Dem die erste Z?hre, No. 4 from Der glorreiche Augenblick, Op. 136 (Full Score)

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His patron Prince Kinsky had died suddenly, and his allowance to the composer was jeopardized to the extent that Beethoven had to sue the executors — which, for- tunately, he did. Then he had an action running with Maelzel, who, it was alleged, had surreptitiously obtained a copy of the "Battle" Symphony, which he was pro- jecting " running " in England.

Yet a greater distraction awaited Beethoven. His brother Carl, who had long been suffering from consump- tion, died after a more or less reckless Kfe, during which he was a constant drain upon the earnings of the master ; indeed he had cost him at various times as much as 10, florins.

He left Beethoven the heritage of his unhappy son Carl — quite a boy. Beethoven adopted the boy, and from that day forward the prosperity of his nephew was Beethoven's chief concern. True till death the composer finally left him his sole heir, and a post-mortem search among his belongings soon revealed seven looo florins bank shares stored in a drawer. With the subsequent sale of furniture, MSS. I repeat that I have nothing against your wife, although her conduct towards me has on several occasions been unbecoming.

Apart from this, my illness, which has lasted three months and a half, has made me extremely sensitive and excitable. Away with everything which does not help to mend the matter, that I, my good Carl, may get into a more tranquil condition, so essential for me. If you look at my lodging you will see the consequences of my being obliged to confide in strangers, especially when I am ill. Do not refer to other matters " probably relating to money lent by the musician, of which we have already spoken. Not without reason, it is to be hoped, he questioned her morality, sumaming her " Queen of the Night," and, determined to carry out the strongly expressed wish of his dying brother, he placed his charge in one of the Vienna schools where his mother could see him monthly.

This course led to an action at law between Beethoven and the widow, and it is to be feared caused the master many a pang and many a thaler. The litigation went on for four years, for he dearly loved the boy. Beethoven was the more exposed to her continual slanders, intrigues, and law-suits because he himself, by acting vigorously accord- ing to his moral conviction, disregarded the inviolable law of nature. The mother sought in every possible way to regain her influence over the boy, who had been removed from her ; the boy obeyed only the promptings of his own heart when he, contrary to the admonition of his uncle, " ran to his mother," and the result naturally was that he was false and deceitful towards both parties, and from being at first only a spoilt child became thoroughly corrupt.

In an Appeal was decided in the com- poser's favour with the custody of the lad. Eventually Beethoven had the satisfaction of getting him into the University. Beethoven's state of mind at this attempt at suicide was shocking to see. When at length Carl was discovered severely wounded, and the first anxiety had been overcome, the accumulation of grief, guilt, and suffering in connection with the circumstance poured down like a storm upon his feelings.

Schindler, who was an eye-witness, reports: No wonder that at such a time Beethoven cried " Gott, Gott, mein Hort, mein Fels, o mein Alles du siehst mein Inneres und weisst wie wehe mir es thut Jemanden leiden machen Miissen bei meinem guten Werke fiir meinen theuren Karl " God, God, my strength, my rock! Thou canst look in my innermost thoughts, and judge how it grieves me to cause sufifering even by good actions to my heart's one — Carl. Nor is it surprising that with such turmoil and worry Beethoven gave us this while no music.

Not yet was the great man's cup of trouble full. At a time when his resources were seriously crippled by expenses of law suits, he lost by death a liberal patron — Prince Lobkowitz and with him an allowance which that nobleman had been making. This event led to another appeal at law, by which one more worry was added to the many which eventually drove the master into a premature grave.

One incident may have somewhat lightened the load of existence about the painful period we have just dwelt upon.

BEETHOVEN'S LETTERS.

The Corporation of Vienna had shown their appreciation of Beethoven and his music by presenting him with the Freedom of the city. Among those interested in the great man of Vienna were the Broadwoods, and it was the then head of this eminent firm of pianoforte makers, Mr Thomas Broadwood, who caused a very acceptable grand piano to be sent as a gift to Beethoven J. Beethoven duly acknowledged the present in a letter, the tenour of which, translated from his own doubtful French, runs as follows: I shall regard it as an altar upon which I will sacrifice to the divine ApoUo the best offerings of my soul.

As soon as I receive your splendid instrument, I will immediately send you the result of the first impressions which I shall gather from it, and duly trust that they may be found worthy of your instrument. If they could not secure the master him- self, they were determined to acquire some of his scores, a desirable aim which was attained through the instru- mentality of his admirers Messrs Neate, Ries, and Birchall ' Vienna, Februaiy 3id, i8l8. These negotiations extended from to In fact, his intention was fixed upon relieving himself of at least one stupendous musical idea which had taken possession of his ever imaginative brain.

His friend, the Archduke Rudolph, was to be installed as Archbishop of Olmiitz, and in the winter of Beethoven had become engrossed in a composition suitable for the occasion, the date of which was March 20th, The work designed for this ceremony was a grand Mass, the one in D major. Day and night did the indefatigable worker occupy himself with the score, until his devotion to his task was looked upon as something more than extraordinary. Never before had the composer seemed so wholly abstracted with a task, a struggle with the elements of composition which really alarmed those who were cognizant of what was happening.

Schindler was an eye-witness of the surroundings: Shut in a room alone, the great man resorted to singing, shouting, stamping, as if in the throes of mental torture. In appearance he was wild, dishevelled, exhausted with long periods of work and abstinence from food of any kind. Con- ception after conception fastened upon him with such rapidity that his brain was continually on the rack with the profoundest problems and musical possibilities. Relief only came to him in working upon three or four vast panoramas 28 Rossini Fever at one and the same time ; and as was his wont, he at this period of pressure added to his mental and physical strain by engaging upon two vast harmonial projects, the composition of either one of which would have made an ordinary man immortal.

By Beethoven it was regarded as his greatest and most successful work ; and truly it is one of the grandest and most profound art compositions ever created. Not- withstanding, Beethoven had great difficulty in getting subscriptions for the work. He addressed circular letters to the sovereigns of Prussia, France, Sweden, Saxony and Russia, asking for 50 ducats towards its publication, but at the expiration of nine months, no more than seven copies had been guaranteed! Eventually, after much wrangling, due as much to Beethoven's difficult temper as to anything else, the Mass, or the major part of it, was produced with the "Ninth" Symphony at the Kamthnertor Theatre.

This was on May 7th, , for which event we have to thank his friends Lichnowsky, Schindler, and Schuppanzigh. The scores aroused unbounded enthusiasm, albeit the concert was a failure ; and when it was repeated on the 23rd, with little better result, Beethoven so roundly abused his friends, whom he had invited to dine with him, that they rose up, hurried out of the room, and left Beet- hoven and his nephew to eat the dinner. About this time Rossini appeared on the horizon of musical Europe. Beethoven stood unmoved — uncon- cerned. And, with what prophetic instinct we may credit Beethoven if we regard the musical reputations and values of the two composers to-day!

Undismayed and unalterable the Vienna master pursued his deep ponderings in the very depths of theoretical research and invention — pouring forth his fancies and deductions in page after page of the "Choral" Symphony' and other colossal works mark- ing the closing years of the great musician's career.

