"MIDDLE (1803-1813) PERIOD"

- Vienna 1806 (Age 35 years) -

Beethoven returned from Heiligenstadt (October 1802) a changed man. A change in his musical style was present. Per Carl Czerny, Beethoven remarked, "I am not satisfied with the work I have done so far. From now on I intend to take a new way." The coming works took on a grand scale, the first of which was his Third Symphony, the "Eroica."

MEDICAL: Beethoven continued to seek medical advise and treatment for his severe ailments including his now marked hearing loss associated with tinnitus. He was thereby not able to keep up with conversations, especially in noisy environments, causing him to withdraw from those settings. In addition, he found that he could not adequately perform, which led him increasingly toward composition as a means of income rather than performance.

image from 1806

CREATIVE / FINANCIAL: Despite his suffering, Beethoven's compositions continued to advance his fame and standing. He continued to teach a few students, including Ferdinand Ries, and Carl Czerny (who later offered the premier performance of Beethoven's 5th piano concerto "the Emperor" on February 11, 1812).

Beethoven continued to support himself through wealthy patrons and from the publishing of his works. In addition, he held a position at the Theater an der Wien, but this was ended when management changed hands in 1804. This forced him to move to the suburbs of Vienna, there sharing rooms with his longtime friend, Stephan von Breuning.

Beethoven's brother Carl began helping his brother in handling the business end of things, enabling Beethoven to receive greater financial return for his work.

Archduke Rudolph, the youngest son of Emperor Leopold II studied piano and composition with Beethoven beginning in the winter months of 1803. The Archduke offered significant financial support to Beethoven and the two became lifelong friends. Fourteen of Beethoven's works were dedicated to Rudolph, including the Archduke Trio (1811), the Missa solemnis (1823), etc.

ROMANTIC: Beethoven fell deeply in love with the Brunsvik's youngest daughter, Josephine. She, in turn returned his affection, but - in the end she later married Count Josef Deym, a happy marriage but one that lasted only a short time with his sudden death in 1804. Many love letters were written to her over the years 1804-1805 and beyond (see Anderson's Letters from those years), but by 1807 - under pressure from her family and with the knowledge that her ongoing relationship with Beethoven could result in the loss of her children, she withdrew from him. Three years later, 1810, she married Baron von Stackelberg.

MUSIC: Beethoven's music was influenced by French heroic style during these years. A four note motto was often used, e.g.: Harp quartet, 4th piano conc., Appassionata, 5th symph. Key of c was now used to express the heroic rather than pathos (e.g., 5th sym). The 4 notes are never twice used in the same way however.

POLITICAL CLIMATE: A police state existed at this time and Love for the Kaiser was mixed with dread of the secret police. There was a sense of fear and uncertainly following the Hapsburg submission to Napoleon (following the defeats of 1797-1809) along with a sense of national impotence since the death of Joseph II; with his death there was a diminished hope for the enlightened despotism he had espoused.

In this era of failed political nerve and a decrease in outward concern for the human condition, music became an expression of these uncensorable statements. The High Classic style was not trivial but expressed a utopian ideal. Womanhood was Idealized and a commercialized view of sex and marriage obtained. The greater works of Mozart, Haydn and early Beethovencontradicted Viennese life where gaiety disguised a sense of loss, courtly grace was penetrated by brusque and dissonant elements. Fantasy was mixed with profound expression. Bonaparte's image actually replaced Christ's in many homes in Europe. Beethoven rejected hierarchical orthodoxy in liturgical and in secular life and so had conflicts with Bonaparte in terms of his image as a hero and the reality of his brutality and repression.

After 2nd perf. April 10th, B. quarreled w/ director of Theater an der Wien, Court Banker Braun, about low proceeds B. received for the 2 performances - he suspected he was being cheated; this was overheard by Josef Rockel, tenor who sang the part of Florestan in the Opera, and whose sister Elizabeth later married Johann Hummel, who related the events (Beethoven withdrew the opera & broke with the theater):

