Appendix G - Schindler’s Account of Beethoven’s Post-Akademie Dinner in the Prater

Summary

In the 1860 edition of his Biographie, Anton Schindler published an account of Beethoven's celebratory dinner for his innermost circle—the factotum Schindler, concertmaster Ignaz Schuppanzigh, conductor Michael Umlauf, and, of course, the composer's nephew Karl—at the restaurant Zum wilden Mann in the Prater. According to Schindler's account, the dinner took place “a few days” after Beethoven's second Akademie of Sunday, May 23, 1824. In fact, Schindler's narrative reflects a conflation of two events: primarily the dinner held at the Prater on the afternoon of Sunday, May 9, two days after the premiere of the Ninth Symphony (evening of Friday, May 7) and a second, smaller-scaled dinner, probably at the Birne, two blocks from his apartment, on the afternoon of Sunday, May 23, shortly following his noon-hour second concert.

Basically, Schindler—probably for dramatic and literary effect—transferred the events of the dinner on May 9 to a few days after the second concert of May 23, 1824, but left the venue as the Prater. The historically accurate events of May 9, based on Conversation Books, Heft 67, Blatter 1v–10v, may be found in chapter 6 of this volume. The less-well-documented events of May 23, based on Heft 69, Blatter 5r–5v, may be found in chapter 8, with documentation and commentary in those locations, to allow comparison with Schindler's account that follows here.

Schindler's Conflated 1860 Account of the Dinner

Beethoven felt obliged to thank Umlauf, Schuppanzigh, and me for the troubles we had taken [in preparing the Akademie]. Therefore, he made reservations for a dinner at [the restaurant] Zum wilden Mann in the Prater a few days after the second concert. Accompanied by his nephew, he appeared among us with storm clouds hanging over his head. Everything he said was cold, biting, and critical. We expected an explosion. We had hardly sat down to the feast, when, without further ado, he launched into a discussion of the financial outcome of the first concert in the [Karntnertor] theater, accusing the manager, Duport, and me of cheating him.