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Beethoven's
life: a chronology
This section is broken
into three parts, which correspond with John Suchet's book trilogy on
the master composer's life, passion and pain. The biography can be read
in conjunction with each book in the series, or on its own as a
reference in its own right.
Part
1: Passion and Anger 1770 - 1802
Part 2: Passion and Pain
1803 - 1812
Part 3: Passion and
Glory 1812 - 1827
Part
1: Passion and Anger 1770 - 1802
1770
- 17 Dec Beethoven baptised in the
church of St Remigius, Bonn. The date of his birth is not recorded, but
since it was customary for baptisms to take place within 24 hours of
birth, it is likely he was born on 16 December.
1773
- 24 Dec Beethoven's beloved grandfather,
Kapellmeister Ludwig van Beethoven, dies.
1774
- 8 Apr Beethoven's brother Caspar Carl
baptised.
1776
- 2 Oct Beethoven's brother Nikolaus Johann
baptised.
1778
- 26 Mar Beethoven's first known public
performance, in Cologne. His father advertised his age as six years,
although he was in fact seven, probably to draw favourable comparisons
with the child prodigy Mozart. He played 'various clavier concertos and
trios'.
1780
- Beethoven begins lessons with Gottlob
Neefe, who writes of him in Cramer's Magazin der Musik: 'He
plays the clavier very skilfully and with power [and] reads at sight
very well ..... This youthful genius is deserving of help to enable him
to travel. He would surely become a second Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart were
he to continue as he has begun.'
1783
- 14 Oct Beethoven publishes the three
Kurfürsten Piano Sonatas, dedicated to the Elector of Cologne and Münster,
Maximilian Friedrich.
1784
- Beethoven appointed assistant court
organist alongside Neefe.
1787
- Apr Beethoven achieves his long-held
ambition to travel to Vienna to meet Mozart, almost certainly thanks to
the intervention of his patron Count Waldstein with the new Elector,
Maximilian Franz. Barely two weeks after arriving, and having impressed
Mozart so much he agrees to take him on as a pupil, Beethoven has to
return to Bonn where his mother is dying of consumption. By the time he
returns to Vienna nearly five years later, Mozart is dead.
- 17 Jul Beethoven's mother, Maria Magdalena, dies.
1789
- Beethoven's father, Johann, a tenor
singer, is forced to retire from the electoral choir, after his
increased drinking ruined his voice. On one occasion, after becoming
drunk in public, he was arrested - only to be released after Ludwig had
pleaded with the police. Because of his alcoholism, he was ordered by
the Elector to be banished to a village away from Bonn, and half his
salary paid to Ludwig. In fact he remained in Bonn, and for appearance's
sake he received his full retirement salary, making half of it over to
his son privately.
1790
- Beethoven composes the Cantata on the
Death of Joseph II, and the Cantata on the Elevation of Leopold II. The
musicians of the electoral orchestra refuse to perform the first,
claiming it is unplayable.
- Dec Haydn passes through Bonn on his way to London. He meets
Beethoven, who shows him his scores of the two Cantatas. Haydn,
impressed, encourages him to come to Vienna where, he promises, he will
take him on as a pupil.
1791
- Beethoven composes the Ritterballet,
allowing his patron Count Waldstein to claim it as his own composition.
- Beethoven goes with the electoral orchestra on a trip to Mergentheim.
On the boat, which sails up the Rhine and the Main, he is appointed
kitchen scullion.
- 5 Dec Mozart dies.
1792
- Nov Beethoven, one month short of his
22nd birthday, leaves Bonn for Vienna to study with Haydn. He has been
given six months leave of absence by the elector. In fact he stays in
Vienna for the rest of his life - never to return to his home town.
- 18 Dec Beethoven's father dies.
1793
- Beethoven begins lessons with Haydn.
The city's most influential musical patrons -- particularly Prince
Lichnowsky - take Beethoven under their wing, and put him forward to
take on the city's piano virtuosos in improvisation contests. One after
the other he defeats them and quickly establishes his reputation as the
finest piano virtuoso in Vienna.
1794
- Caspar Carl moves to Vienna.
- Beethoven begins composing Piano Trios op. 1.
1795
- 29 Mar Beethoven's first public
performance in Vienna, where he premieres either his First or Second
Piano Concerto.
