 Section 22 of the Life of Ludwig von Beethoven, Volume 1 by Alexander Wheelock-Fayer, translated by Henry Edward Cruebiel. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain, Chapter 20, Letters of 1801, The Beginning of Beethoven's Deafness, the Criticisms of a Life-Sick Journal, Bond Friends in Vienna, Leica, Bruning, Rhys, Zerning, Chronology Adjusted, let us now turn back to the important letters written in the summer of 1801 beginning with two written to his friend, Amanda, which were first published in that signal of 1852, Number 5, the first, without date or record of place, is as follows, How can Amanda doubt that I shall always remember him because I do not write or have not written to him, as if memory could only be preserved in such a manner. A thousand times the best of all men that I ever learned to know comes into my mind. Yes, of the two men who have my entire love, of which one still lives, you are the third. How can recollection of you die out of my mind? You shall soon receive a long letter from me concerning my present condition and everything about me that might interest you. Farewell, dear, good, noble friend, keep me always in your love, your friendship, as I shall forever remain your faithful Beethoven. The longer letter which he had promised to send to his friend is dated June 1, 1801. The composer's health in 1801. My dear, good Amanda, my cordial friend, I received and read your last letter with mixed pain and pleasure. To what shall I compare your fidelity, your attachment to me? It is so beautiful that you've always been true to me, and I know how to single you out and deep you above all others. You are not a Viennese friend. No, you are one of those who spring from the ground of my native land. How often do I wish you were with me for your Beethoven is living an unhappy life, quarreling with nature and its creator, often cursing the latter because he surrendered his creatures to the nearest accident which sometimes broke or destroyed the most beautiful blossoms. Know that my noblest faculty, my hearing, has greatly deteriorated. When you were still with me, I felt the symptoms but kept silent. Now it is continually growing worse. And whether or not a cure as possible has become a question, but it is said to be due to my bowels. And so far as they are concerned, I am nearly restored to health. I hope indeed that my hearing will also improve, but I am dubious because such diseases are the most incurable. How sad is my lot? I must avoid all things that are due to me and live among such miserable and egotistical men and as and others. I must say that amongst them all, Lugnovsky is the most satisfactory since last year he has settled an income of 600 florns on me. And the good sale of my works enables me to live without care. I could sell everything that I compose five times over and at a good price. I've written considerably of late. And as I hear that you have ordered a piano foretape from, I will send you various things in the box of the instruments of it need not cost you much. To my comfort, there has lately come a man with whom I can share the pleasures of association and unselfish friendship is one of the friends of my youth have often spoken of you to him and told him that since I left my fatherland, you've been the only choice of my heart is not very satisfactory to him. He is and always will be too weak for friendship. I use him and only as instruments on which I play when I please but they can never become witnesses of my whole internal and external activities or real participants in my feelings. I estimate them not only what they are worth to me or how happy would I be if my hearing were completely restored. Then would I hurry to you but as it is I must refrain from everything and the most beautiful years of my life must pass without accomplishing the promise of my talent and powers a sad resignation to which I must resort over indeed. I'm resolved to rise superior to every obstacle but how will that be possible? Yes, Amanda, if my infirmity shows itself to be incurable in half a year I shall appeal to you. You must abandon everything and come to me. My affliction causes me the least trouble in playing and composing the most in association with others and you must be my companion. I'm sure my fortune will not desert me. What might I not say since you have been gone? I've composed everything except operas in church music. You will not deny me. You will help your friend bear his cares in affliction. I've also greatly bettered my piano forza playing and I hope the journey will perhaps make your fortune. Afterward you will remain with me. I've received all of your letters and despite the fact that I answered so few you were always with me and my heart still beats as tenderly for you as ever it did. I beg of you to keep the matter of my deafness a profound secret to be confided to nobody no matter who it is. Right to me very often your letters no matter how short comfort me do me good and as soon as I expect another from you my dear fellow do not lend your quartet to anybody because I've changed it greatly having just learned how properly to write quartets as you will observe when you receive it. Now farewell my dear good fellow if you think I can do something for you here command me as a matter of course your faithful and truly affectionate LV Beethoven in the same month Beethoven wrote again to the publisher half master to this effect. I'm a little amazed at what you have communicated to me through the local representative of your business. I'm almost vexed to think that you consider me capable of such a trick. It would be a different matter if I had sold my wares only to avaricious tradesmen hoping that they would make a good speculation on the slide but as artists towards artists it is a bit harsh to think such things of me. It looks to me as if the whole matter had been planned to test me or to be merely a suspicion. In either case I inform you that before you received the septet from me I sent it to London to Mr. Solomon for performance at his concerts but out of mere friendship but with the understanding that he should have a care that it should not fall into the hands of strangers because I intended that it should be published in Germany concerning which if you think it necessary he may make inquiry of him. But in order to prove my honesty I give you the assurance here with that I have not sold the septet can chair to the symphony and listen out to anybody but you half my strength now and that you may consider it sick as your exclusive property and to this I pledge my honor you may make such use of this assurance as you please. As for the rest I believe as little that Solomon is capable of being guilty of having the septet printed as I am having sold it to him. I'm so conscientious that I have denied the applications of various publishers to print the piano for the arrangement of the septet and yet I do not know whether or not you intend to make such use of it. On June twenty ninety we sent the phone longer letter to Vegler who published it in his noticing. Vienna June twenty nine my good dear Vegler greetings to old friends in Bonn. How greatly do I thank you for thinking of me. I have so little deserved it and so little tried to deserve anything from you and yet you are so very good and refused to be held aloof by anything not even by my unpardonable remissness remaining always my true good brave friend. Do not believe that I could forget you who are always so dear to me now. There are moments when I long for you and would like to be with you. My fatherland the beautiful region in which I first saw the light is still as clear and beautiful before my eyes as when I left you in short I shall look upon that period as one of the happiest incidents of my life when I shall see you again and greet Father Ryan. When this shall be I cannot now tell you but I want to say that you will see me again only as a great man. You shall receive me as a great artist but as a better and more perfect man and if the conditions are improved in our fatherland my art shall be employed in the service of the poor. Oh happy moment how happy am I that I created the can invoke the you want to know something about my situation it is not so bad since last year unbelievable as it may sound even after I tell you like Noski who has always remained my warmest friend there were little quarrels between us but they only serve to strengthen our friendship set aside a thick sum of 600 forms for me to draw against so long as I remained without a position worthy of me from my compositions I have a large income and I may say that I have more commissions than it is possible for me to fill besides I have six or seven publishers and might have more if I chose they no longer bargain with me I ask and they pay you see it is very convenient for instance I see your friend in need and my purse does not permit me to help him at once I've only to sit down and in a short time help is at hand moreover I'm a better businessman than formally if I remain here always I shall bring it to pass that I shall always reserve a day for my concert of which I give several the only pity is that my evil demon my bad health is continually putting a spoke in my wheel by which I mean that my hearing has grown steadily worse for three years for which my bowels that you know were always wretched and have been getting worse since I'm always troubled with a dysentery in addition to unusual weakness are said to be responsible wrong when I don't have my body by tonic medicines and restore my hearing with almond oil but frozen nothing came of the effort my hearing grew worse and worse and my bowels remained as they had been this lasted until the autumn of last year and I was often in despair then came up medical acid advised me to take cold baths a more sensible one to take the usual lukewarm danube bath that worked wonders my bowels improved my hearing remained or became worse I was really miserable during this winter I had frightful attacks of colic and I fell back into my previous condition and so things remained until about four weeks ago when I went to varying thinking that my condition demanded a surgeon and having great confidence in him he succeeded almost wholly in stopping the awful diarrhea he prescribed the lukewarm danube bath into which I have each time to pour a little bottle of strengthening stuff gave me no medicine of any kind until about four weeks ago when he prescribed pills for my stomach and a kind of tea for my ear since then I can say I'm stronger and better only my ears whistle and buzz continually day and night I can say I'm living a wretched life for two years I have avoided almost all social gatherings because it is impossible for me to say to people I'm deaf if I belong to any other profession it would be easy but in my profession it is an awful state the more since my enemies who are not view what would they say in order to give you an idea of the singular deafness of mine I must tell you that in the theater I must get very close to the orchestra in order to understand the actor if I'm a little distant I do not hear the high terms of the instruments singers and if I be but a little far the way I do not hear at all frequently I can hear the tones of a low conversation but not the words and as soon as anybody shouts it is intolerable it seems singular but in conversation there are people who do not notice my condition at all attributing it to my absent mindedness heaven knows what will happen to me hearing says that there will be an improvement if no complete cure I have often cursed my existence Plutarch taught me resignation if possible I will bid defiance to my faith although there will be moments in my life when I shall be the unhappiest of God's creatures I beg of you to say nothing of my condition to anybody not even to Lord King I entrust the secret only to you I would be glad if you were to correspond with bearing on that subject if my condition continues I will go to you next spring you could hire a house for me in some pretty place in the country for half a year I would be a farmer this might bring about a change resignation what a wretched refuge and yet the only one opens me forgive me that I have these cares of friendship to yours which is soft enough as it is Stefan Bruning is here now and we are together almost daily it does me so much good to revive the old emotions he has really become a good splendid youngster who knows the thing or two and like us all has his heart in the right place have a pretty domicile on that bastion which is