Widely known for his reminiscences of Beethoven, Ferdinand Ries belonged to a family which, like Beethoven’s, had a long connection with the musical establishment of the Archbishop-Elector of Cologne in Bonn. He studied the piano and violin with his father, who taught Beethoven and helped the latter’s family after their mother’s death. Ries studied briefly with Peter von Winter in Munich and then spent a period in Vienna, where he had piano lessons from Beethoven and lessons in theory and composition from Albrechtsberger. He established himself as an interpreter of Beethoven’s music, assisting him in various ways as a copyist and proof-reader. In 1809 he left Vienna on a series of concert tours in Germany, Russia, Scandinavia and, eventually, London, whe...