BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Sunday, August 28, 1825

Beethoven is engrossed in his work on the quartet op.130, likely with emphasis on the Grosse Fuge finale, which he started in earnest earlier this week. Unpaid assistant Karl Holz arrives for a visit, but seeing Beethoven is hard at work, he says he’ll come back in an hour.

Later that morning, Holz returns with Nephew Karl, who has come out to visit his uncle in Baden as he usually does on Sundays. Holz says he will try to arrange a visit together with Tobias Haslinger. [They will come on Friday, September 2.]

Karl acknowledges that everyone agrees that there should be a readthrough of the quartet op.132 to make corrections in the parts [almost certainly the ones Rampl made for Prince Galitzin; Beethoven has already proofread the parts that Linke and Holz copied]. That way, they could make the corrections easily themselves, without having to involve Beethoven in the arduous proofreading. Karl thinks it would also be good if Haslinger heard the quartet. Uncle Ludwig has qualms about that, since he has already offered it to Schlesinger and Peters. But they won’t play it, and Haslinger won’t know about it if Uncle Ludwig doesn’t want it. Karl assures his uncle that no one else would be present except him, so it would remain a secret. “It is always good if they [Schuppanzigh’s quartet] play it.” [Despite the problems with the premiere of the op.127 quartet, the Schuppanzigh quartet was still very highly regarded in Vienna.]

The new quartet is to be played at a private concert of chamber music by the Schuppanzigh Quartet coming up on Sunday, September 11. Who will play the piano for the program is open to question. Holz suggests young Leopoldine Blahetka, who is quote accomplished and popular. Schuppanzigh [who is playing violin for this concert] is very much looking forward to it. Joseph Linke will play cello. Both Linke and Schuppanzigh would like to include Carl Maria von Bocklet, since he could play the Piano Trio in B-flat [the “Archduke” Trio op.97] the best. Holz, possibly referring to Schuppanzigh’s treatment by Beethoven after the op.127 premiere, says, “It has also affected him so much that he still cannot get over this slap in the face.”

Holz mentions that Mathias Artaria [son of Domenico Artaria, who had published numerous Beethoven compositions] is a beginner as a music dealer, but he pays very well to get credit for himself through publishing great works. Holz knows him and will talk to him about publishing the quartet op.132. Holz excuses himself for a while.

Since Holz is gone, Nephew Karl makes his weekly accounting to his uncle of expenses:
Carriage out here [to Baden] 2 fl. 15 kreutzers
For me [spending money] 1 fl.
Tip for the driver, last Sunday 15kr.
[possibly the August 23 trip] 7 fl. 45 kr.
Carriage back in 1 fl. 15 kr. [Holzmann has as before paid a 1 florin deposit.]
Breakfast in Neudorf 30 kr.
A bath 1 fl. 30 kr.
Half a book of calligraphy paper 1 fl.

Karl says the 180 florins have been paid [on his capital of 2,200 florins invested in court obligations.] He used this money to pay for something himself, with the remainder being paid out of 27 1/2 florins remaining that Uncle Ludwig sent him. [Since Karl starts talking about shirts immediately afterwards, this may have been a tailor bill.] Holzmann went looking for shirts with him in various shops. Uncle Ludwig asks what else he bought. Karl says, “Only shirts. Four of them.” He is getting four more; one of them was 12 florins. They are better than the ones that he and his uncle are wearing.

Karl changes the subject back to the possibility of Mathias Artaria buying the quartet. He agrees with Holz that Artaria pays well. Uncle Ludwig mentions that there’s still 7 florins due [whether with the tailor or another tradesman], and Karl says he will pay that. He will then still have 7 fl. 30 kr. to account for. After Uncle Ludwig brings it up again, Karl insists that he will pay it.

Page 8v and 9r of Conversation Book 92 are devoted to various financial computations by Beethoven. He then makes a to-do list:
To Haslinger.
+Corrections from Haslinger. [Probably related to the proofs for the King Stephan Overture; see letter to Haslinger dated August 26.]
Don’t play the Quartet; better that you be like everyone says, he is as made out of wood. [possibly the beginning of a draft letter; the German editors suggested it was addressed to Tobias Haslinger; from the context it seems to us more likely to be directed to Schuppanzigh.]

Karl Holz returns. He delivers the parts for the quartet from Wenzel Rampl. [He may have forgotten them at the hotel.] Rampl did not finish the parts until yesterday. He did not get another piece of paper. One bar is missing, but Holz can’t figure out which bar is missing.

Haslinger will come this week along with the Director [Ferdinand Piringer], Holz says. If Haslinger is interested in publishing the quartet, Holz says Beethoven should just tell him to talk to Holz. Beethoven doesn’t want to sell it to Steiner. Holz asks, but what if Tobias offers the same amount? Nephew Karl chimes in and tells his uncle he needs to authorize Holz to arrange the matter with Haslinger. He can tell Haslinger that Beethoven can get 80 ducats for it from someone else.

