BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Sunday, November 6, 1825
Nephew Karl is with his uncle at his apartment. He has made an appointment for a housekeeper interview but she isn’t coming until 2 o’clock.
Karl did some checking into the status of Uncle Ludwig’s overdue taxes, but they didn’t know right away whether the class tax from 1824 was still unpaid.
At about 2 p.m., the housekeeper applicant, Theresia Adelmann, a widow of a pensioned imperial accounting official, arrives for her interview. She has managed her own household and says she can certainly satisfy Ludwig in matters of cooking. If she were to be taken on, she would first want to organize the time when everything needs to happen. She asks that Ludwig not be impatient with her until she is familiar with the household order that he requires. She learned basic cooking and then cooked in her own household. Karl thinks she appears to be the best in Vienna.
Karl lets his uncle know that lectures begin tomorrow, Monday, November 7, at the Polytechnic Institute where he is now studying business.
Karl then takes the parts for the quartet op.132 and goes to Joseph Linke’s benefit concert at the Musikverein. The concert is supposed to start at 4:30, but Karl expects it will probably begin closer to 5. Since it will be about 2 hours long, Karl suggests that they meet at around 7 p.m.
The program of Linke’s concert includes the Archduke piano trio with Schuppanzigh on violin and Carl Maria von Bocklet on piano. This is followed by the new quaret op.132 with the Schuppanzigh Quartet, and concludes with Bernhard Romberg’s Phantasie for cello and orchestra. Karl talks to Schuppanzigh and Linke afterwards, and then returns to Uncle Ludwig’s apartment, together with unpaid assistant Karl Holz.
Holz reports that the concert tickets were already sold out yesterday. Nephew Karl says that Linke intends to come by to personally thank Uncle Ludwig for letting him use the quartet for his benefit concert. Ignaz Schuppanzigh would like to perform it at his subscription concert in two weeks. He intends to come to make the request tomorrow.
Holz tells Beethoven that in the second movement of the op.132 quartet, Allegro ma non tanto, in bar 70 before the return to A major, Schuppanzigh has added a ritard. Is that good, he asks? Beethoven’s answer is not recorded but we can assume he said it was not, since the printed version of the quartet does not include any ritard marking there.
Holz says he is too overheated. [Reports of the concert indicate the hall was crowded and very hot.]
Holz also has been deputized to check on the status of the 1824 class taxes, but he came up with the same lack of a firm response as Nephew Karl did. “There were 5 officials who ran all around and looked, but no one knew whether there were still any arrears.”
Holz finds the newly-completed bridge through the Schotten Gate to be very convenient for coming to Beethoven’s apartment in the Schwarzspanierhaus.
Linke also performed a solo piece [the Romberg Phantasie] and it was quite good, Holz observes.
Holz mentions that there is a concert by the students of the Musikverein Conservatory today as well. They are doing a chorus by Beethoven, but Holz thinks it would be better if they didn’t. Ludwig asks what chorus, and Holz says from the Christus am Ôlberge, op.85. They are doing overtures and display pieces for violin, cello, etc.
Holz reports that there is a new type of bowing that is being studied by violinists. He writes a B major arpeggio in the conversation book. “It gives a brilliant effect: Arpeggio staccato. Four downwards strokes, and four upbows.”
There is discussion of how much salary Professor Joseph Böhm is making. Schuppanzigh still has no official post. Court Councilor for Music Ignaz von Mosel was at the concert today. Next Sunday, November 13, Wenzel Würfel will play Beethoven’s Piano Trio in D, op.70/1 at Schuppanzigh’s concert. Schuppanzigh is very happy that Beethoven recommended score playing to him. Bocklet also needs to give lessons. Beethoven asks who the best violinist is today. Perhaps Karol Lipinski (1790-1861), Holz answers. But he is bravura, with no feeling. Schuppanzigh says he knows of no more skilled violinist, but he cannot perform quartets.
Holz departs, and Nephew Karl provides more information about the concert today. “It was boundlessly full. The Trio and, especially, the Quartet were loudly applauded. It all went together very well and Linke played better than ever. It was too full to hear very much of what was said. From what I heard, though, many passages were greeted by exclamations, and as they left, the people were talking about the beauty of the new Quartet. For that reason, Schuppanzigh wants to do it again. A week from today, the Trio in D [Karl mistakenly writes D minor] will be played with Würfel at the piano.”
Referring to the Heiliger Dankgesang, Karl observes, “People admired how much you have done with the few notes allowed to you in the Lydian mode.”
