 Section 1 of selected letters of Beethoven. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org, recording by Robert Scott. Selected Letters No. 4 and 5 by Ludwig von Beethoven, as compiled and with footnotes by Dr. Ludwig Null and translated by Lady Grace Wallace. Letter No. 4 to Eleanor von Brunig von Vienna, November 2, 1793 My highly esteemed Eleanor, my dearest friend, a year of my stay in this capital has nearly elapsed before you receive a letter from me, and yet the most vivid remembrance of you is ever present with me. I have often conversed in thought with you and your dear family, though not always in the happy mood I could have wished, for that fatal misunderstanding still hovered before me, and my conduct at that time is now hateful in my sight. But so it was, and how much would I give to have the power wholly to obliterate from my life a mode of acting so degrading to myself and so contrary to the usual tenor of my character. Many circumstances indeed contributed to estrange us, and I suspect that those tale-bearers who repeated alternately to you and to me our mutual expressions were the chief obstacles to any good understanding between us. Each believed that what was said proceeded from deliberate conviction, whereas it arose only from anger, fanned by others, so we were both mistaken. Your good and noble disposition, my dear friend, is sufficient security that you have long since forgiven me. We are told that the best proof of sincere contrition is to acknowledge our faults. And this is what I wish to do. Let us now draw a veil over the whole affair, learning one lesson from it, that when friends are at variance, it is always better to employ no mediator, but to communicate directly with each other. With this you will receive a dedication from me, the variations on Cevul Baler. My sole wish is that the work were greater and more worthy of you. I was applied to hear publish this little work, and I take advantage of the opportunity, my beloved Eleanor, to give you a proof of my regard and friendship for yourself, and also a token of my endearing remembrance of your family. Pray then, accept this trifle, and do not forget that it is offered by a devoted friend. Oh, if it only gives you pleasure, my wish will be fulfilled. May it in some degree recall the time when I passed so many happy hours in your house. Perhaps it may serve to remind you of me till I return, though this is indeed a distant prospect. Oh, how we shall then rejoice together, my dear Eleanor! You will, I trust, find your friend a happier man, all former forbidding careworn furrows smoothed away by time and better fortune. When you see B. Koch, note subsequently, Countess Belderbush, pray say that it is unkind in her never once to have written to me. I wrote to her twice and three times to Malchus. Note afterwards was Fally and Minister of Finance. But no answer. Tell her that if she does not choose to write herself, I beg that she will at least urge Malchus to do so. At the close of my letter I venture to make one more request. I am anxious to be so fortunate as again to possess an Angola waistcoat knitted by your hand, my dear friend. Forgive my indiscreet request. It proceeds from my great love for all that comes from you, and I may privately admit that a little vanity is connected with it. Namely, that I may say, I possess something from the best and most admired young lady in Bonn. I still have the one you are so good as to give me in Bonn. But change of fashion has made it look so antiquated that I can only treasure it in my wardrobe as your gift, and thus still very dear to me. You would make me very happy by soon writing me a letter. If mine causes you any pleasure, I promise you to do as you wish, and write as often as it lies in my power. Indeed, everything is acceptable to me that can serve to show you how truly I am your admiring and sincere friend. L. V. Beethoven P. S. The variations are rather difficult to play, especially the shake in the coda. But do not be alarmed at this, being so contrived that you only require to play the shake and leave out the other notes, which also occur in the violin part. I never would have written it in this way had I not occasionally observed that there was a certain individual in Vienna who, when I extemporized the previous evening, not unfrequently wrote down the next day many of the peculiarities of my music adopting them as his own. For instance, the Abigailonic. Concluding, therefore, that some of these things would soon appear. I resolved to anticipate this. Another reason also was to puzzle some of the piano fort teachers here, many of whom are my mortal foes. So I wish to revenge myself on them in this way, knowing that they would occasionally be asked to play the variations when these gentlemen would not appear to much advantage. Beethoven L. V. The beautiful neck cloth embroidered by your own hand was the greatest possible surprise to me, yet welcome, as the gift was, it awakened within me feelings of sadness. Its effect was to recall former days and put me to shame by your noble conduct to me. I indeed need little thought that you still consider me worthy of your remembrance. Oh, if you could have witnessed my emotions yesterday when this incident occurred, you would not think that I exaggerate in saying that such a token of your recollection brought tears to my eyes and made me feel very sad. Little as I may deserve, favor in your eyes, believe me, my dear friend. Let me call you so. I have suffered and still suffer severely from the privation of your friendship. Never can I forget you and your dear mother. You were so kind to me that your loss neither can nor will be easily replaced. I know what I have forfeited and what you were to me, but in order to fill up this blank I must recur to scenes equally painful for you to hear and for me to detail. As a slight requital of your kind souvenir, I take the liberty to send you some variations and a rondo with violent accompaniment. I have a great deal to do, or I would long since have transcribed the sonata I promised you. It is as yet a mere sketch in manuscript, and to copy it would be a difficult task even for the clever and practiced paracoin. Note, counter base in the electoral orchestra. You can have the rondo copied and return the score. What I now send is the only one of my works at all suitable for you, besides as you are going to curpin. Note, where my uncle of the family lived, I thought these trifles might cause you pleasure. Farewell, my friend, for it is impossible for me to give you any other name. However indifferent I may be to you, believe me, I shall ever continue to revere you and your mother as I have always done. If I can in any way contribute to the fulfillment of a wish of yours, do not fail to let me know, for I have no other means of testifying my gratitude for past friendship. I wish you an agreeable journey, and that your dear mother may return entirely restored to health. Think sometimes of your affectionate friend. Beethoven End of Letter No. 5 End of Section 1 of Selected Letters of Beethoven, as compiled and with footnotes by Dr. Ludwig Null and translated by Lady Grace Wallace. Recording by Robert Scott, June the 20th, 2007. Section 2 of Selected Letters of Beethoven. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Scott D. Farquhar. Selected Letters No. 13 by Ludwig von Beethoven, as compiled and with footnotes by Dr. Ludwig Null and translated by Lady Grace Wallace. Letter No. 13 to Pastor Amanda, 1800. My dear, my good Amanda, my warm-hearted friend. I received and read your last letter with deep emotion and with mingled pain and pleasure. To what can I compare your fidelity and devotion to me? It is indeed delightful that you still continue to love me so well. I know how to prize you and to distinguish you from all others. You are not like my Vienna friends. No, you are one of those whom the soil of my fatherland is want to bring forth. How often I wish that you were with me, for your Beethoven is very unhappy. You must know that one of my most precious faculties, that of hearing, is become very defective. Even while you were still with me I felt indications of this, though I said nothing. But it is now much worse. Whether I shall ever be cured remains yet to be seen. It is supposed to proceed from the state of my digestive organs, but I am almost entirely recovered in that respect. I hope indeed that my hearing may improve, but I scarcely think so, for attacks of this kind are the most incurable of all. How sad my life must now be, forced to shun all that is most dear and precious to me, and to live with such miserable egotists as blank, name unknown or illegible. I can with truth say that of all my friends, Liknowsky, Prince Carl, is the most genuine. He last year settled six hundred florins on me, which together, with the good sale of my works, enables me to live free from care as to my maintenance. All that I now write I can dispose of five times over, and be well paid into the bargain. I have been writing a good deal latterly, and as I hear that you have ordered some pianos, I will send you some of my compositions in the packing case of one of these instruments, by which means they will not cost you so much. To my great comfort a person has returned here with whom I can enjoy the pleasures of society and disinterested friendship, one of the friends of my youth, Stefan von Brunig. I have often spoken to him of you, and told him that since I left my fatherland, you are one of those to whom my heart specially clings. Zee, possibly Zmeskal, does not seem quite to please him. He is, and always will be, too weak for true friendship, and I look on him and blank, name unknown or legible, as mere instruments on which I play as I please, but never can they bear noble testimony to my inner and outward energies, or feel true sympathy with me. I value them only insofar as their services deserve. Oh, how happy should I now be had I my full sense of hearing. I would then hasten to you, whereas, as it is, I must withdraw from everything. My best years will thus pass away, without affecting what my talents and powers might have enabled me to perform. How melancholy is the resignation in which I must take refuge. I had determined to rise superior to all this, but how is that possible? If in the course of six months my malady be pronounced incurable, then, Amanda, I shall appeal to you to leave all else and come to me, when I intend to travel. My affliction is less distressing when playing and composing, and most so in intercourse with others. And you must be my companion. I have a conviction that good fortune will not forsake me, for to what may I not at present aspire. Since you were here I have written everything except operas and church music. You will not, I know, refuse my petition. You will help your friend to bear his burden and his calamity. I have also very much perfected my piano forte playing, and I hope that a journey of this kind may possibly contribute to your own success in life, and you would thenceforth always remain with me. I duly received all your letters, and though I did not reply to them, you were constantly present with me, and my heart beats as tenderly as ever for you. I beg you will keep the fact of my deafness a profound secret and not confide it to any human being. Write to me frequently. Your letters, however short, console and cheer me, so I shall soon hope to hear from you. Do not give your quartet to anyone in F opus 18, number one, as I have altered it very much, having only now succeeded in writing quartets properly. This you will at once perceive when you receive it. Now farewell, my dear kind friend. If by any chance I can serve you here, I need not say that you have only to command me. You are faithful and truly attached. L. V. Beethoven. End of letter number thirteen. End of section two of Selected Letters of Beethoven, as compiled and with footnotes by Dr. Ludwig Noll and translated by Lady Grace Wallace. Recording by Scott Farquhar, Baltimore, Maryland. www.splungemusic.com Section three of Selected Letters of Beethoven. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. This reading by Kara Schallenberg. Selected Letters, numbers fourteen and eighteen by Ludwig von Beethoven. As compiled and with footnotes by Dr. Ludwig Noll and translated by Lady Grace Wallace. Letter number fourteen. Two, Weigler. Vienna, June 29th, 1800. My dear and valued Weigler. How much I thank you for your remembrance of me, little as I deserve it, or have sought to deserve it, and yet you are so kind that you allow nothing, not even my unpardonable neglect, to discourage you, always remaining the same true, good, and faithful friend, that I can ever forget you or yours, once so dear and precious to me, do not for a moment believe. There are times when I find myself longing to see you again and wishing that I could go to stay with you. My Fatherland, that lovely region where I first saw the light, is still as distinct and beauteous in my eyes as when I quitted you. In short, I shall esteem the time when I once more see you and again greet Father Rhine as one of the happiest periods of my life. When this may be I cannot yet tell, but at all events I may say that you shall not see me again till I have become eminent, not only as an artist, but better and more perfect as a man, and if the condition of our Fatherland be then more prosperous, my art shall be entirely devoted to the benefit of the boar. Oh blissful moment! how happy do I esteem myself that I can expedite it and bring it to pass! You desire to know something of my position. Well, it is by no means bad. However incredible it may appear, but I must tell you that Lichnowsky has been, and still is, my warmest friend. Slight dissensions occurred occasionally between us, and yet they only served to strengthen our friendship. He settled on me last year the sum of six hundred florins, for which I am to draw on him till I can procure some suitable situation. My compositions are very profitable, and I may really say that I have almost more commissions than it is possible for me to execute. I can have six or seven publishers or more for every piece, if I choose. They no longer bargain with me. I demand, and they pay, so you see this is a very good thing. For instance, I have a friend in distress, and my purse does not admit of my