CHAPTER XIX. The Year 1801-Compositions offered to Hoffmeister-Concerts for Wounded Soldiers-Vigano and the Ballet "Prometheus"-Interest in the Publica- tion of Bach's Works and His Indigent Daughter- Stephan von Breuning-Summer Home in Hetzendorf- Composition of "The Mount of Olives"-Compositions and Publications of the Year-The Funeral March in the Sonata, Op. 26-The So-called "Moonlight" Sonata- CHAPTER XX. Important Letters of 1801-Communica- tions to Amenda, Hoffmeister and Wegeler-The Com- poser's Ill Health—The Beginning of His Deafness- Early Symptoms Described by Himself-Thoughts of Marriage Indignation Aroused by the Criticisms of the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung-The "Leipsic Oxen"-Gradual Recognition of Beethoven's Genius- Beethoven's Love-Affairs-Countess Guic- ciardi-A Conversation with Schindler about Her Marriage Schindler's Contradictory Story-Countess Erdödy-Schindler's Theory Disproved-The Letter to the "Immortal Beloved"-Critical Study of its Date -Countess Guicciardi Not the Woman Addressed-A Conjecture Concerning the Countess Therese von Brunswick-Other Candidates for the Honor of Being the Object of Beethoven's Supreme Love-Magdalena Willmann-Amalia Sebald-The Arguments of Kalischer, Mariam Tenger and Marie Lipsius (La Mara) Set Forth by the Editor of this Biography-Statements of Relations and Descendants of the Countesses Guicciardi CHAPTER XXII. The Year 1802-The Village of Heiligen- Defence of Brothers Johann and Karl Kaspar-Their Characters-Karl's Management of Beethoven's Busi- ness Affairs-The Bagatelles, Op. 33-The Songs, Op. 52-Compositions and Publications of 1802-Three Sonatas for Pianoforte and Violin-The Sonatas for Chapter I Introductory-The Electors of Cologne in the Eighteenth Century-Joseph Clemens, Clemens August and Max Friedrich-The Electoral Courts and Their MusicMusical Culture in Bonn at the Time of Beethoven's Birth-Appearance of the City in 1770. NE of the compensations for the horrors of the French Revolution was the sweeping away of many of the petty sovereignties into which Germany was divided, thereby rendering in our day a union of the German People and the rise of a German Nation possible. The first to fall were the numerous ecclesiastical-civil members of the old, loose confederation, some of which had played no ignoble nor unimportant part in the advance of civilization; but their day was past. The people of these states had in divers respects enjoyed a better lot than those who were subjects of hereditary rulers, and the old German saying: "It is good to dwell under the crook," had a basis of fact. At the least, they were not sold as mercenary troops; their blood was not shed on foreign fields to support their princes' ostentatious splendor, to enable mistresses and ill-begotten children to live in luxury and riot. But the antiquated ideas to which the ecclesiastical rulers held with bigoted tenacity had become a barrier to progress, the exceptions being too few to render their farther existence desirable. These members of the empire, greatly differing in extent, population, wealth and political influence, were ruled with few or no exceptions by men who owed their positions to election by chapters or other church corporations, whose numbers were so limited as to give full play to every sort of intrigue; but they could not assume their functions until their titles were confirmed by the Pope as head of the church, and by the Emperor as head of the confederation. Thus the subject had no voice in the matter, and it hardly need be said that his welfare and prosperity were never included among the motives and considerations on which the elections turned. The sees, by their charters and statutes, we think without exception, were bestowed upon men of noble birth. They were benefices and sinecures for younger sons of princely houses; estates set apart and consecrated to the use, emolument and enjoyment of German John Lacklands. In the long list of their incumbents, a name here and there appears, that calls up historic associations; a man of letters who aided in the increase or diffusion of the cumbrous learning of his time; a warrior who exchanged his robes for a coat of mail; a politician who played a part more or less honorable or the reverse in the affairs and intrigues of the empire, and, very rarely, one whose daily walk and conversation reflected, in some measure, the life and principles of the founder of Christianity. In general, as they owed their places wholly to political and family influences, so they assumed the vows and garb