BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Saturday, March 20, 1824

The planning for the Akademie concert to be held tentatively at the Redoutensaal on April 8th takes a sudden turn today, as the proofreading of copies of parts for the Missa Solemnis continues.

Unpaid assistant Anton Schindler, with Count Moritz Lichnowsky, comes to Beethoven’s apartment this morning with a bizarre tale about the Archangel Gabriel coming to him in a dream, saying he should inquire at the Theater an der Wien, owned and largely managed by Count Ferdinand Palffy, regarding Beethoven’s Akademie concert. He took it upon himself to go with Lichnowsky to make that proposal to Palffy, and the Count says he would be happy to let Beethoven use the orchestra, chorus, lighting, etc. and is asking 1,000 florins for the evening. But Beethoven would have to also give a second or third Akademie concert there as well. Schindler recommends that he take the offer.

[The reference to the Archangel Gabriel making this announcement is a reflection of the fact that in a few days, March 25, it will be the Feast of the Annunciation, which is a major religious holiday in Austria. It was also the Archangel Gabriel who announced to the Virgin Mary that she would bear a child who would be the Messiah. Rather cheeky of Schindler to compare himself to the Virgin Mary.]

Beethoven is probably stunned by Schindler’s gall. How is he to cover the guaranteed 1,000 florins for Palffy? Schindler suggests that if the seat prices were increased by a modest amount, that would put the income from a full house at over 4,000 florins, so that would be 2,000 florins profit just for the first concert. At the second concert, where the copying costs would already be covered, the profit would be more like 3,000 florins.

Beethoven has questions about whether such ticket increases could be authorized. Schindler brushes his concerns off; that’s how all of the benefits at the Theater an der Wien are run. Expenses are not so high as they would be if they were using the Redoutensaal. For that, if Duport only takes 300 florins, then the stage scaffolding would cost another 300, the lighting would be 300, and already the Redoutensaal costs 900 florins, with a great deal of inconvenience, running around, and frustration.

Schindler says he also spoke to Palffy about Ignaz Schuppanzigh serving as concertmaster and perhaps Michael Umlauf as conductor, and Palffy is willing to let Beethoven arrange that however he wants. He need not worry about the an der Wien concertmaster, Franz Clement (1780-1842). [Clement had served in that role for the premieres of the Seventh and Eighth Symphonies, so it’s quite possible he would see this arrangement as a snub.] What about Schuppanzigh, Beethoven asks. Schindler repeats that Palffy has already approved Schuppanzigh. Schindler thinks this will allow Beethoven to thumb his nose at Herr Duport and the Police and prison, by not using a Court facility.

Beethoven is still concerned about whether he will make a profit, and whether Palffy would end up with most of the proceeds. Schindler tells him Palffy wants no profit, just that his expenses be covered. Beethoven can make arrangements for the loges and the locked seats. Every benefit concert organizer either sells the loges themselves, or has a trusted friend handle such sales. So, yes or no? Will Beethoven authorize the two of them to continue negotiating with Palffy?

Beethoven isn’t ready to say yes or no. Would he have to pay the orchestra? Only the ones who have to be paid, professionals who are brought in to supplement the an der Wien orchestra, which would be covered by Palffy. They won’t cost Beethoven a kreutzer. Without this orchestra, Beethoven would have to pay twice as much. Palffy also knows that there will be plenty of volunteers coming in. But Beethoven would have to defray the costs of the early advertisements.

So, Schindler thinks it essential to come to an understanding with Palffy early on. Since Beethoven doesn’t have to pay him earlier, the concert can still be withdrawn at any time. Beethoven wonders what Schuppanzigh, who he greatly trusts, will think of this proposition. [He may be remembering Nephew Karl’s warning on March 5 not to neglect Schuppanzigh, as his most active supporter. Beethoven may also be suspicious that Schindler is trying to shut Schuppanzigh out, much as Schindler was shut out of the March 7 planning meeting.] Schindler assures him Schuppanzigh will be notified and consulted, but he won’t find anything to complain about. But choral rehearsals need to begin now, whether it be with Umlauf or someone else. Schuppanzigh isn’t going to do that, and then who will take care of it? Beethoven would prefer to leave the matter in Schuppanzigh’s hands. Schindler replies that then Schuppanzigh will have too much to do, and if it doesn’t go well, then it will be the fault of the poor choral preparations.