assisting him at once, but I have only to sit down and write, and in a short time he is relieved. I am also become more economical than formerly. If I finally settle here, I don't doubt I shall be able to secure a particular day every year for a concert, of which I have already given several. That malicious demon, however, bad health, has been a stumbling block in my path. My hearing during the last three years has become gradually worse. The chief cause of this infirmity proceeds from the state of my digestive organs, which, as you know, were formerly bad enough, but have laterally become much worse, and being constantly afflicted with diarrhea has brought on extreme weakness. Frank, director of the General Hospital, drove to restore the tone of my digestion by tonics and my hearing by oil of almonds, but alas these did me no good whatever. My hearing became worse, and my digestion continued in its former plight. This went on till the autumn of last year, when I was often reduced to utter despair. Then some medical assinus recommended me cold baths, but a more judicious doctor, the tepid ones of the Danube, which did wonders for me. My digestion improved, but my hearing remained the same, or in fact rather got worse. I did indeed pass a miserable winter. I suffered from most dreadful spasms, and sank back into my former condition. Thus it went on till about a month ago, when I consulted fairing, an army surgeon, under the belief that my maladies required surgical advice, besides I had every confidence in him. He succeeded in almost entirely checking the violent diarrhea and ordered me the tepid baths of the Danube, into which I pour some strengthening mixture. He gave me no medicine, except some digestive pills four days ago, and a lotion for my ears. I certainly do feel better and stronger, but my ears are buzzing and ringing perpetually, day and night. I can with truth say that my life is very wretched. For nearly two years past I have avoided all society, because I find it impossible to say to people, I am deaf. In any other profession this might be more tolerable, but in mine such a condition is truly frightful, besides what would my enemies say to this, and they are not few in number. To give you some idea of my extraordinary deafness, I must tell you that in the theatre I am obliged to lean close up against the orchestra in order to understand the actors, and when a little way off I hear none of the high notes of instruments or singers. It is most astonishing that in conversation some people never seem to observe this. Being subject to fits of absence, they attribute it to that cause. I often can scarcely hear a person if speaking low. I can distinguish the tones, but not the words, and yet I feel it intolerable if anyone shouts to me. Heaven alone knows how it is to end. Faring declares that I shall certainly improve, even if I be not entirely restored. How often have I cursed my existence? Plutarch led me to resignation. 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 anyone, not even to Lorchan. I confide the secret to you alone, and entreat you some day to correspond with varying 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 affect a change. Resignation. What a miserable refuge, and yet it is my soul remaining one. You will forgive my thus appealing to your kindly sympathies at a time when your own position is sad enough. Stefan Bruning 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 Bastille, the Ramparts, and peculiarly valuable to me on account of my health, at Baron Pascolati's. I do really think that I shall be able to arrange that Bruning 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 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 Bruning, and plainly admonish him about his surly humour. 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 Lorchan. 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 fort, even my best friends having received no letters from me for years. I live wholly in my music and scarcely as one work finished when another is begun. 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. Give my remembrances to all, especially to the kind Frau Hofrethen von Bruning, and say to her that I am still subject to an occasional raptus. As for Kaye, 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 Rhys, 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 Weigler. Rest assured of the love and friendship of your Beethoven. End of letter number fourteen. Letter number eighteen. To Herr von Weigler. Vienna, November sixteenth, eighteen hundred. My dear Weigler, 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 Schmid, an army surgeon? I am unwilling to make any change, but it seems to me that fearing is too much of a practitioner to acquire new ideas by reading. On this point Schmid 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 in Berlin and likewise a man who had been deaf for seven years and recovered his hearing. I am told that your friend Schmid 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 specter to everyone and appear a misanthrope and yet no one is in reality less so. This change has been wrought by a lovely, fascinating girl undoubtedly Julieta 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 bestow 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 or countenance which would make me only still more unhappy. What were my thoughts amid the glorious scenery of my fatherland? The hope alone of a happier future which would have been mine but for this affliction. Oh, 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. I know of none but in sleep and I do grudge being obliged to sacrifice more time to it than formerly. Footnote one. Were I only half cured of my malady then I would come to you and as a more perfect and mature man renew our old friendship. You should then see me as happy as I am ever destined to be here below. Not unhappy. No, that I could not endure. I will boldly meet my fate. Never shall it succeed in crushing me. Oh, it is so glorious to live one's life a thousand times over. 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 Bröning, 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 Lorcan and also to Mama and Christoph. You still have some regard for me? Always rely on the love as well as the friendship of your Beethoven. Footnote one. Too much sleep is hurtful is marked by a thick score in the Odyssey. Forty-five, three ninety-three by Beethoven's hand. See Schindler's Beethoven's Nachlass. End of letter number eighteen. End of section three of Selected Letters of Beethoven. As compiled and with footnotes by Dr. Ludwig Null and translated by Lady Grace Wallace. Recording by Kara Schellenberg www.kray.org on June 29, 2007 in Oceanside, California. Section four of Selected Letters of Beethoven. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. Selected Letters number fifteen by Ludwig van Beethoven. As compiled and with footnotes by Dr. Ludwig Null and translated by Lady Grace Wallace. Letter number fifteen. To Countess Giulietta Guicciardi. Footnote one. These Letters to his immortal beloved to whom the sea sharp mine of Sonata is dedicated appear here for the first time in their integrity in accordance with the originals written in pencil on fine note paper and given in shindless Beethoven's necklace. 