BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Saturday, October 4, 1823

Anton Schindler, the disappointed former unpaid assistant to Beethoven, writes a letter today to his friend Carl Keller in Donaueschingen. In it, he asks Keller to try again to get Prince Karl Egon von Fürstenberg to subscribe to the Missa Solemnis. Unfortunately, Beethoven will not give the Prince a reduced price but remains firm on a price of 50 ducats.

Without the October conversation books, it is unclear whether Schindler actually spoke to Beethoven about this matter. More likely, he simply did it on his own authority, perhaps hoping that if he were able to get the Prince to subscribe, that might put him back in Beethoven’s good graces. The hope was in vain, because Prince Karl Egon declined to subscribe.

Brandenburg Letter 1748. The original is lost, but its date and contents are known from Keller’s original letter of August 18th asking for a lower price for the subscription, and his followup, Brandenburg Letter 1755, dated December 6th.

In the Vienna Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung for today, there is a preview of the upcoming opera season at the Kärntnertor Theatre, to be devoted to German opera. New operas have been commissioned by the theater from Carl Maria von Weber and Franz Schubert. Weber’s effort, Euryanthe, is to be premiered on October 25th. Schubert’s opera is to follow shortly thereafter. Schubert in fact had just finished his work on the last remaining part of his three-act grand opera, Fierrabras, D.796, the Overture, on Thursday, October 2.

The libretto, written by Joseph Kupelweiser, the general manager of the theater, concerns the fictional Moorish knight Fierrabras, his love for Charlemagne’s daughter Emma, and his eventual conversion to Christianity.

Here is the Overture to Fierrabras, D.796 recorded by Abbado and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe:

You may recall that a few day’s ago the newspapers reported the arrival of the French ambassador to the papal conclave in Rome. Today’s Wiener Zeitung at 926-927 contains a similar description of the presentation of the Austrian Emperor’s ambassador to the papal conclave in Rome on September 16th.

Notably, amidst all the expressions of respect and form, the ambassador observes that “The Most Serene Emperor and Apostolic King … has also given me the most thorough instructions to have his and his kingdom’s assistance in any case to protect your safety as well as freedom of choice and freedom of conclave.”

While pretty-sounding, this was far from the reality, which was not expressed in the newspapers. The conclave was leaning toward Antonio Gabriele Severoli as the next pope, and he had nearly garnered enough votes. However, on September 21 Cardinal Giuseppe Albani, acting on behalf of the Emperor (and presumably in coordination with the Austrian ambassador) vetoed, as one of the rare exercises of the right of Jus exclusivae, that choice as insufficiently conservative. So the deliberations continued into their fourth week.