[36] Lady Wallace’s translation, amended. The letter is preserved in the Beethoven-Haus Museum in Bonn.
[37] The age of Beethoven’s mother at the time of her death is here incorrectly given. It should be 40.
[38] Thayer’s correction of Dr. Wegeler’s account of Beethoven’s first acquaintance with the family von Breuning was sharply criticized by a grandson of Wegeler in an article published in the Coblenzer Zeitung of May 20, 1890. Thayer preserved Karl Wegeler’s article in the library copy of his biography, and had he lived to revise his work he would undoubtedly either have corrected his assertions or confirmed them. According to Dr. Wegeler (this is the younger Wegeler’s argument, in brief), Beethoven had been introduced to the von Breuning family at least as early as 1785, and in that circle had already met Count Waldstein, who had aided him in securing his first salary as Court Organist. The “Notizen” do not fix the dates, though they imply that the occurrences took place before 1785. As to the statement of the Widow Karth, Wegeler urges that the testimony of a child five years old could have no weight as against that of persons of mature age, and that an acquaintance might well exist without intercourse in the Beethoven dwelling. The letter to Dr. Schaden, the product of a melancholy mood, does not preclude the possibility that Beethoven had received help from another source, especially since great care had to be exercised in extending succor to him lest his sensibilities be hurt. Certain it is that Wegeler, who did not go to Vienna till 1787, had been a faithful friend and helper in the period of Beethoven’s destitution, as was proved by a thitherto unpublished letter of Beethoven to Wegeler, in which the former expressly stated that the latter had known him, Beethoven, almost since childhood. If the von Breuning family were really not on hand at the time of Beethoven’s trouble, the fact might be explained by their annual sojourn in the country, which was generally of considerable duration. Thayer’s assumption that Wegeler himself did not get intimately acquainted with the von Breunings until after his return from Vienna (in 1789) is at variance with the family recollections, which presented him as a young student (therefore before 1787) and with him Beethoven at the time when they became visitors at the house. Weakness of memory on the part of a man so intellectually fresh and vigorous as Dr. Wegeler was in 1838 (he died ten years later) was not to be assumed; least of all can Dr. Wegeler have erred concerning the beginning of his acquaintance with the family from which he got his wife. Finally, the intimate terms of friendship which existed between Beethoven and Eleonore von Breuning could be fully explained only on the theory of a childhood acquaintance.
In the first edition of Thayer’s biography (1866) Dr. Deiters printed the text bearing on this question as it is given above without note or comment. In the revised edition of Volume I (1901), he reproduced the original text in the body of the page but appended a footnote in which, while asserting that an authority like Thayer ought not to be opposed except “with great diffidence and extreme caution” (to use Thayer’s words referring to Dr. Wegeler), he nevertheless upheld the contention of Dr. Wegeler’s grandson. He says: “The definite assertion of Wegeler that he made the acquaintance of Beethoven as early as 1782, which is supported by Beethoven’s own words, ‘you knew me almost since my childhood,’ is not to be shaken. As little can it be questioned that Wegeler had been introduced in the Breuning house as a student before his departure for Vienna (according to Gerhard von Breuning before his acquaintance with Beethoven began); here Dr. Wegeler could not have made an error. Concerning his bringing Beethoven to the house he gives no date; the year 1785 is not mentioned in the “Notizen.” On page 45, however, it is stated that Stephan von Breuning “lived in closest affiliation with him (Beethoven) from his tenth year till his death.” Stephan was born August 17, 1774 (Vide “Aus dem Schwarzspanierhause,” page 6); this would indicate the year 1784. Wegeler’s remark, “especially after you lost your noble mother,” makes it clear as day that a close friendship existed before the death of Beethoven’s mother.”
[39] Dr. Deiters, differing with Thayer on the subject of the date of the beginning of the intimacy between Beethoven and the von Breuning family, omitted in the revised version of the Beethoven biography the author’s comments on the brief biographical data concerning the sons, which were as follows: “These dates, communicated by Dr. Gerhard, son of Stephan von Breuning, prove a singular inaccuracy in Wegeler’s remark (‘Nachtrag zur Notizen,’ page 26): ‘Lenz, as the youngest of the three brothers, was nearest to Beethoven in age.’” Of Stephan he says: “Inasmuch as he had lived in intimate association with Beethoven from his tenth year up to his death.” Many a proof of this general fact will hereafter appear; but whether this “intimate association” began quite so early is a question. The two were at the same time pupils of Franz Ries on the violin, and they may well have become acquainted in 1785 or 1786; but it was not favorable to extreme intimacy that four years’ difference existed in their ages; and that the one was but a schoolboy while the other was already an organist, an author and accustomed to move among men.
[40] Gerhard von Breuning would have it appear from a statement on page 6 of his book “Aus dem Schwarzspanierhause,” that Beethoven was recommended to the von Breunings by Wegeler.
[41] Dr. Wegeler’s grandson, in his criticism of Thayer’s assertions concerning the date of the beginning of the acquaintance between Beethoven and the von Breunings, falls foul of even this ingenious demonstration, saying that the incident of the conflagration might have taken place when Count Waldstein was at home visiting his mother. He could not believe that the Count had spent all of the first 24 years of his life at Dux in “idyllic solitude,” and argued that he might have visited Bonn for the first time at an earlier date than 1787. Dr. Deiters held that the point was well taken; as if there was no alternative for the young count between “idyllic solitude” at Dux and a sojourn at Bonn!
[42] Thus in Mr. Thayer’s original manuscript. Dr. Deiters omitted the remark in his revision, but it is here permitted to stand along with other controverted matters.
[43] Wegeler’s story of the meeting between Beethoven and Sterkel is confirmed in every detail by a letter from N. Simrock to Schindler, a copy of which was found among the posthumous papers of Thayer.
[44] In one of the Beethoven conversation books, anno 1823, may be read in Schindler’s handwriting: “Captain v. Greth’s address, Commandant in Temesvar.”