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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/3528-0.txt b/3528-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..32f17e4 --- /dev/null +++ b/3528-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4250 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Beethoven: the Man and the Artist, by +Ludwig van Beethoven + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Beethoven: the Man and the Artist + As Revealed in his own Words + +Author: Ludwig van Beethoven + +Editor: Friedrich Kerst and Henry Edward Krehbiel + +Posting Date: February 9, 2009 [EBook #3528] +Release Date: November, 2002 +Last Updated: November 1, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEETHOVEN: THE MAN AND THE ARTIST *** + + + + +Produced by John Mamoun, Charles Franks, S. Morrison, R. +Zimmerman, Andrew Sly, and the Distributed Proofreaders Team + + + + + + +BEETHOVEN: THE MAN AND THE ARTIST, + +AS REVEALED IN HIS OWN WORDS + + +By Ludwig van Beethoven + + +Edited by Friedrich Kerst and Henry Edward Krehbiel + + + +This edition of “Beethoven: the Man and the Artist, as Revealed in his +own Words,” was translated into English and published in 1905 by B.W. +Huebsch. It was also republished unabridged by Dover Publications, Inc., +in a 1964 edition, ISBN 0-486-21261-0. + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS: + + BRIEF BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH + PREFACE + CONCERNING ART + LOVE OF NATURE + CONCERNING TEXTS + ON COMPOSING + ON PERFORMING MUSIC + ON HIS OWN WORKS + ON ART AND ARTISTS + BEETHOVEN AS CRITIC + ON EDUCATION + ON HIS OWN DISPOSITION AND CHARACTER + THE SUFFERER + WORLDLY WISDOM + GOD + APPENDIX + + + + +BRIEF BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH + + +Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) is widely considered to be one of the +pre-eminent classical music figures of the Western world. This German +musical genius created numerous works that are firmly entrenched in the +repertoire. Except for a weakness in composing vocal and operatic music +(to which he himself admitted, notwithstanding a few vocal works like +the opera “Fidelio” and the song “Adelaide,”), Beethoven had complete +mastery of the artform. He left his stamp in 9 symphonies, 5 piano +concertos, 10 violin sonatas, 32 piano sonatas, numerous string quartets +and dozens of other key works. Many of his works are ingeniously +imaginative and innovative, such as his 3rd symphony (the “Eroica”), his +9th Violin Sonata (the “Kreutzer”), his “Waldstein” piano sonata, his +4th and 5th piano concertos, or his “Grosse Fugue” for string quartet. +(Of course, each of Beethoven’s works adds its own unique detail to +Beethoven’s grand musical paradigm.) + +It is difficult to sum up briefly what his musical works represent or +symbolize, since taken together they encompass a vast system of thought. +Generally, however, those who apprehend his music sense that it reflects +their own personal yearnings and sufferings. It egoistically, and always +intelligently, “discusses” with its listener his or her feelings in the +wake of personal failure and personal triumph, from the lowest depths +of despair to the highest heights of happy or triumphant fulfillment. +In his music, he represents the feelings felt by those attempting to +achieve their goals within their societies, whether they are competing +for love, status, money, power, mates and/or any other things +individuals feel naturally inclined to attempt to acquire. + +In a thematic sense, Beethoven does not promote anarchist ideas. The +listener cannot, in listening to Beethoven’s music, apprehend ideas +which, if applied, would compromise the welfare of his society. The +music is thus “civically responsible,” as is the music of Bach or +Mozart. For Beethoven, the society exists as a bulwark with which the +individual must function in harmony, or at least not function such as +to harm or destroy it. And, should the society marginalize or hurt +the individual, as it often does, the individual must, according to +Beethoven, humbly accept this, never considering the alternative act +of attempting to harm or destroy the society in the wake of his or her +personal frustrations. But, thanks to Beethoven, such an individual +is provided with the means to sooth his or her misery in the wake of +feeling “hurt” at the hands of society. The means is this music and +the euphoric pleasure that it can provide to minds possessing the +psycho-intellectual “wiring” needed to apprehend it. + +Some post-World-War-II composers, such as the late, LSD-using John Cage, +reject the music of Beethoven because of its predominant reliance on +“beauty” as way of communicating idealized concepts. Also, since the +music intimately reflects the cravings and thought-processes of +the natural human mind, which in numerous ways is emotionally and +intellectually irrational, the music may itself be consequently +irrational. + +The following book consists of brief biographical commentaries about +Beethoven, each followed by sections of quotations attributed to the +muse. In these quotes, Beethoven demonstrates his intense preoccupation +(or obsession) with thinking artistically and intelligently, and with +helping to alleviate man’s suffering by providing man with musical +artworks that could enlighten him, so as to become educated enough to +pull himself out of his misery. He felt immediate, strong disdain at any +artistic statement that was not truly intelligent and artistic, such +as, in his view, the music of Rossini. Although not prudish, he had +high standards when it came to marriage, and was morally against +“reproductory pleasure” for its own sake, or any form of adultery. He +never married. Interestingly, experimental psychologists have discovered +that people who have an intense love of humanity or are preoccupied with +working to serve humanity tend to have difficulty forming intimate bonds +with people on a personal level. + + + + ***** + + + + +PREFACE + + +This little book came into existence as if it were by chance. The +author had devoted himself for a long time to the study of Beethoven and +carefully scrutinized all manner of books, publications, manuscripts, +etc., in order to derive the greatest possible information about the +hero. He can say confidently that he conned every existing publication +of value. His notes made during his readings grew voluminous, and also +his amazement at the wealth of Beethoven’s observations comparatively +unknown to his admirers because hidden away, like concealed violets, in +books which have been long out of print and for whose reproduction there +is no urgent call. These observations are of the utmost importance for +the understanding of Beethoven, in whom man and artist are inseparably +united. Within the pages of this little book are included all of them +which seemed to possess value, either as expressions of universal +truths or as evidence of the character of Beethoven or his compositions. +Beethoven is brought more directly before our knowledge by these his own +words than by the diffuse books which have been written about him. For +this reason the compiler has added only the necessary explanatory notes, +and (on the advice of professional friends) the remarks introductory to +the various subdivisions of the book. He dispensed with a biographical +introduction; there are plenty of succinct biographies, which set forth +the circumstances of the master’s life easily to be had. Those who wish +to penetrate farther into the subject would do well to read the great +work by Thayer, the foundation of all Beethoven biography (in the new +revision now making by Deiters), or the critical biography by Marx, as +revised by Behncke. In sifting the material it was found that it fell +naturally into thirteen subdivisions. In arranging the succession +of utterances care was had to group related subjects. By this means +unnecessary interruptions in the train of thought were avoided and +interesting comparisons made possible. To this end it was important that +time, place and circumstances of every word should be conscientiously +set down. + +Concerning the selection of material let it be said that in all cases +of doubt the authenticity of every utterance was proved; Beethoven is +easily recognizable in the form and contents of his sayings. Attention +must be directed to two matters in particular: after considerable +reflection the compiler decided to include in the collection a few +quotations which Beethoven copied from books which he read. From the +fact that he took the trouble to write them down, we may assume that +they had a fascination for him, and were greeted with lively emotion as +being admirable expressions of thoughts which had moved him. They are +very few, and the fact that they are quotations is plainly indicated. By +copying them into his note-books Beethoven as much as stored them away +in the thesaurus of his thoughts, and so they may well have a place +here. A word touching the use of the three famous letters to Bettina +von Arnim, the peculiarities of which differentiate them from the entire +mass of Beethoven’s correspondence and compel an inquiry into their +genuineness: As a correspondent Bettina von Arnim has a poor reputation +since the discovery of her pretty forgery, “Goethes Briefwechsel mit +einem Kinde” (Goethe’s Correspondence with a Child). In this alleged +“Correspondence” she made use of fragmentary material which was genuine, +pieced it out with her own inventions, and even went so far as to +turn into letters poems written by Goethe to her and other women. The +genuineness of a poem by Beethoven to Bettina is indubitable; it will +be found in the chapter entitled “Concerning Texts.” Doubt was thrown on +the letters immediately on their appearance in 1839. + +Bettina could have dissipated all suspicion had she produced the +originals and remained silent. One letter, however, that dated February +10, 1811, afterward came to light. Bettina had given it to Philipp von +Nathusius. It had always been thought the most likely one, of the set +to be authentic; the compiler has therefore, used it without hesitation. +From the other letters, in which a mixture of the genuine and the +fictitious must be assumed so long as the originals are not produced, +passages have been taken which might have been thus constructed by +Beethoven. On the contrary, the voluminous communications of Bettina +to Goethe, in which she relates her conversations with Beethoven, were +scarcely used. It is significant, so far as these are concerned, that, +according to Bettina’s own statement, when she read the letter to him +before sending it off, Beethoven cried out, “Did I really say that? If +so I must have had a raptus.” + +In conclusion the compiler directs attention to the fact that in a few +cases utterances which have been transmitted to us only in an indirect +form have been altered to present them in a direct form, in as much +as their contents seemed too valuable to omit simply because their +production involved a trifling change in form. + +--Elberfeld, October, 1904. Fr. K. + + + + +CONCERNING ART + + +Beethoven’s relation to art might almost be described as personal. Art +was his goddess to whom he made petition, to whom he rendered thanks, +whom he defended. He praised her as his savior in times of despair; +by his own confession it was only the prospect of her comforts that +prevented him from laying violent hands on himself. Read his words +and you shall find that it was his art that was his companion in his +wanderings through field and forest, the sharer of the solitude to which +his deafness condemned him. The concepts Nature and Art were intimately +bound up in his mind. His lofty and idealistic conception of art led him +to proclaim the purity of his goddess with the hot zeal of a priestly +fanatic. Every form of pseudo or bastard art stirred him with hatred to +the bottom of his soul; hence his furious onslaughts on mere virtuosity +and all efforts from influential sources to utilize art for other than +purely artistic purposes. And his art rewarded his devotion richly; she +made his sorrowful life worth living with gifts of purest joy: + +“To Beethoven music was not only a manifestation of the beautiful, an +art, it was akin to religion. He felt himself to be a prophet, a seer. +All the misanthropy engendered by his unhappy relations with mankind, +could not shake his devotion to this ideal which had sprung in to +Beethoven from truest artistic apprehension and been nurtured by +enforced introspection and philosophic reflection.” + + + (“Music and Manners,” page 237. H. E. K.) + + +1. “‘Tis said, that art is long, and life but fleeting:--Nay; life is +long, and brief the span of art; If e’re her breath vouchsafes with gods +a meeting, A moment’s favor ‘tis of which we’ve had a part.” + + + (Conversation-book, March, 1820. Probably a quotation.) + + +2. “The world is a king, and, like a king, desires flattery in return +for favor; but true art is selfish and perverse--it will not submit to +the mould of flattery.” + + + (Conversation-book, March, 1820. When Baron van Braun expressed the +opinion that the opera “Fidelio” would eventually win the enthusiasm of +the upper tiers, Beethoven said, “I do not write for the galleries!” He +never permitted himself to be persuaded to make concessions to the taste +of the masses.) + + +3. “Continue to translate yourself to the heaven of art; there is no +more undisturbed, unmixed, purer happiness than may thus be attained.” + + + (August 19, 1817, to Xavier Schnyder, who vainly sought instruction from +Beethoven in 1811, though he was pleasantly received.) + + +4. “Go on; do not practice art alone but penetrate to her heart; she +deserves it, for art and science only can raise man to godhood.” + + + (Teplitz, July 17, 1812, to his ten years’ old admirer, Emilie M. in H.) + + +5. “True art is imperishable and the true artist finds profound delight +in grand productions of genius.” + + + (March 15, 1823, to Cherubini, to whom he also wrote, “I prize your +works more than all others written for the stage.” The letter asked +Cherubini to interest himself in obtaining a subscription from King +Louis XVIII for the Solemn Mass in D). + +[Cherubini declared that he had never received the letter. That it +was not only the hope of obtaining a favor which prompted Beethoven to +express so high an admiration for Cherubini, is plain from a remark made +by the English musician Cipriani Potter to A. W. Thayer in 1861. I found +it in Thayer’s note-books which were placed in my hands for examination +after his death. + +One day Potter asked, “Who is the greatest living composer, yourself +excepted?” Beethoven seemed puzzled for a moment, and then exclaimed, +“Cherubini.” H. E. K.] + +6. “Truth exists for the wise; beauty for the susceptible heart. They +belong together--are complementary.” + + + (Written in the autograph book of his friend, Lenz von Breuning, in +1797.) + + +7. “When I open my eyes, a sigh involuntarily escapes me, for all that I +see runs counter to my religion; perforce I despise the world which does +not intuitively feel that music is a higher revelation than all wisdom +and philosophy.” + + + (Remark made to Bettina von Arnim, in 1810, concerning Viennese society. +Report in a letter by Bettina to Goethe on May 28, 1810.) + + +8. “Art! Who comprehends her? With whom can one consult concerning this +great goddess?” + + + (August 11, 1810, to Bettina von Arnim.) + + +9. “In the country I know no lovelier delight than quartet music.” + + + (To Archduke Rudolph, in a letter addressed to Baden on July 24, 1813.) + + +10. “Nothing but art, cut to form like old-fashioned hoop-skirts. I +never feel entirely well except when I am among scenes of unspoiled +nature.” + + + (September 24, 1826, to Breuning, while promenading with Breuning’s +family in the Schonbrunner Garden, after calling attention to the alleys +of trees “trimmed like walls, in the French manner.”) + + +11. “Nature knows no quiescence; and true art walks with her hand +in hand; her sister--from whom heaven forefend us!--is called +artificiality.” + + + (From notes in the lesson book of Archduke Rudolph, following some +remarks on the expansion of the expressive capacity of music.) + + + + + +LOVE OF NATURE + + +Beethoven was a true son of the Rhine in his love for nature. As a boy +he had taken extended trips, sometimes occupying days, with his father +“through the Rhenish localities ever lastingly dear to me.” In his days +of physical health Nature was his instructress in art; “I may not come +without my banner,” he used to say when he set out upon his wanderings +even in his latest years, and never without his note books. In the +scenes of nature he found his marvelous motives and themes; brook, birds +and tree sang to him. In a few special cases he has himself recorded the +fact. + +But when he was excluded more and more from communion with his fellow +men because of his increasing deafness, until, finally, he could +communicate only by writing with others (hence the conversation-books, +which will be cited often in this little volume), he fled for refuge to +nature. Out in the woods he again became naively happy; to him the woods +were a Holy of Holies, a Home of the Mysteries. Forest and mountain-vale +heard his sighs; there he unburdened his heavy-laden heart. When his +friends need comfort he recommends a retreat to nature. Nearly every +summer he leaves hot and dusty Vienna and seeks a quiet spot in the +beautiful neighborhood. To call a retired and reposeful little spot his +own is his burning desire. + + + +12. On the Kahlenberg, 1812, end of September: + + Almighty One + In the woods + I am blessed. + Happy every one + In the woods. + Every tree speaks + Through Thee. + + O God! + What glory in the + Woodland. + On the Heights + is Peace,-- + Peace to serve + Him-- + + + (This poetic exclamation, accompanied by a few notes, is on a page of +music paper owned by Joseph Joachim.) + + +13. “How happy I am to be able to wander among bushes and herbs, under +trees and over rocks; no man can love the country as I love it. Woods, +trees and rocks send back the echo that man desires.” + + + (To Baroness von Drossdick.) + + +14. “O God! send your glance into beautiful nature and comfort your +moody thoughts touching that which must be.” + + + (To the “Immortal Beloved,” July 6, in the morning.) + + +[Thayer has spoiled the story so long believed, and still spooking +in the books of careless writers, that the “Immortal Beloved” was the +Countess Giulietta Guicciardi, to whom the C-sharp minor sonata is +dedicated. The real person to whom the love-letters were addressed was +the Countess Brunswick to whom Beethoven was engaged to be married when +he composed the fourth Symphony. H. E. K.] + + +15. “My miserable hearing does not trouble me here. In the country it +seems as if every tree said to me: ‘Holy! holy!’ Who can give complete +expression to the ecstasy of the woods! O, the sweet stillness of the +woods!” + + + (July, 1814; he had gone to Baden after the benefit performance of +“Fidelio.”) + + +16. “My fatherland, the beautiful locality in which I saw the light of +the world, appears before me vividly and just as beautiful as when I +left you; I shall count it the happiest experience of my life when I +shall again be able to see you, and greet our Father Rhine.” + + + (Vienna, June 29, to Wegeler, in Bonn.) + + +[In 1825 Beethoven said to his pupil Ries, “Fare well in the Rhine +country which is ever dear to me,” and in 1826 wrote to Schott, the +publisher in Mayence, about the “Rhine country which I so long to see +again.”] + +17. “Bruhl, at ‘The Lamb’--how lovely to see my native country again!” + + + (Diary, 1812-1818.) + + +18. “A little house here, so small as to yield one’s self a little +room,--only a few days in this divine Bruehl,--longing or desire, +emancipation or fulfillment.” + + + (Written in 1816 in Bruehl near Modling among the sketches for the +Scherzo of the pianoforte sonata op. 10.) + + +[Like many another ejaculatory remark of Beethoven’s, it is difficult to +understand. See Appendix. H. E. K.] + +19. “When you reach the old ruins, think that Beethoven often paused +there; if you wander through the mysterious fir forests, think that. +Beethoven often poetized, or, as is said, composed there.” + + + (In the fall of 1817, to Mme. Streicher, who was at a cure in Baden.) + + +20. “Nature is a glorious school for the heart! It is well; I shall be a +scholar in this school and bring an eager heart to her instruction. Here +I shall learn wisdom, the only wisdom that is free from disgust; here I +shall learn to know God and find a foretaste of heaven in His knowledge. +Among these occupations my earthly days shall flow peacefully along +until I am accepted into that world where I shall no longer be a +student, but a knower of wisdom.” + + + (Copied into his diary, in 1818, from Sturm’s “Betrachtungen uber die +Werke Gottes in der Natur.”) + + +21. “Soon autumn will be here. Then I wish to be like unto a fruitful +tree which pours rich stores of fruit into our laps! But in the winter +of existence, when I shall be gray and sated with life, I desire for +myself the good fortune that my repose be as honorable and beneficent as +the repose of nature in the winter time.” + + + (Copied from the same work of Sturm’s.) + + + + + +CONCERNING TEXTS + + +Not even a Beethoven was spared the tormenting question of texts for +composition. It is fortunate for posterity that he did not exhaust his +energies in setting inefficient libretti, that he did not believe that +good music would suffice to command success in spite of bad texts. The +majority of his works belong to the field of purely instrumental music. +Beethoven often gave expression to the belief that words were a less +capable medium of proclamation for feelings than music. Nevertheless +it may be observed that he looked upon an opera, or lyric drama, as the +crowning work of his life. He was in communication with the best poets +of his time concerning opera texts. A letter of his on the subject was +found in the blood-spotted pocketbook of Theodor Komer. The conclusion +of his creative labors was to be a setting of Goethe’s “Faust;” except +“Fidelio,” however, he gave us no opera. His songs are not many although +he sought carefully for appropriate texts. Unhappily the gift of poetry +was not vouchsafed him. + + +22. “Always the same old story: the Germans can not put together a good +libretto.” + + + (To C. M. von Weber, concerning the book of “Euryanthe,” at Baden, in +October, 1823. Mozart said: “Verses are the most indispensable thing for +music, but rhymes, for the sake of rhymes, the most injurious. Those who +go to work so pedantically will assuredly come to grief, along with the +music.”) + + +23. “It is difficult to find a good poem. Grillparzer has promised to +write one for me,--indeed, he has already written one; but we can not +understand each other. I want something entirely different than he.” + + + (In the spring of 1825, to Ludwig Rellstab, who was intending to write +an opera-book for Beethoven. It may not be amiss to recall the fact +that Mozart examined over one hundred librettos, according to his own +statement, before he decided to compose “The Marriage of Figaro.”) + + +24. “It is the duty of every composer to be familiar with all poets, old +and new, and himself choose the best and most fitting for his purposes.” + + + (In a recommendation of Kandler’s “Anthology.”) + + +25. “The genre would give me little concern provided the subject were +attractive to me. It must be such that I can go to work on it with love +and ardor. I could not compose operas like ‘Don Juan’ and ‘Figaro;’ +toward them I feel too great a repugnance. I could never have chosen +such subjects; they are too frivolous.” + + + (In the spring of 1825, to Ludwig Rellstab.) + + +26. “I need a text which stimulates me; it must be something moral, +uplifting. Texts such as Mozart composed I should never have been +able to set to music. I could never have got myself into a mood for +licentious texts. I have received many librettos, but, as I have said, +none that met my wishes.” + + + (To young Gerhard von Breuning.) + + +27. “I know the text is extremely bad, but after one has conceived +an entity out of even a bad text, it is difficult to make changes in +details without disturbing the unity. If it is a single word, on which +occasionally great weight is laid, it must be permitted to stand. He is +a bad author who can not, or will not try to make something as good +as possible; if this is not the case petty changes will certainly not +improve the whole.” + + + (Teplitz, August 23, 1811, to Hartel, the publisher, who wanted some +changes made in the hook of “The Mount of Olives.”) + + +28. “Good heavens! Do they think in Saxony that the words make good +music? If an inappropriate word can spoil the music, which is true, then +we ought to be glad when we find that words and music are one and +not try to improve matters even if the verbal expression is +commonplace--dixi.” + + + (January 28, to Gottfried Hartel, who had undertaken to make changes in +the book of “The Mount of Olives” despite the prohibition of Beethoven.) + + +29. “Goethe’s poems exert a great power over me not only because of +their contents but also because of their rhythms; I am stimulated to +compose by this language, which builds itself up to higher orders as +if through spiritual agencies, and bears in itself the secret of +harmonies.” + + + (Reported as an expression of Beethoven’s by Bettina von Arnim to +Goethe.) + + +30. “Schiller’s poems are difficult to set to music. The composer must +be able to rise far above the poet. Who can do that in the case of +Schiller? In this respect Goethe is much easier.” + + + (1809, after Beethoven had made his experiences with the “Hymn to Joy” + and “Egmont.”) + + + + + +ON COMPOSING + + +Wiseacres not infrequently accused Beethoven of want of regularity in +his compositions. In various ways and at divers times he gave vigorous +utterance to his opinions of such pedantry. He was not the most +tractable of pupils, especially in Vienna, where, although he was +highly praised as a player, he took lessons in counterpoint from +Albrechtsberger. He did not endure long with Papa Haydn. He detested the +study of fugue in particular; the fugue was to him a symbol of narrow +coercion which choked all emotion. Mere formal beauty, moreover, was +nothing to him. Over and over again he emphasizes soul, feeling, +direct and immediate life, as the first necessity of an art work. It +is therefore not strange that under certain circumstances he ignored +conventional forms in sonata and symphony. An irrepressible impulse +toward freedom is the most prominent peculiarity of the man and artist +Beethoven; nearly all of his observations, no matter what their subject, +radiate the word “Liberty.” In his remarks about composing there is a +complete exposition of his method of work. + + +31. “As regards me, great heavens! my dominion is in the air; the tones +whirl like the wind, and often there is a like whirl in my soul.” + + + (February 13, 1814, to Count Brunswick, in Buda.) + + +32. “Then the loveliest themes slipped out of your eyes into my heart, +themes which shall only then delight the world when Beethoven conducts +no longer.” + + + (August 15, 1812, to Bettina von Arnim.) + + +33. “I always have a picture in my mind when composing, and follow its +lines.” + + + (In 1815, to Neate, while promenading with him in Baden and talking +about the “Pastoral” symphony.) + + +[Ries relates: “While composing Beethoven frequently thought of an +object, although he often laughed at musical delineation and scolded +about petty things of the sort. In this respect ‘The Creation’ and ‘The +Seasons’ were many times a butt, though without depreciation of Haydn’s +loftier merits. Haydn’s choruses and other works were loudly praised by +Beethoven.”] + +34. “The texts which you sent me are least of all fitted for song. The +description of a picture belongs to the field of painting; in this the +poet can count himself more fortunate than my muse for his territory +is not so restricted as mine in this respect, though mine, on the +other hand, extends into other regions, and my dominion is not easily +reached.” + + + (Nussdorf, July 15, 1817, to Wilhelm Gerhard, who had sent him some +Anacreontic songs for composition.) + + +35. “Carried too far, all delineation in instrumental music loses in +efficiency.” + + + (A remark in the sketches for the “Pastoral” symphony, preserved in the +Royal Library in Berlin.) + + +[Mozart said: “Even in the most terrifying moments music must never +offend the ear.”] + +36. “Yes, yes, then they are amazed and put their heads together because +they never found it in any book on thorough bass.” + + + (To Ries when the critics accused him of making grammatical blunders in +music.) + + +37. “No devil can compel me to write only cadences of such a kind.” + + + (From notes written in his years of study. Beethoven called the +composition of fugues “the art of making musical skeletons.”) + + +38. “Good singing was my guide; I strove to write as flowingly as +possible and trusted in my ability to justify myself before the +judgment-seat of sound reason and pure taste.” + + + (From notes in the instruction book of Archduke Rudolph.) + + +39. “Does he believe that I think of a wretched fiddle when the spirit +speaks to me?” + + + (To his friend, the admirable violinist Schuppanzigh, when the latter +complained of the difficulty of a passage in one of his works.) + + +[Beethoven here addresses his friend in the third person, which is the +customary style of address for the German nobility and others towards +inferiors in rank. H. E. K.] + +40. “The Scotch songs show how unconstrainedly irregular melodies can be +treated with the help of harmony.” + + + (Diary, 1812-1818. Since 1809 Beethoven had arranged Folksongs for +Thomson of Edinburgh.) + + +41. “To write true church music, look through the old monkish chorals, +etc., also the most correct translations of the periods, and perfect +prosody in the Catholic Psalms and hymns generally.” + + + (Diary, 1818.) + + +42. “Many assert that every minor piece must end in the minor. Nego! On +the contrary I find that in the soft scales the major third at the +close has a glorious and uncommonly quieting effect. Joy follows sorrow, +sunshine--rain. It affects me as if I were looking up to the silvery +glistering of the evening star.” + + + (From Archduke Rudolph’s book of instruction.) + + +43. “Rigorists, and devotees of antiquity, relegate the perfect fourth +to the list of dissonances. Tastes differ. To my ear it gives not the +least offence combined with other tones.” + + + (From Archduke Rudolph’s book of instruction, compiled in 1809.) + + +44. “When the gentlemen can think of nothing new, and can go no further, +they quickly call in a diminished seventh chord to help them out of the +predicament.” + + + (A remark made to Schindler.) + + +45. “My dear boy, the startling effects which many credit to the natural +genius of the composer, are often achieved with the greatest ease by the +use and resolution of the diminished seventh chords.” + + + (Reported by Karl Friederich Hirsch, a pupil of Beethoven in the winter +of 1816. He was a grandson of Albrechtsberger who had given lessons to +Beethoven.) + + +46. “In order to become a capable composer one must have already learned +harmony and counterpoint at the age of from seven to eleven years, +so that when the fancy and emotions awake one shall know what to do +according to the rules.” + + + (Reported by Schindler as having been put into the mouth of Beethoven by +a newspaper of Vienna. Schindler says: “When Beethoven came to Vienna he +knew no counterpoint, and little harmony.”) + + +47. “So far as mistakes are concerned it was never necessary for me to +learn thorough-bass; my feelings were so sensitive from childhood that +I practiced counterpoint without knowing that it must be so or could be +otherwise.” + + + (Note on a sheet containing directions for the use of fourths in +suspensions--probably intended for the instruction of Archduke Rudolph.) + + +48. “Continue, Your Royal Highness, to write down briefly your +occasional ideas while at the pianoforte. For this a little table +alongside the pianoforte is necessary. By this means not only is the +fancy strengthened, but one learns to hold fast in a moment the +most remote conceptions. It is also necessary to compose without the +pianoforte; say often a simple chord melody, with simple harmonies, then +figurate according to the rules of counterpoint, and beyond them; this +will give Y. R. H. no headache, but, on the contrary, feeling yourself +thus in the midst of art, a great pleasure.” + + + (July 1, 1823, to his pupil Archduke Rudolph.) + + + +49. “The bad habit, which has clung to me from childhood, of always +writing down a musical thought which occurs to me, good or bad, has +often been harmful to me.” + + + (July 23, 1815, to Archduke Rudolph, while excusing himself for not +having visited H.R.H., on the ground that he had been occupied in noting +a musical idea which had occurred to him.) + + +50. “As is my habit, the pianoforte part of the concerto (op. 19) was +not written out in the score; I have just written it, wherefore, +in order to expedite matters, you receive it in my not too legible +handwriting.” + + + (April 22, 1801, to the publisher Hofmeister, in Leipzig.) + + +51. “Correspondence, as you know, was never my forte; some of my best +friends have not had a letter from me in years. I live only in my notes +(compositions), and one is scarcely finished when another is begun. As I +am working now I often compose three, even four, pieces simultaneously.” + + + (Vienna, June 29, 1800, to Wegeler, in Bonn.) + + +52. “I never write a work continuously, without interruption. I +am always working on several at the same time, taking up one, then +another.” + + + (June 1, 1816, to Medical Inspector Dr. Karl von Bursy, when the latter +asked about an opera (the book by Berge, sent to Beethoven by Amenda), +which was never written.) + + +53. “I must accustom myself to think out at once the whole, as soon as +it shows itself, with all the voices, in my head.” + + + (Note in a sketch-book of 1810, containing studies for the music to +“Egmont” and the great Trio in B-flat, op. 97. H. E. K.) + + +54. “I carry my thoughts about me for a long time, often a very long +time, before I write them down; meanwhile my memory is so faithful that +I am sure never to forget, not even in years, a theme that has once +occurred to me. I change many things, discard, and try again until I +am satisfied. Then, however, there begins in my head the development +in every direction, and, in as much as I know exactly what I want, the +fundamental idea never deserts me,--it arises before me, grows,--I see +and hear the picture in all its extent and dimensions stand before my +mind like a cast, and there remains for me nothing but the labor of +writing it down, which is quickly accomplished when I have the time, for +I sometimes take up other work, but never to the confusion of one with +the other. + +“You will ask me where I get my ideas. That I cannot tell you with +certainty; they come unsummoned, directly, indirectly,--I could seize +them with my hands,--out in the open air; in the woods; while walking; +in the silence of the nights; early in the morning; incited by moods, +which are translated by the poet into words, by me into tones that +sound, and roar and storm about me until I have set them down in notes.” + + + (Said to Louis Schlosser, a young musician, whom Beethoven honored with +his friendship in 1822-23.) + + +55. “On the whole, the carrying out of several voices in strict +relationship mutually hinders their progress.” + + + (Fall of 1812, in the Diary of 1812-18.) + + +56. “Few as are the claims which I make upon such things I shall still +accept the dedication of your beautiful work with pleasure. You ask, +however, that I also play the part of a critic, without thinking that +I must myself submit to criticism! With Voltaire I believe that ‘a few +fly-bites can not stop a spirited horse.’ In this respect I beg of you +to follow my example. In order not to approach you surreptitiously, but +openly as always, I say that in future works of the character you might +give more heed to the individualization of the voices.” + + + (Vienna, May 10, 1826. To whom the letter was sent is not known, though +from the manner of address it is plain that he was of the nobility.) + + +57. “Your variations show talent, but I must fault you for having +changed the theme. Why? What man loves must not be taken away from +him;--moreover to do this is to make changes before variations.” + + + (Baden, July 6, 1804, to Wiedebein, a teacher of music in Brunswick.) + + +58. “I am not in the habit of rewriting my compositions. I never did it +because I am profoundly convinced that every change of detail changes +the character of the whole.” + + + (February 19, 1813, to George Thomson, who had requested some changes in +compositions submitted to him for publication.) + + +59. “One must not hold one’s self so divine as to be unwilling +occasionally to make improvements in one’s creations.” + + + (March 4, 1809, to Breitkopf and Hartel, when indicating a few changes +which he wished to have made in the symphonies op. 67 and op. 68.) + + +60. “The unnatural rage for transcribing pianoforte pieces for string +instruments (instruments that are in every respect so different from +each other) ought to end. I stoutly maintain that only Mozart could have +transcribed his own works, and Haydn; and without putting myself on a +level with these great men I assert the same thing about my pianoforte +sonatas. Not only must entire passages be elided and changed, but +additions must be made; and right here lies the rock of offence to +overcome which one must be the master of himself or be possessed of +the same skill and inventiveness. I transcribed but a single sonata for +string quartet, and I am sure that no one will easily do it after me.” + + + (July 13, 1809, in an announcement of several compositions, among them +the quintet op. 29.) + + +61. “Were it not that my income brings in nothing, I should compose +nothing but grand symphonies, church music, or, at the outside, quartets +in addition.” + + + (December 20, 1822, to Peters, publisher, in Leipzig. His income had +been reduced from 4,000 to 800 florins by the depreciation of Austrian +currency.) + + +[Here, in the original, is one of the puns which Beethoven was fond of +making: “Ware mein Gehalt nicht ganzlich ohne Gehalt.” H. E. K.] + + + + + +ON PERFORMING MUSIC + + +While reading Beethoven’s views on the subject of how music ought to be +performed, it is but natural to inquire about his own manner of playing. +On this point Ries, his best pupil, reports: + +“In general Beethoven played his own compositions very capriciously, yet +he adhered, on the whole, strictly to the beat and only at times, but +seldom, accelerated the tempo a trifle. Occasionally he would retard +the tempo in a crescendo, which produced a very beautiful and striking +effect. While playing he would give a passage, now in the right hand, +now in the left, a beautiful expression which was simply inimitable; but +it was rarely indeed that he added a note or an ornament.” + +Of his playing when still a young man one of his hearers said that it +was in the slow movements particularly that it charmed everybody. Almost +unanimously his contemporaries give him the palm for his improvisations. +Ries says: + +“His extemporizations were the most extraordinary things that one could +hear. No artist that I ever heard came at all near the height which +Beethoven attained. The wealth of ideas which forced themselves on him, +the caprices to which he surrendered himself, the variety of treatment, +the difficulties, were inexhaustible.” + +His playing was not technically perfect. He let many a note “fall under +the table,” but without marring the effect of his playing. Concerning +this we have a remark of his own in No. 75. Somewhat critical is +Czerny’s report: + +“Extraordinary as his extempore playing was it was less successful in +the performance of printed compositions; for, since he never took the +time or had the patience to practice anything, his success depended +mostly on chance and mood; and since, also, his manner of playing +as well as composing was ahead of his time, the weak and imperfect +pianofortes of his time could not withstand his gigantic style. It was +because of this that Hummel’s purling and brilliant manner of play, well +adapted to the period, was more intelligible and attractive to the great +public. But Beethoven’s playing in adagios and legato, in the sustained +style, made an almost magical impression on every hearer, and, so far +as I know, it has never been surpassed.” Czerny’s remark about the +pianofortes of Beethoven’s day explains Beethoven’s judgment on his +own pianoforte sonatas. He composed for the sonorous pianoforte of the +future,--the pianoforte building today. + +The following anecdote, told by Czerny, will be read with pleasure. +Pleyel, a famous musician, came to Vienna from Paris in 1805, and +had his latest quartets performed in the palace of Prince Lobkowitz. +Beethoven was present and was asked to play something. “As usual, he +submitted to the interminable entreaties and finally was dragged almost +by force to the pianoforte by the ladies. Angrily he tears the second +violin part of one of the Pleyel quartets from the music-stand where it +still lay open, throws it upon the rack of the pianoforte, and begins +to improvise. We had never heard him extemporize more brilliantly, with +more originality or more grandly than on that evening. + +“But throughout the entire improvisation there ran in the middle voices, +like a thread, or cantus firmus, the insignificant notes, wholly +insignificant in themselves, which he found on the page of the quartet, +which by chance lay open on the music-stand; on them he built up the +most daring melodies and harmonies, in the most brilliant concert style. +Old Pleyel could only give expression to his amazement by kissing his +hands. After such improvisations Beethoven was wont to break out into a +loud and satisfied laugh.” + +Czerny says further of his playing: “In rapidity of scale passages, +trills, leaps, etc., no one equaled him,--not even Hummel. His attitude +at the pianoforte was perfectly quiet and dignified, with no approach to +grimace, except to bend down a little towards the keys as his deafness +increased; his fingers were very powerful, not long, and broadened at +the tips by much playing; for he told me often that in his youth he had +practiced stupendously, mostly till past midnight. In teaching he laid +great stress on a correct position of the fingers (according to the +Emanuel Bach method, in which he instructed me); he himself could barely +span a tenth. He made frequent use of the pedal, much more frequently +than is indicated in his compositions. His reading of the scores of +Handel and Gluck and the fugues of Bach was unique, inasmuch as he put a +polyphony and spirit into the former which gave the works a new form.” + +In his later years the deaf master could no longer hear his own playing +which therefore came to have a pitifully painful effect. Concerning his +manner of conducting, Seyfried says: “It would no wise do to make our +master a model in conducting, and the orchestra had to take great care +lest it be led astray by its mentor; for he had an eye only for his +composition and strove unceasingly by means of manifold gesticulations +to bring out the expression which he desired. Often when he reached a +forte he gave a violent down beat even if the note were an unaccented +one. He was in the habit of marking a diminuendo by crouching down lower +and lower, and at a pianissimo he almost crept under the stand. With a +crescendo he, too, grew, rising as if out of a stage trap, and with +the entrance of a fortissimo he stood on his toes and seemed to take on +gigantic proportions, while he waved his arms about as if trying to soar +upwards to the clouds. Everything about him was in activity; not a +part of his organization remained idle, and the whole man seemed like a +perpetuum mobile. Concerning expression, the little nuances, the equable +division of light and shade, as also an effective tempo rubato, he was +extremely exact and gladly discussed them with the individual members of +the orchestra without showing vexation or anger.” + + +62. “It has always been known that the greatest pianoforte players +were also the greatest composers; but how did they play? Not like the +pianists of today who prance up and down the key-board with passages +in which they have exercised themselves,--putsch, putsch, putsch;--what +does that mean? Nothing. When the true pianoforte virtuosi played it +was always something homogeneous, an entity; it could be transcribed and +then it appeared as a well thought-out work. That is pianoforte playing; +the other is nothing!” + + + (In conversation with Tomaschek, October, 1814.) + + +63. “Candidly I am not a friend of Allegri di bravura and such, since +they do nothing but promote mechanism.” + + + (Hetzendorf, July 16, 1823, to Ries in London.) + + +64. “The great pianists have nothing but technique and affectation.” + + + (Fall of 1817, to Marie Pachler-Koschak, a pianist whom Beethoven +regarded very highly. “You will play the sonatas in F major and C minor, +for me, will you not?”) + + +65. “As a rule, in the case of these gentlemen, all reason and feeling +are generally lost in the nimbleness of their fingers.” + + + (Reported by Schindler as a remark of Beethoven’s concerning pianoforte +virtuosi.) + + +66. “Habit may depreciate the most brilliant talents.” + + + (In 1812 to his pupil, Archduke Rudolph, whom he warns against too +zealous a devotion to music.) + + +67. “You will have to play a long time yet before you realize that you +can not play at all.” + + + (July, 1808. Reported by Rust as having been said to a young man who +played for Beethoven.) + + +68. “One must be something if one wishes to put on appearances.” + + + (August 15, 1812, to Bettina von Arnim.) + + +69. “These pianoforte players have their coteries whom they often join; +there they are praised continually,--and there’s an end of art!” + + + (Conversation with Tomaschek, October, 1814.) + + +70. “We Germans have too few dramatically trained singers for the part +of Leonore. They are too cold and unfeeling; the Italians sing and act +with body and soul.” + + + (1824, in Baden, to Freudenberg, an organist from Breslau.) + + +71. “If he is a master of his instrument I rank an organist amongst +the first of virtuosi. I too, played the organ a great deal when I +was young, but my nerves would not stand the power of the gigantic +instrument.” + + + (To Freudenberg, in Baden.) + + +72. “I never wrote noisy music. For my instrumental works I need an +orchestra of about sixty good musicians. I am convinced that only such a +number can bring out the quickly changing graduations in performance.” + + + (Reported by Schindler.) + + +73. “A Requiem ought to be quiet music,--it needs no trump of doom; +memories of the dead require no hubbub.” + + + (Reported by Holz to Fanny von Ponsing, in Baden, summer of 1858. +According to the same authority Beethoven valued Cherubini’s “Requiem” + more highly than any other.) + + +74. “No metronome at all! He who has sound feeling needs none, and he +who has not will get no help from the metronome;--he’ll run away with +the orchestra anyway.” + + + (Reported by Schindler. It had been found that Beethoven himself +had sent different metronomic indications to the publisher and the +Philharmonic Society of London.) + + +75. “In reading rapidly a multitude of misprints may pass unnoticed +because you are familiar with the language.” + + + (To Wegeler, who had expressed wonder at Beethoven’s rapid primavista +playing, when it was impossible to see each individual note.) + + +76. “The poet writes his monologue or dialogue in a certain, continuous +rhythm, but the elocutionist in order to insure an understanding of the +sense of the lines, must make pauses and interruptions at places where +the poet was not permitted to indicate it by punctuation. The +same manner of declamation can be applied to music, and admits of +modification only according to the number of performers.” + + + (Reported by Schindler, Beethoven’s faithful factotum.) + + +77. “With respect to his playing with you, when he has acquired the +proper mode of fingering and plays in time and plays the notes with +tolerable correctness, only then direct his attention to the matter +of interpretation; and when he has gotten this far do not stop him for +little mistakes, but point them out at the end of the piece. Although +I have myself given very little instruction I have always followed this +method which quickly makes musicians, and that, after all, is one of the +first objects of art.” + + + (To Czerny, who was teaching music to Beethoven’s nephew Karl.) + + +78. “Always place the hands at the key-board so that the fingers can not +be raised higher than is necessary; only in this way is it possible to +produce a singing tone.” + + + (Reported by Schindler as Beethoven’s view on pianoforte instruction. +He hated a staccato style of playing and dubbed it “finger dancing” and +“throwing the hands in the air.”) + + +[PG Editor’s Note: #79 was skipped in the 1905 edition--error?] + + + + +ON HIS OWN WORKS + + +80. “I haven’t a single friend; I must live alone. But well I know that +God is nearer to me than to the others of my art; I associate with Him +without fear, I have always recognized and understood Him, and I have +no fear for my music,--it can meet no evil fate. Those who understand it +must become free from all the miseries that the others drag with them.” + + + (To Bettina von Arnim. [Bettina’s letter to Goethe, May 28, 1810.]) + + +81. “The variations will prove a little difficult to play, particularly +the trills in the coda; but let that not frighten you. It is so disposed +that you need play only the trills, omitting the other notes because +they are also in the violin part. I would never have written a thing +of this kind had I not often noticed here and there in Vienna a man +who after I had improvised of an evening would write down some of my +peculiarities and make boast of them next day. Foreseeing that these +things would soon appear in print I made up my mind to anticipate +them. Another purpose which I had was to embarrass the local pianoforte +masters. Many of them are my mortal enemies, and I wanted to have my +revenge in this way, for I knew in advance that the variations would be +put before them, and that they would make exhibitions of themselves.” + + + (Vienna, November 2, 1793, to Eleonore von Breuning, in dedicating to +her the variations in F major, “Se vuol ballare.” [The pianist whom +Beethoven accuses of stealing his thunder was Abbe Gelinek.]) + + +82. “The time in which I wrote my sonatas (the first ones of the second +period) was more poetical than the present (1823); such hints were +therefore unnecessary. Every one at that time felt in the Largo of the +third sonata in D (op. 10) the pictured soulstate of a melancholy being, +with all the nuances of light and shade which occur in a delineation +of melancholy and its phases, without requiring a key in the shape of a +superscription; and everybody then saw in the two sonatas (op. 14) the +picture of a contest between two principles, or a dialogue between two +persons, because it was so obvious.” + + + (In answer to Schindler’s question why he had not indicated the poetical +conceits underlying his sonatas by superscriptions or titles.) + + +83. “This sonata has a clean face (literally: ‘has washed itself’), my +dear brother!” + + + (January, 1801, to Hofmeister, publisher in Leipzig to whom he offers +the sonata, op. 22, for 20 ducats.) + + +84. “They are incessantly talking about the C-sharp minor sonata (op. +27, No. 2); on my word I have written better ones. The F-sharp major +sonata (op. 78) is a different thing!” + + + (A remark to Czerny.) + + +[The C-sharp minor sonata is that popularly known as the “Moonlight +Sonata,” a title which is wholly without warrant. Its origin is due to +Rellstab, who, in describing the first movement, drew a picture of a +small boat in the moonlight on Lake Lucerne. In Vienna a tradition that +Beethoven had composed it in an arbor gave rise to the title “Arbor +sonata.” Titles of this character work much mischief in the amateur mind +by giving rise to fantastic conceptions of the contents of the music. H. +E. K.] + +85. “The thing which my brother can have from me is 1, a Septett per il +Violino, Viola, Violoncello, Contrabasso, Clarinetto, Cornto, Fagotto, +tutti obligati; for I can not write anything that is not obligato, +having come into the world with obligato accompaniment.” + + + (December 15, 1800, to Hofmeister, publisher, in Leipzig.) + + +86. “I am but little satisfied with my works thus far; from today I +shall adopt a new course.” + + + (Reported by Carl Czerny in his autobiography in 1842. Concerning the +time at which the remark was made, Czerny says: “It was said about 1803, +when B. had composed op. 28 (the pianoforte sonata in D) to his friend +Krumpholz (a violinist). Shortly afterward there appeared the sonatas + (now op. 31) in which a partial fulfillment of his resolution may be +observed.”) + + +87. “Read Shakespeare’s ‘Tempest.’” + + + (An answer to Schindler’s question as to what poetical conceit underlay +the sonatas in F minor. Beethoven used playfully to call the little son +of Breuning, the friend of his youth, A&Z, because he employed him often +as a messenger.) + + +[“Schindler relates that when once he asked Beethoven to tell him what +the F minor and D minor (op. 31, No. 2) meant, he received for an answer +only the enigmatical remark: ‘Read Shakespeare’s “Tempest.”’ Many a +student and commentator has since read the ‘Tempest’ in the hope of +finding a clew to the emotional contents which Beethoven believed to +be in the two works, so singularly associated, only to find himself +baffled. It is a fancy, which rests, perhaps, too much on outward +things, but still one full of suggestion, that had Beethoven said: ‘Hear +my C minor symphony,’ he would have given a better starting-point to +the imagination of those who are seeking to know what the F minor sonata +means. Most obviously it means music, but it means music that is an +expression of one of those psychological struggles which Beethoven felt +called upon more and more to delineate as he was more and more shut out +from the companionship of the external world. Such struggles are in the +truest sense of the word tempests. The motive, which, according to the +story, Beethoven himself said, indicates, in the symphony, the rappings +of Fate at the door of human existence, is common to two works which +are also related in their spiritual contents. Singularly enough, too, +in both cases the struggle which is begun in the first movement and +continued in the third, is interrupted by a period of calm, reassuring, +soul-fortifying aspiration, which, in the symphony as well as in the +sonata, takes the form of a theme with variations.”--“How to Listen to +Music,” page 29. H. E. K.] + +88. “Sinfonia Pastorella. He who has ever had a notion of country life +can imagine for himself without many superscriptions what the composer +is after. Even without a description the whole, which is more sentiment +than tone painting, will be recognized.” + + + (A note among the sketches for the “Pastoral” symphony preserved in the +Royal Library at Berlin.) + + +[There are other notes of similar import among the sketches referred to +which can profitably be introduced here: + +“The hearer should be allowed to discover the situations;” + +“Sinfonia caracteristica, or a recollection of country life;” + +“Pastoral Symphony: No picture, but something in which the emotions are +expressed which are aroused in men by the pleasure of the country (or) +in which some feelings of country life are set forth.” + +When, finally, the work was given to the publisher, Beethoven included +in the title an admonitory explanation which should have everlasting +validity: “Pastoral Symphony: more expression of feeling than painting.” + H. E. K.] + + +89. “My ‘Fidelio’ was not understood by the public, but I know that it +will yet be appreciated; for though I am well aware of the value of my +‘Fidelio’ I know just as well that the symphony is my real element. When +sounds ring in me I always hear the full orchestra; I can ask anything +of instrumentalists, but when writing for the voice I must continually +ask myself: ‘Can that be sung?’ + + + (A remark made in 1823 or 1824 to Griesinger.) + + +90. “Thus Fate knocks at the portals!” + + + (Reported by Schindler as Beethoven’s explanation of the opening of the +symphony in C minor.) + + +[“Hofrath Kueffner told him (Krenn) that he once lived with Beethoven in +Heiligenstadt, and that they were in the habit evenings of going down +to Nussdorf to eat a fish supper in the Gasthaus ‘Zur Rose.’ One evening +when B. was in a good humor, Kueffner began: `Tell me frankly which is +your favorite among your symphonies?’ B. (in good humor) ‘Eh! Eh! The +Eroica.’ K. ‘I should have guessed the C minor.’ B. ‘No; the Eroica.’” + From Thayer’s notebook. See “Music and Manners in the Classical Period.” + H.E.K.] + +91. “The solo sonatas (op. 109-ll?) are perhaps the best, but also the +last, music that I composed for the pianoforte. It is and always will be +an unsatisfactory instrument. I shall hereafter follow the example of my +grandmaster Handel, and every year write only an oratorio and a concerto +for some string or wind instrument, provided I shall have finished my +tenth symphony (C minor) and Requiem.” + + + (Reported by Holz. As to the tenth symphony see note to No. 95.) + + +92. “God knows why it is that my pianoforte music always makes the worst +impression on me, especially when it is played badly.” + + + (June 2, 1804. A note among the sketches for the “Leonore” overture.) + + +93. “Never did my own music produce such an effect upon me; even now +when I recall this work it still costs me a tear.” + + + (Reported by Holz. The reference is to the Cavatina from the quartet +in B-flat, op. 130, which Beethoven thought the crown of all quartet +movements and his favorite composition. When alone and undisturbed +he was fond of playing his favorite pianoforte Andante--that from the +sonata op. 28.) + + +94. “I do not write what I most desire to, but that which I need to +because of money. But this is not saying that I write only for money. +When the present period is past, I hope at last to write that which is +the highest thing for me as well as art,--‘Faust.’” + + + (From a conversation-book used in 1823. To Buhler, tutor in the house +of a merchant, who was seeking information about an oratorio which +Beethoven had been commissioned to write by the Handel and Haydn Society +of Boston.) + + +95. “Ha! ‘Faust;’ that would be a piece of work! Something might come +out of that! But for some time I have been big with three other large +works. Much is already sketched out, that is, in my head. I must be rid +of them first:--two large symphonies differing from each other, and each +differing from all the others, and an oratorio. And this will take a +long time, you see, for a considerable time I have had trouble to get +myself to write. I sit and think, and think I’ve long had the thing, but +it will not on the paper. I dread the beginning of these large works. +Once into the work, and it goes.” + + + (In the summer of 1822, to Rochlitz, at Baden. The symphonies referred +to are the ninth and tenth. They existed only in Beethoven’s mind and a +few sketches. In it he intended to combine antique and modern views of +life.) + + +[“In the text Greek mythology, cantique ecclesiastique; in the Allegro, +a Bacchic festival.” (Sketchbook of 1818)] + +[The oratorio was to have been called “The Victory of the Cross.” It was +not written. Schindler wrote to Moscheles in London about Beethoven in +the last weeks of his life: “He said much about the plan of the tenth +symphony. As the work had shaped itself in his imagination it might have +become a musical monstrosity, compared with which his other symphonies +would have been mere opuscula.”] + + + + +ON ART AND ARTISTS + + +96. “How eagerly mankind withdraws from the poor artist what it has once +given him;--and Zeus, from whom one might ask an invitation to sup on +ambrosia, lives no longer.” + + + (In the summer of 1814, to Kauka, an advocate who represented him in the +lawsuit against the heirs of Kinsky.) + + +97. “I love straightforwardness and uprightness, and believe that +the artist ought not to be belittled; for, alas! brilliant as fame is +externally, it is not always the privilege of the artist to be Jupiter’s +guest on Olympus all the time. Unfortunately vulgar humanity drags him +down only too often and too rudely from the pure upper ether.” + + + (June 5, 1852, to C. F. Peters, music publisher, in Leipzig when +treating with him touching a complete edition of his works.) + + +98. “The true artist has no pride; unhappily he realizes that art has +no limitations, he feels darkly how far he is from the goal, and while, +perhaps he is admired by others, he grieves that he has not yet reached +the point where the better genius shall shine before him like a distant +sun.” + + + (Teplitz, July 17, to an admirer ten years old.) + + +99. “You yourself know what a change is wrought by a few years in the +case of an artist who is continually pushing forward. The greater the +progress which one makes in art, the less is one satisfied with one’s +old works.” + + + (Vienna, August 4, 1800, to Mathisson, in the dedication of his setting +of “Adelaide.” “My most ardent wish will be fulfilled if you are not +displeased with the musical composition of your heavenly ‘Adelaide.’”) + + +100. “Those composers are exemplars who unite nature and art in their +works.” + + + (Baden, in 1824, to Freudenberg, organist from Breslau.) + + +101. “What will be the judgment a century hence concerning the lauded +works of our favorite composers today? Inasmuch as nearly everything is +subject to the changes of time, and, more’s the pity, the fashions of +time, only that which is good and true, will endure like a rock, and no +wanton hand will ever venture to defile it. Then let every man do that +which is right, strive with all his might toward the goal which can +never be attained, develop to the last breath the gifts with which a +gracious Creator has endowed him, and never cease to learn; for ‘Life is +short, art eternal!’” + + + (From the notes in the instruction book of Archduke Rudolph.) + + +102. “Famous artists always labor under an embarrassment;--therefore +first works are the best, though they may have sprung out of dark +ground.” + + + (Conversation-book of 1840.) + + +103. “A musician is also a poet; he also can feel himself transported by +a pair of eyes into another and more beautiful world where greater souls +make sport of him and set him right difficult tasks.” + + + (August 15, 1812, to Bettina von Arnim.) + + +104. “I told Goethe my opinion as to how applause affects men like us, +and that we want our equals to hear us understandingly! Emotion suits +women only; music ought to strike fire from the soul of a man.” + + + (August 15, 1810, to Bettina von Arnim.) + + +105. “Most people are touched by anything good; but they do not partake +of the artist’s nature; artists are ardent, they do not weep.” + + + (Reported to Goethe by Bettina von Arnim, May 28, 1810.) + + +106. “L’art unit tout le monde,--how much more the true artist!” + + + (March 15, 1823, to Cherubini, in Paris.) + + +107. “Only the artist, or the free scholar, carries his happiness within +him.” + + + (Reported by Karl von Bursy as part of a conversation in 1816.) + + +108. “There ought to be only one large art warehouse in the world, to +which the artist could carry his art-works and from which he could carry +away whatever he needed. As it is one must be half a tradesman.” + + + (January, 1801, to Hofmeister, in Leipzig.) + + + + + +BEETHOVEN AS CRITIC + + +The opinion of artist on artists is a dubious quantity. Recall the +startling criticisms of Bocklin on his associates in art made public +by the memoirs of his friends after his death. Such judgments are often +one-sided, not without prejudice, and mostly the expression of impulse. +It is a different matter when the artist speaks about the disciples of +another art than his own, even if the opinions which Bocklin and Wagner +held of each other are not a favorable example. Where Beethoven speaks +of other composers we must read with clear and open eyes; but even +here there will be much with which we can be in accord, especially +his judgment on Rossini, whom he hated so intensely, and whose airy, +sense-bewitching art seduced the Viennese from Beethoven. Interesting +and also characteristic of the man is the attitude which he +adopted towards the poets of his time. In general he estimated his +contemporaries as highly as they deserved. + +109. “Do not tear the laurel wreaths from the heads of Handel, Haydn and +Mozart; they belong to them,--not yet to me.” + + + (Teplitz, July 17, 1852, to his ten-year-old admirer, Emilie M., who had +given him a portfolio made by herself.) + + +110. “Pure church music ought to be performed by voices only, except a +‘Gloria,’ or some similar text. For this reason I prefer Palestrina; +but it is folly to imitate him without having his genius and religious +views; it would be difficult, if not impossible, too, for the singers of +today to sing his long notes in a sustained and pure manner.” + + + (To Freudenberg, in 1824.) + + +111. “Handel is the unattained master of all masters. Go and learn from +him how to achieve vast effects with simple means.” + + + (Reported by Seyfried. On his death-bed, about the middle of February, +1827, he said to young Gerhard von Breuning, on receiving Handel’s +works: “Handel is the greatest and ablest of all composers; from him I +can still learn. Bring me the books!”) + + +112. “Handel is the greatest composer that ever lived. I would uncover +my head and kneel on his grave.” + + + (Fall of 1823, to J. A. Stumpff, harp maker of London, who acted very +nobly toward Beethoven in his last days. It was he who rejoiced the +dying composer by sending him the forty volumes of Handel’s works (see +111).) + + +[“Cipriani Potter, to A. W. T., February 27, 1861. Beethoven used to +walk across the fields to Vienna very often. B. would stop, look about +and express his love for nature. One day Potter asked: ‘Who is the +greatest living composer, yourself excepted?’ Beethoven seemed puzzled +for a moment, and then exclaimed: ‘Cherubini!’ Potter went on: ‘And of +dead authors?’ B.--He had always considered Mozart as such, but since he +had been made acquainted with Handel he put him at the head.” From A. +W. Thayer’s notebook, reprinted in “Music and Manners in the Classical +Period,” page 208. H.E.K.] + + +113. “Heaven forbid that I should take a journal in which sport is made +of the manes of such a revered one.” + + + (Conversation-book of 1825, in reference to a criticism of Handel.) + + +114. “That you are going to publish Sebastian Bach’s works is something +which does good to my heart, which beats in love of the great and lofty +art of this ancestral father of harmony; I want to see them soon.” + + + (January, 1801, to Hofmeister, in Leipzig.) + + +115. “Of Emanuel Bach’s clavier works I have only a few, yet they must +be not only a real delight to every true artist, but also serve him for +study purposes; and it is for me a great pleasure to play works that I +have never seen, or seldom see, for real art lovers.” + + + (July 26, 1809, to Gottfried Hartel, of Leipzig in ordering all the +scores of Haydn, Mozart and the two Bachs.) + + +116. “See, my dear Hummel, the birthplace of Haydn. I received it as a +gift today, and it gives me great pleasure. A mean peasant hut, in which +so great a man was born!” + + + (Remarked on his death-bed to his friend Hummel.) + + +117. “I have always reckoned myself among the greatest admirers of +Mozart, and shall do so till the day of my death.” + + + (February 6, 1886, to Abbe Maximilian Stadler, who had sent him his +essay on Mozart’s “Requiem.”) + + +118. “Cramer, Cramer! We shall never be able to compose anything like +that!” + + + (To Cramer, after the two had heard Mozart’s concerto in C-minor at a +concert in the Augarten.) + + +119. “‘Die Zauberflote’ will always remain Mozart’s greatest work, for +in it he for the first time showed himself to be a German musician. ‘Don +Juan’ still has the complete Italian cut; besides our sacred art +ought never permit itself to be degraded to the level of a foil for so +scandalous a subject.” + + + (A remark reported by Seyfried.) + + +[“Hozalka says that in 1820-21, as near as he can recollect, the wife +of a Major Baumgarten took boy boarders in the house then standing where +the Musikverein’s Saal now is, and that Beethoven’s nephew was placed +with her. Her sister, Baronin Born, lived with her. One evening Hozalka, +then a young man, called there and found only Baronin Born at home. Soon +another caller came and stayed to tea. It was Beethoven. Among other +topics Mozart came on the tapis, and the Born asked Beethoven (in +writing, of course) which of Mozart’s operas he thought most of. ‘Die +Zauberflote’ said Beethoven, and, suddenly clasping his hands and +throwing up his eyes, exclaimed: ‘Oh, Mozart!’” From A. W. Thayer’s +notebooks, reprinted in “Music and Manners in the Classical Period,” + page 198. H. E. K.] + +120. “Say all conceivable pretty things to Cherubini,--that there is +nothing I so ardently desire as that we should soon get another opera +from him, and that of all our contemporaries I have the highest regard +for him.” + + + (May 6, 1823, to Louis Schlasser, afterward chapel master in Darmstadt, +who was about to undertake a journey to Paris. See note to No. 112.) + + +121. “Among all the composers alive Cherubini is the most worthy of +respect. I am in complete agreement, too, with his conception of the +‘Requiem,’ and if ever I come to write one I shall take note of many +things.” + + + (Remark reported by Seyfried. See No. 112.) + + +122. “Whoever studies Clementi thoroughly has simultaneously also +learned Mozart and other authors; inversely, however, this is not the +case.” + + + (Reported by Schindler.) + + +123. “There is much good in Spontini; he understands theatrical effect +and martial noises admirably. + +“Spohr is so rich in dissonances; pleasure in his music is marred by his +chromatic melody. + +“His name ought not to be Bach (brook), but Ocean, because of his +infinite and inexhaustible wealth of tonal combinations and harmonies. +Bach is the ideal of an organist.” + + + (In Baden, 1824, to Freudenberg.) + + +124. “The little man, otherwise so gentle,--I never would have credited +him with such a thing. Now Weber must write operas in earnest, one after +the other, without caring too much for refinement! Kaspar, the monster, +looms up like a house; wherever the devil sticks in his claw we feel +it.” + + + (To Rochlitz, at Baden, in the summer of 1823.) + + +125. “There you are, you rascal; you’re a devil of a fellow, God bless +you!... Weber, you always were a fine fellow.” + + + (Beethoven’s hearty greeting to Karl Maria von Weber, in October, 1823.) + + +126. “K. M. Weber began too learn too late; art did not have a chance +to develop naturally in him, and his single and obvious striving is to +appear brilliant.” + + + (A remark reported by Seyfried.) + + +127. “‘Euryanthe’ is an accumulation of diminished seventh chords--all +little backdoors!” + + + (Remarked to Schindler about Weber’s opera.) + + +128. “Truly, a divine spark dwells in Schubert!” + + + (Said to Schindler when the latter made him acquainted with the “Songs +of Ossian,” “Die Junge Nonne,” “Die Burgschaft,” of Schubert’s “Grenzen +der Menschheit,” and other songs.) + + +129. “There is nothing in Meyerbeer; he hasn’t the courage to strike at +the right time.” + + + (To Tomaschek, in October, 1814, in a conversation about the “Battle of +Victoria,” at the performance of which, in 1813, Meyerbeer had played +the big drum.) + + +130. “Rossini is a talented and a melodious composer, his music suits +the frivolous and sensuous spirit of the times, and his productivity is +such that he needs only as many weeks as the Germans do years to write +an opera.” + + + (In 1824, at Baden, to Freudenberg.) + + +131. “This rascal Rossini, who is not respected by a single master of +his art!” + + + (Conversation-book, 1825.) + + +132. “Rossini would have become a great composer if his teacher had +frequently applied some blows ad posteriora.” + + + (Reported by Schindler. Beethoven had been reading the score of “Il +Barbiere di Siviglia.”) + + +133. “The Bohemians are born musicians. The Italians ought to take +them as models. What have they to show for their famous conservatories? +Behold! their idol, Rossini! If Dame Fortune had not given him a pretty +talent and amiable melodies by the bushel, what he learned at school +would have brought him nothing but potatoes for his big belly.” + + + (In a conversation-book at Haslinger’s music shop, where Beethoven +frequently visited.) + + +136. “Goethe has killed Klopstock for me. You wonder? Now you laugh? +Ah, because I have read Klopstock. I carried him about with me for years +when I walked. What besides? Well, I didn’t always understand him. He +skips about so; and he always begins so far away, above or below; always +Maestoso! D-flat major! Isn’t, it so? But he’s great, nevertheless, and +uplifts the soul. When I couldn’t understand him I sort of guessed at +him.” + + + (To Rochlitz, in 1822.) + + +135. “As for me I prefer to set Homer, Klopstock, Schiller, to music; if +it is difficult to do, these immortal poets at least deserve it.” + + + (To the directorate of the “Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde” of Vienna, +January, 1824, in negotiations for an oratorio, “The Victory of the +Cross” [which he had been commissioned to write by the Handel and Haydn +Society of Boston. H. E. K.].) + + +136. “Goethe and Schiller are my favorite poets, as also Ossian +and Homer, the latter of whom, unfortunately, I can read only in +translation.” + + + (August 8, 1809, to Breitkopf and Hartel.) + + +137. “Who can sufficiently thank a great poet,--the most valuable jewel +of a nation!” + + + (February 10, 1811, to Bettina von Arnim. The reference was to Goethe.) + + +138. “When you write to Goethe about me search out all the words which +can express my deepest reverence and admiration. I am myself about to +write to him about ‘Egmont’ for which I have composed the music, purely +out of love for his poems which make me happy.” + + + (February 10, 1811, to Bettina von Arnim.) + + +139. “I would have gone to death, yes, ten times to death for Goethe. +Then, when I was in the height of my enthusiasm, I thought out my +‘Egmont’ music. Goethe,--he lives and wants us all to live with him. It +is for that reason that he can be composed. Nobody is so easily composed +as he. But I do not like to compose songs.” + + + (To Rochlitz, in 1822, when Beethoven recalled Goethe’s amiability in +Teplitz.) + + +140. “Goethe is too fond of the atmosphere of the court; fonder than +becomes a poet. There is little room for sport over the absurdities of +the virtuosi, when poets, who ought to be looked upon as the foremost +teachers of the nation, can forget everything else in the enjoyment of +court glitter.” + + + (Franzensbrunn, August 9, 1812, to Gottfried Hartel of Leipzig.) + + +141. “When two persons like Goethe and I meet these grand folk must be +made to see what our sort consider great.” + + + (August 15, 1812, in a description of how haughtily he, and how humbly +Goethe, had behaved in the presence of the Imperial court.) + + +142. “Since that summer in Carlsbad I read Goethe every day,--when I +read at all.” + + + (Remarked to Rochlitz.) + + +143. “Goethe ought not to write more; he will meet the fate of the +singers. Nevertheless he will remain the foremost poet of Germany.” + + + (Conversationbook, 1818.) + + +144. “Can you lend me the ‘Theory of Colors’ for a few weeks? It is an +important work. His last things are insipid.” + + + (Conversation-book, 1820.) + + +145. “After all the fellow writes for money only.” + + + (Reported by Schindler as having been said by Beethoven when, on his +death-bed, he angrily threw a book of Walter Scott’s aside.) + + +146. “He, too, then, is nothing better than an ordinary man! Now he will +trample on all human rights only to humor his ambition; he will place +himself above all others,--become a tyrant!” + + + (With these words, as testified to by Ries, an eye-witness, Beethoven +tore the title-page from the score of his “Eroica” symphony (which bore +a dedication to Bonaparte) when the news reached him that Napoleon had +declared himself emperor.) + + +147. “I believe that so long as the Austrian has his brown beer and +sausage he will not revolt.” + + + (To Simrock, publisher, in Bonn, August 2, 1794.) + + +148. “Why do you sell nothing but music? Why did you not long ago follow +my well-meant advice? Do get wise, and find your raison. Instead of a +hundred-weight of paper order genuine unwatered Regensburger, float +this much-liked article of trade down the Danube, serve it in measures, +half-measures and seidels at cheap prices, throw in at intervals +sausages, rolls, radishes, butter and cheese, invite the hungry and +thirsty with letters an ell long on a sign: ‘Musical Beer House,’ and +you will have so many guests at all hours of the day that one will hold +the door open for the other and your office will never be empty.” + + + (To Haslinger, the music publisher, when the latter had complained about +the indifference of the Viennese to music.) + + + + + +ON EDUCATION + + +Beethoven’s observations on this subject were called out by his +experiences in securing an education for his nephew Karl, son of his +like-named brother, a duty which devolved on him on the death of his +brother in the winter of 1815. He loved his nephew almost to idolatry, +and hoped that he would honor the name of Beethoven in the future. But +there was a frivolous vein in Karl, inherited probably from his +mother, who was on easy footing with morality both before and after her +husband’s death. She sought with all her might to rid her son of +the guardianship of his uncle. Karl was sent to various educational +institutions and to these Beethoven sent many letters containing advice +and instructions. The nephew grew to be more and more a care, not wholly +without fault of the master. His passionate nature led to many quarrels +between the two, all of which were followed by periods of extravagant +fondness. Karl neglected his studies, led a frivolous life, was fond of +billiards and the coffee-houses which were then generally popular, +and finally, in the summer of 1826, made an attempt at suicide in the +Helenental near Baden, which caused his social ostracism. When he was +found he cried out: “I went to the bad because my uncle wanted to better +me.” + +Beethoven succeeded in persuading Baron von Stutterheim, commander of +an infantry regiment at Iglau, to accept him as an aspirant for military +office. In later life he became a respected official and man. So +Beethoven himself was vouchsafed only an ill regulated education. His +dissolute father treated him now harshly, now gently. His mother, who +died early, was a silent sufferer, had thoroughly understood her son, +and to her his love was devotion itself. He labored unwearyingly at his +own intellectual and moral advancement until his death. + +It seems difficult to reconcile his almost extravagant estimate of the +greatest possible liberty in the development of man with his demands for +strict constraint to which he frequently gives expression; but he had +recognized that it is necessary to grow out of restraint into liberty. +His model as a sensitive and sympathetic educator was his motherly +friend, the wife of Court Councillor von Breuning in Bonn, of whom he +once said: “She knew how to keep the insects off the blossoms.” + +Beethoven’s views on musical education are to be found in the chapters +“On Composition” and “On Performing Music.” + + + +149. “Like the State, each man must have his own constitution.” + + + (Diary, 1815.) + + +150. “Recommend virtue to your children; that, alone can bring +happiness; not wealth,--I speak from experience. It was virtue alone +that bore me up in my misery; to her and my art I owe that I did not end +my life by self-murder.” + + + (October 6, 1802, to his brothers Karl and Johann [the so-called +Heiligenstadt Will].) + + +151. “I know no more sacred duty than to rear and educate a child.” + + + (January 7, 1820, in a communication to the Court of Appeals in the suit +touching the guardianship of his nephew Karl.) + + +152. “Nature’s weaknesses are nature’s endowments; reason, the guide, +must seek to lead and lessen them.” + + + (Diary, 1817.) + + +153. “It is man’s habit to hold his fellow man in esteem because he +committed no greater errors.” + + + (May 6, 1811, to Breitkopf and Hartel, in a letter complaining of faulty +printing in some of his compositions.) + + +154. “There is nothing more efficient in enforcing obedience upon others +than the belief on their part that you are wiser than they...Without +tears fathers can not inculcate virtue in their children, or teachers +learning and wisdom in their pupils; even the laws, by compelling tears +from the citizens, compel them also to strive for justice.” + + + (Diary, 1815.) + + +155. “It is only becoming in a youth to combine his duties toward +education and advancement with those which he owes to his benefactor and +supporter; this I did toward my parents.” + + + (May 19, 1825, to his nephew Karl.) + + +156. “You can not honor the memory of your father better than to +continue your studies with the greatest zeal, and strive to become an +honest and excellent man.” + + + (To his nephew, 1816-18.) + + +157. “Let your conduct always be amiable; through art and science the +best and noblest of men are bound together and your future vocation will +not exclude you.” + + + (Baden, July 18, 1825, to his nephew, who had decided to become a +merchant.) + + +158. “It is very true that a drop will hollow a stone; a thousand +lovely impressions are obliterated when children are placed in wooden +institutions while they might receive from their parents the most +soulful impressions which would continue to exert their influence till +the latest age.” + + + (Diary, spring of 1817. Beethoven was dissatisfied with Giannatasio’s +school in which he had placed his nephew. “Karl is a different child +after he has been with me a few hours” (Diary). In 1826, after the +attempt at suicide, Beethoven said to Breuning: “My Karl was in an +institute; educational institutions furnish forth only hot house +plants.”) + + +159. “Drops of water wear away a stone in time, not by force but by +continual falling. Only through tireless industry are the sciences +achieved so that one can truthfully say: no day without its line,--nulla +dies sine linea.” + + + (1799, in a sketch for a theoretical handbook for Archduke Rudolph.) + + + + + +ON HIS OWN DISPOSITION AND CHARACTER + + +So open-hearted and straightforward a character as Beethoven could not +have pictured himself with less reserve or greater truthfulness than he +did during his life. Frankness toward himself, frankness toward others +(though sometimes it went to the extreme of rudeness and ill-breeding) +was his motto. The joyous nature which was his as a lad, and which was +not at all averse to a merry prank now and then, underwent a change when +he began to lose his hearing. The dread of deafness and its consequences +drove him nearly to despair, so that he sometimes contemplated suicide. +Increasing hardness of hearing gradually made him reserved, morose and +gloomy. With the progress of the malady his disposition and character +underwent a decided change,--a fact which may be said to account for the +contradictions in his conduct and utterances. It made him suspicious, +distrustful; in his later years he imagined himself cheated and +deceived in the most trifling matters by relatives, friends, publishers, +servants. + +Nevertheless Beethoven’s whole soul was filled with a high idealism +which penetrated through the miseries of his daily life; it was full, +too, of a great love toward humanity in general and his unworthy nephew +in particular. Towards his publishers he often appeared covetous and +grasping, seeking to rake and scrape together all the money possible; +but this was only for the purpose of assuring the future of his nephew. +At the same time, in a merry moment, he would load down his table with +all that kitchen and cellar could provide, for the reflection of his +friends. Thus he oscillated continuously between two extremes; but the +power which swung the pendulum was always the aural malady. He grew +peevish and capricious towards his best friends, rude, even brutal at +times in his treatment of them; only in the next moment to overwhelm +them most pathetically with attentions. Till the end of his life he +remained a sufferer from his passionate disposition over which he +gradually obtained control until, at the end, one could almost speak of +a sunny clarification of his nature. + +He has heedlessly been accused of having led a dissolute life, of +having been an intemperate drinker. There would be no necessity of +contradicting such a charge even if there were a scintilla of evidence +to support it; a drinker is not necessarily a dishonorable man, least of +all a musician who drinks. But, the fact of the matter is that it is +not true. If once Beethoven wrote a merry note about merrymaking with +friends, let us rejoice that occasions did sometimes occur, though but +rarely, when the heart of the sufferer was temporarily gladdened. + +He was a strict moralist, as is particularly evidenced by the notes in +his journal which have not been made public. In many things which befell +him in his daily life he was as ingenuous as a child. His personality, +on the whole, presented itself in such a manner as to invite the +intellectual and social Philistine to call him a fool. + + +160. “I shall print a request in all the newspapers that henceforth all +artists refrain from painting my picture without my knowledge; I never +thought that my own face would bring me embarrassment.” + + + (About 1803, to Christine Gerardi, because without his knowledge a +portrait of him had been made somewhere--in a cafe, probably.) + + +161. “Pity that I do not understand the art of war as well as I do the +art of music; I should yet conquer Napoleon!” + + + (To Krumpholz, the violinist, when he informed Beethoven of the victory +of Napoleon at Jena.) + + +162. “If I were a general and knew as much about strategy as I, a +composer, know about counterpoint, I’d give you fellows something to +do.” + + + (Called out behind the back of a French officer, his fist doubled, +on May 12, 1809, when the French had occupied Vienna. Reported by a +witness, W. Rust.) + + +163. “Camillus, if I am not mistaken, was the name of the Roman who +drove the wicked Gauls from Rome. At such a cost I would also take the +name if I could drive them wherever I found them to where they belong.” + + + (To Pleyel, publisher, in Paris, April, 1807.) + + +164. “I love most the realm of mind which, to me, is the highest of all +spiritual and temporal monarchies.” + + + (To Advocate Kauka in the summer of 1814. He had been speaking about the +monarchs represented in the Congress of Vienna.) + + +165. “I shall not come in person, since that would be a sort of +farewell, and farewells I have always avoided.” + + + (January 24, 1818, to Giannatasio del Rio, on taking his nephew Karl out +of the latter institute.) + + +166. “I hope still to bring a few large works into the world, and +then, like an old child, to end my earthly career somewhere among good +people.” + + + (October 6, 1802, to Wegeler.) + + +167. “O ye men, who think or declare me to be hostile, morose or +misanthropical, what injustice ye do me. Ye know not the secret cause of +what thus appears to you. My heart and mind were from childhood +disposed for the tender feelings of benevolence; I was always wishing to +accomplish great deeds.” + + + (October 6, 1802, in the so-called Heiligenstadt Will.) + + +168. “Divinity, thou lookest into my heart, thou knowest it, thou +knowest that love for mankind and a desire to do good have their abode +there. O ye men, when one day ye read this think that ye have wronged +me, and may the unfortunate console himself with the thought that he has +found one of his kind who, despite all the obstacles which nature put in +his path, yet did all in his power to be accepted in the ranks of worthy +artists and men!” + + + (From the Heiligenstadt Will.) + + +169. “I spend all my mornings with the muses;--and they bless me also in +my walks.” + + + (October 12, 1835, to his nephew Karl.) + + +170. “Concerning myself nothing,--that is, from nothing nothing.” + + + (October 19, 1815, to Countess Erdody.) + + +[A possible allusion to the line, “Nothing can come of nothing.” from +Shakespeare’s “King Lear,” Act 1, scene 1] + +171. “Beethoven can write, thank God; but do nothing else on earth.” + + + (December 22, 1822, to Ferdinand Ries, in London.) + + +172. “Mentally I often frame an answer, but when I come to write it down +I generally throw the pen aside, since I am not able to write what I +feel.” + + + (October 7, 1826, to his friend Wegeler, in Coblenz. “The better sort +of people, I think, know me anyhow.” He is excusing his laziness in +letter-writing.) + + +173. “I have the gift to conceal my sensitiveness touching a multitude +of things; but when I am provoked at a moment when I am more sensitive +than usual to anger, I burst out more violently than anybody else.” + + + (July 24, 1804, to Ries, in reporting to him a quarrel with Stephan von +Breuning.) + + +174. “X. is completely changed since I threw half a dozen books at her +head. Perhaps something of their contents accidentally got into her head +or her wicked heart.” + + + (To Mme. Streicher, who often had to put Beethoven’s house in order.) + + +175. “I can have no intercourse, and do not want to have any, with +persons who are not willing to believe in me because I have not yet made +a wide reputation.” + + + (To Prince Lobkowitz, about 1798. A cavalier had failed to show him +proper respect in the Prince’s salon.) + + +176. “Many a vigorous and unconsidered word drops from my mouth, for +which reason I am considered mad.” + + + (In the summer of 1880, to Dr. Muller, of Bremen, who was paying him a +visit.) + + +177. “I will grapple with Fate; it shall not quite bear me down. O, it +is lovely to live life a thousand times!” + + + (November 16, 1800, or 1801, to Wegeler.) + + +178. “Morality is the strength of men who distinguish themselves over +others, and it is mine.” + + + (In a communication to his friend, Baron Zmeskall.) + + +179. “I, too, am a king!” + + + (Said to Holz, when the latter begged him not to sell the ring which +King Frederick William III, of Prussia, had sent to him instead of money +or an order in return for the dedication of the ninth symphony. “Master, +keep the ring,” Holz had said, “it is from a king.” Beethoven made his +remark “with indescribable dignity and self-consciousness.”) + + +[On his deathbed he said to little Gerhard von Breuning: “Know that I am +an artist.”] + +[At the height of the popular infatuation for Rossini (1822) he said to +his friends: “Well, they will not be able to rob me of my place in the +history of art.”] + +180. “Prince, what you are you are by accident of birth; what I am, I am +through my own efforts. There have been thousands of princes and will be +thousands more; there is only one Beethoven!” + + + (According to tradition, from a letter which he wrote to Prince +Lichnowsky when the latter attempted to persuade him to play for some +French officers on his estate in Silesia. Beethoven went at night to +Troppau, carrying the manuscript of the (so-called) “Appassionata” + sonata, which suffered from the rain.) + + +181. “My nobility is here, and here (pointing to his heart and head).” + + + (Reported by Schindler. In the lawsuit against his sister-in-law (the +mother of nephew Karl) Beethoven had been called on to prove that the +“van” in his name was a badge of nobility.) + + +182. “You write that somebody has said that I am the natural son of the +late King of Prussia. The same thing was said to me long ago, but I have +made it a rule never to write anything about myself or answer anything +that is said about me.” + + + (October 7, 1826, to Wegeler.) + + +[“I leave it to you to give the world an account of myself and +especially my mother.” The statement had appeared in Brockhaus’s +“Lexicon.”] + +183. “To me the highest thing, after God, is my honor.” + + + (July 26, 1822, to the publisher Peters, in Leipzig.) + + +184. “I have never thought of writing for reputation and honor. What I +have in my heart must out; that is the reason why I compose.” + + + (Remark to Karl Czerny, reported in his autobiography.) + + +185. “I do not desire that you shall esteem me greater as an artist, but +better and more perfect as a man; when the condition of our country +is somewhat better, then my art shall be devoted to the welfare of the +poor.” + + + (Vienna, June 29, 1800, to Wegeler, in Bonn, writing of his return to +his native land.) + + +186. “Perhaps the only thing that looks like genius about me is that my +affairs are not always in the best of order, and that in this respect +nobody can be of help but myself.” + + + (April 22, 1801, to Hofmeister, in Leipzig excusing himself for +dilatoriness in sending him these compositions: the Pianoforte sonata +op. 22, the symphony op. 21, the septet op. 20 and the concerto op. 19.) + + +187. “I am free from all small vanities. Only in the divine art is the +lever which gives me power to sacrifice the best part of my life to the +celestial muses.” + + + (September 9, 1824, to George Nigeli, in Zurich.) + + +188. “Inasmuch as the purpose of the undersigned throughout his career +has not been selfish but the promotion of the interests of art, the +elevation of popular taste and the flight of his own genius toward +loftier ideals and perfection, it was inevitable that he should +frequently sacrifice his own advantages and profit to the muse.” + + + (December, 1804, to the Director of the Court Theatre, applying for an +engagement which was never effected.) + + +189. “From my earliest childhood my zeal to serve suffering humanity +with my art was never content with any kind of a subterfuge; and no +other reward is needed than the internal satisfaction which always +accompanies such a deed.” + + + (To Procurator Varenna, who had asked him for compositions to be played +at a charity concert in Graz.) + + +190. “There is no greater pleasure for me than to practice and exhibit +my art.” + + + (November 16, 1800, or 1801, to Wegeler.) + + +191. “I recognize no other accomplishments or advantages than those +which place one amongst the better class of men; where I find them, +there is my home.” + + + (Teplitz, July 17, 1812, to his little admirer, Emile M., in H.) + + +192. “From childhood I learned to love virtue, and everything beautiful +and good.” + + + (About 1808, to Frau Marie Bigot.) + + +193. “It is one of my foremost principles never to occupy any other +relations than those of friendship with the wife of another man. I +should never want to fill my heart with distrust towards those who may +chance some day to share my fate with me, and thus destroy the loveliest +and purest life for myself.” + + + (About 1808, to Frau Marie Bigot, after she had declined his invitation +to drive with him.) + + +194. “In my solitude here I miss my roommate, at least at evening and +noon, when the human animal is obliged to assimilate that which is +necessary to the production of the intellectual, and which I prefer to +do in company with another.” + + + (Teplitz, September 6, 1811, to Tiedge.) + + +195. “It was not intentional and premeditated malice which led me to act +toward you as I did; it was my unpardonable carelessness.” + + + (To Wegeler.) + + +196. “I am not bad; hot blood is my wickedness, my crime is +youthfulness. I am not bad, really not bad; even though wild surges +often accuse my heart, it still is good. To do good wherever we can, to +love liberty above all things, and never to deny truth though it be at +the throne itself.--Think occasionally of the friend who honors you.” + + + (Written in the autograph album of a Herr Bocke.) + + +197. “It is a singular sensation to see and hear one’s self praised, and +then to be conscious of one’s own imperfections as I am. I always regard +such occasions as admonitions to get nearer the unattainable goal set +for us by art and nature, hard as it may be.” + + + (To Mdlle. de Girardi, who had sung his praises in a poem.) + + +198. “It is my sincere desire that whatever shall be said of me +hereafter shall adhere strictly to the truth in every respect regardless +of who may be hurt thereby, me not excepted.” + + + (Reported by Schindler, who also relates that when Beethoven handed him +documents to be used in the biography a week before his death, he said +to him and Breuning: “But in all things severely the truth; for that I +hold you to a strict accountability.”) + + +199. “Now you can help me to find a wife. If you find a beautiful woman +in F. who, mayhap, endows my music with a sigh,--but she must be no +Elise Burger--make a provisional engagement. But she must be beautiful, +for I can love only the beautiful; otherwise I might love myself.” + + + (In 1809, to Baron von Gleichenstein. As for the personal reference it +seems likely that Beethoven referred to Elise Burger, second wife of +the poet G. August Burger, with whom he had got acquainted after she had +been divorced and become an elocutionist.) + + +200. “Am I not a true friend? Why do you conceal your necessities from +me? No friend of mine must suffer so long as I have anything.” + + + (To Ferdinand Ries, in 1801. Ries’s father had been kind to Beethoven on +the death of his mother in 1787.) + + +201. “I would rather forget what I owe to myself than what I owe to +others.” + + + (To Frau Streicher, in the summer of 1817.) + + +202. “I never practice revenge. When I must antagonize others I do no +more than is necessary to protect myself against them, or prevent them +from doing further evil.” + + + (To Frau Streicher, in reference to the troubles which his servants gave +him, many of which, no doubt, were due to faults of his own, excusable +in a man in his condition of health.) + + +203. “Be convinced that mankind, even in your case, will always be +sacred to me.” + + + (To Czapka, Magisterial Councillor, August, 1826, in the matter of his +nephew’s attempt at suicide.) + + +204. “H. is, and always will be, too weak for friendship, and I look +upon him and Y. as mere instruments upon which I play when I feel +like it; but they can never be witnesses of my internal and external +activities, and just as little real participants. I value them according +as they do me service.” + + + (Summer of 1800, to the friend of his youth, Pastor Amenda. H. was +probably the faithful Baron Zmeskall von Domanovecz.) + + +205. “If it amuses them to talk and write about me in that manner, let +them go on.” + + + (Reported by Schindler as referring to critics who had declared him ripe +for the madhouse.) + + +206. “To your gentlemen critics I recommend a little more foresight and +shrewdness, particularly in respect of the products of younger authors, +as many a one, who might otherwise make progress, may be frightened off. +So far as I am concerned I am far from thinking myself so perfect as not +to be able to endure faulting; yet at the beginning the clamor of your +critic was so debasing that I could scarcely discuss the matter when I +compared myself with others, but had to remain quiet and think: they do +not understand. I was the more able to remain quiet when I recalled how +men were praised who signify little among those who know, and who have +almost disappeared despite their good points. Well, pax vobiscum, peace +to them and me,--I would never have mentioned a syllable had you not +begun.” + + + (April 22, 1801, to Breitkopf and Hartel, publishers of the “Allgemeine +Musik Zeitung.”) + + +207. “Who was happier than I when I could still pronounce the sweet word +‘mother’ and have it heard? To whom can I speak it now?” + + + (September 15, 1787, from Bonn to Dr. Schade, of Augsburg, who had aided +him in his return journey from Vienna to Bonn. His mother had died on +July 17, 1787.) + + +208. “I seldom go anywhere since it was always impossible for me to +associate with people where there was not a certain exchange of ideas.” + + + (February 15, 1817, to Brentano of Frankfurt.) + + +209. “Not a word about rest! I know of none except in sleep, and sorry +enough am I that I am obliged to yield up more to it than formerly.” + + + (November 16, 1801, or 1802, to Wegeler. In Homer’s “Odyssey” Beethoven +thickly underscored the words: “Too much sleep is injurious.” XV, 393.) + + +210. “Rest assured that you are dealing with a true artist who likes to +be paid decently, it is true, but who loves his own reputation and also +the fame of his art; who is never satisfied with himself and who strives +continually to make even greater progress in his art.” + + + (November 23, 1809, to George Thomson, of Edinburgh, for whom Beethoven +arranged the Scotch songs.) + + +211. “My motto is always: nulla die sine linea; and if I permit the muse +to go to sleep it is only that she may awake strengthened.” + + + (October 7, 1826, to Wegeler.) + + +212. “There is no treatise likely to be too learned for me. Without +laying claim to real learning it is yet true that since my childhood I +have striven to learn the minds of the best and wisest of every period +of time. It is a disgrace for every artist who does not try to do as +much.” + + + (November 2, 1809, to Breitkopf and Hartel, of Leipzig.) + + +213. “Without wishing in the least to set myself up as an exemplar I +assure you that I lived in a small and insignificant place, and made out +of myself nearly all that I was there and am here;--this to your comfort +in case you feel the need of making progress in art.” + + + (Baden, July 6, 1804, to Herr Wiedebein, of Brunswick, who had asked +if it was advisable for a music teacher and student to make his home in +Vienna.) + + +214. “There is much on earth to be done,--do it soon! I must not +continue my present everyday life,--art asks this sacrifice also. Take +rest in diversion in order to work more energetically.” + + + (Diary, 1814.) + + +215. “The daily grind exhausts me.” + + + (Baden, August 23, 1823, to his nephew Karl.) + + + + + +THE SUFFERER + + +216. “Compelled to be a philosopher as early as my 28th year;--it is not +an easy matter,--more difficult for the artist than any other man.” + + + (October 6, 1802; the Heiligenstadt Will.) + + +217. “Compelled to contemplate a lasting malady, born with an ardent +and lively temperament, susceptible to the diversions of society, I was +obliged at an early date to isolate myself and live a life of solitude.” + + + (From the same.) + + +218. “It was impossible for me to say to others: speak louder; shout! +for I am deaf. Ah! was it possible for me to proclaim a deficiency in +that one sense which in my case ought to have been more perfect than +in all others, which I had once possessed in greatest perfection, to +a degree of perfection, indeed, which few of my profession have ever +enjoyed?” + + + (From the same.) + + +219. “For me there can be no recreation in human society, refined +conversation, mutual exchange of thoughts and feelings; only so far as +necessity compels may I give myself to society,--I must live like an +exile.” + + + (From the same.) + + +220. “How great was the humiliation when one who stood beside me heard +the distant sound of a shepherd’s pipe, and I heard nothing; or heard +the shepherd singing, and I heard nothing. Such experiences brought me +to the verge of despair;--but little more and I should have put an end +to my life. Art, art alone deterred me.” + + + (From the same.) + + +221. “I may say that I live a wretched existence. For almost two years +I have avoided all social gatherings because it is impossible for me to +tell the people I am deaf. If my vocation were anything else it might be +more endurable, but under the circumstances the condition is terrible; +besides what would my enemies say,--they are not few in number! To +give you an idea of this singular deafness let me tell you that in the +theatre I must lean over close to the orchestra in order to understand +the actor; if I am a little remote from them I do not hear the high +tones of instruments and voices; it is remarkable that there are persons +who have not observed it, but because I am generally absent-minded my +conduct is ascribed to that.” + + + (Vienna, June 29, 1800, to Wegeler. “To you only do I confide this as a +secret.” Concerning his deafness see Appendix.) + + +222. “My defective hearing appeared everywhere before me like a ghost; I +fled from the presence of men, was obliged to appear to be a misanthrope +although I am so little such.” + + + (November 16, 1801, or 1800, to Wegeler, in writing to him about his +happy love. “Unfortunately, she is not of my station in life.”) + + +223. “Truly, a hard lot has befallen me! Yet I accept the decree of +Fate, and continually pray to God to grant that as long as I must endure +this death in life, I may be preserved from want.” + + + (March 14, 1827, to Moscheles, after Beethoven had undergone the fourth +operation for dropsy and was confronting the fifth. He died on March 26, +1827.) + + +224. “Live alone in your art! Restricted though you be by your defective +sense, this is still the only existence for you.” + + + (Diary, 1816.) + + +225. “Dissatisfied with many things, more susceptible than any other +person and tormented by my deafness, I often find only suffering in the +association with others.” + + + (In 1815, to Brauchle, tutor in the house of Countess Erdody.) + + +226. “I have emptied a cup of bitter suffering and already won martyrdom +in art through the kindness of art’s disciples and my art associates.” + + + (In the summer of 1814, to Advocate Kauka. “Socrates and Jesus were my +exemplars,” he remarks in a conversation-book of 1819.) + + +227. “Perfect the ear trumpets as far as possible, and then travel; this +you owe to yourself, to mankind and to the Almighty! Only thus can you +develop all that is still locked within you;--and a little court,--a +little chapel,--writing the music and having it performed to the glory +of the Almighty, the Eternal, the Infinite---” + + + (Diary, 1815. Beethoven was hoping to receive an appointment as +chapelmaster from his former pupil, Archduke Rudolph, Archbishop of +Olmutz.) + + +228. “God help me. Thou seest me deserted by all mankind. I do not want +to do wrong,--hear my prayer to be with my Karl in the future for which +there seems to be no possibility now. O, harsh Fate, cruel destiny. No, +my unhappy condition will never end. ‘This I feel and recognize clearly: +Life is not the greatest of blessings; but the greatest of evils is +guilt.’ (From Schiller’s “Braut von Messina”). There is no salvation +for you except to hasten away from here; only by this means can you lift +yourself again to the heights of your art whereas you are here sinking +to the commonplace,--and a symphony--and then away,--away,--meanwhile +fund the salaries which can be done for years. Work during the summer +preparatory to travel; only thus can you do the great work for your poor +nephew; later travel through Italy, Sicily, with a few other artists.” + + + (Diary, spring of 1817. The salaries were the annuities paid him for +several years by Archduke Rudolph, Prince Rinsky and Prince Lobkowitz. +Seume’s “Spaziergang nach Syrakus” was a favorite book of Beethoven’s +and inspired him in a desire to make a similar tour, but nothing came of +it.) + + +229. “You must not be a man like other men: not for yourself, only for +others; for you there is no more happiness except in yourself, in your +art.--O God, give me strength to overcome myself, nothing must hold me +to this life.” + + + (Beginning of the Diary, 1812-18.) + + +230. “Leave operas and all else alone, write only for your orphan, and +then a cowl to close this unhappy life.” + + + (Diary, 1816.) + + +231. “I have often cursed my existence; Plutarch taught me resignation. +I shall, if possible, defy Fate, though there will be hours in my life +when I shall be the most miserable of God’s creatures. Resignation! What +a wretched resort; yet it is the only one left me!” + + + (Vienna, June 29, 1800, to Wegeler.) + + +232. “Patience, they tell me, I must now choose for a guide. I have +done so. It shall be my resolve, lastingly, I hope, to endure until +it pleases the implacable Parca: to break the thread. There may be +improvement,--perhaps not,--I am prepared.” + + + (From the Heiligenstadt Will.) + + +233. “Let all that is called life be offered to the sublime and become +a sanctuary of art. Let me live, even through artificial means, so they +can be found.” + + + (Diary, 1814, when Beethoven was being celebrated extraordinarily by the +royalties and dignitaries gathered at the Congress of Vienna.) + + +234. “Ah! it seemed impossible for me to leave the world until I had +produced all that I felt called upon to produce; and so I prolonged this +wretched existence.” + + + (From the Heiligenstadt Will.) + + +235. “With joy shall I hasten forward to meet death; if he comes before +I shall have had an opportunity to develop all my artistic capabilities, +he will come too early in spite of my harsh fate, and I shall probably +wish him to come at a later date. But even then I shall be content, for +will he not release me from endless suffering? Come when you please, I +shall meet you bravely.” + + + (From the Heiligenstadt Will.) + + +236. “Apollo and the muses will not yet permit me to be delivered +over to the grim skeleton, for I owe them so much, and I must, on any +departure for the Elysian Fields, leave behind me all that the spirit +has inspired and commanded to be finished.” + + + (September 17, 1824, to Schott, music publisher in Mayence.) + + +237. “Had I not read somewhere that it is not pending man to part +voluntarily from his life so long as there is a good deed which he can +perform, I should long since have been no more, and by my own hand. O, +how beautiful life is, but in my case it is poisoned.” + + + (May 2, 1810, to his friend Wegeler, to whom he is lamenting over “the +demon that has set up his habitat in my ears.”) + + +238. “I must abandon wholly the fond hope, which I brought hither, to be +cured at least in a degree. As the fallen autumn leaves have withered, +so are now my hopes blighted. I depart in almost the same condition +in which I came; even the lofty courage which often animated me in the +beautiful days of summer has disappeared.” + + + (From the Will. Beethoven had tried the cure at Heiligenstadt.) + + +239. “All week long I had to suffer and endure like a saint. Away with +this rabble! What a reproach to our civilization that we need what we +despise and must always know it near!” + + + (In 1825, complaining of the misery caused by his domestics.) + + +240. “The best thing to do not to think of your malady is to keep +occupied.” + + + (Diary, 1812-18.) + + +241. “It is no comfort for men of the better sort to say to them that +others also suffer; but, alas! comparisons must always be made, though +they only teach that we all suffer, that is err, only in different +ways.” + + + (In 1816, to Countess Erdody, on the death of her son.) + + +242. “The portraits of Handel, Bach, Gluck, Mozart and Haydn in my +room,--they may help me to make claim on toleration.” + + + (Diary, 1815-16.) + + +243. “God, who knows my innermost soul, and knows how sacredly I have +fulfilled all the duties but upon me as man by humanity, God and nature +will surely some day relieve me from these afflictions.” + + + (July 18, 1821, to Archduke Rudolph, from Unterubling.) + + +244. “Friendship and similar sentiments bring only wounds to me. Well, +so be it; for you, poor Beethoven, there is no outward happiness; you +must create it within you,--only in the world of ideality shall you find +friends.” + + + (About 1808, to Baron von Gleichenstein, by whom he thought himself +slighted.) + + +245. “You are living on a quiet sea, or already in the safe harbor; you +do not feel the distress of a friend out in the raging storm,--or you +must not feel it.” + + + (In 1811, to his friend Gleichenstein, when Beethoven was in love with +the Baron’s sister-in-law, Therese Malfatti.) + + +246. “I must have a confidant at my side lest life become a burden.” + + + (July 4, 1812, to Count Brunswick, whom he is urging to make a tour with +him, probably to Teplitz.) + + +247. “Your love makes me at once the happiest and the unhappiest of men. +At my age I need a certain uniformity and equableness of life; can such +exist in our relationship?” + + + (June 7, 1800 (?), to the “Immortal Beloved.”) + + +248. “O Providence! vouchsafe me one day of pure joy! Long has the echo +of perfect felicity been absent from my heart. When O, when, O Thou +Divine One, shall I feel it again in nature’s temple and man’s? Never? +Ah! that would be too hard!” + + + (Conclusion of the Heiligenstadt Will.) + + + + + +WORLDLY WISDOM + + +249. “Freedom,--progress, is purpose in the art-world as in universal +creation, and if we moderns have not the hardihood of our ancestors, +refinement of manners has surely accomplished something.” + + + (Middling, July 29, 1819, to Archduke Rudolph.) + + +250. “The boundaries are not yet fixed which shall call out to talent +and industry: thus far and no further!” + + + (Reported by Schindler.) + + +251. “You know that the sensitive spirit must not be bound to miserable +necessities.” + + + (In the summer of 1814, to Johann Kauka, the advocate who represented +him in the prosecution of his claims against the heirs of Prince +Kinsky.) + + +252. “Art, the persecuted one, always finds an asylum. Did not Daedalus, +shut up in the labyrinth, invent the wings which carried him out into +the open air? O, I shall find them, too, these wings!” + + + (February 19, 1812, to Zmeskall, when, in 1811, by decree of the +Treasury, the value of the Austrian currency was depreciated one-fifth, +and the annuity which Beethoven received from Archduke Rudolph and the +Princes Lobkowitz and Kinsky reduced to 800 florins.) + + +253. “Show me the course where at the goal there stands the palm of +victory! Lend sublimity to my loftiest thoughts, bring to them truths +that shall live forever!” + + + (Diary, 1814, while working on “Fidelio.”) + + +254. “Every day is lost in which we do not learn something useful. Man +has no nobler or more valuable possession than time; therefore never put +off till tomorrow what you can do today.” + + + (From the notes in Archduke Rudolph’s instruction book.) + + +255. “This is the mark of distinction of a truly admirable man: +steadfastness in times of trouble.” + + + (Diary, 1816.) + + +256. “Courage, so it be righteous, will gain all things.” + + + (April, 1815, to Countess Erdody.) + + +257. “Force, which is a unit, will always prevail against the majority +which is divided.” + + + (Conversation-book, 1819.) + + +258. “Kings and Princes can create professors and councillors, and +confer orders and decorations; but they can not create great men, +spirits that rise above the earthly rabble; these they can not create, +and therefore they are to be respected.” + + + (August 15, 1812, to Bettina von Arnim.) + + +259. “Man, help yourself!” + + + (Written under the words: “Fine, with the help of God,” which Moscheles +had written at the end of a pianoforte arrangement of a portion of +“Fidelio.”) + + +260. “If I could give as definite expression to my thoughts about my +illness as to my thoughts in music, I would soon help myself.” + + + (September, 1812, to Amalie Sebald, a patient at the cure in Teplitz.) + + +261. “Follow the advice of others only in the rarest cases.” + + + (Diary, 1816.) + + +262. “The moral law in us, and the starry sky above us.”--Kant. + + + (Conversation-book, February, 1820.) + + +[Literally the passage in Kant’s “Critique of Practical Reason” reads as +follows: “Two things fill the soul with ever new and increasing wonder +and reverence the oftener the mind dwells upon them:--the starry sky +above me and the moral law in me.”] + +263. “Blessed is he who has overcome all passions and then proceeds +energetically to perform his duties under all circumstances careless of +success! Let the motive lie in the deed, not in the outcome. Be not one +of those whose spring of action is the hope of reward. Do not let +your life pass in inactivity. Be industrious, do your duty, banish all +thoughts as to the results, be they good or evil; for such equanimity is +attention to intellectual things. Seek an asylum only in Wisdom; for +he who is wretched and unhappy is so only in consequence of things. The +truly wise man does not concern himself with the good and evil of +this world. Therefore endeavor diligently to preserve this use of your +reason--for in the affairs of this world, such a use is a precious art.” + + + (Diary. Though essentially in the language of Beethoven there is +evidence that the passage was inspired by something that he had read.) + + +264. “The just man must be able also to suffer injustice without +deviating in the least from the right course.” + + + (To the Viennese magistrate in the matter of Karl’s education.) + + +265. “Man’s humility towards man pains me; and yet when I consider +myself in connection with the universe, what am I and what is he whom we +call the greatest? And yet here, again, lies the divine element in man.” + + + (To the “Immortal Beloved,” July 6 (1800?).) + + +266. “Only the praise of one who has enjoyed praise can give pleasure.” + + + (Conversation-book, 1825.) + + +267. “Nothing is more intolerable than to be compelled to accuse one’s +self of one’s own errors.” + + + (Teplitz, September 6, 1811, to Tiedge. Beethoven regrets that through +his own fault he had not made Tiedge’s acquaintance on an earlier +opportunity.) + + +268. “What greater gift can man receive than fame, praise and +immortality?” + + + (Diary, 1816-17. After Pliny, Epist. III.) + + +269. “Frequently it seems as if I should almost go mad over my +undeserved fame; fortune seeks me out and I almost fear new misfortune +on that account.” + + + (July, 1810, to his friend Zmeskall. “Every day there come new inquiries +from strangers, new acquaintances new relationships.”) + + +270. “The world must give one recognition,--it is not always unjust. I +care nothing for it because I have a higher goal.” + + + (August 15, 1812, to Bettina von Arnim.) + + +271. “I have the more turned my gaze upwards; but for our own sakes +and for others we are obliged to turn our attention sometimes to lower +things; this, too, is a part of human destiny.” + + + (February 8, 1823, to Zelter, with whom he is negotiating the sale of a +copy of the Mass in D.) + + +272. “Why so many dishes? Man is certainly very little higher than the +other animals if his chief delights are those of the table.” + + + (Reported by J. A. Stumpff, in the “Harmonicon” of 1824. He dined with +Beethoven in Baden.) + + +273. “Whoever tells a lie is not pure of heart, and such a person can +not cook a clean soup.” + + + (To Mme. Streicher, in 1817, or 1818, after having dismissed an +otherwise good housekeeper because she had told a falsehood to spare his +feelings.) + + +274. “Vice walks through paths full of present lusts and persuades +many to follow it. Virtue pursues a steep path and is less seductive to +mankind, especially if at another place there are persons who call them +to a gently declining road.” + + + (Diary, 1815.) + + +275. “Sensual enjoyment without a union of soul is bestial and will +always remain bestial.” + + + (Diary, 1812-18.) + + +276. “Men are not only together when they are with each other; even the +distant and the dead live with us.” + + + (To Therese Malfatti, later Baroness von Drossdick, to whom in the +country he sent Goethe’s “Wilhelm Meister” and Schlegel’s translation of +Shakespeare.) + + +277. “There is no goodness except the possession of a good soul, which +may be seen in all things, from which one need not seek to hide.” + + + (August 15, 1812, to Bettina von Arnim.) + + +278. “The foundation of friendship demands the greatest likeness of +human souls and hearts.” + + + (Baden, July 24, 1804, to Ries, describing his quarrel with Breuning.) + + +279. “True friendship can rest only on the union of like natures.” + + + (Diary, 1812-18.) + + +280. “The people say nothing; they are merely people. As a rule they +only see themselves in others, and what they see is nothing; away with +them! The good and the beautiful needs no people,--it exists without +outward help, and this seems to be the reason of our enduring +friendship.” + + + (September 16, 1812, to Amalie Sebald, in Teplitz, who had playfully +called him a tyrant.) + + +281. “Look, my dear Ries; these are the great connoisseurs who affect +to be able to judge of any piece of music so correctly and keenly. Give +them but the name of their favorite,--they need no more!” + + + (To his pupil Ries, who had, as a joke, played a mediocre march at a +gathering at Count Browne’s and announced it to be a composition by +Beethoven. When the march was praised beyond measure Beethoven broke out +into a grim laugh.) + + +282. “Do not let all men see the contempt which they deserve; we do not +know when we may need them.” + + + (Note in the Diary of 1814, after having had an unpleasant experience +with his “friend” Bertolini. “Henceforth never step inside his house; +shame on you to ask anything from such an one.”) + + +283. “Our Time stands in need of powerful minds who will scourge these +petty, malicious and miserable scoundrels,--much as my heart resents +doing injury to a fellow man.” + + + (In 1825, to his nephew, in reference to the publication of a satirical +canon on the Viennese publisher, Haslinger, by Schott, of Mayence.) + + +284. “Today is Sunday. Shall I read something for you from the Gospels? +‘Love ye one another!’” + + + (To Frau Streicher.) + + +285. “Hate reacts on those who nourish it.” + + + (Diary, 1812-18.) + + +286. “When friends get into a quarrel it is always best not to call in +an intermediary, but to have friend turn to friend direct.” + + + (Vienna, November 2, 1793, to Eleonore von Breuning, of Bonn.) + + +287. “There are reasons for the conduct of men which one is not always +willing to explain, but which, nevertheless, are based on ineradicable +necessity.” + + + (In 1815, to Brauchle.) + + +288. “I was formerly inconsiderate and hasty in the expression of my +opinions, and thereby I made enemies. Now I pass judgment on no one, +and, indeed, for the reason that I do not wish to do any one harm. +Moreover, in the last instance I always think: if it is something decent +it will maintain itself in spite of all attack and envy; if there is +nothing good and sound at the bottom of it, it will fall to pieces of +itself, bolster it up as one may.” + + + (In a conversation with Tomaschek, in October, 1814.) + + +289. “Even the most sacred friendship may harbor secrets, but you ought +not to misinterpret the secret of a friend because you can not guess +it.” + + + (About 1808, to Frau Marie Bigot.) + + +290. “You are happy; it is my wish that you remain so, for every man is +best placed in his sphere.” + + + (Bonn, July 13, 1825, to his brother Johann, landowner in Gneisendorf.) + + +291. “One must not measure the cost of the useful.” + + + (To his nephew Karl in a discussion touching the purchase of an +expensive book.) + + +292. “It is not my custom to prattle away my purposes, since every +intention once betrayed is no longer one’s own.” + + + (To Frau Streicher.) + + +293. “How stupidity and wretchedness always go in pairs!” + + + (Diary, 1817.) + + +[Beethoven was greatly vexed by his servants.] + +294. “Hope nourishes me; it nourishes half the world, and has been my +neighbor all my life, else what had become of me!” + + + (August 11, 1810, to Bettina von Arnim.) + + +295. “Fortune is round like a globe, hence, naturally, does not always +fall on the noblest and best.” + + + (Vienna, July 29, 1800, to Wegeler.) + + +296. “Show your power, Fate! We are not our own masters; what is decided +must be,--and so be it!” + + + (Diary, 1818.) + + +297. “Eternal Providence omnisciently directs the good and evil fortunes +of mortal men.” + + + (Diary, 1818.) + + +298. “With tranquility, O God, will I submit myself to changes, and +place all my trust in Thy unalterable mercy and goodness.” + + + (Diary, 1818.) + + +299. “All misfortune is mysterious and greatest when viewed alone; +discussed with others it seems more endurable because one becomes +entirely familiar with the things one dreads, and feels as if one had +overcome it.” + + + (Diary, 1816.) + + +300. “One must not flee for protection to poverty against the loss of +riches, nor to a lack of friendship against the loss of friends, nor by +abstention from procreation against the death of children, but to reason +against everything.” + + + (Diary, 1816.) + + +301. “I share deeply with you the righteous sorrow over the death of +your wife. It seems to me that such a parting, which confronts nearly +every married man, ought to keep one in the ranks of the unmarried.” + + + (May 20, 1811, to Gottfried Hartel, of Leipzig.) + + +302. “He who is afflicted with a malady which he can not alter, but +which gradually brings him nearer and nearer to death, without which he +would have lived longer, ought to reflect that murder or another cause +might have killed him even more quickly.” + + + (Diary, 1812-18.) + + +303. “We finite ones with infinite souls are born only for sorrows and +joy and it might almost be said that the best of us receive joy through +sorrow.” + + + (October 19, 1815, to Countess Erdody.) + + +304. “He is a base man who does not know how to die; I knew it as a boy +of fifteen.” + + + (In the spring of 1816, to Miss Fanny Giannatasio del Rio, when +Beethoven felt ill and spoke of dying. It is not known that he was ever +near death in his youth.) + + +305. “A second and third generation recompenses me three and fourfold +for the ill-will which I had to endure from my former contemporaries.” + + + (Copied into his Diary from Goethe’s “West-ostlicher Divan.”) + + +306. + + “My hour at last is come; + Yet not ingloriously or passively + I die, but first will do some valiant deed, + Of which mankind shall hear in after + time.”--Homer. + + + (“The Iliad” [Bryant’s translation], Book XXII, 375-378.) + + + + (Copied into his Diary, 1815.) + + +307. “Fate gave man the courage of endurance.” + + + (Diary, 1814.) + + +308. + + “Portia--How far that little candle throws his beams! + So shines a good deed in a naughty world.” + + + (Marked in his copy of Shakespeare’s “Merchant of Venice.”) + + +309. + + “And on the day that one becomes a + slave, + The Thunderer, Jove, takes half his + worth away.”--Homer. + + + (“The Odyssey” [Bryant’s translation], Book XVII, 392-393. Marked by +Beethoven.) + + +310. + + “Short is the life of man, and whoso + bears + A cruel heart, devising cruel things, + On him men call down evil from the + gods + While living, and pursue him, when he + dies, + With scoffs. But whoso is of generous + heart + And harbors generous aims, his guests + proclaim + His praises far and wide to all + mankind, + And numberless are they who call him + good.”--Homer. + + + (“The Odyssey” [Bryant’s translation], Book XIX, 408-415. Copied into +his diary, 1818.) + + + + + +GOD + + +Beethoven was through and through a religious man, though not in the +confessional sense. Reared in the Catholic faith he early attained to an +independent opinion on religious things. It must be borne in mind that +his youth fell in the period of enlightenment and rationalism. When at +a later date he composed the grand Mass in honor of his esteemed pupil +Archduke Rudolph,--he hoped to obtain from him a chapelmastership when +the Archduke became Archbishop of Olmutz, but in vain,--he gave it forms +and dimensions which deviated from the ritual. + +In all things liberty was the fundamental principle of Beethoven’s life. +His favorite book was Sturm’s “Observations Concerning God’s Works in +Nature” (Betrachtungen uber die Werke Gottes in der Natur), which he +recommended to the priests for wide distribution among the people. He +saw the hand of God in even the most insignificant natural phenomenon. +God was to him the Supreme Being whom he had jubilantly hymned in +the choral portion of the Ninth Symphony in the words of Schiller: +“Brothers, beyond you starry canopy there must dwell a loving Father!” + Beethoven’s relationship to God was that of a child toward his loving +father to whom he confides all his joys as well as sorrows. + +It is said that once he narrowly escaped excommunication for having said +that Jesus was only a poor human being and a Jew. Haydn, ingenuously +pious, is reported to have called Beethoven an atheist. + +He consented to the calling in of a priest on his death-bed. +Eye-witnesses testify that the customary function was performed most +impressively and edifyingly and that Beethoven expressed his thanks +to the officiating priest with heartiness. After he had left the room +Beethoven said to his friends: “Plaudite, amici, comoedia finita est,” + the phrase with which antique dramas were concluded. From this fact +the statement has been made that Beethoven wished to characterize the +sacrament of extreme unction as a comedy. This is contradicted, however, +by his conduct during its administration. It is more probable that he +wished to designate his life as a drama; in this sense, at any rate, the +words were accepted by his friends. Schindler says emphatically: “The +last days were in all respects remarkable, and he looked forward to +death with truly Socratic wisdom and peace of mind.” + +[I append a description of the death scene as I found it in the +notebooks of A. W. Thayer which were placed in my hands for examination +after the death of Beethoven’s greatest biographer in 1897: + +“June 5, 1860, I was in Graz and saw Huttenbrenner (Anselm) who gave me +the following particulars: ...In the winter of 1826-27 his friends wrote +him from Vienna, that if he wished to see Beethoven again alive he must +hurry thither from Graz. He hastened to Vienna, arriving a few +days before Beethoven’s death. Early in the afternoon of March 26, +Huttenbrenner went into the dying man’s room. He mentioned as persons +whom he saw there, Stephen v. Breuning and Gerhard, Schindler, Telscher +and Carl’s mother (this seems to be a mistake, i.e. if Mrs. v. Beethoven +is right). Beethoven had then long been senseless. Telscher began +drawing the dying face of Beethoven. This grated on Breuning’s feelings, +and he remonstrated with him, and he put up his papers and left (?). + +“Then Breuning and Schindler left to go out to Wohring to select a grave. +(Just after the five--I got this from Breuning himself--when it grew +dark with the sudden storm Gerhard, who had been standing at the window, +ran home to his teacher.) + +“Afterward Gerhard v. B. went home, and there remained in the room only +Huttenbrenner and Mrs. van Beethoven. The storm passed over, covering +the Glacis with snow and sleet. As it passed away a flash of lightning +lighted up everything. This was followed by an awful clap of thunder. +Huttenbrenner had been sitting on the side of the bed sustaining +Beethoven’s head--holding it up with his right arm His breathing was +already very much impeded, and he had been for hours dying. At this +startling, awful peal of thunder, the dying man suddenly raised his +head from Huttenbrenner’s arm, stretched out his own right arm +majestically--like a general giving orders to an army. This was but for +an instant; the arm sunk back; he fell back. Beethoven was dead. + +“Another talk with Huttenbrenner. It seems that Beethoven was at his +last gasp, one eye already closed. At the stroke of lightning and the +thunder peal he raised his arm with a doubled-up fist; the expression of +his eyes and face was that of one defying death,--a look of defiance and +power of resistance. + +“He must have had his arm under the pillow. I must ask him. + +“I did ask him; he had his arm around B.’s neck.” H. E. K.] + + +311. “I am that which is. I am all that was, that is, and that shall be. +No mortal man has ever lifted the veil of me. He is solely of himself, +and to this Only One all things owe their existence.” + + + (Beethoven’s creed. He had found it in Champollion’s “The Paintings +of Egypt,” where it is set down as an inscription on a temple to the +goddess Neith. Beethoven had his copy framed and kept it constantly +before him on his writing desk. “The relic was a great treasure in his +eyes”--Schindler.) + + +312. “Wrapped in the shadows of eternal solitude, in the impenetrable +darkness of the thicket, impenetrable, immeasurable, unapproachable, +formlessly extended. Before spirit was breathed (into things) his +spirit was, and his only. As mortal eyes (to compare finite and infinite +things) look into a shining mirror.” + + + (Copied, evidently, from an unidentified work, by Beethoven; though +possibly original with him.) + + +313. “It was not the fortuitous meeting of the chordal atoms that made +the world; if order and beauty are reflected in the constitution of the +universe, then there is a God.” + + + (Diary, 1816.) + + +314. “He who is above,--O, He is, and without Him there is nothing.” + + + (Diary.) + + +315. “Go to the devil with your ‘gracious Sir!’ There is only one who +can be called gracious, and that is God.” + + + (About 1824 or 1825, to Rampel, a copyist, who, apparently, had been +a little too obsequious in his address to Beethoven. [As is customary +among the Viennese to this day. H. E. K.]) + + +316. “What is all this compared with the great Tonemaster above! +above! above! and righteously the Most High, whereas here below all is +mockery,--dwarfs,--and yet Most High!!” + + + (To Schott, publisher in Mayence, in 1822--the same year in which +Beethoven copied the Egyptian inscription.) + + +317. “There is no loftier mission than to approach the Divinity nearer +than other men, and to disseminate the divine rays among mankind.” + + + (August, 1823, to Archduke Rudolph.) + + +318. “Heaven rules over the destiny of men and monsters (literally, +human and inhuman beings), and so it will guide me, too, to the better +things of life.” + + + (September 11, 1811, to the poet Elsie von der Recke.) + + +319. “It’s the same with humanity; here, too (in suffering), he must +show his strength, i.e. endure without knowing or feeling his nullity, +and reach his perfection again for which the Most High wishes to make us +worthy.” + + + (May 13, 1816, to Countess Erdody, who was suffering from incurable +lameness.) + + +320. “Religion and thorough-bass are settled things concerning which +there should be no disputing.” + + + (Reported by Schindler.) + + +331. “All things flowed clear and pure out of God. Though often darkly +led to evil by passion, I returned, through penance and purification +to the pure fountain,--to God,--and to your art. In this I was never +impelled by selfishness; may it always be so. The trees bend low under +the weight of fruit, the clouds descend when they are filled with +salutary rains, and the benefactors of humanity are not puffed up by +their wealth.” + + + (Diary, 1815. The first portion seems to be a quotation, but Beethoven +continues after the dash most characteristically in his own words and a +change of person.) + + +322. “God is immaterial, and for this reason transcends every +conception. Since He is invisible He can have no form. But from what +we observe in His work we may conclude that He is eternal, omnipotent, +omniscient and omnipresent.” + + + (Copied, with the remark: “From Indian literature” from an unidentified +work, into the Diary of 1816.) + + +323. “In praise of Thy goodness I must confess that Thou didst try with +all Thy means to draw me to Thee. Sometimes it pleased Thee to let me +feel the heavy hand of Thy displeasure and to humiliate my proud heart +by manifold castigations. Sickness and misfortune didst Thou send upon +me to turn my thoughts to my errantries.--One thing, only, O Father, do +I ask: cease not to labor for my betterment. In whatsoever manner it be, +let me turn to Thee and become fruitful in good works.” + + + (Copied into the Diary from Sturm’s book, “Observations Concerning the +Works of God in Nature.”) + + + + + +APPENDIX + + +Some observations may finally be acceptable touching Beethoven’s general +culture to which the thoughts of the reader must naturally have been +directed by the excerpts from his writings set forth in the preceding +pages. His own words betray the fact that he was not privileged to enjoy +a thorough school-training and was thus compelled to the end of his days +to make good the deficiencies in his learning. As a lad at Bonn he had +attended the so-called Tirocinium, a sort of preparatory school for the +Gymnasium, and acquired a small knowledge of Latin. Later he made great +efforts to acquire French, a language essential to intercourse in the +upper circles of society. He never established intimate relations +with the rules of German. He used small initials for substantives, or +capitalized verbs and adjectives according as they appeared important +to him. His punctuation was arbitrary; generally he drew a perpendicular +line between his words, letting it suffice for a comma or period as +the case might be (a proceeding which adds not a little to the +embarrassments of him who seeks to translate his sometimes mystical +utterances). + +It is said that a man’s bookcase bears evidence of his education and +intellectual interests. Beethoven also had books,--not many, but a +characteristic collection. From his faithful friend and voluntary +servant Schindler we have a report on this subject. Of the books +of which he was possessed at the time of his death there have been +preserved four volumes of translations of Shakespeare’s works, Homer’s +“Odyssey” in the translation of J. H. Voss, Sturm’s “Observations” + (several times referred to in the preceding pages), and Goethe’s +“West-ostlicher Divan.” These books are frequently marked and annotated +in lead pencil, thus bearing witness to the subjects which interested +Beethoven. From them, and volumes which he had borrowed, many passages +were copied by him into his daily journal. Besides these books Schindler +mentions Homer’s “Iliad,” Goethe’s poems, “Wilhelm Melster” and “Faust,” + Schiller’s dramas and poems, Tiedge’s “Urania,” volumes of poems by +Matthisson and Seume, and Nina d’Aubigny’s “Letters to Natalia on +Singing,”--a book to which Beethoven attached great value. These books +have disappeared, as well as others which Beethoven valued. We do +not know what became of the volumes of Plato, Aristotle, Plutarch and +Xenophon, or the writings of Pliny, Euripides, Quintilian, Ovid, Horace, +Ossian, Milton and Thomson, traces of which are found in Beethoven’s +utterances. + +The catalogue made for the auction sale of his posthumous effects on +September 7, 1827, included forty-four works of which the censorship +seized five as prohibited writings, namely, Seume’s “Foot Journey to +Syracuse,” the Apocrypha, Kotzebue’s “On the Nobility,” W.E. +Muller’s “Paris in its Zenith” (1816), and “Views on Religion and +Ecclesiasticism.” Burney’s “General History of Music” was also in his +library, the gift, probably of an English admirer. + +In his later years Beethoven was obliged to use the oft-quoted +“conversation-books” in his intercourse with friends and strangers +alike who wrote down their questions. Of these little books Schindler +preserved no less than 134, which are now in the Royal Library in +Berlin. Naturally Beethoven answered the written questions orally as a +rule. An idea of Beethoven’s opinions can occasionally be gathered from +the context of the questions, but frequently we are left in the dark. + +Beethoven’s own characterization of his deafness as “singular” is +significant. Often, even in his later years, he was able to hear a +little and for a time. One might almost speak of a periodical visitation +of the “demon.” In his biography Marx gives the following description +of the malady: “As early as 1816 it is found that he is incapable +of conducting his own works; in 1824 he could not hear the storm +of applause from a great audience; but in 1822 he still improvises +marvelously in social circles; in 1826 he studies their parts in the +Ninth Symphony and Solemn Mass with Sontag and Ungher, and in 1825 he +listens critically to a performance of the quartet in A-minor, op. 132.” + +It is to be assumed that in such urgent cases his willpower temporarily +gave new tension to the gradually atrophying aural nerves (it is said +that he was still able to hear single or a few voices with his left +ear but could not apprehend masses), but this was not the case in less +important moments, as the conversation-books prove. In these books a few +answers are also written down, naturally enough in cases not intended +for the ears of strangers. At various times Beethoven kept a diary in +which he entered his most intimate thoughts, especially those designed +for his own encouragement. Many of these appear in the preceding pages. +In these instances more than in any others his expressions are obscure, +detached and, through indifference, faulty in construction. For the +greater part they are remarks thrown upon the paper in great haste. + + + END OF THIS EDITION + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Beethoven: the Man and the Artist, by +Ludwig van Beethoven + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEETHOVEN: THE MAN AND THE ARTIST *** + +***** This file should be named 3528-0.txt or 3528-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/2/3528/ + +Produced by John Mamoun, Charles Franks, S. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Beethoven: the Man and the Artist + As Revealed in his own Words + +Author: Ludwig van Beethoven + +Editor: Friedrich Kerst and Henry Edward Krehbiel + +Release Date: February 9, 2009 [EBook #3528] +Last Updated: November 1, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEETHOVEN: THE MAN AND THE ARTIST *** + + + + +Produced by John Mamoun, Charles Franks, S. Morrison, R. +Zimmerman, Andrew Sly, the Distributed Proofreaders Team, and David Widger + + + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + BEETHOVEN:<br /><br /> THE MAN AND THE ARTIST, + </h1> + <h1> + AS REVEALED IN HIS OWN WORDS + </h1> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Ludwig van Beethoven + </h2> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h3> + Edited by Friedrich Kerst and Henry Edward Krehbiel + </h3> + <div class="mynote"> + <p> + This edition of “Beethoven: the Man and the Artist, as Revealed in his + own Words,” was translated into English and published in 1905 by B.W. + Huebsch. It was also republished unabridged by Dover Publications, Inc., + in a 1964 edition, ISBN 0-486-21261-0. + </p> + <br /> + </div> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + Contents + </h2> + <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> + <tr> + <td> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> BRIEF BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_PREF"> PREFACE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> CONCERNING ART </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> LOVE OF NATURE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> CONCERNING TEXTS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> ON COMPOSING </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> ON PERFORMING MUSIC </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> ON HIS OWN WORKS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0009"> ON ART AND ARTISTS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0010"> BEETHOVEN AS CRITIC </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0011"> ON EDUCATION </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0012"> ON HIS OWN DISPOSITION AND CHARACTER </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0013"> THE SUFFERER </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0014"> WORLDLY WISDOM </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0015"> GOD </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_APPE"> APPENDIX </a> + </p> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h2> + BRIEF BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH + </h2> + <p> + Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) is widely considered to be one of the + pre-eminent classical music figures of the Western world. This German + musical genius created numerous works that are firmly entrenched in the + repertoire. Except for a weakness in composing vocal and operatic music + (to which he himself admitted, notwithstanding a few vocal works like the + opera “Fidelio” and the song “Adelaide,”), Beethoven had complete mastery + of the artform. He left his stamp in 9 symphonies, 5 piano concertos, 10 + violin sonatas, 32 piano sonatas, numerous string quartets and dozens of + other key works. Many of his works are ingeniously imaginative and + innovative, such as his 3rd symphony (the “Eroica”), his 9th Violin Sonata + (the “Kreutzer”), his “Waldstein” piano sonata, his 4th and 5th piano + concertos, or his “Grosse Fugue” for string quartet. (Of course, each of + Beethoven’s works adds its own unique detail to Beethoven’s grand musical + paradigm.) + </p> + <p> + It is difficult to sum up briefly what his musical works represent or + symbolize, since taken together they encompass a vast system of thought. + Generally, however, those who apprehend his music sense that it reflects + their own personal yearnings and sufferings. It egoistically, and always + intelligently, “discusses” with its listener his or her feelings in the + wake of personal failure and personal triumph, from the lowest depths of + despair to the highest heights of happy or triumphant fulfillment. In his + music, he represents the feelings felt by those attempting to achieve + their goals within their societies, whether they are competing for love, + status, money, power, mates and/or any other things individuals feel + naturally inclined to attempt to acquire. + </p> + <p> + In a thematic sense, Beethoven does not promote anarchist ideas. The + listener cannot, in listening to Beethoven’s music, apprehend ideas which, + if applied, would compromise the welfare of his society. The music is thus + “civically responsible,” as is the music of Bach or Mozart. For Beethoven, + the society exists as a bulwark with which the individual must function in + harmony, or at least not function such as to harm or destroy it. And, + should the society marginalize or hurt the individual, as it often does, + the individual must, according to Beethoven, humbly accept this, never + considering the alternative act of attempting to harm or destroy the + society in the wake of his or her personal frustrations. But, thanks to + Beethoven, such an individual is provided with the means to sooth his or + her misery in the wake of feeling “hurt” at the hands of society. The + means is this music and the euphoric pleasure that it can provide to minds + possessing the psycho-intellectual “wiring” needed to apprehend it. + </p> + <p> + Some post-World-War-II composers, such as the late, LSD-using John Cage, + reject the music of Beethoven because of its predominant reliance on + “beauty” as way of communicating idealized concepts. Also, since the music + intimately reflects the cravings and thought-processes of the natural + human mind, which in numerous ways is emotionally and intellectually + irrational, the music may itself be consequently irrational. + </p> + <p> + The following book consists of brief biographical commentaries about + Beethoven, each followed by sections of quotations attributed to the muse. + In these quotes, Beethoven demonstrates his intense preoccupation (or + obsession) with thinking artistically and intelligently, and with helping + to alleviate man’s suffering by providing man with musical artworks that + could enlighten him, so as to become educated enough to pull himself out + of his misery. He felt immediate, strong disdain at any artistic statement + that was not truly intelligent and artistic, such as, in his view, the + music of Rossini. Although not prudish, he had high standards when it came + to marriage, and was morally against “reproductory pleasure” for its own + sake, or any form of adultery. He never married. Interestingly, + experimental psychologists have discovered that people who have an intense + love of humanity or are preoccupied with working to serve humanity tend to + have difficulty forming intimate bonds with people on a personal level. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_PREF" id="link2H_PREF"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + PREFACE + </h2> + <p> + This little book came into existence as if it were by chance. The author + had devoted himself for a long time to the study of Beethoven and + carefully scrutinized all manner of books, publications, manuscripts, + etc., in order to derive the greatest possible information about the hero. + He can say confidently that he conned every existing publication of value. + His notes made during his readings grew voluminous, and also his amazement + at the wealth of Beethoven’s observations comparatively unknown to his + admirers because hidden away, like concealed violets, in books which have + been long out of print and for whose reproduction there is no urgent call. + These observations are of the utmost importance for the understanding of + Beethoven, in whom man and artist are inseparably united. Within the pages + of this little book are included all of them which seemed to possess + value, either as expressions of universal truths or as evidence of the + character of Beethoven or his compositions. Beethoven is brought more + directly before our knowledge by these his own words than by the diffuse + books which have been written about him. For this reason the compiler has + added only the necessary explanatory notes, and (on the advice of + professional friends) the remarks introductory to the various subdivisions + of the book. He dispensed with a biographical introduction; there are + plenty of succinct biographies, which set forth the circumstances of the + master’s life easily to be had. Those who wish to penetrate farther into + the subject would do well to read the great work by Thayer, the foundation + of all Beethoven biography (in the new revision now making by Deiters), or + the critical biography by Marx, as revised by Behncke. In sifting the + material it was found that it fell naturally into thirteen subdivisions. + In arranging the succession of utterances care was had to group related + subjects. By this means unnecessary interruptions in the train of thought + were avoided and interesting comparisons made possible. To this end it was + important that time, place and circumstances of every word should be + conscientiously set down. + </p> + <p> + Concerning the selection of material let it be said that in all cases of + doubt the authenticity of every utterance was proved; Beethoven is easily + recognizable in the form and contents of his sayings. Attention must be + directed to two matters in particular: after considerable reflection the + compiler decided to include in the collection a few quotations which + Beethoven copied from books which he read. From the fact that he took the + trouble to write them down, we may assume that they had a fascination for + him, and were greeted with lively emotion as being admirable expressions + of thoughts which had moved him. They are very few, and the fact that they + are quotations is plainly indicated. By copying them into his note-books + Beethoven as much as stored them away in the thesaurus of his thoughts, + and so they may well have a place here. A word touching the use of the + three famous letters to Bettina von Arnim, the peculiarities of which + differentiate them from the entire mass of Beethoven’s correspondence and + compel an inquiry into their genuineness: As a correspondent Bettina von + Arnim has a poor reputation since the discovery of her pretty forgery, + “Goethes Briefwechsel mit einem Kinde” (Goethe’s Correspondence with a + Child). In this alleged “Correspondence” she made use of fragmentary + material which was genuine, pieced it out with her own inventions, and + even went so far as to turn into letters poems written by Goethe to her + and other women. The genuineness of a poem by Beethoven to Bettina is + indubitable; it will be found in the chapter entitled “Concerning Texts.” + Doubt was thrown on the letters immediately on their appearance in 1839. + </p> + <p> + Bettina could have dissipated all suspicion had she produced the originals + and remained silent. One letter, however, that dated February 10, 1811, + afterward came to light. Bettina had given it to Philipp von Nathusius. It + had always been thought the most likely one, of the set to be authentic; + the compiler has therefore, used it without hesitation. From the other + letters, in which a mixture of the genuine and the fictitious must be + assumed so long as the originals are not produced, passages have been + taken which might have been thus constructed by Beethoven. On the + contrary, the voluminous communications of Bettina to Goethe, in which she + relates her conversations with Beethoven, were scarcely used. It is + significant, so far as these are concerned, that, according to Bettina’s + own statement, when she read the letter to him before sending it off, + Beethoven cried out, “Did I really say that? If so I must have had a + raptus.” + </p> + <p> + In conclusion the compiler directs attention to the fact that in a few + cases utterances which have been transmitted to us only in an indirect + form have been altered to present them in a direct form, in as much as + their contents seemed too valuable to omit simply because their production + involved a trifling change in form. + </p> + <p> + —Elberfeld, October, 1904. Fr. K. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CONCERNING ART + </h2> + <p> + Beethoven’s relation to art might almost be described as personal. Art was + his goddess to whom he made petition, to whom he rendered thanks, whom he + defended. He praised her as his savior in times of despair; by his own + confession it was only the prospect of her comforts that prevented him + from laying violent hands on himself. Read his words and you shall find + that it was his art that was his companion in his wanderings through field + and forest, the sharer of the solitude to which his deafness condemned + him. The concepts Nature and Art were intimately bound up in his mind. His + lofty and idealistic conception of art led him to proclaim the purity of + his goddess with the hot zeal of a priestly fanatic. Every form of pseudo + or bastard art stirred him with hatred to the bottom of his soul; hence + his furious onslaughts on mere virtuosity and all efforts from influential + sources to utilize art for other than purely artistic purposes. And his + art rewarded his devotion richly; she made his sorrowful life worth living + with gifts of purest joy: + </p> + <p> + “To Beethoven music was not only a manifestation of the beautiful, an art, + it was akin to religion. He felt himself to be a prophet, a seer. All the + misanthropy engendered by his unhappy relations with mankind, could not + shake his devotion to this ideal which had sprung in to Beethoven from + truest artistic apprehension and been nurtured by enforced introspection + and philosophic reflection.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (“Music and Manners,” page 237. H. E. K.) +</pre> + <p> + 1. “‘Tis said, that art is long, and life but fleeting:—Nay; life is + long, and brief the span of art; If e’re her breath vouchsafes with gods a + meeting, A moment’s favor ‘tis of which we’ve had a part.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Conversation-book, March, 1820. Probably a quotation.) +</pre> + <p> + 2. “The world is a king, and, like a king, desires flattery in return for + favor; but true art is selfish and perverse—it will not submit to + the mould of flattery.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Conversation-book, March, 1820. When Baron van Braun expressed the +opinion that the opera “Fidelio” would eventually win the enthusiasm of +the upper tiers, Beethoven said, “I do not write for the galleries!” He +never permitted himself to be persuaded to make concessions to the taste +of the masses.) +</pre> + <p> + 3. “Continue to translate yourself to the heaven of art; there is no more + undisturbed, unmixed, purer happiness than may thus be attained.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (August 19, 1817, to Xavier Schnyder, who vainly sought instruction from +Beethoven in 1811, though he was pleasantly received.) +</pre> + <p> + 4. “Go on; do not practice art alone but penetrate to her heart; she + deserves it, for art and science only can raise man to godhood.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Teplitz, July 17, 1812, to his ten years’ old admirer, Emilie M. in H.) +</pre> + <p> + 5. “True art is imperishable and the true artist finds profound delight in + grand productions of genius.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (March 15, 1823, to Cherubini, to whom he also wrote, “I prize your +works more than all others written for the stage.” The letter asked +Cherubini to interest himself in obtaining a subscription from King +Louis XVIII for the Solemn Mass in D). +</pre> + <p> + [Cherubini declared that he had never received the letter. That it was not + only the hope of obtaining a favor which prompted Beethoven to express so + high an admiration for Cherubini, is plain from a remark made by the + English musician Cipriani Potter to A. W. Thayer in 1861. I found it in + Thayer’s note-books which were placed in my hands for examination after + his death. + </p> + <p> + One day Potter asked, “Who is the greatest living composer, yourself + excepted?” Beethoven seemed puzzled for a moment, and then exclaimed, + “Cherubini.” H. E. K.] + </p> + <p> + 6. “Truth exists for the wise; beauty for the susceptible heart. They + belong together—are complementary.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Written in the autograph book of his friend, Lenz von Breuning, in +1797.) +</pre> + <p> + 7. “When I open my eyes, a sigh involuntarily escapes me, for all that I + see runs counter to my religion; perforce I despise the world which does + not intuitively feel that music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and + philosophy.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Remark made to Bettina von Arnim, in 1810, concerning Viennese society. +Report in a letter by Bettina to Goethe on May 28, 1810.) +</pre> + <p> + 8. “Art! Who comprehends her? With whom can one consult concerning this + great goddess?” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (August 11, 1810, to Bettina von Arnim.) +</pre> + <p> + 9. “In the country I know no lovelier delight than quartet music.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (To Archduke Rudolph, in a letter addressed to Baden on July 24, 1813.) +</pre> + <p> + 10. “Nothing but art, cut to form like old-fashioned hoop-skirts. I never + feel entirely well except when I am among scenes of unspoiled nature.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (September 24, 1826, to Breuning, while promenading with Breuning’s +family in the Schonbrunner Garden, after calling attention to the alleys +of trees “trimmed like walls, in the French manner.”) +</pre> + <p> + 11. “Nature knows no quiescence; and true art walks with her hand in hand; + her sister—from whom heaven forefend us!—is called + artificiality.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (From notes in the lesson book of Archduke Rudolph, following some +remarks on the expansion of the expressive capacity of music.) +</pre> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + LOVE OF NATURE + </h2> + <p> + Beethoven was a true son of the Rhine in his love for nature. As a boy he + had taken extended trips, sometimes occupying days, with his father + “through the Rhenish localities ever lastingly dear to me.” In his days of + physical health Nature was his instructress in art; “I may not come + without my banner,” he used to say when he set out upon his wanderings + even in his latest years, and never without his note books. In the scenes + of nature he found his marvelous motives and themes; brook, birds and tree + sang to him. In a few special cases he has himself recorded the fact. + </p> + <p> + But when he was excluded more and more from communion with his fellow men + because of his increasing deafness, until, finally, he could communicate + only by writing with others (hence the conversation-books, which will be + cited often in this little volume), he fled for refuge to nature. Out in + the woods he again became naively happy; to him the woods were a Holy of + Holies, a Home of the Mysteries. Forest and mountain-vale heard his sighs; + there he unburdened his heavy-laden heart. When his friends need comfort + he recommends a retreat to nature. Nearly every summer he leaves hot and + dusty Vienna and seeks a quiet spot in the beautiful neighborhood. To call + a retired and reposeful little spot his own is his burning desire. + </p> + <p> + 12. On the Kahlenberg, 1812, end of September: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Almighty One + In the woods + I am blessed. + Happy every one + In the woods. + Every tree speaks + Through Thee. + + O God! + What glory in the + Woodland. + On the Heights + is Peace,— + Peace to serve + Him— +</pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (This poetic exclamation, accompanied by a few notes, is on a page of +music paper owned by Joseph Joachim.) +</pre> + <p> + 13. “How happy I am to be able to wander among bushes and herbs, under + trees and over rocks; no man can love the country as I love it. Woods, + trees and rocks send back the echo that man desires.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (To Baroness von Drossdick.) +</pre> + <p> + 14. “O God! send your glance into beautiful nature and comfort your moody + thoughts touching that which must be.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (To the “Immortal Beloved,” July 6, in the morning.) +</pre> + <p> + [Thayer has spoiled the story so long believed, and still spooking in the + books of careless writers, that the “Immortal Beloved” was the Countess + Giulietta Guicciardi, to whom the C-sharp minor sonata is dedicated. The + real person to whom the love-letters were addressed was the Countess + Brunswick to whom Beethoven was engaged to be married when he composed the + fourth Symphony. H. E. K.] + </p> + <p> + 15. “My miserable hearing does not trouble me here. In the country it + seems as if every tree said to me: ‘Holy! holy!’ Who can give complete + expression to the ecstasy of the woods! O, the sweet stillness of the + woods!” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (July, 1814; he had gone to Baden after the benefit performance of +“Fidelio.”) +</pre> + <p> + 16. “My fatherland, the beautiful locality in which I saw the light of the + world, appears before me vividly and just as beautiful as when I left you; + I shall count it the happiest experience of my life when I shall again be + able to see you, and greet our Father Rhine.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Vienna, June 29, to Wegeler, in Bonn.) +</pre> + <p> + [In 1825 Beethoven said to his pupil Ries, “Fare well in the Rhine country + which is ever dear to me,” and in 1826 wrote to Schott, the publisher in + Mayence, about the “Rhine country which I so long to see again.”] + </p> + <p> + 17. “Bruhl, at ‘The Lamb’—how lovely to see my native country + again!” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Diary, 1812-1818.) +</pre> + <p> + 18. “A little house here, so small as to yield one’s self a little room,—only + a few days in this divine Bruehl,—longing or desire, emancipation or + fulfillment.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Written in 1816 in Bruehl near Modling among the sketches for the +Scherzo of the pianoforte sonata op. 10.) +</pre> + <p> + [Like many another ejaculatory remark of Beethoven’s, it is difficult to + understand. See Appendix. H. E. K.] + </p> + <p> + 19. “When you reach the old ruins, think that Beethoven often paused + there; if you wander through the mysterious fir forests, think that. + Beethoven often poetized, or, as is said, composed there.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (In the fall of 1817, to Mme. Streicher, who was at a cure in Baden.) +</pre> + <p> + 20. “Nature is a glorious school for the heart! It is well; I shall be a + scholar in this school and bring an eager heart to her instruction. Here I + shall learn wisdom, the only wisdom that is free from disgust; here I + shall learn to know God and find a foretaste of heaven in His knowledge. + Among these occupations my earthly days shall flow peacefully along until + I am accepted into that world where I shall no longer be a student, but a + knower of wisdom.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Copied into his diary, in 1818, from Sturm’s “Betrachtungen uber die +Werke Gottes in der Natur.”) +</pre> + <p> + 21. “Soon autumn will be here. Then I wish to be like unto a fruitful tree + which pours rich stores of fruit into our laps! But in the winter of + existence, when I shall be gray and sated with life, I desire for myself + the good fortune that my repose be as honorable and beneficent as the + repose of nature in the winter time.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Copied from the same work of Sturm’s.) +</pre> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CONCERNING TEXTS + </h2> + <p> + Not even a Beethoven was spared the tormenting question of texts for + composition. It is fortunate for posterity that he did not exhaust his + energies in setting inefficient libretti, that he did not believe that + good music would suffice to command success in spite of bad texts. The + majority of his works belong to the field of purely instrumental music. + Beethoven often gave expression to the belief that words were a less + capable medium of proclamation for feelings than music. Nevertheless it + may be observed that he looked upon an opera, or lyric drama, as the + crowning work of his life. He was in communication with the best poets of + his time concerning opera texts. A letter of his on the subject was found + in the blood-spotted pocketbook of Theodor Komer. The conclusion of his + creative labors was to be a setting of Goethe’s “Faust;” except “Fidelio,” + however, he gave us no opera. His songs are not many although he sought + carefully for appropriate texts. Unhappily the gift of poetry was not + vouchsafed him. + </p> + <p> + 22. “Always the same old story: the Germans can not put together a good + libretto.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (To C. M. von Weber, concerning the book of “Euryanthe,” at Baden, in +October, 1823. Mozart said: “Verses are the most indispensable thing for +music, but rhymes, for the sake of rhymes, the most injurious. Those who +go to work so pedantically will assuredly come to grief, along with the +music.”) +</pre> + <p> + 23. “It is difficult to find a good poem. Grillparzer has promised to + write one for me,—indeed, he has already written one; but we can not + understand each other. I want something entirely different than he.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (In the spring of 1825, to Ludwig Rellstab, who was intending to write +an opera-book for Beethoven. It may not be amiss to recall the fact +that Mozart examined over one hundred librettos, according to his own +statement, before he decided to compose “The Marriage of Figaro.”) +</pre> + <p> + 24. “It is the duty of every composer to be familiar with all poets, old + and new, and himself choose the best and most fitting for his purposes.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (In a recommendation of Kandler’s “Anthology.”) +</pre> + <p> + 25. “The genre would give me little concern provided the subject were + attractive to me. It must be such that I can go to work on it with love + and ardor. I could not compose operas like ‘Don Juan’ and ‘Figaro;’ toward + them I feel too great a repugnance. I could never have chosen such + subjects; they are too frivolous.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (In the spring of 1825, to Ludwig Rellstab.) +</pre> + <p> + 26. “I need a text which stimulates me; it must be something moral, + uplifting. Texts such as Mozart composed I should never have been able to + set to music. I could never have got myself into a mood for licentious + texts. I have received many librettos, but, as I have said, none that met + my wishes.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (To young Gerhard von Breuning.) +</pre> + <p> + 27. “I know the text is extremely bad, but after one has conceived an + entity out of even a bad text, it is difficult to make changes in details + without disturbing the unity. If it is a single word, on which + occasionally great weight is laid, it must be permitted to stand. He is a + bad author who can not, or will not try to make something as good as + possible; if this is not the case petty changes will certainly not improve + the whole.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Teplitz, August 23, 1811, to Hartel, the publisher, who wanted some +changes made in the hook of “The Mount of Olives.”) +</pre> + <p> + 28. “Good heavens! Do they think in Saxony that the words make good music? + If an inappropriate word can spoil the music, which is true, then we ought + to be glad when we find that words and music are one and not try to + improve matters even if the verbal expression is commonplace—dixi.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (January 28, to Gottfried Hartel, who had undertaken to make changes in +the book of “The Mount of Olives” despite the prohibition of Beethoven.) +</pre> + <p> + 29. “Goethe’s poems exert a great power over me not only because of their + contents but also because of their rhythms; I am stimulated to compose by + this language, which builds itself up to higher orders as if through + spiritual agencies, and bears in itself the secret of harmonies.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Reported as an expression of Beethoven’s by Bettina von Arnim to +Goethe.) +</pre> + <p> + 30. “Schiller’s poems are difficult to set to music. The composer must be + able to rise far above the poet. Who can do that in the case of Schiller? + In this respect Goethe is much easier.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (1809, after Beethoven had made his experiences with the “Hymn to Joy” + and “Egmont.”) +</pre> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + ON COMPOSING + </h2> + <p> + Wiseacres not infrequently accused Beethoven of want of regularity in his + compositions. In various ways and at divers times he gave vigorous + utterance to his opinions of such pedantry. He was not the most tractable + of pupils, especially in Vienna, where, although he was highly praised as + a player, he took lessons in counterpoint from Albrechtsberger. He did not + endure long with Papa Haydn. He detested the study of fugue in particular; + the fugue was to him a symbol of narrow coercion which choked all emotion. + Mere formal beauty, moreover, was nothing to him. Over and over again he + emphasizes soul, feeling, direct and immediate life, as the first + necessity of an art work. It is therefore not strange that under certain + circumstances he ignored conventional forms in sonata and symphony. An + irrepressible impulse toward freedom is the most prominent peculiarity of + the man and artist Beethoven; nearly all of his observations, no matter + what their subject, radiate the word “Liberty.” In his remarks about + composing there is a complete exposition of his method of work. + </p> + <p> + 31. “As regards me, great heavens! my dominion is in the air; the tones + whirl like the wind, and often there is a like whirl in my soul.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (February 13, 1814, to Count Brunswick, in Buda.) +</pre> + <p> + 32. “Then the loveliest themes slipped out of your eyes into my heart, + themes which shall only then delight the world when Beethoven conducts no + longer.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (August 15, 1812, to Bettina von Arnim.) +</pre> + <p> + 33. “I always have a picture in my mind when composing, and follow its + lines.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (In 1815, to Neate, while promenading with him in Baden and talking +about the “Pastoral” symphony.) +</pre> + <p> + [Ries relates: “While composing Beethoven frequently thought of an object, + although he often laughed at musical delineation and scolded about petty + things of the sort. In this respect ‘The Creation’ and ‘The Seasons’ were + many times a butt, though without depreciation of Haydn’s loftier merits. + Haydn’s choruses and other works were loudly praised by Beethoven.”] + </p> + <p> + 34. “The texts which you sent me are least of all fitted for song. The + description of a picture belongs to the field of painting; in this the + poet can count himself more fortunate than my muse for his territory is + not so restricted as mine in this respect, though mine, on the other hand, + extends into other regions, and my dominion is not easily reached.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Nussdorf, July 15, 1817, to Wilhelm Gerhard, who had sent him some +Anacreontic songs for composition.) +</pre> + <p> + 35. “Carried too far, all delineation in instrumental music loses in + efficiency.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (A remark in the sketches for the “Pastoral” symphony, preserved in the +Royal Library in Berlin.) +</pre> + <p> + [Mozart said: “Even in the most terrifying moments music must never offend + the ear.”] + </p> + <p> + 36. “Yes, yes, then they are amazed and put their heads together because + they never found it in any book on thorough bass.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (To Ries when the critics accused him of making grammatical blunders in +music.) +</pre> + <p> + 37. “No devil can compel me to write only cadences of such a kind.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (From notes written in his years of study. Beethoven called the +composition of fugues “the art of making musical skeletons.”) +</pre> + <p> + 38. “Good singing was my guide; I strove to write as flowingly as possible + and trusted in my ability to justify myself before the judgment-seat of + sound reason and pure taste.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (From notes in the instruction book of Archduke Rudolph.) +</pre> + <p> + 39. “Does he believe that I think of a wretched fiddle when the spirit + speaks to me?” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (To his friend, the admirable violinist Schuppanzigh, when the latter +complained of the difficulty of a passage in one of his works.) +</pre> + <p> + [Beethoven here addresses his friend in the third person, which is the + customary style of address for the German nobility and others towards + inferiors in rank. H. E. K.] + </p> + <p> + 40. “The Scotch songs show how unconstrainedly irregular melodies can be + treated with the help of harmony.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Diary, 1812-1818. Since 1809 Beethoven had arranged Folksongs for +Thomson of Edinburgh.) +</pre> + <p> + 41. “To write true church music, look through the old monkish chorals, + etc., also the most correct translations of the periods, and perfect + prosody in the Catholic Psalms and hymns generally.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Diary, 1818.) +</pre> + <p> + 42. “Many assert that every minor piece must end in the minor. Nego! On + the contrary I find that in the soft scales the major third at the close + has a glorious and uncommonly quieting effect. Joy follows sorrow, + sunshine—rain. It affects me as if I were looking up to the silvery + glistering of the evening star.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (From Archduke Rudolph’s book of instruction.) +</pre> + <p> + 43. “Rigorists, and devotees of antiquity, relegate the perfect fourth to + the list of dissonances. Tastes differ. To my ear it gives not the least + offence combined with other tones.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (From Archduke Rudolph’s book of instruction, compiled in 1809.) +</pre> + <p> + 44. “When the gentlemen can think of nothing new, and can go no further, + they quickly call in a diminished seventh chord to help them out of the + predicament.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (A remark made to Schindler.) +</pre> + <p> + 45. “My dear boy, the startling effects which many credit to the natural + genius of the composer, are often achieved with the greatest ease by the + use and resolution of the diminished seventh chords.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Reported by Karl Friederich Hirsch, a pupil of Beethoven in the winter +of 1816. He was a grandson of Albrechtsberger who had given lessons to +Beethoven.) +</pre> + <p> + 46. “In order to become a capable composer one must have already learned + harmony and counterpoint at the age of from seven to eleven years, so that + when the fancy and emotions awake one shall know what to do according to + the rules.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Reported by Schindler as having been put into the mouth of Beethoven by +a newspaper of Vienna. Schindler says: “When Beethoven came to Vienna he +knew no counterpoint, and little harmony.”) +</pre> + <p> + 47. “So far as mistakes are concerned it was never necessary for me to + learn thorough-bass; my feelings were so sensitive from childhood that I + practiced counterpoint without knowing that it must be so or could be + otherwise.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Note on a sheet containing directions for the use of fourths in +suspensions—probably intended for the instruction of Archduke Rudolph.) +</pre> + <p> + 48. “Continue, Your Royal Highness, to write down briefly your occasional + ideas while at the pianoforte. For this a little table alongside the + pianoforte is necessary. By this means not only is the fancy strengthened, + but one learns to hold fast in a moment the most remote conceptions. It is + also necessary to compose without the pianoforte; say often a simple chord + melody, with simple harmonies, then figurate according to the rules of + counterpoint, and beyond them; this will give Y. R. H. no headache, but, + on the contrary, feeling yourself thus in the midst of art, a great + pleasure.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (July 1, 1823, to his pupil Archduke Rudolph.) +</pre> + <p> + 49. “The bad habit, which has clung to me from childhood, of always + writing down a musical thought which occurs to me, good or bad, has often + been harmful to me.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (July 23, 1815, to Archduke Rudolph, while excusing himself for not +having visited H.R.H., on the ground that he had been occupied in noting +a musical idea which had occurred to him.) +</pre> + <p> + 50. “As is my habit, the pianoforte part of the concerto (op. 19) was not + written out in the score; I have just written it, wherefore, in order to + expedite matters, you receive it in my not too legible handwriting.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (April 22, 1801, to the publisher Hofmeister, in Leipzig.) +</pre> + <p> + 51. “Correspondence, as you know, was never my forte; some of my best + friends have not had a letter from me in years. I live only in my notes + (compositions), and one is scarcely finished when another is begun. As I + am working now I often compose three, even four, pieces simultaneously.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Vienna, June 29, 1800, to Wegeler, in Bonn.) +</pre> + <p> + 52. “I never write a work continuously, without interruption. I am always + working on several at the same time, taking up one, then another.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (June 1, 1816, to Medical Inspector Dr. Karl von Bursy, when the latter +asked about an opera (the book by Berge, sent to Beethoven by Amenda), +which was never written.) +</pre> + <p> + 53. “I must accustom myself to think out at once the whole, as soon as it + shows itself, with all the voices, in my head.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Note in a sketch-book of 1810, containing studies for the music to +“Egmont” and the great Trio in B-flat, op. 97. H. E. K.) +</pre> + <p> + 54. “I carry my thoughts about me for a long time, often a very long time, + before I write them down; meanwhile my memory is so faithful that I am + sure never to forget, not even in years, a theme that has once occurred to + me. I change many things, discard, and try again until I am satisfied. + Then, however, there begins in my head the development in every direction, + and, in as much as I know exactly what I want, the fundamental idea never + deserts me,—it arises before me, grows,—I see and hear the + picture in all its extent and dimensions stand before my mind like a cast, + and there remains for me nothing but the labor of writing it down, which + is quickly accomplished when I have the time, for I sometimes take up + other work, but never to the confusion of one with the other. + </p> + <p> + “You will ask me where I get my ideas. That I cannot tell you with + certainty; they come unsummoned, directly, indirectly,—I could seize + them with my hands,—out in the open air; in the woods; while + walking; in the silence of the nights; early in the morning; incited by + moods, which are translated by the poet into words, by me into tones that + sound, and roar and storm about me until I have set them down in notes.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Said to Louis Schlosser, a young musician, whom Beethoven honored with +his friendship in 1822-23.) +</pre> + <p> + 55. “On the whole, the carrying out of several voices in strict + relationship mutually hinders their progress.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Fall of 1812, in the Diary of 1812-18.) +</pre> + <p> + 56. “Few as are the claims which I make upon such things I shall still + accept the dedication of your beautiful work with pleasure. You ask, + however, that I also play the part of a critic, without thinking that I + must myself submit to criticism! With Voltaire I believe that ‘a few + fly-bites can not stop a spirited horse.’ In this respect I beg of you to + follow my example. In order not to approach you surreptitiously, but + openly as always, I say that in future works of the character you might + give more heed to the individualization of the voices.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Vienna, May 10, 1826. To whom the letter was sent is not known, though +from the manner of address it is plain that he was of the nobility.) +</pre> + <p> + 57. “Your variations show talent, but I must fault you for having changed + the theme. Why? What man loves must not be taken away from him;—moreover + to do this is to make changes before variations.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Baden, July 6, 1804, to Wiedebein, a teacher of music in Brunswick.) +</pre> + <p> + 58. “I am not in the habit of rewriting my compositions. I never did it + because I am profoundly convinced that every change of detail changes the + character of the whole.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (February 19, 1813, to George Thomson, who had requested some changes in +compositions submitted to him for publication.) +</pre> + <p> + 59. “One must not hold one’s self so divine as to be unwilling + occasionally to make improvements in one’s creations.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (March 4, 1809, to Breitkopf and Hartel, when indicating a few changes +which he wished to have made in the symphonies op. 67 and op. 68.) +</pre> + <p> + 60. “The unnatural rage for transcribing pianoforte pieces for string + instruments (instruments that are in every respect so different from each + other) ought to end. I stoutly maintain that only Mozart could have + transcribed his own works, and Haydn; and without putting myself on a + level with these great men I assert the same thing about my pianoforte + sonatas. Not only must entire passages be elided and changed, but + additions must be made; and right here lies the rock of offence to + overcome which one must be the master of himself or be possessed of the + same skill and inventiveness. I transcribed but a single sonata for string + quartet, and I am sure that no one will easily do it after me.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (July 13, 1809, in an announcement of several compositions, among them +the quintet op. 29.) +</pre> + <p> + 61. “Were it not that my income brings in nothing, I should compose + nothing but grand symphonies, church music, or, at the outside, quartets + in addition.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (December 20, 1822, to Peters, publisher, in Leipzig. His income had +been reduced from 4,000 to 800 florins by the depreciation of Austrian +currency.) +</pre> + <p> + [Here, in the original, is one of the puns which Beethoven was fond of + making: “Ware mein Gehalt nicht ganzlich ohne Gehalt.” H. E. K.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + ON PERFORMING MUSIC + </h2> + <p> + While reading Beethoven’s views on the subject of how music ought to be + performed, it is but natural to inquire about his own manner of playing. + On this point Ries, his best pupil, reports: + </p> + <p> + “In general Beethoven played his own compositions very capriciously, yet + he adhered, on the whole, strictly to the beat and only at times, but + seldom, accelerated the tempo a trifle. Occasionally he would retard the + tempo in a crescendo, which produced a very beautiful and striking effect. + While playing he would give a passage, now in the right hand, now in the + left, a beautiful expression which was simply inimitable; but it was + rarely indeed that he added a note or an ornament.” + </p> + <p> + Of his playing when still a young man one of his hearers said that it was + in the slow movements particularly that it charmed everybody. Almost + unanimously his contemporaries give him the palm for his improvisations. + Ries says: + </p> + <p> + “His extemporizations were the most extraordinary things that one could + hear. No artist that I ever heard came at all near the height which + Beethoven attained. The wealth of ideas which forced themselves on him, + the caprices to which he surrendered himself, the variety of treatment, + the difficulties, were inexhaustible.” + </p> + <p> + His playing was not technically perfect. He let many a note “fall under + the table,” but without marring the effect of his playing. Concerning this + we have a remark of his own in No. 75. Somewhat critical is Czerny’s + report: + </p> + <p> + “Extraordinary as his extempore playing was it was less successful in the + performance of printed compositions; for, since he never took the time or + had the patience to practice anything, his success depended mostly on + chance and mood; and since, also, his manner of playing as well as + composing was ahead of his time, the weak and imperfect pianofortes of his + time could not withstand his gigantic style. It was because of this that + Hummel’s purling and brilliant manner of play, well adapted to the period, + was more intelligible and attractive to the great public. But Beethoven’s + playing in adagios and legato, in the sustained style, made an almost + magical impression on every hearer, and, so far as I know, it has never + been surpassed.” Czerny’s remark about the pianofortes of Beethoven’s day + explains Beethoven’s judgment on his own pianoforte sonatas. He composed + for the sonorous pianoforte of the future,—the pianoforte building + today. + </p> + <p> + The following anecdote, told by Czerny, will be read with pleasure. + Pleyel, a famous musician, came to Vienna from Paris in 1805, and had his + latest quartets performed in the palace of Prince Lobkowitz. Beethoven was + present and was asked to play something. “As usual, he submitted to the + interminable entreaties and finally was dragged almost by force to the + pianoforte by the ladies. Angrily he tears the second violin part of one + of the Pleyel quartets from the music-stand where it still lay open, + throws it upon the rack of the pianoforte, and begins to improvise. We had + never heard him extemporize more brilliantly, with more originality or + more grandly than on that evening. + </p> + <p> + “But throughout the entire improvisation there ran in the middle voices, + like a thread, or cantus firmus, the insignificant notes, wholly + insignificant in themselves, which he found on the page of the quartet, + which by chance lay open on the music-stand; on them he built up the most + daring melodies and harmonies, in the most brilliant concert style. Old + Pleyel could only give expression to his amazement by kissing his hands. + After such improvisations Beethoven was wont to break out into a loud and + satisfied laugh.” + </p> + <p> + Czerny says further of his playing: “In rapidity of scale passages, + trills, leaps, etc., no one equaled him,—not even Hummel. His + attitude at the pianoforte was perfectly quiet and dignified, with no + approach to grimace, except to bend down a little towards the keys as his + deafness increased; his fingers were very powerful, not long, and + broadened at the tips by much playing; for he told me often that in his + youth he had practiced stupendously, mostly till past midnight. In + teaching he laid great stress on a correct position of the fingers + (according to the Emanuel Bach method, in which he instructed me); he + himself could barely span a tenth. He made frequent use of the pedal, much + more frequently than is indicated in his compositions. His reading of the + scores of Handel and Gluck and the fugues of Bach was unique, inasmuch as + he put a polyphony and spirit into the former which gave the works a new + form.” + </p> + <p> + In his later years the deaf master could no longer hear his own playing + which therefore came to have a pitifully painful effect. Concerning his + manner of conducting, Seyfried says: “It would no wise do to make our + master a model in conducting, and the orchestra had to take great care + lest it be led astray by its mentor; for he had an eye only for his + composition and strove unceasingly by means of manifold gesticulations to + bring out the expression which he desired. Often when he reached a forte + he gave a violent down beat even if the note were an unaccented one. He + was in the habit of marking a diminuendo by crouching down lower and + lower, and at a pianissimo he almost crept under the stand. With a + crescendo he, too, grew, rising as if out of a stage trap, and with the + entrance of a fortissimo he stood on his toes and seemed to take on + gigantic proportions, while he waved his arms about as if trying to soar + upwards to the clouds. Everything about him was in activity; not a part of + his organization remained idle, and the whole man seemed like a perpetuum + mobile. Concerning expression, the little nuances, the equable division of + light and shade, as also an effective tempo rubato, he was extremely exact + and gladly discussed them with the individual members of the orchestra + without showing vexation or anger.” + </p> + <p> + 62. “It has always been known that the greatest pianoforte players were + also the greatest composers; but how did they play? Not like the pianists + of today who prance up and down the key-board with passages in which they + have exercised themselves,—putsch, putsch, putsch;—what does + that mean? Nothing. When the true pianoforte virtuosi played it was always + something homogeneous, an entity; it could be transcribed and then it + appeared as a well thought-out work. That is pianoforte playing; the other + is nothing!” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (In conversation with Tomaschek, October, 1814.) +</pre> + <p> + 63. “Candidly I am not a friend of Allegri di bravura and such, since they + do nothing but promote mechanism.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Hetzendorf, July 16, 1823, to Ries in London.) +</pre> + <p> + 64. “The great pianists have nothing but technique and affectation.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Fall of 1817, to Marie Pachler-Koschak, a pianist whom Beethoven +regarded very highly. “You will play the sonatas in F major and C minor, +for me, will you not?”) +</pre> + <p> + 65. “As a rule, in the case of these gentlemen, all reason and feeling are + generally lost in the nimbleness of their fingers.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Reported by Schindler as a remark of Beethoven’s concerning pianoforte +virtuosi.) +</pre> + <p> + 66. “Habit may depreciate the most brilliant talents.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (In 1812 to his pupil, Archduke Rudolph, whom he warns against too +zealous a devotion to music.) +</pre> + <p> + 67. “You will have to play a long time yet before you realize that you can + not play at all.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (July, 1808. Reported by Rust as having been said to a young man who +played for Beethoven.) +</pre> + <p> + 68. “One must be something if one wishes to put on appearances.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (August 15, 1812, to Bettina von Arnim.) +</pre> + <p> + 69. “These pianoforte players have their coteries whom they often join; + there they are praised continually,—and there’s an end of art!” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Conversation with Tomaschek, October, 1814.) +</pre> + <p> + 70. “We Germans have too few dramatically trained singers for the part of + Leonore. They are too cold and unfeeling; the Italians sing and act with + body and soul.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (1824, in Baden, to Freudenberg, an organist from Breslau.) +</pre> + <p> + 71. “If he is a master of his instrument I rank an organist amongst the + first of virtuosi. I too, played the organ a great deal when I was young, + but my nerves would not stand the power of the gigantic instrument.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (To Freudenberg, in Baden.) +</pre> + <p> + 72. “I never wrote noisy music. For my instrumental works I need an + orchestra of about sixty good musicians. I am convinced that only such a + number can bring out the quickly changing graduations in performance.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Reported by Schindler.) +</pre> + <p> + 73. “A Requiem ought to be quiet music,—it needs no trump of doom; + memories of the dead require no hubbub.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Reported by Holz to Fanny von Ponsing, in Baden, summer of 1858. +According to the same authority Beethoven valued Cherubini’s “Requiem” + more highly than any other.) +</pre> + <p> + 74. “No metronome at all! He who has sound feeling needs none, and he who + has not will get no help from the metronome;—he’ll run away with the + orchestra anyway.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Reported by Schindler. It had been found that Beethoven himself +had sent different metronomic indications to the publisher and the +Philharmonic Society of London.) +</pre> + <p> + 75. “In reading rapidly a multitude of misprints may pass unnoticed + because you are familiar with the language.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (To Wegeler, who had expressed wonder at Beethoven’s rapid primavista +playing, when it was impossible to see each individual note.) +</pre> + <p> + 76. “The poet writes his monologue or dialogue in a certain, continuous + rhythm, but the elocutionist in order to insure an understanding of the + sense of the lines, must make pauses and interruptions at places where the + poet was not permitted to indicate it by punctuation. The same manner of + declamation can be applied to music, and admits of modification only + according to the number of performers.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Reported by Schindler, Beethoven’s faithful factotum.) +</pre> + <p> + 77. “With respect to his playing with you, when he has acquired the proper + mode of fingering and plays in time and plays the notes with tolerable + correctness, only then direct his attention to the matter of + interpretation; and when he has gotten this far do not stop him for little + mistakes, but point them out at the end of the piece. Although I have + myself given very little instruction I have always followed this method + which quickly makes musicians, and that, after all, is one of the first + objects of art.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (To Czerny, who was teaching music to Beethoven’s nephew Karl.) +</pre> + <p> + 78. “Always place the hands at the key-board so that the fingers can not + be raised higher than is necessary; only in this way is it possible to + produce a singing tone.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Reported by Schindler as Beethoven’s view on pianoforte instruction. +He hated a staccato style of playing and dubbed it “finger dancing” and +“throwing the hands in the air.”) +</pre> + <p> + [PG Editor’s Note: #79 was skipped in the 1905 edition—error?] + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + ON HIS OWN WORKS + </h2> + <p> + 80. “I haven’t a single friend; I must live alone. But well I know that + God is nearer to me than to the others of my art; I associate with Him + without fear, I have always recognized and understood Him, and I have no + fear for my music,—it can meet no evil fate. Those who understand it + must become free from all the miseries that the others drag with them.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (To Bettina von Arnim. [Bettina’s letter to Goethe, May 28, 1810.]) +</pre> + <p> + 81. “The variations will prove a little difficult to play, particularly + the trills in the coda; but let that not frighten you. It is so disposed + that you need play only the trills, omitting the other notes because they + are also in the violin part. I would never have written a thing of this + kind had I not often noticed here and there in Vienna a man who after I + had improvised of an evening would write down some of my peculiarities and + make boast of them next day. Foreseeing that these things would soon + appear in print I made up my mind to anticipate them. Another purpose + which I had was to embarrass the local pianoforte masters. Many of them + are my mortal enemies, and I wanted to have my revenge in this way, for I + knew in advance that the variations would be put before them, and that + they would make exhibitions of themselves.