Friedrich Wieck, father of Clara Schumann, spent three hours with Beethoven in May, having been presented by Andreas Stein, the pianoforte maker. He told about the visit long afterward in a letter to his second wife which was reprinted in the “Signale” No. 57, in December, 1873, from the “Dresdener Nachrichten.” Beethoven gave his guest wine (to which Wieck was not accustomed), improvised for him over an hour and talked voluminously about musical conditions in Leipsic--Rochlitz--Schicht--Gewandhaus--his housekeeper--his many lodgings, none of which suited him--his promenades--Hietzing--Schönbrunn--his brother--various stupid people in Vienna--aristocracy--democracy--revolution--Napoleon-- Mara--Catalani--Malibran--Fodor--the excellent Italian singers Lablache, Donzelli, Rubini and others, the perfection of Italian opera (German opera could never be so perfect because of the language and because the Germans did not learn to sing as beautifully as the Italians)--my views on pianoforte playing-- Archduke Rudolph--Fuchs in Vienna, at the time a famous musical personality--my improved method of pianoforte teaching, etc. Wieck says the meeting was in Hietzing, and that Beethoven played upon the pianoforte “presented to him by the city of London”--three obvious mistakes, since Beethoven was not in Hietzing in May, but in Vienna, and the Broadwood pianoforte, which was not presented to him by the city of London but by Thomas Broadwood, was in the hands of Graf for repairs in May.