Preliminary to the narrative of the other varied incidents of the year 1823, let us set down a brief mention of the fact that on January 20 Beethoven wrote a little piece for voice and pianoforte in the album of Countess Wimpfen, née Eskeles, on the words of Goethe: “Der edle Mensch sei hülfreich und gut,” [sic] which was published in facsimile in the “Allgemeine Wiener Musikzeitung” on November 23, 1843. Having traversed the year in our search for material relating to the Mass in D, the next most significant subject is that which concerned the Symphony in D minor, on which he worked industriously and which had been the subject of correspondence between himself and Ries (in London) for some time before the year opened. On April 6, 1822, Beethoven had inquired of his old pupil: “What would the Philharmonic Society be likely to offer me for a symphony?” Ries, evidently, laid the matter before the directors of the society who, at a meeting on November 10, “resolved to offer Beethoven fifty pounds for a MS. symphony.”[80] Ries conveyed the information to Beethoven in a letter dated November 15 and in a reply dated December 20, Beethoven, although he protested that the remuneration was not to be compared with what other nations might give, accepted the offer, adding:
I would write gratis for the first artists of Europe, if I were not still poor Beethoven. If I were in London, what would I not write for the Philharmonic Society! For Beethoven can write, God be thanked, though he can do nothing else in this world. If God gives me back my health, which has at least improved somewhat, I shall yet be able to comply with all the requests which have come from all parts of Europe, and even from North America, and I might yet feather my nest.
A glimpse into the occupations, cares and perplexities which beset Beethoven at this period is given by the first letter in the series written in the new year—on February 5, which Ries, in his “Notizen,” gives only in part:
I have no further news to give you about the Sinfonie but meanwhile you may confidently count on it. Since I have made the acquaintance here of a very amiable and cultivated man, who holds an appointment in our imperial embassy at London, he will undertake later to forward the Symphony to you in London, so that it will soon be in London. Were I not so poor that I am obliged to live by my pen I would accept nothing at all from the Ph. Society; as it is I must wait until the fee for the Sinfonie is deposited here. But to give you an evidence of my affection for and confidence in the society I have already delivered the new Overture referred to in my last letter, to the gentleman of the Imperial society.[81] As he is to start from here for London in a few days he will deliver it to you in person in London. Goldschmidt will no doubt know where you live; if not, please tell him, so that this accommodating gentleman will not be obliged long to hunt you. I leave to the Society all the arrangements about the Overture which, like the Symphony, it can keep for 18 months. Not until after the lapse of that time shall I publish it. And now another request: my brother here, who keeps his carriage, wanted a lift from me and so, without asking me, he offered the Overture in question to a publisher in London named Bosey [Boosey]. Let him wait, and tell him that at present it is impossible to say whether he can have the Overture or not; I will write to him myself. It all depends on the Philharmonic Society; say to him please that my brother made a mistake in the matter of the Overture; as to the other works which he wrote about, he may have them. My brother bought them of me in order to traffic with them, as I observe. O frater! I beg of you to write to me as soon as possible after you have received the Overture, whether the Philharmonic Society will take it, for otherwise I shall publish it soon.
I have heard nothing of your Sinfonie dedicated to me. If I did not look upon the Dedicat as a sort of challenge for which I might give you Revanche I should long ago have dedicated some work to you. As it is, I have always thought that I must first see your work. How willingly would I show you my gratitude in some manner. I am deeply your debtor for so many proofs of your affection and for favors. If my health is improved by a bath-cure which I am to take in the coming summer I will kiss your wife in London in 1824.
What justification Beethoven had, or imagined he had, for imputing a dishonorable act to his brother, cannot be said; it is noteworthy, however, that he does not even mention him in a letter written twenty days later which reiterates much that had already been set forth, and offers to send the Symphony at once on receiving word from Ries accompanied by a draft. He also intends to send six Bagatelles and asks Ries to traffic, as best he can, with them and two sonatas. Had he received a dedication from Ries, he says, he would at once have inscribed the Overture to him. Not long afterward Beethoven wrote again to Ries. The letter, which has been preserved only in part, is printed with a few omissions and changes in the “Notizen” (p. 154). Its significant remark about the new Symphony is that it is to bear a dedication to Ries; its most valuable contribution, however, refers to the Mass in D and the explanation which it offers of the fact that Beethoven sent no invitation to the English court to subscribe for that work. “In addition to these hardships,” Beethoven writes, “I have many debts to pay, for which reason it would be agreeable to me if you have disposed of the Mass to send me also the check for it, for by that time the copy for London will have been made. There need be no scruples because of the few souverains who are to get copies of it. If a local publisher made no objections, there ought to be still fewer in London; moreover, I bind myself in writing that not a note of it shall appear either in print or otherwise.” The poor Archduke-Cardinal comes in for his customary drubbing, the special complaint now being that Beethoven is obliged to draw his “wretched salary” with the aid of a stamp. The letter was placed for delivery in the hands of the amiable gentleman of the Austrian Embassy whose name we now learn to be Bauer and who was also the bearer of an address to King George IV[82] which Ries was to ask Bauer to read, after which the latter was to see to its delivery into the royal hands and if possible get in return at least a “butcher’s knife or a tortoise”; a printed copy of the “Battle of Vittoria” was to accompany it. The character of the address to the king can be guessed at from the following draft for an earlier letter which was found amongst Schindler’s papers:
An Appeal to the King of England
In thus presuming, herewith, to submit my most obedient prayer to Your Majesty, I venture at the same time to supplement it with a second.
Already in the year 1823, the undersigned took the liberty, at the frequent requests of several Englishmen then living here, to send his composition entitled “Wellington’s Battle and Victory at Vittoria” which no one possessed at that time (to Your Majesty). The then Imperial Russian Ambassador, Prince Rasoumowsky, undertook to send the work to Your Majesty by a courier.
For many years the undersigned cherished the sweet wish that Your Majesty would graciously make known the receipt of his work to him; but he has not yet been able to boast of this happiness, and had to content himself with a brief notice from Mr. Ries, his former worthy pupil, who reported that Y. M. had been pleased graciously to deliver the work to the then Musical Director, Mr. Salomon and Mr. Smart for public performance in Drury Lane Theatre. This appears also from the English journals, which added, as did Mr. Ries, that the work had been received with extraordinary favor not only in London but elsewhere. Inasmuch as it was extremely humiliating to the undersigned to learn all this from indirect sources, Y. M. will surely pardon his sensitiveness and graciously permit him to observe that he spared neither time nor cost to lay this work before your exalted person in the most proper manner in order to provide a pleasure for Y. M.