BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Friday, October 11, 1822
Today Beethoven rents an apartment in Baden bei Wien, consisting of two rooms and a kitchen, from Johann Grundgeyer, secretary of the local magistrate, in the house called the Magdalenenhof, formerly at Frauengasse 87 and now at Frauengasse 10. Grundgeyer was a person of some note in Baden bei Wien, serving also as a syndic and police commissioner. According to Rudolf Klein, Beethoven Stätten in Österreich, p.120, Grundgeyer writes in his rent book for 1822, “Hr. v. Beethoven from October 11th à day 2 fl. 45 kr. W.W. (2 rooms and a kitchen) together 27 fl.” This almost certainly refers to Ludwig, since Johann is not known to have visited Ludwig in Baden. Based on the room rate, Klein determines that Beethoven stayed there for eleven days, and returned to the city for good on the 21st.
It should be noted that this date of return is uncertain. Thayer/Forbes describes the receipt for the lodgings at the Magdalenenhof thusly: “‘Hr. v. Beethoven from Oct. 11 2 rooms and 1 kitchen, at 2 fl. 45 k. per day part-payment 20 fl. V.S. 27 finis.’ It is not known whether the sum of 27 florins was the whole sum or a final payment to be counted with the statement of 20 florins.” If the latter, then Beethoven made his return trip on about October 28. The next conversation book includes discussions from the 30th or 31st with Karl about trunks, so there is some cause to think that the return to Vienna was nearer the end of the month than the 21st.
Forbes as editor of Thayer based his report on Theodor Frimmel, Beethoven im Kurort Baden bei Wien, NBJ iv (1930) p. 76, which included this somewhat different transcription of the Grundgeyer rent book: “Hr. v. Beethoven vom 11. Okt. 2 Zimmer und 1 Küche à Tag 2 fl. 45 K. Darangabe 20 fl. W.W. 27 Finis.” [“Mr. v. Beethoven from Oct. 11, 2 rooms and 1 kitchen at 2 fl. 45 K per day, received 20 fl. W.W. 27 Finis.”] Frimmel came to the same conclusion as Forbes: “Of course, the calculation cannot be carried out unequivocally, since one does not know whether the 27 florins are the total sum paid, or just the final payment that must be added to the 20 florins. In no case did the sojourn last three weeks.”
“Darangabe” (sometimes called “Drangeld“) was to our understanding something similar to a security deposit to ensure performance of a contract. It was used for contracts with servants, and also rental contracts such as this one. It may or may not have been applied to the rent due, adding a dimension of uncertainty about Beethoven’s stay in the Magdalenenhof. Unfortunately, Grundgeyer’s rent book is ambiguous, and thus we need to compute all of the possibilities.
At a rate of 2 fl. 45 k. per day, a 27 florin payment would cover a ten-night stay, or departure on October 21 as Klein suggests. 47 florins, on the other hand, would allow Beethoven to stay seventeen nights in total, thus departing on October 28. Since Karl is still talking about trunks on about October 30 or 31 in Conversation Book 18, the October 28 return to Vienna seems the more likely of the two. However, the fascimile of the Grundgeyer rent book (to be discussed in more detail on the entry for October 21, 1822) looks to my eye more like the 27 florins is meant to be a total. As a result, it is difficult to have much confidence on this point. Unfortunately, we cannot place Beethoven with certainty in either Vienna or Baden during the period October 21 through 28th, and he writes no clearly-dated letters that might provide a clue during that time either.
Our sincere thanks to Birthe Kibsgaard for the attached photos of the Magdalenenhof today, as well as her insightful discussions with us regarding the nature of Drangeld.
Today’s Wiener Zeitung includes a large advertisement for The Vienna Pianoforte School, a set in three volumes edited by Kapellmeister Friedrich Starke (1774-1835). “This method contains, in addition to the elements of playing the pianoforte, the most correct, easy-to-follow explanation of fingerings and manners, as well as instructions for singing, 140 informative and entertaining works, from the easiest to the most difficult authors, among whom our worthy Herr L. van Beethoven himself made contributions.” It will be recalled that for a New Year’s gift in 1821 Beethoven presented Starke with five bagatelles for his project, and those would later end up as the last of the set of 11 Bagatelles, op.119. Also included in Starke’s set were two movements from the Piano Sonata op.28 (“Pastoral”), with Beethoven’s own fingerings, among other small-scale works.
One of these little pieces was the short and rarely-heard Concert Finale, Hess 65, adapted from the coda to Piano Concerto #3, op.37 for the use of Archduke Rudolph, which is performed here by Jenö Jandó: