BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Tuesday, July 26, 1825 (very approximately).

Beethoven appears to write an undated letter to Nephew Karl sometime roughly around now. “Dear son! Follow your guide and father; flee from everything that can enervate your youthful strength. Blessed is he who suppresses his passions and then, with his energy, accomplishes all the affairs of life, unconcerned about success. Let the motive be in the deed itself, and not the outcome.”

“Do not let your life pass by in inactivity. Be busy, fulfill your duty. — I expect you on Sundays. The mean old cook [housekeeper Barbara Holzmann] must go, it’s too bad. Farewell. As always, your faithful father.”

Brandenburg Letter 2020. The original is not known to exist. The text is derived from a copy supposedly in the estate of Emerich Kastner, published in Blätter de Staatsoper [Berlin] (issue 2 of December 17, 1920, pp.13ff.) Sieghard Brandenburg was not convinced of the authenticity of this claimed letter. The first two sentences after the salutation appear verbatim in a letter of July 18, 1825, and also in another of August 4, 1825. If genuine, the letter likely comes from about this time period.

In today’s Wiener Zeitung (Nr.168) Sauer & Leidesdorf once again at 716 advertises their “Variations favorites pour le Pianoforte à 4 mains,” which is an anonymous arrangement of the third movement Allegretto con Variazioni from Beethoven’s Violin Sonata op.30/1 for piano duet.

Some time about now (but after July 21) Beethoven writes an undated letter to Archduke Rudolph sometime in late July of 1825, possibly today, July 21, or not long afterwards. “Your Imperial Highness! I had just read about your arrival in Vienna and wanted to write right away to express my joy to Y.I.H. I have thought of this a thousand times in my mind. I don’t like to trust the post with letters to the castle, as I have experienced several times that they haven’t arrived at all. I was therefore waiting for the arrival of one of my friends here to make certain that my letter would arrive safely in Vienna.”

“It is with sadness, and the greatest sympathy, that I learn about Y.I.H. feeling ill. Hopefully, it will soon pass, but whether the air in Vienna will now improve Y.I.H.’s state of health, I doubt. If I had an apartment in the City, I would have gone to the City immediately to see Y.I.H. to pay my respects. Unfortunately, my health suffered a severe blow earlier due to an intestinal inflammation, which brought me almost to the gates of death. However, things are better now, although I am not yet completely recovered — sadly, a certain level of human education must also pay its tribute to the weakness of nature.”

“I will write tomorrow or the day after tomorrow and take the liberty of telling Y.I.H. what would be best if he wished to spend a few hours of music with me again.”

“May everything that heaven sends down that is beneficial prosper for Y.I.H.”

“Y.I.H., with most heartfelt sympathy, your most obedient and faithful servant, Beethoven.”

Brandenburg Letter 2021, Anderson Letter 493 (Anderson dated the letter as possibly belonging to Sept 1814). The original autograph is held in a private collection. The letter is not dated, but it bears the watermarks of paper Beethoven used from the summer of 1825 to the summer of 1826. The July 20, 1825 Wiener Zeitung had reported on the Archduke’s return to Vienna two days earlier. Beethoven would have seen that newspaper in Baden at the earliest on the next day, July 21. Based on Beethoven’s excuse about the unreliable mails, there may be a delay of some days in writing this letter that he feels he needs to explain away, so this letter might be written as late as early August. Beethoven appears to have received a letter from the Archduke at some point, indicating that Rudolph has been in poor health. Beethoven actually had the use of Brother Johann’s apartment, though he did not like it, and also seems to have kept the small apartment on the Krugersstrasse over the summer, so he is not being entirely honest with the Archduke here. In any event, so far as is known, the Archduke never received another music lesson from Beethoven.