BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Thursday, August 24, 1826
Beethoven makes some morbid memoranda in his conversation book, indicating a depressed state of mind:
- sand —
Scarlet fever catarrhal inflammation
On the death of the deceased Beethoven
[Birthe Kibsgaard suggests that these may be possible excuses or explanations in the event Beethoven is interrogated about Karl’s suicide attempt; he is no doubt troubled, shocked, and frightened, and dreads that he will be blamed for it — certainly Karl is ready to place the blame at his uncle’s door.]
Unpaid assistant Karl Holz visits, after having stopped by the general hospital to check on Nephew Karl’s condition. Beethoven asks whether Karl might be able to go to the country with him. “It is true that he is out of danger, however, the wound is so substantial that it cannot be decided yet whether he will recover so soon.” Ludwig worries that Karl might have to spend time in jail, since attempted suicide is a crime. Holz thinks it might not be the worst thing for Karl. “If he is locked up for a while, then he will truly be happy about his freedom and life as soon as he is released.”
Beethoven objects that Karl was determined to kill himself. “In that moment, surely,” Holz responds. “but he came to his senses.” Beethoven mourns the shame that Karl has brought onto them. Holz rather grimly jokes, “Everyone says, if he had not missed the mark!”
Talk turns to dinner; they are having a meat dish along with cucumber salad. The housekeeper (apparently still Marie Stiegel, since Beethoven has had no opportunity to find a replacement) has many of the characteristics of Barbara Holzmann, the “old woman,” Holz opines. Holz prefers the rear part of the animal, since it is juicier than the front part.
After dinner, Holz says he has to take his leave since he has to go into the City. He mentions Franz Gross, administrator of the Imperial Paper Mill in Ranndersdorf. Holz thinks Beethoven might remember Gross’s father. “Wolfmayer once invited him to the Hirsch [Zum braunen Hirschen restaurant] with you, because he wanted to see you.”
What to do about a successor guardian? Perhaps Holz would take it on? Holz insists that he would gladly do anything for Karl’s best interests, but suggests that he is too young for Karl to respect him. “I only fear that I shall not be able to oppose him enough. Even though I have become old enough to gain experience about such young peoples’ activities. I know them, because I have often experienced it during my years of study.” Beethoven appears to complain about Karl’s association with his friend Joseph Niemetz. Holz acknowledges, “It is often hard to believe the knots of cunning and scheming which these persons can become tangled into.”
Mathias Artaria needs the score to the quartet op.130 corrected before he can publish it. “I said that it was his business; but when the parts are correct, he will have to have the score revised accordingly.” What is the next step, an impatient Beethoven asks. The news is not good: “Now the quartet will be sent to Pleyel in Paris; he also sold it to them; until it is engraved there and published at the same time as the Viennese edition, and that will presumably be another 5 months.” Beethoven remarks that he mainly remembers Ignaz Pleyel (1757-1831) as a composer. Holz agrees that “In his time, he had more admirers than Haydn.” But his son Joseph Pleyel has nothing going for himself other than George Onslow, Holz notes. [Holz in this instance is correct. In 1834 young Pleyel will shut down the publishing business to concentrate on piano building.]
Beethoven asks about the rehearsal letters that Artaria had requested for the Grosse Fuge. Holz says he has written them in, 13 passages.
They can issue the receipt now for Prince Kinsky’s part of the pension, though the fact Beethoven is still alive needs to be certified by the pastor before it is turned in and the money collected. Possibly remarking on the lack of progress in getting the annuity payments all on the same date, Holz says, “There is a lot of empty straw being threshed there.”
Still thinking about the guardianship, Beethoven asks how old Holz is as he leaves. He has just turned 27.
Later at a coffee house, Beethoven makes a note that there is a wax candle factory at the Wäringer Linie.
Conversation Book 118, 26r-29v.
On or about today, Johann Andreas Stumpff writes to Beethoven in the volume of Handel’s Messiah: “Herr Luis van Beethoven is requested to accept most kindly this well-known and complete edition of Handel’s Works in 40 volumes, as a token of great esteem and deep veneration from J.A. Stumpff.”
Albrecht Letter 435; translation by Theodore Albrecht. The text is derived from Friedrich Chrysander, “Beethoven’s Verbindung mit Birchall und Stumpff in London,” Jahrbücher für musikalilsche Wissenschaft 1 (1863), 429-452, at p.449. Chrysander noted that Stumpff, who was not a rich man, bought the copy of Handel’s works from Christopher Lonsdale, paying for it partly with money and partly with a harp. Stumpff’s diary for this date states: “London, August 24, 1826. My nephew Heinrich Stumpff left me to return to his father, and travelled on a Hamburg ship named the Thetis, under Captain J. Rutherford. He took two chests with him: one contained his possessions and clothes, and the other the Works of Handel in 40 volumes, sent to the greatest living composer Luis van Beethoven as a gift designated for him, and to be delivered to him in Vienna through the piano maker Herr Streicher there. Heinrich will find an opportunity to send it to Vienna and pay all fees. I wrote the following words in the score of Messiah [the dedicatory letter above]. The collection cost £45.” Chrysander at 449. The precious gift does not arrive at the Schwarzspanierhaus until December of 1826.