On frequent occasions (says Ries), he showed a truly paternal interest in me. From this source there sprang the written order (in 1802), which he sent me in a fit of anger because of an unpleasant predicament into which Carl van Beethoven had gotten me. Beethoven wrote:“You do not need to come to Heiligenstadt; I have no time to lose.” At the time Count Browne was indulging himself with pleasures in which I was taking part, he being kindly disposed towards me, and was in consequence neglecting my lessons.
On frequent occasions (says Ries), he showed a truly paternal interest in me. From this source there sprang the written order (in 1802), which he sent me in a fit of anger because of an unpleasant predicament into which Carl van Beethoven had gotten me. Beethoven wrote:“You do not need to come to Heiligenstadt; I have no time to lose.” At the time Count Browne was indulging himself with pleasures in which I was taking part, he being kindly disposed towards me, and was in consequence neglecting my lessons.
That Beethoven, during the summer when his vocations were interrupted by the dark hours in which the “will” was produced, could have no time to lose in those lighter days when the spirit of labor was upon him is clear from the surprising list of compositions written and published in this year.
Compositions Completed in 1802
The works which were developed were the three Violin Sonatas, Op. 30; the first two of the three Pianoforte Sonatas, Op. 31; the two sets of Variations, Op. 34 and 35; the “Bagatelles,” Op. 33, and (the chief work of the year) the second Symphony, D major, Op. 36. The works which came from the press were the Pianoforte Sonatas, Op. 22, 26 and 27, Nos. 1 and 2; the Serenade, Op. 25; the Septet, Op. 20; the Quintet, Op. 29; the Rondo in G, Op. 51, No. 2; the transcription for strings of the Pianoforte Sonata in E, Op. 14, No. 1; the Variations for Violoncello and Pianoforte on “Bei Männern welche Liebe fühlen,” dedicated to Count Browne; the six Contradances and six Rustic (“Ländrische”) Dances. There were thirteen performances of the ballet “Prometheus.” Moreover, it is at least remotely possible that the two large works which were played together with the Symphonies in C and D at Beethoven’s concert on April 5, 1803—viz.: the Pianoforte Concerto in C minor, Op. 37 and the Oratorio “Christus am Ölberg,” Op. 85—were not so far advanced in all their parts that they, too, may have occupied the attention of Beethoven in the winter of 1802-03.
For nearly all the works completed in 1802, studies are to be found in the sketchbook described in full by Nottebohm,[137]which covers the period from the fall of 1801 to the spring of 1802; like the majority of the sketchbooks, it contains themes and studies which were never worked out. “Overlooking the sketches which cross each other,” says Nottebohm, “and putting aside all that is immaterial, the compositions represented in the book which were completed and are known, may be set down chronologically as follows:
“Opferlied,” by Mathisson, first form.Scene and Aria for Soprano: “No—non turbarti.”Three of the Contradances.Bagatelle for Pianoforte, No. 6 of Op. 33.Last movement of the Symphony in D major.Five of the six “Ländrische Tänze.”Terzetto, “Tremate, empj, tremate,” Op. 116.First and second movements of the Sonata for Pianoforte and Violin in A major, Op. 30, No. 1.Last movement of the Sonata for Pianoforte and Violin in A major, Op. 47.Sonata for Pianoforte and Violin in C minor, Op. 30, No. 2.Bagatelle for Pianoforte, No. 5 of Op. 119 (112).First movement of the Sonata for Pianoforte in D minor, Op. 31, No. 2 (the first sketch only).Sonata for Pianoforte and Violin in G major, Op. 30, No. 3.Last movement of the Sonata for Pianoforte and Violin in A major, Op. 30, No. 1 (the theme had been designed before).Variations for Pianoforte in E-flat major, Op. 35 (preparatory work).Variations for Pianoforte in F major, Op. 34 (only the first hints).Sonata for Pianoforte in G major, Op. 31, No. 1 (not complete).”
