BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Saturday, January 28, 1826
Beethoven dictates a letter to the B. Schott’s Sons publishing house in Mainz today. The letter is written in the hand of unpaid assistant Karl Holz. “Your excellencies! In response to your last letter, I inform you that you will soon receive the metronome markings for everything. I ask that you not forget the first quartet [op.127] is to be dedicated to Prince Galitzin. So far as I know, Math. Artaria has already received two copies of the Overture [Consecration of the House, op.124] from you. I would be pleased to receive several copies of this as well as of the quartet. If it so happens that I have not yet thanked you for the previous copies sent, it was truly due to forgetfulness; moreover, you should be assured that I neither sell nor trade any copies; they are only given to a few artists whom I value highly, which does not disadvantage you in any way, since they could not acquire the same works themselves.”
“I still need to inquire whether Prince Galitzin, when he informed you of the title for the dedication, did not also request the necessary copies of the Quartet and the Overture from you, otherwise I would have to send them to him from here.”
“Incidentally, I request that you send your mail to me in the future through Math. Artaria, and no longer through Steiner, as I tend to receive everything more quickly through the former.”
“On the Mass [the Missa Solemnis], the list of the subscribers should be printed in the front material, and only then, after that, the dedication to the Archduke, which I have already sent you.”
“Regarding the dedication of the [Ninth] Symphony, I will inform you shortly. It had been intended to be dedicated to Czar Alexander [of Russia], however, recent events [Alexander’s death on December 1, 1825] have caused this delay.”
Beethoven continues in a light-hearted vein, much as he writes to Tobias Haslinger. “You are now demanding works from me again? Best!!”
[Beethoven now brings up once again the “Romantic Biography” of Tobias Haslinger, which Schott’s printed in their Cäcilia musical magazine, which caused somewhat of a rupture between Beethoven and Haslinger.]
“You have grossly insulted me!”
“You have committed several falsehoods!”
“You must therefore first clear yourselves before my judgment seat here, as soon as the ice thaws. Mainz must come here, and the reviewing Chief Appeals Councilor must also appear here to give an account, and with that, farewell!”
“We are not at all fond of you!”
“Given without giving anything on the heights of Black Spain [a reference to the Schwarzspanierhaus, where he is currently living], on the 28th of January, 1826. Beethoven.“
At the very end, after his signature, Beethoven writes two very low trilled bass notes, C-sharp and B-flat, marked as for “16-foot trombone“, then labeled “trilled menacingly.” A detail of that material is shown here.
Brandenburg Letter 2110; Anderson Letter 1466. The letter is marked as having been received by Schott’s on February 10, 1826. Schott circulated the letter to Gottfried Weber, editor of the Cäcilia musical magazine for comment. Weber writes that it is “Passably good fun! But he seems to have already forgotten our earlier reply, in which we pointed out to him how unpleasantly compromised he would be if we were to certify, by printing his original letters, that not a single syllable is false. You can write that to him.” The original is held by the Mainz City Library, and it can be seen here:
https://www.dilibri.de/dilibri_kalliope/content/titleinfo/2115416