THE DAY'S TRIALS
Those who are furthest removed from us really believe that we are
constituted just like themselves, for they understand exactly so
much of us as we have in common with them, but they do not know how
little, how infinitesimally little this is.
--WAGNER: _Letter to Liszt_.
Beethoven was in no sense a hero to his servants. In their eyes he was
not the great artist, whose achievement was to go ringing down the ages;
he was simply a crank or madman, who did not know his own mind half the
time, from whom abuse was as likely to be predicated as gratuities, who
could be ridiculed, neglected, circumvented with impunity. When the
dereliction became glaring enough to arrest his attention, he would
deliver himself of a volley of abuse which sometimes had to be made good
by presents of money. At other times, he desired nothing so much as to
be left alone.
That he found the world a more difficult problem than ever in these
later years, goes without saying. "Have you been patient with every one
to-day?" he asks himself in one of the note-books of this period,
indicating the dawn of a perception that fate is too much for him, that
it can be defied no longer, but rather must be propitiated. Had he
answered his question, it would no doubt have been in the negative; but
this attitude, so new to him, is significant. It comes up also in his
letters to Zmeskall, in which he speaks of his patience in enduring the
insolence of a butler, who had been sent him by Zmeskall.
Complaints about servants appear frequently in his correspondence.
Peppe, the "elephant-footed," and Nanny, who seems to have had a
particular faculty for making trouble, are specially in evidence. "I
have endured much from N. (Nanny) to-day," he writes in a letter to his
good friend Madame Streicher, who was very helpful to him in his
domestic matters. On one occasion, when her conduct became unbearable,
he threw books at her head. Strangely, this method of disciplining the
refractory Nanny produced better results than could have been expected.
He reports soon after to Madame Streicher, "Miss Nanny is a changed
creature since I threw the half dozen books at her head. Possibly, by
chance some of their contents may have entered her brain, or her bad
heart. At all events we now have a repentant deceiver."
In another letter of this time he writes to the same lady, "Yesterday
morning the devilry began again, but I made short work of it, and threw
the heavy settle at B (another servant), after which we had peace for
the remainder of the day." "Come Friday or Sunday," he writes Holz.
"Better come on Friday, as Satanas in the kitchen is more endurable on
that day." This advice to come on Friday when purposing to dine with
him, is repeated in a subsequent letter to Holz. "If I could but rid
myself of these _canaille_," he writes to another person, when
complaining of the hostility and insolence of his servants.
That his own mode of life helped largely to bring about this state of
things, did not make it any easier to bear. As stated, system was out of
the question in this household. There was no regular time for meals,
often no meals were thought of by the master while occupied with his
work. When hungry, if nothing were forthcoming at home, he sought a
restaurant. Careless in general as regards his food, abstemious to a
degree in this respect, he was particular only on one matter, his
coffee. He delighted in making it himself, often counting the beans that
were required for each cup.
"My house resembles very much a shipwreck" is a remark attributed to him
by Nohl. Even under favoring conditions, discipline was not to be
expected, but matters were further complicated by Karl's mother, who
made a practice of bribing the servants to get information about the
young man. There is no doubt her influence tended to increase the
discomfort and disorder that would have existed in any event. "Some
devils of people have again played me such a trick that it is almost
impossible for me to mix with human beings any more," he said in a
letter to Madame Streicher, which remark Mr. Kalischer (_Neue
Beethovenbriefe_, Berlin, 1902), attributes to intrigues against him by
his sister-in-law.
To illustrate the slight regard his servants had for Beethoven and their
absolute ignorance of the value of his work, an incident related by
Schindler about the loss of the manuscript of the Kyrie of the Mass in D
is in point. On reaching Döbling in 1821 on his annual summer migration,
he missed this work and the most diligent search failed to bring it to
light. Finally the cook produced it; she had used the separate sheets
for wrapping kitchen utensils. Some of them were torn, but no part was
lost. No copy had yet been made, and its loss would have been
irreparable.
