 Section 24 of the life of Ludwig von Beethoven, Volume 1, by Alexander Rielach Faire, translated by Henry Edward Quibbio. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter 21, Post Script. There are other candidates than the Countess's Giotti and Brunswick for the honor of having been the object of what, it must be admitted, was Beethoven's supreme love. For at least there are other women for whom writers have put in place. Though Dr. Kallisker professed to believe that he had effectively disposed of the Faire hypothesis, it is significant that by far the most notable champions who fought for their respective Lady-Glads are those who entered the lists for the Countess's I mentioned only the American Faire, the Englishman Gros, the Germans Lottmauer, Storch and Krollinger, Leip Kallisker, the editor of a collection of Beethoven's letters. The Frenchman Roiland and Jean-Tavon, both biographers of Beethoven, Genleur Noel and Kallisker carried the sleeve of the Countess Giotti. Grimel and Wohlbach seemed gently inclined to Magdalena Billmann, the actress who said that Beethoven wanted to marry her, but she would not have him because he was so ugly and half-crazy. Dr. Wolfgang A. Thomas Sangali is the champion of Amalia Seybald as the immortal beloved and of 1812 as the year in which the love letter was written. In 1909 it may be said that its merit lies in its close, pertinent and dispassionate reasoning, the quality in which all of Dr. Kallisker's arguments are most deficient. Dr. Kallisker's defense of Schindler, Schindler's story touching the letter and Giotti was unquestioned for 30 years when doubt was cast upon it by Thayer's investigations which fixed the date as 1806 and thereby eliminated the Countess as the composers in Amalata. In volume two Thayer contented himself with a demonstration that the Countess could not be the immortal beloved in volume three. In the body of the book he suggested that in greatest probability the lady was the Countess de Rès von Brunswick. It does not appear that he ever went further than this, but he died in 1897 in full conviction that by no possibility could the Giotti be rehabilitated in the place she had so long occupied in the minds of historians and romancers. His first contribution to the question, the first portion of this chapter immediately called forth the defense of Schindler's story Dr. Alfred Christian Kallisker being in the van of Schindler's defenders. Instead of traversing the evidence in the case as Thayer had done, Kallisker proposed and followed the inductive method thus Beethoven could not have indulged in such transports that as later date as 1806 or 1807 they were the outpourings of a sentimentalist one of the veritor sort. Beethoven had said in the letter that he could only live holy with his love or not at all, an expression not to be thought of in connection with a genius who agreed of the Eroica symphony by Delio, the Sonatas and D minor and F minor, Opus 57, the Piano Forte Concerto in C minor and G major, the Quartet's Opus 59 that finished the fourth symphony and sketched the C minor and the pastoral, could such a genius believe for a moment that he could not live without the object of his love, etc. The whole argument was merely rhetoric and psychologically speculative. In criticism of Thayer's third volume written for Der Klavier Lever in 1879, Kallisker took up the subject of Therese Brunswick in pursuing his old style of argumentation, urged that the Immortal Beloved, Resgillata and not Therese, because for suit Beethoven had dedicated the C sharp minor Sonata to the former and nothing better than the Sonata and F sharp major Opus 78 composed in 1809 to the latter. Kallisker saw no force in the fact that sketches for the so-called moonlight Sonata antedated the dedication by a considerable period. The essential things in his mind were the dedication and that Lance thought highly of the C sharp minor and little of the Fantasia for Piano Forte Opus 77 dedicated by Beethoven to his friend Brunswick and still less of the F sharp Sonata dedicated to another member of the house of Brunswick and that while Marx had described the C sharp minor Sonata as the low hymn of love's renunciation he did not consider the F sharp major Sonata as worthy even of mention. These essays together with another in which Dr. Kallisker performed with great energy the work of disposing of the romantic vaporings of a writer who called herself Miriam Tender who had published a book Beethoven's Unsterbliche Liebte Nacht per Sönlichen, a winner around been at Bonn in 1890 in which she affected to prove that Thayer had set down as merely a probability this writer who had most obviously taken her cue from Thayer though she protested that she had not read his biography when she wrote her book. Professor have had the tale from the lips of the Countess Brunswick herself that Beethoven while visiting at Martin Vassar the country seat of the Brunswick in May 1806 had become secretly engaged to the Countess no one else knowing the fact except Beethoven's friend Count Bonn's von Brunswick. Dr. Kallisker found little difficulty in demolishing a large portion of the fantastic fabric reared by Miriam Tanger especially that portion which Professor rest upon the alleged testimony of a barren spawn who was plainly a creation of the romances though a veritable spawn did figure largely and creditably in the life history of Schubert. Not content with this the critic went further in reviewing the sentimental career of Beethoven from 1806 to 1810 in which letter year it is supposed the relations between him and that Countess Brunswick came to an end he protested that in 1807 Beethoven was in love with Therese Malfati then a girl of 14 years. Lamar and that Countess Therese that question had already been discussed by Thayer as we have seen so also had the identity of barren spawn by Marie Lipsius known in musical literature by her pen name Lamar who called the tension to inaccuracies in the Tanger story in the first of a collection of essays entitled Glass Ciscus and Romanticus else there Tom Bell published in Leipzig in 1891 the same author who in all her writings on the subject has doubly maintained the correctness of Thayer's theory made the most valuable contribution yet offered to the controversy by her book Beethoven's Unsterblicke gelebte das der Hemeinness der Grafen Brunswick und ihre Memoren published by Breitkopf and Hartel in 1909. Do this book it is necessary to pay rather extended attention but before its contents are passed in review it deserves to be noted that Thayer who followed the multitude of arguments for and against his hypothesis with the greatest interest and with that characteristically open mind went down to his grave with his strong conviction unshaken that in greatest probability the Countess Therese was the immortal beloved. To Lamar he sent the letter dated January 22, 1892 to which attention was called an up foot note on the history of the C sharp minor sonata in an earlier chapter of this work and which through the courtesy of the lady to whom it was addressed is now given in substance that Mr. Kalisker has adopted Ludwig Knowle's strange notion of Beethoven's infatuation for Therese Malphati a girl of 14 years surprises me as also that he seems to consider the C is Mal sonata to be a musical love poem addressed to Julia Gi Giati he odds certainly to know that the subject of that sonata was or rather that it was suggested by summa's little poem the a veteran i pray you to stop you and read before proceeding the first part of the libous brief note well that it was written from a father or so far away from Vienna that he journeyed bitter in a coach with four horses and estra hasi with eight and now to the essential points during the summer of 1801 we know that Beethoven lodged in hessendorf where ex-curfers Franz resided and died july 26 that year and composed his christus um urberg in great part of the near schoen gun garden we know that he wrote on june 29 a very full account of his increasing deafness to dr. begler was he only seven days later in a distant by djort writing such a love letter to a young graffin not yet 17 years old in november he again wrote the begler du vilst listen he says via smir gett bas ik brakha and proceeds to describe his physician's treatment in neither of these letters is there the remotest hint that the doctor sent him to a distant by djort in 1802 Beethoven summer lodging was in highly gun stock where young wies came often to receive his master's instructions there is not the slightest intimation from him nor anywhere else of any absence of Beethoven during that summer did Beethoven write the libous brief in july and the so-called testament that document of despair in october observed these dates and the libous brief from the bar djort july 6 it could come earth's amorgans for ur gas turn here on seven days later july 13 he was in vienna writing to bright cough and hard tell in the testament we read the aces halba yar bas ik alm dem landa azubakta but in no known letter or writing of Beethoven's of that summer is there any reference to the distant by djort all that is known of Beethoven in the summer of 1801 and 1802 is against the journey to the by djort what is known of the summer of 1806 is for it the burden of proof lies upon mr calister when he can prove such a journey in 1801 or 1802 and that's so it will be one point in his favor testimony of friends and relations the method pursued by lamar and her investigation which extended over several years was much like that of failure in every case in richard seemed that testimony might be had from the mouths of living persons she sought to obtain it first she visited the countess marie brunswick or brunswick as the hungarian branch of the brown spragers or brunswick's spell the name daughter of count bonds there was an interview followed by a correspondence the countess said that the family knew nothing whatever of the alleged romantic attachment between her aunt and Beethoven she recalled that Beethoven had a grossa schvar marie for her father's cousin the countess giardy afterwards gallenberg but the feeling was not reciprocated on the part of the countess so far as had been learned the family was still in possession of three or four letters from Beethoven to her father in november 1899 she sent four letters to lamar which were then owned by her brother count geyser brunswick three of these letters had already been printed in the first edition of this biography the only one bearing on the subject of this study was that in which Beethoven begs the count to kiss his sister therese this letter lamar presents in fact similarly in her book count gallenberg center of the countess giardy and the last of the family had died in Vienna in 1893 two years after he had denied that there had been any talk of marriage or mutual love between his mother