The Life of Ludwig van Beethoven, Volume IIThayer, Alexander Wheelock
History
The Life of Ludwig van Beethoven, Volume II
Thayer, Alexander Wheelock
Beethoven, Ludwig van, 1770-1827
A number of letters to Gleichenstein and Zmeskall to which attention
must now be called seem to show us Beethoven in the character of
a man so deeply smitten with the charms of a newly-acquired lady
friend that he turns his attention seriously to his wardrobe and
personal appearance and thinks unusually long and frequently of the
social pleasures enjoyed at the home of his charmer. A desire to save
space alone prevents the publication of the letters in full, but the
reader may find them in the published Collections of the composer’s
letters.[77] In the first of these he sends Gleichenstein 300 florins
which the Count was to expend for him in the purchase of linen and
nankeen for shirts and “at least half a dozen neckties.” On the same
day, he informs his correspondent that acting on his advice he had paid
Lind 300 florins. Henickstein had paid him twenty-seven and a half
florins for a pound sterling and invited him and Gleichenstein to dine
the next day with Clementi. Very significantly the letter ends with:
“Greet everything that is dear to you and me. How gladly would I like
to add ~to whom we are dear????~” Lind was a tailor and Henickstein
the son of a banker. The next day he writes that on the previous
evening the Archduke had requested his presence on the day set for
the dinner and he had been obliged to send Henickstein a declination.
The day after that he concludes a note telling about the meeting at
the Archduke’s with “Farewell. This evening I will come to the dear
Malfattis.” Here is the next letter in full:
As I shall have enough time this morning, I shall come to the
Savage (~zum wilden Mann~--a restaurant) in the Prater. I fancy
that I shall find no savages there but beautiful Graces, and for
them I must don my armor. I know you will not think me a sponge
because I come only for dinner, and so I will come straight. If I
find you at home, well and good; if not, I’ll hurry to the Prater
to embrace you.
On the day after that he sends Gleichenstein an S. (a sonata,
doubtless) which he had “promised Therese” and adds: “Give my
compliments to all of them. It seems as if the wounds with which wicked
men have pierced my soul might be healed by them”; he sends 50 florins
more for cravats and makes a boast of it that Gigons, Malfatti’s little
dog, had supped with him and accompanied him home. This is the first of
the only two allusions which Beethoven makes in all the papers, printed
or written, relating to him, of a domestic pet animal. Another letter
reads: “I beg of you to let me know when the M. remain at home of an
evening. You surely had a pleasant sleep--I slept little, but I prefer
such an awaking to all sleep.” Again he writes to say that he wished
“Madame M.” would give him permission to pick out a pianoforte for her
which she wished to buy “at Schanz’s.” Though it was his rule never to
accept commissions on such sales, he wanted to save money for the lady
on this purchase.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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