BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Friday, May 6, 1825

Beethoven is busy preparing for his move to Baden tomorrow. Nephew Karl lets him know that Brother Johann has done a dumb thing concerning Karl’s bed. Yesterday, Johann went to see the government official where Karl is to be rooming, but he was not there, only his wife Rosalia. Today, she told Karl that the bed that’s in the room belongs to someone else who lives there, and so Karl will need his own bed. [From this conversation, it sounds as if Johann may have sold Karl’s old bed, thinking he would not need one.]

Karl supervises the loading of the wagons. The boxes should be carried downstairs while open; then once they are on the wagon, other packets can be added in.

In the middle of all this hubbub, Beethoven gets a visitor: his old friend Stephan von Breuning, whom he had not seen in a long time. Beethoven is cordial, though von Breuning does not stay long. Beethoven complains that he has been ill for the last few weeks. The response is, “In the heat, you haven’t taken care of yourself enough, and we’re both constantly getting older.” [They address each other in “du” form, indicating they are very intimate friends.]

Beethoven asks how many children Stephan has now. He has three. Beethoven comments on how different life was in Bonn than in Vienna. His visitor points out that even in Bonn, things have really changed. “They are becoming poorer by the day. The countryside produces nothing, and so the farmer goes to ruin, the same way it is here.” There is good cooperation with the Bavarian regime, which helps.

Beethoven asks whether it would be possible to get his friend violinist Ignaz Schuppanzigh a position in the court orchestra? Ah, that depends on the Emperor himself, and positions cannot be filled unless one has influence. So, Schuppanzigh should try to make some kind of connection who might be able to put a petition into the Emperor’s hands, perhaps through the Empress or Archduke Rudolph.

Von Breuning asks whether Johann is in Vienna. Yes, though he is back and forth to his estate in Gneixendorf frequently. He talks a lot; does he hold back just as much, von Breuning wonders. He also asks about Karl. Ludwig tells him he has been starting to take classes at the Polytechnic University. “In what specialty?” Business and commerce, Beethoven says, there are not a lot of choices. Von Breuning agrees, the options are ever more limited today. All the young men are rushing to join the military, because they do not want to be educated.

Beethoven inquires about someone, and von Breuning advises that he is already dead. [Possibly Stephan’s brother Lorenz von Breuning, who died some years earlier?]

The composer says he is packing to go out to Baden for the summer. Von Breuning asks whether he is going alone, or with a servant.

Franz Wegeler and von Breuning’s wife Eleonore often write about you, Stephan tells Beethoven, and send sincere greetings. Last year, his brother Christoph had to go to Karlsbad. When one has a family, you live without cares, but obviously always very modestly.

They gossip about someone who committed suicide through hanging himself during the night. Von Breuning had been at his place until 9:30 at night, and they had another appointment the next morning at 9 o’clock. His son is married but has no children.

Beethoven asks again about von Breuning’s children. His son Gerhard is 11; his girls are 6 and 4 years old.

Von Breuning asks whether Beethoven is leaving tomorrow. Yes, he is. Well, Ludwig should come visit him when he is back in the City. He can’t really come out to Baden since people depend on him. Perhaps he could take a vacation? “One can take a vacation, but I already had one last year.”

Beethoven again talks about his illnesses, and von Breuning says he has been ill himself for a long time, and only recovered about two months ago. For the most part though, he suffers from hypochondriasis, he jokes.

Von Breuning leaves. [According to Gerhard von Breuning, this meeting takes place at Beethoven’s temporary apartment in the Krugerstrasse. If he is correct on this point, it may be that Beethoven went to make sure everything necessary for use as an office, such as paper, pens and ink was there. While he was out, Von Breuning may have come to the Johannesgasse apartment, and was told that he was at the Krugerstrasse, then went to see him there. That would explain why Gerhard was so insistent on the location of the meeting. But this is speculation that depends entirely on Gerhard’s recollections being correct.]

Karl has more business with the movers. They need a bill of lading and a value needs to be applied to the shipment to Baden for customs purposes. They can do it easily. They have left now, but will be back this evening to finish loading. Things can be packed into the open box downstairs. It would be good if they had a coffer to put things into, but they don’t. The music can remain here. The mover is asking 7 florins for the packing and loading.

Ludwig fills Karl in on von Breuning’s advice to help Schuppanzigh. They only need to write to Schuppanzigh that he should send a petition to the Emperor or Archduke Rudolph.

Dr. Braunhofer stops by Beethoven’s apartment briefly. Before he goes, he needs to have a medicine made at the Black Moor apothecary to take along with him. [This is probably the tincture described two days ago, small amounts of which can be mixed with a bottle of water once Beethoven is in Baden.] Karl gives Braunhofer Ludwig’s address in Baden, and the doctor departs.

Karl recommends that his uncle drive out to Baden early tomorrow morning, partly because of the heat, and partly just because it would be good if someone would come out earlier than Karl with the goods, in order to determine the appropriate place for them out there.