and Beethoven the testimony of two grandchildren of the countess giardy was as Beethoven wanted to marry grandma ma said the countess bertha kuhnberg ney countess stoleberg stoleberg insultsberg but she left gallenberg bairness has delivered ney countess gallenberg in bodin said among our family papers there's absolutely nothing bearing on the matter no letters no diary the prejudices of the period the incredible point of view held by persons of our station towards artists even towards artists of Beethoven's greatness may have been responsible for the fact that no interest was felt in the matter all that verbal tradition has brought down to me is summed up in that one circumstance that Beethoven figured only as a music teacher in the house of my great-grandparents on the suggestion of the grandchildren of the countess giard letter lamar called on brahline caroline long guider a lifelong friend of the gallenbergs who had lived with them and the countess marie brunswick this witness testified i do not believe that the schvar marie for countess julia gallenberg giardy though it may have been warm and wonderful for she was a very beautiful elegant woman of the world ever took such possession of the heart of bay toben as did the later love for countess duress brunswick which led to an engagement that was decidedly his profoundest love and that it did not result in marriage it is said was due to the what shall i call it real artistic temperament not tour of bay toben who in spite of his great love could not make up his mind to get married it is said that countess duress took it greatly to heart having lived during my childhood with my parents and plus board i often heard with childless years of course person speak about the matter and i'm able to remember that countess duress was greatly beloved and that my mother was always very glad when she came to press board which was every year lamar having sent brahline along guider some of her writings and a copy of lumpy's portrait of the countess duress she wrote on january 24 1901 after all that has been said pro and contra i remain of the unalterable opinion that the countess duress was the immortal beloved and fiance of the great master concerning rich fact i heard innumerable conversations in my childhood and that the portrait is hers countess marie does not see a resemblance but i do not trust her memory countess marie brunswick had said to lamar that she did not consider the painting which is now preserved in the bay tovan house in barn a portrait of her aunt but says lamar since there was a difference of 57 years she could no longer judge of a likeness with the youthful picture count geyser brunswick senate bay tovan's friend died in the spring of 1902 having outlived his sister marie the direct line of brunswick's reached its end in him the castles colombo and martin they saw passed into other hands count bonza's art collection was sold at auction in Vienna but the widow of count geyser retained possession of the bay tovan relics the letters and an oil portrait and took them with her to Florence where subsequently she married the marie geyser caponi she too gave her testimony it is certain that there were soul relationships between bay tovan and teres brunswick next lamar went to press board in search of such traditions as they had found in pash working on the hint thrown out by flower line long guider in press board she met yohan batka municipal archivist who bore testimony to the fact that a relative of the countess teres brunswick who was in possession of a memoirs a copy evidently since lamar obtained the original from the family of count dane had persuaded him to believe that teres was the immortal beloved and secret fiance of bay tovan after lamar had published the results of her investigation in the january number four 1908 of a newer rude shawl the grand niece of countess teres visabella countess dane and her sister madame ilka melacar confirmed the statement that the letter had been addressed to their illustrious grand aunt when estrangement had sprung up between count fawns and his sister teres after his marriage but the intimacy between the sisters teres and yosefine countess dane had continued and the romance never known to the families of count fawns and his sister countess telaki had come down as a tradition in the family of count dane the rest of lamar's book is filled with the memoirs of teres brunswick which she began writing in september 1846 and called my half century in introducing the interesting document lamar thought herself compelled to abandon bayer's contention that the love letter had been written in 1806 and substitute 1807 the date urged also by ladislaw the akinnecky in an article published in the zeit schrift der inter not to knallen music yellow sells shaft for july and august 1908 on the ground that 1806 have become untenable 1807 agreed with the almanac and that vatovan sojourn at bodin in the summer of 1807 did not preclude a visit to hungry of three weeks duration between the end of june and july 26 lamar was persuaded to make the change by her discovery in the memoirs of the fact that on july 5 1806 countess teres was in transylvania visiting her sister charlotte countess telaki and was present when the latter gave birth to a daughter blanca on that date having assumed with there that bay tovan wrote the love letter very soon after a visit to the brunswick's at kalampa which is her reading of the mysterious k in the letter and sent it from a neighboring water place convinced that keres was with her sister on july 6 1806 she adopted the theory that the letter was written in 1807 in which year the much discussed sixth of july fell on a monday she also lost other evidence which she does not describe but by which she doubtless means a letter by batovan to breitkopf and hartel dated vienna july 5 1806 which became known to the investigators when the well-known publishers of leipzig made a private publication of the letters from the composer found in their archives this was after the death of mr. theyer touching this letter and the significance of bay tovans k the writer of this note submits without argument a few suggestions new suggestions concerning the letter one there is nothing in the letter beyond what might be called its atmosphere to indicate that bay tovan had recently visited the object of his love the words today yesterday went to your fault longings for you to which such an interpretation might be given plainly refer only to his mood and his thoughts on the two days when the letter was in his mind they tell us nothing about the distance or time which lay between him and his foreign leader to it is plain that bay tovan and prince as to hazy started from the same place for the hungarian warring place once the letter was sent if it ever was sent bay tovan traveling by an unusual route because of a lack of horses the prince by the usual route it is anything but likely that this place was martin basar it is much more probable that it was one of astra hazy's country seats three there is no indication in the letter or anywhere else how long bay tovan was enroute but the journey extended over several stages for at the stage before the last he was warned not to travel at night etc he may have been as far in the interior of hungry as our post coach could carry him in letters say two days four we know nothing about the rapidity of travel over hungarian roads a century ago but we do know that as early as 1635 that is 171 years before bay tovan made the journey an english post was established which made the trip from london to edinburgh and back in six days and edinburgh is 357 miles from london by road the english mail coach therefore traveled an average of 119 miles in 24 hours at even half of the speed bay tovan might have been comparatively near the place in which countess torrez spent jean and july 1806 by this place was not coampa but may have been clausenberg or claus the principal town of transylvania where count to lucky lid this is at least remotely possible six it is but natural to assume that the post between the important places of hungry and the metropolis of transylvania ran fairly often and at fair speed and if bay tovan expected that a letter which he thought would be detained at the place where it was posted till early on thursday morning would not reach its destination till saturday that destination must have been at a considerable distance a two days run from the watering place so near so far as little value as evidence it is an ecstatic commonplace concerning the unattainable or that which seems to be so seven the fact that the countess torrez was not at coampa in the early part of july 1806 is not in itself a sufficient reason for abandoning that date she was at clausenberg the letter to black coffin hotel though plainly dated vienna july 5 1806 calisthenum number 109 might easily be disposed of as convincing evidence against 1806 if it did not bear the publisher's endorsement apparently indicating that it had either been received or answered on july 11 of the year nothing could make bay tovans carelessness in respective dates plainer than the next letter of bay tovans in which he replied to the letter which bright coffin hotel had sent him in answer to the proposition which he had made in the letter dated july 5 1806 the second letter is dated grots trotten hue monet that is hey month otherwise july yet it refers to the earlier letter and was written at pro pal in austrian salizia where bay tovans spent the fall of 1806 as the guest of prince lukhnovsky bright coffin hotels endorsement shows that the letter was received and answered in september there's some significance to in the fact that bay tovans refers to his journey from vienna to pro pal which must have been nearly 200 miles long as a short one at vass via a zoo sun ont the a kleine reissa yeah her etc c calisker letter number 110 bay tovans may have written the letter in vienna on one of the first two days of july or even the last of june making one of his characteristic blunders in the dating and yet have been deep and hungry on the dubious date on which he wrote the love letter the endorsement of bark cough and hardtail july 5 1806 could not have been anything more than a transcript of the date found on the letter the editor is well aware that his suggestions do not clear up the mystery he offers them nevertheless for what they are now or may hereafter be worth the references to bay tovans in the memoirs of teres brunswick made public by lemar are to be found in the following excerpts the memoirs of teres brunswick during the extraordinary sojourn of 18 days in vienna my mother desired that her two daughters teres and josephine received bay tovans invaluable instruction in music adrobert rosti a schoolmate of my brother so assured us that bay tovans would not be persuaded to accept a mere invitation but if