BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Tuesday, February 1, 1825
On his morning walk, Beethoven stops at a coffee house. He will be having dinner later today with Joseph Bernard, and knowing how much Bernard likes to talk, Ludwig probably wants to make sure he gets his customary afternoon newspaper reading in this morning. As he does so, he makes a note that the statutory price of beef is 17 1/2 kreutzers W.W. per pound. He also makes a shopping and errand list:
Copying 10 and half sheet, for 24 kr.
List of mistakes.
+Opedelok [a rubbing salve for rheumatism, indicating that Beethoven’s joints were aching this winter. He also complains about rheumatic swelling in his feet.]
Back at Beethoven’s apartment, Nephew Karl makes some arithmetical calculations, then reminds his uncle that the maid’s 14 day period will be up a week from today. They are having pork for dinner. Ludwig would like to go to the beer house. Karl asks whether he wants to do that right away after dinner. The wine is warm.
They adjourn to a beer house with Brother Johann. The ever-stingy Johann is impressed that the whole bill there amounts to only one florin. Some people had come by Beethoven’s apartment earlier while Ludwig was out. Johann thinks that they were from Heniksten’s, on behalf of Galitzin. They want the Quartet [op.127.] They would like it by tomorrow, mid-day.
Johann observes that tomorrow is Candlemas. Carneval will come to an end in 8 days. [Johann is wrong on the latter point; Fat Tuesday falls on February 15, in two weeks.] There is a very fine Lutheran ball tomorrow. If Ludwig permits, Johann will take Karl to it, since it is reasonable that he go there at least once. Even Johann doesn’t go there very often. Ludwig asks where the ball is being held. The small Redoutensaal, Johann says. He bought 2 tickets for a total of 8 florins. Ludwig is fine with this proposal.
Ludwig appears to be treating some ailment [Prof. Albrecht suggests a toothache, or possibly a corn.] Brother Johann suggests that he rinse it often with cold water.
Johann says that at Fries, they will want to see the work [the quartet op.127] and will forward it to Schott themselves. Ludwig will need to write them a letter regarding the proprietary rights to the work.
Karl (possibly writing for Johann) says they will deliver the works in the afternoon. Johann notes because tomorrow is a holiday, it needs to be done today.
Karl observes that on Sunday, February 6, violinist Ignaz Schuppanzigh and his quartet will be performing Ludwig’s quartet dedicated to Zmeskall [op.95.]
Back at the apartment, Beethoven makes a note to himself that on Czerny’s piano arrangements of the Consecration of the House Overture, there should be a reference to the Josephstadt Theater, the reopening of which was the occasion for the overture to be written. [When Schott publishes these arrangements for piano solo and duet, there is no mention of the Josephstadt Theater.]
Ludwig and Karl meet Wiener Zeitung editor Joseph Bernard for mid-day dinner, probably at a restaurant. He is full of gossip about music and political figures, and proud discussion of his house (which is actually his wife’s house). Karl notes with amusement that Bernard mistook the little wig that Brother Johann was wearing for his real hair.
Bernard notes that in Bremen, the newspaper announced that Beethoven was composing the oratorio Der Sieg des Kreuzes [for which Bernard had written the libretto], and that they hoped to perform the work there. In Bremen there is a group of Beethoven admirers who celebrate his birthday annually. [That would include Wilhelm Christian Müller and his daughter Elise, who had visited Beethoven several times in the fall of 1820.]
Beethoven mentions that Schuppanzigh wants one-third of the income to make arrangements for a new set of Akademie benefit concerts. Bernard laughs and says he remembers when Count Palffy made the same proposal for a third of the income, Beethoven told him “To me, you are a miserable Excellency.”
The dinner is quite long, and it is apparent that Beethoven could hear nothing of what Bernard said, so the entire conversation is set out laboriously.
Afterwards, Karl notes there is a ball without masks in the Redoutensaal, where only the very select may enter, whose names are all noted down earlier. There is no box office. Ludwig asks whether they are all going to the Lutheran ball that Johann was mentioning earlier. Karl says no, he only has two tickets, which cost 4 florins each.
While they were out, someone came by the apartment to talk to Ludwig, but only the maid was there. They asked when they should return, and she said he was usually at home the whole morning. Karl expects they will come tomorrow.
Conversation Book 83, 28r-39r, 44v. The entries on 44v are written sideways, and seem to date earlier than their position would indicate.
Charles Neate responds from London to Beethoven’s letter of January 15, requesting an additional 100 guineas to cover the expenses of a trip to England, on top of the 300 the Philharmonic Society there had offered. “My dear Beethoven!”
“Having communicated the contents of your letter to the directors of the Philharmonic Society, I am very sorry to inform you that it is not possible to modify the first proposal that they made, offering you the 300 guineas. If it were dependent on me alone, I would be very glad to offer you the sum you desire, but the directors en masse must submit to the bylaws that govern the society, and consequently they are not in all cases the masters of their own actions. I flatter myself with the hope that these reasons will induce you to accept our proposal, and that you will set out on your journey as soon as possible. I am sure that you will certainly find it profitable, and will be perfectly satisfied with your stay in England. Now, it will of course no longer be possible for you to attend the first concert, but the directors will be waiting impatiently for you to come to the second, which will take place at the beginning of March.”
“I advise you to stay at the Inn de la Salonnière in Leycester Square. It is a French house, which is often visited by foreigners.”
“In any case, write to me, I beg you, by the next post, and let me know when you think you will arrive here, so that I may have the pleasure of meeting you. The symphony is flawless and is to be repeated this evening. [This would be the second rehearsal of the Ninth by the London Philharmonic, which first tried it out on January 17. There will be one more rehearsal of the work after that, before the London premiere.] God bless, my friend, in the hopes that I may see you soon. I ask you to consider me as one of your most ardent admirers and as ever your sincere friend. C. Neate.”
Neate adds as a postscript: “If you should unfortunately decide not to come, I hope that you will not fail to write to me from time to time, and that you will always turn to me so long as you have any connection with our country, with the assurance that there is no one in the world with whom you could better preserve your trust and sincere friendship.”
Brandenburg Letter 1930; Albrecht Letter 393. The original is not known to exist; a German translation (possibly by Karl, who similarly translated Neate’s first letter into German for his uncle) is part of the Fischhof Manuscript in the Berlin Staatsbibliothek (Mus. ms. theor. 285, fol.19r). The first concert of the London Philharmonic’s 1825 season is set for February 21, 1825, and clearly Beethoven could not get to England by then; the second concert, which Neate hoped Beethoven would attend, is scheduled for March 7.
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