BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Saturday, April 16, 1825
Nephew Karl stopped by the agents for Schott’s, Fries & Co. this morning, to let them know that the engraver’s copy of the quartet op.127 will be ready today. They have been agitating for it for quite a while. Karl says, “The Messrs Fries were not particularly polite. They found that it had taken too long for the Quartet to come.” Karl made an appointment with them today to have the money ready at 4 p.m., so they are expecting to get it then.
Ludwig has not been feeling well lately, with abdominal discomfort. Karl intends to have a bath this afternoon. So it might help Uncle Ludwig if they were to go out with him at around 3:30, before it gets too cool, and then Uncle Ludwig can have his bath, and Karl can order one for himself. [The afternoon temperature according to the April 18, 1825 Wiener Zeitung at 388 is about 68 degrees Fahrenheit today.] In the meantime, Karl can go to Joseph Mayseder’s to collect the parts from the quartet. He can also reserve the housekeeper for tomorrow, who can then cook for them. Uncle Ludwig asks where he intends to go for his bath. Karl tells him the Dianabad, which is in the suburb of Leopoldstadt. Ludwig doesn’t feel up to it, and Karl says he’s going in any event.
Baden piano-maker August Riedl has said he wants to make a piano that would be at least as good as the English pianos, Karl informs his uncle.
Since they are between housekeepers, Beethoven has food delivered from a local restaurant. It isn’t very good, and Karl says he should send it back so they can taste it for themselves.
Karl wants to leave to pick up the parts from Mayseder. When he comes back, he’ll arrange with the fiacre driver right away. [The fiacre may be to take Ludwig to Baden to arrange for an apartment for the summer there; or it could simply be to ride around and get some fresh air.] But Uncle Ludwig tells him to wait. [There is no indication here as to why, but it certainly could be due to him not feeling well.] Karl does wait for a while but gets impatient. He will go to Mayseder now. [As it happens, Beethoven does not make a trip out to Baden for several weeks.] Karl says he will go pick up the money from Fries, and then Uncle Ludwig won’t need him any longer. While he’s out, he will also make arrangements for the housekeeper for tomorrow.
Karl leaves to run these errands for his uncle and have his bath, and Uncle Ludwig goes out to a coffeehouse to read the newspapers. He makes several notes in the conversation book:
- Income; through Rupprecht to the Emperor concerning reprinting. [Beethoven appears to be considering writing a letter to Johann Baptist Rupprecht (1776-1846), who was sometimes an official with the Imperial Censor’s office. Beethoven might want to make an inquiry about the supposed decree that Johann told him about prohibiting publishers from reprinting his works without his permission. No such decree was ever actually issued, however. It would have been useful in these days before enforceable copyrights.]
+Pique bed quilts in the English style; fabric shop at the Sign of the Tin Tower, on the Bauernmakrt. [This advertisement for quilts with raised stitching appeared in the Intelligenzblatt supplement to the Wiener Zeitung several times, including today at 526. Beethoven will copy this same ad again on May 20th.]
“In Baden on April 26: For sale–a legally appraised House (Haus No.371) for 2640 fl. C.M. Furnishings for it will be sold for 60 fl. C.M.” [Beethoven clearly was still thinking about home ownership. In fact, in a couple weeks when he is visiting Baden, he will ask whether there are any houses for sale near Schloss Gutenbrunn. Conversation Book 88, 11r.]
Conversation Book 87, 9r-10v.
Traugott Trautwein today again makes public his response to Beethoven’s Notice that had been published in the Wiener Zeitschrift, claiming the four-hand piano arrangement of the Consecration of the House Overture, op.124, done by Carl Henning and published by Trautwein, is “completely flawed” and “unfaithful.” Instead of putting his response in the Wiener Zeitschrift as he had been advised to do, instead it is published in the Zeitung für die elegante Welt, Intelligenzblatt Nr.8 on the seventh page (third page of the Intelligenzblatt supplement). Curiously, Trautwein includes Beethoven’s entire Notice, verbatim, in a newspaper where it had not initially appeared. This significantly increases the extent of the Notice’s distribution and the number of people who know about it, a very early instance of what is now known as the Streisand Effect.
Trautwein then launches into his own defense: “The purpose of the following statement is to supplement and discuss this message, which is incomplete and deeply embarrassing for me in several respects.”
“In October of last year, the Concertmaster here, C.W. Henning, offered me the arrangement in question of the Overture by Herr van Beethoven for publication. Since he wanted to publicly attest to his authority to do so by adding his name to the title (which is what actually happened afterwards) there would have been no reason for me as publisher to question the authority of Herr Henning, Concertmaster, to publish this Overture, as his other statements made that unquestionable. Herr Beethoven’s simple declaration that the announced arrangements by Herr Czerny are the only legitimate editions is not sufficient to rob the edition I have published of its legitimacy.”
“No less dubious is Herr Beethoven’s assurance that the edition published by my is “completely flawed and unfaithful to the original score,” since Herr Henning has stuck strictly to the original score and has avoided anything that could bring about any deviation. Berlin, March 15, 1825, T. Trautwein, Book and Music Dealer.”
“I hereby confirm that the above statement is completely in accordance with the truth, and that I am ready to defend the validity of the arrangement in question at any time. C.W. Henning, Concertmaster.”
It is probably lucky that Beethoven appears never to learn about Trautwein’s response.