Musical Greeting, Tobias, Tobias, WoO 205h (Canon solution by Willem) (mp3)

Musical Greetings, WoO 205 (1798-1826). Beethoven on occasion wrote brief musical greetings in letters to friends and publishers. Kinsky-Halm catalogues ten of these greetings lettered from a) to k) (with no j)) under number 205. A few can be worked out as canons. All of them are presented here, both in their original form and as worked out as canons, in the following order:

a) "Baron, baron, baron" to Beethoven's friend Nikolaus von Zmeskall, in a letter dating from 1798 or 1799. The three inital phrases appear as separate chunks; we present them here both separately and together.
b) "Allein, allein, allein, jedoch. Silentium!!" (Alone, alone, alone however. Be silent!!), in a letter to Count Moritz Lichnowsky of September 21, 1814. Presented here worked out as a two-part canon.
c) "O Adjutant", to Tobias Haslinger in a letter of January 1817. Haslinger worked at Steiner's publishing company from 1810, and took it over in 1826. Beethoven liked to address Steiner as the Lieutenant General and Haslinger as the Adjutant-General, with Beethoven as Generalissimo of their imaginary musical army.
d) "Wo? Wo?" (Where? Where?), to Frau Nanette Streicher in a letter of July 30, 1817. Frau Streicher was the daughter of a famous piano maker; Beethoven in his later life depended much upon her for domestic advice and assistance and for help in dealing with his nephew Karl. At the close of this letter, Beethoven writes: "Wo sind meine Bettdecken?" (Where are my blankets?), in response to which the musical fragment follows. Presented here as a four-voice canon.
e) "Erfuellung, Erfuellung" (Fulfillment, fulfillment), to Archduke Rudolph in a letter of June 1819. The letter refers to the Archduke's appointment as Prince-Archbishop of Olmuetz. Presented here repeated twice, although not so indicated in the text.
f) "Scheut euch nicht", to Friedrich von Treitschke, about 1821 or 1822. Set here as a canon. The second and third voices are a third lower. This creates a nice ambiguity since it is no longer clear whether it is in F major or D minor.
g) "Tobias! Paternostergaessler. Tobias! Paternostergaesslerischer, Bierhaeuslerischer musikalischer Philister!" (Tobias! Our Father Alley. Tobias! Our-Father-Alley-Dweller, beerhouse-dwelling musical Philistine!" This greeting is a parody on the liturgical practice in the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches of a priest reciting a text on a single note, moving up a second on the penultimate note and then back again. The inspiration for this parody is no doubt Haslinger's addres: Paternoster Gaesschen (Our Father Alley). In a letter to Haslinger at the end of September, 1824.
h) "Tobias Tobias" in an 1825 letter to Tobias Haslinger, this fragment is preceded by the word "Bester!" (My dear!). Worked out as a canon. The second voice is a fourth higher, the third on the tonic and the fourth voice is a fourth lower.
i) "Bester To------[bias]" (My dear To[bias]) After these measures, Beethoven writes, "Fuer die uebrigen Konsonantierungen und Vokalisierungen ist heute keine Zeit uebrig...." (There is no time today for the remaining consonanting and voweling.), in a letter to Haslinger of October, 1826. Worked out here as a canon.
k) "Erster aller Tobiasse", (First above all, Tobias) 12 measures, in a letter to Haslinger of October 13, 1826. Measures 3-4 are for two bass voices; measures 5-8 are for three bass voices).


WoO: 205

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