That the young man was reaching out
for higher things his public may have been aware of, but only a few,
here and there, kindred spirits, cared for this. The average person was
unable to recognize any higher function in music than that of simple
enjoyment; anything aside from this was irrelevant, and could but lead
to deterioration. Although at the beginning of his career as composer,
he made Mozart and Haydn his models, this originality showed itself, and
when it was continued in subsequent works, it awoke the strongest
opposition in certain quarters. The strong partisanship which Krumpholz
brought to bear on the situation, was invaluable to the young man, whose
views needed confirmation and indorsement. Krumpholz seems to have had
an affinity for discovering talent in others. He brought Czerny, at the
age of ten years, to Beethoven, who immediately recognized his genius,
and offered to give him lessons. That Beethoven deeply felt the loss of
his old friend and teacher is evidenced by his writing music to the Song
of the monks,
Rasch tritt der Tod den Menschen an,
from Schiller's Wilhelm Tell, in commemoration of him.
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