IG VAN BEETHOVEN

The Shakespeare of the realm of music, as he has been called, first
saw the light on December 16, 1770, in the little University town
of Bonn, on the Rhine. His father, Johann Beethoven, belonged to the
court band of the Elector of Cologne. The family were extremely poor.
The little room, where the future great master was born, was so low,
that a good-sized man could barely stand upright in it. Very small
it was too, and not very light either, as it was at the back of the
building and looked out on a walled garden.

The fame of young Mozart, who was acclaimed everywhere as a marvelous
prodigy, had naturally reached the father's ears. He decided to train
the little Ludwig as a pianist, so that he should also be hailed as
a prodigy and win fame and best of all money for the poverty-stricken
family. So the tiny child was made to practice scales and finger
exercises for hours together. He was a musically gifted child, but how
he hated those everlasting tasks of finger technic, when he longed to
join his little companions, who could run and play in the sunshine. If
he stopped his practice to rest and dream a bit, the stern face of his
father would appear at the doorway, and a harsh voice would call out,
"Ludwig! what are you doing? Go on with your exercises at once. There
will be no soup for you till they are finished."

The father, though harsh and stern, wished his boy to have as thorough
a knowledge of music as his means would permit. The boy was also sent
to the public school, where he picked up reading and writing, but did
not make friends very quickly with the other children. The fact
was the child seemed wholly absorbed in music; of music he dreamed
constantly; in the companionship of music he never could be lonely.

When Ludwig was nine his father, regarding him with satisfaction and
some pride, declared he could teach him no more--and another master
must be found. Those childhood years of hard toil had resulted in
remarkable progress, even with the sort of teaching he had received.
The circumstances of the family had not improved, for poverty had
become acute, as the father became more and more addicted to drink.
Just at this time, a new lodger appeared, who was something of a
musician, and arranged to teach the boy in part payment for his room.
Ludwig wondered if he would turn out to be a more severe taskmaster
than his father had been. The times and seasons when his instruction
was given we