It was once believed that Beethoven composed the Birthday Cantata (WoO 106) in December 1816 for the 44th birthday of Beethoven’s patron, Joseph Franz von Lobkowitz, the 7th Prince Lobkowitz. Because Lobkowitz died that same month, it was never performed.
That was the history that Alexander Wheelock Thayer gave in his 19th century biography of Beethoven, repeated in the first English translation by Henry Krehbiel in 1921, and which has even trickled into Wikipedia (as of 28 November 2020).
That history is wrong. Beethoven composed the Birthday Cantata not in 1816 for the 7th Prince Lobkowitz, but for the 12 April 1823 celebration of the 26th birthday of his eldest son, the 8th Prince Lobkowitz, Ferdinand Joseph von Lobkowitz, born on 13 April 1797.
Although the true origins of the Birthday Cantata had been told earlier by Ludwig Nohl in a German edition of Beethoven’s letters, an 1882 article in a London periodical includes the complete score.
The WoO 106 Birthday Cantata seems to be written for three voices, but an examination of the score reveals that the 1st voice is marked “Solo” in the first full measure, and then a “Chor” indication is given six measures later. It’s generally performed by a soprano and choir.
The short text of the WoO 106 Birthday Cantata was probably written by Beethoven himself:
. Long live our dear Prince! Viva!
Let acting nobly be his finest duty!
Thus the sweetest reward will not elude him.
#Beethoven250 Day 333
Birthday Cantata for Prince Lobkowitz (WoO 106), 1823
A studio recording with animated score.
It was also in April 1823 that Beethoven is alleged to have met the 11-year-old Franz Liszt, but the details are cloudy, and the several pieces of evidence cannot be entirely trusted or successfully integrated.
Liszt had been taking piano lessons with Carl Czerny, and years later recalled how Czerny took him to Beethoven’s dwellings to play for him, despite Beethoven’s well-known aversion for child prodigies, having been promoted as one himself by his father. After the young Liszt played for Beethoven, the elder Liszt recalled the master as commenting: “You are one of the fortunate ones! For you will give joy and happiness to many other people!” (Beethoven: Impressions by His Contemporaries, pp. 162–3)
Beethoven also may or may not have attended a small concert on 13 April 1823 to see Liszt play. (Peculiarly, this is the day after the performance of the Birthday Cantata for Prince Lobkowitz.) It was at this concert that Beethoven is alleged to have gone “afterward upon the stage, lifted up the prodigy and kissed him.” (Thayer-Forbes, p. 857)
A skeptical analysis of the evidence for the supposed meetings between Beethoven and Liszt can be found in pages 381–396 of the book review “Liszt Research and Walker’s ‘Liszt’” in The Musical Quarterly, Summer 1984.