BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Tuesday, March 21, 1826
At the Musikverein, the final concert of the Schuppanzigh Quartet’s series is held as a special evening event today, featuring the premiere of Beethoven’s newest string quartet, op.130 in B-flat, in its first version, with the Grosse Fuge still serving as the Finale.
The concert opens with Haydn’s variations on folksong for Quartet. This is followed by Marie, a poem by Castelli, set to music by Weiss and sung by Herr Hoffmann. The Leipzig Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung dismissed this as “Not important.” Beethoven’s “Archduke” Trio, op.97 in B-flat, follows as the third item on the program, with Anton Halm (1789-1872) on piano, Schuppanzigh playing violin and Joseph Linke on cello. The AMZ observed that “The piano player [Halm] would have done better to let his virtuosity shine less and to remain more faithful to his task.” The fourth item on this stuffed program is Beethoven’s song Adelaide, again sung by Herr Hoffmann.
The AMZ then turned to the new quartet: “The latest quartet by Beethoven in B-flat (the third of the last group), consisting of the following movements: a. Allegro moderato; b. Presto; c. Scherzo Andantino; d. Alla danza tedesca; e. Cavatina; f. Fuga. The first, third and fifth movements are serious, dark, mystical and also at times bizarre, highly whimsical and capricious. The second and fourth are full of mischief, boldness and roguishness. The great composer, who especially in his recent works, rarely knew how to find measure and purpose, has expressed himself unusually briefly and succinctly here. The repetition of both movements was requested with thunderous applause.”
“But the critic dare not interpret the fugal finale: for him it was incomprehensible, like Chinese. When the instruments in the regions of the southern and northern pitch must contend with enormous difficulties, when each of them figures differently and they thwart each other by transitum irregularem with a multitude of dissonances, when the players, unsure of themselves, do not play completely cleanly, then the confusion of Babel is complete. Then there is a concert that will delight the Moroccans, who when they were here, did not like the accord of instruments in open fifths and the joint preludes in all keys at the same time. Perhaps so much would not have been written down if the Master could also hear his own creations.”
“But we do not want to dismiss this too quickly; perhaps the time will come when what seemed to us at first glance to be dim and confused will be recognized in clear and pleasing form.”
AMZ of May 10, 1826 (Nr.19) at 309-310.
The Wiener Zeitschrift also covered this same concert in its issue 41, dated April 6, 1826, at 327-328. The two opening works were “followed by Beethoven’s grand Trio for piano, violin and cello in B-flat major, played by Messrs. Halm, Schuppanzigh, and Linke. The performance of this great work was impeccable. Herr Halm, deeply inspired by the excellent composition, performed it in such a way that the reviewer admitted to himself that he had never before experienced its beauties so intensely. Herr Halm combined in his witty performance his great mastery of melody and technique in general, and was able to convey the gentlest emotions to the listener. The enthusiastic applause rewarded the soulful rendition of this outstanding artist, who was superbly supported by Herr Schuppanzigh on the violin and Herr Linke on the cello. Herr Halm played here for the second time on a pianoforte with a top-down hammer action, based on the invention of Herr Johann Baptist Streicher. The rich timbre of these instruments arouses the repeatedly expressed wish among the audience to see them used more often in concerts. Following this trio came Beethoven’s aforementioned masterpiece Adelaide, sung by Herr Hoffmann and accompanied on the piano by Herr Halm, which was excellently performed by both artists.” Herr Hoffmann’s voice in Adelaide is referred to as a “beautiful powerful baritone” that “combined with good training and clear diction, most pleasantly surprised the listeners.”
“The concert concluded with Beethoven’s newest quartet, consisting of Allegro, Presto, Scherzo, Allemande, Cavatina, and Allegro fugato. The acknowledged mastery and inexhaustibility of harmonic and melodic beauties of this recognized composer proved themselves most brilliantly in this new work. Each individual piece presents a contest of genius, childlike piety, and humor in its composition and execution. The first five piece of the whole were received with the greatest acclaim by the distinguished audience. The Allegro fugato, however, almost violently destroyed the dreamlike state into which the earlier pieces had lulled the mind. This decisive and wildly expressed feeling seems to justify the opinion that this conclusion of the whole does not fit with the preceding lesser movements, although, considered in and of itself, it could be called one of the greatest contrapuntal masterpieces of the great visionary. The execution of the work, which demands true virtuosity and the most precise collaboration, was carried out in the most commendable manner by Messrs. Schuppanzigh, Holz, Weiss, and Linke.
The “Archduke” Trio is here performed by Isabelle Faust, violin; Jean-Guihen Queyras, cello; and Alexander Melnikov, piano:
The original version of the quartet op.130, with the Grosse Fuge as the Finale, is here performed live by the Quatuor Ebène:
At today’s concert, composer and pianist Anton Halm tells Karl Holz that his wife Maria (1782-1843) would like a lock of Beethoven’s hair. Holz, ever the prankster, gives her hair from a goat instead. Later on, when Beethoven hears what Holz has done, he will send Halm a genuine lock of his hair.
Ministry of War Agent Ignaz Dembscher does not attend the concert. Instead, he makes it known that he could have better artists perform the quartet at his own private concert. Beethoven is highly displeased at this when he learns of it, and it causes a rift between him and Dembscher.
On more prosaic household matters, Beethoven notes in his household diary today that 5 candles were given to the housekeeper. Bonn Beethovenhaus, NE 354, page 2.