BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO: Wednesday, September 29, 1824

Beethoven’s friend Tobias Haslinger and visitor from England Johann Andreas Stumpff (1769-1836) make the long (three to four hours) hike from Vienna to Baden bei Wien. Stumpff also bears a letter of introduction from piano maker Johann Andreas Streicher. The weather is foggy and cloudy early on, clearing up to a high of 62 degrees Fahrenheit.

Streicher’s letter, dated today, acknowledges receipt of Beethoven’s last letter, which he calls “lovely, very pleasant.” Streicher continues, “The bearer of this letter is Mr. Stumpf [sic], an excellent German man who has lived in London for 34 years and is now taking some time to relax in his fatherland. The reason why he comes to Baden is – dearest Beethoven – to see the man that Germany is so proud of. Receive him kindly and in a friendly manner, as befits the saint to whom the devout pilgrim makes his pilgrimage from afar.” Streicher also spoke with Carl Czerny today and he will be happy to arrange the Ninth Symphony for two and four hands piano, and Herr Franz Lachner (1803-1890) will do the same for the Missa Solemnis.

Brandenburg Letter 1884. The original is held by the Berlin Staatsbibliothek (aut.35,46b.) Beethoven has written “Streicher” on the letter in pencil. Before going to visit Beethoven, Stumpff goes to the Sauerhof hotel and reserves a room, and probably washes up after the very long walk from Vienna.

Stumpff relates the circumstances of this first visit with Beethoven. (TDR V, 122-123): “Baden is in Lower Austria about three or four hours from Vienna, its location is beyond description beautiful in every respect, and its warm baths are visited by every class of people, which Beethoven, tormented by his genius, also used for relief. It must also be noted here: H. Haslinger had invented a silent language, with which he could communicate fairly well by moving his head, mouth, eyes and fingers.”

“Now we stood before the dwelling which had received within itself for a short time the man to collect himself, whose works had delighted so many thousands and had carried the spirit over our nebulous planet with sounds which he himself was prevented from perceiving with his ears by a disruption of his hearing organ.”

“When the door opened, a shiver ran through me, as if I were approaching a supernatural being. I sent my visiting card up to him when we were asked to enter. Here Beethoven came to meet us with my card in his hand; he held out his hand to me with a cheerful expression, repeating my name: ‘Stumpff, Mr. Stumpff from London? I have already heard many good things about you from Mr. S. [Streicher], and I have a letter that you wrote to him and in which [you] also mentioned me’ – then he went to the desk – ‘hah! here it is, containing a song to compose.’ – It was the same letter that I had sent to Mr. S. in London two years ago….”

“Beethoven’s face, which only brightened in fits and starts, seemed as if the sun was pushing its way out from behind a mountain of black clouds and piercing the clouds with its fiery gaze; he was also cheered by everything he heard from us, which Haslinger noticed through his gestures. ‘Yes, I am happy and cheerful today: – Well, how do you like old Vienna? Where people eat and drink, sleep and… Ah, everyone lives here in their own way, plays and sings what they have made themselves.'”

“So I finally stood before Beethoven, who received me with an open heart in his everyday suit, not in a neat, flowery dressing gown.”

“Beethoven was of less than average height, with a strong bone structure, like Napoleon, compressed, with a short neck and broad shoulders, from which a large, round head with thick hair rose up in confusion. His large, deep-set, piercing eyes, which seemed to flash and knew how to gain entry into the soul of the individual standing before him, which was clearly evident from his words afterwards.”

“Beethoven liked to talk a lot and had an exaggerated opinion of London and its highly educated inhabitants: – ‘England is highly cultured! In London, everyone knows something, and knows it well, but the Viennese knows how to talk about food and drink, and sings and plays music of little importance now, or which he himself has made.'”

“‘I want to make a human being out of my nephew Karl, whom I bought from his worthless mother, and I want to send him to an advanced school in Saxony, and every guilder that I can win through the exertion of my powers is intended for his education. Carl should also learn English and come to you in London to become something, but our clever superiors will not allow it; he must instead become and remain an everyday person in Vienna.'”

“Beethoven then asked anxiously how much it would cost to support a young man like his Carl, who would spend a year in London? In order to hear my opinion clearly, he put his emergency and help sheets in front of me, along with a pencil, in which I was to write my answer. His eye followed the lines of my pencil, and [he] spoke the barely finished word out loud, and after he had heard what he wanted to know, he shook his head in displeasure and complained bitterly about the music publishers who wanted to give him almost nothing for his great compositions, which had cost him so much time and so many headaches.”

TDR V, 122-124.

Having made the introductions, Haslinger appears to return to Vienna.

