[1] “Briefe,” II. 354, 355.

[2] This was the beginning of the career of Salomon. He became concertmaster to Prince Henry of Prussia, played in Paris, and in 1781 took up a residence in London where, as violinist and conductor, he became brilliantly active and successful. He made repeated visits to Bonn, once in 1790, when he was on his way to London accompanied by Haydn.

[3] Reichardt, “Theaterkalender, 1778,” p. 99.

[4] To her Beethoven dedicated his variations on “Venni Amore.”

[5] In FÉtis’ “Biographie universelle” (new ed.) several of these names are misprinted. They are corrected here from Mr. Jacobs’ letter to A.W.T.

[6] Thayer’s account of this period in the life of Beethoven’s grandfather has here been extended from an article by the Chevalier L. de Burbure, published in the “Biographie nationale publiÉe par l’AcadÉmie Royale des sciences, des lettres et des beaux arts de Belgique.” Tome II. p. 105. (Brussels, 1868.) From this it further appears that two other members of the Antwerp branch of the family were devoted to the fine arts, viz.: Peter van Beethoven, painter, pupil of Abr. Genoel, jr., and Gerhard van Beethoven, sculptor, accepted in the guild of St. Luke about 1713, Director Vollmer, of Brussels, in a communication to Dr. Deiters gave information of a branch of the family in Mechlin and of still another in Brabant where, in the village of Wambeke, there was a curÉ van Beethoven who must either have died or been transferred between 1729 and 1732.

[7] The original entry is printed in full in the German edition of this biography.

[8] “The grandfather was a man short of stature, muscular, with extremely animated eyes, and was greatly respected as an artist.” Fischer’s description is different, but Wegeler is the more trustworthy witness of the two.

[9] The church records at Ehrenbreitstein say that he died August 2, 1759, in Molzberg, at the age of 58; his funeral took place in Ehrenbreitstein. A Frau Eva Katharina Kewerich, who died at Ehrenbreitstein on October 10, 1753, at the age of 89 years, was probably his mother.

[10] Some notes by Fischer contain the characteristic addition: “Madame van Beethoven once remarked that the most necessary things, such as house-rent, the baker, shoemaker and tailor must first be paid, but she would never pay drinking debts.”

[11] In the collection of Beethoven relics in the Beethoven House in Bonn there is a portrait which is set down as that of Beethoven’s mother. The designation, however, rests only on uncertain tradition and lacks authoritative attestation. It is certainly difficult to see in it the representation of a consumptive woman only 40 years old. Moreover, it is strange that Beethoven should have sent from Vienna for the portrait of his grandfather and not for that of his dearly loved mother had one been in existence. It is only because of a resemblance between this picture and another that the belief exists that portraits of both of the parents of Beethoven are in existence. In 1890 two oil portraits were found in a shed in Cologne and restored by the painter Kempen, who recognized in them the handiwork of the painter Beckenkamp, who, like Beethoven’s mother, was born in Ehrenbreitstein, was a visitor at the Beethoven home in Bonn and died in Cologne in 1828. The female portrait agrees with that in Bonn; they are life-size, finely executed pictures, but they are certainly not Beethoven’s parents. Enough has been said about the portrait of the mother. In the case of that of the father the first objection is that it also lacks authentication. Fischer’s description does not wholly fit the picture; the old man would not have forgotten the protruding lower lip. But the entire expression of the face, serious, it is true, but fleshy and vulgar, and the gray perruque, do not conform to what we know of the easy-going musician. It will be difficult, too, to trace any resemblance of expression between it and the familiar one of Beethoven from which a conclusion might be drawn. So long as proofs are wanting, scientific biography will have no right to accept the portraits as those of Beethoven’s parents. Reproductions of them may be found in the “Musical Times” of London, December 15, 1892.

[12] The house is now owned by the Beethoven-Haus Verein, and maintained as a Beethoven museum.

[13] In one of Beethoven’s conversation books his nephew writes on December 15, 1823: “To-day is the 15th of December, the day of your birth, but I am not sure whether it is the 15th or 17th, inasmuch as we can not depend on the certificate of baptism and I read it only once when I was still with you in January.” The nephew, it will be observed, does not appeal to a family tradition but to the baptismal certificate and the uncertainty, therefore, is with reference to the date of baptism, not of birth. Hence the deduction which Kalischer makes (“Vossische Zeitung,” No. 17, 1891) that Beethoven was born on December 15. Hesse calls to witness a clerk employed in Simrock’s establishment with whom Beethoven had business transactions, and who had written on the back of the announcement of Beethoven’s death, “L. v. Beethoven was born on December 16, 1770.”

[14] The mistake in the mother’s name is sufficiently explained by the use of Lena as the contraction of both Helena and Magdalena.

[15] “The baptismal certificate seems to be incorrect, since there was a Ludwig born before me. A Baumgarten was my sponsor, I believe. Ludwig van Beethoven.”

[16] “Allg. Mus.-Ztg.,” May 23. 1827.

[17] There was no teacher of this name in Bonn at the time. There was a Rupert, however, who may have been the one meant by Fischer.

[18] These memoirs are in manuscript. They were formerly in the possession of Dr. BodifÉe of Bonn, later in the Town Hall.

[19] Error; Beethoven’s mother did not die until 1787, long after he had left school.

[20] Thayer’s characterization of the joyless boyhood of Beethoven may submit to a slight modification, at least so far as his childhood is concerned, without violence to the verities of history. Fischer would have us believe that the lad took part with his brother Carl in boyish capers which were not always of a harmless character. In a letter to Simrock, Court Councillor Krupp relates: “My father, who died in 1847, was a youthful friend and schoolmate of Ludwig and Carl van Beethoven, and distantly related to the godmother of the former. Thursdays were holidays for the schoolboys, and the brothers Beethoven, L. and C., were then wont to come to the house of my grandparents, No. 28 Bonngasse (now belonging to my sister and me), and amuse themselves, among other things, with target shooting. There was a wall between the garden of our house and the gardens of the adjoining houses in the Wenzelgasse against which the target was placed at which the boys shot arrows; a hit in the centre brought forth a StÜber (about 4 pfennigs) for the lucky marksman. Garden and wall are now (1890) in the same condition as then. In the evening the Beethoven brothers went home through the GudenauergÄsschen. The family lived at the time in the Wenzelgasse back of our house.” Here is an inaccuracy, for Ludwig van Beethoven no longer went to school when the Beethoven family changed their house in the Rheingasse for that in the Wenzelgasse—which was probably about 1785. The letter continues: “Ludwig’s father treated him harshly, especially when he was intoxicated, and sometimes shut him up in the cellar.”