her excellency were willing to climb the three flights of winding stairs of the house in st peter's place and make him a visit he would vouch for a successful outcome of remission it was done like a school girl with bay tovans sonata sport violin and the along cello and pianet forte under my arm we hunted the immortal dear louis bonn bay tovans was very friendly and as polite as he could be after a few phrases they part a dotre he sat me down at his piano forte which was out of tune and i began at once to sing the violin and the cello parts and played right well this delighted him so much that he promised to come every day to the hotel zoom at surzang carl then golden and greifen it was me in the last year of the last century he came regularly but instead of an hour frequently stayed from 12 to 4 or 5 o'clock and never grew weary of holding down and bending my fingers which i've been taught to lift high and hold straight the nobleman must have been satisfied for a never missed a single day in the 16 blank it was then that the most intimate and cordial friendship was closely established with Beethoven a friendship which blasted to the end of his life he came to often came to martin basar he was initiated into a social republic of chosen people a round spot was planted with high noble lindens each tree had the name of a member and even in their sorrowful absence we conversed with the symbols and were entertained and instructed by ben often after giving the good morning greeting i asked the tree concerning this and the other thing which i desired to have explained and it never failed to answer me later speaking of the loss of caste and poverty of a brother-in-law count dame who had changed his name to mule because of a dual thought before he had attained his majority and conducted an art museum and who after his marriage due to res's sister josephine tried in vain to take the position of society to which his rank entitled him the countess writes the aristocracy turned its back on him because he had gone into business he could not hunt up his former rich acquaintances Beethoven was the faithful visitor of the house of the young countess he gave her lessons gratis and to be tolerated one had to be a Beethoven the numerous relatives the sisters of her father and their children frequently visited their amiable niece tablo were occasionally given dame being himself an artist was at home in such matters they gave him pleasure there were musicals were my brother came in vacation time and made the acquaintance of Beethoven the two musical geniuses became intimately associated with each other and my brother never deserted his friend in his frequent financial troubles until his last to early death it was about this time 1814 the baron cp came very often to martin basa he was fond of my brother and wanted to learn the science of agriculture from him and his men we played chess with each other he conceived a passion for me and tried to embrace me from that moment onward he frequently repeated his offers and waited two years for my ascent for I always answered that I should have to ponder the matter and it had no time to do so I had remained cold and earlier passion had devoured my heart josephine needed me her children who were very promising loved me and I then how could I withdraw myself from such a magic circle when I was acted with the women's association after the great famine of 1819 we met on the street I was in a carriage and had that coachman stopped at a signal from him he came to the carriage and said significantly have you pondered dear therese it is the last time I shall ask you I'm going to dresden and shall there take a bride unless you make up your mind I laughingly gave him my old answer heart and head being occupied with the widespread misery I really haven't had time dear Carl we parted he became my enemy recent investigations in France shortly after the appearance of Lamar's essay in 1909 a singular contribution to the controversy touching the immortal beloved came from France the essay had been reviewed in the review de du monde where upon the editor of l'OTAN asked one of its contributors to make inquiry as to possible family traditions of the mother of M. F. de Joranda a grand niece of the Countess de Reims this was done but the lady would hear nothing of an identification of her grand aunt with the object of Beethoven's passion then came journalistic insinuations that family pride had much to do with the denial this provoked monsieur de Joranda who undertook him that no cure de France to answer the arguments of Thayer and Lamar there was one ludicrous feature in his argument and a new revelation he disposed of the kiss sent to Therese by Beethoven through her brother Count Fonds by saying it was only such a familiarity as an old man might be permitted to indulge towards a young pupil this notwithstanding that Therese was born in 1775 and Beethoven in 1770 and at the time he wrote the love letter was still laboring under the delusion that the year of his birth was 1772 the revelation consisted in the circumstance set forth by him that among the letters of the Countess de Reims he had found that thick portfolio inscribed the journal of my heart no romance which i quote now from an article contributed by Mr. Philip Hale to the new music review in the numbers for july and september 1909 contain many letters notes messages written at all hours and addressed to a man whose christian name was Louis Mr. de Geronde who has been unable to learn the family name of this man thought at first and not for that Beethoven was the one but this Louis with whom Therese was passionately in love to whom she was the true without the knowledge of others was a young man of noble family much younger than Therese and had been educated at the Thereseianum in Vienna a school frequented by young noblemen van Beethoven was older than the Countess Brunswick he was not noble by birth he never attended the Thereseianum the letters reveal a strange and violent passion they are at times cold and philosophical when Therese signed them with her name they were true love letters when she signed them with the Greek word diotema the name of a priestess of beauty and love mentioned by Plato they were metaphysical speculations long-winded discussions on the end of life and the nature of love I do not think that Beethoven would have been contented with this correspondence of encyclopedists there were a few letters from Louis one of them sealed with a coat of arms and best there is hope of identification one might answer continues Mr. Hale that Therese perhaps loved twice that there were two Louis in the field Mr. de Gironde does not find this probable Therese was cerebral in her passion she knew passion but her intellectual side revolted at it and when her brain controlled her she could write phrases like this do you think that I could have lowered myself even to the point of marrying him but one might reply the Countess might well have said this with reference to Beethoven who was beneath her in station she reigned contempt on the man who had awakened in her the love that she detested and when she had driven him from her mind she wrote exultantly free free free Mr. de Gironde argues from this that she would not a second time have given up her independence but nothing but a woman like Therese would have done should surprise even a great grand nephew Mr. de Gironde does not understand how any love affair between Therese and Beethoven could have escaped the curious gossips and society eager for news and scandal the adventure of Therese de Gansvik with Louis appears to me to be a sufficient reason to judge the theory of Therese in aim at the same time it explains to us the genesis of this theory it is now certain as far as I am concerned that some resemblance of the affair between the Countess of Brunswick and Louis had come down to Therese the similarity of the names the letter in which the kiss was sent and other and more vague indices led the American biographer to turn the noble Hungarian Dane into the well-beloved of Beethoven such was in substance the article of Mr. de Gironde it is fair to ask him how the love affair between Therese and the mysterious Louis young noble etc escaped the curious gossips escaped them so completely that even the great-grand-nephew of Therese is unable to find out the family name of her lover in of section 24 section 25 of the life of Ludwig von Beethoven volume one by Alexander real locked failure translated by Henry Edward Grebel this Lieberbach's recording is in the public domain chapter 22 the year 1802 the highly can start will Beethoven's views on arrangements a defense of Beethoven's brothers the slanders of romancers and unscrupulous biographers compositions and publications of the year the impatient Beethoven dexter the tardy improvement of his health under the treatment of bearing made that change of physicians contemplated in his letter to vegler this was done sometime in the winter 1801 to 1802 and is all the foundation there is for Schindler's story of a serious illness in the first months of this year for which he was treated by the highly esteemed physician Dr. Schmidt the remarkable list of compositions and publications belonging to this year is proof sufficient that he suffered no physical disability of such a nature as seriously to interrupt his ordinary vocations as is also the utter silence of Reese Bruning Zerny dola zelec and Beethoven himself the tone of the letters written at the time is also significant on this point concerning the failure of his project to follow the example set in 1800 and give a concert towards the close of the winter in the theater we learn all we know from a letter from his brother Carl to Breitkopf and Hartel dated April 22 1802 therein we read my brother would himself have written to you but he is ill-disposed towards everything because the director of the theater Baron Bonbon who as is known is a stupid and rude fellow refused him the use of the theater for his concert and gave it to other really mediocre artists and I believe it must vex him greatly to see himself so unworthily treated particularly as the Baron has no cause and my brother has dedicated several works to his wife when one looks down from the Collenburg towards Vienna in the bright sweet springtime the interesting country is almost worthy of Tennyson's description it lies deep metered happy fair with orchard lawns and bowery hollows crowned with summer sea conspicuous are the villages durbling hard by the city noose door fur line and heiligenstatt divided from durbling by a ridge of highland in a deep gorge Beethoven at heiligenstatt dr schmitt having enjoined upon Beethoven to spare his hearing as much as possible he removed for the summer to the place last named there is much and good reason to believe that his rooms were in a large peasant house still standing