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Lot 4
[Beethoven, Ludwig von] Collection of 1827 Newspapers About His Illness & Death. Collection of six London newspapers regarding Beethoven's last days and death, which occurred on March 26, 1827 in Vienna. The March 27 issue of The Courier, not having learned of Beethoven's death the day before, notes on the back page, column 2 that the King had given 100 guineas for the relief of "the celebrated composer, who…was labouring under complicated evils of sickness and poverty." Column 3 on the same page reports that "Beethoven's grand sinfonia in C" opened the season for the Royal Academic Concerts at the "Hanover-square Rooms"; horizontal fold is split. The March 28 issue of The Courier gives the circumstances of how the King came to discover Beethoven's pitiful plight and to donate the money (p. 3, col. 2).
Four issues of The London Packet and Chronicle, and Lloyd's Evening Post, give news of the composer. The April 4 to 6 issue, still unaware of Beethoven's death, quotes an Austrian newspaper story from March 22 about a 1,000 florin gift to the composer by the London Philharmonic Society (p. 2, col. 2). The April 9 to 11 issue reports Beethoven's death, giving a quick biography, noting his deafness and how "nothing more distressing could have happened to a musician," and describing him as "…extremely singular in his manners, and not very attentive to his personal appearance; but he was most honourable in his principles and moral in his conduct…." (Front page, col. 2). The April 11 to 13 issue quotes a letter Beethoven sent to a professor in London who had visited him in Vienna in 1824, dated March 6, describing his pitiful state: "…Alas!…I see no hopes of a termination to my dreadful malady; on the contrary, my sufferings, and with them my cares, increase. On the 27th of February I was operated upon (tapped) for the fourth time….If this continues, my illness will then last half the summer--and in that case what is to become of me? Upon what am I to live until I regain my lost strength, so as to enable me to earn my subsistence with my pen?…I…entreat you to exert all your influence to persuade the Philharmnic Society to carry promptly into effect their former resolution, relative to the academy, for my advantage. My strength does not permit me to say more…." (Back page, col. 4).
The April 13 to 16 issue contains an article titled "Beethoven and M. Moscheles," regarding a statement made in the newspaper on April 11, that "Mr. Moscheles has taken the liberty to make a subscription in London for the benefit of the deceased [Beethoven]." Mr. Moscheles defends himself at length from what he considers an unfair accusation and quotes from three letters Beethoven dictated and signed in February, with the same request: "The Phiharmonic Society some years ago had the kind intention of giving a Concert for my benefit. The time has now come when the fulfilment of that design would be of the greeatest service to me. I am labouring under severe sickness, and can make no calculation of the probable period of my recovery. As I chiefly live on the productions of my pen, and know not when it may be in my power to use it again, I may shortly, perhaps, be exposed to the danger of want. I trust that, in conjunction with my friends, Sir George Smart, Messrs. Stumpff, Neate, Potter, and others, you will kindly urge the Philharmonic Society to fulfill my request." Moscheles states that he personally had sent money from the Society and had received a receipt in Beethoven's hand, with a letter expressing his gratitude, etc. etc. and which concluded, "To return in some sort my obligations to the society I hope shortly to be able to finish for them a symphony, the sketch of which I have already in my desk; or to write an overture, or any other piece they may desire…." The names of George Smart, Charles Neate, François Cramer, Cipriani Potter, and J.A. Stumppf are undersigned to confirm Mr. Mosceles' statement. This article. on p. 3 takes up more than half of the 5th column.
Estimated Value $500 - 1,000.
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