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 VAL VERDE

265

VAN BEETHOVEN

ishops of Valva are known, but none of Sulmona atil 1054, when Leo IX named as Bishop of Valva, le Benedictine Domenico, and determined the hmits ' the Dioceses of S. Pelino (Valva) and S. Pamphilus iulmona), which were to have only one bishop, ected by the two chapters. Under Bishop Giacomo di enne, a monk of Casa Nova (1252), it was arranged lat the two chapters should unite in making . the ection, as frequent disjjutes had arisen when they
 * ted separately. Other bishops were :Bartolomeo of

occo (1402), highly esteemed for his learning by mocent VII, who gave him his own mitre; Donato ottini (1448), an Augustinian, who enriched the ithedral; Pompeo Zambeccari (1547), nuncio in aland, who restored the episcopal residence; Fran- sco Bonapaduh (13S), who founded the seminary; ietro Antonio Corsignani (1738), the historian of the bruzzi. During the dispute between the Holy See id the Kingdom of Naples the see remained vacant 3m 1800 till 1818. The See of Subnona is immedi- ely subject to the Holy See. It contains: 58 par- ies; 150,000 inhabitants, 200 secular, and 48 regular, iests; 3 houses of monks; 3 convents of nuns; 2 edu- ,tional institutes for boys, and 1 for girls. Cappelletti, Le chiese d' Italia, XXI: Dl Pietro, Memorie riche delta ciUd. di Sulmona (Naples, 1804) ; Corsignani, Oia marsicana (Naples, 1738).

U. Benigni.

Valverde, Vincent de, b. at Oropesa, Spain, to- iids the close of the fifteenth century; d.at the Island Fund, near Guayaquil, 31 Oct., 1541. He was the n of Francisco de Valverde and Ana Alvarez de lUegada, and was related to many noble families, in .rticular, to that of Pizarro, the conqueror of Peru, id that of Cortes, the conqueror of Mexico. Valverde came a professed member of the Dominicans at the nvent of San Esteban, Salamanca, April, 1524. In 29 he accompanied Pizarro as a missionary, on his tended voyage of conquest, to Peru. Before the .ttlc of Caxamarca, 16 Nov., 1532, Valverde en- avoured to obtain Atahuallpa's peaceful submis- m; later he instructed and baptized the unfortunate ca monarch. When Charles V learned of Pizarro's 3tories, he named Valverde first Bishop of Cuzco, e royal city of the Peruvian kings; Paul III ratified 5 choice in a consistory held in January, 1537. The w bishop found his spiritual duties arduous, for he d already been charged with the office of Protector the Natives. This forced him to cross the rude Idiery constantly, as the adventurers who made up e Spanish armies had no thought of justice or mercy the Indians. He strove to settle the feud between magro and Pizarro and after the assassination of the ter was forced to flee from Peru. Making his way Panama, he halted for a brief stay at the Island of md, where he was put to death by the Indians. The [ne of Bishop Valverde depends on his conduct at ixamarca. If the tradition be true that the Span- 1 monk addressed Atahuallpa with haughtiness d disdain, and when his words were not heeded lied his compatriots to attack the unoffending Tuvians, then Valverde merits general condemna- >n. The great religious historians, however, such as ilera, Mclendez, Remesal, deny the charge as false. ites that when the Inca refused to yield, Valverde turned and informed Pizarro, who then ordered his sn to advance; he makes no mention of anything iworthj' in the friar's conduct, nor does Pedro Pi- rro,oneof the earliest WTiters (his "Relacion" being ted 1571). Particularly bitter to Valverde are onzo Enrique and Oviodo, who gives the account of iego de Molina, a .soldier of the expedition, but both these were partisans of Almagro. Later writers ke differing views. The case is not proven either ly. In consideration of the extraordinary com- stenesaof the details of Valverde's actions, one must
 * rez, an ej'e-witno.ss, in his account (Seville, 1534)

conclude that they are not authentic but the result of political or personal bias.

Cf. all early histories of Spanish America.

Joseph V. Mollot.

Van Beethoven, Ludwig, b. at Bonn, probably on 16 Dec, 1770; d. at Vienna, 26 March, 1827. The date of his birth has never been positively ascertained but is inferred from the fact that the baptismal reg- ister of his parish church gives 17 Dec. as the date of his baptism, and that it is customary in Catholic countries to baptize infants the day following their birth. Beethoven's father was tenor singer in the court chapel of the Prince -Archbishop of Cologne, where his grandfather, a native of Holland, held for a number of years the post of musical director. He was therefore brought up from his earliest youth in a musical atmosphere. While the father was rigorous and not always reasonable in his rule over the young genius, his mother was often over-lenient with him, a fact which may account for some of the traits of char- acter the young man developed later on. At the age of five years his father began to instruct him in violin playing, and at eight the musical director, Pfeifer, undertook his training on the piano, while the court organist Van den Eden, and his successor. Christian Gottlob Neefe, instructed him in organ playing, har- mony, and composition. As a pianist he made such rapid progress that in a few years he was able to inter- pret Bach's "Well-tempered Clavichord" and im- provise in a masterly fashion. At thirteen years of age he gave forth his first compositions, a set of six sonatas. These and some other productions of hia early youth he later repudiated and destroyed. When he was fifteen. Elector Maximilian, whose as- sistant court organist he had in the meantime become, enabled young Beethoven to visit Vienna. A short sojourn in the imperial city served the good purpose of causing him to reahze the incompleteness of his musical as well as his general education. A few years later, in 1792, his patron sent him anew to Vienna with the avowed plan of studying with Joseph Haydn. Instruction under this master did not continue with any system or for any length of time, owing to a radi- cal difference of temperament between the two men.

Beethoven soon found his way to the great contra- puntist, Albrechtsberger, through whose guidance and the private study of J. J. Fux's treatise of theory and counterpoint, "Gradus ad Parnassum", he ac- quired the solidity and freedom of style which soon commanded the admiration of the musical world. Assiduous study of the works of Handel, Haydn, and Mozart completed what Bach had begun for him in the creative domain. The protection of his patron, the Elector Maximihan, brother of Jo.seph II, and hia striking gifts as player and improvisor served to se- cure for him, in a comparatively short time, a promi- nent position in the social and artistic world of Vienna. Archduke Rudolph, afterwards a cardinal, became his pupil and hfelong friend, while numerous music-lov- ing nobles patronized him. As a composer he at- tracted more and more attention, not only in Austria and Germany but throughout the world. Beetho- ven's position in life at this time was probably more congenial and agreeable than was that of any con- temporary or preceding m;ister. He was enabled to live in comparative ea.se without the necessity of ac- cepting a fixed engagement or of regularly giving instruction; he was much sought after as an in- structor, but he entertained an intense aversion to teaching. His productions of this period, while bear- ing more and more the stamp of his individuality, yet reflect the influence and manner of his contemporaries, Mozart and Haydn. It was probably more on account of the .success of the oratorios of the latter than be- cause he realized the sublimity of the subject that Beethoven undertook the composition of a work in