At an age when other boys begin learning their games, he began
in composition, being forced to it, no doubt, by his father. He is said
to have written a cantata at the age of ten to the memory of an English
friend of the family, who died early in the year 1781. Some variations
on a march in C minor bear the following statement: _Composees par un
jeune amateur L v B age de dix ans_.
From year to year he kept on in musical composition, feeling his way,
not discouraged by his inability to produce anything great, although
Mozart's precocity and genius were no doubt frequently held up to him by
others as an example to profit by. When he was seventeen he went to
Vienna, the funds for the trip probably being furnished by the Elector.
Here he met Mozart, then at the height of his fame, whose operas were
frequently produced in Bonn and throughout Germany. He probably had some
lessons from him. Mozart was very much occupied with the approaching
production of Don Giovanni, which took place in Prague shortly after the
young man's arrival.
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