doubly valuable because of my health I believe I shall make it possible for Bruning to come to me you shall have your Antioch and also many musical compositions of mine if you do not think they will cost you too much honestly your love for art still delights me much write to me how it is to be done and I will send you all my compositions already a goodly number and increase in daily in return for the portrait of my grandfather which I beg of you to send me as soon as possible but male coach I'm sending you that of his grandson your good and affectionate Beethoven which is to be published here by Artalia who like many others including art dealers have often asked me for it I shall soon write to stop for and give him a piece of my mind concerning a stubborn disposition I will make his ears ring with the old friendship and he shall promise me by all that is holy not to offend you further in your present state of unhappiness I shall also write to good Lord I've never forgotten one of you good people even if I did not write to you but you know that writing was never my fault the best of my friends have not had a letter from me in years I live only in my notes and when one composition is scarce the end of another is already begun as I compose at present I frequently work on three or four compositions at the same time write to me often hereafter I will try occasionally to find time to write to you give greetings to all including the good madame counselor and tell her that I still occasionally have a raptus as regards k I do not at all wonder over his change fortune is round like a ball and therefore does not always drop on the noblest and best a word about Reese whom I greet heartily so far as his son is concerned I should have liked you more in detail although I think that he would be more fortunate in Paris than in Vienna Vienna is overcrowded and the most meritorious find it extremely difficult to maintain themselves in the autumn or winter I shall see what I can do for him for at that time the public raise back to the city farewell good faithful beggar be assured of the love and friendship of your Beethoven on November 16 you wrote in greater detail the beggar my good beggar I thank you for the new evidence of concern in my behalf all the more since I deserve so little at your hands you want to know how it goes with me what I need as little as I'd like to discuss such matters I would rather do it with you than with others deafness and a romantic attachment for several months during has had this katori placed on both arms which consists as you know of a certain bark this is a very unpleasant remedy in as much as I'm robbed of the free use of my arms for a few days until the bark has had its effect to say nothing of the pain it is true I cannot deny that the ringing and sounding of my ears has become less than usual especially in the left ear where my deafness began my hearing has not been improved and I dare not say that it has not grown worse rather than better my bowels are in a better condition especially after the lukewarm baths for a few days when I feel quite well for eight or ten days seldom needing a tonic from my stomach I'm beginning to use the herbs on that belly as suggested by you bearing will hear nothing to plunge baths and I'm thoroughly dissatisfied with him is much too little care and consideration for such a disease if I did not go to him which cost me a great deal of trouble I should not see him at all what do you think of Schmidt I do not like to change but it seems me bearings too much about practitioner to acquire new ideas Schmidt seems to me a very different sort of man and perhaps would not be so negligent miracles or told of galvanism whatever you to say about it about the tome that he had seen a deaf and dumb child recover his hearing in Berlin again and a man who had been deaf seven years got well I'm living more pleasantly since I live more amongst men you will scarcely believe how lonely inside my life was for two years my bad hearing haunted me everywhere like a ghost and I've read for mankind and seemed like a missing throat though far from being one this change has been brought by a dear fascinating girl who loves me and whom I love there have been a few blessed moments within the last two years and it is the first time that I feel that marriage might bring me happiness unless she is not of my station and now it would be impossible for me to marry I must still hustle about most actively if it were not for my deafness I should before now have traveled over half the world and that I must do there is no greater delight for me than to practice and show my art do not believe that I would be happy with you what is there that could make me happier even your care would give me pain I would see pity on your faces every minute and be only the unhappier what did those beautiful native regions bestow upon me nothing except the hope of a better state of health which would have come had not this affliction seized upon me or if I were rid of this affliction I could embrace the world I feel that my youth is just beginning and I have I not always been ill my physical strength has for a short time passed been steadily growing more than ever and also my mental powers day by day I'm approaching the goal which I apprehend but cannot describe is only in this that Europe Beethoven can live tell me nothing of rest I know I've none but sleep and what was me that I must give up more time to it than usual grant me but half freedom from my affliction and then as a complete right man I shall return to you and the new the old feelings of friendship you must see me as happy as it is possible to be here below not unhappy no I cannot endure it I will take fate by the throat it shall not hold it overcoming oh it is so beautiful to live to live a thousand times I feel that I am not made for a quiet life you will write to me as soon as you can see that Stefan secures an appointment of some kind in that teutonic order life here is connected with too many hardships for his health besides he lives so isolated and existence but I cannot see how he is to get along in this manner you know the state of affairs here I will not say that social life may not lessen his moodiness but it is impossible to persuade him to go anywhere a short time ago I had a music hall at my home yet our friend Stefan did not come advise him to seek more rest and composure I've done my best in this direction without these he never will be again happy or well tell me in your next letter whether or not it will matter if I send you a great deal of my music you can sell what you do not need and so get back to the postman and my portrait all possible lovely and necessary greetings to Lorcan, Mama and Christof you love me a little do not be assured of the love and friendship of your Beethoven a commentary upon these letters the first two accepted which need none might be made by a moderate indulgence of poetic fancy to fill a volume of respectable size but rigidly confined to prosaic fact may be reduced to reasonable dimensions taking up the letters in the order the first is that to Hothmeister of at Pearl 22nd 1 one of the earliest projects of the new firm of Hothmeister and Kuno was the publication of J Sebastian Bach's theoretical and practical clavier and organ works the first number contained one to cut it in D-flat two 15 inventions three the well-tempered clavichord in part the second number one 15 symphonies and three voices two continuation of the well-tempered clavichord now compare what generous says third edition two 184 of the arch father Johann Sebastian Bach the stock was a very small one except for a few motets which have been sung at the house of on Sweden besides these the majority of pieces were those familiarly known namely the well-tempered clavichord which showed signs of diligent study three volumes of exercises 15 inventions 15 symphonies and a tucata in D minor this collection of pieces in a single volume is to be found in my possession attached to these was a sheet of paper in which in a strange hand writing was to be read the following passage from J. N. Forkell's book on the life and artwork of Johann Sebastian Bach the pretense that the musical art is an art for all years cannot be substantiated by Bach but is disproved by the mere existence and uniqueness of his works which seem to be destined only for connoisseurs only the connoisseur who can summarize the inner organization and feel it and penetrate to the intention of the artist which does nothing needlessly is privileged to judge here indeed the judgment of a musical connoisseur can scarcely be better attested than by seeing how lightly he has learned the works of Bach on both sides of this passage there were interrogation points from the thickest note Panabatova as a gloss on that learned historian and most eminent of all Bachians no Hogarth could have put a glimmer look for a more questioning expression into an interrogation point Nagala who professed long to have entertained the design to publish Bach's most admirable works issued his proposals in February written with some degree of aspirate against the double competition which he had already learned was confronting him of his edition of the well-temporal Chivalric Beethoven also possessed a part the names left blank in publishing this letter are easily supplied Baron Karl August von Liechtenstein the same to whom from 1825 to 1832 was confided the management of the opera in Berlin who died there in 1845 had been so extravagantly praised as had the princely music at the salve that he was called to assume the chapel mastership of the Imperial Opera in Vienna near the end of 1800 the contemporary reports of his efficiency as conductor highly favorable he deserves the credit of determining to add to the repertoire of the Imperial Opera Mozart's Salve & Flutter which till then had been heard by the Viennese only in the little theater of Tim Beeden it is worth mentioning that Liechtenstein brought with him from Dessau poor niece daughter Felice now madame Rossner and that she was the farmena of this performance in the first new work produced April 16th upon the Imperial stage after Beethoven's Bermuthius music Liechtenstein introduced himself to the Vienna public in the character of a composer it was in his opera Bach-Mundi completely revised the result was a wretched half-meister's long and familiar acquaintance with Vienna its musicians and its leaders would cause him readily to appreciate the fun and wit of Beethoven's remark that the newly engaged chapel master and composer of the Imperial opera seems to have taken for an ideal Mr. M. Müller the often Bach of that time but without reaching even him considering that the baron was yet a young man at the most but three years older than Beethoven the somewhat bitter mark which follows the jest appears natural enough the composer in his early critics too Beethoven had just cause for indignation in the treatment which he had received at the hands of the writers for the algemina musical Liska Zeitung the leipzig oxen of his letter of January 15th half-meister had evidently written him on the subject in his reticence and confining himself in reply to a single contemptuous sentence the writing and the confidence of private correspondence is something unexpected not less so is the manly dignified and in genuine style of his answer to Breitkopf and Hartel upon the same topic in the letter of April 22nd the first number of that famous musical journal take it for all in all the noblest ever published appeared October 3rd, 7098 edited by Roche Litz published by Breitkopf and Hartel and the second number Z eulogizes the six fugatos of that lad Siam von Weber in the 10th young almost sonatas opus three of a view in the 15th the name of Beethoven first appears B's in the title of three sonatas dedicated to him by Volfler at length in number 23 March 1770 99 is introduced to the readers of the journal as an author not of one or more of the eight trios ten sonatas the Quintet and Serenade which make up the opera one to 11 then published but as the writer of the 12 variations on Ein, Magschen, Oder and Vibe Chen and Eight on Una, Vibe, Blonte the criticisms are a perfect reflex of the conventional musical thought of the period and can be read now with a used interest at least there is no room here for their production in full the writer in recognizes the clever pianoforte player in the variations but cannot see evidences in them of equal capacity as a composer he likes some of them and willingly admits that those on Una, Vibe, Blonte