BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Sunday, August 7, 1825
Karl Holz, who has stayed in Baden overnight, comes to visit Beethoven early this morning. He and Joseph Linke have still not finished copying the parts for the quartet, op.132. “I hope to bring it to you this coming Monday. [Next week Monday is August 15, a holiday, the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.]” Beethoven appears to express unhappiness that Holz has to make another trip out to Baden. “It is the greatest honor for me to be able to serve a man like you.”
Beethoven is apologetic that Holz has wasted his money and shown up in Baden, only to visit him for a very brief time. “If you don’t want to accept it that way, then just consider it to be a country outing that I undertook on my own accord, for my own entertainment.” He says he would come out more often, but business prevents him; it’s not the expense that prevents him from coming to Baden more frequently.
Beethoven seems to cut this meeting short; Holz typically writes at great length, but here is limited to only four sentences. This may indicate that Beethoven is making good progress on the next quartet, op.130, today and does not want to be interrupted for any length of time. Conversation Book 91, 43r-43v.
Nephew Karl visits his Uncle Ludwig in Baden today, as he usually does on Sundays. They are discussing doctor’s appointments, and the expense involved. Ludwig is annoyed at the potential charges. Karl defends himself, saying that the cost was already the topic of conversation here in Baden; he mentioned it only because visits were mentioned. Up to now, the physicians haven’t charged Uncle Ludwig anything because they consider it a pleasure to serve him.
Possibly while Karl is out walking around the resort area of Baden, Uncle Ludwig makes several financial notes:
- Karl 27 1/2 [florins, Treasury Obligations] at the Magistrate.
- Karl: Ankle boots.
Karl, like Holz, made his previous comments in Heft 91 at 43v, then continues in Heft 92. Karl mentions that in Neudorf [where the carriage stops for customs, and Karl typically has breakfast on his way out] he met a French prisoner of war who had fought under Napoleon. He was lying severely wounded in a Hungarian hospital until he came to Vienna. He has no money, and wants to go to Paris, where his parents live. “His clothes were all in tatters, and he didn’t have a kreutzer in money. He was overjoyed to find in me the first person who understood him, because he didn’t know a word of German.”
They discuss a dish, which Karl may have brought with him from Vienna. The quality of it depends a good deal on the cooking. It cost 21 kreutzers, C.M. It’s cooked like a broth, but it is not cold enough.
Karl mentions that this week he watched a man be driven to the Spinnerin am Kreuz, where he was hanged. Uncle Ludwig asked what his crime was. “He murdered a woman over 6 fl. 30 kr. that he thought she had.” [The hanging occurred on August 4, 1825.]
Holzmann has baked a pastry using a recipe that she got from the baker [Prof. Albrecht suggests from Leopold Obermayer, Johann’s brother-in-law]. But it is not baked sufficiently because she took it out too early. She also didn’t use enough eggs.
Uncle Ludwig’s stomach appears to be bothering him. Karl suggests that he should eat some scrambled eggs before he has his coffee. [Page 20v here is empty, crossed out with a red pencil]
Uncle Ludwig is considering a violin or lute; Karl suggests that the ones to buy are from Barnhard or Martin Stoss.
As Professor Albrecht observes, the usual Sunday totaling up of Karl’s expenses is missing here, so that may have been handled on other papers, or in a missing conversation book.
Conversation Book 91, 43r-44; Conversation Book 92, 19r-21r.
Karl appears to “borrow” 1 florin, 15 kreutzers from the household account today, which will be referenced by a letter from his uncle in about ten days