BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Sunday, December 17, 1820

Yesterday was the big birthday. And today comes the hangover.

Beethoven’s money woes continue to worsen. He writes personally to Artaria & Co. music publishers in Vienna. Beethoven initially dates the letter October 17, then crosses that out and corrects it with December 17. He acknowledges receipt of a loan from Artaria for 750 gulden, which is guaranteed by Archduke Rudolph. [Beethoven’s next semiannual annuity payment from the Archduke equals 750 gulden, and is due on March 1, 1821. So Beethoven is essentially borrowing from his publisher as an advance on his annuity, hoping that he will have some money from publications coming in before long. Piano sonata #30, op.109, is more or less complete now, so he should have that payment coming soon from Adolph Schlesinger’s bill of exchange, but, as we have seen from Schlesinger’s payment for the 25 Scottish Songs, op.108, that payment can take the better part of a month to arrive in Vienna, so he may have funds coming in January or February.]

[You will recall that in October or November, Oliva arranged for Beethoven to borrow 150 gulden, secured by one of the precious bank shares that Beethoven was earmarking for Karl’s inheritance.] Now Beethoven finds himself unable to redeem his bank share that he borrowed against, and thus asks Artaria for a loan of an additional 150 gulden, which he promises to repay within three months from today. That will allow redemption of the bank share.

[Later correspondence will indicate that about now Beethoven and Franz Oliva get into a violent argument about the composer’s failure to repay this loan. Since Oliva brokered the loan, Beethoven’s default would obviously reflect badly on him. This dispute may explain why Beethoven is writing to Artaria himself, rather than having Oliva do it, as he frequently did in financial matters.] As a show of gratitude, Beethoven promises to give Artaria a composition without any fee.

Sieghard Brandenburg suggests that this gratis composition may be the 1795/1797 variations for two oboes and English horn on the aria “Là ci darem la mano” from Mozart’s Don Giovanni, WoO 28. Those variations were not published until the 20th century, but Artaria received the score about the end of 1822. The Royal Danish Oboes perform these fun variations live here:

The original letter is held by the Beethovenhaus in Bonn, as part of the H.C. Bodmer Collection, HCB Br 7. Anderson letter 1039; Brandenburg letter 1420. See it here:

https://www.beethoven.de/en/media/view/5605218666414080/scan/0

Meanwhile, both Archduke Rudolph and Alexander I, Czar of Russia, are on this date guests of the Emperor at a state dinner in Troppau, according to the December 27 Wiener Zeitung, quoting the Troppau newspaper of December 22.