are more successful than those of Mozart who in his early youth also created the same subject that Mozart did not write the variations referred to and when great trees reshared Cur de Leon from which the theme was borrowed was first performed in Paris Mozart was not in his early youth but 28 years old the critic discounts with disapproval on certain harshnesses and the modulations illustrating them holds up Haydn as a model chooser of themes and commends the comments of Vogler on a set of variations on God's save became printed in a little book on the subject thus Beethoven found in the first recognition of himself as a composer in that journal to composition which he did not think worthy of Opus numbers to the neglect of all his better works made the subject of center and ridicule for the purpose of putting and advertising a pamphlet by Vogler were his own subsequent variations on God's save became an effect of this article number 23 of the Pella Algamina Musical Liska Zeitung contains nearly two pages from the panel Spazier on Liechtenstein's opera the Astonina well and a parallel between Beethoven and Vogler as pianist then in that next number the beautiful Trio Opus 6 finds of our viewer here is the whole of his article his trio which in part is not easier but more flowing that many other pieces by the same author makes an excellent ensemble on that piano forte with accompaniment the composer with his unusual harmonic knowledge and love for serious composition will provide us many things which would leave many hand organ things far in the rear even those composed by famous men if he would but try to write more naturally good ones say less the Leipzig oxen are now ruminating upon the noble sonatas for piano forte in violin Opus 12 in number 36 June 70 99 contains the result the critic who here before has been unfamiliar with the piano forte pieces of the author must admit after having looked through these strange sonatas overladen with difficulties that after diligent and strenuous labor he felt like a man who had hoped to make a promenade without genuine friend through a tempting force and found himself barred every minute by inimical barriers returning at last exhausted without having had any pleasure it is undeniable that Mr. Beethoven goes his own gate but what a bizarre and similar gate it is learn it learn it and always learn it and nothing natural no song yes to be accurate there is only a mass of learning here without good method obstinacy but for which we feel but little interest a striving for strange modulations an objection to customer associations a heaping up of difficulties on difficulties still one loses all patience and enjoyment another critic Mr. Z number 24 has said almost the same thing on the present writer must agree with him completely nevertheless the present work must not be rejected wholly it has value and maybe of excellent use for already practiced pianoforte players there are always many who love difficulties in invention and composition what we might call perversities and if they play these sonatas with great precision they may derive delight in the music as well as an agreeable feeling of satisfaction and Mr. B B wished to deny himself a bit more and follow the course of nature he might with his talent and industry do a great deal for an instrument which he seems to have so wonderfully under his control that is best on to number 38 of the journal where we find half a dozen notices to arrest our attention variations by Zhukun Zigg for two violins are written in good taste and conveniently for the instrument variations for the pianoforte by Phillip Flon are very satisfactory and some among them along with the best of their kind variations by Heinrich Eppinger for violin, violin, cello deserve honorable mention but acts variations poor le clever assain sous le duo la stressa la stressa sima par lb Beethoven the credit cannot at all be satisfied with because they are stiff and strained and what awkward passages are in them where harsh pirates and continuous semitones create an ugly relationship and reverse no it is true Mr. Van Beethoven may be able to improvise but he does not know how to write variations change in the tone of criticism now however the tide begins to turn after an interval of nearly four months in number two of volume two October 7099 the sonatas opus 12 for pianoforte and violin have a page allotted to them a few sentences to show the tone of the article will suffice for the praise of Beethoven needs no repetition it is not to be denied that Mr. VB is a man of genius possessed of originality and who goes his own way in this he is assured by his extraordinary thoroughness in the higher style of writing and his unusual command of the instrument for which he writes he being unquestionably one of the best pianoforte composers and players of our time his abundance of ideas of which a striving genius never seems to be able to let go so soon as he has got possession of a subject worthy of his fancy only too frequently leads into pile up ideas et cetera fancy in the extraordinary degree which Beethoven possesses supported too by extraordinary knowledge is a valuable possession and indeed an indispensable one for a composer et cetera the critic who after he has tried to accustom himself more and more to Mr. Beethoven's manner has learned to admire him more than he did at first can scarcely suppress the wish that it might occur to this fanciful composer to practice a certain economy in his labors this tenth collection as the critic has said seems deserving of high praise good invention and earnest manly style well ordered thoughts in every part difficulties not carried to an excess in entertaining treatment of the harmony lift these sonatas above the many in number 21 February 1800 justice is done to the sonata pate di except a passing notice of the publication of the quartets opus 18 made by a correspondent by in three of the algarmina musical liska Zeitung contains nothing on the works of Beethoven so that more than a year passed between the favorable review of the sonata pate di can that leather to bike often hard tell of April 22nd the mild tone of that message is therefore easily explained the tone of the journal has completely changed this fact in time had us wage Beethoven's wrath and finally the publisher is implying to him for manuscripts have made the amanda honorable in the number of May 26th begins with a notice of the two sonatas for piano forte and violin opus 23 and opus 24 that long series of fair candid and generously utilizing articles on Beethoven's works which culminated in July 18th in a magnificent review of the C minor symphony by E.T. A. Hoffman a labor of love that laid the foundation of a new school of musical criticism three upon the last topic of the letter to bike cotton hard tell something remains to be said it was in the intelligence block of the algarmina musical liska Zeitung for May 1800 that Ross Litz made a touching appeal for aid for the last survivor of Sebastian Bach's children this family says he has now died out down to the single daughter of the great Sebastian Bach and this daughter is not very old this daughter is starving the publishes out the music Zeitung and that offer to obligate if anybody shall entrust us with money to forward it in the most expeditious and careful manner and to give account of it in the intelligence blocker the first account is in the paper for December Regina Susanna Bach publishes her thanks for 96 dollars and five silver grossions contributed as the careful account of 16 persons for whom in Vienna sent more than 80 Florence leaving certainly but a small sum as the offering of her German one other and only one account appears in June 1801 it is an acknowledgement by Rocklett Schreikopf and Hartel and Fahlein Bach of having received on May 10 the considerable sum of 307 Florence Viennese the equal of 200 dollars through the Viennese musician Andrea Streicher collected by Streicher and Count Fries at the same time the famous Viennese composer Herat von Beethoven published one of his newest works solely for the benefit of the daughter of Bach so that the good old lady may derive the benefit of it from time to time therefore he nobly urges that the publication be hastened as much as possible lest the daughter of Bach die before his object be obtained whether or not any such work was published is not known unsupported conjectures as to the names left blank in that letter to Amanda when a regiment printed in that some gnollen are of no use and if made might there hereafter expose the conjecture to just ridicule they remain then but to topics which require a word of comment the year omitted in the date and the friend of his youth of whom Beethoven speaks in such long terms of affection both of which however may better be disposed of in what is to be said upon the letter to Begler of June 29 this long important and very interesting paper affords an illustration of the readiness with which a conjecture may be accepted as a truth until when it's completely subjected to rigid examination thus in using this letter for a particular purpose Begler's date most probably 1800 was accepted as it had universally been for 40 years without question but the moment it became necessary to subject its entire contents to careful scrutiny for the purposes of this biography the era became at once so apparent as would it to awaken a feeling of mortification for the temporary blindness that allowed it to pass on question the illusion to Cezanne Bach you see it very convenient as cited to his change of lodgings to the publication of his portrait by Altaria and in this second letter to the change of his positions are all more or less indicative of the true date 1801 while the mention of boonings returned to Vienna is proved positive finally the similarity almost identity of passages in the amended letter two portions of this shows that the two belong to the same June thus we at last have the gratification of seeing these two valuable documents fall easily and naturally into their true place in Beethoven's history it is worth noting that this regular letter offers at the least appears to offer an example of Beethoven's occasional loose way of making statements as in the letter to Brechtkopf and Hartel he writes as if he had half a dozen unpublished concertos on hand so now he speaks of having already given several akkad mian and yet the most careful research has failed to show that his concerts were at least on more than three in number in all or that he had ever even given more than one public concert in Vienna perhaps however he may have included those given in Prague in his several as nothing can be added to his account of his bad health and incipient deafness be passed to the passages upon burning and Reese arrival in Vienna of Anton Leica for the opinion was before expressed that the man spoken of in the amended letters having come to Vienna to Beethoven's comfort was Anton Leica they were alike in age Leica being but a few months the elder and alike in taste and pursuits Reica was superior in the culture of schools and in what is called musical learning Beethoven ingenious and originality as a composer and in skill as a pianist the talents of each commanded the respect of the other both were aspiring ambitious yet diverged sufficiently in their views of art to prevent all invidious rivalry Reica gained a reputation which in process of time secured him the high position which he held during the last 20 years of his life that of may holds successor in the Paris cons that about 12 to Beethoven who was still digesting plans for musical tours the experience of his friend must have been of great value not less to Reica the experience of Beethoven in Vienna but he was by no means dependent upon Beethoven for an introduction into the highest musical circles of the capital it has been shown in a previous chapter how freely this along were open to every talented young musician but beyond this he bore a well known name and the veteran Haydn kindly remembered him as one of the promising young men who had paid him their respects and bond his opera Ubaldi was performed in Prince Lab Kavitsa's palace and this probably led to his introduction to the Empress Maria Tracia who gave him an Italian libretto Argenna Regina da Granata for a composition in which the Empress herself sang a part of the private performance in the palace thus Beethoven and Reica again met and lived on equal terms we spent 14 years together said the latter as closely united as Orestes and Pilates and