but had not been forwarded because of an illness from which he was not yet quite recovered. As to the folksongs of various nations he urges that prose versions of the texts be obtained as being preferable to the versified, a thing which he had suggested before, the prose being a better guide for him to the sentiment of the songs than rhymed lines. On January 30, he rebukes Zmeskall for having pained him by sending him a gift in acknowledgment of the dedication of the String Quartet, Op. 95, which had come from the press in December, 1816. "Although you are only a performing musician," he writes, "you have several times exercised the power of imagination, and it seems to me that it has occasionally put unnecessary whims into your head-at least so it seemed to me from your letter after my dedication. Good as I am and much as I appreciate all the good in you, I am yet angry, angry, angry.' Other letters to Steiner at this time refer to the Pianoforte Sonata in A, Op. 101, which was then in the hands of the printers and appeared in February with a dedication to Baroness Ertmann. The suggestion had gone out that German composers substitute German terms in music in place of Italian. With characteristic impetuosity, Beethoven decided to begin the reform at once, although it seems to have involved the reëngraving of the titlepage of the new Sonata. He wrote to Steiner in the military style with which we are already familiar:

To the Wellborn Lieut[enant] Gen[eral], for his own hands.

Publicandum

After individual examination and taking the advice of my council we have determined and hereby determine that hereafter on all our works with German titles, Hammerclavier be printed in place of pianoforte; our best Lt. Gen. as well as the Adjutant and all others concerned will govern themselves accordingly and put this order into effect.

Instead of Pianoforte, Hammerclavier-which settles the matter once for all.

Given, etc., etc., on January 23, 1817.

by the G[eneralissimu]s ...m.p.

Beethoven was in doubt as to the correctness of "Hammerclavier," thinking that it might better be "Hämmerclavier." In another communication he says the matter must be referred to a philologist. At the same time he offers, if necessary, to pay for the engraving of a new title, adding that perhaps the old one might be utilized for another sonata. He bases his acceptance of the new word on the belief that the instrument itself was a German invention a theory long ago disproved so far as the priority of the invention is concerned.

REFLECTIONS COMMITTED TO PAPER

365

Baroness Ertmann now lived at St. Pölten, where the command of her husband lay quartered, and thither Beethoven sent a copy of the "Hammerclavier" sonata accompanied by the following letter:

My dear, valued Dorothea-Cäcilia!

You must often have misunderstood me when I was obliged to appear displeasing to you particularly in the early days when my style. had less recognition than it has now. You know the teaching of the uncalled apostles who helped themselves along with quite other means than the holy gospel; I did not want to be counted among them. Receive now what was often intended for you and what may be a proof of my affection for your artistic talent as well as your person. That I did not hear you play at Czerny's recently was due to my ill-health which at last seems to be giving way before my strength.

I hope soon to hear you, how it goes at Pölten with and whether you care anything for your

Admirer and friend,

L. van Beethoven, m.p.

All things lovely to your worthy husband and consort.1

The picture of Beethoven's domestic affairs will gain in vividness by imagining the following extracts from the so-called "Tagebuch" of the Fischoff Manuscript to be scattered through these preceding pages. Dates are nowhere given; but memoranda of letters to Brentano in April follow which prove these notes to belong to the previous months:

Never again live alone with a servant; there is always danger, suppose, for instance, the master falls ill and the servant, perhaps, also. He who wishes to reap tears should sow love. (Beethoven is here surely thinking of his nephew.)

The Compassionate Brothers (the monks) in Tell, form a semicircle around the dead man and sing in deep tones:

Rasch tritt der Tod den Menschen an

Es ist ihm keine Frist gegeben

Er stürzt ihn mitten in der Bahn
Es reisst ihn fort vom vollem Leben
Bereitet oder nicht zu gehn!

Er muss vor seinen Richter stehen!

