The consultations between Beethoven and his legal advisers, Bach, Breuning and others, concerning the proper disposition of his estate by will, which had begun soon after Karl’s departure for Iglau, had not been brought to a conclusion when it became apparent to all that it was high time that the document formally be executed. Dr. Bach does not seem to have been consulted at this crisis; haste was necessary, and on March 23 von Breuning made a draft of a will which, free from unnecessary verbiage, set forth the wishes of the testator in three lines of writing. Beethoven had protested against the proposition of his friends that provision be made that Karl should not be able to dissipate the capital or surrender any portion of it to his mother. To this end a trust was to be created and he was to have the income during life, the reversion being to his legitimate heirs. With this Beethoven at length declared himself satisfied; but when Breuning placed the draft before the dying man, who had yielded unwillingly, he copied it laboriously but substituted the word “natural” for “legitimate.” Schindler says the copying was a labor, and when Beethoven finished it and appended his signature he said: “There; now I’ll write no more.” Breuning called his attention to the fact that controversy would ensue from his change in the text, but Beethoven insisted that the words meant the same thing and there should be no change. “This,” says Schindler, “was his last contradiction.” Hiller’s description of the last visit of Hummel, pictures the condition of the dying man on this day, and Schindler’s statement that it was laborious for Beethoven to copy even the few words of the will is pathetically verified by the orthography of the document which, verb. et lit., is as follows:

According to Gerhard von Breuning, signatures were necessary to several documents—the will, the transfer of the guardianship of the nephew to von Breuning and the letter of January 3, which also made a testamentary disposition of Beethoven’s property. These signatures were all obtained with great difficulty. The younger von Breuning places the date on March 24th. After von Breuning, Schindler and the dying man’s brother had indicated to Beethoven, who lay in a half-stupor, that his signature was required they raised him as much as possible and pushed pillows under him for support. Then the documents, one after the other, were laid before him and von Breuning put the inked pen in his hand. “The dying man, who ordinarily wrote boldly in a lapidary style, repeatedly signed his immortal name, laboriously, with trembling hand, for the last time; still legibly, indeed, but each time forgetting one of the middle letters—once an h, another time ane.”

On the day which saw the signing of the will, Beethoven made an utterance, eminently characteristic of him, but which, because of an interpretation which it has received, has caused no small amount of comment. The date is fixed as March 23rd by Schindler’s letter to Moscheles of March 24th in which he says: “Yesterday he said to me and Breuning, ‘Plaudite, amici, comœdia finita est’.” Though the phrase does not seem to be a literal quotation from any author known to have been familiar to Beethoven, it is obviously a paraphrase of something which he had read. According to Schindler and Gerhard von Breuning the words were uttered in a tone of sarcastic humor. Schindler and Dr. Wawruch (though the latter was not present) agree in saying that he made the speech after receiving the viaticum, and it is this circumstance, coupled with the deduction that the dying man referred to the sacred function just performed, which greatly disturbed the minds of some of his devout admirers. It needed not have done so; the phrase is almost a literary commonplace and its significance has never been in question.[178]

When Beethoven’s friends saw the end approaching, they were naturally desirous that he receive the spiritual comfort which the offices of the Roman Catholic church offer to the dying and it was equally natural that Beethoven, brought up as a child of the church though careless of his duties toward it, should, at the last, be ready to accept them. Johann van Beethoven relates that a few days after the 16th of March, when the physicians gave him up for lost, he had begged his brother to make his peace with God, to which request he acceded “with the greatest readiness.” Confirmation of this is found in Dr. Wawruch’s report. Wawruch, it will be remembered, had, at the beginning of his studies, intended to enter the priesthood. At the crisis described by Johann he says he called Beethoven’s attention to his impending dissolution “so that he might do his duty as a citizen and to religion.” He continues:

Wawruch was not present at the time when the words were spoken. Schindler’s account, in a letter to the “Cäcilia” dated April 12, 1827, and printed in that journal in May, is as follows:

Schindler describes the administration of the sacrament, which Beethoven received with edification, and adds that now for the first time he seemed to believe that he was about to die; for “scarcely had the priest left the room before he said to me and young von Breuning, ‘Plaudite, amici, comœdia finita est. Did I not always say that it would end thus?’” (“Habe ich nicht immer gesagt, dass es so kommen wird?”) Here there is agreement with Wawruch, but, to Gerhard von Breuning, Schindler said that Beethoven made the remark at the conclusion of a long consultation after the physicians had gone away; and this is confirmed by Gerhard von Breuning. In 1860 Anselm Hüttenbrenner wrote:[179]

Hüttenbrenner is confirmed by Johann van Beethoven, who wrote in his brief review of his brother’s last illness that when the priest was leaving the room Beethoven said to him, “I thank you for this last service.”

