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"Soul picture, which brings before the mind the Parting-let us assume of two lovers; the deserted-let us assume again sweetheart or wife and Reunion of the Parted Ones." But unfortunately for that writer Beethoven's manuscript bears these inscriptions in his own hand: "The Farewell, Vienna, May 4, 1809, on the departure of His Imperial Highness the revered Archduke Rudolph"; on the Finale: "The Arrival of His Imperial Highness the revered Archduke Rudolph, January 30, 1810."

With a garrison of 16,000 troops, 1000 students and artists, the civil militia and a small number of summoned men, Archduke Maximilian was ordered to defend Vienna. Thus it came about that Beethoven, on the 10th of May, found himself shut up in a beleaguered city.

Beethoven's experiment of lodging with Countess Erdödy, as might have been predicted, was not a successful one; he was too irritable, whimsical, obstinate; too ready to take offense, too lax in asking or giving explanations. We have seen in divers cases, how, when he discovered himself to be in the wrong, he gladly made every due acknowledgment; but, as in the case of Ries, this was often too late to remedy the mischief already caused. Before the close of the winter, he was evidently becoming discontented; so much so as to take ill even the singular proof of the Countess' good will spoken of in the following note:

I think, my dear Zmeskall, that even after the war is over, if ever it begins, you will be ready to carry on negotiations for peace. What a glorious office!! I leave it wholly in your hands to settle the affair about my servant, but the Countess must not have the slightest influence over him. She has, as she says, given him 25 fl. and 5 fl. a month only to make him remain with me. Now I must necessarily believe in this magnanimity-but do not wish it to be continued. . . .

Another note bears Zmeskall's date: "March 7, 1809":

I might easily have thought it. About the blows, this is dragged in by the hair of the head; this story is at least 3 months old-and is by no means -what he now makes out of it-the whole miserable affair was brought about by a huckster woman and other wretches-but I shall not lose much, because he was really spoiled in the house where I am.

What cause of dissension, beyond the ill-advised gratifications to the servant, had arisen between Beethoven and the Countess is not known; but something had occurred, the blame of which he soon saw was all his own, and for which he thus humbly expresses his contrition and beseeches forgiveness:

My dear Countess, I have erred, that is true-forgive me, it was assuredly not intentional malice on my part, if I have pained you-only

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since last night do I know the truth about the matter, and I am very sorry that I acted as I did-read your billet coolly and judge for yourself if I deserve all and if you did not pay me back six-fold since I offended you unintentionally; send my note back to me to-day, and write me only one word that you are no longer angry, I shall suffer infinitely if you do not do this, I can do nothing if things are to continue thus-I await your forgiveness.

There are sufficient grounds for belief that an immediate reconciliation took place; nevertheless, Beethoven decided to go into another lodging, and one was found for him in the "Klepperstall in der Teinfaltstrasse im 3ten Stock beym Advokaten Gotischa," as he describes it in a letter to Breitkopf and Härtel dated August 3, 1809. He does not seem to have occupied the lodging, however, for as a letter written to Zmeskall in the same month1 shows he was still in Baden, much interested in the exhibitions of an aeronaut named Degen. If he took possession at all he soon gave it up and removed to one in the Walfischgasse looking out over the city wall and glacis directly upon the place where the Polytechnic Institute now stands.

The French commanders demanded the capitulation of Vienna, but Archduke Maximilian rejected the demands, and the French erected a battery on the Spittelberg to shell the city. Every shot directed by this battery against the Kärnthnerthor and the Wasserkunst Bastei was liable to plunge into Beethoven's windows.

At 9 o'clock at night (on the 11th) the battery of 20 howit- X zers opened fire. Rich and poor, high and low, young and old at once found themselves crowded indiscriminately in cellars and fireproof vaults.

Beethoven took refuge in the Rauhensteingasse and "spent the greater part of the time in a cellar in the house of his brother Kaspar (Karl), where he covered his head with pillows so as not to hear the cannons," so says Ries. More probably Beethoven took this wise precaution to save his feeble organs of hearing from the effect of the sharp reports of bursting shells, for it does not appear that either the cannons on the bastions or those mounted in the streets were fired. "At half-past 2 (the afternoon of the 12th) the white flag was sent up as notice of capitulation to the outposts of the enemy.

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The occupation of the capital by the French and the X gathering together of opposing armies for the terrible battles of Aspern, Esslingen, Wagram and Znaim produced the inevitable

'The letter is incorrectly dated "1811" in the Kalischer Collection.

effects of increased consumption and deficient supply of the necessaries of life. Even before the capitulation "the rate of interest went up fearfully, especially in the sale of food, particularly bread, and because of the disappearance of copper coins." From the capitulation to the armistice of July 12th, two months, "the enemy had drawn from the city nearly 10,000,000 florins and demanded enormous requisitions of supplies." There was one requisition, perhaps more than one, which touched Beethoven directly: "A forced loan on the houses of the city and the suburbs amounting to one-quarter of the rentals from owners or the parties to a contract for rent on from 101 to 1000 florins and one-third on from 1001 to 2000 florins, etc." Perhaps at no other time was Beethoven so well able to meet the extraordinary demands upon his purse as now. He had received from Archduke Rudolph 750 florins and from Prince Lobkowitz 350 florins, his first payment of the annuity; and doubtless Breitkopf and Härtel and his other publishers had remitted money or bills. Still he must have felt the pressure of the time severely before Vienna again became free. To whom could he go for aid? Kinsky departed to Prague on February 26; his wife and Prince Lobkowitz on March 14. The Lichnowskys, Palfys, Waldstein, etc., were all away; some in the war; some in the civil service; some on their estates-the Erdödys, for instance, took refuge in Hungary or Croatia. Of personal friends, Breuning seems to have remained-no other is known to have done so. Bigot and his wife went off to Paris, never to return; Zmeskall and the public officials in general had followed the Court and the Ministers to places of safety. The posts were interrupted and for many weeks communication with the country prohibited. It was not until near the end of July that the Prater, the Augarten, Schwarzenberg Garten, and the Schönbrunner Garten were opened to the public. For Beethoven, this confinement during this season of the year when he was accustomed to breathe inspiration in vale and forest, was almost intolerable, and increased if possible his old hatred of Napoleon and the French. Young Rust met him one day in a coffee-house and saw him shake his fist at a passing French officer, with the exclamation: "If I, as general, knew as much about strategy as I the composer know of counterpoint, I'd give you something to do!"

