2-720-421 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

'Pay attention to this young man, for he will make a noise in the world some day', (1907). The teenage Beethoven visits Mozart in Vienna: 'Beethoven...improvised so finely - allowing his feelings to flow into the music as he went on - that a bystander could not fail to have been struck by the change which came over Mozart's face as he listened. The abstracted look gave place to one of pure astonishment...he exclaimed, 'Pay attention to this young man, for he will make a noise in the world some day.' Beethoven, meanwhile, played on and on, lost in the intricate melodies which he was weaving out of the single thread, until the touch of Mozart's hand upon his shoulder recalled him to earth to hear the master's praises sounding in his ear.' An episode from the life of German composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827). From "Story-Lives of Great Musicians", by F.J. Rowbotham. [Wells Gardner, Darton & Co. Ltd, London, 1907]