on the elevated plain beyond the village on the road to noose door now with many neat cottages near but then probably quite solitary in those years there was from his windows and unbroken view across fields the danube and the march felled to the carpathian mountains that line the horizon a few minutes walk city words brought him to the baths of heiligenstatt or in the opposite direction to the secluded valley in which at another period he composed the pastoral symphony the vast increase of vienna and its environs in population has caused corresponding changes but in 1802 that peasant house seems to have offered him everything he could desire fresh air sun green fields delightful walks bathing easy access to his position and yet a degree of solitude which now is not easy to conceive as having been attainable so near the capital part of a letter written hence to bright cough and hard tell but no longer in the possession of that house affords another illustration of Beethoven's excellent common sense and discrimination in all that pertain to his art concerning arrangements i'm heartily glad that you rejected them the unnatural rage now prevalent to transplant even piano forte pieces to stringed instruments instruments so utterly opposite to each other in all respects ought to come to an end i insist stoutly that only Mozart could arrange his piano forte pieces for other instruments and hiding and without wishing to put myself in the class of these great men i also asserted touching my piano forte sonatas too since not only our whole passages to be omitted and changed but also things are to be added and here lies the obstacle to overcome which one must either be the master himself or at least have the same skill and inventive power i transcribed a single one of my sonatas for string quartet yielding to great persuasion and i certainly know that it would not be an easy matter for another to do as well the difficulties here mentioned it will be noticed are those of transcribing piano forte music for other instruments the contrary operation is so comparatively easy that Beethoven very rarely performed it himself but left it for the most part to young musicians whose work he revised and corrected there are a great many pieces by Beethoven says Reese published with the designation orangé par l'autor of men but only four of these are genuine namely from his famous septet he arranged first a violin quintet and then a piano forte trio out of his piano forte quintet with four wind instruments he made a piano forte quartet with three stringed instruments finally he arranged the violin concerto which is dedicated to Stefan von Bruning opus 61 as a piano forte concerto many other pieces were arranged by me revised by Beethoven and then sold as Beethoven's by his brother Casper without calling in question here the general statement in this citation it may be remarked that if Reese is right in respect to the arrangement of a septet as a quintet the work remained in manuscript for the one published was by Hofmeister but the trio was begun and as is believed finished this year its history has been told Reese's statement is neither exhausted nor altogether exact touching the arrangements of the septet moreover in 1806 without Beethoven's knowledge or consent he arranged the six quartets opus 18 and the three trios for strings opus nine as piano forte trios an interesting anecdote from the noticing may be introduced here count brown says Reese made a rather long sojourn about this time in Bodin near Vienna where I was called upon frequently to play Beethoven's music evenings in the presence of enthusiastic Beethoven means sometimes from notes sometimes by heart here I had an opportunity to learn how in the majority of cases a name alone is sufficient to characterize everything in a composition as beautiful and excellent or mediocre and bad one day weary of playing without notes I improvised a march without a thought as to its merit or any ulterior purpose an old countess who actually tormented Beethoven with her devotion went into ecstasies over it thinking it was a new composition of his which I in order to make sport of her and the other enthusiasts affirmed only too quickly unhappily Beethoven came to Bodin the next day he has scarcely entered count brown's room in the evening when the old countess began to speak of the most admirable and glorious march imagine my embarrassment knowing well that Beethoven could not tolerate the old countess I hurriedly drew him aside and whispered to him that I had merely meant to make sport of her foolishness to my good fortune he accepted the explanation in good part but my embarrassment grew when I was called upon to repeat the march which turned out worse since Beethoven stood at my side he was overwhelmed with praise on all hands and his genius lauded he listening in a perturbed manner and with growing rage until he found relief in a roar of laughter later he remarked to me you see my dearest those are the great cognoscenti who wish to judge every composition so correctly and severely only give them the name of their favorite they won't need nothing more yet the march led to one good result count brown immediately commissioned Beethoven to compose three marches for piano forte four hands melancholy influence of high gins stott the seclusion of high gins stott was of itself so seductive to Beethoven that the prudence of dr schmidt in advising him to withdraw so much from society may be doubted the more because the benefit to his hearing proved to be small or none it gave him too many lonely hours in which to brood over his calamity it enabled him still to flatter himself that his secret was yet safe it led him to defer too long for his peace of mind the bitter moment of confession and consequently to deprive himself needlessly of the tender compassion and ready sympathy of friends whose lips were sealed so long as he withheld his confidence but in truth the secret so jealously guarded was already known but who could inform him of it though not long nor generally as we learn from reese it was well for Beethoven when the time came for him to return to the city and to resume the duties and obligations of his profession to what depths of despondency he sometimes sank in those solitary hours that high gins stott is shown by a remarkable and most touching paper written there just before his return to town but never seen by other eyes until after his death although addressed to and intended for both his brothers it is as schindler has remarked surprising and singular that the name Johann is left utterly blank throughout not even being indicated by the usual it is couched in terms of energetic expression rising occasionally to eloquence somewhat rude and unpolished indeed but perhaps for that reason the more striking the manuscript is so carefully written and disfigured by so few erasures and corrections as to prove the great pains taken with it before the final copy was made the closing sentences in which he discovers his expectations of an early death have acquired double importance since the publication of schindler's suicide story for the decisive manner in which they remove every possible suspicion that even in his present hypochondria he could contemplate such a crime reese's paragraph upon Beethoven's deafness in which he relates a circumstance alluded to in the document is its most fitting introduction as early as 1802 Beethoven suffered from deafness at various times but the affliction each time passed away the beginning of his hard hearing was a matter upon which he was so sensitive that one had to be careful not to make him feel his deficiency by loud speech when he failed to understand the thing he generally attributed it to his absent mindedness to which indeed he was subject in a great degree he lived much in the country wither i went often to take a lesson from him at times at eight o'clock in the morning after breakfast he would say let us first take a short walk we went and frequently did not return till three or four o'clock after having made a meal in some village and one of these wanderings Beethoven gave me the first striking proof of his loss of hearing concerning which Stefan von Bruning had already spoken to me i called his attention to a shepherd who was piping very agreeably in the woods on a flute made of a twig of elder for half an hour Beethoven could hear nothing and though i assured him that it was the same with me which was not the case he became extremely quiet and morose when occasionally he seemed to be merry it was done right to the extreme of boisterousness but this happened seldom following is the text of the document text of the highlight in stott will for my brother's carl and so on Beethoven oh ye men who think or say that i am malevolent stubborn or misanthropic how greatly do ye wrong me you do not know the secret causes of my seeming from childhood my heart and mind were disposed to the gentle feeling of goodwill i was even ever eager to accomplish great deeds but reflect now that for six years i've been in a hopeless case aggravated by senseless physicians cheated year after year in the hope of improvement finally compelled to face the prospect of a lasting malady whose cure will take years or perhaps be impossible born with an ardent and lively temperament even susceptible to the diversions of society i was compelled early to isolate myself to live in loneliness when i at times tried to forget all this oh how harshly was i repulsed by the doubly sad experience of my bad hearing and yet it was impossible for me to say to men speak louder shout for i am deaf oh how could i possibly admit an infirmity in the one sense which should have been more perfect in me than in others a sense which i once possessed in highest perfection a perfection such as few surely in my profession enjoyed or ever have enjoyed oh i cannot do it therefore forgive me when you see me draw back when i would gladly mingle with you my misfortune is doubly painful because it must lead to my being misunderstood for me there can be no recreation in society of my fellows refined intercourse mutual exchange of thought only just as little as the greatest needs command may i mix with society i must live like an exile if i approach near to people a hot terror seizes upon me a fear that i may be subjected to the danger of letting my condition be observed thus it has been during the last half year which i've spent in the country commanded by my intelligent physician to spare my hearing as much as possible in this almost meeting my present natural disposition although i sometimes ran counter to it yielding to my inclination for a society but what a humiliation when one stood beside me and heard a flute in the distance and i heard nothing or someone heard the shepherd singing and again i heard nothing such incidents brought me to the verge of despair a