A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Radziwil, Anton
RADZIWIL, Anton Heinrich, Prince of, Royal Prussian 'Statthalter' of the Grand Duchy of Posen, born at Wilna, June 13, 1775, married in 1796 the Princess Luise, sister of that distinguished amateur Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia. [See vol. ii. p. 168b.] Radziwil was known in Berlin not only as an ardent admirer of good music, but as a fine violoncello player, and 'a singer of such taste and ability as is very rarely met with amongst amateurs.'[1] Beethoven was the great object of his admiration. He played his quartets with devotion, made a long journey to Prince Galitzin's on purpose to hear the Mass in D, was invited by Beethoven to subscribe to the publication of that work, and indeed was one of the seven who sent in their names in answer to that appeal. To him Beethoven dedicated the Overture in C, op. 115 (known as 'Namensfeier'), which was published as 'Grosses Ouverture in C dur gedichtet' etc., by Steiner of Vienna in 1825.
Further relations between the Prince and the composer there must have been, but at present we know nothing of them. No letters from Beethoven to him are included in those hitherto published, nor has Mr. Thayer yet thrown any light on the matter in his biography of the composer.
Radziwil was not only a player, a singer, and a passionate lover of music, he was also a composer of no mean order. Whistling's 'Handbuch' (1828) names 3 Romances for voice and PF. (Peters), and songs with guitar and cello (B. & H.), and Mendel mentions duets with PF. accompaniment, a Complaint of Maria Stuart, with PF. and cello, and many part-songs composed for Zelter's Liedertafel, of which he was an [2]enthusiastic supporter, and which are still in MS. But these were only preparations for his great work, entitled 'Compositions to Goethe's dramatic poem of Faust.' This, which was published in score and arrangement by Trautwein of Berlin in Nov. 1835, contains 25 numbers, occupying 589 pages. A portion was sung by the Singakademie as early as May 1, 1810; the choruses were performed in May 1816, three new scenes as late as Nov. 21, 1830, and the whole work was brought out by that institution after the death of the composer, which took place April 8, 1833. The work was repeatedly performed during several years in Berlin, Dantzig, Hanover, Leipzig, Prague, and many other places, as maybe seen from the index to the A. M. Zeitung. It curiously made its appearance in a performance at Hyde Park College, London, on May 21, 1880, under the direction of L. Martin-Eiffe. A lengthened analysis of it will be found in the A. M. Zeitung for 1836, pp. 601, 617; and there is a copy in the British Museum.