BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Monday, July 25, 1825 (approximately)

Beethoven starts on a shopping list, but only gets so far as “+ Ordinary linen cloth.” He then writes “stringendo” in ink.

Karl Holz returns to Vienna and works on making the copy of the parts for two movements of the score for the A minor quartet, op.132 for Beethoven.

Conversation Book 91, 31v. There appear to be no conversational entries in this book until Wednesday, August 3, 1825. Ordinarily this would suggest Beethoven had no visitors, but that would mean that Nephew Karl did not visit on Sunday August 1, as he does customarily. It thus seems probable that this vacant period was covered in a different conversation book, now lost, and after that was filled use of Conversation Book 91 resumed. A few sheets that appear to be from that hypothetical conversation book survive at the Bonn Beethovenhaus and will be discussed on the dates to which they appear to belong.

The Wiener Zeitung for today (Nr. 167) includes some new works by Franz Schubert in the advertisements. A. Pennauer at 711 offers two poems set to music by Schubert as his op.43 for voice with piano accompaniment, and also in guitar accompaniment versions. These poems are Die junge Nonne and Nacht und Träume, which are catalogued as D.828 and D.827, respectively. Both settings are fairly recent compositions by Schubert.

On page 712 of the Zeitung, Anton Diabelli advertises Schubert’s Second Offertorium (Salve Regina), for soprano solo with accompaniment by two violins (two clarinets, two bassoons ad lib.), two horns, contrabass and organ, op.47 (D.223). This is the second version of this setting, originally written in 1815 and revised in 1823.

Schubert’s Salve Regina D.223 is here performed by Annika Sophie Ritlewski, accompanied by the WDR Rundfunkorchester Cologne: