In the case of Beethoven’s 8th Symphony (which the Harrisburg Symphony is playing in this weekend’s concerts), there was a lot going on but then Beethoven was famous for compartmentalizing his life from his creativity.
Concerns about signs of increasing deafness led to an intense emotional crisis in October of 1802.
Written as a response to this, the heart-rending Heiligenstadt Testament included doubts about his ability to continue as a composer and performer. Even though one could argue the thoughts of suicide were in the flowery language of the day and possibly more rhetorical than emotional, it is still powerful stuff. And yet at the same time, Beethoven was working on the final movement of his 2nd Symphony, probably one of his most extroverted, joyous pieces.
Since the 7th and 8th Symphonies are fairly intertwined (see a previous post, here), let’s look at what was happening just before the time he officially began working on the 7th, keeping in mind he had been sketching some ideas for his next symphony already. Did any of these events have any bearing on the symphonies’ gestations?
Two years before he began these symphonies may seem unusual, but this is an important time in Beethoven’s life. Vienna had been under siege by Napoleon’s army, the second time the French occupied the Austrian capital. This was a time of hardship, as he writes to his publisher in Leipzig:
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“You are indeed mistaken in supposing that I have been very well. For in the meantime we have been suffering misery in a most concentrated form. …[S]ince May 4th I have produced very little coherent work, at most a fragment here and there. The whole course of events has in my case affected both body and soul… The existence I had built up only a short time ago [an income guaranteed by a few generous patrons who now face economic hardships as a result of the occupation] rests on shaky foundations… What a destructive, disorderly life I see and hear around me: nothing but drums, cannons and human misery in every form.” (Beethoven, writing on July 26th, 1809)
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Shortly after Vienna surrendered to the French, Haydn died. Even though Haydn had proved an ineffective teacher for Beethoven and had himself essentially quit composing since Beethoven’s star began to ascend, he was still an icon of his times, the last remaining vestige of the greatness of the last century.
In September, Beethoven conducted his Eroica at a charity concert as Vienna began to return to normal and a peace treaty had been signed between Austria and France. But his mood was still somber and pessimistic.
Again, he wrote to his publisher,
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“We are enjoying a little peace after violent destruction, after suffering every hardship that one could conceivably endure. I worked a few weeks in succession, but it seemed to me more for death than for immortality. …I no longer expect to see any stability in this age. The only certainty we can rely on is blind chance.” (Beethoven, writing on November 22nd, 1809).
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Yet during this year, despite the physical, economic and psychological hardships, he managed to complete the “Emperor” Concerto (most of it finished before the bombardment began), the “Harp” String Quartet and a set of piano sonatas including the famous “Les adieux” Sonata, inspired by the absence and eventual return of his friend, student and (probably more importantly) patron, the Archduke Rudolph, youngest son of the Austrian emperor, who, like most of the aristocracy, had fled the city on May 4th before the French army’s arrival, only returning in late January, 1810.
At the end of 1809, he received a commission to write incidental music for Goethe’s Egmont, a play about a hero opposing the Spanish occupation of the Netherlands. We often think of this as part of Beethoven’s heroic theme, a thread that held together the 3rd and 5th Symphonies as well as the “Emperor” Concerto (essentially a work in the old “military” style that was quite popular in its day but forgotten, today). In actuality, the attraction of this commission probably had more to do with the not very subtle similarities between Holland’s foreign occupation and Vienna’s.
Goethe was the greatest living figure in German Art – poet, playwright, novelist. That summer (1810), Beethoven corresponded with a woman named Bettina Brentano who was a friend of Goethe’s: she would later arrange for them to meet at the spa in Teplitz.
Another significant but more personal event of the summer of 1810 was Beethoven’s decision to marry. He had often complained how he was unsuitable for marriage or seemed to be attracted to women of a higher station in life than would reasonably consider such a man – genius or not – for her husband. He wrote to an old friend in Bonn to track down a copy of his baptismal certificate as proof of age (a requirement for marriage) and he even paid attention to his wardrobe and his appearance. But apparently his proposal was turned down. It seems the woman in question was the daughter of his physician, a young girl of 18. Beethoven would turn 40 that December. It seemed an unlikely choice.