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 1801. And in the next place the 6th of July falls on a Monday in 1800. 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 is common I cannot tell. Morning July the 6th, 1800 my angel my all, my second self only a few words today written with a pencil your own. My residence cannot be settled till tomorrow. What a tiresome loss of time. Why this deep grief when necessity compels can our love exist without sacrifices and by refraining from desiring all things? Can you alter the fact that you are not holy mine nor I holy yours? Ah, contemplate the beauties of nature and reconcile your spirit to the inevitable. 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 give 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 postillions I must have been left by the wayside. Asterazy, 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. Today 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. There are moments when I find that speech is actually nothing. Take courage. Continue to be ever my true and only love, my all as I am yours. The gods must ordain what is further to be and shall be. Your faithful Ludwig Monday evening, July the 6th You grieve, dearest of all beings 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 cave from here. You grieve where I am there you are ever with me how earnestly shall I strive to pass my life with you and what a life will it be whereas now without you and persecuted by the kindness of others which I neither deserve nor try to deserve 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 and yet hearing are displayed the godlike feelings of humanity I weep in thinking that you will receive no intelligence from me till probably Saturday however dearly you may love me I love you more fondly still never conceal your feelings from me good night as a patient at these baths I must now go to rest a few words are he effaced by Beethoven himself oh heavens so near and yet so far is not our love a truly celestial mansion but firm as the vault of heaven itself July the 7th good morning even before I rise my thoughts thrown to you my immortal beloved sometimes full of joy and yet again sad waiting to see whether fate will hear us I must live either holy with you or not at all indeed I have resolved to wander far from you see number 13 till the moment arrives when I can fly into your arms and feel that they are my home and send forth my soul in unison with yours into the realm of spirits alas it must be so you will take courage for you know my fidelity never can another possess my heart never, never oh heavens why must I fly from her eyes so fondly love and yet my existence in W was as miserable as here your love made me the most happy and yet the most unhappy of man at my age life requires a uniform equality can this be found in our mutual relations my angel I have this moment heard that the post goes every day so I must conclude that you may get this letter the sooner be calm for we can only attain our object of living together by the calm contemplation of our existence continue to love me yesterday, today what longings for you, what tears for you, for you, for you my life, my all farewell, oh love me forever and never doubt the faithful heart of your lover El ever dine, ever mine ever each others end of letter number 15 end of section 4 of selected letters of Beethoven as compiled and with footnotes by Dr. Ludwig Knowle and translated by Lady Grace Wallace recording by Iswa in August 2007 in Belgium selected letters numbers 19 20, 21, 22, 25 and 29 by Ludwig von Beethoven as compiled and with footnotes by Dr. Ludwig Knowle and translated by Lady Grace Wallace letter number 19 to Capemeister Hoffmeister Leipzig footnote 1 Vienna December 15th 1800 my dear brother in art 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 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 first a septet per il violino, viola, violoncello contra basso, clarinetto, corno, fagato, tutti obligati I can write nothing that is not obligato having come into the world with an obligato 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 fagato, clarinetto, and corno second a grand symphony with full orchestra the first third a piano forte concerto opus 19 which I by no means assert to be one of my best any more than the one mollo is to publish here opus 15 this is for the benefit of the leipzig critics because I reserve the best for myself till I set off on my travels still the work will not disgrace you to publish fourth a grand solo sonata opus 22 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 Beethoven footnote one the letters to Hofmeister formerly of Vienna who conducted the correspondence with Beethoven in the name of the firm of Hofmeister and Kunl bureau de musique are given here as they first appeared in 1837 in the 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 footnote two this last phrase is not in the copy before me but in Marx's biography who appears to have seen the original end of letter number 19 letter number 20 to Hofmeister Vienna January 15 or thereabouts 1801 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 I hope I may continue to deserve it I also beg you to present all do thanks to Herr K. Kunl for his politeness and friendship towards me 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 named and your subscription list opened to procure you many subscribers here footnote one 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 the septet which I already wrote to you about 20 do cuts symphony 20 do cuts concerto 10 do cuts grand solo sonato allegro adagio minuetto rondo 20 do cuts this sonata opus 22 is well up to the mark my dear brother now for explanations 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 and the septet consists of a short introductory adagio an allegro adagio minuetto andante with variations minuetto and another short adagio proceeding a presto I only ask 10 do cuts 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 with regard to the bankers draft as you give me my choice I beg you will make it payable by gurmahler or schuller the entire sum for the four works will amount to 70 do cuts I understand no currency but Vienna do cuts 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 I call it so hardly wishing that it could be otherwise here below there ought to be only one grand depot of art in the world to which the artist might repair with his works and on presenting them receive what he required but as it now is one must be half a tradesman besides and how is this to be endured good heavens I may well call it troublesome as for the Leipzig docks in footnote 2 let them talk they certainly will make no man immortal by their pratting and as little can they deprive of immortality those whom Apollo destines to attain it 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 I hope for a speedy answer at you L. V. Beethoven footnote 1 I have at this moment in my hands this edition of Bach bound in one thick volume together with the first part of