To which may be added as occurring early in the book, the theme of the Larghetto of the Symphony in D (here for horns), out of which eventually grew the Trio in the Scherzo. A curious remark on one of the pages seems to be a memorandum for a piece of descriptive music: “Marital felicity, dark clouds upon the brow of the husband in which the fairer half unites but still seeks to dispel.”
The evident care taken by the composer at this period to make the opus numbers really correspond to the chronological order of his works, is a strong reason for concluding that the Violin Sonatas, Op. 30, were completed or nearly so before he removed to Heiligenstadt. Even in that case, what wonderful genius and capacity for labor does it show, that, before the close of the year, in spite of ill health and periods of the deepest despondency, and of all the interruptions caused by his ordinary vocations after his return to town, he had completed the first two Sonatas of Op. 31, the two extensive and novel sets of Variations, Op. 34 and Op. 35, and the noble Second Symphony!—all of them witnesses that he had really “entered upon a new path,” neither of them more so than the Symphony so amazingly superior to its predecessor in grandeur and originality. This was, in fact, the grand labor of this summer.
The Pianoforte Sonatas, Op. 31
The three Sonatas for Pianoforte and Violin are dedicated to Czar Alexander I of Russia, who is said to have given command that a valuable diamond ring be sent to the composer. Lenz could find no record of such an incident in the imperial archives. The sketches show that the movement which now concludes the “Kreutzer” Sonata (Op. 47) was originally designed for the first of the three, the one in A major; and that for theAdagio of the second, in C minor, Beethoven, assuming that he already associated the theme with the work, first contemplated using the key of G.
The three Sonatas for Pianoforte, Op. 31, are without dedication. W. Nagel connects them, or one of them, with the following extraordinary letter to Hoffmeister:
Vienna, April 8, 1802.Are you all ridden by the devil gentlemen that you proposesuch a sonatato me?At the time of the revolutionary fever—well—such a thing might have been very well; but now—when everything is trying to get back into the old rut, Buonaparte has signed the concordat with the Pope—such a sonata?If it were aMissa pro sancta Maria a tre voci, or a Vesper, etc.—I would take my brush in hand at once—and write down aCredo in unum Deumin big pound notes—but good God, such a sonata—for these days of newly dawning Christianity—hoho!—leave me out of it, nothing will come of it.Now my answer in quickest tempo—the lady can have a sonata from me, and I will follow her plan in respect of æsthetics in a general way—and without following the keys—price 5 ducats—for which she may keep it for her own enjoyment for a year, neither I norsheto publish it.At the expiration of the year—the sonata will be mine to—i. e., I shall publish it, and she shall have the privilege—if she thinks it will be an honor—to ask me to dedicate it to her....Now God keep you gentlemen.My Sonata is beautifully printed [gestochen, i. e., engraved]—but it took you a pretty time—send my Septet into the world a little quicker—for the crowd is waiting for it—and you know the Empress has it and there are (scamps) in the imperial city as well as the (imperial court) I can vouch for nothing—therefore make haste.Herr (Mollo) has again recently published my Quartets but full of faults andErrata—in large as well as small form, they swarm in them like fish in the sea, there is no end of them—questo è un piacere per un autore—that’s pricking music with a vengeance, in truth my skin is full of prickings and rips because of this beautiful edition of my Quartets....Now farewell and remember me as I do you. Till death your faithfulL. v. Beethoven.
Vienna, April 8, 1802.
Are you all ridden by the devil gentlemen that you proposesuch a sonatato me?
At the time of the revolutionary fever—well—such a thing might have been very well; but now—when everything is trying to get back into the old rut, Buonaparte has signed the concordat with the Pope—such a sonata?
If it were aMissa pro sancta Maria a tre voci, or a Vesper, etc.—I would take my brush in hand at once—and write down aCredo in unum Deumin big pound notes—but good God, such a sonata—for these days of newly dawning Christianity—hoho!—leave me out of it, nothing will come of it.