were always together and are you after eight years separation we met each other again in Vienna and confided all our experiences through each other Beethoven and Stepan Don Boone five when Vegler says of Stepan Don Boone but he had with short interruption spent his life in closest association to Beethoven from his tenth year to his death he says too much and too little when he writes that Beethoven had once broken for a considerable space with Boone and with what then did he not for besides the quarrel which Reece describes there came at last so decided a separation that Boone's name disappears from our history for a period of eight to ten years and that too not from his fault it was impossible that the two should have met in 1801 on such terms as those on which they had parted in 1796 Boone passed this interval of five years in a small provincial town Murgentown in that monotonous routine of a petty office in the service of semi military semi religious institution which had so sunk in grandeur of power as to be a little more than a venerable name a relic of the past in the same service he had now returned to Vienna how Beethoven had been employed and how he had risen we have seen thus their relative positions and society had completely changed Beethoven now moved familiar in circles to which Boone could have access only by his or some other fan's protection and view of the relation in which Begra stood to the Boone family Beethoven might well have said more about Stefan but not easily less even here something of patronizing contraception in the tonebakes itself felt which becomes far too pronounced when he speaks of him in the second letter that of November reading these passages in connection with those unlucky sentences in the Amanda letter which have been centred in another place one feels that Boone had been made sensible to a painful degree how great his friend had grown Begra himself is struck by Boone's non-appearance at Beethoven's private concert and remarks he must have felt his disappointment with this old friend all the more since Boone had been developed by Father Wietz from an amateur to a most admirable violinist and had several times played in electoral concerts the more thoroughly the character of Boone is examined not only in his subsequent relations to Beethoven but also in the light of all that is known of him as a public official as a husband father and friend the higher he stands as a man under circumstances in his office fitted to try his patience beyond the ordinary limits of endurance he never failed to bear himself nobly as a man of high principle ever ready to sacrifice private and personal considerations to the call of duty in private life he was invariably just, generous, tenacious of the right whatever causes he may have had on diverse occasions to complain of Beethoven we learn nothing of them from his correspondence so far as it has been made public unless a single passive cited by Begra be thought an exception yet this is but the expression of heartfelt sorrow and compassion not one word of anger and we know that Beethoven went in distress never turned to him in vain for sympathy nor for such a as was in his power to hear in the miserable years to come the reader will learn enough of Boone though by no means a prominent figure to feel respect and admiration for his character and to see for himself how unjust to him were those letters written by Beethoven under the impulse of short-lived collar which Reese has contributed to that noticing there is some temptation to think that Boone was of those whom Beethoven estimated at only what they were worth to him but let us trust that should ever the blanks and the amended letter be filled from the autograph his name will not be found certainly not if the conjecture as to the time of the Mendes residence and Vienna prove correct it is difficult to avoid saying either too much or too little and such a topic is this of Boone and Beethoven to strike the just meeting and the strength of the language used but this subject has been made the occasion of so much in judicious comment it was not possible to pass it over six the intelligents bought a bond under data November 30, 1784 announces the baptism on the precinct day offered a man some of Frans Reese like many others who have become eminent musicians his taste and capabilities manifested themselves very early as at five years old he began his musical education under his father and afterwards under Bernard Lomburg the celebrated the along cello player the French invasion the departure of Lomburg in consequence 1794 from Bonn and the cuniery straights to which Frans Reese was reduced prevented much attention being for some time paid to the instruction of his son at last when he was about 13 he had reached the age of 13 years says the Ryan Nisker antiquaries a friend of his father took him to Orangeburg and West Bailey for the purpose of learning thorough base in composition from an organ player in that neighborhood the pupil proved so much the more able to teach of the two that the organism was obliged to give the matter up at once and proposed to young Reese to teach him the violin instead as a piece of this was accepted and Reese remained at Orangeburg about nine months after which he returned home he remained upwards of two years improving himself in his art with great industry at length in the year 1801 he went to Munich with the same friend who had formally taken him to Orangeburg here he was thrown upon his own resources and throughout the crime and disparity circumstances which was slight except attended the next years of his life he appears to have displayed a firmness and energy and an independence of mine the more honorable perhaps from that very early age which they were called into action and Munich Mr. Reese was left by his friend with little money about very slender prospects he tried for some time to procure pupils but was at last reduced to copy music at three pence per sheet with his scanty potency not only continued to keep himself free from embarrassments but saved a few decades to take him to Vienna where he had hopes of patronage and advancement from Beethoven he set out from Munich with only seven decades and reached Vienna before they were exhausted the citations are from that noble musical Journal of the London Harmonica and belong to an article on Reese published in March 1824 they correspond perfectly to a sketch of Reese's life in that right Nisker antiquarius although there are sufficient differences to show that the materials of the two articles were drawn from independent sources the antiquarius part three volume two page 62 however dates Reese's arrival in Munich 1800 the Harmonica I'm giving it 1801 but the difference is rather apparent and real since the winter of 1800 to 1801 includes them both and is therefore of very little import when Reese and the notice in page 75 says Am I Arrival in Vienna in 1800 the discrepancy is one not to be passed over without investigation not that it is a matter of much interest in itself when a boy of 15 or 16 years became a people of Beethoven but because of its bearing upon other and radio questions in the chronology of the master's life and works which then is correct Araton the editor of the Harmonicon could have obtained in 1824 the date for his article only from Reese himself as in fact the internal evidence proves him to have done it was published after the announcement of Reese's farewell concert in London with the evident intention of aiding and securing its success and must have been presented to Reese for revision before it was sent to class Reese therefore must have erred by a lapse of memory in 1824 as he admitted he may have done for in December 1837 when he wrote the notice in as for the writer he has no hesitation and accept in September or October 1801 as the date of Reese's advent in Vienna that's the last of these errors that are beggin in his date of the letter of June 29 that of Schindler in his first editions in that date of the Christus or Berg and this of Reese which had thrown all this period of Beethoven's history into a confusion that seemed inextricable his satisfactory rectified and the current of that narrative now flows as clear and unimpeded here as in any other part let us return to it the harmonica proceeds Beethoven and for then Reese Reese hopes from his father's early friend were not disappointed Beethoven received him with a cordial kindness to rare alas from men who have risen to eminence and distinction towards those who's claim upon them is founded on the reminiscences of their humble state he once took the young man under his immediate care on tuition advanced in pecuniary loans which is subsequent conduct inverted gifts and allowed him to be the first to take the title of people and appear in public as such so also the notice and the letter of recommendation from my father that had been opened a small credit account to be used in case of need I never made use of it but when a few times Beethoven discovered that I was short of funds he sent me money without being asked and never wanted to take it back he was really very fond of me of which fact he once in his absent mind in this gave me a very comical proof once when I returned from Silesia where I had spent some time at that country seated Prince look Novsky as pianist on the recommendation of Beethoven and entered his room he was about to shave himself and had labored his face up to his eyes for so far his prayerfully stiff beard reached he jumped up and braced me cordially and thereby transferred so much of the labored from his left cheek to my right that he had none left did we laugh Beethoven must also have learned privately how matters have gone with me for he was acquainted with many of my youthful escapades with which he only teased me in many cases he disclosed a very paternal interest in me but with all his kindness continues Beethoven would not give Reese's instruction in thorough base our composition he said it required a particular gift to explain that with clearness and precision and besides that Halberdx Berger was the acknowledged master of all composers this letter had almost given up teaching being very old and was persuaded to take anew people only by the strong recommendation of Beethoven and by the temptation of a decadent lesson poor Reese's decadence ran only to that number 28 after this he was driven to his books again so it appears that he was Beethoven's people only upon the piano forte the manner in which he was taught is also described in the noticing the recollections of Reese's and zoning and Beethoven gave me a lesson I must say that contrary to his nature he was a particular patient I was compelled to attribute this and his friendly disposition which was seldom interrupted chiefly to his great affection and love for my father thus sometimes he would permit me to repeat a thing ten times or even often error in the variations dedicated to the princess oh the skull key Opus 34 I was obliged to repeat the last dodgy of variations almost entirely 17 times yet he was still dissatisfied with the expression of that little cadenza although I thought I played it as well as he on this day I had a lesson which lasted nearly two hours if I make a mistake in passages or misnotes and leaps which he frequently wanted emphasized he seldom said anything but if I was faulty in expression he crescendos et cetera were in the character of the music he grew angry because as he said the format was accidental while the latter disclosed lack of knowledge feeding or attentiveness the form is left very frequently happened to him even when he was playing in public I often played on two forte pianos with Reese says Zerny among other things the Sonata Opus 47 which have been arranged for two piano fortes Reese played very fluently clear but cold here we have a key to the identity of so many of Reese's and Zerny's facts and anecdotes of those years written out by them independently the latter as he assures us having first become acquainted with the noticing through the quotations of court councilor lands the two brilliant boys thrown so much together would never weary of talking of their famous master for stories of his oddities and eccentricities minor facts relating to his compositions were therefore common property and it is clear that some which in this manner became known to Reese at last assumed in his memory the aspect of personal experiences and as such are related in that noticing the author of this work once introduced an incident into something that he was