On this day

[Pastorali]

First (orchestral) performance of Franz Schubert's Symphony #8 D.759 in B minor 'The Unfinished' on December 17. 1865 in Vienna, conducted by Ludwig Herbeck.
Schubert wrote this work about 40 years earlier, dedicated and gave then the manuscript to his friend Anselm Hüttenbrenner. After Schubert's death, Hüttenbrenner made a transcription for 4 hand piano from this work to make it better known by the public, but it dured really a pretty long time till it was played the first time then...

[Peter]

Yes Anselm Huttenbrenner was the man who was present on March 26th 1827 and closed Beethoven's eyelids for the last time. He had met Beethoven earlier in 1816 and Beethoven is reputed to have said to him after being shown 2 of his compositions "I am not worthy that you should visit me" - a remark that puzzled Huttenbrenner even decades later in 1860 when he told Thayer "If this was humility, it was divine; if it was irony it was excusable."

Anselm's brother, Joseph also knew Beethoven and after singing in the chorus at the 1st performance of the 9th, Beethoven invited him to ride back in his carriage together with his nephew Karl and Schindler to his rooms in the the landstrasse.

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'Man know thyself'

[Joy]

Originally posted by Peter:


Anselm's brother, Joseph also knew Beethoven and after singing in the chorus at the 1st performance of the 9th, Beethoven invited him to ride back in his carriage together with his nephew Karl and Schindler to his rooms in the the landstrasse.

Wow! To be a 'fly on the wall' in that carriage!!!

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'Truth and beauty joined'

[Edwin]

Hi, i'm new on this forum and just wish to say that it's all very interesting to me. I'm very fond of Beethoven and Schubert and often wonder about the relationship between these two composers. We know that Schubert worshipped Beethoven and felt himself to be an inferior composer. Beethoven in turn recognized Schubert's qualities and valued him highly, even reportedly having said 'this one will surpass me'. It seems that Schubert's name appears often in Beethoven's conversation-book, do some of you have more details about this? I'm really curious about which of Schubert's music Beethoven was familiar with and at what stage in time. I do know that Schubert composed 8 variations on a french song (D. 624, dedicated to Beethoven) which Beethoven seems to have liked much.

As far as their common friend Anselm Huttenbrenner is concerned, i suggest to listen to Schubert's variations on a theme given by him (13 variations in A minor D. 576). Delightful music!