'This letter is dated "February 23, 1816”-another obvious blunder of the kind to which Beethoven was prone; it should of course be 1817. In the letter to Steiner last referred to he asks the publisher to keep the dedication a secret, as he intended it to be a surprise. Thayer accepted the date and explained the discrepancy with the suggestion that Beethoven had forwarded a manuscript copy to the baroness. The theory is no longer tenable. The lady could scarcely be surprised by a printed copy if she already had the Sonata in manuscript and also the letter which so plainly shows that the Sonata was written for her. It is also plain that Schindler was in error when he stated that the Sonata had been played in public in February, 1816. According to Nottebohm ("Zweite Beethoveniana," p. 344), the autograph of the Sonata bears the inscription: "Neue Sonata für Ham. 1816, im Monath November.' Its forthcoming appearance in print was announced in Kanne's "Musik-Zeitung" under date January 23,

Vidi malum et accepi.-(Plinius.)

Tametsi quid homini potest dari maius quam gloria et laus et aeternitas. -(Plinius.)

What more can be given to man than fame and praise and immortality?

Audi multa loquere pauca.

Something must be done either a journey and to this end the writing of the necessary works or an opera-if you are again to remain here during the coming summer an opera would be preferable in case circumstances, but moderately-if the summer sojourn is to be here, a decision must be made, where, how?

God help me, Thou seest me deserted by all men, for I do not wish to do wrong, hear my supplication, only for the future to be with my Karl, since the possibility shows itself nowhere, O harsh fate, O cruel destiny, no, no, my unhappy condition will never end.

This one thing I feel and clearly comprehend, possessions are not the highest things in life, but guilt is the greatest evil.

There is no salvation for you except to go away, only thus can you swing yourself up to the summits of your art again, while here you are sinking into vulgarity, and a symphony. . . and then away-awayaway-meanwhile collect the salary which mayhap can be done yet for

years. Work during the summer for the journey, only thus can you carry out the great task for your poor nephew, afterward wander through Italy, Sicily, with a few artists-make plans and be of good cheer for the sake of C.

In my opinion, first the saline baths, like those of Wiesbaden, etc., then the sulphur baths like Aix-la-Chapelle were everlastingly cold. Spend evenings and afternoons in company, it is uplifting and not wearying and live a different life at home.

Sensual enjoyment without a union of souls is bestial and will always remain bestial; after it, one experiences not a trace of noble sentiment but rather regret.

Beethoven's mind was engrossed with the plans of travel indicated in these excerpts throughout the year; he considered a tour of some kind essential to the restoration of his health and the recovery of his creative powers. A remittance from the Kinsky estate falling due in April, he wrote a letter to Kanka asking him to make the collection for him and enclosed a receipt. He complains of still feeling the effects of an inflammatory catarrh with which he had been attacked in the previous October, and ends by asking what would be the consequence if he were to leave the Austrian Empire; would a signature sent from a foreign place be valid?-meaning, probably, would such a signature be looked upon as evidence of a violation of the contract which he was under to his noble patrons not to take up a residence outside the Austrian dominions. His chronic disatisfaction with the conditions which surrounded him in Vienna, as well as the moody mind in

EXPLANATIONS TO CHARLES NEATE

367

which his illness had left him, also breathes through the following letter (written in German) to Charles Neate in London:

My dear Neate!

Vienna, April 19, 1817.

Since the 15th of October I have been seemingly ill and I am still suffering from the consequences and not quite healed. You know that I must live from my compositions alone, I have been able to compose very little, and therefore to earn almost nothing, all the more welcome would it have been if you had done something for me-meanwhile I suspect that the result of everything has been-nothing.

