It was a band of chosen spirits, and the
attrition engendered by these meetings must have been advantageous to
each. They were true Concerts Spirituels, an audience of artists from
which the performers were drawn.
Second only to Czerny as a pianist among this company was Beethoven's
friend and pupil, the Baroness Ertmann, who frequently took part in
these concerts. Madame Ertmann's virtuosity has already been commented
on in these pages. She won new laurels at the Czerny concerts through
her admirable interpretation of Beethoven's music.
During this winter of 1816 the master composed the fine sonata in A,
opus 101, for her. It commemorates the spiritual kinship existing
between these two gifted persons. "My dear, valued Dorothea Caecilia," he
writes in his letter of dedication, "receive now what has long been
intended for you, and may it serve as a proof of my appreciation of your
artistic talents and of yourself; I regret not having heard you recently
at Cz--(Czerny's). My absence was owing to illness, which at last
appears to be giving way to returning health.
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