Life of Beethoven Part 33

Which will take place on the 29th of March, at three o'clock in the afternoon.

The company will a.s.semble at the lodgings of the deceased, in the Schwarz-spanier House, No. 200, on the Glacis, before the Scotch Gate.

The procession will thence go to Trinity Church, at the Fathers' Minorites in Alser Street.

The musical world sustained the irreparable loss of this celebrated composer about six o'clock in the evening of the 26th of March, 1827.

BEETHOVEN died of dropsy, in the 56th year of his age, after receiving the Holy Sacraments.

The day of the exequies will be made known hereafter by

L. VAN BEETHOVEN'S Admirers and Friends."

Einladung zu _Ludwig van Beethoven's_ Leichenbegangnisse, _welches am 29. Marz um 3 Uhr Nachmittags Statt finden wird_.

Man versammelt sich in der Wohnung des Vers...o...b..nen im Schwarzspanier-hause, Nr. 200, am Glacis vor dem Schottenth.o.r.e.

Der Zug begibt sich von da nach der Dreifaltigkeits-kirche bei den P. P. Minoriten in der Alserga.s.se.

Die musikalische Welt erlitt den unerfelichen Verl.u.s.t des beruhmten Tondichters am 26. Marz 1827 Abends gegen 6 Uhr.

Beethoven starb an den Folgen der Wa.s.sersucht, im 56. Jahre seines Alters, nach empfangenen heil. Sacramenten.

Der Tag der Exequien wird nachtraglich bekannt gemacht von

L. van Beethoven's Berehrern und Freunden.,

(Dieser Karte wird in Lob, Haslingers Musikalienhandlung vertheilt.)

This card having been largely distributed, all the necessary arrangements for the funeral were made with the utmost zeal and prompt.i.tude by Mr. Haslinger, the music publisher, and Messrs. Schindler and Hart, friends of the deceased. The morning was fine; and at an early hour crowds of people began to a.s.semble on the Glacis of Alservorstadt, the quarter of the town in which Beethoven resided. Towards the middle of the day, the numbers had increased to upwards of twenty thousand persons of all cla.s.ses; and so great was the pressure round the residence of the deceased, that it was found necessary to close the gates of the court-yard, where, under an awning, stood the coffin raised upon a bier, and surrounded by mourners. At half-past four the procession began to move, the way having been cleared by a body of the military. Eight princ.i.p.al singers of the Opera-house--Eichberger, Schuster, Cramolini, A. Muller, Hoffmann, Rupprecht, Borschitzky, and A.

Wranitzky--had offered to carry the coffin on their shoulders. After the priest had p.r.o.nounced some prayers, the singers performed a highly impressive Funeral Chant by B. A. Weber, and the whole procession moved forward in the following order:--

1. The cross-bearer; 2. Four trombone-players--the brothers Bock, Waidl, and Tuschky; 3. The master of the choir, M. a.s.smayer; and, under his direction, 4. A choir of singers--M. Tietze, Schnitzer, Gross, Sikora, Fruhwald, Geissler, Rathmeyer, Kokrement, Fuchs, Nejebse, Ziegler, Perschl, Leidl, Weinkopf, Pfeiffer, and Seipelt, which, alternately with the trombone quartett, performed the Miserere. This walking orchestra was immediately followed by, 5. The high priest; 6. The coffin, borne by the above-mentioned opera-singers, and attended by the chapel-masters--- Eybler, Hummel, Seyfried, and Kreutzer, on the right, and Weigl, Gyrowetz, Gansbacher, and Wurfel, upon the left, as pall-bearers. On both sides, from the beginning of the procession to the coffin, were the torch-bearers, thirty-six in number, consisting of poets, authors, composers, and musicians, among whom were M. Grillparzer, Anschutz, Bernard, Castelli, Mayseder, C. Czerny, J. Bohm, Linke, Hildebrand, Schuppanzigh, Holz, Katter, Krall, Baron Lannoy, J. Merk, F. Schubert, Riotte, Schoberlechner, Steiner, Haslinger, Sig. Lablache, David, Radichi, Mechetti, Meric, Pacini, Meier, Schick, Schmidl, Streicher, Weidman, Wolfmeyer, C. Graf, Raimund, Piringer, Grunbaum, &c.; the whole in full mourning, with white roses and bunches of lilies fastened to the c.r.a.pe on their arms. Next followed Beethoven's brother, and M. von Breuning, (one of the earliest friends of the deceased, and the executor of his last will,) the pupils of the Conservatorio, and the scholars of Kapellmeister Drechsler, (the thorough-ba.s.s teacher of St. Ann's,) all deeply lamenting the loss which the musical world had sustained.

