Beethoven: Impressions by His Contemporaries

Oscar Sonneck

• Publisher: Rare Treasure Editions
• Year: 2021
• eBook ISBN:
  9781774643266
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Music Biographies

Beethoven's eating habits, his growing deafness and ill-health, his tendency to be suspicious of friends, his daily schedule of work, his famous contempt for etiquette, his daily walks in all weathers, his brilliant abilities as composer and conductor - all these traits and characteristics are described in this book by contemporary friends and acquaintances of the great master.This compilation contains the most interesting, evocative, and amusing sections of letters, diaries, memoirs, etc. describing Beethoven. There are notes on the young Beethoven by his father's landlord, by young Beethoven's piano teacher, by admiring friends, by such musical giants as Rossini, Weber, and Liszt, by the poet Goethe, and by many others. The book is illustrated with sixteen portraits of Beethoven.Arranged chronologically, this engrossing collection presents a remarkably full and convincing picture of Beethoven and his time.

BEETHOVEN:
Impressions of Contemporaries

Gottfried Fischer’s Story

The date of Beethoven’s birth at the “Beethoven Haus” in the Bonngasse, Bonn, is not known with certainty. He was baptized on December 17, 1770. Therefore, the probability is that Ludwig van Beethoven was born on December sixteenth. For many years Beethoven shared the belief that he was born in 1772. The supposition is that his father—as other fathers of prodigies have done before and after—desired him to appear younger than he was. At any rate, when his juvenile “Drei Sonaten für Klavier” were published in 1783, the dedication to the Elector of Cologne, Maximilian Friedrich, read “composed by Ludwig van Beethoven, age eleven years.”

Some time after Beethoven’s birth, his family moved to the house of the Fischer family in the Rheingasse. This gave rise to a further legend: the Fischer house in the Rheingasse came to be considered the house in which the composer of “Fidelio” and the “Ninth Symphony” was born and where thousands upon thousands in the course of time paid homage to his memory, until the indisputable claim of the “Beethoven Haus” in the Bonngasse was established.

In the Fischer house Gottfried Fischer was born in 1780 and died there in 1864. When about sixty years old, master-baker Gottfried, at the request of many pilgrims to his house, the supposed birth-house of Beethoven, began to write down his and his older sister’s Cäcilie reminiscences of Ludwig, adding to them until about 1857. Under the circumstances, the Fischer reminiscences are a curious jumble of essential and unessential things, in awkward language, but they shed important and entertaining light on Beethoven’s boyhood.

When Ludwig van Beethoven had grown a bit he attended the elementary school, taught by Herr Huppert, at house No. 1091 in the Neugasse, which connects with the Rheingasse; later he went to the Münsterschule. 4 According to his father he did not learn much in school; for this reason his father set him down so early before the piano and kept him hard at work.

Cäcilie Fischer testifies how his father instructed him at the piano; he would have to stand on a little bench and play. That our former Oberbürgermeister Windeck has seen, too.

Ludwig van Beethoven also had daily lessons on the violin. Once he was playing without notes; his father happened in, and said: “What silly trash are you scratching together again now? You know that I can’t bear that; scratch by note, otherwise your scratching won’t amount to much.”—When Johann van Beethoven happened to have visitors and Ludwig came into the room, he was wont to edge up to the piano and play chords with his right hand. Then his father would say: “What are you splashing around for? Go away, or I’ll box your ears.”—In time his father grew attentive when he heard him play the violin. He was again playing after his own fashion, without notes, when his father came in: “Won’t you ever stop, after all I’ve told you?” He played again, and said to his father: “Now isn’t that beautiful?” His father said: “That is something else, you made it up yourself. You are not to do that yet; apply yourself to the piano and violin, strike the notes quickly and correctly, that is more important. When you have once got so far, then you can and must work enough with your head; but don’t concern yourself with that now—you are not to do that yet.”—Afterwards, Ludwig van Beethoven also took daily lessons on the viola.

When Ludwig van Beethoven had grown a bit more, often dirty, negligent, Cäcilie Fischer said to him: “How dirty you are looking again—you ought to keep yourself clean!” Said he: “What’s the odds? When I’m once a gentleman (Herr) no one will take any notice of that.”

When Ludwig van Beethoven had been well trained 5 on the piano by his father, and began to feel himself master of the notes and the piano, he was emboldened to play on the organ and take lessons. And so he went for a trial to Brother Willibald in our local Franciscan monastery, a masterly teacher who knew his father, Johann van Beethoven, well. He very obligingly accepted him, with permission of the Father Superior, and gave him instruction, including training in the Church ritual, and made such progress that he could often make use of him as a substitute, so that he was greatly liked and esteemed by Brother Willibald.

As Ludwig van Beethoven became more and more venturesome on the organ, he had a mind to play on a larger organ, and made an essay in the Minorite monastery. Here he won such a friendly footing with the organist, that he was taken on to play the organ regularly every morning at 6 at Holy Mass. The bench on which he often sat is still to be seen there. There was a certain Father Hanzmann in the monastery who was likewise a good organist, and who also, when he cared to, played the organ. When the Beethovens had a concert at home, Father Hanzmann was always there. Ludwig could not bear him, and said to Cäcilie: “That monk, he always has to come here; he might as well stay in his monastery and read his prayer-book.”

