BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Monday, August 29, 1825 (approximately)

Beethoven writes an undated note to Karl Holz about now: “Worthy?! Holz! No one doubts that Holz [wood] is neuter, so how contradictory is the masculine, and what other consequences can be abstracted for the personified Holz? As for our business, I ask that the quartet not be seen or heard. Friday is the only day on which the old witch [housekeeper Barbara Holzmann], who would certainly have been burned 200 years ago, is cooking tolerably, since on that day the devil has no power over her. Therefore, come or write, this is all for today. Your friend Beethoven.”

Brandenburg Letter 2041; Anderson Letter 1424. The original is held by the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. (ML30.9b.B4.). Along with the letter is a transcription by Karl Holz and the following comment: “I received this letter from Baden in August 1825, when I was making a copy of the recently completed Quartet in A minor, op.129 [op.132], of which he entrusted me with the handwritten score. By the old witch, he means the old, ugly housekeeper with whom he was very dissatisfied, especially with regard to cooking.”

The dating is tentative, since the copies of the quartet parts by Wenzel Rampl were delivered to Beethoven yesterday, and there was discussion then about having the quartet run through for proofreading purposes, so it would impinge less on Beethoven’s work. Beethoven seems to have changed his mind on this point, at least for now.