who was notoriously a slow worker, was unable to complete the music in the short time which was at his disposal. The text of the cantata was written by Severin Anton Averdonk, son of an employee of the electoral Bureau of Accounts, and brother of the court singer Johanna Helene Averdonk, who, in her youth, was for a space a pupil of Johann van Beethoven. Beethoven set the young poet’s ode for solo voice, chorus and orchestra without trumpets and drums. Brahms, on playing through the score, remarked: “It is Beethoven through and through. Even if there were no name on the title-page none other than that of Beethoven could be conjectured.” The same thing may be said of the “Cantata on the Elevation of Leopold II to the Imperial Dignity, composed by L. V. Beethoven.” Leopold’s election as Roman Emperor took place on September 30, 1790, his coronation on October 9, when Elector Max Franz was present at Frankfort. This gives us a hint as to the date of the composition. Whether or not the Elector commissioned it cannot be said. Averdonk was again the poet. The two cantatas mark the culmination of Beethoven’s creative labors in Bonn; they show his artistic individuality ripened and a sovereign command of all the elements which Bonn was able to teach him from a technical point of view. OTHER WORKS OF THE BONN PERIOD Two airs for bass voice with orchestral accompaniment are, to judge by the handwriting, also to be ascribed to about 1790. The first is entitled “‘Prüfung des Küssens’ (’The Test of Kissing’), V. L. V. Beethowen.” The use of the “w” instead of the “v” in the spelling of the name points to an early period for the composition. The text of the second bears the title, “Mit Mädeln sich vertragen,” and was taken by Beethoven from the original version of Goethe’s “Claudine von Villa Bella.” Paper, handwriting and the spelling of the name of the composer indicate the same period as the first air. The two compositions remained unknown a long time, but are now to be had in the Supplement to the Complete Works published by Breitkopf and Härtel.