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Vienna, November 2, 1793, to Eleonore von Breuning, in dedicating to +her the variations in F major, “Se vuol ballare.” [The pianist whom +Beethoven accuses of stealing his thunder was Abbe Gelinek.]) +</pre> + <p> + 82. “The time in which I wrote my sonatas (the first ones of the second + period) was more poetical than the present (1823); such hints were + therefore unnecessary. Every one at that time felt in the Largo of the + third sonata in D (op. 10) the pictured soulstate of a melancholy being, + with all the nuances of light and shade which occur in a delineation of + melancholy and its phases, without requiring a key in the shape of a + superscription; and everybody then saw in the two sonatas (op. 14) the + picture of a contest between two principles, or a dialogue between two + persons, because it was so obvious.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (In answer to Schindler’s question why he had not indicated the poetical +conceits underlying his sonatas by superscriptions or titles.) +</pre> + <p> + 83. “This sonata has a clean face (literally: ‘has washed itself’), my + dear brother!” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (January, 1801, to Hofmeister, publisher in Leipzig to whom he offers +the sonata, op. 22, for 20 ducats.) +</pre> + <p> + 84. “They are incessantly talking about the C-sharp minor sonata (op. 27, + No. 2); on my word I have written better ones. The F-sharp major sonata + (op. 78) is a different thing!” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (A remark to Czerny.) +</pre> + <p> + [The C-sharp minor sonata is that popularly known as the “Moonlight + Sonata,” a title which is wholly without warrant. Its origin is due to + Rellstab, who, in describing the first movement, drew a picture of a small + boat in the moonlight on Lake Lucerne. In Vienna a tradition that + Beethoven had composed it in an arbor gave rise to the title “Arbor + sonata.” Titles of this character work much mischief in the amateur mind + by giving rise to fantastic conceptions of the contents of the music. H. + E. K.] + </p> + <p> + 85. “The thing which my brother can have from me is 1, a Septett per il + Violino, Viola, Violoncello, Contrabasso, Clarinetto, Cornto, Fagotto, + tutti obligati; for I can not write anything that is not obligato, having + come into the world with obligato accompaniment.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (December 15, 1800, to Hofmeister, publisher, in Leipzig.) +</pre> + <p> + 86. “I am but little satisfied with my works thus far; from today I shall + adopt a new course.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Reported by Carl Czerny in his autobiography in 1842. Concerning the +time at which the remark was made, Czerny says: “It was said about 1803, +when B. had composed op. 28 (the pianoforte sonata in D) to his friend +Krumpholz (a violinist). Shortly afterward there appeared the sonatas + (now op. 31) in which a partial fulfillment of his resolution may be +observed.”) +</pre> + <p> + 87. “Read Shakespeare’s ‘Tempest.’” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (An answer to Schindler’s question as to what poetical conceit underlay +the sonatas in F minor. Beethoven used playfully to call the little son +of Breuning, the friend of his youth, A&Z, because he employed him often +as a messenger.) +</pre> + <p> + [“Schindler relates that when once he asked Beethoven to tell him what the + F minor and D minor (op. 31, No. 2) meant, he received for an answer only + the enigmatical remark: ‘Read Shakespeare’s “Tempest.”’ Many a student and + commentator has since read the ‘Tempest’ in the hope of finding a clew to + the emotional contents which Beethoven believed to be in the two works, so + singularly associated, only to find himself baffled. It is a fancy, which + rests, perhaps, too much on outward things, but still one full of + suggestion, that had Beethoven said: ‘Hear my C minor symphony,’ he would + have given a better starting-point to the imagination of those who are + seeking to know what the F minor sonata means. Most obviously it means + music, but it means music that is an expression of one of those + psychological struggles which Beethoven felt called upon more and more to + delineate as he was more and more shut out from the companionship of the + external world. Such struggles are in the truest sense of the word + tempests. The motive, which, according to the story, Beethoven himself + said, indicates, in the symphony, the rappings of Fate at the door of + human existence, is common to two works which are also related in their + spiritual contents. Singularly enough, too, in both cases the struggle + which is begun in the first movement and continued in the third, is + interrupted by a period of calm, reassuring, soul-fortifying aspiration, + which, in the symphony as well as in the sonata, takes the form of a theme + with variations.”—“How to Listen to Music,” page 29. H. E. K.] + </p> + <p> + 88. “Sinfonia Pastorella. He who has ever had a notion of country life can + imagine for himself without many superscriptions what the composer is + after. Even without a description the whole, which is more sentiment than + tone painting, will be recognized.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (A note among the sketches for the “Pastoral” symphony preserved in the +Royal Library at Berlin.) +</pre> + <p> + [There are other notes of similar import among the sketches referred to + which can profitably be introduced here: + </p> + <p> + “The hearer should be allowed to discover the situations;” + </p> + <p> + “Sinfonia caracteristica, or a recollection of country life;” + </p> + <p> + “Pastoral Symphony: No picture, but something in which the emotions are + expressed which are aroused in men by the pleasure of the country (or) in + which some feelings of country life are set forth.” + </p> + <p> + When, finally, the work was given to the publisher, Beethoven included in + the title an admonitory explanation which should have everlasting + validity: “Pastoral Symphony: more expression of feeling than painting.” + H. E. K.] + </p> + <p> + 89. “My ‘Fidelio’ was not understood by the public, but I know that it + will yet be appreciated; for though I am well aware of the value of my + ‘Fidelio’ I know just as well that the symphony is my real element. When + sounds ring in me I always hear the full orchestra; I can ask anything of + instrumentalists, but when writing for the voice I must continually ask + myself: ‘Can that be sung?’ + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (A remark made in 1823 or 1824 to Griesinger.) +</pre> + <p> + 90. “Thus Fate knocks at the portals!” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Reported by Schindler as Beethoven’s explanation of the opening of the +symphony in C minor.) +</pre> + <p> + [“Hofrath Kueffner told him (Krenn) that he once lived with Beethoven in + Heiligenstadt, and that they were in the habit evenings of going down to + Nussdorf to eat a fish supper in the Gasthaus ‘Zur Rose.’ One evening when + B. was in a good humor, Kueffner began: `Tell me frankly which is your + favorite among your symphonies?’ B. (in good humor) ‘Eh! Eh! The Eroica.’ + K. ‘I should have guessed the C minor.’ B. ‘No; the Eroica.’” From + Thayer’s notebook. See “Music and Manners in the Classical Period.” + H.E.K.] + </p> + <p> + 91. “The solo sonatas (op. 109-ll?) are perhaps the best, but also the + last, music that I composed for the pianoforte. It is and always will be + an unsatisfactory instrument. I shall hereafter follow the example of my + grandmaster Handel, and every year write only an oratorio and a concerto + for some string or wind instrument, provided I shall have finished my + tenth symphony (C minor) and Requiem.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Reported by Holz. As to the tenth symphony see note to No. 95.) +</pre> + <p> + 92. “God knows why it is that my pianoforte music always makes the worst + impression on me, especially when it is played badly.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (June 2, 1804. A note among the sketches for the “Leonore” overture.) +</pre> + <p> + 93. “Never did my own music produce such an effect upon me; even now when + I recall this work it still costs me a tear.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Reported by Holz. The reference is to the Cavatina from the quartet +in B-flat, op. 130, which Beethoven thought the crown of all quartet +movements and his favorite composition. When alone and undisturbed +he was fond of playing his favorite pianoforte Andante—that from the +sonata op. 28.) +</pre> + <p> + 94. “I do not write what I most desire to, but that which I need to + because of money. But this is not saying that I write only for money. When + the present period is past, I hope at last to write that which is the + highest thing for me as well as art,—‘Faust.’” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (From a conversation-book used in 1823. To Buhler, tutor in the house +of a merchant, who was seeking information about an oratorio which +Beethoven had been commissioned to write by the Handel and Haydn Society +of Boston.) +</pre> + <p> + 95. “Ha! ‘Faust;’ that would be a piece of work! Something might come out + of that! But for some time I have been big with three other large works. + Much is already sketched out, that is, in my head. I must be rid of them + first:—two large symphonies differing from each other, and each + differing from all the others, and an oratorio. And this will take a long + time, you see, for a considerable time I have had trouble to get myself to + write. I sit and think, and think I’ve long had the thing, but it will not + on the paper. I dread the beginning of these large works. Once into the + work, and it goes.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (In the summer of 1822, to Rochlitz, at Baden. The symphonies referred +to are the ninth and tenth. They existed only in Beethoven’s mind and a +few sketches. In it he intended to combine antique and modern views of +life.) +</pre> + <p> + [“In the text Greek mythology, cantique ecclesiastique; in the Allegro, a + Bacchic festival.” (Sketchbook of 1818)] + </p> + <p> + [The oratorio was to have been called “The Victory of the Cross.” It was + not written. Schindler wrote to Moscheles in London about Beethoven in the + last weeks of his life: “He said much about the plan of the tenth + symphony. As the work had shaped itself in his imagination it might have + become a musical monstrosity, compared with which his other symphonies + would have been mere opuscula.”] + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0009" id="link2H_4_0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + ON ART AND ARTISTS + </h2> + <p> + 96. “How eagerly mankind withdraws from the poor artist what it has once + given him;—and Zeus, from whom one might ask an invitation to sup on + ambrosia, lives no longer.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (In the summer of 1814, to Kauka, an advocate who represented him in the +lawsuit against the heirs of Kinsky.) +</pre> + <p> + 97. “I love straightforwardness and uprightness, and believe that the + artist ought not to be belittled; for, alas! brilliant as fame is + externally, it is not always the privilege of the artist to be Jupiter’s + guest on Olympus all the time. Unfortunately vulgar humanity drags him + down only too often and too rudely from the pure upper ether.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (June 5, 1852, to C. F. Peters, music publisher, in Leipzig when +treating with him touching a complete edition of his works.) +</pre> + <p> + 98. “The true artist has no pride; unhappily he realizes that art has no + limitations, he feels darkly how far he is from the goal, and while, + perhaps he is admired by others, he grieves that he has not yet reached + the point where the better genius shall shine before him like a distant + sun.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Teplitz, July 17, to an admirer ten years old.) +</pre> + <p> + 99. “You yourself know what a change is wrought by a few years in the case + of an artist who is continually pushing forward. The greater the progress + which one makes in art, the less is one satisfied with one’s old works.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Vienna, August 4, 1800, to Mathisson, in the dedication of his setting +of “Adelaide.” “My most ardent wish will be fulfilled if you are not +displeased with the musical composition of your heavenly ‘Adelaide.’”) +</pre> + <p> + 100. “Those composers are exemplars who unite nature and art in their + works.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Baden, in 1824, to Freudenberg, organist from Breslau.) +</pre> + <p> + 101. “What will be the judgment a century hence concerning the lauded + works of our favorite composers today? Inasmuch as nearly everything is + subject to the changes of time, and, more’s the pity, the fashions of + time, only that which is good and true, will endure like a rock, and no + wanton hand will ever venture to defile it. Then let every man do that + which is right, strive with all his might toward the goal which can never + be attained, develop to the last breath the gifts with which a gracious + Creator has endowed him, and never cease to learn; for ‘Life is short, art + eternal!’” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (From the notes in the instruction book of Archduke Rudolph.) +</pre> + <p> + 102. “Famous artists always labor under an embarrassment;—therefore + first works are the best, though they may have sprung out of dark ground.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Conversation-book of 1840.) +</pre> + <p> + 103. “A musician is also a poet; he also can feel himself transported by a + pair of eyes into another and more beautiful world where greater souls + make sport of him and set him right difficult tasks.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (August 15, 1812, to Bettina von Arnim.) +</pre> + <p> + 104. “I told Goethe my opinion as to how applause affects men like us, and + that we want our equals to hear us understandingly! Emotion suits women + only; music ought to strike fire from the soul of a man.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (August 15, 1810, to Bettina von Arnim.) +</pre> + <p> + 105. “Most people are touched by anything good; but they do not partake of + the artist’s nature; artists are ardent, they do not weep.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Reported to Goethe by Bettina von Arnim, May 28, 1810.) +</pre> + <p> + 106. “L’art unit tout le monde,—how much more the true artist!” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (March 15, 1823, to Cherubini, in Paris.) +</pre> + <p> + 107. “Only the artist, or the free scholar, carries his happiness within + him.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Reported by Karl von Bursy as part of a conversation in 1816.) +</pre> + <p> + 108. “There ought to be only one large art warehouse in the world, to + which the artist could carry his art-works and from which he could carry + away whatever he needed. As it is one must be half a tradesman.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (January, 1801, to Hofmeister, in Leipzig.) +</pre> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0010" id="link2H_4_0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + BEETHOVEN AS CRITIC + </h2> + <p> + The opinion of artist on artists is a dubious quantity. Recall the + startling criticisms of Bocklin on his associates in art made public by + the memoirs of his friends after his death. Such judgments are often + one-sided, not without prejudice, and mostly the expression of impulse. It + is a different matter when the artist speaks about the disciples of + another art than his own, even if the opinions which Bocklin and Wagner + held of each other are not a favorable example. Where Beethoven speaks of + other composers we must read with clear and open eyes; but even here there + will be much with which we can be in accord, especially his judgment on + Rossini, whom he hated so intensely, and whose airy, sense-bewitching art + seduced the Viennese from Beethoven. Interesting and also characteristic + of the man is the attitude which he adopted towards the poets of his time. + In general he estimated his contemporaries as highly as they deserved. + </p> + <p> + 109. “Do not tear the laurel wreaths from the heads of Handel, Haydn and + Mozart; they belong to them,—not yet to me.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Teplitz, July 17, 1852, to his ten-year-old admirer, Emilie M., who had +given him a portfolio made by herself.) +</pre> + <p> + 110. “Pure church music ought to be performed by voices only, except a + ‘Gloria,’ or some similar text. For this reason I prefer Palestrina; but + it is folly to imitate him without having his genius and religious views; + it would be difficult, if not impossible, too, for the singers of today to + sing his long notes in a sustained and pure manner.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (To Freudenberg, in 1824.) +</pre> + <p> + 111. “Handel is the unattained master of all masters. Go and learn from + him how to achieve vast effects with simple means.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Reported by Seyfried. On his death-bed, about the middle of February, +1827, he said to young Gerhard von Breuning, on receiving Handel’s +works: “Handel is the greatest and ablest of all composers; from him I +can still learn. Bring me the books!”) +</pre> + <p> + 112. “Handel is the greatest composer that ever lived. I would uncover my + head and kneel on his grave.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Fall of 1823, to J. A. Stumpff, harp maker of London, who acted very +nobly toward Beethoven in his last days. It was he who rejoiced the +dying composer by sending him the forty volumes of Handel’s works (see +111).) +</pre> + <p> + [“Cipriani Potter, to A. W. T., February 27, 1861. Beethoven used to walk + across the fields to Vienna very often. B. would stop, look about and + express his love for nature. One day Potter asked: ‘Who is the greatest + living composer, yourself excepted?’ Beethoven seemed puzzled for a + moment, and then exclaimed: ‘Cherubini!’ Potter went on: ‘And of dead + authors?’ B.—He had always considered Mozart as such, but since he + had been made acquainted with Handel he put him at the head.” From A. W. + Thayer’s notebook, reprinted in “Music and Manners in the Classical + Period,” page 208. H.E.K.] + </p> + <p> + 113. “Heaven forbid that I should take a journal in which sport is made of + the manes of such a revered one.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Conversation-book of 1825, in reference to a criticism of Handel.) +</pre> + <p> + 114. “That you are going to publish Sebastian Bach’s works is something + which does good to my heart, which beats in love of the great and lofty + art of this ancestral father of harmony; I want to see them soon.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (January, 1801, to Hofmeister, in Leipzig.) +</pre> + <p> + 115. “Of Emanuel Bach’s clavier works I have only a few, yet they must be + not only a real delight to every true artist, but also serve him for study + purposes; and it is for me a great pleasure to play works that I have + never seen, or seldom see, for real art lovers.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (July 26, 1809, to Gottfried Hartel, of Leipzig in ordering all the +scores of Haydn, Mozart and the two Bachs.) +</pre> + <p> + 116. “See, my dear Hummel, the birthplace of Haydn. I received it as a + gift today, and it gives me great pleasure. A mean peasant hut, in which + so great a man was born!” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Remarked on his death-bed to his friend Hummel.) +</pre> + <p> + 117. “I have always reckoned myself among the greatest admirers of Mozart, + and shall do so till the day of my death.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (February 6, 1886, to Abbe Maximilian Stadler, who had sent him his +essay on Mozart’s “Requiem.”) +</pre> + <p> + 118. “Cramer, Cramer! We shall never be able to compose anything like + that!” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (To Cramer, after the two had heard Mozart’s concerto in C-minor at a +concert in the Augarten.) +</pre> + <p> + 119. “‘Die Zauberflote’ will always remain Mozart’s greatest work, for in + it he for the first time showed himself to be a German musician. ‘Don + Juan’ still has the complete Italian cut; besides our sacred art ought + never permit itself to be degraded to the level of a foil for so + scandalous a subject.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (A remark reported by Seyfried.) +</pre> + <p> + [“Hozalka says that in 1820-21, as near as he can recollect, the wife of a + Major Baumgarten took boy boarders in the house then standing where the + Musikverein’s Saal now is, and that Beethoven’s nephew was placed with + her. Her sister, Baronin Born, lived with her. One evening Hozalka, then a + young man, called there and found only Baronin Born at home. Soon another + caller came and stayed to tea. It was Beethoven. Among other topics Mozart + came on the tapis, and the Born asked Beethoven (in writing, of course) + which of Mozart’s operas he thought most of. ‘Die Zauberflote’ said + Beethoven, and, suddenly clasping his hands and throwing up his eyes, + exclaimed: ‘Oh, Mozart!’” From A. W. Thayer’s notebooks, reprinted in + “Music and Manners in the Classical Period,” page 198. H. E. K.] + </p> + <p> + 120. “Say all conceivable pretty things to Cherubini,—that there is + nothing I so ardently desire as that we should soon get another opera from + him, and that of all our contemporaries I have the highest regard for + him.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (May 6, 1823, to Louis Schlasser, afterward chapel master in Darmstadt, +who was about to undertake a journey to Paris. See note to No. 112.) +</pre> + <p> + 121. “Among all the composers alive Cherubini is the most worthy of + respect. I am in complete agreement, too, with his conception of the + ‘Requiem,’ and if ever I come to write one I shall take note of many + things.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Remark reported by Seyfried. See No. 112.) +</pre> + <p> + 122. “Whoever studies Clementi thoroughly has simultaneously also learned + Mozart and other authors; inversely, however, this is not the case.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Reported by Schindler.) +</pre> + <p> + 123. “There is much good in Spontini; he understands theatrical effect and + martial noises admirably. + </p> + <p> + “Spohr is so rich in dissonances; pleasure in his music is marred by his + chromatic melody. + </p> + <p> + “His name ought not to be Bach (brook), but Ocean, because of his infinite + and inexhaustible wealth of tonal combinations and harmonies. Bach is the + ideal of an organist.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (In Baden, 1824, to Freudenberg.) +</pre> + <p> + 124. “The little man, otherwise so gentle,—I never would have + credited him with such a thing. Now Weber must write operas in earnest, + one after the other, without caring too much for refinement! Kaspar, the + monster, looms up like a house; wherever the devil sticks in his claw we + feel it.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (To Rochlitz, at Baden, in the summer of 1823.) +</pre> + <p> + 125. “There you are, you rascal; you’re a devil of a fellow, God bless + you!... Weber, you always were a fine fellow.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Beethoven’s hearty greeting to Karl Maria von Weber, in October, 1823.) +</pre> + <p> + 126. “K. M. Weber began too learn too late; art did not have a chance to + develop naturally in him, and his single and obvious striving is to appear + brilliant.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (A remark reported by Seyfried.) +</pre> + <p> + 127. “‘Euryanthe’ is an accumulation of diminished seventh chords—all + little backdoors!” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Remarked to Schindler about Weber’s opera.) +</pre> + <p> + 128. “Truly, a divine spark dwells in Schubert!” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Said to Schindler when the latter made him acquainted with the “Songs +of Ossian,” “Die Junge Nonne,” “Die Burgschaft,” of Schubert’s “Grenzen +der Menschheit,” and other songs.) +</pre> + <p> + 129. “There is nothing in Meyerbeer; he hasn’t the courage to strike at + the right time.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (To Tomaschek, in October, 1814, in a conversation about the “Battle of +Victoria,” at the performance of which, in 1813, Meyerbeer had played +the big drum.) +</pre> + <p> + 130. “Rossini is a talented and a melodious composer, his music suits the + frivolous and sensuous spirit of the times, and his productivity is such + that he needs only as many weeks as the Germans do years to write an + opera.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (In 1824, at Baden, to Freudenberg.) +</pre> + <p> + 131. “This rascal Rossini, who is not respected by a single master of his + art!” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Conversation-book, 1825.) +</pre> + <p> + 132. “Rossini would have become a great composer if his teacher had + frequently applied some blows ad posteriora.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Reported by Schindler. Beethoven had been reading the score of “Il +Barbiere di Siviglia.”) +</pre> + <p> + 133. “The Bohemians are born musicians. The Italians ought to take them as + models. What have they to show for their famous conservatories? Behold! + their idol, Rossini! If Dame Fortune had not given him a pretty talent and + amiable melodies by the bushel, what he learned at school would have + brought him nothing but potatoes for his big belly.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (In a conversation-book at Haslinger’s music shop, where Beethoven +frequently visited.) +</pre> + <p> + 136. “Goethe has killed Klopstock for me. You wonder? Now you laugh? Ah, + because I have read Klopstock. I carried him about with me for years when + I walked. What besides? Well, I didn’t always understand him. He skips + about so; and he always begins so far away, above or below; always + Maestoso! D-flat major! Isn’t, it so? But he’s great, nevertheless, and + uplifts the soul. When I couldn’t understand him I sort of guessed at + him.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (To Rochlitz, in 1822.) +</pre> + <p> + 135. “As for me I prefer to set Homer, Klopstock, Schiller, to music; if + it is difficult to do, these immortal poets at least deserve it.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (To the directorate of the “Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde” of Vienna, +January, 1824, in negotiations for an oratorio, “The Victory of the +Cross” [which he had been commissioned to write by the Handel and Haydn +Society of Boston. H. E. K.].) +</pre> + <p> + 136. “Goethe and Schiller are my favorite poets, as also Ossian and Homer, + the latter of whom, unfortunately, I can read only in translation.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (August 8, 1809, to Breitkopf and Hartel.) +</pre> + <p> + 137. “Who can sufficiently thank a great poet,—the most valuable + jewel of a nation!” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (February 10, 1811, to Bettina von Arnim. The reference was to Goethe.) +</pre> + <p> + 138. “When you write to Goethe about me search out all the words which can + express my deepest reverence and admiration. I am myself about to write to + him about ‘Egmont’ for which I have composed the music, purely out of love + for his poems which make me happy.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (February 10, 1811, to Bettina von Arnim.) +</pre> + <p> + 139. “I would have gone to death, yes, ten times to death for Goethe. + Then, when I was in the height of my enthusiasm, I thought out my ‘Egmont’ + music. Goethe,—he lives and wants us all to live with him. It is for + that reason that he can be composed. Nobody is so easily composed as he. + But I do not like to compose songs.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (To Rochlitz, in 1822, when Beethoven recalled Goethe’s amiability in +Teplitz.) +</pre> + <p> + 140. “Goethe is too fond of the atmosphere of the court; fonder than + becomes a poet. There is little room for sport over the absurdities of the + virtuosi, when poets, who ought to be looked upon as the foremost teachers + of the nation, can forget everything else in the enjoyment of court + glitter.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Franzensbrunn, August 9, 1812, to Gottfried Hartel of Leipzig.) +</pre> + <p> + 141. “When two persons like Goethe and I meet these grand folk must be + made to see what our sort consider great.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (August 15, 1812, in a description of how haughtily he, and how humbly +Goethe, had behaved in the presence of the Imperial court.) +</pre> + <p> + 142. “Since that summer in Carlsbad I read Goethe every day,—when I + read at all.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Remarked to Rochlitz.) +</pre> + <p> + 143. “Goethe ought not to write more; he will meet the fate of the + singers. Nevertheless he will remain the foremost poet of Germany.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Conversationbook, 1818.) +</pre> + <p> + 144. “Can you lend me the ‘Theory of Colors’ for a few weeks? It is an + important work. His last things are insipid.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Conversation-book, 1820.) +</pre> + <p> + 145. “After all the fellow writes for money only.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Reported by Schindler as having been said by Beethoven when, on his +death-bed, he angrily threw a book of Walter Scott’s aside.) +</pre> + <p> + 146. “He, too, then, is nothing better than an ordinary man! Now he will + trample on all human rights only to humor his ambition; he will place + himself above all others,—become a tyrant!” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (With these words, as testified to by Ries, an eye-witness, Beethoven +tore the title-page from the score of his “Eroica” symphony (which bore +a dedication to Bonaparte) when the news reached him that Napoleon had +declared himself emperor.) +</pre> + <p> + 147. “I believe that so long as the Austrian has his brown beer and + sausage he will not revolt.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (To Simrock, publisher, in Bonn, August 2, 1794.) +</pre> + <p> + 148. “Why do you sell nothing but music? Why did you not long ago follow + my well-meant advice? Do get wise, and find your raison. Instead of a + hundred-weight of paper order genuine unwatered Regensburger, float this + much-liked article of trade down the Danube, serve it in measures, + half-measures and seidels at cheap prices, throw in at intervals sausages, + rolls, radishes, butter and cheese, invite the hungry and thirsty with + letters an ell long on a sign: ‘Musical Beer House,’ and you will have so + many guests at all hours of the day that one will hold the door open for + the other and your office will never be empty.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (To Haslinger, the music publisher, when the latter had complained about +the indifference of the Viennese to music.) +</pre> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0011" id="link2H_4_0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + ON EDUCATION + </h2> + <p> + Beethoven’s observations on this subject were called out by his + experiences in securing an education for his nephew Karl, son of his + like-named brother, a duty which devolved on him on the death of his + brother in the winter of 1815. He loved his nephew almost to idolatry, and + hoped that he would honor the name of Beethoven in the future. But there + was a frivolous vein in Karl, inherited probably from his mother, who was + on easy footing with morality both before and after her husband’s death. + She sought with all her might to rid her son of the guardianship of his + uncle. Karl was sent to various educational institutions and to these + Beethoven sent many letters containing advice and instructions. The nephew + grew to be more and more a care, not wholly without fault of the master. + His passionate nature led to many quarrels between the two, all of which + were followed by periods of extravagant fondness. Karl neglected his + studies, led a frivolous life, was fond of billiards and the coffee-houses + which were then generally popular, and finally, in the summer of 1826, + made an attempt at suicide in the Helenental near Baden, which caused his + social ostracism. When he was found he cried out: “I went to the bad + because my uncle wanted to better me.” + </p> + <p> + Beethoven succeeded in persuading Baron von Stutterheim, commander of an + infantry regiment at Iglau, to accept him as an aspirant for military + office. In later life he became a respected official and man. So Beethoven + himself was vouchsafed only an ill regulated education. His dissolute + father treated him now harshly, now gently. His mother, who died early, + was a silent sufferer, had thoroughly understood her son, and to her his + love was devotion itself. He labored unwearyingly at his own intellectual + and moral advancement until his death. + </p> + <p> + It seems difficult to reconcile his almost extravagant estimate of the + greatest possible liberty in the development of man with his demands for + strict constraint to which he frequently gives expression; but he had + recognized that it is necessary to grow out of restraint into liberty. His + model as a sensitive and sympathetic educator was his motherly friend, the + wife of Court Councillor von Breuning in Bonn, of whom he once said: “She + knew how to keep the insects off the blossoms.” + </p> + <p> + Beethoven’s views on musical education are to be found in the chapters “On + Composition” and “On Performing Music.” + </p> + <p> + 149. “Like the State, each man must have his own constitution.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Diary, 1815.) +</pre> + <p> + 150. “Recommend virtue to your children; that, alone can bring happiness; + not wealth,—I speak from experience. It was virtue alone that bore + me up in my misery; to her and my art I owe that I did not end my life by + self-murder.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (October 6, 1802, to his brothers Karl and Johann [the so-called +Heiligenstadt Will].) +</pre> + <p> + 151. “I know no more sacred duty than to rear and educate a child.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (January 7, 1820, in a communication to the Court of Appeals in the suit +touching the guardianship of his nephew Karl.) +</pre> + <p> + 152. “Nature’s weaknesses are nature’s endowments; reason, the guide, must + seek to lead and lessen them.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Diary, 1817.) +</pre> + <p> + 153. “It is man’s habit to hold his fellow man in esteem because he + committed no greater errors.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (May 6, 1811, to Breitkopf and Hartel, in a letter complaining of faulty +printing in some of his compositions.) +</pre> + <p> + 154. “There is nothing more efficient in enforcing obedience upon others + than the belief on their part that you are wiser than they...Without tears + fathers can not inculcate virtue in their children, or teachers learning + and wisdom in their pupils; even the laws, by compelling tears from the + citizens, compel them also to strive for justice.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Diary, 1815.) +</pre> + <p> + 155. “It is only becoming in a youth to combine his duties toward + education and advancement with those which he owes to his benefactor and + supporter; this I did toward my parents.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (May 19, 1825, to his nephew Karl.) +</pre> + <p> + 156. “You can not honor the memory of your father better than to continue + your studies with the greatest zeal, and strive to become an honest and + excellent man.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (To his nephew, 1816-18.) +</pre> + <p> + 157. “Let your conduct always be amiable; through art and science the best + and noblest of men are bound together and your future vocation will not + exclude you.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Baden, July 18, 1825, to his nephew, who had decided to become a +merchant.) +</pre> + <p> + 158. “It is very true that a drop will hollow a stone; a thousand lovely + impressions are obliterated when children are placed in wooden + institutions while they might receive from their parents the most soulful + impressions which would continue to exert their influence till the latest + age.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Diary, spring of 1817. Beethoven was dissatisfied with Giannatasio’s +school in which he had placed his nephew. “Karl is a different child +after he has been with me a few hours” (Diary). In 1826, after the +attempt at suicide, Beethoven said to Breuning: “My Karl was in an +institute; educational institutions furnish forth only hot house +plants.”) +</pre> + <p> + 159. “Drops of water wear away a stone in time, not by force but by + continual falling. Only through tireless industry are the sciences + achieved so that one can truthfully say: no day without its line,—nulla + dies sine linea.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (1799, in a sketch for a theoretical handbook for Archduke Rudolph.) +</pre> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0012" id="link2H_4_0012"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + ON HIS OWN DISPOSITION AND CHARACTER + </h2> + <p> + So open-hearted and straightforward a character as Beethoven could not + have pictured himself with less reserve or greater truthfulness than he + did during his life. Frankness toward himself, frankness toward others + (though sometimes it went to the extreme of rudeness and ill-breeding) was + his motto. The joyous nature which was his as a lad, and which was not at + all averse to a merry prank now and then, underwent a change when he began + to lose his hearing. The dread of deafness and its consequences drove him + nearly to despair, so that he sometimes contemplated suicide. Increasing + hardness of hearing gradually made him reserved, morose and gloomy. With + the progress of the malady his disposition and character underwent a + decided change,—a fact which may be said to account for the + contradictions in his conduct and utterances. It made him suspicious, + distrustful; in his later years he imagined himself cheated and deceived + in the most trifling matters by relatives, friends, publishers, servants. + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless Beethoven’s whole soul was filled with a high idealism which + penetrated through the miseries of his daily life; it was full, too, of a + great love toward humanity in general and his unworthy nephew in + particular. Towards his publishers he often appeared covetous and + grasping, seeking to rake and scrape together all the money possible; but + this was only for the purpose of assuring the future of his nephew. At the + same time, in a merry moment, he would load down his table with all that + kitchen and cellar could provide, for the reflection of his friends. Thus + he oscillated continuously between two extremes; but the power which swung + the pendulum was always the aural malady. He grew peevish and capricious + towards his best friends, rude, even brutal at times in his treatment of + them; only in the next moment to overwhelm them most pathetically with + attentions. Till the end of his life he remained a sufferer from his + passionate disposition over which he gradually obtained control until, at + the end, one could almost speak of a sunny clarification of his nature. + </p> + <p> + He has heedlessly been accused of having led a dissolute life, of having + been an intemperate drinker. There would be no necessity of contradicting + such a charge even if there were a scintilla of evidence to support it; a + drinker is not necessarily a dishonorable man, least of all a musician who + drinks. But, the fact of the matter is that it is not true. If once + Beethoven wrote a merry note about merrymaking with friends, let us + rejoice that occasions did sometimes occur, though but rarely, when the + heart of the sufferer was temporarily gladdened. + </p> + <p> + He was a strict moralist, as is particularly evidenced by the notes in his + journal which have not been made public. In many things which befell him + in his daily life he was as ingenuous as a child. His personality, on the + whole, presented itself in such a manner as to invite the intellectual and + social Philistine to call him a fool. + </p> + <p> + 160. “I shall print a request in all the newspapers that henceforth all + artists refrain from painting my picture without my knowledge; I never + thought that my own face would bring me embarrassment.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (About 1803, to Christine Gerardi, because without his knowledge a +portrait of him had been made somewhere—in a cafe, probably.) +</pre> + <p> + 161. “Pity that I do not understand the art of war as well as I do the art + of music; I should yet conquer Napoleon!” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (To Krumpholz, the violinist, when he informed Beethoven of the victory +of Napoleon at Jena.) +</pre> + <p> + 162. “If I were a general and knew as much about strategy as I, a + composer, know about counterpoint, I’d give you fellows something to do.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Called out behind the back of a French officer, his fist doubled, +on May 12, 1809, when the French had occupied Vienna. Reported by a +witness, W. Rust.) +</pre> + <p> + 163. “Camillus, if I am not mistaken, was the name of the Roman who drove + the wicked Gauls from Rome. At such a cost I would also take the name if I + could drive them wherever I found them to where they belong.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (To Pleyel, publisher, in Paris, April, 1807.) +</pre> + <p> + 164. “I love most the realm of mind which, to me, is the highest of all + spiritual and temporal monarchies.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (To Advocate Kauka in the summer of 1814. He had been speaking about the +monarchs represented in the Congress of Vienna.) +</pre> + <p> + 165. “I shall not come in person, since that would be a sort of farewell, + and farewells I have always avoided.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (January 24, 1818, to Giannatasio del Rio, on taking his nephew Karl out +of the latter institute.) +</pre> + <p> + 166. “I hope still to bring a few large works into the world, and then, + like an old child, to end my earthly career somewhere among good people.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (October 6, 1802, to Wegeler.) +</pre> + <p> + 167. “O ye men, who think or declare me to be hostile, morose or + misanthropical, what injustice ye do me. Ye know not the secret cause of + what thus appears to you. My heart and mind were from childhood disposed + for the tender feelings of benevolence; I was always wishing to accomplish + great deeds.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (October 6, 1802, in the so-called Heiligenstadt Will.) +</pre> + <p> + 168. “Divinity, thou lookest into my heart, thou knowest it, thou knowest + that love for mankind and a desire to do good have their abode there. O ye + men, when one day ye read this think that ye have wronged me, and may the + unfortunate console himself with the thought that he has found one of his + kind who, despite all the obstacles which nature put in his path, yet did + all in his power to be accepted in the ranks of worthy artists and men!” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (From the Heiligenstadt Will.) +</pre> + <p> + 169. “I spend all my mornings with the muses;—and they bless me also + in my walks.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (October 12, 1835, to his nephew Karl.) +</pre> + <p> + 170. “Concerning myself nothing,—that is, from nothing nothing.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (October 19, 1815, to Countess Erdody.) +</pre> + <p> + [A possible allusion to the line, “Nothing can come of nothing.” from + Shakespeare’s “King Lear,” Act 1, scene 1] + </p> + <p> + 171. “Beethoven can write, thank God; but do nothing else on earth.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (December 22, 1822, to Ferdinand Ries, in London.) +</pre> + <p> + 172. “Mentally I often frame an answer, but when I come to write it down I + generally throw the pen aside, since I am not able to write what I feel.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (October 7, 1826, to his friend Wegeler, in Coblenz. “The better sort +of people, I think, know me anyhow.” He is excusing his laziness in +letter-writing.) +</pre> + <p> + 173. “I have the gift to conceal my sensitiveness touching a multitude of + things; but when I am provoked at a moment when I am more sensitive than + usual to anger, I burst out more violently than anybody else.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (July 24, 1804, to Ries, in reporting to him a quarrel with Stephan von +Breuning.) +</pre> + <p> + 174. “X. is completely changed since I threw half a dozen books at her + head. Perhaps something of their contents accidentally got into her head + or her wicked heart.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (To Mme. Streicher, who often had to put Beethoven’s house in order.) +</pre> + <p> + 175. “I can have no intercourse, and do not want to have any, with persons + who are not willing to believe in me because I have not yet made a wide + reputation.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (To Prince Lobkowitz, about 1798. A cavalier had failed to show him +proper respect in the Prince’s salon.) +</pre> + <p> + 176. “Many a vigorous and unconsidered word drops from my mouth, for which + reason I am considered mad.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (In the summer of 1880, to Dr. Muller, of Bremen, who was paying him a +visit.) +</pre> + <p> + 177. “I will grapple with Fate; it shall not quite bear me down. O, it is + lovely to live life a thousand times!” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (November 16, 1800, or 1801, to Wegeler.) +</pre> + <p> + 178. “Morality is the strength of men who distinguish themselves over + others, and it is mine.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (In a communication to his friend, Baron Zmeskall.) +</pre> + <p> + 179. “I, too, am a king!” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Said to Holz, when the latter begged him not to sell the ring which +King Frederick William III, of Prussia, had sent to him instead of money +or an order in return for the dedication of the ninth symphony. “Master, +keep the ring,” Holz had said, “it is from a king.” Beethoven made his +remark “with indescribable dignity and self-consciousness.”) +</pre> + <p> + [On his deathbed he said to little Gerhard von Breuning: “Know that I am + an artist.”] + </p> + <p> + [At the height of the popular infatuation for Rossini (1822) he said to + his friends: “Well, they will not be able to rob me of my place in the + history of art.”] + </p> + <p> + 180. “Prince, what you are you are by accident of birth; what I am, I am + through my own efforts. There have been thousands of princes and will be + thousands more; there is only one Beethoven!” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (According to tradition, from a letter which he wrote to Prince +Lichnowsky when the latter attempted to persuade him to play for some +French officers on his estate in Silesia. Beethoven went at night to +Troppau, carrying the manuscript of the (so-called) “Appassionata” + sonata, which suffered from the rain.) +</pre> + <p> + 181. “My nobility is here, and here (pointing to his heart and head).” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Reported by Schindler. In the lawsuit against his sister-in-law (the +mother of nephew Karl) Beethoven had been called on to prove that the +“van” in his name was a badge of nobility.) +</pre> + <p> + 182. “You write that somebody has said that I am the natural son of the + late King of Prussia. The same thing was said to me long ago, but I have + made it a rule never to write anything about myself or answer anything + that is said about me.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (October 7, 1826, to Wegeler.) +</pre> + <p> + [“I leave it to you to give the world an account of myself and especially + my mother.” The statement had appeared in Brockhaus’s “Lexicon.”] + </p> + <p> + 183. “To me the highest thing, after God, is my honor.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (July 26, 1822, to the publisher Peters, in Leipzig.) +</pre> + <p> + 184. “I have never thought of writing for reputation and honor. What I + have in my heart must out; that is the reason why I compose.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Remark to Karl Czerny, reported in his autobiography.) +</pre> + <p> + 185. “I do not desire that you shall esteem me greater as an artist, but + better and more perfect as a man; when the condition of our country is + somewhat better, then my art shall be devoted to the welfare of the poor.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Vienna, June 29, 1800, to Wegeler, in Bonn, writing of his return to +his native land.) +</pre> + <p> + 186. “Perhaps the only thing that looks like genius about me is that my + affairs are not always in the best of order, and that in this respect + nobody can be of help but myself.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (April 22, 1801, to Hofmeister, in Leipzig excusing himself for +dilatoriness in sending him these compositions: the Pianoforte sonata +op. 22, the symphony op. 21, the septet op. 20 and the concerto op. 19.) +</pre> + <p> + 187. “I am free from all small vanities. Only in the divine art is the + lever which gives me power to sacrifice the best part of my life to the + celestial muses.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (September 9, 1824, to George Nigeli, in Zurich.) +</pre> + <p> + 188. “Inasmuch as the purpose of the undersigned throughout his career has + not been selfish but the promotion of the interests of art, the elevation + of popular taste and the flight of his own genius toward loftier ideals + and perfection, it was inevitable that he should frequently sacrifice his + own advantages and profit to the muse.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (December, 1804, to the Director of the Court Theatre, applying for an +engagement which was never effected.) +</pre> + <p> + 189. “From my earliest childhood my zeal to serve suffering humanity with + my art was never content with any kind of a subterfuge; and no other + reward is needed than the internal satisfaction which always accompanies + such a deed.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (To Procurator Varenna, who had asked him for compositions to be played +at a charity concert in Graz.) +</pre> + <p> + 190. “There is no greater pleasure for me than to practice and exhibit my + art.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (November 16, 1800, or 1801, to Wegeler.) +</pre> + <p> + 191. “I recognize no other accomplishments or advantages than those which + place one amongst the better class of men; where I find them, there is my + home.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Teplitz, July 17, 1812, to his little admirer, Emile M., in H.) +</pre> + <p> + 192. “From childhood I learned to love virtue, and everything beautiful + and good.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (About 1808, to Frau Marie Bigot.) +</pre> + <p> + 193. “It is one of my foremost principles never to occupy any other + relations than those of friendship with the wife of another man. I should + never want to fill my heart with distrust towards those who may chance + some day to share my fate with me, and thus destroy the loveliest and + purest life for myself.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (About 1808, to Frau Marie Bigot, after she had declined his invitation +to drive with him.) +</pre> + <p> + 194. “In my solitude here I miss my roommate, at least at evening and + noon, when the human animal is obliged to assimilate that which is + necessary to the production of the intellectual, and which I prefer to do + in company with another.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Teplitz, September 6, 1811, to Tiedge.) +</pre> + <p> + 195. “It was not intentional and premeditated malice which led me to act + toward you as I did; it was my unpardonable carelessness.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (To Wegeler.) +</pre> + <p> + 196. “I am not bad; hot blood is my wickedness, my crime is youthfulness. + I am not bad, really not bad; even though wild surges often accuse my + heart, it still is good. To do good wherever we can, to love liberty above + all things, and never to deny truth though it be at the throne itself.—Think + occasionally of the friend who honors you.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Written in the autograph album of a Herr Bocke.) +</pre> + <p> + 197. “It is a singular sensation to see and hear one’s self praised, and + then to be conscious of one’s own imperfections as I am. I always regard + such occasions as admonitions to get nearer the unattainable goal set for + us by art and nature, hard as it may be.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (To Mdlle. de Girardi, who had sung his praises in a poem.) +</pre> + <p> + 198. “It is my sincere desire that whatever shall be said of me hereafter + shall adhere strictly to the truth in every respect regardless of who may + be hurt thereby, me not excepted.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Reported by Schindler, who also relates that when Beethoven handed him +documents to be used in the biography a week before his death, he said +to him and Breuning: “But in all things severely the truth; for that I +hold you to a strict accountability.”) +</pre> + <p> + 199. “Now you can help me to find a wife. If you find a beautiful woman in + F. who, mayhap, endows my music with a sigh,—but she must be no + Elise Burger—make a provisional engagement. But she must be + beautiful, for I can love only the beautiful; otherwise I might love + myself.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (In 1809, to Baron von Gleichenstein. As for the personal reference it +seems likely that Beethoven referred to Elise Burger, second wife of +the poet G. August Burger, with whom he had got acquainted after she had +been divorced and become an elocutionist.) +</pre> + <p> + 200. “Am I not a true friend? Why do you conceal your necessities from me? + No friend of mine must suffer so long as I have anything.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (To Ferdinand Ries, in 1801. Ries’s father had been kind to Beethoven on +the death of his mother in 1787.) +</pre> + <p> + 201. “I would rather forget what I owe to myself than what I owe to + others.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (To Frau Streicher, in the summer of 1817.) +</pre> + <p> + 202. “I never practice revenge. When I must antagonize others I do no more + than is necessary to protect myself against them, or prevent them from + doing further evil.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (To Frau Streicher, in reference to the troubles which his servants gave +him, many of which, no doubt, were due to faults of his own, excusable +in a man in his condition of health.) +</pre> + <p> + 203. “Be convinced that mankind, even in your case, will always be sacred + to me.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (To Czapka, Magisterial Councillor, August, 1826, in the matter of his +nephew’s attempt at suicide.) +</pre> + <p> + 204. “H. is, and always will be, too weak for friendship, and I look upon + him and Y. as mere instruments upon which I play when I feel like it; but + they can never be witnesses of my internal and external activities, and + just as little real participants. I value them according as they do me + service.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Summer of 1800, to the friend of his youth, Pastor Amenda. H. was +probably the faithful Baron Zmeskall von Domanovecz.) +</pre> + <p> + 205. “If it amuses them to talk and write about me in that manner, let + them go on.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Reported by Schindler as referring to critics who had declared him ripe +for the madhouse.) +</pre> + <p> + 206. “To your gentlemen critics I recommend a little more foresight and + shrewdness, particularly in respect of the products of younger authors, as + many a one, who might otherwise make progress, may be frightened off. So + far as I am concerned I am far from thinking myself so perfect as not to + be able to endure faulting; yet at the beginning the clamor of your critic + was so debasing that I could scarcely discuss the matter when I compared + myself with others, but had to remain quiet and think: they do not + understand. I was the more able to remain quiet when I recalled how men + were praised who signify little among those who know, and who have almost + disappeared despite their good points. Well, pax vobiscum, peace to them + and me,—I would never have mentioned a syllable had you not begun.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (April 22, 1801, to Breitkopf and Hartel, publishers of the “Allgemeine +Musik Zeitung.”) +</pre> + <p> + 207. “Who was happier than I when I could still pronounce the sweet word + ‘mother’ and have it heard? To whom can I speak it now?” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (September 15, 1787, from Bonn to Dr. Schade, of Augsburg, who had aided +him in his return journey from Vienna to Bonn. His mother had died on +July 17, 1787.) +</pre> + <p> + 208. “I seldom go anywhere since it was always impossible for me to + associate with people where there was not a certain exchange of ideas.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (February 15, 1817, to Brentano of Frankfurt.) +</pre> + <p> + 209. “Not a word about rest! I know of none except in sleep, and sorry + enough am I that I am obliged to yield up more to it than formerly.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (November 16, 1801, or 1802, to Wegeler. In Homer’s “Odyssey” Beethoven +thickly underscored the words: “Too much sleep is injurious.” XV, 393.) +</pre> + <p> + 210. “Rest assured that you are dealing with a true artist who likes to be + paid decently, it is true, but who loves his own reputation and also the + fame of his art; who is never satisfied with himself and who strives + continually to make even greater progress in his art.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (November 23, 1809, to George Thomson, of Edinburgh, for whom Beethoven +arranged the Scotch songs.) +</pre> + <p> + 211. “My motto is always: nulla die sine linea; and if I permit the muse + to go to sleep it is only that she may awake strengthened.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (October 7, 1826, to Wegeler.) +</pre> + <p> + 212. “There is no treatise likely to be too learned for me. Without laying + claim to real learning it is yet true that since my childhood I have + striven to learn the minds of the best and wisest of every period of time. + It is a disgrace for every artist who does not try to do as much.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (November 2, 1809, to Breitkopf and Hartel, of Leipzig.) +</pre> + <p> + 213. “Without wishing in the least to set myself up as an exemplar I + assure you that I lived in a small and insignificant place, and made out + of myself nearly all that I was there and am here;—this to your + comfort in case you feel the need of making progress in art.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Baden, July 6, 1804, to Herr Wiedebein, of Brunswick, who had asked +if it was advisable for a music teacher and student to make his home in +Vienna.) +</pre> + <p> + 214. “There is much on earth to be done,—do it soon! I must not + continue my present everyday life,—art asks this sacrifice also. + Take rest in diversion in order to work more energetically.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Diary, 1814.) +</pre> + <p> + 215. “The daily grind exhausts me.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Baden, August 23, 1823, to his nephew Karl.) +</pre> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0013" id="link2H_4_0013"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE SUFFERER + </h2> + <p> + 216. “Compelled to be a philosopher as early as my 28th year;—it is + not an easy matter,—more difficult for the artist than any other + man.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (October 6, 1802; the Heiligenstadt Will.) +</pre> + <p> + 217. “Compelled to contemplate a lasting malady, born with an ardent and + lively temperament, susceptible to the diversions of society, I was + obliged at an early date to isolate myself and live a life of solitude.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (From the same.) +</pre> + <p> + 218. “It was impossible for me to say to others: speak louder; shout! for + I am deaf. Ah! was it possible for me to proclaim a deficiency in that one + sense which in my case ought to have been more perfect than in all others, + which I had once possessed in greatest perfection, to a degree of + perfection, indeed, which few of my profession have ever enjoyed?” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (From the same.) +</pre> + <p> + 219. “For me there can be no recreation in human society, refined + conversation, mutual exchange of thoughts and feelings; only so far as + necessity compels may I give myself to society,—I must live like an + exile.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (From the same.) +</pre> + <p> + 220. “How great was the humiliation when one who stood beside me heard the + distant sound of a shepherd’s pipe, and I heard nothing; or heard the + shepherd singing, and I heard nothing. Such experiences brought me to the + verge of despair;—but little more and I should have put an end to my + life. Art, art alone deterred me.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (From the same.) +</pre> + <p> + 221. “I may say that I live a wretched existence. For almost two years I + have avoided all social gatherings because it is impossible for me to tell + the people I am deaf. If my vocation were anything else it might be more + endurable, but under the circumstances the condition is terrible; besides + what would my enemies say,—they are not few in number! To give you + an idea of this singular deafness let me tell you that in the theatre I + must lean over close to the orchestra in order to understand the actor; if + I am a little remote from them I do not hear the high tones of instruments + and voices; it is remarkable that there are persons who have not observed + it, but because I am generally absent-minded my conduct is ascribed to + that.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Vienna, June 29, 1800, to Wegeler. “To you only do I confide this as a +secret.” Concerning his deafness see Appendix.) +</pre> + <p> + 222. “My defective hearing appeared everywhere before me like a ghost; I + fled from the presence of men, was obliged to appear to be a misanthrope + although I am so little such.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (November 16, 1801, or 1800, to Wegeler, in writing to him about his +happy love. “Unfortunately, she is not of my station in life.”) +</pre> + <p> + 223. “Truly, a hard lot has befallen me! Yet I accept the decree of Fate, + and continually pray to God to grant that as long as I must endure this + death in life, I may be preserved from want.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (March 14, 1827, to Moscheles, after Beethoven had undergone the fourth +operation for dropsy and was confronting the fifth. He died on March 26, +1827.) +</pre> + <p> + 224. “Live alone in your art! Restricted though you be by your defective + sense, this is still the only existence for you.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Diary, 1816.) +</pre> + <p> + 225. “Dissatisfied with many things, more susceptible than any other + person and tormented by my deafness, I often find only suffering in the + association with others.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (In 1815, to Brauchle, tutor in the house of Countess Erdody.) +</pre> + <p> + 226. “I have emptied a cup of bitter suffering and already won martyrdom + in art through the kindness of art’s disciples and my art associates.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (In the summer of 1814, to Advocate Kauka. “Socrates and Jesus were my +exemplars,” he remarks in a conversation-book of 1819.) +</pre> + <p> + 227. “Perfect the ear trumpets as far as possible, and then travel; this + you owe to yourself, to mankind and to the Almighty! Only thus can you + develop all that is still locked within you;—and a little court,—a + little chapel,—writing the music and having it performed to the + glory of the Almighty, the Eternal, the Infinite—-” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Diary, 1815. Beethoven was hoping to receive an appointment as +chapelmaster from his former pupil, Archduke Rudolph, Archbishop of +Olmutz.) +</pre> + <p> + 228. “God help me. Thou seest me deserted by all mankind. I do not want to + do wrong,—hear my prayer to be with my Karl in the future for which + there seems to be no possibility now. O, harsh Fate, cruel destiny. No, my + unhappy condition will never end. ‘This I feel and recognize clearly: Life + is not the greatest of blessings; but the greatest of evils is guilt.’ + (From Schiller’s “Braut von Messina”). There is no salvation for you + except to hasten away from here; only by this means can you lift yourself + again to the heights of your art whereas you are here sinking to the + commonplace,—and a symphony—and then away,—away,—meanwhile + fund the salaries which can be done for years. Work during the summer + preparatory to travel; only thus can you do the great work for your poor + nephew; later travel through Italy, Sicily, with a few other artists.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Diary, spring of 1817. The salaries were the annuities paid him for +several years by Archduke Rudolph, Prince Rinsky and Prince Lobkowitz. +Seume’s “Spaziergang nach Syrakus” was a favorite book of Beethoven’s +and inspired him in a desire to make a similar tour, but nothing came of +it.) +</pre> + <p> + 229. “You must not be a man like other men: not for yourself, only for + others; for you there is no more happiness except in yourself, in your + art.—O God, give me strength to overcome myself, nothing must hold + me to this life.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Beginning of the Diary, 1812-18.) +</pre> + <p> + 230. “Leave operas and all else alone, write only for your orphan, and + then a cowl to close this unhappy life.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Diary, 1816.) +</pre> + <p> + 231. “I have often cursed my existence; Plutarch taught me resignation. I + shall, if possible, defy Fate, though there will be hours in my life when + I shall be the most miserable of God’s creatures. Resignation! What a + wretched resort; yet it is the only one left me!” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Vienna, June 29, 1800, to Wegeler.) +</pre> + <p> + 232. “Patience, they tell me, I must now choose for a guide. I have done + so. It shall be my resolve, lastingly, I hope, to endure until it pleases + the implacable Parca: to break the thread. There may be improvement,—perhaps + not,—I am prepared.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (From the Heiligenstadt Will.) +</pre> + <p> + 233. “Let all that is called life be offered to the sublime and become a + sanctuary of art. Let me live, even through artificial means, so they can + be found.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Diary, 1814, when Beethoven was being celebrated extraordinarily by the +royalties and dignitaries gathered at the Congress of Vienna.) +</pre> + <p> + 234. “Ah! it seemed impossible for me to leave the world until I had + produced all that I felt called upon to produce; and so I prolonged this + wretched existence.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (From the Heiligenstadt Will.) +</pre> + <p> + 235. “With joy shall I hasten forward to meet death; if he comes before I + shall have had an opportunity to develop all my artistic capabilities, he + will come too early in spite of my harsh fate, and I shall probably wish + him to come at a later date. But even then I shall be content, for will he + not release me from endless suffering? Come when you please, I shall meet + you bravely.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (From the Heiligenstadt Will.) +</pre> + <p> + 236. “Apollo and the muses will not yet permit me to be delivered over to + the grim skeleton, for I owe them so much, and I must, on any departure + for the Elysian Fields, leave behind me all that the spirit has inspired + and commanded to be finished.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (September 17, 1824, to Schott, music publisher in Mayence.) +</pre> + <p> + 237. “Had I not read somewhere that it is not pending man to part + voluntarily from his life so long as there is a good deed which he can + perform, I should long since have been no more, and by my own hand. O, how + beautiful life is, but in my case it is poisoned.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (May 2, 1810, to his friend Wegeler, to whom he is lamenting over “the +demon that has set up his habitat in my ears.”) +</pre> + <p> + 238. “I must abandon wholly the fond hope, which I brought hither, to be + cured at least in a degree. As the fallen autumn leaves have withered, so + are now my hopes blighted. I depart in almost the same condition in which + I came; even the lofty courage which often animated me in the beautiful + days of summer has disappeared.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (From the Will. Beethoven had tried the cure at Heiligenstadt.) +</pre> + <p> + 239. “All week long I had to suffer and endure like a saint. Away with + this rabble! What a reproach to our civilization that we need what we + despise and must always know it near!” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (In 1825, complaining of the misery caused by his domestics.) +</pre> + <p> + 240. “The best thing to do not to think of your malady is to keep + occupied.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Diary, 1812-18.) +</pre> + <p> + 241. “It is no comfort for men of the better sort to say to them that + others also suffer; but, alas! comparisons must always be made, though + they only teach that we all suffer, that is err, only in different ways.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (In 1816, to Countess Erdody, on the death of her son.) +</pre> + <p> + 242. “The portraits of Handel, Bach, Gluck, Mozart and Haydn in my room,—they + may help me to make claim on toleration.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Diary, 1815-16.) +</pre> + <p> + 243. “God, who knows my innermost soul, and knows how sacredly I have + fulfilled all the duties but upon me as man by humanity, God and nature + will surely some day relieve me from these afflictions.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (July 18, 1821, to Archduke Rudolph, from Unterubling.) +</pre> + <p> + 244. “Friendship and similar sentiments bring only wounds to me. Well, so + be it; for you, poor Beethoven, there is no outward happiness; you must + create it within you,—only in the world of ideality shall you find + friends.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (About 1808, to Baron von Gleichenstein, by whom he thought himself +slighted.) +</pre> + <p> + 245. “You are living on a quiet sea, or already in the safe harbor; you do + not feel the distress of a friend out in the raging storm,—or you + must not feel it.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (In 1811, to his friend Gleichenstein, when Beethoven was in love with +the Baron’s sister-in-law, Therese Malfatti.) +</pre> + <p> + 246. “I must have a confidant at my side lest life become a burden.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (July 4, 1812, to Count Brunswick, whom he is urging to make a tour with +him, probably to Teplitz.) +</pre> + <p> + 247. “Your love makes me at once the happiest and the unhappiest of men. + At my age I need a certain uniformity and equableness of life; can such + exist in our relationship?” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (June 7, 1800 (?), to the “Immortal Beloved.”) +</pre> + <p> + 248. “O Providence! vouchsafe me one day of pure joy! Long has the echo of + perfect felicity been absent from my heart. When O, when, O Thou Divine + One, shall I feel it again in nature’s temple and man’s? Never? Ah! that + would be too hard!” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Conclusion of the Heiligenstadt Will.) +</pre> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0014" id="link2H_4_0014"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + WORLDLY WISDOM + </h2> + <p> + 249. “Freedom,—progress, is purpose in the art-world as in universal + creation, and if we moderns have not the hardihood of our ancestors, + refinement of manners has surely accomplished something.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Middling, July 29, 1819, to Archduke Rudolph.) +</pre> + <p> + 250. “The boundaries are not yet fixed which shall call out to talent and + industry: thus far and no further!” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Reported by Schindler.) +</pre> + <p> + 251. “You know that the sensitive spirit must not be bound to miserable + necessities.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (In the summer of 1814, to Johann Kauka, the advocate who represented +him in the prosecution of his claims against the heirs of Prince +Kinsky.) +</pre> + <p> + 252. “Art, the persecuted one, always finds an asylum. Did not Daedalus, + shut up in the labyrinth, invent the wings which carried him out into the + open air? O, I shall find them, too, these wings!” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (February 19, 1812, to Zmeskall, when, in 1811, by decree of the +Treasury, the value of the Austrian currency was depreciated one-fifth, +and the annuity which Beethoven received from Archduke Rudolph and the +Princes Lobkowitz and Kinsky reduced to 800 florins.) +</pre> + <p> + 253. “Show me the course where at the goal there stands the palm of + victory! Lend sublimity to my loftiest thoughts, bring to them truths that + shall live forever!” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Diary, 1814, while working on “Fidelio.”) +</pre> + <p> + 254. “Every day is lost in which we do not learn something useful. Man has + no nobler or more valuable possession than time; therefore never put off + till tomorrow what you can do today.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (From the notes in Archduke Rudolph’s instruction book.) +</pre> + <p> + 255. “This is the mark of distinction of a truly admirable man: + steadfastness in times of trouble.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Diary, 1816.) +</pre> + <p> + 256. “Courage, so it be righteous, will gain all things.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (April, 1815, to Countess Erdody.) +</pre> + <p> + 257. “Force, which is a unit, will always prevail against the majority + which is divided.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Conversation-book, 1819.) +</pre> + <p> + 258. “Kings and Princes can create professors and councillors, and confer + orders and decorations; but they can not create great men, spirits that + rise above the earthly rabble; these they can not create, and therefore + they are to be respected.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (August 15, 1812, to Bettina von Arnim.) +</pre> + <p> + 259. “Man, help yourself!” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Written under the words: “Fine, with the help of God,” which Moscheles +had written at the end of a pianoforte arrangement of a portion of +“Fidelio.”) +</pre> + <p> + 260. “If I could give as definite expression to my thoughts about my + illness as to my thoughts in music, I would soon help myself.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (September, 1812, to Amalie Sebald, a patient at the cure in Teplitz.) +</pre> + <p> + 261. “Follow the advice of others only in the rarest cases.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Diary, 1816.) +</pre> + <p> + 262. “The moral law in us, and the starry sky above us.”—Kant. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Conversation-book, February, 1820.) +</pre> + <p> + [Literally the passage in Kant’s “Critique of Practical Reason” reads as + follows: “Two things fill the soul with ever new and increasing wonder and + reverence the oftener the mind dwells upon them:—the starry sky + above me and the moral law in me.”] + </p> + <p> + 263. “Blessed is he who has overcome all passions and then proceeds + energetically to perform his duties under all circumstances careless of + success! Let the motive lie in the deed, not in the outcome. Be not one of + those whose spring of action is the hope of reward. Do not let your life + pass in inactivity. Be industrious, do your duty, banish all thoughts as + to the results, be they good or evil; for such equanimity is attention to + intellectual things. Seek an asylum only in Wisdom; for he who is wretched + and unhappy is so only in consequence of things. The truly wise man does + not concern himself with the good and evil of this world. Therefore + endeavor diligently to preserve this use of your reason—for in the + affairs of this world, such a use is a precious art.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Diary. Though essentially in the language of Beethoven there is +evidence that the passage was inspired by something that he had read.) +</pre> + <p> + 264. “The just man must be able also to suffer injustice without deviating + in the least from the right course.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (To the Viennese magistrate in the matter of Karl’s education.) +</pre> + <p> + 265. “Man’s humility towards man pains me; and yet when I consider myself + in connection with the universe, what am I and what is he whom we call the + greatest? And yet here, again, lies the divine element in man.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (To the “Immortal Beloved,” July 6 (1800?).) +</pre> + <p> + 266. “Only the praise of one who has enjoyed praise can give pleasure.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Conversation-book, 1825.) +</pre> + <p> + 267. “Nothing is more intolerable than to be compelled to accuse one’s + self of one’s own errors.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Teplitz, September 6, 1811, to Tiedge. Beethoven regrets that through +his own fault he had not made Tiedge’s acquaintance on an earlier +opportunity.) +</pre> + <p> + 268. “What greater gift can man receive than fame, praise and + immortality?” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Diary, 1816-17. After Pliny, Epist. III.) +</pre> + <p> + 269. “Frequently it seems as if I should almost go mad over my undeserved + fame; fortune seeks me out and I almost fear new misfortune on that + account.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (July, 1810, to his friend Zmeskall. “Every day there come new inquiries +from strangers, new acquaintances new relationships.”) +</pre> + <p> + 270. “The world must give one recognition,—it is not always unjust. + I care nothing for it because I have a higher goal.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (August 15, 1812, to Bettina von Arnim.) +</pre> + <p> + 271. “I have the more turned my gaze upwards; but for our own sakes and + for others we are obliged to turn our attention sometimes to lower things; + this, too, is a part of human destiny.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (February 8, 1823, to Zelter, with whom he is negotiating the sale of a +copy of the Mass in D.) +</pre> + <p> + 272. “Why so many dishes? Man is certainly very little higher than the + other animals if his chief delights are those of the table.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Reported by J. A. Stumpff, in the “Harmonicon” of 1824. He dined with +Beethoven in Baden.) +</pre> + <p> + 273. “Whoever tells a lie is not pure of heart, and such a person can not + cook a clean soup.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (To Mme. Streicher, in 1817, or 1818, after having dismissed an +otherwise good housekeeper because she had told a falsehood to spare his +feelings.) +</pre> + <p> + 274. “Vice walks through paths full of present lusts and persuades many to + follow it. Virtue pursues a steep path and is less seductive to mankind, + especially if at another place there are persons who call them to a gently + declining road.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Diary, 1815.) +</pre> + <p> + 275. “Sensual enjoyment without a union of soul is bestial and will always + remain bestial.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Diary, 1812-18.) +</pre> + <p> + 276. “Men are not only together when they are with each other; even the + distant and the dead live with us.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (To Therese Malfatti, later Baroness von Drossdick, to whom in the +country he sent Goethe’s “Wilhelm Meister” and Schlegel’s translation of +Shakespeare.) +</pre> + <p> + 277. “There is no goodness except the possession of a good soul, which may + be seen in all things, from which one need not seek to hide.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (August 15, 1812, to Bettina von Arnim.) +</pre> + <p> + 278. “The foundation of friendship demands the greatest likeness of human + souls and hearts.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Baden, July 24, 1804, to Ries, describing his quarrel with Breuning.) +</pre> + <p> + 279. “True friendship can rest only on the union of like natures.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Diary, 1812-18.) +</pre> + <p> + 280. “The people say nothing; they are merely people. As a rule they only + see themselves in others, and what they see is nothing; away with them! + The good and the beautiful needs no people,—it exists without + outward help, and this seems to be the reason of our enduring friendship.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (September 16, 1812, to Amalie Sebald, in Teplitz, who had playfully +called him a tyrant.) +</pre> + <p> + 281. “Look, my dear Ries; these are the great connoisseurs who affect to + be able to judge of any piece of music so correctly and keenly. Give them + but the name of their favorite,—they need no more!” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (To his pupil Ries, who had, as a joke, played a mediocre march at a +gathering at Count Browne’s and announced it to be a composition by +Beethoven. When the march was praised beyond measure Beethoven broke out +into a grim laugh.) +</pre> + <p> + 282. “Do not let all men see the contempt which they deserve; we do not + know when we may need them.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Note in the Diary of 1814, after having had an unpleasant experience +with his “friend” Bertolini. “Henceforth never step inside his house; +shame on you to ask anything from such an one.”) +</pre> + <p> + 283. “Our Time stands in need of powerful minds who will scourge these + petty, malicious and miserable scoundrels,—much as my heart resents + doing injury to a fellow man.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (In 1825, to his nephew, in reference to the publication of a satirical +canon on the Viennese publisher, Haslinger, by Schott, of Mayence.) +</pre> + <p> + 284. “Today is Sunday. Shall I read something for you from the Gospels? + ‘Love ye one another!’” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (To Frau Streicher.) +</pre> + <p> + 285. “Hate reacts on those who nourish it.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Diary, 1812-18.) +</pre> + <p> + 286. “When friends get into a quarrel it is always best not to call in an + intermediary, but to have friend turn to friend direct.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Vienna, November 2, 1793, to Eleonore von Breuning, of Bonn.) +</pre> + <p> + 287. “There are reasons for the conduct of men which one is not always + willing to explain, but which, nevertheless, are based on ineradicable + necessity.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (In 1815, to Brauchle.) +</pre> + <p> + 288. “I was formerly inconsiderate and hasty in the expression of my + opinions, and thereby I made enemies. Now I pass judgment on no one, and, + indeed, for the reason that I do not wish to do any one harm. Moreover, in + the last instance I always think: if it is something decent it will + maintain itself in spite of all attack and envy; if there is nothing good + and sound at the bottom of it, it will fall to pieces of itself, bolster + it up as one may.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (In a conversation with Tomaschek, in October, 1814.) +</pre> + <p> + 289. “Even the most sacred friendship may harbor secrets, but you ought + not to misinterpret the secret of a friend because you can not guess it.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (About 1808, to Frau Marie Bigot.) +</pre> + <p> + 290. “You are happy; it is my wish that you remain so, for every man is + best placed in his sphere.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Bonn, July 13, 1825, to his brother Johann, landowner in Gneisendorf.) +</pre> + <p> + 291. “One must not measure the cost of the useful.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (To his nephew Karl in a discussion touching the purchase of an +expensive book.) +</pre> + <p> + 292. “It is not my custom to prattle away my purposes, since every + intention once betrayed is no longer one’s own.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (To Frau Streicher.) +</pre> + <p> + 293. “How stupidity and wretchedness always go in pairs!” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Diary, 1817.) +</pre> + <p> + [Beethoven was greatly vexed by his servants.] + </p> + <p> + 294. “Hope nourishes me; it nourishes half the world, and has been my + neighbor all my life, else what had become of me!” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (August 11, 1810, to Bettina von Arnim.) +</pre> + <p> + 295. “Fortune is round like a globe, hence, naturally, does not always + fall on the noblest and best.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Vienna, July 29, 1800, to Wegeler.) +</pre> + <p> + 296. “Show your power, Fate! We are not our own masters; what is decided + must be,—and so be it!” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Diary, 1818.) +</pre> + <p> + 297. “Eternal Providence omnisciently directs the good and evil fortunes + of mortal men.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Diary, 1818.) +</pre> + <p> + 298. “With tranquility, O God, will I submit myself to changes, and place + all my trust in Thy unalterable mercy and goodness.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Diary, 1818.) +</pre> + <p> + 299. “All misfortune is mysterious and greatest when viewed alone; + discussed with others it seems more endurable because one becomes entirely + familiar with the things one dreads, and feels as if one had overcome it.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Diary, 1816.) +</pre> + <p> + 300. “One must not flee for protection to poverty against the loss of + riches, nor to a lack of friendship against the loss of friends, nor by + abstention from procreation against the death of children, but to reason + against everything.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Diary, 1816.) +</pre> + <p> + 301. “I share deeply with you the righteous sorrow over the death of your + wife. It seems to me that such a parting, which confronts nearly every + married man, ought to keep one in the ranks of the unmarried.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (May 20, 1811, to Gottfried Hartel, of Leipzig.) +</pre> + <p> + 302. “He who is afflicted with a malady which he can not alter, but which + gradually brings him nearer and nearer to death, without which he would + have lived longer, ought to reflect that murder or another cause might + have killed him even more quickly.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Diary, 1812-18.) +</pre> + <p> + 303. “We finite ones with infinite souls are born only for sorrows and joy + and it might almost be said that the best of us receive joy through + sorrow.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (October 19, 1815, to Countess Erdody.) +</pre> + <p> + 304. “He is a base man who does not know how to die; I knew it as a boy of + fifteen.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (In the spring of 1816, to Miss Fanny Giannatasio del Rio, when +Beethoven felt ill and spoke of dying. It is not known that he was ever +near death in his youth.) +</pre> + <p> + 305. “A second and third generation recompenses me three and fourfold for + the ill-will which I had to endure from my former contemporaries.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Copied into his Diary from Goethe’s “West-ostlicher Divan.”) +</pre> + <p> + 306. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “My hour at last is come; + Yet not ingloriously or passively + I die, but first will do some valiant deed, + Of which mankind shall hear in after + time.”—Homer. +</pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (“The Iliad” [Bryant’s translation], Book XXII, 375-378.) +</pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Copied into his Diary, 1815.) +</pre> + <p> + 307. “Fate gave man the courage of endurance.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Diary, 1814.) +</pre> + <p> + 308. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Portia—How far that little candle throws his beams! + So shines a good deed in a naughty world.” + </pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Marked in his copy of Shakespeare’s “Merchant of Venice.”) +</pre> + <p> + 309. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “And on the day that one becomes a + slave, + The Thunderer, Jove, takes half his + worth away.”—Homer. +</pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (“The Odyssey” [Bryant’s translation], Book XVII, 392-393. Marked by +Beethoven.) +</pre> + <p> + 310. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Short is the life of man, and whoso + bears + A cruel heart, devising cruel things, + On him men call down evil from the + gods + While living, and pursue him, when he + dies, + With scoffs. But whoso is of generous + heart + And harbors generous aims, his guests + proclaim + His praises far and wide to all + mankind, + And numberless are they who call him + good.”—Homer. +</pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (“The Odyssey” [Bryant’s translation], Book XIX, 408-415. Copied into +his diary, 1818.) +</pre> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0015" id="link2H_4_0015"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + GOD + </h2> + <p> + Beethoven was through and through a religious man, though not in the + confessional sense. Reared in the Catholic faith he early attained to an + independent opinion on religious things. It must be borne in mind that his + youth fell in the period of enlightenment and rationalism. When at a later + date he composed the grand Mass in honor of his esteemed pupil Archduke + Rudolph,—he hoped to obtain from him a chapelmastership when the + Archduke became Archbishop of Olmutz, but in vain,—he gave it forms + and dimensions which deviated from the ritual. + </p> + <p> + In all things liberty was the fundamental principle of Beethoven’s life. + His favorite book was Sturm’s “Observations Concerning God’s Works in + Nature” (Betrachtungen uber die Werke Gottes in der Natur), which he + recommended to the priests for wide distribution among the people. He saw + the hand of God in even the most insignificant natural phenomenon. God was + to him the Supreme Being whom he had jubilantly hymned in the choral + portion of the Ninth Symphony in the words of Schiller: “Brothers, beyond + you starry canopy there must dwell a loving Father!” Beethoven’s + relationship to God was that of a child toward his loving father to whom + he confides all his joys as well as sorrows. + </p> + <p> + It is said that once he narrowly escaped excommunication for having said + that Jesus was only a poor human being and a Jew. Haydn, ingenuously + pious, is reported to have called Beethoven an atheist. + </p> + <p> + He consented to the calling in of a priest on his death-bed. Eye-witnesses + testify that the customary function was performed most impressively and + edifyingly and that Beethoven expressed his thanks to the officiating + priest with heartiness. After he had left the room Beethoven said to his + friends: “Plaudite, amici, comoedia finita est,” the phrase with which + antique dramas were concluded. From this fact the statement has been made + that Beethoven wished to characterize the sacrament of extreme unction as + a comedy. This is contradicted, however, by his conduct during its + administration. It is more probable that he wished to designate his life + as a drama; in this sense, at any rate, the words were accepted by his + friends. Schindler says emphatically: “The last days were in all respects + remarkable, and he looked forward to death with truly Socratic wisdom and + peace of mind.” + </p> + <p> + [I append a description of the death scene as I found it in the notebooks + of A. W. Thayer which were placed in my hands for examination after the + death of Beethoven’s greatest biographer in 1897: + </p> + <p> + “June 5, 1860, I was in Graz and saw Huttenbrenner (Anselm) who gave me + the following particulars: ...In the winter of 1826-27 his friends wrote + him from Vienna, that if he wished to see Beethoven again alive he must + hurry thither from Graz. He hastened to Vienna, arriving a few days before + Beethoven’s death. Early in the afternoon of March 26, Huttenbrenner went + into the dying man’s room. He mentioned as persons whom he saw there, + Stephen v. Breuning and Gerhard, Schindler, Telscher and Carl’s mother + (this seems to be a mistake, i.e. if Mrs. v. Beethoven is right). + Beethoven had then long been senseless. Telscher began drawing the dying + face of Beethoven. This grated on Breuning’s feelings, and he remonstrated + with him, and he put up his papers and left (?). + </p> + <p> + “Then Breuning and Schindler left to go out to Wohring to select a grave. + (Just after the five—I got this from Breuning himself—when it + grew dark with the sudden storm Gerhard, who had been standing at the + window, ran home to his teacher.) + </p> + <p> + “Afterward Gerhard v. B. went home, and there remained in the room only + Huttenbrenner and Mrs. van Beethoven. The storm passed over, covering the + Glacis with snow and sleet. As it passed away a flash of lightning lighted + up everything. This was followed by an awful clap of thunder. + Huttenbrenner had been sitting on the side of the bed sustaining + Beethoven’s head—holding it up with his right arm His breathing was + already very much impeded, and he had been for hours dying. At this + startling, awful peal of thunder, the dying man suddenly raised his head + from Huttenbrenner’s arm, stretched out his own right arm majestically—like + a general giving orders to an army. This was but for an instant; the arm + sunk back; he fell back. Beethoven was dead. + </p> + <p> + “Another talk with Huttenbrenner. It seems that Beethoven was at his last + gasp, one eye already closed. At the stroke of lightning and the thunder + peal he raised his arm with a doubled-up fist; the expression of his eyes + and face was that of one defying death,—a look of defiance and power + of resistance. + </p> + <p> + “He must have had his arm under the pillow. I must ask him. + </p> + <p> + “I did ask him; he had his arm around B.‘s neck.” H. E. K.] + </p> + <p> + 311. “I am that which is. I am all that was, that is, and that shall be. + No mortal man has ever lifted the veil of me. He is solely of himself, and + to this Only One all things owe their existence.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Beethoven’s creed. He had found it in Champollion’s “The Paintings +of Egypt,” where it is set down as an inscription on a temple to the +goddess Neith. Beethoven had his copy framed and kept it constantly +before him on his writing desk. “The relic was a great treasure in his +eyes”—Schindler.) +</pre> + <p> + 312. “Wrapped in the shadows of eternal solitude, in the impenetrable + darkness of the thicket, impenetrable, immeasurable, unapproachable, + formlessly extended. Before spirit was breathed (into things) his spirit + was, and his only. As mortal eyes (to compare finite and infinite things) + look into a shining mirror.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Copied, evidently, from an unidentified work, by Beethoven; though +possibly original with him.) +</pre> + <p> + 313. “It was not the fortuitous meeting of the chordal atoms that made the + world; if order and beauty are reflected in the constitution of the + universe, then there is a God.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Diary, 1816.) +</pre> + <p> + 314. “He who is above,—O, He is, and without Him there is nothing.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Diary.) +</pre> + <p> + 315. “Go to the devil with your ‘gracious Sir!’ There is only one who can + be called gracious, and that is God.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (About 1824 or 1825, to Rampel, a copyist, who, apparently, had been +a little too obsequious in his address to Beethoven. [As is customary +among the Viennese to this day. H. E. K.]) +</pre> + <p> + 316. “What is all this compared with the great Tonemaster above! above! + above! and righteously the Most High, whereas here below all is mockery,—dwarfs,—and + yet Most High!!” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (To Schott, publisher in Mayence, in 1822—the same year in which +Beethoven copied the Egyptian inscription.) +</pre> + <p> + 317. “There is no loftier mission than to approach the Divinity nearer + than other men, and to disseminate the divine rays among mankind.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (August, 1823, to Archduke Rudolph.) +</pre> + <p> + 318. “Heaven rules over the destiny of men and monsters (literally, human + and inhuman beings), and so it will guide me, too, to the better things of + life.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (September 11, 1811, to the poet Elsie von der Recke.) +</pre> + <p> + 319. “It’s the same with humanity; here, too (in suffering), he must show + his strength, i.e. endure without knowing or feeling his nullity, and + reach his perfection again for which the Most High wishes to make us + worthy.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (May 13, 1816, to Countess Erdody, who was suffering from incurable +lameness.) +</pre> + <p> + 320. “Religion and thorough-bass are settled things concerning which there + should be no disputing.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Reported by Schindler.) +</pre> + <p> + 331. “All things flowed clear and pure out of God. Though often darkly led + to evil by passion, I returned, through penance and purification to the + pure fountain,—to God,—and to your art. In this I was never + impelled by selfishness; may it always be so. The trees bend low under the + weight of fruit, the clouds descend when they are filled with salutary + rains, and the benefactors of humanity are not puffed up by their wealth.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Diary, 1815. The first portion seems to be a quotation, but Beethoven +continues after the dash most characteristically in his own words and a +change of person.) +</pre> + <p> + 322. “God is immaterial, and for this reason transcends every conception. + Since He is invisible He can have no form. But from what we observe in His + work we may conclude that He is eternal, omnipotent, omniscient and + omnipresent.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Copied, with the remark: “From Indian literature” from an unidentified +work, into the Diary of 1816.) +</pre> + <p> + 323. “In praise of Thy goodness I must confess that Thou didst try with + all Thy means to draw me to Thee. Sometimes it pleased Thee to let me feel + the heavy hand of Thy displeasure and to humiliate my proud heart by + manifold castigations. Sickness and misfortune didst Thou send upon me to + turn my thoughts to my errantries.—One thing, only, O Father, do I + ask: cease not to labor for my betterment. In whatsoever manner it be, let + me turn to Thee and become fruitful in good works.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + (Copied into the Diary from Sturm’s book, “Observations Concerning the +Works of God in Nature.”) +</pre> + <p> + <a name="link2H_APPE" id="link2H_APPE"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + APPENDIX + </h2> + <p> + Some observations may finally be acceptable touching Beethoven’s general + culture to which the thoughts of the reader must naturally have been + directed by the excerpts from his writings set forth in the preceding + pages. His own words betray the fact that he was not privileged to enjoy a + thorough school-training and was thus compelled to the end of his days to + make good the deficiencies in his learning. As a lad at Bonn he had + attended the so-called Tirocinium, a sort of preparatory school for the + Gymnasium, and acquired a small knowledge of Latin. Later he made great + efforts to acquire French, a language essential to intercourse in the + upper circles of society. He never established intimate relations with the + rules of German. He used small initials for substantives, or capitalized + verbs and adjectives according as they appeared important to him. His + punctuation was arbitrary; generally he drew a perpendicular line between + his words, letting it suffice for a comma or period as the case might be + (a proceeding which adds not a little to the embarrassments of him who + seeks to translate his sometimes mystical utterances). + </p> + <p> + It is said that a man’s bookcase bears evidence of his education and + intellectual interests. Beethoven also had books,—not many, but a + characteristic collection. From his faithful friend and voluntary servant + Schindler we have a report on this subject. Of the books of which he was + possessed at the time of his death there have been preserved four volumes + of translations of Shakespeare’s works, Homer’s “Odyssey” in the + translation of J. H. Voss, Sturm’s “Observations” (several times referred + to in the preceding pages), and Goethe’s “West-ostlicher Divan.” These + books are frequently marked and annotated in lead pencil, thus bearing + witness to the subjects which interested Beethoven. From them, and volumes + which he had borrowed, many passages were copied by him into his daily + journal. Besides these books Schindler mentions Homer’s “Iliad,” Goethe’s + poems, “Wilhelm Melster” and “Faust,” Schiller’s dramas and poems, + Tiedge’s “Urania,” volumes of poems by Matthisson and Seume, and Nina + d’Aubigny’s “Letters to Natalia on Singing,”—a book to which + Beethoven attached great value. These books have disappeared, as well as + others which Beethoven valued. We do not know what became of the volumes + of Plato, Aristotle, Plutarch and Xenophon, or the writings of Pliny, + Euripides, Quintilian, Ovid, Horace, Ossian, Milton and Thomson, traces of + which are found in Beethoven’s utterances. + </p> + <p> + The catalogue made for the auction sale of his posthumous effects on + September 7, 1827, included forty-four works of which the censorship + seized five as prohibited writings, namely, Seume’s “Foot Journey to + Syracuse,” the Apocrypha, Kotzebue’s “On the Nobility,” W.E. Muller’s + “Paris in its Zenith” (1816), and “Views on Religion and Ecclesiasticism.” + Burney’s “General History of Music” was also in his library, the gift, + probably of an English admirer. + </p> + <p> + In his later years Beethoven was obliged to use the oft-quoted + “conversation-books” in his intercourse with friends and strangers alike + who wrote down their questions. Of these little books Schindler preserved + no less than 134, which are now in the Royal Library in Berlin. Naturally + Beethoven answered the written questions orally as a rule. An idea of + Beethoven’s opinions can occasionally be gathered from the context of the + questions, but frequently we are left in the dark. + </p> + <p> + Beethoven’s own characterization of his deafness as “singular” is + significant. Often, even in his later years, he was able to hear a little + and for a time. One might almost speak of a periodical visitation of the + “demon.” In his biography Marx gives the following description of the + malady: “As early as 1816 it is found that he is incapable of conducting + his own works; in 1824 he could not hear the storm of applause from a + great audience; but in 1822 he still improvises marvelously in social + circles; in 1826 he studies their parts in the Ninth Symphony and Solemn + Mass with Sontag and Ungher, and in 1825 he listens critically to a + performance of the quartet in A-minor, op. 132.” + </p> + <p> + It is to be assumed that in such urgent cases his willpower temporarily + gave new tension to the gradually atrophying aural nerves (it is said that + he was still able to hear single or a few voices with his left ear but + could not apprehend masses), but this was not the case in less important + moments, as the conversation-books prove. In these books a few answers are + also written down, naturally enough in cases not intended for the ears of + strangers. At various times Beethoven kept a diary in which he entered his + most intimate thoughts, especially those designed for his own + encouragement. Many of these appear in the preceding pages. In these + instances more than in any others his expressions are obscure, detached + and, through indifference, faulty in construction. For the greater part + they are remarks thrown upon the paper in great haste. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + END OF THIS EDITION +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Beethoven: the Man and the Artist, by +Ludwig van Beethoven + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEETHOVEN: THE MAN AND THE ARTIST *** + +***** This file should be named 3528-h.htm or 3528-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/2/3528/ + +Produced by John Mamoun, Charles Franks, S. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Beethoven: the Man and the Artist + As Revealed in his own Words + +Author: Ludwig van Beethoven + +Editor: Friedrich Kerst and Henry Edward Krehbiel + +Posting Date: February 9, 2009 [EBook #3528] +Release Date: November, 2002 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEETHOVEN: THE MAN AND THE ARTIST *** + + + + +Produced by John Mamoun, Charles Franks, S. Morrison, R. +Zimmerman, Andrew Sly, and the Distributed Proofreaders Team + + + + + + +BEETHOVEN: THE MAN AND THE ARTIST, + +AS REVEALED IN HIS OWN WORDS + + +By Ludwig van Beethoven + + +Edited by Friedrich Kerst and Henry Edward Krehbiel + + + +This edition of "Beethoven: the Man and the Artist, as Revealed in his +own Words," was translated into English and published in 1905 by B.W. +Huebsch. It was also republished unabridged by Dover Publications, Inc., +in a 1964 edition, ISBN 0-486-21261-0. + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS: + + BRIEF BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH + PREFACE + CONCERNING ART + LOVE OF NATURE + CONCERNING TEXTS + ON COMPOSING + ON PERFORMING MUSIC + ON HIS OWN WORKS + ON ART AND ARTISTS + BEETHOVEN AS CRITIC + ON EDUCATION + ON HIS OWN DISPOSITION AND CHARACTER + THE SUFFERER + WORLDLY WISDOM + GOD + APPENDIX + + + + +BRIEF BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH + + +Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) is widely considered to be one of the +pre-eminent classical music figures of the Western world. This German +musical genius created numerous works that are firmly entrenched in the +repertoire. Except for a weakness in composing vocal and operatic music +(to which he himself admitted, notwithstanding a few vocal works like +the opera "Fidelio" and the song "Adelaide,"), Beethoven had complete +mastery of the artform. He left his stamp in 9 symphonies, 5 piano +concertos, 10 violin sonatas, 32 piano sonatas, numerous string quartets +and dozens of other key works. Many of his works are ingeniously +imaginative and innovative, such as his 3rd symphony (the "Eroica"), his +9th Violin Sonata (the "Kreutzer"), his "Waldstein" piano sonata, his +4th and 5th piano concertos, or his "Grosse Fugue" for string quartet. +(Of course, each of Beethoven's works adds its own unique detail to +Beethoven's grand musical paradigm.) + +It is difficult to sum up briefly what his musical works represent or +symbolize, since taken together they encompass a vast system of thought. +Generally, however, those who apprehend his music sense that it reflects +their own personal yearnings and sufferings. It egoistically, and always +intelligently, "discusses" with its listener his or her feelings in the +wake of personal failure and personal triumph, from the lowest depths +of despair to the highest heights of happy or triumphant fulfillment. +In his music, he represents the feelings felt by those attempting to +achieve their goals within their societies, whether they are competing +for love, status, money, power, mates and/or any other things +individuals feel naturally inclined to attempt to acquire. + +In a thematic sense, Beethoven does not promote anarchist ideas. The +listener cannot, in listening to Beethoven's music, apprehend ideas +which, if applied, would compromise the welfare of his society. The +music is thus "civically responsible," as is the music of Bach or +Mozart. For Beethoven, the society exists as a bulwark with which the +individual must function in harmony, or at least not function such as +to harm or destroy it. And, should the society marginalize or hurt +the individual, as it often does, the individual must, according to +Beethoven, humbly accept this, never considering the alternative act +of attempting to harm or destroy the society in the wake of his or her +personal frustrations. But, thanks to Beethoven, such an individual +is provided with the means to sooth his or her misery in the wake of +feeling "hurt" at the hands of society. The means is this music and +the euphoric pleasure that it can provide to minds possessing the +psycho-intellectual "wiring" needed to apprehend it. + +Some post-World-War-II composers, such as the late, LSD-using John Cage, +reject the music of Beethoven because of its predominant reliance on +"beauty" as way of communicating idealized concepts. Also, since the +music intimately reflects the cravings and thought-processes of +the natural human mind, which in numerous ways is emotionally and +intellectually irrational, the music may itself be consequently +irrational. + +The following book consists of brief biographical commentaries about +Beethoven, each followed by sections of quotations attributed to the +muse. In these quotes, Beethoven demonstrates his intense preoccupation +(or obsession) with thinking artistically and intelligently, and with +helping to alleviate man's suffering by providing man with musical +artworks that could enlighten him, so as to become educated enough to +pull himself out of his misery. He felt immediate, strong disdain at any +artistic statement that was not truly intelligent and artistic, such +as, in his view, the music of Rossini. Although not prudish, he had +high standards when it came to marriage, and was morally against +"reproductory pleasure" for its own sake, or any form of adultery. He +never married. Interestingly, experimental psychologists have discovered +that people who have an intense love of humanity or are preoccupied with +working to serve humanity tend to have difficulty forming intimate bonds +with people on a personal level. + + + + ***** + + + + +PREFACE + + +This little book came into existence as if it were by chance. The +author had devoted himself for a long time to the study of Beethoven and +carefully scrutinized all manner of books, publications, manuscripts, +etc., in order to derive the greatest possible information about the +hero. He can say confidently that he conned every existing publication +of value. His notes made during his readings grew voluminous, and also +his amazement at the wealth of Beethoven's observations comparatively +unknown to his admirers because hidden away, like concealed violets, in +books which have been long out of print and for whose reproduction there +is no urgent call. These observations are of the utmost importance for +the understanding of Beethoven, in whom man and artist are inseparably +united. Within the pages of this little book are included all of them +which seemed to possess value, either as expressions of universal +truths or as evidence of the character of Beethoven or his compositions. +Beethoven is brought more directly before our knowledge by these his own +words than by the diffuse books which have been written about him. For +this reason the compiler has added only the necessary explanatory notes, +and (on the advice of professional friends) the remarks introductory to +the various subdivisions of the book. He dispensed with a biographical +introduction; there are plenty of succinct biographies, which set forth +the circumstances of the master's life easily to be had. Those who wish +to penetrate farther into the subject would do well to read the great +work by Thayer, the foundation of all Beethoven biography (in the new +revision now making by Deiters), or the critical biography by Marx, as +revised by Behncke. In sifting the material it was found that it fell +naturally into thirteen subdivisions. In arranging the succession +of utterances care was had to group related subjects. By this means +unnecessary interruptions in the train of thought were avoided and +interesting comparisons made possible. To this end it was important that +time, place and circumstances of every word should be conscientiously +set down. + +Concerning the selection of material let it be said that in all cases +of doubt the authenticity of every utterance was proved; Beethoven is +easily recognizable in the form and contents of his sayings. Attention +must be directed to two matters in particular: after considerable +reflection the compiler decided to include in the collection a few +quotations which Beethoven copied from books which he read. From the +fact that he took the trouble to write them down, we may assume that +they had a fascination for him, and were greeted with lively emotion as +being admirable expressions of thoughts which had moved him. They are +very few, and the fact that they are quotations is plainly indicated. By +copying them into his note-books Beethoven as much as stored them away +in the thesaurus of his thoughts, and so they may well have a place +here. A word touching the use of the three famous letters to Bettina +von Arnim, the peculiarities of which differentiate them from the entire +mass of Beethoven's correspondence and compel an inquiry into their +genuineness: As a correspondent Bettina von Arnim has a poor reputation +since the discovery of her pretty forgery, "Goethes Briefwechsel mit +einem Kinde" (Goethe's Correspondence with a Child). In this alleged +"Correspondence" she made use of fragmentary material which was genuine, +pieced it out with her own inventions, and even went so far as to +turn into letters poems written by Goethe to her and other women. The +genuineness of a poem by Beethoven to Bettina is indubitable; it will +be found in the chapter entitled "Concerning Texts." Doubt was thrown on +the letters immediately on their appearance in 1839. + +Bettina could have dissipated all suspicion had she produced the +originals and remained silent. One letter, however, that dated February +10, 1811, afterward came to light. Bettina had given it to Philipp von +Nathusius. It had always been thought the most likely one, of the set +to be authentic; the compiler has therefore, used it without hesitation. +From the other letters, in which a mixture of the genuine and the +fictitious must be assumed so long as the originals are not produced, +passages have been taken which might have been thus constructed by +Beethoven. On the contrary, the voluminous communications of Bettina +to Goethe, in which she relates her conversations with Beethoven, were +scarcely used. It is significant, so far as these are concerned, that, +according to Bettina's own statement, when she read the letter to him +before sending it off, Beethoven cried out, "Did I really say that? If +so I must have had a raptus." + +In conclusion the compiler directs attention to the fact that in a few +cases utterances which have been transmitted to us only in an indirect +form have been altered to present them in a direct form, in as much +as their contents seemed too valuable to omit simply because their +production involved a trifling change in form. + +--Elberfeld, October, 1904. Fr. K. + + + + +CONCERNING ART + + +Beethoven's relation to art might almost be described as personal. Art +was his goddess to whom he made petition, to whom he rendered thanks, +whom he defended. He praised her as his savior in times of despair; +by his own confession it was only the prospect of her comforts that +prevented him from laying violent hands on himself. Read his words +and you shall find that it was his art that was his companion in his +wanderings through field and forest, the sharer of the solitude to which +his deafness condemned him. The concepts Nature and Art were intimately +bound up in his mind. His lofty and idealistic conception of art led him +to proclaim the purity of his goddess with the hot zeal of a priestly +fanatic. Every form of pseudo or bastard art stirred him with hatred to +the bottom of his soul; hence his furious onslaughts on mere virtuosity +and all efforts from influential sources to utilize art for other than +purely artistic purposes. And his art rewarded his devotion richly; she +made his sorrowful life worth living with gifts of purest joy: + +"To Beethoven music was not only a manifestation of the beautiful, an +art, it was akin to religion. He felt himself to be a prophet, a seer. +All the misanthropy engendered by his unhappy relations with mankind, +could not shake his devotion to this ideal which had sprung in to +Beethoven from truest artistic apprehension and been nurtured by +enforced introspection and philosophic reflection." + + + ("Music and Manners," page 237. H. E. K.) + + +1. "'Tis said, that art is long, and life but fleeting:--Nay; life is +long, and brief the span of art; If e're her breath vouchsafes with gods +a meeting, A moment's favor 'tis of which we've had a part." + + + (Conversation-book, March, 1820. Probably a quotation.) + + +2. "The world is a king, and, like a king, desires flattery in return +for favor; but true art is selfish and perverse--it will not submit to +the mould of flattery." + + + (Conversation-book, March, 1820. When Baron van Braun expressed the +opinion that the opera "Fidelio" would eventually win the enthusiasm of +the upper tiers, Beethoven said, "I do not write for the galleries!" He +never permitted himself to be persuaded to make concessions to the taste +of the masses.) + + +3. "Continue to translate yourself to the heaven of art; there is no +more undisturbed, unmixed, purer happiness than may thus be attained." + + + (August 19, 1817, to Xavier Schnyder, who vainly sought instruction from +Beethoven in 1811, though he was pleasantly received.) + + +4. "Go on; do not practice art alone but penetrate to her heart; she +deserves it, for art and science only can raise man to godhood." + + + (Teplitz, July 17, 1812, to his ten years' old admirer, Emilie M. in H.) + + +5. "True art is imperishable and the true artist finds profound delight +in grand productions of genius." + + + (March 15, 1823, to Cherubini, to whom he also wrote, "I prize your +works more than all others written for the stage." The letter asked +Cherubini to interest himself in obtaining a subscription from King +Louis XVIII for the Solemn Mass in D). + +[Cherubini declared that he had never received the letter. That it +was not only the hope of obtaining a favor which prompted Beethoven to +express so high an admiration for Cherubini, is plain from a remark made +by the English musician Cipriani Potter to A. W. Thayer in 1861. I found +it in Thayer's note-books which were placed in my hands for examination +after his death. + +One day Potter asked, "Who is the greatest living composer, yourself +excepted?" Beethoven seemed puzzled for a moment, and then exclaimed, +"Cherubini." H. E. K.] + +6. "Truth exists for the wise; beauty for the susceptible heart. They +belong together--are complementary." + + + (Written in the autograph book of his friend, Lenz von Breuning, in +1797.) + + +7. "When I open my eyes, a sigh involuntarily escapes me, for all that I +see runs counter to my religion; perforce I despise the world which does +not intuitively feel that music is a higher revelation than all wisdom +and philosophy." + + + (Remark made to Bettina von Arnim, in 1810, concerning Viennese society. +Report in a letter by Bettina to Goethe on May 28, 1810.) + + +8. "Art! Who comprehends her? With whom can one consult concerning this +great goddess?" + + + (August 11, 1810, to Bettina von Arnim.) + + +9. "In the country I know no lovelier delight than quartet music." + + + (To Archduke Rudolph, in a letter addressed to Baden on July 24, 1813.) + + +10. "Nothing but art, cut to form like old-fashioned hoop-skirts. I +never feel entirely well except when I am among scenes of unspoiled +nature." + + + (September 24, 1826, to Breuning, while promenading with Breuning's +family in the Schonbrunner Garden, after calling attention to the alleys +of trees "trimmed like walls, in the French manner.") + + +11. "Nature knows no quiescence; and true art walks with her hand +in hand; her sister--from whom heaven forefend us!