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Once Huemmel undertook a contest with Beethoven in improvising. After he
had been playing for some time Beethoven interrupted him with the
question, "When are you going to begin?" It is needless to say that
Beethoven, when his turn came to play, distanced the other so entirely
that there was no room for comparison.


CHAPTER III
THE NEW PATH
I tremble to the depths of my soul and ask my daemon: "Why this cup
to me?"
--WAGNER.
Life at last has found a meaning.
--WAGNER: _Letter to Frau Wille_.

Reference has already been made to the fact that Beethoven's opus 1 was
published in 1795, something like three years after taking up his
residence in Vienna, and when he was twenty-four years of age. It
consists of three Trios for piano and strings. When Haydn returned from
London and heard these Trios, the master criticised one of them and
advised him not to publish it. Beethoven thought this particular one the
best of the three, and others concur with him in this opinion.


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