little more and i would have put an end to my life only art it was that withheld me ah it seemed impossible to leave the world until i had produced all that i felt called upon to produce and so i endured this wretched existence truly wretched an excitable body which a sudden change can throw from the best into the worst state patience it is said i must now choose for my guide i've done so i hope my determination will remain firm to endure until it pleases the inexorable parcy to break the thread perhaps i shall get better perhaps not i am prepared forest already in my 28th year to become a philosopher oh it is not easy less easy for the artist than for anyone else divine one thou locust into my inmost soul thou knowest it thou knowest that love of man and desire to do good live therein oh men when someday you read these words reflect that he did me wrong and that the unfortunate one comfort himself and find one of his kind who despite all the obstacles of nature yet did all that was in his power to be accepted among worthy artists and men you my brother's carl and as soon as i am dead if dr schmidt is still alive ask him in my name to describe my melody and attach this document to the history of my illness so that so far as is possible at least the world may become reconciled with me after my death at the same time i declare you two to be the heirs to my small fortune if so it can be called divided fairly bear with and help each other what injury you have done me you know was long ago forgiven to you brother carl i give special thanks for the attachment you have displayed towards me of late it is my wish that your lives may be better and freer from care than i have had recommend virtue to your children it alone can give happiness not money i speak from experience it was virtue that i've held me in misery to it next to my art i owe the fact that i did not end my life by suicide very well and love each other i thank all my friends particularly prince lukhnovsky and professor schmidt i desire that the instruments from prince lb preserved by one of you but let no quarrel result from this so soon as they can serve you a better purpose sell them how glad will i be if i can still be helpful to you in my grave with joy i hasten towards death if it comes before i shall have had an opportunity to show all my artistic capacities it will still come too early for me despite my hard fate and i shall probably wish that it had come later but even then i'm satisfied will it not free me from our state of endless suffering come when thou wilt i shall meet thee bravely farewell and do not wholly forgive me when i'm dead i deserve this of you and having often in life thought of you how to make you happy be so ludwig von beitoben seal heigenstadt october 6 1802 for my brother's carl and to be read and executed after my death heigenstadt october 10 1802 thus do i take my farewell of thee and indeed sadly yes that beloved hope which i brought with me when i came here to be cured at least in a degree i must wholly abandon as the leaves of autumn fall and our withered so hope has been delighted almost as i came i go away even the high courage which often inspired me in the beautiful days of summer has disappeared oh providence grant me at last but one day of pure joy it is so long since real joy echoed in my heart oh win oh win oh divine one shall i feel it again in the temple of nature and of men never know of that would be too hard a quick reversion to merriment they profundice clama wit and yet in that retirement whence came up paper of such profound sadness was brought out for symphony indeed a work whose grand and imposing introduction brilliant allegro a large ghetto so lovely so pure and amiably conceived written in the scenes which gave inspiration to the divine pastoral of which its serene tranquility seems the precursor as kurtso as mary wayward skipping and charming as anything possible and even who libid cheff admits and a finale the very intoxication of spirit intoxicated with fire made it like the quartets an era both in the life of its author and in the history of instrumental music in life as a music the more profoundly the depths of feeling are sounded in the adagio the more mary to the verge of boisterousness the skirt so which follows but who reading that in october that beloved hope had been abandoned and the high courage which had often inspired him in the beautiful days of summer had disappeared could anticipate that in november through the wonderful elasticity of his nature his mind would have so recovered its time as to leave no trace visible of the so recent depression and gleam perhaps the mere act of giving his feelings bent in that extraordinary pre-memoria may have brought on the crisis and from that moment the reaction may have begun the following letter to ze mescal to which the recipient depended the date november 1802 is whimsically written on both sides of a strip of very ordinary coarse writing paper 14 and a half inches long by four and three quarters wide you may my dear z talk as plainly as you please to walter in the affair of mine first because he deserves it and then because since the belief has gone forth that i'm no longer on good terms with walter i'm pestered by the whole swarm of pianoforte makers wishing to serve me and gratis moreover everyone wants to build a pianoforte for me just to my liking thus reica was urgently begged by the man who made a pianoforte for him to persuade me to let him make me one and he is one of the more honest at whose place i have seen good instruments make him understand therefore that i will pay him thirty florins whereas i might have one from all the others for nothing but i will pay thirty florins only on condition that it be of mahogany and also want the one string in a quarter pedal if he does not agree to this make it plain to him that i shall choose one of the others and also introduce him to hyden a frenchman stranger is coming to me at about 12 o'clock today vaulty subito here reica and i will have the pleasure of displaying my art on a piano by jackish odd notan if you want also to come we shall have a good time since afterward we reica our miserable imperial baron and the frenchman will dine together you do not need to dine a black coat as we shall be a party of men only another letter to zamaskal who noted the date november 13 1802 on it runs as follows doz give up your music at the princess nothing else can be done we shall rehearse at your house tomorrow morning early at half past eight and the production will be at my house at 11 uh deal excellent plenty potent g alias regney they tow vences the rascals have been jailed as they have deserved in their own handwriting production of what the next quintet opus 29 no doubt at my house no longer in the hamburger house on the bastion but in the one pointed out by zirni by tovan lived a little later about 1802 on the peter spots the corner house beside the guard house vis-a-vis of my present lodgings in the fourth story where i visited him as often as i did in the tiefen robin if you will give me the pleasure of a visit beside dawn second story i will show you the windows there i visited several times every week what win could have induced by tovan to remove to this house with the bells of st peter's on one side and those of st stevens sounding down upon him on the other and he so suffering with his ears perhaps because friends were in the house first as earliest recollections of Beethoven date from this winter and this house for his father's dwelling was in that third story above him he remembers that Beethoven volunteered to instruct him in pianoforte playing and that he was forced to rise at six in the morning and descend the coal stairs child as he was hardly six years of age to take his lessons and on one occasion going up again crying because his master had whipped his little fingers with one of the iron or steel needles used in knitting the course yarn jackets worn by women in service the composition of the marches for four hands opus 45 ordered by count brown dates also from the house and that peter's plots he composed part of the second march while giving me a lesson on a sonata which i had to play in the evening at the court's house at a little concert a thing that still seems incomprehensible to me i was also to play the marches on the same occasion with him while we were playing young count p sitting in the doorway leading to the next room spoke so loudly and continuously to a pretty woman that Beethoven after several efforts had mainly been made to secure quiet suddenly took my hands from the keys in the middle of the music jumped up and said very loudly i will not play for such swine all efforts to get him to return to the piano forte were vain and he would not even allow me to play the sonata so the music came to an end in the midst of much ill humor in composing Beethoven tested his pieces at the piano forte until he found them to his liking and sang the while his voice in singing Mercedes it was thus that zoning heard him at work on the four hand marches while waiting in outside room according to yon's papers this statement came also from zoning Beethoven and his brothers it is now necessary to turn back to november and again undertake the annoying and thankless task of examining a broad tissue of mingle fact and misrepresentation and severing the truth from the error this time the subject is the relations which existed between Beethoven and his brothers in these years a letter written by caspar is the occasion of taking it up here yohan andre a music publisher at hoffenbach on the main following the example of hofmeister negelli bright coffe and hartel and others now applied to Beethoven for manuscripts caspar wrote the reply under date november 23 1802 at present we have nothing but a symphony a grand concerto for a grand concerto for piano forte the first at 300 forans and the second of the same price if you should want three piano forte sonatas i could furnish them for no less than 900 florins all according to vienna standard and these you could not have all at once but one every five or six weeks because my brother does not travel himself with such trifles any longer and composers only oratorios operas etc also you are to send us eight copies of every piece which you may possibly engrave whether the pieces please you or not i beg you to answer otherwise i might be prevented from selling them to someone else we have also two adagios for the violin with complete instrumental accompaniment which will cost 135 florins and two little easy sonatas each with two movements which are at your service for 280 florins in addition i beg you to present our compliments to our friend kach your obedient kv betovin our eye treasury official this ludicrous display of the young man's self-importance as royal imperial treasury official and ludic van betovin's