2-720-429 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

'Schubert fled from the room', (1907). In 1822, the young Schubert meets the celebrated composer Beethoven: '...a courteous but somewhat formal welcome was accorded them. This in itself was bad enough for poor Schubert, whose courage straightway forsook him; but when Beethoven proceeded to hand to him the bundle of paper and the carpenter's pencil which, owing to his deafness, he kept in readiness for his visitors, Schubert's shyness prevented him writing a single word...Beethoven, looking through the composition, lighted upon something to which he took exception, and forthwith proceeded to point it out to his visitor. This was the last straw, and Schubert, losing his presence of mind altogether, fled from the room.' An episode from the life of Austrian composer Franz Schubert (1797-1828). From "Story-Lives of Great Musicians", by F.J. Rowbotham. [Wells Gardner, Darton & Co. Ltd, London, 1907]