years  before  in  connection 
with  the  memorandum:  "Freude  schbner  Gotterfunken  Tochter — 

iSee  the  Laybach  Circular  of  May,  1821. 


296  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

Ouverture  ausarbeiten."^  The  poetic  idea  of  the  work  was  not 
essentially  changed — the  joy  of  liberated  Europe  simply  taking 
the  place  of  the  joy  of  Schiller's  poem.  But  the  composer's 
particular  purpose  was  to  produce  it  as  the  graceful  homage  of  a 
loyal  subject  on  the  Emperor's  name-day.  How  else  can  the 
autograph  inscription  upon  the  original  manuscript  be  understood: 
"Overture  by  L.  v.  Beethoven,  on  the  first  of  Wine-month,  1814 — 
Evening  to  the  name-day  of  our  Emperor"?  In  the  arts,  as  in 
literature,  there  is  no  necessary  connection  between  that  which 
gives  rise  to  the  ideas  of  a  work,  and  the  occasion  of  its  composition; 
the  occasion  of  this  overture  was  clearly  the  name-day  festival  of 
Emperor  Franz;  why  then  may  it  not  in  the  future,  as  in  the  past, 
be  known  as  the  "Namensfeier"  Overture.'^ 

Assuming  the  "first  of  the  Wine-month"  (October  1)  to  date 
the  completion  of  the  work,  there  remained  three  days  for  copy- 
ing and  rehearsal.  The  theatre  had  been  closed  on  the  29th  and 
30th  of  September,  to  prepare  for  a  grand  festival  production  of 
Spontini's  "La  Vestale"  on  Saturday  evening,  October  1st;  but 
for  the  evening  of  the  name-day,  Tuesday  the  4th,  "Fidelio" 
(its  15th  performance)  was  selected.  It  was  obviously  the  inten- 
tion of  Beethoven  to  do  homage  to  Emperor  Franz,  by  producing 
his  new  overture  as  a  prelude  on  this  occasion.  What,  then, 
prevented?  Seyfried  answers  this  question.  He  writes:  "For 
this  year's  celebration  of  the  name-day  of  His  Majesty,  the  Em- 
peror, Kotzebue's  allegorical  festival  play  'Die  hundertjahrigen 
Eichen'  had  been  ordered.  Now,  as  generally  happens,  this  de- 
cision was  reached  so  late  that  I,  as  the  composer,  was  allowed 
only  three  days,  and  two  more  for  studying  and  rehearsing  all  the 
choruses,  dances,  marches,  groupings,  etc.,"  This  festival  play 
was  on  the  3d  and  rendered  the  necessary  rehearsals  of  Beethoven's 
overture  impossible.- 

"Fidelio"  was  sung  the  sixteenth  time  on  the  9th.  Toma- 
schek,  one  of  the  auditors  on  that  evening,  gave  to  the  public  in 

^See  Nottebohm's  "Beethoveniana,"  Chap.  XIV. 

^Since  this  was  written,  Herr  Nottebohm  has  kindly  communicated  a  supplementary 
article  on  this  overture  containing  portions  of  newly  discovered  sketches  with  the  re- 
mark by  Beethoven:  "Overture  for  any  occasion — or  for  concert  use"  and  closing  thus: 
"The  last  sketches  were  written  about  March,  1815."  This  seems  a  contradiction  of  the 
date  given  at  the  beginning  of  the  autograph  (October  1,  1814).  This  contradiction 
can  be  explained.  Beethoven  evidently  noted  the  date  when  he  began  writing  out  the 
score,  but  interrupted  the  work  (because  the  overture  was  not  performed  on  the  name-day 
of  the  Emperor.^)  and  did  not  take  it  up  again  until  several  months  had  passed,  when  the 
sketches  and  hints  for  passages  which  occur  later  may  have  originated."  Certainly  this 
is  possible;  but  the  different  dates  assigned  to  the  Petter  sketchbook  (1809  in  this  work, 
1812  in  the  "Beethoveniana")  necessarily  lead  to  an  irreconcilable  divergence  of  opinion. 
A  studious  reconsideration  of  the  subject  ends  in  the  conviction  that  the  historic  evidence, 
as  it  now  stands,  renders  unnecessary  any  alterations  in  the  text. 


Beethoven's  Opinion  of  ^Meyerbeer  297 

1846  notes  of  the  impression  made  upon  him,  in  a  criticism  which, 
by  its  harshness,  forms  a  curious  contrast  to  Weissenbach's  eulogy. 
Having  exhausted  that  topic,  however,  Tomaschek  describes  his 
meetings  in  an  account  which  has  a  peculiar  interest  not  only 
because,  though  general  descriptions  of  Beethoven's  style  of  con- 
versation are  numerous,  attempts  to  report  him  in  detail  are  very 
rare.  The  description  is  also  valuable  because  of  its  vivid  dis- 
play of  Beethoven's  manner  of  judging  his  contemporaries,  which 
was  so  offensive  to  them  and  begal  their  lasting  enmity.  A 
dramatic  poem,  "Moses,"  words  by  Klingemann,  music  (overture, 
choruses  and  marches)  by  von  Seyfried,  was  to  be  given  on  the 
evening  of  Tomaschek's  first  call.  Tomaschek  says  he  has  no 
desire  "to  hear  music  of  this  kind"  and  the  dialogue  proceeds-  as 
follows : 

B. — My  God!  There  must  also  be  such  composers,  otherwise  what 
would  the  vulgar  crowd  do? 

T. — I  am  told  that  there  is  a  young  foreign  artist  here  who  is  said 
to  be  an  extraordinary  pianoforte  player.  ^ 

B. — Yes,  I,  too,  have  heard  of  him,  but  have  not  heard  him.  My 
God!  let  him  stay  here  only  a  quarter  of  a  year  and  we  shall  hear  what 
the  Viennese  think  of  his  playing.  I  know  how  everything  new  pleases 
here. 

T. — You  have  probably  never  met  him.'' 

B. — I  got  acquainted  with  him  at  the  performance  of  my  Battle,  on 
which  occasion  a  number  of  local  composers  played  some  instrument. 
The  big  drum  fell  to  the  lot  of  that  young  man.  Ha!  ha!  ha! — I  was  not 
at  all  satisfied  with  him;  he  struck  the  drum  badly  and  was  always  behind- 
hand, so  that  I  had  to  give  him  a  good  dressing-down.  Ha!  Ha!  Ha! — 
That  may  have  angered  him.  There  is  nothing  in  him;  he  hasn't  the 
courage  to  hit  a  blow  at  the  right  time. 

Before  Tomaschek  visited  Beethoven  again,  Meyerbeer's  opera 
"Die  beiden  Caliphen"  had  been  produced  at  the  Kiirnthnerthor 
Theatre.  Tomaschek  comes  to  take  his  farewell.  Beethoven  is 
in  the  midst  of  preparations  for  his  concert  and  insists  upon 
giving  him  a  ticket.     Then  the  conversation  goes  on: 

T. — Were  you  at 's  opera? 

B. — No;  it  is  said  to  have  turned  out  very  badly.  I  thought  of 
you;  you  hit  it  when  you  said  you  expected  little  from  his  compositions. 
I  talked  with  the  opera  singers,  and  that  night  after  the  production  of  tiie 
opera  at  the  wine-house  where  they  generally  gather,  I  said  to  them 
frankly:  You  have  distinguished  yourselves  again! — what  piece  of 
folly  have  you  been  guilty  of  again?  You  ought  to  be  ashamed  of  your- 
selves not  to  know  better,  nor  to  be  able  to  judge  better,  to  have  made 

1  Meyerbeer. 


298  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

such  a  noise  about  this  opera!  I  should  like  to  talk  to  you  about  it,  but 
you  do  not  understand  me. 

T. — I  was  at  the  opera;  it  began  with  hallelujah  and  ended  with 
requiem. 

B. — Ha,  ha,  ha,  ha,  ha!  It's  the  same  with  his  playing.  I  am 
often  asked  if  I  have  heard  him — I  say  no;  but  from  the  opinions  of  my 
acquaintances  who  are  capable  of  judging  such  things  I  could  tell  that 
he  has  agility  indeed,  but  otherwise  is  a  very  superficial  person. 

T. — I  heard  that  before  he  went  away  he  played  at  Herrn 's  and 

pleased  much  less. 

B. — Ha,  ha,  ha,  ha!  WTiat  did  I  tell  you? — I  understand  that. 
Let  him  settle  down  here  for  half  a  year  and  then  let  us  hear  what  will 
be  said  of  his  playing.  All  this  signifies  nothing.  It  has  always  been 
known  that  the  greatest  pianoforte  players  were  also  the  greatest  com- 
posers ;  but  how  did  they  play  ?  Not  like  the  pianists  of  to-day,  who  prance 
up  and  down  the  keyboard  with  passages  which  they  have  practised — 
'putsch,  putsch,  putsch; — what  does  that  mean.'*  Nothing!  ^yhen  true 
pianoforte  virtuosi  played  it  was  always  something  homogeneous,  an 
entity;  if  written  down  it  would  appear  as  a  well  thought-out  work. 
That  is  pianoforte  playing;  the  other  thing  is  nothing! 

T. — I  am  also  carrying  away  from  here  a  very  small  opinion  of 
's  knowledge. 

B. — As  I  have  said,  he  knows  nothing  outside  of  singing. 

T. — I  hear  that is  creating  a  great  sensation  here. 

B. — My  God!  he  plays  nicely,  nicely — but  aside  from  that  he  is 

a .     He  will  never  amount  to  anything.     These  people  have  their 

little  coteries  where  they  go  often;  there  they  are  praised  and  praised  and 
that's  the  end  of  art!  I  tell  you  he  will  never  amount  to  anything.  I 
used  to  be  too  loud  in  my  judgments  and  thereby  made  many  enemies — 
now  I  criticize  nobody  and,  indeed,  for  the  reason  that  I  do  not  want  to 
injure  anybody,  and  at  the  last  I  say  to  myself:  if  there  is  any  good  in  it 
it  will  survive  in  spite  of  all  attacks  and  envy;  if  it  is  not  solid,  not  firm, 
it  will  fall  to  pieces,  no  matter  how  it  is  bolstered  up. 

Of  some  minor  compositions  belonging  to  this  autumn,  this 
is  the  story:  The  Prussian  King's  Secretary,  Friedrich  Duncker, 
brought  to  Vienna,  in  the  hope  of  producing  it  there,  a  tragedy, 
"Leonore  Prohaska,"  "which  tells  the  story  of  a  maiden  who,  dis- 
guised as  a  soldier,  fought  through  the  war  of  liberation."  For 
this  Beethoven  composed  a  soldiers'  chorus  for  men's  voices 
unaccompanied:  "^Yi^  hauen  und  sterben";  a  romance  with 
harp,  %,  "EsbluhteineBlume";  and  a  melodrama  with  harmonica. 
It  is  also  stated,  that  he  instrumentated  for  orchestra  the  march 
in  the  Sonata,  Opus  26,  Duncker  preferring  this  to  a  new  marcia 
funebre.^  Dr.  Sonnleithner  had  also  a  note  from  some  quarter 
— discredited  by  him — that  even  an  overture  and  entr'actes  were 

'That  Beethoven  transcribed  the  march  in  the  Sonata,  Op.  26,  for  orchestra  is 
confirmed  by  the  following  letter  of  Chapelmaster  Ad.  Miiller  (pere)  written  to  the  author 
in  answer  to  a  note  of  inquiry: 


Cantata  :  '*Der  glorreiche  Augenblick"        299 

written.  Nothing  of  the  kind  is  known  to  exist,  and  doubtless 
never  did.  *'It  is  said  the  censor  would  not  allow  the  piece" — it 
certainly  never  came  to  performance;  and  until  its  production 
was  made  sure,  Beethoven  would  of  course — even  if  he  had  the 
time — not  have  engaged  in  a  work  of  such  extent. 

Beethoven  had  announced  a  grand  concert  for  November  20, 
in  the  large  Ridotto  Room,  but  advertisements  in  the  "Wiener 
Zeitung"  of  the  18th  postponed  it  till  November  22d,  then  till  the 
27th,  and  finally  till  the  29th.  On  November  30th,  the  newspaper 
reports: 

At  noon  of  yesterday,  Hr.  Ludwig  v.  Beethoven  gave  all  music-lovers 
an  ecstatic  pleasure.  In  the  R.  I.  Ridotto  Room  he  gave  performances  of 
his  beautiful  musical  representation  of  Wellington's  Battle  at  Vittoria,  pre- 
ceded by  the  symphony  which  had  been  composed  as  a  companion- 
piece.  Between  the  two  works  an  entirely  new,  etc.,  etc.,  cantata,  Der 
glorreiche  Augenblick. 

One  would  like  to  know  what  Beethoven  said  when  he  read 
this;  for  the  symphony  supposed  by  the  writer  to  be  composed  as  a 
companion-piece  (Begleitung)  to  the  "Wellington's  Victory"  was 
the  magnificent  Seventh!^ 

The  solo  singers  in  the  Cantata  were  Mme.  Milder,  Dem. 
Bondra,  Hr.  Wild  and  Hr.  Forti,  all  of  whom  sang  well,  and  the 
Milder  wonderfully.  "The  two  Empresses,  the  King  of  Prussia" 
and  other  royalties  were  present  and  "the  great  hall  was  crowded. 
Seated  in  the  orchestra  were  to  be  seen  the  foremost  virtuosi,  who 
were  in  the  habit  of  showing  their  respect  for  him  and  art  by  taking 
part  in  Beethoven's  Academies."     All  the  contemporary  notices 

"Highly  respected  Sir! 

"To  your  valued  letter  I  have  to  make  reply  as  follows:  I  certainly  have  in  my 
autograph  collection  the  autograph  of  the  orchestral  score  of  the  funeral  march  contained 
in  the  great  Sonata  for  Pianoforte,  Op.  26:  The  score  consists  of  six  sheets  and  twelve 
pages — written  throughout  in  Beethoven's  hand.  On  the  1st,  8th  and  12th  pages  there 
are  marginal  notes  for  the  copyist. 

"The  piece  is  orchestrated  for  2  flutes,  2  clarinets  in  C,  2  horns  in  D,  2  horns  in  E, 
to  which  are  added  four  staves  for  instruments  which  are  not  named,  probably  for  trum- 
pets and  trombones.     [To  judge  by  the  setting  rather  for  the  string  quartet.] 

"I  received  this  score  of  the  celebrated  master  from  the  art  and  music  dealer  Tobias 
Haslinger  in  the  year  1829-30  with  the  remark,  here  faithfully  reported,  that  he  gave 
me  the  manuscript  with  pleasure  as  a  souvenir,  inasmuch  as  he  would  by  no  means 
print  or  publish  the  composition  in  this  form.  This  score  therefore  is  unique  I  The  piece 
is  in  B  minor.  .  .  . 

"Your  ever  ready 

"Adolph  Muller." 

Together  with  the  other  music  to  "Leonore  Prohaska"  the  march  is  printed  in  the 
Complete  Edition  of  Breitkopf  and  Hartel,  Series  25,  No.  272. 

^The  circumstances  connected  with  the  last  postponement  of  this  concert  and  the 
onerous  conditions  which  Count  PalfTy  sought  to  impose  upon  Beethoven  are  interest- 
ingly told  by  Dr.  Frimmel  in  his  "Beethoven-Studien,  Vol.  II,"  p.  41  et  seq. 


300  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

agree  as  to  the  enthusiastic  reception  of  the  Symphony  and  the 
Battle,  and  that  the  Cantata,  notwithstanding  the  poverty  of  the 
text,  was,  on  the  whole,  worthy  of  the  composer's  reputation  and 
contained  some  very  fine  numbers.  The  concert,  with  precisely 
the  same  programme,  was  repeated  in  the  same  hall  on  Friday, 
December  2d,  for  Beethoven's  benefit — nearly  half  the  seats 
being  empty!  And  again  in  the  evening  of  the  25th  for  the  benefit 
of  the  St.  Mark's  Hospital,  when,  of  course,  a  large  audience  was 
present.  Thus  the  Cantata  was  given  three  times  in  four  weeks, 
and  probably  Spohr,  who  was  still  in  Vienna,  played  in  the  orches- 
tra; yet  he  gravely  asserts  in  his  autobiography  that  "the  work 
was  not  performed  at  that  time." 

The  proposed  third  concert  for  Beethoven's  benefit  was  aban- 
doned and  there  is  no  clue  to  the  "new  things  in  hand"  for  it,  which 
Beethoven  mentioned  in  a  letter  to  Archduke  Rudolph,  unless 
possibly  the  "Meeresstille  und  gliickliche  Fahrt"  may  have  been 
begun  for  the  occasion.  The  most  remarkable  and  gratifying 
thing  in  the  letter,  however,  is  to  find  Beethoven  once  more 
speaking  of  "pleasures  and  joy" — whence  arising,  we  learn  from 
Schindler.  True,  he  does  not,  nor  cannot  yet,  speak  from  per- 
sonal observation;  but  his  well-known  relations  to  the  composer 
began  while  the  memories  of  these  days  were  still  fresh;  and  what 
he  records  is  derived  from  Beethoven  himself  for  the  most  part, 
though,  as  usual,  he  has  inserted  a  statement  or  two,  honestly 
made,  but  not  the  less  incorrect  on  that  account.  But  first,  a 
paragraph  from  an  article  by  Schindler  in  Raumer's  "Hist. 
Taschenbuch,"  published  in  1863: 

The  role  which  Rasoumowsky  played  in  Vienna  at  this  time  was  one 
of  unparalleled  brilliancy.  From  the  first  weeks  of  the  Congress  his  house 
was  full.  Thus  Gentz  notes  under  date  Sept.  18:  "Visited  Rasoumowsky; 
there  innumerable  visitors,  among  others  Lord  and  Lady  Castlereagh, 
Count  Munster,  Count  Westphalen,  Mr.  Coke,  the  jMarquis  de  Saint- 
Marsan,  Count  Castellafu,  all  the  Prussians,  etc."  But  as  balls  soon 
became  the  order  of  the  day  and  Count  Stackelherg  had  given  his  on 
October  20,  1814,  when  the  Czar  and  Czarina  of  Russia,  the  King  of 
Prussia  and  other  grandees  of  all  kinds  ap])eared,  he  also  planned  one 
for  December  6,  and  Gentz,  who  permitted  himself  the  magical  vision  for 
only  a  moment  and  had  to  work  that  night  till  two  o'clock  on  his  dis- 
patches, assures  us  that  this  feast  was  the  most  beautiful  of  all  that  he  had 
attended  since  the  arrival  of  the  French  monarch.  It  was  only  over- 
shadowed by  that  which  Czar  Alexander  gave  in  the  same  palace,  which 
he  borrowed  for  the  occasion  from  his  princely  subject. 

Turn  we  to  Schindler: 

The  end  of  the  second  period  (in  Beethoven's  life)  showed  us  the 
composer  on  a  plane  of  celebrity  which  may  fairly  be  described  as  one  of 


Honors  Received  at  the  Vienna  Congress      301 

the  loftiest  ever  reached  by  a  musician  in  the  course  of  his  artistic  striv- 
ings. Let  us  not  forget  that  it  was  the  fruit  of  twenty  years  of  tireless 
endeavor.  The  great  moment  in  the  history  of  the  world  with  whicli 
this  celebration  of  his  fame  was  synchronous  could  not  fail  to  give  the 
incident  a  brilliancy  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  music.  The  apparent 
extravagance  of  the  statement  is  pardonable  when  we  add  that  nearly  all 
the  rulers  of  Europe  who  met  at  the  Vienna  Congress  placed  their  seals 
on  our  master's  certificate  of  fame. 

As  Rasoumowsky  was  not  elevated  to  the  rank  of  Prince  until 
June  3rd,  1815,  Schindler,  in  his  next  sentences,  is  all  wrong  in 
making  that  incident  "the  cause  of  festivities  of  a  most  extra- 
ordinary character  to  which  Beethoven  was  always  invited." 

There  (Schindler  continues)  he  was  the  object  of  general  attention  on 
the  part  of  all  the  foreigners;  for  it  is  the  quality  of  creative  genius  com- 
bined with  a  certain  heroism,  to  attract  the  attention  of  all  noble  natures. 
Shall  we  not  call  it  heroism,  when  w^e  see  the  composer  fighting  against 
prejudices  of  all  kinds,  traditional  notions  in  respect  of  his  art,  envy, 
jealousy  and  malice  on  the  part  of  the  mass  of  musicians,  and  besides  this 
against  the  sense  most  necessary  to  him  in  the  practice  of  his  art,  and  yet 
winning  the  exalted  position  which  he  occupies?  No  wonder  that  all 
strove  to  do  him  homage.  He  was  presented  by  Prince  [Count]  Rasou- 
mowsky to  the  assembled  monarchs,  who  made  known  their  respect  for 
him  in  the  most  flattering  terms.  The  Empress  of  Russia  tried  in  par- 
ticular to  be  complimentary  to  him.  The  introduction  took  place  in  the 
rooms  of  Archduke  Rudolph,  in  which  he  was  also  greeted  by  other  exalted 
personages.  It  would  seem  as  if  the  Archduke  was  desirous  always  to 
take  part  in  the  celebration  of  his  great  teacher's  triumph  by  inviting  the 
distinguished  foreigners  to  meet  Beethoven.  It  was  not  without  emotion 
that  the  great  master  recalled  those  days  in  the  Imperial  castle  and  the 
palace  of  the  Russian  Prince;  and  once  he  told  with  a  certain  pride  how 
he  had  suffered  the  crowned  heads  to  pay  court  to  him  and  had  always 
borne  himself  with  an  air  of  distinction. 

There  is  reason  to  believe  that  these  receptions  in  the  apart- 
ments of  the  Archduke  did  not  begin  until  those  at  Rasoumowsky 's 
had  come  to  their  disastrous  end.  Huge  as  the  palace  was,  it 
lacked  space  for  the  crowds  invited  thither  to  the  Czar's  festiv- 
ities. A  large  temporary  structure  of  wood  was  therefore  added 
on  the  side  next  the  garden,  in  which,  on  the  evening  of  December 
30th,  a  table  for  700  guests  w^as  spread.  Betw^een  five  and  six 
o'clock  of  the  morning  of  the  31st,  this  was  discovered  to  be  on 
fire — probably  owing  to  a  defective  flue — the  conflagration  ex- 
tending to  the  main  building  and  lasting  until  noon. 

Within  the  space  of  a  few  hours  several  rooms  in  this  gorgeous 
establishment,  on  which  for  20  years  its  creator  had  expended  everything 
that  splendor,  artistic  knowledge  and  liberality  could  offer,  were  prey 
of  the  raging  flames.     Among  them  were  the  precious  library  and  the 


302  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

inestimable  Canova  room  completely  filled  with  sculptures  by  this  master, 
which  were  demolished  by  the  falling  of  the  ceiling. 

The  loss  was  incalculable.  To  rebuild  the  palace  out  of  his  own 
means  was  not  to  be  thought  of;  but  Alexander  lost  no  time  in  offering  his 
assistance  and  in  sending  Prince  Wolkonski  to  him  to  learn  how  much 
money  would  be  required  to  defray  the  principal  cost.  The  Count  esti- 
mated it  at  400,000  silver  rubels,  which  sum  he  requested  as  a  loan,  and 
received  on  January  24,  1815.  But  the  sum  was  far  from  enough,  and  in 
order  to  obtain  further  loans,  ownership  of  the  splendid  building  had  to  be 
sacrificed. 

And  thus  Rasoumowsky  also  passes  out  of  our  history. — 
Among  the  visitors  to  Vienna  at  the  time  of  the  Congress  was 
Varnhagen  von  Ense,  who  had  gone  into  the  diplomatic  service; 
he  came  in  the  company  of  the  Prussian  Chancellor  von  Har- 
denburg.  His  attitude  toward  Beethoven  had  cooled — probably 
because  of  Oliva's  complaints  touching  Beethoven's  behavior 
towards  him.  His  brief  report  of  his  meeting  with  the  composer 
derives  some  interest  from  its  allusion  to  Prince  Radziwill,  to 
whom  Beethoven  dedicated  the  Overture,  Op.  115  (which  was 
not  published  until  1825).  The  report  (printed  in  Varnhagen's 
**Denkwurdigkeiten,"  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  314-15)  is  as  follows: 

Musical  treats  were  offered  on  all  hands,  concerts,  the  church,  opera, 
salon,  virtuosi  and  amateurs  all  gave  of  their  best.  Prince  Anton 
Radziwill,  who  was  already  far  advanced  in  his  composition  of  Goethe's 
"Faust"  and  here  gave  free  rein  to  his  musical  inclinations,  was  the  cause 
of  my  again  looking  up  my  sturdy  Beethoven,  who,  however,  since  I  saw 
him  last  had  grown  more  deaf  and  unsociable,  and  was  not  to  be  per- 
suaded to  gratify  our  wishes.  He  was  particularly  averse  to  our  notables 
and  gave  expression  to  his  repugnance  with  angry  violence.  When 
reminded  that  the  Prince  was  the  brother-in-law  of  Prince  Louis  Ferdi- 
nand of  Prussia,  whose  early  death  he  had  so  deeply  deplored  and  whose 
compositions  he  esteemed  highly,  he  yielded  a  trifle  and  agreed  to  the 
visit.  But  it  is  not  likely  that  a  more  intimate  acquaintance  followed. 
I  also  refrained  from  taking  the  uncouth  artist  to  Rahel,  for  society 
rendered  him  obstreperous  and  nothing  could  be  done  with  him  alone, 
nothing  could  be  done  unless  he  was  disposed  to  play.  Besides,  though 
famous  and  honored,  he  was  not  yet  on  that  pinnacle  of  recognition  which 
he  has  since  attained. 

The  compositions  of  the  year  1814  were  these: 

I.  Vocal  Trio:  "Treraate,  empj,  tremate."  Practically  composed 
in  1801-02,  but  not  known  to  have  been  com])leted  and  written  out  for 
performance  and  publication  until  "something  for  Milder"  was  needed  in 
the  concert  of  February  27th. 

H.  "Germania's  Wiedergeburt";  chorus  in  Treitschke's  "Gute 
Nachricht." 

Ill  "Fidelio";  revised  and  altered. 

IV.  "Un  lieto  Brindisi";  cantata  campestre,  four  voices. 


Compositions  and  Publications  of  1814  303 

V.  Elegiac  Song:  "Sanft  wie  du  lebtest,"  four  voices  and  strings. 

VI.  Chorus:  "Ihr  weisen  Griinder." 

VII.  Sonata  for  Pianoforte,  E  minor,  Op.  90. 

VIII.  Overture  in  C,  Op.  115. 

IX.  Cantata:  "Der  glorreiche  Augenblick." 

X.  Three  vocal  pieces  and  march  (orchestration  of  the  march  in 
the  Sonata,  Op.  26),  for  Duncker's  tragedy  "Leonore  Prohaska." 

XI.  Canon:  "Kurz  ist  der  Schmerz";  second  form  as  written  in 
Spohr's  Album  "on  March  3d,  1815." 

XII.  Song:  "Des  Kriegers  Abschied." 

XIII.  Song:  "Merkenstein,"  Op.  100;  "On  December  22d,  1814." 

XIV.  "Abschiedsgesang";  for  two  tenors  and  bass  ("Die  Stunde 
schlagt").  Note  on  the  publication  in  the  "Completed  Works,  etc.": 
"Beethoven  wrote  this  terzetto  at  the  request  of  Magistrate  Mathias 
Tuscher  for  the  farewell  party  of  Dr.  Leop.  Weiss  before  his  removal  to 
the  city  of  Steyer."  Beethoven  inscribed  it:  "From  Beethoven,  so  that 
he  may  no  longer  be  touched  up."  (Um  nicht  weiter  tuschiert  zu  werden. 
The  pun  on  the  Magistrate's  name  is  lost  in  the  translation.  Tuschiren 
means  to  touch  up  with  India  ink.) 

The  publications  of  the  year: 

I.  Irish  Airs,  Vol.  I,  complete,  published  by  Thomson. 

II.  Chorus:  "Germania's  Wiedergeburt";  published  in  June. 

III.  Song:  "An  die  Geliebte,"  by  J.  L.  Stoll;  published  as  a  supple- 
ment to  the  "Friedensblatter,"  July  12. 

IV.  Six  Allemandes  for  Pianoforte  and  Violin,  advertised  by 
Ludwig  Maisch  on  July  30.  (The  author  lacks  means  and  opportunity 
to  determine  the  authenticity  of  these  dances.  It  is,  however,  hardly 
probable  that  a  Viennese  publisher  would  venture  at  that  time  to  use 
Beethoven's  name  thus  without  authority.) 

V.  "Fidelio";  Pianoforte  arrangement  by  I.  Moscheles.  Pub- 
lished by  Artaria  and  Co.,  in  August. 


Chapter  XV 


The  Year  1815 — New  Opera  Projects — Beethoven  Before 
Crowned  Heads — End  of  the  Kinskv  Trouble — Death  of 
Karl  van  Beethoven — The  Nephew — Deahngs  with 
England. 

BEETHOVEN  might  well  have  adopted  Kotzebue's  title: 
"The  most  Remarkable  Year  of  my  Life"  and  written  his 
own  history  for  1814,  in  glowing  and  triumphant  language; 
but  now  the  theme  modulates  into  a  soberer  key.  "Then  there 
is  the  matter  of  a  new  opera,"  says  a  letter  to  the  Archduke  early 
in  December.  The  "Sammler"  of  the  17th  explains  the  allusion: 
"It  is  with  great  pleasure  that  we  inform  the  music-loving  public 
that  Herr  van  Beethoven  has  contracted  to  compose  an  opera. 
The  poem  is  by  Herrn  Treitschke  and  bears  the  title:  'Romulus 
and  Remus.' "  The  notice  was  based  upon  this  note  to 
Treitschke: 

I  will  compose  Romulus  and  shall  begin  in  a  few  days,  I  will  come 
to  you  in  person,  first  once  then  several  times  so  that  we  may  discuss  the 
whole  matter  with  each  other. 

Now  here  was  a  promising  operatic  project;  but  before  six 
weeks  had  passed  came  the  "Allg.  Mus.  Zeitung"  bringing  Johann 
Fuss's  musical  "Review  of  the  month  of  December,"  wherein 
among  the  items  of  Vienna  news  was  a  notice  that  "Hr.  Fuss  had 
composed  an  opera  in  three  acts  entitled  'Romulus  and  Remus' 
for  the  Theater-an-der-Wien" !  And  this  was  so;  portions  of  it 
were  afterwards  sung  by  a  musical  society  of  which  Dr.  L.  Sonn- 
leithner  w'as  a  member,  and  in  Pressburg  it  was  put  upon  the 
stage  at  a  later  date; — but  it  never  came  to  performance  in  the 
theatres  of  Vienna,  perhaps  in  consequence  of  measures  adopted 
after  the  following  letter  to  Treitschke: 

I  thought  I  could  expedite  the  matter  by  sending  Hrn.  v.  Schrey- 
vogel  a  copy  of  this  letter — but  no. 

You  see  this  Fuss  can  attack  me  in  all  the  newspapers,  unless  I  can 
produce  some  written  evidence  against  him,  or  you — or  the  director  of  the 

[304] 


A  Polonaise  for  the  Empress  of  Russia         305 

theatre  undertake  to  make  a  settlement  with  him.  On  the  other  hand 
the  business  of  my  contract  for  the  opera  is  not  conchided. 

I  beg  of  you  to  write  me  an  answer  especially  as  regards  Fuss's  letter; 
the  matter  would  be  easily  decided  in  the  court  of  art,  but  this  is  not  the 
case,  which,  much  as  we  should  like  to,  we  must  consider. 

The  matter  was  so  arranged  with  Fuss  as  to  leave  the  text  in 
Beethoven's  hands;  but  how,  and  on  what  terms,  is  not  known. 

Among  the  sketches  to  "Der  glorreiche  Augenblick"  appears 
the  theme  of  the  Polonaise  for  Pianoforte,  Op.  89,  the  story  of 
which  is  as  follows:  In  a  conversation  with  Beethoven  one  day, 
in  the  time  of  the  Congress,  Bertolini  suggested  to  him  that,  as 
polonaises  were  then  so  much  in  vogue,  he  should  compose  one  and 
dedicate  it  to  the  Empress  of  Russia;  for,  perhaps,  thereby 
he  might  also  obtain  some  acknowledgment  from  Emperor 
Alexander  for  the  dedication  to  him  of  the  Violin  Sonatas,  Op.  30, 
— for  none  had  ever  been  made.  As  usual,  Beethoven  at  first 
scorned  dictation,  but  at  length  thought  better  of  the  proposal, 
sat  down  to  the  pianoforte,  improvised  various  themes  and  re- 
quested Bertolini  to  choose  one;  which  he  did.  When  it  was 
completed,  they  waited  upon  Walkonski,  to  seek  through  him 
permission  to  make  the  proposed  dedication,  which  was  granted. 
At  the  appointed  time  Beethoven  was  admitted  to  an  audience 
with  the  Empress  and  presented  the  Polonaise,  for  which  he  re- 
ceived a  present  of  50  ducats.  On  this  occasion  he  was  asked,  if 
he  had  ever  received  anything  from  the  Czar.'^  As  he  had  not, 
a  hundred  ducats  was  added  for  the  Sonatas.^ 

It  was  about  this  time  (precisely  when  the  painter  could  not 
remember  when  speaking  of  it  in  1861),  that  Beethoven  sat  again 
to  his  friend  Mahler,  who  wished  to  add  his  portrait  to  his  gallery 
of  musicians.  This  was  the  picture  which,  after  the  death  of  the 
artist,  was  purchased  by  Prof.  Karajan.  Another  portrait  of 
Beethoven  was  painted  by  Mahler  for  Gleichenstein.  On  the 
25th  of  January,  a  grand  festival  took  place  in  the  Burg  on  the 
occasion  of  the  Russian  Empress's  birthday,  which  in  part  con- 
sisted of  a  concert  in  the  Rittersaal.  The  last  piece  on  the  pro- 
gramme was  the  canon  in  "Fidelio":  "Mir  ist  so  wunderbar,"  and 
by  a  whimsical  stroke  of  fortune  Beethoven  himself  appeared,  and, 
to  the  audience  of  emperors  and  empresses,  kings  and  queens,  with 
their  ministers  and  retinues,  played  for  the  last  time  in  public! 
Wild,  who  dates  the  concert  a  month  too  soon,  gives  an  account 

^In  Jahn's  notices  these  sums  are  doubled.  This  audience  is  doubtless  the  one 
referred  to  by  Schindler,  as  being  proposed  by  the  Empress,  or  perhaps  was  a  con- 
sequence of  that  one. 


306  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

of  it  in  which,  after  telling  of  his  own  success  with  "Adelaide,"  he 
says : 

It  would  be  as  untruthful  as  absurd  were  I  to  deny  that  my 
vanity  was  flattered  by  the  distinction  which  the  gathered  celebrities 
bestowed  upon  me;  but  this  performance  of  "Adelaide"  had  one  result 
which  was  infinitely  more  gratifying  to  my  artistic  nature;  it  was  the 
cause  of  my  coming  into  closer  contact  with  the  greatest  musical  genius 
of  all  time,  Beethoven.  The  master,  rejoiced  at  my  choice  of  his  song, 
hunted  me  up  and  offered  to  accompany  me.  Satisfied  with  my  singing 
he  told  me  that  he  would  orchestrate  the  song.  He  did  not  do  this,  but 
wrote  for  me  the  cantata  "An  die  Hoffnung"  (words  by  Tiedge)  with 
pianoforte  accompaniment,  which,  he  playing  for  me,  I  sang  at  a  matinee 
before  a  select  audience. 

By  far  the  most  important  event  in  Beethoven's  history  dur- 
ing these  months,  was  the  final  settlement,  by  compromise,  of  the 
annuity  affair  with  the  Kinsky  heirs,  on  the  18th  of  January.  So 
soon  as  the  legal  formalities  could  be  ended  and  communicated  to 
Beethoven,  he  issued  in  autograph  a  power  of  attorney  to  Baron 
Josef  von  Pasqualati  in  Prague  to  collect  the  money  due,  and  act 
for  him  in  all  things  necessary.  On  March  26th,  Pasqualati 
acknowledged  the  receipt  of  2479  florins  W.  W.  as  payment  on 
the  annuity  in  full  up  to  the  end  of  March,  1815.  In  this  instance 
"W.  W."  {Wiener  Wdhrung)  meant  notes  of  redemption,  since  the 
bank-notes  had  been  retired  from  circulation  in  1812.  The  com- 
promise decree  arrived  at  through  the  ministration  of  Dr.  Kanka 
fixed  the  original  annuity  of  1800  florins  at  1200  florins,  beginning 
on  November  3d,  1812.  There  was  therefore  due  to  Beethoven, 
for  from  November  3d  to  the  end  of  March,  1815,  2890  florins, 
from  which  was  deducted  411  florins,  as  the  equivalent  of  the  60 
ducats  paid  to  Beethoven  by  Prince  Kinsky  in  October,  1812, 
leaving  2479  florins  as  aforesaid.  The  decision  in  the  case  with 
Lobkowitz  also  soon  followed.  According  to  the  judgment  of 
the  Court,  entered  on  April  19,  1815,  the  future  annual  payments 
were  fixed  at  700  florins  (the  equivalent  of  280  fl.  conventional 
coin,  silver),  and  the  2508  fl.  arrears  were  ordered  paid  in  notes  of 
redemption  within  two  months.  Payments  were  made  accord- 
ingly and  (as  Dr.  v.  Kochel  reported  in  a  private  note  to  the 
author),  from  1811  up  to  his  death,  Beethoven  received  on  the 
annuity  contract  the  following  sums  every  year: 

From  Archduke  Rudolph  ....  1500  fl. 

From  Prince  Kinsky 1200 

From  Prince  Lobkowitz     ....     700 

Total    ....  3400  fl. 


LoBKOwiTz's  Generous  and  Honorable  Conduct  307 

This  sum,  3400  fl.  in  notes  of  redemption,  was  the  equivalent  of  1360 
fl.  Con.  M.,  silver,  or  952  Prussian  thalers. 

Notwithstanding  that  Prince  Lobkowitz's  financial  affairs 
had  been  satisfactorily  ordered,  his  return  to  Vienna  was  delayed 
until  the  Spring  of  1815,  one  reason  being  that  (as  he  states  in  a 
letter  to  Archduke  Rudolph,  dated  Prague,  December  29,  1814) 
an  opinion  prevailed  in  the  Austrian  capital  that  his  presence 
would  be  "unseemly."  In  this  letter  he  gives  expression  to  his 
feelings  toward  Beethoven  as  follows: 

Although  I  have  reason  to  be  anything  but  satisfied  with  the  be- 
havior of  Beethoven  toward  me,  I  am  nevertheless  rejoiced,  as  a  passion- 
ate lover  of  music,  that  his  assuredly  great  works  are  beginning  to  be 
appreciated.  I  heard  "Fidelio"  here^  and  barring  the  book,  I  was  extra- 
ordinarily pleased  with  the  music,  except  the  two  finales,  which  I  do  not 
like  very  much.  I  think  the  music  extremely  effective  and  worthy  of  the 
man  who  composed  it. 

Is  this  not  nobly  said? 

Consider  these  facts:  Lobkowitz  was  now  deprived  of  the 
control  of  his  revenues;  those  revenues,  in  so  far  as  they  were 
based  upon  contracts,  were  subject  to  the  Finanz- Patent  of  1811; 
the  curators  of  his  estates  were  also  bound  by  it;  and  the  General 
Court  (Landrecht)  had  no  power  arbitrarily  to  set  it  aside.  What 
that  tribunal  could  and  did  do  was,  by  its  assent  and  decree,  to 
give  binding  force  to  such  agreement  between  the  parties  in  prin- 
cipal, as  had  obtained  the  sanction  of  the  curators,  with,  probably, 
the  consent  of  the  principal  creditors  of  the  Prince.  It  follows 
then  that  the  concession  of  Beethoven's  full  demand  of  700  fl.  in 
notes  of  redemption  could  have  been  obtained  only  through  the 
good  will  and  active  intervention  of  Lobkowitz  himself,  using  his 
personal  influence  with  the  other  parties  concerned.  Schindler 
incidentally  confirms  this. 

Will  the  reader  here  pause  a  moment  and  think  what  impres- 
sion the  aspersions  on  Lobkowitz's  character  in  Beethoven's 
letters  have  left  upon  his  mind.?  Have  they  not  begotten  a 
prejudice  so  strengthened  by  "damnable  iteration"  that  it  is 
now  hardly  possible  to  overcome  it,  and  believe  it  unfounded.' 
Lobkowitz,  young,  generous  to  prodigality,  rendered  careless  by 
the  very  magnitude  of  his  possessions,  had,  in  the  lapse  of  some 
twenty  years,  so  squandered  his  enormous  resources,  as  to  fall 
into  temporary  embarrassments,  which  threw  the  responsibility  of 

i"Fidelio"  had  its  first  performance  in  Prague  on  November  21,  1814.  Liebich 
was  the  director  of  the  theatre,  and  C.  M.  von  Weber  chapelmaster. 


308  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

meeting  his  pecuniary  engagements  upon  others,  who  were  bound 
by  the  nature  of  their  office  to  pay  none  but  strictly  legal  claims. 
Thus  Beethoven  became  a  loser  in  part  of  what  was  originally 
no  debt,  but  a  gift — or  rather  would  have  been  so,  but  for  the 
interference  of  Lobkowitz. 

We  have  here  another  warning  of  the  great  caution  to  be  exer- 
cised when  using  private  correspondence  for  purposes  of  biography. 
In  writing  of  Beethoven  this  is  especially  necessary,  because  so 
large  a  proportion  of  it  consists  of  confidential  notes  and  com- 
munications containing  the  ebullitions  of  splenetic  moments,  and 
not  seldom  hasty  charges  and  mistaken  accusations,  such  as  he 
gladly  withdrew  on  learning  the  truth.  To  accept  all  this  with- 
out question  is  preposterous;  to  use  it  as  authentic  historic  matter 
without  scrupulous  examination,  is  to  do  great  injustice  to  the 
dead. 

The  proof  is  ample,  that  Beethoven  was  already  fully 
convinced  of  the  entire  innocence  of  both  Prince  Kinsky  and 
Prince  Lobkowitz  of  all  desire  to  escape  any  really  just  demands 
upon  them:  yet,  probably,  until  the  greater  part  of  our  present 
Beethoven  literature  has  sunk  into  oblivion,  the  memory  of  those 
noble  and  generous  personages  will  be  made  to  suffer  on  the 
authority  of  Beethoven's  hasty  expressions. 

A  letter  written  in  English,  probably  by  his  friend  Haring, 
who  had  been  much  in  England,  and  signed  by  Beethoven, 
marks  the  progress  of  his  business  with  Thomson: 

Address. 

Mr.  George  Thomson,  merchant  in  the  musical  line. 

Edingbourgh,  Scottland. 
Sir, 

Many  concerns  have  prevented  my  answers  to  your  favors,  to 
which  I  reply  only  in  part.  All  your  songs  with  the  exception  of  a  few 
are  ready  to  be  forwarded.  I  mean  those  to  which  I  was  to  write  the 
accompaniments,  for  with  respect  to  the  6  Canzonettes,  which  I  am  to 
compose  I  own  that  the  honorary  you  offered  is  totally  inadequate. 
Circumstances  here  are  much  altered  and  taxes  have  been  so  much 
raised  after  the  English  fashion  that  my  share  for  1814  was  near  60£s. 
besides  an  original  good  air, — and  what  you  also  wish — an  Overture,  are 
perhaps  the  most  difficult  undertakings  in  musical  compositions.  I 
therefore  beg  to  state  that  my  honorary  for  6  songs  or  airs  must  be  35£ 
or  seventy  impl.  Ducats— and  for  an  Overture  20£  or  50  impl.  Ducats. 
You  will  please  to  assign  the  payment  here  as  usual,  and  yoii  may  depend 
that  I  shall  do  you  justice.  No  artiste  of  talent  and  merit  will  find  my 
pretentions  extravagant. 

Concerning  the  overture  you  will  please  to  indicate  in  your  reply 
whether  you  wish  to  have  it  composed  for  an  easy  or  more  diflficult 


"The  Mount  of  Olives"  ix  London  309 

execution.  I  expect  your  immediate  answer  having  several  orders  to 
attend,  and  I  shall  in  a  little  time  write  more  copiously  in  reply  to  your 
favors  already  received.  I  beg  you  to  thank  the  author  for  the  Very 
ingenious  and  flattering  verses,  which  obtained  by  your  means.  Allow 
me  to  subscribe  myself 

Sir, 

your  very  obedt.  &  humble  servt. 
Vienna,  Feb.  7  [?],  1815.  Ludwig  van  Beethoven. 

This  naturally  turns  our  attention  to  Beethoven's  English  affairs. 
"Christus  am  Olberg"  ("The  Mount  of  Olives,"  as  the  oratorio 
is-  called  in  England  and  America)  had  been  given  for  the  first 
time  in  England  on  February  25,  1814,  by  Sir  George  Smart,  who 
in  1861,  in  conversation  with  the  author  at  his  house  (the  one  in 
which  Weber  died),  related  the  circumstances  of  this  production 
and  of  "Wellington's  Victory,"  which  was  a  consequence  of  the 
success  of  the  oratorio,  substantially  as  follows: 

In  the  winter  of  1812-1813,  Smart  undertook  the  Lenten 
oratorio  season  at  Drury  Lane  Theatre,  introducing  at  the  first 
concert,  January  30,  1813,  Handel's  "Messiah"  with  Mozart's 
additional  accompaniments,  but  not  noting  this  fact  upon  the 
programme.  The  audience  was  delighted  w^ith  the  new  effects 
and  Mozart's  name  appeared  on  the  next  programme.  During  this 
season  Smart  heard  the  "Christus  am  Olberg"  spoken  of. 
Desiring  to  find  some  novelty  the  next  season  and  Beethoven 
having  already  a  great  name,  he  offered  £50  to  anyone  who  would 
procure  him  the  score  of  that  work  published  by  Breitkopf  and 
Hartel — an  exceedingly  difficult  thing  to  get  at  that  time, 
when  Napoleon  had  almost  hermetically  sealed  the  Continent 
against  England.  The  next  winter  (1813-14)  Jack  Morris,  keeper 
of  a  tavern  or  eating-house  of  the  better  sort,  a  man  who  had  free 
entry  behind  the  scenes  of  the  theatre  and  was  continually  there, 
came  to  Smart  and  put  the  score  of  the  oratorio  into  his  hands, 
to  his  (Smart's)  great  astonishment. 

"Well,"  said  Smart,  "I'll  give  you  the  £50." 

"No,"  was  the  reply,  "I'll  take  only  two  guineas,  for  that's 
what  I  paid  for  it." 

"How  did  you  get  it?"  asked  Smart. 

"A  friend  of  mine  who  is  a  King's  Messenger  bought  it  for  me 
in  Leipsic." 

The  only  acknowledgment  that  Morris  would  take,  beside 
the  two  guineas,  was  that  Smart  should  accept  an  invitation  from 
him  to  be  present  at  a  pugilistic  exhibition  and  at  the  supper  after- 
wards.    The  score  bears  the  date  of  reception,  January  7,  1814. 

Now  to  bring  it  out. 


310  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

Samuel  J.  Arnold  translated  the  text,  putting  all  the  charac- 
ters into  the  third  person,  so  as  not  to  shock  English  feelings  of 
reverence  by  producing  Christ  and  the  Apostles  on  the  stage,  and 
Smart  adapted  the  translation  to  the  music.  It  was  rehearsed 
at  his  house  ("in  this  room,"  said  he),  and  very  ill  received  by 
amateurs  present,  who  told  Smart,  he  was  mad  to  produce  such  a 
thing!  On  February  25th,  the  first  part  of  the  programme  of  the 
"Oratorio,"  a  sacred  concert,  at  Drury  Lane  Theatre,  was 
selections  from  the  "Messiah"  in  which  Catalani  sang;  Part  II, 
"The  Mount  of  Olives,"  solos  by  Mrs.  Dickens,  Mrs.  Bland,  Mr. 
Pyne  and  Mr.  Bellamy;  Part  III,  Musical  selections.  Parts 
I  and  II  also  closed  with  selections  from  "Paradise  Lost"  read  by 
Miss  Smith.     The  tenth,  and  last,  performance  was  on  May  28th. 

Subsequently,  Kramer,  master  of  the  Prince  Regent's  band, 
told  Smart  that  the  Prince  had  the  score  of  a  Battle  Symphony  by 
Beethoven,  and  he  was  welcome  to  the  use  of  it,  if  he  desired  to 
produce  it.  Smart,  encouraged  by  the  success  of  the  "Christus," 
was  delighted,  notwithstanding  the  musicians  called  the  work  a 
piece  of  musical  quackery.  On  examining  it.  Sir  George  saw  that 
it  would  never  do  with  his  audience  to  end  with  the  fugue  on 
"God  save  the  King,"  and  consulted  with  Ferdinand  Ries  as  to 
what  kind  of  close  to  make.  Ries  added  to  the  score  a  short 
passage  of  modulation,  which  led  from  the  fugue  into  the  plain, 
simple  tune.  The  work  was  copied,  rehearsed,  and  produced  on 
the  10th  of  February,  1815,  as  Part  II  of  a  Drury  Lane  "Oratorio" 
— the  word  being  used  then  for  a  sacred  concert,  like  "Akademie" 
in  Vienna  for  a  secular  one.  As  the  orchestra  ended  Ries'  pas- 
sage of  modulation,  the  hymn  was  taken  up  and  sung  by  the 
principal  solo  singers,  and  the  full  chorus.  The  audience  used 
also  to  join  in  and  make  the  old  theatre  ring  again.  The  success 
was  immense;  it  was  performed  several  seasons,  and  Smart  cleared 
£lOOOby  it.i 

There  is  a  sketchbook  in  the  Mendelssohn  collection,  which 
shows  in  part  what  compositions  employed  Beethoven's  thoughts 
about  this  time.  It  contains  sketches  to  marches;  for  a  "Sym- 
phony in  B  minor";  a  "Sonata  'cello  pastorale";  a  chorus, 
"Meeresstille";  a  song,  "Merkenstein."  This  confirms  a  state- 
ment of  Czerny's:  "On  'Merkenstein,'  Beethoven  composed  two 
little  songs,  both,  I  think,  for  almanacs."     The  one  published  by 

lit  was  Smart,  who  also  made  Beethoven's  Mass  in  C  known  in  England. 
On  April  3rd,  1816,  the  "Kyrie"  as  a  "First  Hymn"  with  an  English  text  by  Arnold, 
was  on  the  programme;  March  17,  1817,  the  "Second  Hymn,"  and  at  last  the  complete 
work. 


Compositions  Offered  to  England  311 

Steiner  and  Co.,  however,  does  not  appear  to  have  come  out  in  that 
manner.  The  date  of  these  sketches  is  fixed  by  a  memorandum  of 
Beethoven's  on  the  seventh  leaf,  of  Smart's  production  in  London 
of  "Wellington's  Victory":  "In  Drurylane  Theatre  on  February 
10th,  and  repeated  by  general  request  on  the  13th,  'Wiener  Zei- 
tung'  of  March  2d."  This  led  to  inquiry,  and  Sir  George  Smart's 
name,  as  leader  of  the  Lenten  concerts  in  London,  became 
known  to  Beethoven,  who  engaged  his  friend  Haring,  who  knew 
Smart  intimately,  to  write  the  following  English  letter  in  his 
behalf: 

To  Sir  George  Smart, 

Great  Portland  St.,  London. 
My  Dear  Sir  George : 

I  see  by  the  papers  that  you  have  brought  forth  in  the  theatre 
Beethoven's  battle  and  that  it  was  received  with  considerable  applause. 
I  was  very  happy  to  find  that  your  partiality  to  Mr.  B's  compositions  is 
not  diminished  and  therefore  I  take  the  liberty  in  his  name  to  thank  you 
for  the  assistance  you  afforded  in  the  performance  of  that  uncommon 
piece  of  music.  He  has  arranged  it  for  the  pianoforte,  but  having  offered 
the  original  to  his  R.  H.  the  Prince  Regent,  he  durst  not  sell  that  arrange- 
ment to  any  Editor,  until  he  knew  the  Prince's  pleasure,  not  only  with 
respect  to  the  dedication,  but  in  general.  Having  waited  so  many  months 
without  receiving  the  least  acknowledgment,  he  begged  me  to  apply 
to  you  for  advice.  His  idea  is  to  dispose  of  this  arrangement  and  of 
several  other  original  compositions  to  an  Editor  in  London — or  perhaps 
to  several  united — if  they  would  make  a  handsome  offer — they  would 
besides  engage  to  let  him  know  the  day  of  the  appearance  for  sale  of 
the  respective  pieces,  in  order  that  the  Editor  here,  may  not  publish  one 
copy  before  the  day  to  be  mentioned.  At  the  end  of  this  letter  follows 
the  list  of  such  compositions,  with  the  price,  which  the  Author  expects. 
I  am  persuaded,  Sir  George,  you  will  exert  yourself  to  benefit  this  great 
genius.  He  talks  continually  of  going  to  England,  but  I  am  afraid  that 
his  deafness,  seemingly  increasing,  does  not  allow  him  the  execution 
of  this  favorite  idea. 