factotum is certainly very absurd but hardly affords adequate grounds for the exceeding scorn of schindler's remarks upon it it is in itself sufficiently provocative of prejudice against this writer but a display of vanity and self-esteem is ridiculous not criminal the general charge brought by reese against caspar and yohan van betovin is this his brothers sought in particular to keep all his intimate friends away from him and no matter what wrongs they did him of which he was convinced they cost him only a few tears and all was immediately forgotten on such occasions he was in the habit of saying but they are my brothers nevertheless and the friend received a rebuke for his good nature and frankness the brothers attained their purpose in causing the withdrawal from him of many friends especially when because of his hard hearing it became more difficult to converse with him two years after the noticing left the press schindler published his biography in it although he first knew betovin in 1814 yohan some years later and caspar probably never and therefore personally could know nothing of the facts of his period yet he made the picture still darker the special charge against caspar is that about this time in 1800 he began to rule betovin and made him suspicious of his most sincere friends and devotees by means of false representations and even jealousy there's a class of writers in germany whom no regard for the feelings of the living no veneration for the memories of the great dead no scruples on the score of truth and even in some cases not respect and admiration for the greatest living genius talent and literary or scientific fame restrained from using or moderate their use of whatever can add pecan see to their appeals to the purient imaginations of certain classes of readers delicacy of feeling and nicety of conscience are not to be expected of such heartless traduces of the living and the dead but that even the most contemptible of the tribe regardless of the pain which such a slander of her husband's father must have caused to a widowed mother and her amiable children could venture to represent carol caspar bond betovin as the seller of his wife's virtue and a sharer in the rages of her shame is as inconceivable as that his book should be received with praise by critics and applause by the public that it should gain its author percuniary profit instead of a prism the story is utterly without foundation a pure invention in the falsehood and is told more over of poor Caspar at a time when as yet he had no wife unfortunately the stream of betovin's brothers is not confined to writers of novels and through your tonists they who profess to write history know sooner strike upon this topic than fancy seems to usurp the seat of reason and imagination to take the place of judgment the lines of reese expand into paragraphs the sentences of gender into chapters but the picture thus overdrawn and exaggerated in some degree corrects itself for if the brothers were really as represented what is to be thought of betovin if he in fact was so led controlled and held in subjection by them as described characters of carol caspar and yohan now what is really known of carol caspar and yohan though it's sufficiently confused much of the columnius nonsense which has been printed about them is not fitted to convey any very exalted idea of their characters the same frau carth who remembered ludwig in his youth as always gentle and lovable related that caspar was less kindly in his disposition proud and presumptuous and that yohan was a bit stupid yet very good nature and such they were in manhood caspar like ludwig was very passionate but more violent in his sudden wrath yohan slow to wrath than plackable notwithstanding the poverty of his youth and early manhood it is not known that caspar was avaricious but yohan had felt too bitterly the misery of want and dependence and became penurious after he had accumulated a moderate fortune the contests between his avarice and the desire to display his wealth led to very ludicrous exhibitions in a word betovin was not a phenomenon of goodness nor were his brothers monsters of iniquity that both reese and shinler wrote honestly has not been doubted but common justice demands the reminder that they wrote under the bias of strong personal dislike to one or both brothers reese wrote impressions received at a very early time in life and records opinions formed upon incomplete data shinler wrote entirely upon hearsay reese had not completed his 21st year when he departed from vienna 1805 how so ever strong where betovin's gratitude to france reese and affection for ferdinand 14 years was too great a disparity in age to allow that trustful and familiar intercourse between master and people which could enable the latter to speak with full knowledge nor does a man of betovin's age and position turn from old and valued friends like the lignovsky's brooning ze mescal and others of whatever names to make a youth of from 18 to 20 years a newcomer and previously a stranger even though a favorite people his confidential advisor facts confirmed the proposition in this case we know that betovin in 1801 imparted grave matters to vegler and amanda of which reese a year later had only received intimation from brooning and other circumstances of which he knew nothing are recorded in the testament of 1802 the charges against the brothers both of reese and shinler are general in terms reese only giving specifications or instances improved shinler may be passed by as but repeating the notism now the onus of reese's charges is this first that kaspar thrust himself impertently into his brother's business second that both brothers intrigued to isolate betovin from his intimate friends and that their machinations were in many cases successful carl kaspar as a business manager to the first point it is to be remarked besides betovin's often expressed disinclination to engage personally in negotiations for that sale of his works although when he did he showed no lack of a keen eye to profits his physical and mental condition at this period of his life often rendered the assistance of an agent indispensable accounts were to be kept with half a dozen publishers letters received upon business were numerous and often demanded prompt replies proof sheets were constantly arriving for revision and correction copyists required supervision and abundance of minor matters continually coming up and needing attention than betovin might be on his long rambles over hill and dale the last man to be found in an emergency one asks with astonishment how could so obvious a necessity for a confidential agent have escaped notice who should or could this agent be but his brother kaspar he held an honorable place in a public office the duties of which necessarily implied the possession of those talents for and habits of prompt and skillful performance of business which his early receipt of salary and his regular advancement in position show that he really did possess his duties detained him in the city at all times occasional short vacations accepted and yet left him ample leisure to attend to his brother's affairs he was a musician by education and fully competent to render valuable service in that fearful period of arrangements as it is well known he did what would have justly been said of betovin if he had passed by one so eminently qualified for the task one on whom the paternal relation in his own long continued care and protection had given him so many claims and had transferred the burden from his own shoulders to those of other friends but if after adequate trial the agent proved unsatisfactory the case would be changed and the principal might with propriety seek needed assistance in other quarters and precisely this appears to have occurred for after a few years kaspar disappears almost entirely from our history in connection with his brother's pecuniary affairs this fact is stronger evidence than anything in recess statements that betovin became dissatisfied with his brother's management and would have still more weight had he been less fickle in constant and undecided in matters of business say freed whose acquaintance with betovin ripened just at this time into intimacy and who in 1802 to 05 had the best possible opportunities for observation beheld the relations between the brothers before less jaundiced eyes than reese he says betovin was the more glad to choose joyous vienna for his future impermanent home since two younger brothers had followed him bitter who took off his shoulders the oppressive load of financial cares and who were compelled to act almost as guardians for the priest of art to whom the ordinary affairs of civil life were as strange as strange could be at that time safe read like reese was ignorant of the circumstances detailed to veglet and amanda and in the testament but the admirable selection of words in the closing phrase will strike all who have had occasion to read betovin's countless notes asking advice or aid in matters which most men would deem too trivial for even a passing word in conversation the specifications of reese in his charges against kaspar will not long detain us the story of the quarrel over the disposition of the negali sonatas may stand at all his ugliness and with no comment save the suggestion of a possibility that kaspar's word as ludwig's agent may have been pledged to the leipzig publisher the one really specific charge of reese is the one on page 124 of the notism all trifles and many things which he did not want to publish because he thought them unworthy of his name were secretly given to publicity by his brother thus songs which he had composed years before his departure for vienna became known only after he had reached a high degree of fame thus two little compositions which he had written in autograph albums were filched and published by trifles reese of course here refers to the bagatelle's opus 33 par louis van betovin 1782 as the manuscript is superscribed published in the spring of 1803 the manuscript itself proves reese to be in error the words par louis van betovin are in a hand unlike anything known to the present writer from betovin's pen this fact together with a something not easily described in the appearance of the notes suggests the idea that this copy of the bagatelle's was made by kaspar and compiled except number six and perhaps one other from the compositions of betovin in his boyhood but the corrections the words andante gracioso scherzo allegro allegretto con una certo expressione parlante etc written with lead pencil or a different ink are certainly from betovin's own hand also instill another ink the thoroughly betovin ish opus 33 no one can mistake that this work most assuredly was never secretly given to the public the only album composition known to have been published in those years is the song with variations