BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Thursday, September 29, 1825

Beethoven addresses an undated letter to Prince Nikolai Galitzin about now, written by Nephew Karl in French, forwarding the score of the op.132 quartet. “Your highness! I have the honor of sending you the second Quartet, and notifying you that the third will arrive in a little while.”

“Your highness will not be angry with me when I beg you to send me the honorarium through the Heniksten banking house, because I am currently in great need.”

“I was very charmed that the first quartet gave you pleasure, and I hope you will find the same with the second.”

“Louis van Beethoven.”

Brandenburg Letter 2062; Anderson Letter 135. Anderson hypothesized that the letter was directed to Count Rasoumovsky and was written in 1806). However, it cannot be from 1806, since it is in Nephew Karl’s hand, and he was born in 1806. The address to “Your Highness” likewise cannot be to Count Rasoumovsky but rather a person of princely status, which points to Nikolai Galitzin. The “second quartet” of the three he had commissioned (op.132) was just about now copied by Wenzel Rampl and forwarded to Prince Nikolai Galitzin, and Beethoven was representing that the third quartet (op.130) was almost done, though it was months from completion. The copy of the parts by Rampl was done in late August of 1825, but probably was proofread through the several performances of the quartet in mid-September. Galitzin still had not received this letter and the copy of the parts as of January 14, 1826, though he eventually did, so the date this letter was sent might be later.