"[1] Niccolò Paganini had even earlier (1838) identified Berlioz as the worthy successor of Beethoven.
Hans von Bülow, two years before Cornelius' article, called Berlioz "the immediate and most energetic successor of Beethoven".
[2] Decades later, Bülow composed the following pun to a friend: "Mein musikalisches Glaubensbekenntniss steht in Es dur, mit drei B-en in der Vorzeichnung: Bach, Beethoven, und Brahms!
The lyricist Ira Gershwin suggested that the Three Bs should be expanded to five with the addition of Irving Berlin and Burt Bacharach.
[4] In the 21st century, David Matthews suggested that if there was a "Fourth B" added to this legacy, it could be Benjamin Britten.