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Ludwig van Beethoven, Skizzenblätter zu "Meeres Stille und Glückliche Fahrt" op. 112, Autograph

Beethoven-Haus Bonn, Sammlung H. C. Bodmer, HCB Mh 90

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Choir completed, Archduke missed

For "Meeres Stille und Glückliche Fahrt" ("Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage") op. 112 Beethoven combined two poems by Goethe in a composition for choir and orchestra. The first sketches for op. 112, including the ones shown here, were already completed at the end of 1814 - Beethoven probably first planned the work for an academy in January or February 1815. However, this academy never took place. Beethoven therefore put the composition to one side for the time being. He completed the music for the choir in early summer 1815, as a letter to Archduke Rudolph from 23 July 1815 leads us to believe. Beethoven apologises for missing his visit, "When you were recently in town, unfortunately I thought of the music for the choir, I rushed home to write it down, but it took more of my time than I had originally thought and so I missed Your Majesty to my great regret." Opus 112 was finally first performed in a benefit concert for the Children's Hospital Fund on Christmas Day 1815. (J.R.)

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