His improvisation was most brilliant and striking. In whatever company he might chance to be, he knew how to produce such an effect upon every hearer that frequently not an eye remained dry, while many would break out into large sobs; for there was something wonderful in his expression in addition to the beauty and originality of his ideas and his spirited style of rendering them. After ending an improvisation of this kind he would burst into loud laughter and banter his hearers on the emotion he had caused in them. You are fools! he would say. Sometimes he would feel himself insulted by these indications of sympathy. Who could live among such spoiled children? he would cry, and only on that account (as he told me) he declined to accept an invitation which the King of Prussia gave him after one of the extempore performances above described.
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About Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a 18th-century German composer. Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. One of the most revered figures in the history of Western music, his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire and span the transition from the Classical to the Romantic era. Read more on Wikipedia →