AGE 45 THROUGH AGE 46 - [1816]

YEARS 1816-1819 LOWEST PRODUCTIVITY OF BEETHOVEN'S ADULT LIFE

WORKS CREATED

op 94: lieder w/ piano "An die Hoffnung"

[Close to op32 in content. Begins w/ verse "If there be a God - ? If he will someday fulfill that for which tearfully this intense longing hopes?" (Musical relation also w/ recitative of the basses at beginning of last movement of 9th Symph.) [See pg 46 B. newsletter Winter 87]

op 98: An die ferne Gelibte

(April) [1st & last song had main motef from the Andante Favori. B. had once given the Andante to Josephine w/ the words: "here - your - your Andante!"]

op 99: lieder w/ piano "Der Mann vom Wort"

 

op 101: Piano Sonata in A 

(begun Apr - completed Nov) Probably chiefly within a Baden stay during
summer months [L Decade pg147]. 
Referring to the last movement, bars 223-7 where Beethoven first made
use of the instrument's low E -- he wrote to Tobias Haslinger: 
______________________________________________
"Most Excellent A(djutan)t
 Second S(coundre)l of the Empire

The guilty and the innocent are commanded to see to the
proof-reading with all speed and to return the proofs to me.
In the last movement, in the passage where low E appears
in the four chords, I should like the letters to be added, thus
E    E    E    E    E
A    F#  G#  A   B
E    E    E    E    E
Furthermore, the words which have been added in certain
places must be noted and inserted -- The innocent and the
guilty, the rude and the courteous second S(coundre)l of the
Empire etc. etc. etc. cannot be promoted."  [L.Decade pg147-8] 
________________________________________________
(Note - Refers to words added - probably refers to marks
of expression)

op 108: 25 Scottish folksongs

 

op 121a: Piano Trio vars. Over asons "Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu"

 [from op1]

WoO 24: March for mil music in D

(June) For large band including 5 clarinets, 6 horns, 8 trumpets, etc. [Per B.Jrnl 11#2? pg24]

WoO 146: Song, "Sehnsucht"

(early)

WoO 147: Song, "Ruf vom Berge"

(Dec)

WoO 153: 20 Irish songs

 

WoO 154 12 Irish songs

 

WoO 157: 12 Assorted folksongs

 

WoO 158 #1: 23 Continental folksongs

 (1st 18 compl. 5/2)(see Cooper pg 271)

WoO 158 #2: 7 British folksongs

(ibid)

WoO 158 #3: 6 Assorted folksongs

 (ibid)

WoO 168: 2 Canons #1 "Das Schweigen"

(text from Herder's aphoristic poetry: "Learn to keep silent, O friend. Speech is like silver, but to be silent at the right time is pure gold" [Tagebuch#5-1813] #2 "Das Reden" (Jan 24th) (for departing (to London) Charles Neate

WoO 170: Canon "Ars longa, vita brevis"

(Apr) (for departing Johann Hummel, (however, visited B.when he was dying)
Hess 97: Piano arr.Wellington's Sieg op91  
Unclassified: Trio for piano in f sketched in May
Unclassified: Piano Trio in g sketched in May; Unfinished -- possibly the one sketched for Marie's children [B.Jrnl v11#2 pg24 in Coopers critique of Altman]

 

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

DATE
LIFE NOTES
OTHER NOTES
  
By this time B. was cut off from his earlier aristocratic supporters save for Archduke
Rudolph & his music did not appeal to the masses causing him insult and some resentment
[Last Decade p20]
------------ 
"Leave aside operas and everything else; write only in your manner. And then a cowl to
end this unhappy life." [Tagebuch#84]
------------ 
"Fate, show your power! We have no mastery over ourselves: whatever has been
determined, must be, and so be it, then!" [Hamburger p144-5]
------------ 
"Endurance - Resignation - Resignation! Thus we may yet gain by the utmost misery and
become worthy of God's forgiveness of our faults." [Hamburger p144-5]
------------
"You will regard K. as your own child..." [Hamburger p144-5]
------------
1st use of ear trumpet - totally deaf Rt.
  
