Towards the end

Chronicle of an absence and an emotional participation

Beethoven’s last months, from his move to his final home in Vienna (15 October 1825) to his death (26 March 1827), hold a special place in the Carrino Collection. The detailed documents almost turn history into a chronicle: the chronicle of an absence, through the rooms, hallways and places that have now disappeared. But also a chronicle of those final days, accompanied by friends, Vienna and the entire world, until the fateful announcement: “Beethoven ist gestorben”. “Beethoven is dead”.

Start

Beethoven’s final home
On 15 October 1825 Beethoven moved into an eight-room apartment in the “Schwarzspanierhaus” (House of the Black Spaniards). Here he composed the late quartets op.131 and op. 135. An outstanding sequence of photos from 1903 highlight a double absence: they show us the place, no longer existing, where the composer lived until his death.

Entrance to the inner courtyard of the Schwarzspanierhaus and, in the background, entrance to the building from the street.

Original photograph with embossed stamp: “Brand & Barozzi, Vienna 7°. Neubaug. 40”, 1903.

Inner courtyard of the Schwarzspanierhaus. The last four windows from the left on the second floor belonged to Beethoven’s apartment and correspond to the entrance hall, kitchen, housekeeper’s room, and servants’ room. A knife-grinder can be made out next to the well curb, now in Grinzing.

Original photograph with embossed stamp: “Brand & Barozzi, Vienna 7°. Neubaug. 40”, 1903.

Entrance to Beethoven’s apartment, at the time unoccupied. Someone has tacked a business card to the door plate, probably with the composer’s name.

Original photograph with embossed stamp: “Brand & Barozzi, Vienna 7°. Neubaug. 40”, 1903.

Front view of the Schwarzspanierhaus at Schwarzspanierstrasse 15. On the second floor, the fifth to ninth windows from the church belong to Beethoven’s apartment. In spite of appeals from the world of culture, the house was demolished in the autumn of 1903, just a few months after Beethoven was glorified at the 1902 Secession exhibition, which saw the participation of great artists like Max Klinger, with his statue, and Gustav Klimt, with his frieze.

Photograph A. Stauda, Vienna, 1903.

This original newspaper excerpt about the room where Beethoven died reads: “Yesterday morning a committee visited the Schwarzspanierhaus and photographed all the rooms (...) The last tenant of the apartment, Professor Siegmund Exner, kept everything intact, except for the kitchen and a room whose walls have been knocked down”.

Neue Freie Presse, Vienna, 24 October 1903.

“The celebration (in honour of Beethoven at the Schwarzspanierhaus) will take place in the room on the second floor where he died. The room will be decorated with flowers, a bust of Beethoven will be placed in the middle, and the musicians’ stage will be placed against the wall between the two windows. The programme will include a speech by the mayor, a prologue by a distinguished representative of the imperial castle and a performance of the quartet opus 135 [...]”.

Neue Freie Presse, Vienna, 8 November 1903.

On a bitter note, the new residential complex built on the site of the old Schwarzspanierhaus that was demolished in 1903, was bombed during the Second World War right in the spot where Beethoven’s rooms had been.  Even if his final residence had been saved from the deplorable demolition enacted by the Viennese, it would have been destroyed by the Allies in 1944!

Photograph from Merk’s newspaper, Vienna, 1946. “The effects of bombing in 1944–1945”.

Beethoven’s last holiday
On 28 September 1826, Beethoven travelled to Gneixendorf, about 80 km from Vienna, near Krems, to the Wasserhof estate of his younger brother Johann. He went there to spend some time with his nephew, hoping to find a peaceful atmosphere where he could regain his strength. He finished the quartet op. 135 and the new finale of the quartet op. 130.

Erinnerung an Beethoven aufenthalt in Gneixendorf, Memory of Beethoven’s stay in Gneixendorf, postcard, 31 July 1901. From the left: Beethoven’s room – Beethoven’s home – Beethoven’s servant playing the flute (note from the Gettinger family who ran the house museum in 2001).

Beethoven’s room, view of the study with the window overlooking the garden of Beethoven’s house in Gneixendorf. Gneixendorf, © Biblioteca Beethoveniana, 1997.

Large commemorative plaque engraved with the first bars of the finale of the last sublime Quartet in F major, Opus 135, Allegro. Gneixendorf, © Biblioteca Beethoveniana, 1997.

The return to Vienna

On 27 November, after a quarrel with Johann, Beethoven left Gneixendorf for Vienna with his nephew in an open carriage on a cold, rainy day. Exhausted, Beethoven fell ill with pneumonia. On 5 December, Dr Andreas Ignaz Wawruch took charge of his care, and tended to the composer until the very end. He underwent several rounds of paracentesis for severe water retention, the last of which took place on 27 February, in the faintest of hopes of his recovery.

Rare French-style print-work of unique beauty. Few modern artist’s have portrayed Beethoven’s suffering in his final months. He is fearfully thin, with large dilated pupils conveying the disquiet and uncertainty of his illness. The hollow temples and cheekbones, contracted mouth, and accentuated folds in the chin take us close to his death mask.

