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Sonata Op. 101 for violin and piano, Dorothea Ertmann and the Milan Ricordi edition by Luigi Bellofatto
Articles – Sonata Opus 101 for Violin and Piano – Dorothea Ertmann, the Opus 101 Sonata, and Its Publication in Milan by Ricordi
Article by Luigi Bellofatto on the violin‑and‑piano transcription of the Piano Sonata Opus 101, published in Milan by Ricordi in 1820. Multimedia and musical apparatus by Graziano Denini.
Catharina Dorothea Graumann (3 May 1781 – 16 March 1849), originally from Frankfurt am Main, had already shown pianistic gifts from a very young age. In August 1798 she became a baroness by virtue of her marriage to the Austrian baron Stephan Leopold von Ertmann (1769–1835), an officer in the army.
Her friendship and association with Beethoven probably dates from this period. A testimony of the first meeting between Ertmann and Beethoven is preserved in a chapter of the memoirs of Mathilde Graumann, daughter of Johann Friedrich Graumann, Dorothea’s younger brother. In her volumes of memoirs, Erinnerungen aus meinem Leben (1877) and Aus meinem Leben (1888), Marchesi recalled several important moments in the artistic and musical life of her aunt Dorothea, including her relationship with Beethoven, as they had been recounted to her directly: “For hours I would sit beside her, listening to her splendid performances at the piano and to her recollections of Beethoven.”
Concerning the first encounter between Ertmann and Beethoven, reporting her aunt’s words, Mathilde Marchesi writes:
Agli inizi – così mi raccontò – sia il grande maestro sia l’orientamento musicale che aveva intrapreso venivano pesantemente avversati. La sua musica era considerata incomprensibile e noiosa. Curiosa di conoscere le sue nuove sonate mi recai un giorno nel negozio di musica del signor Haslinger, mi feci consegnare alcune di tali composizioni e le suonai immediatamente su un pianoforte che si trovava lì. Nella foga non mi ero accorta di un uomo giovane che stava timidamente in un angolo e che poi in silenzio si appressò a me. Chi potrebbe descrivere il mio stupore quando egli improvvisamente mi afferrò le mani e mi ringraziò con le espressioni più calorose per l’esecuzione assai riuscita delle sue sonate? Era Beethoven. A partire da quel momento divenimmo amici.
Catharina Dorothea Graumann
In 1802 or 1803 the couple, together with their child Franz Carl, born in 1800, settled in Vienna, where the young Dorothea von Ertmann soon came to be appreciated as a highly accomplished pianist. Gifted, well‑trained, and an enthusiastic admirer of Beethoven, the baroness became one of his piano pupils.
For New Year’s Day 1804 Beethoven sent the baroness an artistic reproduction depicting two angels—one holding a lyre, the other a sheet of music and a pencil—together with a greeting card: “To Baroness Ertmann for the New Year 1804, from her friend and admirer Beethoven.” This brief note is the earliest document attesting to the acquaintance between the composer and the baroness.
On 19 March 1804, less than three months after Beethoven had sent his New Year’s greeting, the little Franz Carl von Ertmann, the couple’s only child, died at the age of just over three and a half. Contemporary sources report that Beethoven attempted to console the grieving mother by improvising at length at the piano with incomparable refinement and empathy.
In the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung of Leipzig, 7 February 1810, in a detailed and extensive review of the edition of Reichardt’s letters, the reviewer allows himself an ironic remark regarding Reichardt’s enthusiastic praise of Ertmann:
Madame von Ertmann is not only (as is right) preferred to all the female pianists of Vienna, nor merely (as is probably not incorrect) to all the female pianists of the world, but she is even preferred to all pianists whatsoever—and for this Herr Reichardt must take full responsibility!
Baron von Ertmann, who had distinguished himself in the Battle of Aspern (21–22 May 1809) near Vienna against Napoleon and had risen in the ranks of the Austrian army, also took part, on 8 February 1814, in the Battle of the Mincio. On this occasion too, holding the rank of colonel, he played an important role in the fighting. Shortly thereafter, with the return of the Austrians to Milan after the long Napoleonic interval, the baron was promoted to commander of the Deutschmeister Regiment—that is, commander of the Austrian garrison then stationed in Milan.
The Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung of 24 August 1814 reports news from Milan concerning Ertmann’s husband:
Baron Ertmann, colonel of the Deutschmeister Regiment, currently garrisoned in this city, has recently returned from Vienna in the company of his wife, a pupil of Beethoven. Since it is possible to hear the baroness only in compositions by her illustrious master—works which in Italy are scarcely known and for which it is difficult to find anyone capable of performing them—we admire her not only as an excellent pianist, but in particular for her splendid interpretations of these very pieces.
Some time later, the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung of September 1814 reported that the baroness had wasted no time in making “heard pieces by her great master, which in Italy are scarcely known and for which scarcely any performer can be found.” The Ertmanns’ stay in Milan at this time was not permanent: the couple frequently returned to Vienna and also spent extended periods in other locations, since Stephan von Ertmann—often without his wife—had to follow the movements of his regiment (at least until 1824, when, having been promoted once again, he was definitively assigned to Milan).
A further concise confirmation of Ertmann’s excellence as a rigorous and faithful Beethoven interpreter comes from a later memoir (1852), though referring to these years, by Dr. Andreas Bertolini, a friend of Beethoven and his physician from 1806 to 1814: Above all, Beethoven preferred to have his sonatas performed by Madame von Ertmann; he himself no longer liked to play them at that time.
Around mid‑January 1817, at the beginning of a letter to the Viennese publisher Tobias Haslinger, Beethoven specifies the dedication of his last piano sonata:
Circumstances have led me to the following dedication for the new sonata: “Sonata for the pianoforte or Hammerklavier, composed and dedicated to Baroness Dorothea Ertman[n], née Graumann, by L. v. Beethoven.” […] As for the dedication, I beg you to observe the utmost discretion, since I intend it as a surprise.
The first edition of Op. 101 published in Vienna by Steiner
At the publishing house S.A. Steiner & Comp. of Vienna, the Sonata for Piano “difficult to perform” in A major, Op. 101, bearing the dedication desired by the composer, appeared the following month. On 23 February, or a few days earlier, Beethoven again sent a letter to Haslinger asking when he might “have a copy of the sonata for Baroness v. Ertmann, since she will be leaving here [Vienna] perhaps the day after tomorrow at the latest” to join her husband, who was stationed in Sankt Pölten. Whatever the precise date of this letter, on 23 February Beethoven had a copy of the sonata delivered to the baroness, accompanied by a letter addressed to “my dear excellent Dorothea Cäcilia,” in which he expressed himself, among other things, as follows: “accept, then, what has long been destined for you and which must serve as proof of my devotion to your artistic talent and to your person.”
Beethoven composed and dedicated to Ertmann the Piano Sonata in A major, Op. 101, and when sending her a copy (13 September 1817) he addressed her as “My dear and beloved Dorothea.” The Op. 101 Sonata, highly complex and innovative, contains in all four movements elements (including a fugue) that may be traced to the contrapuntal style of Johann Sebastian Bach. This is likely one of the reasons it is dedicated to Dorothea von Ertmann, since the baroness—as we know from the testimonies of Reichardt and Rust—was an enthusiastic admirer and performer of the keyboard works of Bach and Handel. In addition to Beethoven’s sonata, Ertmann was the dedicatee of further compositions by Czerny, Eberl, Dessauer, and Reichardt, confirming her prestige within the pianistic musical landscape of the time.
As for Ertmann’s interpretation of Beethoven’s works and her inspiring manner of playing, precise details may be found in an extensive, detailed, and in this case probably entirely reliable account left by Anton Schindler (1795–1864), who for a period served as the composer’s secretary, in his Biography of Beethoven:
Mathilde Graumann, daughter of Johann Friedrich Graumann, the younger brother of Ertmann. Erinnerungen aus meinem Leben (Recollections of My Life, 1877) contains many reminiscences of her aunt Dorothea Ertmann (copy with the author’s autograph dedication).
Mathilde Graumann, daughter of Johann Friedrich Graumann, the younger brother of Ertmann. Erinnerungen aus meinem Leben (Recollections of My Life, 1877) contains many reminiscences of her aunt Dorothea Ertmann (copy with the author’s autograph dedication).
In 1820 the Ertmanns returned to Vienna, and their presence around the middle of August is confirmed by an entry in the Conversation Books. Carl Joseph Bernard notes: “I have been only twice to Dornbach, to the mother of Herr von Frank and to him, where Baroness Ertmann performed.”
Around mid‑September, Anton Schindler writes in the Conversation Books: “If it is confirmed that the Deutschmeister Regiment too must go to Italy, then we shall also lose the wife of General Ertmann, and our Matinées at Czerny’s will suffer greatly from this.”