- Beethoven composes Piano Sonatas op. 2.
- Beethoven performs the Piano Trios before Haydn, who is critical of
no. 3, advising against publication. Beethoven is furious, but he heals
the rift with his teacher when he dedicates the Piano Sonatas to him.
- Nikolaus Johann moves to Vienna.
1796
- Beethoven travels with Prince
Lichnowsky to Prague, where he gives a concert. He goes on to Dresden,
Leipzig and Berlin. In Berlin he composes the Cello Sonatas op. 5.
1797
- Beethoven gives the first performance
of Quintet op. 16 at Jahn's restaurant in the Himmelpfortgasse.
- In the summer of this year he falls seriously ill. It is possibly
typhus and could mark the beginning of his deafness.
1798
- In an extraordinary burst of
creativity at the start of the year, Beethoven completes the Piano
Sonatas op. 10, composes the three string Trios op. 9, the Trio op. 11,
and the three Violin Sonatas op. 12. Later in the year he begins work on
the Septet op. 20 and composes the huge Pathétique Sonata op.
13.
1799
- Beethoven meets the double bass
virtuoso Domenico Dragonetti, performing a cello (!) sonata with him.
- Beethoven composes his first String Quartets op. 18, and begins work
on Symphony no. 1.
1800
- Beethoven defeats the celebrated
Prussian piano virtuoso Daniel Steibelt in an improvisation contest at
the palace of Prince Lobkowitz, and is never again asked to take part in
an improvisation contest. His position as Vienna's greatest piano
virtuoso is secure and remains unchallenged for the rest of his life.
- 2 Apr Beethoven's
first benefit concert, at the Burgtheater in Vienna. He premieres the
Septet and the First Symphony, and performs one of his two completed
Piano Concertos. He also improvises on the piano. At the concert he
meets Archduke Rudolph, accompanied by his mother, Empress Theresia.
Beethoven begins work on Symphony no. 2.
1801
- Beethoven composes music for The
Creatures of Prometheus.
- Beethoven's great friend from his childhood in
Bonn, Stephan von Breuning, moves to Vienna.
- 29 Jun In a long
letter to his old friend Dr Franz Wegeler in Bonn, Beethoven mentions
his deafness for the first time. '...for the last three years my hearing
has become worse...'
- 26 Jul Elector Max
Franz dies at Hetzendorf, Vienna. Beethoven subsequently changes the
dedication of his First Symphony to Baron van Swieten.
- Oct Ferdinand Ries,
son of Franz Ries the leader of the electoral orchestra in Bonn, arrives
in Vienna. Beethoven welcomes him and takes him on as secretary.
- Beethoven falls in love with Countess
Giulietta Guicciardi, and dedicates the Sonata quasi una Fantasia
to her. Many years later, after his death, it acquires the nickname
Moonlight Sonata.
1802
- Baron Braun refuses Beethoven his
anticipated benefit concert.
- Apr Beethoven moves
to Heiligenstadt north of Vienna for the summer to relieve his hearing.
In Heiligenstadt he composes the Prometheus (Eroica) Variations
op. 35 and the three Piano Sonatas op. 31. He completes Symphony no. 2.
- 6 Oct Beethoven
writes the Heiligenstadt Testament, his last will and testament,
publicly acknowledging his deafness for the first time ... "Oh,
all you people who think or say that I am hostile to you, or that I am
stubborn, or that I hate mankind, you do not realise the wrong that you
do me...I am deaf ..."
Part
2: Passion and Pain 1803 - 1812
1803
- Jan Beethoven appointed composer at the Theater an der Wien,
moving into lodgings there with his brother Carl.
- Feb to Mar Beethoven composes the oratorio, Christus am Ölberge.
- 5 Apr Beethoven's benefit concert in the Theater an der Wien.
He premieres the Second Symphony and the Third Piano Concerto, playing
the solo part himself. The First Symphony is also premiered.
- 24 May Beethoven gives the first performance of the Violin
Sonata op. 47, with the English virtuoso George Bridgetower as soloist.
He dedicates the sonata to Bridgetower, but after Bridgetower makes an
insulting remark about a lady, Beethoven withdraws the sonata from him
and dedicates it instead to Rudolphe Kreutzer.
- Summer Beethoven composes the Eroica Symphony in the
village of Döbling, south of Vienna.
- Beethoven composes 'Waldstein' Sonata, with Andante Grazioso as second
movement.
1804
- Beethoven begins work on his opera, Leonore, with
Sonnleithner as librettist.
- Apr Beethoven's contract at the Theater an der Wien is
terminated, after Baron Braun buys the theatre.
- 20 May Napoleon proclaimed Emperor of France. Beethoven tears
up the title page of the Eroica bearing the dedication to him.
- June Beethoven moves into Stephan von Breuning's apartment, but
the arrangement ends after a serious disagreement between them.
- The Eroica Symphony is performed at Prince Lobkowitz's palace.
- Oct Beethoven becomes acquainted with Josephine Deym, née
Brunsvik, who is recently widowed, and begins giving her piano lessons.
He composes the song An die Hoffnung for her.
1805
- Beethoven composes the Piano Sonata op. 57, 'Appassionata'. He
completes composition of his opera, Leonore.
- Sept The censor bans the projected performance of Leonore
at the Theater an der Wien. Ferdinand Ries leaves Vienna for Bonn to be
conscripted into the French army.
- 5 Oct The censor lifts the ban on Leonore.
- Nov The French army occupies Vienna and Napoleon establishes
his headquarters at Schönbrunn Palace.
- 20 Nov First performance of Leonore.
- 2 Dec Napoleon defeats the combined Austrian and Russian armies
at the Battle of Austerlitz.
1806
Beethoven revises Leonore, with an altered text by Stephan
von Breuning.
- 29 Mar Revised version of Leonore performed at the
Theater an der Wien. But Beethoven withdraws his opera, accusing Baron
Braun of cheating him of receipts.
- 25 May Carl van Beethoven marries Johanna Reiss.
- Beethoven works on the set of three String Quartets commissioned by
Count Razumovsky and the Fourth Symphony.
- 17 July Napoleon creates the Confederation of the Rhine.
- Aug Beethoven travels with Prince Lichnowsky to his country
estate at Grätz, near Troppau, Silesia.
- 4 Sept Beethoven's nephew Karl is born.
- Count Oppersdorff, a near neighbour of Lichnowsky in Silesia, buys the
Fourth Symphony. Beethoven begins work on the Fifth Symphony.
1807
- Feb 'Appassionata' Sonata published
- Apr Muzio Clementi in London secures the rights to publish
several works in Great Britain for the sum of £200.
- 13 Sept Beethoven's Mass in C is performed at Prince
Esterhazy's castle chapel in Eisenstadt.
- Beethoven completes work on the Fifth Symphony.
1808
- Mar Johann van Beethoven buys an apothecary shop in Linz.
- 27 Mar Performance of Haydn's Creation in honour of the
composer's seventy-sixth birthday.
- Apr Stephan von Breuning marries Julie Vering.
- Summer Beethoven composes the Pastoral Symphony while
staying in Heiligenstadt.
- 10 Aug Beethoven publishes Fourth Piano Concerto and Violin
Concerto.
- 27 Aug Ferdinand Ries arrives back in Vienna.
- Oct Beethoven is offered the post of Kapellmeister to
King Jerome of Westphalia (Napoleon's younger brother) in Kassel, at a
salary of 600 ducats.
- 22 Dec Beethoven gives his much-postponed and long-awaited
benefit concert at the Theater an der Wien, which sees the first
performance of the Fifth and Pastoral Symphonies.
1809
- 7 Jan Beethoven accepts the offer of Kapellmeister
in Kassel. His friends begin drawing up an alternative contract to
persuade him to stay in Vienna.
- Beethoven begins work on the Fifth Piano Concerto, the 'Emperor'.
- 26 Feb Archduke Rudolph, Prince Lobkowitz and Prince Kinsky
agree to pay Beethoven an annuity for life on the sole condition that he
remain in Vienna. He agrees, abandoning plans to go to Kassel.
- 9 Apr Austria declares war on France.
- 4 May Archduke Rudolph and other members of the Imperial family
flee from Vienna in the face of the advancing French army. Beethoven
composes the beginning of the Piano Sonata op. 81a, 'Les Adieux', for
the Archduke.
