BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Saturday, July 22, 1826

Nephew Karl and unpaid assistant Karl Holz are visiting Beethoven today. They return to Conversation Book 114, which will be used pretty much exclusively for the next few days. Holz has subscribed to a paper that has appeared abroad, relating to the impact of Catholic and Protestant religion on art. The thesis is that the Protestants act more from subjective motives, while the Catholics prefer objective motives.

Karl chimes in that he finds the robes of the Protestant priests far more dignified than the Catholic ones in Vienna, who look like they are in a fancy costume. “Those are broad and completely black; only around the neck two white patches are hanging down. And as to the service, the Protestant service is certainly much more comprehensible to the members than our [Catholic Latin] service, as everything is in German. For I am convinced that many common people go to church without knowing what the Mass actually means. Their sermons are also much more preferable to ours, because they are not so bound; they can say what they want without having to stick so closely to the gospel.” Ludwig jokes that such priestly robes must be very warm. Karl replies that soldiers also have to endure heat.

Holz informs Beethoven, “I told Mylord [Schuppanzigh] that you would have him thrashed. I have found many errors in the symphony [the copy of the Ninth Symphony made primarily by Wenzel Rampl for the dedicatee, the King of Prussia]. In the Scherzo, there was a second error; where the kettledrum sets in for the first time in F, he [copyist Rampl] wrote [G-sharp – A – B] in the oboe part. [Bar 195 of the second movement; in the King’s copy this was erased and corrected to a rest.] I do not have the parts yet; however, I know that this cannot be correct. As far as I remember, the kettledrum sets in all alone. A pity that this point was lost in the concert [the premiere at the Akademie on May 7 1824]; the applause was so grand that one could not hear anything.”

Holz asks how Beethoven’s friend Stephan von Breuning is. Ludwig appears to say that Breuning is not well; Holz replies that he thinks Breuning is a hypochondriac. Holz asks whether Beethoven has not yet answered Franz Wegeler’s letter of December 29; no, he has not, but intends to.

Holz suggests that they smoke a pipe of tobacco together. They can make the place a beer house, like Haslinger’s shop. Holz jokes that he is like a true office hero. He smokes often now for digestion.

Poet Ignaz Castelli has bought a house in Hütteldorf. Holz suggests that they visit him sometime and taste his wine.

When will the new quartet [op.131] be performed, Holz asks. Beethoven, perhaps teasing, says he might have it premiered in Berlin. Holz is upset: “Do not do that to us!! Why should it be heard elsewhere sooner than here? It is not for the sake of the rehearsals.” Karl adds that “I also believe that it would be a shame if it were heard in Berlin before it was heard here!” Holz offers to copy it. “If you’ll entrust me with it, I’ll certainly copy it.”

Holz spits some tobacco juice. Karl tells him, “If you do not spit, the juices will remain in your body and it improves digestion. It makes bowel movements easier for me, because otherwise I am having difficulty passing stool.”

Holz changes the subject: “Long ago Karl and I had decided together to rehearse your violin sonatas, but we do not know where we can get them….The Kreutzer [op.47] is the most difficult violin sonata.

Karl mentions that Friedrich Starke [who had been one of his piano teachers] told him that “his horn was a semitone higher in the Waldstein sonata [Karl means the sonata for horn in F major], you immediately played in F-sharp. That means something. [Karl repeats,] His horn was a semitone higher than your piano, he told me, and you immediately played it in F-sharp.” [That anecdote is also described in Starke’s memoirs of Beethoven.]

Holz notes there is a new violin player from Prague, 19 years old, in Vienna, who does not shy away from difficulties. [Joseph Slavik (1806-1833).] At his first Vienna concert, he played a concerto of his own in F-sharp minor. The manuscript had to be carried to the copyist in the night, just as they had done for the Consecration of the House overture, when it was brought to Vienna from Baden for the opening of the Josephstadt Theater.

Holz mentions that “The art of painting is also not supported any longer; this year’s art exhibition does not have anything great; and the few important paintings have been bought by Luise von Parma [Marie Louise (1791-1847), daughter of Emperor Franz I, second wife of Napoleon Bonaparte and Duchess of Parma since 1816]. Our court [bought] nothing at all.

Archduke Karl Ludewig (1771-1847), brother of the Emperor, intends to have a gate opened through the rock in the Helenenthal near Baden. There have been many accidents there because of the instability. [Work on the tunnel began in April, and will continue until the end of May, 1827.]

Conversation Book 114, 14v-20r.

A grand vocal and instrumental Akademie concert is held today in Döbling for the benefit of charitable causes. The fourth item on the very lengthy program is Beethoven’s Adelaide, sung by Herr Dietz. “This is music, this is a tone poem, which triumphantly transcends every era and shifting tide of artistic taste. Herr Dietz, already favorably known to the public, understood what he sang—no small praise given the nature of this composition. His pleasant, pure chest voice, his precise declamation, as well as his pleasing stage presence and overall cultivation, should enable him to take his place amongst the foremost German dramatic singers. He was called out for an ovation.” Wiener Theaterzeitung of August 8, 1826 (Nr.94) at 383.