BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Friday, March 19, 1824

Conversation Book 60 begins this afternoon. This is a quite substantial book of 48 leaves, all of which have writing on them. This book will be used into the first part of April, 1824.

The proofreading work on the parts for the Missa Solemnis continues at the same plodding rate.

Beethoven makes a note to himself that there will need to be one rehearsal of the Akademie just for correctness, to identify errors in the copies, etc., and indication that he is finding plenty of errors in the parts. Then an unspecified number of rehearsals will be needed for expression. [All of Beethoven’s earlier symphonies had private performances before the public premieres, allowing for any necessary corrections or changes to be made. This time, there is no preview concert to be had, so the rehearsals will be critical, especially given the difficulty of the works to be performed.]

Beethoven also makes a short note regarding the Finale of the Ninth Symphony: “Three trombones at the end of the March.” Those would be the three trombones that enter with the text, “Seid umschlungen, Millionen!” [These are not necessarily a new addition to be made, but a reminder that Beethoven needed to clarify that the three trombone parts needed to be written out separately. The same problem had arisen with the trombone parts for Christus am Ölberge, op.85, where on the day of the concert Beethoven was rapidly writing out trombone parts that had not fit onto the staves of the score paper. He appears to do so between today and March 27th.]

[Theodore Albrecht makes the following observation regarding this note on the trombones in his new book on the Ninth Symphony premiere at p.38: “It also suggests that, structurally, Beethoven considered the figure following the March and the ensuing choral repeat of ‘Freude, schöner Götterfunken‘ in 6/8 to be an integral extension of the March, rather than disjunctive episodes. If that be the case, then the March is the approach to battle; the gigantic fugue the battle itself; the soft repeated notes in the horns the breathless panting after the battle; and the 6/8 ‘Freude, schöner Götterfunken‘ (with its fanfare-like figures between its phrases) the expression of ‘Joy’ after the battle.” That is, perhaps not coincidentally, similar to the structure of Wellington’s Victory, op.91, Beethoven’s greatest financial success of his entire life.]

At a coffeehouse in the afternoon, Beethoven makes a note of an advertisement in the Wiener Zeitung by the Th. Weigl Art and Music Publishing House, offering for sale the aria Non so dir se pena sia (Ob ich Schmerz, ob Lust es nenne), as sung by Dlle. Charlotte Unger, composed by Victor Rifaut. [Unger had sung this aria at a benefit Akademie last Christmas.]

After Beethoven returns home, Schindler comes with copyist Paul Maschek to discuss the paper to be used for writing out the fair copy of the full score of the Ninth Symphony. Schindler thinks it should be on large paper, but not too large. The paper Beethoven has on hand is too small and he should keep it. Maschek has another sample of paper, which he thinks can be spaced together better. Maschek asks Beethoven to at least give him the first movement of the autograph score of the Ninth to take along, so he can start making the fair copy from which parts will be extracted. Beethoven gives him at least that much, since Maschek will have part of the fair copy of it completed by the day after tomorrow. Maschek and one assistant split up the first movement of the symphony, each doing about half of it.

[The autograph still exists, and most of it is held by the Berlin Staatsbibliothek, today bound in red leather, though the latter part of the Finale is separate and parts are in Bonn and Paris. Beethoven continued to make significant changes as he wrote out the autograph copy. For instance, the original autograph of the Scherzo after the da capo ended the movement ten bars before the ending we have today. It was only later, but before he gave it to Maschek to copy, that the familiar ending was appended to the score. The autograph can be seen at the Berlin Staatsbibliothek’s website here:]

http://resolver.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/SBB0000EB8600000000

At some point today, Beethoven gets the bad news from the High Police Director that the Akademie for the evening of April 7th is not approved. He informs Schindler of this, probably after Maschek leaves. Beethoven’s backup plan is an afternoon concert on April 8, which Brother Johann has suggested may not be as profitable as an evening concert. But Ludwig has little choice at this point.

Conversation Book 60, 1r-2r.

We point out that April 8, the projected concert date, is now less than three weeks away. While the copies of parts for the Missa Solemnis are well along, the Ninth Symphony still exists only in the heavily-reworked and half-illegible autograph score. No one is facing the reality of the time that will be required for rehearsals of these complex works yet, and only Maschek seems in the least anxious about the calendar pages slipping away, for he surely anticipates he will be blamed if the parts are not ready in time.