You  are  informed  without  doubt  that  his  opera  "Fidelio"  has  had 
the  most  brilliant  success  here,  but  the  execution  is  so  difficult,  that  it 
could  not  suit  any  of  the  English  houses. 

I  submit  here  his  list  with  the  prices.  None  of  the  following  pieces 
has  been  published,  but  No.  2,  4  and  9  have  been  performed  with  the 
greatest  applause. 

1.  Serious  Quartett  for  2  violins,  tenor  and  bass 40  guineas. 

2.  Battle  of  Vittoria — Score 70  guineas. 

3.  Battle  of  Vittoria  arranged  for  the  pianoforte 30  guineas. 

4.  A  Grand  Symphony — Score 70  guineas. 

5.  A  Grand  Symphony  arranged  for  the  pianoforte 30  guineas. 

6.  A  Symphony — Key  F — Score 40  guineas. 

7.  A  Symphony,  arranged 20  guineas. 

8.  Grand  Trio  for  the  pianoforte,  violin  and  violoncello.  .  .  .40  guineas. 

9.  Three  Overtures  for  a  full  Orchestra each  30  guineas. 


312  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

10.  The  Three  Arrangements each   15  guineas. 

11.  A  Grand  Sonata  for  the  pianoforte  and  violin 25  guineas. 

The  above  is  the  produce  of  four  years  labor. 

Our  friend  Neate  has  not  yet  made  his  appearance  here — nor  is  it 
at  all  known  where  he  is  roving  about.  We — I  mean  mostly  amateurs — 
are  now  rehearsing  Handel's  "Messiah" — I  am  to  be  leader  of  the  2d  vio- 
lins; there  will  be  this  time  144  violins — first  and  second  altogether, 
and  the  singers  and  remainder  in  proportion.  I  have  been  so  unfortu- 
nate, as  not  to  receive  a  single  line  or  answer  from  England  since  my 
stay  in  Vienna,  which  is  near  three  months;  this  discourages  me  very 
much  from  writing,  for  I  have  dispatched  immediately  after  my  arrival 
several  letters  and  have  been  continuing  to  send  letters,  but  all  in  vain. 
Amongst  those  to  whom  I  wrote  about  two  months  ago,  is  our  friend 
Disi — pray  if  you  meet  him  and  his  very  respectable  family  [give  them] 
my  best  regards.  I  have  passed  so  many  happy  hours  in  his  house, 
it  would  be  highly  ungrateful  for  me  to  forget  such  an  amiable  family. 

Beethoven  happening  to  call  on  me  just  now,  he  wishes  to  address  a 
few  lines  to  you  [which  you  will]  find  at  the  bottom  of  this.  .  .  .  My 
direction  is  "Monsieur  Jean  de  Haring,  No.  298  Kohlmarkt,  Vienna." 

Poor  B.  is  very  anxious  to  hear  something  of  the  English  editors,  as 
he  hardly  can  keep  those  of  this  city  from  him,  who  tease  him  for  his 
works. 

Haring  now  writes  the  following  for  Beethoven  to  sign: 

Give  me  leave  to  thank  you  for  the  trouble  you  have  taken  several 
times  as  I  understand,  in  taking  my  works  under  your  protection,  by 
which  I  don't  doubt  all  justice  has  been  done.  I  hope  you  will  not  find 
it  indiscreet  if  I  solicit  you  to  answer  Mr.  Baring's  letter  as  soon  as 
possible.  I  should  feel  myself  highly  flattered  if  you  w^ould  express 
your  wishes,  that  I  may  meet  them,  in  which  you  will  always  find  me 
ready,  as  an  acknowledgment  for  the  favors  you  have  heaped  upon  my 
children. 

Yours  gratefully, 
Vienna  16.  March,  1815.  Ludwig  van  Beethoven. 

And  now  I  shall  beg,  my  dear  Sir  George,  not  to  take  this  long  letter 
amiss  and  to  believe  that  I  am  always  with  the  greatest  regard. 

Your  most  humble  and  obedient  servant, 
Vienna  19.  March,  1815.  John  Haring. 

The  works  enumerated  in  this  letter,  taking  them  in  the  same 
order,  are  Op.  95,  91,  92,  93,  97,  113,  115,  117  and  96.  Haring  was 
evidently  ignorant  that  all  of  Beethoven's  new  works  were  even 
then  sold,  except  for  England.  Steiner  had  purchased  them. 
The  precise  terms  of  the  contract  betw^een  the  composer  and  this 
publisher  are  not  known;  for,  although  the  transaction  was  too 
important  to  have  been  left  to  a  mere  parole  agreement,  no  written 
instrument  has  been  discovered.  Jahn  had  no  copy  of  any;  and 
Nottebohm  writes  (November  19,  1875) :  "I  w^as  yesterday  in  the 


Works  Sold  to  Steiner  313 

comptoir  of  Haslinger,  but  there  nothing  is  to  be  found."  The 
earliest  reference  to  the  business  yet  discovered  is  a  letter  to 
Steiner,  from  which  it  is  to  be  inferred  that  Karl  van  Beethoven 
was  in  some  manner  interested — perhaps  as  arranger,  under  his 
brother's  inspection,  of  the  editions  for  pianoforte  of  the  orches- 
tral works: 

Vienna,  February  1,  1815. 
Most  Wellborn  Lieutenant-General ! 

I  have  received  to-day  your  letter  to  my  brother  and  am  satisfied 
with  it  but  must  beg  of  you  to  pay  also  the  cost  of  the  pianoforte  arrange- 
ments in  addition,  as  I  am  obliged  to  pay  for  everything  in  the  world  and 
more  dearly  than  others  it  would  be  a  hardship  for  me;  besides  I  don't 
believe  that  you  can  complain  about  the  honorarium  of  250  ducats — but 
neither  do  I  want  to  complain,  therefore  arrange  for  the  transcriptions 
yourself,  but  all  must  be  revised  by  me  and  if  necessary  improved,  I 
hope  that  you  are  satisfied  with  this. 

In  addition  to  this  you  might  give  my  brother  the  collected  pianoforte 
works  of  Clementi,  Mozart,  Haidn,  he  needs  them  for  his  little  son,  do  this 
my  dearest  Steiner,  and  be  not  stone,  ^  as  stony  as  your  name  is — farewell 
excellent  Lieutenant-General,  I  am  always. 

Yours  truly, 

General-in-Chief, 

Ludwig  van  Beethoven. 

The  works  purchased  by  Steiner  are  named  in  a  list  sent  by 
Nottebohm  with  the  letter  above  cited.  It  is  the  copy  of  an 
unsigned  memorandum,  evidently  proceeding  from  Beethoven, 
which,  except  the  omission  of  the  works  mentioned  in  the  Haring 
letter,  runs  thus: 

Note 

Concerning  the  following  original  musical  compositions,  composed 
by  the  undersigned,  and  surrendered  as  property  to  the  licensed  art 
dealer  H.  S.  A.  Steiner. 

1st.  Score  of  the  opera  Fidelio. 

2d.  Score  of  the  cantata  Der  glorreiche  Augenblick. 

3d.  Score  of  a  quartet  for  2  violins,  viola  and  basso. 

4th.  Score  of  a  grand  Terzet  to  be  sung  with  pianoforte  arrange- 
ment. 

5th.  Score  of  the  Battle  of  Vittoria  with  pianoforte  arrangement. 

6th.  Pianoforte  arrangement  and  score  of  a  Symphony  in  F. 

7th.  Pianoforte  arrangement  and  score  of  a  Symphony  in  A  major. 

8th.  Grand  Trio  for  pianoforte,  violin  and  basso  in  score. 

9th.  Grand  Sonata  for  pianoforte  and  violin  in  score. 

10th.  Score  of  a  Grand  Overture  in  E-flat  major. 

11th.  Score  of  a  Grand  Overture  in  C  major 

12th.  Score  of  a  Grand  Overture  in  G  major. 

^German:  Stein  =  English:  stone. 


314  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

13th.  12  English  songs  with  pianoforte  accompaniment  and  German 

text.' 
For  all  of  these  works  which  H.  Steiner  may  use  as  his  property  in 
all  places  except  England,  I  have  been  wholly  recompensed. 
Vienna,  April  29,  1815. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  proposed  interest  of  Karl  van 
Beethoven  in  the  contract,  his  failing  health  soon  prevented  him 
from  performing  any  labor  under  it.  The  correspondence  with 
Steiner  and  Co.  indicates  that  the  task  of  arranging  the  orchestral 
works  for  the  pianoforte  was  performed  by  Haslinger  and  Anton 
Diabelli,  with  occasional  assistance  from  Carl  Czerny,  under 
Beethoven's  superintendence. 

Diabelli,  born  near  Salzburg  in  1781,  had  now  been  for  some 
years  one  of  the  more  prolific  composers  of  light  and  pleasing 
music,  and  one  of  the  best  and  most  popular  teachers  in  Vienna^ 
He  was  much  employed  by  Steiner  and  Co.,  as  copyist  and  corrector, 
and  in  this  capacity  enjoyed  much  of  Beethoven's  confidence,  who 
also  heartily  liked  him  as  a  man.  In  the  composer's  comical 
military  staff,  he  was  the  "General  Profoss,"  and  in  the  corre- 
spondence his  name  becomes  "Diabolus" — for  Beethoven  could 
never  resist  the  temptation  to  a  play  upon  words.  About  the 
1st  of  April  Beethoven  received  a  package  which  proved  to  be  an 
opera  text  by  Rudolph  von  Berge,  sent  to  him  with  a  letter  by  his. 
old  friend  Amenda  from  Courland.  While  this  letter  was  under 
way  Beethoven  received  a  visit  from  a  friend  of  Amenda's  who,  on 
his  departure  from  Vienna,  carried  with  him  a  letter  in  which  he 
said: 

You  are  1000  times  in  my  mind  with  your  patriarchial  simplicity — 
unfortunately  for  my  good  or  that  of  others,  fate  denies  my  wishes  in  this 
respect,  I  can  say  that  I  live  almost  alone  in  this  greatest  city  of  Germany 
since  I  must  live  almost  in  estrangement  from  all  persons  whom  I  love- 
or  could  love — on  what  kind  of  footing  is  music  with  you.f*  Have  you 
ever  heard  any  of  my  great  works  there.'*  Great  say  I — compared  with 
the  works  of  the  Highest,  everything  is  small! 

The  opera  book  sent  by  Amenda  was  entitled,  "*Bacchus,' 
Grand  Lyric  Opera  in  Three  Acts."  The  libretto  was  preserved 
among  Schindler's  papers  in  the  Royal  Library  in  Berlin,  It 
seems  likely  that  Beethoven  gave  some  thought  to  the  opera  and 
experimented  with  some  themes.  There  are  interesting  notes  on 
a  work  with  a  classical  subject,  the  words  apparently  the  begin- 
ning of  an   invocation  to  Pan,  in  a  sketchbook  of   1815,  which 

»No.  3,  Op.  90;  No.  4,  "Tremate,  empj,  tremate,"  Op.  116;  No.  8,  Op.  97;  No.  9, 
Op.  96;  No.  10,  "King  Stephen,"  Op.  117;  No.  11,  "Namensfeier,"  Op.  115;  No.  12, 
"Ruins  of  Athens,"  Op.  113. 


Sketches  for  a  "Bacchus"  Opera 


315 


Nottebohm  describes  in  his  "Zweite  Beethoveniana"  (p.  329  et 
seq.)  without  saying  whether  they  belong  to  Treitschke's  "Romu- 
lus" or  von  Berge's  "Bacchus."  Dr.  Riemann  assumes  without 
hesitation  that  the  sketches  were  made  for  "Bacchus"  and  sees  a 
premonition  of  Wagner's  methods  in  the  following: 


boun  -  ti-ful 


bountiful  Pan 

not  quite  so  characteristic,  it  must  be  evolved  out  of  the  B.  M.^  where  the 

dance  only  intermittently 


Corni 


^^ 


Throughout  the  opera  probably  dissonances,  unresolved  or  very  dif- 
ferently, as  our  refined  music  cannot  be  thought  of  in  connection  with  those 
barbarous  times. 

On  the  approach  of  warm  weather  the  Erdodys  removed  for 
the  summer  to  Jedlersee,  never  to  return  to  the  Schottenbastei; 
and  as  Lichnowsky  was  dead,  Beethoven  had  no  inducement 
longer  to  remain  in  that  vicinity  and  therefore  departed  from  the 
Molkerbastei — also  never  to  return.  The  new  lodging  was  in  the 
third  storey  of  a  house  then  belonging  to  Count  Lamberti,  in  the 
Sailerstatte,  with  a  double  number  1055,  1056,  near  which  he  had 
lived  a  dozen  years  before,  having  the  same  sunny  aspect  and  the 
glorious  view  across  the  Glacis  from  the  Karlkirche  and  the 
Belvidere  Gardens,  away  across  the  Danube  to  the  blue  Carpathian 
mountains  in  the  distance.  In  this  house,  about  the  first  of  June, 
Haring  introduced  to  Beethoven  the  very  fine  English  pianist  and 
enthusiastic  musician  Charles  Neate,  who  after  five  months'  study 
with  Winter  in  Munich  had  come  to  Vienna  in  the  hope  of 
obtaining  instruction  from  the  great  symphonist.  To  his  ap])li- 
cation,  Beethoven  replied  in  substance:  "I  cannot  teach,  but  I  will 
give  you  an  introduction  to  my  master,  Forster"  (which  he  did 
by  letter),  "and  you  may  bring  your  compositions  to  me  for  my 
inspection,  and  I  will  examine  and  remark  upon  them."  In  con- 
sequence of  this  permission  Neate  saw  him  almost  daily.  Beet- 
hoven spent  a  part  of  this  summer  in  Baden,  and  Neate  took  a 
room  very  near  him.  There  the  composer  was  in  the  habit  of 
working  all  the  forenoon,  dining  early  at  twelve  or  one  o'clock, 
and,  towards  evening,  walking  with  Neate — sometimes  up  the 


iDr.  Riemann  interprets  Beethoven's  "B.  M."  as  standing  for  "Bacchus  Motive.' 


316  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

Helenen-Thal,  oftener  through  the  fields.  Neate,  in  the  course 
of  his  long  life — he  was  nearly  eighty  when  he  related  these  things 
to  the  author  1 — had  never  met  a  man  who  so  enjoyed  nature;  he 
took  intense  delight  in  flowers,  in  the  clouds,  in  everything — 
"nature  was  like  food  to  him,  he  seemed  really  to  live  in  it." 
Walking  in  the  fields,  he  would  sit  down  on  any  green  bank  that 
offered  a  good  seat,  and  give  his  thoughts  free  course.  He  was 
then  full  of  the  idea  of  going  to  England,  but  the  death  of  his 
brother  and  adoption  of  his  nephew  put  an  end  to  the  project. 
Neate  remembered  the  boy  as  a  very  beautiful,  intelligent  lad. 
Beethoven,  at  that  time,  and  as  Neate  knew  him,  was  charmingly 
good-tempered  to  those  whom  he  liked — but  his  dislikes  were  so 
strong,  that  to  avoid  speaking  to  persons  to  whom  he  was  not 
well  affected,  he  would  actually  increase  his  pace  in  the  street  to  a 
run.  At  this  time,  his  dark  complexion  was  very  ruddy  and 
extremely  animated.  His  abundant  hair  was  in  an  admirable 
disorder.  He  was  always  laughing,  when  in  good  humor,  which 
he  for  the  most  part  was,  as  Neate  saw  him. 

One  day  Neate  spoke  to  him  about  the  popularity  of  his 
Sonatas,  Trios,  etc.,  in  England  and  added  that  his  Septet  was  very 
much  admired: — "That's  damned  stuff"  (or  "a  damned  thing"), 
said  Beethoven,  "I  wish  it  were  burned!"  or  words  to  this  effect,  to 
Neate's  great  discomfiture.  Another  time,  walking  in  the  fields 
near  Baden,  Neate  spoke  of  the  "Pastoral  Symphony"  and  of 
Beethoven's  power  of  painting  pictures  in  music.  Beethoven 
said:  "I  have  always  a  picture  in  my  mind,  when  I  am  composing, 
and  work  up  to  it." 

Neate  conversed  with  him  in  German  and  had  no  difliculty 
in  making  him  understand,  when  speaking  into  his  left  ear.  He 
brought  to  Beethoven  an  order  from  the  Philharmonic  Society  of 
London — obtained  by  the  exertions  of  Ries — for  three  concert 
overtures,  of  which  we  shall  hear  more  hereafter,  ^ 

The  destruction  of  Rasoumowsky's  palace  suspended  his 
quartets,  and  Linke,  the  violoncellist,  passed  the  summer  with 
the  Erdodys  at  Jedlersee.  This  gave  the  impulse  to  Beethoven  to 
write  the  principal  works  of  this  year:  the  two  Sonatas  for  Piano- 
forte and  Violoncello,  Op.   102.     The  first  bears  his  date:  "To- 

*The  conversations  with  Neate  took  place  in  January,  1861.  The  writer  was 
indebted  to  the  late  Henry  F.  Chorloy,  for  the  pecuniary  means  of  making  his  very 
valuable  researches  in  England,  and  one  of  the  bitter  consequences  of  the  unavoidable 
delay  in  writing  this  work,  is,  that  Chorley  can  never  read  it. — A.  W.  T. 

'It  is  sufficient  to  say  here,  that  instead  of  composing  new  ones  as  expected,  he 
gave  Neate  the  overtures  to  "King  Stephen,"  the  "Ruins  of  Athens"  and  the  so-called 
"Namensfeier,"  and  received  for  them  75  guineas. 


Otto  Jahn's  Recovery  of  Letters  317 

wards  the  end  of  July";  the  second:  "Beginning  of  August." 
While  he  was  employed  upon  them,  Treitschke  called  upon  him  for 
a  closing  chorus,  "Es  ist  vollbracht,"  to  a  little  dramatic  piece 
similar  to  the  "Gute  Nachricht,"  entitled  "Die  Ehrenpforten," 
and  prepared  to  celebrate  the  second  capitulation  of  Paris.  It 
was  performed  July  15,  16  and  23;  and,  on  the  occasion  of  the 
Emperor's  nameday,  was  revived  "with  appropriate  changes" 
October  3rd  and  4th;  but  (according  to  the  theatre  bills)  with  the 
chorus  "Germania"  substituted  for  "Es  ist  vollbracht." 

This  was  the  last  year  of  Beethoven's  personal  intercourse  with 
the  Erdodys,  a  very  interesting  memorial  of  which,  namely,  a 
series  of  notes  and  letters,  has  been  preserved  and  made  public  by 
the  coolness  and  decision  of  Otto  Jahn.  Being  in  Munich  in  1852, 
or  about  that  time,  he  learned  that  this  correspondence  was  in  the 
hands — if  our  memory  serve — of  the  widow  Brauchle,  and  ob- 
tained permission  to  read  it  in  the  presence  of  the  possessor. 
Suddenly  starting  up  he  exclaimed  (in  efTect) :  "I  will  copy  this  at 
the  hotel,"  and  before  the  lady,  in  her  amazement  and  perplexity, 
could  refuse  or  prevent,  he  was  away,  and  made  the  only  copy 
known  to  be  in  existence,  except  transcripts  made  from  it.  ^  Several 
of  these  papers  are  only  Beethoven's  apologies  for  not  coming  to 
Jedlersee  "to-day"  or  "to-morrow" — but  all  are  interesting  in  the 
glimpse  which  they  give  of  the  affectionate  intimacy  which  they 
show  as  existing  between  Beethoven  and  the  family. 

A  letter  to  Brauchle  is  important  from  a  biographical  point  of 
view.     It   reads: 

I  had  scarcely  returned  before  I  found  my  brother  making  lament- 
able inquiries  about  the  horses — please  do  me  the  favor  to  go  to  Enzers- 
dorf  about  the  horses,  take  horses  at  my  expense  in  Jedlersee,  I'll  gladly 
recompense  you.  His  sickness  (my  brother's)  is  accompanied  by  a  sort 
of  unrest — let  us  be  of  help  where  we  can,  I  am  obliged  to  act  thus  and 
not  otherwise!  I  await  a  speedy  fulfillment  of  my  wishes  and  a  friendly 
answer  on  the  subject  from  you — do  not  spare  expenses  I'll  willingly  bear 
them.  It  is  not  worth  while  to  let  anyone  suffer  for  the  sake  of  a  few 
dirty  florins. 

Neate  and  the  Erdodys  have  carried  us  forward  quite  out  of 
the  strict  order  of  time,  to  which  we  now  return,  beginning  with 
letters  to  our  old  Bonn  and  London  acquaintance,  Johann  Peter 
Salomon  and  others: 

'Jahn  related  this  incident  to  the  writer,  with  much  humor,  in  the  Autumn  of  1860. 
In  1867,  he  allowed  Dr.  Alfred  Schcine  to  edit  the  correspondence  for  publication  by 
Breitkopf  and  Hartel. 


318  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

Vienna,  June  1,  1815. 
My  respected  countryman! 

I  have  long  hoped  for  the  fulfillment  of  a  wish  to  see  you  in  person 
in  London,  to  hear  you,  but  the  wish  has  always  been  frustrated  by 
manifold  hindrances — and  for  the  reason  that  I  am  not  in  a  position 
to  do  so  I  hope  you  will  not  deny  my  request  which  is  that  you  speak  with 
some  publisher  there,  and  offer  him  the  following  works  for  me :  a  Grand 
Trio  for  pianoforte,  violin  and  violoncello  (80  ducats).  Sonata  for 
pianoforte  and  violin  (60  ducats).  Grand  Symphony  in  A  (one  of  my 
most  excellent),  smaller  Symphony  in  F. — Quartet  for  2  violins,  viola  and 
violoncello  in  F  minor. — Grand  Opera  in  score,  30  ducats — Cantata  with 
choruses  and  solo  voices  30  ducats.  Score  of  the  Battle  of  Vittoria  on 
Wellington's  victory,  80  ducats  as  also  the  pianoforte  arrangement  (if 
it  has  not,  as  I  am  assured  already  been  published) — I  have  set  down  the 
honorarium  of  a  few  works  which  I  think  fair  for  England,  but  leave  it 
to  you  in  the  case  of  these  as  well  as  the  others,  to  do  what  you  think  best 
as  to  my  pay.  I  hear,  indeed,  that  Kramer  is  also  a  publisher  ^  but  my 
pupil  Ries  wrote  me  recently  that  he  had  'publicly  expressed  himself 
against  my  compositions,  I  hope  for  no  other  reason  than  the  good  of  art, 
wherefore  I  have  no  objection  to  offer,  but  if  Kramer  wants  any  of  these 
injurious  works  of  art,  he  is  just  as  agreeable  to  me  as  any  other  publisher. 
I  only  reserve  to  myself  the  privilege  of  also  giving  the  same  works  to  my 
local  publisher  so  that  the  works  will  appear  only  in  London  and  Vienna 
and  simultaneously. 

Perhaps  you  may  be  able  to  point  out  to  me  in  what  manner  I 
may  get  from  the  Prince  Regent  at  least  the  copyist's  charges  for  the 
Battle  Symphony  on  Wellington's  Victory  at  the  battle  of  Vittoria, 
which  I  gave  him,  for  I  have  long  ago  abandoned  all  hope  of  ever  getting 
anything  more,  I  was  not  even  vouchsafed  an  answer  as  to  whether  I 
might  dedicate  the  work  to  the  Prince  Regent  when  I  publish  it,  I  hear 
even  that  the  work  has  already  been  published  in  London  in  pianoforte 
arrangement,  what  a  fate  for  an  author  !  !  !  While  the  newspapers  are 
full  of  reports  concerning  the  success  of  this  work  as  performed  at  the 
Drury  Lane  Theatre,  the  author  is  unable  to  show  even  a  friendly  line 
touching  it,  not  even  the  expense  of  copying,  besides  all  this,  the  loss  of 
all  profit,  for  if  it  is  true  that  the  pianoforte  arrangement  is  already 
published,  no  German  publisher  will  take  it,  it  is  probable  that  the  piano- 
forte arrangement  will  soon  appear  in  a  reprint  by  a  German  publisher 
and  I  will  lose  honor  and  honorarium. 

Your  well-known  noble  character  bids  me  hope  that  you  will  take 
an  interest  in  the  matter  and  show  yourself  active  in  my  service;  the 
wretched  paper  money  of  our  country  has  already  been  reduced  to  the 
fifth  part  of  its  value,  I  was  treated  according  to  the  scale,  but  after 
much  urging  the  full  standard  with  a  considerable  loss,  but  we  have  again 
reached  a  point  where  the  currency  is  worth  much  less  than  one-fifth  and 
I  am  confronted  for  the  second  time  with  the  prospect  that  my  salary 
will  be  reduced  to  nothing  without  recourse  of  any  kind.  My  only 
earnings  now  come  from  my  compositions,  if  I  could  count  on  their  sale 
in  England  it  would  be  very  advantageous  to  me. 

'J.  B.  Cramer  was  associated  with  John  Addison  under  the  style  of  Cramer  and  Co. 


BiRCHALL  Becomes  Beethoven's  Publisher       319 

Count  on  my  boundless  gratitude,  I  hope  for  a  speedy,  a  very  speedy 
answer  from  you. 

Some  time  about  October  15th,  Beethoven  returned  to  Vienna. 
And  now  another  bitter  parting:  The  Erdodys,  accompanied  by 
Brauchle,  Sperl  and  Linke,  departed  to  Croatia  never  to  return. 

The  letters  to  Smart,  Salomon  and  Ries  were  not  in  vain; 
through  their  efforts,  especially  Salomon's,  Mr.  Robert  Birchall, 
Music  Publisher  of  No.  133  New  Bond  St.,  was  induced  to  pur- 
chase four  of  the  works  enumerated  by  Haring,  viz:  the  piano- 
forte arrangements  of  the  "Wellingtou's  Victory,"  Op.  91,  and 
Symphony  in  A,  Op.  92;  the  Trio  in  B-flat,  Op.  97,  and  the  Sonata 
for  Pianoforte  and  Violin,  Op.  96,  for  "the  sum  of  one  hundred  and 
thirty-five  gold  Dutch  ducats — value  in  English  currency,  sixty- 
five  pounds."  The  correspondence  between  the  composer  and 
publisher  as  presented  by  Mr.  Birchall's  successors  begins  with  a 
paper  in  extraordinary  English  which  has  hitherto  passed  as  a 
note  received  from  Vienna,  but  which,  it  is  obvious,  is  nothing  but 
the  effort  of  some  resident  German  to  interpret  the  contents  of 
the  following  letter  from  Beethoven:^ 

Vienna,  October  28th,  1815. 
Well-born  Sir! 

I  inform  you  that  the  Battle  and  Victory  Symphony  on  Welling- 
ton's Victory  in  pianoforte  arrangement  was  dispatched  to  London 
several  days  ago  to  the  house  of  Thomas  Coutts,  in  London,  whence  you 
may  fetch  it.  I  beg  you  to  be  speedy  as  possible  in  printing  it  and  inform 
me  of  the  day  when  you  purpose  publishing  it  so  that  I  may  give  timely 
notice  of  the  fact  to  the  publisher  here — such  great  hurry  is  not  necessary 
with  the  3  works  which  follow  and  which  you  will  receive  soon  and  in  the 
case  of  which  I  shall  take  the  liberty  to  fix  the  day: — Mr.  Salomon  will 

iMr.  Birchall's  successor  was  C.  Lonsdale,  who  had  been  his  principal  assistant  and 
who  had  conducted  the  correspondence  with  Beethoven;  and  the  business  is  at  this 
writing  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Lonsdale's  son  Robert.  From  both  these  gentlemen,  the 
author  received  great  kindness  and  valuable  aid  in  his  English  researches.  The  letter 
in  the  text  was  not  in  their  possession,  bat  has  since  been  communicated  to  this  work  by 
Mr.  S.  Ganz.  This  excepted,  the  correspondence  may  be  read  in  the  "JahrbUcher  fur 
Musikalische  Wissenschaft,"  It^en  Band,  by  Breitkopf  and  Hartel.  1863. 

As  our  reading  of  the  English  paper  mentioned  in  the  text  differs  from  that  in  the 
**Jahrbucher"  it  is  here  subjoined. 

"Mr.  Beethoven  send  word  to  Mr.  Birchall  that  it  is  severall  days  past  that  he  has 
sent  for  London,  Wellington's  Battel  Si mphonie  and  that  Mr.  B.  may  send  for  it  at 
Thomas  Coutts.  Mr.  Beethoven  wish  Mr.  Bl.  would  make  ingrave  the  sayd  Simphonie 
so  soon  as  possible  and  send  him  word  in  time  the  day  it  will  be  published,  that  he  may 
prevent  in  time  the  publisher  at  Vienna. 

"To  regard  the  3  Sonatas  which  Mr.  B.  shall  receive  afterwards  there  is  not  wanted 
such  a  gt.  hurry  and  Mr.  B[eethoven]  will  take  the  liberty  to  6xe  the  day  when  the  are 
to  be  published.  Mr.  B[eethoven]  savd  tha  Mr.  Solomon  has  a  good  many  tings  to 
say  concerning  the  Simphonie  in  (?)  Mr.  B[eethoven]  wish  for  an  answer  so  soon  as 
possible  concerning  the  davs  of  publication.'  ^ 

The  letter  here  queried,  does  not  belong  to  the  English  Alphabet,  but  the  Battle 
and  Victory  Symphony"  is  meant. 


320  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

have  the  goodness  to  explain  to  you  more  clearly  why  there  is  this 
greater  haste  in  the  matter  of  the  Battle  and  Victory  Symphony. 

Awaiting  a  very  speedy  answer  regarding  the  day  of  publication  of 
the  work  which  you  have  received. 

I  remain  your  obedient  servant, 

Ludwig  van  Beethoven. 

We  now  reach  one  of  the  most  important  and  at  the  same  time 
most  melancholy  events  in  Beethoven's  life — an  event  which 
exerted  the  profoundest  influence  on  the  rest  of  his  life — the  death 
of  his  brother  Karl.  We  introduce  it  with  that  brother's  last  will 
and  testament: 

Certain  that  all  men  must  die  and  feeling  that  I  am  near  this 
goal,  but  in  the  full  possession  of  my  understanding,  I  have  freely  and 
voluntarily  deemed  it  good  to  make  these,  my  last  dispositions. 

1.  I  commend  my  soul  to  the  mercy  of  God,  but  my  body  to  the 
earth  from  which  it  came  and  desire  that  it  be  buried  in  the  simplest 
manner  in  accordance  with  the  rites  of  Christian  Catholicism. 

2.  Immediately  after  my  death,  four  holy  masses  are  to  be  said,  to 
which  end  I  set  apart  4  florins. 

3.  My  heirs  general  are  commanded  to  pay  the  pious  legacies 
according  to  law. 

4.  As  my  wife  at  our  marriage  brought  me  and  paid  over  2000  fl. 
in  B.  bonds,  for  which  I  gave  no  receipt,  I  acknowledge  receipt  of  these 
2000  fl.  in  B.  bonds  and  desire  that  these  2000  fl.  in  B.  bonds  as  also  the 
deposit  be  rectified  in  accordance  with  the  existing  marriage  contract. 

5.  I  appoint  my  brother  Ludwig  van  Beethoven  guardian.  Inas- 
much as  this,  my  deeply  beloved  brother  has  often  aided  me  with  true 
brotherly  love  in  the  most  magnanimous  and  noblest  manner,  I  ask,  in 
full  confidence  and  trust  in  his  noble  heart,  that  he  shall  bestow  the  love 
and  friendship  which  he  often  showed  me,  upon  my  son  Karl,  and  do  all 
that  is  possible  to  promote  the  intellectual  training  and  further  welfare 
of  my  son.     I  know  that  he  will  not  deny  me  this,  my  request. 

6.  Convinced  of  the  uprightness  of  Hrn.  Dr.  Schonauer,  Appellate 
and  Court  Advocate,  I  appoint  him  Curator  for  probate,  as  also  for  my 
son  Karl  with  the  understanding  that  he  be  consulted  in  all  matters 
concerning  the  property  of  my  son. 

7.  The  appointment  of  heirs  being  the  essential  matter  in  a  tes- 
tament, I  appoint  my  beloved  wife  Johanna,  born  Reiss,  and  my  son 
Karl,  heirs  general  to  all  my  property  in  equal  portions  after  the  deduc- 
tion of  my  existing  debts  and  the  above  bequests. 

8.  The  wagon,  horse,  goat,  peacocks  and  the  plants  growing  in 
vessels  in  the  garden  are  the  property  of  my  wife,  since  these  objects 
were  all  purchased  with  money  from  the  legacy  received  from  her  grand- 
father. 

In  witness  whereof,  I  have  not  only  signed  this,  my  last  will  with 
my  own  hand,  but  to  aid  in  its  execution  have  also  called  in  three 
witnesses. 

Thus  done,  Vienna,  November  14,  1815. 

Karl  van  Beethoven, 

m.  p. 


A  Dying  Brother's  Injunction  321 

Carl  Gaber,  m.  p. 

House  owner,  Breitenfeld  No.  9. 
Benedikt  Gaber,  m.  p. 

House  owner,  Breitenfeld  No.  25. 
Johann  Naumann,  m.  p. 

House  No.  5,  Breitenfeld. 

("This  testament  was  delivered  under  seal  to  the  R.  I.  L.  Austrian 
General  Court,  by  the  Karl  Scheffer  Solicitor  Dr.  Schonauer,  on 
November  17,  1815,  etc.") 

Codicil  to  my  Will 

Having  learned  that  my  brother,  Hr  Ludwig  van  Beethoven,  desires 
after  my  death  to  take  wholly  to  himself  my  son  Karl,  and  wholly  to 
withdraw  him  from  the  supervision  and  training  of  his  mother,  and  inas- 
much as  the  best  of  harmony  does  not  exist  between  my  brother  and  my 
wife,  I  have  found  it  necessary  to  add  to  my  will  that  I  by  no  means 
desire  that  my  son  be  taken  away  from  his  mother,  but  that  he  shall 
always  and  so  long  as  his  future  career  permits  remain  with  his  mother,  to 
which  end  the  guardianship  of  him  is  to  be  exercised  by  her  as  well  as  my 
brother.  Only  by  unity  can  the  object  which  I  had  in  view  in  appointing 
my  brother  guardian  of  my  son,  be  attained,  wherefore,  for  the  welfare 
of  my  child,  I  recommend  compliance  to  my  wife  and  more  moderation 
to  my  brother. 

God  permit  them  to  be  harmonious  for  the  sake  of  my  child's 
welfare.     This  is  the  last  wish  of  the  dying  husband  and  brother. 

Vienna,  November  14,  1815. 

Karl  van  Beethoven 

m.  p. 

We,  the  undersigned,  certify  in  consonance  with  truth  that  Karl 
van  Beethoven  declared  in  our  presence  that  he  had  read  the  statement 
on  the  opposite  page  and  that  the  same  is  in  accordance  with  his  will, 
finally  we  certify  that  he  signed  it  with  his  own  hand  in  our  presence  and 
requested  us  to  witness  the  act. 

Thus  done  on  November  14,  1815. 

Carl  Gaber,  m.  p. 
Benedikt  Gaber,  m.  p. 
Johann  Neumann,  m.  p. 

("This  codicil  was  delivered  under  seal  to  the  R.  I.  L.  Austrian 
General  Court  by  the  Karl  Scheffer  Solicitor  Dr.  Schonauer,  on  Nov. 
17,  1815,  etc.") 

On  November  20,  1815,  the  "Wiener  Zeitung"  printed  the 
announcement:  "Died  on  November  16,  Hr.  Karl  van  Beethoven, 
Cashier  in  the  R.  I.  Bank  and  Chief  Treasury,  aged  38  years,  ^  of 
consumption."  And  so  in  his  own  house  died  the  brother  Karl 
whose  last  moments  came  with  a  suddenness  w^hich  aroused  his 
brother's  suspicions  that  the  end  had  been  hastened  by  poison! 
Nor  would    he  be    satisfied    upon   the  matter    until    his  friend 

^This  was  aa  error,  as  Karl  was  baptized  on  April  8,  1774. 


322  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

Bertolini  had  made  a  post  mortem  examination  "whereby  the 
lack  of  foundation  for  the  suspicion  was  proved." 

A  few  weeks  before  his  death,  Karl  had  applied  for  leave  of 
absence  from  his  office  on  the  score  of  his  feeble  condition;  but  his 
petition  was  harshly  refused  in  a  document  on  which  Beethoven 
afterwards  wrote:  "This  miserable  financial  product  caused  the 
death  of  my  brother."  In  fact,  however,  it  made  probably  little 
difference;  his  was  evidently  one  of  those  common  cases  of  phthisis, 
where  the  patient,  except  to  the  experienced  eye,  shows  no  signs  of 
immediate  danger;  who  at  the  last  moments  finds  himself  free 
from  pain  and  blessed  with  a  buoj^ancy  of  spirit  that  gives  him 
vain  hopes  of  prolonged  life.  It  is  the  last  flickering  of  the  flame, 
as  the  skillful  physician  well  knows. 

As  above  noted,  Karl  van  Beethoven's  will  was  deposited 
with  the  proper  authorities  on  the  17th,  and  "the  R.  I.  L.  Austrian 
Landrecht  (General  Court)  on  November  22,  1815,  appointed  the 
widow  of  the  deceased,  Johanna  van  Beethoven,  guardian,  the 
brother  of  the  deceased,  Ludwig  van  Beethoven,  associate  guar- 
dian of  the  minor  son  Karl."  And  so,  for  the  present,  we  will  leave 
the  matter.  1 

And  Breuning,^  ^Tiy  during  these  years  and  especially  in 
this  time  of  sorrow  does  his  name  nowhere  meet  us.^  His  son 
answers  the  question  in  that  extremely  interesting  little  volume 
"Aus  dem  Schwarzspanierhause."^ 

Jacob  Rosgen,  an  employee  in  the  oflSce  of  the  Minister  of  War 
in  which  Breuning  was  a  Secretary,  had  learned  certain  facts,  or 
suspicions,  in  relation  to  Karl  van  Beethoven's  integrity,  which  he 
thought  should  be  communicated  to  Ludwig  as  a  warning  "not 
to  have  anything  to  do  with  him  in  financial  matters."  To  this 
end  he,  having  obtained  Breuning's  word  of  honor  not  to  make 
known  the  source  of  the  information,  imparted  to  him  the  whole 
matter.  "Breuning  faithfully  performed  the  task  which  he  had 
assumed;  but  Ludwig,  in  his  tireless  endeavor  to  better  his  brother, 

^A  letter,  preserved  in  the  Beethoven  House  Museum  at  Bonn  (Kalischer, 
"Sammtliche  Briefe"  11,  310),  to  Madame  Antonie  von  Brentano  mentions  that  Karl  had 
been  pensioned,  but  this  may  have  been  written  after  an  application  had  been  made  and 
before  it  had  been  refused.  The  letter  says:  "Among  the  individuals  (whose  number  is 
in6nite)  who  are  suffering,  is  my  brother  who  was  obliged  to  have  himself  pensioned 
because  of  his  ill  health,  conditions  are  very  hard  just  now,  I  do  all  that  is  possible,  but 
that  is  not  much."  He  then  offers  Brentano  a  pipe-bowl  belonging  to  his  brother,  who 
thinks  that  it  might  be  sold  for  10  louis  d'or,  remarking:  "he  needs  a  great  deal,  is  obliged 
to  keep  a  horse  and  carriage  in  order  to  live  (for  he  is  as  desirous  to  keep  his  life  as  I  am 
willing  to  lose  mine)." 

'"Aus  dem  Schwarzspanierhause,"  by  Dr.  Gerhard  von  Breuning.  Vienna, 
Rosner,  1874.  Dr.  Breuning  prints  the  note  of  reconciliation  (which  has  appeared  in  this 
work)  as  subsequent  to  this  affair.     We  are  unable  to  agree  with  him. 


A  Period  of  Prosperity  323 

hastened  to  take  him  to  task  for  his  conduct  and  charge  him  with 
the  acts  which  had  been  reported  to  him;  he  went  so  far,  when 
pressed  by  his  brother  for  the  source  of  his  information,  as  to  men- 
tion the  name  of  his  friend  Steffen.  Kaspar  (Karl)  then  appealed 
directly  to  my  father  and  asked  the  name  of  the  author  of  the 
'denunciation,'  and  when  my  father  resolutely  declined  to  give  the 
name  (Rosgen)  Kaspar  indulged  himself  in  abuse  to  such  an  extent 
that  he  left  insulting  letters  addressed  to  him  and  unsealed  with 
the  portier  of  the  Ministry  of  War.  My  father,  angered  and 
pained  at  this  impertinence  and  Ludwig's  breach  of  confidence, 
read  the  latter  a  sharp  lecture  which  ended  with  the  declaration 
that  because  of  such  unreliability  it  would  be  impossible  longer 
to  hold  association  with  him.''^  It  will  be  long  before  we  meet 
Breuning  again. 

There  is  a  striking  incongruity  between  Beethoven's  pleas  of 
poverty  in  his  letters  to  correspondents  in  England  at  this  period 
and  the  facts  drawn  from  official  and  other  authentic  sources. 
Let  us  tarry  a  moment  on  this  point. 

He  was  now,  at  the  end  of  1815,  in  the  regular  receipt  of  his 
annuity,  3400  florins  in  notes  of  redemption;  in  March  and  April 
the  arrears,  4987  florins  in  such  notes,  had  been  paid  him;  the  profits 
of  his  concerts  since  January  1,  1814,  with  presents  from  crowned 
heads  and  others  were,  if  we  may  trust  Schindler,  who  appears  to 
speak  from  accurate  knowledge,  sufficient  in  amount  to  purchase 
somewhat  later  the  seven  bank-shares,  which  at  his  death,  "ac- 
cording to  the  price  current  on  the  day  of  his  death,"  had  a  value 
in  convention-coin  of  7441  florins;  Neate  had  paid  him  75  guineas; 
for  the  works  sold  to  Steiner  and  Co.  he  had  "been  wholly  com- 
pensated"; in  March  (1816)  he  received  from  Mr.  Birchall  65 
pounds  sterling;  and  there  were  payments  to  him  from  Thomson 
and  others,  the  aggregate  of  which  cannot  be  determined. 

This  incongruity  is  not  essentially  diminished  either  by  his 
taxes — sixty  pounds  for  1814,  he  tells  Thomson — nor  by  the 
10,000  florins  W.  W.  expended  for  the  benefit  of  his  brother, 
whether  the  "Wiener  Wahrung"  in  the  letter  to  Ries  be  under- 
stood as  the  old  five  for  one,  or  the  new  in  notes  of  redemption; 
for  this  fraternal  charity  extended  back  over  a  series  of  years. 
In  this  letter  to  Ries,  the  reader  will  observe  also  a  remarkable 
instance  of  its  writer's  occasional  great  carelessness  of  statement, 
where  he  speaks  of  his  "entire  loss  of  salary"  for  several  years;  for 
the  Archduke's  share  had  throughout  been  punctually  paid;  not 

'Dr.  Gerhard  von  Breuning  places  this  incident  in  1804,  Thayer  in  1815.     The 
cause  of  the  quarrel  which  was  followed  by  a  reconciliation  in  1804,  has  been  explained. 


324  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

to  mention  again  the  receipt  of  what  had  for  a  time  been  with- 
held of  the  Kinsky  and  Lobkowitz  subscriptions.  The  omission 
of  these  facts  in  this  and  other  letters,  imparted  to  Ries  an  utterly 
false  impression;  and  on  their  publication  in  1838,  to  the  public 
also.  Hence  the  general  belief  that  Beethoven  was  now  in  very 
straitened  circumstances,  and  that  Karl's  widow  and  child  had 
been  left  in  abject  poverty;  the  truth  as  to  them  being  this: 
that  the  property  left  them  produced  an  annual  income,  which 
with  the  widow's  pension  amounted  at  this  time  to  above  1500 
florins.  From  the  day  that  Beethoven  assumed  the  office  of 
guardian  and  took  possession  of  the  child,  he  had  a  valid  claim 
upon  the  mother  for  a  part  of  the  costs  of  maintaining  him — a 
claim  soon  made  good  by  legal  process.  If  he  afterward  elected 
to  suffer  in  his  own  finances  rather  than  press  his  sister-in-law, 
this  is  no  justification  of  the  heedless  statements  in  some  of  his 
letters  now — a  truth  to  be  held  in  mind.  And  now  the  letter  to 
Ferdinand  Ries: 

Wednesday,  November  22,  Vienna,  1815. 
DearR! 

I  hasten  to  write  you  that  I  to-day  sent  the  pianoforte  arrange- 
ment of  the  Symphony  in  A  by  post  to  the  house  of  Thomas  Coutts  and 
Co.,  as  the  Court  is  not  here,  couriers  go  not  at  all  or  seldom,  and  this 
besides  is  the  safest  way.  The  Symphony  should  appear  toward  the 
end  of  March,  I  will  fix  the  day,  it  has  occupied  too  much  time  for  me  to 
make  the  term  shorter, — more  time  may  be  taken  with  the  Trio  and  the 
Sonata  for  violin,  and  both  will  be  in  London  in  a  few  weeks — I  urgently 
beg  of  you,  dear  Ries!  to  make  this  matter  your  concern  and  to  see  that 
I  get  the  money;  it  will  cost  a  great  deal  before  everything  gets  there 
and  I  need  it— I  had  to  lose  600  fl.  annually  of  my  salary,  at  the  time  of  the 
bank-notes  it  was  nothing  then  came  the  notes  of  redemption  and  because 
of  them  I  lost  the  600  fl.  with  several  years  of  vexation  and  entire  loss 
of  salary — now  we  have  reached  a  point  where  the  notes  of  redemption 
are  worse  than  the  bank-notes  were  before;  I  pay  1000  fl.  for  house-rent; 
figure  to  yourself  of  the  misery  caused  by  paper  money.  My  poor  un- 
fortunate brother  has  just  died;  he  had  a  bad  wife,  I  may  say  he  had 
consumption  for  several  years,  and  to  make  life  easier  for  him  I  gave 
what  I  may  estimate  at  10,000  fl.  W.  W.  True,  that  is  nothing  for  an 
Englishman,  but  very  much  for  a  poor  German,  or  rather  Austrian. 
The  poor  man  had  changed  greatly  in  the  last  few  years  and  I  can  say 
that  I  sincerely  lament  him,  and  I  am  now  glad  that  I  can  now  say  to 
myself  that  I  neglected  nothing  in  respect  of  care  for  him.  Tell  Mr. 
Birchall  to  repay  Mr.  Salomon  and  you  the  cost  of  postage  for  your  letters 
to  me  and  mine  to  you;  he  may  deduct  it  from  the  sum  which  he  is  to 
pay  me,  I  want  those  who  labor  for  me  to  suffer  as  little  as  possible. 

Wellington's  Victory  at  the  Battle  of  Vittoria,  this  is  also  the  title 
on  the  pianoforte  arrangement,  must  have  reached  Th.  Coutts  and  Co. 
long  ago.     Mr.  Birchall  need  not  pay  the  honorarium  until  he  has  re- 


Becomes  an  Honorary  Citizen  of  Vienna        325 

ceived  all  the  works,  make  haste  so  that  I  may  know  the  day  when  Mr. 
Birchall  will  publish  the  pianoforte  arrangement.  For  to-day,  no  more 
except  the  warmest  commendation  of  my  affairs  to  you;  I  am  always  at 
your  service  in  all  respects.     Farwell,  Dear  R! 

On  the  same  day  he  wrote  to  Birchall: 

Vienna,  November  22,  1815. 
Enclosed  you  are  receiving  the  pianoforte  arrangement  of  the 
Symphony  in  A.  The  pianoforte  arrangement  of  the  Symph.  Welling- 
ton's Victory  at  the  Battle  of  Vittoria  was  dispatched  4  weeks  ago  by  the 
business  messenger,  Hrn.  Neumann,  to  ^.lessrs.  Coutts  and  Co.,  and 
therefore  must  long  ago  have  been  in  your  hands. 

You  will  receive  also  the  Trio  and  Sonata  in  a  fortnight  in  exchange 
for  which  you  will  please  pay  to  Messrs.  Thomas  Coutts  and  Co.  the  sum 
of  130  gold  ducats.  I  beg  of  you  to  make  haste  with  the  publication  of 
these  musical  compositions  and  to  inform  me  of  the  day  of  publication  of 
the  Wellington  Symphony,  so  that  I  may  make  my  arrangements  here 
accordingly.     With  great  respect  I  remain. 

Yours  truly, 

Ludwig  van  Beethoven,  m.  p. 

The  Trio  and  Sonata,  however,  were  not  forwarded  until  the 
3d  of  the  next  February — a  decidedly  long  "fortnight." 

In  those  days  £65  was  no  small  sum  for  the  mere  right  of 
republication  in  England  of  these  pianoforte  works  and  arrange- 
ments, and  Ries  richly  merited  these  words  of  his  old  master: 
"And  now  my  heartiest  thanks,  dear  Ries,  for  all  the  kindness  you 
have  shown  to  me,  and  particularly  for  the  corrections.  Heaven 
bless  you  and  make  your  progress  even  greater,  in  which  I  take  a 
cordial  interest." 

About  the  first  of  December,  "a  magisterial  deputation 
solemnly  delivered"  into  the  hands  of  Beethoven  a  certificate 
conferring  upon  him  the  citizenship  of  Vienna  in  acknowledgment 
of  his  benevolent  services  in  behalf  of  St.  Mark's  Hospital.  Ries, 
writing  on  September  29th  for  Salomon,  who  had  broken  his  right 
shoulder  in  a  fall  from  his  horse,  informs  Beethoven  that  at  that 
date  the  three  overtures  purchased  by  Neate  for  the  Philhar- 
monic Society  had  not  reached  London.  Beethoven,  in  December, 
repeats  this  to  Neate,  who  was  still  in  Vienna,  adding,  in  substance, 
his  readiness  to  make  any  desired  written  agreement  about  these 
things  in  England.  Salomon's  misfortune  occurred  in  August; 
he  lingered  only  until  the  25th  of  November.  No  higher  proof 
of  his  reputation  in  England  can  be  given  than  the  fact  that  the 
remains  of  this  Bonn  violinist  rest  near  those  of  Handel  in  West- 
minster Abbey. 

Schindler  somewhere  censures  the  Gesellschaft  der  Musik- 
freunde  for  its  long  delay   in  making  Beethoven   an  honorary 


326  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

member.  It  did  what  was  better.  Hardly  was  it  organized, 
when  its  directors  turned  their  attention  to  him;  and,  in  the  second 
year  of  its  legal  existence,  proposed  to  him  through  Zmeskall  to 
compose  an  oratorio  for  its  use.  On  the  22d  of  December,  Count 
Appony  reported:  "that  Hr.  L.  v.  Beethoven,  through  Hrn.  v. 
Zmeskall,  had  declared  his  readiness  to  deliver  a  large  work  to  the 
society  and  that  the  Board  of  Management  were  awaiting  his 
conditions."  It  was  but  the  course  of  common  propriety — of 
ordinary  delicacy — to  leave  him  free  of  all  obligation  to  the 
society  until  this  matter  of  business  should  be  settled;  indeed, 
that  Streicher  was  one  of  the  principal  founders  and  most  in- 
fluential members  of  the  society  is  a  sufficient  pledge,  that  no 
disrespect  for,  nor  indifference  to,  his  great  merits,  had  aught 
to  do  with  the  delay,  which  Schindler  blames.  We  shall  find  that, 
so  soon  as  it  was  certain  that  Beethoven  could  not  live  to  fulfill 
his  engagement,  the  society  sent  him  its  honorary  diploma. 
Could  it  well  do  this  before? 

