Donne par le Roi a monsieur Beethoven_." The King of Saxony delayed
his remittance for a long while, and Beethoven was greatly irritated
thereby.

But little other work was undertaken during the four years he was
occupied on the Mass unless we except the three grand piano sonatas,
opus 109, 110 and 111, which were composed during the intervals. A mere
by-product so to speak, undertaken with the object of resting his
faculties jaded by the strain of the greater work, his mind
notwithstanding was keyed up to a high pitch, while engaged on them. The
lofty imaginings which occupied his thoughts while on the Mass are
reflected in them, rendering them unapproachable as piano sonatas. The
master himself, set a great value on them.

Now that the Mass was completed he began to give his attention to other
works. To celebrate the opening of the rehabilitated Josephstadt theatre
which occurred in the autumn of 1822, Beethoven wrote a new overture,
Weihe des Hauses. He also worked over for this occasion his Ruins of
Athens, written in 1812, for which the text was altered to suit the new
conditions and several new numbers added. Another representation of the
almost forgotten Fidelio, which was selected by Fraeulein
Schroeder-Devrient for her benefit, and which was a pronounced success
through the genius of this remarkable woman, led to a commission for a
new opera from a Vienna manager. This was followed shortly after by a
similar order from Berlin on his own terms. There had also been some
talk before this about an opera on an American subject, the Founding of
Pennsylvania. It was suggested by a minor poet and government official,
Johann Ruprecht, whose poem, Merkenstein, Beethoven had set to music
previous to 1816. In 1820 Beethoven had planned an Italian tour and had
intended taking Ruprecht with him. They must have quarrelled later, as
in a letter to Schindler in 1823 Beethoven refers to Ruprecht in the
most abusive terms.

A commission that must have gratified Beethoven exceedingly, but which,
however, was not acted upon, was that which emanated from Breitkopf and
Haertel, who sent the famous critic Friederich Rochlitz to Vienna in
July, 1822, with a proposition that he write some Faust music in the
style of the Egmont music. It is narrated that Beethoven received the
proposition with joy, but gave only a qualified assent. There is no
doubt that he would have found inspiration in the text, and that a noble
work would have res