BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Tuesday, September 9, 1824

Conversation Book 75 begins being used today. This is a typical-sized book of 34 leaves and covers a period of roughly two weeks, though there is a gap of about four days. Leaf 14 was removed from the book after Schindler numbered the pages, so leaf 15 begins in the midst of an argument between Ludwig and Nephew Karl. Another leaf is missing between 30 and 31, but that was taken out before Schindler numbered the pages. The German editors followed Thayer in believing that the first three pages of the book were misplaced and actually belonged at the end of the book, and they appear to have been used around September 23 and 24. Accordingly, we will follow suit and begin with page 4r.

Beethoven writes a letter today from Baden to Hans-Georg Nägeli in Zurich. He tells Nägeli to just write to him “in Vienna” as usual. The Archduke was in Vienna, and Beethoven is here because of his health. “Only yesterday I received a letter from him promising that he would be happy to subscribe to your poems [published as Liederkränze] because of the merits you have earned for the advancement of music, etc. He’s taking 6 copies of it.” Beethoven himself would like to have several subscriptions, but he would like to subscribe anonymously as Nägeli has shown him the honor of being his panegyrist. As the father of the son of his deceased brother, he has to think and act for him in both the present and the future.

Beethoven recalls that Nägeli had written him before about subscribing. “I was very sick at that time, and that sickness has lasted for over 3 years. I am now in better condition. Just send your collected lectures to Archduke Rudolph and dedicate them to him if possible. You will always receive a gift; of course it won’t be big, but it’s better than nothing. Say a few flattering words to him in the introduction, because he understands music, and he lives and moves in it. I really feel sorry for his talents that I can no longer take as much part in them as I used to.”

Beethoven would like to receive both a copy of Nägeli’s lectures on music and “the 5-voiced Mass by Sebastian Bach,” [the Mass in B minor, scored for SSATB soloists] which Nägeli had asked him to subscribe to some years earlier. Nägeli should let him know what they cost and he will straightaway forward the funds. [Asking Nägeli for a copy of the B minor Mass had been on Beethoven’s to-do list written about June 4, 1824. Beethoven apparently was not aware that the subscription effort had failed. The Mass would not be published until 1833.]

Beethoven closes by describing himself as “free from all petty vanity; only the Divine art is the lever that gives me strength. I have sacrificed the best part of my life to the Heavenly Muses, and my greatest happiness and pleasure since childhood was being able to work for others. You can therefore imagine how great it is for me to be able to help you in something, and to show you how much I appreciate your merits.”

“I embrace you with all my heart as a wise man of Apollo.”

In a postscript, Beethoven adds that he will be corresponding with the Archduke soon, so Nägeli need not wait for permission to make the dedication; he will and should be surprised.

Brandenburg Letter 1873; Anderson Letter 1306. The original is held by the Bonn Beethovenhaus (H.C.Bodmer Collection BBr 29.) The original can be seen here:

https://www.beethoven.de/en/media/view/5663980664127488/scan/0

Nephew Karl is with his uncle at his apartment at the Schloss Gutenbrunn in Baden. The maid, who had a high fever last night, has been treated by Dr. Anton Rollett (1778-1842). He had also visited the Streichers; Nannette’s husband Andreas is here in Baden on Rollett’s recommendation. The maid is still ill, however, and she cannot have proper observation in the apartment. She is in danger, especially at night. Rollett believes the best thing for her would be to be moved to the Marienspital [a hospital for the poor founded by Rollett in 1813] in the nearby village of Dörfel. She can be taken there by sedan chair bearers, still today. 14 florins needs to be paid in advance there, and then she can be treated for 14 days . The whole business though is likely to last a month. It is cheaper there than in Baden. Karl agrees she needs to go to the hospital. He will go immediately there to pay the 14 florins for her.

Karl intends to go back into the City to bring a letter back. Uncle Ludwig says he needs to go into the City as well to continue looking for apartments, so Karl agrees they should go together. The beer cellar of the restaurant where they are having mid-day dinner is fairly crowded.

Karl asks whether the housekeeper, Barbara Holzmann, should not reserve the carriage for them. Doesn’t she also have things to do in the City tomorrow?

Karl totals up the money due in Baden for September 4 through 8, and it comes to 27 florins, 46 kreutzers. Two florins was paid on September 4, so a net remaining to be paid is 25 florins 46 kr. They will write up the statement and then that can be paid as well. That’s yesterday’s bill. Beethoven pays an additional 10 florins, making a balance of 15 fl. 46 kr.

[They appear to stop at a woodworker’s.] Beethoven has paid for three small shelves for the candles on the piano; there is a fourth one that has 1 florin 15 kr. still owed. The pastry board cost 24 florins.

Karl wonders whether Archduke Rudolph, his uncle’s patron, might not already be in Vienna, since he is to perform the ceremony for the upcoming wedding of Archduke Franz Carl to Friederike Sophia of Bavaria, which is scheduled for October 18. [The wedding will end up delayed by over two weeks.] Uncle Ludwig presumably confirms that the Archduke is indeed in Vienna, as he has just written to Nägeli.

The accounts with the Kärntnertor Theater related to the May Akademie concerts are still not settled; former unpaid assistant Anton Schindler has written saying that they need to be corrected. “Presumably Herr Duport [the manager of the theater] has taken it in hand.”

Uncle Ludwig asks about Karl’s courses, since he had failed his examinations and will have to repeat his year at the University. Karl plans to take the extra courses as soon as they are scheduled. He will not be so lost this year, he thinks, since from now on the Philosophy curriculum will only take two years, and he will finish just as soon as before.

Holzmann thinks that since the maid is ill she’s of no use and they need to look for another one. She would like to get back the one that was just sent away.

Uncle Ludwig, Karl and Holzmann take the carriage to Vienna in the later afternoon.

Conversation Book 75, 4r-7v.

Heinrich Probst in Leipzig writes to Beethoven today. The contents of the letter are not known, but the date and existence of the letter are known from a registration marking on Beethoven’s letter to Probst of August 28. Brandenburg Letter 1872.