A fortnight after my first appearance, Rode’s Concert came in turn. Relying on his European reputation he had chosen the most spacious Concert-room in Vienna, the great “Redouten-Saal” and he found it completely filled. With almost feverish excitement I awaited the commencement of Rode’s play, which ten years before had served as my highest model. But, already, after the first Solo, it seemed to me that Rode had lost ground in that time. I now found his play cold, and full of mannerism, I missed his former boldness in conquering great difficulties, and felt particularly dissatisfied with his execution of the Cantabile. The composition as well of the new Concerto, appeared to me far behind that of the seventh in A-Minor. In his execution of the Variations in E-Major, which I had heard him play ten years before, convinced me fully, that he had greatly lost in technical precision, for he had not only simplified for himself many of the most difficult passages, but he produced also those modified passages with timidity and a degree of uncertainty. Neither did the public seem satisfied; at least he failed to rouse them to any enthusiasm. << less