Beethoven’s Brothers--His First Concert on His Own Account--Punto
and the Sonata for Horn--Steibelt Confounded--E. A. Förster and
the First Quartets--The Septet and First Symphony--Beethoven’s
Homes--Hoffmeister--Compositions and Publications of 1800.
It is not easy to conceive upon what ground the opinion became current,
as it did, that Beethoven in the year 1800 and for several years to
come was still burdened with the support of his brothers--young men now
respectively in their 26th and 24th years. This mistake as to Johann
has already been exposed. Leaving Ludwig for the first quarter of this
year doubly busy--having, in addition to his usual occupations, his
preparations to make for a grand concert in April--we turn, for a page,
to his brother Carl.
In the “Hof- und Staats-Schematismus” for the year 1800, at the end of
the list of persons employed in the “K. K. Universal-Staatschuldenkasse”
are the names of two “Praktikanten”; the first is “Mr. Carl v.
Beethoven lives in the Sterngasse, 484.” In the same publication
appears a new department or bureau of the above-named office called the
“K. K. n. öst. Klassen-Steuer-Kasse” and the second of the three bureau
officers is “Mr. Carl v. Beethoven lives unterm Tuchladen, 605.”
It is not improbable that, while simply “Praktikant,” he may have
needed occasional pecuniary aid, but his preferment to the place of
“Kassa-Officier” rendered him independent. This appointment is dated
March 24th, 1800, and gave him a salary of 250 florins. Small as the
sum now appears, it was amply sufficient, with what he could earn by
teaching music (and the brother of the great Beethoven could have no
lack of pupils), to enable him to live comfortably. In fact, he was
better off than many a colleague in the public service, who still with
care and economy managed to live respectably. It may therefore be
confidently asserted that Beethoven was henceforth relieved of all
care on account of Carl, as of Johann, until the bankruptcy of the
government and Carl’s broken health many years later, made fraternal
assistance indispensable.
At the beginning of this year Carl had tried his fortune as a
composer--but probably with slender profit, since no second venture
has been discovered. Six minuets, six “Deutsche” and six contradances
by him are advertised in the “Wiener Zeitung” of January 11, in double
editions, one for clavier and one for two violins and violoncello.
The concert for which Beethoven had been preparing during the winter
took place on the 2d of April. It was his first public appearance for
his own benefit in Vienna, and, so far as is known, anywhere except
in Prague. All that is now to be ascertained in relation to it is
contained in the advertisement, in the programme, and in a single
notice, sent to the “Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung.” The programme,
which was in the possession of Madame van Beethoven (widow of the
composer’s nephew) is as follows:
To-day, Wednesday, April 2nd, 1800, Herr _Ludwig van Beethoven_
will have the honor to give a grand concert for his benefit in the
Royal Imperial Court Theatre beside the Burg. The pieces which
will be performed are the following:
1. A grand symphony by the late Chapelmaster Mozart.
2. An aria from “The Creation” by the Princely Chapelmaster Herr
Haydn, sung by Mlle. Saal.
3. A grand Concerto for the Pianoforte, played and composed by
Herr _Ludwig van Beethoven_.
4. A Septet, most humbly and obediently dedicated to Her Majesty
the Empress, and composed by Herr _Ludwig van Beethoven_ for
four stringed and three wind-instruments, played by Messrs.
Schuppanzigh, Schreiber, Schindlecker, Bär, Nickel, Matauschek and
Dietzel.
5. A Duet from Haydn’s “Creation,” sung by Mr. and Mlle. Saal.
6. Herr _Ludwig van Beethoven_ will improvise on the pianoforte.
7. A new grand symphony with complete orchestra, composed by Herr
_Ludwig van Beethoven_.
Tickets for boxes and stalls are to be had of Herr van Beethoven
at his lodgings in the Tiefen Graben, No. 241, third storey, and
of the box-keeper.
Prices of admission are as usual.
The beginning is at half-past 6 o’clock.
