It was not alone the necessity for study and other restraints, which led the young man to absent himself as much as possible from his uncle’s house when he grew older and had more liberty of action.  Comfortable living was not one of the factors in the Beethoven menage.  Beethoven’s requirements, so far as he himself was concerned, were simple almost to asceticism.  He believed in discipline in the rearing of youth, but his belief in it did not extend to the point of inducing him to attempt it with his servants.  The explanation of this is not far to seek.  He would have had to conform to any rules made in the interest of discipline and system in the household, which would have been out of the question for him.  He was wedded to an irregular mode of living and for the most part desired nothing but to be left alone.  It is not surprising that the young man preferred his own quarters, to the haphazard mode of life, which characterized the master’s household.

Character is never a finished product.  Always it is in process of formation, of development, advancing or retrograding according to environment.  Beethoven’s influence, powerless during his lifetime on the mind of Karl may have been potent after death in the upbuilding of the young man’s character.  On arriving at years of discretion he changed his course entirely and became an exemplary citizen.  As the last survivor of the Beethoven family he inherited the means of his two uncles, and settled down in Vienna living the life of a gentleman of leisure.  He gave his attention to music to which he was passionately devoted, as well as to the rearing of his family, and was by all accounts a model family man.  Like his illustrious uncle, he was in the habit of improvising at the piano for hours at a time.

To follow the fortunes of the posterity of great men is an interesting subject.  From the researches of Dr. Vansca of Vienna, published in Die Musik (Berlin, March, 1902), it transpires that Karl married on July 16, 1832, a Miss Karoline Naska.  Five children were born to them, as follows:  Karoline, 1833; Marie, 1835; Ludwig, 1839 (named after his famous grand-uncle); Gabrielle, 1844, and Hermine, 1852.  Ludwig, the only son, his military service over, married in 1865 Marie Nitche.  To them a son was born on May 8, 1870, at Munich, and baptized Karl.  Father and son, that is Ludwig and Karl 2d, were last heard from in 1889 in London, when the father applied for a passport to travel in various European countries.  Ludwig’s mother died in Vienna in 1891, at which time it was announced that the whereabouts of Ludwig and the son Karl were unknown.  Efforts were then made to get news of the young Karl, who, if living, would have been a youth of twenty, but without avail, and the family are of the opinion that he died during his childhood.  As far as can be ascertained at this writing the family of Beethoven on the male side is extinct.