BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Friday, January 20, 1826
Beethoven continues his errand list:
- Tomorrow Saturday, carpenter and locksmith at precisely 1:30 o’clock.
- Barber’s knife [razor].
- Soap.
Beethoven writes an undated letter to unpaid assistant Karl Holz sometime about now. “I wanted to send for you this morning, because the conduct of the housekeeper is shocking—Hardly any soup yesterday evening—after 10 o’clock she left and only came back again this morning at half-past 7.”
“I didn’t go to Breuning’s—the departure of the housekeeper frightened me so that I woke up at 3 o’clock. My solitary condition requires the help of the police.”
“If you come home today, then hurry to me. After 5 o’clock you will find me at home, what a wretched existence?!”
“If you do not receive this today, then appear the day after tomorrow very early.— Yours in haste.”
Brandenburg Letter 2112; Anderson Letter 866. The conversation with Holz yesterday in Conversation Book 102 seems to refer to this same subject matter, and mentions the time half past seven, so this letter was likely sent to Holz about today. The watermark of the paper is of a type used between January and March of 1826 by Beethoven. The original letter is held by the Bonn Beethovenhaus, H.C. Bodmer Collection Bbr 59, and it can be seen here:
https://www.beethoven.de/de/media/view/6086193129193472/scan/0
Yet another housekeeper, Frau Lindner, arrives for an interview and says that a great deal is out of order in the kitchen, so she will put everything to rights tomorrow.
Unpaid assistant Karl Holz arrives at Beethoven’s apartment, and his friend publisher Mathias Artaria comes with him or follows shortly after. Artaria says, “I am very happy that you have trust in me to publish a beautiful work of yours! [The op.130 quartet.] You will certainly be satisfied with me. A week from today, everything will be engraved.”
Holz asks whether Beethoven has seen Schott’s score to Consecration of the House. Artaria has a copy. He has sent round for it so Beethoven can see it. It probably would be good to designate the dedication to Prince Galitzin, and if it is all right with Beethoven, then the same dedicatory language can be used on the quartet, so he wouldn’t have to come up with two different dedications.
Beethoven says that the new housekeeper, Frau Lindner, has good references. Holz says that doesn’t matter; doing the job will prove whether she can cook. That is the best method of proof. “She is, after all, only an interim housekeeper, if it proves that she cannot pass the examination. She did speak very boastfully about her ability to cook.
Artaria mentions that his father Domenico Artaria (1765-1823) had a music house in Mainz; since he died, Mathias’s brothers have continued to operate it. Four months ago, he visited Schott in Mainz and was very satisfied with him. He asks what Beethoven thinks about the essay in the Cäcilia magazine published by Schott’s, about the authorship of the Mozart Requiem. Beethoven has previously not been shy about opining that the work is genuine Mozart, so he probably shares that belief with Artaria. The publisher continues, “I hope that it will be right with you that I also publish your Quartet in score.”
Beethoven appears to be weak, and is probably not feeling well, overdoing his morning walk. Artaria makes a little joke, “Your fantasies know no bounds. However you should set boundaries for your legs.” Holz picks up on this as well, and comments “Today your pool is all fished out.” Beethoven has things to do, but Holz tells him, “Tomorrow.” Beethoven appears to insist that he is fine, since Holz and Artaria stay for more conversation.
Artaria says that he will designate at the top of the op.130 quartet that it is the third quartet commissioned by Galitzin. Holz mentions that they had a rehearsal yesterday, and the quartet op.127 still didn’t go right. If they can’t get it right, Schuppanzigh wants to postpone the performance for a week. “He said that not until yesterday did he comprehend the Adagio correctly and that, out of sheer bliss he would hardly be able to play it.”
Artaria has heard something about Beethoven writing six fugues, and to honor them they should empty a bottle of champagne. He hopes that he will not be forgotten when it comes time to select a publisher for these fugues. Holz, still solicitous of Beethoven, asks if he wants more red wine. He lets Beethoven know he told Artaria about the canon “Tobias!” [Probably the canon WoO 182, “O Tobias!” is meant.]
Beethoven appears to lament that the composers are dying out. Artaria tells him, “Even now, there are still famous masters. It seems to me that you are forgetting the great Rossini completely.” [How Beethoven reacted to Rossini being called “great” is not recorded, but he appears not to have thrown Artaria out.] Artaria, possibly paging through Beethoven’s music, asks, “Don’t you have any vocal work available like your divine Adelaide? I would very much like to request it!”
Artaria intends to collect for the Court Library here all the works that are engraved in score by Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, Gluck and Crescentini. They already have a complete set of Handel. Holz chimes in asking whether Beethoven knows the portrait of Handel as he plays the keyboard. [The German editors suggest this may be the portrait of the young Handel by Sir James Thornhill, circa 1720. Other possible candidates include the 1730s portrait by Philippe Mercier] Artaria personally saw the life-sized monument to Handel in Westminster Abbey. Artaria was in London for four years, 1810 through 1812, and again in 1814. He offers, “If you go to England, I’ll travel with you.” Extolling its virtues, he adds, “The country very beautiful; the people very educated.”
They discuss the father of Beethoven’s former pupil Ferdinand Ries, Franz Ries. According to the music shop proprietor Gayl in Frankfurt, old Franz now resides in Bonn and operates a wine dealership. Beethoven may mention that he is originally from Bonn or the Rhineland. Artaria says, “I am all the prouder to be a Rheinlander now that I hear that you are also one! How long has it been since you were in your Fatherland?” Beethoven has not returned in over 30 years.
Holz advises Artaria that Beethoven plans to dedicate the Ninth Symphony to the Prussian King, Friedrich Wilhelm III. Artaria thinks that a very good choice.
Artaria returns to talking about the English. “An Englishman and smoking is a rarity. Smoking and billiards are hated in England, just as bigamy is among the fine Viennese.” Artaria states that he is always prepared to serve Beethoven, possibly again in connection with making the English trip together.
Beethoven asks which publishers have the best engraving. Artaria says Probst in Leipzig, and himself.
Artaria tells Beethoven that next May, he must come to visit Artaria’s garden. “I live in Erdberg on the bank of the Danube, with a splendid view of the Prater, Kahlenberg, and Schneeberg. I live out there in winter and summer!”
The libretto to Melusine by Franz Grillparzer comes up. Holz cautions Beethoven that he needs to not lose it; if he does, it’s unlikely anyone will ever copy it out again for him.
Artaria and Holz finally bid Beethoven farewell. Artaria adds more about his home: “On the bank of the Danube, at the end of the Rasumovsky garden. My house is the former Hackmüller Freihaus! The garden lies 40 steps downwards; it is very damp.” Beethoven asks him about the Birkenstock building farther out on Erdberggasse, which also has a garden that stretched down to the Danube Canal. Artaria mentions that he knows Beethoven’s friend Franz Brentano and his wife Antonie Josepha von Birkenstock (1780-1869) from Frankfurt very well.
Conversation Book 102, 18r-26r.
Polish statesman Stanislaw Staszic dies today, leaving his lands to the peasants. In his honor, 15-year-old Frederic Chopin writes his Funeral March in C minor, op.72/2 (not to be confused with his much more famous funeral march in his Piano Sonata Nr.2 in B-flat minor, op.35), which is here performed by Clark Bryan:
Alan Walker, Fryderyk Chopin, at 98.