The correspondent of the “Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung” described
the concert as the most interesting affair of its kind given for a
long time, said the new concerto had “many beauties, especially in the
first two movements,” praised the “taste and feeling” exhibited in the
Septet, and in the Symphony found “much art, novelty and wealth of
ideas”; but, he continues: “unfortunately there was too much use of
the wind-instruments, so that the music sounded more as if written for
a military band than an orchestra.” The rest of the notice is devoted
to scolding the band for inattention to the conductor. Which of the
pianoforte Concertos Beethoven played on this occasion is nowhere
intimated. The Symphony in C soon became known throughout Germany;
while the Septet achieved a sudden popularity so widely extended and
enduring as at length to become an annoyance to the composer.[91]
A PUBLIC CONCERT WITH PUNTO
Before the month was out Beethoven again played in public in a concert
given by Johann Stich, known as Punto. This Bohemian virtuoso, after
several years of wandering, had lately come to Vienna from Paris,
_via_ Munich. As a performer upon the horn he was unrivalled by
any predecessor or contemporary; but as a composer he was beneath
criticism. Beethoven’s delight in any one whose skill afforded him
new experience of the powers and possible effects of any orchestral
instrument is known to the reader. Nothing more natural, therefore,
than his readiness to compose a sonata for himself and Punto to be
played at the latter’s concert on April 18th. Ries informs us that
“though the concert was announced with the Sonata the latter was not
yet begun. Beethoven began the work the day before the performance and
it was ready for the concert.” His habit of merely sketching his own
part and of trusting to his memory and the inspiration of the moment,
even when producing his grand Concertos in public, probably rendered
him good service on this occasion. The “Allgemeine Musikzeitung” (III,
704) preserves also the interesting fact that owing to the enthusiastic
applause the Sonata was immediately repeated.
April 27th was the anniversary of the day on which Maximilian Franz
entered Bonn to assume the duties of Elector and Archbishop. Sixteen
years had passed and on this day he, with a small retinue, again
entered Vienna. He took refuge “in an Esterhazy villa in a suburb,”
while the small château near which now stands the railway station at
Hetzendorf, behind Schönbrunn Garden, was preparing for his residence;
whither he soon removed, and where for the present we leave him.
At the end of February or early in March, the charlatan Daniel Steibelt
gave a concert in Prague which brought him in 1800 florins, and in
April or May, “having finished his speculation, he went to Vienna,
his purse filled with ducats, where he was knocked in the head by the
pianist Beethoven,” says Tomaschek. Ries relates how:
When Steibelt came to Vienna with his great name, some of
Beethoven’s friends grew alarmed lest he do injury to the latter’s
reputation. Steibelt did not visit him; they met first time one
evening at the house of Count Fries, where Beethoven produced his
new Trio in B-flat major for Pianoforte, Clarinet and Violoncello
(Op. 11), for the first time.[92] There is no opportunity for
particular display on the part of the pianist in this Trio.
Steibelt listened to it with a sort of condescension, uttered a
few compliments to Beethoven and felt sure of his victory. He
played a Quintet of his own composition, improvised, and made a
good deal of effect with his tremolos, which were then something
entirely new. Beethoven could not be induced to play again. A week
later there was again a concert at Count Fries’s; Steibelt again
played a quintet which had a good deal of success. He also played
an improvisation (which had, obviously, been carefully prepared)
and chose the same theme on which Beethoven had written variations
in his Trio.[93] This incensed the admirers of Beethoven and
him; he had to go to the pianoforte and improvise. He went in
his usual (I might say, ill-bred) manner to the instrument as if
half-pushed, picked up the violoncello part of Steibelt’s quintet
in passing, placed it (intentionally?) upon the stand upside down
and with one finger drummed a theme out of the first few measures.
Insulted and angered he improvised in such a manner that Steibelt
left the room before he finished, would never again meet him and,
indeed, made it a condition that Beethoven should not be invited
before accepting an offer.
It was, and still is, the custom at Vienna for all whose vocations
and pecuniary circumstances render it possible, to spend all or some
portion of the summer months in the country. The aristocracies of birth
and wealth retire to their country-seats, live in villas for the season
or join the throngs at the great watering-places; other classes find
refuge in the villages and hamlets which abound in the lovely environs
of the city, where many a neat cottage is built for their use and where
the peasants generally have a spare room or two, cleanly kept and
neatly furnished. Beethoven’s habit of escaping from town during the
hot months was, therefore, nothing peculiar to him. We have reached
the point whence, with little if any interruption, Beethoven can be
followed from house to house, in city and country, through the rest of
his life; a matter of great value in fixing the true dates of important
letters and determining the chronology of his life and works--but for
the first seven years the record is very incomplete.