Of  noteworthy  new  friends  and  acquaintances  may  be  men- 
tioned here  Peters,  tutor  of  the  young  Princes  Lobkowitz,  and 
Carl  Joseph  Bernard,  a  young  literateur  and  poet — the  reviser  of 
Weissenbach's  poem — a  great  admirer  of  Beethoven's  music, 
soon  to  be  appointed  Editor  of  the  official  "Wiener  Zeitung." 
He  is  the  "Bernardus  non  Sanctus"  of  the  Conversation  Books; 
and  the  two  are  the  friends  whom  Beethoven  set  to  music  in  the 

text: 

Sanct  Petrus  war  ein  Fels ! 
Bernardus  war  ein  Sanct ?.''^ 

Another  was  Anton  Halm,  "in  whose  fresh  mihtary  nature  Master 
TiUdwig  took  delight,"  says  Schindler.  He  was  a  native  of  Styria, 
and  now  but  twenty-six  years  of  age.  After  some  years'  service 
against  Napoleon,  he  had  resigned  (1812)  his  lieutenancy  in  the 
44th  Regiment.  He  was  a  pianoforte  player  of  very  respectable 
rank,  and  even  before  entering  the  army  had  appeared  in  public 
in  Beethoven's  C  minor  Trio,  Op.  1,  and  the  C  major  Pianoforte 
Concerto,  Op.  15.  He  had  now  been  three  years  in  Hungary, 
living  during  the  third  with  his  friend,  Brunswick,  who  gave  him 
a  letter  to  Beethoven  upon  his  departure  for  Vienna,  whither  he 
had  come  to  be  tutor  in  a  Greek  family  named  Gyike.  "Halm 
once  brought  a  sonata  of  his  own  composition  to  him,"  says 
Czerny,  "and  when  Beethoven  pointed  out  a  few  errors,  Halm 
retorted  that  he  (B.)  had  also  permitted  himself  many  violations 
of  the  rules,  Beethoven  answered:  'I  may  do  it,  but  not  you.'  " 

>Saint  Peter  was  a  rock!     Bernardus  was  a  Saint! 


Growing  Intercourse  with  Schindler  327 

Young  Schindler's  acquaintance  with  Beethoven  had  now- 
advanced  a  step: 

Toward  the  end  of  February,  1815  (Schindler  writes),  I  accepted  an 
invitation  to  become  tutor  at  Brlinn.  Scarcely  arrived  there,  I  was 
summoned  before  the  police  officials.  I  was  questioned  as  to  my  relations 
with  some  of  the  tumultuaries  of  the  Vienna  University  as  also  certain 
Italians  in  whose  company  I  had  often  been  seen  in  Vienna.  As  my 
identification  papers,  especially  the  statement  concerning  the  different 
lectures  which  I  had  attended,  were  not  in  good  order,  the  latter  really 
faulty — through  no  fault  of  mine — I  was  detained,  notwithstanding  that 
a  government  officer  of  high  standing  offered  to  become  my  bondsman. 
After  several  weeks  of  correspondence  back  and  forth  it  was  learned  that 
I  was  not  a  propagandist  and  was  to  be  set  at  liberty.  But  a  whole  year 
of  my  academic  career  was  lost. 

Again  returned  to  Vienna,  I  was  invited  by  one  of  Beethoven's  inti- 
mate acquaintances  to  come  to  an  appointed  place,  as  the  master  wanted 
to  hear  the  story  of  the  Brunn  happening  from  my  own  lips.  During 
the  relation,  Beethoven  manifested  such  sympathetic  interest  in  my 
disagreeable  experiences  that  I  could  not  refrain  from  tears.  He  in- 
vited me  to  come  often  to  the  same  place  and  at  the  same  hour,  4  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon,  where  he  was  to  be  found  nearly  every  day — reading  the 
newspapers.  A  handgrasp  said  still  more.  The  place  was  a  somewhat 
remote  room  in  the  beer-house  "Zum  Rosenstock"  in  the  Ballgasschen. 
I  was  there  right  often  and  came  to  know  the  place  as  a  quasi-crypt  of  a 
number  of  Josephites  of  the  first  water,  to  whom  our  master  presented 
no  discordant  note,  for  his  republican  creed  had  already  received  a  con- 
siderable blow  through  a  more  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  English 
Constitution,  A  captain  of  the  Emperor's  bodyguard  and  Herr  Pin- 
terics,  widely  known  in  musical  Vienna,  who  played  an  important  role 
in  the  life  of  Franz  Schubert,  were  the  closest  companions  of  the  master 
and,  in  the  exchange  of  political  views,  his  seconds  actively  and  passively 
From  this  place  I  soon  began  to  accompany  him  on  his  walks. 

But  Schindler's  intimacy  with  Beethoven  was  not  yet  such 
as  to  save  him  from  errors  when  writing  of  this  time.  Thus  he 
gravely  assures  us  that  a  concert  which  took  place  on  the  25th  of 
December  "provided  the  impulse  which  led  the  Magistracy  of 
Vienna  to  elect  our  master  to  honorary  citizenship."  And  yet 
the  "solemn  delivery"  of  the  diploma  is  already  an  item  of  news 
in  the  Vienna  newspapers  of  December  15.  This  concert,  in  the 
large  Ridotto  room,  conducted  by  Beethoven  was  for  the  benefit 
of  the  Burger spitaljond  (Citizens'  Hospital  Fund)  and  the  works, 
performed  were  "an  entirely  new  overture"  (that  in  C,  known  as 
the  "Namensfeier") ;  "a  new  chorus  on  Goethe's  poem  'Die  Meeres- 
stille'";  "Christus  am  Olberg,"  Between  the  cantata  and  the 
oratorio,  Franz  Stauffer,  "the  twelve-year-old  son  of  a  citizen  of 
Vienna,"  played  a  "Rondo  brillant"  by  Hummel. 


328  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

The  compositions  which  are  known  or,  on  good  grounds,  are 
supposed  to  belong  to  the  year  1815  are: 

1.  "15  Scottish  Songs,  in  the  month  of  May,"  arranged  for  Thom- 
son; but  they  are  not  all  Scottish. 

2.  Chorus:  "Es  ist  vollbracht";  for  Treitschke's  "Ehrenpforte." 

3.  Two  Sonatas  for  Pianoforte  and  Violoncello;  C  major  and  D 
major.  Op.  102;  in  July  and  August. 

4.  Chorus  with  orchestra:  "Meeresstille  und  gliickliche  Fahrt"; 
text  by  Goethe;  Op.  112. 

5.  Song:  "Das  Geheimniss";  text  by  Weissenberg, 

6.  Song:  "An  die  Hoffnung";  text  by  Tiedge;  Op.  94  (probably 
finished). 

7.  Canons:  "Das  Reden,"  "Das  Schweigen"  and  "Gliick  zum 
neuen  Jahre."' 

The  ascertained  publications  of  the  year  are: 

1.  Polonaise,  in  C  major,  Op.  89;  published  by  Mechetti,  in  March. 

2.  Sonata  for  Pianoforte,  E  minor,  Op.  90;  by  Steiner,  in  June. 

3.  Song:  "Des  Kriegers  Abschied,"  text  by  C.  L.  Reissig;  by  Me- 
chetti, in  June. 

4.  Chorus:  "Es  ist  vollbracht,"  pianoforte  arrangement;  by  Steiner 
in  July. 

^Nottebohm's  study  of  the  sketchbooks  used  by  Beethoven  in  1815  (See  "Zweit. 
Beeth.,"  pp.  314-20)  discloses  that  he  worked  upon  sketches  for  works  which  were  never 
Bnished — a  Symphony  in  B  minor.  Pianoforte  Concerto  in  D,  and  several  Fugues,  besides 
experimenting  with  the  opera  "Bacchus."  There  are  al.so  sketches  for  compositions 
written  in  1816,  such  as  the  song-cycle  "An  die  feme  Geliebte"  and  the  Sonata,  Op.  101. 


Chapter  XVI 


The  Year  1816 — Guardianship  of  the  Nephew — Giannatasio 
del  Rio — Beethoven's  Works  in  London — Birchall  and 
Neate — New  Distinctions. 

COMPARED  with  the  years  immediately  preceding,  the  year 
1816  is  comparatively  barren  of  large  incidents  in  the  life 
of  Beethoven;  its  recorded  history,  therefore,  is  to  be  found 
to  a  still  larger  extent  than  before  in  the  composer's  extended 
correspondence  together  with  explanatory  annotations.  Some  of 
the  letters,  especially  those  written  to  his  English  friends,  are 
likely  to  make  a  somewhat  melancholy,  and  to  that  extent  er- 
roneous, impression.  The  real  record  of  the  WTiter  finds  expression 
in  the  letters  which  he  wrote  to  Steiner  and  Co.  and  Zmeskall. 
These  are  bubbling  over  with  playfulness  and  jocularity,  proving 
that  the  writer  was  generally  in  a  cheerful  humor  and  in  this 
year  was  anything  but  the  melancholy  Beethoven  of  the  romance 
writers.  He  seems  to  have  endured  the  rapid  and  disquieting 
increase  in  his  malady,  an  inevitable  consequence  of  the  exer- 
tions and  excitement  attending  the  rehearsing  and  conducting  of 
so  many  large  concerts,  with  surprising  patience  and  resignation. 
And  why  not.^^  His  pecuniary  affairs  were  in  good  condition, 
notwithstanding  his  lamentations  to  Ries  and  others;  he  had  won 
his  lawsuit  with  his  brother's  widow,  and  his  artistic  ambition 
must  have  found  complete  satisfaction  in  the  great  fame  which  he 
had  won.  A  letter  concerning  a  new  operatic  project  first  invites 
attention.  The  eight  roles  which  Madame  Milder  had  played  in  the 
past  summer  in  Berlin,  had  given  such  keen  delight  that  she  had 
been  reengaged  for  a  second  and  much  longer  series.  Domestic 
troubles  and  sorrows,  in  which  her  husband,  the  jeweler  Haupt- 
mann,  appears  to  have  been  entirely  the  guilty  party  and  which 
embittered  all  her  future  life,  rendered  her  utterly  unable  for  the 
present  to  appear  upon  the  stage;  and  "because  of  illness  and 
weakness"  it  was  not  until  several  weeks  after  her  return  from  the 
baths  at  Pyrmont  that  she  could  begin  the  new  engagement  on 

[  329] 


330  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

October  3d.  Meantime  "Fidelio"  had  been  put  upon  the  boards 
and  "given  for  the  first  time  on  October  11th  with  great  success." 
"This  opera,"  said  the  Berlin  "Dramaturgisches  "SYochenblatt" 
in  its  notice  of  the  event,  "bears  within  itself  the  seeds  of  a  dra- 
matico-musical  reformation  and  will  hasten  the  end  of  the  bastard 
music."  And  yet  on  this  evening,  the  Leonore  was  Mad.  Schultze 
— Schuppanzigh's  sister-in-law.  When,  three  days  after,  Mad. 
Milder  took  the  part,  its  greatness  was  for  the  first  time  fully 
appreciated;  and  of  the  twenty-four  evenings  to  which  her  en- 
gagement extended,  this  greatest  representative  then  living  of 
Gluck's  grandest  inspirations  devoted  eleven  to  "Fidelio."  This 
triumph  of  his  opera  in  Berlin,  drew  from  the  composer  a  letter 
(dated  Oanuary  6,  1816)  full  of  expressions  of  gratitude  and  en- 
thusiastic appreciation  of  the  singer's  talents,  and  giving  voice 
too,  to  a  rekindled  dramatic  ambition.     He  says: 

If  you  were  to  beg  Baron  de  la  Motte  Fouque — in  my  name — to 
invent  a  grand  opera  subject  which  would  at  the  same  time  be  adapted  to 
you,  you  would  do  a  great  service  to  me  and  the  German  stage.  I  should 
like,  moreover,  to  compose  it  exclusively  for  the  Berlin  stage  as  I  shall 
never  bring  about  another  opera  for  the  parsimonious  management  here. 

The  next  letter  relates  to  the  oratorio  for  the  Gesellschaft 
der  Musikfreunde: 

My  dear  Zmeskall! 

With  dread  I  observe  for  the  first  time  to-day  that  I  have  not  yet 
answered  the  application  of  the  Gesellschaft  der  Musif.  of  the  Austrian 
capital  for  an  oratorio. 

The  death  of  my  brother  two  months  ago,  the  guardianship  of  my 
nephew  which  thereby  devolved  upon  me,  together  with  many  other 
unpleasant  circumstances  and  occurrences  are  the  cause  of  my  tardy 
writing.  Meanwhile  the  poem  by  H.  von  Seyfried  is  already  begun  and 
I  shall  also  soon  set  the  same  to  music.  That  the  commission  is  highly 
honorable,  I  scarcely  need  tell  you;  that  is  self-evident  and  I  shall  try 
to  execute  it  as  worthily  as  my  small  powers  will  allow. 

As  regards  the  artistic  means  to  be  employed  in  the  performance  I 
shall  be  considerate,  but  do  not  wish  not  to  be  allowed  to  depart  from 
those  already  introduced.  I  hope  that  I  have  made  myself  understood 
in  this  matter.  As  they  insist  upon  knowing  what  honorarium  I  ask,  I 
inquire  in  turn  whether  the  Society  thinks  400  ducats  in  gold  agreeable 
for  such  a  work.  I  again  beg  pardon  of  the  society  for  the  tardiness  of 
my  answer;  meanwhile,  you  my  dear  friend  have  at  least  reported  by  word 
of  mouth  my  readiness  to  compose  the  work,  before  this,  which  sets  my 
mind  measurably  at  ease — My  dear  Z. 

YourB. 

The  next  selections  require  the  preliminary  statement  of 
certain   facts.     Beethoven's   dissatisfaction   at   the   appointment 


The  Nephew  Taken  from  His  Mother  331 

(on  November  22d)  of  his  sister-in-law  as  the  guardian  of  her  son — 
now  nine  years  old — was  expressed  in  an  appeal  to  the  Upper 
Austrian  Landrecht  on  the  28th,  to  transfer  the  guardianship  to 
himself.  Next  day,  the  29th,  that  tribunal  ordered  the  peti- 
tioner and  Dr.  Schbnauer  to  appear  before  it  in  this  matter  on 
December  2d  at  10  o'clock  a.  m.  At  that  time  the  subject  was 
deferred  to  the  same  hour  on  the  13th.  Beethoven  then  appeared 
and  declared  that  he  could  produce  "weighty  reasons  why  the 
widow  should  be  entirely  excluded  from  the  guardianship." 
Whereupon,  on  the  15th,  it  was  ordered  that  he  produce  those 
grounds  within  three  days,  "failing  which,  the  preparation  of  the 
guardianship  decree  to  the  widow  would  be  proceeded  with  with- 
out further  delay."  The  same  day  Beethoven  signed  a  petition 
to  the  City  Magistrates  for  an  official  certificate  concerning  the 
"condemnation  of  his  (Karl's)  mother,  Johanna  van  Beethoven, 
on  an  investigation  for  infidelity."  The  magistrate  answered  him 
on  the  same  day  through  their  secretary  that  they  could  not 
legally  grant  him  a  copy  of  the  judgment  against  her,  but  would 
communicate  the  "necessary  disclosures"  to  the  tribunal.  This 
was  done  on  the  21st.  Then  came  the  Christmas  holidays,  and 
no  further  action  was  taken  until  the  9th  of  January,  when  a 
decision  was  rendered  in  Beethoven's  favor,  and  he  was  ordered  to 
appear  on  the  19th  to  take  the  "vows  for  the  performance  of  his 
duties."     He  complied,  and  on  the  outside  of  this  order  is  written: 

To-day  appeared  Ludwig  van  Beethoven  as  the  legally  appointed 
guardian  of  his  nephew  Carl  and  vowed  with  solemn  handgrasp  before 
the  assembled  council  to  perform  his  duties. 

This  document  also  empowered  the  new  guardian  to  take  pos- 
session of  the  boy,  who  of  course  was  still  with  his  mother.  But 
what  to  do  with  him .5^  Beethoven  could  not  take  him  into  his 
own  lodging;  a  child  of  that  age  needs  a  woman's  care  and 
tenderness. 

A  certain  Cajetan  Giannatasio  del  Rio  was  at  that  time  pro- 
prietor and  manager  of  a  private  school  in  the  city  for  boys,  which 
enjoyed  a  high  and  deserved  reputation.  His  family  consisted  of 
his  wife  and  two  highly  accomplished  daughters,  young  women  of 
fine  talents,  of  much  musical  taste  and  culture,  and — especially 
the  eldest —  enthusiasts  for  Beethoven's  music.  The  composer, 
accompanied  by  Bernard  and  the  boy,  visited  and  inspected  the 
school,  and  was  so  much  pleased  with  it  and  the  family,  that  he 
determined  to  withdraw  his  nephew  from  the  public  school,  and 
place  him  there  as  pupil  and  boarder.  On  February  1st,  he 
wrote  to  Giannatasio: 


332  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

With  sincere  pleasure  I  inform  you  that  at  last  on  to-morrow  I  shall 
bring  to  you  the  precious  pledge  that  has  been  intrusted  to  me.  More- 
over I  beg  of  you  again  under  no  circumstances  to  permit  the  mother  to 
exercise  any  influence,  now  or  when  she  may  see  him,  all  this  I  will  talk 
over  with  you  to-morrow.  You  may  impress  this  also  on  your  servants, 
for  mine  in  another  matter  was  bribed  by  her!  More  by  word  of  mouth 
though  silence  would  be  preferable  to  me — but  for  the  sake  of  your 
future  citizen  of  the  world,  this  melancholy  communication  is  necessary. 

[In  Karl's  hand] :  I  am  very  glad  to  come  to  you,  and  am  your  Carl 
van  Beethoven. 

The  next  day,  February  2,  the  boy  was  taken  from  his  mother. 
The  intolerable  annoyance  caused  by  her  appearing  in  person 
or  sending  a  messenger  daily  to  take  him  from  the  school,  drew 
from  Giannatasio  on  the  11th  a  written  application  to  the  guar- 
dian for  "a  formal  authority  in  a  few  lines  for  refusing  without 
further  ado  to  permit  her  to  fetch  her  son."  In  his  reply,  Beet- 
hoven WTites:  "as  regards  the  mother  I  request  that  on  the  plea 
that  he  is  busy  you  do  not  admit  her  to  him  at  all."  He  then 
consulted  Joseph  Edler  von  Schmerling,  a  member  of  the  Land- 
recht,  upon  the  measures  proper  for  him  to  adopt,  and  communi- 
cated that  gentleman's  advice  to  Giannatasio  by  letter,  on  the 
morning  of  the  15th.  The  same  day,  taking  Bernard  with  him, 
he  went  to  the  school,  and  there  meeting  Giannatasio,  the  three 
prepared  a  formal  petition  to  the  Landrecht,  praying  that  tribunal 
to  grant  the  guardian  plenary  authority  to  exclude  the  widow  and 
her  agents  from  all  or  any  direct  communication  with  the  boy. 
This  was  signed  by  Beethoven  and  immediately  presented.  On 
the  20th,  the  Landrecht  granted,  essentially,  this  petition;  but  its 
decree  contained  this  proviso:  that  the  mother  might  still  visit  her 
son  "in  his  leisure  hours,  without  disturbing  the  course  of  his 
education  or  the  domestic  arrangements,  in  the  company  of  a  per- 
son to  be  appointed  by  the  guardian  or  the  director  of  the  edu- 
cational institution."  Armed  with  this  authority,  Giannatasio 
on  March  8th  informed  in  writing  "Madame  Jeannette  de  Beet- 
hoven, Vorstadt,  Alsergasse,  No.  121,"  that  she  has  in  future  "to 
apply  solely  to  the  uncle  as  to  whether,  how  and  when"  she  can  see 
her  son.  And  thus  this  wretched  business  again  for  the  present 
rested.  In  these  days  belongs  a  letter  by  Beethoven  to  Gianna- 
tasio: 

The  Queen  of  Night  surprised  us  yesterday  and  also  delivered  a 
veritable  anathema  against  you;  she  showed  her  usual  impertinence  and 
malice  against  me  and  set  me  back  for  a  moment  and  I  almost  believed 
that  what  she  said  was  right,  but  when  I  reached  home  later  I  received  the 
result  of  the  decision  of  the  L.  R.  which  turns  out  to  be  just  what  was 


The  London  Philharmonic  Buys  Overtures      333 

desired  and   I   communicate  the   most  necessary  point,   although  you 
will  probably  receive  a  copy  of  it  towards  evening.  ,  .  . 

Neate  was  now  gone  to  London.  On  his  departure  Beet- 
hoven wrote  in  his  album  two  canons  entitled  "Das  Schweigen" 
(Silence)  and  "Das  Reden"  (Speech),  adding  with  the  date,  "Jan- 
uary 24,  1816,"  the  words: 

My  dear  English  compatriot  in  silence  and  in  speech  remember  your 
sincere  friend 

Ludwig  van  Beethoven. 

The  document  concerning  the  sale  of  the  three  overtures  to 
the  Philharmonic  Society  which  Beethoven  promised  to  give 
Neate  (which  Moscheles  printed  in  his  paraphrase  of  Schindler's 
biography  in  translation,  as  if  it  had  been  written  in  English  and 
not  altogether  correctly)^  ran  as  follows: 

In  the  month  of  July,  1816  [sic]  Mr.  Neate  in  the  name  of  the  Phil- 
harmonic Society  in  London,  received  from  me  3  overtures  and  paid  me 
for  the  same  an  honorarium  of  15  guineas  in  consideration  of  which  I 
bind  myself  not  to  permit  them  to  be  published  in  parts^  anywhere, 
though  the  right  is  reserved  by  me  to  perform  them  wherever  I  please  as 
well  as  to  publish  them  in  pianoforte  arrangement  though  not  before  Mr. 
Neate  shall  have  written  to  me  that  they  have  been  performed  in  London. 
Moreover,  Mr.  Neate  has  assured  me  that  he  will  kindly  take  it  upon 
himself  (to  assure  me)  that  the  Philharmonic  Society  will  give  me  per- 
mission after  a  lapse  of  one  or  two  years  to  publish  the  3  overtures  in 
score  and  parts,  inasmuch  as  I  can  do  this  only  with  their  consent,  with 
which  I  present  my  compliments  to  the  P.  S. 

Vienna,  February  5,  1816.  Ludwig  van  Beethoven. 

The  three  overtures  had  already  been  sold  to  Steiner,  but 
were  not  published  till  six  years  later.  The  works  entrusted  to 
him,  as  remembered  by  Mr.  Neate  forty-five  years  afterwards, 
were:  1.  A  copy  of  the  Violin  Concerto,  Op.  61,  with  a  transcription 
of  the  solo  for  Pianoforte  on  the  same  pages,  which  Beethoven 
said  he  himself  had  arranged  and  was  effective;  2.  The  two  Sonatas 
for  Pianoforte  and  Violoncello,  Op.  102,  with  a  dedication  to 
Neate;  3.  The  Seventh  Symphony  in  score;  4.  "Fidelio"  in  score; 
and  5.  The  String  Quartet  in  F  minor,  Op.  95— all  in  manuscript. 
There  is  some  reason  to  think  that  besides  these  works  Neate  also 
took  a  copy  of  "Der  glorreiche  Augenblick."  On  January  20, 
Beethoven  wrote  the  following  letter  to  Ries  in  London:^ 

iThe  German  original  was  acquired  in  1913  at  a  sale  of  autographs  by  Mr.  Richard 
Aldrich. 

^Also  in  score. 

^Published  in  1909  bv  Leopold  Schmidt  in  his  "Beethoven  Briefe  an  N.  Simrock, 
etc." 


334  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

Vienna,  January  20,  1816. 
My  dear  Ries: 

I  see  from  your  letter  of  January  18,  that  you  have  safely  received 
the  two  things — as  no  couriers  are  going,  the  post  is  safest,  but  it  costs 
a  great  deal,  I  will  send  you  the  bill  for  what  I  have  paid  here  for  copy- 
ing and  postage  soon,  it  is  very  little  for  an  Englishman  but  all  the  more 
for  a  poor  Austrian  musician! 

See  that  Mr.  B. '  recompenses  me  for  this,  since  he  has  the  compo- 
sitions for  England  very  cheaply.  Neate,  who  has  been  about  to  go 
every  moment,  but  always  remains,  will  bring  the  overtures  with  him, 
I  have  always  communicated  to  him  the  injunctions  touching  them  given 
by  you  and  our  deceased  S.^ — the  symphony  will  be  dedicated  to  the 
Empress  of  Russia.  The  pianoforte  arrangement  of  the  Symphony  in  A 
must  not  be  published  before  the  month  of  June,  the  publisher  cannot 
be  earlier — tell  this  at  once  to  B.  my  dear  good  R. 

The  Sonata  with  violin,  which  will  go  from  here  by  the  next  post, 
may  also  be  published  in  London  in  the  month  of  May — but  the  Trio 
later.  (It  will  also  arrive  by  the  next  post)  I  will  fix  the  date  myself 
later. 

And  now  my  heartiest  thanks  dear  Ries,  for  all  the  kindness  you 
have  shown  to  me  and  particularly  for  the  corrections.  Heaven  bless 
you  and  make  your  progress  ever  greater  in  which  I  take  a  cordial  in- 
terest— commend  me  to  your  wife. 

It  is  necessary  here  to  state  certain  facts,  both  to  explain  the 
failure  of  Mr.  Neate  to  sell  any  of  these  works  to  the  London 
publishers,  and  to  render  some  of  the  letters  to  come  intelligible. 

The  Philharmonic  Society  was  an  association  of  the  first 
musicians  of  London  and  its  vicinity,  and  no  city  on  earth  could  at 
that  time  present  such  an  array  of  great  names.  Here  are  a  few 
of  them  taken  alphabetically  from  its  roll:  Atwood,  Ayrton, 
Bridgetower,  Clementi,  Cramer,  Carnaby,  Dragonetti,  Horsley, 
Lindley,  Mazzinghi,  Mori,  Naldi,  Novello,  Ries,  Shield,  Smart, 
Spagnoletti,  Viotti,  Watts,  S.  Webbe,  Yanewicz.  Imagine  the 
disappointment  of  these  men,  fresh  from  the  performance  of  the 
C  minor  Symphony,  when  they  played  through  the  overtures  to 
"The  Ruins  of  Athens"  and  "King  Stephen,"  which,  however 
interesting  to  a  Hungarian  audience  as  introductions  to  a  patriotic 
prologue  and  epilogue  in  the  theatre,  possess  none  of  those 
great  qualities  expected  from  Beethoven  and  demanded  in  a  con- 
cert overture!  Nor  was  the  "Namensfeier"  thought  worthy  of  its 
author.     Ries  speaks  thus  of  this  matter: 

After  I  had  with  much  trouble  persuaded  the  Philharmonic  Society 
to  permit  me  to  order  three  overtures  from  him,  which  should  remain  its 
property,  he  sent  me  three,  not  one  of  which,  in  view  of  Beethoven's  great 
name  and  the  character  of  these  concerts,  could  be  performed,  because 

'Birchall.     '^Salomon. 


The  Philharmonic  Society  Disappointed         335 

expectation  was  tense  and  more  than  the  ordinary  was  asked  of  Beet- 
hoven. A  few  years  later  he  published  all  three  and  the  Society  did  not 
think  it  worth  while  to  complain.  Amongst  them  was  the  overture  to 
"The  Ruins  of  Athens,"  which  I  consider  unworthy  of  him. 

But  when  it  became  known  that  neither  of  the  three — Op.  115 
possibly  excepted — was  new,  and  that  not  one  of  them  had  been 
composed  to  meet  the  Society's  order,  is  it  surprising  that  this 
act  of  Beethoven's  was  deemed  unworthy  of  him,  disrespectful,  nay, 
an  insult  to  the  Society,  and  resented  accordingly? 

Another  matter  was  personal  with  Mr.  Birchall.  That  pub- 
lisher, having  at  last  (early  in  February)  received  the  last  of  the 
works  purchased  by  him,  immediately  deposited  with  Coutts  and 
Co.  the  sum  agreed  upon,  to  the  composer's  credit,  and  for\varded 
the  following  "Declaration"  to  Vienna  for  signature,  leaving  the 
day  of  the  month  blank — as  it  still  remains — to  be  inserted  when 
signed : 

Received  ....  March,  1816,  of  Mr.  Robert  Birchall — Music  Seller, 
133  New  Bond  Street,  London — the  sum  of  One  Hundred  and  thirty 
Gold  Dutch  Ducats,  value  in  English  Currency  Sixty-five  Pounds,  for 
all  my  Copyright  and  Interest,  present  and  future,  vested  or  contingent, 
or  otherwise  within  the  United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland 
in  the  four  following  Compositions  or  Pieces  of  Music  composed  or 
arranged  by  me,  viz. : 

1st.  A  Grand  Battle  Sinfonia,  descriptive  of  the  Battle  and  Victory 
at  Vittoria,  adapted  for  the  Pianoforte  and  dedicated  to  his  Royal 
Highness,  the  Prince  Regent — 40  Ducats. 

2nd.  A  Grand  Symphony  in  the  Key  of  A,  adapted  to  the  Piano- 
forte and  dedicated  to 

3rd.  A  Grand  Trio  for  the  Pianoforte,  Violon  and  Violoncello  in  the 
Key  of  B. 

4th.  A  Sonata  for  the  Pianoforte  with  an  Accompaniment  for  the 
Violin  in  the  Key  of  G,  dedicated  to 

And,  in  consideration  of  such  payment  I  hereby  for  myself,  my 
Executors  and  Administrators  promise  and  engage  to  execute  a  proper 
Assignment  thereof  to  him,  his  Executors  and  Administrators  or  As- 
signees at  his  or  their  Request  and  Costs,  as  he  or  they  shall  direct. 
And  I  likewise  promise  and  engage  as  above,  that  none  of  the  above 
shall  be  published  in  any  foreign  Country,  before  the  time  and  day 
fixed  and  agreed  on  for  such  Publication  between  R.  Birchall  and  myself 
shall  arrive. 

Instead  of  this  document,  so  indispensable  for  his  security, 
the  publisher  received  a  new  demand  from  Beethoven! — one  for 
five  pounds  additional,  as  per  memorandum: 

Copying.  .  ; 1-10.0 

Postage  to  Amsterdam l.  0.t» 

Trio 2100 

£5.0.0 


336  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

The  very  unfavorable  impression  which  this  proceeding  made 
upon  the  mind  of  Mr.  Birchall  may  readily  be  conceived.  These 
£5  are  the  10  ducats  mentioned  in  the  following  letter,  portions 
of  which  were  suppressed  when  printed  by  Ries: 

Vienna,  May  8,  1816. 
My  answer  comes  somewhat  tardily;  but  I  was  ill,  had  much  to 
do  and  it  was  impossible  for  me  to  answer  you  sooner;  now  only  the 
most  necessary  things — not  a  Heller  of  the  10  ducats  in  gold  has  as  yet 
arrived,  and  I  am  already  beginning  to  believe,  that  the  Englishmen,  too, 
are  only  magnanimous  in  foreign  lands;  so  also  with  the  Prince  Regent 
from  whom  I  have  not  even  received  the  copyist's  fees  for  my  Battle  sent 
to  him,  not  even  written  or  oral  thanks  ;i  Fries  here  deducted  6  fl.  Con- 
vention money.     On  the  receipt  of  the  money  from  Birchall,  besides 
15  fl.  Convention  money  for  postage,  tell  B,  this — and  see  that  you 
yourself  get  the  draft  for  the  10  ducats,  otherwise  it  will  go  like  the  first 
time — what  you  tell  me  about  Neate's  undertaking  would  he  desirable 
jor  me.     I  need  it,  my  salary  amounts  to  3400  florins  in  paper,  I  pay 
1100  house-rent,  my  servant  and  his  wife  nearly  900  fl.     Calculate  what 
remains.     Moreover,  I  have  got  to  care  wholly  for  my  little  nephew. 
He  is  till  now  still  in  the  Institute;  this  costs  me  close  to  1100  fl.  and  is 
poor  besides,  so  that  I  must  establish  myself  in  decent  housekeeping  so 
that  I  can  have  him  with  me.     How  much  one  must  earn  in  order  to 
live  here;  and  yet  there  is  never  an  end  for — for — for — you  know  it 
already.     As  to  the  dedications  another  time.     A  few  orders  besides  the 
concert  would  also  be  welcome  from  the  Philharmonic  Society — besides 
my  dear  pupil  Ries  ought  to  sit  down  and  dedicate  something  good  to 
me  to  which  the  master  would  also  respond  and  repay  kind  with  kind. 
How  shall  I  send  you  my  portrait!     I  hope  too,  to  have  news  from  Neate, 
rlirge  him  on  a  bit,  be  assured  of  my  sincere  interest  in  your  futures. 
1  Urge  Neate  on  to  ivork  and  composition.     All  things  lovely  to  your 
1  wife.     Unfortunately  I  have  none.     I  found  only  one,  whom  I  shall 
I  doubtless  never  possess;  but  am  not  a  woman  hater  on  that  account. 

Your  true  friend, 

Beethoven. 

Immediately  upon  the  receipt  of  this  letter,  Ries  spoke  with 
Mr.  Birchall,  who  next  day  (March  15),  deposited  the  £5  with 
Coutts  and  Co. ;  but  month  after  month  passed  and  still  the  "Declar- 
ation" with  Beethoven's  signature  did  not  arrive.  Of  the  justice, 
propriety,  delicacy  of  this  new  demand,  nothing  need  be  said;  its 
historical  importance  is  due  entirely  to  the  very  unfavorable  effect 
which  it  and  the  correspondence  relating  to  it  produced  upon  the 
minds  of  the  London  publishers.  Mr.  Neate  was  in  some  degree 
prepared  for  the  coldness  with  which  those  gentlemen  received  his 
proposals  in  Beethoven's  behalf,  by  a  letter  written  to  him  after 

"The  Prince  Regent  had  never  ordered  this  work  nor  had  his  permission  to  present 
and  dedicate  it  to  him  been  asked  before  sending  it.  Beethoven  resented  the  fact  that 
he  had  not  been  recompensed  until  the  day  of  his  death. 


Ungrounded  Suspicion  of  Neate  337 

the  trial  of  the  overtures.  One  sentence  in  it  he  remembered  word 
for  word:  "For  God's  sake,  don't  buy  anything  of  Beethoven!" 
But  he  was  not  prepared  for  the  utter  refusal  in  all  quarters  to 
listen  to  him.  He  besought  Mr.  Birchall  to  purchase  the  overtures. 
The  reply  was:  "I  would  not  print  them,  if  you  would  give  me  them 
gratis." 

As  to  the  score  of  the  Symphony  in  A  (the  Seventh),  it  was  folly 
to  expect  that  the  Philharmonic  Society  would  pay  a  large  sum  for 
the  manuscript  of  a  work  already  (March  6)  advertised  in  Vienna 
for  subscription  at  the  price  of  twenty -five  florins. 

It  is  another  instance  of  Beethoven's  unlucky  tendency  to 
suspect  the  conduct  and  motives  of  others,  that  seeing  in  a  news- 
paper a  notice  of  the  production  of  one  of  his  Symphonies  by  the 
Philharmonic  Society,  he  at  once  assumed  that  it  was  the  Seventh 
and  that  Neate  had  given  the  use  of  his  manuscript ! 

Under  such  circumstances  Neate  could  do  nothing  for  Beet- 
hoven; nor  could  he  well  disclose  the  true  causes  of  his  failure;  so 
the  composer  characteristically  assumed  that  he  loould  do  nothing, 
and,  as  will  be  seen,  gave  vent  to  his  wrath  in  terms  equally  bitter 
and  unjust.  The  letters  selected  pertaining  to  these  transactions 
are  reserved  for  their  places  in  chronological  order. 

Linke's  departure  with  the  Erdodys  to  Croatia  was  noted  in 
the  last  chapter;  he  returned  to  Vienna  in  the  Autumn  in  season  to 
enable  Schuppanzigh  to  begin  his  winter  season  of  quartets  in 
November.  They  were  given  in  the  hall  of  the  hotel  "Zum 
Romischen  Kaiser,"  and  had  now  ended.  So,  too,  had  ended  the 
engagement  of  Schuppanzigh,  Weiss  and  Linke  with  Rasoumow- 
sky.  The  destruction  of  his  palace,  the  approach  of  old  age,  and 
failing  sight,  induced  him  now  to  dismiss  them  with  suitable 
pensions  from  his  service.  Schuppanzigh  went  to  Russia;  Linke 
returned  to  the  Erdodys  and  Weiss  remained  in  Vienna.  Before 
their  departure  the  first  two  gave  each  a  farewell  concert.  Schup- 
panzigh's  took  place  in  the  palace  of  Count  Deym,  the  programme 
being  made  up  entirely  of  Beethoven's  works,  viz:  Quartet  C  major, 
Op.  59;  Quintet  for  Wind-instruments  and  Pianoforte,  Op.  16, 
Carl  Czerny,  pianist;  and  the  Septet,  Op.  20.  Beethoven  "entered 
at  the  beginning  of  the  quartet"  and  shared  in  the  deafening 
applause  of  the  crowded  audience.  Czerny  relates:  "When  I 
played  the  Quintet  with  Wind-instruments  at  Schuppanzigh's 
concert,  I  allowed  myself  in  my  youthful  frivolity,  many  changes- 
increasing  the  diflSculty  of  passages,  using  the  higher  octaves,  etc. 
Beethoven  very  properly  and  severely  upbraided  me  for  it  in  the 
presence  of  Schuppanzigh,  Linke  and  the  other  players.    The  next 


338  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

day  I  received  from  him  the  following  letter,  which  I  copy  exactly 
from  the  original  lying  before  me": 

I  cannot  see  you  to-day,  to-morrow  I  will  come  to  you  in  person  to 
talk  with  you.  I  burst  out  so  yesterday,  I  was  very  sorry  after  it  had 
happened,  but  you  must  pardon  it  in  an  author  who  would  have  preferred 
to  hear  his  work  just  as  he  wrote  it,  beautifully  as  you  played  otherwise. 
I  will  make  it  good  publicly  to-morrow  at  the  Violoncello  Sonata. 

Be  assured  that  as  an  artist  I  cherish  the  best  of  good  feeling  for 
you  and  shall  always  strive  to  manifest  it. 

Linke's  concert  took  place  on  the  18th  of  February  in  the 
hall  of  the  "Romischer  Kaiser,"  the  programme,  except  a  Ron- 
doletto  for  the  Violoncello  by  Romberg,  being  also  entirely 
Beethoven.  Stainer  von  Felsburg  played  the  new  Sonata,  Op. 
101,  and  Czerny  the  pianoforte  part  of  one  of  the  Sonatas,  Op.  102, 
on  which  occasion  the  composer  "made  it  good  publicly."  And 
so,  except  for  an  occasional  visit  to  Vienna  by  Linke,  two  more 
of  our  old  acquaintances  disappear  for  several  years;  also  Hummel 
and  ^Yild.  Hummel  we  shall  meet  again  beside  Beethoven's 
death-bed;  Wild  no  more.  An  album-leaf  containing  a  canon, 
"Ars  longa,  vita  brevis  est"  and  "A  happy  journey,  my  dear  Hum- 
mel, think  occasionally  of  your  friend,  Ludwig  van  Beethoven, 
Vienna,  April  4,  1816,"  was  the  farewell  to  the  pianist  and  compo- 
ser. On  the  20th,  Wild  gave  a  little  musical  festival  "in  the  home 
of  an  art-lover,"  at  which  he  sang  the  "Adelaide"  and  "An  die 
Hoffnung,"  Op.  94.  Beethoven  was  present  and  played  the 
accompaniments.  And  this  was  his  farewell  to  the  singer.  On 
April  3d,  Beethoven  wrote  the  following  letter  to  Ries: 

My  dear  Ries: 

Hr.  B.  has  probably  received  the  Trio  and  Sonata  by  this  time, 
in  the  last  letter  I  asked  10  ducats  more  for  copying  and  postage, 
probably  you  will  work  out  these  10  ducats  for  me — I  always  have 
some  worriment  lest  you  are  spending  a  great  deal  for  me  for  postage,  I 
greatly  wish  that  you  would  be  so  kind  to  charge  up  to  me  all  my 
letters  to  you  as  I  want  to  have  you  reimbursed  from  here  by  the  house  of 
Fries  to  the  house  of  Coutts  in  London.  Unless  the  publisher  B.  objects, 
in  which  case  he  must  send  me  notice  immediately  by  post,  the  Sonata 
with  violin  will  appear  here  on  June  15th,  the  Trio  on  July  15th,  con- 
cerning the  pianoforte  arrangement  of  the  Symphony,  I  will  inform  Herr 
B.  when  it  is  to  come  out.  Neate  must  now  be  in  London;  I  gave  him 
to  carry  with  him  a  number  of  my  compositions;  and  he  promised  to 
put  them  to  the  best  use  for  me,  greet  him  for  me.  Archduke  Rudolph 
also  plays  your  works  with  me,  my  dear  Ries,  of  which  II  sogno  pleases 
me  particularly.  Farewell,  my  dear  R.,  commend  me  to  your  dear 
wife  as  well  as  all  the  pretty  English  women  to  whom  it  might  give 
pleasure. 


Appeals  to  Charles  Neate  339 

On  May  15,  a  letter  of  condolence  to  Countess  Erdody  was 
called  out  by  the  sudden  death  of  her  son  Fritzi.  At  the  country- 
seat  in  Croatia,  the  lad  burst  one  morning  into  his  sister's  room  and, 
complaining  of  his  head,  with  a  cry  of  anguish  sank  dead  at  her  feet. 
Beethoven  labors  sadly  in  his  effort  to  find  words  of  comfort  for  the 
stricken  mother:  "Reflect  that  your  son  might  have  been  forced  to 
go  into  battle  and  might  then,  like  millions  of  others,  have  met  his 
death,  besides  you  are  still  the  mother  of  two  dear,  hopeful  chil- 
dren." On  the  same  day  he  wrote  a  French  letter  to  Neate  which, 
because  of  its  characteristic  style  and  unconventional  spelling, 
Moscheles  reproduced  literally.     A  paragraph  will  suffice  us  here: 

Avanthier  on  me  portait  un  extrait  d'une  Gazette  anglaise  nomraee 
Morning  cronigle,  ou  je  lisoit  avec  grand  plasir,  que  la  societe  philhar- 
monique  a  donne  ma  sinfonie  in  A#;  c'est  une  grande  satisfaction  pour 
moi,  mais  je  souhais  bien  d'avoir  de  vous  meme  des  nouvelles,  que  vous 
ferez  avec  tous  les  compositions,  que  j'ai  vous  donnes;  vous  m'avez 
promis  ici,  de  donner  un  concert  pour  moi,  mais  ne  prenez  mal,  si  je  me 
mefis  un  peu,  quand  je  pense  que  le  Prince  regent  d'angleterre  ne  me 
dignoit  pas  ni  d'une  reponse  ni  d'une  autre  reconnaissance  pour  la  Bataile 
que  j'ai  envoye  a  son  Altesse,  et  lequelle  on  a  donnee  si  sou  vent  a  Londre, 
et  seulement  les  gazettes  annoncoient  le  reussir  de  cet  oeuvre  et  rien 
d'autre  chose.  .  .  . 

The  following  letter  of  a  few  days  later  was  written  in  English, 
probably  by  Haring,  and  only  signed  by  Beethoven: 

Vienna,  May  18,  1816. 

My  dear  Neate: 

By  a  letter  of  Mr.  Ries,  I  am  acquainted  with  your  happy  arrival 
at  London.  I  am  very  well  pleased  with  it,  and  still  better  I  should  be 
pleased  if  I  had  learned  it  by  yourself. 

Concerning  our  business,  I  know  well  enough  that  for  the  perform- 
ance of  the  greater  works,  as  the  Symphony,  the  Cantata,  the  Chorus, 
and  the  Opera,  you  want  the  help  of  the  Philharmonic  Society,  and  I 
hope  your  endeavour  to  my  advantage  will  be  successful. 

Mr.  Ries  gave  me  notice  of  your  intention  to  give  a  concert  to  my 
benefit.  For  this  triumph  of  my  art  at  London  I  would  be  indebted  to 
you  alone;  but  an  influence  still  wholesomer  on  my  almost  indigent  life, 
would  be  to  have  the  profit  proceeding  from  this  enterprise.  You  know, 
that  in  some  regard  I  am  now  father  to  the  lovely  lad  you  saw  with  me; 
hardly  I  can  live  alone  three  months  upon  my  annual  salary  of  3-tOO 
florins  in  paper,  and  now  the  additional  burden  of  maintaining  a  poor 
orphan— you  conceive  how  welcome  lawful  means  to  improve  my  cir- 
cumstances must  be  to  me.  As  for  the  Quartet  in  F  minor,  you  may  sell 
it  without  delay  to  a  publisher,  and  signify  me  the  day  of  its  publication, 
as  I  should  wish  it  to  appear  here  and  abroad  on  the  very  day.  Ihe 
same  you  be  pleased  to  do  with  the  two  Sonatas,  Op.  102,  for  pianoforte 
and  violoncello;  yet  with  the  latter  it  needs  no  haste. 


340  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

I  leave  entirely  to  your  judgment  to  fix  the  terms  for  both  works, 
to  wit,  the  Quatuor  and  the  Sonatas,  the  more  the  better.  Be  so  kind 
to  write  me  immediately  for  two  reasons;  1st,  that  I  may  not  be  obliged 
to  shrink  up  my  shoulders  when  they  ask  me  if  I  got  letters  from  you;  and 
2dly,  that  I  may  know  how  you  do,  and  if  I  am  in  favour  with  you. 
Answer  me  in  English  if  you  have  to  give  me  happy  news  (for  example, 
those  of  giving  a  concert  to  my  benefit),  in  French  if  they  are  bad  ones. 

Perhaps  you  find  some  lover  of  music  to  whom  the  Trio  and  the 
Sonata  with  violin,  Mr.  Ries  had  sold  to  Mr.  Birchall,  or  the  Symphony 
arranged  for  the  Pianoforte,  might  be  dedicated,  and  from  whom  there 
might  be  expected  a  present.  In  expectation  of  your  speedy  answer,  my 
dear  friend  and  countryman,  I  am,  yours  truly, 

Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

Weccan  follow  the  progress  of  the  business  in  connection  with 
the  compositions  to  be  published  in  London  in  the  following  letter 
to  Ries: 

Vienna,  June  11,  1816. 
My  dear  R. ! 

I  am  sorry  that  because  of  me,  you  are  again  compelled  to  pay  out 
some  postage  money,  willing  as  I  am  to  help  and  serve  others  it  gives  me 
equal  pain  to  burden  others  with  my  affairs.  Of  the  10  ducats  nothing 
has  appeared  up-to-date  and  the  conclusion  to  be  formed  from  this  is  that 
in  England  as  here  there  are  wind-bags  and  people  who  do  not  keep  their 
word.  I  charge  nothing  against  you  in  this.  Nevertheless  I  must  beg 
of  you  to  go  to  Mr.  Birchall  again  in  the  matter  of  the  10  ducats,  and  to 
collect  them  yourself,  I  assure  you  on  my  honor  that  I  paid  the  21  fl.  in 
Convention  coin  for  expenses  outside  the  copyist's  fee  and  several  post- 
ages in  bank-notes.  The  money  was  not  even  paid  in  ducats,  though 
you  yourself  wrote  me  that  it  would  be  paid  in  Dutch  ducats — therefore 
there  are  also  in  England  such  conscientious  persons  to  whom  keeping 
their  word  is  nothing  ?  !  !  The  publisher  here  has  applied  to  me  to  have 
the  Trio  published  in  London  on  the  last  of  August,  for  which  reason  I  beg 
of  you  kindly  to  speak  with  Mr.  B.  Mr.  B.  can  get  himself  in  readiness 
concerning  the  pianoforte  arrangement  of  the  Symphony  in  A,  since  as 
soon  as  the  publisher  here  tells  me  the  day  I  shall  immediately  let  you 
or  B.  know. 

As  I  have  not  heard  a  syllable  from  Neate  since  his  arrival  in  Lon- 
don, I  beg  you  to  tell  him  to  give  you  an  answer  whether  he  has  sold  the 
Quartet  in  F  minor  as  I  want  to  publish  it  here  simultaneously,  and  what 
I  may  expect  in  reference  to  the  Violoncello  Sonatas?  Of  all  the  other 
works  which  I  sent  by  him  I  am  almost  ashamed  to  speak,  even  to  myself 
for  having  again  been  so  trustful  to  give  them  to  him  wholly  without 
conditions  trusting  that  his  friendship  and  care  for  my  interests  would 
find  a  way.  I  was  given  to  read  a  translation  of  a  report  in  the  Morning 
Chronicle  about  the  performance  of  a  Symphony  (probably  in  A).  The 
same  thing  will  probably  happen  to  this  as  well  as  all  the  other  works 
which  I  gave  to  N.  as  happened  to  the  Battle,  I  shall  probably  get  noth- 
ing for  them  as  I  got  nothing  for  that  work  except  to  read  about  the  per- 
formances in  the  newspapers.  The  pianoforte  arrangement  of  the 
Symphony  in  A  was  hastily  copied  and  after  looking  through  it  carefully 


Mother  Banned  During  Surgical  Treatment    341 

I  have  had  the  transcriber  change  a  few  passages  which  I  will  communi- 
cate to  you.     All  things  lovely  to  your  wife. 
In  haste,  your  true  friend, 

Beethoven. 

N.  B.  Have  you  dedicated  your  Concerto  in  E-flat  to  Archduke 
Rudolph.?    Why  did  you  not  write  to  him  yourself  about  it? 

Touching  the  unhappy  negotiations  with  Birchall  and  the 
"declaration,"  Beethoven  finally  wrote,  in  French,  the  following 
letter : 

(To  Mr.  Birchall) 

Vienna,  July  22,  1816. 
Monsieur: 

I  received  the  declaration  for  my  signature  concerning  the  works 
which  I  ceded  to  you.  I  am  perfectly  willing  to  meet  your  wishes  as 
soon  as  the  trifling  affair  of  the  10  ducats  due  me  for  the  expense  of 
copying,  postage,  etc.,  is  adjusted,  as  I  have  had  the  honor  to  explain  to 
you  in  detail. 

I  beg  of  you.  Monsieur,  kindly  to  remit  the  small  sum  so  as  to  enable 
me  to  send  you  the  before-mentioned  document.  Please  accept  the 
assurance  of  my  greatest  esteem,  etc. 

Beethoven  had  now  made  up  his  mind  to  take  his  nephew  from 
Giannatasio's  care  and  make  a  home  for  him  with  himself.  The 
removal  was  to  be  made  at  the  end  of  the  approaching  quarter 
and  meanwhile  Karl  was  to  remain  where  he  was  so  that  he  might 
have  proper  care  during  his  recovery  from  the  effects  of  an  opera- 
tion for  hernia.  Beethoven  notified  his  purpose  to  Giannatasio 
on  July  28,  1816,  and  admonished  his  friend  that  in  the  interim 
the  old  strictness  was  to  be  observed  touching  the  mother's  visits. 
The  following  passage  is  from  the  letter: 

As  regards  the  Queen  of  Night,  matters  will  remain  as  they  have 
been,  and  even  if  the  operation  should  be  performed  at  your  place,  as  he 
will  be  ill  for  a  few  days  and  consequently  more  susceptible  and  irritable, 
she  is  all  the  less  to  be  admitted  to  him  since  all  impressions  might  easily 
be  renewed  in  K.  which  we  cannot  permit.  How  little  we  can  hope  for 
amendment  in  her  case  is  shown  by  the  enclosed  insipid  scrawl  which  I 
send  you  only  that  you  may  see  how  how  right  I  am  in  pursuing  the  plan 
adopted;  but  this  time  I  did  not  answer  her  like  a  Sarastro  but  like  a 
sultan. 

The  surgical  operation  on  the  boy  was  performed  by  Dr. 
Smetana  and  under  the  affectionate  care  which  he  received  at  the 
hands  of  the  Giannatasios  he  quickly  recovered  and  visited  his 
uncle  at  Baden,  going  thither  with  the  Giannatasios.  Fraulein 
Fanny  tells  the  story  of  the  visit  simply  and  gracefully: 


342  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

While  his  nephew  was  still  with  us  [she  writes],  Beethoven  once 
invited  us  to  visit  him  at  Baden  where  he  was  spending  the  summer 
months,  my  father  and  we  two  daughters  with  Karl.  Although  our  host 
had  been  informed  of  our  coming  we  soon  noticed  that  no  arrangement 
had  been  made  for  our  entertainment.  B.  went  with  us  in  the  evening 
to  a  tavern  where  we  were  surprised  to  note  that  he  dickered  with  the 
waiter  about  every  roll,  but  this  was  because  owing  to  his  bad  hearing  he 
had  frequently  been  cheated  by  serving-people;  for  even  then  one  had  to 
be  very  close  to  his  ear  to  make  him  understand  and  I  recall  that  I  was 
often  greatly  embarrassed  when  I  had  to  pierce  through  the  grayish  hairs 
which  concealed  his  ear;  he  himself  often  said:  "I  must  have  my  hair  cut!" 
Looking  at  him  cursorily  one  thought  that  his  hair  was  coarse  and  bristly, 
but  it  was  very  fine  and  when  he  put  his  hand  through  it,  it  remained 
standing  in  all  directions  which  often  looked  comical.  (Once  when  he 
came  we  noticed  a  hole  in  the  elbow  when  he  was  taking  his  overcoat  off; 
he  must  have  remembered  it  for  he  wanted  to  put  it  on  again,  but  said, 
laughing,  taking  it  completely  off:  "You've  already  seen  it!") 