Under such circumstances, and with no immediately pressing necessity for composition, even the genius of a Beethoven must sleep. We may suppose, that under the impulse of the departure of the Archduke, Beethoven completed the "Farewell" and "Absence" of the Sonata, Op. 81a; and that he gave the final touches to

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the Pianoforte Concerto in E-flat, Op. 73, and made some studies for new symphonies, and sonatas; but the fountain soon ran dry, and the tedious weeks of this miserable summer were mainly devoted to the laborious task of selecting and copying in order extracts from the theoretical works of C. P. E. Bach, Türk, Kirnberger, Fux and Albrechtsberger, for subsequent use in the instruction of Archduke Rudolph-a task which, in our opinion, he had for some time had in mind, and had begun, at the very latest, early in the year. The "Materials for Thoroughbass" and "Materials for Counterpoint"-as two of his books are respectively headed by him—are largely the basis of that extraordinary imposition upon the musical public, prepared by Seyfried and published by Haslinger as Beethoven's Studies under Haydn and Albrechtsberger an imposition which was successful for 30 years! Schindler early warned the public against the fraud. His charges were never answered; nor was his challenge to prove the genuineness of the work taken up.

Some time in August a letter from Amsterdam, which was preserved by the widow of Beethoven's nephew Karl, was received by the composer, notifying to him his appointment as a Correspondent of the Fourth Class of the Royal Institute of Science, Literature and the Fine Arts. It gave occasion shortly after its receipt for a letter to Breitkopf and Härtel in which Beethoven says: "Do you know that I have become a member of the Society of Fine Arts and Sciences?-after all a title-ha-ha, it makes me laugh!" In another letter to Breitkopf and Härtel, dated August 8, he says he has sent them the Sextet for Windinstruments, Op. 71, and two German songs as a "return gift for all the things which I have asked as gifts from you. "The Sextet is one of my early things and, besides, was written in one night; nothing more can be said of it except that it was written by an author who at least has done better things-but to many people such things are the best." He also asks for the complete works of Goethe and Schiller, his "favorite poets, with Ossian and Homer." One of the two songs referred to was undoubtedly "Ich denke dein." The second song was probably the "Lied aus der Fremde," the first of five settings which Beethoven made of poems by C. L. Reissig and which gave rise to much annoyance. In a letter to Breitkopf and Härtel, dated February 4, 1810, he wrote:

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The "Gesang in der Ferne" which my brother sent you recently1 was written by a dilettante, as you no doubt observed for yourselves, who

If the estrangement between Beethoven and his brother was of earlier date than this, it would appear as if the siege of Vienna had brought them together again.

pressed me urgently to set it to music, but has also taken the liberty to have the a(ria) printed, I therefore have thought it well to give you a proof of my friendly feeling by informing you of the fact, I hope you will print it at once on receipt, you can send it here and elsewhere as you please, if you make haste you may have it here before it can be printed here, I know for a certainty that it will be published by Artaria-I wrote the A. only as a favor, and as a favor I give it to you-but I beg you to send me the following book, namely "Bechstein's Natural History of Birds in two large volumes with copper-plates," with which I wish to give great pleasure to a good friend of mine. . . I am not yet sound. in health-we are given poor food and have to pay incredibly-things are not quite in order with my appointment, I have not yet received a heller from Kinsky-I fear or rather almost hope that I shall be compelled to go away perhaps even for the sake of my health, it may be a long time before conditions grow better than they are now-there can be no thought of what they were.

In this letter Beethoven offers Breitkopf and Härtel the Fantasia (Op. 77), the Choral Fantasia (Op. 80), three Pianoforte Sonatas (Op. 78, 79 and 81a), the Variations (Op. 76, in D major), the Quartet (Op. 74), the Pf. Concerto in E-flat, and "12 songs with pianoforte accompaniment, texts partly in German, partly in Italian, nearly all composed throughout. That among these songs were four others to Reissig's words ("An den fernen Geliebten," "Der Zufriedene," "Der Jüngling in der Fremde" and "Der Liebende"), which were not published till some years later, is a natural conclusion from a passage in a letter to Breitkopf and Härtel, dated September 11, 1810:

That Cavalry Captain Reissig ever paid me anything for my compositions is an abominable lie, I composed them for him as a friendly favor because he was a cripple at the time and excited my compassion. In writing this I declare that Breitkopf and Härtel are the sole owners of the songs which I have sent you, of which the words are by Cavalry Captain Reissig.

In a still angrier mood he recurs to the songs again in a letter of October 15:

You ought to add "ich denke dein" to this collection, I have seen it printed separately and somewhere in it I do not remember where, not having it, a wrong mordent. Another thing: you ought to publish the "Gesang aus der Ferne" at once if you have not already done so, the poetry is by that rascal Reissig, it was not published at the time and it took nearly half a year before this rascal told me that, as he said, he had had it "printed by Artaria only for his friends." I sent it to you by letterpost and received for it instead of thanks, stench (statt Dank Stank).

Beethoven's longing desire for the country was not to be gratified immediately. Manager Hartl had projected a new charity,

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