BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Sunday, October 5, 1823
At 7:30 a.m., a carriage bearing composer Carl Maria von Weber, music publisher Tobias Haslinger, conductor and musician Ferdinand Pieringer, and Weber’s pupil Julius Benedict departs Vienna for Baden bei Wien, with the express intent of seeing Beethoven there. Unfortunately, according to Weber, “it rained vilely.”
After arriving in Baden mid-morning and visiting ballet dancer and assistant theater manager Louis Duport, the foursome went to see Beethoven. Carl Maria von Weber in a letter to his wife this evening [the letter is dated October 5, but Weber’s diary indicates the trip occurred on the 5th, and the letter says that it occurred “yesterday,” so the letter probably was written on the 6th] recounts the visit to Beethoven in the late morning:
“The main thing was to see Beethoven. The latter received me with the most touching affection; he embraced me at least six or seven times in the heartiest fashion and finally, full of enthusiasm, cried: ‘Yes, you are a devil of a fellow, a fine fellow!’ We spent the noon-hour together, very merrily and happily. This rough, repellent man actually paid court to me, served me at table as carefully as though I were his lady, etc. In short, this day always will remain a most remarkable one for me, as for all who shared in it. It gave me a quite special exaltation to see myself overwhelmed with such affectionate attention by this great spirit. How saddening is his deafness, for everything must be written down for him. We saw the baths, drank from the spring and at five o’clock drove back again to Vienna.”
According to Weber’s diary for the day, “The 5th, Sunday, at 8 o’clock, drove with [Pieringer], Haslinger and Benedict to Baden; abominable weather. Saw spring and baths; to Duport and Beethoven; received by him with great cordiality, Dined with him, his nephew and [composer and conductor Johann] Ekschlager at the Sauerhof. Very cheerful, Back again at 5 o’clock.”
Weber’s son in his 1864 biography of his father includes more family traditions, incorporating Julius Benedict’s recollections of the event:
“The three men [actually four] were excited when they entered the bare, almost poverty-stricken room inhabited by the great Ludwig. The chamber was in the greatest disorder. Music, money, articles of clothing lay on the floor; the wash was piled on the uncleanly bed, the grand piano, which was open, was thick with dust, there was a chipped coffee-set on the table.”
“Beethoven came forward to meet them.”
“Benedict says that King Lear or the Ossianic bards must have resembled him in appearance. His hair was thick, gray and bristly, here and there altogether white; his forehead and skull had an exceptionally broad curve and were high, like a temple; his nose was four-square, like that of a lion, the mouth nobly shaped and soft, the chin broad, with those wonderful shell-formed grooves in all his portraits, and formed by two jaw-bones which seemed meant to crack the hardest nuts. A dark red overspread his broad, pockmarked face; beneath the bushy, gloomily contracted eyebrows, small radiant eyes beamed mildly upon those entering; his cyclopean, four-cornered figure, which towered but slightly above that of Weber, was covered by a shabby house-robe, with torn sleeves.”
“Beethoven recognized Weber before he had mentioned his name, clasped him in his arms, and cried: ‘So there you are, you fellow, you devil of a fellow! God greet you!’ And then he at once handed him the famous writing-tablet and a conversation ensued, Beethoven in the meantime first throwing the music off the sofa and then, quite unconcernedly, dressing in the presence of his guests to go out.”
“Beethoven complained bitterly about his situation, scolded the management of the theatre, the concert impresarios, the public, the Italians, the popular taste and, in particular, his nephew’s ingratitude. Weber, who was greatly moved, advised him to tear himself away from these repulsive, discouraging conditions, and to make an artistic tour of Germany which would give him a chance to see what the world thought of him. ‘Too late!’ cried Beethoven. He pantomimed playing the piano and shook his head. ‘Then go to England, where they admire you,’ wrote Weber. ‘Too late!’ cried Beethoven, caught Weber demonstratively beneath the arm, and drew him along with him to the Sauerhof, where he ate. There Beethoven showed himself full of kind-heartedness and warmth toward Weber.”
Sonneck, Beethoven, Impressions of Contemporaries (G.Schirmer 1926) pp.159-161.
Benedict’s own account of this visit is rather brief, but essentially consistent with Weber’s retelling. “I had the pleasure of accompanying Weber and Haslinger with another friend to Baden, when they allowed me the great privilege of going with them to Beethoven’s residence. Nothing could be more cordial than his reception of my master. He wanted to take us to the Helenenthal and to all the neighborhood; but the weather was unfavorable, and we were obliged to renounce this excursion. They all dined together at one table at an inn, and I, seated at another close to them, had the pleasure of listening to their conversation.”
Sadly, the conversation books for today, like most of October, are missing, so we do not know the particulars of the conversation between these two beyond these retellings. In addition, there are few details regarding Beethoven’s doings at all after this until the last few days of October. Presumably Beethoven continues working on the Finale of the Ninth Symphony, and then begins the arduous preparations for returning to Vienna sometime in the latter part of the month.
1825 oil portrait of Weber by Friedrich Schimon (1797-1852), courtesy Dresden Städtische Galerie. Schimon’s portrait of Beethoven, probably from about 1815, can be seen here: https://www.beethoven.de/en/media/view/6367856916692992/scan/0