dont Vous m'honorez, exigeroient de moi la dédicace d'un bien plus
important ouvrage. La seule chose qui a pu me déterminer à Vous offrir
celui-ci de préférence, c'est qu'il me paroît d'une exécution plus facile
et par la même plus propre à contribuer à la Satisfaction dont Vous
jouissez dans l'aimable Cercle de Votre Famille.--C'est surtout, lorsque
les heureux talents d'une fille chérie se seront developpés davantage, que
je me flatte de voir ce but atteint. Heureux si j'y ai réussi et si dans
cette faible marque de ma haute estime et de ma gratitude Vous reconnoissez
toute la vivacité et la cordialité de mes sentiments.
LOUIS VAN BEETHOVEN.
[Footnote 1: Grand Trio, Op. 38.]
24.
TO HIS SCHOLAR, FERDINAND RIES.[1]
1801.
DEAR RIES,--
I send you herewith the four parts corrected by me; please compare the
others already written out with these. I also enclose a letter to Count
Browne. I have told him that he must make an advance to you of fifty
ducats, to enable you to get your outfit. This is absolutely necessary, so
it cannot offend him; for after being equipped, you are to go with him to
Baden on the Monday of the ensuing week. I must, however, reproach you for
not having had recourse to me long ago. Am I not your true friend? Why did
you conceal your necessities from me? No friend of mine shall ever be in
need, so long as I have anything myself. I would already have sent you a
small sum, did I not rely on Browne; if he fails us, then apply at once to
your
BEETHOVEN.
[Footnote 1: Ries names 1801 as the date of this letter, and it was no
doubt during that summer that Count Browne was in Baden. Ries's father had
assisted the Beethoven family in every way in his power at the time of the
mother's death.]
25.
TO HERR HOFMEISTER,--LEIPZIG.
Vienna, April 8, 1802.
Do you mean to go post-haste to the devil, gentlemen, by proposing that I
should write _such_ a _sonata_? During the revolutionary fever, a thing of
the kind might have been appropriate, but now, when everything is falling
again into the beaten track, and Bonaparte has concluded a _Concordat_ with
the Pope--such a sonata as this? If it were a _missa pro Sancta Maria à tre
voci_, or a _vesper_, &c., then I would at once take up my pen and write a
_Credo in unum_, in gigantic semibreves. But, good heavens! such a sonata,
in this fresh dawning Christian epoch. No, no!--it won't do, and I will
have none of it.
Now for my answer in quickest _tempo_. The lady can have a sonata from me,
and I am willing to adopt the general outlines of her plan in an
_aesthetical_ point of view, without adhering to the keys named. The price
to be five ducats; for this sum she can keep the work a year for her own
amusement, without either of us being entitled to publish it. After the
lapse of a year, the sonata to revert to me--that is, I can and will then
publish it, when, if she considers it any distinction, she may request me
to dedicate it to her.
I now, gentlemen, commend you to the grace of God. My Sonata [Op. 22] is
well engraved, but you have been a fine time about it! I hope you will
usher my Septet into the world a little quicker, as the P---- is waiting
for it, and you know the Empress has it; and when there are in this
imperial city people like ----, I cannot be answerable for the result; so
lose no time!
Herr ---- [Mollo?] has lately published my Quartets [Op. 18] full of faults
and _errata_, both large and small, which swarm in them like fish in the
sea; that is, they are innumerable. _Questo è un piacere per un
autore_--this is what I call engraving [_stechen_, stinging] with a
vengeance.[1] In truth, my skin is a mass of punctures and scratches from
this fine edition of my Quartets! Now farewell, and think of me as I do of
you. Till death, your faithful
L. V. BEETHOVEN.
[Footnote 1: In reference to the musical piracy at that time very prevalent
in Austria.]
26.[1]
TO MY BROTHERS CARL AND JOHANN BEETHOVEN.
Heiligenstadt, Oct. 6, 1802.
Oh! ye who think or declare me to be hostile, morose, and misanthropical,
how unjust you are, and how little you know the secret cause of what
appears thus to you! My heart and mind were ever from childhood prone to
the most tender feelings of affection, and I was always disposed to
accomplish something great. But you must remember that six years ago I was
attacked by an incurable malady, aggravated by unskilful physicians,
deluded from year to year, too, by the hope of relief, and at length forced
to the conviction of a _lasting affliction_ (the cure of which may go on
for years, and perhaps after all prove impracticable).