Though disappointed, Beethoven spent two months in Baden where he worked on two major compositions – the String Quartet in F Minor which he subtitled “Serioso” (very few of the nicknames associated with his works originated with the composer) which may have been influenced by his state of mind, and another work dedicated (like the “Emperor” Concerto and the “Les adieux” Sonata) to the Archduke Rudolph, a piano trio in B-flat, his grandest chamber work, known as the “Archduke Trio,” which he completed in March, 1811.
But his health was still not good and his doctor (and ex-future-father-in-law) suggested he spend the summer in Teplitz, a famous resort northwest of Prague. Refreshed, he returned to Vienna and began work on the 7th and 8th Symphonies. Though work on the 8th didn’t really begin in earnest until after he finished the 7th the following spring, he talked about plans for it and for a possible third symphony to follow, probably in D Minor, though not enough exists to prove this became the actual 9th Symphony completed in 1824.
In December, 1811, he composed a song originally with guitar accompaniment, setting a poem by Johann Stoll, “An die Geliebte” (To the Beloved) which he presented to Antonie Brentano, Bettina Brentano’s sister-in-law. Her copy of the song includes a note in her handwriting, “requested by me from the author, March 2nd, 1812.” (Incidentally, this song is not to be confused with the more substantial song cycle, “An die ferne Geliebte” (To the Distant Beloved), composed in 1816.)
About meeting Beethoven, Goethe wrote to his friend Carl Friedrich Zelter (and future teacher of Felix Mendelssohn),
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“His talent amazed me; altogether he is an utterly untamed personality, who is not altogether in the wrong in holding the world to be detestable but surely does not make it any the more enjoyable either for himself or for others by his attitude. He is easily excused, on the other hand, and much to be pitied as his hearing is leaving him, which perhaps mars the musical part of his nature less than the social.”
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Such is a description of Beethoven at the time he was composing his jovial 8th Symphony!
(Beethoven, for his part, viewed Goethe as paying too much attention to courtly matters, “far more than is becoming in a poet.”)
There is some doubt about exactly when Beethoven completed the 7th – some sources say “April, 1812,” others “during the summer of 1812.” At any rate, once he completed it, he began work on the 8th in earnest.
One source describes the creation of this new symphony like this: “The months during the composition of the work were partially spent traveling from Teplitz to Karlsbad, back to Teplitz and to Linz.”
Sounds like a pleasant summer vacation, a writing holiday to get away from the distractions of the city, right?
Beethoven arrived in Teplitz on July 5th. The next morning, he wrote a letter.
Now, ordinarily, this would seem inconsequential – he wrote lots of letters. But this letter precipitated a mystery that has yet to be solved: it is the famous “Letter to the Immortal Beloved.” The woman is unnamed and she was at the spa in Karlsbad not far from Teplitz: the plan, apparently, was for him to meet her there shortly.
It is a passionate love-letter and the only copy of it was found in Beethoven’s desk after his death in 1827. Was it the rough draft? Did he never send it? If he was apparently met with rejection (again) since nothing ever came of this relationship (that we know of), why did he keep the letter? There were two portraits in that same desk drawer, miniatures of Giulietta Guiciardi (to whom he dedicated the “Moonlight” Sonata in 1801) and one that was believed to be Countess Anna Marie Erdődy (Beethoven rented rooms from her and her husband in 1808-1809 and dedicated the Opus 70 piano trios to her in 1810) but was later ascertained to be Antonie Brentano.
There have many candidates for Immortal Belovedness – the least likely being the one espoused by the highly inaccurate 1994 film “Immortal Beloved,” Beethoven’s sister-in-law.