writing under the full conviction of having been an actor in it which he now knows was only related to him by his brother yet only some six or seven years had elapsed whereas Reese wrote of a period which ended 35 years before another remark of Zerny's is as follows when the French were in Vienna for the first time in 1805 Beethoven visited a number of officers and generals who were music on for whom he played glukes if it was Naya in Taurus from the score to which they sang the choruses in songs not at all ill I begged the score from him and at home wrote out the piano for what they score as I had heard him play it I still have this arrangement November 1852 from that time I date my style of arranging orchestral works and he was always wholly satisfied with my arrangements of his symphonies et cetera a lad who though not yet 15 years old was able to write a piano forte score of such an opera after a single hearing certainly deserved the testimonial to his talent which they're written by another hand was signed at the time by Beethoven and sealed the testimonial in the possession of a castle shaft their music ruined in Vienna runs as follows we the under sun cannot withhold from the lad Carl Zornig who has made such extraordinary progress on the piano forte far surpassing what might be expected from a boy of 14 years that for this reason and also because of his marvelous memory he is deserving of all possible support the more since his parents have expended their fortune in the education of his promising son Ludwig von Beethoven sealed Vienna December 7 1805 the master had early and wisely warned him against the two free use of his extraordinary memory a musical memory then he writes enabled me to play the Beethovenian works by heart without exception and during the years 1801 to 1805 I was obliged to play these works in this manner at Prince Ludwig Noff's once or twice a week he calling out only the desired opus number Beethoven who was present a few times was not pleased even if he plays correctly on the whole he remarked he will forget in this manner a quick survey the avista playing and occasionally the correct expression very neat is the anecdote which certainly relates in that minor new zigzag time September 28 1845 how after he had outgrown his status he was deservedly reprimanded for a few additions which he made on his own account in one of his works on the whole he was pleased with my performance of his works but he scolded me for every bundle with a kind freedom which I shall never forget and once for instance I played the quintet with wind instruments with chup and zig I permitted myself in a spirit of view full carelessness many changes in the way of adding difficulties to the music the use of a higher octave that set up Beethoven took me severely to task in the presence of chup and zig link and the other players the next day I received the following letter from which I copied carefully from the original draft Dear Zoni today I cannot see you but tomorrow I will call on you myself to have a talk with you I burst forth so yesterday that I was sorry after it had happened could you must pardon that in an author who would have preferred to hear his work exactly as he wrote it no matter how beautifully you played in general I will make loud amends at the the Alangelo Sonata I was to play his the Alangelo Sonata with Link the next week be assured that as an artist I have the greatest wishes for your success and will always try to show myself your true friend Beethoven this letter did more than anything else to cure me of the desire to make any changes in the performance of his works and I wish that it might have the same influence on all pianists in the section 22 section 23 of the life of Ludwig von Beethoven volume one by Alexander Rihlach there translated by Henry Edward Kribiel this Lieberbach's recording is in the public domain chapter 21 Beethoven's love affairs the letter to the immortal beloved Gillette Gia Charity Teresa Brunswick counters Erde de Therese Malphade confused chronologies many contradictory theories and speculations in the letter dated November 16 Beethoven's strong expressions of desire and intention to exhibit his powers as pianist and composer in other cities are striking and worthy of the reader's attention yet need no comment but a new topic there introduced must be treated at some length not because it is of very great importance in itself but as an episode in the master's life which has employed so many pens and upon which biographer and novelists seem to have contended which could make the most of it and paint it in the highest romantic colors the sentences referred to are I'm living more pleasantly since I live more amongst men this change has been walked by a dear fascinating girl etc notwithstanding all that has been written on this text there's little reason to think that Beethoven's passion for this particularly fascinating girl was more engrossing or lasting than at other periods for others although peculiar circumstances subsequently kept it more alive than his memory the testimony of Begler Brunning Romberg Reiss has been cited to the point that Beethoven was never without a love and generally deeply engrossed in it in Vienna says Begler at least as long as I lived there Beethoven always had a love affair on his hands and occasionally made conquests which though not impossible might have been difficult of achievement to many and Adonis I will add that so far as I know every one of his sweethearts long to the higher social stations so all so friends of Beethoven with whom Jan converged in 1852 thus according to Carl Zerney he was said to have been in love with her countess Keg Levix who was not generally considered handsome thus Sonata in E flat Opus 7 dedicated to her was called via their Liebte the maiden or woman in love Dr. Berthelini friend and physician of Beethoven from 1806 to 1816 said Beethoven generally had a flame the countess Dia Chardi Madame von Funk Bettina Buantano and others he was not insensible to ladies fair and frail Dola Zillek a music teacher who came to Vienna in 1800 and was the master's admirer and friend to the last as the particular that he never showed that he was in love in short Beethoven's experience was precisely that of many an impulsive man of genius who for one cause or another never married and therefore never knew the calm and quiet but unchanging affection of happy conjugal life one all-absorbing but temporary passion lasting until its object is married to a more favored lover is forgotten in another destined to end in like manner until it length all faith and the possibility for them of a permanent constant attachment to one person is lost such men after reaching middle age may marry for a hundred various motives of convenience but rarely for love upon this particular passion of Beethoven the present writer labors under the disadvantage of being compelled to subordinate his imagination to his reason and to sacrifice flights of fancy to the duty of ascertaining and imparting the modicum of truth that underlies all this branch of Beethoven literature of extracting the few grains of wheat from the immense mass of chat with what success remains to be seen when gender and perusing the noticing came to the passages above quoted with his usual agility in jumping at conclusions he decided at once that Beethoven here refers to the counters Julia, Gia, Schiardi and so states in his book probably hitting the truth nearer than on the next page where he makes Frowline, Marie, cost-check the object of Beethoven's autumnal love some half a dozen years before the two had ever met in this case however there is no reason to suppose him mistaken relations with the counters Gia, Schiardi on the 16th of November 1801 the date of Beethoven's letter the counters Gia, Schiardi was just one week less than 17 years of age she is traditionally described as having had a good share of personal attractions and is known to have been a fine-looking woman even in advanced years she appears to have possessed a mind of fair powers cultivated and accomplished to the degree then common to persons of her rank but it is not known that she was in any way eminently distinguished unless for musical taste and skill as a pianist which may perhaps be indicated in the dedication to her of a sonata by Klein Heinz as well as by Beethoven Gia, Gia, Schiardi's near relationship to the Brunswick's would naturally throw her into the society of Beethoven immediately upon the transfer of her father from Trieste to Vienna their admiration of his talents their warm affection for him as a man would awaken her curiosity to see him and create a most natural prejudice in his favor coming to the capital from a small distant provincial town when hardly of an age to enter society and finding herself so soon distinguished by the particular attentions and evident admiration of a man of Beethoven's social position and fame might well dazzle the imagination of a girl of sixteen and dispose her especially if she possessed more than common musical taste and talents to return in a certain degree the affection proffer to her by the distinguished author of the symphony, the quartet, the septet the prometheus music and so many wonderful sonatas by the unrivaled pianist the generous impulsive enthusiastic artist although unprepossessing in person and unable to offer either wealth or a title there was romance in the affair besides these considerations there are traditions and reminiscences of old friends of the composer all tending to confirm the opinion of Schindler that the fascinating girl was indeed the young countess Gia that writer however knew nothing of the matter until twenty years afterwards but what he learned came from Beethoven himself it happened when the topic came up between them that being in a public place where he did not like to trust himself to speak says Schindler Beethoven also wrote his share in the conversation so far as it related to this subject hence his words may still be read in a conversation book of February 1823 preserved in the royal library at Berlin his statements have certainly gained nothing in clearness from his whim of writing them in part in bad French it is proper to state before introducing the citation from this book that the young lady married count Wenzel Robert Gullenberg a prolific composer of ballet and occasional music on the 3rd of November 1803 the young pair soon left Vienna for Italy and were in Naples in the spring of 1806 for Gullenberg was one of the composers of the music for the Fetz on the occasion of Joseph Bonaparte's assumption of the crown of the two Sicilies when the Neapolitan bar baia took charge of the R.I. opera at Vienna toward the close of 1821 he made the count an associate in the administration and thus it happened that Schindler had occasion to call upon him with a message from Beethoven the conversation books of those years show that the question of selling the opera by Delio to various theaters was one often discussed by Beethoven and his friends and also that the author had no complete copy of the score it thus became necessary to borrow one for the purpose of copying the whole or parts and at this point we turn to the conversation book Schindler in the midst of a long series of remarks upon heterogeneous topics express a surprise that the Dresden Theater has never purchased by Delio and adds his opinion that Weber will do all in his power to further Beethoven's interest both in regard to the opera and to the mass indeed then follows political news Spain England etc and the sale or hypothesization by Dr. Bach of certain bank shares on which Beethoven wishes to raise money and then a conversation about the counties Schindler now as to Fidelio what shall what can I do to expedite that Beethoven Steiner has the score Schindler I shall go to Count Gollenberg who will lend it to you for a time with pleasure it would be best if you were to have it copied at your own expense you may ask 40 Ducats after a further remark or two he promises to see Gollenberg tomorrow morning some pages farther is the report Schindler Gollenberg presents his compliments he will send the score provided they have two copies if this is not the case he will have the score copied for you I'm to call on him again in two days the conversation then turns upon copying certain songs and upon lithography the mass indeed after which Schindler he Gollenberg did not inspire me with much respect today Beethoven I was his invisible benefactor through others Schindler he ought to know that so that he might