BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Sunday, September 1, 1822

True to his letter to Johann yesterday, Beethoven arrives in Baden bei Wien, south of Vienna, today. According to the entry in the spa list, he stays initially at the inn “Zum goldenen Schwann” at Wienergasse 230 (now Antonsgasse 4) until he finds an apartment at Rathausgasse 94.

Attached is the Google Street View of the building that once housed the inn, with the large plaque on the side proclaiming that Beethoven stayed there. The plaque reads, “In diesem Hause schuf Beethoven im Herbst 1822 die Musik zur Weihe des Hauses. Der Wiener Schubertbund 1924.” [In this house Beethoven composed the music for The Consecration of the House in the autumn of 1822. Vienna Schubert Society 1924.”] One may hypothesize that the plaque exaggerates the duration of his presence, or the process of finding a place to stay in Baden took much longer than the single day Beethoven expected yesterday, or some combination of the two.