Jan 9 Landricht appointed Beethoven Karl's sole guardian with legal appointment 10 days later  
Jan 19 Landricht's order establishing Beethoven as Karl's guardianship in effect.  
Jan 24 Two farewell cannons (WoO 168) written for Neate who was about to leave for London  
Feb Wellingtons Sieg published in score and parts  
Feb 2 B. sent Karl to Giannatasio's private reform school (for 2years). B. spent time with the Giannatasio family including daughters Nanni and Fanny. Fanny (whose fiance had died less than a year earlier [Man of His Word pg228]) became jealous of a secret love of B's and she recorded that he had mentioned unfulfilled love relationship that began 5 years earlier.  
Feb 11 Schuppanzigh gave a farewell concert before leaving for Russia. Music performed included Razumovsky Quartet #3, Quintet op16, Septet op20. Beethoven was present.  
Feb 18 Cellist Linke gave a farewell concert where Beethoven's works were performed: Cello Sonata op69, op102 (?#), and a new piano sonata (?op90).  
Feb 22 Letter from Beethoven to Giannatasio, headmaster of Kar's school: "In regard to Karl's mother I have now decided to comply fully with your desire that she should not see him at all at your school." [Anderson pg563 per Man of His Word pg32]  
Feb 28 Letter to Ries: "...I have not been well for some time; my brother's death affected my spirits and my work." "...and I at the same time guardian of my poor late brother's child. You will hardly have had as much aggravation as I have had over that death; yet I have the sweet consolation of having saved a poor innocent child from the hands of an unworthy mother." [Wegeler/Ries p123]  
Mar B. remained in frequent contact w/ Johanna - after a time she became convinced that his actions were beneficial to Karl.  
Apr Piano Sonata op101 begun  
Apr 'An die ferne Geliebte' composed (published in October)  
Apr 22 Publication announcement for song, 'An die Hoffnung' op94  
May Piano Trio in f minor sketched - never completed  
May 2 First 18 continental folksong settings completed  
May 8 In a letter to Ries B. writes: " ... My salary amouts to 3400 florins in paper money. I pay 1100 rent; my servant and his wife 900 fl.; you can work out what remains. At the same time I have to support my little nephew completely; until now he has been at boarding school; this costs up to 1100 fl. and is still not satisfactory, so that I have to establish a regular household before I can bring him to live with me. How much one has to earn merely to be able to live here; and yet there is no end to it, because - because - because - you know shat I mean." The letter ends with: "My best greetings to your wife; alas, I have none; I found only one, whom I will most likely never possess, but that does not make me a woman hater." [Wegeler/Ries p123-4]  
???? Erdody's son August died - possibly via abuse at the hand of Joseph Brauchle, the family tutor [Anderson#634]  
May 13 Letter to C. Erdody "live only in art" [#633]  
May 15 2nd letter to C. Erdody after learning of her son, August's death: "I am seized with grief on your account, and on mine, for I loved your son ..." "...I hope to have news of you soon, weap with you now..."  
???? Wrote in sketches "live only in your art"  
June 2 Josephine applied at Hungarian Court Chancellery under the name, Countess Deym, for passport to Pyrmont.  
Jly-Fall Josephine registered in Baden under Deym name. The authorities noted the entry and issued the passport to Baroness von Stackelberg.  
July 10,000 fl.WW deposited(8% int.)w/Steiner  
July ~5 Moved to Baden, Ossolynskisches Schlos (Today: BraitnerstraBe 26)  
???? Referring to Karl's upcoming hernia surg & to a trip B. is planning to "P-t" - he would go on a trip only if Karl is in good hands [NwsltrV9#2-3 p124 & Tagebuch #90-91]  
July 29 Publication announcement for Violin Sonata op96  
Sept Quartet op95 and 'Archduke' Trio op97 published  
Sept 18 Karl underwent hernia surgery in Vienna then taken to Beethoven in Baden for recuperation by the Giannatasio's. (Beethoven remained in Baden during the surgery and immediate recovery period.) Beethoven undertook plans to have Karl stay with him, consulting Zmeskall and later Nanette Streicher about domestic arrangements.  
???? Carl Czerny, B's piano student, began teaching Karl on the piano and began giving small concerts every Sunday, often attended by Beethoven who sometimes improvised..  
Sept-late Giannatasios spent the day in Baden w/ B. & Karl. Fanny Giannatasio recorded in her diary overhearing B. speak w/ her father that 5 yrs earlier B. had wanted a more intimate union w/ a woman but it was "not to be thought of, almost impossible, a chimera. Nevertheless, it is now as, on the first day, I have not been able to get it out of my mind."  
Sept-late B. returned to Vienna - moved to the Sailerstatte until April 1817. [L.Dec p32] There, a student, Carl Friedrich Hirsh, recalled B "working in a flowered dressing gown. Out of doors he wore a dark green or brown coat w/ grey or dark trousers to match - on his head a kind of low top-hat or in warmer weather a brown or dull gold straw hat. In his whole dress Beethoven was very slovenly. In his rooms there was the greatest disorder - music, sheets of paper and books lying partly on the desk and partly on the floor. Now and then the master wore spectacles for reading, but he did not wear them continuously." [L.Dec p34-5 ref#1]  
Oct 14 After returning from Baden, became ill & remained indoors for 2wks until early Nov.  
Oct An die ferne Geliebte published  
Oct Visited by Peter Joseph Simrock from Bonn. B spoke to him about argument he was having w/ an English visitor (probably Neate) & the London Philharmonic Society: B. felt they were attempting to dictate what kind of music he should write. This was subsequently resolved over the following several weeks. [L. Dec p32]  
Nov Josephine severely depressed w/ Stackelberg returning the next summer and her mounting debts.  
Nov ~ Karl noted B's illness and depression ~ this time [?evidence that B. had accepted Josephine's resignation in the face of events.  
Nov 7th Symphony published in score and parts  
Nov Piano Sonata op101 completed  
???? [Tagebuch#104]: "with regard to T. there is nothing else but to leave it to God, never to go there where one could do wrong out of weakness; only leave this totally to Him, to Him alone, the all-knowing God!" [see May 8 letter to Ries Anderson#632] (Possibly referring to Immortal Beloved)  
Winter Temporarily at the inn, "Zum Romischen Kaiser, Renngasse 145 (now #1) thru1817.  
Dec 15 Prince Lobkowitz died - annuity payments continued as agreed by heirs.