have more respect for you than he seems to have kitchen affairs follow here for a space then Beethoven takes the pencil and writes Beethoven so it seems you did not find G favorably disposed toward me I am little concerned in the matter but I should like to know what he said Schindler he replied to me that he thought that you must have the score yourself but when I assured him that you did not have it he said that its loss was a consequence of your irregular habits and many changes of lodgings what affair is that of the public and moreover who will care what such persons think what have you decided to do in the matter at Steiner's to keep quiet still longer Dr. Bach recently asked me about it I thought you wanted to keep the score because you had none do you want to give the five-part feud also for nothing my dearest friend and master that is too much generosity towards such unworthy persons you will only be laughed at Steiner had bought some compositions of B and not published them Beethoven having asked Schindler if he had seen Gallenberg's wife proceeds I learned black from his misery and I found a good man who gave me the sum of 500 florets for lodging and you are always my friend and you are precisely the reason that I do all the good that is possible Schindler it was for this reason that he added he is an intolerable fellow probably because of pure gratitude but forgive them Lord they know not what they do as that he'll be here ah long time she married a black man from Gallenberg Madame La Comtesse it is a wish she is a beautiful figure just here Beethoven she was born Jewy Giardi she is three Les Proustes de Louis avant son voyage en Italie Arrivé à Vienne Elle chose Chois Mont Blu-Ran Mais je l'ai Mais Prussois Schindler Hercules at the Crossways Beethoven and if I had wished to give my vital powers with that life what would have remained for the noblent the better things reverence for the composer and admiration for his compositions must have led many who will read this to the perusal of the constantly accumulating literature of which Beethoven and his works are the subject and they must remember the prominence accorded to the Giardi Affair well they believe that all the established facts which have ever been made public are exhausted in these pages already this is literally true all else is but conjecture or mistake there is nothing in the present state of knowledge on this subject to relieve the great mass of turgid eloquence expended upon it from being described in one word as nonsense the foundation for a tragedy is certainly small in a case where the lover writes it is the first time that I feel as if marriage might make me happy and immediately adds now of course I could not marry because the gratification of his ambition was more to him than domestic life with the beloved one in November 1852 Jan had an interview with the Countess Gollenberg on so delicate a topic as Beethoven's passion for her 50 years before reticence was natural but had the affair and truth been of the importance that others have given it some hint must have confessed it that there is nothing of the kind in his notes of the conversation here they are Beethoven was her teacher he had his music sent to her and was extremely severe until the correct interpretation was reached down to the smallest detail he laid stress upon a light manner of playing he easily became angry threw down his music and tore it he would take no pay but linen although he was very poor under the pretense that the Countess had sewed it he also taught Princess Oda Skalki and Baroness Erdman sometimes he went to his pupils sometimes they came to him he did not like to play his own compositions but would only improvise at the slightest disturbance he would get up and go away Count Brunswick who played the violon cello adored him as did also his sisters to Rays and Countess Dane Beethoven had given her the Countess Giociardi, Belanda and G but begged its return when he had to dedicate something to the Countess Liknovsky and then dedicated the sonata to her B was very ugly but noble refined in feeling and culture in this simple record the lady's memory evidently mistakes by overrating the poverty of Beethoven at the time she was his pupil and in making him then so negligent in dress in his earlier years Beethoven dressed carefully even elegantly only later did he grow negligent which he carried to the verge of uncleanliness says Gryll Parzer and Zerny about the year 1813 to 14 when B looked well and strong he also cared for his outward appearance but would outblow to all the supposed romantic significance is the short, prosaic account of the dedication of the C-sharp minor sonata to her a composition which was not a favorite with the composer himself everybody is always talking about the C-sharp minor sonata surely I have written better things there is the sonata in F-sharp major that is something very different he once said to Zerny a conjectural offer of marriage there is but one well authenticated fact to be added namely that Beethoven kept up his intercourse with the family Giorgiati certainly as late as May or June 1823 that is due within six months of the young lady's marriage a careful survey and comparison both of the published data and of the private traditions are hencequeen during a residence of several years at Vienna resolved in the opinion and opinion note not a statement resting on competent evidence that Beethoven at length decided to offer Countess Julia his hand that she was not indisposed to accept it and that one of her parents consented to the match that the other probably the father refused to entrust the happiness of his daughter to a man without rank, fortune, or permanent engagement a man too of character and temperament so peculiar and afflicted with the incipient stages of an infirmity which if not arrested and cured must deprive him of all hope of obtaining any high and remunerative official appointment and at length compel him to abandon his career as the great pianoforte virtuoso as the Giorgiati's themselves were not wealthy prudence forbade such a marriage be all this as it may this much is certain Beethoven did not marry the Countess Julia Giorgiati Count Benzel Roebert Gollenberg did the rejected lover true to a principle enunciated in a letter to Zemescal of March 29, 1799 there's no use in quarreling with what cannot be changed made the best of it and went to work on the Sinfonia Eloica Schindler's unfounded conclusions every reader acquainted with Schindler's book will have noticed that two grave matters connected by him with the Giorgiati affair have been silently passed over notwithstanding the very great importance given to them by him and his copyists they must now be considered Schindler's honest and conscientious desire to ascertain and impart the truth concerning Beethoven admits no doubt the spirit was willing but his weakness as an investigator was something extraordinary his helplessness and finding and following the clue out of a difficulty is something pitiable sometimes ludicrous he reminds us now and then of that character described by Addison he is perpetually puzzled and perplexed amidst his own blunders take the present matter for an instance in his first editions of the biography the date given to that Giorgiati affair is 1806 with Weigler's letter before him giving him one fixed point November 1801 and the grout fritches taught Schindler's book to be consulted in every respectable bookstore and public library for the day of Gallenberg's marriage November 3, 1803 he is still at a loss I had first to come to Paris there make the acquaintance of Girobini in order to hit quite accidentally upon a certain clue for this date for which I had been searched in Vienna Girobini and his wife soon after their arrival in Vienna in 1805 heard of this affair as of something that had happened two years before following this hint in his edition of 1860 he changes the 1806 to 1803 that is he adopts the new date because 20 years before he heard from an old gentleman of 80 years and his wife nearly as old that 35 years before they had heard that some two years before that time Beethoven had been jilted they also could say with certainty that the effect upon Beethoven's move had already been overcome which we are very willing to hear from them although the fact he did no confirmation again his conversation with Beethoven given as an appendix to the edition of 1845 was suppressed in the first because the Countess Gallenberg was then living the Tarsian boot would have taught him that this objection remained in force until March 22nd 1856 how is it possible to read with confidence the opinions and statements of so helpless a writer even when we grant him as we do Schindler the utmost rectitude of intention except when he speaks from personal knowledge or upon evidence which he shows to be good having in a manner so extraordinary fixed the date to his satisfaction Schindler proceeds to the catastrophe yet touching the results of this break upon the spirits of our master so highly blessed by this love something more maybe said in his despair he sought comfort with his approved and particularly respected friend Countess Marie Erd Dirty at her country seat at Jedler C in order to spend a few days in her company then however he disappeared and the Countess thought he had returned to Vienna when three days later her music master Breuchel discovered him in a distant part of the palace gardens this incident was long kept a close secret and only after several years did those familiar with it confide it to the more intimate friends of Beethoven long after the love affair had been forgotten it was associated with a suspicion that it had been the purpose of the unhappy man to starve himself to death those friends remain close observation of the attitude of Beethoven towards the music master notice that he treated him with extraordinary attention thereafter Jedler C is so near Vienna that a stout walker like Beethoven would think nothing of the distance and for him to obey the whim or necessity of the moment and disappear for two or three days is the very weakest of all grounds for the astounding conjecture here gravely related but grant for a moment that's something of the kind sometime or other really occurred what reason is there to suppose that it happened then and in connection with a Jewy Giardi matter none Greida Judea's Appella non ego indeed the whole story whatever its dating connection is told on such mere hearsay evidence as would not justify the police in arresting a beggar to prevent it from passing into the category of established facts at least in connection with this particular love affair and until some new incompetent proof be discovered it may be remarked one Schindler's first knowledge of the passion of Beethoven for Jewy Giardi Giardi was obtained in 1823 whatever he heard from other sources could only have been afterwards and in all probability was after Beethoven's death when his attention was recalled to the subject by a paper presently to be noticed he does not pretend to have heard this Jedler's sea story from any party to it nor could he for the countess a dirty had been banished from the Austrian dominions long before it could have come to his ears he is in fact in upon his own showing gravely detailing a mere private rumor current he says among certain friends of Beethoven of an event which happened if at all 15, 20, or 30 years before and which was surmised by them for by him to have occurred at the time he was jilted by the young countess Giardi too there is nothing whatever in Reese's reminiscences most of which are of the precise period of that affair which by any stretch of fancy can be made to confirm the story nay more they are utterly inconsistent with it there is nothing even to show that he ever observed that his master's relations to the Giardis were in any way remarkable yet Beethoven's inclination to the society of women was a point in his character that particularly impressed him Beethoven he says was fond of the company of women especially if they had young and pretty faces and generally when we passed the somewhat charming girl he would turn back and gaze at her through his glasses keenly and laugh for grin if he had noticed that I was looking at him he was frequently loved but generally only for a short period once when I tweeted him concerning his conquest of a pretty woman he admitted that she had held him in the strongest bonds for the longest time these fully seven months three and so too with Bruni there is no letter or part of a