Beethoven the pianist

Abstract

CHRISTIAN GOTTLOB NEEFE: THE TRADITIONAL PICTURE Christian Gottlob Neefe came to Frankfurt in May 1777, to conduct the orchestra of Seyler's theater company. He worked there for two and a half years, conducting operas “which, in turn, were presented in Frankfurt, Mainz, Kölln, Hanau, Mannheim and Heidelberg.” In August 1779, Seyler went bankrupt and fled from Frankfurt; his company continued playing for a while “to earn the means of leaving the city,” but in October its members dispersed. Neefe went to Bonn to join the Nationalbühne of Großmann and Helmuth, who, too, had both previously been members of Seyler's company. This theater had been opened at the request of Elector Maximilian Friedrich in November 1778. On February 15, 1781, Neefe's name appears for the first time in the Bonn court documents. On that date, “on the recommendation of the reigning minister Count von Belderbusch and of Countess von Hatzfeld,” an official decree pronounced him “candidate for the office of court organist in Bonn.” It is not known when Ludwig van Beethoven's lessons with Neefe began. Thayer writes: “It would create no surprise should proof hereafter come to light that this change [of teacher] was made even before the issue of the decree of February 15, 1781.” In the same vein, Schiedermair supposes the lessons to have begun around 1780, after Tobias Pfeiffer had left Bonn.

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