BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Saturday, July 31, 1824 (approximately)

The August, 1824 issue of The Harmonicon magazine (Nr.XX), published in London, contains at 151-152 a report on the current state of music in Belgium. In Brussels, distinguished violinist M. van der Planken, has for the last three years headed a society of amateurs, who regularly give concerts every winter. “There is no want in this association of laudable zeal and exertion. They perform the symphonies of Haydn, Mozart, and Romberg, and overtures of the best masters. The quick movements are better executed than the slow, which, at least on the occasions when we had an opportunity of judging, were slurred over without a sufficient degree of attention. Beethoven is held in great reverence by the society, but they appear conscious of their weakness, and seldom venture into a contest with his difficulties. Upon the whole, they do not yet appear to have penetrated sufficiently into the true nature of the symphony, and solo pieces still form by far the best part of these performances…”

Similarly, in private society, the harp and piano predominate, especially works by Mozart, Ignaz Pleyel, Daniel Steibelt, and other easy masters. “Beethoven, Ries, and other masters of their class, are very civilly laid aside with that proscribing maxim; C’est la musique savante [This is learned music].”

The second installment of Beethoven’s income tax for the military year 1824 is due today, in the amount of 10 florins and 30 kreutzers. As was the case with the April 30 installment, Beethoven fails to make this payment, and will thus be pursued by the Imperial tax collectors in March of 1825 for these delinquent taxes.