BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Friday, May 17, 1822 (approximately)

At some point during the latter part of May, 1822, Beethoven moves to Döbling, 135 Alleegasse (today 13 Pyrkergasse) once again for the summer. Since Simrock’s letter of May 13 is forwarded to Beethoven in Döbling, and he sends Franz Brentano what appears to be an oblique response to that letter from Simrock on May 19th, it appears likely that Beethoven moved to Döbling in the middle of the month, rather than the end of the month as most biographers have surmised. Beethoven still writes letters from Vienna, suggesting that as was the case in some previous years he maintained his apartment there as well so he had a place to stay when he made his frequent trips into the City. We will get confirmation of that later when Johann seems to chide him for the double expense in the conversation books when they resume soon.

If Beethoven did indeed retrieve the score of the Missa Solemnis yesterday, that action may have been in anticipation of this move to Döbling. The house unfortunately was destroyed during World War II.

The music advertisement pages of the Wiener Zeitung today include promotion of quite a few compositions by Beethoven’s pupil Ferdinand Ries, and the Concerto Militaire (Concerto #6) for cello, with orchestral accompaniment, by Beethoven’s friend from Bonn, Bernhard Romberg. The latter piece had first been published in 1820 in Bonn by Nikolaus Simrock. Romberg and two of his children had been in Vienna in January and February for a series of concerts. It is unclear whether Romberg and Beethoven ever connected during that time; on February 12, when they were supposed to meet, Beethoven begged off claiming a bad earache.