BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Monday, August 22, 1825
Beethoven makes a note that he should have Holz pick up some letter seals for him. Also, Karl needs to give the receipt to Haslinger for the pension payments.
Beethoven is feeling depressed today and does not work on the proofreading of the parts to the quartet. Instead, he writes letters.
He begins drafting a letter to publisher C.F. Peters in Leipzig in the conversation book: “I am sorry that H[err] P[eters[ did not immediately explain himself completely, and thereby will perhaps void the matter, and H P would have learned through the quartet that I long ago forgot his behavior toward me.”
“Your letters indicate what you asked for, that you received it. Also from your letters, it appears that you want to take a quartet for the same sum. As soon as you write that you are taking this quartet for the sum of 360 fl., or [want to] have [it] published, you will receive it.”
Beethoven then makes notes of what he needs to cover in the letter he is writing to Karl today:
Bill [“Carl” is crossed out]
Stein, piano
Stamped sheet [to apply for his stipend from the Kinsky and Lobkowitz estates as well as Archduke Rudolph]
Stipend
Conversation Book 92, 4r, 16r.
Beethoven continues working on several drafts of a letter to publisher C.F. Peters in Leipzig either the 21st or the morning of the 22nd. “To Peters. I have written to you that a [‘grand’ is crossed out] quartet is ready and a grand one is ready for you. As soon as you write to me that you will accept it for 360 florins C.M., or 80 ducats, this will be sent to you immediately. My works are now being remunerated more highly than ever. Incidentally, you yourself are to blame for the whole incident. Your letters indicate what you previously demanded, and what I sent was what it should have been, and the frequent follow-ups show how you were mistaken about the truth of it. [Peters had paid Beethoven a 360 florin advance and asked for smaller works but was displeased with the ones he received from Beethoven–6 of the op.119 bagatelles, Opferlied op.121b, Bundeslied op.122, Der Kuss op.128, and four marches for wind band, WoO 18, 19, 20, and 24– calling them unworthy of him.] Incidentally, the quartet will demonstrate to you that I am not taking revenge on you, but that I am giving to you what I could not better give to my best friends.”
“I ask you to hurry so that I receive the answer by the next post, because otherwise I have no choice but to return the 360 fl. to you. In any case, I’m in an awkward situation because someone wants this as well as another one that I’ve already completed, but it so happens that they don’t want just one piece. There are similar objections everywhere, such as… It really is out of consideration for your long wait [the advance was paid in 1822], for which you yourself are to blame, that I am separating this quartet from the following one, which has also already been completed. ([the remainder of this paragraph is probably addressing Karl:] (Do you think the last one should be offered here?) Certainly fine, very fine) je vous laisse comme Marschand coquin.“
“Besides, don’t suspect that I’m sending you something to avenge myself; no, I assure you on my artistic honor, that if you don’t find it is a work of art worthy of me, you should degrade me to the most shameful person.”
Brandenburg Letter 2036; Anderson Letter 1420. This draft is held by the Nanki Music Bunko, Oki-Collection (Sign. L 2) in Tokyo. Beethoven sent this draft to Karl on August 22 to put it into better shape. However, the letter was ultimately not sent.
Beethoven writes to Nephew Karl today, forwarding the above draft letter to C.F. Peters. “Here, dear son, as you believe one could give Peters the one quartet for 80 ducats, and 70 for the other. [Op.132 and op.130, respectively.] If you don’t receive an answer from Holz by Wednesday, then send it. I don’t think Holz will do anything about it. I should be reassured about this matter in September, and perhaps we can do something fun.”
“Dear one, you took your reckoning with you again yesterday. Send it back here to me.”
“Also, write on whatever kind of stamp sheet the pension receipt must now be written. Ask, since I don’t know — voltis subito” [Turn the page immediately. The stamped paper is for the receipts for claiming the civil service pension from Karl’s deceased father, which had to be written on official stamped paper. These payments for the last year or so had been turned over in part to Karl’s mother Johanna for her support.]
“You can hardly believe how bad and gloomy I felt yesterday when you were gone, to find myself alone again with this spiteful mob who will never change. This is bad. About [Matthäus Andreas] Stein, the piano tuning and furnishing, it is also extremely necessary to ponder and think about it. More details tomorrow [when Karl comes to Baden]. The letter to Peters has to be written in my name [the previous letter was written in Karl’s own name], so here is the sheet for it, [probably with Beethoven’s signature on it] just like before, and perhaps this is precisely what makes delay unnecessary. Don’t delay, and send the letter straight to the post by Wednesday.”
“Be good, be kind, and call me stingy when I admonish you to use your clothes more properly, away with all secrecy and deceit. Yours sincerely, your faithful father.”
Beethoven adds a postscript: “Nb: Whatever you think is not good in the letter to Peters, change it.”
Brandenburg 2037; Anderson 1414. This letter is held in the Vienna City and National Library (I.N.150003). Beethoven was meanwhile also having Holz negotiate with Mathias Artaria as well as Sigmund Anton Steiner and Tobias Haslinger to sell the op.132 quartet.
There is also a separate undated letter that may be an attachment to letter 2037 above, since it has no greeting or signature and is related in content to the receipts for the stipend. Beethoven writes an undated letter to Nephew Karl. “It goes without saying that you will need to make the receipt from the Archduke differently from His Imperial Highness, the Most Serene Archduke Rudolph, Cardinal and Eminence, etc.“
“You can already raise this on the 25th, and nothing later will matter, but you will have to seal it with my small signet; I don’t have any sealing wax here.”
Brandenburg Letter 2038; Anderson Letter 1413. From the contents, the letter was written outside Vienna while Ludwig and Karl were living separately, which rules out 1824 and 1826. The stipend from the Archduke was payable on August 25th, and Ludwig is relying on Karl to handle this most important financial transaction, so it can hardly be earlier than 1824. The original is in the Bonn Beethovenhaus, H.C. Bodmer Collection Br 20, and can be seen here:
https://www.beethoven.de/de/media/view/5788471499161600/scan/0