BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Saturday, June 17, 1826

Nephew Karl visits Uncle Ludwig today. He encountered prospective housekeeper Elisabeth Passy today. She had her letter of appointment from Beethoven and was going to show it to the cloth dealer Wolfmayer. [The latter, a strong supporter of Beethoven, may have been related to Passy.]

Karl also mentions the encounter he had with former unpaid assistant Anton Schindler a few days ago. “He is completely in despair because he cannot provide Frau Schechner with the service (to introduce her to you) because he does not dare to invite her to dinner without knowing her better. He therefore pleads in deep devotion that you will decide a time, but in the afternoon, when he may introduce the Demoiselle to you for the first time.” Uncle Ludwig tells Karl that Schindler has already been to see him pleading his case, but then he mostly wanted to talk about his complaint with the Josephstadt Theater. Karl agrees that he is completely occupied with this grievance. [Karl’s comments shed some light on why Schindler was so anxious to make this introduction.]

Uncle Ludwig is unhappy with the maid, Marie Stiegel, who is slow at getting his meals ready. Karl points out that now she is doing everything herself. Once she has learned all the rules properly, it will work itself out. In the meantime, they will see how the other one [Passy] does at the beginning.

Karl went by the Steiner music shop recently with his uncle and saw old Steiner, who is supposedly retired, standing in the vault. His successor and partner Tobias Haslinger is not stupid. “He has made many friends during his time of submissiveness [as a junior partner]; now he considers himself strong enough to act on his own as a Paternostergässler. [A reference to the short street where the Steiner shop was located, the name of which always delighted Ludwig as a source of puns.]

Karl helps his uncle with the mail. There is a letter from Adolph Martin Schlesinger, accepting Ludwig’s offer of small orchestral pieces, WoO 2b and WoO 3. But there is a problem: Schlesinger thinks there are three pieces, not two. [Ludwig had described the Gratulationsmenuett confusingly as a Serenade, and Schlesinger misunderstood them to be separate pieces.] Schlesinger requests the manuscripts. They will need to have copies made of the autographs for Schlesinger. Karl astutely understands the value of his uncle’s writings. “You must never accept handing over the original. They will sell your handwriting.” Ludwig says that Karl has plenty of his handwriting. Karl protests, “I do not give it away.” He adds, quite correctly, “It is certain that your handwriting will be well paid for. Someday, even better. You see that with manuscripts from other famous men, for example Schiller. A letter from him carries a very high price.”

But Brother Johann will get nothing of Ludwig’s autograph material. Karl adds, “I did not intend to tell you this, but it is noteworthy so that you learn about his stinginess. The last time he was here, and when he spoke to me, he started talking about my mother. He said: I am very sorry that her circumstances are so sad; my brother ought to give her something!!”

Uncle Ludwig makes reference to Johann regularly inviting them to come stay with him in the country. Karl adds snidely, “If we were at his estate, we should probably have to go to a restaurant after dinner to satisfy our hunger.

Karl tells his uncle that a certain item of clothing can be worn for several days, but the white ones have to be washed every other day.

Conversation Book 113, 17r-19r.

Beethoven’s patron Archduke Rudolph arrives safely today at the Imperial Hofburg in Vienna, according to the June 19 Wiener Zeitung, Nr.138 at 583 (also quoted by the June 22 Brünner Zeitung (Nr.169) at 716).

In today’s Wiener Zeitung (Nr. 137) at 581 T. Weigl advertises Franz Schubert’s Divertissement sur des motifs originaux français in E minor for piano duet, op.63, today catalogued as D.823. This Schubert Divertimento D.823 is here performed by Bracha Eden and Alexander Tamir: https://youtu.be/m3RA0cxZFk4?si=UqoLbZ63uilqKrMq