- 10 May French army surrounds Vienna. The next day they bombard
and capture the city. During the shelling, Beethoven takes refuge in his
brother Carl's cellar with Carl, his wife Johanna and son Karl, at one
point covering his ears with pillows because of the harshness of the
noise on his worsening hearing.
- 31 May Joseph Haydn, Beethoven's former teacher, dies at the
age of 77.
- 23 Nov Beethoven agrees to set forty-three folksongs for the
Scottish publisher, George Thomson.
1810
- 30 Jan Archduke Rudolph returns to Vienna
- 13 Feb Josephine Deym marries Baron von Stackelberg, her
children's tutor.
- 1 Apr Napoleon marries Marie Louise, daughter of Emperor Franz.
- Beethoven becomes acquainted with the Malfatti family. He composes the
Bagatelle WoO 59 for Therese Malfatti.
- Dr Giovanni Malfatti becomes Beethoven's doctor.
- July The critic E.T.A. Hoffman's famous review of Beethoven's
Fifth Symphony is published in the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung.
1811
- 15 Mar Austria's currency is devalued fivefold under a Finanz-Patent,
drastically reducing the amount Beethoven receives under his annuity.
- Beethoven completes the 'Archduke' Trio.
- 28 May Ignaz Gleichenstein, who has been acting as Beethoven's
secretary, marries Anna Malfatti, Therese's sister, and they leave
Vienna soon after for Freiburg.
- Beethoven begins the Seventh Symphony.
- During a long period of illness, Antonie Brentano is regularly visited
by Beethoven, who plays the piano for her. He sets the poem An die
Geliebte to music for her.
1812
- Beethoven begins the Eighth Symphony.
- 24 Jun Napoleon embarks on his invasion of Russia.
- Beethoven composes the Piano Trio WoO 39 for Maximiliane Brentano.
- 29 Jun Beethoven leaves Vienna for Prague on his way to Teplitz
in northern Bohemia.
- 1 Jul Beethoven arrives in Prague.
- 2 Jul Beethoven sees Prince Kinsky concerning his annuity.
- 3 Jul Franz and Antonie Brentano and their daughter Fanny
arrive in Prague on their way to Karlsbad in northern Bohemia.
Part
3: Passion and Glory 1812 - 1827
1812 (cont.)
- 4 Jul Beethoven leaves Prague for Teplitz.
- 5 Jul Beethoven arrives at Teplitz in the early morning. The
Brentanos arrive in Karlsbad.
- 6 Jul Beethoven begins a passionate letter to an unnamed woman.
In it he calls her his 'Eternally Beloved' [unsterbliche Geliebte].
- July Beethoven and Goethe meet several times.
- 25 Jul Beethoven leaves Teplitz for Karlsbad to join the
Brentano family.
- Beethoven returns to Teplitz, where he meets Amalie Sebald. She looks
after him when he falls ill.
- Sept Beethoven makes a sudden decision to travel to Linz where
his brother Johann has announced his intention to marry his housekeeper,
Therese Obermayer. Beethoven is determined to stop the marriage, judging
Therese - who has an illegitimate child - unsuitable for Johann.
- Oct Beethoven composes three equali for trombones for
the Linz Kapellmeister Glöggl.
- 2/3 Nov Prince Kinsky, one of the three signatories to
Beethoven's annuity, dies after being thrown from his horse while
hunting.
- 8 Nov Johann van Beethoven marries Therese Obermayer.
1813
- 8 Mar Karl Brentano born.
- 8 Apr Minona von Stackelberg born.
- 12 Apr Carl van Beethoven, seriously ill with consumption,
declares that in the event of his death he wants Beethoven to be
guardian of his son Karl.
- 21 Jun The English army under Wellington defeats the French at
the Battle of Vittoria in Spain. Mälzel persuades Beethoven to write a
piece in celebration of the victory for his mechanical instrument, the
panharmonicon. In return Mälzel constructs the first of several ear
trumpets for Beethoven. The piece is later orchestrated and becomes
known as the Battle Symphony op. 91.
- Jul Prince Lobkowitz, another of the signatories to Beethoven's
annuity, leaves Vienna in disgrace after going bankrupt.
- 12 Aug Austria declares war on France.
- 28 Aug Gerhard von Breuning born.
