Sorrows Borne in Silence
If the correspondence in this chapter seems in tone and character at variance with the assumption that, for some reason or other, this was a disastrous year to Beethoven, it must not be forgotten that there are troubles and sorrows which must be borne in silence—when to complain and lament is apter to excite ridicule than compassion. Though the burden be almost insupportable, the sufferer must perform his duties and pursue the business of life with a serene countenance, and permit no outward sign to reveal the secret pain. “The setting of a great hope is like the setting of the sun,” says Longfellow. “The brightness of our life is gone. Shadows of evening fall around us and the world seems but a dim reflection—itself a broader shadow. We look forward into the coming lonely night. The soul withdraws into itself.” When “surprised” by Bettina, Beethoven’s great hope had set and “ill humor had complete control” of him. His “marriage project had fallen through.” Whoever the lady was, the blow had now fallen and must be borne in silence. Its disastrous effect upon Beethoven’s professional energies is therefore for us the only measure of its severity. True, he writes to Zmeskall and talks of his art as if great things were in prospect; but he had no heart for such labor, and not until October did he take up and finish the Quartetto Serioso for his friend. The long bright summer days, that in other years had awakened his powers to new and joyous activity and added annually one at least to the list of his grandest works, came and departed, leaving no memorial but a few songs and minor instrumental works—the latter apparently composed to order. He took no country lodging this summer—alternating between Baden and Vienna, and indulging in lonely rambles among the hills and forests. We think it must have been in this period of song composition and oriental studies that, on such an excursion, he had with him the undated paper containing a selection from the songs in Herder’s “Morgenländische Blumenlese” and wrote upon it in pencil:
My decree [meaning the annuity contract] says only “to remain in the country”—perhaps this would be complied with by any spot. My unhappy ears do not torment me here. It seems as if in the country every tree said to me “Holy! Holy!” Who can give complete expression to the ecstasy of the woods? If everything else fails the country remains even in winter—such as Gaden, Unterer Brühl, etc.—easy to hire a lodging from a peasant, certainly cheap at this time.
Another half-sheet in the Library of the Musikfreunde in Vienna, mostly covered with rude musical sketches, is a suitable pendant to the above, as it contains these words: “Without the society of some loved person it would not be possible to live even in the country.”
It is well known that Beethoven’s duties to Archduke Rudolph soon became irksome and at last almost insupportable. It was, however, for his good that he was compelled to perform them and be master of himself to that extent; it was also fortunate that Elizabeth Brentano came just at the crisis with beauty, grace and genius to turn his thoughts into other channels. Nor was it without benefit to him that Thomson’s melodies, which required no severe study, gave some desultory but profitable employment to his mind. Just at the close of the year it was rumored that he contemplated a journey into Italy “next spring, in order to seek restoration of his health, which had suffered greatly for several years, under southern skies.” There was some foundation for this, for some years later Beethoven himself states in one of his letters: “I declined a call to Naples.”
Works Published in 1810
The compositions of the year 1810 are:
1. The incidental music to Goethe’s “Egmont.” It was composed between October, 1809 and May, 1810, and the first performance took place on the 24th day of the latter month. There are sketches for the song “Freudvoll und Leidvoll” in a sketchbook used in 1809; but Nottebohm does not recognize them as having been conceived for use in the tragedy, since there are indications that the song was to have pianoforte accompaniment and be sung in part by two voices. In a sketchbook begun early in January, 1810 (Nottebohm, “Zweite Beethoveniana,” p. 276), on the first twenty-nine pages there are sketches for seven numbers in the following order, viz: 7, 1, 8, 9, 2, 3, 6. Sketches for the overture are not to be found in the book, but in other places in connection with sketches for the Pianoforte Trio in B-flat, Op. 97, which was also in hand in 1809. Beethoven’s admiration for Goethe (stimulated, it is fair to assume, by his intercourse with Elizabeth Brentano) is shown by the fact that, besides the “Egmont” lyrics, others of Goethe’s poems were sketched or completed in the year which saw the production of the tragedy. “Egmont” was first performed on May 24, 1810. Though Beethoven contemplated dedicating it to Archduke Rudolph, it eventually appeared without a dedication. Beethoven offered the music to Breitkopf and Härtel in a letter dated May 6 (1810) for 1400 florins in silver.
2. Two songs: “Kennst du das Land” and “Herz, mein Herz.”
3. Three songs: “Wonne der Wehmuth,” “Sehnsucht,” and “Mit einem gemalten Bande.” The manuscript bears the following inscription in Beethoven’s hand: “3 Gesänge—1810—Poesie von Goethe in Musik gesetzt von Ludwig van Beethoven.”