Stumpff mentions that he bought 20 baths for the price of 5 florins.

Brother Johann visits Ludwig this afternoon, while Stumpff is still there. He suggests that Ludwig work on the new oratorio, Der Sieg des Kreuzes. The conversation turns to Anton Reicha (1770-1836), who was in the service of Elector Max Franz in Bonn in the 1790s and was good friends with Ludwig. Johann laments that no one knows any of his compositions any more. [Reicha has been a professor at the Conservatoire in Paris since 1818.]

Stumpff continues his account: “‘Stay in Baden,’ Beethoven continued, ‘and visit me; as much as you like, I have a lot to talk to you about’ – and I promised to do so. – When the desired and dreaded audience had gone off so well, I said to my companion [Haslinger] as I left – ‘since you, my esteemed friend, have so much power over the mind tormented by its fantasies, could you persuade him to dine with me in your company, namely at my inn [the Sauerhof hotel], which has such a beautiful, shaded garden behind the newly built inn buildings?’ – ‘I will try,’ was his answer, ‘and let you know as soon as possible.'”

“Beethoven accepted the invitation on the condition that they would dine in the garden. – Oh, how I thanked my good genius, which had guided me so happily up to this point!”

TDR V, 124.

Johann and Karl go to the Sauerhof hotel to meet with Stumpff; Ludwig appears to follow a little later to have mid-day dinner with them. For the most part, Karl writes for Stumpff, and he also sometimes shouts into Ludwig’s left ear to make himself understood.

Johann is taking care of sending the originals and copies of the scores to Probst in Leipzig. Housekeeper Barbara Holzmann [referred to as usual as “the old woman”] is supposed to pick up the copies in Vienna and bring them back.

Stumpff continues, “And now I had nothing more important than to consult with the innkeeper about the food that should be on the table. I asked him if he knew what the strange man liked to eat, and I asked him to take this into consideration, especially when choosing the food. – ‘Yes, yes, my dear sir, I know that, fish, yes fish, he loves them very much, Beethoven is strange, but he is good! That is known to the whole world, sir!'”

“Now the table was smoking in a shady garden, ready to serve the guests with simple but good food. Mr. H. and a few of his friends were waiting for the great artist, who had just come to meet us with his nephew Carl; he eyed us with a cheerful expression, and his nose caught the smell of the fish. After a brief greeting, he grabbed the table with both hands and motioned for us to do the same on the opposite side, so that the sun would shine on the large chair that had been reserved for him, which today, for the sake of our esteemed guest, had painted our table with living gold paint with its refreshing rays from the blue sky through leafy trees.”

“Beethoven then sat down in the large chair that we had reserved for him and, laughing, lifted the lid off the fish dish: ‘Brave, brave, here I see fish! Yes! I like to eat fish, but they are not good in this country! The fish that come from the sea would be a dish for me, like that served on the table in London.’ – Now he spoke without stopping, and railed against the Viennese cooks and wine merchants who adulterate everything (‘poison’ was the word): ‘Yes, yes, that’s how it is.’ – Now he went on to praise the English, who appreciate everything that is strong, good and beautiful.”

TDR V, 124.

Stumpff relates to Beethoven a number of pieces of information about life in London and Paris. Stumpff notes that in London, every illness has its own hospital. He relates an old legend: “He who does not enjoy singing and the sound of instruments should sometimes hear all the devils barking in Hell.”

Beethoven’s friend and inventor of the metronome, Johann Nepomuk Mälzel (1772-1838), now has a shop in Paris. Stumpff thinks he is coming to a bad end. He made Mälzel’s acquaintance in Paris, but he had heard so many horrible things about him that he loathes him. He is now selling dolls that say, “Mama.”

The waiter brings them a platter of fish. While sea fish would be better, they would stink unless they are living. A dish of turtle soup in London would cost 5 shillings, which would be the equivalent of 5 florins C.M. The English are unhealthy because everything is consumed in liquid form. But it is now fashionable to eat little soup.

Stumpff writes “Evidence of royal benevolence,” which may be a reference to Wellington’s Victory and Beethoven’s ire at the Prince Regent not acknowledging the dedication to him. Or this comment may relate to the discussion of the French that follows, and the gold medal awarded to Beethoven by King Louis XVIII of France.

Not all of Stumpff’s narrative of the dinner talk is reflected in the conversation books, suggesting that, since they were dining outside, Stumpff was heard when he shouted into Beethoven’s left ear, with his hands cupped into a funnel around it, as Stumpff describes later in his account.

“The French, whom he did not favor, received many blows, whom he considered to be poor connoisseurs of the true, good and beautiful in music, as well as in politics, which they have sufficiently proven and still prove!”

