Marvelous ALS in German, signed twice as “Beethoven,” two pages on two adjoining sheets, 8.5 x 10.25, May 3, 1825, with the composer adding a coveted handwritten quotation of three musical bars inspired by Friedrich von Matthisson's ‘Opferlied’ (Song of Sacrifice). Two days before departing Vienna for a period of convalescence in nearby Baden, Beethoven writes to music critic Ludwig Rellstab, whose surname he misspells on the integral autograph address panel as “Nellsatb.” The handwritten letter, in full (translated): “As I was just starting for the country yesterday, I was obliged to make some preparations myself; so unluckily your visit to me was in vain. Forgive me in consideration of my very delicate health. As perhaps I may not see you again, I wish you every possible prosperity. Think of me when writing your poems. Convey my affectionate regards and esteem to Zelter—that faithful prop of true art.” On the second page, Beethoven adds a postscript, “Though convalescent, I still feel very weak. Kindly accept the following token of remembrance from,” and concludes with the referenced autograph musical quotation, below which he pens the lyrics: “Das Schöne zu dem Guten!” or ‘The beautiful together with the good!’ In very good to fine condition, with spotty toning, and small areas of seal-related paper loss.
Our letter, including a reproduction of the canon and his account of the visits to Beethoven, was published by Rellstab in the second volume of his memoirs (Rellstab, pp. 265-266) and in Ludwig Nohl Beethoven: Nach den Schilderungen seiner Zeitgenossen, 1877, no. XXXIII, p. 255. It was additionally translated by J. S. Shedlock and included in Beethoven's Letters, ed. Dr A.C. Kalischer, 1909, no. MLXIV, p.364, and in ed. O.G. Sonneck, Beethoven: Impressions by his Contemporaries, 1926, pp. 176-191.
This letter was brought to England in November 1938 by Ludwig Rellstab's great-granddaughter, Annekäte Friedländer, who fled Hitler's Germany with her Jewish husband, Hans, and her daughter, Anne, the precious letter hidden behind the dust jacket of a book to avoid detection by Nazi border guards. The Friedländers initially settled in the Midlands where Annekäte taught music. She was an accomplished pianist who, ‘at once unobtrusive and tough…had phrase-by-phrase insight into the increasingly lonely, increasingly triumphant spiritual journey being made by [Beethoven].' (Roland Weitzman, Annekäte Friedländer obituary, The Friend, 4 November 1994). She translated Rellstab's memoirs, which describe his visits to Beethoven and the acquisition of our letter and published them in three limited edition booklets privately printed by The Cock Robin Press in 1991. A copy of each of the three booklets is included, as are notes for a lecture given by her husband, Professor Hans Friedländer, on February 21, 1945.
Provenance: Ludwig Rellstab (1799-1860); his great-granddaughter, Annekäte Friedländer (1903-1994); by descent to the present owners.
The canon which Beethoven inscribes for Rellstab is inspired by the last line of Friedrich von Matthison's Opferleid (Song of Sacrifice), “…Das Schöne zu dem Guten…,” which translates to ‘The beautiful together with the good' or, in some translations, ‘Beauty allied to goodness.’ In Opferleid, a young man offers a sacrifice to Zeus in an oak grove and, in return for being good throughout his life, asks the god for beautiful things now and in his old age. The poem first appeared in 1790 in Voss' Musen Almanach and was greatly admired by Beethoven who returned to it several times throughout his life, from a first sketch in 1794, and going through several versions before reviving it again in 1823.
