Beethoven Letter to Father of Child Prodigy Sold for $42,071

A handwritten letter by Ludwig van Beethoven arranging an afternoon visit with the father of a young piano prodigy sold for $42,071 at RR Auction’s latest Fine Autographs and Artifacts Featuring Sports and Encapsulation sale.

The one-page autograph letter signed “Ihr, B,” dates to circa 1817–1818 and was addressed to Heinrich von Blahetka, the father of Leopoldine Blahetka, an eight-year-old pianist whose remarkable talent impressed the composer. 

In the note, Beethoven writes (translated): “As I know that you will be at home in the afternoon anyway, I will definitely come to you around 5 o'clock this afternoon—in the meantime, farewell, my dear B[lahetka].”

Beethoven personally assigned practice exercises to the young Blahetka and arranged for her musical tutelage under Joseph Czerny who also taught Beethoven’s nephew, Karl. By age nine, Blahetka had performed publicly to acclaim in Vienna and would later tour throughout Europe, earning praise from Robert Schumann for her “delicate, prudent and elaborate” playing.

Other highlights from the sale included:

• a Claude Monet signed photograph by Pierre Choumoff of the artist at work on his ‘Water Lilies’ series (sold for $31,028)
• a Frederic Chopin signed receipt for selling copyright of a trio of solo piano mazurkas, Op. 59 ($28,734)
• a Marilyn Monroe signed photograph from the movie All About Eve ($18,308)
• a James Naismith signed document identifying himself as the “Originator of Basket Ball, author of rules &c” ($17,840)
• a Roberto Clemente signed 1966 Topps baseball card ($15,344)