Also dating from 1820 are certain pieces of information concerning a piano sonata by Beethoven in relation to Milan. In the Conversation Books from early March, a visitor not clearly identifiable—but almost certainly a collaborator of the Viennese music publisher Artaria—notes: “Out of curiosity, even in Milan they ardently desire the Sonata, although there is no one there capable of playing such a thing.”
Guglielmo Barblan maintains that the Sonata in question is Op. 106, the subject of the conversation shortly before; the publisher Ricordi had in fact requested from the Viennese publisher Artaria the possibility of a co‑edition for Milan. Indeed, Op. 106 was published in 1819 in a co‑edition with Ricordi, together with several other publishers. The Ertmanns’ stay in Milan was, however, occasionally interrupted by travels—for example, toward the end of 1825 and the beginning of 1826, when Ertmann went to Hungary to visit Baron Nicolaus von Zmeskall, a dear friend of hers and of Beethoven; and also during their Viennese sojourns, such as the long stay from 30 May to 16 September 1826. Awaiting her return to Vienna, a few days before her arrival in the capital, Karl Holz notes in a Conversation Book: “The arrival of Ertmann is expected from day to day.” The following month, Ertmann and Beethoven had the opportunity to meet.
Then, in July 1826, Ertmann expressed a strong desire to hear one of Beethoven’s late string quartets, as recorded in the Conversation Books by Holz (“Mylord said that Ertmann wishes to hear a quartet, and is even willing to pay for the purpose”) and by Schuppanzigh himself (“Have you already seen Ertmann? She is most eager to hear your new quartets”).
The publication of Op. 106 by the Milan publisher Riccordi (rather than Ricordi) in 1819
On 16 September 1826 the Ertmanns left Vienna to return once more to Milan, where at that time Carl Thomas Mozart (Vienna 1784 – Milan 1858, the elder of the two surviving sons of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) was also residing. He was almost certainly a habitué of Ertmann’s Milanese musical salon, if not indeed one of its regular animators. Having been in Italy since 1797, the young Mozart, beginning in 1805, completed his already advanced musical studies in Napoleonic Milan under Bonifazio Asioli (to whom he had presented himself with a letter of introduction from Haydn). However, after abandoning musical studies in 1810—despite being an “excellent pianist”—he became a civil servant, first under the French and then under the Austrians. Having become an employee of the Austrian Imperial Archive in Milan, the excellent training he had received in Prague and Milan enabled him to preside over the city’s principal musical activities, and he himself came to regard Milan as his second homeland. He never abandoned his passion for music, however, and also worked privately as a piano teacher.
In July 1831 the twenty‑two‑year‑old Mendelssohn stayed in Milan, and in addition to attending performances at La Scala and other theatres, he made a point of seeking an encounter with Baroness Ertmann, whose husband, in the meantime, had been promoted to general. In the early afternoon of the hot Milanese summer, after viewing Raphael’s Marriage of the Virgin at Brera, Mendelssohn climbed the stairs of Palazzo Cusani, where the baroness welcomed him warmly and played for him the two Sonatas Op. 27 No. 2 and Op. 31 No. 2. It was on this occasion that the general, as Mendelssohn wrote to his family on 14 July, “wept for joy, for he had never heard his wife play for so long, since in Milan there was no one willing to listen to such music.” Although somewhat out of practice, the visitor observed, the baroness “plays Beethoven’s compositions very well; she often exaggerates a little in expression and thus slows down and then hastens, yet she performs certain pieces wonderfully, and I believe I have learned something from her.”
On 16 March 1849, at nearly sixty‑eight years of age, the baroness died as a result of “contagious material settling upon the brain.” On 18 March, exactly one year after the outbreak of the Five Days of Milan and in the very last days of the First War of Independence—which marked the beginning of the decline of Vienna’s beneficial musical influence on Milan—her funeral took place. As stated in the funeral announcement:
The body will be blessed on Sunday, 18 March, at four in the afternoon, in the residence of the deceased, in the city, Strauchgasse 243, according to the custom of the Evangelical Church A.C., and will then be laid to rest in peace in her own tomb in the Währing cemetery.
The same cemetery—then still outside Vienna—where her friend and master Ludwig van Beethoven had been resting for twenty‑two years.