To their credit be it said Beethoven's intimate friends did not desert him during the Rossini fever, although it is to be feared that that fickle, restless body the " public " cared little for real music in its thirst for ravishing ItaUan tune. Whether it was, or was not, consolatory to him to receive a public proof of esteem at such a time is not altogether clear. Nevertheless, when Rossini's glory was at its high- est a public Address and demonstration were prepared in Beethoven's honour — a step which Schindler says com- forted him greatly in his hour of apparent neglect This might easily have been otherwise however, as the great composer with his self-contained, moody temperament, developing more and more as he grew older, was strongly averse to all public manifestations.

In fact he persist- ently shunned every attempt made to draw him into public view. The purport of this Address, which was signed by Prince Lichnowsky and the leading musical personages in Vienna, was that he should produce the Mass, the Ninth Symphony and a new opera, thus to convince the world that Germany could yield greater music than could Italy. Nor did he keep all this to himself, but poured out the melancholy story of his unhappy lot to business houses and intimates alike.

The chief of his painful imaginations was a presentiment that he was about to die ; another was that he would be the victim of actual want, and perhaps starve — morbid ideas indeed. All too tender-hearted and considerate of others, — especially of his nephew Carl, for whom he entertained an affection which was hopelessly misplaced, — Beet- hoven, in order to make more money, pushed on the work of composition under conditions which at times were appalling. Had this been for his own benefit it would be understandable enough — but it was in order that he might provide himself with funds wherewith to meet the many demands that were constantly being made upon his generosity.

Else, how could things have reached such a pass that in the year , such was the com- poser's impecuniosity, he was reduced to making his 31 Beethoven dinner, for four days, of a glass of beer and some rolls. Unscrupulous persons besieged him for loans or gifts of money upon all sorts of pretences, and there were even those who in order to turn them to their own account peculated his scores on the excuse of disposing of them to his advantage to a publisher.

Nevertheless Beethoven was far from being really poor in the closing years of his life. His belief that he was, and his consequent strenuous efforts towards the last to raise money were the outcome simply of a disordered brain, the misgivings of a morbid nature aggravated by worry, neglect and insidious disease. There were the bank shares, for instance, which he had willed to his unprofitable nephew Carl, and which the uncle's strict conscientiousness would not permit him to touch.

The chief publishers of Europe were wanting composi- tions from Beethoven, and there were friends on all sides who would have helped him. There was really no ground, therefore, for any great anxiety re- specting his monetary affairs. If he was in debt at about this time, as Thayer calculates he was in the spring of — to the tune of florins — he could easily have remedied matters.

Beethoven's apprehensions concerning his condition of health, however, were by no means without founda- tion: The indifferent state of his health which had always more or less troubled him, and which had long kept him a ' subject ' of the doctors, grew worse, until in the winter of there were decided indications of serious stomach troubles. The situation, too, was ren- dered worse from the fact that he had fallen out with his physicians — as indeed he fell out with everybody, and doctors Braunhofer and Staudenheim flatly refused to attend him.

Still he would not give up work — rather he applied liimself to composition with increased vigour — for no Other reason it would seem than that he might leave his rascal nephew well provided for. About this time Prince Galitzin wrote from St Peters- burg commissioning three string quartets which were to be liberally paid for when composed and dedicated to this Russian noble. These were the Quartets in E flat op. In one of his letters to Schott he writes: I am still much under engagements to you ; and what my mind is at present filled with must be poured out before I go to the Elysian fields.

Thus the master, despite his many complainings, may have imagined that he alone knew the terrible secret to the uttermost. All was eventually discovered, however. He had wielded the bdton and led the band, but that this was more by eye than ear became painfully palpable.

He was as deaf to the applause at the conclusion as he had been to the strains of his own music. The loving soul already mentioned turned him round — and lo! The sympathetic concourse, we are told, at once grasped the situation, and the demonstration that then followed has been described by Schindler as " a volcanic outburst of joy and tears. Nikolaus Johann, Beethoven's second brother, was a chemist, who carried on business at Linz and Vienna, and later on resided in retirement at Gneixendorf. This dispensing chemist had become suddenly rich by the execudoD of some peculiar orders he had received from the French in the great wars of He and the composer were on anything but brotherly terms, however, — a condition for which the man of drugs must have been mainly to blame, inasmuch as there exists abundant evidence to prove that no man ever possessed a more touching affection for his kin than did Beethoven.

The fact is, Beethoven did not approve of the wife which this brother had married, so that when he received invitations to visit the estate he invariably made excuse. For in spite of all that had been done to keep him from that disgraceful connection, brother Johann, whom he had warned on his first coming to Vienna against " the whole clique of bad women," had obeyed his old inclinations, and the results were, if possible, more disastrous than in the case of the wife of his other brother — Carl.

There ever has been, and ever will be, a class of men who, with an ingrained love of money, cultivate the art of accumulating it so strenuously that in time they be- come lost to all sense of everything else, and the apothe- 35 Beethoven cary belonged to this by no means extinct tribe. The resultant was the usual one — the brothers were estranged and agreed to differ. Occasionally a sally of insinuation escaped both. Thus, one day, Johann from the luxury of his retirement called upon the working musician, and, finding him out, left his card.

He returned the card forthwith, having endorsed it on the back: Van Beethoven, Brain Proprietor, It was to this brother that Beethoven had, perforce, to pay a visit in — a journey which, unhappily, proved to be the last he undertook ere essaying that bourne along y, , ,.

A young man, who having failed in his University studies, came to grief in a profession and subsequently in trade, proved unsuccessful in an attempt at suicide, was expelled the army, and finally ordered out of Vienna, was scarcely a fit and proper person to become suddenly possessed of a small fortune — for Beethoven, with extraordinary love and devotion, was straining every nerve to leave this rake in a state of independence. To further the end absorbing him he would even have resorted to pen and score-paper as he lay 36 Sturdy Guest on his bed of sickness, had not the doctors peremptorily refused his appeals to be allowed to compose.

Johann permitted this interview in half-hearted fashion, and in October Beethoven, with prodigal Carl, set out for Krems, a fifty mile journey from Vienna. The musician— always wholly ab- sorbed in his art, and more than ever so now since he felt fired to work " while it was day," had far from left his Beethoven inspirations at home. He would rise at half- past five, and even at that early hour would repair to his table and start composing, "beating time with hands and feet, singing, humming and writing.

The brother thought him mad! Well — there are many of Nature's flints to-day who would encourage a similar verdict if the occasion could arise. That the precise pharmaceutist looked forward to the day when his abnormal guest would shake the dust from his feet and depart must not be regarded too harshly, for he really understood not the manner of man he was sheltering. The immortal beacon was not yet illuminating the musical universe with its glorious rays. Johann, not dreaming of future ages, shut up his bowels of compassion.

He denied his ailing brother— his own flesh and blood — the toiling, open-handed, open-hearted worker, suflering from a cruel internal disorder, requiring warmth and attention — he refused him the comfort which a drooping dog would need. He denied him a Are in his room although it was mid- winter ; he required payment for his board and lodging which the composer thought was to be gratuitous; and with it all the food supplied was not suited to Beethoven's seriously disturbed and not robust appetite.

The dis- cussion as to Carl led to a bitter quarrel — so much so that on December 2nd composer and nephew packed up for a journey back to Vienna, Beethoven having failed to interest Johann in Carl's future much less to provide for him in his Will. It was biting weather, and even the winter sun seemed permanently hidden.