When  we  came  to  his  lodgings  in  the  afternoon  a  walk  was  pro- 
posed; but  our  host  would  not  go  along,  excusing  himself  saying  he  had  a 
great  deal  to  do;  but  he  promised  to  follow  and  join  us,  and  did  so. 
But  when  we  came  back  in  the  evening  there  was  not  a  sign  of  enter- 
tainment to  be  seen.  B.  muttered  excuses  and  accusations  against  the 
persons  who  had  been  charged  with  the  arrangements  and  helped  us  to 
settle  ourselves;  O  how  interesting  it  was!  to  move  a  light  sofa  with  his 
help.  A  rather  large  room  in  which  his  pianoforte  stood,  was  cleaned  for 
us  girls  to  use  as  a  bedroom.  But  sleep  remained  long  absent  from  us  in 
this  musical  sanctuary.  Yes,  and  I  must  confess  to  my  shame  that  our 
curiosity  and  desire  to  know  things  led  us  to  examine  a  large  round  table 
which  stood  in  the  room.  A  note-book  in  particular  received  out  atten- 
tion. But  there  was  such  a  confusion  of  domestic  matters,  and  much  of 
it  which  to  us  was  illegible  that  we  were  amazed;  but,  behold,  one  passage 
I  still  remember — there  it  stood:  "My  heart  runs  over  at  the  sight  of 
lovely  nature — although  she  is  not  here!" — that  gave  us  a  great  deal  to 
think  about.  In  the  morning  a  very  prosaic  noise  roused  us  out  of  our 
poetical  mood!  B.  also  appeared  soon  with  a  scratched  face,  and  com- 
plained that  he  had  had  a  quarrel  with  his  servant  who  was  going  away, 
"Look,"  he  said,  "how  he  has  maltreated  me!"  He  complained  also  that 
these  persons,  although  they  knew  that  he  could  not  hear,  did  nothing 
to  make  themselves  understood.  We  then  took  a  walk  through  the 
beautiful  Helenenthal,  we  girls  ahead,  then  B.  and  our  father.  What 
follows  we  were  able  to  overhear  with  strained  ears : 

My  father  thought  that  B.  could  rescue  himself  from  his  unfor- 
tunate domestic  conditions  only  by  marriage,  did  he  know  anybody,  etc. 
Now  our  long  foreboding  was  confirmed:  "he  was  unhappy  in  love!  Five 
years  ago  he  had  made  the  acquaintance  of  a  person,  a  union  with  whom 
he  would  have  considered  the  greatest  happiness  of  his  life.  It  was  not 
to  be  thought  of,  almost  an  impossibility,  a  chimera — nevertheless  it  is 
now  as  on  the  first  day."  This  harmony,  he  added,  he  had  not  yet 
discovered!  It  had  never  reached  a  confession,  but  he  could  not  get  it 
out  of  his  mind!  Then  there  followed  a  moment  which  made  good  for 
many  misunderstandings  and  grievous  conduct  on  his  part;  for  he  acknowl- 


"An  die  ferne  Geliebte"  343 

edged  my  father's  friendly  offer  to  help  him  as  much  as  possible  in  his 
domestic  troubles,  and  I  believe  he  was  convinced  of  his  friendship  for 
him.  He  spoke  again  of  his  unfortunate  loss  of  hearing,  of  the  wretched 
physical  existence  which  he  had  endured  for  a  long  time.  He  (B.)  was 
so  happy  at  the  noonday  meal  (in  the  open  air  in  Helena)  his  muse 
hovered  around  him!  He  frequently  turned  aside  and  wrote  a  few 
measures  with  the  remark:  "My  promenade  with  you  cost  me  some  notes 
but  brought  in  others."     All  this  happened  in  September  of  the  year  1816. 

Beethoven's  project  now  was,  upon  returning  to  the  city 
to  abandon  his  tavern  life  and  so  to  arrange  his  domestic  affairs  as 
to  have  his  nephew  live  with  him  and  attend  school  or  study  with 
private  tutors — perhaps  both.  As  usual  Zmeskall  was  charged 
with  looking  after  servants,  discovering  their  qualifications,  etc. 
After  Karl  should  come  there  w^ould  be  need  of  a  housekeeper, 
but  meanwhile  Beethoven  suggested  to  Zmeskall  that  he  find  for 
him  a  servant  who  should  be  good,  of  decent  deportment,  well 
recommended,  married  "and  not  murderous  so  that  my  life  may 
be  safe  inasmuch  as  for  the  sake  of  several  rapscallions  I  want 
to  live  a  little  longer  in  this  world."  He  returned  to  Vienna  by 
September  27  at  the  latest. 

That  brilliant  youth  Alois  Jeitteles  of  Brlinn,  now  a  student 
of  medicine  at  Vienna,  wrote  when  hardly  twenty-one  years  of  age 
the  beautiful  series  of  songs  "An  die  ferne  Geliebte,"  so  exquisitely 
set  to  music  by  Beethoven.  ScKindler  states,  that  the  composer 
thanked  the  young  poet  for  the  happy  inspiration;  but  whether  he 
had  found  them  in  a  handbook,  wTiich  is  probable,  or  received 
them  in  manuscript,  does  not  appear.  But  no  one  can  hear  them 
adequately  sung  without  feeling  that  there  is  something  more  in 
that  music  than  the  mere  inspiration  of  the  poetry.  It  was  com- 
pleted not  many  weeks  before,  in  his  letter  to  Ries  (May  8),  he\vrote: 
*'I  found  only  one  whom  I  shall  doubtless  never  possess";  and 
buTsix  months  before  the  above  conversation  with  Giannatasio. 
Just  five  years  had  now  elapsed  since  he  became  acquainted  with 
Amalie  von  Sebald:  was  she  not  the  real  inspiration  of  "An  die 
teme  Geliebte^^'' ^ 

Peter  Joseph  Simrock  of  Bonn,  then  24  years  of  age,  was  now 
in  Vienna.  He  was  often  with  Beethoven,  in  Baden,  in  his 
lodging  in  the  Sailerstatte  and  in  the  inn  "Zur  goldenen  Birn," 
where  he  often  dined  after  the  removal  of  Giannatasio  to  that 
quarter.     Mr.  Simrock  also  told  the  writer  that  he  had  no  diffi- 

iDr.  Riemann,  holding  to  his  theory  that  the  love-letter  to  the  "Immortal  Beloved" 
was  written  on  July  6,  1812,  changes  Thayer's  concluding  words  to  make  thena  read: 
"That  this  cycle,  which  advances  Beethoven  so  greatly  as  a  song  composer,  was  directed 
to  the  addressee  of  the  love-letter  of  July  6,  1812,  can  be  accepted  as  certain." 


344  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

culty  in  making  Beethoven  understand  him  if  he  spoke  into  his 
left  ear;  but  anything  private  or  confidential  must  be  communi- 
cated in  writing.  On  one  occasion  the  composer  handed  him 
paper  and  pencil,  remarking  that  his  servant  was  an  eaves- 
dropper, etc.  A  few  days  afterwards  when  Simrock  called  again, 
*'Now,"  said  Beethoven,  "we  can  talk,  for  I  have  given  my  servant 
5  florins,  a  kick  in  the  rear  and  sent  him  to  the  devil." 

Everywhere  in  public,  said  Simrock,  Beethoven  railed  at 
Emperor  Franz  because  of  the  reduction  of  the  paper  money. 
*'Such  a  rascal  ought  to  be  hanged  to  the  first  tree,"  said  he.  But 
he  was  known  and  the  police  oflScials  let  him  do  what  he  pleased. 
He  ate  a  great  deal  at  the  tavern  because  he  ordered  haphazard 
and  sent  away  what  was  not  to  his  taste. 

Another  of  Beethoven's  visitors  just  now  was  Alexander  Kyd. 
This  gentleman,  since  July  25,  1810,  a  Major-General  in  the  East 
India  Company's  Engineer  Corps,  paid  the  usual  tribute  to  the 
climate,  and,  broken  down  in  health,  came  to  Vienna  to  put  him- 
self under  the  treatment  of  Malfatti.  He  thus  made  the  ac- 
quaintance of  Dr.  Bertolini,  who  gave  to  Jahn  and  the  present 
writer  the  following  details : 

Kyd  was  a  great  lover  of  music,  and,  after  his  long  residence 
in  India,  enjoyed  to  the  utmost  his  present  opportunities  of  hear- 
ing it.  Bertolini  took  him  to  Czerny,  who  during  several  visits 
played  to  him  all  the  pianoforte  works  of  Beethoven  then  in  print. 
The  General  was  ravished  with  these  compositions,  asked  for  a 
complete  thematic  catalogue  of  the  composer's  works,  and  be- 
sought Bertolini  to  introduce  him  to  their  author.  This  took  place 
on  the  28th  of  September  "in  the  house  next  to  the  Colorado 
Palace,"  said  Bertolini.  They  found  him  shaving  and  looking 
shockingly,  his  ruddy  face  browned  by  the  Baden  sun  variegated 
by  razor  cuts,  bits  of  paper,  and  soap.  As  Kyd  seated  himself 
crash !  went  the  chair.  In  the  course  of  the  interview,  the  General, 
showing  the  common  belief  of  Beethoven's  poverty,  proposed  to 
him  through  the  Doctor,  to  compose  a  symphony  for  which  he 
would  pay  him  200  ducats  (£100),  and  secure  its  performance  by 
the  London  Philharmonic  Society,  not  doubting  that  the  profits  of 
the  work  to  the  composer  would  thus  amount  to  £1000.  He  offered 
also  to  take  him  himself  to  London.  To  Beethoven's  leaving 
Vienna  just  now  there  really  seems  to  have  been  no  serious  im- 
pediment, other  than  his  nephew;  and  the  boy  was  certainly  in 
the  best  of  hands  so  long  as  he  remained  with  Giannatasio. 
However,  he  did  not  accept  the  proposition,  nor  even  the  order  for 
the  Symphony;  because  Kyd  desired  to  have  it  rather  like  the 


An  English  Commission  Rejected  345 

earlier,  than  the  later  ones — that  is,  somewhat  shorter,  simpler,  and 
more  easy  of  comprehension  than  these  last.  The  conclusion 
of  the  story  as  told  in  the  Fischoif  MS.  corresponds  entirely  with 
the  Doctor's  relation: 

When  Bertolini  related  all  this  to  his  friend  with  sympathetic  joy 
the  latter  received  it  in  an  entirely  different  spirit.  He  declared  that  he 
would  receive  dictation  from  no  one;  he  needed  no  money,  despised  it  and 
would  not  submit  himself  to  the  whim  of  another  man  for  half  the  world, 
still  less  compose  anything  which  was  not  according  to  his  liking,  to  his 
individuality.  From  that  time  he  was  als'^  cool  toward  Bertolini  and 
remained  so. 

When  he  afterwards  quarrelled  with  and  insulted  Malfatti  he 
broke  entirely  with  Bertolini;  but  both  those  gentlemen  were  too 
honorable  ever  to  disclose  the  details  of  this  breach.  Simrock 
writes  in  an  autograph  notice  for  this  work: 

When  I  visited  Beethoven  in  Vienna  on  September  29,  1816,  he 
told  me  that  he  had  had  a  visit  on  the  day  before  from  an  Englishman 
who  on  behalf  of  the  London  Philharmonic  Society  had  asked  him  to  com- 
pose a  symphony  for  that  institution  in  the  style  of  the  first  and  second 
symphonies,  regardless  of  cost.  ...  As  an  artist  he  felt  himself  deeply 
offended  at  such  an  offer  and  indignantly  refused  it  and  thus  closed  the 
interview  with  the  intermediary.  In  his  excitement  he  expressed  him- 
self very  angrily  and  with  deep  displeasure  towards  a  nation  which  by 
such  an  offer  had  manifested  so  low  an  opinion  of  an  artist  and  art, 
which  he  looked  upon  as  a  great  insult.  When  we  were  passing  Has- 
linger's  publishing  house  in  the  Graben  in  the  afternoon  he  stopped 
suddenly  and  pointing  to  a  large,  powerfully  built  man  who  had  just 
entered,  cried  out:  "There's  the  man  whom  I  threw  down  stairs  yester- 
day!" 

"Whom  I  threw  down  stairs"  was,  of  course,  meant  metaphorically. 

It  is  pretty  evident  that  Beethoven  in  some  degree  misunderstood 

General  Kyd's  proposition  and  that  this  ebullition  of  spleen  was 

rather  directed  against  Neate  and  the  Philharmonic  Society  than 

the  General.     It  is  greatly  to  be  regretted  that  this  artistic  pride 

had   so  little  restraining  effect   upon   his  correspondence   when 

pecuniary  matters  form  the  topic — which  remark  brings  us  again 

to  Mr.  Birchall.     Beethoven  had  at  last  discovered  the  £5  to  his 

credit  in  the  bank  of  Fries  and  Co.,  and  signed  a  receipt  for  it  on 

August  3d— too  late  to  prevent  the  following  letter  being  sent  to 

him: 

August  14,  1815. 

Sir: 

Mr.  Birchall  received  yours  of  the  22d  of  last  month  an(i  was  sur- 
prised to  hear  you  have  not  yet  received  the  additional  £5.0.0  to  defray 
your  expenses  of  copying,  etc.     He  assures  the  above  sum  was  paid  to 


346  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

Messrs.  Coutts  and  Co.,  March  loth  last,  to  be  transmitted  to  Messrs. 
Fries  and  Co.,  of  Vienna  for  you,  which  he  supposed  you  would  receive  as 
safe  as  the  previous  sum.  In  consequence  of  your  last  letter,  inquiry  has 
again  been  made  at  Messrs.  Coutts  and  Co.,  respecting  it  and  they  have 
referred  to  their  books  and  find  that  Messrs.  Fries  and  Co.,  were  written  to 
on  the  13th  of  May,  and  in  that  letter  the  following  extract  respecting  you 
was  contained. 

London,  May  13,  1816. 
"To  Messrs.  Fries  and  Co.: 

"We  have  received  from  Mr.  Birchall  a  farther  sum  of  five  pounds 
[£5]  on  your  account  for  the  use  of  Mr.  Beethoven.  You  will  therefore 
please  to  account  to  that  gentleman  for  the  same  and  include  the  amount 
in  your  next  bill  upon  us. 

"Coutts  and  Co." 

If  Mr.  Beethoven  will  call  on  Messrs.  Fries  and  Co.,  and  get  them  to 
refer  to  that  letter,  no  doubt  it  will  be  immediately  paid,  as  there  is  a 
balance  in  their  favour  at  Messrs.  Coutts  and  Co.,  of  £5.0.0,  which  was  not 
included  in  their  last  Bill  on  London. 

Mr.  Birchall  is  sorry  you  have  not  received  it  so  soon  as  you  ought, 
but  he  hopes  you  will  be  convinced  the  fault  does  not  lay  [sic]  with  him,  as 
the  money  was  paid  the  day  after  Mr.  Hies  spoke  about  it. 

Mr.  Birchall  wished  particularly  to  have  the  Declaration  returned  to 
him  as  soon  as  possible  and  likewise  wishes  you  to  favour  him  with  the 
Dedications  and  operas,  which  are  to  be  put  to  the  Trio,  Sonata  and  the 
Grand  Symphony  in  A.  The  publication  of  the  Sonata  has  been  delayed 
a  long  time  in  consequence  of  that,  but  he  hopes  you  will  not  delay  for- 
warding all  on  the  receipt  of  this.  When  you  write  again  Mr.  Birchall 
will  be  glad  to  know  your  sentiments  respecting  writing  Variations  to 
the  most  favourite  English,  Scotch  or  Irish  airs  for  the  Pianoforte  with 
an  accompaniment  either  for  the  violin  or  violoncello — as  you  find  best — 
about  the  same  length  as  Mozart's  airs  "La  dove  prende"  and  "Colomba 
o  tortorella"  and  Handel's  "See  the  Conquering  Hero  Comes";  with  your 
Variations,  be  so  good,  when  you  oblige  him  with  your  terms,  as  to  say 
whether  the  airs  need  be  sent  you;  if  you  have  many  perhaps  mentioning 
the  name  will  be  sufficient.  In  fixing  the  price  Mr.  Birchall  wishes  you 
to  mention  a  sum  that  will  include  Copying  and  Postages. 

For  R.  Birchall. 

C.  Lonsdale. 

Beethoven's  reply  in  English  bears  all  the  marks  of  Haring's 
pen,  being  only  signed  by  himself: 

Vienna,  October  1,  1816. 
My  dear  Sir: 

I  have  duly  received  the  £5,  and  thought  previously  you  would  not 
increase  the  number  of  Englishmen  neglecting  their  word  and  honour  as  I 
had  the  misfortune  of  meeting  with  two  of  this  sort.  In  reply  to  the  other 
topics  of  your  favour,  I  have  no  objection  to  write  Variations  according  to 
your  plan  and  I  hope  you  will  not  find  £30  too  much,  the  accompaniment 
will  be  a  flute  or  violin  or  a  violoncello;  you'll  either  decide  it  when  you 
send  me  the  approbation  of  the  price,  or  you'll  leave  it  to  me.     I  expect 


Neate  Defends  Himself  Against  Censure        347 

to  receive  the  songs  or  poetry— the  sooner  the  better,  and  you'll  favour  me 
also  with  the  probable  number  of  works  of  Variations  you  are  inclined  to 
receive  of  me. 

The  Sonate  in  G  with  the  accompaniment  of  a  violin  is  dedicated 
to  his  Imperial  Highness,  Archduke  Rudolph  of  Austria— it  is  Op.  96. 
The  Trio  in  B-[flat]  is  dedicated  to  the  same  and  is  Op.  97.  The  Piano 
arrangement  of  the  Symphony  in  A  is  dedicated  to  the  Empress  of  the 
Russias,  meaning  the  wife  of  the  Emperor  Alexander — Op.  98. 

Concerning  the  expenses  of  copying  and  posting,  it  is  not  possible 
to  fix  them  before  hand,  they  are  at  any  rate  not  considerable  and  you'll 
please  to  consider  that  you  have  to  deal  with  a  man  of  honour,  who  will 
not  charge  one  6d  [sixpence]  more  than  he  ii>  charged  for  himself.  Messrs. 
Fries  and  Co.,  will  account  with  Messrs.  Coutts  and  Co.  The  postage 
may  be  lessened  as  I  have  been  told. 

I  offer  you  of  my  works  the  following  new  ones.  A  grand  Sonata 
for  the  pianoforte  alone  £40,  A  Trio  for  the  Piano  with  accompt.  of 
Violin  or  Violoncello  for  £50.  It  is  possible  that  somebody  will  offer  you 
other  works  of  mine  to  purchase:  for  ex.  the  Score  of  the  Grand  Sym- 
phony in  A.  With  regard  to  the  arrangement  of  this  Symphony  for  the 
piano,  I  beg  you  not  to  forget  that  you  are  not  to  publish  it  until  I  have 
appointed  the  day  of  its  publication  here  in  Vienna.  This  cannot  be 
otherwise  without  making  myself  guilty  of  a  dishonourable  act — but  the 
Sonata  with  the  viohn  and  the  Trio  in  B-flat  may  be  published  without 
any  delay. 

With  all  the  new  Works  which  you  will  have  of  me  or  which  I 
offer  you,  it  rests  with  you  to  name  the  day  of  their  publication  at  your 
own  choice.  I  entreat  you  to  honour  me  as  soon  as  possible  with  an  answer 
having  many  orders  for  compositions  and  that  you  may  not  be  delayed. 
My  address  or  direction  is: 

Monsieur  Louis  van  Beethoven, 
No.  1055  and  1056  Sailerstatte,  3te  Stock, 

Vienna. 
You  may  send  your  letter  if  you  please  direct  to  your, 

Most  humble  servant, 

Ludwig  van  Beethoven. 

Beethoven  not  only  complained  of  Neate  to  Ries,  but  now 
wrote  to  Smart  of  him  in  such  bitter  terms  that  that  gentleman 
suppressed  the  letter  entirely  except  to  show  it  to  Neate  himself, 
whose  grief  and  astonishment  at  the  injustice  done  him  are  but 
partly  expressed  in  this  next  letter: 

London,  October  29,  1816. 
My  dear  Beethoven: 

Nothing  has  ever  given  me  more  pain  than  your  letter  to  Sir  George 
Smart.  I  confess  that  I  deserve  your  censure,  that  I  am  greatly  in  fault; 
but  must  say  also  that  I  think  you  have  judged  too  hastily  and  too 
harshly  of  my  conduct.  The  letter  I  sent  you  some  time  since,  was  writ- 
ten at  a  moment  when  I  was  in  such  a  state  of  mind  and  spirits  that  I  am 
sure,  had  you  seen  me  or  known  my  sufferings,  you  would  have  excused 
every  unsatisfactory  passage  in  it.     Thank  God!  it  is  now  all  over,  and  I 


348  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

was  just  on  the  point  of  writing  to  you,  when  Sir  George  called  with 
your  letter.  I  do  not  know  how  to  begin  an  answer  to  it;  I  have  never 
been  called  upon  to  justify  myself,  because  it  is  the  first  time  that  I  ever 
stood  accused  of  dishonor;  and  what  makes  it  the  more  painful  is  "that 
I  stand  accused  by  the  man  who,  of  all  in  the  world,  I  most  admire  and 
esteem,  and  one  also  whom  I  have  never  ceased  to  think  of,  and  wish  for 
his  welfare,  since  I  made  his  acquaintance."  But  as  the  appearance  of 
my  conduct  has  been  so  unfavorable  in  your  eyes,  I  must  tell  you  again  of 
the  situation  I  was  in  previous  to  my  marriage. 


I  remain  in  my  profession,  and  with  no  abatement  of  my  love  of 
Beethoven!  During  this  period  I  could  not  myself  do  anything  publicly, 
consequently  all  yoiu*  music  remained  in  my  drawer  unseen  and  unheard. 
I,  however,  did  make  a  very  considerable  attempt  with  the  Philharmonic 
to  acquire  for  you  what  I  thought  you  fully  entitled  to.  I  offered  all  your 
music  to  them  upon  condition  that  they  made  you  a  very  handsome  present; 
this  they  said  they  could  not  afford,  but  proposed  to  see  and  hear  your 
music,  and  then  offer  a  price  for  it;  I  objected  and  replied  "that  I  should 
be  ashamed  that  your  music  should  be  put  up  by  auction  and  bid  for! 
— that  your  name  and  reputation  were  too  dear  to  me";  and  I  quitted  the 
meeting  with  a  determination  to  give  a  concert  and  take  all  the  trouble 
myself,  rather  than  that  your  feelings  should  be  wounded  by  the  chance 
of  their  disapproval  of  your  works.  I  was  the  more  apprehensive  of  this, 
from  the  unfortunate  circumstances  of  your  Overtures  not  being  well 
received;  they  said  they  had  no  more  to  hope  for,  from  your  other  works. 
I  was  not  a  Director  last  season,  but  I  am  for  the  next,  and  then  I  shall 
have  a  voice  which  I  shall  take  care  to  exert.  I  have  offered  your 
Sonatas  to  several  publishers,  but  they  thought  them  too  difficult,  and 
said  they  would  not  be  saleable,  and  consequently  made  offers  such  as  I 
could  not  accept,  but  when  I  shall  have  played  them  to  a  few  professors, 
their  reputation  will  naturally  be  increased  by  their  merits,  and  I  hope  to 
have  better  offers.  The  Symphony  you  read  of  in  the  "Morning  Chron- 
icle" I  believe  to  be  the  one  in  C  minor;  it  certainly  was  not  the  one  in  A, 
for  it  has  not  been  played  at  a  concert.  I  shall  insist  upon  its  being 
played  next  season,  and  most  probably  the  first  night.  I  am  exceedingly 
glad  that  you  have  chosen  Sir  George  Smart  to  make  your  complaints  of 
me  to,  as  he  is  a  man  of  honor,  and  very  much  your  friend;  had  it  been 
anyone  else,  your  complaint  might  have  been  listened  to,  and  I  injured 
all  the  rest  of  my  life.  But  I  trust  I  am  too  respectable  to  be  thought 
unfavorably  of  by  those  who  know  me.  I  am,  however,  quite  willing  to 
give  up  every  sheet  I  have  of  yours,  if  you  again  desire  it.  Sir  George 
will  write  by  the  next  post,  and  will  confirm  this.  I  am  sorry  you  say 
that  I  did  not  even  acknowledge  my  obligation  to  you,  because  I  talked  of 
nothing  else  at  Vienna,  as  every  one  there  who  knows  me  can  testify.  I 
even  offered  my  purse,  which  you  generously  always  declined.  Pray,  my 
dear  Friend,  believe  me  to  remain. 

Ever  yours,  most  sincerely, 

C.  Neate. 


Wretched  Domestic  Conditions  349 

Zmeskall,  whose  patience  and  forbearance  were  inexhaustible, 
had  again  provided  his  friend  with  servants — a  man  and  his  wife — 
and  something  was  done  towards  making  the  lodging  in  the  Sailer- 
statte  ready  to  receive  the  nephew  at  the  end  of  the  quarter.  But 
this  was  not  yet  to  be.  The  circumstances  explain  the  following 
little  letter  to  Zmeskall  of  date  November  3,  181G: 

Dear  Z.  Your  non-recommendation  of  the  servants  engaged  by  me 
I  can  also  not  recommend — I  beg  of  you  at  once  to  hand  over  to  me 
through  Hr.  Schlemmer  the  papers,  testimonials,  etc.,  which  you  have 
from  them.  I  have  reason  to  suspect  them  of  a  theft.  I  have  been 
continually  ill  since  the  14th  of  last  month  and  must  keep  to  my  bed 
and  room.  All  projects  concerning  my  nephew  have  foundered  be- 
cause of  these  miserable  persons. 

Further  information  is  provided  by  the  following  letter  to 
Giannatasio : 

Valued  Friend: 

My  household  greatly  resembles  a  shipwreck,  or  threatens  to,  in 
brief  I  have  been  so  swindled  in  reference  to  these  people  by  one  who 
affects  to  be  a  connoisseur,  moreover  my  recovery  seems  to  be  in  no 
hurry.  To  engage  a  steward  whose  exterior  and  interior  is  unknown 
under  such  circumstances,  and  to  leave  the  education  of  my  Karl  to 
chance,  I  can  never  do,  great  as  are  the  sacrifices  which  in  many  respects 
I  shall  again  be  called  upon  to  make,  I  therefore  beg  you  to  keep  my  Karl 
again  for  this  quarter,  I  shall  accept  your  suggestion  regarding  his 
cultivation  of  music  to  this  extent  that  Karl  shall  leave  you  2  or  even  3 
times  a  week  evenings  at  6  o'clock  and  remain  with  me  till  the  next 
morning  when  he  shall  return  to  you  again  by  about  8  o'clock.  Every 
day  would  be  too  taxing  for  K.  and  for  me,  since  it  would  always 
have  to  be  at  the  same  hour,  too  wearisome  and  restricting.  We  shall 
discuss  more  in  detail  during  this  quarter  what  would  be  most  practicable 
and  considerate  also  for  me,  for,  in  view,  unfortunately  of  the  fact  that 
my  circumstances  are  continually  getting  worse  I  must  also  use  this  ex- 
pression, if  your  residence  in  the  garden  had  been  better  adapted  to  my 
health,  everything  would  more  easily  have  been  arranged.  As  regards 
my  indebtedness  to  you  for  the  last  quarter  I  must  beg  of  you  to  bring 
the  matter  directly  to  my  attention  as  the  bearer  of  this  has  been  blessed 
by  God  with  a  certain  amount  of  stupidity  which  one  might  not  begrudge 
him  if  others  were  not  affected  by  it.  Regarding  the  other  expenditiu-es 
for  Karl  during  his  illness  or  matters  connected  with  it,  I  beg  of  you  to 
have  patience  for  a  few  days  as  I  have  large  expenditures  just  now  on  all 
hands.  I  should  also  like  to  know  how  I  am  to  conduct  myself  toward 
Smettana  in  view  of  his  successfully  accomplished  operation.  So  far  as 
his  compensation  is  concerned  if  I  were  rich  or  not  in  the  condition  of  all 
(except  the  Austrian  usurers)  whom  fate  has  bound  to  this  country,  I 
would  not  ask  at  all.  I  only  mean  an  approximate  estimate.  Farewell, 
I  embrace  you  with  all  my  heart,  and  will  always  look  upon  you  as  the 
friend  of  myself  and  my  Karl. 


350  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

In  November,  Mr.  Lonsdale  wrote  as  follows  in   behalf  of 
Mr.  Birchall: 

London,  November  8,  1816. 
Sir: 

In  answer  to  yours  of  the  1st  October,  I  am  desired  by  Mr.  Birchall 
to  inform  you,  he  is  glad  to  find  you  are  now  satisfied  respecting  his 
promise  of  paying  you  £5  ...  in  addition  to  what  you  before  received 
according  to  agreement;  but  he  did  not  think  you  would  have  delayed 
sending  the  receipt  signed  after  the  receipt  of  the  130  ducats  merely 
because  you  had  not  received  the  £5  .  .  .,  which  latter  sum  was  not  in- 
cluded in  the  receipt.  Till  it  comes  Mr.  Birchall  cannot,  at  any  rate, 
enter  into  any  fresh  arrangement,  as  his  first  care  will  be  to  secure  those 
pieces  he  has  already  paid  you  for,  and  see  how  they  answer  his  purpose  as 
a  Music  Seller  and  without  the  receipt  he  cannot  prevent  any  other  Music 
Seller  from  publishing  them.  In  regard  to  the  airs  with  variations,  the  price 
of  £30,  which  is  supposed  you  mean  for  each,  is  considerably  more  than 
he  could  afford  to  give,  ever  to  have  any  hopes  of  seeing  them  repay  him 
— if  that  should  be  your  lowest  price — Mr.  Birchall  will  give  up  his  idea 
of  them  altogether.  The  Symphony  in  A  will  be  quite  ready  for  publi- 
cation in  a  week;  Mr.  Ries  (who  has  kindly  undertaken  the  inspection  of 
your  works)  has  it  now  looking  over — but  it  will  not  come  out  till  the  day 
comes  you  may  appoint. 

Mr.  Birchall  fears  the  Sonata  in  G  and  the  Trio  in  B-flat  have  been 
published  in  Vienna  before  his — he  will  be  obliged  to  you  to  inform  him  of 
the  day,  when  you  write,  that  they  were  published.  I  am  sorry  to  say, 
that  Mr.  Birchall's  health  has  been  very  bad  for  two  or  three  years  back, 
which  prevents  him  from  attending  to  business  and  as  there  are,  I  fear, 
but  little  hopes  of  his  being  much  better,  he  is  less  anxious  respecting 
making  any  additions  to  his  catalogue  than  he  otherwise  would  have 
been ;  he  is  much  obliged  to  you  for  the  offer  of  the  Sonata  and  the  Trio, 
but  he  begs  to  decline  it  for  the  reasons  before  mentioned. 

Hoping  to  hear  soon  respecting  the  paper  sent  for  your  signature, 
I  am  Sir,  for  Mr.  Birchall,  etc. 

C.  Lonsdale. 

P.  S.    The  Sonata  in  G  is  published  and  the  Trio  will  be  in  a  few  days. 
Is  Mr.  Beethoven's  opera  of  Fidelio  published.'*     Where  and  by  whom.'* 

To  this  letter  Beethoven  sent  an  answer  addressed  to  Mr. 
Birchall  dated  December  14,  1816,  as  follows: 

Vienna,  December  14,  1816. — 1055  Sailerstatte. 
Dear  Sir: 

I  give  you  my  word  of  honor,  that  I  have  signed  and  delivered  the 
receipt  to  the  house.  Fries  and  Co.,  some  day  last  August,  who,  as  they 
say,  transmitted  it  to  Messrs.  Coutts  and  Co.,  where  you'll  have  the 
goodness  to  apply.  Some  error  might  have  taken  place  that  instead  of 
Messrs  C.  sending  it  to  you,  they  have  been  directed  to  keep  it  till  fetched. 
Excuse  this  irregularity,  but  it  is  not  my  fault,  nor  had  I  ever  the  idea  of 
withholding  it  from  the  circumstance  of  the  £5  not  being  included. 
Should  the  receipt  not  come  forth  at  Messrs.  C,  I  am  ready  to  sign  any 
other  and  you  shall  have  it  directly  with  return  of  post. 


End  of  the  English  Connection  351 

If  you  find  variations  in  my  style  too  dear  at  £30,  I  will  abate,  for 
the  sake  of  your  friendship,  one-third,  and  you  have  the  offer  of  such 
variations  as  fixed  in  our  former  letters  for  £'20  each  air. 

Please  to  publish  the  Symphony  in  A  immediately,  as  well  as  the 
Sonata  and  the  Trio — they  being  ready  here. 

The  grand  opera  Fidel io  is  my  work.  The  arrangement  for  the 
pianoforte  has  been  published  here  under  my  care,  but  the  score  of  the 
opera  itself  is  not  yet  published.  I  have  given  a  copy  of  the  score  to  Mr, 
Neate  under  the  seal  of  friendship  and  whom  I  shall  direct  to  treat  for 
my  account  in  case  an  offer  should  present. 

I  anxiously  hope  your  health  is  improving.  Give  me  leave  to 
subscribe  myself.  Dear  Sir, 

Your  very  obedient  servant, 
[Postmark,  Dec.  31,  1816.]  Ludwig  van  Beethoven. 

This  letter  closed  the  correspondence;  for  upon  the  death  of 
Mr.  Birchall  his  successor,  Lonsdale,  did  not  deem  the  connection 
with  the  composer  to  be  worth  retaining.  Letters  to  Zmeskall, 
Sir  George  Smart  and  Neate,  in  London,  tell  of  incidents  which 
make  up  the  history  of  the  latter  part  of  the  year  181G: 

(To  Zmeskall — December  16.) 
Here  dear  Z.  you  will  receive  my  friendly  dedication  ^  which  I  hope  will 
be  a  precious  souvenirof  our  long-continued  friendship  and  be  accepted  as  a 
proof  of  my  respect  and  not  as  the  end  of  a  long-spun  thread  (for  you 
belong  to  my  earliest  friends  in  Vienna).  Farewell — Abstain  from  the 
decayed  fortresses,  the  attack  exhausts  more  than  those  on  the  well 
preserved. 

As  ever. 

Your  friend, 

Beethoven. 

N.  B.    If  you  have  a  moment's  time  please  tell  me  how  much  a  livery 
will  cost  now  (without  cloak)  with  hat  and  boot  money. 

The  most  extraordinary  changes  have  taken  place,  the  man,  thank 
God,  has  gone  to  the  devil,  but  on  the  other  hand  the  wnfe  seems  dis- 
posed to  attach  herself  all  the  more  closely. 

(To  Sir  George  Smart,  dictated  to  Haring.) 
Vienna,  December  16,  1816.— 1055  Sailerstatte,  3d  Floor. 
My  dear  Sir: 

You  honor  me  with  so  many  encomiums  and  compliments  that 
I  ought  to  blush,  tho'  I  confess  they  are  highly  flattering  to  me  and  I 
thank  you  most  heartily  for  the  part  you  take  in  my  affairs.  They  have 
rather  gone  a  little  back  through  the  strange  situation  in  which  our  lost — 
but  happily  recovered — friend  Mr.  Neate  found  himself  entangled. 
Your  kind  letter  of  31  October,  explained  a  great  deal  and  to  some  satis- 
faction and  I  take  the  liberty  to  enclose  an  answer  to  Mr.  Neate,  of 
whom  I  also  received  a  letter,  with  my  entreaties  to  assist  him  in  all  his 
undertakings  in  my  behalf. 

iTo  the  Quartet  in  F  minor.  Op.  95. 


352  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

You  say  that  the  Cantata  might  serve  your  purpose  for  the  Oratorios 
and  I  ask  you  if  you  find  £50  too  much  to  give  for  it?  I  have  had  no 
benefit  for  it  whatever  until  now,  but  I  still  should  not  wish  to  ask  of  you 
a  price  by  which  you  might  be  a  loser.  Therefore  we  shall  name  £40, 
and  if  your  success  should  be  great,  then  I  hope  you  will  have  no  objection 
of  adding  the  £10,  to  make  the  sum  as  mentioned.  The  Copyright 
would  be  yours  and  I  should  only  make  the  condition  of  my  publishing 
it  here  at  a  period,  which  you  will  he  'pleased  to  appoint  and  not  before. 
I  have  communicated  to  Mr.  Haring  your  kind  intentions  (good  wishes) 
and  he  joins  with  me  in  the  expression  of  the  highest  regard,  which  he 
always  entertained  for  you. 

Mr.  Neate  may  keep  the  different  works  except  the  Cantata  if  you 
accept  it  and  I  hope  he  will  have  it  in  his  power  with  your  assistance  to 
do  something  for  me,  which  from  my  illness  and  from  the  state  of  the 
Austrian  finances  would  be  very  welcome. 

Give  me  leave  to  subscribe  myself  with  the  greatest  esteem  and 
cordiality, 

Ludwig  van  Beethoven. 

(Mr.  Haring,  at  Beethoven's  dictation,  to  Mr.  Neate.) 

Vienna,  December  18,  1816. 
My  dear  Sir: 

Both  letters  to  Mr.  Beethoven  and  to  me  arrived.  I  shall  first 
answer  his,  as  he  has  made  out  some  memorandums,  and  would  have 
written  himself,  if  he  was  not  prevented  by  a  rheumatic  feverish  cold. 
He  says:  What  can  I  answer  to  your  warrnfelt  excuses.'^  Past  ills  must 
be  forgotten,  and  I  wish  you  heartily  joy  that  you  have  safely  reached  the 
long-wished-for  port  of  love.  Not  having  heard  of  you,  I  could  not  delay 
any  longer  the  publication  of  the  Symphony  in  A,  which  appeared  here 
some  few  weeks  ago.  It  certainly  may  last  some  weeks  longer  before  a 
copy  of  this  publication  appears  in  London,  but  unless  it  is  soon  per- 
formed at  the  Philharmonic,  and  something  is  done  for  me  afterwards  by 
way  of  benefit,  I  don't  see  in  what  manner  I  am  to  reap  any  good.  The 
loss  of  your  interest  last  season  with  the  Philharmonic,  when  all  my  works 
in  your  hands  were  unpublished,  has  done  me  great  harm;  but  it  could 
not  be  helped,  and  at  this  moment  I  know  not  what  to  say.  Your 
intentions  are  good,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  my  little  fame  may  yet 
help.  With  respect  to  the  two  Sonatas,  Op.  102,  for  pianoforte  and 
violoncello,  I  wish  to  see  them  sold  very  soon,  as  I  have  several  offers 
for  them  in  Germany,  which  depend  entirely  upon  me  to  accept;  but  I 
should  not  wish,  by  publishing  them  here,  to  lose  all  and  every  advantage 
with  them  in  England.  I  am  satisfied  with  the  ten  guineas  offered  for 
the  dedication  of  the  Trio,  and  I  beg  you  to  hand  the  title  immediately  to 
Mr.  Birchall,  who  is  anxiously  waiting  for  it;  you'll  please  to  use  my 
name  with  him. 

I  should  be  flattered  to  write  some  new  works  for  the  Philharmonic — 
I  mean  Symphonies,  an  Oratorio,  or  Cantatas,  etc.  Mr.  Birchall  wrote 
as  if  he  wished  to  purchase  my  "Fidelio."  Please  to  treat  with  him,  unless 
you  have  some  plan  with  it  for  my  benefit  concert,  which  in  general  I 
leave  to  you  and  Sir  George  Smart,  who  will  have  the  goodness  to  deliver 
this  to  you. 


Dr.  Kanka's  Help  Implored  353 

The  score  of  the  opera  "Fidelio"  is  not  published  in  Germany  or 
anywhere  else.  Try  what  can  be  done  with  Mr.  Birchall,  or  as  you 
think  best.  I  was  very  sorry  to  hear  that  the  three  Overtures  were  not 
liked  in  London.  I  by  no  means  reckon  them  among  my  best  works, 
(which,  however,  I  can  boldly  say  of  the  Symphony  in  A),  but  still  they 
were  not  disliked  here  and  in  Pesth,  where  people  are  not  easily  satisfied. 
Was  there  no  fault  in  the  execution?     Was  there  no  party  spirit? 

And  now  I  shall  close,  with  the  best  wishes  for  your  welfare,  and 
that  you  enjoy  all  possible  felicity  in  your  new  situation  of  life. 

Your  true  friend, 

Ludwig  van  Beethoven. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  month  Beethoven  wrote  a  lengthy 
letter  to  Dr.  Kanka: 

Vienna,  December  28,  1816. 
My  very  dear  and  honored  friend: 

To-morrow's  post-wagon  will  carry  for  you  a  Symphony  by  me  in 
score,  the  reported  Battle  Symphony  in  score.  Trio  and  a  Violin  Sonata 
and  a  few  song  pieces — I  know  that  you  feel  in  advance  that  I  am 
grateful  for  all  that  you  do  for  me  as  lately  also  for  the  quick  remittance 
recently  of  my  semi-yearly  [dues].  But  now  again  a  request,  rather  an 
imposition,  yes  even  a  commission.  The  city  of  Retz,  consisting  of 
about  500  houses  will  appoint  you  as  Curator  of  a  certain  Johann 
Hamatsch  in  Prague,  for  heaven's  sake  do  not  decline  such  a  simple 
judicial  matter  for  thereby  my  poor  little  nephew  will  finally  receive  a 
small  fortune,  of  course  the  matter  will  first  have  to  be  passed  on  by  our 
magistracy  here,  inasmuch  as  the  mother  will  probably  have  some  benefit 
of  it,  think  of  it  how  much  time  these  things  will  take,  my  poor  unfor- 
tunate brother  died  without  seeing  the  end,  for  the  courts  have  such 
care  for  His  Majesty,  that  the  predecessor  of  the  present  syndicus  of  the 
city  of  Retz  wanted  to  pay  my  brother  5000  florins  for  500  (x)  such  are 
the  honorable  men  which  our  amiable  Christian  monarch  has  around 
him — the  present  syndicus  is  himself  an  honest  and  capable  man  (for,  if 
he  wanted  to  he  might  have  been  like  the  former),  meanwhile  the  afore- 
mentioned Hamatsch  in  Prague  (a  tradesman)  has  not  yet  given  notice 
of  his  acceptance  (N.  B. — for  4  or  5  years). 

The  syndicus  Bayer  of  Retz  will  therefore  send  you  the  Curatel 
decree  together  with  a  copy  of  the  bill  of  exchange  from  the  magistracy 
of  Retz,  I  know  much  too  well  how  small  and  trivial  the  case  is  for  a  man 
of  brains  like  yourself,  if  you  do  not  think  it  fitting,  I  beg  of  you  to  choose 
somebody  for  it  and  to  promote  the  matter  as  much  as  you  can — but 
it  would  in  every  respect  be  better  if  you  would  undertake  it,  perhaps  a 
mere  consultation  with  the  man  (in  Prague)  would  bring  the  matter  to  a 
conclusion. 

xThe  present  syndicus  needed  only  30  days  and  as  many  nights  to 
extricate  the  matter  from  its  former  confusion  in  which  it  had  been  left. 

My  nephew,  so  dear  to  me,  is  in  one  of  the  best  institutions  in 
Vienna,  displays  great  talent,  but  all  this  goes  to  my  expense  and  the 
Retz  affair  might  enable  me  to  spend  a  few  hundred  florins  more  on  the 
education  of  my  dear  nephew.  I  embrace  you  as  one  of  my  dearest 
friends. 


354  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

A  little  cantata,  written  in  honor  of  Prince  Lobkowitz,  belongs 
to  this  month  of  December.  An  autograph  copy  was  given  some 
forty  years  afterwards  to  Dr.  Ottokar  Zeithammer,  of  Prague,  by 
the  aged  widow  of  Beethoven's  friend  Peters,  who  gives  this 
account  of  its  origin: 

The  copy  of  a  little  cantata  which  he  (Beethoven)  wrote  for  me  to  be 
performed  on  the  birthday  of  the  Prince,  now  long  dead,  and  which — as 
he  himself  says — reached  me  after  his  death,  was  in  reality  written  by  him 
and  most  daintily  tied  together  with  blue  ribbon.  .  .  .  The  cantata 
consists  only  of  a  few  reiterated  words,  we  can  hardly  say  composed  by 
himself,  and  originated  when  he  heard  of  the  approaching  birthday 
festival  of  the  Prince  when  visiting  us.  "And  is  there  to  be  no  cele- 
bration?" he  asked,  and  I  answered  him,  "No."  "That  will  not  do,"  he 
replied;  "I'll  hurriedly  write  you  a  cantata,  which  you  must  sing  for 
him."     But  the  performance  was  never  reached.  ^ 

The  intended  performance  never  took  place,  because  Lobko- 
witz, born  on  December?,  1772,  died  on  December  16,  1816.  And 
so  he,  too,  disappears  from  our  history.  The  foregoing  receives 
all  needful  confirmation  in  this  letter: 

(To  Peters.) 

January  8,  1816. 
[Should  be  1817.1 

Only  yesterday  did  I  hear  from  Hrn.  von  Bernard,  who  met  me, 
that  you  are  here  and  therefore  I  send  you  these  two  copies,  which  un- 
fortunately were  not  finished  until  just  at  the  time  when  the  death  of  our 
dear  Prince  Lobkowitz  was  reported.  Do  me  the  favor  to  hand  them  to 
His  Serene  Highness,  the  first-born  Prince  Lobkowitz,  together  with  this 
WTiting,  it  was  just  to-day,  I  intended  to  look  up  the  cashier  to  ask  him 
to  undertake  its  delivery  in  Bohemia,  not  having,  in  truth,  believed 
anyone  here. 

I,  if  I  may  speak  of  myself,  am  in  a  state  of  tolerably  good  health  and 
wish  you  the  same.  I  dare  not  ask  you  to  come  to  me  for  I  should  be 
obliged  to  tell  you  2vhy,  and  that  I  should  not  presume  to  do  as  little  as 
why  you  icould  not  or  icould  not  desire  to  come.  I  beg  you  to  write  the 
inscription  to  the  Prince  as  I  do  not  know  his  given  name — the  3rd  copy 
please  keep  for  your  wife. 

'This  composition,  solo  and  chorus,  E-flat  major,  4-4,  forty-three  measures  long, 
had  for  a  text  only  these  words: 

"Long  life  to  our  dear  Prince 
May  he  live! 
May  noble  deeds  be  his  loveliest  calling. 
Then  shall  he  not  forgo  the  loveliest  reward. 

May  he  live,  etc." 

A  copy  of  this,  received  many  years  ago  from  Dr.  Edmund  Schebek,  is  inscribed  "Even- 
ing of  April  12,  1822,  before  the  birthday  of  His  Ser.  Prince  Ferdinand  Lobkowitz." 
This  young  Prince  completed  his  25th  year  on  .April  l.'J,  1822.  It  is  clear,  therefore, 
that  this  inscription  refers  to  a  performance,  not  to  the  composition  of  the  little  work. 


The  Coming  of  Anselm  Huttenbrenner         355 

To  the  few  names  which  this  year  have  appeared  in  our 
narrative,  there  is  still  to  be  added  one  worthy  of  a  paragraph: 
that  of  a  wealthy  young  man  from  Gratz,  an  amateur  musician 
and  composer  of  that  class  whose  idol  was  Beethoven — Anselm 
Huttenbrenner,  who  came  to  Vienna  in  1815  to  study  with  Salieri, 
and  formed  an  intimate  friendship  with  Franz  Schubert.  His 
enthusiasm  for  Beethoven  was  not  abated  when  the  present 
writer,  in  1860,  had  the  good  fortune  to  enjoy  a  period  of  familiar 
intercourse  with  him,  to  learn  his  great  and  noble  qualities  of 
mind  and  heart,  and  to  hear  his  reminiscences  from  his  own  lips. 
That  these,  in  relation  to  Beethoven,  were  numerous,  no  one  will 
expect;  since  no  young  man  of  twenty-two  years,  and  a  stranger, 
could  at  the  period  before  us  be  much  with  the  master  except  as  a 
pupil — and  he  took  none — or  in  the  position  lately  occupied  by 
Oliva  and  soon  to  be  assumed  by  Schindler;  which  of  course  was 
all  out  of  the  question  with  Hiittenbrenner. 

I  learned  to  know  Beethoven  pie  relates]  through  the  kindness  of 
Hrn.  Dr.  Joseph  Eppinger,  Israelite.  The  first  time  Beethoven  was  not 
at  home;  his  housekeeper  opened  to  us  his  living-room  and  study.  There 
everything  lay  in  confusion — scores,  shirts,  socks,  books.  The  second 
time  he  was  at  home,  locked  in  with  two  copyists.  At  the  name  "Ep- 
pinger" he  opened  the  door  and  excused  himself,  having  a  great  deal  to 
do,  and  asked  us  to  come  at  another  time.  But,  seeing  in  my  hand  a  roll 
of  music — overture  to  Schiller's  "Robbers"  and  a  vocal  quartet  with 
pianoforte  accompaniment,  text  by  Schiller — he  took  it,  sat  himself  down 
to  the  pianoforte  and  turned  all  the  leaves  carefully.  Thereupon  he 
jumped  up,  pounded  me  on  the  right  shoulder  with  all  his  might,  and 
spoke  to  me  the  following  words  which  humiliated  me  because  I  cannot 
yet  explain  them:  "I  am  not  worthy  that  you  should  visit  me!"  Was 
it  humility?     If  so  it  was  divine;  if  it  was  irony  it  was  pardonable. 

And  again: 

A  few  times  a  week  Beethoven  came  to  the  publishing  house  of  Steiner 
and  Co.  in  the  forenoon  between  11  and  12  o'clock.  Nearly  every  time 
there  was  held  there  a  composers'  meeting  to  exchange  musical  opinions. 
Schubert  frequently  took  me  there.  We  regaled  ourselves  with  the 
pithy,  often  sarcastic  remarks  of  Beethoven  particularly  when  the  talk 
was  about  Italian  music. 

Huttenbrenner  remembered  as  a  common  remark  in  Vienna 
in  those  days  that  what  first  gave  Beethoven  his  reputation  on 
coming  there  twenty-four  years  before,  was  his  superb  playing  of 
Bach's  "Well-Tempered  Clavichord." 

Two  or  three  minor  notes  will  close  the  story  of  the  year. 
In  the  concert  for  the  Theatrical  Poor  Fund,  in  the  Theater-an- 
der-Wien,    September    8th,    one    of    the    finales    to    Beethoven's 


356  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

"Prometheus"  music  was  revived:  "A  glorious  piece  worked  out 
in  a  masterly  manner,"  says  a  reporter;  and  the  concert  for  the 
Hospital  of  St.  Mark,  on  December  25,  opened  with  his  "Symphony 
in  A,  one  diflScult  of  execution,  which  was  performed  with  the 
greatest  precision  under  the  direction  of  this  brilliant  composer." 
More  important  was  a  proposition  made  early  in  the  year  by  his 
old  friend  Hoffmeister  in  Leipsic,  for  a  complete  edition  of  his 
pianoforte  works,  which  came  to  nothing  and  concerning  which 
more  in  another  connection.  In  July  he  received  another  series 
of  songs  from  Thomson  which,  according  to  a  letter  in  French 
to  Thomson,  dated  January  18,  1817,  he  had  already  finished  by 
the  end  of  September. 

The  works  composed  in  1816  are: 

I.  Pianoforte  Sonata  in  A  major,  Op.  101,  dedicated  to  Baroness 
Dorothea  von  Ertmann.i  Nottebohm's  researches  place  all  the  sketches 
for  the  sonata  in  the  years  1815  and  1816.  (See,  "Zweit.  Beeth.,"  pp.  340 
and  552  et  seq.) 

