Daniel Gottlieb Steibelt was born in Berlin on 22 October 1765 and studied with Johann Kirnberger before his father forced him into the Prussian army. He deserted, lived for some years as a wandering pianist, and settled in Paris in 1790, where a sonata called La Coquette, written for Marie Antoinette, made him a celebrated virtuoso; his opera Roméo et Juliette was staged at the Théâtre Feydeau in 1793 and later admired by Berlioz, and many take it for his most original work. He divided his time between Paris and London, playing in a Salomon concert in 1797 and producing in 1798 the Third Concerto in E with its Storm Rondo, built on extended tremolos, which became enormously popular. He toured Germany from 1799, and died in Saint Petersburg on 2 October 1823.

He is best remembered for losing a keyboard contest to Beethoven. Reaching Vienna at the end of March 1800, he is said to have challenged him at the house of Count Moritz von Fries; the account everyone quotes is Ferdinand Ries’s, written thirty-seven years later by a man who was not present and only became Beethoven’s pupil afterwards. By that account the contest ran in rounds: prepared performance, where Beethoven played Mozart and Steibelt Haydn; improvisation on a theme set by the opponent; and sight-reading a piece written by the other. Steibelt earned real applause with Beethoven’s Sonata in B flat, Op. 22, then bent the rules by handing over a cello sonata rather than a piano piece. Beethoven set the score upside down, read it backwards, improvised on the inverted themes for half an hour, and Steibelt walked out before he had finished.

Sources:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Steibelt
• https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q657464