Now my answer in quickest tempo—the lady can have a sonata from me, and I will follow her plan in respect of æsthetics in a general way—and without following the keys—price 5 ducats—for which she may keep it for her own enjoyment for a year, neither I norsheto publish it.
At the expiration of the year—the sonata will be mine to—i. e., I shall publish it, and she shall have the privilege—if she thinks it will be an honor—to ask me to dedicate it to her....
Now God keep you gentlemen.
My Sonata is beautifully printed [gestochen, i. e., engraved]—but it took you a pretty time—send my Septet into the world a little quicker—for the crowd is waiting for it—and you know the Empress has it and there are (scamps) in the imperial city as well as the (imperial court) I can vouch for nothing—therefore make haste.
Herr (Mollo) has again recently published my Quartets but full of faults andErrata—in large as well as small form, they swarm in them like fish in the sea, there is no end of them—questo è un piacere per un autore—that’s pricking music with a vengeance, in truth my skin is full of prickings and rips because of this beautiful edition of my Quartets....
Now farewell and remember me as I do you. Till death your faithful
L. v. Beethoven.
An engagement which Beethoven had obtained from Count Browne for Ries was one that gave him leisure to pursue his studies, and he often came to Vienna and Heiligenstadt for that purpose. Thus it happens that the “Notizen” also contribute to the history of these Sonatas. Ries writes:
Beethoven had promised the three solo sonatas (Op. 31) to Nägeli in Zurich while his brother Carl (Caspar) who, unfortunately, was always meddling with his affairs, wanted to sell them to a Leipsic publisher.There were frequent exchanges of words between the brothers on this account because Beethoven having given his word wanted to keep it. When the sonatas (the first two) were about to be sent away Beethoven was living in Heiligenstadt. During a promenade new quarrels arose between the brothers and finally they came to blows. The next day he gave me the sonatas to send straight to Zurich, and a letter to his brother enclosed in another to Stephan von Breuning who was to read it. A prettier lesson could scarcely have been read by anybody with a good heart than Beethoven read his brother on the subject of his conduct on the day before. He first pointed it out in its true and contemptible character, then he forgave him everything, but predicted a bad future for him unless he mended his ways. The letter, too, which he had written to Breuning was very beautiful.
Beethoven had promised the three solo sonatas (Op. 31) to Nägeli in Zurich while his brother Carl (Caspar) who, unfortunately, was always meddling with his affairs, wanted to sell them to a Leipsic publisher.There were frequent exchanges of words between the brothers on this account because Beethoven having given his word wanted to keep it. When the sonatas (the first two) were about to be sent away Beethoven was living in Heiligenstadt. During a promenade new quarrels arose between the brothers and finally they came to blows. The next day he gave me the sonatas to send straight to Zurich, and a letter to his brother enclosed in another to Stephan von Breuning who was to read it. A prettier lesson could scarcely have been read by anybody with a good heart than Beethoven read his brother on the subject of his conduct on the day before. He first pointed it out in its true and contemptible character, then he forgave him everything, but predicted a bad future for him unless he mended his ways. The letter, too, which he had written to Breuning was very beautiful.
The first two Sonatas (G major and D minor) appeared in the spring of 1803, as Op. 29, in Nägeli’s “Répertoire des Clavecinistes” asCahier 5(the third followed soon after as Op. 33, together with the “Sonate pathétique” asCahier 11). OfCahier 5Nägeli sent proof-sheets. Ries reports on the subject as follows:
When the proof-sheets came I found Beethoven writing. “Play the Sonata through,” he said to me, remaining seated at his writing-desk. There was an unusual number of errors in the proofs, which fact already made Beethoven impatient. At the end of the firstAllegroin the Sonata in G major, however, Nägeli had introduced four measures—after the fourth measure of the last hold:added measuresWhen I played this Beethoven jumped up in a rage, came running to me, half pushed me away from the pianoforte, shouting: “Where the devil do you find that?” One can scarcely imagine his amazement and rage when he saw the printed notes. I received the commission to make a record of all the errors and at once send the sonatas to Simrock in Bonn, who was to make a reprint and call itÉdition très correcte. In this place belong three notes to me:1. “Be good enough to make a note of the errors and send a record of them at once to Simrock, with the request that he publish as soon as possible—day after to-morrow I will send him the sonata and concerto.”2. “I must beg you again to do the disagreeable work of making a clear copy of the errors in the Zurich sonatas and sending it to Simrock; you will find a list of the errors at my house in the Wieden.”3. “Dear Ries!“Not only are the expression marks poorly indicated but there are also false notes in several places—therefore be careful!—or the work will again be in vain.Ch’à detto l’amato bene?”
