From this time on he was able to choose his friends
from among the best people of his native city. The young man
commemorated the friendship by taking an air of the Count's, who was
somewhat of a composer, and composing twelve variations for four hands
for the piano from it. Later, in 1805, after the Eroica Symphony and
Fidelio, when the master had become famous, he composed the great
Waldstein Sonata, opus 58, and dedicated it to him. The Waldstein family
became extinct with Ferdinand, but the name will live for centuries
through these compositions.
About the time of his first meeting with Count Waldstein, Beethoven made
another acquaintance, which had an important bearing on his subsequent
life. This was Von Breuning. He and Beethoven took violin lessons of
Franz Ries. Stephen von Breuning liked Beethoven from the start and
introduced him at his mother's house. The Breunings were in good
circumstances, cultivated, good-natured and hospitable. They delighted
in having him about, and treated him with the utmost consideration.
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