" Some years previously,
when the Baroness had lost a son by death during her husband's absence
on his military duties, Beethoven asked the stricken woman to call, and
comforted her, not with words, but in the language which both best
understood. "'We will talk in music,' said Beethoven, who remained at
the piano over an hour in which he said everything and even gave me
consolation." The incident is obtained from one of Mendelssohn's
letters.
Among the important works produced in this period may be mentioned the
Sonata, opus 90, "A struggle between the head and the heart." It is
dedicated to Count M. Lichnowsky on the occasion of his marriage to a
singer. There was also the chorus set to Goethe's words, "A Calm Sea and
Prosperous Voyage." This was written in 1815 and seven years later
dedicated to Goethe. The two sonatas, opus 102, for piano and cello, one
of which is called the Free Sonata, are interesting, as in them is
foreshadowed the trend of Beethoven's mind toward religious music, which
controlled him almost entirely from this time on.
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