Malzel vs Beethoven

[spaceray]

The inventor and LvB worked together on a
"piece d'occasion"Wellimgton's Victory,they Quarrelled over it and it ended in a lawsuit.
My book doesn't say why?Was this another publishing matter?

[ann hathaway]

[ann hathaway]

What went wrong to sour this unuual friendship? It would appear to have been a combination of Ludwig's lack of trust in Malzel and an unwarranted fear of loss of income from this exeptionally popular product of his own conception.
The lawsuit seems to have been precipitated by Malzel's performance in Munich in April 1814 of the Battle Symphony without Beethoven's permission. Beethoven accused Malzel of having stolen his work, which further more was spurious and mutilated, since his version, in the absence of the complete, authentic, original score, must have been extapolated from only a few of the parts.
Beethoven imfdormed Dr. von Adlersburg that when, immediately after the first charity concert (December 1813), he heard it on good authority that Malzel was spreading the story that he had paid him 400 ducats for the symphony, he returned the 50 ducats and dissociated himself from such a bad character.

Beethoven's main concern was to prevent Malzel perfroming Wellington's Victory in London, where it was likely to prove most popular. In April 1814, he sent a manuscript copy to the prince regent of England, to whom the work was dedicated. However, to his dismay, this plan backfired, since he received neither remuneration nor even acknowledgment. Ludwig complained to Salomon, asking if it were possible to recoup the costs of copying.
The score had been delivered by courier at the expense of the Russian ambassador, Count Razumovsky, whom Beethoven also asked to intervene on his behalf.
Beethoven deputized Ferdinand Ries to act as his authorized agent in London, and he asked for his assurance that he would take his side in the dispute.
In his puplic declaration to the musicians of London, he pointed that Malzel's pirated version was false or mutilated.
Wellington's Victory was given a thunderous applause at the Drury Lane Theatre in London. Under George Smart and repeated three days later.

The legal proceedings in Vienna had ground to a halt, for when Malzel backed off a stalemate ensued, so that legal costs were evenly divided.

Although Malzel never performed the Battle Symphony again, he returned to Vienna in 1817 to promote his metonome.
All bitterness of the lawsuit was forgotten during a merry reunion at the Black Camel Tavern, when Schindler and Malzel sang a duet of the "Ta,ta,ta," Canon,WoO 162.
Malzel was no longer a dishonest, coarse, uncultured, uneducated villian, but a good fellow.

[spaceray]

Great information,thanks ann.

[Roehre]

(...)
The legal proceedings in Vienna had ground to a halt, for when Malzel backed off a stalemate ensued, so that legal costs were evenly divided.

Although Malzel never performed the Battle Symphony again, he returned to Vienna in 1817 to promote his metonome.

All bitterness of the lawsuit was forgotten during a merry reunion at the Black Camel Tavern, when Schindler and Malzel sang a duet of the "Ta,ta,ta," Canon,WoO 162.

Malzel was no longer a dishonest, coarse, uncultured, uneducated villian, but a good fellow.

A pity that the story of the canon Ta,Ta,Ta is a fabrication of Schindler's....

[Michael]

A pity that the story of the canon Ta,Ta,Ta is a fabrication of Schindler's....

Yes, it's even included in one of the "complete" CD editions.

[Roehre]

Yes, it's even included in one of the "complete" CD editions.

The Cascade and the Brilliant do, the DGG doesn't include WoO 162, though all three editions use the same recordings made by the East German Eterna (now Berlin Classics) for their Beethoven Edition of 1970.