The gradual improvement of the elder Beethoven’s condition in respect of both emolument and social position, is creditable to him alike as a musician and as a man. Poorly as the musicians were paid, he was able in his last years to save a small portion of his earnings; his rise in social position is indicated in the public records;--thus, the first child is recorded as the son of L. v. Beethoven “musicus”; as sponsor to the eldest daughter of Cornelius van Beethoven, he appears as “Dominus” van Beethoven;--to the second as “Musicus Aulicus”; in 1761 he becomes “Herr Kapellmeister,” and his name appears in the Court Calendar of the same year, third in a list of twenty-eight “Hommes de chambre honoraires.” Of the elder Beethoven’s appointment as head of the court music no other particulars have been obtained than those to be found in his petition and the accompanying decree printed in Chapter I. From these papers it appears that the bass singer has had the promise of the place from Clemens August as successor to Zudoli, but that the Elector, when the vacancy occurred, changed his mind and gave it to his favorite young violinist Touchemoulin, who held the position for so short a time, however, that his name never appears as chapelmaster in the Court Calendar, he having resigned on account of the reduction of his salary by Belderbusch, prime minister of the new Elector who just at that period succeeded Clemens August. The elevation of a singer to such a place was not a very uncommon event in those days, but that a chapelmaster should still retain his place as singer probably was. Hasse and Graun began their careers as vocalists, but more to the point are the instances of Steffani, Handel’s predecessor at the court of Hanover, and of Righini, successively chapelmaster at Mayence and Berlin. In all these cases the incumbents were distinguished and very successful composers. Beethoven was not. Wegeler’s words, “the chapelmaster and bass singer had at an earlier date produced operas at the National Theatre established by the Elector,” have been rather interpreted than quoted by Schindler and others thus: “it is thought that under the luxury-loving Elector Clemens August, he produced operas of his own composition”--a construction which is clearly forced and incorrect. Strange that so few writers can content themselves with exact citations! Not only is there no proof whatever, certainly none yet made public, that Chapelmaster van Beethoven was an author of operatic works, but the words in his own petition, “inasmuch as the Toxal must be sufficiently supplied with _musique_,” can hardly be otherwise understood than as intended to meet a possible objection to his appointment on the ground of his not being a composer. Wegeler’s words, then, would simply mean that he put upon the stage and conducted the operatic works produced, which were neither numerous nor of a very high order during his time. His labors