[21] There seems to have been no knowledge on the part of Beethoven’s biographers of this visit to Holland until Thayer brought the incident to notice. It is, therefore, highly significant that the Fischer family also recalled the circumstance and, besides, knew what brought it about. The sister of young Rovantini, who died in September, 1781, was employed as governess in Rotterdam, and on receiving intelligence of the death of her brother came to Bonn, together with her mistress (whose name has not been preserved), to visit his grave. For a month she was an inmate of the Beethoven house; there was a good deal of music-making and some excursions to neighboring places of interest, including Coblenz. The visitors invited the Beethoven family to make a trip to Holland. Inasmuch as Johann van Beethoven could not get away, the mother went with the lad, and, a party of five, they embarked upon the voyage. This must have been in October or November, 1781, which agrees with the story of the extreme cold encountered on the voyage. They remained a considerable time, but whether or not Ludwig gave a concert as he had intended, is not known. Despite the attentions showered upon him by the wealthy lady from Rotterdam and the many honors, the pecuniary results were disappointing. To Fischer’s question how he had fared Beethoven is reported to have answered: “The Dutch are skinflints (Pfennigfuchser); I’ll never go to Holland again.”

[22] “Morgengesang am SchÖpfungstage.”

[23] As given by Nottebohm in his catalogue (p. 154) the title of the original publication of the Variations by Goetz of Mannheim ran as follows: “Variations pour le Clavecin sur une Marche de Mr. Dressler, composÉes et DediÉes À son Excellence Madame la Comtesse de Wolfmetternich, nÉe Baronne d’Assebourg, par un jeune amateur Louis van Beethoven, ÂgÉ de dix ans. 1780.” Inasmuch as Nottebohm’s Notes on Thayer’s “Chronologisches Verzeichniss” do not give the date 1780, it was probably appended by mistake. In the delle Sinfonie, etc., che si trovanno in manoscritto nella officina de Breitkopf in Lipsia, under the compositions of 1782, 1783 and 1784: Variations da Louis van Beethoven, ÂgÉ de dix ans, Mannheim, with the theme in notation. The Countess Wolff-Metternich, to whom the variations are dedicated, was the wife of Count Ignaz von Wolff-Metternich, “Konferenzmeister” and president of the High Court of Appeals, who died in Bonn, March 15, 1790. Ernst Christoph Dressler, composer of the theme varied by Beethoven, was an opera singer in Cassel.

[24] The Bagatelles for Pianoforte, Op.33. included by Thayer in his MSS. and his “Chronologisches Verzeichniss” as also belonging to this period on the strength of their superscription on a manuscript copy, “Louis van Beethoven ... 1782,” were, as Nottebohm has shown, not composed at this time. One of them was composed in 1802 and another sketched between 1799 and 1801. See Nottebohm (“Zweite Beethoveniana,” p. 250). Nottebohm conjectures that the organ fugue was composed at his trial for the post of second court organist. In view of the fact that his age was falsified by his father at this time, it is likely that the work was composed in 1783.

[25] Title of the original publication: “Drei Sonaten fÜr Klavier, dem HochwÜrdigsten Erzbischofe und KurfÜrsten zu KÖln, Maximilian Friedrich meinem gnÄdigsten Herrn gewidmet und verfertigt von Ludwig van Beethoven, alt eilf Jahr.” Beethoven wrote on a copy of the sonatas: “These Sonatas and the Variations of Dressler are my first works.” He probably meant his first published works. See Thayer’s “Chronologisches Verzeichniss,” p. 2, 183.

[26] The editor has here thought it advisable to permit Thayer’s original text to stand in the body of the book, although Dr. Deiters made a radical correction in his revision of the first volume of the biography. On the basis of the Fischer manuscript Dr. Deiters relates that the Beethoven family lived in the house in the Rheingasse at the time of the inundation; that Beethoven’s mother sought to stay the alarm of the inmates with encouraging words, but at the last had to make her escape with the others into the Giergasse over boards and down ladders. Admitting that there are many inaccuracies in the recital, Dr. Deiters nevertheless accepts it in this particular and conjectures that Beethoven lived in the house in the Rheingasse until 1785.

[27] B. and H. Ges. Ausg. Serie 18, No. 196.

[28] B. and H. Ges. Ausg. Serie 23, No. 229.

[29] The manuscript contains the solo part complete with the orchestral preludes and interludes in transcription for pianoforte. There are indications that it was scored for small orchestra—strings, flutes and horns only. The composition was long unknown. Thayer included it in his “Chronologisches Verzeichniss” under No. 7, giving the themes. Guido Adler edited it at a much later date, and it has been published in the supplement to the collected works of Beethoven.

[30] Nottebohm conjectured that the movement referred to by Thayer was that for a musical clock, No. 29, in Thayer’s chronological catalogue, there described as a duo. Dr. Deiters thinks that it was a fragment of a composition for pianoforte and violin, No. 131 in the catalogue of the Artaria collection. It contains suggestions of Beethoven’s style, but the manuscript is a copy, not an autograph, and its authenticity is not proven.

[31] In the Fischer MS.: “Short of stature, broad shoulders, short neck, large head, round nose, dark brown complexion; he always bent forward slightly when he walked. In the house he was called der Spagnol (the Spaniard).”

[32] Czerny also related that Beethoven had spoken to him of the harsh treatment and insufficient instruction received from his father. “But,” he added, “I had talent for music.” From a note by Otto Jahn. Also see Cock’s “Musical Miscellany.”

[33] “Urian’s Reise um die Welt.” Op.52, No. 1, published in 1805.

[34] The manuscript formerly owned by Artaria is now (1907) in the possession of Dr. E. Prieger in Bonn. The figure indicating the composer’s age was first written “14” and then changed.

[35] In the first edition of Jahn’s “Mozart” the date is given as here. In later editions it was corrected in accordance with Thayer’s suggestion to 1787.

[36] Lady Wallace’s translation, amended. The letter is preserved in the Beethoven-Haus Museum in Bonn.

[37] The age of Beethoven’s mother at the time of her death is here incorrectly given. It should be 40.