II.  Song:  "Der  Mann  von  Wort,"  Op.  99. 

III.  Song-cycle:  "An  die  feme  Geliebte,"  Op.  98.  The  autograph 
bears  the  inscription  "1816  in  the  month  of  April."  Sketches  from  1815 
and  1816  are  described  by  Nottebohm  in  "Zweit.  Beeth.,"  p.  334  et  seq. 

IV.  March  in  D  major,  for  military  band;  the  autograph  bears  the 
inscription  in  Beethoven's  hand:  "March  for  the  grand  parade  of  the 
Guard,  by  L.  v.  Beethoven,  June  3,  1816." 

V.  Cantata  for  the  birthday  of  Prince  Lobkowitz,  composed  for 
Peters. 

VI.  Song:  "Ruf  vom  Berge,"  dated  "December  13,  1816." 

The  publications  for  the  year  were: 

I.  Song:  "Das  Geheimniss,"  as  a  supplement  for  the  "Wiener 
Modenzeitung,"  February  29,  1816. 

II.  Song:  "An  die  Hoffnung,"  Op.  94;  by  Steiner  and  Co.,  in 
February. 

III.  "Wellington's  Sieg,  oder  die  Schlacht  bei  Vittoria,  in  Musik 
gesetzt  von  Ludwig  van  Beethoven.  9ls'es  Werk";  by  Steiner  and  Co., 
Vienna,  in  March. 

IV.  Canon:  "GlUck  zum  neuen  Jahr";  by  J.  Riedel,  Vienna,  in  May. 

■The  anecdote  told  by  Mendelssohn  of  Beethoven's  playing  to  relieve  the  sorrow  of 
the  Baroness  has  a  complement  in  a  document  found  among  the  posthumous  papers  of 
Thayer.  On  December  25,  1864,  Thayer  received  a  poem  from  Frau  von  Arneth 
(Antonie  Adamberger)  written  by  Gustav  Frank,  a  production  of  no  literary  value  but 
based  upon  an  incident  thus  told  in  a  note  attached  to  it:  After  the  burial  of  Baroness 
von  F>tmann's  only  child,  the  grief-stricken  woman  was  unable  to  find  the  consolation 
which  comes  with  tears.  Greatly  concerned  thereat,  her  husband,  (ieneral  von  Ert- 
mann,  took  her  to  Beethoven,  wlio  without  a  word  sat  down  to  the  pianoforte  and  played 
until  the  Baroness's  sobs  testified  that  relief  had  come.  Thayer  endorsed  on  the  copy 
of  the  poem  which  he  made:  "It  is  a  fact  in  Beethoven's  and  Frau  Dorothea  v.  Ertmann's 
intercourse." 


Works  Composed  and  Published  in  1816         357 

V.  Song:  "Die  Sehnsucht,"  words  by  Reissig;  by  Artaria  in  a  col- 
lection which  appeared  in  June. 

VI.  Sonata  for  Pianoforte  and  Violin,  Op.  96 ;  dedicated  to  Archduke 
Rudolph;  Vienna,  Steiner  and  Co.,  in  July. 

VII.  Trio  for  Pianoforte,  Violin  and  Violoncello,  Op.  97;  dedicated 
to  Archduke  Rudolph;  published  by  Steiner  and  Co.,  Vienna,  on  July  16. 

VIII.  Song:  "Merkenstein,"  Op.  100;  dedicated  to  Count  Dietrich- 
stein;  Vienna,  Steiner  and  Co.,  in  September. 

IX.  Song:  "Der  Mann  von  Wort,"  Op.  99;  Vienna,  Steiner  and  Co., 
in  November. 

X.  Song-Cycle:  "An  die  feme  Geliebte,"  Op.  98;  dedicated  to 
Prince  Lobkowitz;  Vienna,  Steiner  and  Co.,  in  December. 

XI.  Symphony,  No.  7,  in  A  major.  Op.  92;  dedicated  to  Count 
Moritz  von  Fries;  Vienna,  Steiner  and  Co.,  in  December. 

XII.  Symphony,  No.  8,  in  F  major.  Op.  93;  Vienna,  Steiner  and  Co., 
in  December. 

XIII.  Quartet  for  Strings,  F  minor.  Op.  95;  dedicated  to  Zmeskall; 
Vienna,  Steiner  and  Co.,  in  December. 

XIV.  Two  Sonatas  for  Pianoforte  and  Violoncello,  Op.  102. 
According  to  a  letter  of  Zmeskall's  dated  January  20,  1817,  these  sonatas 
were  not  published  later  than  the  works  last  mentioned,  that  is,  December, 
1816.  They  were  published  by  Simrock  without  dedication.  In  the  later 
edition  published  by  Artaria  in  1819,  they  are  dedicated  to  Countess 
Erdody. 


Chapter  XVII 


The  Year  1817 — Beethoven  and  the  Public  Journals  of 
Vienna — Fanny  Giannatasio's  Diary — The  Philharmonic 
Society  of  London — Cipriani  Potter — Marschner — Marie 
Pachler-Koschak  —  Beethoven's  Opinion  of  Malzel's 
Metronome. 


BEETHOVEN'S  splenetic  remarks  to  strangers  in  his  last 
years  upon  the  music,  musicians  and  public  of  Vienna  have 
given  rise  to  widely  diffused  but  utterly  false  conceptions 
as  to  the  facts.  Thus  William  Henry  Fry,  a  leading  American 
writer  on  music  in  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century/  did  but 
express  a  common  opinion  in  the  following: 

That  composer  [Beethoven]  worked  hard  for  thirty  years.  At  his 
death,  after  the  cup  of  glory  had  overflowed,  his  name  resounding  through 
Christendom,  he  left  in  all  a  beggarly  sum  of  two  or  three  thousand 
dollars,  having  lived  as  any  one  acquainted  with  his  career  knows,  a 
penurious  life,  fitted  to  his  poverty  and  servile  position  in  Vienna. 

The  popular  want  of  appreciation  of  his  merits  "doomed  Beet- 
hoven to  a  garret,  which  no  Irish  emigrant  would  live  in."  It  is 
altogether  unnecessary  to  argue  against  such  statements,  as  the 
whole  tenor  of  this  biography  refutes  them;  but  the  public  press  of 
Vienna  deserves  a  vindication,  and  the  appearance  of  a  new  "All- 
gemeine  Musik-Zeitung"  on  January  2nd,  1817,  affords  a  suitable 
opportunity  for  the  little  that  need  be  said  on  the  subject.  This 
journal,  conducted  "with  particular  reference  to  the  Austrian 
Empire,"  and  published  by  Steiner  and  Co.,  was,  during  the  first 
two  years,  without  the  name  of  any  responsible  editor;  the  volumes 
for  1819  and  1820  announce  Ignaz  von  Seyfried  as  holding  that 
position;  the  others,  from  1821  to  1824,  bear  the  name  of  Friedrich 
August  Kanne.  A  leading  writer  in  the  earlier  volumes  was 
Hofrath  Ignaz  von  Mosel,  who  already  had  some  local  celebrity 

'Mr.  Fry  was  for  many  years  editorial  writer  and  music  critic  of  the  "New  York 
Tribune,"  with  which  Mr.  Thayer  was  also  associated  for  a  time. 

[  358] 


Beethoven  and  the  Viennese  Journalists       359 

for  his  articles  on  musical  topics  in  the  "Vaterliindische  Blatter" 
and  other  periodicals,  and  who  continued  a  prolific  contributor  to 
musical  journals  to  the  end  of  his  life  in  1844.  Beethoven 
valued  him  as  a  writer;  but  Mosel  had  the  temerity  to  undertake, 
like  Mozart,  the  task  of  revising  and  modernizing  Handel.  Of 
his  eight  mutilations  of  that  great  man's  works,  two,  "Samson" 
and  "Belshazzar,"  were  printed  and,  for  some  fifty  years,  adopted 
for  performance  throughout  Austria  and  Germany — a  remark- 
able proof  of  the  general  ignorance  which  prevailed  concern- 
ing the  works  of  the  greatest  oratorio  composer;  for  two  such 
monuments  of  arrogant  presumption,  of  incompetency  to  com- 
prehend his  author  and  of  a  false  and  perverted  taste,  probably 
do  not  exist  unless,  perhaps,  among  the  other  six  w^orks  which 
were  not  printed.  One  of  Beethoven's  sarcasms,  remembered  by 
Carl  Czerny,  indicates  his  opinion  of  Mosel's  dilettantism.  Read- 
ing a  newspaper  once  at  Art  aria's,  he  saw  that  Mosel  "had  been 
ennobled,  particularly  because  of  his  services  in  behalf  of  music." 
"The  Mosel  is  muddy  where  it  flows  into  the  Rhine"  {Der  Mosel 
fliesst  triib  in  den  Rhein!),  said  Beethoven,  laughingly.  Kanne 
ranked  with  the  best  musical  journalists  of  the  day,  and,  to  use  the 
words  of  Hanslick,  his  labors  and  influence  as  a  critic  were  con- 
siderable, especially  because  of  his  enthusiasm  for  Beethoven, 
is  certain. 

Taking  1821-1822  as  a  medium  date,  the  leading  political  and 
literary  journals  in  Vienna  in  those  years  were  the  "Wiener 
Zeitung,"  Joseph  Carl  Bernard,  editor;  the  "Beobachter,"  Joseph 
Pilat,  editor;  the  "Sammler,"  Portenschlag  and  Ledermeyer, 
editors;  the  "Wiener  Zeitschrift"  (fashion  journal),  Johann 
Schickh,  editor;  and  the  "Theater-Zeitung,"  Adolph  Biiuerle, 
editor.  Most  of  these  editors  were  personal  friends  of  Beethoven; 
and  whoever  performs  the  weary  task  of  looking  through  their 
myriads  of  pages  sees  that  all  were  his  admirers  and  let  no  oppor- 
tunity pass  unimproved  of  adding  a  leaf  to  his  laurels.  Still, 
disappointment  at  the  comparative  paucity  of  matter  relating  to 
him  follows  such  an  examination.  The  cause,  however,  lay  in 
himself;  in  the  small  number  of  his  new  compositions  of  high  im- 
portance, and  in  the  rarity  of  his  appearance  before  the  public. 
True,  there  were  newspapers,  and  in  divers  languages,  that  took 
no  note  of  Beethoven  and  his  works  because  music  and  musicians 
were  not  within  their  scope;  but  not  one  of  them  was  hostile. 
In  short,  whether  the  periodical  press  be  considered  as  the  ex- 
ponent or  the  guide  of  public  opinion,  in  either  case  its  tone  at 
Vienna  during  the  ten  years  which  remained  of  Beethoven's  life 


360  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

is  ample  refutation  of  the  so  oft  asserted  disregard  for  and  con- 
temptuous neglect  of  their  great  composer  on  the  part  of  the 
Viennese.  The  correspondence  of  this  and  the  next  two  or  three 
years  is  very  voluminous.     Schindler  says  most  pertinently  of  it: 

During  these  years  our  composer,  instead  of  writing  many  notes,  as 
had  been  his  wont,  wrote  many  letters,  referring  in  part  to  his  domestic 
affairs,  in  part  to  the  litigation  and  in  part  to  the  education  of  his  nephew. 
These  letters  are,  in  general,  among  the  least  encouraging  and  most  de- 
plorable testimonials  to  the  excitement  which  attended  his  passionate 
prosecution  of  these  objects.  Those  of  his  friends  and  nearer  acquain- 
tances who  permitted  themselves  to  be  drawn  into  these  three  matters 
were  so  overwhelmed  with  documents  and  communications  that  they 
blessed  the  hour  in  which  the  lawsuit  was  brought  to  a  conclusion. 

There  are  few  men  of  whom  a  most  false  and  exaggerated 
picture  may  not  be  presented  by  grouping  together  their  utter- 
ances, spoken  or  written  at  long  intervals  and  in  the  most  diverse 
moods  and  states  of  mind.  Thomas  Carlyle  says:  "Half  olr  more 
of  all  the  thick-plied  perversions  which  distort  the  image  of  Crom- 
well will  disappear  if  w^e  honestly  so  much  as  try  to  represent 
them  in  sequence  as  they  were,  not  in  the  lump  as  thrown  down 
before  us."  Hence,  strict  chronological  order  must  not  lightly 
be  abandoned — never  when  distortion  of  the  image  is  thereby 
produced.  But  there  are  series  of  letters  covering  comparatively 
short  periods  of  time,  which  may  be  grouped  and  placed  apart 
with  no  ill  consequence.  Such  is  the  series  to  Steiner  and  Co.; 
and  such  to  the  Streichers  and  Zmeskall,  which  are  too  unim- 
portant to  place  in  the  text.^  An  abstract  or  analysis  of  them 
would  serve  but  a  small  purpose;  but  they  should  be  read  despite 
their  triviality,  for  they  show,  better  than  any  description  would, 
the  helplessness  of  their  writer  in  all  affairs  of  common  life;  also, 
by  implication,  the  wretched  prospect  of  any  good  result  to  his 
undertaking  the  supervision  and  education  of  a  boy  more  than 
usually  endowed  with  personal  attractions  and  mental  capacity, 
but  whose  character  had  already  received  a  false  bias  from  the 
equally  indiscreet  alternate  indulgence  and  severity  of  his  in- 
valid and  passionate  father  and  of  his  froward  and  impure  mother. 
Moreover,  this  undertaking  rendered  necessary  a  sudden  and  very 
great  change  in  the  domestic  habits  of  a  man  nearly  fifty  years  of 
age,  who,  even  twenty  years  before,  had  not  been  able,  when 
residing  in  the  family  of  his  Maecenas,  Lichnowsky,  to  bear  the 
restraints  imposed  by  common  courtesy  and  propriety.  It  is 
obvious  that  there  was  but  one  course  to  be  taken  for  the  boy  from 

'Since  Thayer  wrote,  all  these  letters  have  been  published  in  Germaa  as  well  as 
in  English  translation  and  may  easily  be  consulted  by  the  student. 


Mistaken  Training  of  Nephew  Karl  361 

which  a  good  result  might  reasonably  have  been  expected;  and 
this  was  to  send  him  at  once  to  some  institution  far  enough  from 
Vienna  to  separate  him  entirely,  vacations  exce})ted,  from  l)oth 
mother  and  uncle;  to  subject  him  there  to  rigid  discipline  and  give 
him  the  stimulus  of  emulation  with  boys  of  his  own  age.  When  it 
was  too  late,  as  will  be  seen,  this  idea  was  entertained,  but  not  sanc- 
tioned by  the  civil  authorities.  That  such  a  course  with  the  boy 
would  have  resulted  well,  subsequent  events  leave  no  doubt;  for, 
passing  over  the  question  how  far  facts  justify  the  harsh  judgments 
recorded  against  him  for  more  than  half  o  century,  each  new  writer 
bitterer  than  the  last,  we  know  this:  that  after  his  uncle's  death, 
although  his  bad  tendencies  of  character  had  been  strengthened 
and  intensified  by  the  lack  of  efficient,  consistent,  firm  and  re- 
solute restraint  from  1815  to  1827,  yet  a  few  years  of  strict  mili- 
tary discipline  made  of  him  a  good  and  peaceable  citizen,  a  kind 
and  affectionate  husband  and  father.  Had  Beethoven's  wisdom 
and  prudence  equalled  his  boundless  affection  for  his  nephew,  many 
painful  pages  in  this  work  would  have  no  place;  many  which,  if  the 
truth  and  justice  to  the  dead  and  living  permitted,  one  would 
gladly  suppress.  But  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  Beethoven, 
on  his  death-bed,  as  Schindler  relates,  expressed  "his  honest  desire 
that  whatever  might  some  day  be  said  of  him,  should  adhere 
strictly  to  the  truth  in  every  respect,  regardless  of  whether  or  not 
it  might  give  pain  to  this  or  the  other  person  or  affect  his  own 
person." 

Let  us  again  take  up  the  thread  of  our  narrative.  We  are 
still  to  imagine  Beethoven  living  in  the  lofty,  narrow  house.  No. 
1055-6  Sailerstatte,  entered  from  the  street,  but  its  better  rooms 
on  the  other  side  looking  over  the  old  city  wall  and  moat  and  out 
across  the  Glacis  and  little  river  Wien  to  the  suburb  Landstrasse, 
where,  fronting  on  the  Glacis,  stood  the  institute  of  Giannatasio 
in  which  his  nephew  was  a  pupil,  having  been  placed  there  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1816.  There  is  no  record,  nor  do  the  sketchbooks  show,  that 
in  the  first  half  of  this  year  his  mind  was  occupied  with  any  im- 
portant composition;  on  the  contrary,  his  time  and  thoughts  were 
given  to  the  affairs  of  his  nephew,  to  his  purposed  housekeeping 
and  to  quarrels  with  his  servants,  as  the  frequent  letters  to  the 
Streichers  and  Zmeskall  show  ad  nauseam.  A  curiously  interest- 
ing picture  of  the  man  and  his  doings  is  disclosed  by  the  letters 
referred  to,  Fanny  Giannatasio's  records,  and  the  jottings  which 
that  young  woman  wrote  down  in  the  form  of  a  diary.  ^ 

iDr.  Herman  Deiters,  who  wrote  the  concluding  two  volumes  of  Thayer's  biog- 
raphy, making  use  of  the  material  and  framework  left  by  the  author,  devotes  twenty- 


362  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

At  the  beginning  of  the  year  1817,  Beethoven  seems  to  have 
harbored  a  desire  to  take  lodgings  nearer  the  institute.  Gianna- 
tasio  offered  to  let  him  have  one  which  was  at  his  disposal,  but 
Beethoven  declined  the  offer  with  the  words:  "Gladly  as  I  should 
like  to  make  use  of  your  kind  offer  that  I  live  with  you  in  the  garden- 
house,  it  is  for  various  reasons  impossible."  In  April  he  moved 
into  rooms  in  the  Gartnerstrasse  near  the  Streichers  and  the  in- 
stitute. Meanwhile  there  had  been  a  misunderstanding  between 
him  and  Giannatasio.  A  fortnight  later  explanations  had  been 
made  and  peace  restored;  but  when  Nanni  asked  Beethoven  if  he 
was  still  angry  he  replied:  "I  think  much  too  little  of  myself  to  get 

nine  pages  in  the  appendix  of  the  fourth  volume  to  Fanny  Giannatasio's  notes  of  Beet- 
hoven's intercourse  with  her  father's  family  and  her  sentiments  concerning  the  composer. 
These  notes,  together  with  a  number  of  letters,  had  been  used  by  Edward  Duboc  (Robert 
Waldmiiller)  in  the  preparation  of  two  articles  which  were  published  in  the  "Grenz- 
boten"  of  April  3  and  10,  1857.  A  complete  transcript  of  the  diary  was  found  by  the 
editor  of  the  present  edition  of  this  biography  among  Thayer's  posthumous  papers  and 
forwarded  to  Dr.  Deiters.  The  circumstances  under  which  the  transcript  was  made 
deserve  to  be  set  forth  here.  When  Thayer  took  up  his  permanent  abode  in  Europe 
for  the  purpose  of  prosecuting  his  researches  concerning  Beethoven,  the  manuscript 
was  owned  by  Frau  Pessiak,  granddaughter  of  Kajetan  Giannatasio  del  Rio,  daughter 
of  Fanny's  sister  Anna,  familiarly  known  as  "Nanni."  Through  the  mediation  of  Dr. 
Gerhard  von  Breuning,  Thayer  had  come  into  possession  of  a  copy  of  such  passages  of  the 
diary  as  referred  to  Beethoven.  On  his  first  visit  to  Vienna,  Thayer  called  upon  Frau 
Pessiak,  then  a  prominent  teacher  of  singing  in  the  Austrian  capital,  to  thank  her  for 
her  kind  help.  The  acquaintance  thus  made,  quickly  ripened  into  a  cordial  friendship, 
and  when  Thayer  was  about  to  return  to  his  home,  the  lady,  to  his  surprise  and  delight, 
placed  the  manuscript  into  his  hands  and  gave  him  permission  to  carry  it  with  him  to 
Trieste  for  examination  at  leisure.  One  reason  for  the  act  was,  if  possible,  to  obtain  a 
rectification  of  what  she  considered  a  grievous  wrong  done  to  her  aunt's  memory  by 
Ludwig  Nohl.  This  writer  had,  some  time  before,  importuned  her  for  the  privilege  of 
reading  the  diary  and  using  it  in  the  preparation  of  his  biography  of  Beethoven.  After 
many  protestations,  due  to  the  fact  that  a  number  of  letters  from  Beethoven  to  her 
grandfather  had  mysteriously  disappeared  from  the  family  archives  (Thayer  found 
some  of  them  later  in  the  possession  of  a  music  publishing  house  in  London),  Frau 
Pessiak  yielded  to  Nohl's  requests.  Shortly  after  the  manuscript  had  been  returned  to 
her,  there  appeared  a  booklet  entitled:  "Eine  stille  Liebe  zu  Beethoven.  Nach  dem 
Tagebuch  einer  jungen  Dame.  Von  Ludwig  Nohl."  (Second  edition,  Leipsic,  1902), 
in  which  excerpts,  wrenched  from  their  context,  were  made  the  foundation  of  a  story  of  a 
romantic,  but  unconfessed  and  unrequited  passion  for  the  composer  on  the  part  of  the 
unnamed  author  of  the  diary.  Frau  Pessiak  felt  deeply  wounded  that  such  unauthorized 
and  unpardonable  use  had  been  made  of  an  effusion  designed  only  for  the  eyes  of  its 
writer,  and  wanted  now  to  learn  whether  or  not  the  deduction  was  consistent  with  the 
utterances  of  the  diary  as  a  whole.  Thayer,  after  a  study  of  the  manuscript  and  all  the 
circumstances  connected  with  the  relations  between  Beethoven  and  the  family  of  the 
writer,  thought  not;  and  his  conclusion,  evidently,  was  that  of  Dr.  Deiters  also,  who 
printed  copious  extracts  compassing  all  the  references  to  Beethoven  found  in  the  manu- 
script. 

In  explanation  of  the  sentimental  tinge  of  some  of  the  young  woman's  utterances, 
which  taken  alone  might  easily  be  interpreted  as  secret  confessions  of  a  deeper  feeling  than 
mere  admiration,  friendship  and  sympathy,  it  is  urged  that  Fanny  Giannatasio  del  Rio 
began  her  diary,  which  is  not  a  continuous  record,  on  January  1,  181'^,  when  she  was 
twenty-two  years  old;  she,  therefore,  was  twenty-six  when  Beethoven  became  a  frequent 
visitor  at  her  father's  house.  She  was  very  musical  (so  much  so  that  Beethoven  did  not 
hesitate  to  play  four-hand  pieces  with  her),  and  had  been  an  admirer  of  his  music  before 
she  met  him.  Two  affairs  of  the  heart,  both  unhappy  in  their  outcome — (her  first  lover 
proved  unworthy,  her  second  was  an  invalid  and  like  an  honorable  man  unwilling  to 


A  Young  Woman's  Sentimental  Journal         3G3 

angry."  The  nephew  had  been  to  blame  and  had  disclosed  new 
evidences  of  a  thoughtlessness  which  had  deeply  pained  his  good 
uncle. 

Chiefly  from  the  letters  written  in  this  year,  we  learn  a  se- 
quence of  other  happenings.  Early  in  January,  Beethoven  sends 
copies  of  the  song-cycle,  "An  die  feme  Geliebte,"  to  Court  Coun- 
cillor Peters,  tutor  in  the  house  of  Prince  Lobkowitz,  for  the  new 
prince  whose  Christian  name  he  does  not  know.  In  the  same 
month  he  writes  an  autograph  French  communication  to  Thomson, 
in  Edinburgh,  stating  that  all  the  songs  which  he  had  commissioned 
in  the  previous  July  had  been  completed  by  the  end  of  September, 

burden  her  life  with  his  sufferings;  he  died  in  1815) — had  left  her  inclined  to  the  melan- 
choly mood,  with  a  hunger  for  affection  and  an  almost  passionate  longing  to  extend 
sympathy  to  those  who  seemed  to  her  to  be  in  need  of  care  and  love.  Her  outpourings 
frequently  touch  on  the  border  of  extravagant  sentimentality;  but  calm  reflection  gener- 
ally intervenes  with  its  wholesome  clog.  So  that,  on  the  whole,  they  can  be,  perhaps 
ought  to  be,  interpreted  as  nothing  more  than  a  disclosure  of  a  warm  interest  in  the  great 
composer  on  the  part  of  a  generous-souled  young  woman  filled  with  the  literary  habits 
of  the  period  mixed  with  an  overwhelming  admiration  for  his  genius  and  nobility  of 
character  and  an  impulsive  desire  to  bring  some  cheer  into  his  lonely  life.  Moreover, 
after  the  withdrawal  of  the  nephew  from  the  institute  and  the  cessation  of  intercourse 
between  Beethoven  and  the  Giannatasio  family,  his  name  disappears  from  the  diary, 
though  it  was  continued  till  1824. 

The  friendship  which  existed  for  years  between  Thayer  and  Frau  Pessiak  is  at- 
tested in  two  letters  from  the  latter  to  the  former  in  which  the  lady's  recollections  of  her 
grandparents  and  their  intercourse  with  Beethoven  are  set  forth.  Some  of  the  anec- 
dotes contained  in  these  letters  deserve  record  here.  Once,  Frau  Pessiak  relates,  there 
arose  a  serious  disagreement  between  her  grandfather  and  Beethoven  concerning  the 
latter's  nephew,  which  resulted  in  the  boy's  dismissal  from  the  institute.  Thereupon 
Beethoven  wrote  to  Anna  Giannatasio  begging  her  to  intercede  with  her  father  and  get 
his  consent  to  Karl's  return,  but  at  the  same  time  to  keep  the  fact  of  the  writing  secret 
and  to  burn  the  letter  as  soon  as  it  had  been  read.     The  lady  respected  both  wishes,  the 


Vienna,  Beethoven  stood  beside  the  writer's  mother  on  the  most  beautiful  observation 
point.  Suddenly  he  took  out  his  note-book,  tore  out  a  leaf,  drew  a  staff  upon  it,  jotted 
down  the  melody  of  the  song,  "Wenn  ich  ein  Voglein  war"  (Treitschke's  "lluf  vom 
Berge,"  No.  219,  in  Thayer's  "Chronological  Catalogue")  and  handed  it  to  his  companion 
with  the  words:  "Now,  Miss  Nanni,  do  you  write  the  bass  for  it."  "My  mother  cherished 
the  leaf  as  a  precious  souvenir  for  a  long  time,  then  gave  it  to  me  because,  as  she  said, 
I  was  the  most  musical  one  of  the  family,  and  would  best  appreciate  the  treasure.  I  have 
it  preserved  under  a  glass  and  frame."  One  day  Beethoven  brought  with  him  the  song 
from  "Faust"  beginning:  "Es  war  einmal  ein  Konig,  der  hatt'  einen  grossen  Floh" 
("Once  upon  a  time  there  was  a  king  who  had  a  large  flea").  "Aunt  and  mother  had  to 
try  it."  Then  Beethoven  took  his  seat  at  the  pianoforte  and  played  the  conclusion  in 
which  he  turned  his  thumb  and  with  it  struck  two  adjoining  keys  at  the  same  time, 
laughed  and  said:  "That's  the  way  to  kill  him!"  On  the  occasion  of  Anna  Giannatasio  s 
birthday,  Beethoven  came  and  offered  a  musical  congratulation.  Approacliing  her 
he  sang  with  great  solemnity  the  melody  of  a  canon  to  the  words:  "Aoove  all    may 


-zr 
Gliick  feM    Dir    vor        al  ^  -      Teiii,  Ge   -  sund-helt  auch-    nle  -  ma  -  lenl 


364  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

but  had  not  been  forwarded  because  of  an  illness  from  which  he 
was  not  yet  quite  recovered.  As  to  the  folksongs  of  various  nations 
he  urges  that  prose  versions  of  the  texts  be  obtained  as  being  pref- 
erable to  the  versified,  a  thing  which  he  had  suggested  before, 
the  prose  being  a  better  guide  for  him  to  the  sentiment  of  the  songs 
than  rhymed  lines.  On  January  30,  he  rebukes  Zmeskall  for  having 
pained  him  by  sending  him  a  gift  in  acknowledgment  of  the 
dedication  of  the  String  Quartet,  Op.  95,  which  had  come  from  the 
press  in  December,  1816.  "Although  you  are  only  a  performing 
musician,"  he  writes,  "you  have  several  times  exercised  the  power 
of  imagination,  and  it  seems  to  me  that  it  has  occasionally  put 
unnecessary  whims  into  your  head — at  least  so  it  seemed  to  me 
from  your  letter  after  my  dedication.  Good  as  I  am  and  much 
as  I  appreciate  all  the  good  in  you,  I  am  yet  angry,  angry,  angry." 
Other  letters  to  Steiner  at  this  time  refer  to  the  Pianoforte  Sonata 
in  A,  Op.  101,  which  was  then  in  the  hands  of  the  printers  and 
appeared  in  February  with  a  dedication  to  Baroness  Ertmann. 
The  suggestion  had  gone  out  that  German  composers  substitute 
German  terms  in  music  in  place  of  Italian.  With  characteristic 
impetuosity,  Beethoven  decided  to  begin  the  reform  at  once, 
although  it  seems  to  have  involved  the  reengraving  of  the  title- 
page  of  the  new  Sonata.  He  wrote  to  Steiner  in  the  military  style 
with  which  we  are  already  familiar: 

To  the  Wellborn  Lieut[enant]  Gen[eral],  for  his  own  hands. 

Puhlicandum 

After  individual  examination  and  taking  the  advice  of  my  council 
we  have  determined  and  hereby  determine  that  hereafter  on  all  our  works 
with  German  titles,  Hammerclavier  be  printed  in  place  of  pianoforte; 
our  best  Lt.  Gen.  as  well  as  the  Adjutant  and  all  others  concerned  will 
govern  themselves  accordingly  and  put  this  order  into  effect. 

Instead  of  Pianoforte,  Hammerclavier — which  settles  the  matter 
once  for  all. 

Given,  etc.,  etc.,  by  the 

on  January  23,  1817.  G[eneralissimu]3 

.  .  .  .m.p. 

Beethoven  was  in  doubt  as  to  the  correctness  of  "Hammer- 
clavier," thinking  that  it  might  better  be  "Hammerclavier." 
In  another  communication  he  savs  the  matter  must  be  referred  to 
a  philologist.  At  the  same  time  he  offers,  if  necessary,  to  pay  for 
the  engraving  of  a  new  title,  adding  that  perhaps  the  old  one  might 
be  utilized  for  another  sonata.  He  bases  his  acceptance  of  the 
new  word  on  the  belief  that  the  instrument  itself  was  a  German 
invention — a  theory  long  ago  disproved  so  far  as  the  priority  of 
the  invention  is  concerned. 


Reflections  Committed  to  Paper  3G5 

Baroness  Ertmann  now  lived  at  St.  Polten,  where  the  com- 
mand of  her  husband  lay  quartered,  and  thither  Beethoven  sent 
a  copy  of  the  "Hammerclavier"  sonata  accompanied  by  the 
following  letter: 

My  dear,  valued  Dorothea-Ciicilia! 

You  must  often  have  misunderstood  me  when  I  was  obliged  to 
appear  displeasing  to  you  particularly  in  the  early  days  when  my  style 
had  less  recognition  than  it  has  now.  You  know  the  teaching  of  the  un- 
called apostles  who  helped  themselves  along  with  quite  other  means  than 
the  holy  gospel;  I  did  not  want  to  be  counted  among  them.  Receive 
now  what  was  often  intended  for  you  and  what  may  be  a  proof  of  my 
affection  for  your  artistic  talent  as  well  as  your  person.  That  I  did  not 
hear  you  play  at  Czerny's  recently  was  due  to  my  ill-health  which  at  last 
seems  to  be  giving  way  before  my  strength. 

I  hope  soon  to  hear  you,  how  it  goes  at  Polten  with  .  .  .,  and  whether 
you  care  anything  for  your 

Admirer  and  friend, 

L.  van  Beethoven,  m.p. 

All  things  lovely  to  your  worthy  husband  and  consort.^ 

The  picture  of  Beethoven's  domestic  affairs  will  gain  in 
vividness  by  imagining  the  following  extracts  from  the  so-called 
"Tagebuch"  of  the  Fischoff  Manuscript  to  be  scattered  through 
these  preceding  pages.  Dates  are  nowhere  given;  but  memoranda 
of  letters  to  Brentano  in  April  follow  which  prove  these  notes  to 
belong  to  the  previous  months: 

Never  again  live  alone  with  a  servant;  there  is  always  danger,  sup- 
pose, for  instance,  the  master  falls  ill  and  the  servant,  perhaps,  also. 

He  who  wishes  to  reap  tears  should  sow  love.  (Beethoven  is  here 
surely  thinking  of  his  nephew.) 

The  Compassionate  Brothers  (the  monks)  in  Tell,  form  a  semi- 
circle around  the  dead  man  and  sing  in  deep  tones: 

Rasch  tritt  der  Tod  den  Menschen  an 

Es  ist  ihm  keine  Frist  gegeben 

Er  stiirzt  ihn  mitten  in  der  Bahn 

Es  reisst  ihn  fort  vom  vollem  Leben 

Bereitet  oder  nicht  zu  gehn ! 

Er  muss  vor  seinen  Richter  stehen  1 

iThis  letter  is  dated  "February  23,  1816"— another  obvious  blunder  of  the  kind 
to  which  Beethoven  was  prone;  it  should  of  course  be  1817.  In  the  letter  to  Steiner 
last  referred  to  he  asks  the  publisher  to  keep  the  dedication  a  secret,  as  he  intended  it  to 
be  a  surprise.  Thayer  accepted  the  date  and  explained  the  discrepancy  witli  the  suj:- 
gestion  that  Beethoven  had  forwarded  a  manuscript  copy  to  the  baroness.  1  he  thet.ry 
is  no  longer  tenable.  The  ladv  could  scarcely  be  surprised  by  a  printed  copy  if  she 
already  had  the  Sonata  in  manuscript  and  also  the  letter  which  so  plainly  shows  that 
the  Sonata  was  written  for  her.  It  is  also  plain  that  Schindler  was  in  error  when  he  stated 
that  the  Sonata  had  been  played  in  public  in  February,  1816.  Acc-ording  to  Nottebohm 
("Zweite  Beethoveniana,"  p.  3U),  the  autograph  of  the  Sonata  bears  the  inscription: 
"Neue  Sonata  fur  Ham 1816,  ira  Monath  November.  Its  forthcoming  ap- 
pearance in  print  was  announced  in  Kanne's  "Musik-Zeitung  under  dale  January  iJ, 
1817. 


366  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

Vidi  malum  et  accept. — (Plinius.) 

Tametsi  quid  homini  potest  dari  mains  quam  gloria  et  laus  et  aeternitas. 

— (Plinius.) 

What  more  can  be  given  to  man  than  fame  and  praise  and 
immortaHty? 

Audi  multa  loquere  pauca. 

Something  must  be  done — either  a  journey  and  to  this  end  the 
writing  of  the  necessary  works  or  an  opera — if  you  are  again  to  remain 
here  during  the  coming  summer  an  opera  would  be  preferable  in  case 
circumstances,  but  moderately — if  the  summer  sojourn  is  to  be  here,  a 
decision  must  be  made,  where,  how? 

God  help  me,  Thou  seest  me  deserted  by  all  men,  for  I  do  not  wish 
to  do  wrong,  hear  my  supplication,  only  for  the  future  to  be  with  my 
Karl,  since  the  possibility  shows  itself  nowhere,  O  harsh  fate,  O  cruel 
destiny,  no,  no,  my  unhappy  condition  will  never  end. 

This  one  thing  I  feel  and  clearly  comprehend,  possessions  are  not 
the  highest  things  in  life,  but  guilt  is  the  greatest  evil. 

There  is  no  salvation  for  you  except  to  go  away,  only  thus  can  you 
swing  yourself  up  to  the  summits  of  your  art  again,  while  here  you  are 
sinking  into  vulgarity,  and  a  symphony  .  .  .  and  then  away — away — 
away — meanwhile  collect  the  salary  which  mayhap  can  be  done  yet  for 
years. 

Work  during  the  summer  for  the  journey,  only  thus  can  you  carry 
out  the  great  task  for  your  poor  nephew,  afterward  wander  through  Italy, 
Sicily,  with  a  few  artists — make  plans  and  be  of  good  cheer  for  the  sake 
ofC. 

In  my  opinion,  first  the  saline  baths,  like  those  of  Wiesbaden,  etc., 
then  the  sulphur  baths  like  Aix-la-Chapelle  were  everlastingly  cold. 
Spend  evenings  and  afternoons  in  company,  it  is  uplifting  and  not  weary- 
ing and  live  a  different  life  at  home. 

Sensual  enjoyment  without  a  union  of  souls  is  bestial  and  will 
always  remain  bestial;  after  it,  one  experiences  not  a  trace  of  noble 
sentiment  but  rather  regret. 

Beethoven's  mind  was  engrossed  with  the  plans  of  travel  in- 
dicated in  these  excerpts  throughout  the  year;  he  considered  a 
tour  of  some  kind  essential  to  the  restoration  of  his  health  and  the 
recovery  of  his  creative  powers.  A  remittance  from  the  Kinsky 
estate  falling  due  in  April,  he  wrote  a  letter  to  Kanka  asking  him 
to  make  the  collection  for  him  and  enclosed  a  receipt.  He  com- 
plains of  still  feeling  the  effects  of  an  inflammatory  catarrh  with 
which  he  had  been  attacked  in  the  previous  October,  and  ends  by 
asking  what  would  be  the  consequence  if  he  were  to  leave  the 
Austrian  Empire;  would  a  signature  sent  from  a  foreign  place  be 
valid.^ — meaning,  probably,  would  such  a  signature  be  looked 
upon  as  evidence  of  a  violation  of  the  contract  which  he  was  under 
to  his  noble  patrons  not  to  take  up  a  residence  outside  the  Aus- 
trian dominions.  His  chronic  disatisfaction  with  the  conditions 
which  surrounded  him  in  Vienna,  as  well  as  the  moody  mind  in 


Explanations  to  Charles  Neate       3G7 

which  his  illness  had  left  him,  also  breathes  through  the  following 
letter  (written  in  German)  to  Charles  Neate  in  London: 

Vienna,  April  19,  1817. 
My  dear  Neate! 

Since  the  15th  of  October  I  have  been  seemingly  ill  and  I  am  still 
suffering  from  the  consequences  and  not  quite  healed.  You  know  that 
I  must  live  from  my  compositions  alone,  I  have  been  able  to  comj)ose  very 
little,  and  therefore  to  earn  almost  nothing,  all  the  more  welcome  would 
it  have  been  if  you  had  done  something  for  me — meanwhile  I  suspect  that 
the  result  of  everything  has  been — nothing. 

You  have  even  written  complain  in gly  of  me  to  Hering,  which  was 
not  deserved  by  my  fair  dealing  with  you — meanwhile  I  must  justify  in 
the  premises,  namely:  the  opera  Fidelio  had  been  written  for  several 
years,  but  the  book  and  text  were  very  faulty;  the  book  had  to  be 
thoroughly  remodeled,  wherefore  several  pieces  of  the  music  had  to  be 
extended,  others  shortened,  others  newly  composed.  Thus,  for  instance, 
the  overture  is  entirely  new,  as  well  as  various  other  numbers,  but  it  is 
possible  that  the  opera  may  be  found  in  London,  as  it  ivas  at  first,  in 
which  case  it  must  have  been  stolen  as  is  scarcely  to  be  avoided  at  the 
theatre.  As  regards  the  Symphony  in  A,  as  you  did  not  write  me  a 
satisfactory  reply,  I  was  obliged  to  publish  it,  I  should  as  willingly  have 
waited  3  years  if  you  had  written  me  that  the  Philharmonic  Society  had 
accepted  it — but  on  all  hands  nothing — nothing.  Now  regarding  the 
Pianoforte  Sonatas  with  Violoncello,  for  them  I  give  you  a  month's  time, 
if  after  that  I  have  no  answer  from  you  I  shall  publish  them  in  Germany, 
but  having  heard  as  little  from  you  about  them  as  about  the  other  works, 
I  have  given  them  to  a  German  publisher  who  importuned  me  for  them, 
but  I  have  bound  him,  in  loriting  {Hering  has  read  the  document)  not  to 
publish  the  Sonatas  iiniil  you  have  sold  them  in  London,  it  seems  to  me  that 
you  ought  to  be  able  to  dispose  of  these  2  sonatas  for  70  or  80  ducats  in 
gold  at  least,  the  English  publisher  may  fix  the  day  of  publication  in 
London  and  they  will  appear  on  the  same  day  in  Germany,  it  was  in  this 
manner  Birchall  bought  and  got  the  Grand  Trio  and  the  Violin  Sonata 
from  me.  I  also  beg  you  as  a  last  favor  to  give  me  an  answer  touching  the 
sonatas  as  soon  as  possible.  Frau  v.  Jenny  swears  that  you  have  done 
everything  for  me,  I  too,  that  is  to  say  I  swear  that  you  have  done  nothing 
for  me,  are  doing  nothing  and  will  do  nothing — summa  summarum,  nothing! 
nothing!  nothing!!! 

I  assure  you  of  my  most  perfect  respect  and  hope  as  a  last  favor  a 
speedy  reply. 

The  Sonatas  had  been  published  three  months  before  this 
letter  was  written,  by  Simrock  in  Bonn;  a  fact  which  Beethoven 
seems  to  have  assumed  was  not  known  in  London.  The  Frau  v. 
Jenny  mentioned  was  the  Countess  von  Genney,  through  whose 
aid  Beethoven  hired  a  villa  in  Hetzendorf,  from  Baron  von  Pro- 
nay  in  1823.  Beethoven's  irascible  outbreak  against  Neate  must 
be  read  in  the  light  of  the  latter's  letter  of  explanation  and  apology 
dated  October  29,  1816,  and  printed  in  the  preceding  chapter. 


368  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

The  new  lodgings  in  Georgi  were  occupied  by  Beethoven 
on  April  24,  1817,  but  the  contract  of  rent  may  have  been 
temporary  and  conditional,  for  in  July  and  again  in  September 
he  wrote  to  Frau  Streicher  about  lodgings  in  the  Gartnergasse, 
and  later  in  the  year  he  changed  his  lodgings,  for  which  he 
had  little  use  during  the  summer  because  of  his  sojourn  in  the 
country, 

Alois  Fuchs,  now  a  youth  of  nearly  18  years,  had  come  to 
Vienna  some  months  earlier  to  enter  the  university,  dependent 
largely  upon  his  musical  talents  and  knowledge  for  his  support. 
Here  he  appears  to  have  studied  the  violin  under  Beethoven's 
old  friend,  Krumpholz.  Whether  because  the  composer  remem- 
bered him  as  the  solo  singer  in  his  mass  at  Troppau,  or  through 
the  intervention  of  Krumpholz,  Fuchs  has  not  informed  us;  but 
at  any  rate  he  had  promised  a  contribution  to  the  youngster's 
album.  On  May  2nd  Krumpholz  died  very  suddenly  of  apoplexy 
while  walking  on  the  Glacis,  and  Beethoven  commemorated  the 
event  by  writing  his  "Gesang  der  Monche"  (from  Schiller's  *'TeH") 
for  three  male  voices  in  Fuchs's  album  with  the  superscription: 
"In  memory  of  the  sudden  and  unexpected  death  of  our  Krump- 
holz on  May  3rd,  1817."  The  date  was  not  intended  to  record 
the  time  of  composition,  but  of  the  death  of  the  violinist;  as  such 
a  record  it  was  an  error. 

After  the  composer's  removal  to  the  suburb  Landstrasse,  his 
mind  was  much  occupied  with  a  new  matter  between  himself  and 
the  widow  van  Beethoven,  namely,  her  bearing  a  share  of  the 
expenses  of  her  son's  education.  This  was  concluded  by  a  con- 
tract signed  by  both  parties  on  May  10,  1817,  binding  her  to  pay 
at  once  into  court  2,000  florins  for  the  lad's  education  and  sup- 
port, and  in  the  future  to  pay  to  the  same  tribunal  every  quarter 
at  least  one-half  of  the  pension  which  the  widow  was  to  receive,  as 
well  as  other  contributions.  Reference  is  had  to  this  agreement  in 
the  following  entries  in  the  Fischoff  "Tagebuch"  in  January  or 
February  of  the  next  year: 

Karl's  mother  asked  for  the  contract,  the  basis  of  which  was  that 
the  house  should  be  sold.  From  the  proceeds  of  the  sale  it  might  be 
counted  upon  that  all  debts  could  be  paid  out  of  the  one-half  and  also 
the  half  of  the  widow's  income  besides  the  money  for  Karl's  needs  and 
desires,  so  that  all  (indeed!  prob.  not  alone)  might  live  decently  but  well, 
but  inasmuch  as  the  house  is  not  to  be  sold!  which  was  the  chief  considera- 
tion for  the  signing  of  the  contract  since  it  was  alleged  that  execution  had 
already  been  levied  against  it,  my  scruples  must  now  cease,  and  I  can 
well  imagine  that  the  widow  has  cared  pretty  well  for  herself,  which  I 
most  cordially  wish  her.     My  duty,  O  Lord,  I  have  done. 


Karl's  Mother  Made  to  Share  Her  Pension    3G9 

It  would  have  been  possible  without  offending  the  widow,  but  that 
was  not  the  matter,  and  Thou,  Almighty  One,  seest  into  my  heart,  know- 
est  that  I  have  sacrificed  the  best  of  my  own  for  the  sake  of  my  ])recious 
Karl,  bless  my  work,  bless  the  widow,  why  cannot  I  wholly  follow  my 
heart's  inclinations  and  hereafter  for  the  widow 

God,  God,  my  refuge,  my  rock,  O  my  all.  Thou  seest  my  inmost 
heart  and  knowest  how  it  pains  me  to  be  obliged  to  compel  another  to 
suffer  by  my  good  labors  for  my  precious  Karl!  !  !  O  hear  me  always. 
Thou  Ineffable  One,  hear  me — Thy  unhappy,  most  unhappy  of  all 
mortals. 

This  was  the  barren  result  of  negotiations  which  had  cost  Beet- 
hoven, as  to  any  important  work,  the  first  half  of  the  year.  In  ^lay, 
Beethoven  took  rooms  in  Heiligenstadt  to  try  the  baths  for  his 
obstinate  catarrh,  of  which  he  speaks  in  a  characteristic  letter  to 
Countess  Erdody,  railing  against  his  Italian  physician  (either 
Malfatti  or  Bertolini),  whom  he  accuses  of  lacking  both  honesty 
and  insight,  and  describing  the  treatment  prescribed  for  him. 

Christian  Kuffner,  a  poet,  afterwards  Court  Secretary,  who 
(though  Nottebohm  questioned  it)  probably  gave  poetical  form 
to  the  text  for  the  Choral  Fantasia,  also  spent  some  time  in  the 
summer  of  1817  in  Heiligenstadt,  and,  as  he  told  Music  Director 
Krenn,  often  went  with  Beethoven  of  an  evening  to  Nussdorf  for 
a  fish  supper  in  the  tavern  "Zur  Rose."  On  one  of  these  occasions, 
when  Beethoven  was  amiably  disposed,  Kuffner  began; 

K. — Tell  me  frankly,  which  is  your  favorite  among  your  symphonies? 
B. — (in  great  good  humor)  Eh!  Eh!  the  "Eroica." 
K. — I  should  have  guessed  the  C  minor. 
B.— No;  the  "Eroica." 

Long  years  afterwards,  in  18^26,  when  Kuffner  was  negotiating 
with  Beethoven  for  an  oratorio  text,  he  recalled  the  meetings  in 
Nussdorf  and  wrote  in  Beethoven's  Conversation  Book:  "Do  you 
remember  the  fisherman's  house  in  Nussdorf,  where  we  sat  till 
midnight  in  the  light  of  the  full  moon  on  the  terrace,  before  us  the 
rushing  brook  and  the  swollen  Danube.^  I  was  your  guest." 
Beethoven  soon  had  his  fish  with  less  trouble;  he  moved  to 
Nussdorf,  perhaps  in  June  (at  least  he  was  there  in  July,  though 
he  kept  his  lodging  in  the  city),  and  in  Nussdorf  he  remained  till 
October,  sending  occasional  notes  to  Frau  Streicher,  from  which  it 
appears  that  he  was  having  his  customary  trouble  with  servants. 
Here,  too,  he  received  the  following  highly  important  letter  from 
Ferdinand  Ries,  written  in  London  on  June  9,  1817: 

For  a  very  long  time  I  have  been  forgotten  by  you,  although  I  can 
think  of  no  other  cause  than  your  too  great  occupation,  and.  as  I  was  com- 
pelled to  hear  from  others,  your  serious  illness.     Truly,  dear  Beethoven, 


370  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

the  gratitude  which  I  owe  you  and  always  must  owe  you — and  I  believe 
I  may  honestly  say  I  have  never  forgotten  it — although  enemies  have 
often  represented  me  to  you  as  ungrateful  and  envious — is  unalterable, 
as  I  have  always  ardently  desired  to  prove  to  you  in  more  than  words. 
This  ardent  desire  has  now  (I  hope)  been  fulfilled,  and  I  hope  to  find 
again  in  my  old  teacher,  my  old  and  affectionate  friend.  The  Phil- 
harmonic Society,  of  which  our  friend  Neate  is  now  also  a  director,  and 
at  whose  concerts  your  compositions  are  preferred  to  all  others,  wishes  to 
give  you  an  evidence  of  its  great  respect  for  you  and  its  appreciation  of 
the  many  beautiful  moments  which  your  great  works  have  so  often  pro- 
vided for  us;  and  I  feel  it  a  most  flattering  compliment  to  have  been 
empowered  with  Neate  to  write  to  you  on  the  subject.  In  short,  my  dear 
Beethoven,  we  should  like  to  have  you  with  us  in  London  next  winter. 
Friends  will  receive  you  with  open  arms;  and  to  give  you  at  least  one 
proof  of  this  I  have  been  commissioned  on  behalf  of  the  Philharmonic 
Society  to  offer  you  300  guineas  on  the  following  conditions: 

1st.  You  are  to  be  here  in  London  next  winter. 

2nd.  You  are  to  write  two  grand  symphonies  for  the  Philharmonic 
Society,  which  are  to  be  its  property. 

3rd.  You  must  bind  yourself  not  to  deliver  any  composition  for 
grand  orchestra  for  any  concert  in  London,  nor  direct  any  concert  before 
or  during  our  eight  concerts,  which  begin  towards  the  end  of  February 
and  end  in  the  first  half  of  the  month  of  June  (without  the  consent  of  the 
Philharmonic  Society),  which  certainly  will  not  be  difficult. 

Do  not  understand  by  this  that  we  want  to  tie  your  hands;  it  is  only 
in  case  an  opposition  which  we  have  once  put  down  should  again  arise, 
since  the  gentlemen  might  plan  to  have  you  for  themselves  against 
instead  of  for  us.  At  the  same  time  it  might  call  up  many  enemies  against 
you  to  decline  something  when  the  responsibility  would  rest  entirely  with 
us  directors,  and  we  should  not  be  obliged  to  give  heed  to  the  matter. 
We  are  all  cordially  disposed  in  your  favor  and  I  believe  that  every 
opportunity  to  be  helpful  to  you  in  your  plans  would  sooner  give  us 
pleasure  than  any  desire  to  restrict  you  in  the  least. 

4th.  You  are  not  to  appear  in  the  orchestra  at  any  concert  until 
our  first  two  concerts  are  over,  unless  you  want  to  give  a  concert  your- 
self, and  you  can  give  as  many  of  your  own  concerts  as  you  please. 

5th.  You  are  to  be  here  before  the  8th  of  January,  1818,  free  from  all 
obligations  to  the  Society  except  to  give  us  the  preference  in  the  future  in 
case  we  meet  the  same  conditions  offered  you  by  others. 

6th.  In  case  you  accept  the  engagement  and  need  money  for  the 
journey  you  may  have  100  guineas  in  advance.  This  is  the  offer  which 
I  am  authorized  to  make  to  you  by  the  Society. 

All  negotiations  with  publishers  are  left  to  you  as  well  as  those  with 
Sir  G.  Smart,  who  has  offered  you  100  guineas  for  an  oratorio  in  one  act, 
and  who  has  specially  commissioned  me  to  remind  you  of  an  answer,  in- 
asmuch as  he  would  like  to  have  the  work  for  next  winter.  The  inten- 
dant  of  the  grand  opera,  G.  Ayrton,  is  a  particular  friend  of  ours.  He 
does  not  want  to  engage  himself,  but  he  promised  us  to  commission  an 
opera  from  you. 

