BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Sunday, September 9, 1821

On this day, Beethoven takes a carriage into Vienna. On the way, having awoken early, he will fall asleep. As Beethoven recounts the trip in a letter tomorrow, as he dreams of traveling to Syria, India, Arabia and Jerusalem, the canon WoO 182, O Tobias, comes to him. However, once he awoke, “the canon had vanished and nothing more of it would come to mind.” As we will see tomorrow, there is reason to be skeptical of this tale, but it makes for a good story.

Given that he has just moved to Baden, and will return from Vienna the next day, this trip may well be to give Archduke Rudolph a composition lesson. Last summer, he commonly gave the Archduke lessons on Saturdays and one weekday early in the week.