letter by him so far as made known by Begler nor any tradition derived from him that relates to this passion or its supposed consequences and yet it is only from one of his letters that we know of the proposal of marriage in 1810 nay more we shall find in 1803 Beethoven inviting a friend to dine with Countess Giaciari at that time when he and Bruni lodged together for if the Gedler C story be true at all in connection with this particular lady the time must have been 1803 but it is totally inconsistent with what is known of the composer's history during that year five Brouchel was not the Countess Adheri's music teacher but the tutor of her children in which capacity he could hardly have been employed at a time when the eldest was not six years of age if we are correctly informed he was not in that service until after the year 1803 nor is it known that Beethoven's intimacy with the Countess had then been formed in any case the starvation story may be considered as disposed of for the present the force of these arguments will be incidentally but materially increased by the views if they find favor and acceptance advanced and supported in a short discussion of the single remaining question belonging to the Giaciari affair to which we now come it was well known to Beethoven's friends that he died possessed of a few bank shares but where the certificates were deposited neither his brother Bruning nor Schindler knew B. kept his bank shares in a secret drawer of a cabinet known only to Holtz is one of Jan's notes of that conversation with Carl Holtz when Schindler read Jan's manuscript he noticed there's a memoranda upon Beethoven and out of his comments he remarked here Johann Beethoven first devoted himself to the disappearance of the shares in that finding that he cried out Bruning and Schindler must find them Holtz was asked to come by Bruning and requested to say if he did not know where they were concealed he knew the secret drawer in the old cabinet in which they were kept in that secret drawer Bruning found not only the bank certificates but also various letters of importance to his friend as Schindler describes them one of these was a letter with two post scripts written by Beethoven on two pieces of note paper with a lead pencil at some watering place not named in the July of a year not given and to a person not indicated it is couched in terms of enthusiastic love rarely equaled even in romance being like a translation of the words of the most tender and touching passages in his most impassioned musical compositions this document placed in Schindler's possession by Bruning is the original of what was first printed in 1840 as three autograph letters written by Beethoven to his geo letter from a bathing place in Hungary and which have so often been reprinted at various times the letter is as follows text to the letter to the immortal beloved July 6th in the morning my angel my all my very self only a few words today and at that with pencil with yours not till tomorrow will my lodgings be definitely determined upon what a useless waste of time why this deep soil where necessity speaks cannot love endure except through sacrifices except through not demanding everything can you change it that you are not holy mind I not holy vine oh god look out into the beauties of nature and comfort yourself with that which must be love demands everything and that very just bless it is with me so far as you are concerned and you with me if we were holy united you would feel the pain of it as little as I my journey was a fearful one I did not reach here until four o'clock yesterday morning lacking horses the post coach chose another route but what an awful one at the stage before it relaxed I was warned not to travel at night made fearful of a force but that only made me more eager and I was wrong the coach must needs breakdown on that wretched road a bottomless mud road without such postilience as I had with me I should have stuck in the road as to hazy traveling the usual road hither word had the same fate with eight horses that I had with four yet I got some pleasure out of it as I always do when I successfully overcome difficulties now a quick change two things internal from things external we shall soon surely see each other moreover I cannot communicate to you the observations I've made during the last few days touching my own life if our hearts were always close together I would make none of the kind my heart is full of many things to say to you there are moments when I feel that speech is nothing after all cheer up remain my true my only treasure my all as I'm yours the gods must send us the rest that which shall be best for us your faithful Ludwig evening Monday July 6th you are suffering my dearest creature only now have I learned that letters must be posted very early in the morning Mondays Thursdays the only days on which the male coach goes from here to K you are suffering ah wherever I am there you are also I shall arrange affairs between us so that I shall live and live with you for the life thus thus without you pursued by the goodness of mankind hither and thither which I as little try to deserve as I deserve it humility of man towards man it pains me and when I consider myself in connection with the universe what am I and what is he whom we call the greatest and yet herein lies the divine and man I weep when I reflect that you will probably not receive the first intelligence from me until Saturday much as you love me I love you more but do not ever conceal your thoughts from me good night as I am taking the baths I must go to bed oh God so near so far is our love not truly a celestial edifice firm as heaven's vault good morning on July 7th though still in bed my thoughts go out to you my immortal beloved now and then joyfully then sadly waiting to learn whether or not fate will hear us I can live only wholly with you or not at all yes I am resolved to wander so long away from you until I can fly to your arms and say that I am really at home send my soul and wrapped in you into the land of spirits yes unhappily it must be so you will be the more resolved since you know my fidelity to you no one can ever again possess my heart none never oh God why is it necessary to part from one whom one so loves and yet my life in W Vienna is now a wretched life your love makes me at once the happiest of me unhappiest of men at my age I need a steady quiet life cannot be under our conditions my angel I have just been told that the male coach goes every day and I must close it once so that you may receive me El at once be calm only by a calm consideration of our existence can we achieve our purpose to live together be calm love me today yesterday what year for longings for you you you you my life my all farewell oh continue to love me never misjudge the most faithful heart of your beloved El ever thine ever mine ever for each other among the many persons before whom at various times gender kindly placed the original for examination were Otto Jan and the present writer neither of whom ever discovered any other reason to suppose this paper to have been intended for the Countess Gea Giardi then gender's conjecture and the grounds upon which she had formed it bearing in mind that the existence of this paper was utterly unknown to either Brunning or Schindler until after the death of its writer who alone could have imparted its history the mental process by which it came to be described in the words just quoted three autograph letters written by Beethoven to his Gea letter from a bathing place in Hungary is perfectly easy to trace thus in the first of the three parts or letters Beethoven speaks of a very disagreeable journey which he had performed before post horses and Esther Hase with eight in the second he writes of the male coach from here to K and again as I am taking the baths I must go to bed now of the 218 places in the Austrian postal guide whose names begin with K a large number are in Hungary the bathing places in that kingdom are also numerous and Esther Hase's possessions were there hence Schindler's assumption that Beethoven wrote from a Hungarian watering place which may stand for the present his conjecture as to whom he wrote was of course suggested by his conversation in 1823 upon the Countess Gollenberg this assumption so obvious and natural for him to make that it was accepted and questioned and even unsuspected for 30 years must nevertheless be tested when was the love letter written the document presents three incomplete dates the year being omitted in each July 6th in the morning evening Monday July 6th good morning on July 7th a reference to the Almanacs of 1795, 1801, 1807 in 1812 shows that July 6th fell upon a Monday in those years the year 1795 is of course excluded for Giardin had not been completed her 11th year and we turn it once to 1801 the main subjects of Beethoven's letter to Begler of June 29th were his failments and the modes of treatment adopted by his medical advisers to which he adds his desire for his friend's counsel Begler being a physician of eminent ability and skill it was Begler's reply which drew forth the second letter of November 16 only four and a half months after the first which continues this subject with equal minuteness of detail if now the reader will turn back and carefully re-peruse the two he will see that all possible if he ever journeyed to some distant watering place requiring the use of four post horses whether in Hungary or elsewhere in the interval between those letters is absolutely excluded by their contents the conclusion is unavoidable that the diary was not written in 1801 but may there not be an error either in the day or of the month or of the week in the words evening Monday July 6th if there be the inquiry is extended to the years 1800 and 1802 on July 6th 1800 the Giardy family had hardly reached Vienna from Trieste but supposedly had been previously sent to the completed education and thus have become known to Beethoven in that case what is to be thought of guardians and friends who could allow her such liberty a rather license that she at the age of 15 and 340 years should already have formed the relations necessarily implied by the language of the diary with a man twice her age what to must be thought of Beethoven granting him to have been as Magdalena Delman and others said half crazy the man certainly was not a fool the year 1800 may also be safely discarded as to 1802 it is superfluous to say more than that in the next chapter will be found part of a letter by Beethoven dated Vienna July 13 1802 his stay at the bath must indeed have been short if he reached it with four post horses on the 5th and is in Vienna again writing letters on the 13th in 1803 July 6th fell upon Wednesday but there was no such error in the date Beethoven gives the day of the month three times in 24 hours twice on the 6th once on the 7th a mistake here is inconceivable the day of the week indeed is written at once but then it is Monday and Sunday and Monday are precisely the two days of the week which one most rarely learn ever at mistakes but that part of the document which bears the date evening Monday July 6th contains certain words that are decisive this part is a postscript to the writing of the morning and is written he says because he was too late for the post on that day and Mondays Thursdays the only days on which the male coach goes from here to care the conclusion is irresistible Schindler and his copy are so all wrong the document was not written in the years 1800 to 1803 the immortal beloved for whom it was written was not the Countess Julia thea Giardi therefore they who have weaponed sympathy over this murder's sufferings caused by this Charlotte may drive their tears they can comfort themselves with the assurance that the catastrophe was by no means so disastrous as represented the affair was but an episode not the grand tragedy of Beethoven's life the being a love adventure it has been treated with that in ratio to fancy like Paul Steff's read to his sack one author in particular who accepts all Schindler's assumptions and conjectures without question or suspicion has elaborated the topic at great length though perhaps to borrow Sheridan's just less luminously than voluminously having brought up the feelings of his lovely readers his dear lady friends of Beethoven to the highest pitch possible in a tragedy where the hero after the catastrophe still lives in prosperous he consoles them a few chapters father on by giving to Beethoven for his one loves labor loss to new ones game the one a married