Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

;
'
190 RUDOLPHy ARCHDUKE RUDOLPH, ARCHDUKE
'Not so fast, my dear chief Capellmeister,'
replied
'
the Emperor ; we are better off as we
are 1 ' His grandmother, the great Maria
Theresa, was a tine singer ; her children, from
very early age, sang and performed cantatas
and little dramas, to words by Metastasio, on
birthdays and fetes. His uncle. Max Franz,
was Elector of Cologne, viola -player, and
organiser of the splendid orchestra at Bonn, to
which the Rombergs, Rieses, Reiclias, and
Beethovens belonged. It was his father,
Leopold, who, after the first performance of
Cimarosa's Matrimonio ' segreto, ' gave all those
who took part in the production a supper, and
then ordered the performance to be repeated
and it was his aunt, Marie Antoinette, who
supported Gluck against Piccinni at Paris,
Like the other children of the Imperial family,
Rudolph was instructed in music by Anton
Teyber, and tradition says that as early as
twelve or fourteen he gave ample proof of more
than ordinary musical talent and taste ; as soon
as he had liberty of choice he exchanged Teyber
for Beethoven. The precise date and circumstances
attending this change have eluded investigation
; but it seems probable that the
connection between Rudolph, a youth of sixteen,
and Beethoven, a man of thirty-four, began in
the winter of 1803-4.
Ries relates that Beethoven's breaches of
court etiquette were a constant source of trouble
to his pupil's chamberlains, who strove in vain
to enforce its rules on him. He at last lost
all patience, pushed his way into the young
Archduke's presence, and, excessively angiy,
assured him that he had all due respect for his
person, but that the punctilious observance of
all the rules in which he was daily tutored
was not his business. Rudolph laughed goodhumouredly
and gave orders that for the future
he should be allowed to go his own way.
Beethoven's triple concerto, op. 56 (1804),
though dedicated to Prince Lobkowitz, was
written, says Sohindler, for the Archduke,
Seidler, and Kraft. The work does not require
great execution in the piano part, but a youth
of sixteen able to play it must be a very respectable
performer.
The weakness of the Archduke's constitution
is said to have been the cause of his entering
the Church. The coadjutorship of Olmiitz
secured to him the succession ; and the income
of the position was probably not a bad one ;
for, though his allowance as Archduke in a
family so very numerous was of necessity comparatively
small, yet, in the spring of 1809,
just after completing his 21st year, he subscribed
1500 florins to Beethoven's annuity.
[See vol. i. pp. 244, 246.] In 1818 Beethoven
determined to compose a solemn Mass for the
installation service of his pupil, a year or two
later. On Sept. 28, 1819, the Cardinal's
insignia arrived from the Pope, and the installation
was at length fixed for March 9,^ 1820.
But the Mass had assumed such gigantic proportions
that the ceremony had passed nearly
two years before it was completed,''' [See vol. i.
p. 258.] Instead of it, the music performed
was a Mass in B|>,' by Hummel ; a Te Deum
'
in C, by Preindl ; 'Ecce Sacerdos magnus,' by
a 'Herr P. v. R.' ; and Haydn's Offertorium in
D minor.
Apart from the annuity, Rudolph's purse was
but the
probably often opened to his master ;
strongest proofs of his respect and affection are
to be found in his careful preservation of Beethoven's
most insignificant letters ; in the zeal
with which he collected for his library everything
published by him ; in his purchase of
the caligraphic copy of his works made by
Haslinger ; ^ and m his patience with him,
often in trying circumstances. For Beethoven,
notwithstanding all hisobligations to his patron,
chafed under the interference with his perfect
liberty, which duty to the Archduke-Cardinal
occasionally imposed. There are passages in
his letters to Ries and others (suppressed in
publication), as well as in the conversationbooks),
which show how galling even this light
yoke was to Beethoven ; and one feels in perusing
those addressed to the Archduke how
frivolous are some of the excuses for not attending
him at the proper hour, and how hollow
and insincere are the occasional compliments,
as Rudolph must have felt. That Beethoven
was pleased to find the Forty Variations dedicated
to him by 'his pupil, R. E. H.' (Rudolph Erz-
Herzog), was probably the fact ; but it is
doubtful whether his satisfaction warranted the
superlatives in which his letter of thanks is
couched. Other letters again breathe throughout
nothing but a true and warm affection for his
pupil. Kochel sensibly remarks that the trouble
lay in Beethoven's ' aversion to the enforced
performance of regular duties, especially to
giving lessons, and teaching the theory of
music, in which it is well known his strength
did not lie, and for which he had to prepare
himself.' When the untamed nature of Beethoven,
and his deafness, are considered, together
with his lack of worldly wisdom and his absolute
need of a Maecenas, one feels deeply how
fortunate he was to have attracted and retained
the sympathy and affection of a man of such
sweet and tender qualities as Archduke Rudolph.
We can hardly expect an Archduke-Cardinal
to be a voluminous composer, but the Forty
Variations already mentioned, and a sonata for
PF. and clarinet, composed for Count Ferdinand
Troyer, both published by Haslinger, are good
specimens of his musical talents and acquire-
1 This date ia from the report of the event In the wiener musical'
iache Zeitwng at March 25, 1820.
2 Beethoyen announces its completion in a letter to the Archduke
Feb. 27, 1822.
3 These, a splendid series of red folio volumes, heautifuUy copied,
are conspicuous in the Library of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde
at Vienna.