Still home had to be reached, and Beethoven though only clad in summer clothing resolutely faced all. It was a two days' journey, and it cost this wondrous man his life — a consequence which would, indeed, have been beyond the power of words or imagination to picture had he not already poured out his very life's blood in music. Indeed, and indeed, had he shed his entire musical self for posterity of all future. Nothing more was to come — what might have been in store God only knows, but the sand-glass had run its course.

Water was all that soon afterwards, and ever, was drawn from this rich fount — as the surgeon tapped him for his disease. Beethoven reached his home in the Schwarzspanierhaus and straightway took to his bed. Medical assistance was of course necessary, yet difficulties presented themselves.

Beethoven had succeeded in so estranging his former physicians that he could not appeal to them — conse- quently a doctor Wawruch — a nominee of a billiard marker known to indolent Carl — was summoned. Neither the physician nor his physic commended themselves to 40 Coming End the patient nor arrested the complaints. To add to the seriousness of the situation dropsy set in, and on December 1 8th the suffering musician was first tapped.

This opera- tion was repeated on the 8th January, and again on the 28th, — with, unhappily, very little benefit in the patient's condition. Then recourse had to be had to a cast-off physician, Malfatti, who, with no great pleasure, eventually consented to see the patient Under Malfatti's treatment — wherein iced punch took the place of abominable herbal decoctions — a decided improvement was manifest, so much so, that Beethoven by word and manner ex- pressed a disgust for Wawruch's treatment.

The new year found the master still confined to his bed. He committed this hopeful, only now some nineteen years of age, to the care of an old lawyer friend — Dr Bach — the apothecary brother persistently declining the charge. In his survey Beethoven learnt that he possessed florins in bank shares — bought in the prosperous time of the Congress — and now set religiously apart for Carl. For himself there was nothing, and his long illness had involved him in debt. He wanted to compose, so as to breast affairs, but the doctors refused to let him. He thought, therefore, of an appeal to the Philharmonic Society of London, and begged his friend Moscheles to plead for him.

Little relief followed, and very speedily the disease and certain complications obtained the mastery. Friends, including Schubert, called and visited the bedside, but it was too late — the end was at hand. Hiller, as a boy of fifteen, was one of the few who saw and spoke with Beethoven during his last days. He was the companion of his master Hummel on a profes- sional tour to Vienna; and Hiller thus described the meeting: How my heart beat!

The grey-stuff dressing-gown he wore was hanging open. He had on great boots which reached to his knees. Wasted by illness, he appeared to be of tall stature, as he rose. He was unshaven, and his grizzled hair fell in shaggy masses over his temples. His face cleared, and became even friendly as he recognised Hummel, and he seemed pleased to see him again, embracing him cordially. Beethoven was very kind, and I took a seat opposite to him at the window.

Every one knows that conversations with 42 Final Illness Beethoven had to take place partly in writing ; he him- self spoke, but the person whom he addressed had to write all questions and answers. How painful it must have been to the man who had always been excitable — even irritable — to have to wait for each answer, and to be obliged every instant to rein in his keen and brilliant intellect!

On such occasions he followed with eager eyes the hand that was writing, and seemed rather to devour than to read what had been written. Although often giving vent to similar forebodings, he still busied himself from time to time with sketches and plans, which, alas! Speaking of the noble behaviour of the Philharmonic Society, and praising the English people, he said that as soon as he got well he should go to London and compose a grand symphonic overture for his friends, the English; and that he should also pay a visit to Mme.

Hummel who, this time, had accom- panied us to his house , and travel about to different places. His eyes, which, when we had seen him before, retained all their old brightness, were now dim, and he could not raise himself in his bed without pain. There was now no hope of a cure, and a fatal ending to his illness was rapidly approaching. When we saw him again for the last time, on the 23rd March, the aspect of the illustrious man was heartrending.

He lay before us exhausted, uttering low groans at intervals ; no more 43 Beethoven words passed his lips; his brow was covered with great drops of sweat. At one time he could not find his handkerchief. Hummel instantly produced hers, and wiped his face gently with it at intervals. I shall never forget the look of gratitude in his dim and sunken eyes as he turned towards her. Soon Hummel, Breuning, Hiller and Hiittenbrenner arrived r,.

Yes — with his grim sarcasm serving him to the last — the comedy was, indeed, over ; and his friends might applaud. Asked if he would receive the last Sacraments, the master answered calmly, " I will ; " and these were administered according to the rites of the Roman Church. The last intelligible words that escaped his lips were — "I shall hear in Heaven. All through the day and night of the 25 th, and throughout the following day, was a terrible ordeal for the death-watch.

As he lay, apparently uncon- scious, the last battle set in and continued long into the dreary waning day. Then as night drew on Nature her- self added to the gloom — a sudden storm of thunder and lightning, such as had not been equalled for many a year intensified the solemnity of the sick-room — in which his brother Johann's wife and Hiittenbrenner were keeping vigil.

Suddenly an awful crash of thunder roused even the dying man. As if in concert with the august life, Nature's requiem finally gave place to a placid night. Breuning and Schindler had already gone to Wahring Cemetery to choose the spot for the inevitable interment ; and when they returned it was to face the mournful duty of laying out the corpse and settling all final affairs. A post-mortem examination was made by Doctors Wagner and Wawruch, following which, worshippers and friends issued the following invitation — a facsimile — to the funeral: The Meeting of Mourners will take place at the residence of the deceased, in the Schwarzspanier House, No.

The irretrievable loss to the musical world of the celebrated tone-master took place on the 26th March, , at 6 p. Beethoven died in consequence of dropsy, in the 56th year of his age, after having received the Holy Sacrament. The day of obsequies will be made known by L. The Viennese were grief-stricken, knowing that to an extent they had failed to appreciate the manner of man who had been amongst them. Twenty thousand followed the funeral corihgCy which provided such a sight as had never before been seen in the capital.

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The scene at the church door was distracting, and soldiers had to force the way for the passing of the hearse. A crowd of appreciative friends — notables all — mournfully carrying tapers, surrounded the coffin, the big form of Lablache towering over all the rest. With the service over the vast procession moved to the cemetery, where a funeral oration was delivered by the actor Anschiitz, The last honour was paid by Hummel. As the mortal remains were lowered out of sight the famous pianist, with deep emotion, rested three laurel wreaths on Uie coffin of the illustrious dead — aged tifty-six years and three months.

The grave was a plain one, near by the spots where Schubert, Clement the violinist, and Seyfried were subse- quently laid. Over the former there now rests a slab of stone headed by an obelisk. The consideration of Beethoven personally furnishes an engrossing study. The grand but uneven personality who had tasted the qualities of the extremes of obscurity and renown will ever provide genuine enquirers with a rare and absorbing subject as a man and fellow-being, apart from his attributes as a musician.

He was equally at home in the tap-room of the "Swan" and at the table of the palace; and if 48 Corpse Exhumed he ever picked his teeth with the snuffers, this unenviable notoriety could only have been obtained as. Nature had moulded Beethoven one of her noblest sons, yet was there not a little of the contradictory in his character. From first to last his course was a plane above the common roadway of life, and throughout a struggling career— amid great anxieties and temptations- he seldom stepped from it: Throughout he was firmly impressed with the conviction that he could — as he did— do everlasting work, and in more ordinary matters sustain great burdens, and carry the heaviest everyday loads of life, even of relationship, which weak men make it their study to refuse and shirk.

