Why did Beethoven hate Goethe?
Bettina Brentano’s account was shown by Beethoven’s nineteenth century biography Thayer to be a fabrication. Perhaps the bowing incident took place but it most probably didn’t. Goethe wrote to his friend Zelter that he found Beethoven “untamed”, Beethoven wrote to a publisher that he didn’t like Goethe’s concern for Court life. Goethe had very little genuine understanding or appreciation of music (he relied on Zelter to teach him). Beethoven fell out with lots and lots of people (including his own family). Basically, when you get two people together who are geniuses and the biggest names in their respective fields, you don’t really expect them to become great pals, unless they both feel they can gain something from it.
Hate might be a hard word, but after a period of great mutual respect, the two met, and their relation was strongly irritated. I quote from this website: http://www.all-about-beethoven.com/beethovenmature1.html “…the event that permanently altered the relationship between the two was the encounter of a group of aristocrats on the streets of Teplitz. Bettina Brentano tells the story of that encounter as such: ” As they were walking together, Beethoven and Goethe crossed paths with the empress, the dukes and their cortege. So Beethoven said to Goethe: Keep walking as you did until now, holding my arm, they must make way for us, not the other way around. Goethe thought differently; he drew his hand, took off his hat and stepped aside, while Beethoven, hands in pockets, went right through the dukes and their cortege, barely miming a saluting gesture. They drew aside to make way for him, saluting him friendlily. Waiting for Goethe who had let the dukes pass, Beethoven told him: ” I have w