You have even written complainingly of me to Hering, which was not deserved by my fair dealing with you-meanwhile I must justify in the premises, namely: the opera Fidelio had been written for several years, but the book and text were very faulty; the book had to be thoroughly remodeled, wherefore several pieces of the music had to be extended, others shortened, others newly composed. Thus, for instance, the overture is entirely new, as well as various other numbers, but it is possible that the opera may be found in London, as it was at first, in which case it must have been stolen as is scarcely to be avoided at the theatre. As regards the Symphony in A, as you did not write me a satisfactory reply, I was obliged to publish it, I should as willingly have waited 3 years if you had written me that the Philharmonic Society had accepted it but on all hands nothing nothing. Now regarding the Pianoforte Sonatas with Violoncello, for them I give you a month's time, if after that I have no answer from you I shall publish them in Germany, but having heard as little from you about them as about the other works, I have given them to a German publisher who importuned me for them, but I have bound him in writing (Hering has read the document) not to publish the Sonatas until you have sold them in London, it seems to me that you ought to be able to dispose of these 2 sonatas for 70 or 80 ducats in gold at least, the English publisher may fix the day of publication in London and they will appear on the same day in Germany, it was in this manner Birchall bought and got the Grand Trio and the Violin Sonata from me. I also beg you as a last favor to give me an answer touching the sonatas as soon as possible. Frau v. Jenny swears that you have done everything for me, I too, that is to say I swear that you have done nothing for me, are doing nothing and will do nothing—summa summarum, nothing! nothing! nothing!!!

I assure you of my most perfect respect and hope as a last favor a speedy reply.

The Sonatas had been published three months before this letter was written, by Simrock in Bonn; a fact which Beethoven seems to have assumed was not known in London. The Frau v. Jenny mentioned was the Countess von Genney, through whose aid Beethoven hired a villa in Hetzendorf, from Baron von Pronay in 1823. Beethoven's irascible outbreak against Neate must be read in the light of the latter's letter of explanation and apology dated October 29, 1816, and printed in the preceding chapter.

The new lodgings in Georgi were occupied by Beethoven on April 24, 1817, but the contract of rent may have been temporary and conditional, for in July and again in September he wrote to Frau Streicher about lodgings in the Gärtnergasse, and later in the year he changed his lodgings, for which he had little use during the summer because of his sojourn in the country.

Alois Fuchs, now a youth of nearly 18 years, had come to Vienna some months earlier to enter the university, dependent largely upon his musical talents and knowledge for his support. Here he appears to have studied the violin under Beethoven's old friend, Krumpholz. Whether because the composer remembered him as the solo singer in his mass at Troppau, or through the intervention of Krumpholz, Fuchs has not informed us; but at any rate he had promised a contribution to the youngster's album. On May 2nd Krumpholz died very suddenly of apoplexy while walking on the Glacis, and Beethoven commemorated the event by writing his "Gesang der Mönche" (from Schiller's "Tell") for three male voices in Fuchs's album with the superscription: "In memory of the sudden and unexpected death of our Krumpholz on May 3rd, 1817." The date was not intended to record the time of composition, but of the death of the violinist; as such a record it was an error.

After the composer's removal to the suburb Landstrasse, his mind was much occupied with a new matter between himself and the widow van Beethoven, namely, her bearing a share of the expenses of her son's education. This was concluded by a contract signed by both parties on May 10, 1817, binding her to pay at once into court 2,000 florins for the lad's education and support, and in the future to pay to the same tribunal every quarter at least one-half of the pension which the widow was to receive, as well as other contributions. Reference is had to this agreement in the following entries in the Fischoff "Tagebuch" in January or February of the next year:

Karl's mother asked for the contract, the basis of which was that the house should be sold. From the proceeds of the sale it might be counted upon that all debts could be paid out of the one-half and also the half of the widow's income besides the money for Karl's needs and desires, so that all (indeed! prob. not alone) might live decently but well, but inasmuch as the house is not to be sold! which was the chief consideration for the signing of the contract since it was alleged that execution had already been levied against it, my scruples must now cease, and I can well imagine that the widow has cared pretty well for herself, which I most cordially wish her. My duty, O Lord, I have done.