Beethoven’s conversation books. Volume 1, nos. 1 to 8 (February 1818 to March 1820) PDF
Preview Beethoven’s conversation books. Volume 1, nos. 1 to 8 (February 1818 to March 1820)
Beethoven’s Conversation Books 2291 (Boydell - Beethoven's Conv. vol. 1).indd 1 12/04/2018 2:38 pm Beethoven in 1818. Engraving by C. Fischer (1843), after a portrait by August Kloeber (1818). Courtesy Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies, San José State University. 2291 (Boydell - Beethoven's Conv. vol. 1).indd 2 12/04/2018 2:38 pm Beethoven’s Conversation Books Volume 1: Nos. 1 to 8 (February 1818 to March 1820) Edited and translated by Theodore Albrecht the boydell press 2291 (Boydell - Beethoven's Conv. vol. 1).indd 3 12/04/2018 2:38 pm Translation and editorial matter © Theodore Albrecht 2018 A licensed edition of Ludwig van Beethovens Konversationshefte, Bd. 1 edited by Karl-Heinz Köhler, Grita Herre and Dagmar Beck © 1972 by Deutscher Verlag für Musik Leipzig All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system, published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast, transmitted, recorded or reproduced in any form or by any means, without the prior permission of the copyright owner First published 2018 The Boydell Press, Woodbridge ISBN 978 1 78327 150 4 The Boydell Press is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK and of Boydell & Brewer Inc. 668 Mt Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620–2731, USA website: www.boydellandbrewer.com A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library This publication is printed on acid-free paper Typeset by BBR, Sheffield 2291 (Boydell - Beethoven's Conv. vol. 1).indd 4 12/04/2018 2:38 pm This volume is dedicated to Anton Felix Schindler (1795–1864), who saved the conversation books from dispersal and destruction, and served as their first “editor.” 2291 (Boydell - Beethoven's Conv. vol. 1).indd 5 12/04/2018 2:38 pm 2291 (Boydell - Beethoven's Conv. vol. 1).indd 6 12/04/2018 2:38 pm Contents General Introduction to the English Edition ix Acknowledgements xxiii Reader’s Guide xxvi Directionality in Vienna (True and Perceived) xxxviii Heft 1. (ca. February 26, 1818 – after March 2, 1818) 1 Heft 2. (March 17, 1819 – after May 15/16, 1819) 11 Heft 3. (November 20, 1819 – ca. December 6, 1819) 67 Heft 4. (December 7, 1819 – December 12, 1819) 107 Heft 5. (December 13, 1819 – December 30, 1819) 129 Heft 6. (ca. January 7, 1820 – January 26, 1820) 175 Heft 7. (ca. January 27, 1820 – February 22, 1820) 225 Heft 8. (ca. February 22, 1820 – ca. March 11, 1820) 277 Appendix: Descriptions of the Conversation Books in Volume 1 329 Bibliography 331 Index of Writers of Conversational Entries 347 Index of Beethoven’s Compositions 349 General Index 352 2291 (Boydell - Beethoven's Conv. vol. 1).indd 7 12/04/2018 2:38 pm 2291 (Boydell - Beethoven's Conv. vol. 1).indd 8 12/04/2018 2:38 pm General Introduction to the English Edition Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) is recognized the world over as one of the greatest composers of all time and is especially known for his musical triumphs in the face of increasing deafness, beginning around 1798.1 In 1801 he confided his early hearing loss to Dr. Franz Wegeler in Bonn and schoolmaster/violinist Carl Amenda in Latvia, friends who had lived in Vienna but were now safely far away.2 By the summer of 1802 others were starting to perceive lapses in his hearing, and his fear and confusion are reflected in the Heiligenstadt Testament in October of that year.3 With more good days than bad, Beethoven’s hearing slowly became weaker, although it had not yet interfered with his performing in public, even with orchestra on the marathon concert of December 22, 1808.4 Between 1812 and 1816 he tried using ear trumpets (made for him by Johann 1 There are many medical accounts of Beethoven’s deafness. Possibly the most complete and objective in English is by the Australian physician Peter J. Davies, Beethoven in Person: His Deafness, Illnesses, and Death (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2001), pp. 42–65 and 217–218. 2 On June 29, 1801, Beethoven wrote to Franz Gerhard Wegeler: “For the last three years my hearing has become weaker and weaker.” Two days later, on July 1, he wrote to Amenda: “My most prized possession, my hearing, has greatly deteriorated. While you were still with me, I already felt the symptoms, but I said nothing about them.” Amenda had left Vienna shortly after June 25, 1799. See Emily Anderson, transl. and ed., The Letters of Beethoven, 3 vols. (London: Macmillan, 1961), Nos. 51 and 53; and (for Amenda’s reply) Theodore Albrecht, transl. and ed., Letters to Beethoven and Other Correspondence, 3 vols. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1996), No. 31. 3 Ferdinand Ries noted brief lapses while walking with Beethoven in the rural paths around Heiligenstadt, confirmed in the composer’s so-called “Heiligenstadt Testament.” See Franz Gerhard Wegeler and Ferdinand Ries, Beethoven Remembered, transl. Frederick Noonan (Arlington, Va.: Great Ocean Publishers, 1987), pp. 86–87; and Anderson, Vol. 3, Appendix A, pp. 1351–1354 (the Heiligenstadt Testament, actually close to a fair copy, dated October 6 and 10, 1802). 4 Alexander Wheelock Thayer, Thayer’s Life of Beethoven, ed. Elliot Forbes (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1964/67), pp. 446–449. The breakdown in the performance of the Choral Fantasy, Op. 80, the last item on the program, was probably caused by orchestral fatigue at the tricky transition between the nocturnal Adagio, ma non troppo in 6/8 and the ensuing Marcia, assai vivace in 2/4 (Gesamtausgabe, p. 22). 2291 (Boydell - Beethoven's Conv. vol. 1).indd 9 12/04/2018 2:38 pm
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