Around the time that the violinist Karl Holz participated in the first private performances of Beethoven’s String Quartets Opus 127 (Day 343) and Opus 132 (Day 346), he also replaced Anton Schindler as Beethoven’s private secretary.
Beethoven soon found Holz to be an interesting and cultured companion, who could quote Schiller from memory and make pertinent comments about Goethe and Shakespeare, as well as providing useful practical assistance. (Barry Cooper, Beethoven, p. 354)
Because Holz is German for “wood,” Beethoven subjected Holz’s name to numerous puns, addressing him in letters as Bester Span (Most Excellent Chip) or Bestes Mahaoni-Holz (Most Excellent Mahogony). Beethoven even addressed Holz as Bestes Holz Christi (i.e., the “wood of Christ” or the Crucifix) and Span von Holz Christi, and once advised him "Seyd nicht — von — Holz,"" which could be translated as “Don’t be a stick” or (by Emily Anderson) “Don’t be — wood — en.”
“I am no flatterer,” Karl Holz once said, “but I assure you that the mere thought of Beethovenian music makes me glad, first of all, that I am alive.” (Thayer-Forbes, p. 943)
Around the end of September 1825, a canon was jotted in Beethoven’s conversation books with the text “Holz geigt die Quartette so, als ob sie Kraut eintreten.” It's transcribed on page 250 of a 1908 German edition of Thayer’s biography.
The text in English is “Holz fiddles quartets as if stomping on cabbage,” alluding to the making of sauerkraut by quartering cabbage and stomping on it to speed fermentation. Anyone who has seen a string player stomp their foot down occasionally understands the joke.
The canon to Holz is catalogued as WoO 204 as a “musical joke.” A discussion on the Unheard Beethoven site indicates that the canon can be realized in either two or four voices:
[unheardbeethoven.org/search.php?Ide…]
Alas, the 2014 revision of the Kinsky-Halm Thematic-Bibliographic Catalogue of Works has apparently designated WoO 204 as “spurious” and indicates that Karl Holz himself composed the music, suggesting that he had a sense of humor.
#Beethoven250 Day 352
Canon “Holz geigt die Quartette so” (WoO 204), 1825
Apparently the only recording on YouTube, although not realized as a canon and possibly preceded by an ad.