This symptom of true greatness was perfectly natural. He lived and worked not so much for himself as for others, because he felt instinc- tively that he should do so, and moreover that he was designed for that end. D 49 Beethoven Ortsfriedhof of Wahring. The skeleton of the Bonn master proved him to be 5 ft. We see the thick-set, broad-shouldered little giant — Seyfried said he was the "image of strength" — not quite pro- portionately formed, but with all the "cut" of a great personality.

It sets out too the extraordinary intellectual features of Beethoven. The head was large, with a grand forehead, great breadth of jaw, and somewhat protruding lips, the lower one more developed in his later years as the habit of serious reflection and set thought grew more intense. As Beethoven grew older and bore the brunt of excessive troubles, his hair, as abundant as ever, turned white, but remained a great ornament behind his red but, as we are informed, from early youth pock-marked face. Large and jet-black, they were full of the fire of genius, and on occasions of special joy or inspira- tion were remarkably bright and peculiarly piercing.

Unlike his hands, Beethoven's feet were small and graceful. The former were ugly, thick, dumpy, with short untapering fingers, which could stretch little over an octave and afforded anything but the impression of grace or fluency over the piano keys. When quite himself it was light in tone, and singularly affecting; but when forced, as it so often was, on occasions of anger and temper, it became very rough and far from sympathetic.

Inclined to be a handsome young man, as the minia- ture by Kiigelgen suggests, he did not improve in looks as the strain of musical storm and stress told its in- evitable tale. Yet there were occasions when his smile was something to witness, when the rare soul and in- tellect of the master burst through the lines of the serious, earnest face, and all who were fortunate enough to witness it were richer by an experience that could never be forgotten. It is to be regretted that there were not longer periods of this elasticity of mind; but alas! Unlike more than one of the great musicians he allowed no amount of patronage to influence his freedom of mode or thought.

It might have been better had it been otherwise. As it was the good beginnings SI Beethoven made with his exterior — the silk stockings, long boots, sword, peruque with tag behind, double eyeglass and seal ring — the whole amounting to a young man's most fashionable attire, ultimately gave way to a complete carelessness as to outside appearances.

His great admirer, and his ideal — the Countess Gallenberg — could not refrain from noticing his appearance. Beethoven's nobility of mien never left him to the last, and though as years passed he grew harsh in his features, neglected himself and got shockingly untidy, his grand face never wholly lost its rare expressiveness. With no other of the great masters was the clash of life so keen and so sustained. Boyhood, early man- hood, and middle age were each marked by consuming troubles and toil, which death alone ended. Much of the gloominess and abstractedness of Beethoven may be charitably set down to those periods of inward working out of musical ideas, whether indoors or out.

Add to this his general bad health, a suggestion of hereditary taint, and constant dependence upon medical 52 Characteristics men more or less skilful; his slowly wearing stomach disease — which eventually killed him — the sum of these considered and it is little surprising that he engendered a vile temper that gave him chronic dyspepsia, which, in its turn, reflected itself in his features and taciturn and bearish moods. Rocklitz has described him as a "genius brought up on a desert island, and dropped suddenly into civilisation. The wonder is that out of such an existence — an exist- ence compounded to some extent of self-inflicted tor- ments and of miseries for which he may have been but partially responsible, should have poured such floods of pre-eminent music — music that will live to feed the souls of mortals as long as the sun shall shine.

On his death-bed Beethoven read Scott for the first time. In any case the real Beethoven was. No art-worker of any note was ever more infected probably with a life-long yearning for money than was the Bonn master. Yet was this not for him- self, but invariably for others, or in order that he might the better acquit obligations which were neither legally nor rightfully his own. Thus his expressed hope in one of his letters that he might "yet acquire pro- sperity " had infinitely less to do with his own reputa- tion and convenience than with the future comfort and safety of his rascal nephew.

Throughout his life we 53 Beethoven find Beethoven playing the part of the great good man in no mild fashion. The study of the personality — difficult as it is, and incongruous as it undoubtedly was, — affords a singularly interesting feature in our Beethoviana.

The Life of Ludwig van Beethoven, Volume II by Alexander Wheelock Thayer - Free Ebook

The world, happily, knows much of Beethoven's music. To know more, to understand the man, we must, as our great historian says in one of his Essays, "look beyond the individual man and his actions or interests, and view him in combination with his fellows. Vamhagen von Ense after an intimate acquaintance found the man in him stronger than the artist.

Beethoven was as much a good citizen, a sterling fellow, kind relation and friend, as he was a great musician. The ke mote of his whole character may be touched in the brave step he took when his unhappy father died. He gathered the reins and kept things together— working with might and main to preserve the humble home. Then, his whole artistic life affords a grand model for every earnest student plodding on towards some high aim.

There never was a more genuine worker. His Sketch-books show this and indicate how every idea that occurred to him as being worth keeping was duly noted and improved over and over again. The manner in which he wove these threads of themes into vast musical constructions, his rigid correction and finish of every idea, and the extraordinary working and develop- ment which he threw into each one of his thousand movements, stamp him as one of the most consummate toilers that the world has ever praised or blamed. Caring little for bo3dsh amuse- ments, he was noticed to be invariably self-contained, quiet, and reflective.

He preferred to be alone, and this love of solitude — which was marked throughout his life — gave him precious time to devote to his favourite pursuit — that of forming music both on paper and the pianoforte. His marvellous capacity for work showed itself very early in Hfe, for he began composing with a purpose before most children have done with their toys.

The manner in which he early sought, or was prompted to seek for patronage in the highest quarters was also but the beginning of a ceaseless striving for reward and recognition which continued until he lay on his last bed. His musical industry generally, too, must have been astonishing indeed for him to have made the theoretical and technical advance in his art which contemporaries so loudly acclaim — in addition to which there was his general education to be remembered, and this received no un- grudging share of his time and thought.

It is manifestly clear that Beethoven, as a youth, was an exceptionally earnest toiler — with all that seriousness which developed so mightily in the after man. That he was well conducted, trustworthy, and had won the respect and affection of others is evident from the manner in which he kept his various appointments, and the efforts made by those in authority to advance his interests whenever, and wherever possible.

It is hardly necessary to further emphasise the fact that Beethoven's natural temperament was by no means even or pleasing. Indeed, some of the situations in which he figures, while they rob the chief actor of much 55 Beethoven of that romantic halo which weaves itself so readily round a great master — a musician, particularly — can only be accounted for on the principle that musicians of a high order must not be judged as mortals who revolve in the ordinary sphere of the unimaginative.

Beethoven, at any rate, both in his own words and through the testimony of others, has furnished ample proof of being no common- place character — apart altogether from any consideration of him as a musician. Whatever he was inwardly — and he was good at heart — he had a brusque, inconsiderate, and sometimes downright rude and boorish bearing to- wards others, which often caused a pang to those who were devotedly concerned for his welfare.

But it was an unpleasant task to make him hear me, and I was obliged to speak so loud as to be heard in the third room off, Beethoven now came frequently to these dining-rooms, and visited me also at my house. We there soon became well acquainted, Beethoven was a little blunt, not to say uncouth; but a truthful eye beamed from under his bushy eyebrows. One of the marked characteristics that showed itself very early in Beethoven's life, and remained ever after- wards, was his fondness for joking, which not only took a practical shape, but often developed into p , sheer horse-play.