VARIOUS DWELLING PLACES IN VIENNA
Carl Holz told Jahn: “He (Beethoven) lived at first in a little
attic-room in the house of the book-binder Strauss in the Alservorstadt,
where he had a miserable time.” This is one of the facts which an
inquisitive young man like Holz would naturally learn of the master
during the short period when he was his factotum. This attic-room must
have been soon changed for the room “on the ground-floor” mentioned
in a previous chapter. An undated note of van Swieten is directed
to Beethoven at “No. 45 Alsergasse, at Prince Lichnowsky’s”; but in
the Vienna directory for 1804 no street is so named, and the only
number 45 in the “Alsergrund” is in the Lämmelgasse, property of Georg
Musial; but Prince Josef Lichnowsky is named as owner of No. 125 in
the Hauptstrasse of that suburb. This was the same house; it had
merely changed numbers. The site is now occupied by the house No. 30
Alserstrasse. Thence Beethoven went as a guest to the house occupied by
Prince Lichnowsky. In May, 1795, Beethoven, in advertising the Trios,
Op. 1, gives the “residence of the author” as the “Ogylisches Haus in
the Kreuzgasse behind the Minorite church, No. 35 in the first storey”;
but that is no reason to think that Prince Lichnowsky then lived there.
Where Beethoven was during the next few years has not been ascertained,
but, as has been seen by the concert bill on a preceding page, he was
during the winter of 1799-1800 in the Tiefen Graben “in a very high
and narrow house,” as Czerny wrote to F. Luib.[94] For the summer of
1800, he took quarters for himself and servant in one of those houses
in Unter-Döbling, an hour’s walk, perhaps, from town, to which the
readiest access is by the bridge over the brook on the North side of
the Döbling hospital for the insane. The wife of a distinguished Vienna
advocate occupied with her children another part of the same house.
One of these children was Grillparzer, afterward famous as a poet. The
zeal with which Beethoven at this period labored to perfect his
pianoforte playing, and his dislike to being listened to, have been
already noted. Madame Grillparzer was a lady of fine taste and
culture, fond of music and therefore able to appreciate the skill of
her fellow-lodger, but ignorant of his aversion to listeners. Her
son, in 1861, still remembered Beethoven’s incessant practice and
his mother’s habit of standing outside her own door to enjoy his
playing. This continued for some time; but one day Beethoven sprang
from the instrument to the door, opened it, looked out to see if any
one was listening, and unfortunately discovered the lady. From that
moment he played no more. Madame Grillparzer, thus made aware of his
sensitiveness on this point, informed him through his servant that
thenceforth her door into the common passageway should be kept locked,
and she and her family would solely use another. It was of no avail;
Beethoven played no more.
Another authentic and characteristic anecdote can belong only to this
summer. There lived in a house hard by a peasant of no very good
reputation, who had a daughter remarkably beautiful, but also not of
the best fame. Beethoven was greatly captivated by her and was in the
habit of stopping to gaze at her when he passed by where she was at
work in farmyard or field. She, however, made no return of his evident
liking and only laughed at his admiration. On one occasion the father
was arrested for engaging in a brawl and imprisoned. Beethoven took
the man’s part and went to the magistrates to obtain his release. Not
succeeding, he became angry and abusive, and in the end would have been
arrested for his impertinence but for the strong representations made
by some, who knew him, of his position in society and of the high rank,
influence and power of his friends.
Throughout this period of Beethoven’s life, each summer is
distinguished by some noble composition, completed, or nearly so,
so that on his return to the city it was ready for revision and his
copyist. Free from the demands of society, his time was his own; his
fancy was quickened, his inspiration strengthened, in field and forest
labor was a delight. The most important work of the master bears in his
own hand the date, 1800, and may reasonably be supposed to have been
the labor of this summer. It is the Concerto in C minor for Pianoforte
and Orchestra, Op. 37.
DOLEŽALEK AND HOFFMEISTER
At the approach of autumn Beethoven returned to his old quarters in the
Tiefen Graben. In this year Krumpholz introduced to him Johann Emanuel
(possibly Johann Nepomuk Emanuel) Doležalek, a young man of 20 years,
born in Chotieborz in Bohemia, who had come to Vienna to take lessons
from Albrechtsberger. He played the pianoforte and violoncello, was a
capable musician, in his youth a rather popular composer of Bohemian
songs and then, for half a century, one of the best teachers in the
capital. Toward the close of his life he was frequently occupied
with the arrangement of private concerts, chiefly quartet parties,
for Prince Czartoryski and other prominent persons. As long as he
lived he was an enthusiastic admirer of Beethoven, and enjoyed the
friendship of the composer till his death. Among his observations are
the statements concerning the hatred of Beethoven felt by the Vienna
musicians already noted. Koželuch, he relates, threw the C minor Trio
at his (Doležalek’s) feet when the latter played it to him. Speaking
of Beethoven, Koželuch said to Haydn: “We would have done that
differently, wouldn’t we, Papa?” and Haydn answered, smilingly, “Yes,
we would have done that differently.” Haydn, says Doležalek, could not
quite reconcile himself with Beethoven’s music. It was Doležalek who
witnessed the oft-told scene in the Swan tavern when Beethoven insisted
on paying without having eaten.
