Beethoven’s Creative Activity in Bonn--An Inquiry into the Genesis
of Many Compositions--The Cantatas on the Death of Joseph II and
the Elevation of Leopold II--Songs, the “Ritterballet,” the Octet
and Other Chamber Pieces.
But for the outbreak of the French Revolution, Bonn seems to have been
destined to become a brilliant centre of learning and art. Owing to
the Elector’s taste and love for music, that art became--what under
the influence of Goethe poetry and drama were in Weimar--the artistic
expression and embodiment of the intellectual character of the time.
In this art, among musicians and composers, Beethoven, endowed with a
genius whose originality has rarely if ever been surpassed, “lived,
moved and had his being.” His official superiors, Lucchesi, Reicha,
Neefe, were indefatigable in their labors for the church, the stage
and the concert-room; his companions, Andreas Perner, Anton Reicha,
the Rombergs, were prolific in all the forms of composition from
the set of variations to even the opera and oratorios; and in the
performance of their productions, as organist, pianist and viola
player, he, of course, assisted. The trophies of Miltiades allowed no
rest to Themistocles. Did the applause bestowed upon the scenes, duos,
trios, quartets, symphonies, operas of his friends awaken no spirit of
emulation in him? Was he contented to be the mere performer, leaving
composition to others? And yet what a “beggarly account” is the list of
compositions known to belong to this period of his life![49] Calling
to mind the activity of others, particularly Mozart, developed in
their boyhood, and reflecting on the incentives which were offered
to Beethoven in Bonn, one may well marvel at the small number and the
small significance of the compositions which preceded the Trios Op. 1,
with which, at the age of 24 years, he first presented himself to the
world as a finished artist. But a change has come over the picture in
the progress of time. Not only are the beginnings of many works which
he presented to the world at a late day as the ripe products of his
genius to be traced back to the Bonn period; fate has also made known
to us compositions of his youth which, for a long time, were lost
in whole or in part, and which, in connection with the three great
pianoforte quartets of 1785, not only disclose a steady progress, but
also discover the self-developed individual artist at a much earlier
date than has heretofore been accepted. Now that we are again in
possession of the cantatas and other fruits of the Bonn period, or have
learned to know them better as such, we are able to free ourselves
from the old notion which presented Beethoven as a slowly and tardily
developed master.
CANTATA ON THE DEATH OF JOSEPH II
The most interesting of Beethoven’s compositions in the Bonn period
are unquestionably the cantatas on the death of Joseph II and the
elevation of Leopold II. Beethoven did not bring them either to
performance or publication; they were dead to the world. Nottebohm
called attention to the fact that manuscript copies of their scores
were announced in the auction catalogue of the library of Baron de
Beine in April, 1813. It seems probable that Hummel purchased them at
that time; at any rate, after his death they found their way from his
estate into the second-hand bookshop of List and Francke in Leipsic,
where they were bought in 1884 by Armin Fridmann of Vienna. Dr. Eduard
Hanslick acquainted the world with the rediscovered treasures in a
feuilleton published in the “Neue Freie Presse” newspaper of Vienna
on May 13, 1884, and the funeral cantata was performed for the first
time at Vienna in November, 1884, and at Bonn on June 29, 1885.[50]
Both cantatas were then included in the Complete Works of Beethoven
published by Breitkopf and Härtel. The “Cantata on the Death of Joseph
the Second, composed by L. van Beethoven,” was written between March
and June, 1790. The Emperor died on February 20th, and the news of his
death reached Bonn on February 24th. The Lesegesellschaft at once
planned a memorial celebration, which took place on March 19th. At a
meeting held to make preparations for the function on February 28,
Prof. Eulogius Schneider (who delivered the memorial address) expressed
the wish that a musical feature be incorporated in the programme and
said that a young poet had that day placed a poem in his hands which
only needed a setting from one of the excellent musicians who were
members of the society or a composer from elsewhere. Beethoven’s
most influential friends, at the head of them Count Waldstein, were
members of the society. Here, therefore, we have beyond doubt the story
of how Beethoven’s composition originated. The minutes of the last
meeting for preparation, held on March 17, state that “for various
reasons the proposed cantata cannot be performed.” Among the various
reasons may have been the excessive difficulty of the parts for the
wind-instruments which, according to Wegeler, frustrated a projected
performance at Mergentheim; though it is also possible that Beethoven,
who was notoriously a slow worker, was unable to complete the music in
the short time which was at his disposal. The text of the cantata was
written by Severin Anton Averdonk, son of an employee of the electoral
Bureau of Accounts, and brother of the court singer Johanna Helene
Averdonk, who, in her youth, was for a space a pupil of Johann van
Beethoven. Beethoven set the young poet’s ode for solo voice, chorus
and orchestra without trumpets and drums. Brahms, on playing through
the score, remarked: “It is Beethoven through and through. Even if
there were no name on the title-page none other than that of Beethoven
could be conjectured.” The same thing may be said of the “Cantata
on the Elevation of Leopold II to the Imperial Dignity, composed by
L. V. Beethoven.” Leopold’s election as Roman Emperor took place on
September 30, 1790, his coronation on October 9, when Elector Max Franz
was present at Frankfort. This gives us a hint as to the date of the
composition. Whether or not the Elector commissioned it cannot be said.