Who Can I Turn To? When Nobody Needs Me 2: Day By Day 2: So Nice Summer Samba 2: Let Go Canto De Ossanho 3: Austropop Herausgeb Trikont Indigo Erschienen: Attwenger wos nu 5: Attwenger z 17 3: Attwenger 8 hend 2: Attwenger de leid 6: Die Die Die 2: Paranoia In Bflat Major 3: The Weight Of Lies 4: Pretty Girl From Chile 5: All My Mistakes 5: Living Of Love 4: I Would Be Sad 3: Pretty Girl From San Diego 3: Go To Sleep 4: Live, Volume 3 Interpret: The Avett Brothers Genre: Pretty Girl from Matthews 4: Talk on Indolence 4: Ballad False Start 1: The Ballad of Love and Hate 6: I and Love and You 5: When I Drink 4: Murder in the City 3: I Killed Sally's Lover 2: Road Full of Promise 4: The Perfect Space 5: Paranoia in B flat Major 4: Kick Drum Heart 3: Smi Col Sony Music 1.

I And Love And You 5: And It Spread 4: The Perfect Space 4: Ten Thousand Words 5: Kick Drum Heart 2: Ill With Want 4: Slight Figure Of Speech 2: It Goes On And On 2: Incomplete And Insecure 2: Tear Down the House 3: The Greatest Sum 3: Souls Like the Wheels 4: The Second Gleam Interpret: The Avett Brothers Jahr: Avett Brothers, The Genre: Pretty Girl From Annapolis 4: Love Like The Movies 3: Walking For You 3: Do You Love Him 3: Smoke In Our Lights 7: A Lot of Movin' 2: Old Joe Clark 3: My Last Song to Jenny 3: The Traveling Song 3: A Gift for Melody Anne 4: Pretty Girl From Raleigh 3: Please Pardon Yourself 5: Data track - Live in Japan - B.

Live in Japan Interpret: Bluesrock Herausgeb Mca Int'l Erschienen: How Blue Can You Get? Eyesight To The Blind 4: You're Still My Woman 5: Chains And Things 5: Jamming At Sankei Hall 9: The Thrill is Gone 5: L'italiana In Algeri, "Cruda Sorte! Semiramide, "Bel Raggio Lusinghier" 7: Agnes Baltsa - Jose Carreras: Il Faut Nous Separer 1: La Tua Santuzza 2: Soli Or Siamo 6: Non Son Tuo Figlio? Ruiz M' Invia 3: Va, Mi Lascia 1: Va, Crudele, Al Dio Spietato 7: Libiamo, Libiamo Ne' Lieti Calici 3: Taking Me Higher 4: For No One 6: Polk Street Rag 5: Live Tapes CD2 Interpret: Barclay James Harvest Genre: Child of the Universe 6: Rock 'N' Roll Star 5: Poor Man's Moody Blues 7: Hard Hearted Woman 4: Live Tapes CD 1 Interpret: The Beatles CD 1 Interpret: Love me do 2: Please please me 2: From me to you 1: She loves you 2: I want to hold your hand 2: All my loving 2: Can't buy me love 2: A hard day's night 2: And I love her 2: Eight days a week 2: I feel fine 2: Ticket to ride 3: The Beatles CD 2 Interpret: We Can Work It Out 2: Drive My Car 2: In My Life 2: While My Guitar Gently Weeps 4: Don't Let Me Down 3: The Ballad of John and Yoko 2: Old Brown Shoe 3: Here Comes The Sun 3: Let It Be 3: Across The Universe 3: The Long and Winding Road 3: Strawberry Fields Forever 4: Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band 2: A Day In The Life 5: All You Need Is Love 3: I Am The Walrus 4: The Fool On The Hill 2: Magical Mystery Tour 2: Morning Dew [live] 4: You Know You Know [live] 6: Why Give It Away [live] 3: A Change Is Gonna Come [live] 7: A Day In The Life [live] 5: Little Wing [live] 3: Big Block [live] 5: Where Were You [live] 3: Danny Boy [live] 1: Rollin' And Tumblin' [live] 6: Going Down [live] 5: Tribal [vocals Ruth Lorenzo] 3: The Ultimate CD2 Interpret: How Deep Is Your Love 4: To Love Somebody 3: Too Much Heaven 4: Run To Me 3: Love So Right 3: For Whom The Bell Tolls 3: New York Mining Disaster: I Started A Joke 3: First Of May 2: Don't Forget To Remember 3: Islands In The Stream Live 3: The Ultimate CD 1 Interpret: You Should Be Dancing 4: Nights On Broadway 4: More Than A Woman 3: Spirits Having Flown 5: If I Can't Have You 3: Love You Inside Out 4: You Win Again 4: Still Waters Run Deep 4: Spicks And Specks live 2: Best of Beethoven Interpret: Allegro con brio 6: Menuett WoO 10 Nr.

Like A King I'll Rise Faded Whole Lotta Love Ouvertueren - Berliner Philarmoniker, Herbert von Karajan 1. Die Weihe des Hauses, Op: Die Geschoepfe des Prometheus, Op. Die Ruinen von Athen, Op. Berliner Philarmoniker, Herbert von Karajan Genre: Berliner Philharmoniker Herbert von Karajan Genre: Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso Adagio molto e cantabile Presto - O Freunde, nicht diese Toene! Berliner Philharmoniker - Herbert von Karajan Genre: La Battaglia Di Legnano I Vespri Siciliani 9: Un Ballo In Maschera 4: La Forza Del Destino 7: Andante - Allegro Mendelssohn Konzert-Ouverture "Die Hebriden" op.

Andante con moto 6: Andante con moto Andante - Allegro ma Allegro con brio Beethoven Symphonien Disc 03 Interpret: Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan Genre: Mozart--Die Zauberfloete - Querschnitt Interpret: Der Vogelfaenger bin ich ja 2: Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schoen 4: O zittre nicht, mein lieber Sohn! Bei Maennern, welche Liebe fuehlen 3: O, Isis und Osiris 3: In diesen heil'gen Hallen 4: Seid uns zum zweitenmal willkommen 2: Die Strahlen der Sonne vertreiben die Nacht!

Sex-Probelem werden verlacht 5: Ersummen der Kuckucks-Quote 3: Zupacken mit dem PC 3: Einzeltherapie in Grossgruppen 8: Feedback statt Sex-Golf 6: Birne findet Apfel 3: Asymmetrie der Begierde 4: Club der fetten Raucher 2: Overworked and underfucked 3: Ich bin ein Audi 2: Unlust ist trainierbar 3: Drama der begabten Frauen 2: Bestimmen Sie Ihre sexuelle Unzufriedenheit selbst 3: Die Qual der Partnerwahl 8: Das Drama der begabten Frauen 2: Anleitung zur sexuellen Unzufriedenheit CD 1 Interpret: Blues Herausgeb Mascot Records rough trade Erschienen: Mascot Records rough trade 1.