[38] Thayer’s correction of Dr. Wegeler’s account of Beethoven’s first acquaintance with the family von Breuning was sharply criticized by a grandson of Wegeler in an article published in the Coblenzer Zeitung of May 20, 1890. Thayer preserved Karl Wegeler’s article in the library copy of his biography, and had he lived to revise his work he would undoubtedly either have corrected his assertions or confirmed them. According to Dr. Wegeler (this is the younger Wegeler’s argument, in brief), Beethoven had been introduced to the von Breuning family at least as early as 1785, and in that circle had already met Count Waldstein, who had aided him in securing his first salary as Court Organist. The “Notizen” do not fix the dates, though they imply that the occurrences took place before 1785. As to the statement of the Widow Karth, Wegeler urges that the testimony of a child five years old could have no weight as against that of persons of mature age, and that an acquaintance might well exist without intercourse in the Beethoven dwelling. The letter to Dr. Schaden, the product of a melancholy mood, does not preclude the possibility that Beethoven had received help from another source, especially since great care had to be exercised in extending succor to him lest his sensibilities be hurt. Certain it is that Wegeler, who did not go to Vienna till 1787, had been a faithful friend and helper in the period of Beethoven’s destitution, as was proved by a thitherto unpublished letter of Beethoven to Wegeler, in which the former expressly stated that the latter had known him, Beethoven, almost since childhood. If the von Breuning family were really not on hand at the time of Beethoven’s trouble, the fact might be explained by their annual sojourn in the country, which was generally of considerable duration. Thayer’s assumption that Wegeler himself did not get intimately acquainted with the von Breunings until after his return from Vienna (in 1789) is at variance with the family recollections, which presented him as a young student (therefore before 1787) and with him Beethoven at the time when they became visitors at the house. Weakness of memory on the part of a man so intellectually fresh and vigorous as Dr. Wegeler was in 1838 (he died ten years later) was not to be assumed; least of all can Dr. Wegeler have erred concerning the beginning of his acquaintance with the family from which he got his wife. Finally, the intimate terms of friendship which existed between Beethoven and Eleonore von Breuning could be fully explained only on the theory of a childhood acquaintance.

In the first edition of Thayer’s biography (1866) Dr. Deiters printed the text bearing on this question as it is given above without note or comment. In the revised edition of Volume I (1901), he reproduced the original text in the body of the page but appended a footnote in which, while asserting that an authority like Thayer ought not to be opposed except “with great diffidence and extreme caution” (to use Thayer’s words referring to Dr. Wegeler), he nevertheless upheld the contention of Dr. Wegeler’s grandson. He says: “The definite assertion of Wegeler that he made the acquaintance of Beethoven as early as 1782, which is supported by Beethoven’s own words, ‘you knew me almost since my childhood,’ is not to be shaken. As little can it be questioned that Wegeler had been introduced in the Breuning house as a student before his departure for Vienna (according to Gerhard von Breuning before his acquaintance with Beethoven began); here Dr. Wegeler could not have made an error. Concerning his bringing Beethoven to the house he gives no date; the year 1785 is not mentioned in the “Notizen.” On page 45, however, it is stated that Stephan von Breuning “lived in closest affiliation with him (Beethoven) from his tenth year till his death.” Stephan was born August 17, 1774 (Vide “Aus dem Schwarzspanierhause,” page 6); this would indicate the year 1784. Wegeler’s remark, “especially after you lost your noble mother,” makes it clear as day that a close friendship existed before the death of Beethoven’s mother.”

[39] Dr. Deiters, differing with Thayer on the subject of the date of the beginning of the intimacy between Beethoven and the von Breuning family, omitted in the revised version of the Beethoven biography the author’s comments on the brief biographical data concerning the sons, which were as follows: “These dates, communicated by Dr. Gerhard, son of Stephan von Breuning, prove a singular inaccuracy in Wegeler’s remark (‘Nachtrag zur Notizen,’ page 26): ‘Lenz, as the youngest of the three brothers, was nearest to Beethoven in age.’” Of Stephan he says: “Inasmuch as he had lived in intimate association with Beethoven from his tenth year up to his death.” Many a proof of this general fact will hereafter appear; but whether this “intimate association” began quite so early is a question. The two were at the same time pupils of Franz Ries on the violin, and they may well have become acquainted in 1785 or 1786; but it was not favorable to extreme intimacy that four years’ difference existed in their ages; and that the one was but a schoolboy while the other was already an organist, an author and accustomed to move among men.

[40] Gerhard von Breuning would have it appear from a statement on page 6 of his book “Aus dem Schwarzspanierhause,” that Beethoven was recommended to the von Breunings by Wegeler.

[41] Dr. Wegeler’s grandson, in his criticism of Thayer’s assertions concerning the date of the beginning of the acquaintance between Beethoven and the von Breunings, falls foul of even this ingenious demonstration, saying that the incident of the conflagration might have taken place when Count Waldstein was at home visiting his mother. He could not believe that the Count had spent all of the first 24 years of his life at Dux in “idyllic solitude,” and argued that he might have visited Bonn for the first time at an earlier date than 1787. Dr. Deiters held that the point was well taken; as if there was no alternative for the young count between “idyllic solitude” at Dux and a sojourn at Bonn!

[42] Thus in Mr. Thayer’s original manuscript. Dr. Deiters omitted the remark in his revision, but it is here permitted to stand along with other controverted matters.

[43] Wegeler’s story of the meeting between Beethoven and Sterkel is confirmed in every detail by a letter from N. Simrock to Schindler, a copy of which was found among the posthumous papers of Thayer.

[44] In one of the Beethoven conversation books, anno 1823, may be read in Schindler’s handwriting: “Captain v. Greth’s address, Commandant in Temesvar.”

[45] From the Fischoff Manuscript. The verbal play can scarcely be given in English rhymed couplets. The sentiment is: “Happiness and long life I wish you to-day, but something do I crave for myself from you—your regard, your forbearance and your patience.”

[46] “J. Haydn in London,” page 53.

[47] Neefe relates that on his second visit to England, Haydn had contemplated taking Beethoven with him.

[48] “Friendship, with that which is good, grows like the evening shadow till the setting of the sun of life.”

