At a public concert at which he played, he
asked his friend Seyfried, a distinguished composer and all-round
musician, to turn the leaves for him of a new concerto written for the
occasion. "But that was easier said than done," said Seyfried who told
the story. "I saw nothing but blank leaves with a few utterly
incomprehensible Egyptian hieroglyphics which served him as guides, for
he played nearly the whole of the solo part from memory, not having had
time to write it out in full; he always gave me a sign, when he was at
the end of one of these unintelligible passages." Seyfried, thorough
musician that he was, understood the difficulties of the position for
Beethoven, and was so apprehensive of turning a page at the wrong time,
that his nervousness was observed by the master, who afterward rallied
him about it. Extempore playing is not to be compared with this, as the
concerto was written for strings and piano, Beethoven taking the piano
part.
The three quartets, opus 59, known as the Rasoumowsky Quartets, to which
a passing reference has been made, take their name from having been
dedicated to Count Rasoumowsky, who was the Russian ambassador.
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