The young musician received a warm welcome, and was not able to leave until he had played on the piano all the airs he could remember from the wonderful new opera, which Weber had come to Berlin to superintend.  Benedict was so pleased with his first visit that he came again.  This time he found Felix writing music and asked what it was.  “I am finishing my new quartet for piano and strings,” was the simple reply.  To say that Benedict was surprised at such an answer from a boy of twelve hardly expresses what he felt.  It was quite true he did not yet know Felix Mendelssohn.  “And now,” said the boy, laying down his pen, “I will play to you, to prove how grateful I am that you played to us last time.”  He then sat down at the piano and played correctly several melodies from “Der Freischuetz,” which Benedict had played on his first visit.  After that they went into the garden, and Felix for the moment, became a rollicking boy, jumping fences and climbing trees like a squirrel.

Toward the close of this year, 1821, his teacher Zelter announced he intended going to Wiemar, to see Goethe, the aged poet of Wiemar, and was willing to take Felix with him.  The poet’s house at Wiemar was indeed a shrine to the elect, and the chance of meeting the object of so much hero worship, filled the impressionable mind of Felix with reverential awe.  Zelter on his part, felt a certain pride in bringing his favorite pupil to the notice of the great man, though he would not have permitted Felix to guess what he felt for anything he possessed.

When they arrived, Goethe was walking in his garden.  He greeted both with kindness and affection, and it was arranged that Felix should play for him next day.  Zelter had told Goethe much about his pupil’s unusual talents, but the poet wished to prove these accounts by his own tests.  Selecting piece after piece of manuscript music from his collection, he asked the boy to play them at sight.  He was able to do so with ease, to the astonishment of the friends who had come in to hear him.  They were more delighted when he took a theme from one of the pieces and improvised upon it.  Withholding his praise, Goethe announced he had a final test, and placed on the music desk a sheet which seemed covered with mere scratches and blotches.  The boy laughingly exclaimed, “Who could ever read such writing as that?” Zelter rose and came to the piano to look at this curiosity.  “Why, it is Beethoven’s writing; one can see that a mile off!  He always wrote as if he used a broomstick for a pen, then wiped his sleeve over the wet ink!”

The boy picked out the strange manuscript bit by bit; when he came to the end he cried, “Now I will play it through for you,” which he did without a mistake.  Goethe was well pleased and begged Felix to come every day and play, while he was in the city.  The two became fast friends; the poet treated him as a son, and at parting begged he would soon return to Wiemar, that they might again be together.  During the following summer the whole family made a tour through Switzerland, much to the delight of Felix, who enjoyed every moment.  There was little time for real work in composition, but a couple of songs and the beginning of a piano quartet were inspired by the view of Lake Geneva and its exquisite surroundings.