BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Thursday, March 16, 1826

According to Beethoven’s diary entries (NE 354 at the Bonn Beethovenhaus, p.2) a parcel is sent with the letter to Prince Galitzin today. “On the 16th, the courier to Petersburg with a letter to Galitzin!”

A short story concluded in today’s Wiener Zeitschrift (Nr.32), “Die letzte Liebe” [The Last Love] at 249 includes a brief mention of Beethoven. Clara, a visitor, sits down at the piano and plays one of her favorite pieces, Friedrich Himmel’s piano sonata in C major, op.16. “Aline entered, and exclaimed in a shrieking voice, “How is it possible, Clara, that you can still play such things? None of that counts any more since we have Beethoven, Weber, Hummel and Ries!’ ‘That may well be,’ responded Clara. ‘I certainly hold these artists in very high esteem and have even practiced a few of their pieces, but on the whole, their music is too difficult for me; my fingers aren’t strong enough.'”