The difficulties which he experienced with the world in general existed
with his copyists and engravers to an exaggerated degree as may be
supposed, since proofreading was a matter on which he was extremely
particular. He was apt to make unreasonable demands on them, not
understanding human nature. He wanted them to work quickly and
accurately and they were very often slow and careless; they tried his
patience more than his servants did. A little deftness on his part when
in contact with them, would have made things easier all around. As it
was, they received little consideration from him, and gave but little in
return. He was so deeply interested in his compositions that he
frequently recalled them after they were in the engraver's hands, in
order to make alterations and additions. The Sonata, opus 111 was
withdrawn twice, after the engraver had actually begun work on it. It
had been sold to Diabelli, who finally refused to return it again, as
the engraver's work in each case was thrown away. This called out a
sarcastic letter from Beethoven to Schindler, in which he refers to
Diabelli as an arch-churl (_Erzflegel_), and threatens him (Diabelli),
if he is not more amenable.
"I have passed the forenoon to-day, and all yesterday afternoon in
correcting these two pieces and am actually hoarse with stamping and
swearing," he wrote the copyist in reference to the A minor Quartet.
Elsewhere he complains about the carelessness of the publishers of his
earlier quartets, which are "full of mistakes and errata great and
small. They swarm like fish in the sea, innumerable."
When referring to the testimonial concert, allusion was made to the
enormous labor involved in copying out all the parts required for the
occasion, in which over one hundred persons participated. To examine and
correct each copy before placing it in the hands of the performers was
in itself no slight task. The labor of making the seven subscription
copies of the Mass, was probably a still greater one. In these days of
cheap publications, one can hardly form an estimate of what it really
meant. Many months elapsed after the Mass was completed, before a clean
copy could be gotten for the Archduke even.
No doubt the copyists often misunderstood the master's instructions,
always given in writing in his later years. He was so careless with his
handwriting that some of his letters are undecipherable in part, to this
day. Schindler, with good common-sense made a practice of transcribing
Beethoven's words on the back of any letter received from him before
filing it away. The master's extraordinary carefulness in proof-reading
has already been mentioned. This was to him a matter of the utmost
importance, second to none. Press of work, illness even, was not allowed
to interfere with the careful revision of his work.
He might write about patience in his note book, but it was exercised
very little when dealing with his copyists. There were times in this
connection in which the situation became so strained that they refused
to work for him. In one such instance a man, Wolanck by name, returned
the manuscript which the master had sent him, writing him at the same
time an impertinent letter. This copyist was evidently of a literary
turn, with a talent for satire. He begins by begging to be permitted to
express his gratitude for the honor which Beethoven has done him in
being allowed to drudge for him, but states that he wants no more of it.
He then proceeds to philosophize on the situation, saying that the
dissonances which have marked their intercourse in the past have been
regarded by him with amused toleration. "Are there not" asks this
Junius, "in the ideal world of tones many dissonances? Why should these
not also exist in the actual world?" In conclusion he ventures the
opinion that if Mozart or Haydn had served as copyist for Beethoven, a
fate similar to his own would have befallen them.
A wild Berserker rage took possession of Beethoven on receipt of this
letter which he appeased characteristically by writing all sorts of
sarcastic comments over the sheet, and by inventing compound invectives
to suit the case. He heavily criss-crossed the whole letter, and across
it in heavy lines wrote, "Dummer Kerl" (foolish fellow), "Eselhafter
Kerl" (asinine fellow), "Schreibsudler" (slovenly writer). On the edges
at the right: "Mozart and Haydn you will do the honor not to mention";
at the left: "It was decided yesterday, and even before, that you were
not to write for me any more." On another spot he writes: "correct your
blunders that occur through your fatuity, presumption, ignorance and
foolishness." (Unwissenheit, Übermuth, Eigendünkel, und Dummheit). "That
will become you better than to try to teach me."
In better vein is a letter from Beethoven to the copyist Rampel, who had
worked for him during a period of many years. He had Beethoven's favor
more than any other copyist, on account of a peculiar faculty he
possessed for deciphering the master's handwriting.
_Bestes Ramperl,--
Komme um morgen früh. Gehe aber zum Teufel mit deinem Gnädiger
Herr. Gott allein kann nur gnädig geheissen werden._
BEST RAMPEL,--
You can come to-morrow morning, but go to the devil with your
"Gracious Sir," (Gnädiger Herr). God alone should be addressed as
"Gracious Lord."
This letter was published in the Beethoven number of _Die Musik_,
February, 1902.