BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Wednesday, March 2, 1825 (approximately)

Beethoven dictates an undated letter to Nephew Karl, addressed to the Schuppanzigh Quartet. There had been a good deal of ill will and complaining over the dispute between Schuppanzigh and his cellist, Linke, as to which of them would be allowed to premiere the quartet op.127. This letter attempts to quell the hard feelings.

“Best Ones! Everyone is hereby given his due, and everyone is hereby obliged by oath to undertake to behave in the best possible way, to distinguish one another, and to do your very best amongst each other.”

“This sheet must be signed by everyone who wants to participate in the matter in question that it relates to. Beethoven.”

The letter is countersigned by Schuppanzigh, Weiss [viola], Linke “the great Master’s cursed cello” and finally Holz [second violin], “the last, but only with this signature.”

Brandenburg Letter 1940; Anderson Letter 1356. The letter is in Karl’s hand, with Beethoven’s signature. The original is held in the Berlin Staatsbibliothek (aut.35,27). Although the letter is vague, the only instance where there was need for such a letter is in association with op.127; the premieres of the other late quartets did not have these kinds of issues that would force Beethoven’s hand to compel a written agreement that they would work together to make the performance the best possible. The always sleazy Anton Schindler fraudulently added, “Schindler Secretarius” in pencil after Beethoven’s death at the bottom of the page, pretending that he was involved in the premiere of op.127.

Today’s Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung Nr.9, at 147, contains in its “Miscellanea” column a brief mention that “Beethoven, who constantly works diligently, has completed two new quartets.”

The same issue at 152 includes a report from their Stuttgart correspondent that the second subscription concert there included two overtures, one of them by Beethoven and the other by Kapellmeister Lindpaintner. The performances “made the same pleasing, uplifting impression on the audience as a whole.”