BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Saturday, February 11, 1826
Brother Johann comes to visit Ludwig today, along with Nephew Karl. Johann mentions that in the Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung received yesterday [the February 6 issue], there were two letters from Paris by Carl Maria von Weber, complaining that they performed his Der Freischütz without paying him an honorarium. The answer was that Fidelio was likewise given without paying Beethoven an honorarium.
Things are still unsettled in Russia, Johann reports. He has heard that Parisian publisher Maurice Schlesinger is to return to Vienna soon.
Ludwig mentions that Schuppanzigh still wants to hold an Akademie concert for Beethoven’s benefit. Johann thinks that he is too sickly to undertake an Akademie. Ferdinand Piringer has all the dilettantes at his disposition.
The Steiners want to spare Beethoven the trouble of proofreading [possibly planning that their forthcoming publications such as the King Stephan Overture will be proofread in-house, which Beethoven does not trust.]
Johann reports that the overture to Fidelio is to be performed tomorrow at a concert at the Landständischer Saal, to be held for the benefit of the deaf-and-dumb institute.
Johann mentions that because of Emperor Franz’s failing health, he will give no more audiences. Archduke Ludwig will assume the duties. The Crown Prince must be disappointed in this. “Many people consider the Crown Prince to be an undiscovered genius. Archduke Franz also looks very short when his wife walks next to him.”
Johann was invited to Count Moritz Lichnowsky’s today, but he declined.
Ludwig mentions he needs some flannel. Johann tells him he will buy it for him. [Johann does not.]
Ludwig’s bowels continue to bother him, and he’s suffering from diarrhea again. Johann assures him that as soon as he gets back into healthy air again, his stools will become more solid. Ludwig accuses the housekeeper, Frau Lindner, of putting something in his soup. Johann answers, “She says that she knows what she adds to the soup, and absolutely nothing is incorrect.” Perhaps it’s Ludwig’s habit of putting warm water in the wine that is making his feces soft.
Johann asks how his older brother sleeps at night. He recommends that he should not eat any salad at all, so long as he cannot go out into the fresh air. As the weather gets better, he should take daily walks of an hour or two duration at noon, when the sun shines over the Glacis nearby.
Ludwig complains that Karl is so busy with his studies that he seldom visits. Johann reminds him that Karl will finish his studies in about 5 months. Beginning Monday, Johann will go daily to the Polytechnic school to observe the classes and Karl in particular accurately.
Karl mentions that firewood is very expensive right now. Two weeks ago, his landlord Mathias Schlemmer paid 35 florins for a cord of wood.
Dinner will be pork. But Karl is concerned about how many days the housekeeper, Frau Lindner, has had that meat. Karl inspects a hare. A rabbit costs 1 florin 54 kreutzers. The young one seems not to have been washed out enough, but there is nothing wrong with the hare.
Ludwig asks the name of the banker where Karl is intending to work after graduation. Karl tells him, Baron Eskeles. Or Karl will take whatever position he recommends. But Karl is learning a lot. After the principal of the bank, the senior most person is the bookkeeper, but he can’t become that right away. As a Correspondent, for example, he would be set up well.
Cherubini’s Coronation Mass in A, which was rehearsed the other day, comes up in conversation. Johann says it has been praised, but it hasn’t occurred to anyone yet to compare it to Ludwig’s Missa Solemnis.
Unpaid assistant Karl Holz stops by Ludwig’s apartment while Nephew Karl is still there, but Johann takes his leave at this time. He reports that Stadler was so happy that his defense of Mozart’s Requiem pleased Beethoven that he’s telling everyone about it.
Joseph Mayseder’s quartet has rehearsed the op.132 quartet, but it’s not ready to Mayseder’s liking. He asks that if it doesn’t go quite right by rehearsal on Tuesday, February 14, he will be allowed to keep it for another week. “He wants it to go entirely without mistakes.”
Ludwig seems to accuse Johann of eating two dinners. Karl notes that Johann had not eaten any midday meal at all. Since his wife Therese and her daughter Amalia were invited to Lichnowsky’s, nothing would have been cooked at his apartment. So if Ludwig had not invited him, he would have had to go to a restaurant. Countess Lichnowsky, asks Ludwig. Isn’t that where Therese used to meet her lover? “Yes,” answers Karl, “your brother’s wife had her meetings with her lover at the Countess’s.”
Beethoven’s Elegischer Gesang op.118 comes up. Karl says elegies are probably mostly written in distichs [couplets]. Pasqualati, in memory of whose wife that work was written, has now become very rich. He inherited from his father-in-law, Hackmüller [actually Hagenmüller].
There is a complaint about the spinach for dinner. The housekeeper, Frau Lindner, says it was prepared like the spinach they had the day before yesterday.
Conversation Book 103, 24r-29r.