Postage from Vienna: The Master Calls for Contributions!
Johannes Frauenschuh and I spoke on the phone a few days ago. I inquired whether and how long Johannes could still endure having Beethoven in his apartment. I also mentioned that these days we are starting to contact potential sponsors for our real tour in 2027.
Today, Johannes sent me a photo of a letter that Ludwig van Beethoven had written shortly before. His text underneath: 'Goes to the post for you today!' Yes, there he is again, the master. Unlike his composer colleagues of the time, who were employed at court, Beethoven had to make his way through life as a freelancer. He was a businessman through and through. And he hasn't forgotten:
L. v. Beethoven
– Vienna/Heiligenstadt, February 13, 1796 and! 2026
Honored Pioneers and Travelers!
I, Ludwig van Beethoven, was rudely torn from the deep sleep of death – as if by a lightning strike of eternity itself! No gentle transition, no: a rough awakening in your world of racing wheels, glowing lights, and invisible voices! Everything strange, confusing, silently loud – and yet I must now undertake my journey from 1796 again: from Vienna to Prague, Dresden, Leipzig, Berlin, Bratislava, Budapest – and perhaps even to my birthplace Bonn! With a group of fanatics from this new era by my side – fromMusic, theater, art, literature and those scribblers you now call journalists – a word symphony will weave itself from art, path, and eternal thoughts!
Hear my call: Be my, our patrons on this journey through these great cities! As I once dedicated my works to great patrons, I promise you as thanks: a new word symphony, dedicated to you - a sound work of thoughts that sings your paths! I, the dead who lives, commission Frank Wallburger to deliver this letter to you and to ask for your help – a soul hammer chord for eternity!
I await your answers, like the first note of a new symphony. This strange world needs your ways and my sound.
With moved expectation
- L. v. Beethoven