Averdonk was again the poet. The two cantatas mark the culmination
of Beethoven’s creative labors in Bonn; they show his artistic
individuality ripened and a sovereign command of all the elements which
Bonn was able to teach him from a technical point of view.
OTHER WORKS OF THE BONN PERIOD
Two airs for bass voice with orchestral accompaniment are, to judge
by the handwriting, also to be ascribed to about 1790. The first is
entitled “‘Prüfung des Küssens’ (’The Test of Kissing’), V. L. V.
Beethowen.” The use of the “w” instead of the “v” in the spelling of
the name points to an early period for the composition. The text of
the second bears the title, “Mit Mädeln sich vertragen,” and was taken
by Beethoven from the original version of Goethe’s “Claudine von Villa
Bella.” Paper, handwriting and the spelling of the name of the composer
indicate the same period as the first air. The two compositions
remained unknown a long time, but are now to be had in the Supplement
to the Complete Works published by Breitkopf and Härtel.
To these airs must be added a considerable number of songs as fruits
of Beethoven’s creative labors in Bonn. The first of these, “Ich, der
mit flatterndem Sinn,” was made known by publication in the Complete
Works. A sketch found among sketches for the variations on “Se vuol
ballare,” led Nottebohm to set down 1792 as the year of its origin. Of
the songs grouped and published as Op. 52 the second, “Feuerfarbe,”
belongs to the period of transition from Bonn to Vienna. On January 26,
1793, Fischenich wrote to Charlotte von Schiller: “I am enclosing with
this a setting of the ‘Feuerfarbe’ on which I should like to have your
opinion. It is by a young man of this place whose musical talents are
universally praised and whom the Elector has sent to Haydn in Vienna.
He proposes also to compose Schiller’s ‘Freude,’ and indeed strophe
by strophe. Ordinarily he does not trouble himself with such trifles
as the enclosed, which he wrote at the request of a lady.” From this
it is fair to conclude that the song was finished before Beethoven’s
departure from Bonn. Later he wrote a new postlude, which is found
among _motivi_ for the Octet and the Trio in C minor. Of the other
songs in Op. 52 the origin of several may be set down as falling in
the Bonn period. That of the first, “Urian’s Reise um die Welt,” we
have already seen. Whether or not these songs, which met with severe
criticism in comparison with other greater works of Beethoven, were
published without Beethoven’s knowledge, is doubtful.[51] Probability
places the following songs in the period of transition, or just before
it: “An Minna,” sketched on a page with “Feuerfarbe,” and other works
written out in the early days of the Vienna period; a drinking-song,
“to be sung at parting,” “Erhebt das Glas mit froher Hand,” to judge
by the handwriting, an early work, presumably _circa_ 1787; “Elegie
auf den Tod eines Pudels”; “Die Klage,” to be placed in 1790, inasmuch
as the original manuscript form appears simultaneously with sketches
of the funeral cantata; “Wer ist ein freier Mann?”, whose original
autograph in the British Museum bears the inscription “ipse fecit
L. v. Beethoven,” and must be placed not later than 1790, while a
revised form is probably a product of 1795, and to a third Wegeler
appended a different text, “Was ist des Maurer’s Ziel?” published in
1806; the “Punschlied” may be a trifle older; the autograph of “Man
strebt die Flamme zu verhehlen,” in the possession of the Gesellschaft
der Musikfreunde, which has been placed in the year 1792, bears in
Beethoven’s handwriting the words “pour Madame Weissenthurn par Louis
van Beethoven.” Madame Weissenthurn was a writer and actress, and from
1789 a member of the company of the Burgtheater in Vienna, and it is
more than likely that Beethoven did not get acquainted with her till he
went to Vienna, although she was born on the Rhine.
Turn we now to the instrumental works which date back to the Bonn
period. The beginning is made with the work which, in a manner,
first brought Beethoven into close relationship with the stage--the
“Ritterballet,” produced by the nobility on Carnival Sunday, March 6,
1791, and which, consequently, cannot have been composed long before,
say in 1790 or 1791. The ballet was designed by Count Waldstein in
connection with Habich, a dancing-master from Aix-la-Chapelle. Of
the contents of the piece we know nothing more than is contained in
the report from Bonn printed three chapters back, namely, that it
illustrated the predilection of the ancient Germans for war, the
chase, love and drinking; the music, being without words, can give
us no further help. It consists of eight short numbers, designed to
accompany the pantomime: 1, March; 2, German Song;[52] 3, Hunting Song;
4, Romance; 5, War Song; 6, Drinking Song; 7, German Dance; 8, Coda.
It was intended that the music should be accepted as Waldstein’s and,
therefore, Beethoven never published it.