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I heard a violent altercation which the financier was carrying on with the enraged composer in the adjoining room. Beethoven was suspicious, and thought that his percentage of the net proceeds was greater than the amout which the Court Banker, who was at the same time director of the Theater an der Wien, had paid him. The latter remarked that Beethoven was the first composer with whom the management, in view of his extraordinary merits, had been willing to share profits, and explained the paucity of the box-office returns by the fact that the boxes and front row seats all had been taken, but that the seats in which the thickly crowded mass of the people would have yielded a return as when Mozart's operas were given, were empty. And he emphasized that hitherto Beethoven's music had been accepted only by the more cultured classes, while Mozart with his operas invariably had roused enthusiasm in the multitude, the people as a whole. Beethoven hurried up and down the room in agitation, shouting loudly: 'I do not write for the multitude - I write for the cultured!' " " 'But the cultured alone do not fill our theater,' replied the Baron with the greatest calmness, 'we need the multitude to bring in money, and since in your music you have refused to make any concessions to it, you yourself are to blame for your diminished percentage of return. If we had given Mozart the same interest in the receipts of his operas he would have grown rich.' "This disadvantageous comparison with his famous predecessor seemed to wound Beethoven's tenderest susceptibilities. Without replying to it with a single word, he leaped up and shouted in the greatest rage: 'Give me back my score!' "

"The Baron hesitated and stared as though struck by lightning at theenraged composer's glowing face, while the latter, in an accent of themost strenuous passion repeated: 'I want my score - my score, at once!'" "The Baronled the bell-rope; a servant entered." " 'Bring the scoreof yeste's opera for this gentleman,' said the Baron with an air;and the set hastened to return it. 'I am sorry,' the aristocrat continued,'But lieve that on calmer reflection --.' Yet Beethoven no longerheard he was saying. He had torn the gigantic volume of the scorefrom the serva hand and, without even seeing me in his eagerness, ran through the anteroom and down the stairs." [Imp.by his Contemp. p66-7]

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The score was thereafter closeted away for over a decade before further revision and performances.

Unpublished ballad written by B. - taken from the opera Le Secret by Solie:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So the last gleam of hope has now declined, She broke her vows; fickle is her mind. And now I lose, to infinite unrest, All consciousness that I was once so blessed. What did I say! Still her charms enslave me. No power can turn, no resolution save me Yet when I reach the brink of wild despair Secret memories stay with me there. Ah, gentle hope to me once more returning Do thou revive the flame within me burning Though love's sufferings indeed are great Still he sho loves would never change his fate And thou who does my love so true disdain Thy image will within my heart remain. I could not hate thee, no but love thee more, Forget thee? Not till this life of woe be o'er. [Wegeler/Ries p164-5]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

B. refused Lichnowsky's req. to perform for group of French officers at Silesian country estate. (Lichnowsky had promised the officers that after dinner, B. would play for them.)

Violent confrontation occurred when B. is said to have barred his door & Lichnowsky had it forced - Cnt. Oppersdorff intervened when B. nearly broke chair over Lichnowsky's head. B. left estate for Vienna. Enroute back, rain from a storm leaked into Beethoven's trunk and damaged the score of Appassionata (which had just been written out from 1804 sketches) & part of score & sketches for the Razumovsky quartets. B. stopped by Marie and Monsierer Bigot's home enroute and showed them the Appassionata score -- Marie played the wet score despite erasures, alterations, etc., reportedly without error![B. Beloved pg 119B and Ira Brilliant Cneter exhibit 1997] In Vienna B. broke bust of Lichnowsky given him years earlier (had been in place of honor in room). This led to a cessation of Lichnowsky's financial support. Financial insecurity ensued as at this time there was break from theater also.

[Per Theodore Frimmel rebutting Weisner's story: "They went to table; one of the French staff officers unhappily asked B. if he also knew the violin. Weisner saw at once how this outraged the artist... B. did not deign to answer his interlocutor. Weiser could not attend the rest of the dinner since, as Director of the Trppau Hospital, he had to make a professional call there. He heard the rest of the story from B. himself. When the time came for B. to play, he was nowhere to be found. He was looked for. The Prince wanted to persuade him - to cajole him - into playing. No use. An unpleasant, even vulgar, scene took place. B. immediately had his things packed, and hastened, despite the pouring rain, on foot to Troppau, where he spent the night at Weiser's. It was because of the rain that the Sonata in F minor op. 57, the 'Appassionata, which B. was carrying with him, was damaged by water." [Ira Brilliant Center Exhibit '97, pg 11.]