Beethoven and Stumpff

Amongst the eclectic mix of books and papers bequeathed to the new University at Aberystwyth by George Powell of Nanteos were a number of letters from the correspondence files of Johann Andreas Stumpff (1769-1846). Stumpff was a manufacturer of harps and pianos and had a workshop in Great Portland Street in London. In 1824 Stumpff visited Vienna, and while he was there he met Ludwig van Beethoven, an account of this meeting being given in Alexander Thayer’s - Life of Beethoven, originally published in 1964, but revised by the Folio Society in 2001. Stumpff records that Beethoven considered Handel the greatest composer who ever lived, and in 1826 Stumpff sent the composer the Arnold edition of Handel’s complete works.The University archive includes two original letters from Stumpff to Beethoven from 1825 and 1827, along with a rough copy book used by Stumpff to record his correspondence with Goethe, Spohr, Beethoven and others. Powell also acquired a number of printed Beethoven scores for his music collection, including an early Schott printing of Missa Solemnis. We mark the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth in 2020 and a performance of his 5th Symphony is planned during the Aberystwyth MusicFest this Summer.

Bill Hines wdh@aber.ac.uk – Jan 2020