Karl Holz (violinist)
Karl Holz (born March 3, 1799 in Vienna ; † November 9, 1858 ibid) was an Austrian violinist. He was second violinist in the Schuppanzigh Quartet founded by Ignaz Schuppanzigh and a close companion of the composer Ludwig van Beethoven when he wrote his late string quartets in the last phase of his life .
Life
Karl Holz was born on March 3, 1799 in Vienna . Little is known about his life; Most of the known information can be derived from the communication with Ludwig van Beethoven that has been handed down in writing in the conversation books - with the help of which Beethoven had to communicate in writing with his fellow men in the last years of his life due to his deafness caused by otosclerosis .
Karl Holz was a cashier in the office of the Lower Austrian state estates. He described this activity to Beethoven as follows:
“I have a very light duty. Basically, I only work for an hour. I have the other time to myself. But I have to sit inside; I must at least put my body in there. I always have interesting jobs for me "
To supplement his meager civil servant salary, he gave violin lessons. In keeping with the nature of his work, he later saw his planned marriage rather than the profession he pursued as a limitation for his musical inclinations. After giving public concerts with Joseph Böhm , a member of the Schuppanzigh Quartet , from 1821 , he was second violinist in the ensemble from 1823 until Ignaz Schuppanzigh's death in 1830.
The first contact with Ludwig van Beethoven came about when Holz was supposed to conduct a Beethoven symphony - probably the fourth - on April 4, 1825 in the Redoutensaal in Vienna . A friendship developed between the two of them in August of the same year when Beethoven gave the violinist the autograph of his String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132, so that he could make copies, and the composer's fear of not getting the autograph back was not confirmed. Karl Holz became the contact person between Beethoven and the Schuppanzigh Quartet, the copyist of his quartet compositions and took over household tasks and negotiations with the publishers for the composer. The violinist, nicknamed “Best Mahogany Wood” by Beethoven, was “invited to lunch 365 times a year” , as Beethoven's nephew Karl put it somewhat derisively. Karl Holz himself wrote about his time with Beethoven:
“While composing the three quartets op. 127, 130, 132 desired by Prince Golitsyn, Beethoven's inexhaustible imagination flowed such a wealth of new quartet ideas that he almost involuntarily had to write the C sharp minor and F major quartet . 'Best, I thought of something again!' He used to say jokingly and with shining eyes when we went for a walk: he wrote a few notes in his sketchbook (…) 'and there is a lack of imagination, thank God, less than ever before! ‹“
Karl Holz died of cholera in 1858 . Holz's plan for an official biography of the composer, approved by Beethoven, did not materialize for unknown reasons.
Historical evaluation
The first coherent Beethoven biography was published in 1840 by Beethoven's secretary Anton Felix Schindler . In this, Schindler presents himself as the closest confidante in Beethoven's last years. The fact is that between the end of 1822 and 1824, Schindler carried out necessary everyday tasks such as running errands and negotiating with copyists for Beethoven. Schindler took his task so seriously, however, that Beethoven, who complained to his brother Johann in a letter of August 19, 1823 about "this vile despicable person" , soon became too much and he finally got his self-appointed "secret secretary without salary" Released from his duties because he feared "that a great misfortune might be imminent for me because of you ." In his place came Karl Holz, in whom, according to Schindler's account, "every inch is a Viennese 'faiake' of first quality" ; In addition, Schindler accused the violinist of having had a negative influence on the composer, among other things by inducing him to consume more alcohol and by focusing too much on pure money-making, and confirmed his assessment five years later in a newspaper article:
“Fortunately, it was only in the short period of about 18 months when the most reprehensible, hitherto unknown love affair on the part of Mr. Holz, which henceforth nourished Beethoven's irritability, mistrust and often childish moods, resulted in his being from the bottom of his heart noble Beethoven very often denied his temperament and became a real sultans. "
Karl Holz defended himself against the allegations, which Schindler pretended to be able to prove with entries in the conversation notebooks. In the meantime, however, it has been proven that Schindler had forged numerous conversation booklet entries in order to present himself in a more favorable light.
