BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Tuesday, June 13, 1820

Conversation Book 14, leaves 27r through 28r.

In the afternoon, Beethoven is reading the Vienna newspapers (the Wiener Zeitung and its classified advertisement supplement, the Intelligenzblatt) of Monday June 12, at a coffeehouse and notes various advertisements of interest. Beethoven must have returned to Mödling no later than Monday morning; otherwise he would have read these papers in Vienna on Monday. One of these papers includes advertisements for housekeepers, including one who would work for just room and board, which no doubt appealed to the money-conscious composer.

He also makes note of a German translation of Allatson Burgh’s Anecdotes of Music: Historical and Biographical. The German edition was much abridged (reducing the original from over 1400 pages to only 220), but it retained Burgh’s discussions of Handel. Being a devotee of Handel for at least 25 years at this point, Beethoven surely would be interested.

Beethoven also notes several other books: Materials for the First Lesson in Declamation (possibly for Karl), a book on beekeeping, and The Perfect Flower Gardener. The thought of acquiring a country estate in the area is still running through his mind.