BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Thursday, April 6, 1826

Unpaid assistant Karl Holz visits Beethoven at his apartment. Holz had picked up the proofs for the four works [opp.114, 116, 117 and 118] from Tobias Haslinger. He stopped by last evening to drop them off, at 5 p.m., but Beethoven was out, so he left them with the sick housekeeper, who is still at Beethoven’s apartment. [Her sister the maid also appears to still be staying on, even though they both were given their dismissals two weeks ago. If they stay the full two weeks, then there would be no deduction from the earnest money. There seems to be some overlap, since the new housekeeper, Frau Bruckl, also starts today.]

Holz and Beethoven go to a coffeehouse where there are newspapers. Ignaz von Mosel would appreciate it if Beethoven would give him an answer to whether he accepts the dedication of the quartet by Carl August von Klein. If Beethoven would write the letter, Holz will take it with him tomorrow. [Beethoven does dictate the letter to Holz, but not until May 10.] Tobias visited Mosel in order to recommend himself.

Holz suggests that if Beethoven can look at the proofs tonight or tomorrow morning, he can also return them to Haslinger tomorrow afternoon.

They see someone unidentified; Holz says he “looks like a real bureaucrat.” Beethoven, so as not to be heard, writes that he is “narrow-minded and conceited.”

The pair go for a walk. Holz saw Brother Johann today on the Graben. Former unpaid assistant Anton Schindler was there too.

Someone, possibly Ignaz Schuppanzigh, is described as playing all day. “I do not see him; there is nothing to be done with him, he is completely exhausted.” Holz comments that the walk appears to be doing Beethoven good.

A new regulation has been issued and read to the students of medicine at the University. None of them, even if they have finished their examinations, may leave Vienna until September 8th to enjoy their holidays.

Mathias Artaria sends his greetings to Beethoven, and says he must enjoy the lake fish tomorrow. There is some discussion about sea fish and the price of fish.

A certain type of fish should be boiled, rather than baked; Beethoven prefers it like that anyway. “Also, everything baked in butter is soft and spongy; the new housekeeper, Frau Bruckl, also confirms that. She said that if you use very fresh beef lard for baking, it is better. Butter always has a certain sourness, which is more unpleasant than beef lard when used for baking.” Holz suggests Beethoven should have half of the fish baked in butter, and half in lard, and then taste the difference between the two. Holz’s mother also tastes the lard; one needs a good stomach for that, but it is necessary for baking. The discussion of fish concludes when Beethoven mentions a desire for ham and cheese. Holz comically writes, “My good man! Cheese and ham!” Holz says he will have his mother buy the fish for Beethoven; he should send someone to Holz at about 10 o’clock tomorrow fetch the fish. But if the maid is leaving tomorrow, Holz is unsure whether he can find a new one straight away.

Holz mentions that Franz Schubert recently visited Ignaz von Mosel; they read a score by Handel together. “He [it is unclear whether Holz means Schubert or Mosel] was very amiable; also thanked me for the pleasure which Mylord’s Quartets gave him; he was always present.” [Schubert was known to be at nearly every Schuppanzigh Quartet concert.] Schubert has a great gift for lieder. “Do you know the Erlkönig?” [Whether Beethoven was familiar with Schubert’s setting, his op.1, is unknown, though it was quite popular in Vienna since its 1821 premiere. Beethoven knows the underlying poem well, having attempted to set it to music himself in the 1790s, his draft being catalogued as WoO 131. A completion of that draft, including an orchestration of the song by Béla Bartók, can be heard here:]

https://unheardbeethoven.org/search.php?Identifier=woo131

Beethoven says Joseph Bernard wants to know what’s going on with the oratorio they are supposed to produce together. Holz still has Bernard’s libretto for that oratorio, Der Sieg des Kreuzes, at home. He loaned it to poet Christian Kuffner for his opinion, and he was unimpressed. “Kuffner does not understand why one does not at once shrink back from setting something like that [the conversion of Constantine and the battle of the Milvian Bridge] into music; it can only arouse coldness instead of enthusiasm. He says that Bernard does not at all have the mind to write something like that. He is only an artificial poet.” But on the upside, if Beethoven doesn’t want to see Bernard, Holz jokes, he only needs to lend Bernard 5 florins again. [Apparently such a loan put Bernard into hiding previously.]