It seems as if the last year of Beethoven’s sojourn in Bonn was
especially influential in the development of his artistic character
and ability. Of the works of 1792, besides trifles, there were two
of larger dimensions which, if we were not better advised, would
unhesitatingly be placed in the riper Vienna period. The autograph of
the Octet for wind-instruments, published after the composer’s death
and designated at a later date as Op. 103, bears the inscription
“Parthia in Es” (above this, “dans un Concert”), “Due Oboe, Due
Clarinetti, Due Corni, Due Fagotti di L. v. Beethoven.” From a sketch
which precedes suggestions for the song “Feuerfarbe,” Nottebohm
concludes that the Octet was composed in 1792, or, at the latest
in 1793. In the latter case it would be a Viennese product. It is
improbable, however, that Beethoven found either incentive or occasion
soon after reaching Vienna to write a piece of this character, and
it is significant that in his later years he never returned to a
combination of eight instruments. But there was an incentive in Bonn
in the form of the excellent dinner-music of the Elector described by
Chaplain Junker, which was performed by two oboes, two clarinets, two
horns and two bassoons. It may be set down as a fruit of 1792, his last
year in Bonn. For the same combination of instruments, Beethoven also
composed a Rondino in E-flat, published in 1829 by Diabelli, probably
from the posthumous manuscript. From the autograph Nottebohm argued
that it was written in Bonn, and what has been said of the origin of
the Octet applies also to the Rondino. The autograph of a little duet
in G for two flutes bears the inscription: “For Friend Degenharth by L.
v. Beethoven. August 23rd, 1792, midnight.”
We are lifted to a higher plane again by a work which in invention
and construction surpasses the compositions already mentioned and
still to be mentioned in the present category, and discloses the fully
developed Beethoven as we know him--the Trio in E-flat, for violin,
viola and violoncello, Op. 3. Its publication was announced by Artaria
in February, 1797. According to Wegeler, Beethoven was commissioned
by Count Appony in 1795 to write a quartet. He made two efforts, but
produced first a Trio (Op. 3), and then a Quintet (Op. 4). We know
better the origin of the latter work now; but Wegeler is also mistaken
about the origin of the Trio; it was a Bonn product. Here the proof:
At the general flight from Bonn, whether the one at the end of October
or that of December 15, 1793, the Elector ordered his chaplain, Abbé
Clemens Dobbeler, to accompany an English lady, the Honourable Mrs.
Bowater, to Hamburg. “While there,” says William Gardiner in his “Music
and Friends,” III, 142, “he was declared an emigrant and his property
was seized. Luckily he placed some money in our (English) government
funds, and his only alternative was to proceed to England.” Dobbeler
accompanied Mrs. Bowater to Leicester. She,
having lived much in Germany, had acquired a fine taste in music;
and as the Abbé was a very fine performer on the violin, music
was essential to fill up this irksome period (while Mrs. Bowater
lived in lodgings before moving into old Dolby Hall). My company
was sought with that of two of my friends to make up occasionally
an instrumental quartett.... Our music consisted of the Quartetts
of Haydn, Boccherini, and Wranizky. The Abbé, who never travelled
without his violin, had luckily put into his fiddle-case a Trio
composed by Beethoven, just before he set off, which thus, in
the year 1793, found its way to Leicester. This composition, so
different from anything I had ever heard, awakened in me a new
sense, a new delight in the science of sounds.... When I went
to town (London) I enquired for the works of this author, but
could learn nothing more than that he was considered a madman
and that his music was like himself. However, I had a friend in
Hamburg through whom, although the war was raging at the time, I
occasionally obtained some of these inestimable treasures.
THE TRIO FOR STRINGS, OP. 3
What trio was this so praised by the enthusiastic Englishman? On the
last page but one of Gardiner’s “Italy, her Music, Arts and People” he
writes, speaking of his return down the Rhine:
Recently we arrived at Bonn, the birthplace of Beethoven. About
the year 1786, my friend the Abbé Dobler, chaplain to the Elector
of Cologne, first noticed this curly, blackheaded boy, the son
of a tenor singer in the cathedral. Through the Abbé I became
acquainted with the first production of this wonderful composer.
How great was my surprise in playing the viola part to his Trio in
E-flat, so unlike anything I had ever heard. It was a new sense
to me, an intellectual pleasure which I had never received from
sounds.
Again, in a letter to Beethoven, Gardiner says, “Your Trio in E-flat
(for violin, viola and bass).” To all but the blind this narrative
pours a flood of light upon the whole question.[53]
There come up now for consideration the compositions in which
Beethoven’s principal instrument, the pianoforte, is employed. They
carry us back a space, and to the earliest examples we add a related
composition for violin.
