BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Sunday, July 2, 1826 (very approximately)

Beethoven writes a short undated note in pencil, possibly today, to unpaid assistant Karl Holz inviting him to an early mid-day dinner sometime after Beethoven’s return to Vienna from Baden and his first letter to Holz after his return on October 17 1825, and before Beethoven’s departure to Gneixendorf on September 28, 1826. “The meal will be ready by one o’clock, when I will definitely expect you, and I regret causing you so much inconvenience. Yours, B—n.”

Brandenburg Letter 2083; Anderson Letter 1511. There are no postal markings, indicating this note was delivered by hand, perhaps by a servant. The original of this letter is held by the Bonn Beethovenhaus, H.C. Bodmer Collection Br 155, and can be seen here:

https://www.beethoven.de/de/media/view/4890045274128384/scan/1

On some occasion about now, Holz appears at Beethoven’s apartment just as an altercation is taking place between Uncle Ludwig and Nephew Karl; Holz sees Karl as he is leaving the apartment seize Ludwig by the chest. Karl, apparently realizing he has been seen, flees thereafter. [Conversation Book 116, 50v, probably August 7.] The reason for this outbreak is unknown, but this incident may explain why the conversation book covering this time period is missing. In addition, there is some kind of confrontation between Karl and his uncle sometime this summer while they are on the Glacis. [Conversation Book 116, 54r, which Holz refers to as “the affair on the Glacis,” though nothing else is known about it beyond Holz’s mention.]