Grave Digger - Under The Flag

“At the very top of the title page was the word Bonaparte, and at the very bottom was Luigi van Beethoven, and not a word more. Whether he was going to fill the gap with something, and with what, I don’t know, ”Rhys recalled. Indeed, in such an extravagant way, title pages at that time did not take shape. Between the two names was to be placed the text of the initiation, which could not be arbitrary. According to the laws of that time, the dedication of any work to a noble person, and even more so to the ruler of the state, required his consent, since it entailed a material reward. But, besides official consent, the exact name of all titles of the addressee of initiation was necessary. Such questions were often discussed in Beethoven’s correspondence with publishers, and sometimes the release of the work was delayed precisely because the composer found outwhat exactly should be written on the title page.