ik denka dine and this betovin himself had offered to halfmeister before it was printed by the kunst und industry comptoir the songs referred to by reese can only be those of opus 52 the original manuscript having disappeared neither refutes nor confirms his opinion it is however exceedingly doubtful that betovin's brothers would have dared give an opus number to a stolen publication a priori reese is more likely to be in error here than in regard to the bagatelle's now the only contemporary criticism upon the latter which has been discovered is a single line in mal's annelin der litterature vienna 1804 deserve the title in every sense of the word upon the song with variations no notice whatever has been found but opus 52 was received by the al gamina music zeitung of august 28 1805 in this style opera 47 and 38 having been duly praised the writer continues is it possible that number three of these eight songs is from the pen of this composer admirable even in his vagaries it must be since it is at least his name is printed large on the title page the publisher is mentioned the songs were published in vienna where the composer lives and indeed bear his latest opus number comprehended he who can that a thing in all respects so commonplace poor weekend and great part ludicrous should not only emanate from such a man but even be published carl casper a probable scapegoat and more like this illustrated by copy and dust lune chin lune to hold these citations suggest an obvious explanation of risa's mistake namely datum and mortified ashamed angry purposely left him to believe that he was innocent of the publication of these compositions it was one of the advantages of having casper on vienna that the responsibility such false steps could be shifted upon him those who are predetermined not to admit in Beethoven's character any of the faults frailties and shortcomings of our common human nature will of course censure this explanation let them propose a better finally in the paragraph upon the efforts of Beethoven's brothers to keep all of the composer's friends away from him it is easy to read between the lines that it was risa himself who oft was rebuked for his good nature and frankness which of itself to some extent lessens the force of the charge but it is best met by the first half of the will or testament which with the confessions of agra and amenda as above said open to our knowledge and inner life of the writer studios are concealed from his protege in this solemn document written as he supposed upon the brink of the grave Beethoven touches upon this very question we learn from his own affecting words that the cause of his separation from friends laid not in the machinations of his brothers but in his own sensitiveness he records for future use what he cannot now explain without disclosing his jealously guarded secret that record now serves a double purpose it relieves casper and johan from a portion of the odium so long cast upon their memories improves risa to be in part at least an error without impugning his veracity it is very probable risa never saw the will had he known and carefully read it the prejudices of his youth must have been weakened the opinions founded upon partial knowledge modified he was of too noble a nature not to have badly seen the memories of the dead vindicated not to have been struck with and affected by the words of his deceased master to you brother curl i give special thanks for the attachment you have displayed towards me of late pass we to another topic on frequent occasions says risa he showed a truly paternal interest in me from this source that has sprang the written order in 1802 which he sent me in a fit of anger because of an unpleasant predicament into which carl van Beethoven had gotten me Beethoven wrote you do not need to come to heilig in stott i have no time to lose at the time count brown was indulging himself with pleasures in which i was taking part he being kindly disposed towards me and was in consequence neglecting my lessons the Beethoven during the summer when his vocations were interrupted by the dark hours in which the will was produced could have no time to lose in those lighter days when the spirit of labor was upon him is clear from the surprising list of compositions written and published in this year compositions completed in 1802 the works which were developed were the three violin sonatas opus 30 the first two of the three piano forte sonatas opus 31 the two sets of variations opus 34 and 35 the bag of tails opus 33 and the chief work of the year the second symphony d major opus 36 the works which came from the crest were the piano forte sonatas opus 22 26 and 27 numbers one and two the serenade opus 25 the septet opus 20 the quintet opus 29 the rondo and g opus 51 number two the transcription for strings of a piano forte sonata in e opus 14 number one the variations for bilan cello and piano forte on by manern belcher liba fulin dedicated to count brown the six contra dances and six rustic rand richka dances there were 13 performances of a ballet per medias moreover it is at least remotely possible of the two large works which were played together with the symphonies and cnd at Beethoven's concert on april 5 1803 fees the piano forte concerto and c minor opus 37 and the oratoria christus um uhlberg opus 85 were not so far advanced in all their parts that they too may have occupied the attention of Beethoven in the winter of 1802 203 for nearly all the works completed in 1802 studies are to be found in the sketchbook described in fort by not a bomb which covers the period from the fall of 1801 to the spring of 1802 like the majority of the sketchbooks it contains themes and studies which were never worked out overlooking the sketches which cross each other it says not a bomb and putting aside all that is immaterial the compositions represented in the book which were completed and are known may be set down chronologically as follows up for lead by matheson first form seen in aria for soprano no non-turbarty three of the contra dances bagateau for piano forte number six of opus 33 last movement of the symphony in d major five of the sixth landriska in tanza dorsetto chromata and ja chromata opus 116 first and second movements of the sonata for piano for ten violin in a major opus 30 number one last movement of the sonata for piano for ten violin in a major opus 47 sonata for piano for ten violin in c minor opus 30 number two bagateau for piano forte number five of opus 119 112 first movement of the sonata for piano forte in d minor opus 31 number two the first sketch only sonata for piano forte and violin in g major opus 30 number three last movement of the sonata for piano forte and violin in a major opus 30 number one the theme had been designed before variations for piano forte in e flat major opus 35 preparatory work variations for piano forte in f major opus 34 only the first hints sonata for piano forte in g major opus 31 number one not complete to which may be added as occurring early in the book the theme of the logata of the symphony in d here for horns out of which eventually grew the trio in the scherzo a curious remark on one of the pages seems to be an memorandum for a piece of descriptive music marital felicity dark clouds upon the bra of the husband in which the fair hat unites but still seeks to dispel the evident care taken by the composer at this period to make the opus numbers really correspond to the chronological order of his works is a strong reason for concluding that the violin sonatas opus 30 were completed or nearly so before he removed a haugen start even in that case what wonderful genius and capacity for labor does it show that before the close of the year in spite of ill health and periods of the deepest despondency and of all the interruptions caused by his ordinary vocations after his return to town he had completed the first two sonatas of opus 31 the two extensive and novel sets of variations opus 34 and opus 35 and the noble second symphony all of them witnesses that he had really entered upon a new path neither of them more so than the symphony so amazingly superior to its predecessor in grandeur and originality this was in fact the grand labor of this summer the pianoforte sonatas opus 31 the three sonatas for pianoforte and violin are dedicated to czar alexander the first of russia who is said to have given command that a valuable diamond ring be sent to the composer lence could find no record of such an incident in the imperial archives the sketches show that the movement which now concludes the cruz sonata opus 47 was originally designed for the first of the three the one in a major and that for the adagio of the second in c minor Beethoven assuming that he already associated the theme with the work first contemplated using the key of g the three sonatas of pianoforte opus 31 are without dedication debba nagle connects them or one of them with the following extraordinary letter to halfmeister Vienna april 1802 are you all ridden by the devil gentleman that you propose such a sonata to me at the time of the revolutionary fever well such a thing might have been very well but now when everything is trying to get back into the old rut bonaparte has signed the court courted with the pope such a sonata if it were a missa pro sancta maria atre loki or a basper etc i would take my brush and hand at once and write down a crater in unimbeam in big pound notes the good god such a sonata for these days of newly dawning christianity hello leave me out of it nothing will come of it now my answer in quickest tempo the lady can have a sonata for me and i will follow her plan in respect of aesthetics in a general way and without following the keys price five decades for which she may keep it for her own enjoyment for you neither i nor she to publish it at the expiration of the year the sonata will be mine too that is i shall publish it and she shall have the privilege if she thinks it will be an honor to ask me to dedicate it to her now god keep you gentlemen my sonata is beautifully printed garish stockin that is engraved but it took you a pretty time send my septet into the world a little quicker for the crowd is waiting for it and you know the empress has it and there are scamps in the imperial city as well as the imperial court i can vouch for nothing therefore may case haramola has again recently published my quartets but full of faults in the rata enlarge as well as small form they swarm in them like fish in the sea there is no end of them questo a um ppr kere pair um artori that's pricking music with a vengeance and truth my skin is full of prickings and rips because of this beautiful addition of my quartets now farewell and remember me as i do you till death you're faithful lv betoven an engagement which betoven had obtained from count brown for reese was one that gave him