BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Monday, February 23, 1824 (very approximately)

Beethoven writes an undated note to unpaid assistant Anton Schindler, telling him he is having dinner at Zur goldenen Birne, and that he will order for Schindler. If he’s not there, Schindler should look for him at the coffee house, since Beethoven is unsure when Schindler will arrive.

Brandenburg Letter 1765, Anderson Letter 1336. The original is held by the Berlin Staatsbibliothek (aut. 36,72). It’s difficult to date this little missive, other than it likely comes between November 21, 1823 when Schindler insinuated himself back into Beethoven’s life, and May of 1824, when he was again expelled from Beethoven’s inner circle. Beethoven lived fairly close to The Golden Pear during that period. Mondays and Wednesdays, when Karl would be absent for dinner for classes, would be likely candidates for such a dinner.

The first concert of the fourteenth season of the London Philharmonic Society is held tonight. The first work on the program is Beethoven’s Sinfonia Eroica, op.55. The Harmonicon of March, 1824 (Nr.XV) at 53 says of this composition, “The heroic symphony of Beethoven abounds in traits of genius, and the funeral march, which forms one of the movements, is full of fine dignified feeling; but three quarters of an hour is too long for a time for the attention to be fixed on a single piece of music; and in spite of its merit, the termination of it is wished for some minutes before it arrives.”