BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Monday, August 16, 1824

Music publisher Heinrich Albert Prost writes to Beethoven from Leipzig today, explaining his conduct somewhat to Beethoven. Probst acknowledges receipt of Beethoven’s now-lost letter to him of August 9. If Beethoven still does not believe that their arrangement is satisfactory, he may nevertheless hand over the manuscripts to Loydl & Co., and receive the 100 ducats.

“Given the excellent admiration that I have for your talents, I hope I may rely upon your word that you will give me something solid. That’s why I have deviated from my rule of not buying manuscripts sight unseen. But you are absolutely right, if you do not look for the reasons of my conduct in myself. A lot of gossip, and a difference that a local publishing house claims to have had with you, in a similar undertaking is, to be honest, the reason why I wanted to see the documents first.” [Ominously, Probst has clearly spoken to publisher C.F. Peters, who in 1822 had arranged to buy several compositions from Beethoven and rejected them as unworthy. Some of the pieces being sold to Probst, Opferlied op.121b, Bundeslied op.122 and Der Kuss op.128 are among the group that Peters had already rejected; Peters also rejected the 11 Bagatelles op.119, while Probst was being offered the 6 Bagatelles op.126.]

“Here you have my open confession, which I only want to be frank as if I were speaking directly with you. Certainly, dear sir and friend, the more we get to know each other, the more you will find me a true and honest publisher, since I often enough whenever I can prefer the honor and pleasure of doing something good for art rather than for my own benefit. I would have liked to have published your 9th Symphony, but I hope to secure your trust and friendship. Unfortunately, the reprints being made everywhere, especially in Austria, often prevent the German publisher from honoring a work with dignity, and I can already see in Vienna how the robbers are lurking on the new works that you now refer to, in order to steal from me under the protection of the law. But there is no way to escape them, except by refusing to print anything beautiful. I certainly didn’t become a music publisher to enrich the world with ugly things. Your works should appear beautifully, as soon as possible, and you may rely upon that.” [Probst is referring to the lack of copyright protection in Austria, which resulted in musical works promptly being issued in pirated editions of varying quality, with no profit going either to the composer or the original publisher.]

Brandenburg Letter 1862; Albrecht Letter 379. The original letter is in the Berlin Staatsbibliothek (aut.35,71c). The postmark reads “LEIPZIG 16. Aug. 24.” Beethoven has written with pencil, “Answered on Wednesday, September 1, written because of the Symphony.” Sieghard Brandenburg suggests that this may refer to Beethoven’s letter to Probst of August 28th, which may not have been mailed until September 1.

Sauer & Leidesdorf today announces in the Wiener Zeitung (Nr.187) at 783 the publication of Der Gondelfahrer, a song by Franz Schubert on a poem by Johann Mayrhoffer, set for four male voices (two tenors and two basses) with piano accompaniment, op.28. The song (the second setting of it by Schubert, the first being for solo voice) is today catalogued as D.809, and can be heard here, sung by the Monteverdi Choir conducted by John Eliot Gardiner, with Malcolm Bilson on piano: