BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Thursday, September 28, 1826

Things are as usual in a tizzy at the Beethoven household as Beethoven prepares to move to his brother’s estate in Gneixendorf, planning to be there for about 8 days. Several letters need to be written first. Brother Johann had wanted to leave by 5 in the morning, but the letter to the King of Prussia, Friedrich Wilhelm III needs to be put into final form, and written out by Karl. That dedicatory letter to the king is as follows:

“Your Majesty!”

“It is a great joy in my life that Your Majesty has graciously allowed me to humbly dedicate to you the present work.”

“Your majesty is not only the father of your most gracious subjects, but also the protector of the arts and sciences: how much more must I therefore be pleased by your most gracious permission, since I myself am so fortunate, as a citizen of Bonn, to count myself among your subjects.”

“I beg your Majesty to most graciously accept this work as a small token of the high esteem I most graciously pay to your virtues.”

“Your Majesty’s most humble and obedient Ludwig van Beethoven.”

Brandenburg Letter 2214; Anderson Letter D 6. The letter is not known to survive; the text is taken from Ludwig Nohl’s edition of Beethoven’s letters, Nr.381. The letter was probably taken by one of the servants to Haslinger, to be given to the Prussian Court Librarian Dr. Spiker and taken to Berlin.

Karl also writes the final version of the letter to Schott’s, though he mistakenly uses tomorrow’s date, September 29, which is impossible. “As I am about to leave for the country, I hastily inform you that you will soon receive the metronome markings for the [Ninth] Symphony.”

“You will hopefully already have the Quartet in C-sharp minor [op.131.] Do not be alarmed by the four sharps. The work will soon be given here for the benefit of an artist.”

“Finally, I must ask you to expedite the necessary arrangements for the publication of my complete works. I cannot conceal from you that if I did not hold so firmly to my promises, you could easily be disadvantaged by suggestions made to me on this subject by other publishers. Hoping to hear from you about this very soon.”

“Yours sincerely, Beethoven.”

Beethoven adds a postscript: “P.S. I must also point out that in the second movement of the Symphony, after the last bar of the Maggiore [Beethoven quotes the 1st violin part, as he did in the conversation book yesterday] the D.S. is omitted.” [Beethoven had already noted this error in his September 16 letter to Schott’s.]

Brandenburg Letter 2215; Anderson Letter 1531. According to the registration marking, Schott’s received the letter on Thursday, October 5.The benefit concert mentioned is presumably for violinist Ignaz Schuppanzigh, though whether such a concert ever occurred is unknown. The “other publishers” mentioned in the final paragraph of the letter is a reference to Adolph Martin Schlesinger, who had also tried to get Beethoven to issue a set of his complete works through his publishing house. The original letter is in the Mainz City Library (Hs. III 71, Nr.22), and can be seen here:

https://www.dilibri.de/dilibri_kalliope/content/titleinfo/2115414

Beethoven also has Nephew Karl write a brief letter to Maurice Schlesinger in Paris, probably today: “Today I am unable to write to you at greater length about this matter; however, should you and your father [Adolph Martin Schlesinger] wish to agree to the terms that I shall shortly propose regarding the publication of my [complete] works, it would give me pleasure to conclude the business with you.”

“Yours most devotedly, Beethoven.”

This letter is not in Brandenburg’s edition of the complete letters. According to the auction listing of the original letter, on the reverse side is a Vienna postmark, and Tobias Haslinger has signed and dated it September 29, though it probably is written on the 28th before they depart, and sent to Haslinger for forwarding to Schlesinger. Our thanks to Dr. Julia Ronge of the Bonn Beethovenhaus for bringing this letter to our attention. The letter was sold at Sotheby’s, London, May 15, 2008, Lot 9, and can be seen here:

https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2008/music-l08402/lot.9.html?locale=en

Before they depart, the landlord, Michael Mann, arranges for payment of the next year’s charges for lights for the apartment. The receipt is dated tomorrow, September 29, which is Michaelmas, the start of the renting season. The receipt reads: “Michaelmas, 1826 Apartment No.20. Herr Ludwig v. Beethoven has paid exactly 12 florins W.W. for house lighting from Michaelmas 1826 to Michaelmas 1827.” Albrecht Letter 438.

The remainder of Conversation Book 122, through October 2, 1826, covering the trip to Gneixendorf and the first few days there, was translated by the late Prof. Theodore Albrecht; his widow, Carol Padgham Albrecht, has graciously authorized us to continue using his translation, as we did with the first hundred-plus conversation books.

Brother Johann goes home to get the horses and feed them before the journey. The weather is fairly cool, and Johann suggests that they bring warm gloves. Karl tells his uncle they need to order food from the restaurant to eat on the trip. “He is coming with the carriage at 1 o’clock, and at 2, we’re setting out.” Uncle Ludwig asks where they should get food. Karl suggests at the Golden Stag, a Gasthaus about five blocks from the Schwarzspanierhaus.

At the restaurant, they order:
3 portions of soup
2 portions of beef
2 portions of vegetables
2 portions of roast veal.

They meet Johann back at the apartment, pack their things into his carriage (including Ludwig’s desk sketchbook, pocket sketchbook, and a couple conversation books), and then go back to the Golden Stag and pick up the food, leaving the City and heading north. Johann’s plan is to drive only as far as Stockerau (about 15 miles away). There is a superb restaurant there.

The trip is not pleasant; the afternoon is rainy according to the Wiener Zeitung weather reports.

They get to the Wirtshaus in Stockerau and order some food. Johann is grousing. “How can you talk to a sick person, when he is eating in a way that the food becomes like poison.” When Ludwig tries to reason with Johann, he is shut down. “I don’t want to know anything more than whether I’ll have peace and quiet.” They get lodgings, and Johann brushes the dust off the furniture in their room. The charge is 3 florins 52 kreutzers. The landlady says she can give them change.

Karl notes that someone would only have to give one copy of the quartet op.127, since he heard that Ludwig received 6 copies from Schott’s.

The plan for tomorrow is for the three of them to set out at 5 a.m., and stop to eat breakfast at Kirchberg at 7 o’clock. But breakfast will be there, not here in Stockerau, Johann clarifies. But he promises that when they have breakfast they will have some of the splendid 1811 vintage of wine, which Johann is personally acquainted with. That should get them to Johann’s estate by early afternoon tomorrow, September 29.

Ludwig asks what kind of soup they had; Karl tells him it was goose soup. [Ludwig does not like goose.] Johann tells them that the best wines in Gneixendorf cost just 20 kreutzers W.W. But he has better wine on his estate. For supper they have veal with lettuce salad, then turn in for the night since they have an early morning departure.

Conversation Book 122, 16r-17v; BH 53, p.16.