Nagelli's edition of the Volotemperietis Clavier also three books of exercises D, G and C minor the Takata in D minor and twice 15 inventions footnote 2 it is thus that Schindler supplies the gap it is probably an illusion to the Algemeinemusicalische Zeitung founded about three years previously and of letter number 20 letter number 21 to Herr Hofmeister Vienna April 22nd 1801 you have indeed too good cause to complain not a little of me 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 rating 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 solo sonata opus 22 symphony opus 21 septet opus 20 concerto opus 19 I will send you their various titles shortly put me down as a subscriber to Sebastian Bach's works and also Prince Liknowski 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 a regular 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 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 F seems to have taken here M possibly Wenzel Muller as his ideal at the Cusperle yet without even rising to his level 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 say all that is civil and kind to your partner Kunl everything shall henceforth be sent finished and in quick succession so now farewell and continue your regards for your friend and brother Beethoven end of letter number 21 letter number 22 to Herr Hofmeister Vienna June 1801 I am rather surprised that 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 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 certainly from friendship with the express injunction to beware of it 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 anyone but to Mishir's Hofmeister and Kunl and that they may consider them to be their own exclusive property and to this I pledge my honour unquote you may make what use you please of this guarantee 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 his publishers to sanction a piano forte 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 in 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 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 your friend and of letter number 22 letter number 25 to Herr Hofmeister Leipzig Vienna April 8th 1802 do you mean to go post haste to the devil gentlemen by proposing that I should write such a sonata during the revolutionary fever a thing of the kind might have been appropriate but now when everything is falling again into the beaten track and Bonaparte has concluded a concordant with the pope such a sonata as this if it were a misa pro santa maria trevacchi or a vesper then I would at once take up my pen and write a credo in unum in gigantic semi-braves but good heavens such a sonata in this fresh dawning Christian epic no no it won't do and I will have none of it now for my answer in quickest tempo the lady can have a sonata from me and I am willing to adopt the general outlines of her plan in an aesthetical point of view without adhering to the keys named the price to be five do cuts for this sum she can keep the work a year for her own amusement without either of us being entitled to publish it after the lapse of a year the sonata to revert to me that is I can and will then publish it when if she considers it any distinction she may request me to dedicate it to her I now gentlemen commend you to the grace of God my sonata opus 22 is well engraved but you have been a fine time about it I hope you will usher my septet into the world a little quicker as the P is waiting for it and you know the empress has it and when there are in this imperial city people like the name unknown or illegible I cannot be answerable for the result so lose no time here blank possibly molo has lately published my quartets opus 18 full of faults and errata both large and small which swarm in them like fish in the sea that is they are innumerable questo e un piacere un altore that is what I call engraving, station stinging with a vengeance footnote 1 in truth my skin is a mass of punctures and scratches from this fine addition of my quartets now farewell and think of me as I do of you till death your faithful lv Beethoven footnote 1 in reference to the musical piracy at the time very prevalent in austria end of letter number 25 letter number 29 to Herr Hofmeister Leipzig vienna september 22nd 1803 I hereby declare all the works you have ordered to be your property the list of these shall be made out and sent to you with my signature as the proof of their being your own I also agree to accept the sum of 50 dukats for them are you satisfied perhaps instead of the variations cello and violin footnote 1 I may send you variations for the piano arranged as a duet on a song of mine but good this poetry must also be engraved as I wrote these variations in an album and consider them better than the others are you satisfied the arrangements are not by me though I have revised and much improved various passages but I do not wish you to say that I have arranged them for it would be neither time nor patience to do so are you satisfied now farewell I sincerely wish that all may go well with you I would gladly make you a present of all my works if I could do so and still get on in the world but remember most people are provided for and know what they have to live on while good heavens where can an appointment be found at the imperial court for such a parvum talentum comego your friend L. V. Beethoven footnote 1 these are the six variations in D on the air Ichtankedein written in 1800 in the album of the countess's Josephine Dehm and Teresa of Brunswick end of letter number 29 end of section 5 of selected letters of Beethoven as compiled and with footnotes by Dr. Ludwig Null and translated by Lady Grace Wallace recording by Scott D. Farquhar Baltimore Maryland www.splungemusic.com section 6 of selected letters of Beethoven this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Victor Guerreiro selected letters number 26 by Ludwig van Beethoven has compiled and with footnotes by Dr. Ludwig Null and translated by Lady Grace Wallace letter number 26 footnote 1 to my brothers Carl and Johann Beethoven Heiligenstadt October 6, 1802 oh ye you think or declare me to be hostile, morose and misanthropical how unjust you are and how little you know the secret cause of what appears thus to you my heart and mind were ever from childhood prone to the most tender feelings of affection and I was always disposed to accomplish something great but you must remember that six years ago I was attacked by an incurable melody aggravated by unskillful physicians deluded from year to year too by the hope of relief an atlant force to the conviction of a lasting affliction the cure of which may go on for years and perhaps after all prove impracticable born with a passionate and excitable temperament keenly susceptible to the pleasures of society I was yet obliged early in life to isolate myself and to pass my existence in solitude if I at any time resolved to surmount all this oh how cruelly was I again repelled by the experience sadder than ever of my defective earring and yet I found it impossible to say to others speak louder, shout for I am deaf, alas how could I proclaim the deficiency of a sense which ought to have