BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Sunday, March 28, 1824

Proofreading of parts for the Akademie concert continues this morning.

Unpaid assistant Anton Schindler reports on his meeting yesterday with manager of the Redoutensaal, Louis Antoine Duport. Apparently since Duport is French, Schindler’s report is likewise in French. Duport says there is no difficulty on his part, and everything will be according to Monsieur Beethoven’s wishes. He will send the written confirmation tomorrow.

The theater gossip from Berlin is not good. The new theater is in the greatest disorder. Manager Heinrich Bethmann, who had contracted with Beethoven to perform Consecration of the House, op.124, at the grand opening of the theater later this year, has foolishly withdrawn as the director and given the spot to another, with whom people are dissatisfied. [He was replaced by a four-person Administrative Committee, comprised of actors.]

Schindler takes Nephew Karl to attend a concert at 12:30 p.m. given by young violinist Léon de Saint-Lubin at the Landständischesaal. Eighteen-year-old Saint-Lubin will perform six pieces of his own composition, including solo variations, variations with piano played by young prodigy Leopoldine Blahetka and a Concert Overture in E minor. [Beethoven had written a cadenza, Hess 296, for Saint-Lubin for the same October 3, 1822 concert where Consecration of the House had been premiered. Unfortunately, the manuscript for this cadenza, which was once in the Austrian National Library catalogued as Sm 3154, vanished without a trace sometime before 1948, when an inventory of the library’s holdings was conducted. No copy or transcription of the cadenza had ever been made.]

On their return, Karl mentions that Ferdinand Piringer conducted. [Prof. Theodore Albrecht, English-language editor of the conversation books, states it was unlikely that Piringer would have conducted, and that there may have been a rehearsal of the upcoming Concert spirituel of Beethoven works scheduled for April 1. Albrecht does not explain why Piringer could not have conducted for Saint-Lubin.]

Schindler mentions that composer Adalbert Gyrowetz (1763-1850) was at the concert, and he sends Beethoven his very sincere greetings.

Soprano Henriette Sontag and alto Caroline Unger must, Schindler urges, learn their parts diligently, because on Tuesday they are both singing in a concert before the Imperial Court. He offered Beethoven’s apologies for the delays in getting them the parts to learn. [This was the same concert that was supposed to have occurred two weeks earlier, and Schindler told Beethoven had to be cancelled because Henriette Sontag got sick on the bad wine he had served her at Sunday dinner.]

Schindler changes the subject to Friedrich August Kanne’s new opera, Lindane, which was premiered last night to good reception. He was called back for curtain calls twice. On the other hand, the “so-called ‘Grand Opera'” at the Josephstadt was a miserable failure. That was Prinzessin Sauertöpfchen [“Princess Sour Potty”], with text by Carl Meisl and music by Franz Gläser. Beethoven asks why he calls such a thing a “so-called Grand Opera;” Schindler replies that that’s what the theater put on the poster. [Schindler’s assessment is correct. The opera was given savage reviews and its final performance on March 31 was given to a nearly-empty house.] Schindler’s understanding is that the composer was paid 2,000 florins for the opera, with the fourth performance to be for his benefit. Beethoven suggests that 2,000 florins means he came out quite well, but Schindler says he can’t be indifferent to the failure, since he put a great deal of effort into it. He used Weber, Cherubini and others as his model.

Beethoven turns the subject back to Sontag and the story about the bad wine; he seems still to be angry that Schindler did not notify him that the ladies would be coming to mid-day Sunday dinner until that very morning. Schindler again gets defensive and says that he didn’t know himself that Sontag was coming for certain until 9 a.m. that morning. Schindler then lets slip the truth: Sontag did not, in fact, get sick on Beethoven’s wine, but her illness was the result of eating vinegar salad at home later that day. [He also does not mention that the next day’s concert had already been postponed before Sontag got sick.]

Schindler’s defensiveness continues: “Karl accused me of eating a great deal. I now declare that he eats more, because during the day, I eat one meal – namely at mid-day – therefore neither breakfast nor evenings.” Beethoven asks when he started doing that, and Schindler replies that has been his practice since the age of 20. In the evenings he has a cup of wine, and Basta [enough in Italian.]

Schindler changes the subject to the size of the estate of the French Minister Jean Jacques de Cambacére (1753-1824), which went into the millions. [Cambacére died on March 8. The Beobachter published a lengthy report on the size of his estate in its March 26 issue, Nr.86 at 403-404, which is probably what Schindler references here.]

Schindler says Herr Franz would like for the Tonkünstlers-Societät [Musicians Society] to obtain the Missa Solemnis as its exclusive property. Beethoven, likely still annoyed at Schindler, asks who this Franz is. Schindler identifies him as a member of the Hofkapelle. [Stephan Franz (1785-1855), violinist in the Imperial Hofkapelle and the accountant for the Tonkünstlers-Societät] Beethoven asks what other works they own. Schindler says they don’t have anything at all. Beethoven appears to asks why his Mass should be their first acquisition. Schindler corrects himself; they also own Haydn’s Seasons and Creation oratorios. [These works are periodically performed at benefit concerts for the widows and orphans of musicians. These concerts occur four times per year, and participation by all Vienna musicians is nearly compulsory. Beethoven probably correctly believed they expected him to donate the Mass to them for free, and is not interested.]

Getting nowhere with calming Beethoven down, Schindler suggests that he take Karl to see the “Grand Opera” Prinzessen Sauertöpfchen. It doesn’t last long, and will be out at 9:30 at the latest. Ludwig asks whether it is acceptable for the boy’s morals. Schindler says the only thing in it that rouses sensuality is a backdrop that features paintings by Correggio.

Karl departs with Schindler around 6 p.m. for the theater curtain time of 7 p.m., leaving Ludwig behind.

Conversation Book 60, 35-39r.