It was a part of Beethoven’s official duty to play pianoforte before
the Elector, and it may therefore easily be imagined that after his
first boyish attempt in 1784, he would continue to compose concertos
and parts of concertos for the pianoforte and orchestra, and not wait
until 1795, when he publicly performed the “entirely new” concerto
in B-flat. Quite recently the world has learned of a first movement
for a pianoforte concerto in D, concerning which the first report
was made by Guido Adler in 1888, and which was performed in Vienna
on April 7, 1889, and then incorporated, as edited by Adler, in the
supplement to the Complete Works. It was discovered in copy, solo and
orchestra parts, in the possession of Joseph Bezeczny, the head of an
educational institution for the blind in Prague, and the handwriting
is his. Immediately after its first performance its authenticity was
questioned by Dr. Paumgartner, who called attention to its Mozartian
characteristics, but failed to advance any reason for doubting the
testimony of so thorough a musical scholar as Adler. The latter had
emphasized the resemblances to Mozart’s works, which, indeed, are
too obvious to escape attention; but for a long time after 1785,
especially after Beethoven met Mozart personally in Vienna, the former
was completely in the latter’s thrall, and that his music should
occasionally be reminiscent of his model is not at all singular. Such
reminiscences are to be found in the quartets of 1785 and the trio for
pianoforte and wind-instruments. It is safe to assume that the movement
was written, as Adler suggests, in the period 1788-1793, perhaps before
rather than after 1790, and that Beethoven attached little value to it
and laid it permanently aside.
A companion-piece to this movement is the fragment of a Concerto for
Violin in C major, of which the autograph is in the archives of the
Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna, the handwriting of which
indicates that it belongs to the early Vienna if not the Bonn period.
That it is a first transcription is indicated by the fact that there
are many erasures and corrections. The fragment contains 259 measures,
embracing the orchestral introduction, the first solo passage, the
second _tutti_ and the beginning of the free fantasia for the solo
instrument; it ends with the introduction of a new transition _motif_
which leads to the conjecture that the movement was finished and that
the missing portion has been lost.[54]
A Trio in E-flat for Pianoforte, Violin and Violoncello, found among
Beethoven’s posthumous papers, was published in 1836 by Dunst in
Frankfort-on-the-Main. On the original publication its authenticity was
certified to by Diabelli, Czerny and Ferdinand Ries, and it was stated
that the original manuscript was in the possession of Schindler;
Wegeler verified the handwriting as that of Beethoven. Schindler
cites Beethoven’s utterance that he had written the work at the age
of 15 years and described it as one of his “highest strivings in the
free style of composition,” which was either a misunderstanding of
Schindler’s or a bit of irony on the part of Beethoven. Nearer the
truth, at any rate, is a remark in Gräffer’s written catalogue of
Beethoven’s works: “Composed _anno_ 1791, and originally intended for
the three trios, Op. 1, but omitted as too weak by Beethoven.” Whether
or not this observation rests on an authentic source is not stated.[55]
Whether or not the Pianoforte Trios, Op. 1, were composed in Bonn may
be left without discussion here, since we shall be obliged to recur
to the subject later. The facts about them that have been determined
beyond controversy are, that they were published in 1795; were not
ready in their final shape in 1794; and were already played in the
presence of Haydn in 1793.
OTHER WORKS COMPOSED IN BONN
The Variations in E-flat for Pianoforte, Violin and Violoncello, which
were published in 1804 by Hofmeister in Leipsic as Op. 44, apparently
belong to the last year of Beethoven’s life in Bonn. Nottebohm found
a sketch of the work alongside one of the song “Feuerfarbe,” which
fact points to the year 1792; Beethoven in a letter to the publisher
appears not to have laid particular store by it, a circumstance easily
understood in view of the great works which had followed the youthful
effort.
Besides these compositions, a Trio for Pianoforte, Flute and
Bassoon,[56] concerning which all the information which we have
came from the catalogue of Beethoven’s effects sold at auction, has
recently been published. It is No. 179 in the catalogue, where it
is described as a composition of the Bonn period. On the autograph,
preserved in Berlin, the title, placed at the end, is “Trio concertante
a clavicembalo, flauto, fagotto, composto da Ludovico van Beethoven
organista di S. S. (illegible word), cologne.” The designation of the
composer as organist, etc., fixes the place of its origin, and the
handwriting indicates an early date.
Among the papers found in Beethoven’s apartments after his death, was
the manuscript of a Sonata in B-flat for Pianoforte and Flute, which
passed into the hands of Artaria. It is not in Beethoven’s handwriting,
and the little evidence of its authenticity is not convincing.[57]
It is more than likely that the Variations for Pianoforte and Violin on
Mozart’s “Se vuol ballare” ought to be assigned to the latter part of
the Bonn period. They were published in July, 1793, with a dedication
to Eleonore von Breuning, to whom Beethoven sent the composition
with a letter dated November 2, 1793.[58] The dedication leads to
the presumption that the work was carried to Vienna in a finished
state and there subjected to only the final polish. The postscript
to the letter to Fräulein von Breuning betrays the reason for the
hurried publication: Beethoven wanted to checkmate certain Viennese
pianists whom he had detected copying peculiarities of his playing
in improvisation which he suspected they would publish as their own
devices.
Besides the pieces already mentioned, Beethoven wrote the following
works for pianoforte in Bonn:
1. A Prelude in F minor.[59] According to a remark on a printed copy
shown to be authentic, Beethoven wrote it when he was 15 year old, that
is, in 1786 or, the question of his age not being determined at the
time, 1787. The prelude is, as a matter of fact, a fruit of his studies
in the art of imitation; and the initiative, probably, came from Bach’s
Preludes.
