[129] Those dedicated to Princess Esterhazy, Op. 45.
[130] This Testament or Promemoria, written on a large foolscap sheet, appears to have been discovered in a mass of loose papers purchased by the elder Artaria at the sale of Beethoven’s effects in 1827. Endorsed upon it is an acknowledgement, signed by Jacob Hotschevar, the guardian (after Breuning’s death) of the composer’s nephew, of having received it from Artaria & Co. Then follows a similar acknowledgement of its reception by Johann van Beethoven. Its next possessor appears to have been Alois Fuchs—the great collector of musical manuscripts and autographs of musicians. In 1855, it was purchased by Ernst, the violinist (of whom is not known?), who presented it to Mr. Otto and Madame Jenny Lind Goldschmidt as a testimony of gratitude for their valuable assistance in one of his concerts. By their kindness the present writer was allowed to make a very careful copy on April 2, 1861. As printed in the “Allg. Musikalische Zeitung,” by Schindler and others, it differs little from the original, though some of Beethoven’s peculiar forms of spelling were corrected—such as “Heiglnstadt.” “That Beethoven, throughout the document, never mentions the name of his second brother Johann, and indicates it only by points, is surprising and singular, inasmuch as this brother, as we have just seen, had come to Vienna only a short time before in order to take part in the affairs of our Beethoven.” Our copy certainly contains no such “points.” The other mistake, as to the recent arrival of Johann in Vienna, every reader will note.
[131] The reference is, of course, to Artaria and Co. and the Revers.
[132] Letter to Ferdinand Luib, May 28, 1852.
[133] Under date April 22, 1802, Beethoven writes to Breitkopf and Härtel: “I reserve the privilege of soon writing to you highborn gentlemen myself—many business matters, and also many vexations—render me utterly useless for some things for a time—meanwhile you may trust implicitly in my brother—who, in fact, manages all my affairs.”
[134] Hugo Riemann, the editor of Volumes II and III of the second edition of this “Life,” was not disposed to permit the author’s defence of Beethoven’s brothers to stand unchallenged, as Dr. Deiters had done in the first edition. Dr. Riemann calls attention to a letter sent by Beethoven to Johann after the latter had removed to Linz—the date as written by Beethoven is “March 28, 1089”—another instance of Beethoven’s careless treatment of such matters. Of course the year was 1809. In the letter the composer says: “God grant to you and the other brother instead of his unfeelingness, feeling—I suffer infinitely through him, with my bad hearing I always need somebody, and whom shall I trust?” This Dr. Riemann inserts in the body of the text. In a foot-note he calls attention to a letter found among Thayer’s posthumous papers to the author from Gerhard von Breuning in which occur the words: “Caspar held a respected position in the public service. But how did it come that Rösgen warned my father to warn Ludwig not to trust Caspar too much in respect of money matters because he had a bad reputation; and then, Ludwig having told Caspar that he had received the warning from Steffen, Caspar demanded from my father to know from whom he had received the warning; and when my father refused because he had promised Rösgen on his word of honor not to betray him, Caspar rudely pressed my father, publicly delivered letters containing abuse and threats to the porter of the Court Council of War, etc., and—that my father, calling Ludwig a gossip, was long estranged from him until the letter of reconciliation came (in 1804).” Breuning’s utterances in his book “Aus dem Schwarzspanierhause” are of similar import. There are evidences that Breuning was convinced that Carl’s character was bad, but is more lenient in his judgment of Johann, whom he charges only with greed and miserliness. Of course, all this material was in the hands of Thayer, who must have weighed it in making up his defence of the brothers.
[135] Dr. Frimmel is of the opinion that in this criticism Thayer was hasty and premature. In reproducing two facsimiles of portions of the Bagatelle in question (“Beethoven Jahrbuch” II, 1909) he says: “The apparent contradictions disclosed by these manuscripts led Thayer to question the authenticity of the autograph. It may safely be said that a later consideration of the matter would have led Thayer to change his mind; he would also surely have corrected his statement that Ries had reference to the Bagatelles Op. 33 in his ‘N’ (p. 124). Nottebohm knew the manuscript, which was once in the possession of Johann Kafka, well and never expressed a doubt as to its genuineness.”
[136] Difference between the statements made here and some of those in Chapter VI are explained by the author’s later investigations.
[137] “Ein Skizzenbuch von Beethoven,” Breitkopf und Härtel, Leipsic, 1865.
Beethoven’s Estimate of the Bagatelles