When the proof-sheets came I found Beethoven writing. “Play the Sonata through,” he said to me, remaining seated at his writing-desk. There was an unusual number of errors in the proofs, which fact already made Beethoven impatient. At the end of the firstAllegroin the Sonata in G major, however, Nägeli had introduced four measures—after the fourth measure of the last hold:
added measures
When I played this Beethoven jumped up in a rage, came running to me, half pushed me away from the pianoforte, shouting: “Where the devil do you find that?” One can scarcely imagine his amazement and rage when he saw the printed notes. I received the commission to make a record of all the errors and at once send the sonatas to Simrock in Bonn, who was to make a reprint and call itÉdition très correcte. In this place belong three notes to me:
1. “Be good enough to make a note of the errors and send a record of them at once to Simrock, with the request that he publish as soon as possible—day after to-morrow I will send him the sonata and concerto.”
2. “I must beg you again to do the disagreeable work of making a clear copy of the errors in the Zurich sonatas and sending it to Simrock; you will find a list of the errors at my house in the Wieden.”
3. “Dear Ries!
“Not only are the expression marks poorly indicated but there are also false notes in several places—therefore be careful!—or the work will again be in vain.Ch’à detto l’amato bene?”
The closing words of the second note show that the matter was not brought to an end until late in the spring of 1803, after Beethoven had removed into the theatre buildings An-der-Wien. After the Sonatas became known in Vienna Doležalek asked Beethoven if a certain passage in the D minor Sonata was correct. “Certainly it is correct,” replied the composer, “but you are a countryman of Krumpholz—nothing will go into that hard Bohemian head of yours.”
A circumstance related by Czerny, if accepted as authoritative, proves that two of the three Sonatas were completed in the country. Once when he (Beethoven) saw a rider gallop past his windows in his summer sojourn in Heiligenstadt near Vienna, the regular beat (of the horse’s hoofs) gave him the idea for the theme of the Finale of the D minor sonata, Op. 31, No. 2:
D minor sonata theme
The six Variations in F on an Original Theme, Op. 34, dedicated to the Princess Odescalchi, were probably composed immediately after the Variations in E-flat, Op. 35. In the midst of the sketches for the latter (in the Kessler sketchbook) two measures of the theme are noted and the remark appended, “Each variation in a different key—but alternately passages now in the left hand and then almost the same or different ones in the right.” The two sets of Variations and the Quintet, Op. 29, were sold to Breitkopf and Härtel in October, 1802. In a letter which the publishers received from the composer on October 18, 1802, Beethoven writes:
Characteristics of the Variations
I have made two sets of Variations of which the first may be said to number 8, the second 30; both are written ina really entirely new styleand each in quite a different way. I should very much like to have them published by you, but under the one condition that the honorarium be about 50 florins for the two sets—do not let me make this offer in vain, for I assure you you will never regret the two works. Each theme in them is treated independently and in a wholly different manner. As a rule I only hear of it through others when I have new ideas, since I never know it myself; but this time I can assure you myself that the style in both works is new to me.
I have made two sets of Variations of which the first may be said to number 8, the second 30; both are written ina really entirely new styleand each in quite a different way. I should very much like to have them published by you, but under the one condition that the honorarium be about 50 florins for the two sets—do not let me make this offer in vain, for I assure you you will never regret the two works. Each theme in them is treated independently and in a wholly different manner. As a rule I only hear of it through others when I have new ideas, since I never know it myself; but this time I can assure you myself that the style in both works is new to me.