[49] The discoveries made after Thayer completed and printed his first volume in German (1866), largely inspired by his labors, have made a thorough revision of this chapter imperative. In all that follows the editor has accepted the statement of facts made by Dr. Deiters in his revised version of the first volume published in 1901, but, in pursuance of his plan as set forth in the introduction, has omitted that which seemed to him more or less inconsequential, as well as that which belongs in the field of analysis and criticism.

[50] There have been a few performances of this cantata in Austria and Germany since its publication. It was given at a concert of the Beethoven Association in New York on March 16, 1920, under the direction of Mr. Sam Franko, with an English paraphrase of the text by the Editor of this biography, designed to rid it of its local application and some of its bombast and make its sentiment applicable to any heroic emancipator.

[51] See Vol. II, p. 210, of the first German edition of this work. Ries says, on page 124 of the “Notizen,” apropos of the posthumous manuscripts: “All such trifles and things which he never meant to publish, as not considering them worthy of his name, were secretly brought into the world by his brothers. Such were the songs published when he had attained the highest degree of fame, composed years before at Bonn, previous to his departure for Vienna; and in like manner other trifles, written for albums, etc., were secretly taken from him and published.”

[52] The subject of the German Song was used by Beethoven later in a sonata.

[53] The Trio in E-flat was not published until 1797. It is therefore obvious that the music which AbbÉ Dobbeler carried with him to England must have been a manuscript copy. Dr. Deiters, accepting without attempt at contradiction Thayer’s proof of its origin at a period not later than 1792, nevertheless puts forth the conjecture that the work may have been revised and reconstructed at a later date in Vienna, as was the case with other compositions. It is not to be supposed, he urges, that Beethoven, enjoying the celebrity that he did in 1797, would have published then with an opus number a production of his youth without first subjecting it to a thorough revision. Moreover, his earlier chamber compositions were in three movements, the minuet having been added for the first time in the Octet. It was scarcely conceivable that he should have simultaneously conceived a work in six movements unless he had had a Mozart model in his mind. But why not? We have seen from the story of the music admired at the court of Vienna from which the Elector came that the serenade form was in favor there. The Sonata for Pianoforte and Violoncello which Artaria announced in May, 1807, is an arrangement of this Trio, but it was not made by Beethoven.

[54] Josef Hellmesberger, of Vienna, completed the movement, utilizing the existing motivi, and the piece was published by Friedrich Schreiber.

[55] Dr. Deiters points out as characteristics of this Trio which indicate that it was not written by Beethoven at the age of 15, but long after the pianoforte quartets, the freedom in invention and development, the large dimensions of the free fantasia portion, its almost imperceptible return to the principal theme, and the introduction of a coda in the first movement. Motivi from this movement recur in later works, for instance, the Sonata in F minor, Op.2, and the Pianoforte Concerto in C major. Beethoven seems to have used the designation “Scherzo” in it for the first time.

[56] The combination of instruments in this piece led Dr. Deiters to conjecture that it may have been composed for the family von Westerhold. Count von Westerhold played the bassoon, his son the flute, and his daughter the pianoforte.

[57] Dr. Deiters points out that Thayer, in transcribing the themes of this Trio, overlooked a Largo, which made the movements number four instead of three as given in the Chronological Catalogue. The existence of four movements added to the doubtful authenticity in the eyes of the German editor.

[58] This letter will appear later. The Variations are published in Series 12, No. 103, of the Complete Edition. In a catalogue of Breitkopf and HÄrtel of 1793, they are designated Op.1; also in a catalogue in 1794 of Geyl and Hedler’s. It is plain from a passage in the letter to Eleonore von Breuning (“I never would have written it in this way,” etc.) that the Coda did not receive its definitive form until just before publication. Thayer was of the opinion when he wrote Vol. I of this work, that it had been appended in Vienna.

[59] It was published in 1805 by the Kunst- und Industriecomptoir of Vienna. Complete Works, Series 18, No. 195; cf. Nottebohm’s “Beethoven’s Studien,” p. 6.

[60] In the Fall of 1919, announcement was made by the newspapers that French investigators had discovered in the British Museum four thitherto unknown Beethoven autographs amongst manuscripts purchased by Julian Marshall. The editor of the second edition of KÖchel’s “Thematic Catalogue of Mozart’s Works” had seen the manuscripts and included two of them as authentic Mozart compositions and two as probably such in the supplement to that work. They were a Trio in D, for pianoforte, violin and violoncello (two pages of the first Allegro missing, listed as K, No. 52a); three pieces for pianoforte, four hands, a Gavotte in F, an Allegro in B-flat, and a Marcia lugubre in C minor (six measures), No. 71a; a Rondo in B-flat, to which the editor assigned the year 1786, No. 511a; and a Menuet in C, for orchestra, the first of a set composed by Beethoven in 1795, which M. Chantavoine published in 1903 under the title “Douze Menuets inÉdits pour Orchestre. L. van Beethoven. Œuvres posthumes. Au MÉnestrel.” Theodore Wyzewa and Georges de St. Foix made a study of the manuscripts and discussed them in “Le Guide Musical” of December, 1919, January and February, 1920. They were then set down as “pseudo-Mozarts.” M. Charles Malherbe declared that none of the compositions was in Mozart’s hand, and M. de St. Foix, after further consideration of the internal evidence, declared them all to be indubitably by Beethoven and gave his reasons in an essay published in “The Musical Quarterly” (New York and Boston, G. Schirmer) of April, 1920. He told the history of the manuscripts as follows: “They had been presented by the Emperor of Austria to the Sultan Abdul Aziz. The latter, who probably cared very little for these relics of the 18th century, presented them in turn to his musical director, Guatelli Pasha. An English collector, Julian Marshall, purchased them from the Pasha’s son, W. Guatelli Bey, and when, later on, the British Museum acquired the Marshall Collection these manuscripts went over into its possession.”

The Gavotte was played at a concert of the Beethoven Association in New York in January, 1920, by Madame Samaroff and Harold Bauer, being inserted as a movement in the Sonata in A major for four hands, Op.6. Mr. Bauer also made an arrangement for two hands which has been published by G. Schirmer.

[61] The discoveries which have been made since Thayer wrote his first volume have very effectually disproved the old belief touching the sterility of the Bonn period. The inquiry which might still be pursued now is whether or not other compositions which have been attributed to a later period may not also have been composed, or at least projected and sketched, in Bonn. The point of view has changed, but what Thayer wrote over half a century ago is still so largely pertinent that it is here given in the body of the text with only such modifications as were necessary to bring it into harmony with the rest of the chapter.

