BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Tuesday, August 9, 1825 (approximately)
Beethoven writes an undated letter from Baden to Nephew Karl relating to Schott’s publishing his jocular biography of Tobias Haslinger, probably sometime between August 4 and 10, 1825. “Dear little rascal! This very evening I received your letter, and how I have to laugh. It is not right that the folks in Mainz should have done such a thing, but since it is a single occurrence, it doesn’t do any harm. Our age needs strong minds to scourge these petty, insidious, miserable scoundrels of human souls. +As much as my heart rebels against hurting a person, it was just a joke and not at all my intention to have such a thing printed.+ You should immediately ask the magistrate about the form regarding the change of the chamber obligations into Rothschild bonds, so as to no longer be subject to the magistrate (superior guardianship).” [Contributor Birthe Kibsgaard points out that the parenthetical phrase may be wordplay by Beethoven, since the German includes “Hinterschaft” which could also mean “bottom.”]
“Be well behaved, be good. Here you have an example of how everyone rejoices when human virtues of such people are properly rewarded. Be my dear, only son, imitate my virtues without my faults. However, since man is bound to fall short, your true self has worse faults than I. Your embracing, faithful father.”
Beethoven adds a postscript: “Regarding Sunday’s conversation, write to me as well. It’s from the court–courtly stuff–where one must stand by in reserve. Holz didn’t arrive today, if he can only be trusted.
Brandenburg Letter 2026; Anderson Letter 1329. The original is in the Krakow Biblioteka Jagiellonska (Mus. ep. autogr. Beethoven 29.) This letter ties into the August 4 letter discussing the conversion of the chamber bonds into ones issued by Rothschild, so it is probably written not long after. Holz had said he would try to deliver the copies of the quartet on Monday August 8, so the postscript may well refer to that date. But since Beethoven says “Sunday’s conversation,” rather than “yesterday’s conversation, it seems unlikely that he is writing on Monday, and in any event he was in Vienna himself yesterday, as shown by the letter to Müller. The first paragraph relates to the publication of the fanciful biography of Tobias Haslinger that Beethoven had written, and which Schott’s had published in their Cäcilia magazine without checking with Haslinger to get his permission as Beethoven had (somewhat unclearly) instructed. Beethoven had written that in January and it was most likely published in the spring, so some fresh controversy regarding the story must have erupted in the meantime.
Sometime about now, but between August 7 and 12, Beethoven fills leaf 44v of Conversation Book 91 with music in 3/2 time, written in soft pencil. This may be an unused idea for the quartet op.130. The German conversation book editors tentatively identified this as belonging to op.132, but since that quartet is essentially finished by now, that seems improbable. This page is reproduced here, courtesy of the Berlin Staatsbibliothek, in the original, and also a version with the contrast enhanced for increased legibility.