Born with a passionate and excitable temperament, keenly susceptible to the
pleasures of society, I was yet obliged early in life to isolate myself,
and to pass my existence in solitude. If I at any time resolved to surmount
all this, oh! how cruelly was I again repelled by the experience, sadder
than ever, of my defective hearing!--and yet I found it impossible to say
to others: Speak louder; shout! for I am deaf! Alas! how could I proclaim
the deficiency of a sense which ought to have been more perfect with me
than with other men,--a sense which I once possessed in the highest
perfection, to an extent, indeed, that few of my profession ever enjoyed!
Alas, I cannot do this! Forgive me therefore when you see me withdraw from
you with whom I would so gladly mingle. My misfortune is doubly severe from
causing me to be misunderstood. No longer can I enjoy recreation in social
intercourse, refined conversation, or mutual outpourings of thought.
Completely isolated, I only enter society when compelled to do so. I must
live like an exile. In company I am assailed by the most painful
apprehensions, from the dread of being exposed to the risk of my condition
being observed. It was the same during the last six months I spent in the
country. My intelligent physician recommended me to spare my hearing as
much as possible, which was quite in accordance with my present
disposition, though sometimes, tempted by my natural inclination for
society, I allowed myself to be beguiled into it. But what humiliation when
any one beside me heard a flute in the far distance, while I heard
_nothing_, or when others heard _a shepherd singing_, and I still heard
_nothing_! Such things brought me to the verge of desperation, and wellnigh
caused me to put an end to my life. _Art! art_ alone, deterred me. Ah! how
could I possibly quit the world before bringing forth all that I felt it
was my vocation to produce?[2] And thus I spared this miserable life--so
utterly miserable that any sudden change may reduce me at any moment from
my best condition into the worst. It is decreed that I must now choose
_Patience_ for my guide! This I have done. I hope the resolve will not fail
me, steadfastly to persevere till it may please the inexorable Fates to cut
the thread of my life. Perhaps I may get better, perhaps not. I am prepared
for either. Constrained to become a philosopher in my twenty-eighth
year![3] This is no slight trial, and more severe on an artist than on any
one else. God looks into my heart, He searches it, and knows that love for
man and feelings of benevolence have their abode there! Oh! ye who may one
day read this, think that you have done me injustice, and let any one
similarly afflicted be consoled, by finding one like himself, who, in
defiance of all the obstacles of Nature, has done all in his power to be
included in the ranks of estimable artists and men. My brothers Carl and
Johann, as soon as I am no more, if Professor Schmidt [see Nos. 18 and 23]
be still alive, beg him in my name to describe my malady, and to add these
pages to the analysis of my disease, that at least, so far as possible, the
world may be reconciled to me after my death. I also hereby declare you
both heirs of my small fortune (if so it may be called). Share it fairly,
agree together and assist each other. You know that anything you did to
give me pain has been long forgiven. I thank you, my brother Carl in
particular, for the attachment you have shown me of late. My wish is that
you may enjoy a happier life, and one more free from care, than mine has
been. Recommend _Virtue_ to your children; that alone, and not wealth, can
ensure happiness. I speak from experience. It was _Virtue_ alone which
sustained me in my misery; I have to thank her and Art for not having ended
my life by suicide. Farewell! Love each other. I gratefully thank all my
friends, especially Prince Lichnowsky and Professor Schmidt. I wish one of
you to keep Prince L----'s instruments; but I trust this will give rise to
no dissension between you. If you think it more beneficial, however, you
have only to dispose of them. How much I shall rejoice if I can serve you
even in the grave! So be it then! I joyfully hasten to meet Death. If he
comes before I have had the opportunity of developing all my artistic
powers, then, notwithstanding my cruel fate, he will come too early for me,
and I should wish for him at a more distant period; but even then I shall
be content, for his advent will release me from a state of endless
suffering. Come when he may, I shall meet him with courage. Farewell! Do
not quite forget me, even in death; I deserve this from you, because during
my life I so often thought of you, and wished to make you happy. Amen!
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN.
(_Written on the Outside._)
Thus, then, I take leave of you, and with sadness too. The fond hope I
brought with me here, of being to a certain degree cured, now utterly
forsakes me. As autumn leaves fall and wither, so are my hopes blighted.
Almost as I came, I depart. Even the lofty courage that so often animated
me in the lovely days of summer is gone forever. O Providence! vouchsafe me
one day of pure felicity! How long have I been estranged from the glad echo
of true joy! When! O my God! when shall I again feel it in the temple of
Nature and of man?--never? Ah! that would be too hard!
(_Outside._)
To be read and fulfilled after my death by my brothers Carl and Johann.
