BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Thursday, December 28, 1820

Today’s Wiener Zeitung (nr. 295), gives what seems to be the first in-depth account of the reactionary conclusions of the Congress of Troppau, and what that means for the rebels in Naples. Beethoven, who no doubt has been following the Archduke’s activities in Troppau as they are reported in the newspaper, surely was not pleased at the heavy-handedness that is likely to fall upon those struggling for liberty in Italy. We have earlier this summer seen Beethoven’s friend Joseph Bernard opine that sending troops to put down the rebellion there is likely to end badly.

If the prognostications of yesterday’s Wiener Zeitung newspaper were correct, the Emperor returns to the City of Vienna late in the evening today. Archduke Rudolph may already be back in the City. The Wiener Zeitung contains no mention of the Archduke for some months afterwards.