[39] Beethoven wrote, as if absentmindedly, “Ludwig Ludwig am 13ten Jenner 1822.”
[40] It is noteworthy, as shown by Nottebohm (“Zweit. Beeth.,” pp. 467, 468) that the first theme of the first movement of the C minor Sonata was originally intended for a third movement in a “second sonata” which (Op. 109 being finished) can only have been the one in C minor. It would seem as if the use of the theme in the first movement did not occur to the composer until after he had conceived the theme of the variations. But the theme had figured twenty years before in a sketchbook used when the Sonata in A major, Op. 30, was in hand. Its key then was F-sharp minor, and it may have been intended for Op. 30.
[41] Published also, together with three other songs—“Geheimniss,” “Resignation” and “So oder so”—by Sauer and Leidesdorf as Op. 113 in 1821 or 1822. Beethoven presented a copy of it to Fanny Giannatasio on April 19, 1820.
[42] For this arraignment and defence (if defence it be) of Beethoven the present Editor wishes to assume entire responsibility. Thayer’s notes fail him here, but the indictment, he is convinced, is not only demanded by historical truth but also wholly within the spirit of Thayer as manifested in the earlier volumes of this work. Dr. Deiters makes no effort to conceal the facts, though he does not marshal them so as to present the moral delinquency in the strong light in which it appears when Beethoven’s words and deeds are brought sharply into juxtaposition; nevertheless, after presenting a plea in extenuation fully and fairly, he says: “We pay the tribute of our profoundest sympathy for Beethoven under these circumstances; we know sufficiently well the noble impulses of his soul in all other fields; we are aware of the reasons which compelled him to try everything which promised to better his condition; but the conscientious reporter cannot ignore facts which lie notoriously before him, and, hard as it may be, can not acquit Beethoven of the reproach that his conduct was not in harmony with the principles of strict justice and uprightness.”
[43] This has been made possible for the editor by the courtesy of the present representatives of the venerable house in Bonn, viz.: N. Simrock G. m. b. H. in Berlin, who in 1909 issued a handsome book containing all the letters which passed between N. Simrock and Beethoven in a period beginning in 1794 and ending in 1823. Nicolaus Simrock, the reader may be reminded, was a friend of Beethoven in his childhood and a colleague in the orchestra at Bonn.
[44] Youthful works.
[45] Probably “Primo amore,” though it has orchestral accompaniment.
[46] Composed in 1814 in memory of Baroness Pasqualati.
[47] The Romances for Violin Op. 40 and 50 having been published long before, Beethoven must have had another one in mind.
[48] The Trio for wind-instruments, Op. 87, already in print. Beethoven had composed variations on “Là ci darem” from “Don Giovanni” for the same instruments and the composition was called a Terzetto when performed in 1797. This was probably in his mind.