Michel Fustier
BEETHOVEN GETS ANGRY.
A short but typical anecdote: Beethoven, invited to Prince Lichnowsky's estate
in Silesia, refuses to play the piano for the Prince's distinguished guests…
Considering himself to be a free man and did not like to be given what could
seem to be an order. A violent scene followed ending with Beethoven's precipitous
departure. The next day he wrote a vengeful letter to the prince.
CHARACTERS:
Beethoven, thirty-six years old, in full possession of his art, having just
finished his fifth and sixth symphonies
and considered to be the greatest musician alive.
Prince Lichnowsky, one of Beethoven's benefactors, who frequently receives him,
Count von Oppersdorf, friend and admirer of Beethoven, at whose estate Beethoven
spends the summer.
1 - (at Prince Lichnowsky's estate, in Silesia, not far from Jena)
THE PRINCE - Napoleon, what a general! He just swept away the Prussian troops…
Dear Count, we can't but admire him.
THE COUNT – Prince, you are right. The battle of Jena will be spoken about
for a long time. Nonetheless, we Austrians would be wrong to rejoice: Prussians
speak German, just as we do.
THE PRINCE - Yes, but they are Prussians… Anyhow I can't avoid inviting
the French officers who are occupying the country. Moreover I'd like to see
these victorious soldiers at close quarters. They are said to be kind of supermen.
THE COUNT - Indeed… Personally, I have never met one of them. But do you
know what our friend Beethoven himself told me recently?
THE PRINCE – No, I don't… Usually he speaks his mind.
THE COUNT - He told me that, if he were as clever in strategy as he is in music,
he himself would defeat Napoleon.
THE PRINCE – A pretty daring statement… But maybe he's right.
THE COUNT - He is indeed a very great chap, you know this as well as I.
THE PRINCE - Of course… To acknowledge his merits… or rather to
free him of his daily problems, I pay him a small pension… And why not
invite him to the party?
THE COUNT - With the French officers?
THE PRINCE - Why not? I bet he would probably like to meet the French…
with his liberal ideas! And it would offer an entertainment as well. He can't
refuse me… We would make him sit at the piano and play one of his sonatas,
for example the last one… It's Wonderful, that sonata! It's got something
so passionate about it… (if possible the actor strikes a few chords)
THE COUNT - He doesn't like to play his own works. But he improvises very willingly,
which is even more astounding.
THE PRINCE – Good idea! Let's invite the French. We'll show them our bear
and these ferocious colonels will become lapdogs… Come on, let's prepare
our invitations.
2 - ( at von Oppersdorf's estate, where Beethoven is staying)
THE COUNT - Dear Beethoven, the Prince would appreciate your presence at the
party he is going to give.
BEETHOVEN - Don't you know that I don't behave properly in sitting-rooms. I
am rather rough… and I am half deaf!
THE COUNT - We know you and like you as you are.
BEETHOVEN - Are you sure? I become so easily ill-tempered now… But Prince
Lichnowsky is very kind to me and I can't refuse, although I rather dislike
all that nobility around him… Such useless people!
THE COUNT - There'll be French officers there… They are quite different!
BEETHOVEN - French officers! If I were certain that, with their Napoleon, they
are really fighting for the freedom of all People… I can speak French,
don't you know? And they fascinate me as well as they disgust me.
THE COUNT - For once, let yourself be fascinated.
BEETHOVEN - Well… I'll attend.
3 - (At prince Lichnowsky's party)
BEETHOVEN - (sitting alone at a table with a glass of beer. He is grumbling)
THE PRINCE - (enters) Dear Beethoven, they all insist on hearing you play.
BEETHOVEN - On hearing me play, while I am unable to hear! No, I'm not a performing
dog and I don't stand on my hind legs to please anybody.
THE PRINCE - Oppersdorf says that you don't like to play your sonatas in public…
BEETHOVEN – That's true. Once they are composed, they become stale.
THE PRINCE - … but that sometimes you allow yourself to improvise marvellously.
Be generous, sit down at the piano…
BEETHOVEN - I am not generous and I don't want to be generous, above all with
highly placed people whom, except for you and a few others, I cannot bear.
THE PRINCE - Don't be obstinate, play for them.
BEETHOVEN - No, I don't feel like it. Don't you know what inspiration is for
a musician?
THE PRINCE – That's poor excuse. Besides, there are not only highly placed
people here, but also some French officers.
BEETHOVEN – That's even worse… They're only Sabre bearers, no more
than that.
THE PRINCE - They belong to your tribe, the one which wins victories.
BEETHOVEN - I don't like their victories, splattered with people's blood.
THE PRINCE - Beethoven, I have the honour to assist you by offering you…
small sums of money. Give me that pleasure.
BEETHOVEN - You do assist me, but so far without conditions.
THE PRINCE - Beethoven, you are racking my nerves. If you don’t play the
piano, I'll have you confined to your room…
BEETHOVEN - (rising) Confined, what do you mean? I am not your servant, sir.
