BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Saturday, April 12, 1823
Beethoven is losing patience over the Emperor failing to approve his acceptance of membership in the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. Schindler asks Beethoven to calm down; it will be approved eventually. In Austria they say, “Be patient until it comes.” One could, as Beethoven has previously suggested, go to the newspapers but Schindler is concerned that this might backfire. There are so many bureaucratic hurdles to go through that it is no wonder it is taking so long.
Liszt has requested that Beethoven provide him with a theme for him to improvise upon tomorrow at his final Vienna concert at the Redoutensaal. Liszt would like it sealed, to be opened for the first time right then and there. Schindler opines, “The young man is a skillful piano player; but concerning his improvisation, the day is still far in the future when one can say that he really improvises.” Beethoven asks who his teacher is, and Schindler replies, “Czerny.” Beethoven asks which one, Joseph or Carl? “Karl.” [This exchange, which appears to be genuine, is another indication that Liszt’s recollection of his visit was faulty; he said Czerny came with him, and if he had, Beethoven would have already known this.] Beethoven asks how old Liszt is, and Schindler tells him, “11 years.”
[Beethoven did not provide the requested theme for Liszt to improvise upon, perhaps not wanting to take part in this kind of spectacle. The program ended up including an improvisation on a rondo theme suggested by someone in the audience.]
Schindler suggests that Beethoven should attend; “it will certainly entertain Karl how the little fellow plays.” [Beethoven did not attend; Karl does.]
Schindler engages Beethoven in some wordplay, asking whether the boots for Diabelli are ready. “He needs them to go parading about.” [This is a reference to the score for the Diabelli Variations; Beethoven had referred to the theme as a Schusterfleck, or cobbler’s patch.]
Schindler then makes a rather astonishing statement. “It is too bad, though, that your great genius is buried in piano pieces, because unfortunately the most excellent works of this type remain unplayed, because the pianists of one period are continually losing the good taste of those in times past, and just these spoil the public at large or the masses.” [One hopes that this commentary did not discourage Beethoven from writing anything of substance for the piano in his remaining years.]
Tomorrow is the 26th birthday of Prince Ferdinand Lobkowitz, the son of Beethoven’s patron Prince Franz Joseph v. Lobkowitz. Beethoven wrote the small Cantata Campestre, “Un lieto brindisi,” for chorus and piano, WoO 103, in commemoration of the birthday, and the score states in Beethoven’s hand, “Evening of April 12, 1823 before the birthday of his Ser. Prince Ferdinand Lobkowitz.” Karl Peters, formerly nephew Karl’s co-guardian, was the tutor of the Lobkowitz children, and he relates this story about the little piece written by Beethoven to commemorate the occasion:
“The copy of a little cantata which he wrote for me to be performed on the birthday of the Prince…was in reality written by him and most daintily tied together with blue ribbon…. The cantata consists only of a few reiterated words, we can hardly say, composed by himself, and originated when he heard of the approaching birthday festival of the Prince when visiting us. ‘And is there to be no celebration?’ he asked, and I answered him, ‘No.’ ‘That will not do,’ he replied; ‘I’ll hurriedly write you a cantata, which you must sing for him.’ But the performance was never realized.” Thayer/Forbes p.852.
This little birthday cantata is performed here by Coro della Radio Svizzera, conducted by Diego Fasolis: