Place: Europe
I'm looking for a composer living in the 18th century, who people in the mid-19th century Europe had false conceptions – or at least one false conception – of. I think quite an easy way to approach this question would be to look what Anton Schindler wrote about Beethoven, but I don't know if people really believed what he wrote since Alexander Thayer started writing a new biography as early as in the 1850's. Also, I'd like the composer to be someone a bit less "obvious" than Beethoven (or Mozart, for that matter), though that isn't absolutely necessary. The false conception itself should be such that someone who knew the composer in question could correct it.
I'm not exactly sure how to search for this; I've mainly read about various composers but I feel a bit like looking a needle in the famous haystack, and so I thought I'd ask if someone here had any suggestions.
Thank you in advance!