A more interesting letter received by Breitkopf and Härtel on December 26, 1802, relates to the same subject. It demands insertion in full:
Instead of the noise about a new method of V(ariations) such as would be made by our neighbors the Gallo-Franks, like, for instance, a certain Fr. composer who presents fuguesaprès une nouvelle Méthode, it consisting in this that the fugue is no fugue, etc.—I nevertheless want to call attention to the fact that these V. differ at least from others, and this I thought I could do in the most unconstrained and least conspicuous manner by means of the little prefatory note which I beg of you to print in the small as well as the large V., leaving it for you to say in what language or how many languages, since we poor Germans are compelled to speak in all tongues.Here is the prefatory note:Inasmuch as these V. differ materially from my earlier ones I have, instead of designating them merely by number, 1, 2, 3, etc., included them in the list of mygreater musical works, and this also for the further reason that the themes are original.The author.N.B. If you find it necessary to change or improve anything you have my entire permission.
Instead of the noise about a new method of V(ariations) such as would be made by our neighbors the Gallo-Franks, like, for instance, a certain Fr. composer who presents fuguesaprès une nouvelle Méthode, it consisting in this that the fugue is no fugue, etc.—I nevertheless want to call attention to the fact that these V. differ at least from others, and this I thought I could do in the most unconstrained and least conspicuous manner by means of the little prefatory note which I beg of you to print in the small as well as the large V., leaving it for you to say in what language or how many languages, since we poor Germans are compelled to speak in all tongues.
Here is the prefatory note:
Inasmuch as these V. differ materially from my earlier ones I have, instead of designating them merely by number, 1, 2, 3, etc., included them in the list of mygreater musical works, and this also for the further reason that the themes are original.
The author.
N.B. If you find it necessary to change or improve anything you have my entire permission.
That by the “large variations,” whose number (30) Breitkopf and Härtel seem to have called in question, Beethoven meant his Op. 35, is made plain by a third letter running as follows:
Vienna, April 8, 1803.I have wanted to write to you for a long time, but my business affairs are so many that they permit but little correspondence. You seem to be mistaken in your opinion that there are not as many variations (as I stated) only it would not do to announce the number as there is no way of telling how in the large set three variations are run into each other in the Adagio, and the Fugue can certainly not be called a variation, nor the Introduction, which, as you may see for yourself, begins with the bass of the theme, then expands to 2, 3 and finally 4 parts, when the theme at last makes its appearance, which again cannot be called a variation, etc.—but if this is not clear to you, send me a proof-sheet along with the manuscript as soon as a copy is printed, so that I may be guarded against confusion—you would do me a great favor if you would omit from the large variations the dedication to abbé Stadler and print the following, viz.:dediées etc. À Monsieur le Comte Maurice Lichnowsky; he is a brother of Prince Lichnowsky and only recently did me an unexpected favor, and I have no other opportunity to return the kindness, if you have already engraved the dedication to abbé Stadler I will gladly pay the cost of changing the title-page, do not hesitate, write what the expense will be and I will pay it with pleasure, I earnestly beg you to do this if you have not sent out any copies—in the case of the small variations the dedication to Princess Odescalchi remains.I thank you very much for the beautiful things of Sebastian Bach’s, I will preserve and study them—should there be a continuation of the pieces send them to me also—if you have a good text for a cantata or other vocal piece send it to me.
Vienna, April 8, 1803.
