BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Wednesday, August 30, 1826 (approximately)

Unpaid assistant Karl Holz visits Beethoven, probably today. Former unpaid assistant Anton Schindler came to see him about how to handle Nephew Karl. Schindler thinks Karl should stay here under his uncle’s watchful eye. Holz thinks otherwise, and that Beethoven can still consider sending him off to work in an office elsewhere. Holz explains, “Schindler presumably objects that any large, even distant, city is a school of vices, and thus his careless wastefulness might still frequently be a burden to you. However, I think you could build a solid dam against his, if you inform him firmly, and I mean firmly, to the point that he believes in it, that you will give him nothing more than is necessary for his stay, and this only for 1 year.

Attorney Johann Baptist Bach likes the idea of sending Karl to work for Maurice Schlesinger in Paris. He did not know Beethoven has acquaintances in Paris, so he won’t need to contact the banker Geymüller about that if that is to be the plan.

A letter arrives from publisher Anton Diabelli. He asks Beethoven only for a brief answer, whether he is satisfied with the fee offered for the string quintet for 100 ducats. [Although Beethoven is willing to write the quintet, the unfinished WoO 62, for that price, he does not get around to responding to Diabelli for nearly a month.]

Holz is in bliss over the new quartet, op.131. “I do not want to be stopped from copying it at any price; when you can review it so calmly, completely new worlds arise from it. The most difficult seems to be the last movement; however, it is not so difficult as the one from the B-flat major quartet.” [Holz means the final movement of op.130, which at this point is still the Grosse Fuge.] Beethoven asks him to be careful to place the page turns at appropriate spots. Holz agrees that they don’t want to have a fifth or sixth person up on the stage turning pages for them.

It is time to collect the September 1 annuity payment from Prince Kinsky. Holz asks whether Beethoven has the necessary certificate from the local priest verifying he is still alive.

With regard to Nephew Karl, Beethoven still would like for him to take his examinations at the Polytechnic Institute. Holz thinks they need instead to get him away from Vienna as soon as possible. If he takes the exams, that will not happen so fast. “Bach was absolutely right, he said throw away the books and send him out into life; there he must undergo trial by fire.” Constantly following Karl around is no use at his age. He needs to take responsibility for himself. Holz thinks Karl’s mother Johanna is a particularly bad influence in this respect. “She does not live from today until tomorrow, but from today until yesterday.”

Holz notes that the engraver for the op.130 quartet, Hodick, has fallen ill. There are other errors in the score that have been noted. There is a rallentando pp in one part, but missing in another. [This would be in either bars 51-53 or bar 102 of the second movement.] Former art dealer Johann Traeg is working on the corrections for Artaria. Holz fears that he will find errors where none exist. “I believe he will surely think crescendos that are only in one passage will be necessary in all of them. For instance, in the C-sharp minor Fugue, you have kept a part piano, while another one emphasizes the theme crescendo. Is that not correct?” [Holz here refers to the beginning of the first movement of op.131.]

Attorney Bach thinks that a music shop would be the best place for Karl, since he already has knowledge in that field. “He would be Germany’s best Tobias.” According to Bach, Beethoven need only say, “As my nephew has dedicated himself to trade, and I have found a suitable place for him in N.N. where he can complete his education, I ask you to give him leave for 1, 2, 3 years,” and he would be granted a traveling pass. They need not say that he would never return. [Beethoven is to the contrary well aware that former unpaid assistant Franz Oliva overstayed his visa to Russia and never returned, which resulted in (completely ineffective) criminal charges being brought in Vienna against him.] Beethoven is taken aback. Never return? Holz backs off this statement, realizing he has gone too far. “He can return, but then he probably will have changed a lot.”

Holz changes the subject to the inquest last Saturday, where Karl was interrogated. Holz thinks Karl’s testimony “is actually the world’s most ridiculous and strange testimony that has ever been given in court. ‘I grew worse because my uncle wanted me to be better.'” Beethoven once again fears that the pressure of the examinations drove Karl to suicide. Holz again denies this idea in turn. “He did not care whether he could pass or not; that is not the reason for suicide. Bach blames the mother for everything. No confidence, frivolous, drunk…Your brother was right when he said Karl only knew dissolute whores. Now this is being confirmed from other sides. He was not without sense when he played his tricks, and now he is no less without full awareness. He showed himself to me from the first to the last hour how he always was: cold, deliberate, secretive. In short, without any feeling.”

What was his goal, then, Beethoven asks. “To remove himself from you. The guardianship, and his mother against it. Perhaps also in order not to have to tell the court the actual, hidden reason.”

Holz departs, leaving Beethoven with his thoughts about Karl.

Conversation Book 119, 35v-41v.

At the very end of today’s Berliner allgemeine musikalische Zeitung (Nr.35), there is a short note from the editor, Adolph Marx at 284 confirming the recent publication of the Ninth Symphony: “The Schott music store in Mainz, Antwerp and Paris, which has been so highly active in recent times and has made such a contribution to classical music, has created a new, lasting monument to its tireless and well-guided zeal by publishing Beethoven’s great symphony with chorus in full score and in parts. The presentation is, as befits such a work, the most magnificent we have seen recently, and we express our thanks to the publishing house for this gratifying undertaking, as well as for the edition of valuable church and quartet music, at the same time along with the gratitude of many music lovers who have long desired to own these masterpieces.”

“Beethoven’s Quartet op.127 has been tastefully edited in parts from the newly established Schott publishing house in Paris. The full score and four-hand piano reduction have been published in Mainz.”

“A more detailed assessment of the individual works can be expected in this newspaper. May the promised and long-awaited Beethoven Mass [the Missa Solemnis] follow soon.”