op 127: String Quartet #12 in Eb

While in Baden, B. wrote several letters to Karl in Vienna, some w/ pathos regarding his condition & others angry as Karl did not visit often & visited his mother against B's wishes. :

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"I am getting thinner and thinner and feel ailing rather than well, and I have no doctor, not a single sympathetic soul at hand. If you can manage to come on Sundays, please do. But I don't want to interfere with your plans in any way, if only I were certain that your Sundays away from me were well apent. Indeed I must learn to give up everything ... oh! Where have I not been wounded, nay more, cut to the heart?!" [L.Dec p67/ Letters III p1199]

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"...Spoilt as you are, it would do you no harm to strive after simplicity and truthfulness at last; for my heart has suffered to much by your sly conduct towards me and it is difficult for me to forget..." "...God is my witness, I dream only of one thing, to be entirely rid of you and this wretched Brother of mine and this abominable family which has been foisted upon me..." [letter May 31st - Hamburger p232-3]

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Beethoven, then in Baden, was visited by a dutchman, Samson Moses de Boes (1771-1839), who was delighted with music and who had an adopted son who was enrolled in school for painting - thus he donated to the academy, and may have that academy connection as an entry vehicle to Beethoven. Beethoven may have believed that he was from the institute that had elected him a correspondent in 1809. The man was an amateur cello player. (B. had just completed his string quartet in a minor op132, and was then sketching op130). Beethoven made time for the man, and had a long conversation via the conversation books. Beethoven ended the meeting by giving de Boes a lithographic portrait of himself (possibly the crayon drawing by Stephan Decker or possibly the engraving by Hofel after Louis Letrone from 1814), along with a 2-part canon in A major (8 measures long without words), WoO 35. (A sketch of this was found between sketch leaves of the 3rd movement of op 130)

This is from a letter written approximately 18 months later by de Boer dated 3/15/1827: "I visited the same little town of Baden, three hours above Vienna. (I had to write everything down for this artist, because hardly had I spoken a single word when he said to me that he was completely deprived of his hearing.) After having a conversation on art for a while, this great man showed me a tiny pocket-sized book, which was lined for the language of music and which, on several pages, was filled with small musical notes in pencil. "Look," he said to me, "that's the product of my walk. When I, for the benefit of my health, take walks during the summer, once or twice a week, this little book is of some comfort to me when a good musical idea emerges. The life of an artist is short to reach the goal that he has set for himself, and well spent hours are very scarce. Not for the money of Lichtenstein (one of the most well-known and rich noblemen of Austria) would I want to skip a single day's work as a composer." [B.Jrnl - Winter 1999 v14#2]

B. moved from Baden back to Vienna, to Altes Schwarzspanierhaus #200 (2nd fl) (Today: Schwarzspanierstrasse 15) where he remained until his death in 1827. (The structure was demolished in 1904 - was a 3 story building. B's flat had 6 rooms: servant's area, housekeeping section, kitchen, 3 rooms where he lived and worked: music room, study, bedroom. The bedroom contained 2 pianos. It was in this house that Beethoven sketched the 10th Symphony. The original green door is on display at the Molkerbastei memorial site Note Stephen von Breuning and his son Gerhard, age 12 lived across the street to the right.)

Evidently responding to a note from Karl suggesting some drastic action (? suicide), B. wrote to him:

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"My dear son, "No more, I beg of you! Only come into my arms! You will not hear a single harsh word. Oh, God, do not seek your own undowing! You will always be received lovingly..." ... "My word of honor, there will be no reproaches, as in any case these would be fruitless now! You may expect only the most loving care and support from me..." [Letters III p 1258]

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