BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO: Thursday, April 1, 1824

Early this morning, Nephew Karl goes with his uncle to the church and gets the necessary documents from the parish priest to prove Ludwig is still alive. Ludwig goes home, and Karl heads to the cashier of either Prince Kinsky or Prince Lobkowitz to turn in the signed document so his uncle can collect his annuity. Beethoven had already received his quarterly payment from Archduke Rudolph about February 28th.

Probably being filled in on the situation by Brother Johann earlier today, unpaid assistant Anton Schindler visits Ludwig this morning to try to calm the composer down and get the Akademie concert for his own benefit back on track. Ludwig rails about Redoutensaal manager Louis Antoine Duport giving him the small Redoutensaal rather than the large one, and how being so insulted he will not give the Akademie concert after all; Vienna can do without his music.

Schindler is sympathetic, and observes that Administrative Councillor Joseph Sonnleithner [(1766-1835), an attorney who also wrote the libretto of the original version of Fidelio, Leonore (1805), and the uncle of Leopold Sonnleither from the Musikverein] came to see Schindler yesterday. He knows what Duport wants, and proposes that Beethoven contact Count Dietrichstein again, requesting the use of the Burgtheater at mid-day. Actor and singer Karl Töpfer (1792-1871) got that theater for a similar purpose a few years earlier and did well.

Schindler points out that even if they were in the Grosser Redoutensaal, if they had the concert before Easter and a second one after Easter, they would need to pay to have the scaffolding put up twice, since it would have to come down before the ball to be held there on Easter Monday. That will cost another 300 florins. Sonnleithner thinks the Emperor would approve, especially if he hears about Duport’s dirty tricks. So he advises Beethoven think about whether it would be better to write Dietrichstein rather than Duport. Sonnleithner will talk to Dietrichstein about this yet today.

Today is the third Concert spirituel, which will consist of all Beethoven compositions. Schindler expresses surprise that Ferdinand Piringer did not send Beethoven complimentary tickets. That would have been the appropriate thing to do.

This alternative plan gets Beethoven back to being sufficiently manageable that he’s able to look through some of the parts and the Ninth Symphony fair copy. He makes a note that the bass trombone is missing, and that one of the copyists likes to make slurs where there are none.

Later this afternoon, Nephew Karl comes to see his uncle, with the news that another housekeeper applicant, Theresia Rosenberg, is on her way and will be there around 3:30. She had heard Beethoven was looking for someone. She’s from the village of Gumpendorf.

In any case, Karl suggests, his uncle should place another ad in the Wiener Zeitung, and then they will have a wide selection to choose from.

The cashier of the Prince [which one, Karl does not say] sends his greetings to Ludwig. The money can be picked up on the 20th of the month.

Karl asks if his uncle wants to go to the coffeehouse. He does, and once there Ludwig outlines Schindler’s proposal to move the Akademie concert to the Burgtheater, and probably at this point to move both concerts to after Easter. Karl agrees it’s better than the small Redoutensaal.

Beethoven, seemingly reconciled to the Akademie being back on, reads the newspapers. In today’s Wiener Zeitung he finds a report with notes on the regulation of statutory prices. Butchers may not add any make-weight to beef up to two pounds, and a limited amount between 2 and 4 pounds. Beethoven for some reason finds this regulation interesting enough to copy into the conversation book.

Conversation Book 60, 46v-48v.

Today’s Leipzig Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung at 213-225 includes a very lengthy review of Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas op.109, 110 and 111. The writer sees these sonatas as a natural progression from the cello sonatas op.102 and piano sonata op.101, which are not particularly difficult technically, but call for endurance and depth of spirit in the performers.

The review is far too long to reproduce here even in significant part. With regard to op.109, “The last var. is very tiring for both hands, but we feel that players who are able to perform this dainty variation easily, will have relative enjoyment of it.”

In the first movement of op.110 and its direction, con amabilità, “the player must here only follow the composer quite faithfully; for charm, grace, amiability can be seen in almost every feature of this beautiful tone painting.” In the brief coda of the second movement Allegro in F minor, “the beautiful whole fades away, and suddenly the sun looks out of a sky that has been so cloudy up to now and satisfies the heart.”

But the reviewer reserved especial praise for Sonata Nr.32, op.111. “The first movement is big and broad and in truth impressively executed. The Maestoso lifts in the bass on the diminished-seventh chords from F#, with a few sharply accented octaves and amplified notes, and thus progresses to something foretelling mighty things, up to an incision on the dominant with which the Allegro movement begins. The main idea of this movement actually consists of only three notes [the author here quotes the C-E-flat-B-natural motif], but what a magnificent, rich, truly magnificent work of art the master has created from this simple material! For in fact, what little else he still uses to connect the interior of his art building is either, on closer inspection, this material itself or has arisen quite naturally from it. An active life, yes, one might say, a kind of wildness animates the whole thing, which is, however, occasionally interrupted by an incomparably melodious thought, which sounds for the first time [at bar 58] and there, so as everywhere where it can be heard, forms the loveliest contrast to the mighty, passionate hustle and bustle, which in this whole movement scarcely comes to rest for a moment and tears everything restlessly away with it.

