BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Thursday, June 22, 1820

Conversation Book 14, leaves 55r through 55v

Housing is on Beethoven’s mind today. While reading the June 21 Intelligenzblatt advertising supplement in a cafe or winehouse, he notes there is a house for sale on the marketplace in Guntramsdorf, about 3 miles south of Mödling. Owning country in the property is a continuing theme for the composer lately, and he will revisit the idea of living in Guntram later this summer.

He also again notes an apartment for the fall at Mölkerbastei 95, which is available at Michaelmas (September 29, 1820). Beethoven makes note of this same apartment several times during the summer of 1820, including earlier on June 7 and 9 (although he sometimes incorrectly notes the number as 93 instead of 95; Beethoven was never good with numbers). The Mölkerbastei was an elevated spot along the City walls, near the Pasqualati Haus, where Beethoven lived from 1804-1808 and again 1810-1814, so he knew the neighborhood well.