Alexander Wheelock Thayer

“ A Return to Vienna Precipitated
Karl was a young man of nearly twenty years; thriftless, no doubt; indolent, no doubt; fond of his ease and addicted to idle pleasures, no doubt—but still a man; and no matter how much he ought to have been willing to sacrifice himself to make his uncle happy, it is a question if there was any way in the world to that sure and permanent result. He was not wise enough, nor self-sacrificing enough, to do that which not a single one of the composer’s maturer friends, not even Stephan von Breuning, had been able to do. ”

“ All these qualities, no less than the fact that he was strong and independent in his convictions and fearless in his proclamation of them, recommended him to Beethoven, and he does not seem to have hesitated to take advantage of the fact that he entered the inner circle of Beethoven’s companions at a time when the composer had begun to feel a growing antipathy to Schindler. He promptly embraced the opportunity which his willing usefulness brought him, to draw close to the great man, to learn of him and also to exhibit himself to the world as his confidential friend. ”

“ Beethoven’s Favorite Quartet
Opera, oratorio, the mass for the dead, symphony, beckoned to him, but his affections were fixed in the higher and purer regions of chamber music, the form which represents chaste ideals, lofty imagination, profound learning; which exacts a mutual sympathy between composer, performer and listener and binds them in something like that angelic wedlock which Weber said to Planché ought to unite librettist and composer. ”

“ This and two other citations, the first of which Beethoven surely culled from some book, also deserve to be set down here as mottoes applicable to the creative work which occupied his mind during the year and thereafter:
’Tis said that art is long and life is fleeting:—
Nay; life is long and brief the span of art!
If e’er her breath vouchsafes with gods a meeting,
A moment’s favor ’tis of which we’ve had a part.
The world is a king and desires flattery in return for favor; but true art is perverse and will not submit to the mould of flattery. ”

“ I expressed my regret that in all the time of my sojourn in Vienna I had heard, except one of his symphonies and a quartet, not a single composition of his in concert; why had “Fidelio” not been given? This gave him an opportunity to express himself on the subject of the taste of the Vienna people. “Since the Italians (Barbaja) have gotten such a strong foothold here the best has been crowded out. For the nobility, the chief thing at the theatre is the ballet. Nothing can be said about their appreciation of art; they have sense only for horses and dancers. ”

“ True art remains imperishable and the genuine artist feels sincere pleasure in real and great products of genius, and so I, too, am enraptured whenever I hear a new work of yours and feel as great an interest in it as in my own works.—In brief, I honor and love you—If it were not for my continual ill health and I could see you in Paris, with what extraordinary delight would I discuss art matters with you?! ”

“ Let us leave out of consideration the value of poems of this sort; we all know what allowances are to be made—the merit lies in the middle. So far as I am concerned I would rather set Homer, Klopstock, Schiller to music; if they offer difficulties to be overcome these immortal poets at least deserve it. As soon as I am through with making changes in the oratorio with Bernard I shall have the honor to inform you of the fact and at the same time let the society know when it may with certainty count upon it. ”

“ There is no more pitiful picture in the history of great men than that presented by his devotion to the lad in whom, for a reason which must have seemed to him more inscrutable than his own physical calamity, he could not inspire a spark of love or a scintilla of gratitude. It was an unwise devotion and an ill-directed effort, but that does not alter the case. From the beginning, all of his friends recognized Beethoven’s unfitness for the office of guardian of his nephew. ”

“ Again Schlesinger urges Beethoven to go to London: “I repeat again that if you will go to England for three months I will engage that, deducting your travelling expenses, you will make 1000 pounds, or 25,000 florins W. W. at least, if you give only two concerts and produce some new music.... The Englishmen are proud enough to count themselves fortunate if Beethoven would only be satisfied with them.” When the toast to Cherubini is drunk, Schlesinger takes occasion to satisfy the curiosity of Beethoven touching the status of the composer whom he most admired among living men. ”

“ If he ever was thoroughly appreciative of Beethoven’s music, it was only later in life. He was in the prime of life with fixed tastes in music as well as the other arts before Beethoven came with his new evangel. Reichardt, Zelter and men of their stamp produced the music which was most to his liking. It is true that in July, 1812, he wrote a letter in which he said that he had never seen a more self-contained, energetic and sincere artist than Beethoven and that he could well understand why he appeared singular in the eyes of the world ”

“ In spite of the things of which Beethoven is accused justly or unjustly, he enjoys a popular respect such as is bestowed only upon the most excellent. Steiner had given it out that Beethoven would appear in his little office, which will hold only six or eight persons, for the first time in person at 4 o’clock, and invited guests so generously that in a room crowded to the street, half a hundred brilliant people waited in vain. ”

“ Beethoven replied on June 5:
Although I met Steiner several days ago and asked him jocularly what he had brought for me from Leipsic, he did not mention your commission, even in a syllable, nor you, but earnestly pleaded with me to assure him that I would give him and him alone all my present and future works and this contract-wise; I declined. This trait suffices to show you why I often prefer foreign publishers to local; I love straightforwardness and uprightness and am of the opinion that the artist ought not to be belittled, for alas! ”

“ For months together there is nothing or hardly anything; and then again a few days will fill many scores of leaves. In a few instances Beethoven has himself written—that is, when in some public place he did not trust his voice; and memoranda of divers kinds, even of musical ideas from his pen, are not infrequent. One is surprised to find so few distinguished names in literature, science and art—Grillparzer’s forms an exception and he appears only in the later years; as for the rest, they are for the most part of local Vienna celebrities. ”

