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Fischer, George Alexander

"Beethoven"

" "Come Friday or Sunday," he writes Holz.
"Better come on Friday, as Satanas in the kitchen is more endurable on
that day." This advice to come on Friday when purposing to dine with
him, is repeated in a subsequent letter to Holz. "If I could but rid
myself of these _canaille_," he writes to another person, when
complaining of the hostility and insolence of his servants.
That his own mode of life helped largely to bring about this state of
things, did not make it any easier to bear. As stated, system was out of
the question in this household. There was no regular time for meals,
often no meals were thought of by the master while occupied with his
work. When hungry, if nothing were forthcoming at home, he sought a
restaurant. Careless in general as regards his food, abstemious to a
degree in this respect, he was particular only on one matter, his
coffee. He delighted in making it himself, often counting the beans that
were required for each cup.
"My house resembles very much a shipwreck" is a remark attributed to him
by Nohl.


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