BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Thursday, June 9, 1825

At a coffee house this afternoon, Beethoven reads yesterday’s newspapers. He makes note of a palace building in Guntramsdorf for rent, furnished or unfurnished. Beethoven makes a note to himself that he wrote to Schott’s in Mainz on June 8th. He continues with an errand list:

• Take the Pension sheet at Haslinger’s.
• To the locksmith, concerning the hearing machine. [Most likely Matthäus Stein’s appliance for the Broadwood piano to allow Beethoven to hear it.]
• Sealing wax.
  To Reisser is the best [see the letter to Karl that follows]. Herr Brother describes the Guardian’s certificate as to be used only for this purpose.
  Frau v. Enzelberg. [The widow of Count Franz Joseph von Enzenberg, most likely.]
• Baths, previously from the sulfur baths.
• Karl: Foot slippers.
  Cashmere underpants.
  Trousers.
• Karl: Towels.

Conversation Book 90, 41v-42r, 1r. There are no more conversation book entries until Karl arrives on Saturday, June 11th.

Beethoven writes a letter from Baden to Nephew Karl in Vienna, dated today. “I wish at least that you would come here on Saturday; I ask for an answer in vain. — God be with me and with you. As always, your faithful father.”

Beethoven then continues in a postscript much longer than the actual brief letter. “I wrote to H. v. Reissig [sic; Polytechnic vice director Franz Michael Reisser is meant] asking that you come here on Saturday. The carriage leaves Vienna at 6 a.m., specifically from the Kugel on the Wieden. So you only have to do some work or study in advance, and you won’t lose anything. I’m sorry to have to cause you these pains. In the afternoon, you will travel from here back to Vienna at 5 p.m. in the same carriage. It is already paid in advance; you can shave here in the morning and you have a scarf and shirt here too, so you can arrive here on time. Farewell; even if I’m sullen with you, it’s not without reason, and I wouldn’t have spent so much on behalf of any ordinary person in the world. I certainly hope to see you.”

“By the way, if the intrigues have already matured, explain yourself openly and naturally, and you will find someone who always remains consistently ready to further a good cause.”

“The apartment was advertised in the newspaper again on Tuesday. If you couldn’t have done anything else, at least had someone else write, if you were perhaps unwell — I would rather not have to think anything else was going on. You know how I live here, especially in this cold weather. The constant solitude only weakens me more, for my weakness often borders on powerlessness. Oh, don’t offend me any more, for the Grim Reaper won’t give me such a long respite anyway.”

“If a good apartment could be found for me in the Alleegasse [the street where Karl is living], I would also take it.”

Brandenburg Letter 1988; Anderson Letter 1386. The original’s whereabouts are unknown; the text is taken from TDR V, p.529f, based on the copy Thayer made. At that time, it was in the possession of August Artaria in Vienna. Oddly, the departure times for the carriages do not match those in the advertisement Beethoven copied down yesterday from the newspaper (5:30 a.m. and 4 p.m.). The reference to the apartment on Tuesday may relate to the person in charge at the Schwarzspanierhaus saying she could only hold the apartment for a couple days, and Ludwig did not get back to her in time. He is still looking for an apartment for the fall after this. Exactly what prompted Uncle Ludwig’s demand that Karl return and explain himself is unclear, though most likely it related to Ludwig’s usual suspicions that Karl was seeing his mother Johanna. The referenced letter to Franz Michael Reisser is not known to survive, but this probably relates to the letter that Beethoven planned to write in his errand list.

Today, Beethoven’s former student Ferdinand Ries, having returned home to Godesberg, writes to him with the news about the music festival at which he conducted in late May, including a performance of the Ninth Symphony. “My dearest Beethoven … I tell you with the greatest pleasure that your new symphony was performed with extraordinary precision and was received with the greatest applause. It was a hard nut to crack, and on the last day, I rehearsed the finale alone for three hours. I, in particular, and everyone else, was sufficiently rewarded by the performance. It is a work that cannot be compared to any other. If you hadn’t written anything other than this, you still would have made yourself immortal. Where will you lead us?”

“Since you will be interested to hear more about the performance, I will briefly describe it to you. The orchestra and chorus consisted of 422 people, and many excellent persons among them. The first day began with a new symphony of mine, and afterwards, the Alexander’s Feast by Haendl. The second day began with your new symphony, after which Davide penitente by Mozart, the Overture to The Magic Flute, and Christus am Oelberg. — The audience’s applause was almost nonstop. I had been in Aachen since May 3rd for rehearsals, and I can testify as to the satisfied and enthusiastic applause of the audience. I was called out after the performance, whereupon a lady (she was also beautiful) recited a poem, which was presented along with a laurel crown; at the same time, a poem and a shower of flowers followed from the upper loges. Everyone was happy and content, and they confessed to me that this was the most beautiful of the seven Whitsun festivals that they have had so far.”

“I am infinitely sorry that your other musical items arrived too late to make use of them — it was impossible. I am sending you, my dear friend, a bill of exchange for 40 Louis d’or, drawn on Hippenmayer & Co. in Vienna, as agreed, and I ask you to confirm receipt as soon as possible, so I can get everything straightened out with Aachen.”

“I’m glad you didn’t accept the engagement to go to England. If you do want to go, you have to prepare for it–so you can be properly compensated for it. Rossini received 2,500 pounds sterling from the theater alone. If the English want you to do something extraordinary, they will have to unite on all sides to make it be worth your while. [The Philharmonic Society had offered only 300 guineas to Beethoven, and then balked at his request for an additional 100 guineas to cover the cost of a traveling companion due to his deafness.] You won’t lack for applause and tributes there, but you’ve probably had enough of those throughout your life.”

“Live very happily, dear Beethoven. Forever yours, Ferdinand Ries.”

Brandenburg Letter 1987; Albrecht Letter 409. The original letter is not known to exist, but there is a copy in the Fischhof manuscript, Berlin Staatsbibliothek (mus. ms. theor. 285, f.19v-20v.) Ries wisely did not tell Beethoven that they did not perform the Scherzo to the Ninth Symphony. Beethoven had sent many other pieces to Ries that unfortunately arrived too late to be used at the Festival: the March and Chorus from The Ruins of Athens op.114; the Name Day Overture op.115; Tremate, empi, tremate op.116; Opferlied op.121b; the Kyrie and Gloria from the Missa Solemnis op.123; and the Consecration of the House Overture, op.124.