{"id":2760,"date":"2024-03-27T14:15:45","date_gmt":"2024-03-27T13:15:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.popularbeethoven.com\/?p=2760"},"modified":"2024-03-27T14:16:07","modified_gmt":"2024-03-27T13:16:07","slug":"beethoven-and-ignaz-schuppanzigh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.popularbeethoven.com\/beethoven-and-ignaz-schuppanzigh\/","title":{"rendered":"Beethoven and Ignaz Schuppanzigh"},"content":{"rendered":"

Schuppanzigh (1776-1830) was Beethoven\u2019s violin teacher, friend and lifelong champion from the composer\u2019s arrival in Vienna until his passing. He rehearsed and performed the string quartets and played at the premiere of every symphony Beethoven composed.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In this article, you will read about the relationship between Schuppanzigh and Beethoven, how the composer would mercilessly tease his friend about his weight, and their pivotal partnership in the in re-making of the string quartet as a medium.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Schuppanzigh\u2019s musical legacy<\/h3>\n

We can thank Schuppanzigh for the establishment of the first professional string quartet in Europe<\/strong>, and the first ever public performances on a subscription basis. To Beethoven, he was indispensable, allowing the composer to fine-tune his compositions through dedicated rehearsal. This is particularly true for the Late Quartets<\/a>, the final six Beethoven composed, which are widely regarded as some of the greatest compositions ever written.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Schuppanzigh\u2019s early life and career<\/h3>\n

Son of an Italian professor, Ignaz Schuppanzigh was born in Vienna<\/a> in 1776. Handsome as a young man, in his adult years he became morbidly obese, a fact Beethoven relentlessly teased him for, as did Viennese popular culture, evidenced by a caricature that remains illustrating his corpulent frame.<\/p>\n

Swapping the viola for the violin<\/a> early on, by the age of 21, Schuppanzigh had become both a virtuoso musician and a conductor. He married Barbara Killitschky, a goldworker\u2019s daughter and secured himself a comfortable and reliable income as a private musician.<\/p>\n

Schuppanzigh played as Prince Lichnowsky<\/a>\u2019s house violinist and in his informal private string quartet from 1795. The Linchowsky\u2019s regular musicales brought together great talent and patronage, and this is where Beethoven discovered Schuppanzigh\u2019s considerable abilities as a violinist. They became friends for life and worked closely together for over two decades. When Haydn<\/a>, Beethoven\u2019s teacher<\/a> left for the second time to London in 1794, the composer ended up with some free time, so he took up violin lessons with Schuppanzigh.<\/p>\n

Beethoven\u2019s first string quartets of 1800 (commissioned by his patron Prince Lobkowitz<\/a>) were premiered by Schuppanzigh\u2019s quartet. His next ensemble formed in 1808, commissioned by Prince Razumovsky<\/a>. This string quartet was unique in that it was a permanent arrangement with contracts for life for the musicians. It only lasted eight years, however, due to the destruction of the Razumovsky palace by a fire. The members of this quartet were Louis Sina, on second violin, Franz Weiss on viola and Joseph Linke on cello.<\/p>\n

The French occupation of Vienna saw Schuppanzigh leave the city for St. Petersburg<\/a> in 1816, to return seven years later. Upon coming home he reformed the quartet, with a new member on second violin: Karl Holz<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Beethoven and Schuppanzigh\u2019s relationship<\/h3>\n

It is not known for how long Beethoven took lessons from Schuppanzigh, however, their friendship endured and they formed a musical partnership at the time the composer was creating his remarkable string quartets. Beethoven\u2019s quartets, in particular, the late pieces were technique-wise significantly more challenging than any written before by other composers. Dedicated rehearsals were needed and Schuppanzigh and his fellow musicians were not always successful in satisfying the legendary composer\u2019s extremely high standards. In response to a complaint by the quartet leader about a difficult passage in the score, Beethoven reportedly said:<\/p>\n

\u2018Do you believe that I think about your miserable fiddle when the muse strikes me?\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

Some of the technical difficulties in Beethoven\u2019s string quartets include complex runs that are played in synchrony by two or more musicians, or cross-rhythms and challenging harmonies. Beethoven begun work on his final quartets in 1824, 14 years after the last he had produced. Haydn is often referred to as the \u2018father\u2019 of both the symphony and the string quartet<\/a>, however, Beethoven made both mediums more ambitious, more personal and expressive and far more varied.<\/p>\n

Beethoven often used nicknames for the people in his life. These were sometimes a simple play on words or a name intended to mock the individual, as was the case with Schuppanzigh. The composer liked to call him Sir John Falstaff<\/a>, who was a character in some of Shakespeare<\/a>\u2019s plays, a rather large, heavy-drinker. Schuppanzigh would often complain about climbing four floors to reach Beethoven\u2019s apartment, and in a letter, Beethoven wrote:<\/p>\n

\u2018As soon as my machine is finished which will be able to transport you\u00a0<\/em>quite leisurely up to me on the fourth floor, I will let you know.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

The teasing didn\u2019t stop there! In 1801, Beethoven wrote a choral piece for Schuppanzigh titled: \u2018In Praise of the Fat One\u2019<\/em>!<\/p>\n

As a performer, he treated the violinist as a servant of his will. Their musical partnership was not conflict free, however, their association and friendship proved to be steadfast. When Schuppanzigh returned from seven years in St. Petersburg, Beethoven composed him a short canon (Wo0 184) to celebrate his return.<\/p>\n

Schuppanzigh was one of the torchbearers at Beethoven\u2019s funeral, amongst composers and musicians such as Franz Schubert and Carl Czerny.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What did Schuppanzigh\u2019s peers say about him?<\/h3>\n

Formerly one of Beethoven\u2019s students, the Austrian composer and teacher Carl Cerny described Schuppanzigh as:<\/p>\n

\u2018a short, fat,\u00a0pleasure-loving young man…one of the best violin-players of\u00a0that time…unrivaled in quartet playing, a very good concert\u00a0artist and the best orchestra conductor of his day. No one\u00a0knew how to enter into the spirit of this music better than he.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The composer Johann Friedrich Reichardt<\/a> also praised Schuppanzigh for his flowing and melodious playing style.<\/p>\n

The biggest praise of all, however, and proof of his great talent as a musician is evident in the decades spent by Beethoven\u2019s side, working tirelessly to perform the great string quartets as the legendary composer intended them to be played.<\/p>\n

A.K.<\/p>\n

\n

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    Schuppanzigh (1776-1830) was Beethoven\u2019s violin teacher, friend and lifelong champion from the composer\u2019s arrival in Vienna until his passing. He rehearsed and performed the string quartets and played at the premiere of every symphony Beethoven composed. In this article, you will read about the relationship between Schuppanzigh and Beethoven, how the composer would mercilessly tease his friend about his weight, … <\/p>\n

    Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2762,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[106,136],"class_list":["post-2760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-focus","tag-friends-of-beethoven","tag-string-quartet"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.popularbeethoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.popularbeethoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.popularbeethoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.popularbeethoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.popularbeethoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2760"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.popularbeethoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2760\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2765,"href":"https:\/\/www.popularbeethoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2760\/revisions\/2765"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.popularbeethoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.popularbeethoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.popularbeethoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.popularbeethoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}