- 16 Oct Napoleon defeated by a combined army of Austrians,
Prussians, Russians and Swedes at the Battle of Leipzig, the 'Battle of
the Nations'.
- 8 Dec Beethoven and Mälzel give a charity concert at the
Hofburg at which the Battle Symphony and the Seventh Symphony are heard
in public for the first time.
1814
- Jan Beethoven agrees to revive his opera Leonore/Fidelio,
asking Treitschke to provide a new libretto.
- 6 Apr Napoleon abdicates.
- 11 Apr Beethoven gives the first public performance of the
Archduke Trio op. 97 with Schuppanzigh and Linke; his deafness makes it
a traumatic experience.
- 15 Apr Beethoven's old patron Prince Lichnowsky dies.
- 18 Jul Fidelio performed for the first time in its final
form.
- 26 Sept Fidelio performed before several heads of state
assembled for the Congress of Vienna.
- Oct-Nov Beethoven composes a cantata, Der glorreiche
Augenblick, for the Congress, and attends its first performance at
the Hofburg on 29 November with the librettist, Weissenbach.
- 31 Dec Count Razumovsky's magnificent palace destroyed by fire.
1815
- 1 Mar Napoleon escapes from Elba.
- May Beethoven abandons attempts to compose a Sixth Piano
Concerto.
- June Philharmonic Society of London commission three overtures
from Beethoven for 75 guineas; he sends them the already composed opp.
113, 115 and 117.
- 18 June Battle of Waterloo.
- 14 Nov Beethoven's brother Carl, mortally ill, makes his will,
appointing his wife Johanna and Beethoven co-guardians of his son Karl.
Beethoven persuades him to delete Johanna's name. But Johanna pressures
Carl in Beethoven's absence to add a codicil reinstating her as
co-guardian.
- 15 Nov Carl van Beethoven dies of consumption.
- 22 Nov Carl's widow Johanna and Beethoven are appointed joint
guardians of Karl, now aged nine.
- 28 Nov Beethoven appeals to the Landrecht, the court of the
nobility, to exclude his sister-in-law from the guardianship of Karl,
her son, beginning a legal battle with twists and turns that is to last
for several years.
1816
- 9 Jan The Landrecht rules in Beethoven's favour over the
guardianship of Karl.
- 19 Jan Beethoven is legally appointed sole guardian of Karl.
- 2 Feb Karl is removed from his mother, and Beethoven enrols him
in a boarding school run by Giannatasio del Rio.
- Apr Beethoven composes the song cycle An die ferne Geliebte.
- Carl Czerny, on Beethoven's instructions, begins giving Karl piano
lessons.
- 18 Sept Karl undergoes a hernia operation. The Giannatasios
take him to recuperate with Beethoven in Baden.
- 15 Dec Prince Lobkowitz, one of the three signatories to
Beethoven's annuity, who previously had to flee Vienna to escape his
creditors, dies at his estate in Bohemia.
1817
- Persistent ill-health and legal problems over the custody of Karl
make this the least creative year musically of Beethoven's life.
- 9 Jun Ferdinand Ries writes on behalf of the London
Philharmonic Society, inviting Beethoven to London.
- Beethoven begins work on what is to become the gigantic Hammerklavier
Sonata, op. 106.
- 27 Dec Thomas Broadwood, having met Beethoven in Vienna,
dispatches to him a new grand piano with the heavier English action
which particularly suits Beethoven -- and the new Sonata.
1818
- 24 Jan Karl leaves Giannatasio's boarding school and begins
living with Beethoven, studying with a private tutor.
- Beethoven's planned trip to London is cancelled; he blames poor
health.
- Feb Beethoven begins to use conversation books, due to his
increasing deafness.
- Beethoven begins sketches for the Ninth Symphony.
- 19 May Beethoven takes Karl to Mödling for the summer months,
enrolling him in the local school run by the village priest, Pater Fröhlich.
- Aug Beethoven completes the Hammerklavier Sonata.
- 18 Sept Johanna van Beethoven petitions the Landrecht to obtain
guardianship of Karl. Her petition is rejected.
- Beethoven makes more sketches for a new symphony, which he decides
will have voices.
- 3 Oct Another appeal by Johanna is dismissed.
- 3 Dec Karl runs away to his mother; Beethoven calls in the
police to bring him back.