While her true identity will probably remain unsolved – and Antonie Brentano, currently the favorite candidate, was in fact in Karlsbad when Beethoven wrote the letter – her impact on him may have been considerable. Assuming this letter was the culmination, not the start of their relationship, could it have something to do with Beethoven’s state of mind since he would probably have met her and fallen in love within the previous year or two?
Antonie, her husband Franz Brentano and their six-year-old daughter arrived in Karlsbad on July 5th, just as Beethoven was arriving at Teplitz, and were registered in the guesthouse at 311 Aug’Gottes (God’s Eye). Beethoven left Teplitz for Karlsbad on July 25th and was registered to stay in the guesthouse at 311 Aug’Gottes – the same one where the Brentanos were staying. They all left Karlsbad around August 7th or 8th, stayed at the Franzensbad spa where Beethoven stayed until September 8th when he returned alone to Karlsbad and then by September 16th to Teplitz.
From there, he went to Linz in Austria, where he worked on the score for the 8th Symphony while staying with his brother, Nikolas Johann, who had opened an apothecary shop there in 1808.
Beethoven’s relationship with both of his brothers was stormy, at best. Even in the Heiligenstadt Testament, written as a kind of last will and testament to his two brothers, he leaves a blank space rather than naming Johann (another mystery for which there is no clear answer).
It was possible Beethoven planned this visit to delay his return to Vienna but not necessarily to have a nice family vacation. His primary purpose seems to have been more of a “visitation” than a “visit,” meddling in his brother’s personal affairs.
It seems that Johann rented part of his house to a physician whose unmarried younger sister-in-law lived with them and who eventually became Johann’s mistress. Beethoven was outraged at this news and “descended” on his brother to convince him to end the relationship, even applying to the local bishop and the police chief to have the girl expelled from Linz. But before he could manage that, Johann married her on November 8th and Ludwig retreated angrily to Vienna where nothing more was heard of him until December 29th when he gave a concert with violinist Pierre Rode where the newly completed Violin Sonata No. 10 was premiered.
At any rate, the manuscript score of the Symphony No. 8 bears the inscription “Sinfonia-Linz, im Monath October 1812” which implies it was either completed there or at least he wrote out the full score while there. Under the circumstances, it must not have been a very pleasant month…
But the question remains, if Beethoven was so outraged by his brother’s morals, what would he be doing carrying on an affair with a married woman right under her husband’s nose, if Antonie Brentano was indeed the “Immortal Beloved”? He could hardly marry her and she would be unable, most likely, to have gotten a divorce to do so. Is it possible, despite his proximity to the Brentanos, that Beethoven was in love with someone else who was there, someone we don’t know anything about?
Still, it is tempting to point out that the Brentanos, after their return from Karlsbad, left Vienna for Frankfort in November and Beethoven remained at his brother's until after their departure. Perhaps on purpose?
Oh, and another fact – though Beethoven and Antonie never saw each other again, it’s worth noting that she gave birth to a son, Karl Josef, on March 8th, 1813 – meaning the baby was conceived in early July, 1812…
Yes, well, like I said, there are mysteries among mysteries when it comes to examining a composer’s life and trying to apply them to a composer’s works.
But still, it’s tempting to wonder – whoever Karl Josef Brentano’s father really was – if Beethoven was working on his 8th Symphony around the time of his idyllic summer with the Immortal Beloved – whoever she may have been – is that perhaps one reason why Beethoven might have had an especial fondness for this symphony, one he called “my little one”?
Whatever may have happened during the end of that summer holiday with the Brentanos – was there a scene, a dramatic break-up? did Beethoven, unable to have the woman of his dreams descend on his younger brother to take it out on him, so that he couldn’t have the woman of his dreams, either? – Beethoven wrote this in his journal on May 13th, 1813:
“To forego what could be a great deed and to stay like this. O how different from a shiftless life, which I often pictured to myself. O terrible circumstances, which do not suppress my longing for domesticity but [prevent] its realization. O God, God, look down upon the unhappy B, do not let it continue like this any longer.”
- Dick Strawser
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