2. Two Preludes through the Twelve Major Keys for Pianoforte or Organ;
published by Hoffmeister in 1803 as Op. 39. Obviously exercises written
for Neefe while he was Beethoven’s teacher in composition.
3. Variations on the arietta “Venni Amore,” by Righini, in D
major--“Venni Amore,” not “Vieni”; the arietta begins: “Venni Amore nel
tuo regno, ma compagno del Timor.” Righini gave his melody a number of
vocal variations. Beethoven republished his in Vienna in 1801 through
Traeg (Complete Works, Series 17, No. 178); composed about 1790 and
published in Mannheim in 1791. They were inscribed to Countess Hatzfeld
(_née_ Countess de Girodin), who has been praised in this book as an
eminent pianist. The story of the encounter between Beethoven and
Sterkel in which these variations figure has also been told. Beethoven
had a good opinion of them; Czerny told Otto Jahn that he had brought
them with him to Vienna and used them to “introduce” himself.
PIANOFORTE VARIATIONS AND A SONATA
Two books of variations are to be adjudged to the Bonn period because
of their place of publication and other biographical considerations.
They are the Variations in A major on a theme from Dittersdorf’s
opera “Das rothe Käppchen” (“Es war einmal ein alter Mann”) and the
Variations for four hands on a theme by Count Waldstein. Both sets were
published by Simrock in Bonn, the first of Beethoven’s compositions
published in his native town. They were not published until 1794, but
according to a letter to Simrock, dated August 2, 1794, the latter
had received the first set a considerable time before, and Beethoven
had held back the corrections while the other was already printed.
Beethoven’s intimate association with Waldstein in Bonn is a familiar
story, but we hear nothing of it in the early Viennese days. The
variations on a theme of his own seem likely to have been the product
of a wish expressed by the Count. That Beethoven seldom wrote for four
hands, and certainly not without a special reason, is an accepted
fact.[60]
Another presumably Bonnian product which has come down to us only as a
fragment is the Sonata in C major for Pianoforte, published in 1830
by Dunst in Frankfort, with a dedication to Eleonore von Breuning. It
is probably the sonata which Beethoven, according to the letter to
be given presently, had promised to his friend and which was fully
sketched at the time. There would be no doubt of the fact that the
sonata was written in Bonn if the presumption that the letter was
written in Bonn were true; but even as it is, the fact that the letter
says that it had been promised “long ago” indicates a pre-Viennese
origin. All that is certain is that Eleonore von Breuning received
it from Beethoven in 1796. In the copy sent to the publisher eleven
measures at the end of the _Adagio_ were lacking. These were supplied
by Ferdinand Ries in the manner of Beethoven. There can scarcely be a
doubt that Beethoven finished the _Adagio_, and it can be assumed that
he also composed a last movement, which has been lost.
Concerning the Rondo in C major published in Bossler’s “Blumenlese” of
1783, we have already spoken.[61]
It is a striking fact to any one who has had occasion to examine
carefully the chronology of publication of Beethoven’s works, that up
to nearly the close of 1802 whatever appeared under his name was worthy
of that name; but that then, in the period of the second, third and
fourth symphonies, of the sonatas. Op. 47, 53, 57 and of “Leonore,” to
the wonder of the critics of that time serial advertisements of the
“Kunst- und Industrie-Comptoir” in Vienna announce the Trios, Op. 30
and the seven Bagatelles, Op. 33; in another the “Grand Sinfonie,” Op.
36, and the Variations on “God save the King”; on May 15, 1805, the
Waldstein Sonata and the Romance, Op. 50; and on June 16 the songs.
Op. 52, which the “Allgemeine Mus. Zeitung” describes as “commonplace,
poor, weak, in part ridiculous stuff.” Ries solves the enigma when he
writes (“Notizen,” 124) that all trifles, many things which he never
intended to publish because he deemed them unworthy of his name, were
given to the world through the agency of his brother. In this manner
the world was made acquainted with songs which he had written long
before he went to Vienna from Bonn. Even little compositions which he
had written in albums were filched and published.
But even if the widest latitude be given to the judgment in selecting
from the publications of these years’ works belonging to the Bonn
period, still what an exceedingly meagre list is the aggregate
of Beethoven’s compositions from his twelfth to the end of his
twenty-second year! Mozart’s, according to Köchel, reach at that age
293; Handel completed his twentieth year, February 23, 1705; on the
twenty-fifth his second opera “Nero” was performed. And what had he not
previously written!
This apparent lack of productiveness on the part of Beethoven has been
noticed by other writers. One has disputed the fact and is of opinion
that the composer in later years destroyed the manuscripts of his youth
to prevent the possibility of injury to his fame by their posthumous
publication. But this explanation is nonsense, as every one knows who
has had an opportunity to examine the autograph collections in Vienna
and there to remark with what scrupulous care even his most valueless
productions were preserved by their author in all his migrations from
house to house and from city to country throughout his Vienna life.
Beethoven attached absolutely no value to his autographs; after
they had once been engraved they generally were piled on the floor
in his living room or an anteroom among other pieces of music.