Karl goes out to run errands and returns after a while. The apothecary was unable to make the medicine that Braunhofer specified. The mover will come back and check on the packing. Joseph Bernard asks that Ludwig not lose the copy of the Stuttgart Morgenblatt that Bernard had loaned him.

Ludwig and Karl relax with some beer after their work packing on this warm day. Karl observes that the beer in Baden is better. All last summer, it wasn’t as hot as it is now. [According to the Wiener Zeitung Nr.106 at 452, the temperature in Vienna today is 84 degrees Fahrenheit.]

Karl has some musical gossip: Operas are now to be given at the Burgtheater. Weber’s Preciosa is already being rehearsed.

Johann comes by to check on their progress. The bank shares have gone up a good deal, from 1168 florins to over 1200, and he expects they will go even higher.

Ludwig hasn’t eaten much. Johann recommends that he eat some asparagus; “it is very healthy and stimulates the urine.” But he should not drink any more almond milk; instead he should drink light beer. Tomorrow, he should have chocolate with water.

Meanwhile, Johann will give the copy of the Missa Solemnis for Prince Radziwill to Ferdinand Piringer to proofread. Tomorrow at 8 a.m., Karl and Johann will go to pay the earnest money [possibly for Karl’s apartment in the Alleegasse.]

Johann writes a letter, probably at Ludwig’s request, to Ferdinand Ries today. “My noble, worthy friend! Enclosed is the last remnant of the music that my brother gave me to send to you. [These were possibly the promised march with chorus from The Ruins of Athens, op.114, the parts for the Name Day Overture op.115 and the King Stephan Overture, op.117, which Ludwig had told Ries he would be sending in his letter of April 9th. In any event, they arrived too late to be used.] He will write to you as soon as he is better. Unfortunately, he has been struck by an intestinal inflammation from which he has now been cured, but his weakness is still so great that he is unable to undertake anything.”

“Therefore, write to him very soon about the receipt of the works that have been sent, and in that letter inform him when you will send him the promised 40 Carolines, which will certainly please him. I must also ask you to encourage him to write the oratorio. He has a beautiful book, namely Der Sieg des Kreuzes, which he wants to write. If you encourage him to do so, so that the Rhineland Music Association will accept it, he will surely write it. I am forever your faithful friend, Johann v Beethoven, Landowner.”

Brandenburg Letter 1964; Albrecht Letter 407. The original is held by the Bonn Beethovenhaus (BH 155) and can be seen here:

https://www.beethoven.de/en/media/view/6027496529068032/scan/0

Ludwig asks about the progress in getting Karl enrolled at the Polytechnic. Karl thinks he could be enrolled by next Friday.

Ludwig expresses an interest in a certain type of hat. They can be had where they are made for between 4 and 5 florins.

Laundryman Anton Wiesinger shows up with the clean laundry as he had promised.

Conversation Book 88, 11r-16r, 50r-50v.

Probably this evening, Beethoven dictates to Nephew Karl an undated letter to B. Schott’s Sons in Mainz. “I am just about to go to the country, and while convalescing from an inflammation of the intestines, I am writing to you just a few words–“

“In the Opferlied, in the place of the second verse where [the solo voice sings “Erde,” thus]

I desire that the passage be engraved as I have written it here. [see details of letter nearby, bars 44 and 45 of the song. Schott did not make this correction in the first edition].”

“You will have already received the quartet. [Op.127, sent to Schott in April.] It is the same as promised. I could have gotten a fee of 60 ducats for it from several publishers, but I preferred to keep my word to you.”

“Someone has written an excellent German text for my Mass in C, quite different from the Leipzig one, if you were to reissue it with the new text. [Brandenburg suggests that this German text is the one by Benedict Scholz. The original publication by Breitkopf & Härtel in Leipzig contained the Latin text and a German version by Christian Schreiber.]

“For lesser works, I have four occasional marches for complete Turkish music [i.e., with drums and cymbals; WoO 18, 19, 20 and 24], along with a congratulatory minuet [Gratulations-Minuett WoO 3], the fee for which would be 25 ducats in gold. I have the papers for the publication of all the works, and will be able to present you with the necessary information soon, if you are still interested in it.”

“I hope you don’t distrust me now because of Henning’s prank [the unauthorized four hands piano arrangement of Consecration of the House, printed in Berlin.] But if so, I will present you with his letter, in which he renounces everything concerning the Overture. The matter was settled here in writing with Bethmann, who, as is well known, had a falling out with the company [of the new Berlin Theater.]”

“Nb: It is also important to check whether the chorus of the Opferlied also indicates tutti i violoncelli for the violoncello part. If not, it must be added.”

Brandenburg Letter 1966, Anderson Letter 1368. Beethoven neglects to sign the letter in his haste. The original letter is held in the Mainz City Library (Hs III 71, Nr.15 and 16). The full original letter can be seen here:

https://www.dilibri.de/dilibri_kalliope/content/pageview/2170256

The letter bears a May 7 registry mark in an unknown hand, and was probably mailed by Johann or Karl after Ludwig leaves tomorrow morning.