Of humble origin and occupation himself, the father, nevertheless, had large ambitions for his son; but not in the line of art.

Pietro was to be shaped intellectually for the law.

Like Handel, the boy studied the pianoforte by stealth in the attic.

Grown in years, he began attending a music-school, when, it is said, his father confined him to his house; thence his uncle freed him and took over his care upon himself.
Singularly enough, the man who at the height of his success posed as the most Italian of Italian masters had his inspiration first stirred by German poetry.

Early in his career Beethoven resolved to set Schiller's "Hymn to Joy"; the purpose remained in his mind for forty years or so, and finally became a realization in the finale of the Ninth Symphony.