D-DGla, KK II Nr. 3021 (Minutes of the Privy State Council, 1789)

Bonn, January to December 1789

Location: Duisburg, Landesarchiv Nordrhein-Westfalen (D-DGla), Abteilung Rheinland, Kurköln II Nr. 3021, I and II

During the reign of Elector Maximilian Franz, most petitions and decrees were decided upon in meetings of the so-called Geheime Staats-Conferenz. These bulky protocol books are seldom consulted by music historians, and were largely overlooked by Thayer for his Beethoven biography (and as a result they appear in no later scholarship that relies on him). Their value is especially critical when the corresponding petitions and decrees have not survived, as is very often the case with court musicians. In cases where they have survived, the records here can sometimes clarify points of chronology or details of the decision-making process. One important subtlety has to do with the chain of command. Most petitions were not handled by the elector directly, so when a first decision is marked "dependirt von höchster Gnad," which can be understood as "referred to the highest authority," it is a sign that the matter was considered unusually important.

An index, organized roughly alphabetically by last names of petitioners, appears in the second volume from fol. 650r.

Here, the entries pertaining to court musicians are excerpted.

Transcription

Trompeter: 328, 374, 607


[576v]

[Bonn, den 20. November 1789]

2206 Organist van Beethoven stellt
g[e]h[orsam]st vor, daß sein Vater Laut

[577r]

anliegender deßen Bescheinigung erbötig
sei, sich mit 100 rtl. jährlichs begnügen,
und ihm den Überfluß, zur Erziehung
seiner Geschwister zu überlassen, wenn
Serenissimus ihm g[nä]d[i]gst +vom dienst dispensirten und+ erlaubten,
daß er sich auf ein Landstädtchen
wohnen gehe. __ Supplicant bittet,
dieses g[e]h[orsam]sten Vorschlag mildest zu
genehmigen, da er dadurch die
Schulden seines Vaters völlig werde
abstühren, und für seine Geschwister
sorgen könne./.

[left side]
[first answer, struck through vertically]
dependirt von höchster
Gnad

[final answer]
Der Vater Bethof hat sich mit
dem gehalt von 100 thlr.
in ein Landstädtchen zu
begeben, die andere 100 thlr.
sind dem Sohn, und die 3
Mltr Korn zu Erziehung
der geschwistern anzu-
weisen.

Translation

COMING SOON

___