s hardly to be wondered at that with all this praise and
patronage on the part of the wealthy aristocracy (and it is necessary
to bear in mind that in Vienna at that time the musical profession was
entirely dependent upon the patronage of the nobility), Beethoven
should have encountered considerable hostility from other members of
his profession. For a good deal of the enmity which his success
aroused he himself was no doubt to blame; he took no pains to please
or conciliate, and he showed even more independence towards the rich
and great than towards those of his own rank. The result was that only
those who could afford to overlook his faults for the sake of his
genius--and for the sake of something else which lay beneath his crust
of obstinate pride and openly expressed disregard for rank and
wealth--remained constant to him. Of his obstinacy and self-will
several instances will be given in the course of our story; but it is
necessary at this point to draw attention to the early period at which
this determined force of character began to assert itself. It is an
astonishing fact, and one that demonstrates the extraordinary power of
Beethoven's genius, that in spite of everything that could be urged
against him--his origin, rudeness of manner and speech, refusal to pay
homage to the great--even his youth and the comparative shortness of
the time during which he had been before the public--Beethoven should
have not only won a front place as a performer, but also retained the
sincere regard and respect of men and women belonging to the worthiest
as well as the highest ranks of society.

In the midst of the whirl of work and entertainment into which the
musical life of Vienna had plunged him, Beethoven was constant to
those whom he had left behind him at Bonn. He had not been absent more
than a month before he received news of his father's death. There had
been very little affection in his heart for the parent whose severity
had called forth his childish tears, and whose selfish indulgence had
increased the burden of his mother's existence, nor was Beethoven the
man to pretend what he did not feel. But with the father's death the
allowance which had been paid through Ludwig for the support of the
two sons, Carl and Johann, ceased, and this fact awoke Beethoven to
instant action. He wrote to the Elector begging that the grant might
be continued for his sake, and the request was granted. Later on we
shall see to what extent