Your heart is as black as night 5: For my friends 4: I'd rather go blind 8: Something's got a hold on me 6: I'll take care of you 5: Ain't no way 6: I'll take care of you [Radio Edit] 3: The Rose Album Version 0: Awake Album Version 0: Dream In Color Album Version 0: I Wish That Album Version 0: Superstar Album Version 0: I Will Album Version 0: Pure And Simple Album Version 0: Int rough trade Erschienen: An der Lechstaustufe 23 2: Orgie im Banktresor 3: G'seng ins insan Werkldog 2: Seid's alle do 3: Schrei aus Holz 2: Da Mozart Leopold Mozart 3: Kenia ken i aa 3: Da boarische Hiasl 4: Wie reimt sich das zusamm' 3: Welcome to Bavaria 2: De Schand vom Oberland 3: Prosit con fuoco 2: Tag des Rollbratens 3: Drehleier con turbo 3: Dong, dong, dong 3: Harpaggio con tutto 4: Zipfl liest Im Wald is so staad 1: Ima neka tajna veza 3: Blues za moju bivsu dragu 6: Dosao sam da ti kazem da odlazim 3: Ne gledaj me tako i ne ljubi me vise 6: Sta bi dao da si na mom mjestu 7: Sanjao sam nocas da te nemam 6: Ipak, pozelim neko pismo 4: Kad zaboravis juli 4: Sve ce to, mila moja, prekriti ruzmarin, snjegovi i sas 7: Pristao sam bicu sve sto hoce 3: Ako mozes, zaboravi 4: Nakon svih ovih godina 4: Kad bi' bio bijelo dugme Ne spavaj mala moja muzika dok svira 2: Sve cu da ti dam samo da zaigram 4: Patim evo deset dana 4: Kad bi' bio bijelo dugme Interpret: Too marvelous for words 2: Say it isn't so 3: I cried for You 2: God bless the Child 4: Moonlight in Vermont 3: Our Love is here to stay 3: Stars fell on Alabama 4: But not for me 3: A fine romance 3: Cheek to Cheek 3: April in Paris 3: I cover the Waterfront 2: Them there eyes 1: When your love has gone 2: Back in your own back yard 2: Body and soul 2: Can't help lovin' that man 3: Easy to love 3: Fallin' in love again 2: He's funny that way 2: I can't give you anything but love 3: I've got my love to keep me warm 2: Progressive Rock Herausgeb Col Erschienen: This Song Is Just for You 7: She's Got Nothing on You 5: No Shade Is Real 4: Get Down to Your Fate 7: Rockin' Rollin' Roller 5: Children Of The Grave 5: Fairies Wear Boots 6: Sabbath Bloody Sabbath 5: Hole In The Sky 3: Symptom Of The Universe 6: Rock 'n' Roll Doctor 3: A Hard Road 6: Lord Of This World 5: Into The Void 6: Behind The Wall Of Sleep 3: Killing Yourself To Live 5: Am I Going Insane?

Children Of The Sea 6: The Mob Rules 3: Heaven And Hell Had To Cry Today 8: Can't Find My Way Home 3: Well All Right 4: Presence Of The Lord 4: Sea Of Joy 5: Do What You Like Blind Faith -Blues Jahr: Live In New York Interpret: Hanging on The Telephone 2: Forgive And Forget 4: The Tide is High 4: Under The Gun 4: Rip Her to Shreds 3: Heart of Glass 4: One Way or Another 4: More and More 3: Sometimes in Winter 3: Symphony for the Devil 7: Variations on a Theme by Erik Satie 2: God Bless The Child 5: And When I Die 4: Lucretia Mac Evil 3: Fire And Rain 4: John The Baptist Holy John 3: Lisa, Listen To Me 2: So Long Dixie 4: Sweet Sadie The Savior 4: Shame On The Moon 4: Love's The Last To Know 4: Roll Me Away 4: I shall strive if possible to set Fate at defiance, although there must be moments in my life when I cannot fail to be the most unhappy of God's creatures.

I entreat you to say nothing of my affliction to any one, not even to Lorchen [see Nos. I confide the secret to you alone, and entreat you some day to correspond with Vering on the subject. If I continue in the same state, I shall come to you in the ensuing spring, when you must engage a house for me somewhere in the country, amid beautiful scenery, and I shall then become a rustic for a year, which may perhaps effect a change.

You will forgive my thus appealing to your kindly sympathies at a time when your own position is sad enough. Stephan Breuning is here, and we are together almost every day; it does me so much good to revive old feelings! He has really become a capital good fellow, not devoid of talent, and his heart, like that of us all, pretty much in the right place. I have very charming rooms at present, adjoining the Bastei [the ramparts], and peculiarly valuable to me on account of my health [at Baron Pasqualati's].

I do really think I shall be able to arrange that Breuning shall come to me. You shall have your Antiochus [a picture], and plenty of my music besides--if, indeed, it will not cost you too much. Your love of art does honestly rejoice me. Only say how it is to be done, and I will send you all my works, which now amount to a considerable number, and are daily increasing. I beg you will let me have my grandfather's portrait as soon as possible by the post, in return for which I send you that of his grandson, your loving and attached Beethoven.

It has been brought out here by Artaria, who, as well as many other publishers, has often urged this on me. I intend soon to write to Stoffeln [Christoph von Breuning], and plainly admonish him about his surly humor. I mean to sound in his ears our old friendship, and to insist on his promising me not to annoy you further in your sad circumstances.

I will also write to the amiable Lorchen. Never have I forgotten one of you, my kind friends, though you did not hear from me; but you know well that writing never was my forte , even my best friends having received no letters from me for years. I live wholly in my music, and scarcely is one work finished when another is begun; indeed, I am now often at work on three or four things at the same time.

Do write to me frequently, and I will strive to find time to write to you also. As for K, I am not at all surprised at the change in her: Fortune rolls like a ball, and does not always stop before the best and noblest. As to Ries [Court musician in Bonn], to whom pray cordially remember me, I must say one word. I will write to you more particularly about his son [Ferdinand], although I believe that he would be more likely to succeed in Paris than in Vienna, which is already overstocked, and where even those of the highest merit find it a hard matter to maintain themselves.

By next autumn or winter, I shall be able to see what can be done for him, because then all the world returns to town. Farewell, my kind, faithful Wegeler! Rest assured of the love and friendship of your. Only a few words to-day, written with a pencil your own. My residence cannot be settled till to-morrow. What a tiresome loss of time! Why this deep grief when necessity compels? Can you alter the fact that you are not wholly mine, nor I wholly yours?

Love demands all, and has a right to do so, and thus it is I feel towards you and you towards me ; but you do not sufficiently remember that I must live both for you and for myself. Were we wholly united, you would feel this sorrow as little as I should. My journey was terrible. I did not arrive here till four o'clock yesterday morning, as no horses were to be had.

The drivers chose another route; but what a dreadful one it was! At the last stage I was warned not to travel through the night, and to beware of a certain wood, but this only incited me to go forward, and I was wrong. The carriage broke down, owing to the execrable roads, mere deep rough country lanes, and had it not been for the postilions I must have been left by the wayside.

Esterhazy, travelling the usual road, had the same fate with eight horses, whereas I had only four. Still I felt a certain degree of pleasure, which I invariably do when I have happily surmounted any difficulty. But I must now pass from the outer to the inner man. We shall, I trust, soon meet again; to-day I cannot impart to you all the reflections I have made, during the last few days, on my life; were our hearts closely united forever, none of these would occur to me.

My heart is overflowing with all I have to say to you. Continue to be ever my true and only love, my all! The gods must ordain what is further to be and shall be! I have just heard that the letters must be sent off very early. Mondays and Thursdays are the only days when the post goes to K. The servility of man towards his fellow-man pains me, and when I regard myself as a component part of the universe, what am I, what is he who is called the greatest? However dearly you may love me, I love you more fondly still.