[62] Thayer proceeds from this point to give the reasons for his belief that the Trios Op.1 and 3 were written in Bonn. The origin of Op.1 will be discussed hereafter; that of the latter has just been made clear by the story of Mrs. Bowater and AbbÉ Dobbeler.

[63] Beethoven’s first lodgings were in an attic-room which he soon exchanged for a room on the ground floor of a house No. 45 Alsterstrasse occupied by one Strauss, a printer. The house now on the site is No. 30. Another occupant of the house was Prince Lichnowsky, who soon after took him into his lodgings. He remained in this house until May, 1795.

[64] Or the beginning of 1794, since Haydn left Vienna on January 19, of that year.

[65] The excerpt from Schenk’s autobiography which follows was communicated to Thayer by Otto Jahn and included in the appendix to Vol. II of the original edition of this biography. The present editor has followed Dr. Deiters in his presentation of the case in Vol. I of the revised edition.

[66] Haydn, according to Wurzbach, returned to Vienna on July 24, 1792.

[67] Schenk is in error as to both dates. He means, of course, 1793 and 1794.

[68] The investigations of Nottebohm, in “Beethoven’s Studien” and “Beethoveniana,” have been relied on in the compilation of the story of the study under Albrechtsberger, which takes the place of the original narrative by Thayer.

[69] Once Beethoven writes an unprepared seventh-chord with a suspension on the margin of an exercise and adds the query: “Is it allowed?”

[70] Though Thayer fixed the date of this letter in May or June, 1794, Dr. Deiters believed that it was of a much earlier date; and may, indeed, have been written before Beethoven went to Vienna. For his theory Dr. Deiters found a plausible argument in the spelling of the name with a “w” instead of a “v,” and the reiterated references to a misunderstanding which had long been made right. The letter has no date or superscription and Wegeler assumed that it was the continuation of one whose first page had been lost. If the letter was written in Bonn it would prove that the Rondo (probably that in G for Pianoforte and Violin, B. and H. Series XII, No. 102) was composed before the beginning of the Viennese period; which might well be. The Sonata is probably the unfinished one in C, dedicated to Eleonore von Breuning.

[71] This was done by Wegeler’s grandson, Carl Wegeler, in an essay published in the “Coblenz Zeitung” on May 20, 1890.

[72] An early example of Beethoven’s fondness for punning. Stechen means many things in German—among them to sting, stab, tilt in a tournament, take a trick at cards—as well as to engrave, or cut in metal.

[73] The son of Artaria told Nohl that his father had told him that he got the money to pay Beethoven without the composer’s knowledge from Prince Lichnowsky.

[74] It was probably that in B-flat. See Nottebohm’s “Zweite Beethoveniana,” page 72.

[75] It is now No. 16 of the extended Operngasse.

[76] Czerny described Beethoven’s brothers to Otto Jahn as follows: “Carl: small of stature, red-haired, ugly; Johann: large, dark, a handsome man and complete dandy.”

[77] “Mr. von Z.” is doubtless Zmeskall, who is thus shown to have been a trusted friend of Beethoven’s in 1796. “This time” indicates plainly that Beethoven had been in Prague before. Through the words: “Greetings to Brother Caspar” the pen has been heavily drawn, and, if the color of the ink can be trusted after so many years, it was done at the time of writing. “F. Linowsky” is FÜrst (Prince) Lichnowsky.

[78] Beethoven told the story to Mme. von Arnim with the additional particular that they were walking in Unter den Linden and went thence into a private room of the principal coffee-house where there was a pianoforte, for the exhibition of their skill.

[79] After the journey to Pesth?

[80] See the articles by J. S. Shedlock in “The Musical Times,” June to December, 1892. Mr. Shedlock made a copy of the duet for Dr. Deiters.

[81] “Beethoveniana,” p. 31. Later Beethoven wanted to give the Sonata an Intermezzo in C major (Ibid., p. 479), but did not carry out the intention.

[82] See Vol. II, p. 60, of the revised edition of “Ludwig van Beethoven’s Leben” by Thayer, 1910.

[83] It will be seen in a letter of Beethoven’s that this concerto was in fact composed before that in C major; but it is not improbable that the last movement was written in Prague.

[84] “Zweite Beethoveniana,” p. 29 et seq.

[85] Among sketches for the second movement of the Quintet, Op.16, Beethoven wrote: “For the new sonatas very short minuets. The Scherzo remains for that in C minor.” And in another sketch he writes: “Intermezzo for the sonata in C minor.”—Nottebohm, “Zweite Beethoveniana,” 32, 479.

[86] Amenda returned to his home in Courland in the fall of 1799. The friends corresponded with each other for a time, but the majority of Beethoven’s letters are lost. While a student at the University in Leipzig, Amenda’s grandson placed some of them in the hands of a publisher at his request and did not get them back. Amenda was first a private teacher, became a preacher in Talsen in 1802, provost of the diocese of Kadau in 1820, consistorial councillor in 1830 and died on March 8, 1836. A portrait painted in 1808, is preserved in the Beethoven Museum in Bonn.

[87] Beethoven did not always follow the suggestions of these men. According to an anecdote told by Dolealek to Otto Jahn, Kraft once complained that a passage was not playable. “It’s got to be,” answered Beethoven. In a like vein K. Holz relates that “Beethoven asked an excellent artist whether or not certain things were possible”; the question of how difficult they were did not enter. Thus Friedlowsky for clarinet, Czerwensky for oboe, Hradezky and Herbst for horn. If others complained of impossibilities the answer was “They can do it and you must.” (From Thayer’s papers.)

[88] The humor to which Beethoven resorts in this note in order to show his contrition necessarily evaporates in any attempt to translate its Viennese colloquialisms. “Herzens Natzerl” is to be understood as “Dear little Ignacius of my heart,” Nazerl being an affectionate diminutive of Ignaz or Ignacius. Why it should have been applied to Hummel, whose Christian names were Johann Nepomuk, does not appear. “MehlschÖberl” is a term which has survived in the Austrian cuisine of to-day, the article itself being a sort of soup dumpling.

[89] The number of known letters and documents has grown greatly since Thayer wrote these words. Kalischer’s Collection numbers over 1200 and Emerich Kastner gives the first lines of 1380 in Frimmel’s second “Beethoven Jahrbuch” published in 1909.

