BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Tuesday, October 28, 1823
Julius Benedict, who had visited Beethoven in Baden earlier this month along with his teacher, Carl Maria von Weber, recounts running into Beethoven again today, referring to himself in the third person:
“The day after the second performance of “Euryanthe” [which occurred on October 27], Steiner’s shop in Paternostergäßchen was swarming with all the artistic names in Vienna, as if they had all given each other an appointment for a rendezvous. Weigl, Runde, Assmayer, Leon de St. Lubin, Kreutzer, Blahetka, Saphir, Jeitteles, Schuppanzigh, Sonnleithner, Bodket and Franz Schubert were present, and the small, vaulted room reverberated with the loudest back and forth about the work and performance. It was striking that Weber had literary figures, scholars and connoisseurs more in favor of him, while the musicians in the field were more against him. Franz Schubert expressed his antipathy towards Weber and his opinion of the small sphere of his talent in a rude manner. “This is not music,” he says, “there is no finale, no ensemble according to form and order. There is no question of legitimate development and where Weber wants to be learned, you immediately find out that he comes from the school of a charlatan. He has talent, but no solid friend to rely upon. It all comes down to the effect! And he complains about Rossini? Wherever a piece of melody comes, it is dead, like a mouse in a trap, from the powerful orchestral accompaniment. This is austere, ascetic music that doesn’t warm the pit of your heart. With Der Freischütz it was something completely different, though. With the exception of the duet between the two women, no piece of music in it could be bettered for a conscientious musician. There was spirit and loveliness and melody. He should have stayed that way!–“
“In the midst of all this peroration, Beethoven also dashed into the shop and asked Haslinger in his usual hasty manner: “Well, how did you like the new opera?” Haslinger wrote: “Extraordinary! A great success!” Then Beethoven shouted: “I’m glad! I’m glad! That’s how the Germans must come to terms with the sing-song!” Then he asked: “How did little Sonntag do?” [seventeen-year-old Henriette Sontag (1806-1854), who sang the title role of Euryanthe] “Excellent!” Then he smiled and turning to Benedict, who was also present, said to him: “Tell Mr. von Weber that I came in, but for what? – It’s been a long time -” and he pointed to his ears and ran away.”
Max Maria von Weber, Carl Maria von Weber. Ein Lebensbild, (Leipzig 1864-66) II at 533-534. Thayer/Forbes describes Benedict’s account (probably recounted directly by him to Thayer) as taking place “On the morning after the first performance of Euryanthe…” which would put the date of this discussion on Sunday, October 26th, or two days earlier. The detail of the meeting being the day after the second performance rather than the premiere seems to lend credibility to that version.
Thayer/Forbes at 874 adds the following additional detail to this exchange, again likely derived directly from Benedict. After he inquired about “little Sonntag,” Beethoven also asked, “And how is the book–good or bad?” Upon getting a negative response to the libretto from the manager Gottdank, Beethoven replied, “Always the same story; the Germans cannot write a good libretto.” Benedict adds: “Upon which I took his little conversation book and wrote in it: ‘and Fidelio?’ to which he answered: ‘That is a French and Italian book.’ I asked him afterwards: ‘Which do you consider the best librettos?’; he replied ‘Wasserträger [Der Wasserträger, or in English The Two Days, by Luigi Cherubini (1800] and Vestalin [La vestale, by Gaspare Spontini (1805)]'”
The conversation book that Benedict references is not known to survive.