BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Tuesday, August 15, 1826
Beethoven starts a shopping list:
- candles
Former unpaid assistant Anton Schindler comes to call. Schindler always liked creating rifts between Beethoven and his family members, and he has plenty to say about Nephew Karl: “Some gentlemen from the Polytechnic Institute have assured me that they have warned him several times that he ought to change his life; he owed that to God who had given him these wonderful talents, and to you, his second father, who sacrifices himself completely for him. He only answered them indifferently and said, Oh my uncle, I can do with him what I want, some flattery, some friendly gestures, make things all right again right away.”
“These gentlemen used the opportunity to warn him because they always saw him gambling in coffee houses with coachmen and nothing but riffraff, with whom he frequently did not gamble honestly. That is what these gentlemen said. What kinds of signs are these?”
Unpaid assistant Karl Holz, whom Schindler despises, joins the group. He has just come from the hospital where he talked to the nurse. “He was sleeping, and I cannot speak to him until tomorrow. Karl did not notice that I was there. But the nurse secretly told me how she often heard the mother and Karl talking to each other about their new projects when they will both be together. Several days ago, Karl asked the chief surgeon for permission to go into the yard. This was rejected, because he had been brought here by the police.”
“Incidentally, there is nothing to be feared about his safety now, for when he has recovered, he will be taken to the office, deleted from the records, and handed over to the police servant, who has already been ordered to take him in a wagon to the judicial investigation. Anyway, I’ll learn more about this tomorrow from the chief surgeon [Johann] Gassner. The nurse also said about [Joseph] Niemetz that he must have committed all sorts of disreputable pranks together with Karl, as it was easy to deduce from his improper language. I told her that she must not let Karl know about this. Rather she must tell me in confidence if she hears things like that, and she would be rewarded for it.”
Holz saw Niemetz briefly at the hospital entrance: “When I was going into the hospital, he ran into me and measured me with his eyes. He did not tip his hat, though, and went past me.”
Beethoven shows the pair a draft letter to Karl. Both of them think it would be a bad idea to send it. The tone is not cold enough, Holz says. This will not intimidate him, and cannot make him believe that his uncle does not accept his actions. “Do not worry about his physical recovery; he is out of danger.”
Schindler (with experience from working in a law office for several years) adds that Karl will be told in the hospital that he will later have to appear in court. But it would not be good for him to know about that now. Holz adds that at that time Karl should be shown that Uncle Ludwig is not weak.
Schindler intends to go to Purkersdorf tomorrow. He will stay there for 8 days, and then afterwards he would like to go to Baden or Mödling for two weeks.
Holz adds that Reisser, the vice-director of the Polytechnic and Karl’s co-guardian, “often said that Beethoven worries too much about his nephew. He should not ask so many questions. If Reisser says so, who did hear it, after all, who else would reproach you for not having done all you could?”
Schindler asks whether Beethoven has chosen yet where he is going to live in the countryside. “If you want to stay nearby, the bath in Meidling is also recommendable. It has also been prescribed for me, and I will visit it from Purkersdorf almost every day.”
Beethoven asks whether they believe Karl is really out of danger. Schindler assures him, “There is no doubt about that. Otherwise it would have to be assumed that the brain has been damaged, and if that had happened, there would be no more life.”
Schindler cannot resist a little theater gossip in the middle of these serious discussions. The Mannheim Theater was not very productive, because it had been poorly endowed by the Grand Duke.
Holz says that among Karl’s papers, his letter to Johann [unfortunately also not preserved] was found.
Schindler concludes by passing on a message from Anton Diabelli, probably concerning the string quintet that he has requested from Beethoven. Diabelli [who Schindler calls Diabolus] is asking for a written answer as to whether Beethoven is satisfied with the conditions; an oral assurance from an intermediary is not sufficient for him. Schindler thinks that piece is something Beethoven could easily do.
Conversation Book 118, 10r-16r.