--is called +artificiality." + + + (From notes in the lesson book of Archduke Rudolph, following some +remarks on the expansion of the expressive capacity of music.) + + + + + +LOVE OF NATURE + + +Beethoven was a true son of the Rhine in his love for nature. As a boy +he had taken extended trips, sometimes occupying days, with his father +"through the Rhenish localities ever lastingly dear to me." In his days +of physical health Nature was his instructress in art; "I may not come +without my banner," he used to say when he set out upon his wanderings +even in his latest years, and never without his note books. In the +scenes of nature he found his marvelous motives and themes; brook, birds +and tree sang to him. In a few special cases he has himself recorded the +fact. + +But when he was excluded more and more from communion with his fellow +men because of his increasing deafness, until, finally, he could +communicate only by writing with others (hence the conversation-books, +which will be cited often in this little volume), he fled for refuge to +nature. Out in the woods he again became naively happy; to him the woods +were a Holy of Holies, a Home of the Mysteries. Forest and mountain-vale +heard his sighs; there he unburdened his heavy-laden heart. When his +friends need comfort he recommends a retreat to nature. Nearly every +summer he leaves hot and dusty Vienna and seeks a quiet spot in the +beautiful neighborhood. To call a retired and reposeful little spot his +own is his burning desire. + + + +12. On the Kahlenberg, 1812, end of September: + + Almighty One + In the woods + I am blessed. + Happy every one + In the woods. + Every tree speaks + Through Thee. + + O God! + What glory in the + Woodland. + On the Heights + is Peace,-- + Peace to serve + Him-- + + + (This poetic exclamation, accompanied by a few notes, is on a page of +music paper owned by Joseph Joachim.) + + +13. "How happy I am to be able to wander among bushes and herbs, under +trees and over rocks; no man can love the country as I love it. Woods, +trees and rocks send back the echo that man desires." + + + (To Baroness von Drossdick.) + + +14. "O God! send your glance into beautiful nature and comfort your +moody thoughts touching that which must be." + + + (To the "Immortal Beloved," July 6, in the morning.) + + +[Thayer has spoiled the story so long believed, and still spooking +in the books of careless writers, that the "Immortal Beloved" was the +Countess Giulietta Guicciardi, to whom the C-sharp minor sonata is +dedicated. The real person to whom the love-letters were addressed was +the Countess Brunswick to whom Beethoven was engaged to be married when +he composed the fourth Symphony. H. E. K.] + + +15. "My miserable hearing does not trouble me here. In the country it +seems as if every tree said to me: 'Holy! holy!' Who can give complete +expression to the ecstasy of the woods! O, the sweet stillness of the +woods!" + + + (July, 1814; he had gone to Baden after the benefit performance of +"Fidelio.") + + +16. "My fatherland, the beautiful locality in which I saw the light of +the world, appears before me vividly and just as beautiful as when I +left you; I shall count it the happiest experience of my life when I +shall again be able to see you, and greet our Father Rhine." + + + (Vienna, June 29, to Wegeler, in Bonn.) + + +[In 1825 Beethoven said to his pupil Ries, "Fare well in the Rhine +country which is ever dear to me," and in 1826 wrote to Schott, the +publisher in Mayence, about the "Rhine country which I so long to see +again."] + +17. "Bruhl, at 'The Lamb'--how lovely to see my native country again!" + + + (Diary, 1812-1818.) + + +18. "A little house here, so small as to yield one's self a little +room,--only a few days in this divine Bruehl,--longing or desire, +emancipation or fulfillment." + + + (Written in 1816 in Bruehl near Modling among the sketches for the +Scherzo of the pianoforte sonata op. 10.) + + +[Like many another ejaculatory remark of Beethoven's, it is difficult to +understand. See Appendix. H. E. K.] + +19. "When you reach the old ruins, think that Beethoven often paused +there; if you wander through the mysterious fir forests, think that. +Beethoven often poetized, or, as is said, composed there." + + + (In the fall of 1817, to Mme. Streicher, who was at a cure in Baden.) + + +20. "Nature is a glorious school for the heart! It is well; I shall be a +scholar in this school and bring an eager heart to her instruction. Here +I shall learn wisdom, the only wisdom that is free from disgust; here I +shall learn to know God and find a foretaste of heaven in His knowledge. +Among these occupations my earthly days shall flow peacefully along +until I am accepted into that world where I shall no longer be a +student, but a knower of wisdom." + + + (Copied into his diary, in 1818, from Sturm's "Betrachtungen uber die +Werke Gottes in der Natur.") + + +21. "Soon autumn will be here. Then I wish to be like unto a fruitful +tree which pours rich stores of fruit into our laps! But in the winter +of existence, when I shall be gray and sated with life, I desire for +myself the good fortune that my repose be as honorable and beneficent as +the repose of nature in the winter time." + + + (Copied from the same work of Sturm's.) + + + + + +CONCERNING TEXTS + + +Not even a Beethoven was spared the tormenting question of texts for +composition. It is fortunate for posterity that he did not exhaust his +energies in setting inefficient libretti, that he did not believe that +good music would suffice to command success in spite of bad texts. The +majority of his works belong to the field of purely instrumental music. +Beethoven often gave expression to the belief that words were a less +capable medium of proclamation for feelings than music. Nevertheless +it may be observed that he looked upon an opera, or lyric drama, as the +crowning work of his life. He was in communication with the best poets +of his time concerning opera texts. A letter of his on the subject was +found in the blood-spotted pocketbook of Theodor Komer. The conclusion +of his creative labors was to be a setting of Goethe's "Faust;" except +"Fidelio," however, he gave us no opera. His songs are not many although +he sought carefully for appropriate texts. Unhappily the gift of poetry +was not vouchsafed him. + + +22. "Always the same old story: the Germans can not put together a good +libretto." + + + (To C. M. von Weber, concerning the book of "Euryanthe," at Baden, in +October, 1823. Mozart said: "Verses are the most indispensable thing for +music, but rhymes, for the sake of rhymes, the most injurious. Those who +go to work so pedantically will assuredly come to grief, along with the +music.") + + +23. "It is difficult to find a good poem. Grillparzer has promised to +write one for me,--indeed, he has already written one; but we can not +understand each other. I want something entirely different than he." + + + (In the spring of 1825, to Ludwig Rellstab, who was intending to write +an opera-book for Beethoven. It may not be amiss to recall the fact +that Mozart examined over one hundred librettos, according to his own +statement, before he decided to compose "The Marriage of Figaro.") + + +24. "It is the duty of every composer to be familiar with all poets, old +and new, and himself choose the best and most fitting for his purposes." + + + (In a recommendation of Kandler's "Anthology.") + + +25. "The genre would give me little concern provided the subject were +attractive to me. It must be such that I can go to work on it with love +and ardor. I could not compose operas like 'Don Juan' and 'Figaro;' +toward them I feel too great a repugnance. I could never have chosen +such subjects; they are too frivolous." + + + (In the spring of 1825, to Ludwig Rellstab.) + + +26. "I need a text which stimulates me; it must be something moral, +uplifting. Texts such as Mozart composed I should never have been +able to set to music. I could never have got myself into a mood for +licentious texts. I have received many librettos, but, as I have said, +none that met my wishes." + + + (To young Gerhard von Breuning.) + + +27. "I know the text is extremely bad, but after one has conceived +an entity out of even a bad text, it is difficult to make changes in +details without disturbing the unity. If it is a single word, on which +occasionally great weight is laid, it must be permitted to stand. He is +a bad author who can not, or will not try to make something as good +as possible; if this is not the case petty changes will certainly not +improve the whole." + + + (Teplitz, August 23, 1811, to Hartel, the publisher, who wanted some +changes made in the hook of "The Mount of Olives.") + + +28. "Good heavens! Do they think in Saxony that the words make good +music? If an inappropriate word can spoil the music, which is true, then +we ought to be glad when we find that words and music are one and +not try to improve matters even if the verbal expression is +commonplace--dixi." + + + (January 28, to Gottfried Hartel, who had undertaken to make changes in +the book of "The Mount of Olives" despite the prohibition of Beethoven.) + + +29. "Goethe's poems exert a great power over me not only because of +their contents but also because of their rhythms; I am stimulated to +compose by this language, which builds itself up to higher orders as +if through spiritual agencies, and bears in itself the secret of +harmonies." + + + (Reported as an expression of Beethoven's by Bettina von Arnim to +Goethe.) + + +30. "Schiller's poems are difficult to set to music. The composer must +be able to rise far above the poet. Who can do that in the case of +Schiller? In this respect Goethe is much easier." + + + (1809, after Beethoven had made his experiences with the "Hymn to Joy" +and "Egmont.") + + + + + +ON COMPOSING + + +Wiseacres not infrequently accused Beethoven of want of regularity in +his compositions. In various ways and at divers times he gave vigorous +utterance to his opinions of such pedantry. He was not the most +tractable of pupils, especially in Vienna, where, although he was +highly praised as a player, he took lessons in counterpoint from +Albrechtsberger. He did not endure long with Papa Haydn. He detested the +study of fugue in particular; the fugue was to him a symbol of narrow +coercion which choked all emotion. Mere formal beauty, moreover, was +nothing to him. Over and over again he emphasizes soul, feeling, +direct and immediate life, as the first necessity of an art work. It +is therefore not strange that under certain circumstances he ignored +conventional forms in sonata and symphony. An irrepressible impulse +toward freedom is the most prominent peculiarity of the man and artist +Beethoven; nearly all of his observations, no matter what their subject, +radiate the word "Liberty." In his remarks about composing there is a +complete exposition of his method of work. + + +31. "As regards me, great heavens! my dominion is in the air; the tones +whirl like the wind, and often there is a like whirl in my soul." + + + (February 13, 1814, to Count Brunswick, in Buda.) + + +32. "Then the loveliest themes slipped out of your eyes into my heart, +themes which shall only then delight the world when Beethoven conducts +no longer." + + + (August 15, 1812, to Bettina von Arnim.) + + +33. "I always have a picture in my mind when composing, and follow its +lines." + + + (In 1815, to Neate, while promenading with him in Baden and talking +about the "Pastoral" symphony.) + + +[Ries relates: "While composing Beethoven frequently thought of an +object, although he often laughed at musical delineation and scolded +about petty things of the sort. In this respect 'The Creation' and 'The +Seasons' were many times a butt, though without depreciation of Haydn's +loftier merits. Haydn's choruses and other works were loudly praised by +Beethoven."] + +34. "The texts which you sent me are least of all fitted for song. The +description of a picture belongs to the field of painting; in this the +poet can count himself more fortunate than my muse for his territory +is not so restricted as mine in this respect, though mine, on the +other hand, extends into other regions, and my dominion is not easily +reached." + + + (Nussdorf, July 15, 1817, to Wilhelm Gerhard, who had sent him some +Anacreontic songs for composition.) + + +35. "Carried too far, all delineation in instrumental music loses in +efficiency." + + + (A remark in the sketches for the "Pastoral" symphony, preserved in the +Royal Library in Berlin.) + + +[Mozart said: "Even in the most terrifying moments music must never +offend the ear."] + +36. "Yes, yes, then they are amazed and put their heads together because +they never found it in any book on thorough bass." + + + (To Ries when the critics accused him of making grammatical blunders in +music.) + + +37. "No devil can compel me to write only cadences of such a kind." + + + (From notes written in his years of study. Beethoven called the +composition of fugues "the art of making musical skeletons.") + + +38. "Good singing was my guide; I strove to write as flowingly as +possible and trusted in my ability to justify myself before the +judgment-seat of sound reason and pure taste." + + + (From notes in the instruction book of Archduke Rudolph.) + + +39. "Does he believe that I think of a wretched fiddle when the spirit +speaks to me?" + + + (To his friend, the admirable violinist Schuppanzigh, when the latter +complained of the difficulty of a passage in one of his works.) + + +[Beethoven here addresses his friend in the third person, which is the +customary style of address for the German nobility and others towards +inferiors in rank. H. E. K.] + +40. "The Scotch songs show how unconstrainedly irregular melodies can be +treated with the help of harmony." + + + (Diary, 1812-1818. Since 1809 Beethoven had arranged Folksongs for +Thomson of Edinburgh.) + + +41. "To write true church music, look through the old monkish chorals, +etc., also the most correct translations of the periods, and perfect +prosody in the Catholic Psalms and hymns generally." + + + (Diary, 1818.) + + +42. "Many assert that every minor piece must end in the minor. Nego! On +the contrary I find that in the soft scales the major third at the +close has a glorious and uncommonly quieting effect. Joy follows sorrow, +sunshine--rain. It affects me as if I were looking up to the silvery +glistering of the evening star." + + + (From Archduke Rudolph's book of instruction.) + + +43. "Rigorists, and devotees of antiquity, relegate the perfect fourth +to the list of dissonances. Tastes differ. To my ear it gives not the +least offence combined with other tones." + + + (From Archduke Rudolph's book of instruction, compiled in 1809.) + + +44. "When the gentlemen can think of nothing new, and can go no further, +they quickly call in a diminished seventh chord to help them out of the +predicament." + + + (A remark made to Schindler.) + + +45. "My dear boy, the startling effects which many credit to the natural +genius of the composer, are often achieved with the greatest ease by the +use and resolution of the diminished seventh chords." + + + (Reported by Karl Friederich Hirsch, a pupil of Beethoven in the winter +of 1816. He was a grandson of Albrechtsberger who had given lessons to +Beethoven.) + + +46. "In order to become a capable composer one must have already learned +harmony and counterpoint at the age of from seven to eleven years, +so that when the fancy and emotions awake one shall know what to do +according to the rules." + + + (Reported by Schindler as having been put into the mouth of Beethoven by +a newspaper of Vienna. Schindler says: "When Beethoven came to Vienna he +knew no counterpoint, and little harmony.") + + +47. "So far as mistakes are concerned it was never necessary for me to +learn thorough-bass; my feelings were so sensitive from childhood that +I practiced counterpoint without knowing that it must be so or could be +otherwise." + + + (Note on a sheet containing directions for the use of fourths in +suspensions--probably intended for the instruction of Archduke Rudolph.) + + +48. "Continue, Your Royal Highness, to write down briefly your +occasional ideas while at the pianoforte. For this a little table +alongside the pianoforte is necessary. By this means not only is the +fancy strengthened, but one learns to hold fast in a moment the +most remote conceptions. It is also necessary to compose without the +pianoforte; say often a simple chord melody, with simple harmonies, then +figurate according to the rules of counterpoint, and beyond them; this +will give Y. R. H. no headache, but, on the contrary, feeling yourself +thus in the midst of art, a great pleasure." + + + (July 1, 1823, to his pupil Archduke Rudolph.) + + + +49. "The bad habit, which has clung to me from childhood, of always +writing down a musical thought which occurs to me, good or bad, has +often been harmful to me." + + + (July 23, 1815, to Archduke Rudolph, while excusing himself for not +having visited H.R.H., on the ground that he had been occupied in noting +a musical idea which had occurred to him.) + + +50. "As is my habit, the pianoforte part of the concerto (op. 19) was +not written out in the score; I have just written it, wherefore, +in order to expedite matters, you receive it in my not too legible +handwriting." + + + (April 22, 1801, to the publisher Hofmeister, in Leipzig.) + + +51. "Correspondence, as you know, was never my forte; some of my best +friends have not had a letter from me in years. I live only in my notes +(compositions), and one is scarcely finished when another is begun. As I +am working now I often compose three, even four, pieces simultaneously." + + + (Vienna, June 29, 1800, to Wegeler, in Bonn.) + + +52. "I never write a work continuously, without interruption. I +am always working on several at the same time, taking up one, then +another." + + + (June 1, 1816, to Medical Inspector Dr. Karl von Bursy, when the latter +asked about an opera (the book by Berge, sent to Beethoven by Amenda), +which was never written.) + + +53. "I must accustom myself to think out at once the whole, as soon as +it shows itself, with all the voices, in my head." + + + (Note in a sketch-book of 1810, containing studies for the music to +"Egmont" and the great Trio in B-flat, op. 97. H. E. K.) + + +54. "I carry my thoughts about me for a long time, often a very long +time, before I write them down; meanwhile my memory is so faithful that +I am sure never to forget, not even in years, a theme that has once +occurred to me. I change many things, discard, and try again until I +am satisfied. Then, however, there begins in my head the development +in every direction, and, in as much as I know exactly what I want, the +fundamental idea never deserts me,--it arises before me, grows,--I see +and hear the picture in all its extent and dimensions stand before my +mind like a cast, and there remains for me nothing but the labor of +writing it down, which is quickly accomplished when I have the time, for +I sometimes take up other work, but never to the confusion of one with +the other. + +"You will ask me where I get my ideas. That I cannot tell you with +certainty; they come unsummoned, directly, indirectly,--I could seize +them with my hands,--out in the open air; in the woods; while walking; +in the silence of the nights; early in the morning; incited by moods, +which are translated by the poet into words, by me into tones that +sound, and roar and storm about me until I have set them down in notes." + + + (Said to Louis Schlosser, a young musician, whom Beethoven honored with +his friendship in 1822-23.) + + +55. "On the whole, the carrying out of several voices in strict +relationship mutually hinders their progress." + + + (Fall of 1812, in the Diary of 1812-18.) + + +56. "Few as are the claims which I make upon such things I shall still +accept the dedication of your beautiful work with pleasure. You ask, +however, that I also play the part of a critic, without thinking that +I must myself submit to criticism! With Voltaire I believe that 'a few +fly-bites can not stop a spirited horse.' In this respect I beg of you +to follow my example. In order not to approach you surreptitiously, but +openly as always, I say that in future works of the character you might +give more heed to the individualization of the voices." + + + (Vienna, May 10, 1826. To whom the letter was sent is not known, though +from the manner of address it is plain that he was of the nobility.) + + +57. "Your variations show talent, but I must fault you for having +changed the theme. Why? What man loves must not be taken away from +him;--moreover to do this is to make changes before variations." + + + (Baden, July 6, 1804, to Wiedebein, a teacher of music in Brunswick.) + + +58. "I am not in the habit of rewriting my compositions. I never did it +because I am profoundly convinced that every change of detail changes +the character of the whole." + + + (February 19, 1813, to George Thomson, who had requested some changes in +compositions submitted to him for publication.) + + +59. "One must not hold one's self so divine as to be unwilling +occasionally to make improvements in one's creations." + + + (March 4, 1809, to Breitkopf and Hartel, when indicating a few changes +which he wished to have made in the symphonies op. 67 and op. 68.) + + +60. "The unnatural rage for transcribing pianoforte pieces for string +instruments (instruments that are in every respect so different from +each other) ought to end. I stoutly maintain that only Mozart could have +transcribed his own works, and Haydn; and without putting myself on a +level with these great men I assert the same thing about my pianoforte +sonatas. Not only must entire passages be elided and changed, but +additions must be made; and right here lies the rock of offence to +overcome which one must be the master of himself or be possessed of +the same skill and inventiveness. I transcribed but a single sonata for +string quartet, and I am sure that no one will easily do it after me." + + + (July 13, 1809, in an announcement of several compositions, among them +the quintet op. 29.) + + +61. "Were it not that my income brings in nothing, I should compose +nothing but grand symphonies, church music, or, at the outside, quartets +in addition." + + + (December 20, 1822, to Peters, publisher, in Leipzig. His income had +been reduced from 4,000 to 800 florins by the depreciation of Austrian +currency.) + + +[Here, in the original, is one of the puns which Beethoven was fond of +making: "Ware mein Gehalt nicht ganzlich ohne Gehalt." H. E. K.] + + + + + +ON PERFORMING MUSIC + + +While reading Beethoven's views on the subject of how music ought to be +performed, it is but natural to inquire about his own manner of playing. +On this point Ries, his best pupil, reports: + +"In general Beethoven played his own compositions very capriciously, yet +he adhered, on the whole, strictly to the beat and only at times, but +seldom, accelerated the tempo a trifle. Occasionally he would retard +the tempo in a crescendo, which produced a very beautiful and striking +effect. While playing he would give a passage, now in the right hand, +now in the left, a beautiful expression which was simply inimitable; but +it was rarely indeed that he added a note or an ornament." + +Of his playing when still a young man one of his hearers said that it +was in the slow movements particularly that it charmed everybody. Almost +unanimously his contemporaries give him the palm for his improvisations. +Ries says: + +"His extemporizations were the most extraordinary things that one could +hear. No artist that I ever heard came at all near the height which +Beethoven attained. The wealth of ideas which forced themselves on him, +the caprices to which he surrendered himself, the variety of treatment, +the difficulties, were inexhaustible." + +His playing was not technically perfect. He let many a note "fall under +the table," but without marring the effect of his playing. Concerning +this we have a remark of his own in No. 75. Somewhat critical is +Czerny's report: + +"Extraordinary as his extempore playing was it was less successful in +the performance of printed compositions; for, since he never took the +time or had the patience to practice anything, his success depended +mostly on chance and mood; and since, also, his manner of playing +as well as composing was ahead of his time, the weak and imperfect +pianofortes of his time could not withstand his gigantic style. It was +because of this that Hummel's purling and brilliant manner of play, well +adapted to the period, was more intelligible and attractive to the great +public. But Beethoven's playing in adagios and legato, in the sustained +style, made an almost magical impression on every hearer, and, so far +as I know, it has never been surpassed." Czerny's remark about the +pianofortes of Beethoven's day explains Beethoven's judgment on his +own pianoforte sonatas. He composed for the sonorous pianoforte of the +future,--the pianoforte building today. + +The following anecdote, told by Czerny, will be read with pleasure. +Pleyel, a famous musician, came to Vienna from Paris in 1805, and +had his latest quartets performed in the palace of Prince Lobkowitz. +Beethoven was present and was asked to play something. "As usual, he +submitted to the interminable entreaties and finally was dragged almost +by force to the pianoforte by the ladies. Angrily he tears the second +violin part of one of the Pleyel quartets from the music-stand where it +still lay open, throws it upon the rack of the pianoforte, and begins +to improvise. We had never heard him extemporize more brilliantly, with +more originality or more grandly than on that evening. + +"But throughout the entire improvisation there ran in the middle voices, +like a thread, or cantus firmus, the insignificant notes, wholly +insignificant in themselves, which he found on the page of the quartet, +which by chance lay open on the music-stand; on them he built up the +most daring melodies and harmonies, in the most brilliant concert style. +Old Pleyel could only give expression to his amazement by kissing his +hands. After such improvisations Beethoven was wont to break out into a +loud and satisfied laugh." + +Czerny says further of his playing: "In rapidity of scale passages, +trills, leaps, etc., no one equaled him,--not even Hummel. His attitude +at the pianoforte was perfectly quiet and dignified, with no approach to +grimace, except to bend down a little towards the keys as his deafness +increased; his fingers were very powerful, not long, and broadened at +the tips by much playing; for he told me often that in his youth he had +practiced stupendously, mostly till past midnight. In teaching he laid +great stress on a correct position of the fingers (according to the +Emanuel Bach method, in which he instructed me); he himself could barely +span a tenth. He made frequent use of the pedal, much more frequently +than is indicated in his compositions. His reading of the scores of +Handel and Gluck and the fugues of Bach was unique, inasmuch as he put a +polyphony and spirit into the former which gave the works a new form." + +In his later years the deaf master could no longer hear his own playing +which therefore came to have a pitifully painful effect. Concerning his +manner of conducting, Seyfried says: "It would no wise do to make our +master a model in conducting, and the orchestra had to take great care +lest it be led astray by its mentor; for he had an eye only for his +composition and strove unceasingly by means of manifold gesticulations +to bring out the expression which he desired. Often when he reached a +forte he gave a violent down beat even if the note were an unaccented +one. He was in the habit of marking a diminuendo by crouching down lower +and lower, and at a pianissimo he almost crept under the stand. With a +crescendo he, too, grew, rising as if out of a stage trap, and with +the entrance of a fortissimo he stood on his toes and seemed to take on +gigantic proportions, while he waved his arms about as if trying to soar +upwards to the clouds. Everything about him was in activity; not a +part of his organization remained idle, and the whole man seemed like a +perpetuum mobile. Concerning expression, the little nuances, the equable +division of light and shade, as also an effective tempo rubato, he was +extremely exact and gladly discussed them with the individual members of +the orchestra without showing vexation or anger." + + +62. "It has always been known that the greatest pianoforte players +were also the greatest composers; but how did they play? Not like the +pianists of today who prance up and down the key-board with passages +in which they have exercised themselves,--putsch, putsch, putsch;--what +does that mean? Nothing. When the true pianoforte virtuosi played it +was always something homogeneous, an entity; it could be transcribed and +then it appeared as a well thought-out work. That is pianoforte playing; +the other is nothing!" + + + (In conversation with Tomaschek, October, 1814.) + + +63. "Candidly I am not a friend of Allegri di bravura and such, since +they do nothing but promote mechanism." + + + (Hetzendorf, July 16, 1823, to Ries in London.) + + +64. "The great pianists have nothing but technique and affectation." + + + (Fall of 1817, to Marie Pachler-Koschak, a pianist whom Beethoven +regarded very highly. "You will play the sonatas in F major and C minor, +for me, will you not?") + + +65. "As a rule, in the case of these gentlemen, all reason and feeling +are generally lost in the nimbleness of their fingers." + + + (Reported by Schindler as a remark of Beethoven's concerning pianoforte +virtuosi.) + + +66. "Habit may depreciate the most brilliant talents." + + + (In 1812 to his pupil, Archduke Rudolph, whom he warns against too +zealous a devotion to music.) + + +67. "You will have to play a long time yet before you realize that you +can not play at all." + + + (July, 1808. Reported by Rust as having been said to a young man who +played for Beethoven.) + + +68. "One must be something if one wishes to put on appearances." + + + (August 15, 1812, to Bettina von Arnim.) + + +69. "These pianoforte players have their coteries whom they often join; +there they are praised continually,--and there's an end of art!" + + + (Conversation with Tomaschek, October, 1814.) + + +70. "We Germans have too few dramatically trained singers for the part +of Leonore. They are too cold and unfeeling; the Italians sing and act +with body and soul." + + + (1824, in Baden, to Freudenberg, an organist from Breslau.) + + +71. "If he is a master of his instrument I rank an organist amongst +the first of virtuosi. I too, played the organ a great deal when I +was young, but my nerves would not stand the power of the gigantic +instrument." + + + (To Freudenberg, in Baden.) + + +72. "I never wrote noisy music. For my instrumental works I need an +orchestra of about sixty good musicians. I am convinced that only such a +number can bring out the quickly changing graduations in performance." + + + (Reported by Schindler.) + + +73. "A Requiem ought to be quiet music,--it needs no trump of doom; +memories of the dead require no hubbub." + + + (Reported by Holz to Fanny von Ponsing, in Baden, summer of 1858. +According to the same authority Beethoven valued Cherubini's "Requiem" +more highly than any other.) + + +74. "No metronome at all! He who has sound feeling needs none, and he +who has not will get no help from the metronome;--he'll run away with +the orchestra anyway." + + + (Reported by Schindler. It had been found that Beethoven himself +had sent different metronomic indications to the publisher and the +Philharmonic Society of London.) + + +75. "In reading rapidly a multitude of misprints may pass unnoticed +because you are familiar with the language." + + + (To Wegeler, who had expressed wonder at Beethoven's rapid primavista +playing, when it was impossible to see each individual note.) + + +76. "The poet writes his monologue or dialogue in a certain, continuous +rhythm, but the elocutionist in order to insure an understanding of the +sense of the lines, must make pauses and interruptions at places where +the poet was not permitted to indicate it by punctuation. The +same manner of declamation can be applied to music, and admits of +modification only according to the number of performers." + + + (Reported by Schindler, Beethoven's faithful factotum.) + + +77. "With respect to his playing with you, when he has acquired the +proper mode of fingering and plays in time and plays the notes with +tolerable correctness, only then direct his attention to the matter +of interpretation; and when he has gotten this far do not stop him for +little mistakes, but point them out at the end of the piece. Although +I have myself given very little instruction I have always followed this +method which quickly makes musicians, and that, after all, is one of the +first objects of art." + + + (To Czerny, who was teaching music to Beethoven's nephew Karl.) + + +78. "Always place the hands at the key-board so that the fingers can not +be raised higher than is necessary; only in this way is it possible to +produce a singing tone." + + + (Reported by Schindler as Beethoven's view on pianoforte instruction. +He hated a staccato style of playing and dubbed it "finger dancing" and +"throwing the hands in the air.") + + +[PG Editor's Note: #79 was skipped in the 1905 edition--error?] + + + + +ON HIS OWN WORKS + + +80. "I haven't a single friend; I must live alone. But well I know that +God is nearer to me than to the others of my art; I associate with Him +without fear, I have always recognized and understood Him, and I have +no fear for my music,--it can meet no evil fate. Those who understand it +must become free from all the miseries that the others drag with them." + + + (To Bettina von Arnim. [Bettina's letter to Goethe, May 28, 1810.]) + + +81. "The variations will prove a little difficult to play, particularly +the trills in the coda; but let that not frighten you. It is so disposed +that you need play only the trills, omitting the other notes because +they are also in the violin part. I would never have written a thing +of this kind had I not often noticed here and there in Vienna a man +who after I had improvised of an evening would write down some of my +peculiarities and make boast of them next day. Foreseeing that these +things would soon appear in print I made up my mind to anticipate +them. Another purpose which I had was to embarrass the local pianoforte +masters. Many of them are my mortal enemies, and I wanted to have my +revenge in this way, for I knew in advance that the variations would be +put before them, and that they would make exhibitions of themselves." + + + (Vienna, November 2, 1793, to Eleonore von Breuning, in dedicating to +her the variations in F major, "Se vuol ballare." [The pianist whom +Beethoven accuses of stealing his thunder was Abbe Gelinek.]) + + +82. "The time in which I wrote my sonatas (the first ones of the second +period) was more poetical than the present (1823); such hints were +therefore unnecessary. Every one at that time felt in the Largo of the +third sonata in D (op. 10) the pictured soulstate of a melancholy being, +with all the nuances of light and shade which occur in a delineation +of melancholy and its phases, without requiring a key in the shape of a +superscription; and everybody then saw in the two sonatas (op. 14) the +picture of a contest between two principles, or a dialogue between two +persons, because it was so obvious." + + + (In answer to Schindler's question why he had not indicated the poetical +conceits underlying his sonatas by superscriptions or titles.) + + +83. "This sonata has a clean face (literally: 'has washed itself'), my +dear brother!" + + + (January, 1801, to Hofmeister, publisher in Leipzig to whom he offers +the sonata, op. 22, for 20 ducats.) + + +84. "They are incessantly talking about the C-sharp minor sonata (op. +27, No. 2); on my word I have written better ones. The F-sharp major +sonata (op. 78) is a different thing!" + + + (A remark to Czerny.) + + +[The C-sharp minor sonata is that popularly known as the "Moonlight +Sonata," a title which is wholly without warrant. Its origin is due to +Rellstab, who, in describing the first movement, drew a picture of a +small boat in the moonlight on Lake Lucerne. In Vienna a tradition that +Beethoven had composed it in an arbor gave rise to the title "Arbor +sonata." Titles of this character work much mischief in the amateur mind +by giving rise to fantastic conceptions of the contents of the music. H. +E. K.] + +85. "The thing which my brother can have from me is 1, a Septett per il +Violino, Viola, Violoncello, Contrabasso, Clarinetto, Cornto, Fagotto, +tutti obligati; for I can not write anything that is not obligato, +having come into the world with obligato accompaniment." + + + (December 15, 1800, to Hofmeister, publisher, in Leipzig.) + + +86. "I am but little satisfied with my works thus far; from today I +shall adopt a new course." + + + (Reported by Carl Czerny in his autobiography in 1842. Concerning the +time at which the remark was made, Czerny says: "It was said about 1803, +when B. had composed op. 28 (the pianoforte sonata in D) to his friend +Krumpholz (a violinist). Shortly afterward there appeared the sonatas + (now op. 31) in which a partial fulfillment of his resolution may be +observed.") + + +87. "Read Shakespeare's 'Tempest.'" + + + (An answer to Schindler's question as to what poetical conceit underlay +the sonatas in F minor. Beethoven used playfully to call the little son +of Breuning, the friend of his youth, A&Z, because he employed him often +as a messenger.) + + +["Schindler relates that when once he asked Beethoven to tell him what +the F minor and D minor (op. 31, No. 2) meant, he received for an answer +only the enigmatical remark: 'Read Shakespeare's "Tempest."' Many a +student and commentator has since read the 'Tempest' in the hope of +finding a clew to the emotional contents which Beethoven believed to +be in the two works, so singularly associated, only to find himself +baffled. It is a fancy, which rests, perhaps, too much on outward +things, but still one full of suggestion, that had Beethoven said: 'Hear +my C minor symphony,' he would have given a better starting-point to +the imagination of those who are seeking to know what the F minor sonata +means. Most obviously it means music, but it means music that is an +expression of one of those psychological struggles which Beethoven felt +called upon more and more to delineate as he was more and more shut out +from the companionship of the external world. Such struggles are in the +truest sense of the word tempests. The motive, which, according to the +story, Beethoven himself said, indicates, in the symphony, the rappings +of Fate at the door of human existence, is common to two works which +are also related in their spiritual contents. Singularly enough, too, +in both cases the struggle which is begun in the first movement and +continued in the third, is interrupted by a period of calm, reassuring, +soul-fortifying aspiration, which, in the symphony as well as in the +sonata, takes the form of a theme with variations."--"How to Listen to +Music," page 29. H. E. K.] + +88. "Sinfonia Pastorella. He who has ever had a notion of country life +can imagine for himself without many superscriptions what the composer +is after. Even without a description the whole, which is more sentiment +than tone painting, will be recognized." + + + (A note among the sketches for the "Pastoral" symphony preserved in the +Royal Library at Berlin.) + + +[There are other notes of similar import among the sketches referred to +which can profitably be introduced here: + +"The hearer should be allowed to discover the situations;" + +"Sinfonia caracteristica, or a recollection of country life;" + +"Pastoral Symphony: No picture, but something in which the emotions are +expressed which are aroused in men by the pleasure of the country (or) +in which some feelings of country life are set forth." + +When, finally, the work was given to the publisher, Beethoven included +in the title an admonitory explanation which should have everlasting +validity: "Pastoral Symphony: more expression of feeling than painting." +H. E. K.] + + +89. "My 'Fidelio' was not understood by the public, but I know that it +will yet be appreciated; for though I am well aware of the value of my +'Fidelio' I know just as well that the symphony is my real element. When +sounds ring in me I always hear the full orchestra; I can ask anything +of instrumentalists, but when writing for the voice I must continually +ask myself: 'Can that be sung?' + + + (A remark made in 1823 or 1824 to Griesinger.) + + +90. "Thus Fate knocks at the portals!" + + + (Reported by Schindler as Beethoven's explanation of the opening of the +symphony in C minor.) + + +["Hofrath Kueffner told him (Krenn) that he once lived with Beethoven in +Heiligenstadt, and that they were in the habit evenings of going down +to Nussdorf to eat a fish supper in the Gasthaus 'Zur Rose.' One evening +when B. was in a good humor, Kueffner began: `Tell me frankly which is +your favorite among your symphonies?' B. (in good humor) 'Eh! Eh! The +Eroica.' K. 'I should have guessed the C minor.' B. 'No; the Eroica.'" +From Thayer's notebook. See "Music and Manners in the Classical Period." +H.E.K.] + +91. "The solo sonatas (op. 109-ll?) are perhaps the best, but also the +last, music that I composed for the pianoforte. It is and always will be +an unsatisfactory instrument. I shall hereafter follow the example of my +grandmaster Handel, and every year write only an oratorio and a concerto +for some string or wind instrument, provided I shall have finished my +tenth symphony (C minor) and Requiem." + + + (Reported by Holz. As to the tenth symphony see note to No. 95.) + + +92. "God knows why it is that my pianoforte music always makes the worst +impression on me, especially when it is played badly." + + + (June 2, 1804. A note among the sketches for the "Leonore" overture.) + + +93. "Never did my own music produce such an effect upon me; even now +when I recall this work it still costs me a tear." + + + (Reported by Holz. The reference is to the Cavatina from the quartet +in B-flat, op. 130, which Beethoven thought the crown of all quartet +movements and his favorite composition. When alone and undisturbed +he was fond of playing his favorite pianoforte Andante--that from the +sonata op. 28.) + + +94. "I do not write what I most desire to, but that which I need to +because of money. But this is not saying that I write only for money. +When the present period is past, I hope at last to write that which is +the highest thing for me as well as art,--'Faust.'" + + + (From a conversation-book used in 1823. To Buhler, tutor in the house +of a merchant, who was seeking information about an oratorio which +Beethoven had been commissioned to write by the Handel and Haydn Society +of Boston.) + + +95. "Ha! 'Faust;' that would be a piece of work! Something might come +out of that! But for some time I have been big with three other large +works. Much is already sketched out, that is, in my head. I must be rid +of them first:--two large symphonies differing from each other, and each +differing from all the others, and an oratorio. And this will take a +long time, you see, for a considerable time I have had trouble to get +myself to write. I sit and think, and think I've long had the thing, but +it will not on the paper. I dread the beginning of these large works. +Once into the work, and it goes." + + + (In the summer of 1822, to Rochlitz, at Baden. The symphonies referred +to are the ninth and tenth. They existed only in Beethoven's mind and a +few sketches. In it he intended to combine antique and modern views of +life.) + + +["In the text Greek mythology, cantique ecclesiastique; in the Allegro, +a Bacchic festival." (Sketchbook of 1818)] + +[The oratorio was to have been called "The Victory of the Cross." It was +not written. Schindler wrote to Moscheles in London about Beethoven in +the last weeks of his life: "He said much about the plan of the tenth +symphony. As the work had shaped itself in his imagination it might have +become a musical monstrosity, compared with which his other symphonies +would have been mere opuscula."] + + + + +ON ART AND ARTISTS + + +96. "How eagerly mankind withdraws from the poor artist what it has once +given him;--and Zeus, from whom one might ask an invitation to sup on +ambrosia, lives no longer." + + + (In the summer of 1814, to Kauka, an advocate who represented him in the +lawsuit against the heirs of Kinsky.) + + +97. "I love straightforwardness and uprightness, and believe that +the artist ought not to be belittled; for, alas! brilliant as fame is +externally, it is not always the privilege of the artist to be Jupiter's +guest on Olympus all the time. Unfortunately vulgar humanity drags him +down only too often and too rudely from the pure upper ether." + + + (June 5, 1852, to C. F. Peters, music publisher, in Leipzig when +treating with him touching a complete edition of his works.) + + +98. "The true artist has no pride; unhappily he realizes that art has +no limitations, he feels darkly how far he is from the goal, and while, +perhaps he is admired by others, he grieves that he has not yet reached +the point where the better genius shall shine before him like a distant +sun." + + + (Teplitz, July 17, to an admirer ten years old.) + + +99. "You yourself know what a change is wrought by a few years in the +case of an artist who is continually pushing forward. The greater the +progress which one makes in art, the less is one satisfied with one's +old works." + + + (Vienna, August 4, 1800, to Mathisson, in the dedication of his setting +of "Adelaide." "My most ardent wish will be fulfilled if you are not +displeased with the musical composition of your heavenly 'Adelaide.'") + + +100. "Those composers are exemplars who unite nature and art in their +works." + + + (Baden, in 1824, to Freudenberg, organist from Breslau.) + + +101. "What will be the judgment a century hence concerning the lauded +works of our favorite composers today? Inasmuch as nearly everything is +subject to the changes of time, and, more's the pity, the fashions of +time, only that which is good and true, will endure like a rock, and no +wanton hand will ever venture to defile it. Then let every man do that +which is right, strive with all his might toward the goal which can +never be attained, develop to the last breath the gifts with which a +gracious Creator has endowed him, and never cease to learn; for 'Life is +short, art eternal!'" + + + (From the notes in the instruction book of Archduke Rudolph.) + + +102. "Famous artists always labor under an embarrassment;--therefore +first works are the best, though they may have sprung out of dark +ground." + + + (Conversation-book of 1840.) + + +103. "A musician is also a poet; he also can feel himself transported by +a pair of eyes into another and more beautiful world where greater souls +make sport of him and set him right difficult tasks." + + + (August 15, 1812, to Bettina von Arnim.) + + +104. "I told Goethe my opinion as to how applause affects men like us, +and that we want our equals to hear us understandingly! Emotion suits +women only; music ought to strike fire from the soul of a man." + + + (August 15, 1810, to Bettina von Arnim.) + + +105. "Most people are touched by anything good; but they do not partake +of the artist's nature; artists are ardent, they do not weep." + + + (Reported to Goethe by Bettina von Arnim, May 28, 1810.) + + +106. "L'art unit tout le monde,--how much more the true artist!" + + + (March 15, 1823, to Cherubini, in Paris.) + + +107. "Only the artist, or the free scholar, carries his happiness within +him." + + + (Reported by Karl von Bursy as part of a conversation in 1816.) + + +108. "There ought to be only one large art warehouse in the world, to +which the artist could carry his art-works and from which he could carry +away whatever he needed. As it is one must be half a tradesman." + + + (January, 1801, to Hofmeister, in Leipzig.) + + + + + +BEETHOVEN AS CRITIC + + +The opinion of artist on artists is a dubious quantity. Recall the +startling criticisms of Bocklin on his associates in art made public +by the memoirs of his friends after his death. Such judgments are often +one-sided, not without prejudice, and mostly the expression of impulse. +It is a different matter when the artist speaks about the disciples of +another art than his own, even if the opinions which Bocklin and Wagner +held of each other are not a favorable example. Where Beethoven speaks +of other composers we must read with clear and open eyes; but even +here there will be much with which we can be in accord, especially +his judgment on Rossini, whom he hated so intensely, and whose airy, +sense-bewitching art seduced the Viennese from Beethoven. Interesting +and also characteristic of the man is the attitude which he +adopted towards the poets of his time. In general he estimated his +contemporaries as highly as they deserved. + +109. "Do not tear the laurel wreaths from the heads of Handel, Haydn and +Mozart; they belong to them,--not yet to me." + + + (Teplitz, July 17, 1852, to his ten-year-old admirer, Emilie M., who had +given him a portfolio made by herself.) + + +110. "Pure church music ought to be performed by voices only, except a +'Gloria,' or some similar text. For this reason I prefer Palestrina; +but it is folly to imitate him without having his genius and religious +views; it would be difficult, if not impossible, too, for the singers of +today to sing his long notes in a sustained and pure manner." + + + (To Freudenberg, in 1824.) + + +111. "Handel is the unattained master of all masters. Go and learn from +him how to achieve vast effects with simple means." + + + (Reported by Seyfried. On his death-bed, about the middle of February, +1827, he said to young Gerhard von Breuning, on receiving Handel's +works: "Handel is the greatest and ablest of all composers; from him I +can still learn. Bring me the books!") + + +112. "Handel is the greatest composer that ever lived. I would uncover +my head and kneel on his grave." + + + (Fall of 1823, to J. A. Stumpff, harp maker of London, who acted very +nobly toward Beethoven in his last days. It was he who rejoiced the +dying composer by sending him the forty volumes of Handel's works (see +111).) + + +["Cipriani Potter, to A. W. T., February 27, 1861. Beethoven used to +walk across the fields to Vienna very often. B. would stop, look about +and express his love for nature. One day Potter asked: 'Who is the +greatest living composer, yourself excepted?' Beethoven seemed puzzled +for a moment, and then exclaimed: 'Cherubini!' Potter went on: 'And of +dead authors?' B.--He had always considered Mozart as such, but since he +had been made acquainted with Handel he put him at the head." From A. +W. Thayer's notebook, reprinted in "Music and Manners in the Classical +Period," page 208. H.E.K.] + + +113. "Heaven forbid that I should take a journal in which sport is made +of the manes of such a revered one." + + + (Conversation-book of 1825, in reference to a criticism of Handel.) + + +114. "That you are going to publish Sebastian Bach's works is something +which does good to my heart, which beats in love of the great and lofty +art of this ancestral father of harmony; I want to see them soon." + + + (January, 1801, to Hofmeister, in Leipzig.) + + +115. "Of Emanuel Bach's clavier works I have only a few, yet they must +be not only a real delight to every true artist, but also serve him for +study purposes; and it is for me a great pleasure to play works that I +have never seen, or seldom see, for real art lovers." + + + (July 26, 1809, to Gottfried Hartel, of Leipzig in ordering all the +scores of Haydn, Mozart and the two Bachs.) + + +116. "See, my dear Hummel, the birthplace of Haydn. I received it as a +gift today, and it gives me great pleasure. A mean peasant hut, in which +so great a man was born!" + + + (Remarked on his death-bed to his friend Hummel.) + + +117. "I have always reckoned myself among the greatest admirers of +Mozart, and shall do so till the day of my death." + + + (February 6, 1886, to Abbe Maximilian Stadler, who had sent him his +essay on Mozart's "Requiem.") + + +118. "Cramer, Cramer! We shall never be able to compose anything like +that!" + + + (To Cramer, after the two had heard Mozart's concerto in C-minor at a +concert in the Augarten.) + + +119. "'Die Zauberflote' will always remain Mozart's greatest work, for +in it he for the first time showed himself to be a German musician. 'Don +Juan' still has the complete Italian cut; besides our sacred art +ought never permit itself to be degraded to the level of a foil for so +scandalous a subject." + + + (A remark reported by Seyfried.) + + +["Hozalka says that in 1820-21, as near as he can recollect, the wife +of a Major Baumgarten took boy boarders in the house then standing where +the Musikverein's Saal now is, and that Beethoven's nephew was placed +with her. Her sister, Baronin Born, lived with her. One evening Hozalka, +then a young man, called there and found only Baronin Born at home. Soon +another caller came and stayed to tea. It was Beethoven. Among other +topics Mozart came on the tapis, and the Born asked Beethoven (in +writing, of course) which of Mozart's operas he thought most of. 'Die +Zauberflote' said Beethoven, and, suddenly clasping his hands and +throwing up his eyes, exclaimed: 'Oh, Mozart!'" From A. W. Thayer's +notebooks, reprinted in "Music and Manners in the Classical Period," +page 198. H. E. K.] + +120. "Say all conceivable pretty things to Cherubini,--that there is +nothing I so ardently desire as that we should soon get another opera +from him, and that of all our contemporaries I have the highest regard +for him." + + + (May 6, 1823, to Louis Schlasser, afterward chapel master in Darmstadt, +who was about to undertake a journey to Paris. See note to No. 112.) + + +121. "Among all the composers alive Cherubini is the most worthy of +respect. I am in complete agreement, too, with his conception of the +'Requiem,' and if ever I come to write one I shall take note of many +things." + + + (Remark reported by Seyfried. See No. 112.) + + +122. "Whoever studies Clementi thoroughly has simultaneously also +learned Mozart and other authors; inversely, however, this is not the +case." + + + (Reported by Schindler.) + + +123. "There is much good in Spontini; he understands theatrical effect +and martial noises admirably. + +"Spohr is so rich in dissonances; pleasure in his music is marred by his +chromatic melody. + +"His name ought not to be Bach (brook), but Ocean, because of his +infinite and inexhaustible wealth of tonal combinations and harmonies. +Bach is the ideal of an organist." + + + (In Baden, 1824, to Freudenberg.) + + +124. "The little man, otherwise so gentle,--I never would have credited +him with such a thing. Now Weber must write operas in earnest, one after +the other, without caring too much for refinement! Kaspar, the monster, +looms up like a house; wherever the devil sticks in his claw we feel +it." + + + (To Rochlitz, at Baden, in the summer of 1823.) + + +125. "There you are, you rascal; you're a devil of a fellow, God bless +you!... Weber, you always were a fine fellow." + + + (Beethoven's hearty greeting to Karl Maria von Weber, in October, 1823.) + + +126. "K. M. Weber began too learn too late; art did not have a chance +to develop naturally in him, and his single and obvious striving is to +appear brilliant." + + + (A remark reported by Seyfried.) + + +127. "'Euryanthe' is an accumulation of diminished seventh chords--all +little backdoors!" + + + (Remarked to Schindler about Weber's opera.) + + +128. "Truly, a divine spark dwells in Schubert!" + + + (Said to Schindler when the latter made him acquainted with the "Songs +of Ossian," "Die Junge Nonne," "Die Burgschaft," of Schubert's "Grenzen +der Menschheit," and other songs.) + + +129. "There is nothing in Meyerbeer; he hasn't the courage to strike at +the right time." + + + (To Tomaschek, in October, 1814, in a conversation about the "Battle of +Victoria," at the performance of which, in 1813, Meyerbeer had played +the big drum.) + + +130. "Rossini is a talented and a melodious composer, his music suits +the frivolous and sensuous spirit of the times, and his productivity is +such that he needs only as many weeks as the Germans do years to write +an opera." + + + (In 1824, at Baden, to Freudenberg.) + + +131. "This rascal Rossini, who is not respected by a single master of +his art!" + + + (Conversation-book, 1825.) + + +132. "Rossini would have become a great composer if his teacher had +frequently applied some blows ad posteriora." + + + (Reported by Schindler. Beethoven had been reading the score of "Il +Barbiere di Siviglia.") + + +133. "The Bohemians are born musicians. The Italians ought to take +them as models. What have they to show for their famous conservatories? +Behold! their idol, Rossini! If Dame Fortune had not given him a pretty +talent and amiable melodies by the bushel, what he learned at school +would have brought him nothing but potatoes for his big belly." + + + (In a conversation-book at Haslinger's music shop, where Beethoven +frequently visited.) + + +136. "Goethe has killed Klopstock for me. You wonder? Now you laugh? +Ah, because I have read Klopstock. I carried him about with me for years +when I walked. What besides? Well, I didn't always understand him. He +skips about so; and he always begins so far away, above or below; always +Maestoso! D-flat major! Isn't, it so? But he's great, nevertheless, and +uplifts the soul. When I couldn't understand him I sort of guessed at +him." + + + (To Rochlitz, in 1822.) + + +135. "As for me I prefer to set Homer, Klopstock, Schiller, to music; if +it is difficult to do, these immortal poets at least deserve it." + + + (To the directorate of the "Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde" of Vienna, +January, 1824, in negotiations for an oratorio, "The Victory of the +Cross" [which he had been commissioned to write by the Handel and Haydn +Society of Boston. H. E. K.].) + + +136. "Goethe and Schiller are my favorite poets, as also Ossian +and Homer, the latter of whom, unfortunately, I can read only in +translation." + + + (August 8, 1809, to Breitkopf and Hartel.) + + +137. "Who can sufficiently thank a great poet,--the most valuable jewel +of a nation!" + + + (February 10, 1811, to Bettina von Arnim. The reference was to Goethe.) + + +138. "When you write to Goethe about me search out all the words which +can express my deepest reverence and admiration. I am myself about to +write to him about 'Egmont' for which I have composed the music, purely +out of love for his poems which make me happy." + + + (February 10, 1811, to Bettina von Arnim.) + + +139. "I would have gone to death, yes, ten times to death for Goethe. +Then, when I was in the height of my enthusiasm, I thought out my +'Egmont' music. Goethe,--he lives and wants us all to live with him. It +is for that reason that he can be composed. Nobody is so easily composed +as he. But I do not like to compose songs." + + + (To Rochlitz, in 1822, when Beethoven recalled Goethe's amiability in +Teplitz.) + + +140. "Goethe is too fond of the atmosphere of the court; fonder than +becomes a poet. There is little room for sport over the absurdities of +the virtuosi, when poets, who ought to be looked upon as the foremost +teachers of the nation, can forget everything else in the enjoyment of +court glitter." + + + (Franzensbrunn, August 9, 1812, to Gottfried Hartel of Leipzig.) + + +141. "When two persons like Goethe and I meet these grand folk must be +made to see what our sort consider great." + + + (August 15, 1812, in a description of how haughtily he, and how humbly +Goethe, had behaved in the presence of the Imperial court.) + + +142. "Since that summer in Carlsbad I read Goethe every day,--when I +read at all." + + + (Remarked to Rochlitz.) + + +143. "Goethe ought not to write more; he will meet the fate of the +singers. Nevertheless he will remain the foremost poet of Germany." + + + (Conversationbook, 1818.) + + +144. "Can you lend me the 'Theory of Colors' for a few weeks? It is an +important work. His last things are insipid." + + + (Conversation-book, 1820.) + + +145. "After all the fellow writes for money only." + + + (Reported by Schindler as having been said by Beethoven when, on his +death-bed, he angrily threw a book of Walter Scott's aside.) + + +146. "He, too, then, is nothing better than an ordinary man! Now he will +trample on all human rights only to humor his ambition; he will place +himself above all others,--become a tyrant!" + + + (With these words, as testified to by Ries, an eye-witness, Beethoven +tore the title-page from the score of his "Eroica" symphony (which bore +a dedication to Bonaparte) when the news reached him that Napoleon had +declared himself emperor.) + + +147. "I believe that so long as the Austrian has his brown beer and +sausage he will not revolt." + + + (To Simrock, publisher, in Bonn, August 2, 1794.) + + +148. "Why do you sell nothing but music? Why did you not long ago follow +my well-meant advice? Do get wise, and find your raison. Instead of a +hundred-weight of paper order genuine unwatered Regensburger, float +this much-liked article of trade down the Danube, serve it in measures, +half-measures and seidels at cheap prices, throw in at intervals +sausages, rolls, radishes, butter and cheese, invite the hungry and +thirsty with letters an ell long on a sign: 'Musical Beer House,' and +you will have so many guests at all hours of the day that one will hold +the door open for the other and your office will never be empty." + + + (To Haslinger, the music publisher, when the latter had complained about +the indifference of the Viennese to music.) + + + + + +ON EDUCATION + + +Beethoven's observations on this subject were called out by his +experiences in securing an education for his nephew Karl, son of his +like-named brother, a duty which devolved on him on the death of his +brother in the winter of 1815. He loved his nephew almost to idolatry, +and hoped that he would honor the name of Beethoven in the future. But +there was a frivolous vein in Karl, inherited probably from his +mother, who was on easy footing with morality both before and after her +husband's death. She sought with all her might to rid her son of +the guardianship of his uncle. Karl was sent to various educational +institutions and to these Beethoven sent many letters containing advice +and instructions. The nephew grew to be more and more a care, not wholly +without fault of the master. His passionate nature led to many quarrels +between the two, all of which were followed by periods of extravagant +fondness. Karl neglected his studies, led a frivolous life, was fond of +billiards and the coffee-houses which were then generally popular, +and finally, in the summer of 1826, made an attempt at suicide in the +Helenental near Baden, which caused his social ostracism. When he was +found he cried out: "I went to the bad because my uncle wanted to better +me." + +Beethoven succeeded in persuading Baron von Stutterheim, commander of +an infantry regiment at Iglau, to accept him as an aspirant for military +office. In later life he became a respected official and man. So +Beethoven himself was vouchsafed only an ill regulated education. His +dissolute father treated him now harshly, now gently. His mother, who +died early, was a silent sufferer, had thoroughly understood her son, +and to her his love was devotion itself. He labored unwearyingly at his +own intellectual and moral advancement until his death. + +It seems difficult to reconcile his almost extravagant estimate of the +greatest possible liberty in the development of man with his demands for +strict constraint to which he frequently gives expression; but he had +recognized that it is necessary to grow out of restraint into liberty. +His model as a sensitive and sympathetic educator was his motherly +friend, the wife of Court Councillor von Breuning in Bonn, of whom he +once said: "She knew how to keep the insects off the blossoms." + +Beethoven's views on musical education are to be found in the chapters +"On Composition" and "On Performing Music." + + + +149. "Like the State, each man must have his own constitution." + + + (Diary, 1815.) + + +150. "Recommend virtue to your children; that, alone can bring +happiness; not wealth,--I speak from experience. It was virtue alone +that bore me up in my misery; to her and my art I owe that I did not end +my life by self-murder." + + + (October 6, 1802, to his brothers Karl and Johann [the so-called +Heiligenstadt Will].) + + +151. "I know no more sacred duty than to rear and educate a child." + + + (January 7, 1820, in a communication to the Court of Appeals in the suit +touching the guardianship of his nephew Karl.) + + +152. "Nature's weaknesses are nature's endowments; reason, the guide, +must seek to lead and lessen them." + + + (Diary, 1817.) + + +153. "It is man's habit to hold his fellow man in esteem because he +committed no greater errors." + + + (May 6, 1811, to Breitkopf and Hartel, in a letter complaining of faulty +printing in some of his compositions.) + + +154. "There is nothing more efficient in enforcing obedience upon others +than the belief on their part that you are wiser than they...Without +tears fathers can not inculcate virtue in their children, or teachers +learning and wisdom in their pupils; even the laws, by compelling tears +from the citizens, compel them also to strive for justice." + + + (Diary, 1815.) + + +155. "It is only becoming in a youth to combine his duties toward +education and advancement with those which he owes to his benefactor and +supporter; this I did toward my parents." + + + (May 19, 1825, to his nephew Karl.) + + +156. "You can not honor the memory of your father better than to +continue your studies with the greatest zeal, and strive to become an +honest and excellent man." + + + (To his nephew, 1816-18.) + + +157. "Let your conduct always be amiable; through art and science the +best and noblest of men are bound together and your future vocation will +not exclude you." + + + (Baden, July 18, 1825, to his nephew, who had decided to become a +merchant.) + + +158. "It is very true that a drop will hollow a stone; a thousand +lovely impressions are obliterated when children are placed in wooden +institutions while they might receive from their parents the most +soulful impressions which would continue to exert their influence till +the latest age." + + + (Diary, spring of 1817. Beethoven was dissatisfied with Giannatasio's +school in which he had placed his nephew. "Karl is a different child +after he has been with me a few hours" (Diary). In 1826, after the +attempt at suicide, Beethoven said to Breuning: "My Karl was in an +institute; educational institutions furnish forth only hot house +plants.") + + +159. "Drops of water wear away a stone in time, not by force but by +continual falling. Only through tireless industry are the sciences +achieved so that one can truthfully say: no day without its line,--nulla +dies sine linea." + + + (1799, in a sketch for a theoretical handbook for Archduke Rudolph.) + + + + + +ON HIS OWN DISPOSITION AND CHARACTER + + +So open-hearted and straightforward a character as Beethoven could not +have pictured himself with less reserve or greater truthfulness than he +did during his life. Frankness toward himself, frankness toward others +(though sometimes it went to the extreme of rudeness and ill-breeding) +was his motto. The joyous nature which was his as a lad, and which was +not at all averse to a merry prank now and then, underwent a change when +he began to lose his hearing. The dread of deafness and its consequences +drove him nearly to despair, so that he sometimes contemplated suicide. +Increasing hardness of hearing gradually made him reserved, morose and +gloomy. With the progress of the malady his disposition and character +underwent a decided change,--a fact which may be said to account for the +contradictions in his conduct and utterances. It made him suspicious, +distrustful; in his later years he imagined himself cheated and +deceived in the most trifling matters by relatives, friends, publishers, +servants. + +Nevertheless Beethoven's whole soul was filled with a high idealism +which penetrated through the miseries of his daily life; it was full, +too, of a great love toward humanity in general and his unworthy nephew +in particular. Towards his publishers he often appeared covetous and +grasping, seeking to rake and scrape together all the money possible; +but this was only for the purpose of assuring the future of his nephew. +At the same time, in a merry moment, he would load down his table with +all that kitchen and cellar could provide, for the reflection of his +friends. Thus he oscillated continuously between two extremes; but the +power which swung the pendulum was always the aural malady. He grew +peevish and capricious towards his best friends, rude, even brutal at +times in his treatment of them; only in the next moment to overwhelm +them most pathetically with attentions. Till the end of his life he +remained a sufferer from his passionate disposition over which he +gradually obtained control until, at the end, one could almost speak of +a sunny clarification of his nature. + +He has heedlessly been accused of having led a dissolute life, of +having been an intemperate drinker. There would be no necessity of +contradicting such a charge even if there were a scintilla of evidence +to support it; a drinker is not necessarily a dishonorable man, least of +all a musician who drinks. But, the fact of the matter is that it is +not true. If once Beethoven wrote a merry note about merrymaking with +friends, let us rejoice that occasions did sometimes occur, though but +rarely, when the heart of the sufferer was temporarily gladdened. + +He was a strict moralist, as is particularly evidenced by the notes in +his journal which have not been made public. In many things which befell +him in his daily life he was as ingenuous as a child. His personality, +on the whole, presented itself in such a manner as to invite the +intellectual and social Philistine to call him a fool. + + +160. "I shall print a request in all the newspapers that henceforth all +artists refrain from painting my picture without my knowledge; I never +thought that my own face would bring me embarrassment." + + + (About 1803, to Christine Gerardi, because without his knowledge a +portrait of him had been made somewhere--in a cafe, probably.) + + +161. "Pity that I do not understand the art of war as well as I do the +art of music; I should yet conquer Napoleon!" + + + (To Krumpholz, the violinist, when he informed Beethoven of the victory +of Napoleon at Jena.) + + +162. "If I were a general and knew as much about strategy as I, a +composer, know about counterpoint, I'd give you fellows something to +do." + + + (Called out behind the back of a French officer, his fist doubled, +on May 12, 1809, when the French had occupied Vienna. Reported by a +witness, W. Rust.) + + +163. "Camillus, if I am not mistaken, was the name of the Roman who +drove the wicked Gauls from Rome. At such a cost I would also take the +name if I could drive them wherever I found them to where they belong." + + + (To Pleyel, publisher, in Paris, April, 1807.) + + +164. "I love most the realm of mind which, to me, is the highest of all +spiritual and temporal monarchies." + + + (To Advocate Kauka in the summer of 1814. He had been speaking about the +monarchs represented in the Congress of Vienna.) + + +165. "I shall not come in person, since that would be a sort of +farewell, and farewells I have always avoided." + + + (January 24, 1818, to Giannatasio del Rio, on taking his nephew Karl out +of the latter institute.) + + +166. "I hope still to bring a few large works into the world, and +then, like an old child, to end my earthly career somewhere among good +people." + + + (October 6, 1802, to Wegeler.) + + +167. "O ye men, who think or declare me to be hostile, morose or +misanthropical, what injustice ye do me. Ye know not the secret cause of +what thus appears to you. My heart and mind were from childhood +disposed for the tender feelings of benevolence; I was always wishing to +accomplish great deeds." + + + (October 6, 1802, in the so-called Heiligenstadt Will.) + + +168. "Divinity, thou lookest into my heart, thou knowest it, thou +knowest that love for mankind and a desire to do good have their abode +there. O ye men, when one day ye read this think that ye have wronged +me, and may the unfortunate console himself with the thought that he has +found one of his kind who, despite all the obstacles which nature put in +his path, yet did all in his power to be accepted in the ranks of worthy +artists and men!" + + + (From the Heiligenstadt Will.) + + +169. "I spend all my mornings with the muses;--and they bless me also in +my walks." + + + (October 12, 1835, to his nephew Karl.) + + +170. "Concerning myself nothing,--that is, from nothing nothing." + + + (October 19, 1815, to Countess Erdody.) + + +[A possible allusion to the line, "Nothing can come of nothing." from +Shakespeare's "King Lear," Act 1, scene 1] + +171. "Beethoven can write, thank God; but do nothing else on earth." + + + (December 22, 1822, to Ferdinand Ries, in London.) + + +172. "Mentally I often frame an answer, but when I come to write it down +I generally throw the pen aside, since I am not able to write what I +feel." + + + (October 7, 1826, to his friend Wegeler, in Coblenz. "The better sort +of people, I think, know me anyhow." He is excusing his laziness in +letter-writing.) + + +173. "I have the gift to conceal my sensitiveness touching a multitude +of things; but when I am provoked at a moment when I am more sensitive +than usual to anger, I burst out more violently than anybody else." + + + (July 24, 1804, to Ries, in reporting to him a quarrel with Stephan von +Breuning.) + + +174. "X. is completely changed since I threw half a dozen books at her +head. Perhaps something of their contents accidentally got into her head +or her wicked heart." + + + (To Mme. Streicher, who often had to put Beethoven's house in order.) + + +175. "I can have no intercourse, and do not want to have any, with +persons who are not willing to believe in me because I have not yet made +a wide reputation." + + + (To Prince Lobkowitz, about 1798. A cavalier had failed to show him +proper respect in the Prince's salon.) + + +176. "Many a vigorous and unconsidered word drops from my mouth, for +which reason I am considered mad." + + + (In the summer of 1880, to Dr. Muller, of Bremen, who was paying him a +visit.) + + +177. "I will grapple with Fate; it shall not quite bear me down. O, it +is lovely to live life a thousand times!" + + + (November 16, 1800, or 1801, to Wegeler.) + + +178. "Morality is the strength of men who distinguish themselves over +others, and it is mine." + + + (In a communication to his friend, Baron Zmeskall.) + + +179. "I, too, am a king!" + + + (Said to Holz, when the latter begged him not to sell the ring which +King Frederick William III, of Prussia, had sent to him instead of money +or an order in return for the dedication of the ninth symphony. "Master, +keep the ring," Holz had said, "it is from a king." Beethoven made his +remark "with indescribable dignity and self-consciousness.") + + +[On his deathbed he said to little Gerhard von Breuning: "Know that I am +an artist."] + +[At the height of the popular infatuation for Rossini (1822) he said to +his friends: "Well, they will not be able to rob me of my place in the +history of art."] + +180. "Prince, what you are you are by accident of birth; what I am, I am +through my own efforts. There have been thousands of princes and will be +thousands more; there is only one Beethoven!" + + + (According to tradition, from a letter which he wrote to Prince +Lichnowsky when the latter attempted to persuade him to play for some +French officers on his estate in Silesia. Beethoven went at night to +Troppau, carrying the manuscript of the (so-called) "Appassionata" +sonata, which suffered from the rain.) + + +181. "My nobility is here, and here (pointing to his heart and head)." + + + (Reported by Schindler. In the lawsuit against his sister-in-law (the +mother of nephew Karl) Beethoven had been called on to prove that the +"van" in his name was a badge of nobility.) + + +182. "You write that somebody has said that I am the natural son of the +late King of Prussia. The same thing was said to me long ago, but I have +made it a rule never to write anything about myself or answer anything +that is said about me." + + + (October 7, 1826, to Wegeler.) + + +["I leave it to you to give the world an account of myself and +especially my mother." The statement had appeared in Brockhaus's +"Lexicon."] + +183. "To me the highest thing, after God, is my honor." + + + (July 26, 1822, to the publisher Peters, in Leipzig.) + + +184. "I have never thought of writing for reputation and honor. What I +have in my heart must out; that is the reason why I compose." + + + (Remark to Karl Czerny, reported in his autobiography.) + + +185. "I do not desire that you shall esteem me greater as an artist, but +better and more perfect as a man; when the condition of our country +is somewhat better, then my art shall be devoted to the welfare of the +poor." + + + (Vienna, June 29, 1800, to Wegeler, in Bonn, writing of his return to +his native land.) + + +186. "Perhaps the only thing that looks like genius about me is that my +affairs are not always in the best of order, and that in this respect +nobody can be of help but myself." + + + (April 22, 1801, to Hofmeister, in Leipzig excusing himself for +dilatoriness in sending him these compositions: the Pianoforte sonata +op. 22, the symphony op. 21, the septet op. 20 and the concerto op. 19.) + + +187. "I am free from all small vanities. Only in the divine art is the +lever which gives me power to sacrifice the best part of my life to the +celestial muses." + + + (September 9, 1824, to George Nigeli, in Zurich.) + + +188. "Inasmuch as the purpose of the undersigned throughout his career +has not been selfish but the promotion of the interests of art, the +elevation of popular taste and the flight of his own genius toward +loftier ideals and perfection, it was inevitable that he should +frequently sacrifice his own advantages and profit to the muse." + + + (December, 1804, to the Director of the Court Theatre, applying for an +engagement which was never effected.) + + +189. "From my earliest childhood my zeal to serve suffering humanity +with my art was never content with any kind of a subterfuge; and no +other reward is needed than the internal satisfaction which always +accompanies such a deed." + + + (To Procurator Varenna, who had asked him for compositions to be played +at a charity concert in Graz.) + + +190. "There is no greater pleasure for me than to practice and exhibit +my art." + + + (November 16, 1800, or 1801, to Wegeler.) + + +191. "I recognize no other accomplishments or advantages than those +which place one amongst the better class of men; where I find them, +there is my home." + + + (Teplitz, July 17, 1812, to his little admirer, Emile M., in H.) + + +192. "From childhood I learned to love virtue, and everything beautiful +and good." + + + (About 1808, to Frau Marie Bigot.) + + +193. "It is one of my foremost principles never to occupy any other +relations than those of friendship with the wife of another man. I +should never want to fill my heart with distrust towards those who may +chance some day to share my fate with me, and thus destroy the loveliest +and purest life for myself." + + + (About 1808, to Frau Marie Bigot, after she had declined his invitation +to drive with him.) + + +194. "In my solitude here I miss my roommate, at least at evening and +noon, when the human animal is obliged to assimilate that which is +necessary to the production of the intellectual, and which I prefer to +do in company with another." + + + (Teplitz, September 6, 1811, to Tiedge.) + + +195. "It was not intentional and premeditated malice which led me to act +toward you as I did; it was my unpardonable carelessness." + + + (To Wegeler.) + + +196. "I am not bad; hot blood is my wickedness, my crime is +youthfulness. I am not bad, really not bad; even though wild surges +often accuse my heart, it still is good. To do good wherever we can, to +love liberty above all things, and never to deny truth though it be at +the throne itself.