Michel De GOEYE Belgian painter, illustrator and printmaker, *Anderlecht, 1900 – †Brussels, 1958.
Original etching signed in pencil and numbered 29/125. Produced in Brussels in the 1930s.

The superb hair still beautifully frames the face of the sick man. We find a deeply moving account in the memoirs of his young friend, Gerhard von Breuning (*1813 – †1893), aged thirteen at the time and always by his side in those days: “On 29 March, I went with my father to Beethoven’s dwelling and wanted to cut off a lock of his hair [...] when we entered the mourning room, we found strangers had already cut off all his hair”.

Michel De GOEYE Belgian painter, illustrator and printmaker, *Anderlecht, 1900 – †Brussels, 1958.
Original etching signed in pencil and numbered 29/125. Produced in Brussels in the 1930s.

19 March 1827, eight days before his death. Beethoven is lying on his bed, holding one of the 40 volumes of Handel's works. Seated is childhood friend Stephan von Breuning. In the centre are brothers Josef and Anselm Hüttenbrenner, and behind them, holding his hat, is Beethoven’s doctor, Andreas Ignaz Wawruch. On the right are an emotional Franz Schubert, thirteen-year-old Gerhard von Breuning and Anton Schindler wiping his eyes. The armchair on the right-hand side of the image was purchased with money donated by the Philharmonic Society of London.

WILHELM VON LINDENSCHMIT, *1829 – †1895.
Beethoven on his deathbed, original woodcut from Die Gartenlaube, Leipzig, 1866.

Monday 26 March, 5.45 pm
Beethoven’s final moments. The wife of his brother Johann and Anselm Huttenbrenner witnessed his death, the latter recounting: “After Beethoven had lain unconscious, the death-rattle in his throat [...] there came a flash of lightning accompanied by a violent clap of thunder, which garishly illuminated the death-chamber [...] Beethoven lifted his right hand and looked up for several seconds with his fist clenched [...] When he let the raised hand sink to the bed, his eyes closed half-way [...] Not another breath, not a heartbeat more!”

LIONELLO BALESTRIERI, Italian painter and engraver, Cetona, 12 September 1872 – †Cetona 24 October 1958. Postcard, 1910s.
“The afternoon of 26 March 1827 was reserved the sad reputation of being the day of Beethoven’s death”.

Beethoven ist gestorben. Beethoven is dead.

Announcement (in large print for the time) of Beethoven’s death in the Berliner Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung, 11 April 1827. Original edition.

Front page of the Gazzetta di Milano, Thursday 5 April 1827. Original edition. Announcement in Italy of Beethoven’s death, only six lines long! (signed O. A.)

The room where Beethoven died  
The bed was to the right of the door leading into the “Composition Room”. To the right of the bed was a bedside table with a glass and a small black box. Next along the wall was a mobile desk, a large table, the bathtub away from the wall and, in the corner, the stove. In the middle of the room were two pianos standing side by side: the Broadwood and the Graf with the special resonator, and a piano stool.

Original photograph with embossed stamp: “Brand & Barozzi, Vienna 7°. Neubaug. 40”, 1903.

The death mask
In 1827 Danhauser was virtually an unknown artist. When Beethoven died, he sought permission to make the death mask. On 28 March, work began on the plaster cast of Beethoven’s face. The preparations themselves took a long time, because they involved shaving off the long beard that had grown in the final days of his illness.

FRANZ JOSEPH DANHAUSER, Austrian painter, *Vienna, 1805 – †Vienna, 1845.
Death mask of Beethoven, first half of the 19th century, from a plaster cast by Franz Joseph Danhauser, 1827.

Well preserved and extraordinarily detailed, the mask shows how illness and suffering made the composer’s face almost unrecognisable. Beethoven’s death mask was not very well known in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, as it was mistakenly confused with the life mask. Today, however, researchers consider it an invaluable artefact for reconstructing Beethoven’s facial features.

FRANZ JOSEPH DANHAUSER, Austrian painter, *Vienna, 1805 – †Vienna, 1845.
Death mask of Beethoven, first half of the 19th century, from a plaster cast by Franz Joseph Danhauser, 1827.

NAVIGATION GUIDE

This section is a legacy of the online exhibition “The Man. The Genius. The Myth” presented in 2021, preserved here in its essential content. The narrative unfolds in three main themes:

THE MAN dedicated to the most important events and themes in the composer’s life;
THE GENIUS dedicated to his works and how they are interpreted in the figurative arts;
THE MYTH dedicated to the worldwide spread of the Beethoven Myth, the exploitation of the composer’s image for commercial and political purposes, his veneration and desecration.

Several sub-itineraries are proposed within each of the three.

For example:
when the “GENIUS” itinerary is selected, the “SIXTH SYMPHONY” sub-itinerary becomes available.
Each sub-itinerary consists of a Gallery of works and/or documents on the theme with a short introduction.
Each image is accompanied by a description and can be enlarged and viewed in a different resolution.
The “INTRO” feature is a short audiovisual introduction to the specific section.

CREDITS: all works and documents are from the Carrino Collection
© Collezione Carrino – Casa Museo Biblioteca Beethoveniana
Any use of these images is prohibited without the express permission of Casa Museo Biblioteca Beethoveniana.

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NAVIGATION GUIDE