BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Thursday, June 26, 1823

Shortly after June 25, 1823, and probably today, Beethoven writes to unpaid assistant Anton Schindler from Hetzendorf. He is quite furious about Franz Schoberlechner’s request for six letters of recommendation. “It must be clear to you that I don’t want to have anything to do with this matter. Please don’t speak of me any more than is absolutely necessary.” Schindler noted in a commentary on the letter that Schoberlechner was not personally known to Beethoven, nor did the composer know anything about him other than he did the kind of bravura playing that Beethoven found distasteful.

Brandenburg Letter 1680, Anderson Letter 1194. The original is in the Berlin Staatsbibliothek (aut. 36,33).

On this date, Hans Heinrich von Könneritz, general director of the Dresden Court Theaters writes to Beethoven about the performances of the opera Fidelio there this spring. He is pleased to report that it was met with decided applause. He is also pleased to forward Beethoven’s 40 ducats for the score. He asks that the receipt be returned to the box office in Dresden.

Brandenburg Letter 1681, Albrecht Letter 325. The location of the original is unknown; the text is from Moritz Fürstenau in the AMZ, Neue Folge, 1 (1863), p.618. Fürstenau’s source was the Court Theater records in Dresden. The opera had been performed with Carl Maria von Weber conducting on April 29, 1823, and was repeated several times. Beethoven returns the receipt on July 17.

In the third in their series of subscription concerts, the Schuppanzigh Quartet performs works by by Haydn (his last quartet, in F major, op.77/2, Hob. III/82) and Mozart (Quartet #1 in G, K.80). The Mozart quartet had to be repeated by popular demand. The concert concluded with Beethoven’s Grand Quintet in C major, op.29 (1801), with another of Beethoven’s friends, Ferdinand von Piringer, sitting in on second viola. Piringer had conducted the most recent season of the Concerts spirituel on behalf of the late Franz Gebauer, as well as Schuppanzigh’s Academy concert of May 4th.

Leipzig Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung for July 30, 1823 (Nr.31) at col. 501. The account of the concert in the Vienna Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung for July 12, Nr.56 at 447 singles out Piringer for “playing with extraordinary precision.”

The Hába Quartet, with Philipp Nickel on additional viola, performs the Quintet op.29 in the Sendesaal Frankfurt, December 6, 2020:

Cappi & Diabelli repeats their advertisement of the 33 Variations on a Waltz for Piano, composed by L. van Beethoven, op.120, available for the tidy sum of 5 fl. 30kr. W.W. Sometime about now, Cappi & Diabelli also issues their corrected edition of op.111. Beethoven is still not happy with this version, though.

Yannick van de Velde here performs the Diabelli Variations, June 24, 2019: