One of his first tasks, when he had barely mastered the rudiments of composition, was to write an overture which he intended to be more complicated than Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.

In these he tries to prove that his own music-dramas are an outgrowth of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.

His orchestration is more varied, euphonious, and enchanting than Beethoven's, and in this direction he did for the symphony what Weber did for the opera.

I will also call attention to the fact that, so far as I know, each of Beethoven's beloved ones was of high rank.

" In Nohl's collection of Beethoven's letters is an inscription in the album of the singer, Mine.

The language of these letters is somewhat overstrained, but Beethoven could rant on occasion, and Ludwig Nohl believed the letters to be genuine, since a friend of his said he had seen them and recognised Beethoven's script.

When Fräulein Tenger had first met the countess as a child she had been asked to go every year on March 27th and lay a wreath of immortelles on Beethoven's grave.

Thérèse von Brunswick was Beethoven's "Immortal Beloved," and the picture found with the letter was her portrait.

Mendelssohn's life flowed on in smoothness, in thorough contrast with the violent ups and downs of Beethoven's mind and music, for he was, as Stratton says, "on the most excellent terms with himself," as with the world in general.

BEETHOVEN'S LETTERS.

One language the master had to serve him in all needthe language of plastic human form; but it was to him a tongue as rich in its variety of accent and of intonation as Beethoven's harmonies.

The great white and red roses of the d'aubusson carpet are spread enigmatically about her feline feet; a grand piano leans its melodious mouth to her; and there she sits when her visitors have left her, playing Beethoven's sonatas in the dreamy firelight.

One midnight in July, as he lay awake, an impulse came to play Beethoven's symphonyin the dark....

Whereupon the clergyman would explain with burning words that many a symphony of Beethoven's, a sonata of Schumann's, or a suite of Tschaikovsky's were the Names, peaceful, romantic or melancholy, of great spiritual Potencies, heard partially by these masters in their moments of inspirational ecstasy.

It is the freshest and most graceful of all Beethoven's works.

"Lizaveta Mikhailovna and I are going to play a duetone of Beethoven's sonatas.

The great white and red roses of the Aubusson carpet are spread enigmatically about her feline feet; a grand piano leans its melodious mouth to her; and there she sits when her visitors have left her, playing Beethoven's sonatas in the dreamy firelight.

That the chorist may have laid a foundation for his future remarkable execution, and have fostered and developed his love for music, is very probable; but that the great Beethoven's marvellous powers in higher spheres of the art were in any great degree owing to him, we cannot credit.

Very probably, upon one of these occasions, was performed that trio not published until since the death of its composer"the second movement of which," says Schindler, "may be looked upon as the embryo of all Beethoven's scherzos," while "the third is, in idea and form, of the school of Mozart,a proof how early he made that master his idol."

Quaint old citiesAndernach, with "the Christ," Coblentz, home of Beethoven's mother, Boppard, Bacharach, Bingenwelcomed them; Mainz, the Electoral city, and Frankfurt, seat of the Empire.

Mozart, however, was Beethoven's favorite, and his influence is unmistakably impressed upon many of the early compositions of his young admirer.

By Walter R. Spalding Beethoven's Letters.

It is a long step from Goethe, who was entirely unable to grasp the meaning of Beethoven's symphonies, to such men as Heine, who has made some very illuminating comments on various composers and their music; Max Müller, a highly cultivated musical amateur; Schopenhauer, whose esthetic principles so deeply influenced Wagner; and Nietzsche, a musician of considerable technical ability.

Although some modern critics have doubted whether music without the association of words can express humor, the introduction of this element into symphonic music is generally considered one of Beethoven's greatest achievements.

* BEETHOVEN'S LETTERS TRANSLATED BY J.S. SHEDLOCK NO. 8 TO DR.