In Bonn there was a middle-aged man by the name of Stommb, who had formerly been a musician and learned to compose. Thereby, it was said, he had become insane; he used to wander through the town with a conductor’s wand in his right hand and a music-roll in his left; not a word would he say. When he came into the ground floor at Rheinstrasse No. 934, where no one had thought to see him, he would strike with his wand on the table in the ground floor and point up towards the Beethoven home as if to indicate that musicians were there, too, and then beat time with the conductor’s wand on the music-roll, not saying one word.

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Ludwig van Beethoven often laughed about it, and once said: “We can see by that how it goes with musicians; music has already made this one mad—what may happen to us?”

It seems as if this scatterbrained musician must have felt this. For when he had gone out, and was on the street, he would point at Beethoven’s lodgings and strike the music with his wand, and go away.

If the old saying be accepted: Children and fools speak truth, one might suppose he wished to say that Ludwig van Beethoven would become a great man, and would make a noise in the world.

Cäcilie Fischer was often much vexed that the fool always came into this house only, and frightened the servants.

The three sons of Herr Johann van Beethoven, namely, Ludwig, Kaspar and Nikola, were very jealous of their parents’ honor. On occasions when their papa was in company and (what did not often happen) had drunk a trifle too much, and his sons noticed it, all three were straightway on the spot, worried, and tried in the most winning way to induce their papa to go quietly home with them, so as not to make a scene; they would say soothingly, “O Papächen, Papächen!” and then he would comply. He was not quarrelsome in his cups, but merry and lively, so we in the house would hardly notice anything.

Ludwig now thought himself his father’s equal in music; his brother Kaspar had learned what was required of him in school, and the same in his study of herbs, so that in time he could be received as an apprentice by an apothecary. Both were bold and adventurous; when they could play mischievous tricks they were overjoyed and laughed heartily, and Ludwig would arch his back like a cat, as was his wont.

At that time Goodwife Fischer kept hens, and had long wondered why her hens were laying so few eggs. 7 She kept watch, but caught nobody. Till it happened that she went into the yard quite unsuspectingly and saw that Ludwig van Beethoven had crept through the fence into the henhouse. Frau Fischer said: “Ha, ha, Ludwig, what are you up to there?” He said: “My brother Kaspar threw my handkerchief in here and I came in to get it.” Frau Fischer said: “Yes, yes, that may well be why I am getting so few eggs.” Ludwig said: “Oh, Frau Fischer, the hens often hide their eggs; then, when you come across them, you will be all the gladder. And then there are foxes, they say, and they steal eggs, too.” Frau Fischer said: “I think you are one of those same sly foxes. What will ever become of you!” Ludwig said: “Oh, heaven only knows! From what you say, up to date I am still a foxy player!” (Notenfuchs.) Says Frau Fischer: “Yes, and an egg-fox, too!” (Eierfuchs).

Then the two boys ran off laughing like rogues. Frau Fischer had to laugh with them, and could not find it in her heart to call them to account for their monkey trick.—

Early on a summer morning a cock had flown out of another yard and lighted on the roof of Fischers’ rear building where Ludwig’s father and mamma slept, toward the street.

The three boys slept on the side toward the yard, and Ludwig spied the cock directly. The Fischer boys also slept toward the yard, and had seen the cock; so they watched quietly to see how the fun would end.

Ludwig said: “That cock looks to me like a fat young rider; he has no spurs yet. Just see, just see how respectfully the cock is commending himself to us! If I could catch him, I’d soon beat the time for him!”

Ludwig and Kaspar sneaked out into the yard, and tempted and coaxed the cock with bread until they caught him. Then they squeezed his throat so that he could not scream, ran upstairs to their attic, and laughed. Now they probably had planned with the maid that she 8 should prepare the cock when papa and mamma had gone out.

Next day the house-owner’s son, Johann Fischer, said to Ludwig: “The cock must have become a musician; for I heard how he sang an alto-part.” They laughed; Ludwig said: “That alto-part, when he was roasted enough, made me tired, too. But you surely won’t say anything to papa or mamma about it, else we three boys would have to run out of the house.”

The other said: “Oh, what does the cock matter to me? He might have stayed in his yard.” Ludwig said, that formerly it was the law that one might keep whatever one found early in the morning that had flown into the yard. “And that is right, and folks ought to take better care of their livestock, for great mischief can be done by livestock.”

Later one could not say that Ludwig cared much for companions or society. And then, when he had to turn his mind to music or set to work by himself, he assumed quite another demeanor and insisted on due respect. His happiest hours were those when he was free from the company of his parents, which was seldom the case—when all the family were away and he was alone by himself. So he got so far that in his twelfth year he already came forward as a composer, and in his fifteenth was appointed organist, and in token of rank wore a sword on his left side when he went up to the rood-loft in the court-church with his father.