Ludwig and Karl go to a tavern for supper. They have rabbit, but it needs to be cooked yet since they typically do not serve food on Sunday evenings. Sedlaczek sends Uncle Ludwig his regards. Although he was supposed to leave for Paris this morning, he is leaving the day after tomorrow, November 8.
Uncle Ludwig invites Karl to come to dinner tomorrow. He cannot, because he has lectures until noon, and they begin again at 3. And in any case he needs to study after the lecture. Uncle Ludwig asks whether Karl is caught up and no longer needs the tutor, who is proving rather expensive at a cost of 40 florins per month. “As soon as possible, I will try not to need him, but at the beginning it is still necessary.” Uncle Ludwig raises his voice, and Karl tells him he is speaking too loudly.
Karl says he will take the quartet parts home with him, so Uncle Ludwig doesn’t have to carry them, and they part for the evening.
Conversation Book 98, 6r-12r.
The Leipzig Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung (Nr.51) of December 21, 1825, at 840-841 includes in its overview of music in Vienna during November a fairly extensive review of the Schuppanzigh Quartet concert given at 4:30 at the Musikverein this afternoon. It is here that Beethoven’s quartet op.132 in A minor is given its public premiere, for the benefit of Herr Joseph Linke, the cellist.
The quartet is here played live by the Brooklyn Rider Quartet:
The first item on the program of this concert is a Grand Piano Trio in B-flat major by Beethoven [op.97, the “Archduke” Trio], with Carl Maria von Bocklet (1801-1881) on piano and Ignaz Schuppanzigh on violin along with Linke. “Three names which guarantee the most perfect performance. Herr von Bocklet is one of the most thoughtful piano players of his time: he is concerned with breathing life and soul into the instrument and penetrating the spirit of the tone poem. His mechanical skill is by no means left in the background.”
“2. Beethoven’s newest quartet (A minor), consisting of the following movements: Introduzione, Allegro moderato (A minor); Scherzo (A major); Adagio ‘Song of Thanksgiving by a Convalescent to the Deity’ (F major, Lydian mode, without B-flat), alternating with an Andante that paints the reawakening of strength (D major); Marcia (A major); Recitative and Finale: Allegro appassionato (A minor).”
“What our musical Jean Paul has given us here is once again great, splendid, unusual, surprising and original, but it must not only be heard often, but it must also be studied in earnest. The previous Trio, which charmed everyone present with its naive naturalness, charming coloring, lovely melodies and piquant brevity, impaired the reception of what was to follow. The predominantly gloomy character of the whole, a monotony in the music that cannot be eliminated, despite the most varied elaboration, the very long Adagio, which with its strange B [natural] in the F scale placed noticeable constraints on the composer as it progressed. But the unbearable heat in the low, crowded hall, along with a few other circumstances, may have been the reason why this latest brainchild of the inexhaustibly productive master did not create the general sensation that had been previously announced by the several chosen ones, who had attended earlier performances in closed circles.”
“Just as the last quartet to appear before this one (in E-flat [op.127]) was initially received lukewarmly, and only later understood, recognized and now counted amongst the most valued masterpieces, the same will most likely happen with this latest one.”
The concert concluded with Bernhard Romberg’s Fantasy for Cello and full orchestra, and Herr Linke “unfolded his entire artistic wealth of a soulful tone, an admirable skill and the most sophisticated performance.”
The Berliner allgemeine musikalische Zeitung of March 8, 1826 (Nr.10) also had a fairly lengthy review of the op.132 quartet as performed at this concert. “The excellent cellist Herr Joseph Linke gave a concert at the premises of the Musik-Verein. To begin, he played with Messrs. Karl Maria von Bocklet and Ignatz [sic] Schuppanzigh our genius Beethoven’s great, and despite all its grandeur, nevertheless extremely pleasant Trio in B-flat major.”
“It must be played so, and the master wanted it no other way. Herr. Bocklet has a truly solid style of playing; his touch is determined and clear. All the passages are well polished and performed with the utmost precision, so that not a single note is lost.…The two adjutants are recognized as excellent accompanists.”
“The succeeding piece was the same master’s latest composition, namely a recently completed, still in manuscript, Quartet in A minor. Everyone listened with due enthusiasm, praised it ab auctoritate [by authority], but the true enthusiasm that breaks through all barriers did not manage to come to the fore. I ask: why? And I reply: Because! Because:
“Firstly, in the first piece, the much-praised trio is a very humane, well-mannered, friendly fellow.”