been more perfect with me than with other men a sense which I once possessed in the highest perfection to an extent indeed that few of my profession ever enjoyed alas I cannot do this forgive me therefore when you see me withdraw from you with whom I would so gladly mingle my misfortune is doubly severe from causing me to be misunderstood no longer can I enjoy recreation in social intercourse refined conversation or mutual outpourings of thought completely isolated I only enter society when compelled to do so I must live like an exile in company I am assailed by the most painful apprehensions from the dread of being exposed to the risk of my condition being observed it was the same during the last six months I spent in the country my intelligent physician recommended me to spare my hearing as much as possible which was quite in accordance with this position though sometimes tempted by my natural inclination for society I allowed myself to be beguiled into it but what humiliation when anyone 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 well night caused me to put an end to my life art alone deterred me ha how could I possibly quit the world before bringing forth all that I felt was my vocation to produce footnote too and thus I spared this miserable life so utterly miserable that any sudden change may reduce me at any moment from my best condition 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 28th year footnote 3 this is no slight trial and more severe on an artist than on anyone else God looks into my heart he searches it and knows that love for men and feelings of benevolence of their abode here oh ye you may one day read this think that you have done me injustice and let anyone similarly afflicted be consoled by finding one like himself all the obstacles of nature has done all in his power to be included in the ranks of estimable artists and men my brothers Carl and Johan as soon as I am no more if Professor Schmidt be still alive beg him in my name to describe my melody and to add these pages to the analysis of my disease that at least so far as possible the world may be reconciled to me my death I also hereby declare you both heirs of my small fortune if so it may be called share it fairly agree together and assist each other you know that anything you did to give me pain has been long forgiven I thank you my brother Carl in particular for the attachment you have shown me of late my wish is that you may enjoy a happier life and one more free one care than mine has been recommend virtue to your children that alone and not wealth can ensure happiness I speak from experience it was virtue alone which sustained me in my misery I have to thank her and art for not having ended my life by suicide farewell love each other I gratefully thank all my friends especially Prince Duchunovsky and Professor Schmidt I wish one of you to keep Prince Elze'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 not withstanding my cruel fight he will come too early for me and I should wish for him at a more distant period but even then I shall be content for his advent will release me from a state of endless suffering come when he may I shall meet him with courage farewell do not quite forget me even in death I deserve this from you because during my life I so often thought of you and wished to make you happy amen Ludwig van Beethoven written on the outside to be read and fulfilled after my death by my brothers Carl and Johan thus then I take leave of you 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 oh Providence vouchsafe me one day of pure felicity how long I've been estranged from the glad echo of true joy when oh my god when shall I again feel it in the temple of nature and of man never ah that would be too hard footnote one this beautiful letter I regret not to have seen in the original it being in the possession of the villain virtuoso Ernst in London I have adhered to the version given in the Leipzig Algemeine Musikallische Zeitung October 1827 footnote two a large portion of the Eureka was written in the course of this summer but not completed till August 1804 footnote three Beethoven did not at that time know in what year he was born see the subsequent letter of May the second 1810 he was then far advanced in his 33rd year and of letter number 26 and of section 6 of selected letters of Beethoven has compiled and with footnotes by Dr. Ludwig Nold and translated by Lady Grace Wallace recording by Victor Guerreiro section number 7 of selected letters of Beethoven this is a LibraVox recording all LibraVox recordings are in the public domain if you have any information or to volunteer please visit LibraVox.org recording by Squid Vajlakova selected letters number 66 67 and 93 by Ludwig von Beethoven as compiled and with footnotes by Dr. Ludwig Nold and translated by Lady Grace Wallace letter number 66 Subetina Brentano footnote number 1 Vienna August 11th, 1810 my dearest friend never was there a lovelier spring than this year I say so and feel it too because it was then I first knew you you have yourself seen that in society I am like a fish on the sand which rides and rides but cannot get away till some benevolent Galatea casts it back into the mighty ocean I was indeed fairly stranded dearest friend when surprised by you at a moment in which Moroseness had entirely mastered me but how quickly it vanished at your aspect I was at once conscious that you came from another sphere than this absurd world where with the best inclinations I cannot open my ears I am a wretched creature and yet I complain of others you will forgive this from the goodness of heart that beams in your eyes and the good sense manifested by your ears at least they understand how to flatter by the mode in which they listen my ears are alas a partition wall through which I can with difficulty hold any inner course with my fellow creatures otherwise perhaps I might have felt more assured with you but I was only conscious of the full intelligent glance from your eyes which affected me so deeply that never can I forget it my dear friend dearest girl art who comprehends it with whom can I discuss this mighty goddess how precious to me were the few days when we talked together or I should rather say corresponded I have carefully preserved the little notes with your clever charming most charming answers so I have to thank my defective hearing for the greater part of our fugitive intercourse being written down since you left this I have had some unhappy hours hours of the deepest gloom when I could do nothing I wandered for three hours in the shun brunelli after you left us but no angel met me there to take possession of me as you did pray forgive my dear friend this deviation from the original key but I must have such intervals as a relief to my heart you have no doubt written dagurta about me I would gladly bury my head in a sack so that I might neither see nor hear what goes on in the world because I shall meet you there no more but I shall get a letter from you hope sustains me as it does half the world through life she has been my close companion or what would have become of me I sense you can stew das land written with my own