Brother Johann van Beethoven today writes on behalf of Ludwig, in French, to Antonio Pacini (1778-1866) in Paris. Pacini was a composer and music publisher, who had lived in Paris since 1804. Johann apologizes for the delay in responding to Pacini’s (now lost) letter of June 22, but notes that …
Sometime during the month of December, Beethoven completes the song The Kiss (Der Kuss), op.128 (though it is initially assigned opus number 121 when it is published in 1825). The date “1822 in December” is written on the autograph by Beethoven, along with the note written sideways in the margin, …
The Leipzig Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung issued today, Nr.52, cols.845-850 includes mention of a number of performances of Beethoven works in the city of Leipzig this season in the weekly subscription concerts featuring the “universally-esteemed singer” Madame Kraus-Wranitsky. Among them are the Scene and Aria Ah! perfido, op.65. “This presents a …
The Vienna music publishing firm of Cappi and Diabelli goes all in on Franz Schubert today, starting with the announcement of three newly-published sets of songs for voice and piano, as well as all of his previous compositions that had earned opus numbers. These songs had been written at various …
Today, a version of Opferlied, op.121b for solo tenor, chorus and orchestra, on a poem by Matthisson, is premiered by the tenor Wilhelm Ehlers at a “Great Musical-Declamatory Akademie” concert for his own benefit in Pressburg. Beethoven had known Ehlers since 1814. To our knowledge, this original version of the …
Both today and tomorrow, Haydn’s oratorio Die Schöpfung (The Creation) will be performed at the court theater, as a musical Akademie for the benefit of the widows and orphans of musicians, put on by the Society of Musical Artists. This was quite the event, with the Kaiser and Kaiserinn as …
Sometime about now, perhaps aggravated by the unpleasant dealings with C.F. Peters recently, Beethoven decides not to publish the Missa solemnis for general sale at this point, but rather to make it a subscription available to the nobility. This will involve greater expense, because instead of a single engraving it …
Beethoven writes today to Leipzig publisher Carl Friedrich Peters. Cornered by Peters’ angry letter of December 16th, Beethoven is forced to admit that nothing of what he has repeatedly promised Peters is finished. He promises that the songs and marches will leave Vienna next week [they do not in fact …
Beethoven writes an undated letter to S.A. Steiner & Co., asking if he can borrow collections of the poems of Friedrich Gottlob Klopstock (1724-1803) and Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim (1719-1803) for a few days. The purpose of this request is unclear, but it seems possible that it is in response …
According to the Leipzig Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung, January 22, 1823 (Nr. 4 at col.56), a subscription concert in Berlin today by the Bliesener brothers, included a full performance of Beethoven’s Sinfonia eroica, op.55. At the same concert, Dem. Caroline Lithanger played an unspecified piano concerto by Beethoven and a Rondo …
Happy Beethoven’s birthday! If past experience is any guide, Beethoven celebrates his 52nd birthday evening by inviting close friends over for a dinner of fish, plenty of wine, and a convivial time. Meanwhile, Beethoven’s conduct with publishers is starting to wear thin. In a now-lost letter, Leipzig publisher Carl Friedrich …
Ferdinand von Piringer, assistant conductor of the Concerts spirituels with Franz Gebauer, today at 11 AM conducts Mozart’s Requiem Mass in honor of Gebauer, who died early Friday morning. Gebauer was fond of Beethoven and made sure to keep the eight symphonies alive in his series of concerts in Vienna, …
Sometime about now, Beethoven finally has to let go of the Missa solemnis and sends it for copying in a fair score for Archduke Rudolph. One of Beethoven’s favorite copyists, Wenzel Rampl, works on the score, as do two unknown copyists. The task of sorting out this manuscript through Beethoven’s …
Unfortunately, Franz Xavier Gebauer, leader of the Concerts spirituels in Vienna, and friend of Beethoven, who was noted as being in poor health several days ago, dies at 1:30 in the morning on December 13th, at age 38, from pulmonary embolism. According to his obituary in the Vienna Allgemeine musikalische …
The Vienna Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung Nr. 99 at 786 discusses the premiere at the Kärntnertor Theater of Libussa, a romantic opera in three acts with music by Conradin Kreutzer and libretto by Joseph Carl Bernard. Bernard was a friend of Beethoven and had been working for some years on a …
In an undated letter to publisher Anton Diabelli, Beethoven notes that he has six piano bagatelles (the ones that will become op.119/1-6) available for sale. He would like 50 ducats for the group. He claims that is the same price he has offered them to others. If Diabelli agrees, he …
Today Franz Liszt gives another public concert, this time Vienna at the Kärntnertor theater, along with guitarist Luigi Legnani. The guitarist opened the concert with a fantasy for guitar. This was followed by a Divertimento by Bernard Romberg for cello, played by Hrn Funke. For his part, Liszt played the …
Today’s Vienna Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung, Nr. 98 at 782 notes that Franz Gebauer, the leader and founder of the popular Concerts spirituels in the city, is still laid low with a major illness, probably from a journey that involved many hardships and bad air. “We are very reluctant to be …
In Berlin today, another child prodigy makes an appearance. The thirteen-year-old Felix Mendelssohn at a concert mostly devoted to Rossini arias, performs a piano concerto he had composed. Leipzig Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung of January 22, 1823 (Nr. 4 at col. 52). This concerto would be his so-called “Concerto No. 0” …
A smitten Katharina Sigl writes again to her dear friend Anton Schindler, addressed to him at the Theater an der Joseph-Stadt, expressing her thanks for him giving her a letter of introduction to Beethoven in mid-October. “You were the good angel that stopped the Divine Heavenly Bethoven [sic], to spend …