THE PRINCE - (holding Beethoven by his wrists) I demand to be obeyed, play for
me.
THE COUNT - (enters) Good gracious…
BEETHOVEN - Never in my life.
THE PRINCE - I feel I am going to do what I have said.
BEETHOVEN - (taking hold of a chair and threatening the prince) I can't bear
to be…
THE COUNT - No, don't strike, Beethoven. It's undignified of you.
BEETHOVEN - (long silence, Beethoven puts down the chair) You are right, Count
von Oppersdorf. (to the Prince) Prince, I beg of you, let me take my leave (leaves)
THE COUNT - I'll follow him. I don't know what could happen.
4 - (in a neighbouring inn. Beethoven is writing. His clothes are drying in
front of the fire)
THE COUNT - I looked for you all night long. How did you get here?
BEETHOVEN - On foot. On foot in the rain.
THE COUNT - In the rain and mud. With the risk of catching your death of cold.
Why did you do that?
BEETHOVEN - The Prince's behaviour was unbearable. To confine me to my room:
how contemptuous it is!
THE COUNT - I understand very well, it's unforgivable. But not to the point
of… You had irritated him and…
BEETHOVEN - He shouldn't have. He offended me and I was still more irritated
than he was. And legitimately!
THE COUNT - You left as a thief.
BEETHOVEN – No, not as a thief, but as somebody who has been robbed. As
somebody who has been robbed of his honour. Since you are here, can you do me
a favour?
THE COUNT - Of course…
BEETHOVEN - I have to answer the Prince. Could you take my letter to him?
THE COUNT – That's a delicate commission. A letter of apology?
BEETHOVEN – That's not exactly what I would say.
THE COUNT - Then what would you say?
BEETHOVEN - I have already written it …
THE COUNT - Then read it to me…
BEETHOVEN - "Prince"… It's important to call him Prince, important
considering what follows… So: "Prince, what you are, you became by
the fortune of birth." He just had to be born from his father and mother,
which is the common lot of us all… Now "…by the fortune of
birth. As for me, what I am, I became by myself, and myself alone."
THE COUNT – All right, but you should be more tactful.
BEETHOVEN - Was he tactful with me? I have not finished, let me continue: "There
has been and there will be lots of Princes. There is only one Beethoven."
THE COUNT - Have I heard correctly? Show me that (he reads) "Prince, what
you are, you became by the fortune of birth. As for me, what I am, I became
by myself and myself alone. There have been and there will be lots of Princes.
There is only one Beethoven." My friend, put your seal on your letter.
I will take it but I don't want to be suspected of having read it.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Beethoven et Napoleon are contemporaries. And in some ways they can be compared
to one another: the same power of mind, the same capacity of invention, the
same strength of character. But what distinguished Beethoven was his moral elevation,
his unselfishness.
Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany, in a family of musicians employed here
and there in the courts of Princes or in the churches. Quite naturally his father
undertook to make his son the worthy descendant of his forefathers and, when
he discovered how gifted his offspring was, to push him to the fore, as Mozart's
father had done for his own son. As it was impossible to make a career in Bonn,
Beethoven went to Vienna at the age of twenty-two, where he became famous for
his audaciously original compositions and his talent as an improviser. With
many ups and downs he spent his life in that city, except for some professional
travels and a few holidays on the estates of his wealthy friends. During one
of these stays, in Carlsbad, the famous encounter with Goethe takes place.
The anecdote we have chosen as the basis of our play takes place in 1806, the
year of the battle of Jena where the Prussian troops were badly beaten by Napoleon.
The source of this anecdote is Beethoven himself.
The main compositions of Beethoven are: the Eroica Symphony, originally dedicated
to Bonaparte, then, when the latter became Emperor, "to the memory of a
great man". The Fifth Symphony in C minor, whose first notes were used
during the last war as a signal of resistance to the nazis. The Pastoral Symphony,
particularly with the episode of the storm. The Ninth symphony, with its hymn
to joy, now the European anthem. Then the 32 sonatas for pianoforte and the
17 quartets, his most striking compositions… not to speak of many others.
Beethoven was noble-hearted and extremely generous. He thought that the duty
of the musician was to lift the minds of the audience and to incite them to
universal love. Although his health was very poor, he never ceased to look for
joy. In politics he was a liberal, deeply impressed by the ideals of the French
Revolution. This was one of the reasons why he felt uncomfortable in the authoritarian
atmosphere of Hapsburg Vienna. The great hardship of his life was his increasing
deafness, which reinforced his solitude. Eventually he was unable to conduct
an orchestra or to hear the sounds of his piano… However this did not
prevent him from composing his immortal masterworks. He died quite miserably
at the age of fifty-six
.
Non commercial use allowed. Reg. SACD - Michel Fustier, 4 Chambfort, 69 100
Villeurbanne, France. Tel: 00 33 (0)4 78 84 25 28.