hand as a remembrance of the hour when I first knew you I send you another that I can pose since I bade you farewell my dearest fairest sweetheart hairs, mine hairs was all das geben was bedranget dich so sehr welch ein neues frame des lieben ich erkenne dich nicht mehr now answer me my dearest friend and say what is to become of me since my heart has turned such a rebel write to your most faithful friend Beethoven footnote number one the celebrated letters to Bettina are given here exactly as published in her book Ilius Pamphilius and Dibb Ambrosia Berlin, Arnim 1857 in two volumes I never myself had any doubts of their being genuine with the exception perhaps on words in the middle of the third letter nor can anyone now distrust them especially after the publication of Beethoven's letters but for the sake of those for whom the weight of innate conviction is not sufficient proof I may hear mention that in December 1864 Professor Moritz Carriere in Munich when conversing with me about Beethoven's letters expressly assured me that these three letters were genuine and that he had seen them in Berlin at the time and that he had seen them in Berlin at Bettina von Arnim's in 1839 and read them most attentively and with the deepest interest from their important contents he urged their immediate publication and when the shortly after ensued no change whatever struck him as having been made in the original text on the contrary he still perfectly remembered that the much disputed phrasology and especially the incident with Goethe was precisely the same as in the originals this testimony seems to me the more weighty as Monsieur Carriere must not in such matters be looked on as a novice but as a competent judge who has carefully studied all that concerns our literary heroes and who would not permit anything to be falsely imputed to Beethoven any more than de Goethe Beethoven's biography is, however the proper place to discuss more closely such things especially his character and his conduct in this particular case at present we only refer in general terms to the first chapter of Beethoven's Jungend which gives all the facts connected with these letters to Bettina and the following ones a characteristic likeness of Beethoven thus impressed itself on the mind of the biographer and was reproduced in a few bold outlines in his biography these letters could not however possibly be given in extent so in a general introduction to a comprehensive biography end of letter number 66 letter number 67 to Bettina Brentano Vienna February 10th 1811 dear and beloved friend I have now received two letters from you while those to Tony show that you still remember me and even too kindly I carried your letter about with me the whole summer and it often made me feel very happy though I do not frequently write to you and you never see me still I write you letters by thousands in my thoughts I can easily imagine what you feel at Berlin and witnessing all the noxious frivolity of the world's rabble for no one even had you not written it to me yourself such a prading about art and yet no results the best description of this is to be found in Schiller's poem Die Flüße where the river Spree is supposed to speak you are going to be married my dear friend or already so and I have had no chance of seeing you even once previously may all the felicity that marriage ever bestowed on husband and wife attend you both what can I say to you of myself I can only exclaim with Joanna compassionate my fate if I am spared for some years to come I will thank the omniscient the omnipotent for the boon as I do for all other wheel and woe if you mention me when you write to Goethe strive to find words expressive of my deep reverence and admiration I am about to write to him myself with regard to Egmont for which I have written some music solely for my love for his poetry which also delights me who can be sufficiently grateful to a great poet the most precious jewel of a nation now no more my dear sweet friend I only come home this morning at four o'clock from an orgy where I laughed hardly but today I feel as if I could weep as sadly turbulent pleasures always violently recoil on my spirits as for Clemens note, Brentano, her brother and note pray thank him for his complacence with regard to the cantata the subject is not important enough for us here it is very different in Berlin and as for my affection the sister-in-gross is so large to share the little remains for the brother will you be content with this now farewell my dear, dear friend I imprint a sorrowful kiss on your forehead thus impressing my thoughts on it as with a seal write soon, very soon to your brother Beethoven footnote one an expression which as well as many others he no doubt borrowed from Bettina and introduced to please her End of letter number 67 letter number 93 to Bettina von Arnim toplitz August 15th, 1812 my most dear, kind friend kings and princes can indeed create professors and privy counsellors and convert titles and decorations but they cannot make great men spirits that soar above the base turmoil of this world there their powers fail and this it is that forces them to respect us footnote number one when two persons that Goethe and myself meet these grandees cannot fail to perceive what such as we consider great yesterday on our way home we met the whole imperial family we saw them coming some way off when Goethe withdrew his arm from mine in order to stand aside and say what I would I could not prevail on him to make another step in advance I pressed down my head more firmly on my head buttoned up my great coat and crossing my arms behind me I made my way through the thickest portion of the crowd princes and courteurs formed a lane for me Archduke Rudolph took off his hat and the Empress bowed to me first these great ones of the earth know me to my infinite amusement I saw the procession defile past Goethe who stood aside with his head off bowing profoundly I afterwards took him sharply to task for this I gave him no quarter and abraded him with all his sins especially towards you my dear friend as we had just been speaking of you heavens if I could have lived with you as he did believe me I should have produced far greater things a musician is also a poet he too could feel himself transported into a brighter world by a pair of fine eyes where loftier spirits sport with him and impose heavy tasks on him what thoughts rushed into my mind when I first saw you at the observatory during a refreshing May shower so fertilizing to me also footnote number two the most beautiful themes stole from your eyes into my heart which shall yet enchant the world when Beethoven no longer directs if God vouchsafes to grant me a few more years of life I must then see you once more my dear most dear friend for the voice within to which I always listen demands this spirits may love one another and I shall ever woo yours your approval is dearer to me than all else in the world I told Goethe my sentiments as to the influence praise has over men like us and that we desire our equals to listen to us with their understanding emotion suits women only forgive me music ought to strike fire from the soul of man