was no more
than a means of enjoyment or of subsistence. His point of view being so
different from that of the others, it is not surprising that he was
always at odds with them. Trifles often annoyed him more than gross
derelictions. At one of the rehearsals the third bassoon player was
absent and Beethoven was enraged. That anything short of illness or
disaster should keep this man from his post was a piece of insolence, an
insult to the art. Prince Lobkowitz was present, and in the effort to
pacify him, made light of the affair; he told him that this man's
absence did not matter much, as the first and second bassoonists were
present, a line of argument that served to include the Prince in
Beethoven's wrath. Hofsekretaer Mahler relates the denouement of the
incident. On the way home, after the rehearsal, as he and Beethoven came
in sight of the Lobkowitz Platz, Beethoven, with the delinquent third
bassoonist still in his mind, could not resist crossing the Platz, and
shouting into the great gateway of the palace, "Lobkowitzscher Esel"
(ass of a Lobkowitz).

Meanwhile, the French army, with Napoleon at its head, was advancing on
Vienna and almost at the time that the opera was ready for presentation,
took possession of the city. This was on November 13, 1805. The
imperial family, the members of the nobility and every one else who
could do so, had left the city on the approach of the French forces, but
this did not discourage Beethoven. The opera was ready and must be
presented. He could not have expected much of an audience as the very
people who were interested in the subject had left the city. It was
actually put on the stage on November 20, the audience consisting, it
appears, mainly of French officers. It is not to be supposed that such a
work would appeal to them, as there was no ballet, and the melodrama,
instead of containing good jokes and risque anecdotes, was simply the
tale of a wife's devotion. No doubt the intendant of the theatre, as
well as Beethoven and the whole company were anathematized freely. It
was continued for three nights and then withdrawn.

The work involved was enormous, both in the composition and in getting
it ready for the stage. The rewards during Beethoven's lifetime were
always slow. In its original form the opera was considered too long for
the patience of the average audience, and also in parts too abstruse,
which latter was probably its chief fault. The idea of revising it does
no