BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Tuesday, June 21, 1825

Prince Nikolai Galitzin writes in French to Beethoven today from St. Petersburg, Russia. Instead of going through the mails, Galitzin is entrusting his letter to Alexander Thal, the son of one of the leading merchants, currently residing in Vienna, since the young man would like to make Beethoven’s acquaintance. “I would very much like to be in his place, for I aspire to the happiness of making your acquaintance personally.”

“Yesterday, I received your last letter of June 4th, while we were performing your new quartet. I can say in perfection, for it was Monsieur [Karol] Lipinski [(1790-1861, Polish violinist] who played the first violin. Your letter could not have come at a more opportune time, but its contents have caused us all great pain. I hope, however, that your illness has passed with the return of the fine weather. I impatiently await your reply to the letter I wrote to you eight days ago regarding a dispute between musicians in the capital. [Regarding whether a particular note in the viola part of the second movement of op.127 should be a D-flat or a C.]”

“I will immediately send you the 460 silver florins that are due to you. I am only too happy to be able to contribute something to the improvement of your position.”

“Yours faithfully, N. Galitzin.”

The Prince adds in a postscript, “I have subscribed to Schott in Mainz for the Mass, the [Ninth] Symphony and the [Consecration of the House] Overture. You can send me these last two pieces if they are already copied and you do not need them; otherwise, I will wait until these works are printed.”

Brandenburg Letter 1997; Albrecht Letter 411. The letter will be delivered when Thal visits Beethoven, around July 24, 1825. However, by then Beethoven will have already responded to the first letter on July 8th. The 450 florins was the amount outstanding for the last two of the three quartets Galitzin had commissioned, which turned out to be op.132 and op.130, plus an additional 10 florins to cover the amounts the Heniksten bankers had deducted for exchange of Galitzin’s rubles for Viennese florin