Gala dress for court musicians: Sea-green frock coat, green knee-breeches with buckles, stockings of white or black silk, shoes with black bow-knots, embroidered vest with pocket-flaps, the vest bound with real gold cord, hair curled and with queue, crush hat under the left arm, sword on the left side with silver belt.

Former physique of Herr Ludwig van Beethoven: Short and thick-set, broad across the shoulders, short neck, large head, rounded nose, dark-brown complexion; 9 always leaned forward a little in walking. When still a boy they used to call him “der Spagnol” (the Spaniard) in our house.

One morning Ludwig van Beethoven was in his chamber overlooking the yard, leaning in the window with his head in both hands and staring fixedly at one spot. Cäcilie Fischer came over the yard and said to him: “How does it look, Ludwig?” but got no answer. Afterwards she asked him, what he meant by it: “No answer is an answer, too.” He said: “O no, not that; excuse me; I was just occupied with such a lovely, deep thought, I couldn’t bear to be disturbed.”

From his attic Beethoven had the beautiful view over the Rhine and the other side, the view of the Seven Mountains like that from the old toll-house. In the attic were two telescopes, a small one and a large one; with them one could see twenty miles. That was Herr Ludwig van Beethoven’s delight, for the Beethovens loved the Rhine.

As Ludwig van Beethoven advanced from day to day in music and composition, and sold his compositions to strangers, he thereby became so famous far and wide that many music-lovers came to visit him from distant foreign parts out of curiosity, and requested Herr Ludwig van Beethoven that he allow them to hear him play in a little concert. Then Herr Johann van Beethoven, when it was possible, sent out for musicians and gave a concert in his room. Most likely the gentlemen paid him well for it—we do not know.

As the disturbance through the strangers grew worse and worse, Herr Fischer said to Herr Johann van Beethoven: “If I were not a baker, all this disturbance from outsiders would not worry me; one has the night for rest. But as I am a baker, and must stay up at night to bake, I must sleep in the daytime; I cannot stand it—it would make me sick. Herr van Beethoven, I am sorry to tell you that you must look around for other lodgings.”

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Johann van Beethoven often said: “My son Ludwig, he is now my only joy; he is getting on so well in music and composition, everyone observes him with admiration. My Ludwig, my Ludwig, I can see that in time he will become a great man in the world. You who are gathered together here, and live to see it, remember my words!”

Christian Gottlob Neefe
(1783)

At the tender age of twelve Beethoven had begun to assist his teacher at the organ and as cembalist in the opera orchestra, when Christian Gottlob Neefe (1748-1798), Court organist at Bonn to the Elector of Cologne and a composer of once popular “Singspiele,” contributed on March 2, 1783 to “Cramer’s Magazine” the following prophetic communication (The translation here used is that in Thayer I, 69):

Louis van Beethoven, son of the tenor singer mentioned, a boy of eleven years and of most promising talent. He plays the clavier very skilfully and with power, reads at sight very well, and—to put it in a nutshell—he plays chiefly “The Well-Tempered Clavichord” of Sebastian Bach, which Herr Neefe put into his hands. Whoever knows this collection of preludes and fugues in all the keys—which might almost be called the non plus ultra of our art—will know what this means. So far as his duties permitted, Herr Neefe has also given him instruction in thorough-bass. He is now training him in composition and for his encouragement has had nine variations for the pianoforte, written by him on a march [by Ernst Christoph Dressler] engraved at Mannheim. This youthful genius is deserving of help to enable him to travel. He would surely become a second Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart were he to continue as he has begun.

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Mozart
(1787)

When the “youthful genius” was at last, in the springtime of 1787, enabled to travel, he naturally betook himself to Mozart in Vienna, but the news of his mother’s serious illness compelled him to return to Bonn after a few lessons with the master. “My journey cost me a great deal,” Beethoven wrote to a friend in September, 1787, “and I have not the smallest hope of earning anything here. Fate is not propitious to me in Bonn.” His introduction to Mozart is narrated by Mozart’s biographer Jahn as follows (Thayer, I, 90):

Beethoven, who as a youth of great promise came to Vienna in 1786 [really in 1787], but was obliged to return to Bonn after a brief sojourn, was taken to Mozart and at that musician’s request played something for him which he, taking it for granted that it was a show-piece prepared for the occasion, praised in a rather cool manner. Beethoven observing this, begged Mozart to give him a theme for improvisation. He always played admirably when excited and now he was inspired, too, by the presence of the master whom he reverenced greatly; he played in such a style that Mozart, whose attention and interest grew more and more, finally went silently to some friends who were sitting in an adjoining room, and said, vivaciously, “Keep your eyes on him; some day he will give the world something to talk about.”

Carl Ludwig Junker
(1791)

In the autumn of 1791 the Elector, the music-loving Maximilian Francis, took with him to Mergentheim, the capital of the Teutonic Order, his court musicians for the entertainment of the assembled Commanders and Knights of the order. Junker, better known as a writer on music than as a composer, visited the musicians at Mergentheim. In his letter to Bossler’s “Correspondenz” on November 23, 1791 he overflowed wi...

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• BEETHOVEN Impressions by his Contemporaries
• BEETHOVEN: Impressions of Contemporaries