BEETHOVEN'S DAILY ROUTINE

Except for unusual circumstances (clearly presented in the German edition), the entries in most of Beethoven's conversation books start at the beginning of a Heft and continue to its end. Internally, the entries essentially reflect the composer's daily routine, even though it changed periodically, depending upon whether he employed a cook at home or ate his meals at a restaurant, whether he lived in Vienna or in a summer apartment in the country, and so on.

In the third edition of his biography, Anton Schindler described Beethoven's routine, as he knew it from roughly November 1822 through May 1824. Moreover, the young journalist Johann Chrysostom Sporschil became acquainted with Beethoven in late 1822 or early 1823, and in November 1823 published essentially a feature story about Beethoven that corroborates many of Schindler's observations. From these, and random comments like Franz Oliva's that Beethoven got up at 5 o'clock in the morning,3 we can reach a composite daily routine that would, of course, vary from time to time and place to place:

Early morning (ca. 5 a.m.) Beethoven rose early and, while fresh, worked as long as he could (composing and/or writing letters) without distractions, often jotting lists of errands and shopping items along the way.

ca. 12 noon He might wash and leave his apartment about noon and run a few errands before dinner.

ca. 2 p.m. He ate his midday dinner at 2 p.m. or so (often with friends). If he ate at his apartment, he might invite friends to arrive about 1:30 p.m.

ca. 3:30 p.m. After dinner, more errands and shopping.

ca. 5 p.m. A late afternoon visit to a coffee house to drink coffee, perhaps smoke a pipe, read current newspapers, and make notes of advertisements that interested him.

until ca. 7 p.m. Perhaps a late errand or a meeting.

Evening Perhaps a light supper, possibly some reading, and then to bed by 10 o'clock.

In getting around Vienna, except for special occasions such as major performances of his own works, Beethoven walked virtually everywhere, and so distance and time must also be factored into his daily routine and other activities.