Beethoven’s First Triumph

Giacomo Meyerbeer liked to tell a story about Beethoven—one that captures how quickly talent can announce itself.

Beethoven was not yet sixteen when he was invited by the von Breuning family in Bonn to spend an evening with a circle of musicians. Among them were the Kapellmeister Ries, the brothers Romberg, Count Waldstein, and other members of the court orchestra. After various pieces were played, Waldstein stood up and said he had received a trio manuscript and would love to hear it—but he refused to reveal the composer’s name until it had been performed.

He called on the two Rombergs and the young Beethoven to play it prima vista. They did, and the trio instantly struck the listeners as original, vigorous, and full of life. Admiration broke out, along with speculation. “It’s too passionate for Haydn,” some said; “too gloomy for Mozart,” said others. Ries added that whoever wrote it clearly understood his craft.

Then Waldstein revealed the secret: the composer was the young Beethoven sitting right there. The older musicians were stunned, then delighted; they crowded around him with hearty congratulations. And Beethoven, flushed with his first triumph as a composer, went home inspired.