BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: May 24, 1824
Beethoven appears to have no visitors today, so he may simply take the opportunity to recover from the last few stress-filled months and mull over the half-empty theater yesterday.
Probably today or tomorrow, Beethoven writes to his friend Tobias Haslinger about the second Akademie concert. Someone unidentified (Count Moritz Lichnowsky?) is injured that Beethoven did not send them any complimentary tickets. He assures Haslinger that it was not the result of negligence; he had thought of doing so but like so many other things it slipped his mind.
Beethoven also assures Haslinger that he is innocent of the things theater manager Louis Antoine Duport did, like passing off the terzet Tremate, empi, tremate as a new work. [This trio, op.116, had been written decades earlier, and Haslinger even had a copy of it and the rights to publish it for nearly a decade, though it still remained unpublished.] “They know my love of truth too well, but now it is better to remain silent about it, for not everyone knows the true situation of the matter and I am innocently misunderstood.” He is not going to ask anything more of Duport, because he lost time and money in this Akademie. He closes, “in haste, your friend, Beethoven.”
Brandenburg Letter 1840; Anderson Letter 1294. As of Brandenburg’s edition of Beethoven’s letters, it was held in an American private collection. In a note to this letter, Thayer-Dieters-Riemann V at 98 includes the following excerpt of a letter dated today from Sigmund Anton Steiner, currently in Leipzig, most likely for the trade fair, to his partner, Haslinger. “Likewise, I also pity our unique Beethoven, and no one here will believe that so great a man is treated so absolutely without cooperation.” Albrecht Letter 368.
In the evening, Beethoven goes with Brother Johann, Nephew Karl and unpaid assistant Anton Schindler to the Theater an der Wien, where they are to see two comedies, Der Besuch auf dem Lande [The Visit to the Country] by August Wilhelm Iffland, and Proberollen by Gottlieb Anton Friedrich Hansing.
Angry about yesterday’s concert, Beethoven is out of sorts and they leave early, probably at the intermission between the plays. A noisy argument with Schindler occurs out in the street, with Ludwig shouting loudly, which culminates in Beethoven telling him to get out of his sight. Exactly what causes the rupture between them is unclear, but Karl will mention tomorrow that his uncle was talking about a conspiracy, so he probably was feeling paranoid about all the machinations with the theaters resulting in the failure of the second Akademie. Schindler may also again have suggested getting paid for his services in connection with the Akademie concerts. Karl attempts to warn his uncle that he is being too loud, and as a result Ludwig goes off on him as well. Karl leaves in a huff and a repentant Ludwig has to chase after him. Johann drives Ludwig back to his apartment in his carriage, while Karl walks to his University boarding house and Schindler goes to his apartment, the two of them parting ways at the Karlskirche.
Unfortunately, there is at least one page torn out of the conversation book at this point, between 6v and 7r, probably by Schindler to cover the tracks of Beethoven’s break with him. Karl’s first comment on 7r begins in the middle of a sentence tomorrow. But Schindler pathetically continues to write forged entries into the conversation books after Beethoven’s death to make it appear as if nothing had happened between them.
The seventh concert in the London Philharmonic Society’s current season is given this evening, conducted by Sir George Smart. The program includes an unidentified string quartet by Beethoven in the first act, which the second act opens with Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony in C minor, and closes with the Overture to Prometheus. Among eight other pieces on the program was an Overture in D by cellist Bernhard Romberg (1767-1841). Both his Overture for Orchestra op.11 (1809) and Concert Overture op.34 (1821) were in the key of D, so it is unclear from the description which was performed.
The July, 1824 issue of The Harmonicon magazine (Nr.XIX) at 144 had the following relevant commentary regarding the concert: “Beethoven’s symphony in C minor, we shall always hold to be his chef-d’ouevre, for we cannot imagine that he will now ever produce any thing superior to it: its grandeur, variety, and originality are admitted by every description of amateur; we have even heard the ultra-Handelians, the exclusionists of the Ancient Concerts, confess its power.”
“The Overture by Bernard Romberg,–the violoncello player who was in London ten years ago,–holds a high rank amongst the works of this kind, and though in point of genius we must certainly place a few, and but very few, above it, yet in depth of thought and musical knowledge it yields to none. The overture to Prometheus, as an effort of genius, surpasses Romberg’s unquestionably; Beethoven wrote this when his imagination was in the fullest vigour. How grand and beautiful its effect!—How full of science, but how easy of comprehension!”
“The above quartett of Beethoven, is less known than most of his others; in some few places [violinist Nicolas] Mori mistook its peculiar character, but as a whole he executed it very charmingly.” [Mori (1795-1839) was considered one of the finest violinists in Europe, and had been leader of the Philharmonic since 1816.]
Music publisher S.A. Steiner & Co. repeats its advertisement for the Kakadu Variations for piano trio, op.121a by Beethoven, in today’s Wiener Zeitung (Nr.119) at 504.
Regular readers of our column will be familiar with Professor Theodore Albrecht, whose ongoing series of the English language editions of the conversation books are the framework that this feature is built upon, with his kind permission and assistance. Prof. Albrecht has a new book on the premiere of the Ninth Symphony from Boydell & Brewer press, and there’s no better way to celebrate the bicentennial of this event than to read the detailed accounts that reconstruct and clarify the historic events leading up to these epochal concerts.
Prof. Albrecht has arranged for a coupon code that will allow our readers to purchase his book at a greatly reduced price, from $105 US to $49.95 (individuals only; the coupon cannot be used by institutions). The coupon code is:
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and the book may be ordered here:
https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781837651054/beethovens-ninth-symphony