One of the most prolific and popular composers whom Beethoven found in
Vienna was Franz Anton Hoffmeister, “Chapelmaster and R. I. licensed
Music, Art and Book Seller.” He was an immigrant from the Neckar valley
and (born 1754) much older than Beethoven, to whom he had extended a
warm sympathy and friendship, doubly valuable from his somewhat similar
experience as a young student in Vienna. This is evident from the whole
tone of their correspondence. In 1800, Hoffmeister left Vienna and in
Leipzig formed a copartnership with Ambrosius Kühnel, organist of the
Electoral Saxon Court Chapel, and established a publishing house there,
still retaining his business in Vienna. As late as December 5, 1800,
his signature is as above given; but on the 1st of January, 1801, the
advertisements in the public press announce the firm of “Hoffmeister
and Kühnel, _Bureau de Musique_ in Leipzig.” Since 1814 the firm name
has been C. F. Peters. Knowing Beethoven personally and so intimately,
it is alike creditable to the talents of the one and the taste and
appreciation of the other that Hoffmeister, immediately upon organizing
his new publishing house, should have asked him for manuscripts. To his
letter he received an answer dated Dec. 15, 1800, in which Beethoven
says:
... Per _primo_ you must know that I am very sorry that you, my
dear brother in music, did not earlier let me know something (of
your doings) so that I might have marketed my quartets with you,
as well as many other pieces which I have sold, but if Mr. Brother
is as conscientious as many other honest engravers who grave
us poor composers to death, you will know how to derive profit
from them when they appear. I will now set forth in brief what
Mr. Brother can have from me. I^{mo} a Septet _per il Violino_,
_Viola_, _Violoncello_, _Contrabasso_, _Clarinetto_, _Corno_,
_Fagotto_--_tutti obligati_. (I cannot write anything not obligato
for I came into this world with an obligato accompaniment.) This
Septet has pleased greatly. For more frequent use the three
wind-instruments, namely _Fagotto_, _Clarinetto_ and _Corno_
might be transcribed for another violin, viola and violoncello.
II^o A grand Symphony for full orchestra. III^o A Concerto for
pianoforte which I do not claim to be one of my best, as well as
another one which will be published here by Mollo (this for the
information of the Leipzig critics) because I am for the present
keeping the better ones for myself until I make a tour; but it
will not disgrace you to publish it. IV^o A grand Solo Sonata.[95]
That is all that I can give you at this moment. A little later you
may have a Quintet for stringed instruments as well as, probably,
Quartets and other things which I have not now with me. In your
reply you might set the prices and as you are neither a Jew nor an
Italian, nor I either one or the other, we shall no doubt come to
an understanding.
THE FIRST STRING QUARTETS
The reference to the Quartets, Op. 18, in this letter, taken in
connection with the apologies for long delay in writing, indicates
conclusively enough that at least the first set, the first three, had
been placed in the hands of Mollo and Co. early in the autumn, and it
is barely possible, not probable, that they had already been issued
from the press.[96] The importance of these Quartets in the history
both of Beethoven and of chamber music renders very desirable more
definite information upon their origin and dates of composition than
the incomplete, unsatisfactory and not always harmonious data already
known, afford. The original manuscripts appear to have been lost.
Von Lenz quotes in his “Critical Catalogue of Beethoven’s Works” an
anecdote from a pamphlet printed at Dorpat in which is related:
After Beethoven had composed his well-known String Quartet in F
major he played for his friend (Amenda) (on the pianoforte?) the
glorious _Adagio_ (D minor, 9-8 time) and asked him what thought
had been awakened by it. “It pictured for me the parting of two
lovers,” was the answer. “Good!” remarked Beethoven, “I thought
of the scene in the burial vault in ‘Romeo and Juliet’.”
This Quartet existed, then, before Amenda left Vienna. Czerny says
in his notes for Jahn: “Of the first six Violin Quartets that in D
major, No. 3 in print, was the very first composed by Beethoven. On
the advice of Schuppanzigh he called that in F major No. 1, although
it was composed later.” Ries confirms this: “Of his Violin Quartets,
Op. 18, he composed that in D major first of all. That in F major,
which now precedes it, was originally the third.”[97] _Nota bene_ that
neither Czerny nor Ries spoke from personal observation at the time
of composition; they must both have learned the fact from Beethoven
himself, or, more probably, from dates on the original manuscripts.
A criticism of three quartets which appeared in the “Allg. Mus.
