There is no authentic record of Beethoven’s birthday. Wegeler, on the ground of custom in Bonn, dates it the day preceding the ceremony of baptism--an opinion which Beethoven himself seems to have entertained. It is the official record of this baptism only that has been preserved. In the registry of the parish of St. Remigius the entry appears as follows: _Parentes_: _D: Joannes van Beethoven & Helena Keverichs, conjuges_ _Proles_: _17ma Xbris. Ludovicus_ _Patrini_: _D: Ludovicus van Beethoven & Gertrudis Müllers dicta Baums_ The sponsors, therefore, were Beethoven’s grandfather the chapelmaster, and the wife of the next-door neighbor, Johann Baum, secretary at the electoral cellar. The custom obtaining at the time in the Catholic Rhine country not to postpone the baptism beyond 24 hours after the birth of a child, it is in the highest degree probable that Beethoven was born on December 16, 1770.[13] Of several certificates of baptism the following is copied in full for the sake of a remark upon it written by the master’s own hand: _Department de Rhin et Moselle Mairie de Bonn._ _Extrait du Registre de Naissances de la Paroisse de St. Remy à Bonn._ _Anno millesimo septingentesimo septuagesimo, de decima septima Decembris baptizatus est Ludovicus. Parentes D: Joannes van Beethoven et Helena[14] Keverichs, conjuges. Patrini, D: Ludovicus van Beethoven et Gertrudis Müllers dicta Baums._ _Pour extrait conforme délivré à la Mairie de Bonn._ _Bonn le 2 Juin, 1810._ [_Signatures and official seals._] On the back of this paper Beethoven wrote: “Es scheint der Taufschein nicht richtig, 1772 da noch ein Ludwig vor mir. Eine Baumgarten war glaube ich mein Pathe. Ludwig van Beethoven.”[15] The composer, then, even in his fortieth year still believed the correct date to be 1772, which is the one given in all the old biographical notices, and which corresponds to the dates affixed to many of his first works, and indeed to nearly all allusions to his age in his early years. Only by keeping this fact in mind, can the long list of chronological contradictions, which continually meet the student of his history during the first half of his life, be explained or comprehended. Whoever examines the original record of baptism in the registry at Bonn, sees instantly that the certificate, in spite of Beethoven, is correct; but all possible doubt is removed by the words of Wegeler: Little Louis clung to this grandfather ... with the greatest affection, and, young as he was when he lost him, his early impressions always remained lively. He liked to speak of his grandfather with the friends of his youth, and his pious and gentle mother, whom he loved much more than he did his father, who was only severe, was obliged to tell him much of his grandfather.