[Footnote 1: This beautiful letter I regret not to have seen in the
original, it being in the possession of the violin _virtuoso_ Ernst, in
London. I have adhered to the version given in the Leipzig _Allgemeine
Musikalische Zeitung_, Oct. 1827.]
[Footnote 2: A large portion of the _Eroica_ was written in the course of
this summer, but not completed till August, 1804.]
[Footnote 3: Beethoven did not at that time know in what year he was born.
See the subsequent letter of May 2, 1810. He was then far advanced in his
thirty-third year.]
27.
NOTICE.
November, 1802.
I owe it to the public and to myself to state that the two quintets in C
and E flat major--one of these (arranged from a symphony of mine) published
by Herr Mollo in Vienna, and the other (taken from my Septet, Op. 20) by
Herr Hofmeister in Leipzig--are not original quintets, but only versions of
the aforesaid works given by the publishers. Arrangements in these days (so
fruitful in--arrangements) an author will find it vain to contend against;
but we may at least justly demand that the fact should be mentioned in the
title-page, neither to injure the reputation of the author nor to deceive
the public. This notice is given to prevent anything of the kind in future.
I also beg to announce that shortly a new original quintet of my
composition, in C major, Op. 29, will appear at Breitkopf & Härtel's in
Leipzig.
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN.
28.
TO FERDINAND RIES.
Summer of 1803.
You no doubt are aware that I am here. Go to Stein, and ask if he can send
me an instrument, on hire. I am afraid of bringing mine here. Come to me
this evening about seven o'clock. I lodge in Oberdöbling, on the left side
of the street, No. 4, going down the hill towards Heiligenstadt.
29.
TO HERR HOFMEISTER,--LEIPZIG.
Vienna, Sept. 22, 1803.
I hereby declare all the works you have ordered to be your property. The
list of these shall be made out and sent to you with my signature, as the
proof of their being your own. I also agree to accept the sum of fifty
ducats for them. Are you satisfied?
Perhaps, instead of the variations with violoncello and violin,[1] I may
send you variations for the piano, arranged as a duet on a song of mine;
but Goethe's poetry must also be engraved, as I wrote these variations in
an album, and consider them better than the others. Are you satisfied?
The arrangements are not by me, though I have revised and much improved
various passages; but I do not wish you to say that I have arranged them,
for it would be false, and I have neither time nor patience to do so. Are
you satisfied?
Now farewell! I sincerely wish that all may go well with you. I would
gladly make you a present of all my works, if I could do so and still get
on in the world; but--remember most people are provided for, and know what
they have to live on, while, good heavens! where can an appointment be
found at the Imperial Court for such a _parvum talentum com ego_?
Your friend,
L. V. BEETHOVEN.
[Footnote 1: These are the six variations in D, on the air _Ich denke Dein_
written in 1800 in the album of the Countesses Josephine Deym and Thérèse
of Brunswick.]
30.
CAUTION.
November, 1803.
Herr Carl Zulehner, a piratical engraver in Mayence, has announced an
edition of my collected works for the pianoforte and also stringed
instruments. I consider it my duty publicly to inform all friends of music
that I have no share whatever in this edition.
I would never have in any way authorized any collection of my works (which,
moreover, I consider premature) without previously consulting the
publishers of single pieces, and ensuring that correctness in which
editions of my individual works are so deficient. I must also observe that
this illegal edition cannot be complete, as several new works of mine are
shortly to appear in Paris, and these Herr Zulehner, being a French
subject, dare not pirate. I intend to take another opportunity of
enumerating the details of the collection of my works to be brought out
under my own auspices and careful revision.
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN.
31.
TO HERR RIES.[1]
1804.
Be so good as to make out a list of the mistakes and send it at once to
Simrock, and say that the work must appear as soon as possible. I will send
him the Sonata [Op. 47] and the Concerto the day after to-morrow.
BEETHOVEN.
[Footnote 1: Ries relates that the three following notes refer to the
pianoforte Sonata, Op. 31, No. 1, carefully engraved by Nägeli in Zurich,
which Beethoven consequently sent forthwith to Simrock in Bonn, desiring
him to bring out "_une édition très-correcte_" of the work. He also states
that Beethoven was residing in Heiligenstadt at the time the work was first
sent [see No. 26]. In Nottebohm's _Skizzenbuch von Beethoven_, he says (p.
43) that the first notice of the appearance of this sonata was on May 21st,
1803; but Simrock writes to me that the date of the document making over
the sonata to him is 1804.]
32.