[90] Opportunities for studying Beethoven’s sketchbooks have greatly increased since Mr. Thayer wrote these words. Nottebohm who rendered an incalculable service to all students of the great composer after the book from which our author quotes, published a volume entitled “Beethoveniana” in 1872, and a second entitled “Zweite Beethoveniana” in 1887. To these the revisors of this biography have repeatedly referred in tracing the history of Beethoven’s compositions. A collection of sketches formerly owned by J. N. Kafka and now in the British Museum was described by Mr. J. S. Shedlock in “The Musical Times” (July to December, 1892). A volume containing sketches for the last quartets is at the present writing in the possession of Mr. Cecilio de Roda of Madrid and was described by the “Rivista Italiana” (Nos. XI-XIV, 1907) and also published in pamphlet form under the title “Un Quadrena di autografi di Beethoven del 1825.”

[91] “He could not endure his Septet and grew angry because of the universal applause with which it was received.” (Czerny to Jahn.) “The theme of the variations is said to be a Rhenish folksong.” (Ibid.)

[92] This is, of course, an error, as the Trio had been before the public since October 3rd, 1798.

[93] From Weigl’s “Corsair aus Liebe.”

[94] According to Frimmel, “Beethoven’s Wohnungen,” Vienna “Neue Freie Presse,” August 11, 1899, this house was that of Court Councillor Greiner, then No. 241, afterwards 235, now No. 10 in the Tiefen Graben which, slightly altered, still remains. On the strength of Czerny’s statement that one had to look up to the fifth or sixth storey to see Beethoven, and the old report that Beethoven lived “in the Kleine Weintraube,” Frimmel was led to think that possibly he lived in one of the houses on the higher ground behind the Greiner house to which there was access from the open place “Am Hof” as well as from the houses in the Tiefen Graben and the Greiner house. The houses which bore the sign “Zur Weintraube” were situated “am Hofe.”

[95] In B-flat, Op.22.

[96] The Pianoforte Concerto offered to Hoffmeister was that in B-flat. It was published by Hoffmeister and KÜhnel toward the end of 1801 and advertised on January 16, 1802. The Concerto published by Mollo was that in C major. A letter written to Breitkopf and HÄrtel on the same day contains the equivalent of the remark: “I am for the present keeping the better ones for myself until I make a tour,” which is significant, since it makes it sure that other concertos were at least planned and that the one in C minor was looked upon as finished by Beethoven.

[97] In reality it was the second, as the Amenda parts show.

[98] Holz sold the Guarnerius violin in 1852 (see the “Allgemeine Deutsche Musikzeitung” of 1888). When the Beethoven Museum in Bonn was dedicated, the instruments were borrowed from the authorities of the Royal Library, and exhibited in a glass case, where they remain by sufferance of the Prussian authorities.

[99] See the dedication in Kalischer’s collection of Beethoven’s letters translated by J. S. Shedlock, Vol. I, p. 94.

[100] Beethoven’s carelessness in respect of dates, or a characteristic indifference to the almanac, as exemplified in this date-line, plays an important rÔle in one of the most puzzling questions in his personal history, namely, the identity of the woman whom in the famous love-letters he called “The Immortal Beloved.”

[101] “L... O...”, according to Schindler as reported by Nohl, stands for “Leipsic Oxen,” the reference being to the critics of the “Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung.”

[102] The Concerto in B-flat, Op.19.

[103] The Concerto in C major, Op.15.

[104] Bach is the German equivalent of brook. The daughter of Bach referred to was Regina Johanna, in whose behalf Friedrich Rochlitz had issued an appeal. She was the youngest of Bach’s children and died on December 14, 1800, her last days having been spent in comfort by reason of the subscription alluded to.

[105] Known in English as “The Mount of Olives.”

[106] Here, for a space, the Editor reverts to the original manuscript not employed by the German revisers, except as a foot-note.

[107] “The Sonata in C-sharp minor has asked many a tear from gentle souls who were taught to hear in its first movement a lament for unrequited love and reflected that it was dedicated to the Countess Giulia Guicciardi, for whom Beethoven assuredly had a tender feeling. Moonlight and the plaint of an unhappy lover. How affecting! But Beethoven did not compose the Sonata for the Countess, though he inscribed it to her. He had given her a Rondo, and wishing to dedicate it to another pupil, he asked for its return and in exchange sent the Sonata. Moreover, it appears from evidence scarcely to be gainsaid, that Beethoven never intended the C-sharp minor sonata as a musical expression of love, unhappy or otherwise. In a letter dated January 22, 1892 (for a copy of which I am indebted to FrÄulein Lipsius [La Mara] to whom it is addressed), Alexander W. Thayer, the greatest of Beethoven’s biographers, says: ‘That Mr. Kalischer has adopted Ludwig Nohl’s strange notion of Beethoven’s infatuation for Therese Malfatti, a girl of fourteen years, surprises me; as also that he seems to consider the C-sharp minor Sonata to be a musical love-poem addressed to Julia Guicciardi. He ought certainly to know that the subject of that sonata was or rather that it was suggested by—Seume’s little poem ‘Die Beterin’.’ The poem referred to describes a maiden kneeling at the high altar in prayer for the recovery of a sick father. Her sighs and petitions ascend like the smoke of incense from the censers, angels come to her aid, and, at the last, the face of the suppliant one glows with the transfiguring light of hope. The poem has little to commend it as an example of literary art and it is not as easy to connect it in fancy with the last movement of the sonata as with the first and second: but the evidence that Beethoven paid it the tribute of his music seems conclusive.”—“The Pianoforte and its Music,” by H. E. Krehbiel, Charles Scribner’s Sons, pp. 163, 164.