Your  own  concert,  or  as  many  concerts  as  you  choose  to  give,  may 
bring  in  a  handsome  sum  to  you  as  well  as  other  engagements  in  the 


Plans  for  a  Trip  to  Engl.\nd  Approved         371 

country.  Neate  and  I  rejoice  like  children  at  the  prospect  of  seeing  you 
here  and  I  need  not  say  that  I  will  do  all  in  my  power  to  make  your' so- 
journ profitable  and  pleasant;  I  know  England,  too,  and  do  not  doubt 
your  success  for  a  moment. 

Moreover,  we  need  somebody  here  who  will  put  life  into  things  and 
keep  the  gentlemen  of  the  orchestra  in  order. 

Yesterday  evening  our  last  concert  took  place  and  your  beautiful 
Symphony  in  A-sharp  [B-flat]  was  given  with  extraordinary  applause. 
It  frightens  one  to  think  of  symphony  writers  when  one  sees  and  hears 
such  a  work.  Write  me  very  soon  an  explicit  answer  and  bid  me  hope  to 
see  you  yourself  here  before  long. 

Beethoven  was  prompt  with  his  answer,  but  wishing  to  send  a 
fair  copy  to  Ries  and  having  his  own  reasons  for  not  wanting 
Haring's  handwriting  to  appear  in  the  correspondence  he  sent  his 
letter  to  Zmeskall  for  transcription  and  posting.  The  letter,  which 
was  promptly  forwarded  to  London,  was  as  follows: 

Vienna,  July  9,  1817. 
The  propositions  made  in  your  letter  of  the  9th  of  June  are  very 
flattering.  You  will  see  by  this  how  much  I  appreciate  them;  were  it  not 
for  my  unlucky  affliction  which  entails  more  attendance  and  cost  than 
ordinary,  particularly  while  travelling  and  in  a  strange  land,  I  would 
accept  the  Philharmonic  Society's  offer  unconditionally.  But  put  your- 
self in  my  place;  reflect  how  many  more  hindrances  I  have  to  contend 
with  than  any  other  artist,  and  judge  then  if  my  demands  be  unfair. 
Here  they  are  and  I  beg  of  you  to  communicate  them  to  the  directors  of 
the  said  Society. 

1)  I  shall  be  in  London  in  the  first  half  of  the  month  of  January, 
1818,  at  the  latest. 

2)  The  two  grand  symphonies,  newly  composed,  shall  then  be 
ready  and  become  and  remain  the  exclusive  property  of  the  Society. 

3)  For  them  the  Society  is  to  give  me  300  guineas  and  100  guineas 
for  travelling  expenses,  which  will  be  much  more,  since  I  must  necessarily 
take  a  companion  with  me. 

4)  Inasmuch  as  I  shaU  go  to  work  on  the  symphonies  at  once,  the 
Society  is  to  advance  me  (on  the  acceptance  of  this  offer)  150  guincjis  here 
so  that  I  may  provide  myself  with  a  carriage  and  other  necessaries  for 
my  journey  without  delay. 

5)  The  conditions  respecting  my  non-appearance  with  another 
orchestra  in  public  and  my  non-conducting,  and  preferring  the  Society 
under  equal  conditions  are  accepted  by  me  and  in  view  of  my  sense  of 
honor  would  have  been  understood  as  a  matter  of  course. 

6)  I  shall  rely  upon  the  support  of  the  Society  in  the  projection  and 
promotion  of  one,  or,  if  circumstances  justify,  more  benefit  concerts. 
The  particular  friendship  of  some  of  the  directors  of  your  worthy  Reunion 
as  well  as  the  kind  interest  of  all  artists  in  my  works  are  a  guarantee  for 
this  and  will  increase  my  zeal  to  fulfil  all  their  expectations. 

7)  In  conclusion  I  beg  that  the  acquiescence  in  or  confirmation  of 
the  above  be  written  out  in  English  and  sent  to  me  with  the  signatures 
of  three  directors  of  the  Society. 


372  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

You  can  imagine  that  I  heartily  rejoice  at  the  prospect  of  becoming 
acquainted  with  the  estimable  Sir  George  Smart  and  of  meeting  you  and 
Mr.  Neate  again.     Would  that  I  might  fly  to  you  instead  of  this  letter! 

To  this  Beethoven  appended  an  autograph  postscript  as  follows: 

I  embrace  you  with  all  my  heart;  I  purposely  employed  the  hand  of 
another  in  the  above  so  that  you  might  the  more  easily  read  it  to  the 
Society.  I  am  convinced  of  your  kind  feelings  toward  me  and  hope  that 
the  Philharmonic  Society  will  approve  of  my  proposition,  and  you  may 
rest  assured  that  I  shall  exert  all  my  powers  worthily  to  fulfil  the  honor- 
able commission  of  so  select  a  body  of  artists.  How  numerous  is  your 
orchestra.'*  How  many  violins,  etc.,  etc.,  single  or  double  wind- 
instruments?     Is  the  room  large,  acoustically  good.^* 

These  letters,  as  well  as  those  which  passed  between  Beet- 
hoven and  Ries  subsequently,  ought  to  serve  to  indicate  that  the 
relationship  between  them  at  this  time  was,  and  remained,  one 
of  cordial  friendship,  Schindler's  statements  to  the  contrary  not- 
withstanding. That  biographer's  list  of  grievances  between  the 
men  mav  have  had  a  small  shadow  of  foundation,  but  after  all  it 
would  be  better  to  take  them  with  a  few  grains  of  salt.  It  is  very 
possible,  as  Czerny  told  Jahn,  that  Beethoven  once  complained  to 
him  that  Ries  imitated  his  style  more  than  was  agreeable  to  him; 
but  this  is  far  from  saying,  as  Schindler  says,  that  Ries,  following 
a  bent  for  brilliant  technique,  gradually  lost  his  understanding  of 
Beethoven's  works,  took  it  upon  himself  to  find  fault  with  some 
of  his  daring  innovations  and  made  arbitrary  changes  in  per- 
forming them.  Nor  does  it  seem  likely  that  Ries  should  have  been 
so  indifferent  to  the  success  of  Beethoven's  compositions  in  London 
as  to  withhold  his  help  while  reporting  their  great  popularity  to 
the  composer  in  such  enthusiastic  words;  yet  Schindler  intimates 
that  it  was  this  fact  which,  coming  to  the  ears  of  Beethoven,  pro- 
voked the  latter  to  expressions  of  anger  which  in  turn  were  re- 
ported to  Ries.  There  is  in  all  this,  we  fear,  an  undercurrent  of 
prejudice  which  is  not  difficult  of  explanation;  at  any  rate,  if  Ries 
cherished  a  feeling  of  ill-will  against  his  master  it  found  no  ex- 
pression in  the  "Notizen." 

Efforts  of  the  widow  van  Beethoven  to  keep  in  touch  with  her 
son,  and  questions  of  discipline  in  his  bringing-up  and  education, 
were  matters  which  weighed  heavily  on  Beethoven's  mind  during 
the  summer  of  1817,  and  occasioned  more  misunderstandings 
between  Giannatasio  and  the  composer,  as  also  much  distress  in 
the  minds  of  the  former's  daughters,  especially  the  solicitous 
Fanny,  as  is  evidenced  by  entries  in  her  diary  under  dates  June  25 
and  July  8  and  21.     In  an  undated  letter  which  seems  to  belong  to 


Discipline  for  Karl  and  His  Mother  373 

this  period,  Beethoven  explains  to  Giannatasio  that  the  mother 
had  expressly  asked  to  see  Karl  at  his,  the  composer's,  house  and 
that  certain  evidences  of  indecision  on  his  part  which  his  cor- 
respondent had  observed  (and  apparently  held  up  to  him)  had 
not  been  due  to  any  want  of  confidence,  but  to  his  antipathy  to 
"inhuman  conduct  of  any  kind,"  and  the  circumstance  that  it 
had  been  put  out  of  the  power  of  the  woman  to  do  the  lad  harm  in 
any  respect.     On  the  subject  of  discipline  he  writes: 

As  regards  Karl,  I  beg  of  you  to  hold  him  to  strict  obedience  and 
if  he  does  not  obey  you  (or  any  of  those  whom  he  ought  to  obey)  to 
punish  him  at  once,  treat  him  as  you  would  your  own  child  rather  than 
as  a  pupil,  for  as  I  have  already  told  you,  during  the  lifetime  of  his  father 
he  could  only  be  forced  to  obey  by  blows;  this  was  very  bad  but  it  was 
unfortunately  so  and  must  not  be  forgotten. 

He  requested  that  the  letter  be  read  to  his  nephew.  Beet- 
hoven's "antipathy  to  inhuman  conduct  of  any  kind"  seems  to 
have  led  him  to  make  concessions  to  the  widow  of  which  he  soon 
repented.  In  a  letter  to  Zmeskall  dated  July  30,  he  says:  "After 
all,  it  might  pain  Karl's  mother  to  be  obliged  to  visit  her  son  at  the 
house  of  a  stranger  and,  besides,  there  is  more  harshness  in  this 
affair  than  I  like;  therefore  I  shall  permit  her  to  come  to  me  to- 
morrow"; and  he  urgently  begs  his  friend  to  be  a  witness  of  the 
meeting.  In  a  note  to  Giannatasio  he  informs  him  of  his  inten- 
tion to  take  Karl  to  see  his  mother,  because  she  was  desirous  to 
put  herself  in  a  better  light  before  her  neighbors,  and  this  might 
help.  But  a  fortnight  after  the  letter  to  Zmeskall  he  has  changed 
his  mind,  as  witness  a  letter  to  Giannatasio  dated  August  14,  in 
which  he  writes: 

I  wanted  this  time  to  try  an  experiment  to  see  if  she  might  not  be 
bettered  by  greater  forbearance  and  gentleness  .  .  .  but  it  has  foundered, 
for  on  Sunday  I  had  already  determined  to  adhere  to  the  old  necessary 
strictness,  because  in  the  short  time  she  had  communicated  some  of  her 
venom  to  Karl — in  short  we  must  stick  to  the  zodiak  and  permit  her  to 
see  Karl  only  12  times  a  year  and  then  so  hedge  her  about  that  she  cannot 
secretly  slip  him  even  a  pin.  It  is  all  the  same  to  me  whether  it  be  at 
your  house,  at  mine,  or  at  a  third  place.  I  had  believed  that  by  yielding 
wholly  to  her  wishes  she  might  be  encouraged  to  better  her  conduct  and 
appreciate  my  utter  unselfishness. 

Notwithstanding  the  jeremiads  in  Beethoven's  letters  this 
year,  and  the  annoyance  caused  him  by  his  sister-in-law,  there  are 
indications  in  plenty  that  he  was  not  on  the  whole  in  that  state  of 
dejection  which  one  might  suppose.  One  of  these  indications  is 
a  work  which  amused  him  during  the  summer,  the  story  of  which 
the    careful    Dehn    admitted    into   the   "Cacilia."     A    musician. 


374  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

whose  name  is  not  mentioned,  brought  to  Beethoven  the  Piano- 
forte Trio,  Op.  1,  No.  3,  which  he  had  arranged  for  string  quintet 
(two  violins,  two  violas  and  violoncello).  Though  the  composer, 
no  doubt,  found  much  to  criticize  in  the  transcription  it  seems  to 
have  interested  him  sufficiently  to  lead  him  to  undertake  a 
thorough  remodelling  of  the  score,  on  the  cover  of  which  he  wrote 
the  whimsical  title: 

Arrangement  of  a  Terzett  as  a 
3  voiced  Quintet 
by  Mr.  Goodwill 
and  from  the  appearance  of  5  voices 
brought  to  the  light  of  day  in  5  real  voices 
and  lifted  from  the  most  abject  Miserabilitai 
to  moderate  respectability 
by  Mr.  Wellwisher 
1817 
August  14, 
N.  B.     The  original  3  voiced  Quintet  score  has  been  sacrificed  as  a 
burnt  offering  to  the  gods  of  the  Underworld. 

The  score  of  the  arrangement  is  in  the  handwriting  of  a  copyist 
with  corrections  by  Beethoven;  the  title,  however,  is  his  autograph. 
It  is  preserved  in  the  Royal  Library  at  Berlin.  The  work  was 
published  by  Artaria  in  February,  1819,  as  Op.  104.  Beethoven 
evidently  attached  considerable  importance  to  it.  He  referred 
to  it  in  letters  to  Frau  von  Streicher,  Zmeskall  and  Ries;  it  was 
performed  at  a  musical  entertainment  of  the  Gesellschaft  der 
Musikfreunde  in  Vienna  on  December  13,  1818. 

Beethoven  having  obtained  possession  of  his  nephew  and 
placed  him  in  Giannatasio's  institute,  very  naturally  took  measures 
that  he  should  have  systematic  instruction  in  music;  to  this  end 
he  employed  Carl  Czerny  as  teacher,  and  to  him  we  now  turn  for 
information  on  this  point. ^  Czerny  writes: 

In  the  year  1815  [1816],  at  his  request  I  began  teaching  his  nephew 
Karl,  whom  he  had  already  adopted,  and  from  that  time  I  saw  him  almost 
daily,  since  for  the  greater  part  of  the  time  he  brought  the  little  fellow  to 
me.  From  this  period  I  still  have  many  letters  written  by  him,  one  of 
which  I  reproduce  here  with  absolute  fidelity  because  it  is  musically 
noteworthy: 

"I  beg  of  you  to  have  as  much  patience  as  possible  with  Karl  even 
if  matters  do  not  go  now  as  well  as  you  and  I  might  wish,  otherwise  he 
will  accomplish  even  less,  for  (but  this  he  must  not  know)  he  is  already 
subjected  to  too  great  a  strain  because  of  the  improper  division  of  his 

*The  principal  contributions  to  Beethoven's  biography  from  Czerny 's  pen  are  in 
Schmidt's  "Wiener  Allg.  Mus.  Zeitung,"  1845,  No.  113;  Cock's  "Musical  Miscellany," 
London,  1852;  and  manuscript  notes  in  Jahn's  papers. 


Pedagogic  Suggestions  to  Czerny  375 

studies.  Unhappily  this  cannot  be  changed  at  once,  therefore  treat  him 
with  as  much  loving  consideration  as  possible,  but  with  seriousness;  thus 
you  will  have  better  success  with  Karl  in  spite  of  the  unfavorable  con- 
ditions. In  regard  to  his  playing  for  you,  I  beg  that  not  until  he  has 
acquired  a  correct  fingering  and  can  play  in  time  and  reads  the  notes  with 
reasonable  correctness,  you  direct  his  attention  to  the  matter  of  inter- 
pretation, and  thereafter  not  to  stop  him  because  of  trifling  mistakes  but 
to  point  them  out  after  he  has  finished  the  piece.  Although  I  have 
given  but  few  lessons  I  have  always  followed  this  method,  it  soon  makes 
musicians  which,  at  the  last,  is  one  of  the  first  purposes  of  art,  and  gives 
the  minimum  of  weariness  to  master  and  pupil.     At  certain  passages  like 


I  wish  that  you  would  use  all  the  fingers  occasionally  as  well  in  such  as 
these 


I  ri;j:rrrrr-"7r£ 


so  that  they  may  be  played  in  a  gliding  manner.  True,  such  passages 
sound  'pearly'  as  the  phrase  goes  (played  with  few  fingers)  or  'like  a 
pearl,'  but  at  times  other  jewels  are  desirable.  More  at  another  time. 
I  wish  that  you  may  receive  all  this  in  the  loving  spirit  in  which  it  is 
expressed  and  intended,  at  any  rate  I  am  and  will  always  remain  your 
debtor.  May  my  sincerity  be  a  pledge  for  future  payment  so  far  as 
possible." 

Noteworthy  in  this  interesting  letter  is  the  very  correct  view  that 
one  ought  not  to  weary  the  talent  of  a  pupil  by  too  much  petty  concern 
(wherein  much  depends  on  the  qualities  of  the  pupil,  it  is  true)  as  well  as 
the  singular  fingering  and  its  influence  on  interpretation. 

Much  more  valuable  were  Beethoven's  oral  remarks  about  all  kinds  of 
musical  topics,  other  composers,  etc.,  touching  whom  he  always  spoke  with 
the  greatest  positiveness,  with  striking,  often  caustic  wit  and  always  from 
the  lofty  point  of  view  which  his  genius  opened  to  him  and  from  which  he 
looked  out  upon  his  art.  His  judgment  even  concerning  classic  masters  was 
severe,  as  a  rule,  and  uttered  as  if  he  felt  his  equality.  At  one  lesson 
which  I  gave  his  nephew  he  said  to  me:  "You  must  not  think  that  you 
will  do  me  a  favor  by  giving  him  pieces  of  mine  to  play.  I  am  not  so 
childish  as  to  desire  that.     Give  him  what  you  think  good  for  him." 

I  mentioned  Clementi.  "Yes,  yes,"  said  he;  "Clementi  is  very  good," 
adding,  laughingly  "For  the  present  give  Karl  the  regular  things  so  that 
after  a  while  he  may  reach  the  irregular." 

After  such  conceits,  which  he  was  in  the  habit  of  weaving  into  nearly 
every  speech,  he  used  to  burst  into  a  peal  of  laughter.  Since  irregulari- 
ties used  to  be  charged  against  him  by  the  critics  in  his  earlier  days  he  was 
wont  often  to  allude  to  the  fact  with  merry  humor.  At  that  time  (about 
1816)  I  began  to  have  musical  entertainments  at  my  home  for  my  very 
numerous  pupils  every  Sunday  before  a  very  select  circle.  Beethoven 
was  almost  always  present,  he  improvised  many  times  with  kindly  readi- 
ness and  with  that  wealth  of  ideas  which  always  characterized  his  im- 


376  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

promptu  playing  as  much,  or  often  more,  than  his  written  works.  As 
his  compositions  were  chiefly  played  at  these  meetings  and  he  indicated 
the  tempo,  I  believe  that  in  this  respect  I  am  intimately  acquainted  with 
his  wishes  regarding  his  works  (even  his  symphonies,  which  were 
frequently  played  in  arrangements  for  two  pianofortes). 

No  animadversion  upon  the  venerable  Carl  Czerny  is  intended 
in  again  remarking  that  both  in  his  memoirs  and  in  the  language 
in  which  he  has  sometimes  recorded  them  there  is  occasionally  a 
very  disturbing  inexactness.  In  the  citations  above  the  date 
1815  for  1816,  the  loose  expression  "from  that  time  I  saw  him 
almost  daily,"  "Beethoven  was  almost  always  present"  in  the 
Sunday  music  meetings,  which  can  have  been  true  only  of  the 
first  months,  and  the  words  "he  improvised  many  times,"  must 
not  be  understood  too  literally.  Schindler,  in  whose  hands  Jahn 
placed  Czerny's  notes  and  other  manuscripts  for  examination  and 
remark,  observes  touching  this  improvising:  "Only  twice;  the 
first  time  when  Frau  von  Ertmann  played  one  of  his  sonatas,  the 
other  time  when  Czerny  performed  Op.  106,  which  he  had  re- 
peatedly gone  through  with  him.  In  the  year  1818,  and  those  that 
followed,  Beethoven  never  improvised  outside  of  his  own  dwelling." 
Schindler  is  certainly  mistaken  upon  this  last  point,  and,  very  pos- 
sibly, upon  the  other.  It  is  not  a  matter  of  much  importance  in 
any  aspect,  but  it  offers  an  opportunity  for  remarking  upon  errors 
in  his  dates  which  have  long  been  and  still  are  an  abundant  source 
of  confusion  in  this  part  of  Beethoven's  life,  like  those  of  Wegeler 
and  Ries  in  his  youth  and  early  manhood.  More  than  one  recent 
writer  speaks  of  his  "intimate  association  wath  the  composer  from 
the  year  1814  onward";  one  has  even  learned  that  "he  lived  ten 
years  in  the  same  house  with  Beethoven,  devoting  all  the  time  at 
his  command  to  him."  Nothing  is  more  common  than  to  find 
circumstances  accepted  as  undoubted  facts  on  Schindler's  au- 
thority. The  present  writer^  discussed  at  length  Schindler's 
character  as  a  biographer  wdth  Otto  Jahn,  both  of  us  having 
known  him  personally.  Our  opinions  coincided  perfectly.  We 
held  him  to  be  honest  and  sincere  in  his  statements,  but  afflicted 
with  a  treacherous  memory  and  a  proneness  to  accept  impressions 
and  later  formed  convictions  as  facts  of  former  personal  knowledge, 
and  to  publish  them  as  such  without  carefully  verifying  them. 
In  justice  to  him  it  must  be  remembered  that  when,  at  Frankfort- 
on-the-Main,  he  rewrote  his  book  in  the  form  in  which  it  appeared 
in  1860,  he  had  no  longer  the  means  of  doing  this,  for  the  Conver- 
sation Books  which  would  have  prevented  his  more  glaring  errors 

'It  is  Thayer  who  is  speaking  here. 


Some  Errors  by  Schindler  Corrected  377 

had,  since  1845,  been  in  the  Royal  Library  in  Berlin.  Therefore, 
whoever  studies  his  life  of  the  master  and  his  numberless  contri- 
butions to  the  periodical  press  during  the  long  period  of  thirty 
years — all  abounding  in  biographical  matter  of  great  value— must 
be  continually  upon  his  guard.  When  one  seeks  precise  infor- 
mation upon  Beethoven's  life  during  the  years  1816-18^20  in 
Schindler's  writings,  his  notices  are  found  to  be  so  meagre  and  vague, 
and  to  exhibit  occasionally  such  inconsistencies  and  errors,  as  to 
awaken  the  suspicion  that  he,  as  to  those  years,  did  not  always 
write  from  personal  knowledge,  and  that  his  memory  served  him  ill. 

If  he  had  had  the  Conversation  Books  still  in  his  possession  he 
could  not  have  written:  "About  1817,  Oliva  left  the  Imperial  City 
forever,"  for  there  he  would  have  seen  that  Oliva  was  still  in  his  old 
relation  with  Beethoven  in  1820.  Again:  "Already  in  1816  he 
[Beethoven]  found  himself  involved  in  circumstances  which  com- 
pelled him  to  do  a  vast  amount  of  writing.  Dr.  Bach,  in  whose 
office  I  worked  several  hours  every  day,  advised  him  to  confide 
everything  to  me;  thus  I  became  Beethoven's  private  secretary — 
without  pay."  Later  we  read  in  connection  with  the  topic  of 
Beethoven's  nobility,  and  the  transfer  of  his  suit  with  the  mother 
of  Karl  to  the  Vienna  magistracy:  "There  it  was  possible  to  achieve 
something  advantageous  to  Beethoven  only  by  dismissing  his 
representative  and  pitting  an  entirely  different  person  against  his 
opponent.  His  choice  fell  upon  Dr.  Johann  Baptist  Bach,  who 
had  just  entered  the  ranks  of  the  court  and  trial  advocates." 
Finally:  "When  Dr.  Bach  took  his  case  in  hand  he  declared  that 
thenceforward  his  client  must  present  himself  with  the  title  of 
Chapelmaster,  because  the  gentlemen  magistrates  were  chiefly 
Boeotians,  and  a  composer  was  as  good  as  nothing  in  their  eyes, 
etc."  Now,  a  document  of  the  Landrecht  dated  November  29, 
1815,  contains  these  words:  "Ludwig  van  Beethoven  (Royal 
Imperial  Chapelmaster  and  Music  Composer)."  Dr.  Bach  may 
have  continued  to  use  this  title,  but  how  could  he  have  introduced 
it.^  Again:  "Dr.  Bach  took  the  oath  as  advocate  on  January  21, 
1817."  How  then  could  Schindler  in  1816  have  "worked  several 
hours  every  day"  in  an  office  not  yet  in  existence.^  Still  again: 
the  decree  of  the  Landrecht  transferring  Beethoven's  case  to  the 
Magistracy  is  dated  December  18, 1818,  and  Schindler  is  correct  in 
making  this  the  cause  of  the  employment  of  Dr.  Bach  in  1819; 
how  then  could  he  have  been  the  composer's  "private  secretary" 
on    Bach's    recommendation    during    the    two    years    preceding? 

The  unavoidable  conclusion  is  this :  Although  there  is  no  reason 
to  doubt  that  Schindler  was  upon  excellent  terms  with  Beethoven, 


378  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

and  often  visited  him  in  1817-1819,  the  "intimate  association" 
above-noted  and  in  the  sense  there  intended,  could  not  have  begun 
before  1819;  and  even  then,  for  Oliva  was  still  in  Vienna,  did  not 
extend  beyond  aiding  in  correspondence  and  like  duties.  The 
earliest  Conversation  Book  preserved  by  Schindler  is  from  April, 
1819,  in  which  both  he  and  Dr.  Bach  write;  and  from  this  time 
onward  these  books  show  that  the  association  grew  more  intimate 
and  of  course  his  records  become  more  trustworthy.  Returning 
to  the  trivial  matter  which  led  to  this  digression,  the  accuracy  of 
Schindler's  statement  that  Beethoven  improvised  but  twice  at 
Czerny's  Sunday  concerts  may  well  be  doubted.  Czerny's  testi- 
mony is  the  weightier. 

We  resume  an  account  of  the  events  of  the  year.  In  August 
and  September  the  after-effects  of  the  attack  of  catarrh  and  the 
state  of  Beethoven's  health  generally  are  so  distressing  and  so 
depressing  upon  his  spirits  that  he  seems  to  be  on  the  verge  of 
despair.  A  letter  which  Zmeskall  notes  as  received  by  him  on 
August  21,  says:  "God  have  pity  on  me!  I  look  upon  myself  as 
good  as  lost.  This  servant  steals.  My  health  calls  for  meals  at 
home.  If  my  condition  does  not  improve  I  shall  not  be  in  London 
next  year — perhaps  in  my  grave.  Thank  God,  the  part  is  nearly 
played."  On  September  9,  he  writes  to  the  same  friend:  "I  am 
trying  every  day  to  near  my  grave,  without  music."  Only  two 
days  later  he  is  able  to  report  to  Zmeskall  that  the  reply  to  his 
letter  had  been  received  from  the  London  Philharmonic  Society  (on 
September  10).  There  is  no  tone  of  elation  in  his  note;  it  merely 
mentions  the  arrival  of  the  letter  and  a  request  for  the  name  of  some 
one  who  could  translate  it  for  him,  it  being  in  English.  As  might 
have  been  expected  the  Philharmonic  Society  rejected  the  new 
terms  demanded  by  him,  but,  as  the  Society's  records  show,  repeated 
the  old.      These  were  now  at  once  accepted  by  Beethoven. 

And  did  he  now  sit  himself  down  zealously  and  perseveringly 
to  work  on  a  ninth  and  tenth  symphony.^^  Not  at  all.  His 
thoughts  had  become  engaged  upon  a  new  pianoforte  sonata 
(in  B-flat,  Op.  106),  and  so  far  as  is  yet  discovered,  he  did  not  even 
resume  his  work  on  the  Ninth  Symphony,  some  parts  of  which  were 
already  sketched.  That  "indecision  in  many  things,"  noted  by 
Breuning  a  dozen  years  before,  was  only  aggravated  by  the  lapse 
of  time;  and  this  now  was  his  bane.  There  was  really  nothing  to 
prevent  his  departing  at  once  except  that  the  new  symphonies 
were  still  to  be  written.  If  his  nephew  must  remain  in  or  near 
Vienna,  he  could  nowhere  be  so  well  placed  as  in  the  school  and 
family  of  the  excellent  Giannatasios,  who  had  all  the  necessary 


What  Might  Have  Come  from  a  London  Visit   379 

legal  power  to  save  the  boy  from  the  had  influence  of  his  mother. 
The  effects  of  such  a  journey;  of  a  stay  of  some  months  in  England; 
of  the  intercourse  of  cultivated  people;  of  the  enthusiastic  ad- 
miration which  awaited  him  there,  and  of  the  great  pecuniary 
rewards  for  his  labors  which  were  certain,  could  only  have  been 
propitious  in  the  highest  degree  to  both  his  physical  and  mental 
health.  There  was,  too,  just  now  a  new  and  powerful  motive  for 
accepting  and  fulfilling  this  engagement. 

Though  the  depreciation  of  the  redemption  certificates  never 
quite  touched  the  point  feared  by  him  iii  his  letter  to  Ries  in  1815, 
it  did  once  amount  to  4  for  1;  and  the  Government  was  again 
forced  to  repudiate  its  obligations  in  part.  It  founded  that 
National  Bank  (seven  shares  in  which  Beethoven  soon  after- 
wards purchased),  and  made  a  contract  with  a  new  institution  by 
which  the  bank  assumed  the  obligation  of  redeeming  the  re- 
demption certificates  at  the  rate  of  23^2  ^or  1.  It  went  into  full 
operation  July  15,  1817,  and  thenceforth  Beethoven's  annuitj^ 
remained  instead  of  3,400  florins  in  that  paper,  1,360  florins  in 
silver.  But  this  fatal  indecision!  Could  he  have  but  resolutely 
taken  up  any  two  of  the  many  new  symphonies  which  he  had 
planned,  as  the  sketchbooks  show,  and  once  fairly  engaged  himself 
upon  them,  he  could  not  have  rested  until  they  were  finished; 
he  could,  and  doubtless  would,  then  have  redeemed  his  promises; 
and  like  Handel,  Haydn  and  many  other  German  musicians  of 
far  less  note,  have  secured  from  an  admiring  and  generous  London 
public  an  ample  sufficiency  for  the  future.  The  standard  of 
excellence  was  high  and  catholic  in  London  and  musical  taste  pure 
and  exalted.  True,  at  the  first  trial  of  the  C  minor  Symphony  by 
the  Philharmonic  Society  a  part  of  it  only  was  played,  for  the 
leader  of  the  violins — really  the  conductor,  as  the  orchestras  were 
then  constituted — declared  it  "rubbish."  But  this  leader  was  a 
German — our  old  Bonn  acquaintance  J.  P.  Salomon.  He,  how- 
ever, repented  and  made  amends.  At  another  trial  of  it,  two  or 
three  years  afterwards,  after  the  first  movement,  Salomon  laid 
his  violin  upon  the  pianoforte,  walked  to  the  front  and,  turning 
to  the  orchestra  said  (through  his  nose) :  "Gentlemen,  some  years 
ago  I  called  this  symphony  rubbish;  I  wish  to  retract  every  word 
I  then  said,  as  I  now  consider  it  one  of  the  greatest  compositions  I 
ever  heard!" 

We  have  had  occasion  heretofore  to  refer  to  several  young 
British  Beethoven  enthusiasts;  another  is  now  added  to  the  list — 
Cipriani  Potter — who  came  just  at  this  time  to  Vienna,  bringing 
letters  to  the  composer  from  Neate,  Ries,  Rode,  Dragonetti  and 


380  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

others.  He  heard  so  much  of  Beethoven's  rudeness  of  manners 
and  moroseness  of  disposition,  and  so  often  noticed  how  people 
shook  their  heads  when  he  or  his  music  was  mentioned,  that  he 
hesitated  to  visit  him.  Two  weeks  had  thus  passed  when  one 
day,  at  Streicher's,  he  was  asked  if  he  had  seen  Beethoven  and  if 
he  had  letters  to  him.  He  therefore  explained  why  he  had  not 
seen  him.  He  was  told  this  was  all  nonsense;  Beethoven  would 
receive  him  kindly.  He  exclaimed:  "I  will  go  out  at  once!"  which 
he  did,  namely,  to  Modling.^  He  presented  a  letter  or  two,  one 
of  the  first  being  that  of  Dragonetti.  Upon  opening  that  Beet- 
hoven also  opened  his  heart  to  his  visitor  and  demanded  immedi- 
ately to  see  some  of  his  compositions.  Potter  showed  him  an 
overture — probably  one  that  had  been  commissioned  and  played 
by  the  London  Philharmonic  Society  in  1816.  Beethoven  looked 
through  it  so  hurriedly  that  Potter  thought  he  had  only  glanced 
at  it  out  of  politeness  and  was  greatly  astonished  when  Beethoven 
pointed  to  a  deep  F-sharp  in  the  bassoon  part  and  said  it  was  not 
practicable.  He  made  other  observations  of  a  similar  nature  and 
advised  him  to  go  to  a  teacher;  he  himself  gave  no  lessons  but 
would  look  through  all  his  compositions.  In  answer  to  Potter's 
question  as  to  whom  he  would  recommend,  Beethoven  replied: 
*T  have  lost  my  Albrechtsberger  and  have  no  confidence  in  any- 
body else";  nevertheless,  on  Beethoven's  recommendation  Pot- 
ter became  a  pupil  of  Aloys  Forster,  with  whom  he  studied  a  long 
time  until  one  day  the  teacher  said  to  him  that  he  had  now  studied 
suflBciently  and  needed  only  to  practise  himself  in  composition. 
This  brought  out  the  remark  from  Beethoven  that  no  one  ought  ever 
to  stop  studying;  he  himself  had  not  studied  enough:  "Tell  Forster 
that  he  is  an  old  flatterer!"  Potter  did  so,  but  Forster  only 
laughed.  Beethoven  never  complimented  Potter  to  his  face;  he 
would  say:  "Very  good,  very  good,"  but  never  give  unequivocal 
praise.  Yet  at  Streicher's  he  praised  him  and  expressed  his  sur- 
prise that  Potter  did  not  visit  him  at  Modling.^     Once  Beethoven 

*"Modling,"  said  Potter  in  narrating  the  incidents  of  his  association  with  Beet- 
hoven to  Mr.  Thayer  in  1861;  but  Potter  was  nearly  69  years  old  at  the  time  and  his 
memory  of  the  suburbs  of  Vienna  may  have  been  a  trifle  faulty.  Beethoven  was  in 
Modling  in  1818,  but  it  has  not  been  learned  that  he  went  thither  after  his  sojourn  in 
Heiligenstadt  and  Nussdorf  in  1817.  At  any  rate,  he  was  in  Nussdorf  till  late  Septem- 
ber, perhaps  early  October,  and  was  then  on  the  eve  of  a  new  experiment  in  housekeeping 
so  that  he  might  have  his  nephew  with  hira,  concerning  which  he  wrote  to  Giannatasio 
in  Vienna  on  November  12.  There  is  nothing  in  his  letters  to  Fran  Streicher  and  others 
at  this  time  to  indicate  a  change  to  Modling,  whither  he  went  in  May  of  the  next  year 
after  he  had  reported  Potters  visits  to  Ries  in  March. 

^This  agrees  with  the  theory  that  the  first  meetings  took  place  at  some  other  place. 
To  Ries,  Beethoven  wrote  on  March  5,  1818:  "Hotter  [sic]  visited  me  a  few  times;  he 
appears  to  be  a  good  man  and  has  talent  for  composition." 


Cipriani  Potter  and  Beethoven  381 

advised  him  never  to  compose  sitting  in  a  room  in  which 
there  was  a  pianoforte,  in  order  not  to  be  tempted  to  consult 
the  instrument;  after  a  work  was  finished  he  might  try  it  over  on 
the  instrument,  because  an  orchestra  was  not  always  to  be  had. 
Beethoven  used  to  walk  across  the  fields  to  Vienna  very  often 
and  sometimes  Potter  took  the  walk  with  him.  Beethoven  would 
stop,  look  around  and  give  expression  to  his  love  for  nature.  One 
day  Potter  asked:  "Who  is  the  greatest  living  composer,  yourself 
excepted.?"  Beethoven  seemed  puzzled  for  a  moment,  then 
exclaimed  "Cherubini."  Potter  went  on:  "And  of  dead  authors?" 
Beethoven  answered  that  he  had  always  considered  Mozart  as 
such,  but  since  he  had  been  made  acquainted  with  Handel  he  had 
put  him  at  the  head.  The  first  day  that  Potter  was  with  Beet- 
hoven the  latter  rushed  into  politics  and  called  the  Austrian 
government  all  sorts  of  names.  ^  He  was  full  of  going  to  England 
and  said  his  desire  was  to  see  the  House  of  Commons.  "You  have 
heads  upon  your  shoulders  in  England,"  he  remarked.  One  day 
Potter  asked  him  his  opinion  of  one  of  the  prmcipal  pianists  then 
in  Vienna  (Moscheles).  "Don't  ever  talk  to  me  again  about 
mere  passage  players,"  came  the  answer.  At  another  time 
Beethoven  declared  that  John  Cramer  had  given  him  more  satis- 
faction than  anybody  else.  According  to  the  same  informant, 
Beethoven  spoke  Italian  fluently  but  French  with  less  ease.  It 
was  in  Italian  that  Potter  conversed  with  him,  making  himself 
heard  by  using  his  hands  as  a  speaking-trumpet;  Beethoven  did 
not  always  hear  everything,  but  was  content  when  he  caught  the 
meaning.  Potter  considered  "Fidelio"  the  greatest  of  all  operas  and 
once  remarked  to  Beethoven  that  he  had  heard  it  in  Vienna,  which 
brought  out  the  remark  that  he  had  not  heard  it,  as  the  singers 
then  at  the  opera-house  were  not  able  to  sing  it.  He  was  asked 
if  he  did  not  intend  to  write  another  opera.  "Yes,"  replied 
Beethoven,  "I  am  now  composing  'Romulus' ;2  but  the  poets  are 
all  such  fools;  I  will  not  compose  silly  rubbish."  Potter  told  him 
of  the  deep  impression  made  upon  him  by  the  Septet  when  first  he 
heard  it;  Beethoven  replied  in  effect  that  when  he  wrote  the  piece 
he  did  not  know  how  to  comj^ose;  he  knew  now,  he  thought,  and, 

'Other  instances  of  this  nature  have  been  recorded  in  this  biography.  In  Dcrem- 
ber,  1811,  a  visitor,  Xaver  Schnyder  von  Wartensee,  reported  to  Niigeli  in  Zurich  that 
Beethoven  had  said  to  him:  "All  Viennese,  from  the  Emperor  to  the  bootblack,  are  good 
for  nothing."  "I  asked  him,"  von  Wartensee  continues,  "if  he  took  no  pupils?"  "No." 
he  replied,  "teaching  is  a  disagreeable  task;  he  had  only  one  pupil  who  gave  him  a  great 
deal  of  trouble  and  whom  he  would  like  to  get  rid  of  if  he  could."  "And  who  is  he?" 
"Archduke  Rudolph." 

^Treitschke  had  provided  the  libretto  of  "Romulus";  it  does  not  appear  that 
Beethoven  ever  began  its  composition. 


382  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

either  then  or  at  another  time,  he  said,  "I  am  writing  something 
better  now."  Soon  after,  the  Pianoforte  Sonata  in  B-flat  (Op. 
106)  was  published. 

Another  visitor  now,  and  probably  occasionally  during  the 
winter  following,  was  Heinrich  Marschner,  who  had  come  from 
Carlsbad  to  Vienna  on  the  invitation  of  Count  Amadee.  He  was 
21  years  old,  ambitious  and  eager  to  get  Beethoven's  judgment  on 
some  of  his  compositions,  which  he  carried  to  the  great  master  in 
manuscript.  Beethoven  received  him,  glanced  through  the  music 
hurriedly,  handed  it  back  with  a  muttered  "Hm,"  in  a  tone  more 
of  satisfaction  than  dispraise,  and  the  words:  "I  haven't  much 
time — do  not  come  often — bring  me  something  again."  The 
young  man  was  grievously  disappointed;  he  had  expected  so  much 
more.  He  did  not  understand  Beethoven's  sententious  manner, 
and  not  until  he  told  the  story  of  his  reception  to  his  patron  and 
Prof.  Klein  of  Pressburg,  did  he  recall  that  Beethoven  had  looked 
kindly  upon  him  when  he  spoke  the  words  and  had  given  him  his 
hand  at  parting.  He  had  gone  to  his  lodgings  in  a  passion  of 
despondency,  torn  up  the  manuscripts,  packed  his  trunk  with  the 
resolve  to  abandon  music  and  return  to  Leipsic  to  continue  his 
studies  for  the  profession  for  which  he  had  been  designed.  But 
now,  on  the  advice  of  his  friends,  he  took  a  different  view  of  Beet- 
hoven's actions,  and  continued  his  intercourse  with  him.  The 
great  man  was  always  gracious,  and  even  occasionally  let  fall  a 
word  of  encouragement;  but  an  intimacy  never  sprang  up  between 
them. 

Beethoven's  intercourse  with  a  third  new  acquaintance  was, 
doubtless,  far  more  delightful  than  any  other;  but  not  at  all  of  the 
nature  assumed  by  Schindler,  who  has  attributed  to  it  a  very 
exaggerated  and,  indeed,  ludicrous  importance.  This  visitor  was 
Frau  Marie  Pachler-Koschak,  of  Gratz,  whom  Anselm  Hiitten- 
brenner  described  as  the  most  beautiful  maiden  and  for  several 
years  the  most  beautiful  woman  in  her  native  town,  who  was  called 
"heaven's  daughter,"  and  who  "glowed  with  admiration  for  Jean 
Paul,  Goethe,  Schiller,  Beethoven,  Mozart  and  Schubert."  Beet- 
hoven had  already  heard  from  Prof.  Schneller,  whose  pupil  she  had 
been,  of  her  extraordinary  beauty,  talents,  intellectual  culture  and 
refinement,  and  of  her  genius  for  music.  He  had  unconsciously 
the  year  before  borne  testimony  to  this  last  in  this  wise:  Her 
brother-in-law,  Anton  Pachler,  Dr.  jiir.  in  Vienna,  had  at  her 
request  showed  him  for  an  opinion  a  fantasia  composed  by  her, 
but  without  disclosing  the  author's  identity.  Beethoven  looked 
at  the  piece  carefully  and  said  that  it  was  a  good  deal  from  one 


Another  Mysterious  Passion  383 

who  had  not  studied  composition,  and  if  the  composer  were  pres- 
ent he  would  point  out  the  faults  in  it;  it  would  take  too  much 
time  to  do  this  in  writing  and  the  composer  would  find  them  out 
for  himself  if  he  studied  diligently.  The  lady  was  24  years  old 
and  had  been  married  a  little  over  a  year.  She  had  never  been 
in  Vienna,  Beethoven  never  in  Gratz,  and  they,  of  course,  had 
never  met.  But  when  they  did,  it  could  not  be  as  strangers; 
for  his  music  had  been  to  her  like  a  new  divine  revelation,  and 
such  noble  mental  and  personal  qualities  as  distinguished  her 
always  awakened  in  him  feelings  akin  to  worship.  Unfortunately, 
absolutely  nothing  is  known  of  their  personal  association  except 
that  Dr.  Anton  Pachler  introduced  her  to  him,  that  she  wrote  ten 
years  later  that  "they  wereoften  in  each  other's  company, "and  that 
Beethoven  wrote  her  two  notes  "in  pencil" — one  utterly  illegible, 
the  other  in  terms  placing  her  as  a  player  of  his  pianoforte  music 
even  higher  than  Frau  von  Ertmann.     He  wrote: 

I  am  greatly  delighted  that  you  will  remain  another  day,  we  will 
make  a  lot  more  music,  you  will  play  the  sonata  in  F  major  and  C  minor 
for  me,  will  you  not.'^  I  have  never  yet  found  anybody  who  plays  my 
compositions  as  well  as  you  do.  Not  even  excepting  the  great  pianists, 
they  either  have  nothing  but  technique  or  are  affected.  You  are  the  true 
guardian  of  my  intellectual  offspring. 

Her  son  has  so  fully  exploded  Schindler's  assumption  that  she 
was  the  object  of  Beethoven's  "autumnal  love"  that  no  words 
need  be  wasted  upon  it.  It  was,  no  doubt,  upon  seeing  in  Beet- 
hoven's papers  the  letter  "M"^  in  this  outburst  of  feeling: 

Love  alone — yes,  only  love  can  possibly  give  you  a  happier  life — 
O  God,  let  me — let  me  finally  find  the  one — who  will  strengthen  me  in 
virtue — who  will  lawfully  be  mine. 

Baden  on  July  27 

when  M  drove  past  and  seemed  to  give  a  glance  at  me — 

A  consideration  of  the  dates  given  in  Dr.  Pachler's  pamphlet  proves 
conclusively,  however,  that  this  "M"  cannot  refer  to  Marie 
Pachler,  for  its  writer  could  never  have  seen  her  "drive  past"  on 
any  27th  of  July ! 

There  are  few  unmarried  men  of  highly  sensitive  nature  who 
have  not  had  the  bitter  experience  of  a  hopeless  passion,  who  have 
not  felt  how  doubly  grateful  at  such  times  is  intercourse  with  a 
glorious  creature  like  Madame  Pachler,  and  how  beneficial  in 
preventing  the  thoughts  from  continually  dwelling  on  the  impos- 
sible, and  thus  aiding  reason  and  conscience  to  gain  the  victory 

'The  letter,  which  is  reproduced  in  facsimile  in  Schindler's  biography,  is  a  more  or 
less  fantastic  scrawl  or  flourish  which  may  be  read  as  an  "R"  as  well  as  an  "M." 


384  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

over  the  heart  and  fancy.  Now  it  happens  that  one  of  Beethoven's 
transient  but  intense  passions  for  a  married  woman,  known  to  have 
occurred  in  this  period  of  his  life,  has  its  precise  date  fixed  by 
these  passages  in  the  so-called  "Tagebuch"  from  the  years  1816 
and  1817.  "In  the  case  of  T.  there  is  nothing  to  do  but  to  leave 
it  to  God,  never  to  go  where  one  might  do  a  wrong  through  weak- 
ness— to  Him,  to  the  all-knowing  God,  be  all  this  committed." 
And  again:  "But  as  kind  as  possible  to  T.  her  attachment  deserves 
never  to  be  forgotten  even  if  the  results  could  never  prove  ad- 
vantageous to  you."  Let  the  reader  recall  the  passages  in  his 
letters  showing  a  strong  desire  to  leave  Vienna  and  read  again: 
"Work  during  the  summer  for  the  journey,  only  thus  can  you  carry 
out  the  great  task  for  your  poor  nephew,  afterwards  wander 
through  Italy,  Sicily,  with  a  few  artists — make  plans  and  be  of 
good  cheer  for  the  sake  of  C  .  .  ."  The  last  initial  is  uncertain. 
Other  copies  have  "L,";  what  the  original  was  in  Beethoven's 
handwriting  is  not  now  to  be  determined.  No  instance,  however, 
is  known  of  his  writing  his  nephew's  name  with  a  C,  and  this  "C" 
or  "L"  was  probably  T.  As  the  family  name  of  this  lady,  whose 
husband  was  a  man  of  high  position  and  distinction  though  not 
noble  by  birth,  is  known,  it  is  certain  that  the  T  in  the  above 
citations  is  not  Therese  Malfatti,  now  Baroness  Drosdick;  but  as 
her  baptismal  names  have  eluded  search  one  can  only  hint  the 
possibility  that  the  "T"  and  "M"  may  indicate  the  same  person, 
and  that  this  last  cry  of  anguish  was  written  a  year  or  two  after- 
wards when  the  sight  of  "M"  again,  for  a  moment,  tore  open  a 
half-healed  wound. 

In  numbers  5  to  8  inclusive  of  the  "Neue  Musik-Zeitung" 
appeared,  from  the  pen  of  J.  Kandler,  a  long  article  containing 
historical  notices  of  various  attempts  to  produce  a  satisfactory 
instrument  for  measuring  time  in  music,  and  closing  with  an  ac- 
count, taken  from  the  English,  of  Malzel's  metronome.  To  No. 
25  (June  19)  of  the  same  journal,  Gottfried  Weber  contributed  a 
paper  "On  a  chronometric  tempo  designation  which  makes 
Malzel's  metronome,  as  well  as  all  other  chronometric  instruments, 
unnecessary,"  in  which  he  repeated  his  idea,  already  put  forth  in  the 
Leipsic  "Musikzeitung"  in  1813,  that  the  simplest  and  most  correct 
chronometer  is  a  simple  pendulum,  a  bit  of  thread  with  a  bullet  at 
the  end,  whose  oscillations  would  mark  the  duration  of  measures 
according  to  the  length  of  the  thread.  This  article  pleased  Beetho- 
ven, and  in  one  of  his  variations  on  the  theme  of  pens  he  commends 
it  to  his  ''clarissime  amice"  Zmeskall,  as  the  best  invention  yet 
made.     Zmeskall  took  up  the  subject  with  interest  and  in  two 


Beethoven  and  Malzel's  Metronome  385 

articles  in  the  same  journal  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  Neate, 
in  London,  had  described  a  time  measurer  of  the  same  kind  which 
was  known  in  England,  but  had  not  remained  long  in  use — "a 
little  ball  hanging  at  the  end  of  a  thread  and  below  it  a  line 
divided  into  a  scale  of  inches."  Zmeskall  approved  of  AVeber's 
suggestion  in  principle  but  improved  upon  it  by  proposing  that 
the  oscillations  of  the  pendulum  indicate  the  duration  of  a  note 
instead  of  a  measure,  and  that  the  varying  lengths  of  the  pendulum 
be  marked  by  knots  in  the  thread.  Beethoven,  to  whom  Zmes- 
kall seems  to  have  sent  his  contrivance,  was  interested  and  lauded 
its  simplicity,  playfully  wondering  wh«'ther  or  not  it  might  be  used 
in  measuring  from  time  to  eternity. 

Music  had  already  come  from  the  press  with  Malzel's  tempo 
marks,  and  Weber,  who  seems  to  have  had  no  kindly  feeling  for 
him,  prints  an  article,  in  the  number  of  the  journal  following 
Zmeskall's,  entitled  "Malzel's  Metronome  to  be  had  gratis  every- 
where," and  gives  a  table  showing  the  lengths  of  a  pendulum  in 
Rhenish  inches  and  French  centimetres  corresponding  to  all  the 
numbers  on  the  metronome.  As  the  months  passed,  the  metro- 
nome had  come  largely  into  use  in  England,  France  and  the  United 
States,  but  not  in  Germany  and  Austria.  It  was  of  high  impor- 
tance to  the  manufacturers  of  the  instruments  to  obtain  the  coun- 
tenance and  good  will  of  the  composers  in  those  countries  also — 
Salieri,  Weigl,  Beethoven,  etc. — and  Malzel  came  back  to  Vienna  to 
try  the  effect  of  personal  effort,  taking  the  risk  of  any  serious  con- 
sequences arising  from  the  lawsuit  between  him  and  Beethoven. 
But  there  were  none.  The  matter  was  amicably  adjusted,  each 
party  paying  half  of  the  legal  expenses  which  had  been  incurred. 
This  would  be  incredible  had  Beethoven  had  any  substantial 
grounds  for  the  action;  for  his  sanction  of  the  metronome  was  of 
such  value  that  Malzel  would  readily  have  conceded  much  to 
obtain  it;  and  the  whole  tone  of  the  composer's  correspondence  in 
this  period,  so  far  as  relates  to  his  pecuniary  affairs,  shows  how 
little  likely  he  was  to  sacrifice  any  just  claim. 

Beethoven  was  at  first  not  well  disposed  to  the  instrument, 
notwithstanding  he  had  joined  Salieri  and  the  other  comy^oscrs  in 
strongly  recommending  the  "chronometer"  in  1818,  which  cer- 
tificate had  been  used  in  England  a  fortiori  for  the  new  metronome. 
In  a  letter!  Mr.  Joseph  J.  Mickley,  of  Philadelphia,  writes:  "Mr. 
Malzel,  with  whom  I  was  well  acquainted,  told  me  that  he  had 
been  particularly  anxious  Beethoven  should  mark  his  music  by 

iThe  letter  to  Thayer  is  dated  May  21,  1873.  Miilzcl,  it  will  be  remembered, 
lived  in  Philadelphia  for  some  time  before  his  death  at  sea  on  July  21,  1838. 


386  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

his  metronome,  and  to  get  his  recommendation;  that  he  (B)  re- 
fused and  became  quite  indignant,  saying:  'It  is  silly  stuff;  one 
must  feel  the  tempos'  ";  but  Beethoven  soon  yielded  to  the  obvious 
considerations  in  favor  of  the  invention.  These  were  presented  to 
the  public  together  with  the  objections  to  Weber's  and  Zmeskall's 
pendulums,  clearly,  explicitly  and  cunningly  by  Mosel  in  an  article 
in  Steiner's  "Musik-Zeitung"  on  November  27,  which  put  an  end 
to  controversy  on  the  topic. 

Meanwhile,  Beethoven  had  prepared  a  table  of  tempos  for  his 
eight  symphonies  which  was  printed  in  the  Leipsic  "Allgemeine 
Musik-Zeitung"  on  December  17  (copied,  says  Nottebohm,  from 
a  little  pamphlet  published  by  Stein er  and  Co.  in  which  also  tempos 
of  the  Septet  were  included),  and  followed  this  up  with  a  general 
metronomizing  of  his  works.  On  the  autograph  of  his  song, 
"Nord  oder  Slid,"  he  wrote:  "100  according  to  Malzel;  but  this 
must  be  held  applicable  to  only  the  first  measures,  for  feeling  also 
has  its  tempo  and  this  cannot  entirely  be  expressed  in  this  figure 
(i.  e.,  100)."! 

