New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-08-27

the change by ner discovery III ~ "
moirs Of the fact that on July D. IVo'
! Countess Therese was I'm TransylFahid
| (Slebenbdrgen). visiting her sister countess
Teeky. and was present when the latter
gave birth TO "A daughter Blanca on thd'
date. Having assumed with Thayer' tha'
/ Beethoven wrote the love letter very soon
/ after a visit 70 the Brunswicks at Korcmpa
/ (which is her reading OF the mysterious
| * in the letter. and sent IL from neigh-
boring watering place. convinced that me
reese was with her sister on July g. lsOa
| she adopted the theory that the letter
| was written in 1907. In which year the
much discussed 9Th of July fell on a Mon
day She also alludes TO other evidence
which she does not describe. but by which
she doubtless means a letter by Beethoven
to Breitkopf & Hartel. dated Vienna
July 5. 1906" which became known TO in
vestigators when the we'll known publish
ers of Leipsic made private publication
Of the letters from the composer found In
their archives. This was after the death
OF Mr. Thayer. Touching this letter and
the significance OF Beethoven's *" the
writer submits without argument a few
suggestions:
l. There Is nothing in the letter. beyond
what might be called its atmosphere, 20
indicate that Beethoven had recently visit
ed the object Of his love. The words to-
day-yesterday-wha fearful longings Tor
you" to which such an Interpretation
might be given. plainly refer only to his
mood and his thoughts on the two days
when the letter was in his min6 they tell
us nothing about the space or q T. which
Law between him and his "ferue Geliebte.
2. II is plain that Beethoven and Prince
Esterhazy started from the SINE place for
he Hungarian watering pace whence the
letter was sent Of II ever was senU Bee
thoven travelling by an unusual route be-
cause Of a lack OF horses. the prince by
the usual route. II is anything but likely
that this place was Msrtonyasar; it Is
much more probable that II was one oil
Esterhazy's country seats.
3. There is no indication IN the letter
or anywhere else how long Beethoven WAS
en- route but the journey extended over
several stages, for Eat the stage before
the last" he was warned not TO travel az
night, etc. He may have been "a far in
the interior OF Hungary as a post coach
could carry him in. let us say. two days.
T. We know nothing about the rapidly
OF travel over Hungarian roads century
ago. but we do know that IS carly as
1926. f. e., III years before Beethoven made
the Journey, an English post wds estab-
lished which made the trip from London
10 Edinburgh and back i'm six days; and
Edinburgh is 357 miles from London by
road. The English mail coach, therefore.
travelled an average of ll9 miles In TWEEN
ty-four hours. At even half of this speed
Beethoven might have been comparatively
near the place IN which Countess Therese
spent June and July, 1906
: This place was not K(orompa), but
, K0ausenburg). or Koosz, the principal
| town of Pennsylvania, where Count Teleky
lived.
s. II is but natural 10 assume that the
post between the important places OF Hun
gary and the metropolis Of Transylvania
ran fairly often and AT fair speed, and II
Beethoven expected Il letter when ne
thought would be detained at the place
where IL was posted till early on Thurs
day morning would not reach ltS dcsuna-
ton till Saturday, that destination must
have been at considerable ilir@nce a
tvo-davs rum from the watering place.
so near so far" has little value as eNl-
dence: ii is an ecstatic commonp"ca con-
corning the unattainable, or that Whlth
seems to be 50.
The fact that Countess Therese was not
at Korompa in the early part Of july lH.o'
is not In itself a sufficient reason Tor aDah-
doning that date; she was at klausenouTS'
The letter TO Breitkopf Hartel though
plainly dated Vienna, July .. $50 o\aI-
ischer. No l09). might easily be disposed ol
as convincing evidence against 1910 II II
did not bear the publishers Endorsement
apparently indicating that IL had either
been received or answered on July il OF
: that year Nothing could make Beetho-
ver's carelessness I'm respect OF oates
plainer than the next letter Of Beethoven =
I'm which he replied TO the letter WHICH
Breitkopf g. Hdrtel had sent him In an
swer 10 the proposition which he had made
I'm the letter dated July ,, lSo6. The second
letter ia dated "Gritz. am stem Heu-
Monath"-i O.. hay month, otherwise july
vet II refers to the earlier letter ana was
written at TrOppau, in Austrian SiIesla'
where Beethoven spent the summer OF lN'
as the guest Of Prince LichnoWsky. Brett
xopf a Hartei's Endorsement shows that the
letter was received and answered In sep
+ernhar There is some significance, too, IN
tho fact that Beethoven refers 10 his Jour-
nov from Vlenna0 10 Troppau. when
must have been nearly TWO hundred miles
long as a short one CEtWas viel IN thun
md die kleine REESE heher,' etc See kal-
is,ber letter No 100 Beethoven may
have written the letter I'm Vienna on one
of the first two days Of July, or even the
last of June. making one Of his charac-
,eristic blunders in the dating, and yet
have been deep I'm Hungary on the dubious
d,.o an which he wrote the love letter.
Tho endorsement Of Breitkopf q Hartel'
July D. 1906" could not nave Deeh any
tbino more than a transcript OF the date
found on the letter.
The writer is well aware that MS susEes-
tiops do not clear up the mystery ne
offers them. nevertheless, FOR what they
are NOW or may hereafter be worth. Inc
references to Beethoven I'm the Memoirs OF
Tberese Won Brunswick, made public by La
Mara. are 10 be found in the following eA-
cerpts:
Turing the extraordinary soiourn OF eigh-
teen DAYS in Vienna my mother desired tndt
nor two daughters. Theresc anu Joacphlitio,
receive Beethoven lnNd4uaDle il' i - -
i'm music AdalDert RoSu s.h00lll!dle vi ~
NV brother's assured us that Beethoven
would NOT be persuaded 10 accept a mere
tnvitstion. but II her exCellency were VIII
ing to climb the three flights or Wlnulns
stairs of the house in st. Peter 9 Place ana
1Sstlc Il, n, "A visit me would vOuch for sue
n@ssfui outcome Of the mission. IL Was
done like n schoolgirl, with Beethoven :
sonatas for violin and yioloncello ana plano
sorta under nv arm. We entered. The I'M
rrortai dear Louis van Beethoven was very
friendly and as polite a. he could De. After
a few phrases dc part ~ ddutre, he sat me