On page 174, Vol. IV, of the German edition of this biography Dr. Deiters remarks: “The venerated Thayer, it is true, conceived the idea that Beethoven’s Fantasia and Sonata, Op.27, No. 2, had been inspired by Seume’s ‘Beterin.’ Whoever compares the sonata with the poem will soon realize that there can be no thought of this. We have here, no doubt, a confusion of pieces. It would be easier to think of the Fantasia, Op. 77. Kalischer, who first recognized Thayer’s error, thought of the C-sharp minor Quartet; but this cannot have been in Beethoven’s mind, for it was composed much later.” Grossheim’s letter was written in 1819; the C-sharp minor quartet was composed in 1826. So Kalischer was ridiculously in error. But why does Dr. Deiters suggest the Fantasia, Op.77? Grossheim was a musician—composer, teacher and conductor—as well as philologist, and when he said “C-sharp minor” it is not likely that he was thinking of a work in G minor. Moreover, the most admirable Dr. Deiters to the contrary notwithstanding, it is not at all difficult to associate the sonata with the poem whose picture of lamentable petition and rising clouds of incense is strikingly reproduced in suggestion by the music of the first movement. Serene hopefulness can be said to be the feeling which informs the second movement; and why should the finale not be the musician’s continuation of the poet’s story?

[108] Appendix II to the second volume of the German edition of this work contains copies of all the documents in the legal controversies which arose out of Beethoven’s charges against Artaria and Co. and Mollo in the matter of the unauthorized publication of the Quintet. They do not add much that is essential to the story as it has been told, though they show that the legal authorities upheld the publishers against the composer.

[109] Beethoven writes: “How can Amenda doubt that I should ever forget him?”

[110] We shall see that even Ries took no note of his friend’s infirmity for two years.

[111] Eleonore von Breuning, wife of Wegeler.

[112] A well-known picture by FÜger, Director of the Academy of Painting in Vienna.

[113] Christoph von Breuning.

[114] Breuning’s mother. (Wegeler.)

[115] The bark of Daphne Mezereum.

[116] The attempt to fix the chronology of Beethoven’s works.

[117] The German editor of Vol. II insists that it was not Reicha but Stephan von Breuning—though he permits all of Thayer’s argument to stand.

[118] From 1785 to the end of October, 1792; and from the winter 1800-’01 to 1808; two periods of seven years each, separated by the eight years’ interval.

[119] From O. Jahn’s posthumous papers.

[120] The Editor of this English edition of Thayer’s “Life of Beethoven” is unwilling to admit that the author’s argument against the Countess Guicciardi as the lady to whom the famous love-letter which is the basis of the episode referred to by the author, has been disproved; or that the burden of proof is against Thayer’s theory (never put forward as a demonstrated fact, but rather as what the scientists call a “working hypothesis”) that the object of his love at the time the letter was written was the Countess Therese Brunswick (or Brunsvik, as the Hungarian branch of the family wrote the name). The question is one of great difficulty, however, and the Editor has thought it wise, expedient and only fair to the memory of Mr. Thayer, to bring together the disjecta membra of his argument as they are to be found in the body of Vol. II and the body and Appendices of Vol. III of the original German edition, in a continuous chapter, and then to add, in the form of a comprehensive postscript, an abstract of the opinion of others and some suggestions of his own touching the woman who, though not yet definitively identified, wears the halo which streams from the title which Beethoven bestowed upon her—his “Immortal Beloved.” It will be observed that the question turns largely on an adjustment of dates—a necessary procedure in other affairs of Beethoven’s besides those of his heart.

[121] Jahn transcribes the last words (“je la mÉprisois,” etc.) as follows: Elle est nÉe Guicciardi elle Étoit (an illegible word marked with an interrogation point) qu epouse de lui (avant son voyage) de l’Italie. ArrivÉe À Vienne et elle cherchoit moi pleurant, mais je la mÉprisois.

Ludwig Nohl asserts that the words “arrivÉe À Vienne” had been “added” by Schindler. But Schindler printed the passage in 1845 as well as in 1860 thus: Elle Étoit l’Épouse de lui avant son voyage en Italie.... ArrivÉe a Vienne elle cherchoit moi pleurant, etc. In the edition of 1860 of his biography of Beethoven he adds the following remark: “One of the conversation books of 1823, all of which are preserved in the Royal Court Library at Berlin, contains these revelations.” If Nohl’s assertion is correct it follows that Schindler lied and deceived the public, being guilty of a forgery which escaped the eyes of both Jahn and Thayer; and that, furthermore, he was guilty of the folly of calling attention to the very book whose contents he had falsified. Nohl asserts further that Giulietta had sought an interview with Beethoven before her journey to Italy. On such an act he founds the assertion that the young woman, married only a few months, was already willing to leave her husband. From circumstances unknown to Nohl it is certain that the visit did not take place until after her return to Vienna in 1822.

[122] The Editor of this English edition takes the liberty of inserting the letter in the body of the text. Mr. Thayer, or his first German Editor, Dr. Deiters, put it in the appendix to the third volume, following it with an argument advanced to show that it was not addressed to the Countess Guicciardi. This argument the English Editor has also transferred to the body of the text so that the discussion may be read continuously.

[123] From here on the Editor of this English edition presents Mr. Thayer’s further contentions as they are set forth in the first appendix to Vol. III of the first German edition, though in the form of a translation—the original manuscript not having reached his hands.

[124] Ludwig Nohl.

[125] These concluding remarks, from chapters V and VI of Vol. III of the first German edition, are brought in here to complete the author’s public utterances on the subject of the identity of the “Immortal Beloved.” Thayer is discussing the failure of Beethoven’s marriage project.

[126] Amongst Beethoven’s posthumous effects was found a portrait in oil by J. B. von Lampi with the following inscription on the back of the frame:

This picture went from the possession of the widow of Beethoven’s nephew Karl into that of Georg Hellmesbeger Sr. in 1861 and was presented by his grandson to the Beethoven-Haus Verein in Bonn, where it is now preserved. It is, in all probability, the portrait of which Beethoven speaks in a letter to Count Franz von Brunswick, dated July 11, 1811: “Since I do not know how the portrait fell into your hands, it would be best were you to bring it with you; an amiable artist will no doubt be found who will copy it for the sake of friendship.” Besides the portrait of the Countess Therese there was also a medallion picture of the Countess Guicciardi amongst the effects left by Beethoven. It was identified as such by her son, who died in 1893. (See Breuning, “Aus dem Schwarzspanierhause,” p. 124.)

