Thayer's Life of Beethoven online

[AdamSmith]

For any Ludwig van fanatics here, Project Gutenberg has Thayer's magisterial Life of Beethoven available online, in several different reading formats (HTML, EPUB, Kindle, etc.):

 

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/43591

[whipped guy]

Thanks Herr Smith! Much appreciated!

 

Here are the links to the other two volumes:

 

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/43592

 

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/43593

[AdamSmith]

Of course this removes all my excuses for not finishing it now.

 

I had read a fair bit of it in a print copy that I used to have but got misplaced in some house move, not linearly but dipping in here and there. So I had forgotten how thorough it was, as evidenced just by the fact that Thayer takes three chapters to get Beethoven born!

 

Chapter I. Fall of the Ecclesiastical-Civil States in Germany—Character of Their Rulers—The Electors of Cologne in the Eighteenth Century—Joseph Clemens—Clemens August—Max Friedrich—Incidents and Achievements in Their Reigns—The Electoral Courts and Their Music—Earliest Records of the Beethovens in the Rhineland—Musical Culture in Bonn at the Time of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Birth—Operatic Repertories—Christian Gottlob Neefe—Appearance of the City 1

 

Chapter II. Beethoven’s Ancestors in Belgium—Louis van Beethoven, His Grandfather—He Leaves His Paternal Home—Tenor Singer at Louvain—His Removal to Bonn—Marriage—Activities as Bass Singer and Chapelmaster in the Electoral Chapel—Birth and Education of Johann van Beethoven, Father of the Composer—Domestic Afflictions—His Marriage—Appearance and Character of the Composer’s Mother 42

 

Chapter III. Birth of Ludwig van Beethoven, the Composer—Conflict of Dates—The House in Which He Was Born—Poverty of the Family—An Inebriate Grandmother and a Dissipated Father—The Composer’s Scant Schooling—His First Music Teachers—Lessons on the Pianoforte, Organ and Violin—Neefe Instructs Him in Composition—A Visit to Holland

[whipped guy]

Of course this removes all my excuses for not finishing it now.

 

I had read a fair bit of it in a print copy that I used to have but got misplaced in some house move, not linearly but dipping in here and there. So I had forgotten how thorough it was, as evidenced just by the fact that Thayer takes three chapters to get Beethoven born!

 

Chapter I. Fall of the Ecclesiastical-Civil States in Germany—Character of Their Rulers—The Electors of Cologne in the Eighteenth Century—Joseph Clemens—Clemens August—Max Friedrich—Incidents and Achievements in Their Reigns—The Electoral Courts and Their Music—Earliest Records of the Beethovens in the Rhineland—Musical Culture in Bonn at the Time of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Birth—Operatic Repertories—Christian Gottlob Neefe—Appearance of the City 1

 

Chapter II. Beethoven’s Ancestors in Belgium—Louis van Beethoven, His Grandfather—He Leaves His Paternal Home—Tenor Singer at Louvain—His Removal to Bonn—Marriage—Activities as Bass Singer and Chapelmaster in the Electoral Chapel—Birth and Education of Johann van Beethoven, Father of the Composer—Domestic Afflictions—His Marriage—Appearance and Character of the Composer’s Mother 42

 

Chapter III. Birth of Ludwig van Beethoven, the Composer—Conflict of Dates—The House in Which He Was Born—Poverty of the Family—An Inebriate Grandmother and a Dissipated Father—The Composer’s Scant Schooling—His First Music Teachers—Lessons on the Pianoforte, Organ and Violin—Neefe Instructs Him in Composition—A Visit to Holland

LOL! Yes I noticed that! The first volume takes us only to 1802. The remaining two volumes are what throughly investigate the real meat of the Beethoven sandwich as regards the Eroica and later symphonies, Fidelio, Missa Solemnis, etc.

[AdamSmith]

I had forgotten how delightful Thayer could be in some of his details.

 

Other performances of the [b-flat] Quartet were planned, but it does not appear that any took place. Schuppanzigh was indisposed to venture upon a repetition, but Böhm and Mayseder were eager to play it. The latter with his companions gave quartet parties at the house of Dembscher, an agent of the Austrian War Department, and wanted to produce the Quartet there. But Dembscher had neglected to subscribe for Schuppanzigh’s concert and had said that he would have it played at his house, since it was easy for him to get manuscripts from Beethoven for that purpose. He applied to Beethoven for the Quartet, but the latter refused to let him have it, and Holz, as he related to Beethoven, told Dembscher in the presence of other persons that Beethoven would not let him have any more music because he had not attended Schuppanzigh’s concert. Dembscher stammered in confusion and begged Holz to find some means to restore him to Beethoven’s good graces. Holz said that the first step should be to send Schuppanzigh 50 florins, the price of the subscription. Dembscher laughingly asked, “Must it be?” (Muss es sein?). When Holz related the incident to Beethoven he too laughed and instantly wrote down a canon on the words: “It must be! Yes, yes, yes, it must be. Out with the purse!”[148]

 

Out of this joke in the late fall of the year grew the finale of the last of the last five quartets, that in F major. Op. 135, to which Beethoven gave the superscription: “The difficult resolution” (Der schwergefasste Entschluss). The story, almost universally current and still repeated, that the phrases: Muss es sein? Es muss sein, and Der schwergefasste Entschluss had their origin in

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/43593/43593-h/images/zillt225.png

Es muss sein! Es muss sein! ja, ja, ja, ja

It must be! It must be! yes, yes, yes, yes

 

Es muss sein! ja, ja, ja, ja Es muss sein! ja, ja, ja, ja

It must be! yes, yes, yes, yes, It must be! yes, yes, yes, yes

 

Heraus mit dem Beutel! Heraus! Heraus: Es muss sein!

Come down with the rhino! Come down! Come down! It must be!

 

Ja, ja, ja, ja, ja, ja, ja, ja, ja, ja, Es muss sein!

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, It must be!

 

a scene frequently repeated when Beethoven’s housekeeper came to him of a Saturday for the weekly house-money, was spread by Schindler, who was familiar in a way with the Dembscher incident but assigned it to the Quartet in E-flat. Holz was an actor in the scene and is the better witness, being confirmed, moreover, by the Conversation Book. Schindler probably took his clue from a page in the Conversation Book used in December, 1826, in which Beethoven writes the phrases “Must it be?” and “It must be,” and Schindler, after a conversation in which Schuppanzigh takes part, concludes with: “It must be. The old woman is again in need of her weekly money.” The joke played a part in the conversations with Beethoven for some time.

 

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/43593/43593-h/43593-h.htm#Page_218

[Battle]

For any Ludwig van fanatics here, Project Gutenberg has Thayer's magisterial Life of Beethoven available online, in several different reading formats (HTML, EPUB, Kindle, etc.):

 

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/43591

Thank you

[Battle]

Thanks Herr Smith! Much appreciated!

 

Here are the links to the other two volumes:

 

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/43592

 

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/43593

Thank you