Beethoven received the viaticum in the presence of Schindler, von Breuning, Jenger and the wife of his brother Johann. After the priest had taken his departure he reminded his friends of the necessity of sending a document ceding the proprietary rights of the C-sharp minor Quartet to the Schotts. It was drawn up and his signature to it, the last which he wrote, was attested by Schindler and Breuning. He also spoke of a letter of thanks to the Philharmonic Society of London and in suggesting its tenor, comprehended the whole English people with a fervent “God bless them!” About one o’clock the special shipment of wine and wine mixed with herbs came from Mayence, and Schindler placed the bottles upon the table near the bed. Beethoven looked at them and murmured, “Pity, pity—too late!” He spoke no more. A little of the wine was administered to him in spoonfuls at intervals, as long as he could swallow it. Towards evening he lost consciousness and the death-struggle began. It lasted two days. “From towards the evening of the 24th to his last breath he was almost continually in delirio,” wrote Schindler to Moscheles. We have a description from Gerhard von Breuning:[180]

The only witnesses of Beethoven’s death were his sister-in-law and Anselm Hüttenbrenner. From the latter we have a description of the last scene.[181]

Gerhard von Breuning says that Beethoven’s brother was in the room, and also the housekeeper Sali; Schindler adds a nurse from Dr. Wawruch’s clinic. No doubt all were present at one moment or another; they came and went as occasion or duty called. Hüttenbrenner says that Teltscher began drawing the face of the dying man, which grated on Breuning’s feelings and he made a remonstrance, whereupon the painter left the room. Then Breuning and Schindler went away to choose a spot for the grave. Hüttenbrenner continues:

It remained for modern science to give the right name to the disease which caused the death of the greatest of all tone-poets. Dropsy, said the world for three-quarters of a century. But dropsy is not a disease; it is only a symptom, a condition due to disease. To Dr. Theodor von Frimmel belongs the credit of having made it clear that the fatal malady was cirrhosis of the liver, of which ascites, or hydrops abdominalis, was a consequence. Beethoven had suffered from disorders of the liver years before. In 1821, as has been noted, he suffered an attack of jaundice. In his medical history of the case, Dr. Wawruch stated that the cause of the disease was to be found in an “antiquated” ailment of liver as well as defects in the abdominal organs. When he observed the first aggravation of the disease he recorded that “the liver plainly showed traces of hard knots, the jaundice increased.” In his report of the autopsy, Dr. Wagner said: “The liver seemed to have shrunk to one half its normal size, to have a leathery hardness, a greenish-blue color, and its lumpy surface, as well as its substance, was interwoven with knots the size of a bean. All the blood-vessels were narrow, with thickened walls and empty.” The treatment prescribed by Dr. Wawruch and adopted empirically at the suggestion of friends was designed, not to go to the seat of the difficulty but to relieve the dropsical condition of the abdominal cavity;—medicaments, decoctions, the unfortunate sweat-bath, all were intended to produce liquid evacuations from the bowels, increase the secretion of urine and induce perspiration; the final resort was to paracentesis.[183]

When Breuning and Schindler left the dying man in the care of Hüttenbrenner and Frau van Beethoven, they went to the cemetery of the little village of Währing, and selected a place for Beethoven’s grave in the vicinity of the burial plot of the Vering family, to which Breuning’s first wife had belonged. Their return was retarded by the storm. When they reëntered the sick-room they were greeted with the words: “It is finished!” The immediate activities of the friends were now directed to preparations for the funeral, the preservation of the physical likeness of the great composer and, so far as was necessary, the safeguarding of his possessions. In respect of the latter Gerhard von Breuning tells of a painful incident which happened on the day after Beethoven’s death.