--Think occasionally of the friend who honors you." + + + (Written in the autograph album of a Herr Bocke.) + + +197. "It is a singular sensation to see and hear one's self praised, and +then to be conscious of one's own imperfections as I am. I always regard +such occasions as admonitions to get nearer the unattainable goal set +for us by art and nature, hard as it may be." + + + (To Mdlle. de Girardi, who had sung his praises in a poem.) + + +198. "It is my sincere desire that whatever shall be said of me +hereafter shall adhere strictly to the truth in every respect regardless +of who may be hurt thereby, me not excepted." + + + (Reported by Schindler, who also relates that when Beethoven handed him +documents to be used in the biography a week before his death, he said +to him and Breuning: "But in all things severely the truth; for that I +hold you to a strict accountability.") + + +199. "Now you can help me to find a wife. If you find a beautiful woman +in F. who, mayhap, endows my music with a sigh,--but she must be no +Elise Burger--make a provisional engagement. But she must be beautiful, +for I can love only the beautiful; otherwise I might love myself." + + + (In 1809, to Baron von Gleichenstein. As for the personal reference it +seems likely that Beethoven referred to Elise Burger, second wife of +the poet G. August Burger, with whom he had got acquainted after she had +been divorced and become an elocutionist.) + + +200. "Am I not a true friend? Why do you conceal your necessities from +me? No friend of mine must suffer so long as I have anything." + + + (To Ferdinand Ries, in 1801. Ries's father had been kind to Beethoven on +the death of his mother in 1787.) + + +201. "I would rather forget what I owe to myself than what I owe to +others." + + + (To Frau Streicher, in the summer of 1817.) + + +202. "I never practice revenge. When I must antagonize others I do no +more than is necessary to protect myself against them, or prevent them +from doing further evil." + + + (To Frau Streicher, in reference to the troubles which his servants gave +him, many of which, no doubt, were due to faults of his own, excusable +in a man in his condition of health.) + + +203. "Be convinced that mankind, even in your case, will always be +sacred to me." + + + (To Czapka, Magisterial Councillor, August, 1826, in the matter of his +nephew's attempt at suicide.) + + +204. "H. is, and always will be, too weak for friendship, and I look +upon him and Y. as mere instruments upon which I play when I feel +like it; but they can never be witnesses of my internal and external +activities, and just as little real participants. I value them according +as they do me service." + + + (Summer of 1800, to the friend of his youth, Pastor Amenda. H. was +probably the faithful Baron Zmeskall von Domanovecz.) + + +205. "If it amuses them to talk and write about me in that manner, let +them go on." + + + (Reported by Schindler as referring to critics who had declared him ripe +for the madhouse.) + + +206. "To your gentlemen critics I recommend a little more foresight and +shrewdness, particularly in respect of the products of younger authors, +as many a one, who might otherwise make progress, may be frightened off. +So far as I am concerned I am far from thinking myself so perfect as not +to be able to endure faulting; yet at the beginning the clamor of your +critic was so debasing that I could scarcely discuss the matter when I +compared myself with others, but had to remain quiet and think: they do +not understand. I was the more able to remain quiet when I recalled how +men were praised who signify little among those who know, and who have +almost disappeared despite their good points. Well, pax vobiscum, peace +to them and me,--I would never have mentioned a syllable had you not +begun." + + + (April 22, 1801, to Breitkopf and Hartel, publishers of the "Allgemeine +Musik Zeitung.") + + +207. "Who was happier than I when I could still pronounce the sweet word +'mother' and have it heard? To whom can I speak it now?" + + + (September 15, 1787, from Bonn to Dr. Schade, of Augsburg, who had aided +him in his return journey from Vienna to Bonn. His mother had died on +July 17, 1787.) + + +208. "I seldom go anywhere since it was always impossible for me to +associate with people where there was not a certain exchange of ideas." + + + (February 15, 1817, to Brentano of Frankfurt.) + + +209. "Not a word about rest! I know of none except in sleep, and sorry +enough am I that I am obliged to yield up more to it than formerly." + + + (November 16, 1801, or 1802, to Wegeler. In Homer's "Odyssey" Beethoven +thickly underscored the words: "Too much sleep is injurious." XV, 393.) + + +210. "Rest assured that you are dealing with a true artist who likes to +be paid decently, it is true, but who loves his own reputation and also +the fame of his art; who is never satisfied with himself and who strives +continually to make even greater progress in his art." + + + (November 23, 1809, to George Thomson, of Edinburgh, for whom Beethoven +arranged the Scotch songs.) + + +211. "My motto is always: nulla die sine linea; and if I permit the muse +to go to sleep it is only that she may awake strengthened." + + + (October 7, 1826, to Wegeler.) + + +212. "There is no treatise likely to be too learned for me. Without +laying claim to real learning it is yet true that since my childhood I +have striven to learn the minds of the best and wisest of every period +of time. It is a disgrace for every artist who does not try to do as +much." + + + (November 2, 1809, to Breitkopf and Hartel, of Leipzig.) + + +213. "Without wishing in the least to set myself up as an exemplar I +assure you that I lived in a small and insignificant place, and made out +of myself nearly all that I was there and am here;--this to your comfort +in case you feel the need of making progress in art." + + + (Baden, July 6, 1804, to Herr Wiedebein, of Brunswick, who had asked +if it was advisable for a music teacher and student to make his home in +Vienna.) + + +214. "There is much on earth to be done,--do it soon! I must not +continue my present everyday life,--art asks this sacrifice also. Take +rest in diversion in order to work more energetically." + + + (Diary, 1814.) + + +215. "The daily grind exhausts me." + + + (Baden, August 23, 1823, to his nephew Karl.) + + + + + +THE SUFFERER + + +216. "Compelled to be a philosopher as early as my 28th year;--it is not +an easy matter,--more difficult for the artist than any other man." + + + (October 6, 1802; the Heiligenstadt Will.) + + +217. "Compelled to contemplate a lasting malady, born with an ardent +and lively temperament, susceptible to the diversions of society, I was +obliged at an early date to isolate myself and live a life of solitude." + + + (From the same.) + + +218. "It was impossible for me to say to others: speak louder; shout! +for I am deaf. Ah! was it possible for me to proclaim a deficiency in +that one sense which in my case ought to have been more perfect than +in all others, which I had once possessed in greatest perfection, to +a degree of perfection, indeed, which few of my profession have ever +enjoyed?" + + + (From the same.) + + +219. "For me there can be no recreation in human society, refined +conversation, mutual exchange of thoughts and feelings; only so far as +necessity compels may I give myself to society,--I must live like an +exile." + + + (From the same.) + + +220. "How great was the humiliation when one who stood beside me heard +the distant sound of a shepherd's pipe, and I heard nothing; or heard +the shepherd singing, and I heard nothing. Such experiences brought me +to the verge of despair;--but little more and I should have put an end +to my life. Art, art alone deterred me." + + + (From the same.) + + +221. "I may say that I live a wretched existence. For almost two years +I have avoided all social gatherings because it is impossible for me to +tell the people I am deaf. If my vocation were anything else it might be +more endurable, but under the circumstances the condition is terrible; +besides what would my enemies say,--they are not few in number! To +give you an idea of this singular deafness let me tell you that in the +theatre I must lean over close to the orchestra in order to understand +the actor; if I am a little remote from them I do not hear the high +tones of instruments and voices; it is remarkable that there are persons +who have not observed it, but because I am generally absent-minded my +conduct is ascribed to that." + + + (Vienna, June 29, 1800, to Wegeler. "To you only do I confide this as a +secret." Concerning his deafness see Appendix.) + + +222. "My defective hearing appeared everywhere before me like a ghost; I +fled from the presence of men, was obliged to appear to be a misanthrope +although I am so little such." + + + (November 16, 1801, or 1800, to Wegeler, in writing to him about his +happy love. "Unfortunately, she is not of my station in life.") + + +223. "Truly, a hard lot has befallen me! Yet I accept the decree of +Fate, and continually pray to God to grant that as long as I must endure +this death in life, I may be preserved from want." + + + (March 14, 1827, to Moscheles, after Beethoven had undergone the fourth +operation for dropsy and was confronting the fifth. He died on March 26, +1827.) + + +224. "Live alone in your art! Restricted though you be by your defective +sense, this is still the only existence for you." + + + (Diary, 1816.) + + +225. "Dissatisfied with many things, more susceptible than any other +person and tormented by my deafness, I often find only suffering in the +association with others." + + + (In 1815, to Brauchle, tutor in the house of Countess Erdody.) + + +226. "I have emptied a cup of bitter suffering and already won martyrdom +in art through the kindness of art's disciples and my art associates." + + + (In the summer of 1814, to Advocate Kauka. "Socrates and Jesus were my +exemplars," he remarks in a conversation-book of 1819.) + + +227. "Perfect the ear trumpets as far as possible, and then travel; this +you owe to yourself, to mankind and to the Almighty! Only thus can you +develop all that is still locked within you;--and a little court,--a +little chapel,--writing the music and having it performed to the glory +of the Almighty, the Eternal, the Infinite---" + + + (Diary, 1815. Beethoven was hoping to receive an appointment as +chapelmaster from his former pupil, Archduke Rudolph, Archbishop of +Olmutz.) + + +228. "God help me. Thou seest me deserted by all mankind. I do not want +to do wrong,--hear my prayer to be with my Karl in the future for which +there seems to be no possibility now. O, harsh Fate, cruel destiny. No, +my unhappy condition will never end. 'This I feel and recognize clearly: +Life is not the greatest of blessings; but the greatest of evils is +guilt.' (From Schiller's "Braut von Messina"). There is no salvation +for you except to hasten away from here; only by this means can you lift +yourself again to the heights of your art whereas you are here sinking +to the commonplace,--and a symphony--and then away,--away,--meanwhile +fund the salaries which can be done for years. Work during the summer +preparatory to travel; only thus can you do the great work for your poor +nephew; later travel through Italy, Sicily, with a few other artists." + + + (Diary, spring of 1817. The salaries were the annuities paid him for +several years by Archduke Rudolph, Prince Rinsky and Prince Lobkowitz. +Seume's "Spaziergang nach Syrakus" was a favorite book of Beethoven's +and inspired him in a desire to make a similar tour, but nothing came of +it.) + + +229. "You must not be a man like other men: not for yourself, only for +others; for you there is no more happiness except in yourself, in your +art.--O God, give me strength to overcome myself, nothing must hold me +to this life." + + + (Beginning of the Diary, 1812-18.) + + +230. "Leave operas and all else alone, write only for your orphan, and +then a cowl to close this unhappy life." + + + (Diary, 1816.) + + +231. "I have often cursed my existence; Plutarch taught me resignation. +I shall, if possible, defy Fate, though there will be hours in my life +when I shall be the most miserable of God's creatures. Resignation! What +a wretched resort; yet it is the only one left me!" + + + (Vienna, June 29, 1800, to Wegeler.) + + +232. "Patience, they tell me, I must now choose for a guide. I have +done so. It shall be my resolve, lastingly, I hope, to endure until +it pleases the implacable Parca: to break the thread. There may be +improvement,--perhaps not,--I am prepared." + + + (From the Heiligenstadt Will.) + + +233. "Let all that is called life be offered to the sublime and become +a sanctuary of art. Let me live, even through artificial means, so they +can be found." + + + (Diary, 1814, when Beethoven was being celebrated extraordinarily by the +royalties and dignitaries gathered at the Congress of Vienna.) + + +234. "Ah! it seemed impossible for me to leave the world until I had +produced all that I felt called upon to produce; and so I prolonged this +wretched existence." + + + (From the Heiligenstadt Will.) + + +235. "With joy shall I hasten forward to meet death; if he comes before +I shall have had an opportunity to develop all my artistic capabilities, +he will come too early in spite of my harsh fate, and I shall probably +wish him to come at a later date. But even then I shall be content, for +will he not release me from endless suffering? Come when you please, I +shall meet you bravely." + + + (From the Heiligenstadt Will.) + + +236. "Apollo and the muses will not yet permit me to be delivered +over to the grim skeleton, for I owe them so much, and I must, on any +departure for the Elysian Fields, leave behind me all that the spirit +has inspired and commanded to be finished." + + + (September 17, 1824, to Schott, music publisher in Mayence.) + + +237. "Had I not read somewhere that it is not pending man to part +voluntarily from his life so long as there is a good deed which he can +perform, I should long since have been no more, and by my own hand. O, +how beautiful life is, but in my case it is poisoned." + + + (May 2, 1810, to his friend Wegeler, to whom he is lamenting over "the +demon that has set up his habitat in my ears.") + + +238. "I must abandon wholly the fond hope, which I brought hither, to be +cured at least in a degree. As the fallen autumn leaves have withered, +so are now my hopes blighted. I depart in almost the same condition +in which I came; even the lofty courage which often animated me in the +beautiful days of summer has disappeared." + + + (From the Will. Beethoven had tried the cure at Heiligenstadt.) + + +239. "All week long I had to suffer and endure like a saint. Away with +this rabble! What a reproach to our civilization that we need what we +despise and must always know it near!" + + + (In 1825, complaining of the misery caused by his domestics.) + + +240. "The best thing to do not to think of your malady is to keep +occupied." + + + (Diary, 1812-18.) + + +241. "It is no comfort for men of the better sort to say to them that +others also suffer; but, alas! comparisons must always be made, though +they only teach that we all suffer, that is err, only in different +ways." + + + (In 1816, to Countess Erdody, on the death of her son.) + + +242. "The portraits of Handel, Bach, Gluck, Mozart and Haydn in my +room,--they may help me to make claim on toleration." + + + (Diary, 1815-16.) + + +243. "God, who knows my innermost soul, and knows how sacredly I have +fulfilled all the duties but upon me as man by humanity, God and nature +will surely some day relieve me from these afflictions." + + + (July 18, 1821, to Archduke Rudolph, from Unterubling.) + + +244. "Friendship and similar sentiments bring only wounds to me. Well, +so be it; for you, poor Beethoven, there is no outward happiness; you +must create it within you,--only in the world of ideality shall you find +friends." + + + (About 1808, to Baron von Gleichenstein, by whom he thought himself +slighted.) + + +245. "You are living on a quiet sea, or already in the safe harbor; you +do not feel the distress of a friend out in the raging storm,--or you +must not feel it." + + + (In 1811, to his friend Gleichenstein, when Beethoven was in love with +the Baron's sister-in-law, Therese Malfatti.) + + +246. "I must have a confidant at my side lest life become a burden." + + + (July 4, 1812, to Count Brunswick, whom he is urging to make a tour with +him, probably to Teplitz.) + + +247. "Your love makes me at once the happiest and the unhappiest of men. +At my age I need a certain uniformity and equableness of life; can such +exist in our relationship?" + + + (June 7, 1800 (?), to the "Immortal Beloved.") + + +248. "O Providence! vouchsafe me one day of pure joy! Long has the echo +of perfect felicity been absent from my heart. When O, when, O Thou +Divine One, shall I feel it again in nature's temple and man's? Never? +Ah! that would be too hard!" + + + (Conclusion of the Heiligenstadt Will.) + + + + + +WORLDLY WISDOM + + +249. "Freedom,--progress, is purpose in the art-world as in universal +creation, and if we moderns have not the hardihood of our ancestors, +refinement of manners has surely accomplished something." + + + (Middling, July 29, 1819, to Archduke Rudolph.) + + +250. "The boundaries are not yet fixed which shall call out to talent +and industry: thus far and no further!" + + + (Reported by Schindler.) + + +251. "You know that the sensitive spirit must not be bound to miserable +necessities." + + + (In the summer of 1814, to Johann Kauka, the advocate who represented +him in the prosecution of his claims against the heirs of Prince +Kinsky.) + + +252. "Art, the persecuted one, always finds an asylum. Did not Daedalus, +shut up in the labyrinth, invent the wings which carried him out into +the open air? O, I shall find them, too, these wings!" + + + (February 19, 1812, to Zmeskall, when, in 1811, by decree of the +Treasury, the value of the Austrian currency was depreciated one-fifth, +and the annuity which Beethoven received from Archduke Rudolph and the +Princes Lobkowitz and Kinsky reduced to 800 florins.) + + +253. "Show me the course where at the goal there stands the palm of +victory! Lend sublimity to my loftiest thoughts, bring to them truths +that shall live forever!" + + + (Diary, 1814, while working on "Fidelio.") + + +254. "Every day is lost in which we do not learn something useful. Man +has no nobler or more valuable possession than time; therefore never put +off till tomorrow what you can do today." + + + (From the notes in Archduke Rudolph's instruction book.) + + +255. "This is the mark of distinction of a truly admirable man: +steadfastness in times of trouble." + + + (Diary, 1816.) + + +256. "Courage, so it be righteous, will gain all things." + + + (April, 1815, to Countess Erdody.) + + +257. "Force, which is a unit, will always prevail against the majority +which is divided." + + + (Conversation-book, 1819.) + + +258. "Kings and Princes can create professors and councillors, and +confer orders and decorations; but they can not create great men, +spirits that rise above the earthly rabble; these they can not create, +and therefore they are to be respected." + + + (August 15, 1812, to Bettina von Arnim.) + + +259. "Man, help yourself!" + + + (Written under the words: "Fine, with the help of God," which Moscheles +had written at the end of a pianoforte arrangement of a portion of +"Fidelio.") + + +260. "If I could give as definite expression to my thoughts about my +illness as to my thoughts in music, I would soon help myself." + + + (September, 1812, to Amalie Sebald, a patient at the cure in Teplitz.) + + +261. "Follow the advice of others only in the rarest cases." + + + (Diary, 1816.) + + +262. "The moral law in us, and the starry sky above us."--Kant. + + + (Conversation-book, February, 1820.) + + +[Literally the passage in Kant's "Critique of Practical Reason" reads as +follows: "Two things fill the soul with ever new and increasing wonder +and reverence the oftener the mind dwells upon them:--the starry sky +above me and the moral law in me."] + +263. "Blessed is he who has overcome all passions and then proceeds +energetically to perform his duties under all circumstances careless of +success! Let the motive lie in the deed, not in the outcome. Be not one +of those whose spring of action is the hope of reward. Do not let +your life pass in inactivity. Be industrious, do your duty, banish all +thoughts as to the results, be they good or evil; for such equanimity is +attention to intellectual things. Seek an asylum only in Wisdom; for +he who is wretched and unhappy is so only in consequence of things. The +truly wise man does not concern himself with the good and evil of +this world. Therefore endeavor diligently to preserve this use of your +reason--for in the affairs of this world, such a use is a precious art." + + + (Diary. Though essentially in the language of Beethoven there is +evidence that the passage was inspired by something that he had read.) + + +264. "The just man must be able also to suffer injustice without +deviating in the least from the right course." + + + (To the Viennese magistrate in the matter of Karl's education.) + + +265. "Man's humility towards man pains me; and yet when I consider +myself in connection with the universe, what am I and what is he whom we +call the greatest? And yet here, again, lies the divine element in man." + + + (To the "Immortal Beloved," July 6 (1800?).) + + +266. "Only the praise of one who has enjoyed praise can give pleasure." + + + (Conversation-book, 1825.) + + +267. "Nothing is more intolerable than to be compelled to accuse one's +self of one's own errors." + + + (Teplitz, September 6, 1811, to Tiedge. Beethoven regrets that through +his own fault he had not made Tiedge's acquaintance on an earlier +opportunity.) + + +268. "What greater gift can man receive than fame, praise and +immortality?" + + + (Diary, 1816-17. After Pliny, Epist. III.) + + +269. "Frequently it seems as if I should almost go mad over my +undeserved fame; fortune seeks me out and I almost fear new misfortune +on that account." + + + (July, 1810, to his friend Zmeskall. "Every day there come new inquiries +from strangers, new acquaintances new relationships.") + + +270. "The world must give one recognition,--it is not always unjust. I +care nothing for it because I have a higher goal." + + + (August 15, 1812, to Bettina von Arnim.) + + +271. "I have the more turned my gaze upwards; but for our own sakes +and for others we are obliged to turn our attention sometimes to lower +things; this, too, is a part of human destiny." + + + (February 8, 1823, to Zelter, with whom he is negotiating the sale of a +copy of the Mass in D.) + + +272. "Why so many dishes? Man is certainly very little higher than the +other animals if his chief delights are those of the table." + + + (Reported by J. A. Stumpff, in the "Harmonicon" of 1824. He dined with +Beethoven in Baden.) + + +273. "Whoever tells a lie is not pure of heart, and such a person can +not cook a clean soup." + + + (To Mme. Streicher, in 1817, or 1818, after having dismissed an +otherwise good housekeeper because she had told a falsehood to spare his +feelings.) + + +274. "Vice walks through paths full of present lusts and persuades +many to follow it. Virtue pursues a steep path and is less seductive to +mankind, especially if at another place there are persons who call them +to a gently declining road." + + + (Diary, 1815.) + + +275. "Sensual enjoyment without a union of soul is bestial and will +always remain bestial." + + + (Diary, 1812-18.) + + +276. "Men are not only together when they are with each other; even the +distant and the dead live with us." + + + (To Therese Malfatti, later Baroness von Drossdick, to whom in the +country he sent Goethe's "Wilhelm Meister" and Schlegel's translation of +Shakespeare.) + + +277. "There is no goodness except the possession of a good soul, which +may be seen in all things, from which one need not seek to hide." + + + (August 15, 1812, to Bettina von Arnim.) + + +278. "The foundation of friendship demands the greatest likeness of +human souls and hearts." + + + (Baden, July 24, 1804, to Ries, describing his quarrel with Breuning.) + + +279. "True friendship can rest only on the union of like natures." + + + (Diary, 1812-18.) + + +280. "The people say nothing; they are merely people. As a rule they +only see themselves in others, and what they see is nothing; away with +them! The good and the beautiful needs no people,--it exists without +outward help, and this seems to be the reason of our enduring +friendship." + + + (September 16, 1812, to Amalie Sebald, in Teplitz, who had playfully +called him a tyrant.) + + +281. "Look, my dear Ries; these are the great connoisseurs who affect +to be able to judge of any piece of music so correctly and keenly. Give +them but the name of their favorite,--they need no more!" + + + (To his pupil Ries, who had, as a joke, played a mediocre march at a +gathering at Count Browne's and announced it to be a composition by +Beethoven. When the march was praised beyond measure Beethoven broke out +into a grim laugh.) + + +282. "Do not let all men see the contempt which they deserve; we do not +know when we may need them." + + + (Note in the Diary of 1814, after having had an unpleasant experience +with his "friend" Bertolini. "Henceforth never step inside his house; +shame on you to ask anything from such an one.") + + +283. "Our Time stands in need of powerful minds who will scourge these +petty, malicious and miserable scoundrels,--much as my heart resents +doing injury to a fellow man." + + + (In 1825, to his nephew, in reference to the publication of a satirical +canon on the Viennese publisher, Haslinger, by Schott, of Mayence.) + + +284. "Today is Sunday. Shall I read something for you from the Gospels? +'Love ye one another!'" + + + (To Frau Streicher.) + + +285. "Hate reacts on those who nourish it." + + + (Diary, 1812-18.) + + +286. "When friends get into a quarrel it is always best not to call in +an intermediary, but to have friend turn to friend direct." + + + (Vienna, November 2, 1793, to Eleonore von Breuning, of Bonn.) + + +287. "There are reasons for the conduct of men which one is not always +willing to explain, but which, nevertheless, are based on ineradicable +necessity." + + + (In 1815, to Brauchle.) + + +288. "I was formerly inconsiderate and hasty in the expression of my +opinions, and thereby I made enemies. Now I pass judgment on no one, +and, indeed, for the reason that I do not wish to do any one harm. +Moreover, in the last instance I always think: if it is something decent +it will maintain itself in spite of all attack and envy; if there is +nothing good and sound at the bottom of it, it will fall to pieces of +itself, bolster it up as one may." + + + (In a conversation with Tomaschek, in October, 1814.) + + +289. "Even the most sacred friendship may harbor secrets, but you ought +not to misinterpret the secret of a friend because you can not guess +it." + + + (About 1808, to Frau Marie Bigot.) + + +290. "You are happy; it is my wish that you remain so, for every man is +best placed in his sphere." + + + (Bonn, July 13, 1825, to his brother Johann, landowner in Gneisendorf.) + + +291. "One must not measure the cost of the useful." + + + (To his nephew Karl in a discussion touching the purchase of an +expensive book.) + + +292. "It is not my custom to prattle away my purposes, since every +intention once betrayed is no longer one's own." + + + (To Frau Streicher.) + + +293. "How stupidity and wretchedness always go in pairs!" + + + (Diary, 1817.) + + +[Beethoven was greatly vexed by his servants.] + +294. "Hope nourishes me; it nourishes half the world, and has been my +neighbor all my life, else what had become of me!" + + + (August 11, 1810, to Bettina von Arnim.) + + +295. "Fortune is round like a globe, hence, naturally, does not always +fall on the noblest and best." + + + (Vienna, July 29, 1800, to Wegeler.) + + +296. "Show your power, Fate! We are not our own masters; what is decided +must be,--and so be it!" + + + (Diary, 1818.) + + +297. "Eternal Providence omnisciently directs the good and evil fortunes +of mortal men." + + + (Diary, 1818.) + + +298. "With tranquility, O God, will I submit myself to changes, and +place all my trust in Thy unalterable mercy and goodness." + + + (Diary, 1818.) + + +299. "All misfortune is mysterious and greatest when viewed alone; +discussed with others it seems more endurable because one becomes +entirely familiar with the things one dreads, and feels as if one had +overcome it." + + + (Diary, 1816.) + + +300. "One must not flee for protection to poverty against the loss of +riches, nor to a lack of friendship against the loss of friends, nor by +abstention from procreation against the death of children, but to reason +against everything." + + + (Diary, 1816.) + + +301. "I share deeply with you the righteous sorrow over the death of +your wife. It seems to me that such a parting, which confronts nearly +every married man, ought to keep one in the ranks of the unmarried." + + + (May 20, 1811, to Gottfried Hartel, of Leipzig.) + + +302. "He who is afflicted with a malady which he can not alter, but +which gradually brings him nearer and nearer to death, without which he +would have lived longer, ought to reflect that murder or another cause +might have killed him even more quickly." + + + (Diary, 1812-18.) + + +303. "We finite ones with infinite souls are born only for sorrows and +joy and it might almost be said that the best of us receive joy through +sorrow." + + + (October 19, 1815, to Countess Erdody.) + + +304. "He is a base man who does not know how to die; I knew it as a boy +of fifteen." + + + (In the spring of 1816, to Miss Fanny Giannatasio del Rio, when +Beethoven felt ill and spoke of dying. It is not known that he was ever +near death in his youth.) + + +305. "A second and third generation recompenses me three and fourfold +for the ill-will which I had to endure from my former contemporaries." + + + (Copied into his Diary from Goethe's "West-ostlicher Divan.") + + +306. + + "My hour at last is come; + Yet not ingloriously or passively + I die, but first will do some valiant deed, + Of which mankind shall hear in after + time."--Homer. + + + ("The Iliad" [Bryant's translation], Book XXII, 375-378.) + + + + (Copied into his Diary, 1815.) + + +307. "Fate gave man the courage of endurance." + + + (Diary, 1814.) + + +308. + + "Portia--How far that little candle throws his beams! + So shines a good deed in a naughty world." + + + (Marked in his copy of Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice.") + + +309. + + "And on the day that one becomes a + slave, + The Thunderer, Jove, takes half his + worth away."--Homer. + + + ("The Odyssey" [Bryant's translation], Book XVII, 392-393. Marked by +Beethoven.) + + +310. + + "Short is the life of man, and whoso + bears + A cruel heart, devising cruel things, + On him men call down evil from the + gods + While living, and pursue him, when he + dies, + With scoffs. But whoso is of generous + heart + And harbors generous aims, his guests + proclaim + His praises far and wide to all + mankind, + And numberless are they who call him + good."--Homer. + + + ("The Odyssey" [Bryant's translation], Book XIX, 408-415. Copied into +his diary, 1818.) + + + + + +GOD + + +Beethoven was through and through a religious man, though not in the +confessional sense. Reared in the Catholic faith he early attained to an +independent opinion on religious things. It must be borne in mind that +his youth fell in the period of enlightenment and rationalism. When at +a later date he composed the grand Mass in honor of his esteemed pupil +Archduke Rudolph,--he hoped to obtain from him a chapelmastership when +the Archduke became Archbishop of Olmutz, but in vain,--he gave it forms +and dimensions which deviated from the ritual. + +In all things liberty was the fundamental principle of Beethoven's life. +His favorite book was Sturm's "Observations Concerning God's Works in +Nature" (Betrachtungen uber die Werke Gottes in der Natur), which he +recommended to the priests for wide distribution among the people. He +saw the hand of God in even the most insignificant natural phenomenon. +God was to him the Supreme Being whom he had jubilantly hymned in +the choral portion of the Ninth Symphony in the words of Schiller: +"Brothers, beyond you starry canopy there must dwell a loving Father!" +Beethoven's relationship to God was that of a child toward his loving +father to whom he confides all his joys as well as sorrows. + +It is said that once he narrowly escaped excommunication for having said +that Jesus was only a poor human being and a Jew. Haydn, ingenuously +pious, is reported to have called Beethoven an atheist. + +He consented to the calling in of a priest on his death-bed. +Eye-witnesses testify that the customary function was performed most +impressively and edifyingly and that Beethoven expressed his thanks +to the officiating priest with heartiness. After he had left the room +Beethoven said to his friends: "Plaudite, amici, comoedia finita est," +the phrase with which antique dramas were concluded. From this fact +the statement has been made that Beethoven wished to characterize the +sacrament of extreme unction as a comedy. This is contradicted, however, +by his conduct during its administration. It is more probable that he +wished to designate his life as a drama; in this sense, at any rate, the +words were accepted by his friends. Schindler says emphatically: "The +last days were in all respects remarkable, and he looked forward to +death with truly Socratic wisdom and peace of mind." + +[I append a description of the death scene as I found it in the +notebooks of A. W. Thayer which were placed in my hands for examination +after the death of Beethoven's greatest biographer in 1897: + +"June 5, 1860, I was in Graz and saw Huttenbrenner (Anselm) who gave me +the following particulars: ...In the winter of 1826-27 his friends wrote +him from Vienna, that if he wished to see Beethoven again alive he must +hurry thither from Graz. He hastened to Vienna, arriving a few +days before Beethoven's death. Early in the afternoon of March 26, +Huttenbrenner went into the dying man's room. He mentioned as persons +whom he saw there, Stephen v. Breuning and Gerhard, Schindler, Telscher +and Carl's mother (this seems to be a mistake, i.e. if Mrs. v. Beethoven +is right). Beethoven had then long been senseless. Telscher began +drawing the dying face of Beethoven. This grated on Breuning's feelings, +and he remonstrated with him, and he put up his papers and left (?). + +"Then Breuning and Schindler left to go out to Wohring to select a grave. +(Just after the five--I got this from Breuning himself--when it grew +dark with the sudden storm Gerhard, who had been standing at the window, +ran home to his teacher.) + +"Afterward Gerhard v. B. went home, and there remained in the room only +Huttenbrenner and Mrs. van Beethoven. The storm passed over, covering +the Glacis with snow and sleet. As it passed away a flash of lightning +lighted up everything. This was followed by an awful clap of thunder. +Huttenbrenner had been sitting on the side of the bed sustaining +Beethoven's head--holding it up with his right arm His breathing was +already very much impeded, and he had been for hours dying. At this +startling, awful peal of thunder, the dying man suddenly raised his +head from Huttenbrenner's arm, stretched out his own right arm +majestically--like a general giving orders to an army. This was but for +an instant; the arm sunk back; he fell back. Beethoven was dead. + +"Another talk with Huttenbrenner. It seems that Beethoven was at his +last gasp, one eye already closed. At the stroke of lightning and the +thunder peal he raised his arm with a doubled-up fist; the expression of +his eyes and face was that of one defying death,--a look of defiance and +power of resistance. + +"He must have had his arm under the pillow. I must ask him. + +"I did ask him; he had his arm around B.'s neck." H. E. K.] + + +311. "I am that which is. I am all that was, that is, and that shall be. +No mortal man has ever lifted the veil of me. He is solely of himself, +and to this Only One all things owe their existence." + + + (Beethoven's creed. He had found it in Champollion's "The Paintings +of Egypt," where it is set down as an inscription on a temple to the +goddess Neith. Beethoven had his copy framed and kept it constantly +before him on his writing desk. "The relic was a great treasure in his +eyes"--Schindler.) + + +312. "Wrapped in the shadows of eternal solitude, in the impenetrable +darkness of the thicket, impenetrable, immeasurable, unapproachable, +formlessly extended. Before spirit was breathed (into things) his +spirit was, and his only. As mortal eyes (to compare finite and infinite +things) look into a shining mirror." + + + (Copied, evidently, from an unidentified work, by Beethoven; though +possibly original with him.) + + +313. "It was not the fortuitous meeting of the chordal atoms that made +the world; if order and beauty are reflected in the constitution of the +universe, then there is a God." + + + (Diary, 1816.) + + +314. "He who is above,--O, He is, and without Him there is nothing." + + + (Diary.) + + +315. "Go to the devil with your 'gracious Sir!' There is only one who +can be called gracious, and that is God." + + + (About 1824 or 1825, to Rampel, a copyist, who, apparently, had been +a little too obsequious in his address to Beethoven. [As is customary +among the Viennese to this day. H. E. K.]) + + +316. "What is all this compared with the great Tonemaster above! +above! above! and righteously the Most High, whereas here below all is +mockery,--dwarfs,--and yet Most High!!" + + + (To Schott, publisher in Mayence, in 1822--the same year in which +Beethoven copied the Egyptian inscription.) + + +317. "There is no loftier mission than to approach the Divinity nearer +than other men, and to disseminate the divine rays among mankind." + + + (August, 1823, to Archduke Rudolph.) + + +318. "Heaven rules over the destiny of men and monsters (literally, +human and inhuman beings), and so it will guide me, too, to the better +things of life." + + + (September 11, 1811, to the poet Elsie von der Recke.) + + +319. "It's the same with humanity; here, too (in suffering), he must +show his strength, i.e. endure without knowing or feeling his nullity, +and reach his perfection again for which the Most High wishes to make us +worthy." + + + (May 13, 1816, to Countess Erdody, who was suffering from incurable +lameness.) + + +320. "Religion and thorough-bass are settled things concerning which +there should be no disputing." + + + (Reported by Schindler.) + + +331. "All things flowed clear and pure out of God. Though often darkly +led to evil by passion, I returned, through penance and purification +to the pure fountain,--to God,--and to your art. In this I was never +impelled by selfishness; may it always be so. The trees bend low under +the weight of fruit, the clouds descend when they are filled with +salutary rains, and the benefactors of humanity are not puffed up by +their wealth." + + + (Diary, 1815. The first portion seems to be a quotation, but Beethoven +continues after the dash most characteristically in his own words and a +change of person.) + + +322. "God is immaterial, and for this reason transcends every +conception. Since He is invisible He can have no form. But from what +we observe in His work we may conclude that He is eternal, omnipotent, +omniscient and omnipresent." + + + (Copied, with the remark: "From Indian literature" from an unidentified +work, into the Diary of 1816.) + + +323. "In praise of Thy goodness I must confess that Thou didst try with +all Thy means to draw me to Thee. Sometimes it pleased Thee to let me +feel the heavy hand of Thy displeasure and to humiliate my proud heart +by manifold castigations. Sickness and misfortune didst Thou send upon +me to turn my thoughts to my errantries.--One thing, only, O Father, do +I ask: cease not to labor for my betterment. In whatsoever manner it be, +let me turn to Thee and become fruitful in good works." + + + (Copied into the Diary from Sturm's book, "Observations Concerning the +Works of God in Nature.") + + + + + +APPENDIX + + +Some observations may finally be acceptable touching Beethoven's general +culture to which the thoughts of the reader must naturally have been +directed by the excerpts from his writings set forth in the preceding +pages. His own words betray the fact that he was not privileged to enjoy +a thorough school-training and was thus compelled to the end of his days +to make good the deficiencies in his learning. As a lad at Bonn he had +attended the so-called Tirocinium, a sort of preparatory school for the +Gymnasium, and acquired a small knowledge of Latin. Later he made great +efforts to acquire French, a language essential to intercourse in the +upper circles of society. He never established intimate relations +with the rules of German. He used small initials for substantives, or +capitalized verbs and adjectives according as they appeared important +to him. His punctuation was arbitrary; generally he drew a perpendicular +line between his words, letting it suffice for a comma or period as +the case might be (a proceeding which adds not a little to the +embarrassments of him who seeks to translate his sometimes mystical +utterances). + +It is said that a man's bookcase bears evidence of his education and +intellectual interests. Beethoven also had books,--not many, but a +characteristic collection. From his faithful friend and voluntary +servant Schindler we have a report on this subject. Of the books +of which he was possessed at the time of his death there have been +preserved four volumes of translations of Shakespeare's works, Homer's +"Odyssey" in the translation of J. H. Voss, Sturm's "Observations" + (several times referred to in the preceding pages), and Goethe's +"West-ostlicher Divan." These books are frequently marked and annotated +in lead pencil, thus bearing witness to the subjects which interested +Beethoven. From them, and volumes which he had borrowed, many passages +were copied by him into his daily journal. Besides these books Schindler +mentions Homer's "Iliad," Goethe's poems, "Wilhelm Melster" and "Faust," +Schiller's dramas and poems, Tiedge's "Urania," volumes of poems by +Matthisson and Seume, and Nina d'Aubigny's "Letters to Natalia on +Singing,"--a book to which Beethoven attached great value. These books +have disappeared, as well as others which Beethoven valued. We do +not know what became of the volumes of Plato, Aristotle, Plutarch and +Xenophon, or the writings of Pliny, Euripides, Quintilian, Ovid, Horace, +Ossian, Milton and Thomson, traces of which are found in Beethoven's +utterances. + +The catalogue made for the auction sale of his posthumous effects on +September 7, 1827, included forty-four works of which the censorship +seized five as prohibited writings, namely, Seume's "Foot Journey to +Syracuse," the Apocrypha, Kotzebue's "On the Nobility," W.E. +Muller's "Paris in its Zenith" (1816), and "Views on Religion and +Ecclesiasticism." Burney's "General History of Music" was also in his +library, the gift, probably of an English admirer. + +In his later years Beethoven was obliged to use the oft-quoted +"conversation-books" in his intercourse with friends and strangers +alike who wrote down their questions. Of these little books Schindler +preserved no less than 134, which are now in the Royal Library in +Berlin. Naturally Beethoven answered the written questions orally as a +rule. An idea of Beethoven's opinions can occasionally be gathered from +the context of the questions, but frequently we are left in the dark. + +Beethoven's own characterization of his deafness as "singular" is +significant. Often, even in his later years, he was able to hear a +little and for a time. One might almost speak of a periodical visitation +of the "demon." In his biography Marx gives the following description +of the malady: "As early as 1816 it is found that he is incapable +of conducting his own works; in 1824 he could not hear the storm +of applause from a great audience; but in 1822 he still improvises +marvelously in social circles; in 1826 he studies their parts in the +Ninth Symphony and Solemn Mass with Sontag and Ungher, and in 1825 he +listens critically to a performance of the quartet in A-minor, op. 132." + +It is to be assumed that in such urgent cases his willpower temporarily +gave new tension to the gradually atrophying aural nerves (it is said +that he was still able to hear single or a few voices with his left +ear but could not apprehend masses), but this was not the case in less +important moments, as the conversation-books prove. In these books a few +answers are also written down, naturally enough in cases not intended +for the ears of strangers. At various times Beethoven kept a diary in +which he entered his most intimate thoughts, especially those designed +for his own encouragement. Many of these appear in the preceding pages. +In these instances more than in any others his expressions are obscure, +detached and, through indifference, faulty in construction. For the +greater part they are remarks thrown upon the paper in great haste. + + + END OF THIS EDITION + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Beethoven: the Man and the Artist, by +Ludwig van Beethoven + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEETHOVEN: THE MAN AND THE ARTIST *** + +***** This file should be named 3528.txt or 3528.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/2/3528/ + +Produced by John Mamoun, Charles Franks, S. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.12.12.00*END* + + + + + +This etext was produced by John Mamoun <mamounjo@UMDNJ.EDU> with +help from numerous proofreaders, including those at the +Distributed Proofreaders' page of Charles Franks. + + + + +"Beethoven: the Man and the Artist, as Revealed in his own Words" + +edited by Friedrich Kerst and Henry Edward Krehbiel + + + + +(See the end of this electronic text for information about +the edition) + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS: + +BRIEF BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH +PREFACE +CONCERNING ART +LOVE OF NATURE +CONCERNING TEXTS +ON COMPOSING +ON PERFORMING MUSIC +ON HIS OWN WORKS +ON ART AND ARTISTS +BEETHOVEN AS CRITIC +ON EDUCATION +ON HIS OWN DISPOSITION AND CHARACTER +THE SUFFERER +WORLDLY WISDOM +GOD +APPENDIX +INFO ABOUT THIS E-TEXT EDITION + + + + +BRIEF BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH + + + +Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) is widely considered to be one of +the pre-eminent classical music figures of the Western world. +This German musical genius created numerous works that are firmly +entrenched in the repertoire. Except for a weakness in composing +vocal and operatic music (to which he himself admitted, +notwithstanding a few vocal works like the opera "Fidelio" and the +song "Adelaide,"), Beethoven had complete mastery of the artform. +He left his stamp in 9 symphonies, 5 piano concertos, 10 violin +sonatas, 32 piano sonatas, numerous string quartets and dozens of +other key works. Many of his works are ingeniously imaginative +and innovated, such as his 3rd symphony (the "Eroica"), his 9th +Violin Sonata (The "Kreutzer"), his "Waldstein" piano sonata, his +4th and 5th piano concertos, or his "Grosse Fugue" for string +quartet. + +Of course, many of his works have their own unique character and +innovative "angle" to them. Comparing one to another risks +"comparing apples to oranges," since each adds its own detail to +Beethoven's grand musical paradigm. + +It is difficult to sum up briefly what his musical works represent +or symbolize, since taken together they encompass a vast system of +thought. Generally, however, those who apprehend his music sense +that it reflects their own personal yearnings and sufferings. It +egoistically, and always intelligently, "discusses" with its +listener his or her feelings in the wake of personal failure and +personal triumph, from the lowest depths of despair to the highest +heights of happy or triumphant fulfillment. In his music, he +represents the feelings felt by those attempting to achieve their +yearnings within their societies. + +In a thematic sense, Beethoven does not promote anarchist ideas. +The listener cannot, in listening to Beethoven's music, apprehend +ideas which, if applied, would compromise the welfare of his +society. The music is thus "civically responsible," as is the +music of Bach or Mozart. For Beethoven, the society exists as a +bulwark with which the individual must function in harmony, or at +least not function such as to harm or destroy it. And, should the +society marginalize or hurt the individual, as it often does, the +individual must, according to Beethoven, humbly accept this, never +considering the alternative act of attempting to harm or destroy +the society in the wake of his or her personal frustrations. But, +thanks to Beethoven, such an individual is provided with the means +to sooth his or her misery in the wake of feeling "hurt" at the +hands of society. The means is this music and the euphoric +pleasure that it can provide to minds possessing the psycho- +intellectual "wiring" needed to apprehend it. + +The following book consists of brief biographical commentaries +about Beethoven, each followed by sections of quotations +attributed to the muse. In these quotes, Beethoven demonstrates +his intense preoccupation (or obsession) with thinking +artistically and intelligently, and with helping to alleviate +man's suffering by providing man with musical artworks that could +enlighten him, so as to become educated enough to pull himself out +of his misery. He felt immediate, strong disdain at any artistic +statement that was not truly intelligent and artistic, such as the +music of Rossini. Although not prudish, he had high standards +when it came to marriage, and was morally against "reproductory +pleasure" for its own sake, or any form of adultery. He never +married. Interestingly, experimental psychologists have +discovered that people who have an intense love of humanity or +are preoccupied with working to serve humanity tend to have +difficulty forming intimate bonds with people on a personal +level. + + + + ********************************* + + + +PREFACE + + + +This little book came into existence as if it were by chance. +The author had devoted himself for a long time to the study of +Beethoven and carefully scrutinized all manner of books, +publications, manuscripts, etc., in order to derive the greatest +possible information about the hero. He can say confidently that +he conned every existing publication of value. His notes made +during his readings grew voluminous, and also his amazement at +the wealth of Beethoven's observations comparatively unknown to +his admirers because hidden away, like concealed violets, in +books which have been long out of print and for whose +reproduction there is no urgent call. These observations are of +the utmost importance for the understanding of Beethoven, in +whom man and artist are inseparably united. Within the pages +of this little book are included all of them which seemed to +possess value, either as expressions of universal truths or as +evidence of the character of Beethoven or his compositions. +Beethoven is brought more directly before our knowledge by these +his own words than by the diffuse books which have been written +about him. For this reason the compiler has added only the +necessary explanatory notes, and (on the advice of professional +friends) the remarks introductory to the various subdivisions of +the book. He dispensed with a biographical introduction; there +are plenty of succinct biographies, which set forth the +circumstances of the master's life easily to be had. Those who +wish to penetrate farther into the subject would do well to +read the great work by Thayer, the foundation of all Beethoven +biography(in the new revision now making by Deiters), or the +critical biography by Marx, as revised by Behncke. In sifting +the material it was found that it fell naturally into thirteen +subdivisions. In arranging the succession of utterances care +was had to group related subjects. By this means unnecessary +interruptions in the train of thought were avoided and +interesting comparisons made possible. To this end it was +important that time, place and circumstances of every word +should be conscientiously set down. + +Concerning the selection of material let it be said that in all +cases of doubt the authenticity of every utterance was proved; +Beethoven is easily recognizable in the form and contents of his +sayings. Attention must be directed to two matters in particular: +after considerable reflection the compiler decided to include in +the collection a few quotations which Beethoven copied from books +which he read. From the fact that he took the trouble to write +them down, we may assume that they had a fascination for him, and +were greeted with lively emotion as being admirable expressions +of thoughts which had moved him. They are very few, and the fact +that they are quotations is plainly indicated. By copying them +into his note-books Beethoven as much as stored them away in the +thesaurus of his thoughts, and so they may well have a place +here. A word touching the use of the three famous letters to +Bettina von Arnim, the peculiarities of which differentiate them +from the entire mass of Beethoven's correspondence and compel an +inquiry into their genuineness: As a correspondent Bettina von +Arnim has a poor reputation since the discovery of her pretty +forgery, "Goethes Briefwechsel mit einem Kinde" (Goethe's +Correspondence with a Child). In this alleged "Correspondence" +she made use of fragmentary material which was genuine, pieced +it out with her own inventions, and even went so far as to turn +into letters poems written by Goethe to her and other women. The +genuineness of a poem by Beethoven to Bettina is indubitable; it +will be found in the chapter entitled "Concerning Texts." Doubt +was thrown on the letters immediately on their appearance in 1839. + +Bettina could have dissipated all suspicion had she produced the +originals and remained silent. One letter, however, that dates +February 10, 1811, afterward came to light Bettina had given it +to Philipp von Nathusius. It had always been thought the most +likely one, of the set to be authentic; the compiler has +therefore, used it without hesitation. From the other letters, +in which a mixture of the genuine and the fictitious must be +assumed so long as the originals are not produced, passages have +been taken which might have been thus constructed by Beethoven. +On the contrary, the voluminous communications of Bettina to +Goethe, in which she relates her conversations with Beethoven, +were scarcely used. It is significant, so far as these are +concerned, that, according to Bettina's own statement, when she +read the letter to him before sending it off, Beethoven cried out, +"Did I really say that? If so I must have had a raptus." + +In conclusion the compiler directs attention to the fact that in +a few cases utterances which have been transmitted to us only in +an indirect form have been altered to present them in a direct +form, in as much as their contents seemed too valuable to omit +simply because their production involved a trifling change in +form. + + +--Elberfeld, October, 1904. Fr. K. + + + +CONCERNING ART + + + +Beethoven's relation to art might almost be described as +personal. Art was his goddess to whom he made petition, to whom +he rendered thanks, whom he defended. He praised her as his +savior in times of despair; by his own confession it was only +the prospect of her comforts that prevented him from laying +violent hands on himself. Read his words and you shall find +that it was his art that was his companion in his wanderings +through field and forest, the sharer of the solitude to which +his deafness condemned him. The concepts Nature and Art were +intimately bound up in his mind. His lofty and idealistic +conception of art led him to proclaim the purity of his goddess +with the hot zeal of a priestly fanatic. Every form of pseudo +or bastard art stirred him with hatred to the bottom of his +soul; hence his furious onslaughts on mere virtuosity and all +efforts from influential sources to utilize art for other than +purely artistic purposes. And his art rewarded his devotion +richly; she made his sorrowful life worth living with gifts of +purest joy: + +"To Beethoven music was not only a manifestation of the +beautiful, an art, it was akin to religion. He felt himself to +be a prophet, a seer. All the misanthropy engendered by his +unhappy relations with mankind, could not shake his devotion to +this ideal which had sprung in to Beethoven from truest +artistic apprehension and been nurtured by enforced +introspection and philosophic reflection." + +("Music and Manners," page 237. H. E. K.) + + + + +1. "'Tis said, that art is long, and life but fleeting:-- +Nay; life is long, and brief the span of art; +If e're her breath vouchsafes with gods a meeting, +A moment's favor 'tis of which we've had a part." + +(Conversation book, March, 1820. Probably a quotation.) + +2. "The world is a king, and, like a king, desires flattery in +return for favor; but true art is selfish and perverse--it will +not submit to the mould of flattery." + +(Conversation book, March, 1820. When Baron van Braun expressed +the opinion that the opera "Fidelio" would eventually win the +enthusiasm of the upper tiers, Beethoven said, "I do not write +for the galleries!" He never permitted himself to be persuaded +to make concessions to the taste of the masses.) + +3. "Continue to translate yourself to the heaven of art; there +is no more undisturbed, unmixed, purer happiness than may thus +be attained." + +(August 19, 1817, to Xavier Schnyder, who vainly sought +instruction from Beethoven in 1811, though he was pleasantly +received.) + +4. "Go on; do not practice art alone but penetrate to her heart; +she deserves it, for art and science only can raise man to +godhood." + +(Teplitz, July 17, 1812, to his ten years' old admirer, Emilie M. +in H.) + +5. "True art is imperishable and the true artist finds profound +delight in grand productions of genius." + +(March 15, 1823, to Cherubini, to whom he also wrote, "I prize +your works more than all others written for the stage." The +letter asked Cherubini to interest himself in obtaining a +subscription from King Louis XVIII for the Solemn Mass in D). + +[Cherubini declared that he had never received the letter. That +it was not only the hope of obtaining a favor which prompted +Beethoven to express so high an admiration for Cherubini, is +plain from a remark made by the English musician Cipriani +Potterto A. W. Thayer in 1861. I found it in Thayer's note-books +which were placed in my hands for examination after his death. + +One day Potter asked, "Who is the greatest living composer, +yourself excepted?" Beethoven seemed puzzled for a moment, and +then exclaimed, "Cherubini." H. E. K.] + +6. "Truth exists for the wise; beauty for the susceptible heart. +They belong together--are complementary." + +(Written in the autograph book of his friend, Lenz von Breuning, +in 1797.) + +7. "When I open my eyes, a sigh involuntarily escapes me, for all +that I see runs counter to my religion; perforce I despise the +world which does not intuitively feel that music is a higher +revelation than all wisdom and philosophy." + +(Remark made to Bettina von Arnim, in 1810, concerning Viennese +society. Report in a letter by Bettina to Goethe on May 28, +1810.) + +8. "Art! Who comprehends her? With whom can one consult concerning +this great goddess?" + +(August 11, 1810, to Bettina von Arnim.) + +9. "In the country I know no lovelier delight than quartet +music." + +(To Archduke Rudolph, in a letter addressed to Baden on July 24, +1813.) + +10. "Nothing but art, cut to form like old-fashioned hoop- +skirts. I never feel entirely well except when I am among scenes +of unspoiled nature." + +(September 24, 1826, to Breuning, while promenading with +Breuning's family in the Schonbrunner Garden, after calling +attention to the alleys of trees "trimmed like walls, in the +French manner.") + +11. Nature knows no quiescence; and true art walks with her hand +in hand; her sister--from whom heaven forefend us!