The Sun.
London, England, 1849-01-08 00:00:00

BEETHOVEN.

When Steibelt had achieved his wonderful reputation
—and perhaps no one ever had such immense fame as
this great pianoforte player possessed for a little while
—at Vienna, and upon his return from Paris became the
idol—the Juggernaut—of the Viennoise musical circles,
the partizans of Beethoven feared—yes! absolutely
feared—that the name of that Mightiest Genius would
"bend before the gale" of Steibelt's favour. The meet-
ing of these two celebres was an " epoch," and involved
events of no ordinary nature. On his arrival Steibelt
(for what reason it is impossible to account) did not pay
a visit to his rival; and they unexpectedly met for the
first time at a matinee musicale at the house of Count
Fries, where Beethoven introduced and executed his,
then new, trio for pianoforte, clarionet, and violoncello,
Op. 11. It must be admitted that the work itself does
not offer much scope for display of a performer's
abilities, and, accordingly, Steibelt listened to it with an
air of condescension, paid Beethoven a few idle and
commonplace compliments in rather a patronising
manner, and considered his victory as already achieved
without the shadow of a doubt. Seating himself at the
pianoforte, he played a quintett composed by himself,
extemporised on it, and certainly produced a vast effect
by his tremolandi passages, which till that time had very
rarely been heard. Poor Beethoven could not, in spite
of every urgent effort, bo induced to play again. A
week afterwards they met at another concert at Count
Fries's. Steibelt on that occasion performed first, and
played his quintett with his accustomed success, and
afterwards a grand fantasia, which he had but too
evidently " got up" expressly for the occasion, inasmuch
as its subject was the very motif upon which Beethoven's
trio and variations were written ("Prid ch' impegno").
The air of assumption with which ho performed its
difficult passages provoked the admirers of Beethoven,
and (shall I confess it?) gave birth to a feeling of envy
in the gentle heart of the profoundly loved master him-
self. Partly by entreaties, partly vi et armis, the latter
was compelled to sit down to the pianoforte. He was
dragged thither and sat down in his usual, I may say,
awkward manner, though it might be said he was
pushed down on the seat. As he passed one of the
music desks he took up the violoncello score of Steibelt's
quintett, laid it (intentionally, was it?) upside down on
the desk, and with his forefinger picked out the terra of
the first few bars. Getting gradually excited and al-
most, as it were, enraged as he proceeded, our glorious
Beethoven played so wonderfully, and with such mi-
raculous inspiration, that Steibelt took a hurried leave
before he had finished, and vowed he would never
meet him again—and never did! It was always a
sine qua non with him, that if any one wished for his
society their invitation should not include Beethoven.
But did lie—the noble-minded—exult over his " prostrate
toe" who bad dared to overstep his sphere? Ns sutor
ultra crepidam Nol It was not in his nature. Too
forgiving—oh ! all too unselfish—too unassuming and
true-hearted was our great, dear, illustrious, our pas-
sionately lamented Beethoven!