The
beginning once made, he appeared rather frequently as a performer, not
only in Vienna, but extended his trips the next year as far as Berlin,
where he encountered Huemmel.
But Beethoven's mind was always turned toward composition. It had been
the aim of his life, even at Bonn, to become a great creative artist.
For this he had left his native city, and the larger opportunities for
musical culture afforded by his life in Vienna must have directed his
thoughts still more strongly into this channel. An important social
event of the period was the annual ball of the Artists' Society of
Vienna. Suesmayer, pupil and intimate friend of Mozart, the composer of
several of the "Mozart Masses," had composed music for this ball and
Beethoven was asked to contribute something likewise, with the result
that he composed twelve waltzes and twelve minuets for it. He also had
in hand at the same time piano music, songs, and studies in orchestral
composition. Nothing which he produced in these years, however, gave any
forecast of what he would eventually attain to.
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