ah my dear girl how long have our feelings been identical on all points the soul real good is some bright kindly spirit to sympathize with us whom we thoroughly comprehend and from whom we need not hide our thoughts he who wishes to appear something must in reality be something the world must acknowledge us it is not always unjust but for this I care not having a higher purpose in view I hope to get a letter from you in Vienna write to me soon and fully for a week hence I shall be there the court leaves this tomorrow and today they have another performance the Empress has studied her part thoroughly the Emperor and the Duke wished me to play some of my own music but I refused for they are both infatuated with Chinese porcelain a little indulgence is required for reasons seems to have lost its empire but I do not choose to minister to such perverse folly I will not be a party to such absurd doings to please those princes who are constantly guilty of eccentricities of this sort adieu adieu dear one all night next to my heart and cheered me musicians permit themselves great license heavens how I love you your most faithful friend and deaf brother Beethoven footnote number one for our line in the journal she sent to the Grands Boaton in 1857 states that Beethoven once declared it is very pleasant to associate with the great of the earth but one must possess some quality which inspires them with respect footnote number two according to Bettina note see Götz's correspondence with the child volume 2 193 and note their first acquaintance was made in Beethoven's apartments and of letter number 93 end of section number 7 of selected letters of Beethoven as compiled and with footnotes by Dr. Libre Gnoll and translated by Lely Grace Wallace recording by Squid Vajlikova founded Frisco-Squid .blogspot.com section 8 of letters of Beethoven this is a LibreVox recording all LibreVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibreVox.org recorded by Robert Scott selected letters number 127 by Ludwig van Beethoven as compiled with footnotes by Dr. Ludwig Gnoll and translated by Lely Grace Wallace letter number 127 deposition 1814 I voluntarily presented Malzell Gratis with a battle symphony for his Panharmonic after having kept it for some time he brought me back the score which he had already begun to engrave saying that he wished it to be harmonized for a full orchestra the idea of a battle had already occurred to me which, however could not be performed on his Panharmonic we agreed to select this and some more of my works to be given at the concert for the benefit of disabled soldiers at that very time I became involved in the most frightful pecuniary difficulties forsaken by everyone in Vienna and in daily expectation of remittances Malzell offered me fifty gold do-cats which I accepted saying that I would either repay them or allow him to take the work to London provided that I did not go there myself with him referring him to an English publisher for payment I got back from him the score written for the Panharmonic the concerts then took place and during that time Hermalzell's designs and character were first fully revealed without my consent he stated on the bills that the work was his property indignant at this I insisted on destroying these bills he then stated that I had given it to him as a friendly act because he was going to London to this I did not object believing that I had reserved the right to state the conditions on which the work should be his own I remember that when the bills were being printed I violently opposed them but the time was short and I was still writing the work in all the fire of inspiration and absorbed in my composition I scarcely thought at all on the subject immediately after the first concert in the University Hall I was told on all sides and by people whom I could rely that Malzell had everywhere given out he had paid me 400 gold do-cats for the symphony I sent what follows to a newspaper but the editor would not insert it as Malzell stands well with them all as soon as the first concert was over I repaid Malzell his 50 do-cats declaring that having discovered his real character nothing should ever induce me to travel with him justly indignant that without consulting me he had stated in the bills that all the arrangements for the concert were most effective his own despicable want of patriotism too is proved by the following expressions quote I care nothing at all about London if it is only to say in London that people have paid 10 gilden for admission here that is all I care about the wounded are nothing to me end quote moreover I told him that he might take the work to London on certain conditions which I would inform him of he then asserted that it was a friendly gift and made use of this phrase in the newspapers after the second concert without giving me the most remote hint on the subject as Malzell is a rude kurlish man entirely devoid of education or cultivation it is easy to conceive the tenor of his conduct to me during this time which still further irritated me who could bear to be forced to bestow a friendly gift on such a man I was offered an opportunity to send the work to the Prince Regent note afterwards George IV it was therefore quite impossible for me to give away the work unconditionally he then called on a mutual friend to make proposals he was told on what day to return for an answer but he never appeared set off on his travels in Munich how did he obtain it he could not possibly steal it but Herr Malzell had several of the parts for some days in his house and he caused the entire work to be harmonized by some obscure musical journeyman and is now hawking it about the world Herr Malzell promised me ear trumpets I harmonized the battle symphony for his panharmonic from a wish to keep him to his word the ear trumpets came at last but were not of the service to me that I expected for this slight trouble Herr Malzell after my having arranged the battle symphony for a full orchestra and composed a battle piece in addition declared that I ought to have made over these works to him as his own exclusive property even allowing that I am in some degree obliged to him for the ear trumpets this is entirely balanced by his having made at least 500 gilden in Munich by my mutilated or stolen battle piece he has therefore paid himself in full he had actually the audacity to say here that he was in possession of the battle piece in fact he showed it written out to various persons I did not believe this and in fact with good reason as the whole is not by me but compelled by someone else indeed the credit he assumes for the work should alone be sufficient compensation the secretary at the war office made no illusions whatever to me and yet every work performed at both concerts was of my composition Herr Mausel thinks fit to say that he has delayed his visit to London on account of the battle piece which is a mere sub-trafuge he stayed to finish his patchwork as the first attempt did not succeed Beethoven Chapter 127 End of Section 8 Letters of Beethoven as compiled and with footnotes by Dr. Ludwig Null and translated by Lady Grace Wallace recorded by Robert Scott June 22nd, 2000