I often brought order into his music, but when Beethoven hunted
for anything, everything was sent flying in disorder. At that
time I might have carried away the autograph manuscripts of all
the pieces which had been printed, or had I asked him for them he
would unquestionably have given them to me without a thought.
These words of Ries are confirmed by the small number of autographs
of printed works in the auction catalogue of Beethoven’s posthumous
papers--most of them having remained in the hands of the publishers or
having been lost, destroyed or stolen.
WORKS TAKEN TO VIENNA FROM BONN
Another author has endeavored to supply the vacuum by deducing the
chronology of Beethoven’s works from their form, matter or general
character as viewed by his eyes, referring all which seem to him below
the standard of the composer at any particular period to an earlier
one; and a very comical chronology he makes of it. His success
certainly has not been such as to induce any attempt of the kind
here; and yet that he is right in the general fact is the hypothesis
which the following remarks are conceived to establish as truth.
Schindler--who is often very positive on the ground that what he does
not know cannot be true--in introducing his chronological table of
Beethoven’s works, published from 1796 to 1800, remarks: “It may be
asserted with positiveness that none of the works catalogued below were
composed before 1794”; upon which point the assertion is ventured that
Schindler is thoroughly mistaken and that many of the works published
by Beethoven during the first dozen years of his Vienna life were taken
thither from Bonn. They doubtless were more or less altered, amended,
improved, corrected, but nevertheless belong as compositions to those
years when “Beethoven played pianoforte concertos, and Herr Neefe
accompanied at Court in the theatre and in concerts.” While the other
young men were trying their strength upon works for the orchestra and
stage, the performance of which would necessarily give them notoriety,
the Court Pianist would naturally confine himself mostly to his own
instrument and to chamber music--to works whose production before a
small circle in the salons of the Elector, Countess Hatzfeld and others
would excite little if any public notice. But here he struck out so
new, and at that time so strange a path that no small degree of praise
is due to the sagacity of Count Waldstein, who comprehended his aims,
felt his greatness and encouraged him to trust to and be guided by his
own instincts and genius.
That Beethoven also tried his powers in a wider field we know from
the two cantatas, the airs in “Die schöne Schusterin” and the
“Ritterballet.” Carl Haslinger in Vienna also possessed an orchestral
introduction to the second act of an unnamed opera which may as well be
referred to the Bonn period as to any other; and it is not by any means
a wild suggestion that he had tried his strength in other concertos for
pianoforte and full orchestra than that of 1784. As to the compositions
for two, six or eight wind-instruments there was little if any danger
of mistake in supposing them to have been written for the Elector’s
“Harmonie-Musik.” But this is wandering from the point; to establish
which the following remarks are in all humility submitted:
CREATIVE INDUSTRY IN BONN
I. If a list be drawn up of Beethoven’s compositions published between
1795 and December, 1802, with the addition of other works known to have
been composed in those years, the result will be nearly as follows
(omitting single songs and other minor pieces): symphonies, 2; ballet
(“Prometheus”), 1; sonatas (solo and duo), 32; romances (violin and
orchestra), 2; serenade, 1; duos (clarinet and bassoon), 3; sets of
variations, 15; sets of dances, 5; “Ah! perfido” and “Adelaide,” 2;
pianoforte concertos, 3; trios (pianoforte and other instruments), 9;
quartets, 6; quintets, 3; septet, 1; pianoforte rondos, 3; marches
(for four hands), 3; oratorio (“Christus”), 1; an aggregate of 92
compositions in eight years or ninety-six months. And most of them
such compositions! That Beethoven was a remarkable man all the
world knows; but that he could produce at this rate, study operatic
composition with Salieri, sustain, nay, increase his reputation as
a pianoforte virtuoso, journey to Prague, Berlin and other places,
correct proof-sheets for his publishers, give lessons and yet find time
to write long letters to friends, to sleep, to eat, drink and be merry
with companions of his own age--this is, to say the least, “a morsel
difficult of digestion.” The more so from the fact that at the very
time when he began to devote himself more exclusively to composition
such marvellous fertility suddenly ceased. The inference is obvious.
II. When Neefe, in 1798, calls Beethoven “beyond controversy one of the
foremost pianoforte players,” it excites no surprise. Ten years before
he had played the most of Bach’s “Well-Tempered Clavichord” and had now
long held the offices of Second Court Organist and Concerto Player; but
what sufficient reason could Waldstein have had for his faith that this
pianist, by study and perseverance, would yet be able to seize and hold
the sceptre of Mozart? And upon what grounds, too, could Fischenich, on
January 26, 1793, write as he did to Charlotte von Schiller from Bonn
(see _ante_) and add, “I expect something perfect from him, for so far
as I know him he is wholly devoted to the great and sublime.... Haydn
has written here that he would soon put him at grand operas and soon be
obliged to quit composing.”
