und Schoene meiner lieben, verehrten, mir theure Freundin, von ihrem wahren und verehrenden Freund.”  The Countess Erdoedy, who is described as being witty, cultivated and beautiful, exercised a very strong fascination on the susceptible heart of our master, and on her side, she seems to have been powerfully drawn to him.  The friendship lasted many years.  Music, the bond that united them, sanctified their intimacy and kept it always on a high level.  Beethoven lived at her house for a time.  He used to allude to her as his father confessor.  Madame Erdoedy erected in honor of Beethoven, in the park of one of her seats in Hungary, a temple, the entrance to which is decorated with a characteristic inscription expressing her homage to the great composer.  Later in life she was banished and died in Munich.

The Baroness Ertmann was also a good friend to Beethoven.  He called on her frequently and her ability to interpret his works acceptably must have cemented the friendship between them.  Others with whom he came in contact were the Countess Babette de Keglivics (Princess Odeschalchi), and Julia Guicciardi, who became the Countess Gallenberg, and to whom he dedicated the Sonata Fantasia, which is called the language of resignation.

These people on the whole were quite democratic in their relations toward artists.  There was a very elaborate ceremonial at court, but elsewhere, cultivated people met on common ground.  Ries relates an incident illustrating the cameraderie existing between Beethoven and the aristocratic ladies of his circle.  In this instance.  Princess Lichnowsky, who was a Countess Thun, and connected with some of the best families in Europe, was the central figure.  One evening at Count Browne’s, Ries was asked to play a sonata with which he was not familiar.  Ries preferring to play something else, begged to be excused from playing this particular one.  The company was obdurate, however, and finally appealed to Beethoven, knowing that he, if any one, could carry the point.  Beethoven turned to Ries and asked him to play it, saying:  “I am sure you will not play it so badly that you would not want me to hear it,” whereupon Ries complied, Beethoven turning the leaves for him.  He made a break in the bass part, at which Beethoven tapped him on the head with his finger, whether to discipline him or only in play does not appear.  Later in the evening Beethoven played a sonata (opus 21), entirely new, with which he himself was not very familiar.  Princess Lichnowsky, who had observed Beethoven’s act in disciplining Ries earlier in the evening, stationed herself back of Beethoven’s chair, while Ries turned the pages.  When Beethoven made a mistake similar to that of Ries, the Princess playfully hit him several taps on the head with her hand, saying:  “If the scholar is punished for making a slight mistake, the master should not escape, when making a graver one,” at which all laughed, Beethoven taking the lead.  Then he began again and fairly outdid himself, particularly in the Adagio, in which the mistake occurred.