Beethoven received a precious gift, as is reflected in his letter to J. A. Stumpff: "My pen is quite unable to describe the great pleasure afforded me by the volumes of Handel's works which you have sent me as a gift -- To me, a Royal gift!"
A few days later Diabelli gave him a picture of Haydn's birthplace at Rohrau. Looking at it, Beethoven exclaimed: "A so humble cottage and yet, such a great man was born in it."
@Operations@2
In a letter to Sir George Smart, we learn of Beethoven's grave situation: "...my sufferings and anxieties have only increased...On 27 February I was operated on for the fourth time..."
@Beethoven'S Death@2
A fierce snow-storm, with ferocious thunder and lightning, accompanies the great composer's death.
@Oration@2
More than twenty thousand admirers crowded in front of Beethoven's last lodgings, and the actor Anschutz read the eloquent oration written by Grillparzer:
"As we stand here at the grave of this departed, we are,the representatives of a whole nation, of the entire German people, mourning the fall of the one highly celebrated half of what remained to us of the vanished splendor of native art, the flower of our country's spirit....the heir and successor of Handel's and Bach's, of Haydn's and Mozart's immortal fame...Thus he lived, thus he died, thus he shall live for ever!"
