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For instance, in the anecdote already referred to, Marx makes the two Rombergs and Franz Ries introduce the "fifteen-year-old virtuoso" to Sterkel, that is, in 1785 or '86. In 1815 died Beethoven's "friend and countryman, Salomon of Bonn, in London."
There we shall stay N. B., so long as we like the officers' table, and no doubt receive at least six louis- d'or. A few days ago Herr Sterkel came here from Wurzburg. Every one said the same. Madlle. Cannabich played my six sonatas, and in fact better than Sterkel. I must now conclude, for I cannot write in bed, and I am too sleepy to sit up any longer. Mannheim, Nov. 29, 1777.
Wegeler is the original authority for the anecdote, the point of which depends upon the fact that the printed variations were a composition by Beethoven. Marx here and elsewhere in his book attributes them to Sterkel! Ib. p. 31. To me, Ries, a boy of sixteen, and Beethoven already the composer all of whose works half a dozen publishers were ready to take at any prices he chose to fix!
But the extreme carelessness with which Marx cites his authorities is worthy of notice; here are a few examples. Vol. I. p. 13. Here we find the well-known anecdote of Beethoven's playing several variations upon Righini's air, "Vieni Amore," from memory, and improvising others, before the Abbe Sterkel.
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