BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Sunday, September 3, 1826
Unpaid assistant Karl Holz appears to go to Rannersdorf to visit his friend Franz Gross today, as he had advised Beethoven yesterday he would be doing. Holz had invited Beethoven to accompany him, but Beethoven declined. Having completed the arrangement of the Grosse Fuge for four-hands piano, Beethoven can now return to work on the string quartet in F, op.135.
Beethoven also writes a letter to publisher Mathias Artaria, and sends it early this morning for Holz to deliver before he leaves for Rannersdorf. Beethoven has been seized by the idea that Artaria will cheat him and not pay for the piano four hands arrangement of the Grosse Fuge, and the letter (now lost) almost certainly reflects that concern.
Beethoven writes to Holz, probably today since it must be before September 6, and likely before September 5. He reminds Holz that the funds need to be collected on his pension with the Kinsky estate. “Don’t forget the money. I will soon have nothing left. Karl is doing better and better. This noon, the queen of the table is singing at my place.”
Brandenburg Letter 2190; Anderson Letter 1504. The “queen of the table” probably is not soprano Nanette Schechner, whom former unpaid assistant Anton Schindler had been trying to introduce to Beethoven for weeks. On September 20, Holz will write that Schindler still wants to make that introduction. But who she is remains unknown. It may be that Schindler and Schechner intended to come, but were unable to do so.
Holz, upon his return from Rannersdorf late in the day, reports back, meeting Beethoven at a restaurant for a late supper. Holz delivered the letter to Artaria today, and Beethoven will get a written answer yet today, or tomorrow morning at the latest. Either Artaria will agree to pay the fee, or he must return the score. Beethoven is convinced that Artaria will print the fugue without paying for it. Holz tells him, “You do not believe that.” Why didn’t Holz retrieve the score when he was there? “What was I supposed to have done? I guarantee you that he will answer.”
Holz changes the topic to the food at the restaurant, asking what Beethoven wants after the beef so it could be ordered at once. They aren’t prepared for late guests here, and they had to send out to another restaurant for it. Holz expects they will be served very soon if there is good beef.
Beethoven won’t let up about Artaria. Did Holz give the letter to Artaria personally? No, Artaria wasn’t present, so Holz gave it to his business partner Herr Wolf.
Holz mentions that Adolph Martin Schlesinger, a Berlin music publisher and father of Parisian publisher Maurice Schlesinger, arrived in Vienna today. Holz spoke to him. “You are the purpose of his visit. He asked when he could see you. I promised to pick him up tomorrow at 9 o’clock in the Wilder Mann.” Beethoven thought that Holz was going to be in Baden tomorrow. Holz tells him that he’ll go to Baden the day after tomorrow [Tuesday, September 5.] Holz expects to be back on Saturday, September 9. [Holz’s plans change as the week goes on.]
Beethoven tells Holz that he will be taking a country excursion next weekend himself. Holz asks where he will go, and Beethoven tells him Nussdorf, near Heiligenstadt. Holz says he would not have refused an invitation from the Bogners to stay in Baden over the weekend had he known Beethoven was going to be gone. [Beethoven may alter his plans as a result of this discussion, since he goes to Nussdorf on Friday, September 8, while Holz is away.]
Conversation Book 120, 7r-9r.
About now, Beethoven begins using the collection of sketch leaves Paris Ms 62 and Ms 66, held by the Bibliothèque Nationale. At one point, some of them were sewn together. According to Johnson, Tyson and Winter, some of the paper is the same as used for the two preceding pocket sketchbooks. Fourteen other leaves are of the same kind of paper Beethoven uses in October to write out the parts of the op.135 quartet. The bundle of sketch leaves is primarily devoted to work on the last three movements of op.135, with a sketch for the string quintet for Artaria, WoO 62 among them. About halfway through, work begins on the new finale for op.130; Johnson suggests that because of the chronological confusion of these sketches, Beethoven may have gone back and added them later in blank spaces, including on the first page. The sketches in this bundle are roughly contemporary with the folios 54-62 of the Kullak desk sketchbook. These sketch leaves continued to be used through mid-November of 1826; the quartet op.135 was completed in October, and the replacement Finale for op.130 was delivered to Haslinger on November 22, 1826.