Zeitung” in 1799, which failed to give the name of the composer, has
been applied by some writers (by Langhans in his History of Music,
for instance) to Beethoven’s Op. 18; but erroneously. They were the
works of Emanuel Aloys Förster (born January 26, 1748, in Neurath,
Upper Silesia, died November 12, 1823, in Vienna), a musician who was
so highly esteemed by Beethoven that, on one occasion at least, he
called him his “old master.” The phrase can easily be interpreted to
mean that Beethoven found instruction in Förster’s chamber music which
he heard at the soirées of Prince Lichnowsky and other art-patrons.
Förster’s compositions, not many of which have been preserved in print,
are decidedly Beethovenish in character. His eldest son, who in 1870
was still living in Trieste, remembered Beethoven perfectly well from
1803 to 1813, and communicated to the author of this biography some
reminiscences well worth preserving. It is known from other sources
that Beethoven, after the retirement of Albrechtsberger, considered
Förster to be the first of all the Vienna teachers of counterpoint and
composition, and this is confirmed by the son’s statement that it was
on Beethoven’s advice that he sent to press the compendious “Anleitung
zum Generalbass” which Breitkopf and Härtel published in 1805. A year
or two later, Count Rasoumowsky applied to Beethoven for instruction
in musical theory and especially in quartet composition. Beethoven
absolutely refused, but so strongly recommended his friend Förster,
that the latter was engaged. Förster’s dwelling in all those years was
a favorite resort of the principal composers and dilettanti. Thither
came Beethoven; Zmeskall, a very precise gentleman with abundant white
hair; Schuppanzigh, a short fat man with a huge belly; Weiss, tall
and thin; Linke, the lame violoncellist, Henry Eppinger, the Jewish
violin dilettante, the youthful Mayseder, J. N. Hummel, and others.
The regular periods of these quartet meetings were Sunday at noon,
and the evening of Thursday; but Beethoven in those years often spent
other evenings with Förster, “when the conversation usually turned upon
musical theory and composition.” Notwithstanding the wide difference
in their ages (22 years), their friendship was cordial and sincere.
The elder not only appreciated and admired the genius of the younger,
but honored him as a man; and spoke of him as being not only a great
musical composer, but, however at times rough in manner and harsh, even
rude, in speech, of a most honorable and noble nature. Add to all this
the fact, that Beethoven in later years recommended Förster to pupils
as his own “old master,” and it is no forced and unnatural inference,
that he (Beethoven) had studied quartet composition with him, as he had
counterpoint with Albrechtsberger, and operatic writing with Salieri.
Nor is this inference weakened--it is rather strengthened--by some
points in what now follows:
The earliest mention of a string quartet in connection with Beethoven
is that proposal by Count Appony cited from Wegeler which led to no
instant result. Then comes a passage from a letter to Amenda: “Do not
give your Quartet to anybody, because I have greatly changed it, having
learned how to write quartets properly.” Had he learned from study
under Förster?
SKETCHES FOR THE FIRST QUARTETS
The original manuscripts being lost, further chronological notices
concerning them must be sought for in the sketchbooks. Here Nottebohm
comes to our assistance. In the Petter collection at Vienna there
are sketches for the last movement of the G major Quartet, the last
movement of the B-flat Quartet (among them one which was discarded),
both deviating from the printed form more or less, and one for the
last movement of the F major Quartet, this approaching pretty closely
the ultimate form; thus this quartet was farther advanced than the
others. Associated with this sketch are sketches for the Sonata in
B-flat, Op. 22, and for the easy Variations in G major which were begun
while work was in progress on the last movement of the Quartet in G.