Holz mentions that someone is now offering burial insurance. You pay an annual amount, and they see to it that you’re buried properly. Beethoven thinks this is wagering that you will die early enough to make that profitable. “A peculiar speculation,” answers Holz.

Back at the apartment, Franz Baptist comes to the door, apparently looking for work. He says he has already copied a lot for Beethoven. He gives his address and departs. Holz asks whether he’s the one who copied the first quartet [op.127.] No, that was Ferdinand Wolanek, whom Beethoven angrily dismissed.

The maid is threatening to leave again. Holz would have known of another one through the woman he has retained. But it will work best if Beethoven just takes on one that he already knows. Beethoven wants Holz to arrange someone, so he says that he’ll send the one tomorrow that works for Frau von Schneid. Or if Beethoven wants to go to the police, the servants’ office can give dozens at any time. They at least have some fear, since the police know whether they are.

Conversation Book 107, 63r-75v.

Count Karl Friedrich von Brühl, the Intendant General of the Royal Theater in Berlin, writes to Beethoven today. “The music dealer [Adolph Martin] Schlesinger has informed me that your excellency would not be averse to writing a German opera for the Berlin theater, and I accept this offer with the greatest willingness, since it can only be a true honor for the stage that I manage, to bring to it a work composed specifically for it by a man who stands as high in the world of art as your excellency.”

“The libretto for ‘The Fair Melusine‘ by Herr Grillparzer, which Herr Schlesinger also sent me, seems to be quite suitable for offering rich subject matter for an imaginative composer. My only reservation is that our theater already has an opera by Herr von Fouqué and Herr [E.T.A.] Hoffmann, which deals with almost exactly the same subject matter, namely ‘Undine,’ which was so popular and highly acclaimed in its time. This is the only reason why I would have wished that your excellency had suggested a different subject, and that Herr Grillparzer could have adapted it. I would therefore be very reluctant to accept the otherwise so successful and lovely poem, ‘Melusine’ for performance.”

“I humbly request that your excellency kindly inform me of your views on this matter and in closing accept the assurance of my highest and most sincere respect.”

Brandenburg Letter 2142; Albrecht Letter 429. The whereabouts of the letter are unknown. A draft dated today was at one time in the superintendent’s office for the Royal Theaters in Berlin. The fair copy will apparently be mailed to Beethoven tomorrow.

In Mainz, publisher B. Schott’s Sons today accepts Beethoven’s offer of 80 ducats for the String Quartet op.131, which is still being composed. They propose payment in two installments. Schott’s also inquires whether Maurice Schlesinger has acquired the French rights to the Quartet op.127, since Schott’s would like to publish it there as well, as one of the first offerings from their new Parisian branch.

Brandenburg Letter 2143. Like the preceding letter, the whereabouts of the original are unknown. The date and content are inferred from Beethoven’s letter of March 28, 1826 containing the original offer, and his confirmation letter of May 20, 1826, being Brandenburg Letters 2136 and 2154, respectively.

At 344 of today’s Wiener Zeitung (Nr.78) T. Weigl’s Art and Music Shop offers the newest-published compositions from Franz Schubert. These are two sets of three songs each, his op.56, for voice and piano, comprised of Wilkommen und Abschied (text by Goethe, catalogued today as D.767); An die Leier (Franz von Bruchmann, D.737); and Im Haine (also by Bruchmann, D.738).

Accompanying that set of songs is also Schubert’s op.57, again for voice and piano: Der Schmetterling (text by Friedrich Schlegel, D.633); Die Berge (Heinrich Hölty, D.634); and the third version of An den Mond (Friedrich Schiller, D.193). An den Mond is here performed by tenor Ian Bostridge, with Julius Drake on piano:

Franz Liszt gives the first of six concerts this month in the city of Marseilles.