Scan 72
STOKES, ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MUSIC AND MUSICIANS VOLUME 1, 1908
2 lines. Read by computer on 15 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1Mount of Olives" was performed at the Theatre an der Wien, and the Symphony in D had its first hearing, while Beethoven himself played his piano concerto in C minor. The lovely and much misunderstood "Kreutzer" sonata was composed for a concert at the Augarten, May 17, and performed by Beethoven and Bridgetower, the Mulatto violinist. During the summer Beethoven was at work upon "Fidelio," having promised to write an opera for Schikaneder of the Theatre an der Wien, and upon the "Eroica." This great symphony, which was to have been called "Napoleon Bonaparte," was completed and ready for transmission to Paris when the news came that Napoleon had made himself emperor. Beethoven, who loved to mingle with the nobility, but was always a radical at heart, tore off the title page in a rage, and afterwards gave it the title which may be translated "Heroic symphony to celebrate the memory of a great man." His revulsion of feeling toward Napoleon may have had something to do with his subsequent choice of "Rule Britannia" and "God Save the King" as themes for variations. In 1805 Beethoven met Cherubini, then visiting Vienna, and struck up a warm friendship with him. He esteemed Cherubini above all living composers, and Handel best of those who had passed away. The opera "Fidelio" was complete on his return that year from his customary summer sojourn in the country. Beethoven now took lodgings in the Theatre an der Wien, where the work was performed with what is now known as the "Leonore Overture No. 2," Nov. 20. The French were then in possession of Vienna, which had a depressing effect on the populace. Beethoven had been disgusted with the rehearsals, and, after the third performance, the work was withdrawn. Beethoven consented to cut it down from three acts to two, eliminating three numbers, and it was again presented, and with better success, Mar. 29, 1806, until Beethoven and Baron Braun, intendant of the theatre, quarrelled, and the composer withdrew his work. What is now known as the "Leonore Overture No. 3" was played at the second series of performances. In March, 1807, Beethoven received a large sum of money from a benefit concert of his own works. The extraordinary programme included his first four symphonies, the fourth recently completed. The sonata in F minor, Op. 57, which the Hamburg publisher Cranz has called "Appassionata," the Triple concerto, and the 32 Variations for piano appeared that year; and in 1808 the publications included the "Coriolan" overture, three string quartets, Op. 59, while the C minor and Pastoral symphonies, and the Choral Fantasia were made known at a concert, Dec. 22, at the Theatre an der Wien. Jerome Bonaparte, king of Westphalia, at this time offered Beethoven a salary equal to about $1,500 if he would become chapelmaster at Cassel. The offer was declined, but it caused Archduke Rudolph and Princes Lobkowitz and Kinsky to guarantee Beethoven an annuity of about $2,000. Its actual value speedily declined with the value of paper currency, and finally brought him into litigation with the Kinsky estate, although the suit was compromised before trial. The second siege of Vienna, a sojourn at Baden, where he was somewhat benefited by the baths; his engagement to harmonize national melodies for Thompson, the Edinburgh publisher; his financial troubles, caused by the depreciation of the currency in which his annuity was paid; Wellington's defeat of the French at Vittoria, which inspired "The Battle Symphony," were external episodes of the next five years, during which Beethoven composed the "Egmont" overture, "King Stephen," "The Ruins of Athens," the Seventh and Eighth symphonies, and many works of smaller proportions. "The Battle Symphony," celebrating Wellington's victory, programme music suggested by Maelzel, was performed at a great concert, Dec. 8, 1813, in aid of soldiers wounded at Hanau, which was likewise the occasion of the Seventh Symphony's first performance, and the programme was repeated four days later. The Eighth
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