leisure to pursue his studies and he often came to vienna and highly didn't start for that purpose less it happens that the notice and also contribute to the history of these sonatas reese writes betoven had promised the three solo sonatas opus 31 due negelli in zirk while his brother carl caspar who unfortunately was always meddling with his affairs wanted to sell them to a life-sick publisher there were frequent exchanges of words between the brothers on this account because betoven having given his word wanted to keep it when the sonatas the first two were about to be sent away betoven was living in halgenstadt during a promenade new corals arose between the brothers and finally they came to blows the next day gave me the sonatas to send straight to zirk and i let her to his brother and closed in another to stefan van broening who was to read it a prettier lesson because carelessly been read by anybody with a good heart than betoven read his brother on the subject of his conduct on the day before he first pointed it out in its true and contemptible character then he forgave him everything but predicted a bad future for him unless he mended his ways the letter to which he had written to broening was very beautiful the first two sonatas d major and d minor appeared in the spring of 1803 as opus 29 and the galleys repertoire day the third followed soon after as opus 33 together with the sonata pate t as cate 11 of cate 5 negelli sent proof sheets reese reports on the subject as follows when the proof sheets came i found betoven writing played the sonata through he said to me the remaining seated at his writing desk there was an unusual number of errors in the proofs which fact already made betoven impatient at the end of the first allegor in the sonata and g major however negelli had introduced four measures after the fourth measure of the last hold when i played this betoven jumped up in a rage came running to me half pushed me away from the pianoforte shouting where the devil do you find that one can scarcely imagine his amazement and rage when he saw the printed notes i received the commission to make a record of all the errors and at once send those sonatas to simlac and barn who was to make a reprint and call it addition tray corrector in this place belong three notes to me one be good enough to make a note of the errors and send the record of them at once to simlac with the request that he published as soon as possible day after tomorrow i will send him the sonata and conchata two i must beg you again to do the disagreeable work of making a clear copy of the errors in the xeric sonatas and sending it to simlac you will find a list of the errors at my house in the beaten three deris not only are the expression marks poorly indicated but there are all so false notes in several places therefore be careful or the work will again be in vain cha detto lamato beine the closing words of the second note show that the matter was not brought to an end until late in the spring of 1803 after betoven had removed into the theater buildings under vian after the sonatas became known in vienna dola zelec asked betoven if a certain passage in the deep minus sonata was correct certainly it is correct replied the composer but you are a countryman of crump pulse nothing will go into that hard bohemian head of yours a circumstance related by zoni if accepted as authoritative proves that two of the three sonatas were completed in the country once when he betoven saw a writer gallop past his windows in his summer sojourn in halgenstadt near vienna the regular beat of the horses hoofs gave him the idea for the theme of the finale of the d-minus sonata opus 31 number two the six variations in f on an original theme opus 34 dedicated to the princess odyskalki were probably composed immediately after the variations in e-flat opus 35 in the midst of the sketches for the latter in the kessler sketchbook two measures of the theme are noted and the remark appended each variation in a different key but alternately passages now in the left hand and then almost the same or different ones in the right the two sets of variations in the quintet opus 29 were sold to breitkopf and hartel in october 1802 in a letter at which the publisher is received from the composer on october 1802 betoven writes characteristics of the variations i've made two sets of variations of which the first may be said to number eight the second 30 both are written in a really entirely new style in each in quite a different way i should very much like to have them published by you but under the one condition that the honorarium be about 50 forums for the two sets do not let me make this offer in vain for i assure you you will never regret the two works each theme in them is treated independently in a wholly different manner as a rule i only hear of it through others when i have new ideas since i never know it myself at this time i can assure you myself that the style in both works is new to me a more interesting letter received by breitkopf and hartel on december 26 1802 relates to the same subject it demands insertion in full instead of the noise about a new method of the variations such as would be made by our neighbors the gall of frank's like for instance a certain frank composer who presents fugues operae um novelle metode it consisting of this that the fugue is no fugue etc i nevertheless want to call attention to the fact that these v differ at least from others and this i thought i could do in the most unconstrained and least conspicuous manner by means of that little preparatory note which i beg of you to print in the small as well as the large v leaving it for you to say in what language or how many languages since we port germans are compelled to speak in all tongues here is the preparatory note in as much as these v differ materially from my earlier ones i have instead of designing them merely by number one two three etc included them in the list of my greater musical works and this also for the further reason that the themes are original the author note well if you find it necessary to change or improve anything you have my entire permission that by the large variations whose number 30 bright cough and hardtail seemed to have called in question bay provident his opus 35 is made plain by a third letter running as follows vienna april eight 1803 i've wanted to write to you for a long time but my business affairs are so many that they permit but little correspondence you seem to be mistaken in your opinion that there are not as many variations as i stated only it would not do to announce the number as there is no way of telling how in the large set three variations are run into each other in the adagio and if you can certainly not be called a variation nor the introduction which is you may see for yourself begins with the base of the theme then expands to two three and finally four parts when the theme at last makes its appearance which again cannot be called a variation etc but if this is not clear to you send me a proof sheet along with the manuscript dressing as a copy is printed so that that may be guarded against confusion you would do me a great favor if you would omit from the large variations the dedication to abe stadler and print the following these day da et cetera ah monsieur le con morise legnowski is a brother of prince legnowski and only recently did me an unexpected favor and i have no other opportunity to return the kindness if you have already engraved the dedication to abe stadler i would gladly pay the cost of changing the title page do not hesitate write what the expense will be and i will pay it with pleasure i earnestly beg you to do this if you have not sent out any copies in the case of the small variations the dedication to prince's odyssal key remains i thank you very much for the beautiful things of sebastian box i will preserve and study them should there be a continuation of the pieces send them to me also if you have a good text for our cantata or other vocal piece send it to me in spite of betoven's warning opus 34 was printed without the proof having been read by him this provoked another letter calling attention to a large number of errors in the publication of which betoven promised to send a list he also expressed the fear that the large variations would also be faulty the more since his own manuscript had been put into the hands of the engraver and asked that the fact that the theme was from his ballet from ethios b indicated on the title page if there were still time offering as in the case of the dedication to pay the cost of the change a guinea bag to be permitted to correct the proof copy a request which was ignored in this instance as it had been in the first the result was a somewhat gentle protest in another letter october 1803 in which betoven offered the firm the variations on god save the king and rural britannia the song valk tell schlag and three marches for the piano forte four hands the conclusion of the letter with his post grip has a double value as an exhibition of betoven's attitude towards the criticism of his day and as a contribution to the debated question touching the illicit printing of some of his early compositions we quote please thank the editor of the mz music zeitung for his kindness in giving place to the flattering report of my oratory in which there is so much rude lying about the prices which i made and i'm so infamously treated which is i suppose an evidence of impartiality for all i care so long as this makes for the fortune of the mz what magnanimity is not asked of the true artist and not wholly without impropriety but on the other hand what detestable and vulgar attacks upon us are permitted answer immediately and next time another topic as always you're devoted lv betoven note well all the pieces which i've offered you are entirely new since unfortunately so many are lacking things of mine have been sold and stolen it was through the printing of the letters to breitkopf and hartel that the fact became known that betoven originally had intended to dedicate the variations in e-flat to our base tatler the rondo and g which was announced by half-meister and canal on march 19 1803 was published in connection with the rondo and c which had already appeared in 1798 as opus 51 numbers one and two it was originally dedicated to countess gia giardi by betoven gave her the sonata and c sharp minor in exchange for it and has grabbed the rondo to countess henry of magnofsky this would seem to indicate that it was finished before the sonata probably in 1801 nada bomb has proved in a study of the kessler sketchbook that the sixth of the bag of tales indeed major had its origin in 1802 when betoven was at work on the second symphony end of section 25 end of the life of ludwig van betoven volume one by alexander wheelock they are translated by henry edward crevue