The Life of Ludwig van Beethoven, Volume IThayer, Alexander Wheelock
History
The Life of Ludwig van Beethoven, Volume I
Thayer, Alexander Wheelock
Beethoven, Ludwig van, 1770-1827
After the completion of his theological studies K. F. Amenda
goes to Vienna, where he several times meets Beethoven at the
table d’hôte, attempts to enter into conversation with him, but
without success, since Beeth. remains very _réservé_. After some
time Amenda, who meanwhile had become music-teacher at the home
of Mozart’s widow, receives an invitation from a friendly family
and there plays first violin in a quartet. While he was playing
somebody turned the pages for him, and when he turned about at
the finish he was frightened to see Beethoven, who had taken the
trouble to do this and now withdrew with a bow. The next day the
extremely amiable host at the evening party appeared and cried
out: “What have you done? You have captured Beethoven’s heart!
B. requests that you rejoice him with your company.” A., much
pleased, hurries to B., who at once asks him to play with him.
This is done and when, after several hours, A. takes his leave,
B. accompanies him to his quarters, where there was music again.
As B. finally prepared to go he said to A.: “I suppose you can
accompany me.” This is done, and B. kept A. till evening and went
with him to his home late at night. From that time the mutual
visits became more and more numerous and the two took walks
together, so that the people in the streets when they saw only
one of them in the street at once called out: “Where is the other
one?” A. also introduced Mylich, with whom he had come to Vienna,
to B., and Mylich often played trios with B. and A. His instrument
was the second violin or viola. Once when B. heard that Mylich
had a sister in Courland who played the pianoforte prettily, he
handed him a sonata in manuscript with the inscription: “To the
sister of my good friend Mylich.” The manuscript was rolled up and
tied with a little silk ribbon. B. complained that he could not
get along on the violin. Asked by A. to try it, nevertheless, he
played so fearfully that A. had to call out: “Have mercy--quit!”
B. quit playing and the two laughed till they had to hold their
sides. One evening B. improvised marvellously on the pianoforte
and at the close A. said: “It is a great pity that such glorious
music is born and lost in a moment.” Whereupon B.: “There you
are mistaken; I can repeat every extemporization”; whereupon he
sat himself down and played it again without a change. B. was
frequently embarrassed for money. Once he complained to A.; he had
to pay rent and had no idea how he could do it. “That’s easily
remedied,” said A. and gave him a theme (“Freudvoll und Leidvoll”)
and locked him in his room with the remark that he must make a
beginning on the variations within three hours. When A. returns he
finds B. on the spot but ill-tempered. To the question whether or
not he had begun B.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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