TO HERR RIES.
I must again ask you to undertake the disagreeable task of making a fair
copy of the errors in the Zurich Sonata. I have got your list of _errata_
"_auf der Wieden_."
33.
TO HERR RIES.
DEAR RIES,--
The signs are wrongly marked, and many of the notes misplaced; so be
careful! or your labor will be vain. _Ch' a detto l' amato bene?_
34.
TO HERR RIES.
DEAR RIES,--
May I beg you to be so obliging as to copy this _andante_ [in the Kreuzer
Sonata] for me, however indifferently? I must send it off to-morrow, and as
Heaven alone knows what its fate may then be, I wish to get it transcribed.
But I must have it back to-morrow about one o'clock. The cause of my
troubling you is that one of my copyists is already very much occupied with
various things of importance, and the other is ill.
35.
TO THE COMPOSER LEIDESDORF,--VIENNA.[1]
DORF DES LEIDES [VILLAGE OF SORROW--LEIDESDORF],--
Let the bearer of this, Herr Ries, have some easy duets, and, better still,
let him have them for nothing. Conduct yourself in accordance with the
reformed doctrines. Farewell!
BEETHOVEN
_Minimus._
[Footnote 1: Date unknown. Leidesdorf was also a music-seller.]
36.
TO HERR RIES.
Baden, July 14, 1804.
DEAR RIES,--
If you can find me better lodgings, I shall be very glad. Tell my brothers
not to engage these at once; I have a great desire to get one in a
spacious, quiet square or on the Bastei. It it really inexcusable in my
brother not to have provided wine, as it is so beneficial and necessary to
me. I shall take care to be present at the rehearsal on Wednesday. I am not
pleased to hear that it is to be at Schuppanzigh's. He may well be grateful
to me if my impertinences make him thinner! Farewell, dear Ries! We have
bad weather here, and I am not safe from visitors; so I must take flight in
order to be alone.
Your true friend,
L. V. BEETHOVEN.
37.
TO HERR RIES.
Baden, July, 1804.
DEAR RIES,--
As Breuning [see Nos. 13, 14, and 18] by his conduct has not scrupled to
display my character to you and the house-steward as that of a mean, petty,
base man, I beg you will convey my reply at once in person to Breuning. I
answer only one point, the first in his letter, and I do so solely because
it is the only mode of justifying myself in your eyes. Say also to him that
I had no intention of reproaching him on account of the delay of the notice
to quit, and even if Breuning were really to blame for this, our harmonious
relations are so dear and precious in my sight, that, for the sake of a few
hundreds more or less, I would never subject any friend of mine to
vexation. You are aware, indeed, that I jestingly accused you as the cause
of the notice arriving too late. I am quite sure that you must remember
this. I had entirely forgotten the whole matter, but at dinner my brother
began to say that he thought Breuning was to blame in the affair, which I
at once denied, saying that you were in fault. I think this shows plainly
enough that I attributed no blame to Breuning; but on this he sprang up
like a madman, and insisted on sending for the house-steward. Such
behavior, in the presence of all those with whom I usually associate, and
to which I am wholly unaccustomed, caused me to lose all self-control; so I
also started up, upset my chair, left the room, and did not return. This
conduct induced Breuning to place me in a pretty light to you and the
house-steward, and also to send me a letter which I only answered by
silence. I have not another word to say to Breuning. His mode of thinking
and of acting, with regard to me, proves that there never ought to have
been such friendly intimacy between us, and assuredly it can never more be
restored. I wished to make you acquainted with this, as your version of the
occurrence degraded both my words and actions. I know that, had you been
aware of the real state of the affair, you would not have said what you
did, and with this I am satisfied.
I now beg of you, dear Ries, to go to my brother, the apothecary, as soon
as you receive this letter, and say to him that I mean to leave Baden in
the course of a few days, and that he is to engage the lodging in Döbling
as soon as you have given him this message. I had nearly left this to-day;
I detest being here--I am sick of it. For Heaven's sake urge him to close
the bargain at once, for I want to take possession immediately. Neither
show nor speak to any one of what is written in the previous page of this
letter. I wish to prove to him in every respect that I am not so meanly
disposed as he is. Indeed I have written to him, although my resolve as to
the dissolution of our friendship remains firm and unchangeable.
Your friend,
BEETHOVEN.
38.
TO HERR RIES.
Berlin, July 24, 1804.