Ludwig Rellstab (1799-1860) describes three visits to Beethoven in early 1825 in his extensive memoirs, Aus Meinem Leben, published posthumously in 1861, and recalls his joy at receiving our letter on May 3, 1825: 'Our departure had been fixed for the next afternoon. Almost by accident (a trifling errand) I went once more to the bookshop (Steiner's) almost opposite my lodgings. 'I'm glad you have come,’ the owner said. 'A letter for you has been handed in, from Beethoven.’ ‘From Beethoven!’ I cried, greatly surprised, trembling with impatience until I had it in my hands. It had, on the outside, the letter N instead of R…but it was mine, all the same! And it sounded so friendly, good, and melancholic…Even this alone would have been an infinite joy, and invaluable treasure. But I turned over the page and found still more! Another greeting, and a little canon! So it was not just a polite note, not just a farewell message but a leaf for my autograph book! The great man had thought me worthy of that. My soul filled to overflowing with thanks, enthusiasm, aspirations good and noble…How could I ever forget this, even if this were not the last contact I had with him…In 1841 I visited Vienna again, and stood at the grave of the great man.' (Translated by the owner's grandmother, Annekäte Friedländer, published in Ludwig Rellstab: Beethoven, The Last Visit, 1991, pp. 3-5).
In 1825, the year of our letter, Rellstab was young and full of confidence. For him, Beethoven was the apogee of composers and, in April 1825, he traveled to Vienna armed with a letter of introduction from C. F. Zelter, a friend of Goethe and teacher of Mendelssohn, to ask the composer if he could write an opera for him. Despite his deafness and failing health, Beethoven was at the height of his powers. The magnificent Ninth Symphony and Missa Solemnis had been completed and performed a year earlier and are currently enjoying renewed attention in their bicentenary year.
At the time of Rellstab's visits, he was working on what were to be his final major works, the 'Late Quartets,’ including three string quartets for Prince Galitzin, the first of which (E flat major, Op. 127) had been premiered on March 6, 1825. Rellstab attended the performance and wrote of it in his memoirs as almost a quasi-religious experience: ‘Reverence for the creator filled us all.’ Afterwards, he spoke of it glowingly to Beethoven, despite finding the music rather difficult to understand.
During their meetings, Beethoven was polite and noncommittal but nevertheless took Rellstab's poems to read. Shortly after, however, he was struck by a sudden illness, necessitating a trip to Baden to recuperate and, as he explains in our letter, was absent from home making preparations for the journey when Rellstab called. They were not to meet again. After Beethoven's death, the poems are said to have been passed onto Franz Schubert by Beethoven's assistant Anton Schindler and became Rellstab's most well-known work as the first seven songs of Schubert's Schwanengesang.
Ludwig Rellstab, a writer, musician, and poet based in Berlin, was born into a musical family. His father J. C. F. Rellstab (1759-1813) was an accomplished pianist and prominent music publisher, and the cousin of poet Wilhelm Häring (1798-1871). As a boy, he had trained as a pianist and performed concertos by Mozart and Bach as the pupil of distinguished composers Ludwig Berger and Bernhard Klein. After national service, Rellstab joined the staff of Vossische Zeitung and rapidly became an influential and well-connected music critic. He was outspoken in his opinion, and sometimes controversial, so much so that he spent three months in jail for libel and a further six weeks in 1837 for his campaign against the malign influence of Berlin's Generalmusikdirektor, Gaspare Spontini.
He championed composers such as Bach, Handel, Gluck, Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven and is credited with giving Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 27/2 the name 'Moonlight.’ His appreciation of contemporary composers extended to Weber, Mendelssohn (whom he heard playing for Goethe in Weimar), and Meyerbeer, whose libretti he translated into German. Rellstab enjoyed a correspondence with Liszt, with whom he collaborated, and wrote a brief biographical sketch of the composer in Vossische Zeitung of 1842 (published in Franz Liszt and His World, ed. Christopher Gibbs & Dana Gooley, 2006). Whilst his wish to have his work taken up by Beethoven remained unfulfilled, he was a prolific writer, and many of his poems (over 60 according to LiederNet online) were set to music by composers such as Liszt, Schubert (including the Schwanengesang mentioned above), Meyerbeer, and Taubert. He also published several prose works including the novel 1812 and a collection of short stories entitled Sommerfrüchte.
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