Lichnowsky chimes in that it’s proper to double the orchestra, but care should be taken not to take more people on than necessary. In this venue, a smaller orchestra will be more effective than a larger one in the Redoutensaal. Beethoven had people from the Kärntnertor orchestra in mind, though. Beethoven still insists that they should continue trying to get the Redoutensaal, perhaps to keep his options open. Schindler tells him he doesn’t have to take everyone from the Theater an der Wien. Don’t take any, it’s all the same to Palffy. Lichnowsky adds that one must avoid unnecessary expenses.

Beethoven asks how soon they could be ready. Schindler says they could be ready by the 22nd or 23rd or 24th of this month. [That timing is plainly not possible. The score of the Ninth Symphony has barely been begun in a fair copy, let alone the parts. Editor Theodore Albrecht suggests that Schindler likely meant next month, which would have placed the Akademie just after Easter, April 18th.]

Lichnowsky says that way Beethoven can be assured of getting a profit, and if a second Akademie is held directly afterwards, he should write a new Duet for Sontag and Unger. That could be paired with the symphony and the other two movements from the Missa Solemnis. [Lichnowsky does not take into account the additional copying costs that would involved.]

Beethoven asks what the costs are for tickets at the Theater an der Wien. Schindler says that the price in the Parterre is very reasonable at 2 florins. The gallery is 2 florins, and the seats are 3 florins. Plainly upset by the sudden proposed change of plans, Beethoven thinks there will be fewer problems if they stick with the Redoutensaal. Schindler scolds him for finding difficulties where none exist. The question is not where there will be more problems, in the Theater an der Wien or in the Redoutensaal.

Schindler says he will go see Schuppanzigh at mid-day, but Lichnowsky is going back to Palffy, and he needs Beethoven’s tentative decision. Beethoven appears to give him the approval for a tentative agreement. Satisfied, Schindler says that Lichnowsky will also go to the Redoutensaal, and he himself will make arrangements and put this business to bed pretty quickly. Schindler mentions that there is a general rehearsal today and tomorrow in the Redoutensaal. [These are probably rehearsals for the third Concert spirituel, consisting of all Beethoven works, to be held April 1. Members of the Musikverein will be in the orchestra and making up the chorus, so Schuppanzigh and Schindler can get a sense of which of the dilettantes is talented enough to take a seat next to the professionals.]

After Schindler and Lichnowsky go their separate ways, Nephew Karl informs his uncle that copyist Paul Maschek is here; he says he made an appointment to come now. [Maschek does not write in the conversation book, so he is probably simply dropping off copies for proofreading and picking up proofread parts.]

Beethoven makes his shopping list in the early afternoon:

+Sugar
+Boxes [perhaps for the orchestral and choral parts that were being copied.]
+Writing paper.
He also makes a note about the scores of the symphony, Mass, etc. “This pell-mell can only be organized through them.” [Beethoven writes the French term, “pêlemêle.”]
+Also Zmeskall’s metronome from Stein. [Nikolaus Zmeskall (1759-1833), cellist and friend of Beethoven since his first years in Vienna in the 1790s, currently suffering badly from gout.]

After running his errands, Ludwig returns home. Nephew Karl mentions that Countess Stockhammer’s cook was here while his Uncle was out. She’s looking for calmer employment, and will be back on Monday the 22nd.

[Finding a mostly blank page at 8v, Schindler after Beethoven’s death falsifies a substantial entry regarding the second movement of the 8th Symphony and his fraudulent canon Ta ta ta ta lieber Mälzel, WoO 162, talking as if they were fast friends in the period 1815-1817, when Beethoven at that point barely knew who Schindler was.]

Nephew Karl and Ludwig discuss the day’s shopping over some smoked herring for supper.

Conversation Book 60, 3r-9r.

Today’s Wiener Zeitung at 292 includes an announcement that tomorrow young piano prodigy Leopoldine Blahetka will be giving a concert in the Landständischen Saal at noon. She will be performing her own and other compositions on the piano. Tickets are 4 florins W.W. and are available from the Steiner & Co. music shop, and on the day of the concert at the box office. Beethoven was friends with the Blahetkas and encouraged young Leopoldine’s efforts. This concert, the size of the hall, and the profits from it will be the subject of discussion by Beethoven and his friends over the coming weeks, as they struggle with the question of where the Akademie should be held.