“Secondly, however, the second piece, the newest quartet in question, is of a rather darker, reserved, sinister nature, and according to an old logical rule, the human heart only allows itself to be turned down from happiness to sadness with reluctance, but conversely it offers a friendly hand when cheerful jokes give rise to discontent. – So much in general about the first impression. Even without the gift of prophecy, one can predict with evident certainty that time will give this masterpiece by Beethoven – which simply does not want to and cannot be ordinary or everyday – its due, but only if one has first become closer to it, become friends with it and has found the golden thread running through it all. These are the most delicate fruits, which taste better and better the more often we enjoy them. The speaker speaks from experience, as he is one of the elite few who were admitted to the preliminary rehearsals; what has been impressed on his memory through repeated listening can be indicated here only in fleeting outlines, and nothing more is needed, since the work will soon be engraved and generally distributed anyway.”
“First movement: Introduction, Allegro moderato, A minor, without reprise. A weighty, thoroughly serious theme and kept strictly in this tonal color. The introduction to the re-entry of the main motif is truly original and highly surprising. – Second movement: Scherzo, A major, mischievous, flirtatious and full of piquant teasing; the trio parodies a lyre. – Third movement: Adagio, F major, Lydian key, without B flat; entitled “Song of thanksgiving by a convalescent to the deity“; loudly held chords, breathing devotion and touching piety. This solemn hymn alternates twice with an Andante, D major, marked, “feeling new strength“, with whose higher upward force and more moving liveliness it so soothingly contrasts.”
“This complicated piece is indeed unusually long, but how deeply felt, how spiritually grasped, how wonderfully newly formed all the thoughts are in their simple greatness and tender significance! – Fourth movement: Marcia, A major, uplifting and inspiring, then a short recitative, as a prelude to the finale: Allegro appassionato, A minor – Nomen et omen habet [It bears a name and an omen]. This is how a soul that has fallen prey to passions that destroy everything expresses itself. What painful external impressions might our soul painter have been agitated by, when he received the consecration of this Rembrandt painting? In its way, it is definitely one of the most perfect of the gigantic works produced by Beethoven’s genius.”
The Wiener Theater-Zeitung for November 24, 1825 (Nr.141) at 579 also includes an account of today’s Akademie benefit concert for Joseph Linke: “Herr Lincke, long since famous in Vienna for his pleasant treatment of the cello, and especially worthy of praise for his deliberate, always intelligent, never overbearing and never intrusive performance in quartet pieces, recently gave a private musical entertainment in the hall of the Musikverein. He knew how to spice up this entertainment in the most interesting way. Herr Karl Maria von Bocklet with the concert host and Herr Schuppanzigh performed the great Trio in B-flat major for piano, cello, and violin [Beethoven’s Archduke Trio, op.97] in a manner that did justice to its bravura, precision and accuracy. However, on the whole perhaps a little more light and shade could have been added.”
“The second piece was the latest string quartet in A minor, still extant only in manuscript, composed by Beethoven, performed by Messrs. Schuppanzigh, Holz, Weiss and Lincke [sic]. The piece was comprised of: 1. Introduzione; Allegro moderato. 2. Scherzo. 3. Adagio. (Thanksgiving of a convalescent to the deity, in the Lydian mode) and Andante (new strength is felt). 4. Marcia: Recitative; Allegro appassionato. This new masterpiece by our unique Beethoven presented the most luxuriant wealth of ideas developed in such an inspiring and successful manner, that those who, seized by it, were carried to higher realms, those who often glimpsing through a field of fog, only sensing the strength that surrounds the wisest in the form of the flame of genius, penetrating even the dense fabric of artificial texture, let themselves be guided faithfully by it to brighter places.”
“Clearly, this quartet must be heard more often in order to fully enjoy and appreciate it. At every moment of his artistry, in this moment of his work, Beethoven hurries far ahead of his time; the cognitive faculties of his listeners and evaluators are still laboriously panting behind him; experience testifies to this. The writer of this must sincerely admit that he has always been one of those who can only gasp.”
“The third and easier piece was B. Romberg’s Fantaisie for the violoncello, with orchestral accompaniment [in D major, op.10], and it was performed with great elegance, novelty, and virtuosity by the concert giver, to much applause.”
Also today, the concert of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde’s conservatory students that was held on October 30 is repeated today, including the performance of the final chorus from Beethoven’s Christ on the Mount of Olives, op.85. Wiener Zeitschrift Nr.134 (November 8, 1825) at 2012.