Returning to Beethoven’s Op. 101 Sonata and its publication in Italy: in October 1820 Ricordi published it in Milan, though in a version that appears to us today quite singular. That the demanding Op. 101 Sonata made something of an impression even in Milan is demonstrated by the fact that Ricordi published it before earlier, far more accessible and well‑known sonatas such as the Pathétique or the Moonlight. It was almost certainly an edition motivated by the desire to please the city’s military commander; but the publication is of particular interest because it appeared as a composition “for harpsichord and violin.”
It may seem surprising to see a Beethoven piano sonata—and above all this Op. 101, with which the so‑called “third period” is often said to begin, and which Beethoven himself wished to precede with the precise indication für das Hammerklavier—published with the addition of a violin part. How and why, with the dedicatee herself likely involved, was such a compromise reached?
Given that the most astonishing adaptations of classical works were extremely common in the nineteenth century, it cannot be excluded that this arrangement resulted from collaboration between Ertmann and Alessandro Rolla (1757–1841, the well‑known violinist who in Milan was a major disseminator of music from beyond the Alps), or between the baroness and some Austrian officer who was a competent amateur violinist. The adaptation was probably intended to facilitate the reception of this demanding work among those attending the elegant academies held in the magnificent salons of Palazzo Cusani in Via Brera, which had become the seat of the Ministry of War and remained so after the return of the Austrians. Ricordi did not hesitate to make it a point of pride; that this act of Beethovenian dissemination within Milan’s aristocratic milieu around 1820 should have met with notable success would have been bold to expect.
The publication date, 2 October 1820, is derived by Barblan from the plate number (922) checked in the Ricordi archives. The reduction procedure is quite simple: in general, the violin sustains one of the inner voices removed from the piano texture, or doubles the melody. For example, in the exposition of the first theme of the opening movement, the violin plays the alto part. In the Adagio, the four bars that introduce the piano phrase are doubled an octave higher by the violin; in the second section, the violin instead accompanies with pizzicati. Naturally, in this edition the march movement is omitted.
Finally, it is worth noting that in April 1816 the Conservatory’s committee for the selection of honorary members proposed the appointment of three new musicians: Salieri, Beethoven, and Krommer. The appointment of honorary members was a special privilege granted to the Institute since the Napoleonic era, and it was a recognition bestowed upon “national or foreign” musicians who had particularly distinguished themselves. The recipients were given a diploma and a medal. The news concerning Beethoven, reported by Lichetenthal in the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung of 3 April 1816, is not documented by other sources. The same correspondent, in September 1817, reported that Krommer had already received his diploma, while for Salieri and Beethoven “such communication will be made after the next semi‑annual examination session.” It should also be borne in mind that confirmation by the Austrian government of the Conservatory’s privilege to issue honorary diplomas required that Austrian candidates for such distinction, in addition to demonstrating their actual talents, be found “commendable in political principles and of good conduct.” It is therefore not impossible that Beethoven’s nomination was rejected, precisely for political reasons, during the governmental authorization process.
Luigi BELLOFATTO
Some Considerations by Graziano Denini, Editor of the Revision of the Sonata Opus 101 for Violin and Piano
I) Allegretto ma non troppo – II) Adagio, ma non troppo (attacca) – III) Allegro
This PDF version—very likely prepared for the first time in modern times, and FREELY DOWNLOADABLE AND USABLE—is characterized, as I mentioned several times to Armando during our musical conversations already in mid‑2016, by a measure entirely missing from the violin part (something far from unusual; many printers knew little about music, and errors are abundant in scores of the period that were not revised by the authors, as Beethoven himself was well aware). I wished to reproduce ONLY what is written in the score, that is, how two Milanese performers of the time might have played it.
All additional indications (marked, as usual, in the part I attach in PDF) correspond to what two excellent Italian musicians—having only the violin and harpsichord score (an old designation: it is, in fact, a pianoforte)—might have written, provided they had a solid contrapuntal education (for example, all the fugue subjects begin with a dotted rhythm, even when not always notated as such) and, naturally, a fine musical ear.
A clarification: there are some errors that I have left untouched. The most conspicuous is an incorrect measure in the harpsichord part in the Adagio. I deliberately left it as it is. I would like to follow this version with an Urtext edition, comparing it with the pianistic version—how the sonata might have been performed had Beethoven himself been present, with his corrections. The idea seems appealing to me, and it would make the music somewhat more vivid and less bogged down; I shall soon devote myself to this new musical venture.
Graziano Denini