BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Wednesday, March 29, 1826
Beethoven makes a note that he needs blotting paper.
A prospective new housekeeper comes to see Beethoven, accompanied by a friend. It appears unpaid assistant Karl Holz helps interview her. She starts to write, but her hand is shaking so much that her unidentified friend takes over. He explains that she can write, but she can’t because of her trembling. “Your Excellency must tell her what she has to do, and how it pleases him.” She used to work here in the Schwarzspanierhaus for Count Bornisch, who can be a reference for her. The old lady she was working for had to leave. Earlier, she worked for a wholesaler.
She gathers her wits and writes that she is Anna Sokugin, a Bohemian from Solelas. The friend takes over again. “She can write more clearly, but she is afraid. Once she is there [working for you], she will feel more at home. She was born in Bohemia. When it comes to writing she can do it better in the kitchen book and when calculating; only writing longer lines is difficult for her. She wants to know soon if you’ll take her on, because she has also been promised a post in the City, where she will get paid at once.” Holz says Beethoven can just write everything down for her. Beethoven can’t take her on just yet, since the notice for the current housekeeper still has over a week to run.
If the washing is done on Friday [March 31], then at least part of it will be ready for Sunday [April 2, the first day of the Jubilee year that the Pope has declared.] If the weather is good, then the laundry will dry more readily.
The Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde is now collecting manuscripts by famous composers. They have original scores from Mozart, Haydn, and others. But they don’t have anything from Beethoven. So the secretary of the Musikverein, Franz Glöggl (1796-1872) asked Holz to obtain something short from Beethoven’s hand, even if only a canon or something, for their archives. Beethoven expresses irritation and Holz tells him, “Just a line.” If it were something longer, like a vocal work for four voices, then Beethoven could also sell it to Artaria, who wants something of that sort anyway. Or it could also be something old and familiar, they don’t seem to be particular.
Imperial court cellist Joseph Merk (1795-1852) came back from his artistic journey. He complained about the Bavarian court. King Ludwig I (1786-1868) did not take a box seat when Merk was playing at the theater. Some days later, the king visited a duchess, in whose home Merk was playing, but the king tried to avoid him in every way possible. He had some good concerts in Saxony, though. There had been some trouble a while back when flautist Johann Sedlaczek came to Saxony with such good references and played so badly, they give little credit to the Viennese virtuosos; the King of Saxony even objected to Beethoven’s friend Ernst Krähmer playing the oboe there.
Holz asks if he will see Beethoven tomorrow. Yes, Beethoven will be at home, so Holz will buy wood for him then and have it delivered.
Holz asks whether Beethoven can tolerate Kalmus liqueur. Dr. Vivenot gave Holz a whole bottle yesterday, and Holz considers it very good for the stomach.
Beethoven mentions that Abbé Stadler suggested Beethoven should write a Mass when they met yesterday. Holz encourages that; Stadler knows which way the wind is blowing at court, and something would certainly be done to reward Beethoven for that. “He has [Court Councilor for Music Count Moritz von] Dietrichstein and [Court Concertmaster Joseph] Eybler in his pocket.” If Stadler favors something, they become irrelevant.
There is some discussion about food. Holz opines that “The beef pies always ruin one’s appetite.” He also asks, perhaps on behalf of the housekeeper, what kind of fish should be chosen.
Holz mentions that on Sunday [April 2] is the first procession on the occasion of the Jubilee Year. The Pope [Leo XII] ordered the Jubilee. [He had been paid a substantial amount by the Emperor to do so.] The pastoral letters sent out offer complete indulgences to those who participate in 2 processions. If they can’t do that, then 15 days of prayer and confession in 2 churches would also get the indulgence.
They comment on rumors that Beethoven’s former pupil Ferdinand Ries has lost his entire fortune [in connection with the Goldsmidt banking house]. Holz suggests that “it would have been better if he had not paid such homage to the contemporary taste, which now leaves him almost bald.” Beethoven objects that Ries is a fine composer; Holz retorts that his early compositions are worth 1000 times more than his new ones.
Holz asks Beethoven how the C-sharp minor quartet [op.131] is coming. [Beethoven has some ideas for the Finale, so it is coming along very well.]
Conversation Book 107, 5v-12r.
The Intelligenz-Blatt supplement to today’s Leipzig Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung (Nr.13) offers some Beethoven works for sale by Nikolaus Simrock in Bonn, available at all good music and book dealers. Among these, at 21, are Beethoven’s First Symphony, op.21, arranged for piano by Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778-1837) [catalogued as Hummel’s S 137]. The piano music of Beethoven’s pupil Ferdinand Ries is also represented with his 7th Ballade ecossaise en Rondo, [Comin’ thro’ the Rye] op.127/1, and his 12th Fantasy for piano, on Popular Themes from Rossini’s Semiramide, op.134/1. Beethoven’s religious choral music is also offered for sale by Simrock at 24, namely Christus am Oehlberg op.85, and selections from the Mass in C, op.86, described as “2 Hymns.”
Today’s Berliner allgemeine musikalische Zeitung (Nr.13) at 97 continues its rundown of the concert season in Leipzig this year with the Overtures performed in the city. “From Beethoven, the mighty rumbling overture to Koriolan [sic], which then again carries with it heavenly consolation, suitable for foreshadowing the depiction of the difficult fate that looms over mankind; then the magnificent overture to Prometheus; finally the two overtures to Leonore and Fidelio, of which the older and longer one is indisputably the deeper and more in keeping with the character of the opera.”
Beethoven’s dramatic Overture to Coriolan is here performed by the Boston Philharmonic, conducted by Benjamin Zander:
The report of recent concerts in Königsberg in Prussia [now Kaliningrad] at p.101 of today’s Berliner allgemeine musikalische Zeitung (Nr.13) mentions that Beethoven’s Fidelio was among the operas presented there this season.