A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Pasqualati

by Carl Ferdinand Pohl

PASQUALATI, a name frequently recurring in Beethoven's life. Ries states^[1] that Beethoven in 1803–4 had four sets of rooms at once. The fourth, which had been taken for him by Ries,^[2] was in a house on the Mölker Bastei,^[3] near the Schottenthor or Scottish gate, on the fourth floor, with a fine view over the glacis towards the Kahlenberg mountains. It is now No. 8. Beethoven frequently left, but always came back again, and the landlord, Baron Pasqualati, used to refuse to let the apartment, saying 'Beethoven is coming back again,' which was literally true, as we find him here in 1800, 1804 to 1808, 1810, 1812 to 1816. Joseph Benedict Baron von Pasqualati-Osterberg, a distinguished physician from Trieste, built the house (two thrown into one) in 1795. On his death in 1799 his property passed to his two sons and three daughters, and the house was occupied by the eldest son Johann Baptist, born March 2, 1777, died April 30, 1830. That Beethoven's friendly intercourse with him was undisturbed even after he had finally left the apartments,^[4] is shown by his letters, which always begin with 'Verehrter Freund' (Respected friend) and end with 'Mit herzlicher Hochachtung' (with sincere esteem). In his last illness Pasqualati sent him wine and delicacies, and Beethoven, writing to thank him, says, 'Heaven bless you above all for your loving sympathy.' Only ten days before the end, he sent a pencil note in a visibly shaky hand—the last lines ever received from him—to ask for more nourishing food. In 1812, though Pasqualati continued to live there, the house became the property of Peter von Leber, whose son married Mathilde von Frank. She was a niece of Baroness Ertmann,^[5] whom Beethoven met in Feb. 1809 at the house of her sister, the wife of Frank a banker, and to whom he dedicated his sonata, op. 101. Fran von Leber, who died in 1875, was fond of talking of her aunt and of her friendship for the great composer. Thus there was a pleasant bond of intercourse between the Pasqualati family and Beethoven, from which we gain a glimpse of the best side of his life. [App. p.744 "Add that Beethoven's 'Elegischer Gesang' (op. 118), was written in memory of Eleonora Pasqualati, who died in 1811, and dedicated to her husband, Baron Pasqualati. [See vol. iv. p. 537.] ]

[ C. F. P. ]

1. 'Biogr. Notzen,' pt. ii. p. 112. He gives the name incorrectly—Pasquillati. See also Thayer ii. 258.
2. See Beethoven, vol. i. 172.
3. Or Melker-Bastei, so called from the large house belonging to the monastery of Melk, which adjoins it.
4. His only son, Baron Joseph Benedict von Pasqualati-Osterberg, born in 1802, and still living, confirms the statement.
5. See vol. 1. 493.