Note 41 — Chapter VII

Dr. Wegeler’s grandson, in his criticism of Thayer’s assertions concerning the date of the beginning of the acquaintance between Beethoven and the von Breunings, falls foul of even this ingenious demonstration, saying that the incident of the conflagration might have taken place when Count Waldstein was at home visiting his mother. He could not believe that the Count had spent all of the first 24 years of his life at Dux in “idyllic solitude,” and argued that he might have visited Bonn for the first time at an earlier date than 1787. Dr. Deiters held that the point was well taken; as if there was no alternative for the young count between “idyllic solitude” at Dux and a sojourn at Bonn!