However, these forgeries could only be detected 100 years later during the editing work on the critical edition of the conversation books, so that Holz's bad reputation was not in doubt for a long time. Beethoven researcher Alexander Wheelock Thayer judged Karl Holz in a more differentiated manner, but essentially followed Schindler's assessment by describing Holz as "brazen" and giving him "a certain frivolity" and "a certain [ n] intrusiveness « . Other researchers such as Otto Jahn ( "The messages from Karl Holz (...) are to be assessed with caution" ), Ludwig Nohl ( "a real Viennese› fruit ‹, in the good as well as in the bad sense" ) and Paul Bekker ( " There were also only a few of the Viennese acquaintances whose relationship with Beethoven deepened in friendship over time. People like Schindler or Holz are not among them. « ) Followed Schindler's example.
While Karl Holz was only mentioned in a supplementary volume (MGG I, Vol. 16, Column 728f.) After the first edition of “ The Music in History and Present ”, Constant von Wurzbach also gave a negative judgment in his “ Biographical Lexicon of the Empire of Austria ” on Holz, who, in order to defend himself against Schindler's assertions, substantiated Beethoven's negative opinion of Schindler with corresponding statements in the composer's correspondence:
"So you can see that you don't have to take those harsh expressions against Schindler too literally. It is reasonable to assume that Beethoven's displeasure towards Schindler was not permanent; [...] all insults fall back on Holz, who acted in such an inconsiderate manner against a man whose exaggerated vanity - which is reflected in the "ami de Beethoven" - only deserves pity "
According to the musicologist Gerd Indorf, this consistently negative view of Karl Holz cannot be confirmed; on the contrary, an analysis of the eleventh volume of the conversation books suggests that Holz's care for Beethoven was not restricted by egoism, but by the violinist's marriage plans: "The marriage affairs bother him a little bit (sic)"
literature
- Constantin von Wurzbach : wood, Karl . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 9th part. Imperial-Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1863, p. 243 f. ( Digitized version ).
- Hermann Ullrich , Karl Holz. Beethoven's last friend , in: Studies on Musicology , Volume 31 (1980), pp. 67–189 ( digitized version )
- Karl Holz - Beethoven's "best mahogany wood" , in: Gerd Indorf: Beethoven's string quartets: Cultural-historical aspects and work interpretation . Rombach; 2nd Edition; May 31, 2007; ISBN 978-3793094913 , pp. 114-138
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ludwig van Beethoven, Konversationshefte , ed. by Karl-Heinz Köhler, Grita Herre, Dagmar Beck, et al., 11 volumes, Leipzig 1968–2001, volume 9, p. 275
- ^ Ludwig van Beethoven: Correspondence , Complete Edition. 8 volumes. Edited by Sieghard Brandenburg , Munich 1996 ff., No. 1731
- ^ Anton Felix Schindler : Ludwig van Beethoven , edited by Fritz Volbach , Münster 1927, part 1, p. 232
- ^ Ludwig van Beethoven: Correspondence , Complete Edition. 8 volumes. Edited by Sieghard Brandenburg , Munich 1996 ff., No. 1833
- ^ Anton Felix Schindler, Ludwig van Beethoven , 2 volumes, Münster 1840 ³1860, volume 2, p. 108
- ↑ a b c Alexander Wheelock Thayer : Ludwig van Beethoven's life. , Edited from the original manuscripts in German by Hermann Deiters, revision of the new edition carried out by H. von Deiters (1901) by Hugo Riemann, 5 volumes, Leipzig 1907-1919, volume 5, p. 185
- ↑ Donald W. MacArdle : Beethoven and Karl Holz , In: The Music Research , Volume 20 pp 19-29, p 27
- ↑ Ludwig Nohl : Beethoven's life , 3 volumes, Berlin ²1909, volume 3, p. 402
- ^ Paul Bekker : Beethoven , Berlin / Leipzig 1911. ² 1912, p. 61
- ^ Gerd Indorf: Beethoven's string quartets: Cultural-historical aspects and work interpretation . Rombach; 2nd Edition; May 31, 2007; ISBN 978-3793094913 , pp. 121f.
- ↑ Ludwig van Beethoven, Konversationshefte , ed. by Karl-Heinz Köhler, Grita Herre, Dagmar Beck, et al., 11 volumes, Leipzig 1968–2001, volume 11, p. 39
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Wood, Karl |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Austrian violinist of the early Romantic period |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 3, 1799 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Vienna |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 9, 1858 |
| Place of death | Vienna |