These
equali, as it turned out, were eventually used for Beethoven's funeral.
The Kapellmeister's son, then a lad of fourteen, relates an incident of
this time with Beethoven as the central figure. A resident of Linz, a
certain Herr Graf von Doenhoff, who was a great admirer of Beethoven,
gave an entertainment in his honor. After some of his music had been
rendered by others, Beethoven was asked to extemporize, which he
declined absolutely to do. Shortly after he disappeared. Supper being
ready a search for him was instituted, but he was not to be found, so
the company, after some delay, repaired to the adjoining room. They had
hardly seated themselves at the table, when they heard some one at the
piano. Gradually, one by one, they found themselves in the other room,
where Beethoven was extemporizing. This he kept up for nearly an hour,
when, suddenly coming to a realization of the circumstances, and looking
around, he saw the entire company listening in rapt attention. He at
once got up from the instrument and hastily left the room, either
through anger or embarrassment.
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