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Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Beethoven conducts Fidelio

Beethoven conducts Fidelio Louis SpohrTuesday February 7, 1865The Guardian
Extracts from Louis Spohr's autobiography, translated from the German, Longman's, 1865
Beethoven had heard of me when I introduced myself, and received me with unusual friendliness. But it was an unpleasant task to make him hear me. I was obliged to speak so loud as to be heard in the third room off.
Beethoven's rough and even repulsive manners arose partly from his deafness and partly from his pecuniary circumstances. I asked him after he had absented himself for some days, "You were not ill, I hope?" - "My boot was, and as I have only one pair, I had house arrest" was his reply.

Beethoven had allowed himself to be persuaded to write a new overture for Fidelio (in E). For the first time I saw him direct [conduct]. It surprised me to a high degree. Seyfried [sic] related to me a tragi-comical circumstance at Beethoven's last concert.
Beethoven was playing a new piano forte concerto of his, but forgot that he was a solo player. At the first sforzando he threw his arms so wide asunder that he knocked both lights off the piano. The audience laughed and Beethoven was so incensed that he made the orchestra begin anew.
Seyfried bade two boys of the chorus place themselves on either side and hold the lights. One of the boys approached innocently nearer. When the fatal sforzando came, he received from Beethoven's right hand so smart a blow on the mouth that the poor boy let fall the light from terror.
The other boy, by stooping suddenly, avoided the slap. If the audience were unable to restrain their laughter before, they could now much less, and broke out into a regular bacchanalian roar. Beethoven got into such a rage that at the first chords of the solo half a dozen strings broke. Every endeavour of the real lovers of music to restore calm were fruitless. From that evening Beethoven would not give another concert. The deaf master could no longer hear his own music. This was particularly remarkable in the first allegro [of Fidelio]. Without knowing it, he was already from 10 to 12 bars in advance of the orchestra when it began the pianissimo. Beethoven, to signify this in his own way, had crept under the desk.
Upon the now ensuing crescendo, he sprang up high from the ground when, according to his calculation, the forte should begin. As this did not take place, he looked around in fright, and only recovered when the expected forte began and was audible to himself.
Fortunately this scene did not take place at the public performance, otherwise the audience would certainly have laughed again.

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