now in the right hand,
now in the left, a beautiful expression which was simply inimitable; but
it was rarely indeed that he added a note or an ornament."

Of his playing when still a young man one of his hearers said that it
was in the slow movements particularly that it charmed everybody. Almost
unanimously his contemporaries give him the palm for his improvisations.
Ries says:

"His extemporizations were the most extraordinary things that one could
hear. No artist that I ever heard came at all near the height which
Beethoven attained. The wealth of ideas which forced themselves on him,
the caprices to which he surrendered himself, the variety of treatment,
the difficulties, were inexhaustible."

His playing was not technically perfect. He let many a note "fall under
the table," but without marring the effect of his playing. Concerning
this we have a remark of his own in No. 75. Somewhat critical is
Czerny's report:

"Extraordinary as his extempore playing was it was less successful in
the performance of printed compositions; for, since he never took the
time or had the patience to practice anything, his success depended
mostly on chance and mood; and since, also, his manner of playing
as well as composing was ahead of his time, the weak and imperfect
pianofortes of his time could not withstand his gigantic style. It was
because of this that Hummel's purling and brilliant manner of play, well
adapted to the period, was more intelligible and attractive to the great
public. But Beethoven's playing in adagios and legato, in the sustained
style, made an almost magical impression on every hearer, and, so far
as I know, it has never been surpassed." Czerny's remark about the
pianofortes of Beethoven's day explains Beethoven's judgment on his
own pianoforte sonatas. He composed for the sonorous pianoforte of the
future,--the pianoforte building today.

The following anecdote, told by Czerny, will be read with pleasure.
Pleyel, a famous musician, came to Vienna from Paris in 1805, and
had his latest quartets performed in the palace of Prince Lobkowitz.
Beethoven was present and was asked to play something. "As usual, he
submitted to the interminable entreaties and finally was dragged almost
by force to the pianoforte by the ladies. Angrily he tears the second
violin part of one of the Pleyel quartets from the music-stand where it
still lay open, throws it upon the rack of the pianoforte, and begins
to improvise. We had