"I cannot hear the words"
Here you can see the corrected copy of the score for the Overture "Die Weihe des Hauses" ("The Consecration of the House"), op. 124. Beethoven had the score made in connection with the first performance of the overture, which he composed for the re-opening of the Josephstadt Theatre on 3 October 1822, the emperor's name day. Beethoven conducted the first performance of the work himself, aided by the musical director Joseph Franz Gläser, who stood to the composer's right and assisted him, as Beethoven was now overtaxed on account of his bad hearing. On many pages additions have been made in red crayon, which are neither in Beethoven's handwriting nor that of the copyist, emphasizing tempo markings underneath the musical text. Gläser presumably used this score as his conductor's score; he not only assisted Beethoven at the première but also conducted the following performances. In his autobiography the musical director writes the following of the première: "On the day of the première of this work, which the highly esteemed Master [Beethoven] was himself conducting, I assisted him at his request; as he, sadly being robbed of his hearing, was in need of some assistance. (...) I was deeply touched when he suddenly asked me in painfully moving tones during the production of the opera to conduct a very difficult recitative in his stead. At the next fixed tempo I let him continue and as he called out, with tears in his eyes, "I cannot hear the words", I took up this hint and stopped the orchestra at tricky moments, in the ritardandos and accelerandos, and so forth. As was attested later, I had even, unbeknown to myself, held the great Master's hand, until the ship had once again sailed into calmer waters. One might even jokingly assume that I had at this moment conducted the great Master himself." (From Franz Lorenz, Franz Gläser: Autobiographie - Erinnerung an Beethoven, in: Mf 31 (1978). (J.R.)