[127] Riemann in his revision of Vol. II of this biography says, “The statement in the second and third volumes of the first edition were based on the belief that the serious marriage project of Beethoven which led him to ask Wegeler to get for him [a transcript of] his baptismal certificate, but which fell through soon after, must needs be connected with the person to whom the love-letter was addressed. But since it has been determined by a careful study of Clementi’s letters that Beethoven’s offer of marriage, in 1810, most certainly referred to Therese von Malfatti, who, however, as we shall see, cannot be considered in connection with the love-letter, this combination is become untenable. A large number of Beethoven’s letters must be assigned to entirely different years, because Clementi’s correspondence with his partner Collard makes it certain that the honorarium for the works sold in 1807 was not paid out till the spring of 1810. The relations of Beethoven to Therese Malfatti are thus transferred from 1807 to 1809-1810, and it can no longer be maintained that 1810 was the year in which Beethoven’s prospect of a marriage with Therese Brunswick came to an end.” This means that Dr. Riemann believes that while a man of 38 years of age would not write a love-letter like Beethoven’s to a girl of less than 14 years he would try to marry her when he was 40 and she a trifle under 16.

[128] The Sonata in E, Op.14, No. 1, transposed to F major, was published in 1802. See W. Altmann, “Ein vergessenes Streichquartett Beethovens,” “Die Musik,” 1905.

[129] Those dedicated to Princess Esterhazy, Op.45.

[130] This Testament or Promemoria, written on a large foolscap sheet, appears to have been discovered in a mass of loose papers purchased by the elder Artaria at the sale of Beethoven’s effects in 1827. Endorsed upon it is an acknowledgement, signed by Jacob Hotschevar, the guardian (after Breuning’s death) of the composer’s nephew, of having received it from Artaria & Co. Then follows a similar acknowledgement of its reception by Johann van Beethoven. Its next possessor appears to have been Alois Fuchs—the great collector of musical manuscripts and autographs of musicians. In 1855, it was purchased by Ernst, the violinist (of whom is not known?), who presented it to Mr. Otto and Madame Jenny Lind Goldschmidt as a testimony of gratitude for their valuable assistance in one of his concerts. By their kindness the present writer was allowed to make a very careful copy on April 2, 1861. As printed in the “Allg. Musikalische Zeitung,” by Schindler and others, it differs little from the original, though some of Beethoven’s peculiar forms of spelling were corrected—such as “Heiglnstadt.” “That Beethoven, throughout the document, never mentions the name of his second brother Johann, and indicates it only by points, is surprising and singular, inasmuch as this brother, as we have just seen, had come to Vienna only a short time before in order to take part in the affairs of our Beethoven.” Our copy certainly contains no such “points.” The other mistake, as to the recent arrival of Johann in Vienna, every reader will note.

[131] The reference is, of course, to Artaria and Co. and the Revers.

[132] Letter to Ferdinand Luib, May 28, 1852.

[133] Under date April 22, 1802, Beethoven writes to Breitkopf and HÄrtel: “I reserve the privilege of soon writing to you highborn gentlemen myself—many business matters, and also many vexations—render me utterly useless for some things for a time—meanwhile you may trust implicitly in my brother—who, in fact, manages all my affairs.”

[134] Hugo Riemann, the editor of Volumes II and III of the second edition of this “Life,” was not disposed to permit the author’s defence of Beethoven’s brothers to stand unchallenged, as Dr. Deiters had done in the first edition. Dr. Riemann calls attention to a letter sent by Beethoven to Johann after the latter had removed to Linz—the date as written by Beethoven is “March 28, 1089”—another instance of Beethoven’s careless treatment of such matters. Of course the year was 1809. In the letter the composer says: “God grant to you and the other brother instead of his unfeelingness, feeling—I suffer infinitely through him, with my bad hearing I always need somebody, and whom shall I trust?” This Dr. Riemann inserts in the body of the text. In a foot-note he calls attention to a letter found among Thayer’s posthumous papers to the author from Gerhard von Breuning in which occur the words: “Caspar held a respected position in the public service. But how did it come that RÖsgen warned my father to warn Ludwig not to trust Caspar too much in respect of money matters because he had a bad reputation; and then, Ludwig having told Caspar that he had received the warning from Steffen, Caspar demanded from my father to know from whom he had received the warning; and when my father refused because he had promised RÖsgen on his word of honor not to betray him, Caspar rudely pressed my father, publicly delivered letters containing abuse and threats to the porter of the Court Council of War, etc., and—that my father, calling Ludwig a gossip, was long estranged from him until the letter of reconciliation came (in 1804).” Breuning’s utterances in his book “Aus dem Schwarzspanierhause” are of similar import. There are evidences that Breuning was convinced that Carl’s character was bad, but is more lenient in his judgment of Johann, whom he charges only with greed and miserliness. Of course, all this material was in the hands of Thayer, who must have weighed it in making up his defence of the brothers.

[135] Dr. Frimmel is of the opinion that in this criticism Thayer was hasty and premature. In reproducing two facsimiles of portions of the Bagatelle in question (“Beethoven Jahrbuch” II, 1909) he says: “The apparent contradictions disclosed by these manuscripts led Thayer to question the authenticity of the autograph. It may safely be said that a later consideration of the matter would have led Thayer to change his mind; he would also surely have corrected his statement that Ries had reference to the Bagatelles Op.33 in his ‘N’ (p. 124). Nottebohm knew the manuscript, which was once in the possession of Johann Kafka, well and never expressed a doubt as to its genuineness.”

[136] Difference between the statements made here and some of those in Chapter VI are explained by the author’s later investigations.

[137] “Ein Skizzenbuch von Beethoven,” Breitkopf und HÄrtel, Leipsic, 1865.

[138] Dr. Riemann thinks that Beethoven originally wrote “1802” on the autograph, and that subsequently he, or somebody else, changed the 8 into a 7 and the 0 into an 8. (See the facsimile in Frimmel’s “Beethovenjahrbuch” of 1909); yet the German Editor finds suggestions of Beethoven’s latest style in the “Bagatelles” and calls attention to the fact that Beethoven detected intimations of No. 5 in the set Op.119 in the Kessler sketchbook. Dr. Riemann’s conclusion is thus worded: “If Ries in his ‘Notizen’ meant these ‘Bagatelles’, he was surely in error. Beethoven’s complaint to Breitkopf and HÄrtel in the letter of October, 1803, ‘since unfortunately so many unlucky old things of mine have been sold and stolen,’ cannot possibly have referred to them. Beethoven himself thought highly of these ‘trifles’, as is shown by his anger at Peters’s depreciation of Op.119. it is very likely that Ries meant the Two Preludes in all the Keys (Op.39), which may have been surreptitiously published.”