Your Father, alas!

Following the death of his brother Kaspar ('Karl') in 1815, German composer Ludwig van Beethoven became entangled in a bitter and lengthy custody battle over his nephew Karl (then nine years old), which was to dominate the last decade of his life. Appointed co-guardian by his brother —along with his sister-in-law Johanna, the boy's mother— Beethoven sought sole custody of Karl, considering Johanna an unfit mother. While he succeeded in becoming the sole guardian of his nephew in January 1816, it took four more years of legal battles before Beethoven could finally claim victory.

The relationship between Beethoven and Karl was difficult and tense. Once Beethoven gained sole custody in 1816, he tried to mold Karl into a disciplined and skillful young man, while forbidding him to see his mother without prior permission. He envisioned a musical career for his nephew and forced him to take piano lessons from pianist and composer Carl Czerny, despite the fact that Karl lacked musical talent. As Beethoven never married and had no children of his own, he seemed obsessed with becoming Karl's father and shaping him into an individual he could be proud of. It enraged him when his nephew eventually opted for a career in the army. Mostly due to the pressure placed on him by his uncle, Karl attempted suicide in July 1826, later saying: "My uncle has tormented me too much" and "I became worse because my uncle wanted me to be better." 

Shown below are three letters written by Beethoven in connection with Karl —among others discussing Karl's mother, his musical education and his dishonest behaviour. 

NB: in the letters the anglicised spelling is used, i.e. Karl is spelled Carl. 

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The first letter is addressed to Giannattasio del Rio, head of the boardingschool that Karl was initially sent to.  

[1816]

I send you, dear sir, the cloak, and also a school-book of my Carl's, and request you will make out a list of his clothes and effects, that I may have it copied for myself, being obliged, as his guardian, to look carefully after his property. I intend to call for Carl to-morrow about half-past twelve o'clock, to take him to a little concert, and wish him to dine with me afterwards, and shall bring him back myself. With respect to his mother, I desire that under the pretext of the boy being so busy, you will not let her see him; no man on earth can know or judge of this matter better than myself, and by any other line of conduct all my well-matured plans for the welfare of the child might be materially injured. I will myself discuss with you when the mother is henceforth to have access to Carl, for I am anxious on every account to prevent the occurrence of yesterday ever being repeated. I take all the responsibility on myself; indeed, so far as I am concerned, the Court conferred on me full powers, and the authority at once to counteract anything adverse to the welfare of the boy. If they could have looked on her in the light of an estimable mother, they assuredly would not have excluded her from the guardianship of her child. Whatever she may think fit to assert, nothing has been done in a clandestine manner against her. There was but one voice in the whole council on the subject. I hope to have no further trouble in this matter, for the burden is already heavy enough. ...

The following letter was written to Carl Czerny, Karl's music teacher, with Beethoven giving suggestions on how to handle the lessons.

DEAR CZERNY,--

I beg you will treat Carl with as much patience as possible; for though he does not as yet get on quite as you and I could wish, still I fear he will soon do even less, because (though I do not want him to know it) he is over-fatigued by the injudicious distribution of his lesson hours. Unluckily it is not easy to alter this; so pray, however strict you may be, show him every indulgence, which will, I am sure, have also a better effect on Carl under such unfavorable circumstances.

With respect to his playing with you, when he has finally acquired the proper mode of fingering, and plays in right time, and gives the notes with tolerable correctness, you must only then first direct his attention to the mode of execution; and when he is sufficiently advanced, do not stop his playing on account of little mistakes, but only point them out at the end of the piece. Although I have myself given very little instruction, I have always followed this system, which quickly forms a musician; and this is, after all, one of the first objects of art, and less fatiguing both to master and scholar. ... I hope that you will receive these suggestions in the same kindly spirit in which they are offered and intended. In any event I am, and ever must remain, your debtor. May my candor serve as a pledge of my wish to discharge this debt at some future day!

Your true friend,

BEETHOVEN.

Beethoven wrote this letter to Karl himself. The "contemptible brother" mentioned in the letter is Johann; the Beethoven brothers had a strained relationship, largely due to Ludwig's disapproval of Johann's wife, who had an illegitimate child by another man.

Baden, May 31, 1825.

MY DEAR SON,--

I intend to come to town on Saturday, and to return here either on Sunday evening, or early on Monday. ... I don't send you money, for if you want any, you can borrow a gulden at home. Moderation is necessary for young people, and you do not appear to pay sufficient attention to this, as you had money without my knowledge, nor do I yet know whence it came. Fine doings! It is not advisable that you should go to the theatre at present, on account of the distraction it causes. The 5 florins procured by Dr. Reissig, I will pay off by instalments, punctually every month. So enough of this! Misled as you have been, it would be no bad thing were you at length to cultivate simplicity and truth, for my heart has been so deeply wounded by your deceitful conduct, that it is difficult to forget it. Even were I disposed to submit like an ox to so hard a yoke without murmuring, if you pursue the same course towards others, you will never succeed in gaining the love of any one. As God is my witness, I can think of nothing but you, and my contemptible brother, and the detestable family that I am afflicted with. May God vouchsafe to listen to my prayer, for never again can I trust you!

Your Father, alas!

Yet fortunately not your Father.

Incidentally, when Beethoven died in March 1827, he left his entire estate to Karl.

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Source letters: Beethoven's Letters 1790-1826 (1866), compiled by Ludwig Ritter von Köchel and Ludwig Nohl; translated by Lady Grace Wallace

Via: Project Gutenberg

Image: Ludwig van Beethoven in 1815, portrait by Joseph Willibrord Mähler (left), and Karl van Beethoven in 1825

Via: Wikimedia Commons