“Now he went on to criticize the Viennese, about their taste, which has changed so much, even worsened. ‘People no longer have any taste for the good, the strong, in short, for true music! Yes, yes, that’s how it is, you Viennese! Rossini and his associates are your heroes! They don’t want anything more from me! Sometimes [violinist Ignaz] Schuppanzigh brings out a quartet of mine: they don’t have time for the symphonies, and they don’t want Fidelio! Rossini, Rossini is more important to you than anything else. – Perhaps your soulless tinkling and singing, your own creations, with which you ruin yourselves for true art – that is your taste, oh! You Viennese!’ – And so it went on in a good-natured tone that did not betray in the least either lovelessness or jealousy, which jeremiads we good-naturedly affirmed or denied with head [nodding] or shaking and laughing. – When the setting sun now warned us to leave, Beethoven grabbed his hat and stick and, with his nephews on his arm, took my hand and invited me to have lunch with him on the third day, which I accepted with joy.”

TDR V, 124-125. Stumpff’s narrative will continue when he visits Beethoven again probably on Saturday, October 2.

After dinner, Stumpff would like to go to the Parterre of the hotel to listen to music, and Karl joins him. Karl says he’ll be home in an hour, while Johann and Ludwig go back to Schloss Gutenbrunn.

Later, Karl returns to the apartment with word that the room in the old apartment in the City needs to be whitewashed. Arrangements for it have to be made tomorrow. [Today is the end of Beethoven’s lease, but he clearly has not moved out since he is still looking for new lodgings.]

Computing the value of gold by weight, Karl determines that the value of the gold medal from King Louis XVIII would be worth about 60 ducats.

Johann has learned from a reliable source that the Emperor has often spoken with Beethoven’s patron, Archduke Rudolph, who is the Emperor’s youngest brother. The Emperor is very well-disposed to Ludwig. The belief is that once High Kapellmeister Antonio Salieri dies, his position will be designated for Beethoven. [Salieri dies May 7, 1825, but his successor instead was Joseph Eybler, who had been acting Kapellmeister during Salieri’s lengthy final illness.]

Meanwhile, Johann understands that Rudolph himself has an income of only 50,000 florins W.W. now. He knows from the Treasury that the Crown Prince and Archduke Franz get 10,000 florins W.W. monthly. [Karl writes 100 florins, but from context 10,000 is likely meant.]

Stumpff lives very modestly. He thinks that in Germany people eat a great deal.

Conversation Book 76, 3r-6v.

Beethoven, perhaps fearing that Stumpff will make himself a nuisance hanging around and imposing on his time, this evening sends a dated note to Stumpff at his hotel, the Sauerhof. “My good friend Stumpff, if you don’t see me, don’t attribute it to anything other than my usual solitariness. The constant observation of ‘Nulla dies sine linea,’ the already shorter days here in the mountains where one would like to strengthen oneself by taking walks and enjoying the open air, such as the beautiful areas, before the impending plagues in the city, also contributes to this. That’s why you shouldn’t think less of your friend, Beethoven.” He adds a postscript, “I hope your health triumphs. I believe you should take more exercise on foot.”

Brandenburg Letter 1885; Anderson Letter 1311. The letter’s whereabouts are not known. Thayer copied the letter in Stumpff’s position, which is found at TDR V, p.132. The quotation, “Nulla dies sine linea” [Not a day without a line written] comes from Pliny the Younger, Naturalis historia XXXV, 84. The same quotation appears in a letter from Beethoven to Franz Wegeler written in December 1826 (Brandenburg 2236).

T. Weigl Art and Music Shop advertises Carl Czerny’s Piano Sonata Nr.5 op.76 in today’s Wiener Zietung (Nr.224) at 938. Along with this new sonata, Weigl offers ten other works by Czerny. The description of the sonata, probably by Czerny, who had been Beethoven’s pupil, reads as follows:

“In announcing this latest sonata, the publisher only has to note that it has been worked out with the same diligence as the four earlier sonatas by the same author, but is composed in a calm, gentle, pleasing style and is not too difficult to perform even for less accomplished players.

“The publisher would like to contribute as much as possible to ensuring that the classic sonata form, which has appeared on more than one occasion, is once again accepted by the art-loving public, and aims to make a not unpleasant contribution to this effort through the present work.”

The same page includes an advertisement for various works for piano four hands from Anton Diabelli & Co. The first is Czerny’s Notturne brillant on the German air “Das waren mir selige Tage”, op.71. Also offered are Beethoven’s three Grand Piano Trios op.1, arranged for piano four hands by an unknown hand (not Beethoven).