"At daybreak on a summer morning in the year 1815 a short thick-set sturdily-built man entered his sitting-room and at once set to work to compose music. Not that he disturbed the slumbers of the other inhabitants by untimely noises upon the pianoforte: a course which at three in the morning might be resented by even the most enthusiastic admirer of his genius. No: he sat down at his table with plenty of music paper and addressed himself to his usual avocation of writing assiduously till noon or thereabouts."