ABSTRACT
A glimpse of the undertaking is given by the Widow Karth, who as a child lived in the upper storey of the Beethoven house. The composer's grandfather, Louis, ran away to Louvain to take up an appointment as bass singer, going a short time after to Bonn, where he was appointed Court Musician to the Elector Clemens August. The utmost she could do, apparently, was to refuse to pay his drinking debts. Inevitably his musical attainments soon got beyond the limited range of his father, and there ensued a succession of teachers, mostly unsatisfactory. The old Court organist, van den Eeden, tried his hand when the boy was eight years old, but apparently he was a failure. The music stands were brought from the Tucksaal and placed in the two sitting-rooms overlooking the street, and a canopy, embellished with flowers, leaves, and laurels, was put up in the room containing Grandfather Louis's portrait.