Beethoven worked simultaneously on the first movement of Op. 22 and the
scherzo of the first Quartet; while working on the last movement of
the Quartet in B-flat the rondo of the Sonata was begun. The sketches
date from 1799 and 1800. Inasmuch as they occur before those for the
Horn Sonata, which was composed very hurriedly and performed on April
18, 1800, the sketches were doubtless written earlier. One of the
variations of the Quartet in A major was sketched much earlier--in
1794 or 1795. A little sketch for the first movement of the F major
Quartet found beside sketches for the Violin Sonata, Op. 24, no doubt
belongs to the revised form of the Quartet. In a sketchbook formerly
in the possession of Grassnick in Berlin, there are sketches for the
Quartet in D major which are near the ultimate form, except that there
is a different theme for the last movement. Then comes a beginning in
G major inscribed “Quartet 2,” the germ of the theme of the second
Quartet. There was, therefore, at the time no second Quartet, and
that in D is the first. There follows “Der Kuss,” sketches for the
“Opferlied,” the Rondo in G major, Op. 51, No. 2, to a passage from
Schiller’s “Ode to Joy,” to Gellert’s “Meine Lebenszeit verstreicht,”
in G minor, to an intermezzo for pianoforte, to the revised form
of the B-flat Concerto (which he played in Prague in 1798), and to
various songs. The indications are, therefore, that the sketches were
written in 1798. Then come sketches for the variations on “La stessa,
la stessissima,” which originated and were published in the beginning
of 1799, and after them extended sketches for the first movement of
the F major Quartet, of which those belonging to the first movement
are in an advanced stage, those for the second movement less so. A few
sketches for a “third” quartet (thus specified) which were not used
show that there was no third at the time; therefore, the Quartet in F
is the second and was planned in 1799. Another sketchbook contains the
continuation of the sketches for the F major Quartet, and, indeed, for
all the movements; then an unused sketch for a “third” quartet (still
not yet in existence), then to two songs by Goethe (one “Ich denke
dein”), then to the movements of the G major Quartet, which is thus
indicated to have been the third (the intermezzo in the second movement
was conceived later), further sketches for the A major Quartet, which,
it follows, was the fourth. Among these sketches are others for the
Septet and the Variations on “Kind, willst du ruhig schlafen?” which
appeared in December in 1799, and was therefore not composed earlier.
All these sketches date from 1798 and 1799; but the Quartets were not
finished. In an unused sketch for the Adagio of the quartet in F occur
the words: “Les derniers soupirs,” which confirm the story told by
Amenda. The continuation of the G major Quartet dates to 1800. Up to
now no sketches for the Quartet in C minor have been found.
The results of this chronological investigation may be summed up as
follows: The composition of the Quartets was begun in 1798, that in
D, the third, being first undertaken. This was followed by that in F
and soon after, or simultaneously, work was begun on that in G, which
was originally designed as the second; but, as that in F was completed
earlier, this was designated as the second by Beethoven, and that in
G became in point of time the third. The Quartet in F was finished in
its original shape by June 25, 1799, on which day he gave it to Amenda;
he revised it later. Whether or not this was also done with the others
cannot be said; there is no evidence. The remark made in 1801, that
he had just learned to write quartets, need not be read as meaning
that he had formal instruction from Förster, but is amply explained by
his practice on the six Quartets; yet Förster may have influenced him
strongly. He then wrote the one in A (now No. 5), intending it to be
the fourth; in this he seems to have made use of a _motif_ invented at
an earlier period. The Quartets in B-flat and C minor followed, the
latter being, perhaps, the last. The definitive elaboration of the
Quartets lasted certainly until 1800, possibly until 1801. The Quartets
then appeared in two sets from the press of Mollo. It is likely that
the first three, at least, were in the hands of the publisher before
the end of 1800, as is proved by the letter to Hoffmeister. The
first three appeared in the summer of 1801 and were advertised as on
sale by Nägeli in Zurich already in July; they were mentioned in the
“Allg. Musik. Zeitung” on August 26, and in Spazier’s “Zeitung für die
Elegante Welt.” In October of the same year the last three appeared
and Mollo advertised them in the “Wiener Zeitung” of October 28. The
Quartets are dedicated to Prince Lobkowitz.
Notice of a valuable present to Beethoven from his lenient and generous
patron, Prince Carl Lichnowsky, naturally connects itself with the
story of the Quartets--a gift thus described by Alois Fuchs, formerly
violinist in the Imperial Court Orchestra, under date of December 2,
1846:
BEETHOVEN’S QUARTET OF INSTRUMENTS
Ludwig van Beethoven owned a complete quartet of excellent
Italian instruments given to him by his princely patron and
friend Lichnowsky at the suggestion of the famous quartet-player
Schuppanzigh. I am in a position to describe each of the
instruments in detail.
1. A violin made by Joseph Guarnerius in Cremona in the year
1718 is now in the possession of Mr. Karl Holz, director of the
_Concerts spirituels_ in Vienna.
2. The second violin (which was offered for sale) was made by
Nicholas Amati in the year 1667, and was in the possession of Dr.
Ohmeyer, who died recently in Hütteldorf; it has been purchased by
Mr. Huber.
3. The viola, made by Vincenzo Ruger in 1690, is also the property
of Mr. Karl Holz.
4. The violoncello, an Andreas Guarnerius of the year 1712, is in
the possession of Mr. P. Wertheimber of Vienna.
The seal of Beethoven has been impressed under the neck of each
instrument and on the back of each Beethoven scratched a big
B, probably for the purpose of protecting himself against an
exchange. The instruments are all well preserved and in good
condition. The most valuable one, without question, is the violin
by Joseph Guarnerius, which is distinguished by extraordinary
power of tone, for which, indeed, Mr. Holz has refused an offer of
1000 florins.
