BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Monday, April 17, 1826

Beethoven has a sore throat and is rather hoarse. He starts a shopping list but doesn’t get very far:

• Wax candles

Unpaid assistant Karl Holz stops by the apartment around mid-day dinner time. The housekeeper bought a large quantity of eggs and Beethoven is unsure why. Holz suggests that the past servants may have taken the eggs with them, or she just wanted a larger stock.

Discussion of the biblical oratorio Saul to be written with Christoph Kuffner ensues. Joseph Bernard, who wrote the libretto to Der Sieg des Kreuzes, will not raise any trouble; he has accomplished his goal since he has his 500 florins from the Musikverein. Holz tells Beethoven that Kuffner has a lot of influence with Court Councilor Raphael Georg Kiesewetter, a well-known collector of musical manuscripts. He will be supportive and make sure the oratorio is not performed in the Redoutensaal, but rather at the Reitschule, where the Handel oratorios are performed by Ignaz von Mosel. “The subject and the arrangement could not be better,” Holz opines.

Beethoven drinks some cold water; Holz suggests that lukewarm would be better for his throat.

Holz tells Beethoven about the Victory Chorus that Kuffner has planned. The meter of the syllables is rather peculiar. He writes the meter out for Beethoven. [See detail of page 43r.] Holz made a quick copy of some of what Kuffner has finished, and he also has a piece of it in Kuffner’s handwriting, which he needs to return.

Today is laundry day and the washerwoman comes. She asks whether Beethoven wants the clothing to be ironed as well. Holz doesn’t think it’s necessary that everything get ironed at once.

There are potatoes for dinner, and Holz joins Beethoven. Holz cautions him not to eat them. “Potatoes will easily give you diarrhea.”

Holz continues about Saul: A chorus could be put in the Lydian key, as Beethoven had requested. “I spent a long time with Kuffner; tomorrow I’ll go to Sartori [the Head Censor]; then the main issue will have been taken care of.” Sartori has sent Steiner and Haslinger a proper reprimand. “He said that in connection with a man like Beethoven one should not touch on such trifles and that it would show a lack of respect if they were to play such pranks in the future.”

Beethoven has a letter from the Kinsky heirs saying he will be paid his annuity within the week, but he is unsure what that means. Holz tells him that it was written by Walcha, their notary. The letter was sent last Saturday [April 15.] So, Beethoven should get his money from the annuity by next Saturday [April 22.]

The meat for dinner is nutritious, Holz thinks. They could invite Tobias for sheep’s head. [It is unclear whether Holz means literally eating sheep’s head, since they were just talking about meat, or Holz might possibly mean the card game of the same name, which was popular in Germany in the late 18th century.]

Holz asks whether it is true that Beethoven allowed his Missa Solemnis to be published by Franz Lachner in a piano reduction. Beethoven tells him that Johann Andreas Streicher had suggested it, but nothing ever came of it.

Holz cannot eat or drink any more. “However, it is excellent. We shall ask for a repeat at the next opportunity.” Beethoven is skeptical, but Holz assures him that the housekeeper will do as she is told.

There is more discussion of the Lydian mode, which Beethoven had used in the Heiliger Dankgesang slow movement of the op.132 string quartet, and which he intends to use again in Saul. Holz tells him, “Until now, I only knew these keys from the old church music, which is given at Kiesewetter’s, but the new way in which you have used them is so moving and inspiring that it would be a pity if one only could hear it in a quartet. Holz asks, “What does the key matter, if it is what Beethoven wants?” He suggests that he not tell people what the key or mode is, so the listener does not know where the magical effect is coming from.

Beethoven expresses a wish to use authentic ancient Jewish melodies in the oratorio Saul. Holz offers to take him to a small musical library, where he surely will find something that he will find pleasing. Beethoven knows what he means, the Museum of History, Musical Instruments and Art Objects in the library of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde. Kiesewetter can also be most helpful here; his collection and performances of old music is aimed at telling a story of the origin of the music. Holz asks whether Beethoven intends to go into the City today. He says he probably will, so Holz says he’ll leave a copy of the program for Saul at the library for him.

Holz relates some disturbing news: The police have found out that poet Ignaz Castelli has been providing copies of foreign newspapers to the Ludlamshölle, a society of intellectuals, among them Kuffner, poet Franz Grillparzer and others who Beethoven knows. The newspapers have all been seized, and trouble is expected.

In other disturbing news, an actor from the Munich Society shot a girl and then himself.

Holz suggests that if Beethoven does go into the City one evening, Kuffner would like to see him. They could make an appointment at the Musikverein. They will be alone there. Beethoven says he will go this evening.

Holz at this point probably goes back to his office for a few hours. It appears likely that he goes from there to the quartet rehearsal at the home of Ignaz Dembscher, who holds private concerts, usually with the Joseph Mayseder string quartet. Holz will discuss the events of this rehearsal with Beethoven tomorrow.

Conversation Book 108, 42r-47v.

The fourth concert of the London Philharmonic Society’s current season is given today, conducted by Thomas Attwood (1765-1838). The concert opens with Beethoven’s Sinfonia Pastorale. The first act includes the duet, “Oh gracious Heaven!” [„So ruhe denn mit ganzer Schwere“] from The Mount of Olives, op.85, sung by Mad. Rosalbina Caradori-Allan (1800-1865) and Pierre Begrez (1787-1863). [Following British usage, the name of Christ is not included in the titles of compositions.] The concert concludes with the Overture to “The Men of Prometheus.”

The duet from Christ on the Mount of Olives, op.85, is here performed by James King and Elizabeth Harwood (Bernhard Klee conducting the Wiener Symphoniker):

The Harmonicon for May, 1826 (Nr.XLI) at 106 was unimpressed. “We have much less to say of this concert than we had of the third, for it was not so interesting in any point of view. The pastoral symphony is too long for the quantity of ideas that it contains; and though if reduced one-third it would generally please, yet, spun out to upwards of three-quarters of an hour, he must be a great enthusiast who can listen to it without feeling some symptoms of impatience. It was nevertheless, well performed….”

“The duet from the Mount of Olives, though well performed, is too heavy for a concert.”