Inner Vienna

Beethoven took rooms temporarily above the inn, 'zum alten Blumenstock' (at the old Flowering Plant), in the winter of 1819/20. His life was in turmoil.

At the beginning of 1819 he had been devastated when the lower court - the Magistrat - found against him in his custody battle with his sister-in-law Johanna over his nephew Karl.

That devastation was compounded by humiliation: the month before, the upper court - the Landrecht, the court of the nobility - had transferred the case to the lower court on learning that Beethoven was van and not von, and therefore not of noble birth - a false impression that had existed in Vienna for years and that Beethoven had done nothing to correct.

Twice, just before moving into the alten Blumenstock, he had protested to the Magistrat unsuccessfully to reverse its decision. But in January 1820 he petitioned the Court of Appeal over the guardianship of Karl - an appeal that was to rule in his favour three months later.

Despite the turmoil, while lodging in the alten Blumenstock Beethoven worked on the mighty Missa Solemnis, which was to take a further three years to complete (missing the event for which it was commissioned - the enthronement of Archduke Rudolph as Archbishop of Olmütz - by three years!)

The discovery that the alten Blumenstock stands today in the same spot on the Ballgasse was one of the unexpected high points of my research trips.

As in Beethoven's day, the Ballgasse is a narrow dog-legged alley near St Stephen's cathedral in the oldest part of Vienna. My wife Bonnie and I were walking down it and I was soaking up the atmosphere - dark, a little dingy, much as it must have been in Beethoven's day - when we found ourselves standing in front of the alten Blumenstock!

It looks today much as it looked to Beethoven. Inside there is a warm welcoming atmosphere, ornate gilt mirrors on the wall, some voluptuous statues and nude paintings on the wall of the small dining room off the main bar area.

Bonnie and I had lunch there, and when the lady who runs the establishment brought our bill, I asked her whether she knew that Beethoven had come to the Blumenstock to eat and drink, and had once taken rooms there.

She smiled and without saying a word turned over the menu, and there on the back was the whole history of the place! Beethoven used to come here to eat and drink ... his favourite dish was fish ... his favourite drink red wine...!

© John Suchet