BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Saturday, October 15, 1825

Beethoven departs from Baden bei Wien today and moves into his new apartment on the second floor (third floor American) of the Schwarzspanierhaus, in Vienna in the Alservordstadt. The building was located outside the city gates, overlooking the Alservorstädter Glacis, where the Votivkirche stands today. The premises were very close to where childhood friend Stephan von Breuning lived with his family. They will be a great help to him in the time ahead.

Beethoven’s apartment consisted of four rooms, besides the kitchen and servants’ quarters. The apartment had a view towards the glacis, the Schottentor (which is in the process of being reconstructed when Beethoven moves in) and the buildings of the City proper. It was a rather sunny apartment.

According to Gerhard von Breuning, the son of Stephan and Constanze von Breuning, in his 1874 memoirs, From the House of the Black-Robed Spaniards, the building had originally been built by Benedictine monks from Spain. The building had an unusual arrangement of windows. “In order to have the priests’ living quarters higher, the middle bay of the house has only two stories in a series of nine windows, while on either side of this are three stories with four windows each. However, the windows are so arranged that all the windows of the top floor are in a single unbroken row. Beethoven’s windows were in this top (second story) row, beginning with the fifth (counting from the church) and ending with the ninth (the one beyond the main entrance).”

“One reached the apartment by the beautiful main staircase. It was on the 2nd floor and was entered by a simple, rather low door. One entered a spacious ante-chamber; to the left was a very spacious cabinet overlooking the street. The two rooms to the right of the ante-chamber were Beethoven’s actual residence. The first one held his bed and piano, the second one, the cabinet, was his composition room.”

“In the middle of the first room with two windows stood two pianos belly to belly. Once them was the English piano [the Broadwood], which he had been given as a present from the Philharmoniker from England, with the keyboard facing the entrance. The other one with its keyboard facing the door of the composition room was a grand piano from piano builder Graf in Wien. On a buttress between the two windows was a chest of drawers and on this a black painted book stall with books and newspapers. In front of this on a chest were several ear trumpets and two violins, everything out of order and very dusty. Beethoven’s bed, nightstand, a table and clothes rail next to the oven formed the rest of the room furnishings.”

“The last room (with 1 window) was Beethoven’s workroom. Here he sat at a table a little away from the window, in front of the entrance door, facing the door to the big room with his right side towards the window.”

In January 1903 it was decided to tear down the house. This gave rise to many protests, but to no avail.

It was decided to secure the doors and windows of the apartment where Beethoven died (in case they were from the time of Beethoven) because a museum apartment was planned. Some of the floorboards were also saved, and a map of the apartment was made. The apartment was photographed as well, some of which are shown here. It was documented that the apartment was unchanged except for one room and a new kitchen.

In mid-November 1903 there were a couple of tributes made on the occasion of the upcoming demolition. There were celebrations held in the apartment. By the Court Choir Boys (November 11) who had first been instructed to remember the importance of this house, and on November 15 the municipality of Vienna held a celebration in the apartment with official speeches, music, singing, etc. A lot of spectators had gathered in the street and in the courtyard. The Neue Wiener Journal reported on November 16: “One had such a strange feeling; it was not as if one said goodbye to cold, grey walls, it was as if one parted with a precious being, with Beethoven himself, as if his great spirit was forever bound to this room. And the rain which pounded against the windows increased the mood of mourning.

After the celebration the public was allowed to enter the apartment and many pieces were removed from the death chamber itself, even parts of the wallpaper.

Photos courtesy Bonn Beethovenhaus.

Today’s entry was primarily by our regular correspondent Birthe Kibsgaard.

S.A. Steiner & Co. repeats its advertisement of Wednesday October 12 in today’s Wiener Zeitung (Nr.236) at 995 for the following works recently published by B. Schott’s Sons in Mainz:
Opferlied op.121 for solo voice with Chorus and orchestra in full score and parts, and Beethoven’s piano arrangement, Hess 91;
Der Kuss, op.128, with piano or guitar accompaniment;
Bundeslied, op.122, for two solo voices and 3 choral voices, in full score and parts as well as Beethoven’s piano reduction, Hess 92;
Consecration of the House Overture, op.124, in the piano two- and four-hands versions arranged by Carl Czerny under Beethoven’s supervision; and
Six Bagatelles for piano, op.126.