BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Saturday, September 3, 1825
Beethoven writes a letter to Friedrich Kuhlau today, which he entrusts to Karl Holz to deliver in Vienna along with the final version of the canon Kühl nicht lau, WoO 191, and a lithograph of the Stephan Decker portrait of Beethoven seen here. Beethoven inscribes the portrait, “To my friend Kuhlau, from L. van Beethoven.” He writes, “I must confess that the champagne yesterday also went to my head, and I had to experience once again that my effectiveness under the influence is rather suppressed than promoted, for as easily as I am usually able to answer on the spot, I no longer know what I wrote yesterday.”
“Remember your most devoted friend from time to time, Beethoven m.p. [by his own hand]
Brandenburg Letter 2051; Anderson Letter 1427. The original is not known to exist. The text is based on a copy made by Tobias Haslinger, presently held in the archives of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna. See also TDR V, page 243f.
The canon WoO 191 is here performed by Accentus:
Beethoven also writes to unpaid assistant Karl Holz, forwarding the canon, letter and lithograph. “Best fellow! I’d barely gotten home when I remembered what a mess I may have written yesterday—hand this over to Kuhlau—You know everything else—Write as soon as possible, or come out on the holiday Thursday [Feast of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary], but write first—Ask if the cook also knows about game, so that she can manage my hunting grounds for me.”
“As for Karl, it will be even better, just threaten him with the Atrappér just threaten him with telling me—Hurry up with everything prestissimo—Just always think of me in friendship, like a cantum Fermum—”
“A hearty farewell, your friend, Beethoven.”
Beethoven adds as a postscript what may be another obscure in-joke, “The rediscovered florin.”
Brandenburg Letter 2052; Anderson Letter 1428. The original was at the time of Brandenburg collecting his edition of the letters in a private collection in France. Beethoven spells Kuhlau’s name as Kühlau.
The Wiener Zeitung for today (Nr.201) at 854 has an advertisement by Anton Diabelli & Co. for the newest published work from Franz Schubert: Mass in C, op.48, for vocal quartet, 2 violins, 2 oboes or clarinets, 2 trumpets, trombone, cello, contrabass and organ, which is listed as “Property of the Publisher.” Diabelli includes a note: “NB: The parts are also given individually when there is any doubling.” The Mass, composed back in 1816 when Schubert was a teenager, is known today as his Mass Nr.4, D.452.
The Mass is here performed by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Wolfgang Sawallish. The quartet is Lucia Popp, Brigitte Fassbänder, Adolf Dallapozza, and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.