Mödling, Hauptstraße 79, Wohnung von Ludwig van Beethoven (Hafnerhaus) - Aquarell von Gottfried Bürklein, Mödling, 1868

Beethoven and his nephew Karl spent the summer months of 1818 in Mödling. They took several rooms in the house of the master potter Jakob Duschek, the so-called "House of the potter" (previously Herrengasse and Ungargasse, today Hauptstraße 79). Beethoven started taking the waters here in May and worked on the Adagio, possibly even on the final fugue of the Hammerklavier Sonata, op. 106. His nephew attended the boy"s class at Mödling school, but was made to leave after a month on account of his bad behaviour.

During these months the 25-year-old painter August Kloeber visited Beethoven and was afforded the opportunity of making a portrait of the composer (and his nephew), which disappeared in the first half of the nineteenth century. (S.B.)