BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Monday, July 19, 1824

Back in Vienna, Beethoven visits a tailor in the early morning, and he expects what Beethoven wants will require 5 yards of bâchet [canvas tarpaulin]. He is getting completely finished pants from elsewhere; he shows Beethoven the sample. They cannot be altered. If they go into water, then they become very thick and strong. For 15 florins, it can be finished with bâchet.

Beethoven makes his shopping and errand list for the day:

+Soap powder.
+An A string. [Editor Theodore Albrecht points out that if Beethoven brought his violin with him to Baden, it was most likely for purposes of writing the string quartet op.127, and suggests that he was still able to hear the violin close to his head, at least to some extent.]
+About the water at the Ursprung [On July 8, Dr. Staudenheim had recommended Beethoven drink half a quart of this water each day during his stay in Baden].
+6 matches a glass in addition.
+To Berlin.
+Find Karl at 11 o’clock.
+Staudenheim: Is it in the Karolinenbad or Frauenbad? [Two of the baths at Baden. Staudenheim was one of Beethoven’s doctors, who recommended he partake of at least 40 baths in Baden over the summer.]
+Frau Schnaps [housekeeper Barbara Holzmann]: ask at Karl’s place. [This probably relates to Karl’s need to ask for an extension of Holzmann’s leave from St. Marx’s Spital, the poorhouse for old people, to serve as their housekeeper.]

Ludwig meets up with Karl, probably between 11 AM and his English lesson at noon. He will visit the administrator of the Spital, and Holzmann is curious as to what he will say. But he is only available in the afternoon at 3 o’clock.

In the later afternoon, Karl meets with the administrator of the Spital. He approves her taking leave, and says that if she can subsist outside the Spital, then another woman can take her place there.

Conversation Book 73, 21r-22v. The next page, 23r, looks like it is another list but it has been crossed out so vigorously that it is quite unreadable, and it looks as if he may have spilled coffee on it to boot. There is then a break in the continuity of the conversation books lasting over one month, with the next datable entry in Book 73 being about August 25. It is possible that Beethoven used another now-lost conversation book during much of his stay in Baden, and then once that was filled returned to Book 73. It seems unlikely that he had no conversations with anyone, including Karl during that stretch of time. In any event, our updates will be somewhat more sporadic during the next five weeks.

In Mainz, J.J. Schott of B. Schott’s Sons, writes a letter to Beethoven, accepting the terms for purchase of the Ninth Symphony, the Missa Solemnis and the new quartet [op.127] that Beethoven set out in his letter of July 3. They have made arrangements with Fries & Co., a trading house in Vienna, to make payments on their bills of exchange, according to the dates specified, at which time Beethoven is to hand over the remaining manuscripts, namely the Grand Mass and the new Grand Symphony. Schott suggests Beethoven wrap them in twine and put his seal on them for security.

“We will publish the two works without delay, making them available to the public together with the piano reduction and the individual parts. We hope to receive clear and correct copies of the scores, to which you would kindly add any comments that the engraver may need to know. We will take the greatest care with the corrections, and if you would like to do the final proofreading yourself, please be kind enough to let us know.”

“Since, according to your promise, we can now also count on the violin quartet as our own property, we are all the more pleased that we will receive this within the period of six weeks, and you can rest assured that after the payment date specified by you, that payment will likewise be made punctually by Fries & Co.”

“We would like you to tell us in your next letter everything that your being so busy did not allow you to say in your previous letter, and we look forward to it with real joy.”

Brandenburg Letter 1852; Albrecht Letter 372. The original is held by the Berlin Staatsbibliothek (aut. 35,72e). Next to the address, Beethoven’s friend Tobias Haslinger has written “Vienna.” [The post office may have inquired with Haslinger as to whether Beethoven was as of the date of receipt in Vienna or in Baden.] Beethoven has written in pencil on the letter both on the right and left of the address, “Schott.” Although Beethoven has over the last few years repeatedly sold the Missa Solemnis to various publishers, all of whom were disappointed, this time he really means it. The Missa Solemnis has been sold to Schott, and they will eventually publish it, though not until about the time of Beethoven’s death. The Ninth Symphony is published by Schott in 1826. The quartet will not be finished in six weeks, however.

Today’s Wiener Zeitung (Nr.163) at 685 includes an advertisement from T. Mollo, art dealer, for Beethoven’s popular Grand Septet, op.20, arranged for piano quartet by J.F. Schwenke, for the price of 2 florins 24 kreutzers C.M. This was of course an unauthorized transcription, and Beethoven received no payment for it. The advertisement is repeated in the Friday, July 23 Wiener Zeitung at 704.