1. Bonn, Electorate of Cologne
1. Thayer/Forbes, 1:44â45.
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2. Ibid., 1:12.
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3. Closson, âGrandfather Beethoven,â 369.
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4. MacArdle, âFamily van Beethoven,â 533.
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5. Closson, âGrandfather Beethoven,â 370; Clive, Beethoven and His World, 23.
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6. Blanning, Pursuit of Glory, 366.
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7. Pfeiff, Bonn, 25.
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8. Wetzstein/Fischer, 5n12.
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9. Pfeiff, Bonn, 32.
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10. Zehnder, Die BĂźhnen des Rokoko, 157.
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11. Pfeiff, Bonn, passim.
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12. Knopp, âDie Stadtgestalt Bonns,â 52â54.
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13. Thayer/Forbes, 1:16.
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14. Siebengebirge denotes âseven mountains,â but they are mostly hills and there are more than forty of them, so one finds various theories about the origin of the name.
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15. Victor Hugo, quoted in Scherman and Biancolli, 5.
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16. Knopp, âDie Stadtgestalt Bonns,â 51.
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17. Stader, âBonn und der Rhein,â 122.
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18. Thayer/Forbes, 1:40.
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19. Madame de StaĂŤl, quoted in Knight, Beethoven, 10.
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20. Marek, Beethoven, 26.
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21. Raynor, Social History, 299. He gives 50,000 thalers as the cost of an opera production, which is about 75,000 florins. Here and throughout I will convert most sums to florins, for comparison.
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22. This bon mot may be traditional or may be Thayerâs.
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23. Pfeiff, Bonn, 43.
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24. Wetzstein/Fischer, 11nn33â34.
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25. Thayer/Forbes, 1:17.
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26. Ibid., 1:11.
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27. Valder-Knechtges, âAndrea Luchesi,â 46.
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28. Wetzstein/Fischer, 13 and n42, 151.
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29. Solomon, âEconomic Circumstances,â 334.
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30. In Germany and Austria, the âfirstâ floor of a building is the one above the ground floor. In American terms, then, the Beethovens rented the third floor of the Fischer house. Here, American floor numbers will be used.
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31. Wetzstein/Fischer, 7.
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32. Ibid., 27.
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33. Thayer/Forbes, 1:18â19.
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34. Wetzstein/Fischer, 14.
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35. Ibid., 12n35.
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36. Ibid., 12. As in much of Gottfried Fischerâs memoir, this would have been his sister Cäcilieâs recollection, because old Ludwig died before Gottfried was born.
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37. Wegeler/Ries, 14.
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38. Closson, âGrandfather Beethoven,â 372.
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39. Wetzstein/Fischer, 22.
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40. Thayer/Forbes, 1:50â51.
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41. Wetzstein/Fischer, 21â22.
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42. Ibid., 29 and n113.
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43. Ibid., 33.
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44. Schiedermair, 97.
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45. Wetzstein/Fischer, 28.
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46. Thayer/Forbes, 1:23. In January 1773, a singer applying to fill Ludwigâs place in the court choir describes him as âincapacitated.â Wetzstein/Fischer, 7n18, says that Amelius is the painterâs correct first name, not Thayer/Forbesâs Johann.
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47. The description of this painting is based on Owen Janderâs article, âLet Your Deafness,â 54â60. The detail concerning where Ludwigâs finger points is mine. It seems significant that Ludwig points not toward the musical score but rather to his hand turning the page, which suggests that it was not only music itself that saved him but also his engagement with it.
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48. Closson, âGrandfather Beethoven,â 371.
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49. Thayer/Forbes, 1:55.
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50. Solomon, âEconomic Circumstances,â 337â38.
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51. Davies, Character of a Genius, 4.
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52. Solomon, âEconomic Circumstances,â 336n22.
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53. Wetzstein/Fischer, 32n129.
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54. Ibid., 27n107.
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55. Zehnder, Die BĂźhnen des Rokoko, 153.
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2. Father, Mother, Son
1. My sense of a prodigyâs upbringing and the risks and problems it entails comes from a variety of sources about rearing children in exacting disciplines such as music and athletics, but mainly from an interview of ca. 1984 with the celebrated violin teacher Dorothy DeLay about musical prodigies she had known and taught at Juilliard.
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2. Wetzstein/Fischer, 45â46. Again, memories of Ludwig van Beethovenâs first thirteen or so years that appear in Gottfried Fischerâs memoir would have largely come from his sister Cäcilie, because Gottfried was born ten years after Ludwig, and Cäcilie eight years before.
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3. To a degree, this is speculation about Johannâs goals for his son, based on old Ludwigâs training of Johann, which would have been his modelâbut with the added element that Ludwig the younger was far more talented than his father and was trained as a keyboard soloist rather than as a singer.
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4. Wetzstein/Fischer, 46â47.
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5. Skowroneck, âKeyboard Instruments,â 154â57. He points out that Johann sometimes forced Ludwig to play in the middle of the night. This implies he was playing the quiet clavichord so as not to disturb the Fischer family one floor below.
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6. Wetzstein/Fischer, 22.
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7. Ibid., 57â58. This story also shows that Johann, like his son, honored old Ludwigâs memory.
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8. Ibid., 65â66.
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9. Solomon, âEconomic Circumstances,â 11.
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10. Wetzstein/Fischer, 36n140; Thayer/Forbes, 1:17. Belderbusch did not yet have the title Graf, or Count.
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11. Ohm, âZur Sozialpolitik,â 193.
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12. Quoted in Solomon, Beethoven, 47â48.
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13. Im Hof, Enlightenment, 27.
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14. Quoted in Marek, Beethoven, 145.
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15. Blanning, Pursuit of Glory, 518.
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16. Quoted in Brandt, âBanditry Unleashâd,â 20.
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17. Gutzmer, Chronik der Stadt Bonn, 76.
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18. Pfeiff, Bonn, 47. Wetzstein/Fischer, 48, includes a contemporary print of the fire showing the injured and dead lying in the courty...