apparent effort was to attain
the reputation of geniality. In reading Freischutz, he said he could
hardly help smiling at certain parts, but afterward qualified this by
saying that he could judge it better if he could hear it. Schindler
says, that when Rossini came to Vienna in 1822, and endeavored to call
on Beethoven, the master succeeded in escaping his visits. His opinion
of Haendel is high. He once remarked to a friend who called on him,
"Haendel is the greatest composer that ever lived." Continuing the
narrative this friend, J.A. Stumpf of London, says, "I cannot describe
the pathos and sublimity with which he spoke of the Messiah of that
immortal genius. We all felt moved when he said, 'Ich wuerde mein Haupt
entbloessen und auf seinem Grabe niederknieen.' (I would kneel at his
grave with uncovered head.)"

Of Mozart, he said, near the end of his life, in a letter to the Abbe
Stadler, "All my life I have been esteemed one of the greatest admirers
of Mozart's genius and will remain so until my latest breath." Czerny
said that he was at times inexhaustible in praise of Mozart, although he
cared nothing for his piano works and he makes a severe criticism on Don
Giovanni. "In this opera Mozart still retained the complete Italian cut
and style. Moreover, the sacred art should never be degraded to the
foolery of so scandalous a subject. The Zauberfloete will ever remain his
greatest work, for in this he showed himself the true German composer."
Of Cherubini's Requiem he said, "as regards his conception of it, my
ideas are in perfect accord with his and sometime I mean to compose a
Requiem in that style." (Later in life his opinion of Cherubini was
greatly modified). He seldom spoke of Haydn, and had nothing of that
master's compositions in his library.

Beethoven's collections in literature were far more extensive and
interesting than in music. He was essentially a student. His
predilections and thoughts all tended toward the acquisition of
knowledge. This was a veritable passion with him. His mind ranged
through almost every department of literature. In the intervals of his
work, worn by fatigue, he was in the habit of resting his mind by
reading the classics, or Persian literature. Schindler, who was near him
for the last ten years of his life says in relation to Beethoven's love
of the Greek classics. "He could recite long passages from them. If any
one asked him where this or that quotation was to be found he could