of churchmen as necessary steps to the enjoyment of lives of affluence and pleasure. So late as far into the eighteenth century, travelling was slow, laborious and expensive. Hence, save for the few more wealthy and powerful, journeys, at long intervals, to a council, an imperial coronation or a diet of the empire, were the rare interruptions to the monotony of their daily existence. Not having the power to transmit their sees to their children, these ecclesiastics had the less inducement to rule with an eye to the welfare of their subjects: on the other hand, the temptation was very strong to augment their revenues for the benefit of relatives and dependents, and especially for the gratification of their own tastes and inclinations, among which the love of splendor and ostentatious display was a fruitful source of waste and extravagance. Confined so largely to their own small capitals, with little intercourse except with their immediate neighbors, they were far more dependent upon their own resources for amusement than the hereditary princes: and what so obvious, so easily obtained and so satisfactory as music, the theatre and the dance! Thus every little court became a conservatory of these arts, and for generations most of the great names in them may be found recorded in the court calendars. One is therefore not surprised to learn how many of the more distinguished musical composers began life as singing boys in cathedral choirs of England and Germany. The secular princes, especially those of high rank, had, besides their civil administration, the stirring events of war, questions of public policy, schemes and intrigues for the advancement of family interests and the like, to engage their attention; but the ecclesiastic, leaving the civil administration, as a rule, COLOGNE AND ITS ELECTORS 3 in the hands of ministers, had little to occupy him officially but a tedious routine of religious forms and ceremonies; to him therefore the theatre, and music for the mass, the opera, the ball-room, and the salon, were matters of great moment-they filled a wide void and were cherished accordingly. The three German ecclesiastical princes who possessed the greatest power and influence were the Archbishops of Mayence, Trèves and Cologne Electors of the Empire and rulers of the fairest regions of the Rhine. Peace appears hardly to have been known between the city of Cologne and its earlier archbishops; and, in the thirteenth century, a long-continued and even bloody quarrel resulted in the victory of the city. It remained a free imperial town. The archbishops retained no civil or political power within its walls, not even the right to remain there more than three days at any one time. Thus it happened, that in the year 1257 Archbishop Engelbert selected Bonn for his residence, and formally made it the capital of the electorate, as it remained until elector and court were swept away in 1794. Of the last four Electors of Cologne, the first was Joseph Clemens, a Bavarian prince, nephew of his predecessor Maximilian Heinrich. The choice of the chapter by a vote of thirteen to nine had been Cardinal Fürstenberg; but his known, or supposed, devotion to the interests of the French king had prevented the ratification of the election by either the Emperor or the Pope. A new one being ordered, resulted in favor of the Bavarian, then a youth of eighteen years. The Pope had ratified his election and appointed a bishop to perform his ecclesiastical functions ad interim, and the Emperor invested him with the electoral dignity December 1, 1689. Vehse says of him: Like two of his predecessors he was the incumbent of five sees; he was Archbishop of Cologne, Bishop of Hildesheim, Liège, Ratisbon and Freisingen. His love for pomp and splendor was a passion which he gratified in the magnificence of his court. He delighted to draw thither beautiful and intellectual women. Madame de Raysbeck, and Countess Fugger, wife of his chief equerry, were his declared favorites. For seventeen years, that is, until the disastrous year 1706, when Fénelon consecrated him, he delayed assuming his vows. He held the opinion, universal in the courts of those days, that he might with a clear conscience enjoy life after the manner of secular princes. In pleasing the ladies, he was utterly regardless of expense, and for their amusement gave magnificent balls, splendid masquerades, musical and dramatic entertainments, and hunting parties. St. Simon relates that several years of his exile were passed at Valenciennes, where, though a fugitive, he followed the same |
