BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Friday, September 29, 1826

Ludwig, Brother Johann, and Nephew Karl are staying at an inn in Stockerau, about 15 miles from Vienna, partway between the City and Johann’s estate near Gneixendorf. They rise early and settle the bill with the female attendant. Yesterday, it was too late. They take Johann’s carriage for a couple of hours to the village of Kirchberg to have breakfast, but Johann is not hungry. Karl suggests he will have a better appetite once he’s at home on his own estate. Ludwig is having misgivings about having come with Karl on this trip, and writes in the conversation book, “Breuning should not have let me go along.”

While they are having breakfast, Johann mentions the famous Göttweig Abbey, which is about 2 and one-half miles from Krems, near Gneixendorf. [Johann pronounces the name with a strong Rhenish accent, which causes Karl to transcribe the name as Hetwein.] Johann will drive Ludwig there during his visit. They have beef roast. The wine is as Johann indicated the 1811 vintage and excellent. Karl observes that the Kirchbergers are famous for their baked goods. They probably depart around 9:30 a.m.

At probably around 1 p.m., the trio arrive at Johann’s estate, Schloss Wasserhof, which had been built in 1630 by Count Adolf von Althan, though houses had been on that location dating back to at least 1170. Johann had purchased the estate in 1819. Ludwig and Karl are given the corner room on the first floor, on the southwest corner of the building. See attached photo of the Schloss as of 2017. On the left side one can see a sundial between the second and third windows, which will be mentioned later on.

Also shown are two watercolors from about 1900 of Gneixendorf and the Beethoven house by Wilhelm Gause, from Erinnerungen an Beethoven (Memories of Beethoven) by Johannes Schmal, in Die Gartenlaube (1901), Halbheft 1, p.35. Courtesy Bonn Beethovenhaus (Bibliothek: 87.050). During the 20th century, a tower was added onto the building, and it has since been removed, returning it closer to its original state.

Once the carriage is unloaded, Johann gives Ludwig and Karl a tour of the estate. As usual, he is rather boastful. He shows them his squash. The orchards are so large that one could walk 2 hours without leaving them. Ludwig gets thirsty, but there is no water to be had here. Johann reminds Ludwig that today is a fasting day. There are some wine growers in the area who have 200,000 to 300,000 florins. He mostly eats local produce. Karl wryly observes that Johann commands as if he were Lord of the Manor. Nothing is eaten before 3 o’clock. The animals run all around the pasture; they can select what they want to eat, and Johann will have it slaughtered. That means dinner will be late, with nothing to eat before 4 or 5 o’clock [Ludwig usually has his dinner around 2]. They can have beef roast. “In Hettwein [Göttweig] there are snipe that we must first shoot, if we want to eat them.” Karl says he is not cold, but his hands are always cold.

There is another crate of Ludwig and Karl’s things that will follow. Johann has another farm farther down with 18 families on it. Johann shows them a yoke of oxen that cost about 300 florins. Johann says the air is good for Ludwig here. He has 45 sections of vineyards, plus 150 acres of fields under cultivation. That means there is always much to do. Ludwig asks how much Johann pays on his mortgage and property taxes. He pays 1,500 florins C.M. per year, and has 3 more years to go before it is paid off. The taxes are about 500 florins C.M. per year. Ludwig asks how far away the town of Krems is; Johann says that it is about half an hour away.

According to Johann, it seldom rains here. He shows them another residence with 6 rooms. Ludwig asks why dinner is so late; Johann tells him that the food has to be cooked, and they couldn’t know when they would arrive, so they weren’t able to start dinner until this afternoon. The fields under cultivation as far as one can see are all Johann’s. They consist of wheat, corn and barley. On a hill, facing south, Johann points out Krems. Beyond it, across the Danube to the southeast, there is a church [Weather Cross Chapel, built in 1651 atop a hill] and the Gut Hollenberg estate, owned by the Viennese banker Jacob Geymüller, who Beethoven occasionally did business with.

Johann shows Ludwig the first grapes from a vineyard that he planted 2 years ago. He points out the second farm. Johann lets Ludwig know that there is good Ofener wine [a sweet wine from Buda] coming tonight. Johann inspects some of his wine and discovers that two barrels have been ruined through negligence. Johann points out a night owl, which he wants to shoot. Either Ludwig or Karl objects, and Johann explains that they scream horribly. The house on the second farm has views of all 4 corners of the world, Johann brags.

They return to the manor house, Wasserhof, and Johann shows them around. If Ludwig wants to rest, there is a day-bed in Karl’s room. Johann asks if Ludwig would like coffee now, or whether he would like it with cream in 2 hours. Johann excuses himself, as he has to go out into the fields to look around.

Ludwig is missing some things; Karl thinks they will turn up. In the meantime, Ludwig should just unpack the trunk. Karl asks whether Ludwig might want to go out through the fields with Johann, if he isn’t too tired. He works up a good appetite from going out into the fields. He does that every day at 5 a.m. If Ludwig is going to go out, he should wear a cap rather than a hat. The cap they have fits Ludwig’s head better, but Johann wants to have it repaired.

Ludwig is displeased that his meal schedule is disrupted and that because of the lateness in the day he will not get soup. Karl assures him that there will be good soup made for them tomorrow. Karl recommends that Ludwig leave the key in the lock when he goes out, only closing the door and not locking it. There is a feather bed and quilt put out for Ludwig.

Before they turn in, Johann tells them that the air wouldn’t be as good in Vienna as it is there. If they want breakfast, it is usually from 7:30 until 8 o’clock. Johann asks what time Ludwig needs warm water.

Conversation Book 122, 17v, 1v. 18r-22r. Translations by Prof. Theodore Albrecht