Breuning, Schindler, Johann van Beethoven and Holz were met in the lodgings to gather up the dead man’s papers, particularly to look for the seven bank-shares which the will had given to the nephew. In spite of strenuous search they were not found and Johann let fall an insinuation that the search was a sham. This angered von Breuning and he left the house in a state of vexation and excitement. He returned to the lodgings in the afternoon and the search was resumed. Then Holz pulled out a protruding nail in a cabinet, whereupon a drawer fell out and in it were the certificates. In later years Holz explained to Otto Jahn: “Beethoven kept his bank-shares in a secret drawer, the existence of which was known only to Holz. While Beethoven lay dying his brother in vain tried to find out where it was.” On a copy of this memorandum,[184] Schindler wrote: “First of all after the death, Johann van Beethoven searched for the shares, and not finding them cried out: ‘Breuning and Schindler must produce them!’ Holz was requested to come by Breuning and asked if he did not know where they were concealed. He knew the secret drawer in an old cabinet in which they were preserved.” Even this simple incident has given rise to contradictory stories. Schindler, in his biography, says the place of concealment was a secret drawer in a Kassette; Breuning, “in a secret compartment of a writing-desk.” In 1863, Schindler explained to Gerhard von Breuning that the article of furniture was an ordinary clothes-press. With the certificates were found the letter to the “Immortal Beloved” and the portrait of the Countess von Brunswick.[185]

On March 27th, an autopsy was performed by Dr. Johann Wagner in the presence of Dr. Wawruch. Its significant disclosures have already been printed here. In order to facilitate an examination of the organs of hearing the temporal bones were sawed out and carried away. Joseph Danhauser, a young painter who chanced to be in Vienna, received permission from Breuning to make a plaster cast of the dead man’s face. This he did on March 28th, but the cast has little value as a portrait, inasmuch as it was made after the autopsy, which had greatly disfigured the features. On the same day (not “immediately after death,” as has incorrectly been stated) Danhauser made a drawing of the head of Beethoven, which he reproduced by lithographic process. This picture bears the inscription: “Beethoven, March 28, drawn at his death-bed, 1827,” and to the left, “Danhauser.” This drawing, too, was made after the autopsy. For a bust which he modeled, the artist made use of the cast taken by Klein in 1812. Danhauser never came in contact with Beethoven alive.

The funeral took place at 3 o’clock in the afternoon of March 29th. It was one of the most imposing functions of its kind ever witnessed in Vienna.[186] Breuning and Schindler had made the arrangements. Cards of invitation were given out at Haslinger’s music-shop. Hours before the appointed time a multitude assembled in front of the Schwarzspanierhaus, and the mass grew moment by moment. Into the square in front of the house, it is said, 20,000 persons were crowded. All the notable representatives of art were present. The schools were closed. For the preservation of order, Breuning had asked the help of the military. In its report “Der Sammler” said:

On the conclusion of the canticle, the coffin was raised from the bier and the door of the court was opened. The singers lifted the coffin to their shoulders and carried it to the Trinity Church of the Minorites in the Alserstrasse. It was difficult to order the procession because of the surging multitude. Johann van Beethoven, von Breuning and his son and Schindler, found their places with difficulty. Eight chapelmasters—Eybler, Weigl, Hummel, Seyfried, Kreutzer, Gyrowetz, Würfel and Gänsbacher—carried the edges of the pall. At the sides walked the torch-bearers, among them Schubert, Castelli, Bernard, Böhm, Czerny, Grillparzer, Haslinger, Holz, Linke, Mayseder, Piringer, Schuppanzigh, Streicher, Steiner and Wolfmayer. In the procession were also Mosel and the pupils of Drechsler. While passing the Rothes Haus the sounds of the funeral march from Beethoven’s Sonata, Op. 26, were heard. The cortège moved through the crowded streets to the parish church in the Alserstrasse, where the service for the dead was concluded with the Libera nos Domine in 16 parts a cappella, composed by Seyfried, sung by the choristers.

The account of the “Sammler” continues: “The coffin was now placed in the hearse drawn by four horses, and taken to the cemetery at Währing. There, too, a multitude had assembled to do the last honors to the dead man....” The rules of the cemetery prohibiting all public speaking within its precincts, the actor Anschütz delivered a funeral oration written by Grillparzer over the coffin at the cemetery gate. After the coffin had been lowered into the grave, Haslinger handed three laurel wreaths to Hummel, who placed them upon the coffin. A poem by Castelli had been distributed at the house of mourning, and one by Baron von Schlechta at the cemetery; but there was no more speaking or singing at the burial.

Mozart’s “Requiem” was sung at the Church of the Augustinians, Lablache taking part, on April 3rd, and Cherubini’s at the Karlskirche two days later. The grave in the cemetery at Währing was marked by a simple pyramid bearing the one word

BEETHOVEN

It fell into neglect, and on October 13th, 1863, the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde of Vienna caused the body to be exhumed and re-buried. On June 21st, 1888, the remains of Beethoven and Schubert were removed to the Central Cemetery in Vienna, where they now repose side by side.

FINIS.

INDEX

General Index