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Scan 540
Grove's Dictionary of music and musicians, 1927
25 lines. Read by computer on 5 September 2026. Printed page 488. See the scan on archive.org.
1court etiquette were a constant source of trouble to his pupil's chamberlains, who strove in vain to enforce its rules on him. He at last lost all patience, pushed his way into the young Archduke's presence, and, excessively angry, assured him that he had all due respect for his person, but that the punctilious observance of all the rules in which he was daily tutored was not his business. Rudolph laughed good-humouredly and gave orders that for the future he should be allowed to go his own way.
3Beethoven's triple concerto, op. 56 (1804), though dedicated to Prince Lobkowitz, was written, says Schindler, for the Archduke, Seidler and Kraft. The work does not require great execution in the piano part, but a youth of 16 able to play it must be a very respectable performer.
5The weakness of the Archduke's constitution is said to have been the cause of his entering the Church. The coadjutorship of Olmütz secured to him the succession; and the income of the position was probably not a bad one; for, though his allowance as Archduke in a family so very numerous was of necessity comparatively small, yet in the spring of 1809, just after completing his 21st year, he subscribed 1500 florins to Beethoven's annuity. In 1818 Beethoven determined to compose a Solemn Mass for the installation service of his pupil, a year or two later. On Sept. 28, 1819, the Cardinal's insignia arrived from the Pope, and the installation was at length fixed for Mar. 9,1 1820. But the Mass had assumed such gigantic proportions that the ceremony had passed nearly two years before it was completed.2 Instead of it, the music performed was a Mass in Bb, by Hummel; a Te Deum in C, by Preindl; 'Ecce Sacerdos magnus,' by a 'Herr P. v. R.'; and Haydn's Offertorium in D minor.
7Apart from the annuity, Rudolph's purse was probably often opened to his master; but the strongest proofs of his respect and affection are to be found in his careful preservation of Beethoven's most insignificant letters; in the zeal with which he collected for his library everything published by him; in his purchase of the caligraphic copy of his works made by Haslinger3; and in his patience with him, often in trying circumstances. For Beethoven, notwithstanding all his obligations to his patron, chafed under the interference with his perfect liberty, which duty to the Archduke-Cardinal occasionally imposed. There are passages in his letters to Ries and others (suppressed in publication), as well as in the conversation-books, which show how galling even this light yoke was to Beethoven; and one feels in perusing those addressed to the Archduke how frivolous are some of the excuses for not attending him at the proper hour, and how hollow and insincere are the occasional compliments, as Rudolph must have felt. That Beethoven was pleased to find the Forty Variations dedicated to him by 'his pupil, R. E. H.' (Rudolph Erz-Herzog), was probably the fact; but it is doubtful whether his satisfaction warranted the superlatives in which his letter of thanks is couched. Other letters again breathe throughout nothing but a true and warm affection for his pupil. Köchel sensibly remarks that the trouble lay in Beethoven's
9'aversion to the enforced performance of regular duties, especially to giving lessons and teaching the theory of music, in which it is well known his strength did not lie, and for which he had to prepare himself.'
11When the untamed nature of Beethoven, and his deafness, are considered, together with his lack of worldly wisdom and his absolute need of a Maecenas, one feels deeply how fortunate he was to have attracted and retained the sympathy and affection of a man of such sweet and tender qualities as Archduke Rudolph.
13We can hardly expect an Archduke-Cardinal to be a voluminous composer, but the Forty Variations already mentioned, and a sonata for PF. and clarinet, composed for Count Ferdinand Troyer, both published by Haslinger, are good specimens of his musical talents and acquirements. There is also a set of Variations on a theme of Rossini, corrected by Beethoven in MS. He was for many years the 'protector' of the great Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde at Vienna, and bequeathed to it his very valuable musical library. An oil portrait in the possession of his son shows a rather intellectual face, of the Hapsburg type, but its peculiarities so softened as to be more than ordinarily pleasing, and even handsome.4
15The Archduke's published works are the two alluded to above: Theme by L. van Beethoven, with Forty Variations—for PF. solo (Haslinger); Sonata for PF. and clarinet, op. 2, in A (Haslinger).
17A. W. T.
19RUDORFF, ERNEST (b. Berlin, Jan. 18, 1840; d. there, Dec. 31, 1916), composer, pianist and teacher. His family was of Hanoverian extraction. At the age of 5 he received his first musical instruction from a god-daughter of C. M. von Weber, an excellent pianist and of a thoroughly poetical nature. From his 12th to his 17th year he was a pupil of Bargiel in PF. playing and composition. A song and a PF. piece composed at this period he afterwards thought worthy of publication (op. 2, No. 1; op. 10, No. 4). For a short time in 1858 he had the advantage of PF. lessons from Mme. Schumann, and from his 12th to his 14th year learned the violin under Louis Ries. In 1857 he entered the Friedrichs Gymnasium,
211 This date is from the report of the event in the Wiener musikalische Zeitung of Mar. 25, 1820.
222 Beethoven announces its completion in a letter to the Archduke, Feb. 27, 1822.
233 These, a splendid series of red folio volumes beautifully copied, are conspicuous in the Library of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde at Vienna.
244 For a more detailed notice see the Musical World, Apr. 2, 1881.
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