“ At the outset Beethoven seems to have been in a conciliatory mood even towards the woman whom he so heartily despised; and her willingness to please him is obvious. She talks with him about various things, praises Karl’s musical skill, which the nephew demonstrates by playing four-hand marches with his great uncle. She discusses his food with him, and if he ever was suspicious of the honesty in money matters of herself and her family, he hides his distrust and permits her brother, the baker, to collect money for him in Vienna, and the woman to go thither to fetch it. ”

“ This unfriendliness grew out of the excessive idolization of this truly sensational talent; but chiefly it was due to the request made of Beethoven to give the twelve-year-old lad a theme for improvisation at his farewell concert—a request which was as indiscreet as it was unreasonable. But hyperenthusiasm always betrays a want of timeliness. It is not impossible that this enthusiasm, after Beethoven had declined the request with obvious displeasure, yet managed to secure from Emperor Franz, or at least Archduke Rudolph, a theme for the young virtuoso. ”

“ You alone are able to insure a decisive victory to the efforts of the best amongst us. From you the native Art Society and the German Opera expect new blossoms, rejuvenated life and a new sovereignty of the true and beautiful over the dominion to which the prevalent spirit of fashion wishes to subject even the eternal laws of art. ”

“ He always says when Mozart is reached, ‘More I cannot understand.’” But once he staid and not only listened to a Beethoven piece but praised it. It was the Trio for Strings, Op. 9, which had been composed nearly a generation before! Holz becomes sarcastic: “One might say A. B. C. D. (Abbé cédait) .” Stadler now had occasion to court Beethoven’s favor, or at least to betray the fact that even if he could not appreciate his music he yet had had a vast respect for his genius and reputation. ”

“ Braunhofer or Staudenheimer, Dr. Malfatti had been called. It had become an ardent wish of Beethoven’s that Malfatti undertake his case, but Malfatti had refused, pleading professional ethics, but no doubt actuated by reasons of a more personal character. Many years before, probably as early as 1813, he had been not only Beethoven’s physician but also his friend; indeed, he was an uncle of the Therese Malfatti to whom the composer once made an offer of marriage. He made, what it is easy to imagine to have been, the experience of all the medical men who undertook the care of the great man. ”

“ Please inform Herrn von Sonnleithner of this. I also thank the society heartily for the offer of the platform and its aid which it proffered me and in time I shall make use of them. I shall be glad to hear whether the society wishes to make use of my works after my concert, among which is a new symphony. The Grand Mass is really rather in the oratorio style and particularly adapted to the society. I shall be especially pleased if my unselfishness and also my zealous desire to serve the society in whose benevolent deeds in behalf of art I always take the greatest interest, are recognized. ”

“ Meanwhile Beethoven was hard at work on the Ninth Symphony. It was so ever-present with him that there was neither [133] paradox nor hyperbole in his words: “I am never alone when I am alone.” He had much to irritate him while sketches and drafts of the symphony were piling up before him in August, and finally, if Schindler is to be believed, he could no longer endure the obsequious bows with which his landlord, Baron Pronay, always greeted him, and resolved to abandon the pretty villa at Hetzendorf and go to Baden. ”

“ All the more painful must it have been for you to feel that a foreign power has invaded this royal citadel of the noblest, that above the mounds of the dead and around the dwelling-place of the only survivor of the band, phantoms are leading the dance who can boast of no kinship with the princely spirits of those royal houses; that shallowness is abusing the name and insignia of art, and unworthy dalliance with sacred things is beclouding and dissipating appreciation for the pure and eternally beautiful. ”

“ From the affectionate biography written by the son, we learn that after the sensational success achieved by “Der Freischütz” Beethoven was led to study its score and that he was so astonished at the originality of the music that he struck the book with his hand and exclaimed: “I never would have thought it of the gentle little man (sonst weiche Männel) . Now Weber must [137] write operas; nothing but operas—one after the other and without polishing them too much. Casper, the monster, stands out here like a house. Wherever the devil puts in his claws they are felt.” ”

“ Need we assure you that at a time when all glances were hopefully turned towards you, all perceived with sorrow that the one man whom all of us are compelled to acknowledge as foremost among living men in his domain, looked on in silence as foreign art took possession of German soil, the seat of honor of the German muse, while German works gave pleasure only by echoing the favorite tunes of foreigners and, where the most excellent had lived and labored, a second childhood of taste threatens to follow the Golden Age of Art? ”

“ He became negligent in his studies; work became irksome and the pleasures of the city alluring. He was drawn willingly into the maelstrom of Viennese life. He grew fond of billiards, dancing and the theatre; he kept low company. Of all this there can be no doubt. Beethoven kept himself informed as to his conduct through Holz, through his brother, and sometimes went to Vienna himself to make inquiries. When Karl comes to Baden, Beethoven charges him with his shortcomings and there are unseemly scenes between the two. ”

“ Very naturally, Beethoven had reported the negotiations touching a visit to England to Ries, who expressed his satisfaction that he had not accepted the engagement and added: “If you want to go there you must make thorough preparations. Rossini got £2500 from the Opera alone. If Englishmen want to do an extraordinary thing, they must all get together so as to make it worth while. There will be no lack of applause and marks of honor, but you have probably had enough of these all your life.” ”