If  the  picture  of  Malzel  drawn  by  Schindler  and  his  copyists 
is  true,  even  the  most  Christian  and  forgiving  spirit  could  scarcely 
have  demanded  more  of  Beethoven  than  this  public  acknowledge- 
ment of  the  value  of  the  metronome  by  way  of  heaping  coals  of 
fire  upon  his  head ;  but  he  did  more,  by  writing  to  Mosel  this  very 
valuable  and  for  us  very  interesting  letter: 

I  am  heartily  rejoiced  that  you  agree  with  me  in  the  opinion  touch- 
ing the  time  designations  which  date  back  to  the  barbarous  period  in 
music,  for  what,  for  instance,  can  be  more  nonsensical  than  Allegro, 
which  always  means  merry  and  how  often  are  we  so  far  from  this  concep- 
tion of  time  that  the  piece  says  the  very  opposite  of  the  designation.  As 
regards  these  4  chief  speeds  (Hanptbewegungen),  which  by  no  means  have 
the  correctness  or  truthfulness  of  the  chief  winds,  we  gladly  allow  that 
they  be  put  aside,  it  is  a  different  matter  with  the  words  used  to  desig- 
nate the  character  of  the  composition,  these  we  cannot  give  up,  since 
time  is  really  more  the  body  while  these  have  reference  to  the  spirit. 
So  far  as  I  am  concerned  I  have  long  thought  of  giving  up  the  nonsen- 
sical designations  Allegro,  Andante,  Adagio,  Presto;  Malzel's  metronome 
gives  us  the  best  opportunity  to  do  this,  I  give  you  viy  word  that  I  shall 
never  use  them  again  in  my  new  compositions — it  is  another  question  if 
we  shall  thereby  accomplish  the  necessary  universal  use  of  the  instrument 
— I  do  not  think  so.  But  I  do  not  doubt  that  we  shall  be  decried  as 
taskmasters,  if  the  cause  might  thus  be  served  it  would  still  be  better 
than  to  be  accused  oi  feudalism — I  therefore  think  that  it  would  be  best, 
especially  in  our  countries  where  music  has  become  a  national  need  and 
every  village  schoolmaster  ought  to  use  the  metronome,  that  Malzel  try 
to  dispose  of  a  certain  number  of  metronomes  by  subscription  at  higher 

^Thus  copied  by  Fischoff. 


Studies  in  Household  Economy  387 

prices,  and  that  as  soon  as  his  expenses  are  thus  covered  he  will  be  in  a 
position  to  furnish  the  needed  metronome  for  the  national  need  so  cheaply 
that  the  greatest  universality  and  widest  distribution  may  be  expected. 
It  is  self-evident  that  somebody  must  take  the  initiative  in  this  matter 
so  that  zeal  be  aroused.  As  for  me  you  may  count  on  me  and  I  await  with 
pleasure  the  post  of  duty  to  which  you  will  assign  me. 

Still  more:  he  joined  with  Salieri  in  a  public  announcement  which 
was  printed  in  the  "Wiener  Allgemeine  Musikalische  Zeitung" 
of  February  14,  1818,  setting  forth  that  the  metronome  would 
attest  its  utility  forever,  was  indispensable  to  all  students  of 
singing,  the  pianoforte  or  other  instruments,  etc.  On  one  of  the 
last  days  of  December,  Beethoven  writes  to  Madame  Streicher: 
"Day  before  yesterday  I  was  busy  with  Malzel,  who  is  in  a  hurry 
as  he  is  soon  to  leave  here."  What  had  he  so  important  to  do  with 
this  "rude  fellow,  wholly  without  education  or  breeding,"  to  cite 
his  own  words. f^  Was  it  in  contemplation  to  make  this  sudden  zeal 
for  the  metronome  a  source  of  pecuniary  profit.'^  No  one  knows. 
As  the  lodging  in  the  Sailerstatte  w^as  separated  from  Gian- 
natasio's  institute  by  the  whole  breadth  of  the  Glacis,  Beethoven, 
on  his  return  from  Modling,  exchanged  it  for  one  in  the  house 
"Zum  grlinen  Baum,"  first  etage,  2nd  storey.  No.  26,  in  the  Gart- 
nergasse,  suburb  Landstrasse.  He  w^as  now  near  both  his  nephew 
and  the  Streichers  (in  the  Ungarstrasse),  and,  with  the  aid  of 
Madame  Streicher,  he  had  at  last  brought  his  domestic  arrange- 
ments into  a  condition  so  that  he  might  take  his  nephew  to  him- 
self. While  making  these  arrangements,  doubtless  he  asked 
practical  guidance  of  some  unknow^n  friend  touching  his  table. 
On  one  side  of  a  large  sheet  of  paper  (it  is  now  preserved  in  the 
Royal  Library  in  Berlin)  he  wrote  a  list  of  questions  which 
were  painstakingly  answered,  by  the  friend  to  whom  they  were 
addressed,  on  the  opposite  page.     The  questions  were  as  follows: 

What  ought  one  to  give  2  servants  to  eat  at  dinner  and  supper  both 
as  to  quantity  and  quality.'* 

How  often  ought  one  to  give  them  roast  meat? 

Ought  they  to  have  it  at  dinner  and  supper  too.' 

That  which  is  intended  for  the  servants,  do  they  have  it  in  common 
with  the  victuals  of  the  master,  or  do  they  prepare  their  own  separately, 
i.  e.,  do  they  have  different  food  from  the  master.' 

How  many  pounds  of  meat  are  to  be  reckoned  for  3  persons.' 

What  allowance  per  day  do  the  housekeeper  and  maid  receive? 

How  about  the  washing? 

Do  the  housekeeper  and  maid  get  more? 

How  much  wine  and  beer? 

Does  one  give  it  to  them  and  when? 

Breakfast? 


388  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

Beethoven  announced  his  intention  to  take  his  nephew  to 
himself  at  the  end  of  the  current  quarter  in  a  letter  to  Giannatasio 
dated  November  12,  1817.  The  step  involved  not  only  an  increase 
in  his  expenses,  but  also  an  abandonment  of  his  engagement  with 
the  London  Philharmonic  Society  and  of  all  the  profits  which 
might  thence  arise.  Giannatasio,  moved  by  his  complaints  of 
poverty,  and  probably  also  by  a  desire  to  aid  him  in  the  proposed 
visit  to  London,  kindly  offered  to  keep  the  boy  at  a  much  reduced 
rate  of  remuneration  for  board  and  instruction.  Beethoven's 
reply  shows  him  to  be  still  undecided  as  to  his  movements  in  the 
coming  spring,  and  it  is  possible,  could  he  have  made  ready  the 
required  symphonies,  that  he  might  have  gone  to  England;  but 
now  the  new  Sonata  had  got  possession  of  his  imagination,  and  the 
symphonies  must  wait. 

But  one  public  appearance  professionally  of  Beethoven  is 
recorded  this  year.  At  the  concert  for  the  Hospital  Fund  on 
December  25,  the  first  part  was  devoted  to  the  Eighth  Symphony, 
which  was  conducted  by  the  composer.  In  the  second  part  Sey- 
fried  produced  C.  P.  E.  Bach's  oratorio,  "The  Israelites  in  the 
Wilderness,"  which  he  had  revised,  adding  to  the  accompaniments, 
curtailing  the  airs,  prefixing  it  with  the  well-known  fugue  on 
B-A-C-H  (orchestrated  by  himself),  and  concluding  it  with  the 
double  chorus  "Holy,  holy,  holy."  Nottebohm  has  shown  that 
the  sketches  for  the  overture  on  the  name  of  the  great  Leipsic 
cantor  which  Beethoven  once  thought  of  writing,  belong  to  a  later 
period;  but  it  is  yet  possible,  if  not  likely,  that  he  conceived  the 
idea  at  this  concert.  On  November  15,  Anton  Halm  gave  a  con- 
cert for  the  benefit  of  the  poor  in  the  Karnthnerthor-Theater  at 
which  the  Choral  Fantasia  was  performed;  but  we  know  nothing 
of  Beethoven's  participation  in  it  in  any  way. 

It  is  probable  that  to  this  time  is  to  be  assigned  a  portrait  in 
oils  painted  by  Christoph  Heckel,  who  was  a  student  at  the  Royal 
Imperial  Academy  in  Vienna  from  1814  to  1818.  Beethoven,  it  is 
said,  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  painter  in  Streicher's  pianoforte 
wareroom.  There  is  but  little  to  be  added  to  what  has  been  said 
about  the  compositions  of  this  almost  sterile  year.  The  transcrip- 
tion of  the  Pianoforte  Trio  as  a  quintet  (which  was  the  largest 
work  of  the  year),  and  the  "Song  of  the  Monks,"  written  on  the 
death  of  Krumpholz,  have  been  mentioned.  Besides  these  we 
have  a  few  short  songs  with  pianoforte  accompaniment.  "Nord 
oder  Slid"  (also  known  as  "So  oder  So"),  the  poem  by  Karl  Lappe, 
was  known  and  widely  liked  in  a  setting  by  K.  Klage.  "Resig- 
nation"  ("Lisch  aus  mein  Licht"),   words   by  Count  Paul   von 


Fugues  and  Their  Contents  389 

Haughwitz,  was  compossed  towards  the  end  of  the  Summer,  and 
the  sketches  show  that  Beethoven  contemplated  a  setting  for  four 
voices.  A  Fugue  in  D  major,  for  five  stringed  instruments,  was 
completed  on  November  28,  1817,  and  was  designed  for  the  manu- 
script collection  of  Beethoven's  works  projected  by  Haslinger, 
who  published  it  soon  after  Beethoven's  death  in  1827,  as  Op.  137. 
Beethoven  was  particularly  interested  in  fugues  at  the  time. 
"To  make  a  fugue  requires  no  particular  skill,"  he  said  later  to 
Holz;  "in  my  study  days  I  made  dozens  of  them.  But  the  fancy 
wishes  also  to  assert  its  privileges,  and  to-day  a  new  and  really 
poetical  element  must  be  introduced  into  the  old  traditional  form." 
The  sketches  for  the  conclusion  of  the  Quintet  fugue  (Nottebohm, 
"Zweite  Beethoveniana,"  p.  350)  are  mixed  with  notes  from  Bach 
and  others  showing  how  zealous  were  his  studies  in  the  form  at  that 
time.  The  year  also  saw  work  done  on  the  Pianoforte  Sonata  in 
B-flat,  Op.  106,  and  the  beginning  of  the  Symphony  in  D  minor. 
The  list  of  publications  for  the  year  is  also  very  small: 

1.  Sonata  for  Pianoforte,  A  major,  Op.  101;  Steiner  and  Co. 

2.  Two  Sonatas  for  Pianoforte  and  Violoncello,  Op.  102,  published, 
apparently  in  January,  1817,  by  Simrock  in  Bonn,  and  in  1819  by  Artaria 
in  Vienna. 

3.  Song:  "So  oder  So";  as  supplement  in  the  "Modenzeitung"  of 
February  25. 

4.  Song:  "Ruf  vom  Berge";  supplement  to  Treitschke's  poems,  for 
which  it  had  been  composed  at  the  close  of  1816. 

5.  The  canon:  "Lerne  Schweigen,"  written  for  Neate;  supplement 
to  Kanne's  "Allg.  Mus.-Zeit."  March  6,  and  on  June  5  with  Payer's 
solution. 

6.  Volume  III  of  the  Welsh  songs  written  for  Thomson. 


Chapter  XVIII 


The  Year  1818 — A  Broadwood  Pianoforte — Commission  for 
an  Oratorio — Conception  of  the  Mass  in  D — The  Nephew; 
A  Mother's  Struggle  for  Her  Son — The  Pianoforte  Sonata 
in  B-flat,  Op.  106. 

AN  entry  in  an  old  "Porter's  Book"  of  John  Broadwood  and 
Sons,  manufacturers  of  pianofortes  in  London,  offers  an 
agreeable  starting-point  for  the  story  of  Beethoven's  life 
in  1818.  In  this  book  the  porter  of  the  firm  signs  his  name, 
Millet,  to  the  record  that  on  December  27,  1817,  he  took  from  the 
warehouse  "A  6  octave  Grand  Pianoforte,  No.  7,632,  tin  and  deal 


case,  Thomas  Broadwood,  Esq.,  marked  |V-  B.[  care  of  F.  E.  J. 
Bareaux  and  Co.,  Trieste  (a  present  to  Mr.  van  Beethoven, 
Viene),  deliv'd  to  Mr.  Farlowes  to  be  shipped."  Some  time  pre- 
viously Mr.  Thomas  Broadwood,  the  then  head  of  the  house,  with 
a  Mr.  Coding  (probably  the  rich  brewer),  visited  the  principal 
cities  of  the  continent  and  doubtless  became  acquainted  with 
Beethoven  and  offered  to  present  to  him  one  of  the  firm's  piano- 
fortes. On  January  3,  1818,  Mr.  Broadwood  seems  to  have  in- 
formed Beethoven  that  the  instrument  had  been  shipped,  and 
exactly  one  month  later  Beethoven  sent  the  following  acknowledg- 
ment to  the  generous  donor: 

Mon  ires  cher  Ami  Broadivood! 

Jamais  je  neprouvais  pas  un  grand  Plaisir  de  ce  que  me  causa  voire 
Annonce  de  cette  Piano,  avec  qui  vous  m' honoris  de  rrCen  faire  present; 
je  regarderai  comme  un  Autel,  ouje  deposerai  les  plus  belles  offrandes  de  mon 
esprit  au  divine  Apollon.  Aussitot  comme  je  recevrai  voire  Excellent  Ins- 
trument, je  vous  enverrai  d'en  abord  les  Fruits  de  VInspiration  des 
premiers  moments,  que  j'y  passerai,  vous  servir  d'un  souvenir  de  moi  a 
vous  mon  ires  cher  B.,  et  je  ne  souhaits  ce  que,  quits  soient  dignes  de  voire 
Instrument. 

Mon  cher  Monsieur  et  Ami  receves  ma  plus  grande  Consideration  de 
voire  Ami  et  ires  humble  serviteur 

Louis  van  Beethoven. 
Vienne  le  3me  du  mois  Fevrier,  1818. 

[  390] 


Delight  in  the  Broad  wood  Pianoforte    391 

This  letter  was  sent  to  Broadwood  by  Joseph  Anton  Bridi  of 
the  firm  of  Bridi,  Parisi  and  Co.,  in  Vienna,  who  had  evidently 
been  commissioned  to  look  after  the  delivery  of  the  instrument  to 
Beethoven  after  its  arrival  in  Trieste.     At  least  Bridi,  in  trans- 
mitting the  letter  to  Broadwood  under  cover  and  date  February  5, 
informs  the  latter  that  he  had  taken  the  proper  steps  to  have  the 
pianoforte  sent  to  Vienna  by  Bareaux  (or  Barraux)  and  Co.,  and 
asks  for  instructions  how  to  carry  out  what  he  understands  to  be 
the  donor's  desire  that  the  instrument  be  delivered  to  Beethoven 
without  his  being  put  to  any  expense  whatever,  not  even  for  the 
import  duty.     The  latter  charge  must  have  been  in  the  mind  of 
Beethoven  when  he  wrote  a  letter,  without  date,  to  Count  Lich- 
nowsky  enclosing  a  document  bearing  on  the  case  expressing  the 
hope  that  he  be  permitted  to  receive  the  instrument  and  proposing 
to  apply  by  word  of  mouth  to  Count  Stadion,  the  Austrian  Minis- 
ter of  Finance.     Madame  Streicher  was  also  appealed  to  in  the 
matter,  Beethoven  begging  her  in  a  letter  to  ask  her  "Cousin  from 
Cracow"  to  get  from  the  chief  customs  official  in  Vienna  an  order 
for  the  forwarding  of  the  pianoforte,  which  could  be  sent  to  the 
custom  house  in  Trieste.     But  neither  Broadwood  nor  Beethoven 
was  called  on  to  pay  the  duty,  the  Austrian  Exchequer  remitting 
the  charge.     After  some  delay  the  pianoforte  was  delivered  at 
Streicher's  wareroom  and  later  sent  to  Beethoven  at  Modling. 
While  it  was  still  in  his  possession,  Streicher  asked  Potter  to  try 
it,  saying  that  Moscheles  and  others  could  do  nothing  with  it — 
the  tone  was  beautiful  but  the  action  too  heavy.     Potter,  who 
was  familiar  with  the  English  instruments,  found  no  difiiculty  in 
disclosing  its  admirable  qualities.     He  told  Beethoven,  however, 
that  it  was  out  of  tune,  whereupon  the  latter  replied  in  effect: 
"That's  what  they  all  say;  they  would  like  to  tune  it  and  spoil  it, 
but  they  shall  not  touch  it."     Beethoven's  delight  in  the  piano- 
forte must  have  been  great.     Bridi  reports  to  Broadwood  that  the 
composer   already   rejoiced   in   it  in  anticipation  and   expressed 
a   desire   to   dedicate  the    first  piece  of   music    composed   after 
its   reception    to    the   donor,    "convinced   that   it   would   inspire 
something   good."     His   jealousy   of   it   seems   to   have  been   so 
great    that    he   would   not   permit   anybody    to    tune    it    except 
Stumpff,  of  London,  who  came  with  a  letter  of  introduction  from 
Broadwood.^ 

iBeethoven  does  not  seem  always  to  have  maintained  so  reverential  a  feeling  for 
the  instrument  as  is  indicated  by  the  above  statement  In  Ihayers  note-book  the 
American  editor  of  this  biography  found  this  anecdote:  "Once  Beethoven  told  btem 
That  some  strings  in  his  Broadwood  Pf.  were  wanting,  and  caught  up  the  bootjack 
and  struck  the  keys  with  it  to  show." 


SQ-l  The  Life  of  LrDwiG  vax  Beethoven 

The  case  of  the  mstniment,  simple,  plam  but  tasteful  in 
design,  is  of  mahogany  and  the  structure  generally  of  a  solidity  and 
strength  paired  with  grace  which  caused  no  little  surprise  at  the 
time.  The  compass  is  six  octaves  from  C,  five  leger-lines  below 
the  bass  statT.  Above  the  keys  is  the  inscription:  Hoc  hisirii- 
mentum  est  Thomoe  Broadicood  [Londini)  donum.  propter  Ingenium 
illustrissimi  Beethoven.  On  the  board,  back  of  the  keys,  is  the  name 
"Beethoven."  inlaid  in  ebony,  and  below  this  the  makers'  mark: 
"John  Broadwood  and  Sons,  Makers  of  Instruments  to  His  Majesty 
and  the  Princesses.  Great  Pulteney  Street.  Golden  Square. 
London."  To  the  right  of  the  keyboard  are  the  autograph  names 
Frid.  Kalkbrenner,  Ferd.  Ries,  C.  G.  Ferrari,  J.  L.  Cramer  and  C. 
Knyvett.  The  presence  of  these  names  gave  rise  to  a  theory  which 
was  widely  spread,  and  is  not  yet  wholly  dissipated,  that  their 
owners  had  joined  Mr.  Broadwood  in  making  the  gift;  it  has  also 
been  stated  that  the  gift  came  from  the  Philharmonic  Society. 
This  latter  statement  is  disproved  by  the  fact  that  the  records  of 
the  Society  contain  no  mention  of  such  a  transaction;  as  for  the 
names  of  the  virtuosi,  they  were  no  doubt  scratched  upon  the  in- 
strument as  a  compliment  to  Beethoven  and  an  evidence  that  they 
had  played  upon  it.  Beethoven  kept  the  instrument  as  long  as  he 
lived.  At  the  sale  of  his  effects  it  was  bought  by  Spina,  the  music 
publisher,  for  181  florins;  Spina  gave  it  to  Liszt,  in  whose  house  at 
Weimar  it  was  up  to  his  death.  In  1887,  Princess  Marie  Hohen- 
lohe,  daughter  of  Liszt's  friend,  the  Princess  Sayn-Wittgenstein, 
presented  it  to  the  National  Museum  in  Buda-Pesth. 

The  time  had  come  for  Beethoven  to  take  his  nephew  from 
the  home  and  institute  of  the  Giannatasios.  On  January  6  he 
wrote  to  inform  the  director  that  Karl  would  leave  his  "admirable 
institute"  at  the  expiration  of  the  month  and  that  Giannatasio 
might  rest  assured  of  his  and  the  lad's  life-long  gratitude:  "I  have 
observed  in  Karl  that  he  already  feels  grateful,  and  this  is  a  proof 
that  though  he  is  frivolous  he  is  not  malicious,  and  least  of  all  is 
he  bad  at  heart.  I  have  hopes  of  all  manner  of  good  from  him,  all 
the  more  because  he  has  been  under  your  excellent  care  for  nearly 
two  vears."  Karl  left  the  institute  on  January  24.  and  on  June  15 
Fannv  Giannatasio  wrote  in  her  diarv:  "\Ye  hear  nothing  from 
Beethoven,"  who  was  then  in  Modling. 

Ill-advised  and  full  of  evil  consequences  as  was  Beethoven's 
step  in  taking  personal  charge  of  his  nephew,  it  was  yet  creditable 
to  his  heart  and  bears  strong  witness  to  his  high  sense  of  duty. 
His  purpose  was  pure  and  lofty,  and  his  action  prompted  by  both 
love  and  an  ideal  sense  of  moral  obligation.     It  was  a  woeful  mis- 


Beethoven's  Unfitness  as  Guardian  393 

take,  however;  Beethoven  sadly  misjudged  his  fitness  to  fill  the 
delicate  and  difficult  role  of  guardian  and  parent.  In  all  his  life 
he  had  never  had  occasion  to  give  a  thought  to  the  duties  which 
such  an  office  involved.  In  the  conduct  of  his  own  affairs  he  had 
always  permitted  himself  to  be  swayed  by  momentary  impulses, 
emotions  and  sometimes  violent  passions,  and  he  could  not  sud- 
denly develop  the  habits  of  calm  reflection,  unimpassioned  judg- 
ment and  consistent  behavior  essential  to  the  training  of  a  careless 
and  wayward  boy.  In  his  treatment  of  him  he  flew  from  one 
extreme  to  the  other — from  almost  cruel  severity  to  almost 
limitless  indulgence,  and,  for  this  reason,  failed  to  inspire  either 
respect  for  his  authority  or  deep  affection  for  his  person,  to  de- 
velop the  lad's  self-control  or  a  desire  for  virtuous  living.  Very 
questionable,  too,  if  not  utterly  unpardonable,  were  the  measures 
which  Beethoven  took  to  separate  the  boy  from  his  mother  in 
spite  of  the  dying  wishes  of  his  father.  We  have  seen  his  pro- 
testations at  times  of  his  unwillingness  to  give  her  pain.  When  he 
was  cruel  in  his  own  confession  it  was  because  he  imagined  him- 
self constrained  to  be  so  by  a  high  obligation  of  duty.  There  can 
be  no  doubt  that  the  woman  whom  Beethoven  called  "The  Queen 
of  Night"  was  wicked  and  vicious,  and  that  his  detestation  of  her 
was  as  well  founded  as  his  wish  to  save  his  nephew  from  evil 
communications  and  influences.  But  there  were  times  when  he 
seemed  willing  to  give  filial  instincts  their  due.  "Karl  did  wrong," 
he  writes  to  Madame  Streicher  from  Modling  in  June  1818,  "but 
— mother — mother — even  a  bad  one  remains  a  mother.  To  this 
extent  he  is  to  be  excused,  especially  by  me,  who  know  his  intri- 
guing, passionate  mother  too  well."  Why  did  he  not  follow  this 
thought  to  its  ultimate  conclusion.^  Why  did  he  permit,  if  indeed, 
he  did  not  encourage,  the  lad  to  speak  disrespectfully  of  his  mother.' 
A  memorandum  in  the  Tagebuch  after  February  20th  reads: 
"Karl's  mother  has  not  seen  him  since  August  10" — a  period 
of  more  than  six  months.  How  often  she  was  allowed  to  see  him 
during  the  following  months  is  not  of  record;  we  only  know  from 
Beethoven  himself,  in  his  letters  to  Madame  Streicher,  that  the 
mother's  instinct — if,  because  she  was  a  bad  woman,  the  word 
"love"  be  not  allowed — drove  her  to  employ  the  only  means  by 
which  she  could  know  the  condition  of  her  son  during  the  summer 
in  Modling — i.  e.,  bribing  or  feeing  the  servants.  That  at  least 
is  Beethoven's  accusation,  and  exceedingly  wroth  he  was.^ 

iWe  have  contented  ourselves  with  mere  references  to  Beethoven's  letters  to 
Madame  Streicher  in  this  period.  They  are  mostly  brief  notes  monotonously  asking 
help  in  domestic  affairs,  and,  though  frequently  interesting  because  of  their  exhibition  of 


394  The  Life  of  LroAviG  van  Beethoven 

After  taking  Karl  from  Giannatasio's  institute  to  his  own 
home  Beethoven  engaged  a  tutor  to  prepare  him  for  matriculation 
at  the  gymnasium.  This  tutor,  whose  name  has  not  been  learned, 
was  a  professor  at  the  Vienna  University  and  had  evidently  agreed 
not  only  to  look  after  all  of  the  lad's  intellectual  needs  but  also  to 
have  an  eye  on  some  of  the  domestic  affairs  and  to  that  end  to 
become  a  member  of  the  Beethoven  household.  On  this  point, 
Beethoven  enjoined  secrecy  upon  Madame  Streicher.  How  long 
the  service  of  his  "steward,"  as  he  playfully  called  him  to  Madame 
Streicher,  continued  is  not  known,  nor  how  satisfactory  it  was. 
He  does  not  become  a  subject  of  Beethoven's  correspondence 
beyond  a  single  reference  to  the  fact  that  once  he  staid  out  all 
night.     Beethoven's  London  trip  had  been  abandoned  without 

characteristic  traits  and  moods,  too  insignificant  to  justify  the  cumbering  of  these  pages 
■^•ith  their  literal  contents.  Those  who  wish  to  do  so  can  read  them  in  any  of  the  German 
collections  of  Beethoven's  letters  or  in  the  English  translation  by  Shedlock.  But 
Kalischer's  notes  and  dates  and  sometimes  Mr.  Shedlock's  translation  ought  to  be 
critically  scrutinized.  The  letter  referred  to  above,  however,  deserves  to  be  given  in 
fuU. 

"Best  Madame  von  Streicher ! 

"It  was  not  possible  to  reply  to  your  last  letter  sooner.  I  would  have  written  to 
you  a  few  days  ago  when  the  servants  were  sent  away,  but  hesitated  in  my  determination 
until  I  learned  that  it  was  Frau  D.  in  particular  who  hindered  Karl  to  make  full  con- 
fession, "//e  ought  to  spare  his  mother,"  she  told  him;  and  Peppi  cooperated  with  her; 
naturally  they  did  not  want  to  be  discovered;  they  worked  together  shamefully  and 
permitted  themselves  to  be  used  by  Frau  v.  Beethoven;  both  received  coffee  and  sugar 
from  her,  Peppi  money  and  the  old  one  probably  also;  for  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
she  was  herself  at  the  house  of  Karl's  mother;  she  said  to  Karl  that  if  I  drove  her  away 
from  my  service  she  would  go  straight  to  his  viother.  This  happened  at  a  time  when  I 
had  reproved  her  for  her  conduct  with  which  I  had  frequent  occasion  to  be  dissatisfied; 
Peppi  who  often  played  the  eavesdropper  when  I  spoke  with  Karl  appears  to  have  tried 
to  tell  the  truth,  but  the  old  one  accused  her  of  stupidity  and  scolded  her  stoutly — and  so 
she  remained  silent  and  tried  to  throw  me  off  the  trail.  The  story  of  this  abominable 
deception  may  have  lasted  about  six  weeks — they  would  not  have  got  off  so  easy  with  a 
less  magnanimous  man.  Peppi  borrowed  9  or  10  florins  for  stuff  for  shirts  and  I  after- 
wards made  her  a  present  of  the  money  and  instead  of  60  she  got  70  florins;  she  might 
have  denied  herself  these  wretched  bribes.  In  the  case  of  the  old  woman,  who  was 
always  the  worse,  hate  may  have  played  a  part  as  she  always  thought  herself  neglected 
(although  she  got  more  than  she  deserved)  for  the  scornful  smile  on  her  face  one  day 
when  Karl  embraced  me,  made  me  sttspect  treachery  and  how  shameless  and  deceitful 
such  an  old  woman  could  be.  Just  imagine,  2  days  before  I  came  here  K.  went  to  his 
mother  one  afternoon  without  my  knowledge  and  both  the  old  woman  and  P.  knew  it. 
But  now  listen  to  the  triumph  of  a  hoary-headed  traitress;  on  the  way  hither  with 
K.  and  her,  I  spoke  with  K.  about  the  matter  in  the  carriage,  although  I  did  not  know 
all,  and  when  I  expressed  the  fear  that  we  should  not  be  safe  in  Modling,  she  exclaimed 
"I  should  only  rely  upon  her."  O  the  infamy  of  it!  This  was  only  the  2nd  time  in  the 
case  of  a  person  of  such  venerable  age  that  such  a  thing  happened  to  me.  A  few  days 
before  I  sent  both  away  I  had  told  them  in  writing  that  under  no  circumstances  were 
they  to  accept  anything  for  Karl  from  his  mother.  Instead  of  repenting,  Peppi  tried 
secretly  to  take  revenge  on  Karl,  after  he  had  confessed  all  which  they  knew  from  the 
fact  that  in  writing,  I  had  said  that  all  had  been  discovered — I  expected  that  they  would 
both  beg  my  pardon  after  this,  instead  of  which  they  played  me  one  wicked  trick  after 
the  other.  As  no  betterment  was  to  be  expected  in  such  obstinate  sinners  and  I  had 
every  moment  to  fear  another  piece  of  treachery,  I  decided  to  sacrifice  my  body,  my 
comfort  to  better  self,  my  poor,  misguided  Karl  and  out  of  the  house  they  went  as  a 
warning  example  to  all  those  who  may  come  after.     I  might  have  made  their  certificates 


The  London  Visit  Postponed  395 

notice  or  explanation  to  the  Philharmonic  Society,  apparently; 
but  Ries  must  have  written  to  him,  renewing  the  offer  previously 
accepted,  for  on  March  25,  Beethoven  writes  to  his  old  pupil  as 
follows : 

In  spite  of  my  desire,  it  was  impossible  for  me  to  come  to  Loiulon 
this  Winter;  I  beg  of  you  to  say  to  the  Philharmonic  Society  that  my  poor 
state  of  health  hindered  me,  but  I  hope  that  I  may  be  entirely  well  this 
Spring  and  then  take  advantage  of  the  renewed  offers  of  the  Society  to- 
wards the  end  of  the  year  and  fulfil  all  its  conditions.  Please  ask  Xeate 
in  my  name  not  to  make  use,  at  least  not  in  public,  of  the  many  compo- 
sitions of  mine  which  he  has  until  my  arrived  in  person;  no  matter  what 
the  condition  of  his  affairs  may  be  I  have  cause  of  complaint  against 
him. 

of  character  a  little  less  favorable;  I  set  down  the  time  of  service  of  each  at  full  six 
months  although  it  was  not  true.  I  never  practise  vengeance;  in  cases  where  I  oppose 
myself  to  other  people,  I  never  do  more  against  them  than  is  necessary  to  protect  my- 
self against  them  or  to  prevent  them  from  doing  further  harm.  On  account  of  Peppi's 
honesty  in  general  I  am  sorry  to  have  lost  her  for  which  reason  I  made  her  certificate 
more  favorable  than  that  of  the  old  woman,  and  she  appears  to  have  been  led  astray  by 
the  old  woman  but  that  P.'s  conscience  was  not  at  ease  she  showed  by  saying  to  Karl 
that  "she  did  not  dare  go  hack  to  her  parents,"  and,  in  fact  I  believe  she  is  stiH  here — I 
had  suspected  treachery  for  a  long  time  until  one  evening  before  my  departure  I  received 
an  anonymous  letter  the  contents  of  which  filled  me  with  dread;  but  they  were  only 
suspicions.  Karl,  whom  I  took  to  task  at  once  in  the  evening  confessed  but  not  all. 
As  I  often  treat  him  harshly  and  not  without  cause,  he  was  too  greatly  afraid  to  admit 
everything  at  once.  In  the  midst  of  the  struggle  we  reached  here.  .-\s  I  often  questioned 
him,  the  servants  noticed  it  and  the  old  woman  in  particular  tried  to  persuade  him  not 
to  admit  the  truth.  But  when  I  gave  Karl  my  sacred  assurance  that  all  would  be  for- 
given if  he  would  but  confess  the  truth,  while  lying  would  plunge  him  into  a  deeper 
abyss  than  that  in  which  he  already  was,  everything  came  to  the  light  of  day — add  to 
this  the  other  data  which  I  gave  you  before  concerning  the  servants  and  you  will  have 
the  shameful  story  of  the  two  traitresses  clearly  before  you.  K.  did  wrong,  but — mother 
— mother — even  a  bad  one  remains  a  mother.  To  this  extent  he  is  to  be  excused, 
particularly  by  me  who  know  his  intriguing,  passionate  mother  too  well.  The  priest 
here  knows  already  that  I  know  about  him  for  K.  had  already  told  me.  It  is  likely  that 
he  was  not  fully  informed  and  that  he  will  be  careful;  but  to  guard  against  K.'s  being 
mistreated  by  him,  since  he  appears  to  be  rather  a  rude  man,  the  matter  may  rest  for  the 
nonce.  But  as  K.'s  virtue  was  put  to  the  test  for  there  is  no  virtue  without  temptation. 
I  purposely  pass  the  matter  by  until  it  happens  again  (which  I  do  not  expect)  in  which 
case  I  will  so  bethwack  his  reverence  with  such  spiritual  cudgels,  amulets  with  my  sole 
guardianship  and  consequent  privileges  that  the  whole  parish  will  shake.  My  heart 
has  been  terribly  shaken  up  by  this  affair  and  I  can  scarcely  recover  myself.  Now  to 
my  housekeeping;  it  needs  your  help;  how  necessary  it  is  to  us  you  already  know;  do 
not  be  frightened  away,  such  a  thing  might  happen  anyMhere,  but  if  it  has  once  happened 
and  one  is  in  a  position  to  hold  it  up  to  one's  new  servants,  it  is  not  likely  that  it  will 
occur  again.  You  know  what  we  need — perhaps  the  French  woman,  and  whatever  can 
be  found  in  the  way  of  a  chambermaid,  good  cooking  remains  the  principal  thing,  even 
in  the  matter  of  economy,  for  the  present  we  have  a  person  who  cooks  for  us,  but  badly. 
I  cannot  write  you  more  to-day,  you  will  perceive  that  in  this  matter  I  could  not  act 
differently;  it  had  gone  too  far.  I  do  not  yet  invite  you  to  visit  me  here  for  everything 
is  still  in  confusion;  nevertheless  it  will  not  be  necessary  to  send  me  to  a  lunatic  asijlum. 
I  can  say  that  I  already  suffered  from  this  thing  fearfully  while  I  was  yet  in  Vienna, 
though  I  kept  silent.  Farewell;  do  not  make  anything  of  this  known  as  some  one  might 
think  prejudicially  of  K.;  only  I  who  know  all  tiie  driving  wheels  here  can  testify  for  him 
that  he  was  terribly  misled"  I  beg  of  you  soon  to  write  us  something  comforting, 
touching  the  art  of  cooking,  washing  and  sewing. 

"I  am  very  ill  and  in  need  of  a  stomach  restorative. 
"Modling,  June  18  (10.^),  1818." 


396  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

Better  [Cipriani  Potter]  visited  me  several  times,  he  seems  to  be  a 
good  man  and  has  talent  for  composition — I  hope  and  wish  that  your 
prosperity  may  grow  daily;  unfortunately  I  cannot  say  that  of  myself. 
My  unlucky  connection  with  the  Archduke  has  brought  me  to  the  verge 
of  beggary.  I  cannot  endure  the  sight  of  want — I  must  give;  you  can 
imagine  how  present  conditions  increase  my  sufferings.  I  beg  of  you 
soon  to  write  to  me  again.  If  it  is  at  all  possible  I  shall  get  away  from 
here  sooner  in  order  to  escape  total  ruin  and  will  then  arrive  in  London  in 
the  Winter  at  the  latest. 

I  know  that  you  will  stand  by  an  unfortunate  friend;  had  it  only 
been  in  my  power,  and  had  I  not  been  fettered  by  circumstances  here  I 
would  surely  have  done  much  more  for  you.  Fare  you  very  well,  give 
my  greetings  to  Neate,  Smart,  Cramer — although  I  hear  that  he  is  a 
counter-subject  to  you  and  me,  yet  I  already  know  something  of  the  art 
of  treating  such  and  we  shall  produce  an  agreeable  harmony  in  London. 

Ries's  reverence  for  royalty,  apparently,  led  him  to  omit 
Beethoven's  unkind  allusion  to  his  august  patron  and  pupil, 
Archduke  Rudolph;  Schindler,  writing  much  later,  prints  it  and 
admits,  very  properly,  as  we  know  from  other  instances  of  the  same 
kind,  that  Beethoven  sometimes  used  his  friends  as  whipping- 
boys  and  that  his  words  and  deeds  were  not  alw^ays  consistent  with 
each  other.  Beethoven  removed  to  Modling  on  May  19,  taking 
with  him  his  nephew  and  the  two  servants  whose  treachery  aroused 
the  storm  of  passion  which  he  loosed  in  the  long  letter  to  Madame 
Streicher,  written  in  June.  He  found  lodgings  in  the  so-called 
Hafner  House  in  the  Hauptstrasse,  now  ornamented  by  a  memorial 
tablet.  He  began  taking  the  baths  two  days  after  his  arrival  and 
the  desire  and  capacity  for  work  soon  returning,  he  took  up  ener- 
getically the  Pianoforte  Sonata  in  B-flat.  Karl  was  placed  in  a 
class  of  boys  taught  by  the  village  priest,  named  Frohlich,  who 
dismissed  him  a  month  later  for  reasons  which  became  a  matter 
of  judicial  record  before  the  end  of  the  year.^  In  a  document 
filed  as  an  appendix  to  Madame  van  Beethoven's  application  for 
guardianship  over  her  son,  Frohlich  sets  forth  that  Beethoven  had 
encouraged  his  nephew  to  revile  his  mother,  applauding  him  when 
he  applied  vile  epithets  to  her  either  in  writing  or  by  shrieking 
them  into  his  ear,  "thus  violating  the  fourth  divine  commandment" ; 
that  the  boy  had  confessed  to  him  that  while  he  knew  that  he  was 
doing  wrong  he  yet  defamed  his  mother  to  curry  favor  with  his 
uncle  and  dared  not  tell  him  the  truth  because  he  would  only 
believe  lies.  "This  he  once  told  his  mother  and  would  have  said 
more  had  he  not  feared  being  found  out  and  maltreated  by  his 

'It  was  this  priest,  evidently,  against  whom  Beethoven  threatened  to  launch  the 
thunderbolts  of  his  wrath  so  as  to  shake  the  earth  in  a  certain  event,  as  he  told  Madame 
Streicher. 


An  Oratorio  for  the  Friends  of  Music 


397 


uncle."  Once,  too,  Beethoven  came  to  him  (the  priest)  and  in  a 
tone  of  malicious  joy  told  him  that  his  nephew  had  that  day  called 
his  mother  a  "Ravenmother"  {Rahcnmutter — meaning?  a  wicked 
and  unnatural  mother).  Karl's  training  being  thus  contrary  to 
all  moral  principles,  he  having  also  displayed  indifference  to  re- 
ligious instruction,  been  guilty  of  unruly  conduct  in  church  and  in 
the  streets,  so  that  many  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  village  had  come 
to  him  w^ith  complaints,  and,  therefore,  admonitions  to  the  boy 
and  appeals  to  the  uncle  having  borne  no  fruit,  he  had  been  con- 
strained for  the  sake  of  his  twelve  o!her  pupils,  who  had  said 
"they  did  not  want  to  study  with  the  unruly  Karl  van  Beethoven," 
to  dismiss  him. 

These  unfortunate  first-fruits  of  Beethoven's  error  in  under- 
taking personal  and  sole  care  of  his  nephew  will  call  for  more 
attention  before  the  history  of  the  year  1818  is  closed,  and  may  be 
dismissed  for  the  present  for  more  cheerful  topics.  Towards  the 
end  of  the  year  1815^  the  Gesellschaft  der  Musikfreunde  had  in- 
stituted inquiries  through  Zmeskall  touching  Beethoven's  willing- 
ness to  compose  a  work  of  magnitude  for  the  Society.  Beethoven 
signified  his  assent  to  the  project  and  in  turn  asked  Zmeskall 
whether  or  not  the  Society  would  allow  him  400  ducats  as  an 
honorarium.  There  the  matter  seems  to  have  rested  until  Mav, 
1818,  on  the  17th  of  which  month  Vincenz  Hauschka,  a  violon- 
cello player  and  member  of  the  governing  committee  of  the  Society, 
was  authorized  by  his  associates  to  offer  Beethoven  from  200  to 
300  "pieces  of  gold"  for  the  music  to  a  "heroic  oratorio"  to  be  the 
exclusive  property  of  the  Society  for  one  year  after  the  date  of  its 
first  performance.  Hauschka  wrote  to  Beethoven  at  Modling 
and  received  a  droll  letter  in  reply.  It  bears  no  date.  In  it 
Beethoven  addresses  his  friend  as  "Chief  Member  of  the  Society 
of  Enemies  of  Music  [the  play  on  the  words  Freunde  and  Feinde 
is  impossible  in  English],  in  the  Austrian  Empire"  and  "Grand 
Cross  of  the  Order  of  the  Violoncello."  He  signifies  his  willing- 
ness to  accept  the  commission  in  the  words:  "I  am  agreed"  {Ich 
bin  hereit)  set  to  a  fugue-theme: 


adding  that  he  had  no  subject  on  hand  except  a  sacred  one,  while 


398 


The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 


the  Society  had  expressed  a  desire  for  a  heroic  work.  This  was 
satisfactory  to  him,  but  he  suggested  that  as  the  choir  was  a  large 
one  something  sacred  be  "mixed  in": 


:| 


^ 


^^ 


etc. 


-    men! 


Mr.  V.  Bernard  would  suit  him  as  poet,  but  the  Society,  since  it 
claimed  to  be  friendly  to  music,  ought  to  pay  him.  He  said 
nothing  of  his  own  compensation,  but  concluded  with: 

I  wish  you  open  bowels  and  the  handsomest  of  close-stools.  As  for 
me,  I  am  wandering  about  here  amongst  mountains,  clefts  and  valleys, 
with  a  piece  of  music-paper  smearing  down  many  a  thing  for  the  sake  of 
bread  and  money — for  to  such  a  pitch  have  I  brought  it  in  this  all  power- 
ful land  of  the  Phseacians  that  to  gain  a  little  time  for  a  work  of  magnitude 
I  must  always  first  smear  a  great  deal  for  money  so  that  I  may  hold  out 
for  a  large  work.  For  the  rest,  my  health  is  much  better  and  if  haste  is 
necessary  I  can  still  serve  you  well. 


gree 


-     d! 


Schindler  also  places  this  letter  in  1818,  and  is  doubtless 
correct  in  so  doing,  for  its  tone  and  contents  show  that  it  was  not 
designed  as  an  official  communication  to  the  Society,  whose 
minutes  show  that  such  a  communication  was  not  received  until 
June  15, 1819.  In  the  interim,  no  doubt,  some  negotiations  were  in 
progress  between  Beethoven  and  Hauschka,  for  the  former  had 
refrained  from  mentioning  the  matter  of  remuneration.  Some 
understanding  on  this  point  must  have  been  reached,  however,  for, 
if  Pohl  is  correct,  Beethoven  was  paid  an  advance  sum  of  400  florins 
on  August  18,  1819.  Nothing  came  of  the  matter,  as  we  shall  see 
later.  In  this  year,  however,  there  came  to  Beethoven  an  in- 
citation  of  a  different  nature  and  one  productive  of  lasting  and 
magnificent  results.     About  the  middk  of  1818,  as  Schindler  re 


lates,  it  became  known  as  a  setted  fact  that  Archduke  Rudolph 
had  been  appointed  Archbishop  of  Olimitz.  March  20th,  1820, 
was  fixed  as  the  day  of  his  installation.  Without  bidding,  in- 
vitation or  summons  of  any  kind  Beethoven  "resolved  to  compose 
a  mass  for  the  solemnity,  thus  turning  again  after  the  lapse  of  many 
years  to  that  branch  of  his  art,  toward  which,  after  the  symphonic 


Conception  of  the  Mass  in  D  399 

—as  he  himself  often  said— he  felt  himself  most  drawn.  This 
resolution  shows  that  his  outburst  against  the  Archduke ^  was 
merely  a  passing  cloud,  even  if  we  did  not  know  that  the  master 
never  missed  an  opportunity  to  disclose  his  affection  for  his 
august  pupil.  I  saw  the  score  begun  late  in  the  Autumn  of  1818, 
after  the  gigantic  Sonata  in  B-flat  major.  Op.  lOG,  had  just  beeh~ 
finished."  Though  there  is  no  reason  for  questioning  the  rest  of 
Schindler's  statement,  the  concluding  observation  is  probably  in- 
correct. It  may  be  accepted,  inasmuch  as  the  Credo  of  the  mass 
was  already  far  advanced  in  1819,  that  the  Kijrie,  at  least,  perhaps 
the  Gloria,  as  well,  was  begun  in  1818.  The  two  great  works  which 
now  filled  the  mind  of  Beethoven,  which  he  wrote,  indeed,  with 
his  heart's  blood,  were  not  only  dedicated  to  the  Archduke,  but 
were  designed  for  him  from  the  beginning — facts  which  may  be 
cited  as  proof  that  despite  his  petulant  outbursts  against  his  pupil 
and  patron  he  was  after  all  sincerely  devoted  to  him  in  his 
innermost  soul. 

The  same  summer  saw  the  beginning  of  the  most  widely 
distributed  portrait  of  Beethoven.  At  the  instance  of  his  uncle. 
Baron  von  Skrbensky,  a  young  painter  named  August  von  Klober 
(born  at  Breslau  in  1793),  who  was  continuing  his  artistic  studies 
in  Vienna,  undertook  to  paint  a  portrait  of  the  composer.  His 
own  account  of  his  acquaintance  with  Beethoven  and  the  incidents 
connected  with  the  painting  of  the  portrait  (or  rather  with  the 
original  sketch)  were  published  in  the  "Allgemeine  Musikalische 
Zeitung,"  of  1864  (p.  324).  From  it  we  learn  that  the  artist  was 
introduced  to  Beethoven  by  a  letter  written  by  Dont.  -  He  visited 
Beethoven  at  Modling,  after  receiving  permission  to  make  a 
drawing  of  him  and  found  him  giving  a  lesson  to  his  nephew  on  the 
Broadwood  pianoforte.  This  fact  fixes  the  date  of  the  picture. 
Though  the  artist  found  it  impossible  to  make  himself  understood 
unless  he  wrote  his  words  or  spoke  them  into  an  ear-trumpet,  Beet- 
hoven corrected  the  errors  in  the  lad's  playing,  compelled  him 
to  repeat  passages  apparently  without  difficulty.  He  grew  un- 
easy after  Klober  had  worked  about  three-quarters  of  an  hour  and 
the  latter,  heeding  the  advice  given  by  Dont,  suspended  his  work 
and  asked  permission  to  come  again  on  the  morrow,  since  he  was 
living  in  Modling.  "Then  we  can  meet  often,"  said  Beethoven, 
"because  I  do  not  like  to  sit  long.  You  must  take  a  good  look  at 
Modling,  for  it  is  very  beautiful  here,  and,  as  an  artist,  you  must 

^In  the  letter  to  Ries. 

"Evidently  Joseph  Valentine,  a  violoncello  player,  father  of  Jacob  Dont,  the  vio- 
linist, chiefly  famous  as  a  teacher  of  his  instrument  in  Vienna. 


~-> 


400  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

be  a  lover  of  nature."  Klober  met  him  often  in  his  promenades 
and  saw  him  suspend  his  work  at  intervals,  stand  as  if  listening 
and  make  notes  on  music  paper  which  he  carried  about  with  him. 
When  Beethoven  saw  the  picture  he  was  pleased  with  the  treat- 
ment of  the  hair;  the  artists  had  hitherto  always  made  him  look 
too  well  groomed.  Klober's  description  of  the  composer  as  he 
saw  him  was  this : 

Beethoven's  residence  in  Modling  was  extremely  simple  as,  indeed, 
was  his  whole  nature;  his  garments  consisted  of  a  light-blue  frockcoat 
with  yellow  buttons,  white  waistcoat  and  necktie,  as  was  the  fashion  at 
the  time,  but  everything  negligee.  His  complexion  was  healthy,  the 
skin  somewhat  pockmarked,  his  hair  was  of  the  color  of  slightly  bluish 
steel  as  it  was  already  turning  from  black  to  gray.  His  eyes  were  bluish- 
gray  and  very  animated — when  his  hair  was  tossed  by  the  wind  there  was 
something  Ossianic-demoniac  about  him.  In  friendly  converse,  however, 
his  expression  became  good-natured  and  gentle,  particularly  when  the 
conversation  pleased  him.  Every  mood  of  his  soul  found  powerful 
expression  instantly  in  his  features. 

Klober's  original  painting  has  disappeared.  It  was  a  full-length 
portrait  with  a  bit  of  Modling  landscape  as  a  background.  The 
nephew  Karl  was  included,  reposing  under  a  tree.  The  composer 
was  depicted  with  note-book  and  pencil.  The  head  only  was  repro- 
duced in  a  lithograph  in  Klober's  atelier,  and  has  been  widely 
copied. 

We  now  reach  an  incident  in  the  story  of  Beethoven's  life 
concerning  which  much  has  been  written  from  the  biased  and 
frequently  erroneous,  because  uninformed  or  ill-informed,  point 
of  view  adopted  by  Schindler  and  which  it  becomes  a  duty  to 
rectify  not  only  so  that  the  picture  of  Beethoven  as  he  was  may 
be  kept  true,  but  that  the  better  motives  and  impulses  which 
prompted  the  woman  whom  he  so  cordially  and  no  doubt  justly 
detested  be  placed  in  their  proper  light  also.  There  is  nothing  in 
the  narrative  which  brings  reproach  upon  Beethoven  so  far  as  his 
high  sense  of  duty  and  disinterested  affection  for  his  nephew  is 
concerned — an  affection  which  was  as  little  weakened  by  the  self- 
sacrifice  which  it  entailed  as  it  was  balked  by  the  conduct  of  his 
ward  and  the  frequently  unwarranted  means  employed  by  his 
mother  to  acquire  possession  of  the  lad  and  the  right  to  super- 
intend his  physical,  mental  and  moral  training;  but  the  rights  of 
a  woman  and  the  honor  which  a  world  has  always  accorded  to  the 
strongest,  noblest,  divinest  instinct  of  woman — maternal  love — 
were  also  at  stake.  The  mother  of  Karl,  though  she  had  been 
convicted  and  punished  for  adultery  at  an  earlier  period,  and 
though  she  might  not  have  proved  a  safe  mentor  for  her  son,  was 


A  Mother's  Struggle  for  Her  Child  401 

yet  a  mother,  his  mother.  That  fact  Beethoven  was  wilh'ng,  in  the 
long  letter  to  Madame  Streicher  in  which  he  set  forth  the  wicked 
acts  of  his  servants,  to  recognize  as  palliating  the  conduct  of  the 
boy;  but  he  could  not  bring  himself  to  recognize  that  it  might  also 
palliate  if  it  did  not  justify  the  steps  which  liis  harshness  compelled 
a  mother  to  take  to  gratify  the  need  implanted  in  her  by  nature. 
Johanna  van  Beethoven  is  at  least  entitled  to  the  same  hearing  at 
the  bar  of  posterity  that  she  received  in  the  tribunals  of  her  day, 
and  it  is  the  duty  of  Beethoven's  biographer  to  strip  the  story  of 
the  quarrel  between  her  and  her  brother-in-law  of  the  romantic 
excrescences  which  many  writers  have  fastened  upon  it.  In  this 
narrative  the  truth  will  be  told,  perhaps  for  the  first  time,  as  it  is 
disclosed  by  the  documents,  the  evidence  and  the  judicial  decrees 
in  the  case.  To  set  forth  these  documents  in  full  in  the  body  of 
the  text  would  call  for  the  sacrifice  of  much  space  and  sadly  in- 
terrupt the  story;  what  is  essential  in  them  will  be  given  literally, 
or  in  outline,  whenever  it  becomes  necessary.  ^ 

After  his  dismissal  from  the  class  of  the  parish  priest  at 
Modling,  Karl  van  Beethoven  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  pri- 
vate tutor  to  be  prepared  for  admission  to  one  of  the  public 
schools  of  Vienna — no  doubt  that  known  as  the  Academic  Gym- 
nasium. To  enter  this  school  the  boy  had  to  pass  an  examination, 
and  for  this  purpose  Beethoven  brought  him  to  Vienna  about  the 
middle  of  August.  Madame  van  Beethoven  was  now  determined 
to  wrest  from  her  brother-in-law  the  authority,  which  was  his  as 
sole  guardian,  to  keep  the  boy  in  his  care  and  to  direct  his  train- 
ing. She  took  to  her  aid  Jacob  Hotschevar,  a  Ilofconcipist 
(clerk  or  scrivener  in  the  government  service),  and  petitioned  the 
Landrecht  of  Lower  Austria  to  take  from  Beethoven  the  authority 
to  direct  the  future  training  of  his  ward.  The  Landrecht  was  a 
tribunal  with  jurisdiction  in  litigations  and  other  matters  affect- 
ing the  nobility.  Acting  on  the  assumption  that  the  Dutch  "van," 
like  the  German  "von,"  was  a  badge  of  noble  birth,  it  had  listened 
to  Beethoven's  plea  and  appointed  him  sole  guardian  of  his 
nephew,  removing  the  widow  from  the  joint  guardianship  directed 
in  the  will  of  the  boy's  father  on  the  score  of  her  immorality,  as  we 
already  know.  The  proceedings  were  begun  in  September  and 
were  dismissed,  as  the  records  show,  on  the  18th  of  that  month. 
Three  days  later,  that  is,  on  September  21,  she  applied  to  the 

»Mr.  Thayer  made  or  procured  transcripts  of  the  records  of  the  tribunals  in  which 
the  struggle  for  the  possession  of  Karl  van  Beethoven  were  made.  Students  whose 
curiosity  is  not  satisfied  by  these  pages  are  referred  to  Appendix  III  of  Nol.  IV  of  the 
German  edition  of  this  biography. 