woman the other a young girl of 14 years and moreover within the confusion of his dates the reader is not greatly misled both at the same time also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before say of the ancient Hebrew poet even if one were disposed to attach no great importance to the arguments thus far advanced there are two passages in the letter which could not have been written in that brilliant period of Beethoven's life 1800 to 1802 and therefore are inclusive bees my life in W vn equals Vienna is now a wretched life and at my age I need a quiet steady life in fact the severest critical discussion of my argument against the accuracy of gender statement has failed to find a flaw in it beyond the unessential assertion that Beethoven could scarcely be conceived as having erred in the matter of the day of the week since then the author has himself accidentally learned by experience how a mistake of this kind made in the morning can easily be perpetuated in private letters he learned it by being compelled to prove the absolute accuracy of an official document every attentive and thoughtful reader of the letter must realize that it is irreconcilable with the notion that Beethoven's passionate devotion to the lady was a new and sudden one also that Beethoven had parted with his beloved whoever she may have been only a short time before that he writes in the full conviction that his lovers returned and the desire for a union of their faith was mutual and that by patient waiting the obstacles then in the way of their purpose to live together would be overcome Beethoven's inaccurate datings in the effort to determine when Beethoven wrote in this strain his own inaccurate dates cannot be overlooked that must be discussed at the outset of the inquiry if the words even Monday July 6th are to be considered conclusive the investigation will have to be confined to the years 1807 and 1812 both 1801 and 1818 being out of the question that if an error of a day be assumed inquiry may be extended to the following years in the first three years the 5th of July fell on a in 1805 Saturday 1807 Sunday 1808 Tuesday the 6th of July on a 1805 Sunday 1807 Monday 1808 Wednesday the 7th of July on a 1805 Monday 1807 Tuesday 1808 Thursday in the three later years July 5th fell on a 1811 Friday 1812 Saturday 1813 Monday July 6th on a 1811 Saturday 1812 Monday 1813 Tuesday July 7th on a 1811 Sunday 1812 Tuesday 1813 Wednesday to pass by other reasons the years 1808 and 1811 are to be excluded because they presuppose an error of two days they remain them the years 1806 1807 1812 and 1813 which can be best studied in their reverse order the year 1813 shows itself at once impossible because of the date of a letter to Verena Baden July 4th 1813 besides other circumstances which prove that Beethoven spent the months of June and July after this year in Vienna and Baden in a similar manner 1812 must be rejected because he wrote a letter to Bauer Meister on June 28th from Vienna and arrived in Teplitz on July 7th they remain then only the years 1806 and 1807 if we are willing to attach too great weight to the improbability of an error in Beethoven's dates July 6th and 7th it would certainly be impossible to decide in favor of the year for which other considerations plead with almost convincing force these 1806 there is a letter from Beethoven to Brunswick proposing to visit him in Pest printed with the date May 14 1806 which might be strong evidence in favor of that year but unfortunately the true date is 1807 and so adds to our difficulty for it is known that on July 22nd 1807 and for several days at least before he was in Baden and there is nothing best for it to prove that he did not make the proposed visit and return from Hungary in season to have written the love letter on the 6th and 7th of that month this is it is true a very unsatisfactory assumption there is a date in a correspondence with Simrock touching the purchase of certain works which if it could be established with certainty would remove all that and provide a satisfactory conclusion if the correspondence took place in 1806 it would be impossible to avoid the unsatisfactory assumption the head of the famous house of Simrock once told the author that the letters written to his father by Beethoven had been stolen they have since been recovered and that the only possible information on the point might be obtained from the old business books of the house the author asked that they be examined for him and his request was most prettiest they complied with with the result that he was provided with the excerpts from the letters of rich he has made use in a later chapter to his great satisfaction the most important of the letters bears date may 31 1807 this in the letter following showed that Beethoven spent the months of June and July 1807 in Bodin the result would then seem to be irrefutable there is an error of one day in Beethoven's date the letter was written in the summer which he spent partly in Hungary partly inside Lysia the summer of 1806 in all the years from 1800 to 1815 there is no other summer in which he might have written the letter within the first 10 days of July unless we choose to assume a state of facts which would do violence to probability Beethoven's moral character vindicated but our contention has a much more serious purpose than the determination of the date of a love letter it is to serve as the foundation for a highly necessary justification of Beethoven's character at this period in his life the editor of Beethoven's letters to Gleichenstein which appeared in Vestermann's Monarch Schäften 1865 learned from Gleichenstein's widow that the composer had once made a proposal of marriage to her sister to raise mal-fati on the strength of his information and certain references in the letters themselves the editor founded a singular theory Beethoven says the editor in question fell in love with the dark brown Therese who despite the fact that she was then only 14 years old was fully developed his love for her was as rapid in its growth as it was in its passionateness but was not return then or later the affair was plainly embarrassing to the family for the passion of the half-deaf very eccentric man of 36 for a girl of 14 could not fail in the long run to become dangerous miss rich why very well i hope here be true says the fool says in measure for measure reflected this was a year of the mass in c and of c minor symphony and imagine the picture Beethoven the mighty master occupied in developing works which stirred the deepest depths of the soul such on one hand on the other the lover signed like a furnace with a woeful ballad made to his mistress eyebrow or if one prefer instead of the first picture half-deaf eccentric 36 year old Corridon wandering about by the side of mossy books vainly piping tunes to a melancholy early developed and early love fillers let us admit for the nonce that the amiable picture of Beethoven in 1807 is the correct one there's yet no excessive reason based on sense or probability no boundlessness of imagination or immature logic which can assert that the letter july six and seven was written to Juarez now five to ten thirteen years old there's still another assumption or suspicion which must be touched upon here and if possible with beauty it is that even in 1806 Beethoven's letter was addressed to the countless dear shiati then already the wife of count gallenberg or over a more natural solution of the difficulties because there's to be found if it could but be proved or accepted as true that the composer was one of those exalted musical geniuses recently lauded by a writer who are no longer subject to once accepted notions of morals and ordinary duties and who refused to admit mere minded ethics to be lifted to the real laws of existence if Beethoven had been a man of this character what more should we need to believe than in the summer of 1806 he and that lady were impatiently awaiting the moment when they might steal away from husband and children and best obtain their purpose to live together heart closely pressed to heart here a single objection will suffice count gallenberg and his wife had it this time long been in naples no this disgrace does not attach to the name of Beethoven those who have thought it worthwhile to follow the discussion thus far well now understand why so much time and labor were spent on removing all doubt as to the dates of the letters of june 29 1801 in july 6 and 7 1806 and this is after a long time had passed during which there had never arisen a doubt in the mind of the writer for if these dates remain fixed the extended romantic structures which have been reared on the sandy foundation of conjecture must fall in ruins the conclusions reached by the study seem as natural as they are satisfactory and indubitable young Beethoven possessed of a temperament susceptible and excitable in the highest degree and endowed not only with extraordinary genius but leaving out of consideration his physical misfortunes with other attractive qualities the great pianist the beloved teacher the highly promising composer admired and accepted glad that in the highest circles of society of that metropolis this Beethoven as regular expresses that was always in love and generally in the highest degree as he took on years however his passions cooled and it is a truth of daily observation that at the last the strong and lasting attachment can obtain mastery over the most fascinating and fickle lover according to our conviction this was also the case with Beethoven and most assuredly the famous love letter was addressed to the objective wise and honorable love which are taking control over him if this be true and if he was so violently in love in 1806 follows that the references in the Gleichenstein correspondence which their editor applies to a completely developed girl of 14 years of age in 1807 framed at an entirely different individual and this too is the conviction of the author but who is the lady it is asked the secret was too well guarded and she is still unknown this only is certain that the Countess Therese Bunn-Bunswick first of all Beethoven's friends and acquaintances of the other sex whose names are on record one only could have been the immortal beloved of the letter and the party to this project of marriage second all the circumstantial evidence points to her and her omen third long after these two points were determined Robert Volkman the fine musician and composer in conversation with the author mentioned a local traditional pest which directly names her as having been once the beloved and even if our members serve the bride and spade of Beethoven this lady was the Countess Therese Bunn-Bunswick the scattered notices of the Bunn-Bwicks in these volumes have taken connectedly may appear of deeper significance than has been suspected they were of the earliest and warmest friends of Beethoven and Vienna they adored him said their cousin the Countess Golemburg Beethoven wrote the song Ich Denke Dein in the album of the sisters and dedicated it to them when he published it in 1805 he received him Therese her portrait in oil visited the Bunn-Bwicks in the autumn of 1806 and composed the sonata opus 57 which he dedicated to the brother and immediately after his departure wrote the passionate love letter to whom wrote to Count Vannes Gissier sister Therese and in the autumn of 1809 while in another visit to them composed a sonata opus 78 dedicated to the sister a few months later the marriage project fell through two remarks may be noted here rich of no great importance are worth the space they will occupy first after the appearance of the dedication of opus 78 Therese Bunn-Bwicks name disappears from all papers notes and memoranda concerning Beethoven collected by Jan or the author yet the friendship between him and the brother remained undisturbed second this friendship of 30 years duration was broken on eat by death yet although in the later years long periods of separation were frequent their known epistolary correspondence is comprised in some half dozen letters and half of these with false dates were these all if not why should all accept just these which are neither a particular interest nor importance have been destroyed or concealed unless indeed there was a secret to be preserved Therese von Brunswick lived to a great age having the reputation of a noble and generous but eccentric character in regard to Beethoven so far as is known she like Shakespeare's cardinal died and made known sign because she could not question end of section 23