BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Thursday, October 13, 1824 (approximately)

Beethoven appears to be in Baden, reading yesterday’s newspapers from Vienna in a coffee house. An amusingly titled cookbook catches his eye, and he makes note of it and the fact it’s available at Grund’s book shop on Stephansplatz. The book is Was kochen wir heute? Was Morgen? Vollständigtes Kochbuch [What are We Cooking Today? What Tomorrow? Complete Cookbook] for 1 florin C.M. He also notes down that it is relatively new, as it was printed last year, in 1823.

Conversation Book 77, 7r.

In today’s Wiener Zeitung (Nr.236) at 989, S.A. Steiner & Co. advertises a number of new compositions, including a “Pot-pourri pour le Pianoforte Nr.5, sur des thémes de Mozart, Beethoven, Pär, etc.” for the price of 1 florin 15 kreutzers. No other name is attached to this amalgamation of compositions, and we have been unable to locate a copy to determine what Beethoven work was borrowed for it. We can be confident, however, that Beethoven was not paid for it, whatever it was.