Beethoven was the student of Vienna’s greatest pedagogues in the years between 1792 and 1805 and became increasingly involved in friendships and collaborations with themselves and members of their musical families. He had left Bonn in November to study with Haydn and although their relationship was originally affectionate, Beethoven admitted that Haydn he had never paid a great deal of attention to his instruction and their partnership ended when Haydn moved to London in 1795. After Haydn, he became the student of organist Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, while learning vocal composition with Antonio Salieri. He then continued his education with Alois Forster, who was a specialist in writing scores for quartets. A genius musician, Beethoven absorbed not only the progressive music of his time but also took part in the richest creative period of the Viennese Court and the music on this evenings performance would have accompanied his experience.
Ludwig van Beethoven composed the Duet for Viola and Cello in E-flat Major around 1796, but the Allegro was not published until 1912 and the concluding Minuetto was not discovered until the 1940s. It is likely that Beethoven wrote the duet for himself and his friend, amateur cellist and composer Nikolaus Zmeskall von Domanovecz. Beethoven and Zmeskall frequently attended musical soirees at the home of his patron, Prince Karl Lichnowsky, and one such get-together was likely the setting of the pieces’ original performance. Because the composer did not intend for the score to be published, the piece is one of several works carrying the code WoO, which signifies works without opus numbers. Consequently, the Duet for Viola and Cello in E-flat Major bears the number WoO 32. In a letter to Zmeskall, Beethoven lightheartedly remarked on their poor eyesight, “because my eyes are also weak, and thus we are brothers in affliction,” noting that two eyeglasses were needed to play the piece. Thus by spiritedly nicknaming the duet, With Two Eyeglasses Obbligato, Beethoven has immortalized the delightful character of his friendship in the good-humoured nature of this music.
Alixandra Porembski, English Language Annotator