3. Song: “So oder So”; as supplement in the “Modenzeitung” of February 25.
4. Song: “Ruf vom Berge”; supplement to Treitschke’s poems, for which it had been composed at the close of 1816.
5. The canon: “Lerne Schweigen,” written for Neate; supplement to Kanne’s “Allg. Mus.-Zeit.” March 6, and on June 5 with Payer’s solution.
6. Volume III of the Welsh songs written for Thomson.
Chapter XVIII
The Year 1818—A Broadwood Pianoforte—Commission for an Oratorio—Conception of the Mass in D—The Nephew; A Mother’s Struggle for Her Son—The Pianoforte Sonata in B-flat, Op. 106.
Delight in the Broadwood Pianoforte
An entry in an old “Porter’s Book” of John Broadwood and Sons, manufacturers of pianofortes in London, offers an agreeable starting-point for the story of Beethoven’s life in 1818. In this book the porter of the firm signs his name, Millet, to the record that on December 27, 1817, he took from the warehouse “A 6 octave Grand Pianoforte, No. 7,632, tin and deal case, Thomas Broadwood, Esq., marked V. B. care of F. E. J. Bareaux and Co., Trieste (a present to Mr. van Beethoven, Viene), deliv’d to Mr. Farlowes to be shipped.” Some time previously Mr. Thomas Broadwood, the then head of the house, with a Mr. Goding (probably the rich brewer), visited the principal cities of the continent and doubtless became acquainted with Beethoven and offered to present to him one of the firm’s pianofortes. On January 3, 1818, Mr. Broadwood seems to have informed Beethoven that the instrument had been shipped, and exactly one month later Beethoven sent the following acknowledgment to the generous donor:
Mon tres cher Ami Broadwood!