BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Saturday, April 17, 1824

This afternoon, after a morning of proofreading parts, Beethoven is still angry that he can’t have his Akademie benefit concert at the Theater an der Wien on April 22nd. [Such a plan was wholly unrealistic since the copies for the choral parts have still not been distributed for rehearsal, if they have even been copied.] Unpaid assistant Anton Schindler says that it was due to a misunderstanding; an Italian opera was already firmly scheduled for that date. Caroline Unger will be coming with the bass Preisinger to see Beethoven with more details, but she is overjoyed that Duport relented and will allow her to sing in the Akademie concert. He’s out in the country at the moment but will be back tomorrow and will give written assurance. Beethoven is skeptical, but Schindler tells him Duport holds him in the highest respect.

Nephew Karl mentions that if his uncle wants to go to a coffeehouse, they should do it now; otherwise they will not be here when Unger and Preisinger come.

Schindler notes that Friedrich August Kanne is conducting his opera Lindane at the Leopoldstadt Theater every day. [It premiered March 27 and has proven very popular.]

Schindler has informed Adolf Bäuerle, editor of the Vienna Allgemeine Theater-Zeitung about what he should say in that journal about the arrival of the gold medal from the French King, because the Wiener Zeitung did not say it properly. Beethoven asks what was wrong with the Wiener Zeitung account? They omitted the “great value” of the medal [which weighs the same as 21 gold louis d’ors.]

Beethoven suggests he invite Caroline Unger and Henriette Sontag to Sunday dinner again, but be better prepared this time. Schindler says it would be better to invite them for Monday, since they have to sing tomorrow, Easter Sunday, at the benefit concert at the Kärntnertor Theater. Beethoven protests that this concert isn’t until the evening. Schindler tells him they still have to get up and get going early in advance of the concert.

The Censor has granted permission to print the poster describing the movements from the Missa Solemnis as “Hymns,” which is a profound relief. Schindler tells Beethoven to keep that permission to print safe, as they will need that when the large posters are printed.

Schindler asks whether Beethoven has any of his lieder at home; he would like to borrow them for his sister for a short time. Beethoven says he doesn’t have any here. Schindler asks, not even engraved ones? Where are they? Beethoven doesn’t know, they are lost. [Beethoven, uncooperative, is clearly in a bad mood once again.]

Schindler changes the subject to Beethoven’s summer apartment. He has a recommendation for a nice apartment in Penzing with a very large garden and morning and mid-day sun. [That sunlight is critical for Beethoven, since those are his working hours and he needs good light.] The view is much better than in Hietzing, since the hill obstructs the view there.

Beethoven’s patron Archduke Rudolph has written to Joseph Bernard that he accepts the dedication of the libretto to the oratorio Der Sieg des Kreuzes, and that he hopes very much that Beethoven will set it to music. Schindler says he read the letter himself. [Bernard seems to be using the Archduke and Schindler to pressure Beethoven into setting the oratorio.]

Waiting for Unger and Preisinger is in vain, for they do not come. Schindler says they told him this morning that they would certainly come. He finds that remarkable.

Schindler asks whether Karl gave Ludwig Bernard’s text for the Mass by Franz Stockhausen. Beethoven asks why Bernard was writing a Mass text. Schindler explains that the composer had sent the Mass to Archduchess Clementine, but the Police wouldn’t allow it to be performed with the Mass text. So Bernard wrote a new one. Beethoven asks what instrumentation the Stockhausen Mass calls for, and is told 6 harps and 4 horns.

Still no word has been heard from the Emperor’s bureaucracy approving Beethoven’s acceptance of the diploma to the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. Schindler suggests that it would be worthwhile writing a few lines to Court Councilor Anton Martin, to try to get it moved along.

There are issues with the choral parts for the concert. They are being engraved on tin plates; Schindler’s understanding is that the lithographic ones were so poor that they were unusable. This is only from hearsay, however. Schindler hasn’t seen the parts that the Lithographic Institute did; what he has seen of their work for other music wasn’t so bad that it couldn’t be used. It’s up to Beethoven to determine whether they are good enough.

After Schindler departs, Nephew Karl reminds his uncle that tomorrow is a holiday [Easter Sunday] so they need to get food to cover the holiday weekend. He asks what kind of roast his uncle would like. They need vegetables, and Karl suggests Augsburger and Frankfurter sausages would also be good. He asks his uncle for the money to do the shopping. Uncle Ludwig makes a comment about the Herculean number of errands Karl has to run today yet. Karl jokes that his uncle has made a mythological mistake, for Hercules had just 12 Labors to perform.

Conversation Book 62, 12v-16v.