harsh,
bitter, suspicious, and unamiable. There is much to justify this in the
circumstances of his life; yet our readers will discover much to show,
on the other hand, how deep, strong, and tender was the heart which was
so wrung and tortured, and wounded to the quick by--

"The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune."

Weber gives a picture of Beethoven: "The square Cyclopean figure attired
in a shabby coat with torn sleeves." Everybody will remember his noble,
austere face, as seen in the numerous prints: the square, massive head,
with the forest of rough hair; the strong features, so furrowed with the
marks of passion and sadness; the eyes, with their look of introspection
and insight; the whole expression of the countenance as of an ancient
prophet. Such was the impression made by Beethoven on all who saw him,
except in his moods of fierce wrath, which toward the last were not
uncommon, though short-lived. A sorely tried, sublimely gifted man, he
met his fate stubbornly, and worked out his great mission with all his
might and main, through long years of weariness and trouble. Posterity
has rewarded him by enthroning him on the highest peaks of musical fame.

II.

Ludwig van Beethoven was born at Bonn, in 1770. It is a singular fact
that at an early age he showed the deepest distaste for music, unlike
the other great composers, who evinced their bent from their earliest
years. His father was obliged to whip him severely before he would
consent to sit down at the harpsichord; and it was not till he was
past ten that his genuine interest in music showed itself. His first
compositions displayed his genius. Mozart heard him play them, and said,
"Mind, you will hear that boy talked of." Haydn, too, met Beethoven for
the first and only time when the former was on his way to England,
and recognized his remarkable powers. He gave him a few lessons in
composition, and was after that anxious to claim the young Titan as a
pupil.

"Yes," growled Beethoven, who for some queer reason never liked Haydn,
"I had some lessons of him, indeed, but I was not his disciple. I never
learned anything from him."

Beethoven made a profound impression even as a youth on all who
knew him. Aside from the palpable marks of his power, there was
an indomitable _hauteur_, a mysterious, self-wrapped air as of one
constantly communing with the invisible, an unconscious assertion of
mastery about him, which strongly impressed the imagination.