If Uncle Ludwig is still writing here, maybe Holz will go for a little walk with him, Nephew Karl suggests. They go out, letting Beethoven continue to work. He is interrupted by an unknown writer, who seems to know Beethoven but is not close to him. Prof. Albrecht indicates that a possible candidate is J.G. Hahn, a merchant from Frankfurt, who departs from Vienna for Trieste on Sunday, August 28th. The visitor enters comments haphazardly on different and nonsequential pages of the Conversation Book, but this appears to be a single visit, not multiple ones, so the various scattered entries are compounded here into one.

The writer mentions that someone’s brother named Michael is now in Italy. He says that every evening the Prince has music at his place. [Possibly Prince Andreas Razoumovsky, who is mentioned later on in the conversation.]

The visitor remarks that Johann Nepomuk Hummel often plays without music. He is now going to see Hummel in Weimar; the visitor knows him. Beethoven offers him some wine, but he declines, saying he only drinks water. “My principle is to drink absolutely no wine.” Beethoven has his dinner. The guest asks whether he eats alone every day. He thinks that a person is happier and doesn’t eat as much, which is healthier, if eating alone.

There is discussion of King Louis XVIII of France who gave Beethoven a gold medal. The visitor saw the King’s burial.

Razoumovsky is in Florence; he has quite established himself there. [Prince Andreas Razoumosky (1752-1836) had been the Russian ambassador to Vienna since 1792. He has been in Italy since 1822.]

Beethoven mentions that his Nephew visits him on Sundays. The guest thinks that is quite seldom. He asks whether Beethoven intends to move back to the City in September. [Whether that is currently his plan is unclear, but he does not in fact return until mid-October.] The guest mentions that everyone comes to Baden from Vienna on Sundays. The Park was quite full today. Beethoven offers him dinner, but he says he is not a heavy eater in the summer. “Today, the company is more valuable to me than the thought of eating.”

On his travels, the visitor has been through Leipzig, Weimar, Frankfurt am Main and Holland. The region along the Rhine is splendid; he asks Beethoven why he left it. The visitor mentions that Beethoven has a great deal of music paper. There is some discussion of performance practice of Rossini: “In Rossini, everyone does it according to his own idea, and it is correct, though.” The publishing firm of Breitkopf & Härtel often files lawsuits.

The visitor takes his leave: “Since I still want to get to Neustadt this evening, I’ll give you my best regards and thank you sincerely for the kind reception that you have accorded me. I shall never forget the special distinction that you have imparted to me.” [Since he mentions going to Neustadt, he probably intends to be on the same carriage at 4 o’clock that Karl customarily takes.]

Holz and Nephew Karl return not long afterward; Karl mentions that the visitor is already gone with his things. Karl asks whether his uncle is walking much. Holz had jaundice and as a result he is constipated. Holz advises that Haslinger wants to get the corrections for the King Stephen Overture parts soon. He doesn’t have a full score, and needs to assemble one from the parts. Haslinger says he loaned his score to Beethoven and never got it back. Haslinger says that Steiner doesn’t know anything about the Quartet, op.132. Holz doesn’t believe him. In any case, Holz will write as quickly as possible about what he agrees on with Haslinger about the quartet.

Beethoven asks how Holz is doing with his jaundice that Karl mentioned. Holz says it is almost all gone. Beethoven asks if he still has any symptoms, and Holz says he is still constipated.

Holz mentions that he thought he read in Bäuerle’s Theater-Zeitung that Beethoven particularly likes venison. There is a brief mention of Der glorreiche Augenblick, with the libretto by Aloys Weissenbach (1766-1821), written for the Congress of Vienna, and later given the opus number 136.

Beethoven needs the quartet back, and says that Holz can bring it on Friday, September 2. Holz asks whether that might not be too late.

Franz Clement has the most enormous memory that Holz knows of. He evidently played for Louis Spohr (1784-1859) a complete oratorio that he had heard for the first time the day before. Holz says of Clement, “He plays many notes, but without any feeling.” But he is quite versatile: “Wherever an instrument is missing in the orchestra, he can fill in immediately on the violin.”

Just as Holz and Karl are leaving for the carriage, Holz mentions his uncle was a librarian to the provincial governor. Their name is now Bergenstamm. Beethoven tells Nephew Karl he looks pale; Karl answers, “I was always pale.” Karl points out a cravat that someone is wearing and says Uncle Ludwig should buy himself one like that, with a clasp. They are very comfortable, and a lot of people are wearing them.

After they leave, Beethoven goes to a coffee house and reads the newspapers. He copies an advertisement for a housekeeper looking for work, who claims that she “cooks well, in her best years,” with testimonials.

Conversation Book 92, 44r, 4v-10v, 41r-42r. 13r-14v, 11r-15r, 44v-44r. This concludes Conversation Book 92. Conversation Book 93 is used entirely on Friday, September 2, and Conversation Book 94 begins to be used on Sunday, September 4. There are thus no known conversation book entries for August 29 through September 1.