A wealthy nobleman invited Beethoven to come to his palace and play his latest piano composition for his guests. This was a standard gig for musicians in Beethoven's day and often how composers earned their livelihood—playing for wealthy patrons and their guests.

When Beethoven arrived in the large salon where the guests had gathered, he discovered that he was not the only one on the program. There was a string quartet set up, prepared to open the program with another composer's new work.

Beethoven sat through the performance scowling and glaring thunderbolts. When the quartet had finished and the musicians and composer had taken their bows, the nobleman introduced Beethoven, who would be playing his latest work.

Beethoven, stood, acknowledged the applause of the audience, but with steam pouring out of his collar. He then walked over to the second violinist's music stand and picked up a sheet of music (the second violinists part), took it to the piano, sat down, and improvised around the part—brilliantly—for nearly an hour! When he had finished, the audience went wild with applause. The other composer shrank down and hid under the carpet.

This was not the only time that Beethoven went out of his way to denigrate other composers.

Beethoven was a brilliant musician and composer. But as a person, he could be pluperfect son-of-a-bitch.

Don Firth