ABSTRACT
Ludwig van Beethoven arrived in Vienna in the early days of November, 1792. Among the most famous of virtuosi in Vienna at that time was the Abbe Joseph Gelinek, "a brilliant pianist and so prolific a composer of variations that he was nick-named ' the variation-smith'". In Gelinek's lodging Beethoven met Johann Schenk, an excellent all-round musician and composer. The meeting duly took place, and Schenk was astounded by Beethoven's improvising. On the following day he called on Beethoven, and found "on his writing desk a few passages from his first lesson in counterpoint". Haydn continued to teach Beethoven until the former's departure for England at the end of 1793, and in the following January Beethoven began a course of study with Albrechtsberger. Entries in Beethoven's notebooks show that during this period he took also, three lessons a week in violin-playing from Schuppanzigh Quartet.
