BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Wednesday, February 23, 1825 (approximately)

Beethoven writes an undated letter to Ignaz Schuppanzigh. The friendly tenor of the letter is indicated by the address, “Al Signore Milord stimatissimo Nominato Scuppanzig grand uomo della città da Vienna.” Beethoven writes in his own hand, “You can perform the quartet [op.127] on the second Sunday from today. It is not possible earlier, as I am too overwhelmed with other things that require a copyist to write, and in general, my not so brilliant situation, which requires me to take on only the bare essentials, is also to blame. The Quartet will not be published for a long time, and so it remains here in loco alone.”

“He [presumably Johann] has not said anything about the Akademies, and so we will not hear anything about them either. Farewell. As soon as my machine is ready, by which you can be transported quite leisurely up to the 4th floor to me, I will let you know.” [The latter comment is probably making fun of Schuppanzigh’s portliness making it difficult to climb the many stairs to Beethoven’s apartment.]

Brandenburg Letter 1939; Anderson Letter 1350. The quartet op.127 will be performed at Schuppanzigh’s concert of Sunday, March 6, 1825, suggesting this letter was written during the second week before that date, i.e., between February 21 and 26. Schuppanzigh had already announced that it would be performed during the concert of February 23, but was disappointed in that since Beethoven was still preparing and correcting the score and parts of the Ninth Symphony for Ferdinand Ries for the Lower Rhenish Music Festival. The two-week delay suggests that the copying and proofreading of the parts had not yet quite been completed, and confirms that the Quartet had inadequate rehearsal time before the premiere. The original of this letter is held by the Bonn Beethovenhaus (H.C. Bodmer Collection Br 217), and can be seen here:

https://www.beethoven.de/en/media/view/5009922911633408/scan/0

Although it does not expressly state as much, it is natural to assume that the parts for the quartet were finally provided to Schuppanzigh not long after this letter. However, Beethoven was notorious for expecting copying and proofreading to take far less time than they actually do, so the parts may in fact be delayed a week or even more.