The four instruments were bought by Peter Th. Jokits in 1861, who gave
them to the Royal Library at Berlin. Beethoven received them from
Lichnowsky certainly before 1802, but in what year is unknown.[98]
Another proof of the Prince’s regard and generosity, however, belongs
to this, namely, an annuity of 600 florins to be continued until the
composer should find some suitable permanent employment.
* * * * *
The only known publication of the year 1800 is the Rondo in G major,
Op. 51, No. 2, which came from the press of Simrock. As for the
compositions of the year it is safe to assume that Beethoven put the
finishing touches to the first Symphony, the Septet, Op. 20, and the
Quartets, Op. 18. Furthermore, there can be little doubt but that the
Sonata for Horn, Op. 17, the Pianoforte Sonata, Op. 22, the Concerto in
C minor, and the Variations for Four Hands on the melody of the song
“Ich denke dein,” belong to this year. The “Variations très faciles”
on an original theme in G were sketched and probably completed. The
only chronological clues to the Horn Sonata are the date of its first
performance, April 18, 1800, and the anecdote by Ries concerning the
rapid completion of the work. No sketches have been found and nothing
is known of the autograph; but according to Nottebohm the beginning
of a clean copy of the Adagio is to be found among the sketches for
the Sonatas Op. 22 and 23. Punto was still in Munich in 1800, and
since the work seems assuredly to have been designed for him, there is
equal certainty that it was composed in that year. It was published
by Mollo in March, 1801. The Septet, for four strings and three
wind-instruments, dedicated to the Empress Maria Theresia, was played
at the concert at which the Symphony in C major was brought forward,
April 2, 1800; but it had been heard previously in the house of Prince
Schwarzenberg. Inasmuch as sketches for it are found among those for
the Quartets, specially the one in A major, which belong to the year
1799, its inception may be placed in that year, though it was probably
finished in 1800 shortly before its performance. There is no date on
the autograph. It was offered to Hoffmeister in the letter of December
15, 1800, and was published by him in 1802. The Septet speedily won
great popularity and was frequently transcribed. Hoffmeister had an
arrangement for string quintet which he advertised on August 18,
1802. Ries thought that Beethoven had made it, but he was in error;
nevertheless, Beethoven gave Hoffmeister permission to publish an
arrangement in which strings were substituted for the wind-instruments,
and himself transcribed it as a pianoforte trio with violin or clarinet
_ad lib_. This arrangement was made as a tribute of gratitude from
the composer to his new physician, Dr. Johann Schmidt. The doctor
played the violin and his daughter the pianoforte, both fairly well,
and Beethoven arranged his popular piece for family use and, as was
customary at the time, gave Dr. Schmidt the exclusive possession of the
music for a year.[99]
The theme of the minuet in the Septet was borrowed from the Pianoforte
Sonata, Op. 49, No. 2, but its treatment is original. There has been
considerable controversy without absolutely definitive result touching
the melody which is varied in the Andante. Kretschmer, in his “Deutsche
Volkslieder” (Berlin, 1838; Vol. I, No. 102, p. 181), prints the
melody in connection with a Rhenish folksong (“Ach Schiffer, lieber
Schiffer”), and there is a tradition that Czerny said that it was taken
by Beethoven from that source. Nottebohm offers evidence deserving of
consideration that the melody is a folktune; but Ries and Wegeler, who
lived on the Rhine, had nothing to say on the subject. Erk and Böhme
(“Deutscher Liederhort,” Vol. I, p. 273) publish folksongs dealing with
the legend which is at the base of “Ach Schiffer, lieber Schiffer,”
but the melody of the Andante is not to be found among them, and Böhme
gives it as his opinion that the song printed by Kretschmer was written
to Beethoven’s melody by Kretschmer’s collaborator Zuccalmaglio. It is
not likely that the melody, had it lived in the mouths of the people,
would have escaped so industrious a collector as Erk, who, moreover,
was a native of the Rhine country. The evidence would seem to indicate
that the melody was original with Beethoven.