Note the date of this--January 26, 1793. Haydn must have written some
time before this, when Beethoven could not have been with him more than
six or eight weeks. Did the master found his remark upon what he had
seen in his pupil or upon the compositions which his pupil had placed
before him? Wegeler has printed an undated and incomplete letter of
Beethoven to Eleonore von Breuning, certainly, however, not later than
the spring of 1794, which was accompanied by a set of variations and
a rondo for pianoforte and violin. Do the following passages in this
letter indicate anything?
I have a great deal to do or I would before this have transcribed
the sonata _which I promised you long ago_. It is a mere sketch in
my manuscript and it would be a difficult task even for the clever
and practised Paraquin to copy it. You can have the rondo copied
and return the score to me. It is the only one of my things which
is, in a manner, suitable to you.
May these words not be paraphrased thus: “As to the sonata which I
played at your house and of which I promised you a copy--it is in my
manuscript hardly more than a sketch, so that I could not trust it to a
copyist, not even to Paraquin, and I have not had leisure to transcribe
it myself.” And, finally, the closing lines of a short article in the
“Jahrbuch der Tonkunst für Wien und Prag,” 1776--which notice was not
written later than the spring of 1795, nine or ten months before the
publication of the Sonatas Op. 2--are pregnantly suggestive: “We have
a number of beautiful sonatas by him, amongst which the last ones
particularly distinguish themselves.” These works were, therefore,
well-known in manuscript even at the time when he was busy with his
studies under Haydn and Albrechtsberger.
III. If in spite of the above it still be objected that the _opera_ 1
to 15, or 20, as you please, are of a character beyond the powers of
Beethoven during his Bonn life, who _knows_ this to be a fact? Has such
an objection any other basis than a mere prejudice?
EVIDENCES OF EARLY ACTIVITY
A fanciful theory has exhibited Beethoven to us as a rude, undeveloped
genius, who, being transferred to Vienna and schooled two years by
Haydn and Albrechtsberger, then began with the Trios Op. 1, wrought
his way upward in eight years through the twenty-three compositions of
_opera_ 2 to 14 in a geometrical progression to the first pianoforte
concertos, the ballet “Prometheus” and the Symphony in C! It is,
however, known that in March, 1795, Beethoven played his Pianoforte
Concerto in B-flat in Vienna, shortly afterward published the Trios,
Op. 1, and in 1796 composed the two sonatas for pianoforte and
violoncello in Berlin. A young man who at the age of 24 or 25 could
give the public two such concertos could hardly have been such a rough
diamond only three or four years before.
IV. However convincing the preceding propositions may seem to the
ordinary reader, the critical student of musical history justly demands
something more. It is not enough for him to know that Op. 19 was
composed before the publication of Op. 1; that Op. 2 is in part made
up from the Pianoforte Quartets of 1785; that the Quintet Op. 4 is an
arrangement of the “Parthia” in E-flat for wind-instruments afterwards
published as Op. 103, and is now proved to belong to the Bonn period,
and that a whole movement of the funeral cantata found its way into
“Fidelio”--the argument is to him like an arch without its keystone
until one or more of the important works be named specifically as Bonn
compositions and proved to be such.[62]
FOOTNOTES:
[49] The discoveries made after Thayer completed and printed his first
volume in German (1866), largely inspired by his labors, have made
a thorough revision of this chapter imperative. In all that follows
the editor has accepted the statement of facts made by Dr. Deiters in
his revised version of the first volume published in 1901, but, in
pursuance of his plan as set forth in the introduction, has omitted
that which seemed to him more or less inconsequential, as well as that
which belongs in the field of analysis and criticism.
[50] There have been a few performances of this cantata in Austria
and Germany since its publication. It was given at a concert of
the Beethoven Association in New York on March 16, 1920, under the
direction of Mr. Sam Franko, with an English paraphrase of the text
by the Editor of this biography, designed to rid it of its local
application and some of its bombast and make its sentiment applicable
to any heroic emancipator.
[51] See Vol. II, p. 210, of the first German edition of this work.
Ries says, on page 124 of the “Notizen,” apropos of the posthumous
manuscripts: “All such trifles and things which he never meant to
publish, as not considering them worthy of his name, were secretly
brought into the world by his brothers. Such were the songs published
when he had attained the highest degree of fame, composed years before
at Bonn, previous to his departure for Vienna; and in like manner other
trifles, written for albums, etc., were secretly taken from him and
published.”
[52] The subject of the German Song was used by Beethoven later in a
sonata.
[53] The Trio in E-flat was not published until 1797. It is therefore
obvious that the music which Abbé Dobbeler carried with him to England
must have been a manuscript copy. Dr. Deiters, accepting without
attempt at contradiction Thayer’s proof of its origin at a period not
later than 1792, nevertheless puts forth the conjecture that the work
may have been revised and reconstructed at a later date in Vienna, as
was the case with other compositions. It is not to be supposed, he
urges, that Beethoven, enjoying the celebrity that he did in 1797,
would have published then with an opus number a production of his youth
without first subjecting it to a thorough revision. Moreover, his
earlier chamber compositions were in three movements, the minuet having
been added for the first time in the Octet. It was scarcely conceivable
that he should have simultaneously conceived a work in six movements
unless he had had a Mozart model in his mind. But why not? We have seen
from the story of the music admired at the court of Vienna from which
the Elector came that the serenade form was in favor there. The Sonata
for Pianoforte and Violoncello which Artaria announced in May, 1807, is
an arrangement of this Trio, but it was not made by Beethoven.