I have wanted to write to you for a long time, but my business affairs are so many that they permit but little correspondence. You seem to be mistaken in your opinion that there are not as many variations (as I stated) only it would not do to announce the number as there is no way of telling how in the large set three variations are run into each other in the Adagio, and the Fugue can certainly not be called a variation, nor the Introduction, which, as you may see for yourself, begins with the bass of the theme, then expands to 2, 3 and finally 4 parts, when the theme at last makes its appearance, which again cannot be called a variation, etc.—but if this is not clear to you, send me a proof-sheet along with the manuscript as soon as a copy is printed, so that I may be guarded against confusion—you would do me a great favor if you would omit from the large variations the dedication to abbé Stadler and print the following, viz.:dediées etc. À Monsieur le Comte Maurice Lichnowsky; he is a brother of Prince Lichnowsky and only recently did me an unexpected favor, and I have no other opportunity to return the kindness, if you have already engraved the dedication to abbé Stadler I will gladly pay the cost of changing the title-page, do not hesitate, write what the expense will be and I will pay it with pleasure, I earnestly beg you to do this if you have not sent out any copies—in the case of the small variations the dedication to Princess Odescalchi remains.
I thank you very much for the beautiful things of Sebastian Bach’s, I will preserve and study them—should there be a continuation of the pieces send them to me also—if you have a good text for a cantata or other vocal piece send it to me.
In spite of Beethoven’s warning, Op. 34 was printed without the proof having been read by him; this provoked another letter calling attention to a large number of errors in the publication, of which Beethoven promised to send a list. He also expressed a fear that the “large variations” would also be faulty, the more since his own manuscript had been put into the hands of the engraver, and asked that the fact that the theme was from his ballet “Prometheus” be indicated on the title-page, if there were still time, offering, as in the case of the dedication, to pay the cost of the change. Again he begged to be permitted to correct a proof copy—a request which was ignored in this instance, as it had been in the first. The result was a somewhat gentle protest in another letter (October, 1803), in which Beethoven offered the firm the Variations on “God save the King” and “Rule Britannia,” the song “Wachtelschlag” and three Marches for the Pianoforte, four hands. The conclusion of the letter, with its postscript, has a double value—as an exhibition of Beethoven’s attitude towards the criticism of his day and as a contribution to the debated question touching the illicit printing of some of his early compositions. We quote:
Please thank the editor of the M.Z. (“Musikzeitung”) for his kindness in giving place to the flattering report of my oratorio in which there is so much rude lying about the prices which I have made and I am so infamously treated, which is I suppose an evidence of impartiality—for aught I care—so long as this makes for the fortune of the M.Z.—what magnanimity is not asked of the true artist, and not wholly without impropriety, but on the other hand, what detestable and vulgar attacks upon us are permitted.Answer immediately, and next time another topic.As always your devotedL. v. Beethoven.N.B. All the pieces which I have offered you are entirely new—since unfortunately so many unlucky old things of mine have been sold and stolen.
Please thank the editor of the M.Z. (“Musikzeitung”) for his kindness in giving place to the flattering report of my oratorio in which there is so much rude lying about the prices which I have made and I am so infamously treated, which is I suppose an evidence of impartiality—for aught I care—so long as this makes for the fortune of the M.Z.—what magnanimity is not asked of the true artist, and not wholly without impropriety, but on the other hand, what detestable and vulgar attacks upon us are permitted.
Answer immediately, and next time another topic.
As always your devotedL. v. Beethoven.
N.B. All the pieces which I have offered you are entirely new—since unfortunately so many unlucky old things of mine have been sold and stolen.
It was through the printing of the letters to Breitkopf and Härtel that the fact became known that Beethoven originally had intended to dedicate the Variations in E-flat to Abbé Stadler. The Rondo in G, which was announced by Hoffmeister and Kühnel on March 19, 1803, was published in connection with the Rondo in C which had already appeared in 1798, as Op. 51, Nos. 1 and 2. It was originally dedicated to Countess Guicciardi, but Beethoven gave her the Sonata in C-sharp minor in exchange for it and inscribed the Rondo to Countess Henriette Lichnowsky. This wouldseem to indicate that it was finished before the Sonata, probably in 1801. Nottebohm has proved in his study of the Kessler sketchbook that the sixth of the “Bagatelles,” in D major, had its origin in 1802, when Beethoven was at work on the second Symphony.[138]
End of Volume I