This story, set in 1820s Austria, is a series of letters written between a young boy, Christoph, who lives in Vienna and his uncle, a music student who lives in Salzburg, and in the letters, Christoph tells his uncle of the strange gentleman, Ludwig van Beethoven, who has rented a room in the boy’s home. Mr. Beethoven is a serious disruption to the household, and Christoph thinks that he may be mad, but as the boy begins to know Mr. Beethoven, he begins to appreciate the genius of the strange houseguest, and when Beethoven’s famous Ninth Symphony is ready to be performed, Christoph informs his uncle that he and his mother are invited to be in the audience. (McDougal Littell The Language of Literature, 2002)