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His grandfather, also named Ludwig van Beethoven, had been Bonn’s Kapellmeister — an important post that placed him in charge of music at the court.

The once untouchable Kapellmeister began to suffer the kinds of reverses to which other composers had long been accustomed: the only opera that he completed in the four years after Joseph’s death went unperformed.

Indeed, he’s even a bit old-fashioned and regularly praises the traditional role of the Kapellmeister in German churches and theaters.

I cannot help it, for 210 I no more write to gain a name, than to obtain a Kapellmeister's place.

Kapellmeister, k�-pel′mīs-ter, n. the director of an orchestra or choir, esp. the band of a ruling prince in Germany.