- 7 Dec Johanna again petitions the Landrecht, using the fact
that Karl ran away from his uncle as justification for regaining custody
of him.
- 11 Dec Beethoven admits to the Landrecht that he is not a
member of the nobility. The Landrecht transfers the case to the lower
court, the Magistrat.
1819
- 11 Jan Beethoven loses guardianship of Karl
- Mar Beethoven begins a set of variations for the publisher
Diabelli, based on a theme Diabelli has composed.
- Apr Beethoven begins the Missa Solemnis, intended for
the enthronement of Archduke Rudolph as Archbishop of Olmütz the
following year.
- 16 Apr Just before publication of the Hammerklavier Sonata,
Beethoven sends Ries in London an additional bar of two notes to be
inserted at the start of the slow movement.
- 22 Jun Karl enters Blöchlinger's institute.
- 2 Aug Johann van Beethoven buys a large estate at Gneixendorf
bei Krems on the Danube.
- Nov Beethoven works on the Gloria and Credo of the Missa
Solemnis.
1820
- 7 Jan Beethoven, encouraged by Anton Schindler, petitions
the Court of Appeal over the guardianship of Karl.
- 9 Mar Archduke Rudolph is enthroned as Archbishop of Olmütz;
the Missa Solemnis is not ready for the occasion.
- 8 Apr The Court of Appeal makes a final ruling in Beethoven's
favour over the guardianship of Karl; Johanna appeals directly to the
Emperor, who refuses to intervene.
- 31 May Beethoven agrees to compose three Piano Sonatas for the
publisher Adolf Schlesinger; they are to become opp. 109-11.
1821 Beethoven falls seriously ill with rheumatic fever.
- 31 Mar Josephine Deym-Stackelberg (née Brunsvik) dies.
- Jul Barely recovered from fever, Beethoven develops jaundice.
- 5 May Napoleon Bonaparte dies in exile on the island of St
Helena.
- Beethoven completes the Missa Solemnis by the end of the year,
though he is later to revise parts of it.
1822
- Jan Beethoven again becomes unwell, suffering for several
months with 'gout in the chest'.
- Beethoven makes sketches setting Schiller's poem An die Freude
to music for use in the new symphony with voices.
- Autumn Beethoven meets the young Franz Liszt, a pupil of
Czerny's, who plays for him. Beethoven is impressed and anoints him his
'successor'.
- 9 Nov Prince Galitzin commissions three String Quartets from
Beethoven; they are to become opp. 127/130/132.
- 10 Nov The Philharmonic Society of London offers Beethoven £50
for a new symphony. Beethoven accepts the commission, intending to
travel to London to conduct the first performance there of the new Ninth
Symphony.
- Beethoven is elected to the Royal Academy of Music of Sweden.
1823
- Spring Schuppanzigh returns to Vienna from Russia and
resumes his friendship with Beethoven, who composes a canon, Falstefferel,
to mark his return.
- Aug After a sudden deterioration in his health, Beethoven goes
to stay in Baden, where he works intensively on the Ninth Symphony.
- 6 Aug Wenzel Schlemmer, Beethoven favourite copyist - and one
of the few who could decipher his manuscripts - dies.
- 29 Aug Karl leaves Blöchlinger's institute and visits his
uncle in Baden, before enrolling at the university in Vienna.
1824
- Beethoven makes plans for the first performance of the newly
completed Ninth Symphony in Berlin.
- Beethoven decides to dedicate the Diabelli Variations to Antonie
Brentano.
- Feb Vienna's leading musical names petition Beethoven --
successfully -- to hold the first performance of the Missa Solemnis
and Ninth Symphony in Vienna. But the censor bans any performance of the
Missa, a religious work, in a theatre.
- 7 May After a disagreement with Count Palffy at the Theater an
der Wien, and a compromise over the ban, the Missa Solemnis and
Ninth Symphony are given their premieres at the Kärntnertor theatre.
Beethoven stands next to Umlauf on the podium giving him the beat. At
the end of the Ninth Symphony, the contralto Karoline Unger turns
Beethoven round so he can hear the applause.
- May Beethoven dismisses Schindler; Karl Holz, a young
Chancellery official and violinist, takes his place.
- May Beethoven goes to Baden for the summer and turns his
attention to Prince Galitzin's commission for three quartets.