... You were no doubt not a little surprised about the affair with
Breuning; believe me, my dear friend, that the ebullition on my part was
only an outbreak caused by many previous scenes of a disagreeable nature. I
have the gift of being able to conceal and to repress my susceptibility on
many occasions; but if attacked at a time when I chance to be peculiarly
irritable, I burst forth more violently than any one. Breuning certainly
possesses many admirable qualities, but he thinks himself quite faultless;
whereas the very defects that he discovers in others are those which he
possesses himself to the highest degree. From my childhood I have always
despised his petty mind. My powers of discrimination enabled me to foresee
the result with Breuning, for our modes of thinking, acting, and feeling
are entirely opposite; and yet I believed that these difficulties might be
overcome, but experience has disproved this. So now I want no more of his
friendship! I have only found two friends in the world with whom I never
had a misunderstanding; but what men these were! One is dead, the other
still lives. Although for nearly six years past we have seen nothing of
each other, yet I know that I still hold the first place in his heart, as
he does in mine [see No. 12]. The true basis of friendship is to be found
in sympathy of heart and soul. I only wish you could have read the letter I
wrote to Breuning, and his to me. No! never can he be restored to his
former place in my heart. The man who could attribute to his friend so base
a mode of thinking, and could himself have recourse to so base a mode of
acting towards him, is no longer worthy of my friendship.
Do not forget the affair of my apartments. Farewell! Do not be too much
addicted to tailoring,[1] remember me to the fairest of the fair, and send
me half a dozen needles.
I never could have believed that I could be so idle as I am here. If this
be followed by a fit of industry, something worth while may be produced.
_Vale!_ Your
BEETHOVEN.
[Footnote 1: Ries says, in Wegeler's _Biographical Notices_:--"Beethoven
never visited me more frequently than when I lived in the house of a
tailor, with three very handsome but thoroughly respectable daughters."]
39.
TO MESSRS. ARTARIA & CO.[1]
Vienna, June 1, 1805.
I must inform you that the affair about the new quintet is settled between
Count Fries and myself.
The Count has just assured me that he intends to make you a present of it;
it is too late to-day for a written agreement on the subject, but one shall
be sent early in the ensuing week. This intelligence must suffice for the
present, and I think I at all events deserve your thanks for it.
Your obedient servant,
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN.
[Footnote 1: The quintet is probably not that in C, Op. 29, dedicated to
Count v. Fries, previously published in 1803 by Breitkopf & Härtel [see No.
27]. It is more likely that he alludes to a new quintet which the Count had
no doubt ordered.]
40.
TO MADAME LA PRINCESSE LIECHTENSTEIN, &C.[1]
November, 1805.
Pray pardon me, illustrious Princess, if the bearer of this should cause
you an unpleasant surprise. Poor Ries, my scholar, is forced by this
unhappy war to shoulder a musket, and must moreover leave this in a few
days, being a foreigner. He has nothing, literally nothing, and is obliged
to take a long journey. All chance of a concert on his behalf is thus
entirely at an end, and he must have recourse to the benevolence of others.
I recommend him to you. I know you will forgive the step I have taken. A
noble-minded man would only have recourse to such measures in the most
utter extremity. Confident of this, I send the poor youth to you, in the
hope of somewhat improving his circumstances. He is forced to apply to all
who know him.
I am, with the deepest respect, yours,
L. VAN BEETHOVEN.
[Footnote 1: Communicated by Ries himself, who, to Beethoven's extreme
indignation, did not deliver the note. See Wegeler's work, p. 134. The
following remark is added:--"Date unknown; written a few days before the
entrance of the French in 1805" (which took place Nov. 13). Ries, a native
of Bonn, was now a French subject, and recalled under the laws of
conscription. The Sonata, Op. 27, No. 1, is dedicated to Princess
Liechtenstein.]
41.
TO HERR MEYER.[1]
1805.
DEAR MEYER,--
Pray try to persuade Herr v. Seyfried to direct my Opera, as I wish on this
occasion to see and hear it myself _from a distance_; in this way my
patience will at all events not be so severely tried as when I am close
enough to hear my music so bungled. I really do believe that it is done on
purpose to annoy me! I will say nothing of the wind-instruments; but all
_pp._'s, _cresc._, _discresc._, and all _f._'s and _ff._'s may as well be
struck out of my Opera, for no attention whatever is paid to them. I shall
lose all pleasure in composing anything in future, if I am to hear it given
thus. To-morrow or the day after I will come to fetch you to dinner. To-day
I am again unwell.
Your friend,
BEETHOVEN.
If the Opera is to be performed the day after to-morrow, there must be
another private rehearsal to-morrow, or _each time it will be given worse
and worse_.