Beethoven and Goethe

"His talent astonished me, but his is a totally untamed personality, and he is not entirely wrong in finding the world detestable, though this attitude does not make it more pleasant, either for himself or others …"
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, of his 4-day meeting with Beethoven in July, 1812.

"The Court suits him too much. It is not becoming of a poet."
- Beethoven, of his meeting with Goethe.

Beethoven and Goethe met in 1812. Beethoven was 42, Goethe, 63. In their first meeting they walked and talked. Then, some of the nobility passed with their entourage. Goethe politely stepped aside and bowed deferentially to the nobles - while Beethoven, in a typical gesture, strode almost defiantly right through their midst, with his hands behind his back and without acknowledging the presence of the nobles, who had no alternative but to give him clear passage. When Goethe asked Beethoven how he could so disrespectfully treat these nobles, the composer replied, again characteristically, "There are countless 'nobles', but only two of us."

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