The Arietta second movement, with its varying time signatures is labelled one of the strangest works from Beethoven. “The mostly four-part theme itself progresses so simply and quietly, that as a theme for variation it is all that can be desired. But why has the composer liked it? Does one not guess that usually only such art is executed upon beautiful material, and that we do not find it worthy of his high genius? He resembles in this tone painting a painter entering the space for an altarpiece colored (monotone) with the miniature brush. — The whole movement, lasting more than a quarter of an hour, teems with notes in the most wondrous way, in times that often resist bar divisions. The melody is wrapped for pages in the strangest triplet ornaments; but both are mostly without the main thing: the effect they have on the mind.”

“Yes, the imagination of Hrn. B. is a sun that is able to break through even the thickest vapors of the lower atmosphere. [At Variation IV, bar 8,] she shines again in all her own glory and spreads warmth. From here on out – we would have liked the excursus to be a little shorter – the movement has given us a great deal of pleasure, especially because we expect to receive a new guarantee in this run-out: the great master will never linger long in the ‘espaces imaginaires et – d’erreurs‘ but the admirers of his magnificent art garden, on paths that quickly turn back to the beautiful, often still delight in the truly excellent things.”

The printing is clear, and generally free from errors, on solid and very white paper. However, the reviewer laments very much the omission of metronome markings. [Beethoven had meant to provide them for the first printing, but never got around to it.] “As little as this mechanical aid suffices and can suffice to teach the performance itself, it certainly prevents, if one follows the instructions given in the execution of a musical piece, from completely mistaking it. – if Mozart had known about this tool and used it like B. – and he would certainly have used it – could the overture to Don Juan have been rattled off like one hears it rattled off by some orchestras?! We therefore very much wish that all good composers, especially the heroes among them, do not shy away from using this mechanical notation to designate the performance of their works, in addition to the prescription of the performance in words. The true practicing artist will not allow himself to be deprived of freedom, spirit and feeling in his performance by the chains of the metronome. But neither words nor metronomes teach the ordinary so-called virtuoso what is right. – Thus, the indication of the time measurement by the metronome can at least never spoil anything, but it can be very useful in many cases.”

Beethoven’s Sonata #32 op.111 is here played live by Maurizio Pollini:

Today in the Landständischen Hall, the third of the present series of Concerts Spirituels is held. The reviews are not entirely clear on whether Ferdinand Piringer or co-director Baron von Lannoy was the conductor, though since Lannoy appears to have done the rehearsal, it was probably his baton leading the group of dilettantes. The concert consists entirely of Beethoven compositions, namely the Pastoral Symphony, the Credo from the Mass in C op.86, the Overture to Coriolan, and the last half of the oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives. Vienna Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung Nr. 6, March 13, 1824 at 22; Leipzig Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung Nr. 21, May 20, 1824 at 342.

The later Vienna Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung report on this concert, contained in Nr.25, April 28, 1824 at 98, is much fuller:

“1.) Pastoral Symphony. There is no need to talk about the work itself here; It has been a favorite of all connoisseurs since its release. In terms of production, we have to admit that this symphony is the most difficult problem that can be presented to an orchestra that does not play together consistently.

“The violins were well rehearsed, and the varied figures were pure and executed with fire. The violas were powerful, the basses quite excellent. The wind instruments really came into play and the solos were performed with taste.

“Flute, oboe and clarinet particularly stood out; The horns lacked certainty in some places, and the bassoons often lacked the necessary tenderness. —

“In general, this rarely heard symphony, which lasts almost three quarters of an hour, was very appealing. One must commend the insight of the directors that in this genre of instrumental music, direction from the leader of the first violin part playing along is insufficient. [This comment gives additional support that Piringer was leading the violins, while Lannoy conducted.]

“2.) Credo. The treatment of this piece is completely original. The solo singers performed the “et incarnatus est” with particular purity.

“3.) Overture to the tragedy: Coriolanus. We do not soon remember having heard this overture so excellently performed.

“4.) Terzet and chorus from the oratorio: Christ on the Mount of Olives. The solo parts were performed by Miss Marie Weiß, Messrs. Titze and Rotter.

“The strong chorus of soldiers had a gruesome effect. At the passage, ‘Ergreift, und bindet ihn [Seize him and bind him], one was really seized; It’s just a shame that the chorus of disciples was far too weak. The passage ‘Was soll der Lärm bedeuten [What does the noise mean]’”’ was completely lost.”

“Setting aside a few small oversights, people were very pleased with the execution, and everyone wished that this magnificent oratorio had been given in its entirety.”