Never conceal your feelings from me. As a patient at these baths, I must now go to rest [a few words are here effaced by Beethoven himself]. Is not our love a truly celestial mansion, but firm as the vault of heaven itself? Even before I rise, my thoughts throng to you, my immortal beloved! I must live either wholly with you, or not at all. Indeed I have resolved to wander far from you [see No. You will take courage, for you know my fidelity.

Never can another possess my heart--never, never! Why must I fly from her I so fondly love? Your love made me the most happy and yet the most unhappy of men. At my age, life requires a uniform equality; can this be found in our mutual relations? I have this moment heard that the post goes every day, so I must conclude, that you may get this letter the sooner. Continue to love me. Yesterday, to-day, what longings for you, what tears for you! These letters to his "immortal beloved," to whom the C sharp minor Sonata is dedicated, appear here for the first time in their integrity, in accordance with the originals written in pencil on fine notepaper, and given in Schindler's Beethoven's Nachlass.

There has been much discussion about the date. It is certified, in the first place, in the church register which Alex. Thayer saw in Vienna, that Giulietta was married to Count Gallenberg in ; and in the next place, the 6th of July falls on a Monday in The other reasons which induce me decidedly to fix this latter year as the date of the letter, I mean to give at full length in the second volume of Beethoven's Biography.

I may also state that Beethoven was at baths in Hungary at that time. Whether the K in the second letter means Komorn, I cannot tell. You will receive with this one of my compositions published some years since, and yet, to my shame, you probably have never heard of it. I cannot attempt to excuse myself, or to explain why I dedicated a work to you which came direct from my heart, but never acquainted you with its existence, unless indeed in this way, that at first I did not know where you lived, and partly also from diffidence, which led me to think I might have been premature in dedicating a work to you before ascertaining that you approved of it.

Indeed, even now I send you "Adelaide" with a feeling of timidity. You know yourself what changes the lapse of some years brings forth in an artist who continues to make progress; the greater the advances we make in art, the less are we satisfied with our works of an earlier date. My most ardent wish will be fulfilled if you are not dissatisfied with the manner in which I have set your heavenly "Adelaide" to music, and are incited by it soon to compose a similar poem; and if you do not consider my request too indiscreet, I would ask you to send it to me forthwith, that I may exert all my energies to approach your lovely poetry in merit.

Pray regard the dedication as a token of the pleasure which your "Adelaide" conferred on me, as well as of the appreciation and intense delight your poetry always has inspired, and always will inspire in me. When playing "Adelaide," sometimes recall. At the second announcement of our concert, you must remind your husband that the public should be made acquainted with the names of those whose talents are to contribute to this concert. Such is the custom here; and indeed, were it not so, what is there to attract a larger audience? Punto [the celebrated horn-player, for whom Beethoven wrote Sonata 17] is not a little indignant about the omission, and I must say he has reason to be so; but even before seeing him it was my intention to have reminded you of this, for I can only explain the mistake by great haste or great forgetfulness.

Be so good, then, dear lady, as to attend to my hint otherwise you will certainly expose yourself to many annoyances.

Being at last convinced in my own mind, and by others, that I shall not be quite superfluous in this concert, I know that not only I, but also Punto, Simoni [a tenorist], and Galvani will demand that the public should be apprised of our zeal for this charitable object; otherwise we must all conclude that we are not wanted.

I thank you for this fresh proof of your interest in me, especially as I so little deserve it. You wish to know how I am, and what remedies I use. Unwilling as I always feel to discuss this subject, still I feel less reluctant to do so with you than with any other person. For some months past Vering has ordered me to apply blisters on both arms, of a particular kind of bark, with which you are probably acquainted,--a disagreeable remedy, independent of the pain, as it deprives me of the free use of my arms for a couple of days at a time, till the blisters have drawn sufficiently.

The ringing and buzzing in my ears have certainly rather decreased, particularly in the left ear, in which the malady first commenced, but my hearing is not at all improved; in fact I fear that it is become rather worse. My health is better, and after using the tepid baths for a time, I feel pretty well for eight or ten days. I seldom take tonics, but I have begun applications of herbs, according to your advice.

Vering will not hear of plunge baths, but I am much dissatisfied with him; he is neither so attentive nor so indulgent as he ought to be to such a malady; if I did not go to him, which is no easy matter, I should never see him at all. What is your opinion of Schmidt [an army surgeon]? I am unwilling to make any change, but it seems to me that Vering is too much of a practitioner to acquire new ideas by reading.

On this point Schmidt appears to be a very different man, and would probably be less negligent with regard to my case. I hear wonders of galvanism; what do you say to it? A physician told me that he knew a deaf and dumb child whose hearing was restored by it in Berlin , and likewise a man who had been deaf for seven years, and recovered his hearing. I am told that your friend Schmidt is at this moment making experiments on the subject.

I am now leading a somewhat more agreeable life, as of late I have been associating more with other people.

You could scarcely believe what a sad and dreary life mine has been for the last two years; my defective hearing everywhere pursuing me like a spectre, making me fly from every one, and appear a misanthrope; and yet no one is in reality less so! This change has been wrought by a lovely fascinating girl [undoubtedly Giulietta], who loves me and whom I love. I have once more had some blissful moments during the last two years, and it is the first time I ever felt that marriage could make me happy.

Unluckily, she is not in my rank of life, and indeed at this moment I can marry no one; I must first bestir myself actively in the world. Had it not been for my deafness, I would have travelled half round the globe ere now, and this I must still do. For me there is no pleasure so great as to promote and to pursue my art. Do not suppose that I could be happy with you. What indeed could make me happier? Your very solicitude would distress me; I should read your compassion every moment in your countenance, which would make me only still more unhappy.

What were my thoughts amid the glorious scenery of my father-land? The hope alone of a happier future, which would have been mine but for this affliction! I could span the world were I only free from this! I feel that my youth is only now commencing. Have I not always been an infirm creature?

For some time past my bodily strength has been increasing, and it is the same with my mental powers. I feel, though I cannot describe it, that I daily approach the object I have in view, in which alone can your Beethoven live. No rest for him! You should then see me as happy as I am ever destined to be here below--not unhappy. I feel that I am no longer made for a quiet existence.

You will write to me as soon as possible? Pray try to prevail on Steffen [von Breuning] to seek an appointment from the Teutonic Order somewhere. Life here is too harassing for his health; besides, he is so isolated that I do not see how he is ever to get on. You know the kind of existence here. I do not take it upon myself to say that society would dispel his lassitude, but he cannot be persuaded to go anywhere. A short time since, I had some music in my house, but our friend Steffen stayed away. Do recommend him to be more calm and self-possessed, which I have in vain tried to effect; otherwise he can neither enjoy health nor happiness.

Tell me in your next letter whether you care about my sending you a large selection of music; you can indeed dispose of what you do not want, and thus repay the expense of the carriage, and have my portrait into the bargain. Say all that is kind and amiable from me to Lorchen, and also to mamma and Christoph. You still have some regard for me? Always rely on the love as well as the friendship of your. See Schindler's Beethoven's Nachlass. I have often intended to answer your proposals, but am frightfully lazy about all correspondence; so it is usually a good while before I can make up my mind to write dry letters instead of music.

