When Beethoven first came to Vienna, the suburbs and smaller towns that now make up the innere und äussere Bezirke, or inner and outer districts, were still to be incorporated into the city. Between the city walls and the suburbs there was the largely undeveloped glacis, which was used as a recreation area. Beyond the suburbs of the city itself, the suburban towns and villages around Vienna were separated from the city by the Linienwall, or “Line Wall”, a semicircular (former) fortification built around the suburbs.
Around the year 1800, a number of middle-class commercial districts had sprung up in the “old” suburbs along the roads leading out of Vienna, featuring an array of inns, craft workshops and rented accommodation. One of these districts surrounded the General Hospital in the Alservorstadt, and it was here that Beethoven found his first lodgings after arriving in Vienna. Houses in the suburbs tended to be built lower than those in the city proper and were frequently clad with shingles, a practice that had been stopped in newer buildings because it posed a potential fire hazard. Johann Pezzl emphasised the attractive view from the Alservorstadt over lower-lying areas, and praised as one of Vienna's “healthiest suburbs” on the basis that, unlike other suburbs like Weissgerber, it was free from the kinds of trades that produced unpleasant smells.
Beethoven lived in a house owned by his patron Karl, Prince Lichnovksy, to whom he dedicated his Piano Concerto No. 8 and a number of other works. He also dedicated his Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus (The Creatures of Prometheus) to Karl's wife, Maria Christiane, Princess Lichnovksy. Within a stone's throw of the house, the physician Johann Peter Frank ran a salon that was recognised as a key venue in Vienna's musical life.
“Carl, Prince of Lichnowsky, Count of Werdenberg, Dynast of Granson, was a great benefactor and indeed friend of Beethoven. Indeed, he took him into his home as his guest, and the composer remained there for at few years at least … However, Beethoven almost always had other lodgings in the countryside.”
Franz Wegeler, Ferdinand Ries: Biographische Notizen über Ludwig van Beethoven (Biographical Notes on Ludwig van Beethoven), 1838, p. 28.
“The suburbs are located in something like a circle around the city [proper], and are enclosed from the outside by the Linien[wall].”.
Johann Pezzl: Beschreibung der Haupt- und Residenz-Stadt Wien (Description of Vienna, Capital and Royal Seat), 1806, p. 2.
“Road and footways go through the area known as the ‘Esplanade’ (on the glacis) towards the suburbs in all directions. The glacis forms a beautiful green area of meadow, upon which many avenues are laid out over the somewhat raised footpaths.”
Neueste Beschreibung der Kais. Kön. Haupt- und Residenzstadt Wien (Latest Description of the Royal Capital and Court Seat of Vienna), Wien [1807], S. 49.
dedicated to Princess Lichnovsky
Beethoven retuned to live in the Alservorstadt on multiple occasions during his lifetime. In 1804 he again found himself looking for new accommodation, and wrote to his friend Stephan von Breuning for help: “Should you, perchance, hear of any lodgings that would be suitable for me, please let me know.” He went on to suggest that “If you were ever to take a larger apartment, I would certainly be interested in taking yours.”
As it turned out, Beethoven went on to move into Breuning's Rote Haus (Red House), where he is believed to have written the “Triple Concerto” (op. 56). The estate on which the flat was located featured more than 150 apartments spread out over two floors, and was owned by Prince Esterhazy. Beethoven moved out of the Red House shortly afterwards, probably as a result of a falling-out with Breuning. As he wrote to a friend: “This place disgusts me – I am fed up of it. For heaven's sake, do all you can to make sure that he [Beethoven's brother] rents it immediately, because I want to move to Döbling [now Vienna's 19th District] right away.” Beethoven and Breuning later resolved their quarrel, as the dedication to Beethoven's Violin Concerto, op. 61, makes clear.
“At the time he was composing Leonore, he had the use of an apartment in the Wiedner Theatre; but since this was facing the court, it did not suit him. At the same time, he therefore rented lodgings in the Red House next to the Alster Barracks, where Stephan Breuning also lived. When summer came, he took accommodation in the countryside in Döbling, and, as a result of a quarrel with Stephan von Breuning … he asked me to find him lodgings at the bastion.”
Franz Wegeler, Ferdinand Ries: Biographische Notizen über Ludwig van Beethoven (Biographical Notes on Ludwig van Beethoven), 1838, p. 112.
The composer also spent his final years in the Alservorstadt, in what is now Vienna's 9th District. As Stephan von Breuning's son later recalled, the apartment on Schwarzspanierstrasse afforded “a view right over the Glacis and the city centre opposite it, with its bastions and church steeples”. The younger Breuning also described in detail the apartment's sparse furnishings and layout, which consisted of an anteroom, servant's quarters, a kitchen, a reception room and two bedrooms.
“In the centre of the first room (which had two windows), there were two claviers, interlocked with their bodies touching each other … above its keyboard and the hammer mechanism, a sound-catcher rather like a prompt box had been set up. It was built like a bent resonance board made of thin wood, and was designed to concentrate the sound waves from the instrument in the player's ear … but on this box there lay a number of ear trumpets and two … violins. It was all in disarray and covered in dust.”
Gerhard von Breuning: Aus dem Schwarzspanierhause (From the House on Schwarzspanierstrasse), 1874, p. 58–59.
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