The Life of Ludwig van Beethoven, Volume IIIThayer, Alexander Wheelock
History
The Life of Ludwig van Beethoven, Volume III
Thayer, Alexander Wheelock
Beethoven, Ludwig van, 1770-1827
and stating her desire to apply the money, in case it was given to
her, to the musical education of her youngest daughter, Hermine van
Beethoven, then 8 years of age. Kaskel also wrote to Reichel, sending
him Madame van Beethoven’s letter and saying that as he had not heard
anything from Prince Galitzin for several years he intended to turn the
money over to the Municipal Court of Dresden in order to spare himself
all further correspondence in the matter. Kaskel wrote to the Prince on
May 7, 1861, asking him to prescribe a disposition of the money, for,
if Kaskel carried out his determination to send it to the court, it
would be frittered away. He urged that the money be given to Madame van
Beethoven. This revival of interest in the subject was evidently due
to Mr. Thayer’s activity in behalf of the widow and her daughter. Mr.
Thayer was in London in 1860 and evidently took up the matter with the
Prince. He makes no mention of the subject in his notice written for
Grove’s “Dictionary”; but among his letters the present writer found
the following letter, evidently written on the eve of his departure
from England in February, 1861:
“Dear Mr. Thayer. Prince Galitzin has asked me to remit to you the
enclosed letters, praying you kindly to act for him in the affair, as
you will soon be on the spot. He begs you, however, to bear in mind the
necessity off proving that the money for these Quartets has not been
paid (I fear an impossibility!); but however vexatious this may be to
poor Mad. v. B. everyone must defer to the obstacle to her having the
money: in the awkward light in which it places the Prince’s father.
From what I can gather from his conversation he will be most satisfied
to have the money appropriated for the purpose you suggested: the M. S.
S. At all events Prince G. is quite content to leave the matter in your
hands. Wishing you a pleasant journey and speedy return, believe me,
dear Mr. Thayer, Yours sincerly Natalia Macfarren.”
The editor’s efforts to learn the ultimate disposition of the money
deposited with Kaskel have been in vain. Mr. Thayer’s papers contain
no hint of the steps which may have been taken after Mrs. Macfarren’s
appeal to Prince George; the banking house of Kaskel is gone out
of existence; Nephew Karl’s daughter, Hermine, is dead. For three
years, from 1866 to 1869, she was a student in the pianoforte and
harmonium classes of the Conservatory at Vienna, and it seems likely
that Mr. Thayer succeeded in having the Dresden deposit applied to her
education; but if so he left no memorandum of that fact amongst the
papers which have come under the editor’s eyes.
[150] Under the agreement it was to be the exclusive property of the
Philharmonic Society for a year and a half.
[151] This interesting letter is now owned by Dwight Newman of Chicago.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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