COMPOSITIONS SKETCHED IN 1800
The Pianoforte Sonata in B-flat, Op. 22, also belongs to this year, as
appears from the fact that it was offered to Hoffmeister in the letter
of December 15. It was still in an unfinished state on the completion
of the Sonata for Horn, as is shown by the circumstance that sketches
of it are mingled with a fair transcript of a passage from the latter
work. There are also sketches for Op. 22, among those for the Quartet
in B-flat, Op. 18, No. 6, and the later movements of the Quartet in
F--no doubt the revision. The sketches therefore belong to the year
1800, but may date back to 1799, from which it would appear that
Beethoven worked an unusually long time on the Sonata. The principal
labor was performed most likely in the summer of 1800, which Beethoven
spent at Unterdöbling. It was published in 1802 by Hoffmeister and
Kühnel. Sketches from the “Six Easy Variations” are found amongst
some for the last movement of the Quartet in G, which seem to be
nearly finished. Again we can fix the year as 1799 or 1800. Of special
importance is the fact that the theme of the Variations is the same
as the first episode of the rondo of the Sonata in B-flat, and the
circumstance that the sketches are of almost the same date indicates
that the identity was not accidental. The Variations were advertised as
new by Traeg on December 16, 1800.
The Variations in D for four hands on the melody of Goethe’s poem, “Ich
denke dein,” were conceived at practically the same time as those just
described. Beethoven at first intended to give each stanza a separate
setting, and to this end made two sketches, which are associated with
the Quartet sketches and belong to the year 1799. He then took the
melody of the first stanza as a theme for variations for four hands in
the same year and wrote them into the autograph album of two sisters,
the countesses Therese Brunswick and Josephine Deym. On September
22, 1803, he offered them to Hoffmeister in the place of the Trio
Variations, Op. 44, with the remark that he considered them better
than the latter. Hoffmeister, however, published the Trio Variations
(in 1804). The Variations in D were not published until the beginning
of 1805, and were described as having been written in 1800 for the two
countesses mentioned, and dedicated to them.
An autograph preserved in the Royal Library in Berlin contains four
of the variations on “Ich denke dein,” an Adagio in F major noted on
four staves (three with treble, one with the bass clef), a Scherzo in
G major, 3/4 time, and an Allegro in G major, 2/4. Albert Kopfermann,
who published the Adagio for the first time in No. 12, Vol. I, of “Die
Musik,” considers, no doubt correctly, that the three compositions were
written for an automatic musical instrument. Though the number of new
compositions produced in 1800 was small, attention must be directed to
the fact that the revision and completion of works for publication,
together with the planning of new works, gave a deal of occupation to
Beethoven. Amongst the compositions made ready for the printer were the
Quartets, which were not ready till near the end of the year. To them
must be added the Sonata in E-flat, Op. 27, No. 1, and the Concerto in
C minor, the autograph of which distinctly bears the date 1800. It is
certain, moreover, that Beethoven began working on “Prometheus” in this
year, and the summer must have been a busy one for him.
FOOTNOTES:
[91] “He could not endure his Septet and grew angry because of the
universal applause with which it was received.” (Czerny to Jahn.) “The
theme of the variations is said to be a Rhenish folksong.” (_Ibid._)
[92] This is, of course, an error, as the Trio had been before the
public since October 3rd, 1798.
[93] From Weigl’s “Corsair aus Liebe.”
[94] According to Frimmel, “Beethoven’s Wohnungen,” Vienna “Neue Freie
Presse,” August 11, 1899, this house was that of Court Councillor
Greiner, then No. 241, afterwards 235, now No. 10 in the Tiefen Graben
which, slightly altered, still remains. On the strength of Czerny’s
statement that one had to look up to the fifth or sixth storey to see
Beethoven, and the old report that Beethoven lived “in the Kleine
Weintraube,” Frimmel was led to think that possibly he lived in one of
the houses on the higher ground behind the Greiner house to which there
was access from the open place “Am Hof” as well as from the houses in
the Tiefen Graben and the Greiner house. The houses which bore the sign
“Zur Weintraube” were situated “am Hofe.”
[95] In B-flat, Op. 22.
[96] The Pianoforte Concerto offered to Hoffmeister was that in B-flat.
It was published by Hoffmeister and Kühnel toward the end of 1801
and advertised on January 16, 1802. The Concerto published by Mollo
was that in C major. A letter written to Breitkopf and Härtel on the
same day contains the equivalent of the remark: “I am for the present
keeping the better ones for myself until I make a tour,” which is
significant, since it makes it sure that other concertos were at least
planned and that the one in C minor was looked upon as finished by
Beethoven.
[97] In reality it was the second, as the Amenda parts show.
[98] Holz sold the Guarnerius violin in 1852 (see the “Allgemeine
Deutsche Musikzeitung” of 1888). When the Beethoven Museum in Bonn was
dedicated, the instruments were borrowed from the authorities of the
Royal Library, and exhibited in a glass case, where they remain by
sufferance of the Prussian authorities.
[99] See the dedication in Kalischer’s collection of Beethoven’s
letters translated by J. S. Shedlock, Vol. I, p. 94.