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beethoven's home family resided there for only seven years, it is the single Bonn home of theirs still kept up. The composer's paternal grandfather and father were musicians; by age eleven, although not paid, little Ludwig already was a substitute organist in the church. Two years later, he got a salary. By age 16, he was the family's sole breadwinner. The text of the audio guide, which is also available to print out from the museum's website, included interesting general background information as well as fascinating details about display items that had numbers corresponding to those keyed on the audio guide. On the walls, I examined framed documents, pictures, and artwork. One piece had several intriguing silhouettes of the von Breuning family members. Beethoven taught piano to the children; their mother Helene was a maternal figure for him after his own mother died. Back home, I dug deeper into Beethoven's life and read the 1992 English translation of Memories of Beethoven by Gerhard von Breuning. Glass cases held exhibits, including small posters on various topics, autographs, and personal or authentic period instruments. The most unusual was a basset horn, which looks like a clarinet with a small horn bell. Upstairs is Joseph Karl Stieler's well-known portrait of Beethoven as well as two large rooms with objects from his time in Vienna. He went to the Austrian capital as a student and planned to return home, but two years after he moved, Bonn was seized by the French. Beethoven remained in Vienna or nearby the rest of his life. Years ago, I enjoyed visiting Beethoven Pasqualatihaus, one of his Viennese residences, now a small museum, located at Mölker Bastei 8. The rooms in the Bonn museum are not large, and from time to time, there were tour groups that made it difficult for me to examine the exhibits in a room and also problematic to move from one room to another at my own pace. The guides didn't stay as long in any room as I did, and their tour groups missed the music options on the excellent audio guide. I listened to a recording of his Nocturne in D Major, Op. 42 played on his eighteenth-century viola, which was on display in the museum, and heard 9 Variations for Piano on a March by Dressler while standing in front of the manuscript. It plainly indicates he wrote it when Beethoven-Haus Bonn At top, an autograph of the "Moonlight Sonata" op. 27 No. 2. At left, the memorial marker. BEETHOVEN continued on page 19 sai-national.org SUMMER 2013 PAN PIPES 15