402  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

court  again,  this  time  for  permission  to  place  her  son  in  the 
Royal  Imperial  Convict,  where  he  would  have  board,  lodging  and 
instruction.  She  and  Beethoven  as  "co-guardian"  were  com- 
manded to  appear  in  court  on  September  23,  and  the  latter  was 
directed  to  bring  the  report  of  the  lad's  examination  with  him. 
There  was  a  postponement  of  the  hearing  till  September  30,  and 
on  October  3d  the  widow's  application  was  rejected.  Thus  far 
victory  had  gone  to  Beethoven. 

The  postponement  of  the  hearing  was  had  in  great  likelihood 
to  enable  Beethoven  to  change  his  residence  from  Modling  to  the 
city.  At  any  rate,  Karl  is  a  public  school  scholar  on  November 
6th,  as  Fanny  Giannatasio  records  in  her  diary  on  that  day  together 
with  the  fact  that  her  father  had  met  Beethoven,  who  had  shortly 
before  returned  from  the  country.  That  the  boy  was  in  the  third 
grammar  class  and  remained  there  during  the  months  of  November 
and  December,  receiving  also  instruction  in  pianoforte  playing, 
French  and  drawing  from  a  private  teacher,  is  known  from  the 
court  proceedings  which  were  held  later.  The  lad  made  good  pro- 
gress in  his  studies,  all  seemed  well  and  something  of  the  old 
cordial  relations  seemed  again  to  be  established  between  Beethoven 
and  the  Giannatasios.  They  provided  him  with  a  housekeeper 
and  on  one  day  in  November  he  spent  three  hours  with  the  family. 
Fanny  writes: 

One  cannot  be  in  his  company  without  being  impressed  with  his 
admirable  character,  his  deep  sense  of  what  is  good  and  noble.  If 
Karl  would  but  recompense  him  for  the  many  sacrifices  which  he  makes 
for  his  sake!  My  hopes  are  intermingled  with  anxious  doubts.  He  will 
probably  make  a  journey  to  London  this  Spring.  It  might  be  advan- 
tageous to  him  financially  in  many  ways. 

Before  long  Beethoven  is  at  the  Giannatasio  house  again  and 
becomes  interested  in  the  singing  of  the  sisters,  singing  with  them, 
which  produced  a  comical  effect,  as  he  seldom  was  in  tune,  but 
helping  them  to  give  the  correct  expression  to  the  music.  Fanny 
now  deplores  that  their  childish  timidity  had  so  long  deprived 
them  of  such  a  pleasure,  which  would  now  perhaps  be  of  short 
duration,  since  he  had  received  a  second  invitation  to  England. 
This  entry  bears  date  November  20.  Within  a  fortnight  the  diary 
chronicles  the  severest  trial  that  the  boy  had  yet  caused  his  uncle: 
he  ran  away  from  home  and  sought  a  haven  with  his  mother. 
The  sympathetic  young  woman  wrote  later: 

"One  day  B.  came  in  great  excitement  and  sought  counsel 
and  help  from  my  father,  saying  that  Karl  had  run  away!  I 
recall  that  on  this  occasion  amid  our  expressions  of  sympathy 


The  Lad  Runs  Away  from  His  Uncle  403 

he  cried  out  tearfully:  'He  is  ashamed  of  me!'"  The  incident  is 
recorded  in  her  diary  under  date  of  December  5;  it  occurred, 
apparently  two  days  before.     The  diarist's  entry  is  as  follows: 

Never  in  my  life  shall  I  forget  the  moment  when  he  came  and  told 
us  that  Karl  was  gone,  had  run  away  to  his  mother,  and  showed  us  his 
letter  as  an  evidence  of  his  vileness.  To  see  this  man  suffering  so,  to  see 
him  weeping — it  was  touching!  Father  took  up  the  matter  with  great 
zeal,  and  with  all  my  sorrow  I  feel  a  pleasurable  sensation  in  the  con- 
sciousness that  now  we  are  much  to  Beethoven,  yes,  at  this  moment  his 
only  refuge.  Now  he  surely  perceives  his  error  if  he  has  wronged  us  in  his 
opinions.  Ah!  he  can  never  appreciate  how  highly  we  esteem  him,  how 
much  I  should  be  capable  of  doing  for  his  happiness!  .  .  .  The  naughty 
child  is  again  with  him  with  the  help  of  the  police — the  Ravenmother! 
Oh!  how  dreadful  it  is  that  this  man  is  compelled  to  suffer  so  on  account 
of  such  outcasts.  He  must  go  away  from  here,  or  she;  that  will  be  the 
outcome.  For  the  present  B.  will  give  him  into  our  care;  it  will  be  an 
act  of  great  kindness  on  my  father's  part  if  he  receives  him,  as  he  will 
have  to  look  upon  him  as  one  imder  arrest.  ...  It  did  me  good  when  he 
went  away  to  note  that  his  thoughts  were  more  diverted.  He 
told  me  that  he  had  been  so  wrought  up  by  the  matter  that  it  took 
him  some  time  to  gather  his  thoughts.  During  the  night  his  heart  had 
beat  audibly.  Alas!  and  there  remains  nothing  for  me  to  say  except  that 
all  that  we  can  do  is  so  little!  I  would  give  half  my  life  for  the  man! 
He  always  thinks  of  himself  last.  He  lamented  that  he  did  not  know 
what  would  become  of  his  housekeeping  when  Karl  was  gone. 

We  learn  the  probable  reason  for  the  lad's  truancy  from  Beet- 
hoven's statement  at  the  examination  in  court  on  December  11th. 
Two  letters  written  by  his  housekeeper  to  Fanny  Giannatasio,  and 
one  written  by  the  latter,  had  fallen  into  Beethoven's  hands  and 
from  them  he  had  learned  of  certain  delinquencies  with  which  he 
then  confronted  his  nephew.  But  let  us  call  Beethoven  himself  to 
the  witness  stand;  his  recital  will  give  more  vitality  to  the  history 
than  any  statement  of  a  historian  writing  nearly  a  century  later. 
We  quote  from  the  minutes  of  the  Landrecht: 

Ludwig  van  Beethoven  examined: 

How  did  his  nephew  leave  him? 

He  did  not  know  exactly;  his  nephew  had  made  himself  culpable; 
he  had  charged  him  with  it  and  the  same  day  in  the  evening  he  had  re- 
ceived a  note  of  farewell.  He  could  not  tell  the  cause  of  his  departure; 
his  mother  may  have  asked  him  to  come  to  her  the  day  before,  but  it 
might  have  been  fear  of  punishment. 

What  had  his  nephew  done? 

He  had  a  housekeeper  who  had  been  recommended  to  him  by 
Giannatasio;  two  of  her  letters  to  Miss  Giannatasio  and  one  of  the  latter's 
had  fallen  into  his  hands;  in  them  it  was  stated  that  his  nephew  had  called 
the  servants  abusive  names,  had  withheld  money  and  spent  it  on  sweet- 
meats. 


404  The  Life  of  Lud^vig  van  Beethoven 

In  Tvhose  care  was  his  nephew? 

He  had  provided  him  with  a  Corepetitor  for  pianoforte  playing, 
French  and  drawing  who  came  to  the  house;  these  studies  occupied  all  the 
leisure  time  of  his  nephew  so  completely  that  he  needed  no  care;  more- 
over, he  could  not  trust  any  of  his  servants  with  the  oversight  of  his 
nephew,  as  they  had  been  bribed  by  the  boy's  mother;  he  had  placed  him 
in  the  hands  of  a  priest  for  the  development  of  his  musical  talent,  but  the 
mother  had  got  into  an  agreement  with  him  also.  He  would  place  his 
ward  in  the  Convict,  but  the  oversight  was  not  strict  enough  there  among 
so  many  pupils. 

Did  he  have  any  testimonials  touching  his  nephew's  studies? 

He  had  appended  them  to  his  last  examination. 

Had  his  nephew  not  spoken  disrespectfully  of  his  mother  in  his 
presence? 

No;  besides,  he  had  admonished  him  to  speak  nothing  but  the  truth; 
he  had  asked  his  nephew  if  he  was  fond  of  his  mother  and  he  answered  in 
the  negative. 

How  did  he  get  the  boy  back? 

With  the  help  of  the  police.  He  had  gone  to  the  mother  in  the  fore- 
noon to  demand  him  of  her,  but  she  would  promise  nothing  except  that 
she  would  deliver  him  back  in  the  evening;  he  had  feared  that  she  intended 
to  take  him  to  Linz,  where  his  brother  lived,  or  to  Hungary;  for  that 
reason  he  had  gone  to  the  police;  as  soon  as  he  got  him  back  he  placed  him 
in  the  care  of  Giannatasio. 

What  were  his  objections  to  having  his  nephew  sent  to  the  Convict? 

It  was  not  advisable  at  present  because,  as  the  professor  had  said, 
there  were  too  many  pupils  there  and  the  supervision  over  a  boy  like  his 
ward  was  not  adequate. 

What  means  did  he  purpose  to  employ  in  the  education  of  his  ward? 

His  ward's  greatest  talent  was  in  study  and  to  this  he  would  be  held. 
His  means  of  subsistence  were  the  half  of  his  mother's  pension  and  the 
interest  on  2,000  florins.  Heretofore  the  difference  between  this  sum 
and  the  cost  had  been  paid  by  him  and  he  was  willing  to  assume  it  in  the 
future  if  the  matter  could  but  once  be  put  in  order.  As  it  was  not  practi- 
cable to  place  his  nephew  in  the  Convict  now,  he  knew  only  of  two  courses 
open  to  him:  to  keep  a  steward  for  him  who  should  always  be  with  him, 
or  to  send  him  for  the  winter  to  Giannatasio.  After  half  a  year  he  would 
send  him  to  the  Molker  Convict,  which  he  had  heard  highly  commended, 
or  if  he  were  but  of  noble  birth,  give  him  to  the  Theresianum. 

Were  he  and  his  brother  of  the  nobility  and  did  he  have  documents 
to  prove  it? 

"Van"  was  a  Dutch  predicate  which  was  not  exclusively  applied  to 
the  nobility;  he  had  neither  a  diploma  nor  any  other  proof  of  his  nobility. 

In  listening  to  these  words  from  Beethoven  on  the  witness 
stand  we  have  stretched  the  thread  of  our  storv;  for  this  testimony 
was  given  in  court  on  December  11th,  and  the  second  attempt  of 
the  widowed  mother  to  get  control  of  her  son  had  been  foiled  by 
the  decision  on  October  3rd.  It  was  therefore  a  new  case  which 
the  court  had  under  consideration  when  Beethoven  made  the 
above   utterances.     This   third   application   on   the   part   of   the 


The  Mother's  Apprehensions  405 

mother  was  filed  on  December  7,  and  grew  out  of  the  runaway 
prank  of  Karl  and  her  fear  of  what  might  be  its  consequences. 
In  her  petition  she  set  forth  the  fact  that  her  son  had  left  the  home 
of  his  uncle  and  guardian  without  her  knowledge,  that  he  had  been 
taken  back  by  the  police,  and  that  "as,  to  judge  by  his  actions, 
Ludwig  van  Beethoven  was  willing  to  send  her  son  away  from 
Vienna,  perhaps  into  foreign  lands,"  she  asked  that  he  be  restrained 
from  doing  so,  and  she  renewed  her  request  that  she  be  permitted 
to  send  her  son  to  the  Royal  Imperial  Convict  for  keep  and 
education. 

Hotschevar  supported  this  petition  in  a  document  like  a 
modern  law  brief,  explaining  his  interest  in  the  matter  on  the 
grounds  that  his  wife  was  a  stepsister  of  Madame  van  Beethoven's 
deceased  mother,  that  the  law  permitted  such  an  act  in  all  cases 
where  human  rights  were  concerned  and  that  he,  having  had  ex- 
perience for  several  years  as  instructor  in  the  houses  of  the  aristoc- 
racy, could  not  be  blamed  if  he  put  the  knowledge  of  pedagogics 
and  psychology  thus  acquired  at  the  service  of  a  lad  to  whom  he 
bore  a  family  relationship  and  brought  to  the  attention  of  the 
supreme  guardian  matters  which  it  (the  Landrecht)  could  not  pos- 
sibly knov/  concerning  its  wards  unless  proceedings  were  brought 
before  it.  He  admitted  that  Madame  van  Beethoven  had  years 
before  been  guilty  of  a  moral  delinquency  for  which  she  had  been 
punished,  but  asserted  her  right  to  a  standing  in  court;  he  then 
contended:  (1)  that  the  mother  had  illegally  been  denied  all  in- 
fluence over  her  son  partly  with,  partly  without  the  knowledge  of 
the  court,  and  (2)  that  her  son  could  not  remain  under  the  sole 
influence  of  his  uncle  and  guardian  without  danger  of  suffering 
physical  and  moral  ruin.  In  support  of  these  contentions  he  re- 
cited that  the  brothers  van  Beethoven  were  eccentric  men,  so 
often  at  odds  with  each  other  that  they  might  better  be  called 
enemies  than  friends,  Karl  van  Beethoven  being  pleasantly  dis- 
posed toward  his  brother  only  when  he  was  in  need  of  money  from 
him,  and  that  the  suspicion  lay  near  that  the  boy  had  been  an  object 
of  traffic  between  them,  inasmuch  as  an  agreement  touching  the  pay- 
ment of  1,500  florins  had  been  made  only  on  condition  that  Ludwig 
van  Beethoven  surrender  a  document  which  appointed  him  guar- 
dian. Karl  van  Beethoven,  moreover,  knowing  the  animosity 
which  his  brother  felt  towards  his  wife,  had  in  a  codicil  to  his  will 
expressly  said  that  he  did  not  want  Ludwig  van  Beethoven  to  be 
sole  guardian  of  his  son  but  joint  guardian  with  the  mother,  and 
had,  for  the  sake  of  the  boy,  admonished  more  compliancy  on 
the  part  of  the  mother  and  more  moderation  on  that  of  the  brother. 


406  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

Although  the  Court  had  deprived  the  mother  of  the  guardianship 
over  her  son,  it  had  granted  permission  to  her  to  visit  him;  but 
this  privilege  had  been  withheld  from  her.  The  statement  of  the 
village  priest  Frohlich  (which  has  already  been  given  in  these 
pages)  was  appended  to  the  widow's  application  as  evidence  of 
the  physical  and  moral  degeneration  of  the  boy,  and  for  himself 
Hotschevar  says  that  he  had  observed  after  the  boy  had  run 
away  from  his  uncle  that  his  hands  and  feet  were  frostbitten,  that 
he  had  no  seasonable  clothing  and  that  his  linen  and  baths  had 
been  neglected.  The  priest's  statement  was  also  appealed  to  to 
show  that  the  boy  had  been  led  into  unfilial  conduct,  indifference 
toward  religion,  hypocrisy,  untruthfulness  and  even  theft  against 
his  guardian — in  short,  was  in  danger  of  becoming  a  menace  to 
society.  He  willingly  granted  Beethoven's  readiness  and  desire 
to  care  for  his  ward,  but  maintained  that  his  hatred  of  the  mother, 
his  passionate  disposition  inflamed  by  the  talebearing  of  others 
(once  naming  Giannatasio),  made  it  difficult  for  him  to  employ 
the  proper  means.  Conceding  Beethoven's  magnanimity,  he  yet 
urged  that  in  view  of  the  danger  in  which  the  lad  was,  he  ought 
to  forgo  the  guardianship  or  associate  with  himself  either  the 
mother  or  some  other  capable  person,  it  appearing  from  the  facts 
in  the  case  that  he  was  "physically  and  morally  unfit"  for  the 
post. 

Madame  van  Beethoven's  deposition,  apparently  filed  as 
appendix  to  Hotschevar 's  brief  (like  that  of  Frohlich),  alleges  that  a 
letter  of  Giannatasio's  dated  March  8,  1816,  showed  that  she  had 
to  forgo  her  desire  to  visit  her  son  or  satisfy  it  once  a  month  and 
then  "like  a  thief."  After  Beethoven  took  the  boy,  and  especially 
after  his  removal  to  Modling,  she  was  not  permitted  to  see  him  at 
all.  She  had  been  assured  that  her  son  would  be  admitted  to  the 
Convict,  but  his  testimonials  had  been  withheld  from  her  and  so 
she  had  been  unable  to  file  them  with  her  application  for  a  scholar- 
ship. His  expenses  were  750  florins  per  year  for  board,  lodging, 
clothes,  books,  medicines,  etc.,  to  pay  which  2,000  florins  had  been 
deposited  in  Court  and  yielded  100  florins  interest  per  annum. 
She  had  pledged  herself  to  give  one-half  of  her  pension  of  333 
florins,  20,  that  is  116  florins,  40  kreutzers  towards  his  education. 
This  amounted  to  380  florins  W.  W.,  including  the  interest  on  the 
deposit;  and  she  would  gladly  pay  the  difference  between  this  sum 
and  750  florins  until  she  should  get  the  promised  scholarship  for 
her  son.  On  December  11,  the  widow  appealed  to  the  court  that 
in  case  the  guardian  of  her  son  should  make  application  touching 
plans  for  his  future  training  it  be  not  granted  without  giving  her  a 


The  Testimony  of  Mother  and  Son  407 

hearing.  This  was  the  day  when  Beethoven,  who  had  brought 
Joseph  Carl  Bernard  with  him,  no  doubt  to  protect  him  in  his 
deafness,  gave  the  testimony  already  set  forth.  The  nephew  had 
been  examined  before  him: 

Carl  van  Bethoven  [sic]  age  12  years,  student  in  the  3rd  Latin  class, 
was  examined: 

Had  he  received  good  testimonials.'^ 

"Eminent"  in  Latin,  "1st  class"  in  other  studies. 

Why  had  he  left  his  uncle.'* 

Because  his  mother  had  told  him  she  would  send  him  to  a  public 
school  and  he  did  not  think  he  would  make  progress  under  private  in- 
struction. 

How  did  his  uncle  treat  him? 

Well. 

Where  had  he  been  of  late? 

He  had  been  in  hiding  at  his  mother's. 

Where  would  he  rather  live — at  his  mother's  or  his  uncle's? 

He  would  like  to  live  at  his  uncle's  if  he  but  had  a  companion,  as  his 
uncle  was  hard  of  hearing  and  he  could  not  talk  with  him. 

Had  he  been  prompted  by  his  mother  to  leave  his  uncle? 

No. 

When  did  he  leave  him? 

Eight  days  ago. 

How  could  he  say  that  he  could  not  succeed  under  private  instruc- 
tion when  he  had  made  such  good  progress? 

This  had  been  the  case  since  he  had  studied  in  public;  before  that  he 
had  received  2nd  class  in  mathematics  and  had  not  made  it  up. 

Had  his  mother  commanded  him  to  return  to  his  uncle? 

She  had  wanted  to  take  him  back  to  him  herself,  but  he  had  resisted 
because  he  feared  maltreatment. 

Had  his  uncle  maltreated  him? 

He  had  punished  him,  but  only  when  he  deserved  it;  he  had  been 
maltreated  only  once,  and  that  after  his  return,  when  his  uncle  threatened 
to  throttle  him. 

How  long  had  he  been  with  his  mother? 

Two  days. 

Who  had  given  him  instruction  in  religion? 

The  same  teacher  who  taught  him  other  subjects,  formerly  the 
priest  at  Modling,  who  was  not  kindly  disposed  tow^ards  him  because  he 
did  not  behave  himself  in  the  street  and  babbled  (or  talked)  in  school. 

Had  he  indulged  in  disrespectful  remarks  about  his  mother? 

Yes;  and  in  the  presence  of  his  uncle,  whom  he  thought  he  would 
please  in  that  way  and  who  had  agreed  with  him. 

Was  he  often  alone? 

W^hen  his  uncle  was  not  at  home  he  was  left  wholly  alone. 

Had  his  uncle  admonished  him  to  pray? 

Yes;  he  prayed  with  him  every  morning  and  evening. 

Johanna  van  Beethoven  examined: 

How  did  her  son  come  to  her  from  the  house  of  his  guardian? 


408  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

He  had  come  to  her  in  the  evening  for  fear  of  punishment  and  be- 
cause he  did  not  like  to  live  with  his  uncle. 

Had  she  advised  him  to  return  to  his  uncle? 

Yes;  but  her  son  did  not  want  to  do  so  because  he  feared  maltreat- 
ment. 

It  looked  as  if  she  had  concealed  her  son.'' 

She  had  written  to  her  brother-in-law  that  she  would  send  her  son 
back  to  him,  but  she  had  not  seen  him  for  a  long  time  and  was  therefore 
glad  to  have  him  with  her  for  awhile,  and  for  this  reason  she  had  not  sent 
him  back  at  once. 

Had  she  been  forbidden  to  see  her  son? 

Her  wish  to  do  so  had  been  frustrated  by  telling  her  of  different 
places  where  she  might  see  him,  but  when  she  went  to  the  places  he  was 
not  there. 

Had  her  son  been  taken  from  her  by  the  police? 

She  had  herself  taken  him  to  the  police  at  4  o'clock. 

How  did  she  learn  of  the  plan  to  send  her  son  out  of  the  country? 

Giannatasio  had  disclosed  the  project  to  the  police. 

Did  she  consider  that  her  son  had  been  well  treated  at  his  uncle's? 

She  thought  it  unsuitable  for  the  reasons  given  in  her  former  ap- 
plication. She  wished  to  say  in  particular  that  v.  Beethoven  had  only 
one  servant  and  that  one  could  not  rely  on  servants;  he  was  deaf  and 
could  not  converse  with  his  ward;  there  was  nobody  to  look  after  the 
wants  of  her  son  satisfactorily;  his  cleanliness  was  neglected  and  super- 
vision of  his  clothing  and  washing;  persons  who  had  brought  him  clean 
linen  had  been  turned  back  by  his  guardian. 

What  prospects  had  she  for  caring  for  her  son? 

She  had  previously  had  the  assurance  of  Count  von  Dietrichstein 
that  her  son  would  be  accepted  at  the  Convict;  she  had  not  been  to  him 
since  because  her  application  [to  the  Court]  had  been  rejected. 

In  whose  presence  had  her  son  spoken  disrespectfully  of  her? 

She  had  not  herself  heard  him  do  so,  nor  could  she  mention  the 
names  of  persons  who  had  heard  him. 

From  what  source  would  she  meet  the  deficiency  in  her  income 
which  would  have  to  be  applied  to  the  support  of  her  son? 

She  had  no  fortune  herself  but  the  Hofconcipist  Hotschevar  would 
defray  the  expenses. 

Was  her  husband  of  noble  birth? 

So  the  brothers  had  said;  the  documentary  proof  of  nobility  was 
said  to  be  in  the  possession  of  the  oldest  brother,  the  composer.  At  the 
legal  hearing  on  the  death  of  her  husband,  proofs  of  nobility  had  been 
demanded;  she  herself  had  no  document  bearing  on  the  subject. 

The  testimony  of  the  widow,  like  that  of  her  son,  was  taken 
before  Beethoven  had  been  examined  and  the  answer  to  the  final 
question,  no  doubt,  raised  a  doubt  in  the  mind  of  the  court  touch- 
ing its  jurisdiction;  hence  the  question  concerning  his  birth  put  to 
Beethoven.  His  answer  that  "van"  was  a  Dutch  predicate  not 
confined  to  the  nobility  and  that  he  had  no  proof  of  noble  birth,  is 
all  that  the  minutes  of  the  court  show  bearing  on  this  question.    It 


Beethoven  not  of  Noble  Birth  409 

led  to  the  Landrechfs  sending  the  proceedings  to  the  Vienna  ISIagis- 
tracy  on  December  18;  this  action  cut  Beethoven  to  the  quick,  but 
the  record  as  here  produced  also  gives  a  blow,  perhaps  a  fatal  one, 
to  one  of  the  pretty  romances  to  which  a  statement  of  Schindler's 
gave  currency.  The  world  knows  the  story:  Doubt  having  arisen 
in  the  mind  of  the  court  touching  Beethoven's  nobility,  he  was 
called  upon  to  produce  documentary  proof.  "At  the  appointed 
time  he  appeared  before  the  tribunal  in  person  and  exclaimed: 
'My  nobility  is  here  and  here,''  pointing  to  his  head  and  his  heart." 
But  the  court  would  not  accept  the  proof.  It  is  a  pity  to  lose  the 
story,  but  it  must  be  relegated  to  the  limbo  of  fiction  unless  it  shall 
appear  that  Beethoven  made  the  remark  and  the  clerk  refused  to 
record  it;  and  who  shall  now  prove  this?  Schindler's  insinuation 
that  the  reference  of  the  case  to  the  Magistracy  had  been  planned 
as  a  move  by  the  widow's  advocate  to  get  the  case  into  a  more 
pliant  tribunal  is  made  questionable  by  the  circumstances  that  it 
was  she  who  insisted  upon  the  noble  birth  of  the  Beethovens  and 
Beethoven  who  gave  the  claim  a  quietus  by  his  straightforward 
and  incontestable  answer.  It  remains  a  mystery,  if  she  spoke  the 
truth  when  she  said  that  proof  of  nobility  had  been  demanded  at 
the  probate  of  the  will  of  her  husband,  how  the  case  ever  got  into 
the  Landrecht.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  deserves  to  be  mentioned,  how- 
ever, that,  as  later  events  showed,  the  lower  court  espoused  the 
cause  of  Madame  van  Beethoven  with  something  like  the  zeal  of 
an  advocate. 

Schindler's  comments  on  the  effect  of  the  reference  of  the  case 
to  the  Civic  Magistrates  demand  a  moment's  attention.  Schindler 
says: 

The  transfer  of  the  case  to  the  Magistracy  was  felt  as  an  overwhelm- 
ing blow  by  Beethoven.  It  would  be  difficult  to  maintain  that  Beethoven 
attached  importance  to  appearing  in  the  public  eye  as  of  noble  birth,  his 
origin  as  well  as  family  conditions  being  well  known — especially  the 
latter  by  reason  of  the  humble  social  position  of  his  brothers.  But  it  is 
certain  that  he  laid  great  weight  upon  having  his  lawsuit  adjudicated  by 
the  exceptional  upper  court,  partly  because  as  a  matter  of  fact  there  was 
in  that  tribunal  a  better  appreciation  of  his  importance,  partly  because 
the  lower  court  had  an  unfavorable  reputation  which  could  not  inspire  in 
him  a  hope  for  the  desired  outcome.'     But  nevertheless  it  may  be  said 

iln  one  of  the  Conversation  Books  used  by  Beethoven  in  1820,  there  occurs  this 

remark  in  Beethoven's  handwriting:  " when  it  learned  that  my  brother  was  not  of  the 

nobility.  It  is  singular,  so  far  as  I  know,  that  there  is  a  hiatus  here  which  ought  to  be 
611ed,  for  my  nature  shows  that  I  do  not  belong  among  these  plcbs";  and,  in  February, 
1820,  when  Peters  had  observed  his  dissatisfaction:  "The  common  citizen  should  be  ex- 
cluded from  higher  men,  and  I  have  gotten  amongst  them."  "In  three  weeks,"  Peters 
wrote,  he  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  citizens  and  magistracy.  He  would  yet  be  asked 
for  assistance  and  receive  the  most  favorable  report  concerning  his  appeal.     Not  long 


410  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

as  sure  that  neither  his  genius  nor  his  works  of  art  would  have  given  him 
the  privileged  position  which  he  occupied  in  the  circles  of  the  nobility 
had  there  not  been  a  presumption  that  he  was  an  equal.  This  was 
variously  demonstrated  as  soon  as  the  occurrence  in  the  aristocratic 
court  became  known  to  the  public.  Not  in  the  middle  classes,  but  in 
the  upper,  the  little  word  "van"  had  exercised  a  palpable  charm.  It  is 
a  settled  fact  that  after  the  incident  in  the  Lower  Austrian  Landrecht 
the  great  city  of  Vienna  became  too  small  for  our  aggrieved  master,  and 
had  he  not  been  restrained  by  his  sense  of  duty  which  was  placed  upon 
him  by  his  brother's  will,  the  projected  journey  to  England  would  have 
been  ujidertaken  and  his  sojourn  there  perhaps  become  permanent. 

It  is  also  certain  that  Schindler  was  not  as  well  informed  as  he 
ought  to  have  been  in  the  premises  and  that  his  memory  often  left 
him  in  the  lurch,  as  we  have  frequently  seen  already  and  shall  see 
again.  Not  exact  knowledge  but  an  amiable  bias  in  favor  of  his 
hero  speaks  out  of  his  recital.  It  is  scarcely  conceivable  that 
Beethoven  should  have  cherished  the  thought  that  possibly  he  was 
of  noble  birth  or  that  he  seriously  encouraged  such  a  belief  among 
his  exalted  friends. 

The  nephew's  stay  at  Giannatasio's  was  not  of  long  duration 
and  the  signs  of  an  imminent  disruption  of  a  beautiful  and  prof- 
itable friendship  soon  showed  themselves,  though  for  the  nonce 
amiable  relations  between  Beethoven  and  the  Giannatasio  family 
w^ere  continued.  Yet  Fanny  saw  her  lovely  illusions  melting  away. 
It  had  been  agreed  that  Karl  should  not  associate  with  the  other 
pupils  at  the  institute.  Willing,  perhaps  desirous  at  first,  that 
such  an  arrangement  should  be  made,  it  seems  that  Beethoven 
felt  his  amour  propre  hurt  by  it  as  soon  as  the  first  fit  of  resentment 
against  the  lad  gave  way  before  one  of  his  tender  moods;  now  there 
ensued  one  of  the  old  fits  of  moroseness,  dissatisfaction  and  sus- 
picion. He  wrote  to  Giannatasio  that  Karl's  room  should  be 
better  heated — that  he  had  never  had  frostbitten  hands  and  feet 
when  living  with  him;^  moreover,  too  much  importance  was  being 
attached  to  his  act,  and  the  consequences  to  the  delinquent  were 
being  carried  too  far.  In  her  diary  under  date  December  14, 
Fanny  deplores  that  Beethoven's  moodiness,  and  w^eakness  for 
the  lad,  had  taken  possession  of  him  again  and  induced  him 
to  believe  "the  liar"  rather  than  his  tried  friends;  she  concludes 
w^ith  the  lamentation  that  it  wdll  never  be  possible  to  gain 
Beethoven's  entire  confidence;  she  has  grievous  forebodings  as  to 
the  outcome. 

afterward  the  Appellate  Court  brought  in  its  decision  in  his  favor  in  the  guardianship 
matter. 

^Hotschevar's  accusation  was  evidently  rankling  in  his  breast. 


Work  upon  Three  Masterpieces  411 

Let  the  rest  of  the  year's  history  be  devoted  to  Beethoven's 
creative  work.  Considering  the  revival  of  interest  and  desire  on  the 
part  of  the  composer,  the  net  result,  measured  by  finished  products, 
was  not  as  large  as  might  have  been  expected.  Two  explanations 
for  this  circumstances  may  be  offered:  the  first  lies  in  his  domestic 
miseries  and  the  frame  of  mind  in  which  they  kept  him  for  long 
stretches  at  a  time — that  is  obvious;  the  second  may  be  read  in  his 
compositions.  He  was  growing  more  and  more  prone  to  reflection, 
to  moody  speculation;  his  mental  processes,  if  not  slower  than 
before,  were  more  protracted,  and  also  more  profound,  and  they 
were  occupied  with  works  of  tremendous  magnitude.  The  year 
produced  sketches  and  partial  developments  of  the  Sonata  in 
B-flat,  the  Symphony  in  D  minor  and  the  great  Mass  in  D.  The 
Sonata,  so  two  sketchbooks  carefully  analyzed  by  Nottebohm 
show,  was  begun  in  1817,  and  occupied  much  of  the  composer's 
time  during  the  summer  of  1818,  notes  showing  that  he  worked 
upon  it  in  his  walks  about  Modling  and  in  the  Briihl  valley. 
Notes  of  an  announcement  of  a  sale  of  carriages  and  of  a  house  for 
rent,  taken  from  a  Vienna  newspaper  (probably  in  some  inn),  show  ^ 
that  his  thoughts  were  on  the  London  visit  and  another  of  his  ( 
frequent  changes  of  residence.  In  April  the  Sonata  was  so  far 
advanced  that  he  could  write  to  Archduke  Rudolph  that  on  his 
name-day  (April  17)  he  had  written  out  the  first  two  movements 
in  a  fair  copy,  but  this  does  not  necessarily  mean  that  the  pieces 
had  received  their  definitive  shape.  Among  the  sketches  for  the 
last  movement  there  is  an  outline  for  a  pianoforte  piece  in 
B-flat  which,  according  to  an  inscription  upon  the  autograph,  was 
composed  on  the  afternoon  of  August  14.  ^  Plainly  he  was  already 
at  work  on  the  finale  before  the  end  of  1818,  and  there  is  no  reason 
for  questioning  Schindler's  correctness  when  he  says  that  the  Sonata 
was  finished  late  in  the  fall  when  he  took  up  the  '^Missa  Solem- 
nis."  Czerny  played  it  in  Beethoven's  presence  in  the  spring  of 
1819,  and  it  was  in  London  ready  for  the  engraver  in  April  of  that 
year. 

Nottebohm,  believing  that  the  letter  in  which  Beethoven 
informed  the  Archduke  that  he  had  written  out  the  first  two 
movements  on  his  name-day  could  not  refer  to  April  17,  1818, 
placed  both  incident  and  letter  in  the  year  following.  ^     But,  as 

lit  is  the  short  piece  in  B-flat  published  as  a  supplement  to  the  Berlin  "Allgera. 
Musik.  Zeit."  on  December  8,  1824,  under  the  title  "Derniere  pensee  musicale." 
Beethoven's  autograph  inscription  runs:  "Auf  Aufforderung  geschrieben  Nachmittags 
am  14.  August  1818,  von  Beethoven."     "Letzter  musikalischer  Gedanke." 

^Beethoven  had  written:  "To  the  two  pieces  which  I  wrote  down  on  the  name-day 
of  Y.  R.  H.,  two  others  have  been  added,  the  last  of  which  is  a  large  Fugato,  so  that  the 


412  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

has  been  said,  it  does  not  at  all  follow  from  Beethoven's  remark 
that  the  two  movenents  were  in  a  finished  state  ;^  the  reference 
may  have  gone  only  to  the  first  elaboration  of  the  sketches.  The 
"latest  happening"  to  the  Archduke  was,  probably,  his  elevation 
to  the  archbishopric  of  Olmlitz,  which  occurred  on  June  4,  1819; 
but  this  was  merely  the  formal  execution  of  a  purpose  which  had 
long  been  known  in  anticipation.  Nottebohm's  contention  for 
the  name-day  of  1819,  is  untenable  for  the  reason  that  on  April 
17  of  that  year  the  Sonata  had  been  so  long  in  London  that,  as 
Ries  says,  it  was  already  engraved  when  he  received  a  note  dated 
April  16, 1819,  giving  metronomic  indications  for  all  the  movements 
and  prefixing  the  Adagio  with  its  present  first  measure.  ^  This 
note  must  have  been  preceded  by  the  one  erroneously  dated  April 
30;  erroneously,  because  it  promises  the  metronome  marks;  and 
this  letter  again  by  a  still  earlier  one,  mentioning  the  Sonata  as 
ready  for  publication.  This  letter,  which  Ries  does  not  even 
mention,  is  as  follows:^ 

Dear  Ries: 

I  am  just  recovering  from  a  severe  attack  and  am  going  into  the 
country — I  wish  you  would  try  to  dispose  of  the  following  2  works,  a 
grand  solo  sonata  for  pianoforte  and  a  pianoforte  sonata  which  I  have 
myself  arranged  for  2  violins,  2  violas,  1  violoncello,  to  a  publisher  in 
London.  It  ought  to  be  easy  for  you  to  get  50  ducats  in  gold  for  the  two 
works,  the  publisher  would  only  have  to  announce  at  what  time  he  in- 
tended to  publish  the  two  works  and  I  could  publish  them  here  at  the  same 
time,  which  would  yield  me  more  than  if  I  published  them  here  only.  I 
might  also  publish  a  new  Trio  for  pianoforte,  violin  and  violoncello,  if 
you  were  to  find  a  publisher  for  it.'*  I  have  never  done  anything  un- 
lawful and  you  can  take  up  this  matter  in  London  without  injury  to  your 
honor  or  mine.  The  publisher  on  receiving  the  works  is  to  inform  me 
when  he  intends  to  publish  them  and  then  they  shall  appear  here. 
Pardon  me  if  I  am  giving  you  trouble;  my  condition  is  such  that  I  am 

whole  constitutes  a  grand  sonata  which  will  soon  be  published  and  long  ago  in  my  heart 
was  designed  for  you;  the  latest  happening  to  Y.  R.  H.,  is  not  in  the  least  responsible  for 
this." 

^Nor  even,  as  Thayer  opined,  that  they  had  been  delivered  in  manuscript  to  the 
Archduke  on  that  day. 

2"Notizen,"  p.  149. 

^This  letter  was  first  printed  in  Vol.  IV  of  the  German  edition  of  Thayer's  biog- 
raphy— not,  as  Mr.  Shedlock  says,  in  his  translation  of  Kalischer's  collection.  Vol.  IV 
appeared  in  1907;  Mr.  Shedlock's  translation  in  1909.  Dr.  Deiters  found  a  transcript 
of  the  letter  among  the  posthumous  papers  of  Mr.  Thayer,  who  had  it  from  Mr.  J. 
Marshall,  of  London.  Its  pages  had  been  separated  by  some  vandal  who  probably 
wanted  to  sell  two  autographs  instead  of  one.  Mr.  Marshall  bought  the  sheets  at  two 
different  autograph  sales  and,  recognizing  their  relationship,  united  them.  The  letter 
appears  afterwards  to  have  come  into  the  hands  of  Mr.  A.  F.  Hill,  who  loaned  it  to  Mr. 
Shedlock. 

^Beethoven  had  sketched  a  promising  Trio  in  F  minor,  in  1816,  along  with  the 
song-cycle  and  the  Sonata  in  A  major,  and  this,  probably,  was  in  his  mind. 


Beethoven  Defends  Some  Overtures     413 

obliged  to  turn  everywhere  to  make  a  pitiful  livelihood— Potter  says 
that  Chaphell  in  Bond  Street  is  one  of  the  best  publishers;  I  leave  every- 
thing to  you  only  begging  you  to  answer  as  soon  as  possible  so  that  the 
works  may  not  lie  idle  on  my  hands.  I  beg  of  Neate  not  to  make  known 
the  many  works  of  mine  which  he  carried  with  him  until  I  myself  come 
to  London  which  I  hope  surely  to  do  next  winter — I  must  unless  I  wish  to 
become  a  beggar  here.  Say  all  things  beautiful  to  the  Phil.  Society— I 
shall  soon  write  you  about  various  things  and  beg  you  again  to  answer 
soon.     As  ever  your  true  friend 

Beethoven. 
Many  lovely  greetings  to  your  lovely  wife. 
N.  B.     If  you  can  get  more,  all  the  better.     It  ought  to  be  possible ! ! ! 

The  letters  printed  in  the  "Notizen"  ought  to  be  read  in 
connection  with  this;  we  give  the  first  and  refer  the  reader  to 
Ries,  or  the  collections,  for  the  others : 

Vienna,  30  April  (March).  1819. 
My  dear  Ries : 

It  is  only  now  that  I  can  answer  your  last  of  December  18th.  Your 
sympathy  does  me  good.  At  present  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  come  to 
London  owing  to  a  net  of  circumstances  in  which  I  am  involved;  but  God 
will  help  me  surely  to  get  to  London  next  winter  when  I  shall  also  bring 
the  new  symphonies  with  me.  I  am  expecting  soon  to  get  the  text  for 
a  new  oratorio  which  I  am  writing  for  the  Musical  Society  here  and  which 
may  serve  us  also  in  London.  Do  everything  for  me  that  you  can;  for 
I  need  it.  Commissions  from  the  Philharmonic  Society  would  have  been 
very  welcome;  the  reports  which  Neate  sent  me  about  the  near  failure 
of  the  three  overtures  were  vexing  to  me;  each  one  of  them  not  only 
pleased  here  each  in  its  way  but  those  in  E-flat  and  C  major  made  a 
great  impression.  The  fate  of  these  compositions  with  the  p.  S.  is  in- 
comprehensible to  me.  You  will  have  before  now  received  the  arranged 
quintet  and  the  sonata.  See  to  it  that  both  works  especially  the  quintet, 
are  engraved  at  once.  More  leisure  may  be  taken  with  the  sonata  but  I 
should  like  to  have  it  published  inside  of  two  months,  or  three  at  the 
latest.  Your  earlier  letter  referred  to  I  did  not  receive;  wherefore  I  had 
no  hesitation  in  selling  both  works  here — but  that  is  only  for  Germany. 
Moreover  it  will  be  three  months  also  before  the  sonata  will  appear  here ; 
but  make  haste  with  the  Quintet.  So  soon  as  the  draft  for  the  money  is 
received  here  I  will  send  a  writing  for  the  publisher  as  proprietor  of  these 
works  in  England,  Scotland,  Ireland,  France,  etc. 

You  shall  receive  the  tempos  for  the  sonata  according  to  Malzel's 
metronome  by  the  next  post.  De  Smidt,  Courier  of  Prince  Esterhazy, 
has  taken  the  Quintet  and  Sonata  with  him.  At  the  next  opportunity 
you  will  also  receive  my  portrait,  since  I  hear  that  you  really  want  it. 

Farewell,  keep  me  in  your  affections. 

Your  friend, 

Beethoven. 

Say  all  beautiful  things  to  your  beautiful  wife  for  me  !  !  !  !  ! 

The  Sonata  was  sold  to  Artaria  in  Vienna  for  100  ducats. 
The  publisher  sent  the  proofs  to  Beethoven  on  July  24,  and  an- 


414  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

nounced  it  as  "marking  a  new  period  in  Beethoven's  pianoforte 
works"  in  the  "Wiener  Zeitung"  of  September  15,  1819.  It  ap- 
peared under  the  title:  "Grosse  Sonate  fiir  das  Hammerklavier 
Seiner  Kais.  Konigl.  Hoheit  und  Eminenz,  dem  Durchlauchtigsten 
Hochwiirdigsten  Herrn  Erzherzog  Rudolph  von  Osterreich  Cardi- 
nal und  Erzbischoff  von  Olmiitz,  etc.,  etc.,  etc.,  in  tiefster  Ehr- 
furcht  gewidmet  von  Ludwig  van  Beethoven,  Op.  106."  Soon 
after  its  publication  (on  October  1st),  Beethoven  in  a  jocose  letter 
asked  for  six  copies  of  the  Sonata  and  six  of  the  Variations 
on  Scottish  Songs.  Beethoven  informed  Ries  of  the  publication 
in  a  letter  printed  in  the  "Notizen"  and  wanted  to  send  him  a 
copy  to  aid  him  in  correcting  the  English  edition,  which  was  not 
ready.  The  Sonata  Op.  106  was,  therefore,  the  chief  product  of 
the  year  1818.  Beethoven  told  Czerny  that  it  was  to  be  his 
greatest;  and  so  it  is,  not  only  in  its  dimensions  but  also  in  its 
contents.  "The  Sonata  was  composed  under  distressful  circum- 
stances," said  Beethoven  in  a  letter  to  Ries  (April  19,  1819),'*  for 
it  is  hard  to  write  almost  for  the  sake  of  bread  alone,  and  to  this 
pass  I  have  come." 

Simultaneously  with  the  Sonata,  Beethoven  was  at  work  on 
the  Ninth  Symphony  during  a  large  portion  of  the  year,  but  these 
labors  were  suspended  when  his  mind  became  engrossed  with  the 
great  Mass  which  was  to  be  a  tribute  to  his  pupil,  Archduke 
Rudolph,  about  to  be  invested  with  eminent  ecclesiastical  dig- 
nities. Not  alone  the  Ninth  Symphony,  a  Tenth  also  was  before 
his  fancy,  but  with  neither  of  them  had  Schiller's  "Ode  to  Joy" 
been  brought  into  association,  though  the  employment  of  the 
human  voice  in  one  or  the  other  was  already  under  consideration. 
Schindler  records  that  he  saw  a  beginning  made  on  the  score  of  the 
Mass  in  D  "late  in  the  fall  of  1818";  how  far  he  had  proceeded  in 
the  work  by  the  end  of  the  year  cannot  be  determined  from  the 
sketches  which  have  been  discovered  up  to  the  present  time.  It  is 
safe  to  assume,  however,  that  the  Kyrie  was  fully  sketched  and 
fixed  in  outline,  and,  as  he  worked  pretty  continuously  on  the 
Credo  throughout  1819,  it  seems  likely  that  the  Gloria  had  also 
been  begun  in  the  year  immediately  preceding.  Notes  in  the 
Tagebuch  and  sketchbooks  which,  to  judge  by  their  context,  werelT 
written  during  the  summer  sojourn  in  Modling  show  the  trend  of 
Beethoven's  thoughts  on  religious  subjects  and  may  be  naturally 
associated  with  the  Mass.     Thus  (in  the  Tagebuch) : 

In  order  to  write  true  church  music look  through  all  the  monastic 

church  chorals  and  also  the  strophes  in  the  most  correct  translations  and 
perfect  prosody  in  all  Christian-Catholic  psalms  and  hymns  generally. 


Great  Works  and  Potboilers  415    ^ 

Sacrifice  again  all  the  pettinesses  of  social  life  to  your  art.  O  God 
above  all  things!  For  it  is  an  eternal  providence  which  directs  omni- 
sciently  the  good  and  evil  fortunes  of  human  men. 

Short  is  the  life  of  man,  and  whoso  bears 
A  cruel  heart,  devising  cruel  things, 
On  him  men  call  down  evil  from  the  gods 
While  living,  and  pursue  him,  when  he  dies. 
With  cruel  scoffs.     But  whoso  is  of  generous  heart 
And  harbors  generous  aims,  his  guests  proclaim  / 

His  praises  far  and  wide  to  all  mankind,  / 

And  numberless  are  they  who  f'all  him  good.  \ 

— Homer. 

Tranquilly  will  I  submit  myself  to  all  vicissitudes  and  place  my 
sole  confidence  in  Thy  unalterable  goodness,  O  God!  My  soul  shall  re- 
joice in  Thy  immutable  servant.     Be  my  rock,  my  light,  forever  my  trust ! 

Among  the  sketches  for  the  Sonata  in  B-flat  are  memoranda 
of  vocal  pieces  which  came  into  his  mind  during  his  wanderings  in 
the  environs  of  Modling.  Goethe's  "Haidenroslein,"  to  which  his 
mind  several  times  turned,  occupied  him  again.  His  spiritual 
exaltation  finds  expression  in  fragments  which  he  notes  as  "written 
while  walking  in  the  evening  between  and  on  the  mountains,'* 
among  them  this: 


Gott 

al  - 

lein 

ist 

un    - 

ser 

Herr. 

Er 

al 

-     lein 

(God 

a  - 

lone 

is 

God 

our 

Lord. 

He 

a     • 

lone) 

The  remark  made  in  the  letter  to  Hauschka  that  he  was  com- 
pelled to  do  a  lot  of  scribbling  (or  "smearing,"  as  he  expressed  it) 
for  the  sake  of  money  in  order  to  procure  leisure  for  great  works 
may  be  explained  by  the  fact  that  he  was  engaged  upon  the  ar- 
rangement of  folksongs  for  Thomson,  which  were  published  in 
Thomson's  Vol.  VI,  as  well,  possibly,  as  those  contained  in  the 
subsequent  octavo  edition  of  1822-24.  The  pianoforte  piece 
in  B-flat,  published  by  Schlesinger  in  Berlin  under  the  title 
"Derniere  pensee  musicale,"  of  which  mention  has  already  been 
made,  was  no  doubt  a  potboiler.  With  the  folksongs  must  be 
associated  the  Variations  for  Pianoforte  alone,  or  Pianoforte  and 
Flute  (or  Violin),  which  he  wrote  in  this  and  the  following  year  and 
which  were  published  as  Op.  105  and  107.  The  suggestion  had 
come  from  Birchall;  but  Beethoven's  demands  for  an  honorarium 
was  thought  too  large  by  the  English  publisher,  and  though 
Beethoven  modified  them,  nothing  came  of  the  project  at  the  time. 
On  February  21,  1818,  Beethoven  offered  Thomson  twelve  "over- 


416  The  Life  of  Ludwig  van  Beethoven 

tures"  (in  the  sense  of  introductions,  or  preludes,  no  doubt)  for 
140  ducats,  and  twelve  Themes  and  Variations  for  100  ducats, 
both  lots  for  224  ducats.  The  Themes  and  Variations  were  ac- 
cepted and  published  by  Thomson.  Beethoven  composed  six- 
teen Themes  and  Variations  on  folksong  material  in  all;  six  of  them 
were  published  by  Artaria  in  Vienna  (Op.  105)  and  the  other  ten 
by  Simrock  in  Bonn  (Op.  107). 

Little  is  to  be  added  to  what  has  been  said  about  the  works 
published  in  1818.  Thomson's  Vol.  V,  the  settings  for  which  had 
been  made  earlier,  was  published  on  June  1,  Thomson's  announce- 
ment in  the  preface  reading:  *'0n  the  first  of  June,  1818,  was  pub- 
lished by  George  Thomson,  Nr.  3,  Royal  Exchange,  Edinburgh, 
and  by  T.  Preston,  97  Strand,  London,  the  fifth  Volume  of  Select 
Scottish  Melodies  with  Symphonies  and  Accompaniments  to  each 
Melody  for  the  Pianoforte,  Violin  and  Violoncello,  composed  by 
Haydn  and  Beethoven."  Four  of  the  settings  are  by  Haydn; 
the  rest  by  Beethoven.  The  song  "Resignation"  was  published 
on  March  31,  as  supplement  of  the  Vienna  "Modezeitung." 


End  of  Volume  II 


3^  / 

7^3 


University  of  California  Library 
Los  Angeles 

This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 

Phone  Rcinewais 
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JUN  1 8  1996! 

DEC  2  8  1998 
APR  191999 


MC'D  MUS  U« 

MAR  1  P 1999 


:;a.(lornia,  LOS  Angeles 

If 


ngel 


L  006  693  41 


1   8 


ML 

BhT3 
V.2 
cop. 2