As the procession approached the church, the _Miserere_[208] was entoned to an original melody of the deceased, with an accompaniment of four trombones. The history of this striking composition is as follows:--When Beethoven was, in the autumn of 1812, visiting his brother, at the time an apothecary in Linz, he was requested by M. Glogll; Kapellmeister of the cathedral, to compose some movement of a solemn kind for the approaching festival of All Souls. Beethoven willingly undertook the task, and wrote a piece, ent.i.tled _Equale a quatro Tromboni_, remarkable for the originality of the harmonies, and its faithful imitation of the genuine antique style.[209]

On the morning of the 26th of March, 1827, when all hope of Beethoven's recovery had been given over, Mr. Haslinger repaired with it to Kapellmeister Seyfried, with a request that he would adapt the words of the Miserere to this _Equale_, that, the body of the prince of musicians might be accompanied to its everlasting rest by his own creations. M.

Seyfried, in pursuance of this idea, undertook the work, which was finished the night following Beethoven's death, with infinite judgment and good taste. The movements were arranged for four voices (two tenors and two ba.s.ses) and four trombones.

On reaching the church, the body was placed on a bier at the foot of the high altar, when, after the usual prayers, was sung the solemn anthem _Libera me Domine, de morte eterna_, composed by Kapellmeister von Seyfried, in the genuine ecclesiastical style. On quitting the church, the coffin was placed in a hea.r.s.e drawn by four horses, which proceeded towards the burial-ground at Wahring, followed by a line of more than two hundred carriages. On reaching the gates of the cemetery, the following poem, from the pen of Grillparzer, was recited by Anschutz, the tragedian, in a very feeling manner:--

'Tis done! A master-spirit of the age Has pa.s.s'd away to his eternal rest: Henceforth his name belongs to history's page, Enroll'd with men the n.o.blest and the best.

Yet, though his name does to all time belong, Ye lately heard and saw the wond'rous man, Ye heard his living voice, his living song, And to receive his dying accents ran.

Then deep in mem'ry treasure up his form: That brow, though stern, with sweetest fancies fraught, That eye with inspiration kindling warm, That bosom labouring with the force of thought.

And ye, to whom it was not given to view His living lineaments with wond'ring eye, May in his tones behold him pictured true, In breathing colours that can never die.

Yes: he could paint, in tones of magic force, The moody pa.s.sions of the varying soul-- Now winding round the heart with playful course, Now storming all the breast with wild control.

Forthdrawing from his unexhausted store, 'Twas his to bid the burden'd heart o'erflow: Infusing joys it never knew before, And melting it with soft luxurious woe!

We came his funeral rite to celebrate, Obedient to fond love and duty's call; But on this moment such proud feelings wait, It seems a joyous birthday festival.

He liveth! It is wrong to say he's dead:-- The sun, though sinking in the fading west, Again shall issue from his morning bed, Like a young giant vigorous from his rest.

He lives! for that is truly living, when Our fame is a bequest from mind to mind: His life is in the breathing hearts of men, Transmitted to the latest of his kind.

Baron von Schlechta and M. Castelli read short but eloquent poems to the sorrowing mult.i.tude, and, before the grave was closed, M. Haslinger put into the hands of M. Hummel three wreaths of laurel, which were dropped upon the coffin. The mourners waited till the earth was smoothed over the grave. All the visitants in turn took a last farewell of the mortal remains of a great genius, and returned home in silence, the shades of evening having by this time gathered around.

On the 3rd of April, 1827, a solemn tribute was paid to the memory of Beethoven at the imperial church of St. Augustin by the performance of Mozart's _Requiem_, in which the great singer Lablache sung the ba.s.s part, in a manner that produced a deep impression and shows him to be a profound artist: the whole terminated with the solemn _Miserere_ and _Libera_ of Kapellmeister von Seyfried. On the 5th of April, 1827, was performed, in the church of St. Charles, the whole of Cherubini's celebrated _Requiem_, admirably executed under the direction of Kapellmeister Hummel. A musical performance also took place, by way of opening a subscription for a monument to Beethoven. It commenced with the celebrated Pastoral Symphony of the lamented master, which was followed by a _Kyrie_ from his second Ma.s.s in D. From the Abbe Vogler's celebrated _Missa pro defunctis_, were given the _Dies irae_, the _Sanctus_, and _Benedictus_. The whole closed with Catel's Overture to _Semiramis_. The selection was admirably performed, and the object proposed adequately fulfilled.

LATIN EPITAPHS

ON

BEETHOVEN'S TOMB.

1.

LUDOVICO . VAN . BEETHOVEN.

Cujus.

Ad . Triste . Mortis . Nuncium.

Omnes . Flevere . Gentes.

Plaudente.

Coelitum . Choro.

2.

IN TUMULUM LUDOVICI VAN BEETHOVEN.

FATO mortalis; VITA bonus; ARTE perennis, MORTE suum MORIENS eximit ipse decus.

MISERERE,

PERFORMED AT BEETHOVEN'S FUNERAL, AT VIENNA, MARCH 29, 1827.

[Ill.u.s.tration: musical notation]

[Ill.u.s.tration: musical notation]