upheavals around me! Nothing but
drums, cannons, human misery of
every kind,” he wrote of the difficult
months of occupation.
Even so, despite the hardships, when
a French amateur musician, the
Baron de Trémont, went to visit him
at his house during the occupation,
Beethoven received him warmly. In
the course of several convivial en-
counters, they spoke of ”philosophy,
religion, and politics, and especially
of Shakespeare his idol.”
They also spoke of Napoleon. Tré-
mont’s record of their conversation
confirms that the composer’s view
of the French commander was as
complex and contradictory as ever:“Through all his resentment, I could
see that he admired the Emperor and
his rise from such obscure beginnings... Later, he asked me that should he
go to Paris, would he be obliged to
salute the emperor?... The ques-
tion made me think that, despite his
opinions, he would be flattered by any
mark of distinction from Napoleon.”