`Mr. Beethoven' is the story of the famous composer
“Mr. Beethoven” by Paul Griffiths is the story of the famous composer, Ludwig Van Beethoven. In 1833 on the brig Florida, this famed composer is going to Boston to oversee (not to hear) the first performance of his Oratorio.
Three important men come to greet him addressing and bowing to him: Mason, Chickering, and Richardson, and Abigail Mason makes certain his room is perfect for when he arrives. Other than a bed and a desk there is a square piano. No pictures because none seem right to Abigail for the Master. Author Griffiths guesses that Beethoven wrote a large part of the Oratorio before he left Vienna and also wrote a set of piano duets for the older Mason boys, autographed, a treasure today.
A young girl named Thankful is brought to Beethoven to assist him in communicating with others. She's skilled in the hand signs that people with no hearing, many who live on Martha's Vineyard have learned. She holds his hands and helps him make the sign she desires. She plays “Moonlight Sonata” and though he can't hear it he sees her fingers touch the notes and recognizes it. Six women sit in his living room waiting to audition for parts in the Oratorio and Thankful is the judge of their voices. Beethoven watches their expressions, and how they walk and hold themselves.
Later the composer and his librettist Reverend Ballou shake hands and the two men sit in the room looking at the garden with Thankful there too. The composer says the first lines are insipid. Ballou wants him to know his moral outlook. To this Beethoven says, “fish oil”.
Later they all go on vacation to the nearby town of Quincy where they rent a large house and Beethoven and Thankful share a room and practice their sign language. Beethoven insists she sit at the dinner table where he can see her hands. He notes there is more equality between classes here in the U.S. than in Vienna, where master and servant were more distinct.
The committee is anxious that there are only four months remaining until the Oratorio is to be performed and no one has seen or heard a note of it. Did Beethoven visit the rock quarries in Quincy to see the rock hammered and gathered and crated off to make the façade of banks, solid and eternal?
It is not known if the composer made any progress on the Oratorio at Quincy but it's assumed that a great deal of work was done in those few months there. At dinner one night the Master invites Mrs. Hill to visit him the following day and she does so. She sees the oratorio manuscript on his desk. She feels the anxiety and desperation in the music. He says the best thing is a combination of surprise and beauty. The following day at twelve o'clock again Mrs. Hill joins the Master at his desk and listens to his problem: the words of Mr. Ballou are not right and what is he to do? The Master himself is asking Mrs. Hill for her opinion. After her critique of Ballou's text, Beethoven tells her to do whatever she thinks is best. He trusts her. Mention is made of an Indian operetta but no evidence is available and it's possible that the composer met the poet Longfellow at Quincy.
Later the three original men Richardson, Chickering, and Mason are summoned to hear an announcement by Beethoven, “It is finished.” Lowell Jr. comes to visit Beethoven and Thankful opens the door. Lowell responds in German which he's learning and asks if the Master would like to play checkers. As they play the boy goes to the kitchen and brings a loaf of bread, a knife, and a hunk of cheese.
The oratorio is bound in green leather and ready for the orchestra, the choir, and the soloists, ready for the Society members who had commissioned it. They make several corrections and discuss who is to sing which part. Mr. Colburn is to sing the Devil. They agree this is excellent and close the meeting. The following day Richardson, Chickering, and Mason meet. The composer stands and says the terms “crescendo” diminuendo” and “piano” have been neglected and often inserted in the wrong places. The composer does not understand why they have not strictly adhered to his score when he's spent hours, nay days on it. The next day the three female soloists, Miss Belcher, Mrs. Washburn, and Mrs. Long, are rehearsing a block from the Commons. We do not know their first names or the color or style of their hair, but we do know they are soprano, mezzo-soprano, and contralto.
Reverend Ballou bursts into the Hall, speaks loudly and firmly and Thankful transcribes it all to the composer. He realizes finally that Ballou is objecting to three singers for the voices of the Divinity. Thankful explains the verse as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Thankful answers to questions of phrasing, accentuation, and vocal color Samuel Richardson's powerful interpretation comes from within him. Society members have written that his voice is of “marvelous ponderosity” from a man of “large frame”, noisy, jovial, jolly and free and easy.”
Does the audience, the Haydyn-handel Society appreciate it? Author Griffiths has used letters written by Beethoven as well as notes from the Society to complete this story. Is it fantasy or real? Even Thankful the interpreter, wonders “Did it all really happen?” See what you think as it is on the new fiction shelf of your local library. Author Griffiths has written books about classical music as well as articles for the NY Times; the New Yorker, and The Times London.