BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Friday, November 5, 1824 (very approximately)

At some point between October 16 and November 28 when the conversation books resume, a seriously ill Beethoven moves back to Vienna, to the fourth-floor (fifth-floor American) apartment at 969 Johannesgasse, inside the Vienna city walls, owned by a family named Kletschka. There was still some masonry work to be done in the new apartment, and doors and locks to be repaired as of mid-October so they were not yet able to move in. Apparently at least some furniture may have made its way there from the Ungargasse apartment in the interim, since on October 6 Beethoven had written to Haslinger asking him to check whether Nephew Karl had slept at the new Johannesgasse apartment. But as of October 11, they also had still not moved out of the old Ungargasse apartment, and Beethoven himself, not well, was spending nearly all of his time in Baden.

It is somewhat surprising that, considering the very high cost of living in Baden, Beethoven felt zero urgency to depart. He must have enjoyed extending his time in the country even though it was really beyond his means, and then his illness delayed him further in moving back. We can narrow the date of the move somewhat, since Beethoven will write a series of letters from November 16-21 that are all sent from Vienna. In one of these letters dated November 18, Beethoven tells Archduke Rudolph that upon his return from Baden he was ill and was forbidden to go out for some time, until November 17. As a result, it seems likely that the move finally occurred earlier in this period about which we have little firm information, rather than later, and probably at the end of October or early November.

Guest editor Birthe Kibsgaard makes the following observations about Beethoven’s new apartment:

It seems strange that Beethoven chose an apartment inside the Vienna city walls, he usually preferred apartments outside the walls. Which is understandable, when we look at the conditions in the streets of Vienna (see later).

He chose the inner city deliberately. In the conversation books he makes notes of apartments in the inner city and near the Old University (Freyung, Judengasse, Kienmarkt, Schulerstrasse, Auwinkel, etc.). And as we also know from his conversation books, he had wished and hoped for an apartment in the Himmelpfortgasse (a neighboring street to Johannesgasse), an apartment which he did not get in the end. The apartment in the Johannesgasse had appeared several times in the Wiener Zeitung (August 25, 27, 30) without Beethoven making any notes of it in his conversation books, until September 15 when he finally finds it worth writing down.

He might have wanted to live in the city center because he wanted to control Karl more. I think he worried more and more about his nephew. – We know that Karl drank too much; Johann wrote so in a conversation book from spring 1824, and Beethoven was also warned that it was risky for a young man to live on his own in the city, for there were too many temptations. Beethoven also mistrusted Karl’s social circle (rightly or not, I won’t be the judge of that), and then there was Karl’s mother whom Beethoven, as we know, mistrusted deeply. He was afraid of what influence she might have on her son.

The situation was not easy for either of them (Karl and Ludwig). They had quite different hopes for Karl’s future. The times and the relations between fathers and sons were quite different from now. But it seems true that Karl opposed Beethoven more and more and that Beethoven got more and more paranoid.

If one wanted an apartment in the city one would prefer the 2nd floor or higher up in the building. Beethoven’s apartment in the Johannesgasse was on the 4th floor and was therefore, I think, tolerable.

Vienna was a very unhealthy city. The streets were noisy, dusty, dirty, stinking. An “announcement” in the Wiener Zeitung of October 13, 1863 might give us an idea of what it had been like. In this announcement, the citizens of Vienna are informed by the mayor, Zelinka, that changes had to be made for the sake of the health status of the people and the embellishment of the city.

From then on: It was forbidden to throw dirty water, blood, and any rubbish in the streets.
The sewers that led from the houses into the streets (and were often placed directly next to the home fountains) must be emptied and were not allowed to overflow. And all of the sewage had to be disposed of.
The garbage and rubbish from the houses must be removed on wagons at 9 o’clock in the morning.
The owners had to make sure that no carcasses [dogs, cats, rats, mice] and other filthiness were thrown out into the streets.

Imagine how the streets must have been in Beethoven’s time. People did throw everything in the streets or in the brooks hoping that the rain would carry it away eventually. But in summer when rain was scarce and it was very hot, people actually had to “flee” from the city and into the country (those who could afford it).

I suppose Beethoven must have had very good reasons for wanting an apartment in the middle of all this mess.

According to Klein (Beethovenstätten in Wien) he only stayed in this apartment until Georgi, April 24, 1825, because his landlady cancelled the tenancy. [More about this later.] After that he moved into the Krugerstrasse, maybe to have an apartment for the summer (although Johann had offered him his apartment in the Kothgasse as a retreat when he came to Vienna). Also Ludwig Rellstab speaks of an apartment in the Krugerstrasse and letters about a bell string that had not been removed from one apartment to the other (Brandenburg 1971, 1973, 1974) hint at another apartment after Georgi 1825. Breuning also mentions that Beethoven told him he had a flat in the Krugerstrasse. However, Breuning’s story does not seem to be accurate according to the date.

The Johannesgasse apartment building no longer stands, but there are several old photographs of it, seen here.