I have, however, at last forced myself to answer your application. Pro primo , I must tell you how much I regret that you, my much-loved brother in the science of music, did not give me some hint, so that I might have offered you my quartets, as well as many other things that I have now disposed of. But if you are as conscientious, my dear brother, as many other publishers, who grind to death us poor composers, you will know pretty well how to derive ample profit when the works appear.

I now briefly state what you can have from me. A Septet, per il violino, viola, violoncello, contra-basso, clarinetto, corno, fagotto;--tutti obbligati I can write nothing that is not obbligato , having come into the world with an obbligato accompaniment! This Septet pleases very much. For more general use it might be arranged for one more violino, viola , and violoncello , instead of the three wind-instruments, fagotto, clarinetto , and corno.

A Grand Symphony with full orchestra [the 1st]. A pianoforte Concerto [Op. A Grand Solo Sonata [Op. These are all I can part with at this moment; a little later you can have a quintet for stringed instruments, and probably some quartets also, and other pieces that I have not at present beside me. In your answer you can yourself fix the prices; and as you are neither an Italian nor a Jew , nor am I either, we shall no doubt quickly agree.

Farewell, and rest assured,. My dear brother in art, of the esteem of your. On applying to the present representative of that firm, I was told that those who now possess these letters decline giving them out of their own hands, and that no copyist can be found able to decipher or transcribe them correctly. This last phrase is not in the copy before me, but in Marx's Biography , who appears to have seen the original. I read your letter, dear brother and friend, with much pleasure, and I thank you for your good opinion of me and of my works, and hope I may continue to deserve it.

I also beg you to present all due thanks to Herr K. I, on my part, rejoice in your undertakings, and am glad that when works of art do turn out profitable, they fall to the share of true artists, rather than to that of mere tradesmen. Your intention to publish Sebastian Bach's works really gladdens my heart, which beats with devotion for the lofty and grand productions of this our father of the science of harmony, and I trust I shall soon see them appear. I hope when golden peace is proclaimed, and your subscription list opened, to procure you many subscribers here.

With regard to our own transactions, as you wish to know my proposals, they are as follows. I offer you at present the following works: You may perhaps be surprised that I make no difference of price between the sonata, septet, and symphony. I do so because I find that a septet or a symphony has not so great a sale as a sonata, though a symphony ought unquestionably to be of the most value. The septet consists of a short introductory adagio , an allegro, adagio, minuetto, andante , with variations, minuetto , and another short adagio preceding a presto.

I only ask ten ducats for the concerto, for, as I already wrote to you, I do not consider it one of my best. I cannot think that, taken as a whole, you will consider these prices exorbitant; at least, I have endeavored to make them as moderate as possible for you. The entire sum for the four works will amount to 70 ducats; I understand no currency but Vienna ducats, so how many dollars in gold they make in your money is no affair of mine, for really I am a very bad man of business and accountant.

Now this troublesome business is concluded;--I call it so, heartily wishing that it could be otherwise here below! I may well call it troublesome! As for the Leipzig oxen, [2] let them talk! Now may Heaven preserve you and your colleagues! I have been unwell for some time; so it is rather difficult for me at present to write even music, much more letters.

I trust we shall have frequent opportunities to assure each other how truly you are my friend, and I yours. It is thus that Schindler supplies the gap. It is probably an allusion to the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung , founded about three years previously.

You have indeed too good cause to complain not a little of me.

TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.

My excuse is that I have been ill, and in addition had so much to do, that I could scarcely even think of what I was to send you. Moreover, the only thing in me that resembles a genius is, that my papers are never in very good order, and yet no one but myself can succeed in arranging them. For instance, in the score of the concerto, the piano part, according to my usual custom, was not yet written down; so, owing to my hurry, you will receive it in my own very illegible writing.

In order that the works may follow as nearly as possible in their proper order, I have marked the numbers to be placed on each, as follows: I will send you their various titles shortly. The arrangement of Mozart's Sonatas as quartets will do you much credit, and no doubt be profitable also. I wish I could contribute more to the promotion of such an undertaking, but I am an irregular man, and too apt, even with the best intentions, to forget everything; I have, however, mentioned the matter to various people, and I everywhere find them well disposed towards it.

It would be a good thing if you would arrange the septet you are about to publish as a quintet, with a flute part, for instance; this would be an advantage to amateurs of the flute, who have already importuned me on the subject, and who would swarm round it like insects and banquet on it. Now to tell you something of myself. I have written a ballet ["Prometheus"], in which the ballet-master has not done his part so well as might be. The F von L has also bestowed on us a production which by no means corresponds with the ideas of his genius conveyed by the newspaper reports.

Such are the fine prospects before us poor people who strive to struggle upwards! My dear friend, pray lose no time in bringing the work before the notice of the public, and write to me soon, that I may know whether by my delay I have entirely forfeited your confidence for the future. Everything shall henceforth be sent finished, and in quick succession. So now farewell, and continue your regards for. I am rather surprised at the communication you have desired your business agent here to make to me; I may well feel offended at your believing me capable of so mean a trick.

It would have been a very different thing had I sold my works to rapacious shopkeepers, and then secretly made another good speculation; but, from one artist to another , it is rather a strong measure to suspect me of such a proceeding! The whole thing seems to be either a device to put me to the test, or a mere suspicion.

The Life of Ludwig van Beethoven, Volume II by Alexander Wheelock Thayer

In any event I may tell you that before you received the septet from me I had sent it to Mr. Salomon in London to be played at his own concert, which I did solely from friendship , with the express injunction to beware of its getting into other hands, as it was my intention to have it engraved in Germany, and, if you choose, you can apply to him for the confirmation of this. But to give you a further proof of my integrity, "I herewith give you the faithful assurance that I have neither sold the septet, the symphony, the concerto, nor the sonata to any one but to Messrs.

And to this I pledge my honor. Moreover, I believe Salomon to be as incapable of the baseness of engraving the septet as I am of selling it to him. I was so scrupulous in the matter, that when applied to by various publishers to sanction a pianoforte arrangement of the septet, I at once declined, though I do not even know whether you proposed making use of it in this way. Here follow the long-promised titles of the works. There will no doubt be a good deal to alter and to amend in them; but this I leave to you. I shall soon expect a letter from you, and, I hope, the works likewise, which I wish to see engraved, as others have appeared, and are about to appear, in connection with these numbers.

I look on your statement as founded on mere rumors, which you have believed with too much facility, or based entirely on supposition, induced by having perchance heard that I had sent the work to Salomon; I cannot, therefore, but feel some coolness towards such a credulous friend, though I still subscribe myself.

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.

Ries names 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. 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?

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. 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! Now farewell, and think of me as I do of you. Till death, your faithful. In reference to the musical piracy at that time very prevalent in Austria. 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! 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. 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! God looks into my heart, He searches it, and knows that love for man and feelings of benevolence have their abode there!

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.

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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. 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. 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.

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. How long have I been estranged from the glad echo of true joy!

To be read and fulfilled after my death by my brothers Carl and Johann. This beautiful letter I regret not to have seen in the original, it being in the possession of the violin virtuoso Ernst, in London. A large portion of the Eroica was written in the course of this summer, but not completed till August, Beethoven did not at that time know in what year he was born.

See the subsequent letter of May 2, He was then far advanced in his thirty-third year. 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.

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