- Jun Beethoven begins work on the String Quartet op. 127, and
later in the year the String Quartet op. 132.
1825
- 21 Mar First London performance of the Ninth Symphony,
directed by Sir George Smart. Ill health forced Beethoven to cancel his
intended trip to London to conduct the performance.
- Apr Beethoven falls ill with a serious abdominal complaint; he
is attended by Doktor Braunhofer, who prescribes a strict diet.
- Karl informs his uncle of his decision to join the army.
- May Beethoven, in Baden again, works on the Galitzin Quartets,
composing the Heiliger Dankgesang, the Holy Song of Thanks, for op. 132
as his health appears to improve.
- Jun Beethoven begins work on the String Quartet op. 130.
- Jul String Quartet op. 132 completed.
- 23 Aug Beethoven begins work on the Grosse Fuge,
intended as the finale for op. 130 but later published separately as op.
133.
- Beethoven learns that Karl is secretly seeing his mother, which puts a
strain on their relationship.
- Johann van Beethoven invites Ludwig and Karl to stay at his estate in
Gneixendorf.
- Distraught at learning that Karl is now living with his mother, and
suffering from a marked worsening of his health, Beethoven composes the
Cavatina of op. 130. He later said no piece of music he had ever
composed had brought forth from him such tears of grief.
- 15 Oct Beethoven moves to his final lodgings in Vienna, the
Schwarzspanierhaus.
- Beethoven attempts a reconciliation with Karl, informing him he has
purchased bank shares in his name.
- 15 Dec Beethoven begins work on String Quartet op. 131.
1826
- 21 Mar Schuppanzigh and his quartet give the first public
performance of the String Quartet op. 130. Beethoven agrees to compose a
new final movement to replace the Grosse Fuge.
- Johann again invites Beethoven and Karl to stay at Gneixendorf.
- 27 Jul Karl buys a pistol intending to commit suicide. His
intentions become known to his landlord, who contacts Beethoven.
- 29 Jul Karl pawns his watch to buy another pistol and
disappears with it.
- 30 Jul Karl climbs to the Rauhenstein ruins in the Helenthal
valley outside Baden -- where he has so often climbed with his uncle --
loads both barrels and puts the gun to his head. The first time his
misses; the second shot grazes his head. He is found -- and taken to his
mother to recuperate.
- Jul Beethoven begins his last String Quartet, op. 135.
- 7 Aug Karl is admitted to hospital for further treatment; as a
potential suicide, he is forced to undergo religious instruction.
- Aug Ninth Symphony is published.
- 25 Sept Karl leaves hospital.
- 28 Sept Beethoven and Karl leave Vienna to stay with Johann at
Gneixendorf.
- In Gneixendorf Beethoven composes a new finale for op. 130.
- 1 Dec After a furious row with Johann, Beethoven and Karl leave
in the middle of the night in an open-top carriage for Vienna. Beethoven
falls ill in a cold village tavern where they spend the night en route.
- Back in Vienna, Beethoven is attended by Doktor Wawruch.
- 20 Dec Beethoven undergoes an operation to reduce his abdominal
swelling.
1827
- 2 Jan Karl departs for military service in Iglau in
Bohemia.
- 8 Jan Beethoven undergoes a second operation to drain fluid.
- 2 Feb A third operation, as Beethoven's health rapidly
deteriorates.
- 27 Feb A fourth operation, by which time the wound in
Beethoven's side has become infected.
- Mar Beethoven makes sketches for a Tenth Symphony.
- 22 Mar Beethoven receives the last rites.
- 24 Mar Beethoven receives a case of wine from the Mainz
publisher, Schott. "Pity, pity, too late," he says. They are
his final words.
- 26 Mar Beethoven dies.
- 29 Mar Beethoven's funeral. Twenty thousand people line the
streets of Vienna as the cortege processes to the Währinger cemetery,
more than have ever been seen on the streets of the city. At the gates
of the cemetery the funeral oration, written by Franz Grillparzer, is
delivered by the actor Heinrich Anschütz.
- 4 Jun Stephan von Breuning dies.
- 5 Nov Beethoven's musical effects are auctioned. His total
estate is estimated at 9885 florins and 18 kreuzer, approximately £988
/ $1620.
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