[54] Josef Hellmesberger, of Vienna, completed the movement, utilizing
the existing _motivi_, and the piece was published by Friedrich
Schreiber.
[55] Dr. Deiters points out as characteristics of this Trio which
indicate that it was not written by Beethoven at the age of 15, but
long after the pianoforte quartets, the freedom in invention and
development, the large dimensions of the free fantasia portion,
its almost imperceptible return to the principal theme, and the
introduction of a coda in the first movement. _Motivi_ from this
movement recur in later works, for instance, the Sonata in F minor, Op.
2, and the Pianoforte Concerto in C major. Beethoven seems to have used
the designation “Scherzo” in it for the first time.
[56] The combination of instruments in this piece led Dr. Deiters
to conjecture that it may have been composed for the family von
Westerhold. Count von Westerhold played the bassoon, his son the flute,
and his daughter the pianoforte.
[57] Dr. Deiters points out that Thayer, in transcribing the themes of
this Trio, overlooked a _Largo_, which made the movements number four
instead of three as given in the Chronological Catalogue. The existence
of four movements added to the doubtful authenticity in the eyes of the
German editor.
[58] This letter will appear later. The Variations are published
in Series 12, No. 103, of the Complete Edition. In a catalogue of
Breitkopf and Härtel of 1793, they are designated Op. 1; also in a
catalogue in 1794 of Geyl and Hedler’s. It is plain from a passage in
the letter to Eleonore von Breuning (“I never would have written it
in this way,” etc.) that the Coda did not receive its definitive form
until just before publication. Thayer was of the opinion when he wrote
Vol. I of this work, that it had been appended in Vienna.
[59] It was published in 1805 by the Kunst- und Industriecomptoir
of Vienna. Complete Works, Series 18, No. 195; _cf._ Nottebohm’s
“Beethoven’s Studien,” p. 6.
[60] In the Fall of 1919, announcement was made by the newspapers
that French investigators had discovered in the British Museum four
thitherto unknown Beethoven autographs amongst manuscripts purchased by
Julian Marshall. The editor of the second edition of Köchel’s “Thematic
Catalogue of Mozart’s Works” had seen the manuscripts and included two
of them as authentic Mozart compositions and two as probably such in
the supplement to that work. They were a Trio in D, for pianoforte,
violin and violoncello (two pages of the first _Allegro_ missing,
listed as K, No. 52a); three pieces for pianoforte, four hands, a
_Gavotte_ in F, an _Allegro_ in B-flat, and a _Marcia lugubre_ in
C minor (six measures), No. 71a; a _Rondo_ in B-flat, to which the
editor assigned the year 1786, No. 511a; and a _Menuet_ in C, for
orchestra, the first of a set composed by Beethoven in 1795, which M.
Chantavoine published in 1903 under the title “Douze Menuets inédits
pour Orchestre. L. van Beethoven. Œuvres posthumes. Au Ménestrel.”
Theodore Wyzewa and Georges de St. Foix made a study of the manuscripts
and discussed them in “Le Guide Musical” of December, 1919, January
and February, 1920. They were then set down as “pseudo-Mozarts.” M.
Charles Malherbe declared that none of the compositions was in Mozart’s
hand, and M. de St. Foix, after further consideration of the internal
evidence, declared them all to be indubitably by Beethoven and gave
his reasons in an essay published in “The Musical Quarterly” (New York
and Boston, G. Schirmer) of April, 1920. He told the history of the
manuscripts as follows: “They had been presented by the Emperor of
Austria to the Sultan Abdul Aziz. The latter, who probably cared very
little for these relics of the 18th century, presented them in turn
to his musical director, Guatelli Pasha. An English collector, Julian
Marshall, purchased them from the Pasha’s son, W. Guatelli Bey, and
when, later on, the British Museum acquired the Marshall Collection
these manuscripts went over into its possession.”
The _Gavotte_ was played at a concert of the Beethoven Association in
New York in January, 1920, by Madame Samaroff and Harold Bauer, being
inserted as a movement in the Sonata in A major for four hands, Op.
6. Mr. Bauer also made an arrangement for two hands which has been
published by G. Schirmer.
[61] The discoveries which have been made since Thayer wrote his first
volume have very effectually disproved the old belief touching the
sterility of the Bonn period. The inquiry which might still be pursued
now is whether or not other compositions which have been attributed to
a later period may not also have been composed, or at least projected
and sketched, in Bonn. The point of view has changed, but what Thayer
wrote over half a century ago is still so largely pertinent that it is
here given in the body of the text with only such modifications as were
necessary to bring it into harmony with the rest of the chapter.
[62] Thayer proceeds from this point to give the reasons for his belief
that the Trios Op. 1 and 3 were written in Bonn. The origin of Op. 1
will be discussed hereafter; that of the latter has just been made
clear by the story of Mrs. Bowater and Abbé Dobbeler.