WoO 189 Doktor sperrt das Tor dem Tod, Canon
“The musical examples on this page are curated by Graziano Denini
WoO 189 “Doktor sperrt das Tor dem Tod”, Canon for Braunhofer, 11 May 1825, published by Nohl in Briefe Beethovens, 1865, and later by others, most recently by W. Hess in the fifth instalment of the Supplemente zur G.A., 1962. Bruers 329 – Hess 329 – KH. (WoO)189 – Thayer 251.
Titolo ufficiale: WoO 189 Doktor sperrt das Tor dem Tod Kanon (C-dur) nach einem eigenen Text Widmung: – NGAXII/2 AGA- SBG V/47 (2. Auflage: 48; Hess 266)
The original manuscript, bearing the above date, is preserved in the archive of the Society of the Friends of Music in Vienna. The text (by Beethoven), “Doktor sperrt das Tor dem Tod, Note hilft auch aus der Not,” is connected with what the master says in a conversation book: “Mein Arzt half mir, denn ich konnte keine Noten schreiben; nun aber schreibe ich Noten welche mir aus den Nöten helfen.” Beethoven had been suffering from an intestinal inflammation, for which he was treated by Dr Braunhofer. The Canon was enclosed with a playful letter written on 11 May 1825 to the doctor from Baden. Here too the wordplay is clear between “Note” (musical note) and “Not” (need, distress).
[By Biamonti Giovanni – Catalogo cronologico e tematico delle opere di Beethoven comprese quelle inedite e gli abbozzi non utilizzati, Torino, ILTE 1968, pagina 406]
Written in May 1825 in Baden, near Vienna. The first edition appeared posthumously in Ludwig Nohl’s 1865 edition of the letters, although as early as 1838 a facsimile of the transcription of the autograph had been published in the journal Der Wiener Telegraph. In April 1825 Beethoven suffered a sudden illness and sent for his doctor, Dr Anton Georg Braunhofer (see WoO 150, dedication), who visited and treated him. Beethoven wrote in a conversation notebook from early May 1825: “My doctor helped me, for I could no longer write a single note, but now I am writing notes that will help me out of my distress” (BKh 7 p. 256). In May Beethoven went to Baden, near Vienna, for further convalescence. Probably on 5 May 1825, shortly before Beethoven’s departure, Braunhofer asked him for a few lines in his own hand: “Don’t forget the notes, just a few, insignificant ones — all that matters is your handwriting” (BKh 7 p. 267).
Beethoven granted the request, and on 13 May sent the Canon to the doctor in Baden, together with a report on the course of the illness (BGA 1967). Braunhofer was “very pleased” with the letter, as Beethoven’s nephew Karl van Beethoven reported (BKh 7 p. 280). The autograph is preserved at the DB, Mus. SM. autogr. Beethoven 51.85 (Konversationsheft 89), folio 1 recto. Date: around 8 May 1825 (BKh 7 p. 273). Letter to Anton Georg Braunhofer (BGA 1967). Dating: “on 11 May 1825”. Title: folio 2 recto: “Written on 11 May 1825 in Baden Helenenthal at the 2nd Anton’s Bridge towards Siechenfeld”. Two folios; WoO 189 on folio 2 recto. Paper: vertical format, trimmed at top, bottom and right edge, 26 × 21.5 cm, 4 lines freely penned. Provenance: Anton von Braunhofer – Leopold Edler von Sonnleithner – acquired in 1844. Facsimile: Der Wiener Telegraph. Conversationsblatt für Kunst, Literatur, geselliges Leben, Theater, Tagesbegebenheiten und Industrie 3 (1838), No. 2. Nohl/Briefe p. 289 no. 335 (closed reproduction). BGA 1967. Literature: Klein/Kanons p. 38 — Misch/Pseudokanons pp. 33 f. — Thayer/1865 no. 251 (p. 155).
J. Green informs us that: “The fact that the text comes from Beethoven is evident from the use of one of his favourite puns, […] The score he was working on at that time was the Heiliger Dankgesang eines Genesenen an die Gottheit, the third movement of his String Quartet Op. 132. It is interesting to note that the cantus firmus of this hymn is also based on C major (though in church mode) and written in minims. For the performance: at the very end of the piece, the second voice must sing the G notated above it instead of the A (bar 12), so that the movement does not end in a faulty manner.”
The resolution of this Canon is, to me, rather mysterious; whichever note the second voice begins on, one encounters non-contrapuntal and dissonant intervals. If we try to shape it as a Canon at the unison, at the third bar of the third entry we even find a stacking of two major thirds (F–A and G–B natural).