--is called +artificiality." + +(From notes in the lesson book of Archduke Rudolph, following +some remarks on the expansion of the expressive capacity of +music.) + + + +LOVE OF NATURE + + + +Beethoven was a true son of the Rhine in his love for nature. As +a boy he had taken extended trips, sometimes occupying days, with +his father "through the Rhenish localities ever lastingly dear to +me." In his days of physical health Nature was his instructress +in art; "I may not come without my banner," he used to say when +he set out upon his wanderings even in his latest years, and +never without his note books. In the scenes of nature he found +his marvelous motives and themes; brook, birds and tree sang to +him. In a few special cases he has himself recorded the fact. + +But when he was excluded more and more from communion with his +fellow men because of his increasing deafness, until, finally, he +could communicate only by writing with others (hence the +conversation-books, which will be cited often in this little +volume), he fled for refuge to nature. Out in the woods he again +became naively happy; to him the woods were a Holy of Holies, a +Home of the Mysteries. Forest and mountainvale heard his sighs; +there he unburdened his heavy-laden heart. When his friends need +comfort he recommends a retreat to nature. Nearly every summer he +leaves hot and dusty Vienna and seeks a quiet spot in the +beautiful neighborhood. To call a retired and reposeful little +spot his own is his burning desire. + + + +12. On the Kahlenberg, 1812, end of September: + +Almighty One +In the woods +I am blessed. +Happy every one +In the woods. +Every tree speaks +Through Thee. + +O God! +What glory in the +Woodland. +On the Heights +is Peace,-- +Peace to serve +Him-- + +(This poetic exclamation, accompanied by a few notes, is on a +page of music paper owned by Joseph Joachim.) + +13. "How happy I am to be able to wander among bushes and herbs, +under trees and over rocks; no man can love the country as I love +it. Woods, trees and rocks send back the echo that man desires." + +(To Baroness von Drossdick.) + +14. "O God! send your glance into beautiful nature and comfort +your moody thoughts touching that which must be." + +(To the "Immortal Beloved," July 6, in the morning.) + +[Thayer has spoiled the story so long believed, and still +spooking in the books of careless writers, that the "Immortal +Beloved" was the Countess Giulietta Guicciardi, to whom the +C-sharp minor sonata is dedicated. The real person to whom the +love-letters were addressed was the Countess Brunswick to whom +Beethoven was engaged to be married when he composed the fourth +Symphony. H. E. K.) + +15. "My miserable hearing does not trouble me here. In the +country it seems as if every tree said to me: 'Holy! holy!' Who +can give complete expression to the ecstasy of the woods ! O, +the sweet stillness of the woods!" + +(July, 1814; he had gone to Baden after the benefit performance +of "Fidelio.") + +16. "My fatherland, the beautiful locality in which I saw the +light of the world, appears before me vividly and just as +beautiful as when I left you; I shall count it the happiest +experience of my life when I shall again be able to see you, +and greet our Father Rhine." + +(Vienna, June 29, to Wegeler, in Bonn.) + +[In 1825 Beethoven said to his pupil Ries, "Fare well in the Rhine +country which is ever dear to me," and in 1826 wrote to Schott, +the publisher in Mayence, about the "Rhine country which I so long +to see again."] + +17. "Bruehl, at "The Lamb"--how lovely to see my native country +again!" + +(Diary, 1812-1818.) + +18. "A little house here, so small as to yield one's self a +little room,--only a few days in this divine Bruehl,--longing or +desire, emancipation or fulfillment." + +(Written in 1816 in Bruehl near Modling among the sketches for +the Scherzo of the pianoforte sonata op. 10.) + +[Like many another ejaculatory remark of Beethoven's, it is +difficult to understand. See Appendix. H. E. K.] + +19. "When you reach the old ruins, think that Beethoven often +paused there; if you wander through the mysterious fir forests, +think that. Beethoven often poetized, or, as is said, composed +there." + +(In the fall of 1817, to Mme. Streicher, who was at a cure in +Baden.) + +20. "Nature is a glorious school for the heart! It is well; I +shall be a scholar in this school and bring an eager heart to her +instruction. Here I shall learn wisdom, the only wisdom that is +free from disgust; here I shall learn to know God and find a +foretaste of heaven in His knowledge. Among these occupations my +earthly days shall flow peacefully along until I am accepted into +that world where I shall no longer be a student, but a knower of +wisdom." + +(Copied into his diary, in 1818, from Sturm's "Betrachtungen uber +die Werke Gottes in der Natur.") + +21. "Soon autumn will be here. Then I wish to be like unto a +fruitful tree which pours rich stores of fruit into our laps! But +in the winter of existence, when I shall be gray and sated with +life, I desire for myself the good fortune that my repose be as +honorable and beneficent as the repose of nature in the winter +time." + +(Copied from the same work of Sturm's.) + + + +CONCERNING TEXTS + + + +Not even a Beethoven was spared the tormenting question of texts +for composition. It is fortunate for posterity that he did not +exhaust his energies in setting inefficient libretti, that he did +not believe that good music would suffice to command success in +spite of bad texts. The majority of his works belong to the field +of purely instrumental music. Beethoven often gave expression to +the belief that words were a less capable medium of proclamation +for feelings than music. Nevertheless it may be observed that he +looked upon an opera, or lyric drama, as the crowning work of his +life. He was in communication with the best poets of his time +concerning opera texts. A letter of his on the subject was found +in the blood-spotted pocketbook of Theodor Komer. The conclusion +of his creative labors was to be a setting of Goethe's "Faust;" +except "Fidelio," however, he gave us no opera. His songs are not +many although he sought carefully for appropriate texts. +Unhappily the gift of poetry was not vouchsafed him. + + + +22. "Always the same old story: the Germans can not put together a +good libretto." + +(To C. M. von Weber, concerning the book of "Euryanthe," at Baden, +in October, 1823. Mozart said: "Verses are the most indispensable +thing for music, but rhymes, for the sake of rhymes, the most +injurious. Those who go to work so pedantically will assuredly +come to grief, along with the music.") + +23. "It is difficult to find a good poem. Grillparzer has promised +to write one for me,--indeed, he has already written one; but we +can not understand each other. I want something entirely different +than he." + +(In the spring of 1825, to Ludwig Rellstab, who was intending to +write an opera-book for Beethoven. It may not be amiss to recall +the fact that Mozart examined over one hundred librettos, +according to his own statement, before he decided to compose "The +Marriage of Figaro.") + +24. "It is the duty of every composer to be familiar with all +poets, old and new, and himself choose the best and most fitting +for his purposes." + +(In a recommendation of Kandler's "Anthology.") + +25. "The genre would give me little concern provided the subject +were attractive to me. It must be such that I can go to work on +it with love and ardor. I could not compose operas like "Don +Juan" and "Figaro;" toward them I feel too great a repugnance. I +could never have chosen such subjects; they are too frivolous." + +(In the spring of 1825, to Ludwig Rellstab.) + +26. "I need a text which stimulates me; it must be something +moral, uplifting. Texts such as Mozart composed I should never +have been able to set to music. I could never have got myself +into a mood for licentious texts. I have received many librettos, +but, as I have said, none that met my wishes." + +(To young Gerhard von Breuning.) + +27. "I know the text is extremely bad, but after one has conceived +an entity out of even a bad text, it is difficult to make changes +in de tails without disturbing the unity. If it is a single word, +on which occasionally great weight is laid, it must be permitted +to stand. He is a bad author who can not, or will not try to make +something as good as possible; if this is not the case petty +changes will certainly not improve the whole." + +(Teplitz, August 23, 1811, to Hartel, the publisher, who wanted +some changes made in the hook of "The Mount of Olives.") + +28. "Good heavens! Do they think in Saxony that the words make +good music? If an inappropriate word can spoil the music, which +is true, then we ought to be glad when we find that words and +music are one and not try to improve matters even if the verbal +expression is commonplace--dixi." + +(January 28, to Gottfried Hartel, who had undertaken to make +changes in the book of "The Mount of Olives" despite the +prohibition of Beethoven.) + +29. "Goethe's poems exert a great power over me not only because +of their contents but also because of their rhythms; I am +stimulated to compose by this language, which builds itself up to +higher orders as if through spiritual agencies, and bears in +itself the secret of harmonies." + +(Reported as an expression of Beethoven's by Bettina von Arnim to +Goethe.) + +30. "Schiller's poems are difficult to set to music. The composer +must be able to rise far above the poet. Who can do that in the +case of Schiller? In this respect Goethe is much easier." + +(1809, after Beethoven had made his experiences with the "Hymn to +Joy" and "Egmont.") + + + +ON COMPOSING + + + +Wiseacres not infrequently accused Beethoven of want of +regularity in his compositions. In various ways and at divers +times he gave vigorous utterance to his opinions of such +pedantry. He was not the most tractable of pupils, especially in +Vienna, where, although he was highly praised as a player, he +took lessons in counterpoint from Albrechtsberger. He did not +endure long with Papa Haydn. He detested the study of fugue in +particular; the fugue was to him a symbol of narrow coercion +which choked all emotion. Mere formal beauty, moreover, was +nothing to him. Over and over again he emphasizes soul, feeling, +direct and immediate life, as the first necessity of an art work. +It is therefore not strange that under certain circumstances he +ignored conventional forms in sonata and symphony. An +irrepressible impulse toward freedom is the most prominent +peculiarity of the man and artist Beethoven; nearly all of his +observations, no matter what their subject, radiate the word +"Liberty." In his remarks about composing there is a complete +exposition of his method of work. + + + +31. "As regards me, great heavens! my dominion is in the air; the +tones whirl like the wind, and often there is a like whirl in my +soul." + +(February 13, 1814, to Count Brunswick, in Buda.) + +32. "Then the loveliest themes slipped out of your eyes into my +heart, themes which shall only then delight the world when +Beethoven conducts no longer." + +(August 15, 1812, to Bettina von Arnim.) + +33. "I always have a picture in my mind when composing, and follow +its lines." + +(In 1815, to Neate, while promenading with him in Baden and +talking about the "Pastoral" symphony.) + +[Ries relates: "While composing Beethoven frequently thought of an +object, although he often laughed at musical delineation and +scolded about petty things of the sort. In this respect 'The +Creation' and 'The Seasons' were many times a butt, though without +depreciation of Haydn's loftier merits. Haydn's choruses and other +works were loudly praised by Beethoven."] + +34. "The texts which you sent me are least of all fitted for song. +The description of a picture belongs to the field of painting; in +this the poet can count himself more fortunate than my muse for +his territory is not so restricted as mine in this respect, though +mine, on the other hand, extends into other regions, and my +dominion is not easily reached." + +(Nussdorf, July 15, 1817, to Wilhelm Gerhard, who had sent him +some Anacreontic songs for composition.) + +35. "Carried too far, all delineation in instrumental music loses +in efficiency." + +(A remark in the sketches for the "Pastoral" symphony, preserved +in the Royal Library in Berlin.) + +[Mozart said: "Even in the most terrifying moments music must +never offend the ear."] + +36. "Yes, yes, then they are amazed and put their heads together +because they never found it in any book on thorough bass." + +(To Ries when the critics accused him of making grammatical +blunders in music.) + +37. "No devil can compel me to write only cadences of such a +kind." + +(From notes written in his years of study. Beethoven called the +composition of fugues "the art of making musical skeletons.") + +38. "Good singing was my guide; I strove to write as flowingly as +possible and trusted in my ability to justify myself before the +judgmentseat of sound reason and pure taste." + +(From notes in the instruction book of Archduke Rudolph.) + +39. "Does he believe that I think of a wretched fiddle when the +spirit speaks to me?" + +(To his friend, the admirable violinist Schuppanzigh, when the +latter complained of the difficulty of a passage in one of his +works.) + +[Beethoven here addresses his friend in the third person, which is +the customary style of address for the German nobility and others +towards inferiors in rank. H. E. K.] + +40. "The Scotch songs show how unconstrainedly irregular melodies +can be treated with the help of harmony." + +(Diary, 1812-1818. Since 1809 Beethoven had arranged Folksongs for +Thomson of Edinburgh.) + +41. "To write true church music, look through the old monkish +chorals, etc., also the most correct translations of the periods, +and perfect prosody in the Catholic Psalms and hymns generally." + +(Diary, 1818.) + +42. "Many assert that every minor piece must end in the minor. +Nego! On the contrary I find that in the soft scales the major +third at the close has a glorious and uncommonly quieting effect. +Joy follows sorrow, sunshine--rain. It affects me as if I were +looking up to the silvery glistering of the evening star." + +(From Archduke Rudolph's book of instruction.) + +43. "Rigorists, and devotees of antiquity, relegate the perfect +fourth to the list of dissonances. Tastes differ. To my ear it +gives not the least offence combined with other tones." + +(From Archduke Rudolph's book of instruction, compiled in 1809.) + +44. "When the gentlemen can think of nothing new, and can go no +further, they quickly call in a diminished seventh chord to help +them out of the predicament." + +(A remark made to Schindler.) + +45. "My dear boy, the startling effects which many credit to the +natural genius of the composer, are often achieved with the +greatest ease by the use and resolution of the diminished +seventh chords." + +(Reported by Karl Friederich Hirsch, a pupil of Beethoven in the +winter of 1816. He was a grandson of Albrechtsberger who had +given lessons to Beethoven.) + +46. "In order to become a capable composer one must have already +learned harmony and counterpoint at the age of from seven to +eleven years, so that when the fancy and emotions awake one +shall know what to do according to the rules." + +(Reported by Schindler as having been put into the mouth of +Beethoven by a newspaper of Vienna. Schindler says: "When +Beethoven came to Vienna he knew no counterpoint, and little +harmony.") + +47. "So far as mistakes are concerned it was never necessary for +me to learn thorough-bass; my feelings were so sensitive from +childhood that I practiced counterpoint without knowing that it +must be so or could be otherwise." + +(Note on a sheet containing directions for the use of fourths in +suspensions--probably intended for the instruction of Archduke +Rudolph.) + +48. "Continue, Your Royal Highness, to write down briefly your +occasional ideas while at the pianoforte. For this a little +table alongside the pianoforte is necessary. By this means not +only is the fancy strengthened, but one learns to hold fast in a +moment the most remote conceptions. It is also necessary to +compose without the pianoforte; say often a simple chord melody, +with simple harmonies, then figurate according to the rules of +counterpoint, and beyond them; this will give Y. R. H. no +headache, but, on the contrary, feeling yourself thus in the +midst of art, a great pleasure." + +(July 1, 1823, to his pupil Archduke Rudolph.) + + +49. "The bad habit, which has clung to me from childhood, of +always writing down a musical thought which occurs to me, good +or bad, has often been harmful to me." + +(July 23, 1815, to Archduke Rudolph, while excusing himself for +not having visited H.R.H., on the ground that he had been +occupied in noting a musical idea which had occurred to him.) + +50. "As is my habit, the pianoforte part of the concerto (op. 19) +was not written out in the score; I have just written it, +wherefore, in order to expedite matters, you receive it in my +not too legible handwriting." + +(April 22, 1801, to the publisher Hofmeister, in Leipzig.) + +51. "Correspondence, as you know, was never my forte; some of my +best friends have not had a letter from me in years. I live only +in my notes (compositions), and one is scarcely finished when +another is begun. As I am working now I often compose three, +even four, pieces simultaneously." + +(Vienna, June 29, 1800, to Wegeler, in Bonn.) + +52. "I never write a work continuously, without interruption. I am +always working on several at the same time, taking up one, then +another." + +(June 1, 1816, to Medical Inspector Dr. Karl von Bursy, when the +latter asked about an opera (the book by Berge, sent to +Beethoven by Amenda), which was never written.) + +53. "I must accustom myself to think out at once the whole, as +soon as it shows itself, with all the voices, in my head." + +(Note in a sketch-book of 1810, containing studies for the music +to "Egmont" and the great Trio in B-flat, op. 97. H. E. K.) + +54. "I carry my thoughts about me for a long time, often a very +long time, before I write them down; meanwhile my memory is so +faithful that I am sure never to forget, not even in years, a +theme that has once occurred to me. I change many things, +discard, and try again until I am satisfied. Then, however, +there begins in my head the development in every direction, and, +in as much as I know exactly what I want, the fundamental idea +never deserts me,--it arise; before me, grows,--I see and hear +the picture in all its extent and dimensions stand before my +mind like a cast, and there remains for me nothing but the labor +of writing it down, which is quickly accomplished when I have +the time, for I sometimes take up other work, but never to the +confusion of one with the other. + +You will ask me where I get my ideas. That I cannot tell you with +certainty; they come unsummoned, directly, indirectly,--I could +seize them with my hands,--out in the open air; in the woods; +while walking; in the silence of the nights; early in the morning; +incited by moods, which are translated by the poet into words, by +me into tones that sound, and roar and storm about me until I have +set them down in notes." + +(Said to Louis Schlosser, a young musician, whom Beethoven honored +with his friendship in 1822-23.) + +55. "On the whole, the carrying out of several voices in strict +relationship mutually hinders their progress." + +(Fall of 1812, in the Diary of 1812-18.) + +56. "Few as are the claims which I make upon such things I shall +still accept the dedication of your beautiful work with +pleasure. You ask, however, that I also play the part of a +critic, without thinking that I must myself submit to criticism! +With Voltaire I believe that "a few fly-bites can not stop a +spirited horse." In this respect I beg of you to follow my +example. In order not to approach you surreptitiously, but +openly as always, I say that in future works of the character +you might give more heed to the individualization of the voices." + +(Vienna, May 10, 1826. To whom the letter was sent is not known, +though from the manner of address it is plain that he was of the +nobility.) + +57. "Your variations show talent, but I must fault you for having +changed the theme. Why? What man loves must not be taken away +from him;--moreover to do this is to make changes before +variations." + +(Baden, July 6, 1804, to Wiedebein, a teacher of music in +Brunswick.) + +58. "I am not in the habit of rewriting my compositions. I never +did it because I am profoundly convinced that every change of +detail changes the character of the whole." + +(February 19, 1813, to George Thomson, who had requested some +changes in compositions submitted to him for publication.) + +59. "One must not hold one's self so divine as to be unwilling +occasionally to make improvements in one's creations." + +(March 4, 1809, to Breitkopf and Hartel, when indicating a few +changes which he wished to have made in the symphonies op. 67 and +op. 68.) + +60. "The unnatural rage for transcribing pianoforte pieces for +string instruments (instruments that are in every respect so +different from each other) ought to end. I stoutly maintain that +only Mozart could have transcribed his own works, and Haydn; and +without putting myself on a level with these great men I assert +the same thing about my pianoforte sonatas. Not only must entire +passages be elided and changed, but additions must be made; and +right here lies the rock of offence to overcome which one must be +the master of himself or be possessed of the same skill and +inventiveness. I transcribed but a single sonata for string +quartet, and I am sure that no one will easily do it after me." + +(July 13, 1809, in an announcement of several compositions, among +them the quintet op. 29.) + +61. "Were it not that my income brings in nothing, I should +compose nothing but grand symphonies, church music, or, at the +outside, quartets in addition." + +(December 20, 1822, to Peters, publisher, in Leipzig. His income +had been reduced from 4,000 to 800 florins by the depreciation of +Austrian currency.) + +[Here, in the original, is one of the puns which Beethoven was +fond of making: "Ware mein Gehalt nicht ganzlich ohne Gehalt." H. +E. K.]) + + + +ON PERFORMING MUSIC + + + +While reading Beethoven's views on the subject of how music ought +to be performed, it is but natural to inquire about his own +manner of playing. On this point Ries, his best pupil, reports: + +"In general Beethoven played his own compositions very +capriciously, yet he adhered, on the whole, strictly to the beat +and only at times, but seldom, accelerated the tempo a trifle. +Occasionally he would retard the tempo in a crescendo, which +produced a very beautiful and striking effect. While playing he +would give a passage, now in the right hand, now in the left, a +beautiful expression which was simply inimitable; but it was +rarely indeed that he added a note or an ornament." + +Of his playing when still a young man one of his hearers said that +it was in the slow movements particularly that it charmed +everybody. Almost unanimously his contemporaries give him the palm +for his improvisations. Ries says: + +"His extemporizations were the most extraordinary things that one +could hear. No artist that I ever heard came at all near the +height which Beethoven attained. The wealth of ideas which forced +themselves on him, the caprices to which he surrendered himself, +the variety of treatment, the difficulties, were inexhaustible." + +His playing was not technically perfect. He let many a note "fall +under the table," but without marring the effect of his playing. +Concerning this we have a remark of his own in No. 75. Somewhat +critical is Czerny's report: + +"Extraordinary as his extempore playing was it was less successful +in the performance of printed compositions; for, since +he never took the time or had the patience to practice anything, +his success depended mostly on chance and mood; and since, also, +his manner of playing as well as composing was ahead of his time, +the weak and imperfect pianofortes of his time could not +withstand his gigantic style. It was because of this that +Hummel's purling and brilliant manner of play, well adapted to +the period, was more intelligible and attractive to the great +public. But Beethoven's playing in adagios and legato, in the +sustained style, made an almost magical impression on every +hearer, and, so far as I know, it has never been surpassed." +Czerny's remark about the pianofortes of Beethoven's day explains +Beethoven's judgment on his own pianoforte sonatas. He composed +for the sonorous pianoforte of the future,--the pianoforte +building today. + +The following anecdote, told by Czerny, will be read with +pleasure. Pleyel, a famous musician, came to Vienna from Paris in +1805, and had his latest quartets performed in the palace of +Prince Lobkowitz. Beethoven was present and was asked to play +something. "As usual, he submitted to the interminable entreaties +and finally was dragged almost by force to the pianoforte by the +ladies. Angrily he tears the second violin part of one of the +Pleyel quartets from the music-stand where it still lay open, +throws it upon the rack of the pianoforte, and begins to +improvise. We had never heard him extemporize more brilliantly, +with more originality or more grandly than on that evening. + +But throughout the entire improvisation there ran in the middle +voices, like a thread, or cantus firmus, the insignificant notes, +wholly insignificant in themselves, which he found on the page of +the quartet, which by chance lay open on the music-stand; on them +he built up the most daring melodies and harmonies, in the most +brillant concert style. Old Pleyel could only give expression to +his amazement by kissing his hands. After such improvisations +Beethoven was wont to break out into a loud and satisfied laugh." + +Czerny says further of his playing: "In rapidity of scale +passages, trills, leaps, etc., no one equaled him,--not even +Hummel. His attitude at the pianoforte was perfectly quiet and +dignified, with no approach to grimace, except to bend down a +little towards the keys as his deafness increased; his fingers +were very powerful, not long, and broadened at the tips by much +playing; for he told me often that in his youth he had practiced +stupendously, mostly till past midnight. In teaching he laid +great stress on a correct position of the fingers (according to +the Emanuel Bach method, in which he instructed me); he himself +could barely span a tenth. He made frequent use of the pedal, much +more frequently than is indicated in his compositions. His reading +of the scores of Handel and Gluck and the fugues of Bach was +unique, inasmuch as he put a polyphony and spirit into the former +which gave the works a new form." + +In his later years the deaf master could no longer hear his own +playing which therefore came to have a pitifully painful effect. +Concerning his manner of conducting, Seyfried says. "It would no +wise do to make our master a model in conducting, and the +orchestra had to take great care lest it be led astray by its +mentor; for he had an eye only for his composition and strove +unceasingly by means of manifold gesticulations to bring out the +expression which he desired. Often when he reached a forte he +gave a violent down beat even if the note were an unaccented one. +He was in the habit of marking a diminuendo by crouching down +lower and lower, and at a pianissimo he almost crept under the +stand. With a crescendo he, too, grew, rising as if out of a +stage trap, and with the entrance of a fortissimo he stood on his +toes and seemed to take on gigantic proportions, while he waved +his arms about as if trying to soar upwards to the clouds. +Everything about him was in activity; not a part of his +organization remained idle, and the whole man seemed like a +perpetuum mobile. Concerning expression, the little nuances, the +equable division of light and shade, as also an effective tempo +rubato, he was extremely exact and gladly discussed them with the +individual members of the orchestra without showing vexation or +anger." + +62. "It has always been known that the greatest pianoforte players +were also the greatest composers; but how did they play? Not like +the pianists of today who prance up and down the key-board with +passages in which they have exercised themselves,-putsch, putsch, +putsch; what does that mean? Nothing. When the true pianoforte +virtuosi played it was always something homogeneous, an entity; it +could be transcribed and then it appeared as a well thought-out +work. That is pianoforte playing; the other is nothing!" + +(In conversation with Tomaschek, October, 1814.) + +63. "Candidly I am not a friend of Allegri di bravura and such, +since they do nothing but promote mechanism." + +(Hetzendorf, July 16, 1823, to Ries in London.) + +64. "The great pianists have nothing but technique and +affectation." + +(Fall of 1817, to Marie Pachler-Koschak, a pianist whom Beethoven +regarded very highly. "You will play the sonatas in F major and C +minor, for me, will you not?") + +65. "As a rule, in the case of these gentlemen, all reason and +feeling are generally lost in the nimbleness of their fingers." + +(Reported by Schindler as a remark of Beethoven's concerning +pianoforte virtuosi.) + +66. "Habit may depreciate the most brilliant talents." + +(In 1812 to his pupil, Archduke Rudolph, whom he warns against too +zealous a devotion to music.) + +67. "You will have to play a long time yet before you realize that +you can not play at all." + +(July, 1808. Reported by Rust as having been said to a young man +who played for Beethoven.) + +68. "One must be something if one wishes to put on appearances." + +(August 15, 1812, to Bettina von Arnim.) + +69. "These pianoforte players have their coteries whom they often +join; there they are praised continually,--and there's an end of +art!" + +(Conversation with Tomaschek, October, 1814.) + +70. "We Germans have too few dramatically trained singers for the +part of Leonore. They are too cold and unfeeling; the Italians +sing and act with body and soul." + +(1824, in Baden, to Freudenberg, an organist from Breslau.) + +71. "If he is a master of his instrument I rank an organist +amongst the first of virtuosi. I too, played the organ a great +deal when I was young, but my nerves would not stand the power of +the gigantic instrument." + +(To Freudenberg, in Baden.) + +72. "I never wrote noisy music. For my instrumental works I need +an orchestra of about sixty good musicians. I am convinced that +only such a number can bring out the quickly changing graduations +in performance." + +(Reported by Schindler.) + +73. "A Requiem ought to be quiet music,--it needs no trump of +doom; memories of the dead require no hubbub." + +(Reported by Holz to Fanny von Ponsing, in Baden, summer of 1858. +According to the same authority Beethoven valued Cherubini's +"Requiem" more highly than any other.") + +74. "No metronome at all! He who has sound feeling needs none, and +he who has not will get no help from the metronome;--he'll run +away with the orchestra anyway." + +(Reported by Schindler. It had been found that Beethoven himself +had sent different metronomic indications to the publisher and +the Philharmonic Society of London.) + +75. "In reading rapidly a multitude of misprints may pass +unnoticed because you are familiar with the language." + +(To Wegeler, who had expressed wonder at Beethoven's rapid +primavista playing, when it was impossible to see each individual +note.) + +76. "The poet writes his monologue or dialogue in a certain, +continuous rhythm, but the elocutionist in order to insure an +understanding of the sense of the lines, must make pauses and +interruptions at places where the poet was not permitted to +indicate it by punctuation. The same manner of declamation can +be applied to music, and admits of modification only according to +the number of performers." + +(Reported by Schindler, Beethoven's faithful factotum.) + +77. "With respect to his playing with you, when he has acquired +the proper mode of fingering and plays in time and plays the +notes with tolerable correctness, only then direct his attention +to the matter of interpretation; and when he has gotten this far +do not stop him for little mistakes, but point them out at the +end of the piece. Although I have myself given very little +instruction I have always followed this method which quickly +makes musicians, and that, after all, is one of the first +objects of art." + +(To Czerny, who was teaching music to Beethoven's nephew Karl.) + +78. "Always place the hands at the key-board so that the fingers +can not be raised higher than is necessary; only in this way is +it possible to produce a singing tone." + +(Reported by Schindler as Beethoven's view on pianoforte +instruction. He hated a staccato style of playing and dubbed it +"finger dancing" and "throwing the hands in the air.") + +[#79 was skipped in the 1905 edition--error?] + + + +ON HIS OWN WORKS + + + +80. "I haven't a single friend; I must live alone. But well I +know that God is nearer to me than to the others of my art; I +associate with Him without fear, I have always recognized and +understood Him, and I have no fear for my music, --it can meet +no evil fate. Those who understand it must become free from all +the miseries that the others drag with them." + +(To Bettina von Arnim. (Bettina's letter to Goethe, May 28, +1810.) + +81. "The variations will prove a little difficult to play, +particularly the trills in the coda; but let that not frighten +you. It is so disposed that you need play only the trills, +omitting the other notes because they are also in the violin +part. I would never have written a thing of this kind had I not +often noticed here and there in Vienna a man who after I had +improvised of an evening would write down some of my +peculiarities and make boast of them next day. Foreseeing that +these things would soon appear in print I made up my mind to +anticipate them. Another purpose which I had was to embarrass the +local pianoforte masters. Many of them are my mortal enemies, and +I wanted to have my revenge in this way, for I knew in advance +that the variations would be put before them, and that they would +make exhibitions of themselves." + +(Vienna, November 2, 1793, to Eleonore von Breuning, in +dedicating to her the variations in F major. "Se vul ballare." +The pianist whom Beethoven accuses of stealing his thunder was +Abbe Gelinek.) + +82. "The time in which I wrote my sonatas (the first ones of the +second period) was more poetical than the present (1823); such +hints were therefore unnecessary. Every one at that time felt in +the Largo of the third sonata in D (op. 10) the pictured +soulstate of a melancholy being, with all the nuances of light +and shade which occur in a delineation of melancholy and its +phases, without requiring a key in the shape of a +superscription; and everybody then saw in the two sonatas (op. +14) the picture of a contest between two principles, or a +dialogue between two persons, because it was so obvious." + +(In answer to Schindler's question why he had not indicated the +poetical conceits underlying his sonatas by superscriptions or +titles.) + +83. "This sonata has a clean face (literally "has washed +itself"), my dear brother!" + +(January, 1801, to Hofmeister, publisher in Leipzig to whom he +offers the sonata, op. 22, for 20 ducats.) + +84. "They are incessantly talking about the C-sharp minor sonata +(op. 27, No. 52); on my word I have written better ones. The F- +sharp major sonata (op. 78) is a different thing!" + +(A remark to Czerny.) + +[The C-sharp minor sonata is that popularly known as the +"Moonlight Sonata," a title which is wholly without warrant. Its +origin is due to Rellstab, who, in describing the first movement, +drew a picture of a small boat in the moonlight on Lake Lucerne. +In Vienna a tradition that Beethoven had composed it in an arbor +gave rise to the title "Arbor sonata." Titles of this character +work much mischief in the amateur mind by giving rise to fantastic +conceptions of the contents of the music. H. E. K.] + +85. "The thing which my brother can have from me is 1, a "Septett +per il Violino, Viola, Violoncello, Contrabasso, Clarinetto, +Cornto, Fagotto, tutti obligati;" for I can not write anything +that is not obligato, having come into the world with obligato +accompaniment." + +(December 15, 1800, to Hofmeister, publisher, in Leipzig.) + +86. "I am but little satisfied with my works thus far; from today +I shall adopt a new course." + +(Reported by Carl Czerny in his autobiography in 1842. Concerning +the time at which the remark was made, Czerny says: "It was said +about 1803, when B. had composed op. 28 (the pianoforte sonata in +D) to his friend Krumpholz (a violinist). Shortly afterward there +appeared the sonatas (now op. 31) in which a partial fulfillment +of his resolution may be observed.") + +87. "Read Shakespeare's 'Tempest.'" + +(An answer to Schindler's question as to what poetical conceit +underlay the sonatas in F minor. Beethoven used playfully to +call the little son of Breuning, the friend of his youth, A&Z, +because he employed him often as a messenger.) + +["Schindler relates that when once he asked Beethoven to tell +him what the F minor and D minor (op. 31, No. 2) meant, he +received for an answer only the enigmatical remark: 'Read +Shakespeare's "Tempest."' Many a student and commentator has +since read the 'Tempest' in the hope of finding a clew to the +emotional contents which Beethoven believed to be in the two +works, so singularly associated, only to find himself baffled. +It is a fancy, which rests, perhaps, too much on outward things, +but still one full of suggestion, that had Beethoven said: 'Hear +my C minor symphony,' he would have given a better starting- +point to the imagination of those who are seeking to know what +the F minor sonata means. Most obviously it means music, but it +means music that is an expression of one of those psychological +struggles which Beethoven felt called upon more and more to +delineate as he was more and more shut out from the companionship +of the external world. Such struggles are in the truest sense of +the word tempests. The motive, which, according to the story, +Beethoven himself said, indicates, in the symphony, the rappings +of Fate at the door of human existence, is common to two works +which are also related in their spiritual contents. Singularly +enough, too, in both cases the struggle which is begun in the +first movement and continued in the third, is interrupted by a +period of calm, reassuring, soul-fortifying aspiration, which, +in the symphony as well as in the sonata, takes the form of a +theme with variations."--"How to Listen to Music," page 29. H. E. +K.] + +88. "Sinfonia Pastorella. He who has ever had a notion of +country life can imagine for himself without many +superscriptions what the composer is after. Even without a +description the whole, which is more sentiment than tone +painting, will be recognized. A note among the sketches for the +"Pastoral" symphony preserved in the Royal Library at Berlin. +[There are other notes of similar import among the sketches +referred to which can profitably be introduced here. "The hearer +should be allowed to discover the situations;" "Sinfonia +caracteristica, or a recollection of country life;" "Pastoral" +Symphony: No picture, but something in which the emotions are +expressed which are aroused in men by the pleasure of the +country (or) in which some feelings of country life are set +forth." When, finally, the work was given to the publisher, +Beethoven included in the title an admonitory explanation which +should have everlasting validity: "Pastoral Symphony: more +expression of feeling than painting." H. E. K.] + +89. "My 'Fidelio' was not understood by the public, but I know +that it will yet be appreciated; for though I am well aware of +the value of my 'Fidelio' I know just as well that the symphony +is my real element. When sounds ring in me I always hear the +full orchestra; I can ask anything of instrumentalists, but when +writing for the voice I must continually ask myself: "Can that +be sung?" + +(A remark made in 1823 or 1824 to Griesinger.) + +90. "Thus Fate knocks at the portals!" + +(Reported by Schindler as Beethoven's explanation of the opening +of the symphony in C minor.) + +["Hofrath Kueffner told him (Krenn) that he once lived with +Beethoven in Heiligenstadt, and that they were in the habit +evenings of going down to Nuessdorf to eat a fish supper in the +Gasthaus 'Zur Rose.' One evening when B. was in a good humor, +Kueffner began: `Tell me frankly which is your favorite among your +symphonies?' B. (in good humor) 'Eh! Eh! The Eroica.' K. 'I +should have guessed the C minor.' B. 'No; the Eroica.'" From +Thayer's notebook. See "Music and Manners in the Classical +Period." H.E.K.] + +91. "The solo sonatas (op. 109-ll?) are perhaps the best, but +also the last, music that I composed for the pianoforte. It is +and always will be an unsatisfactory instrument. I shall +hereafter follow the example of my grandmaster Handel, and every +year write only an oratorio and a concerto for some string or +wind instrument, provided I shall have finished my tenth +symphony (C minor) and Requiem." + +(Reported by Hola. As to the tenth symphony see note to No. 95. + +92. "God knows why it is that my pianoforte music always makes +the worst impression on me, especially when it is played badly." + +(June 2, 1804. A note among the sketches for the "Leonore" +overture.) + +93. "Never did my own music produce such an effect upon me; even +now when I recall this work it still costs me a tear." + +(Reported by Hole. The reference is to the Cavatina from the +quartet in B-flat, op. 130, which Beethoven thought the crown of +all quartet movements and his favorite composition. When alone +and undisturbed he was fond of playing his favorite pianoforte +Andante that from the sonata op. 28.) + +94. "I do not write what I most desire to, but that which I need +to because of money. But this is not saying that I write only for +money. When the present period is past, I hope at last to write +that which is the highest thing for me as well as art,--'Faust.'" + +(From a conversation book used in 1823. To Buhler, tutor in the +house of a merchant, who was seeking information about an oratorio +which Beethoven had been commissioned to write by the Handel and +Haydn Society of Boston.) + +95. "Ha! "Faust;" that would be a piece of work! Something might +come out of that! But for some time I have been big with three +other large works. Much is already sketched out, that is, in my +head. I must be rid of them first:--two large symphonies +differing from each other, and each differing from all the +others, and an oratorio. And this will take a long time. you +see, for a considerable time I have had trouble to get myself to +write. I sit and think, and think I've long had the thing, but it +will not on the paper. I dread the beginning of these large works. +Once into the work, and it goes." + +(In the summer of 1822, to Rochlitz, at Baden. The symphonies +referred to are the ninth and tenth. They existed only in +Beethoven's mind and a few sketches. In it he intended to combine +antique and modern views of life. "In the text Greek mythology, +cantique ecclesiastique; in the Allegro, a Bacchic festival." +(Sketchbook of 1818.) + +The oratorio was to have been called "The Victory of the Cross." +It was not written. Schindler wrote to Moscheles in London about +Beethoven in the last weeks of his life: "He said much about the +plan of the tenth symphony. As the work had shaped itself in his +imagination it might have become a musical monstrosity, compared +with which his other symphonies would have been mere opuscula.)" + + + +ON ART AND ARTISTS + + + +96. "How eagerly mankind withdraws from the poor artist what it +has once given him;--and Zeus, from whom one might ask an +invitation to sup on ambrosia, lives no longer." + +(In the summer of 1814, to Kauka, an advocate who represented him +in the lawsuit against the heirs of Kinsky. + +97. "I love straightforwardness and uprightness, and believe that +the artist ought not to be belittled; for, alas! brilliant as +fame is externally, it is not always the privilege of the artist +to be Jupiter's guest on Olympus all the time. Unfortunately +vulgar humanity drags him down only too often and too rudely from +the pure upper ether." + +(June 5, 1852, to C. F. Peters, music publisher, in Leipzig when +treating with him touching a complete edition of his works.) + +98. "The true artist has no pride; unhappily he realizes that art +has no limitations, he feels darkly how far he is from the goal, +and while, perhaps he is admired by others, he grieves that he +has not yet reached the point where the better genius shall +shine before him like a distant sun." + +(Teplitz, July 17, to an admirer ten years old.) + +99. "You yourself know what a change is wrought by a few years in +the case of an artist who is continually pushing forward. The +greater the progress which one makes in art, the less is one +satisfied with one's old works. + +(Vienna, August 4, 1800, to Mathisson, in the dedication of his +setting of "Adelaide." "My most ardent wish will be fulfilled if +you are not displeased with the musical composition of your +heavenly 'Adelaide.'" + +100. "Those composers are exemplars who unite nature and art in +their works." + +(Baden, in 1824, to Freudenberg, organist from Breslau.) + +101. "What will be the judgment a century hence concerning the +lauded works of our favorite composers today? Inasmuch as nearly +everything is subject to the changes of time, and, more's the +pity, the fashions of time, only that which is good and true, will +endure like a rock, and no wanton hand will ever venture to defile +it. Then let every man do that which is right, strive with all his +might toward the goal which can never be attained, develop to the +last breath the gifts with which a gracious Creator has endowed +him, and never cease to learn; for 'Life is short, art eternal!'" + +(From the notes in the instruction book of Archduke Rudolph.) + +102. "Famous artists always labor under an embarrassment;-- +therefore first works are the best, though they may have sprung +out of dark ground. + +(Conversation-book of 1840.) + +103. "A musician is also a poet; he also can feel himself +transported by a pair of eyes into another and more beautiful +world where greater souls make sport of him and set him right +difficult tasks." + +(August 15, 1812, to Bettina von Arnim.) + +104. "I told Goethe my opinion as to how applause affects men +like us, and that we want our equals to hear us understandingly! +Emotion suits women only; music ought to strike fire from the +soul of a man." + +(August 15, 1810, to Bettina von Arnim.) + +105. "Most people are touched by anything good; but they do not +partake of the artist's nature; artists are ardent, they do not +weep." + +(Reported to Goethe by Bettina von Arnim, May 28, 1810.) + +106. "L'art unit tout le monde,--how much more the true artist!" + +(March 15, 1823, to Cherubini, in Paris.) + +107. "Only the artist, or the free scholar, carries his happiness +within him." + +(Reported by Karl von Bursy as part of a conversation in 1816.) + +108. "There ought to be only one large art warehouse in the +world, to which the artist could carry his art-works and from +which he could carry away whatever he needed. As it is one must +be half a tradesman." + +(January, 1801, to Hofmeister, in Leipzig.) + + + +BEETHOVEN AS CRITIC + + + +The opinion of artist on artists is a dubious quantity. Recall +the startling criticisms of Bocklin on his associates in art +made public by the memoirs of his friends after his death. Such +judgments are often one-sided, not without prejudice, and mostly +the expression of impulse. It is a different matter when the +artist speaks about the disciples of another art than his own, +even if the opinions which Bucklin and Wagner held of each other +are not a favorable example. Where Beethoven speaks of other +composers we must read with clear and open eyes; but even here +there will be much with which we can be in accord, especially his +judgment on Rossini, whom he hated so intensely, and whose airy, +sense-bewitching art seduced the Viennese from Beethoven. +Interesting and also characteristic of the man is the attitude +which he adopted towards the poets of his time. In general he +estimated his contemporaries as highly as they deserved. + +109. "Do not tear the laurel wreaths from the heads of Handel, +Haydn and Mozart; they belong to them,--not yet to me." + +(Teplitz, July 17, l852, to his ten-year-old admirer, Emilie M., +who had given him a portfolio made by herself.) + +110. "Pure church music ought to be performed by voices only, +except a "Gloria," or some similar text. For this reason I prefer +Palestrina; but it is folly to imitate him without having his +genius and religious views; it would be difficult, if not +impossible, too, for the singers of today to sing his long notes +in a sustained and pure manner." + +(To Freudenberg, in 1824.) + +111. "Handel is the unattained master of all masters. Go and learn +from him how to achieve vast effects with simple means." + +(Reported by Seyfried. On his death-bed, about the middle of +February, 1827, he said to young Gerhard von Breuning, on +receiving Handel's works: "Handel is the greatest and ablest of +all composers; from him I can still learn. Bring me the books!" + +112. "Handel is the greatest composer that ever lived. I would +uncover my head and kneel on his grave." + +(Fall of 1823, to J. A. Stumpff, harp maker of London, who acted +very nobly toward Beethoven in his last days. It was he who +rejoiced the dying composer by sending him the forty volumes of +Handel's works (see 11).) + +["Cipriani Potter, to A. W. T., February 27, 1861. Beethoven used +to walk across the fields to Vienna very often. B. would stop, +look about and express his love for nature. One day Potter asked: +'Who is the greatest living composer, yourself excepted?' +Beethoven seemed puzzled for a moment, and then exclaimed: +'Cherubini!' Potter went on: 'And of dead authors?' B.--He had +always considered Mozart as such, but since he had been made +acquainted with Handel he put him at the head. From A. W. Thayer's +notebook, reprinted in "Mug and Manners in the Classical Period," +page 208. H.E.K.] + +113. "Heaven forbid that I should take a journal in which sport is +made of the manes of such a revered one." + +(Conversation-book of 1825, in reference to a criticism of +Handel.) + +114. "That you are going to publish Sebastian Bach's works is +something which does good to my heart, which beats in love of the +great and lofty art of this ancestral father of harmony; I want +to see them soon." + +(January, 1801, to Hofmeister, in Leipzig.) + +115. "Of Emanuel Bach's clavier works I have only a few, yet they +must be not only a real delight to every true artist, but also +serve him for study purposes; and it is for me a great pleasure +to play works that I have never seen, or seldom see, for real art +lovers." + +(July 96, 1809, to Gottfried Hartel, of Leipzig in ordering all +the scores of Haydn, Mozart and the two Bachs.) + +116. "See, my dear Hummel, the birthplace of Haydn. I received it +as a gift today, and it gives me great pleasure. A mean peasant +hut, in which so great a man was born!" + +(Remarked on his death-bed to his friend Hummel.) + +117. "I have always reckoned myself among the greatest admirers of +Mozart, and shall do so till the day of my death." + +(February 6, 1886, to Abbe Maximilian Stadler, who had sent him +his essay on Mozart's "Requiem.") + +118. "Cramer, Cramer! We shall never be able to compose anything +like that!" + +(To Cramer, after the two had heard Mozart's concerto in C-minor +at a concert in the Augarten.) + +119. "'Die Zauberfloete' will always remain Mozart's greatest +work, for in it he for the first time showed himself to be a +German musician. "Don Juan" still has the complete Italian cut; +besides our sacred art ought never permit itself to be degraded +to the level of a foil for so scandalous a subject." + +(A remark reported by Seyfried.) + +["Hozalka says that in 1820-21, as near as he can recollect, the +wife of a Major Baumgarten took boy boarders in the house then +standing where the Musikverein's Saal now is, and that Beethoven's +nephew was placed with her. Her sister, Baronin Born, lived with +her. One evening Hozalka, then a young man, called there and found +only Baronin Born at home. Soon another caller came and stayed to +tea. It was Beethoven. Among other topics Mozart came on the +tapis, and the Born asked Beethoven (in writing, of course) which +of Mozart's operas he thought most of. 'Die Zauberfloete' said +Beethoven, and, suddenly clasping his hands and throwing up his +eyes, exclaimed: 'Oh, Mozart!'" From A. W. Thayer's notebooks, +reprinted in "Music and Manners in the Classical Period," page +198. H. E. K.] + +120. "Say all conceivable pretty things to Cherubini, --that there +is nothing I so ardently desire as that we should soon get +another opera from him, and that of all our contemporaries I have +the highest regard for him." + +(May 6, 1823, to Louis Schlasser, afterward chapel master in +Darmstadt, who was about to undertake a journey to Paris. See +note to No. 112.) + +121. "Among all the composers alive Cherubini is the most worthy +of respect. I am in complete agreement, too, with his conception +of the "Requiem," and if ever I come to write one I shall take +note of many things." + +(Remark reported by Seyfried. See No. 112.) + +122. "Whoever studies Clementi thoroughly has simultaneously also +learned Mozart and other authors; inversely, however, this is not +the case." + +(Reported by Schindler.) + +123. "There is much good in Spontini; he understands theatrical +effect and martial noises admirably. + +Spohreis so rich in dissonances; pleasure in his music is marred +by his chromatic melody. + +His name ought not to be Bach (brook), but Ocean, because of his +infinite and inexhaustible wealth of tonal combinations and +harmonies. Bach is the ideal of an organist." + +(In Baden, 1824, to Freudenberg.) + +124. "The little man, otherwise so gentle,--I never would have +credited him with such a thing. Now Weber must write operas in +earnest, one after the other, without caring too much for +refinement! Kaspar, the monster, looms up like a house; wherever +the devil sticks in his claw we feel it." + +(To Rochlitz, at Baden, in the summer of 1823.) + +125. "There you are, you rascal; you're a devil of a fellow, God +bless you!...Weber, you always were a fine fellow." + +(Beethoven's hearty greeting to Karl Maria von Weber, in October, +1823.) + +126. "K. M. Weber began too learn too late; art did not have a +chance to develop naturally in him, and his single and obvious +striving is to appear brilliant." + +(A remark reported by Seyfried.) + +127. "'Euryanthe' is an accumulation of diminished seventh chords +--all little backdoors!" + +(Remarked to Schindler about Weber's opera.) + +128. "Truly, a divine spark dwells in Schubert!" + +(Said to Schindler when the latter made him acquainted with the +"Songs of Ossian," "Die Junge Nonne," "Die Burgschaft," of +Schubert's "Grenzen der Menschheit," and other songs.) + +129. "There is nothing in Meyerbeer; he hasn't the courage to +strike at the right time." + +(To Tomaschek, in October, 1814, in a conversation about the +"Battle of Victoria," at the performance of which, in 1813, +Meyerbeer had played the big drum.) + +130. "Rossini is a talented and a melodious composer, his music +suits the frivolous and sensuous spirit of the times, and his +productivity is such that he needs only as many weeks as the +Germans do years to write an opera." + +(In 1824, at Baden, to Freudenberg.) + +131. "This rascal Rossini, who is not respected by a single master +of his art!" + +(Conversation-book, 1825.) + +132. "Rossini would have become a great composer if his teacher +had frequently applied some blows ad posteriora." + +(Reported by Schindler. Beethoven had been reading the score of +"Il Barbiere de Seviglia.") + +133. "The Bohemians are born musicians. The Italians ought to take +them as models. What have they to show for their famous +conservatories? Behold! their idol, Rossini! If Dame Fortune had +not given him a pretty talent and amiable melodies by the bushel, +what he learned at school would have brought him nothing but +potatoes for his big belly." + +(In a conversation-book at Haslinger's music shop, where Beethoven +frequently visited.) + +136. "Goethe has killed Klopstock for me. You wonder? Now you +laugh? Ah, because I have read Klopstock. I carried him about +with me for years when I walked. What besides? Well, I didn't +always understand him. He skips about so; and he always begins so +far away, above or below; always Maestoso! D-flat major! Isn't, +it so? But he's great, nevertheless, and uplifts the soul. When I +couldn't understand him I sort of guessed at him." + +(To Rochlitz, in 1822.) + +135. "As for me I prefer to set Homer, Klopstock, Schiller, to +music; if it is difficult to do, these immortal poets at least +deserve it." + +(To the directorate of the "Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde" of +Vienna, January, 1824, in negotiations for an oratorio, "The +Victory of the Cross" [which he had been commissioned to write by +the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston. H. E. K.].) + +136. "Goethe and Schiller are my favorite poets, as also Ossian +and Homer, the latter of whom, unfortunately, I can read only in +translation." + +(August 8, 1809, to Breitkopf and Hartel.) + +137. "Who can sufficiently thank a great poet,--the most valuable +jewel of a nation!" + +(February 10, 1811, to Bettina von Arnim. The reference was to +Goethe.) + +138. "When you write to Goethe about me search out all the words +which can express my deepest reverence and admiration. I am +myself about to write to him about "Egmont" for which I have +composed the music, purely out of love for his poems which make +me happy." + +(February 10, 1811, to Bettina von Arnim.) + +139. "I would have gone to death, yes, ten times to death for +Goethe. Then, when I was in the height of my enthusiasm, I +thought out my "Egmont" music. Goethe,--he lives and wants us all +to live with him. It is for that reason that he can be composed. +Nobody is so easily composed as he. But I do not like to compose +songs." + +(To Mitz, in 1822, when Beethoven recalled Goethe's amiability in +Teplitz.) + +140. "Goethe is too fond of the atmosphere of the court; fonder +than becomes a poet. There is little room for sport over the +absurdities of the virtuosi, when poets, who ought to be looked +upon as the foremost teachers of the nation, can forget +everything else in the enjoyment of court glitter." + +(Franzensbrunn, August 9, 1812, to Gottfried Hartel of Leipzig.) + +141. "When two persons like Goethe and I meet these grand folk +must be made to see what our sort consider great." + +(August 15, 1812, in a description of how haughtily he, and how +humbly Goethe, had behaved in the presence of the Imperial court.) + +142. "Since that summer in Carlsbad I read Goethe every day,--when +I read at all." + +(Remarked to Rochlitz.) + +143. "Goethe ought not to write more; he will meet the fate of the +singers. Nevertheless he will remain the foremost poet of Germany. + +(Conversationbook, 1818.) + +144. "Can you lend me the "Theory of Colors" for a few weeks? It +is an important work. His last things are insipid." + +(Conversation-book, 1820.) + +145. "After all the fellow writes for money only." + +(Reported by Schindler as having been said by Beethoven when, on +his death-bed, he angrily threw a book of Walter Scott's aside.) + +146. "He, too, then, is nothing better than an ordinary man ! Now +he will trample on all human rights only to humor his ambition; +he will place himself above all others,--become a tyrant!" + +(With these words, as testified to by Ries, an eye-witness, +Beethoven tore the title-pane from the score of his "Eroica" +symphony (which bore a dedication to Bonaparte) when the news +reached him that Napoleon had declared himself emperor.) + +147. "I believe that so long as the Austrian has his brown beer +and sausage he will not revolt." + +(To Simrock, publisher, in Bonn, August 2, 1794.) + +148. "Why do you sell nothing but music? Why did you not long ago +follow my well-meant advice? Do get wise, and find your raison. +Instead of a hundred-weight of paper order genuine unwatered +Regensburger, float this much-liked article of trade down the +Danube, serve it in measures, half-measures and seidels at cheap +prices, throw in at intervals sausages, rolls, radishes, butter +and cheese, invite the hungry and thirsty with letters an ell +long on a sign: "Musical Beer House," and you will have so many +guests at all hours of the day that one will hold the door open +for the other and your office will never be empty." + +(To Haslinger, the music publisher, when the latter had complained +about the indifference of the Viennese to music.) + + + +ON EDUCATION + + + +Beethoven's observations on this subject were called out by his +experiences in securing an education for his nephew Karl, son of +his like-named brother, a duty which devolved on him on the death +of his brother in the winter of 1815. He loved his nephew almost +to idolatry, and hoped that he would honor the name of Beethoven +in the future. But there was a frivolous vein in Karl, inherited +probably from his mother, who was on easy footing with morality +both before and after her husband's death. She sought with all her +might to rid her son of the guardianship of his uncle. Karl was +sent, to various educational institutions and to these Beethoven +sent many letters containing advice and instructions. The nephew +grew to be more and more a care, not wholly without fault of the +master. His passionate nature led to many quarrels between the +two, all of which were followed by periods of extravagant +fondness. Karl neglected his studies, led a frivolous life, was +fond of billiards and the coffee-houses which were then generally +popular, and finally, in the summer of 1826, made an attempt at +suicide in the Helenental near Baden, which caused his social +ostracism. When he was found he cried out: "I went to the bad +because my uncle wanted to better me." + +Beethoven succeeded in persuading Baron von Stutterheim, commander +of an infantry regiment at Iglau, to accept him as an aspirant for +military office. In later life he became a respected official and +man. So Beethoven himself was vouchsafed only an ill regulated +education. His dissolute father treated him now harshly, now +gently. His mother, who died early, was a silent sufferer, had +thoroughly understood her son, and to her his love was devotion +itself. He labored unwearyingly at his own intellectual and moral +advancement until his death. + +It seems difficult to reconcile his almost extravagant estimate of +the greatest possible liberty in the development of man with his +demands for strict constraint to which he frequently gives +expression; but he had recognized that it is necessary to grow +out of restraint into liberty. His model as a sensitive and +sympathetic educator was his motherly friend, the wife of Court +Councillor von Breuning in Bonn, of whom he once said: "She knew +how to keep the insects off the blossoms." + + + +149. "Like the State, each man must have his own constitution." + +(Diary. 1815.) + +150. "Recommend virtue to your children; that, alone can bring +happiness; not wealth,--I speak from experience. It was virtue +alone that bore me up in my misery; to her and my art I owe that +I did not end my life by self-murder." + +(October 6, 1802, to his brothers Karl and Johann [the so-called +Heiligenstadt Will].) + +151. "I know no more sacred duty than to rear and educate a +child." + +(January 7, 1820, in a communication to the Court of Appeals in +the suit touching the guardianship of his nephew Karl.) + +152. "Nature's weaknesses are nature's endowments; reason, the +guide, must seek to lead and lessen them." + +(Diary, 1817.) + +153. "It is man's habit to hold his fellow man in esteem because +he committed no greater errors. Beethoven's views on musical +education are to be found in the chapters "On Composition" and +"On Performing Music." + +(May 6, 1811, to Breitkopf and Hartel, in a letter complaining of +faulty printing in some of his compositions.) + +154. "There is nothing more efficient in enforcing obedience upon +others than the belief on their part that you are wiser than +they...Without tears fathers can not inculcate virtue in their +children, or teachers learning and wisdom in their pupils; even +the laws, by compelling tears from the citizens, compel them also +to strive for justice." + +(Diary, 1815.) + +155. "It is only becoming in a youth to combine his duties toward +education and advancement with those which he owes to his +benefactor and supporter; this I did toward my parents." + +(May 19, 1825, to his nephew Karl.) + +156. "You can not honor the memory of your father better than to +continue your studies with the greatest zeal, and strive to +become an honest and excellent man." + +(To his nephew, 1816-18.) + +157. "Let your conduct always be amiable; through art and science +the best and noblest of men are bound together and your future +vocation will not exclude you." + +(Baden, July 18, 1825, to his nephew, who had decided to become a +merchant.) + +158. "It is very true that a drop will hollow a stone; a thousand +lovely impressions are obliterated when children are placed in +wooden institutions while they might receive from their parents +the most soulful impressions which would continue to exert their +influence till the latest age." + +(Diary, spring of 1817. Beethoven was dissatisfied with +Giannatasio's school in which he had placed his nephew. "Karl is +a different child after he has been with me a few hours" (Diary). +In 1826, after the attempt at suicide, Beethoven said to +Breuning: "My Karl was in an institute; educational institutions +furnish forth only hot house plants.) + +159. "Drops of water wear away a stone in time, not by force but +by continual falling. Only through tireless industry are the +sciences achieved so that one can truthfully say: no day without +its line,--nulla dies sine linea." + +(1799, in a sketch for a theoretical handbook for Archduke +Rudolph.) + + + +ON HIS OWN DISPOSITION AND CHARACTER + + + +So open-hearted and straightforward a character as Beethoven +could not have pictured himself with less reserve or greater +truthfulness than he did during his life. Frankness toward +himself, frankness toward others (though sometimes it went to the +extreme of rudeness and ill-breeding) was his motto. The joyous +nature which was his as a lad, and which was not at all averse to +a merry prank now and then, underwent a change when he began to +lose his hearing. The dread of deafness and its consequences drove +him nearly to despair, so that he sometimes contemplated suicide. +Increasing hardness of hearing gradually made him reserved, morose +and gloomy. With the progress of the malady his disposition and +character underwent a decided change,--a fact which may be said to +account for the contradictions in his conduct and utterances. It +made him suspicious, distrustful; in his later years he imagined +himself cheated and deceived in the most trifling matters by +relatives, friends, publishers, servants. + +Nevertheless Beethoven's whole soul was filled with a high +idealism which penetrated through the miseries of his daily life; +it was full, too, of a great love toward humanity in general and +his unworthy nephew in particular. Towards his publishers he often +appeared covetous and grasping, seeking to rake and scrape +together all the money possible; but this was only for the purpose +of assuring the future of his nephew. At the same time, in a merry +moment, he would load down his table with all that kitchen and +cellar could provide, for the reflection of his friends. Thus he +oscillated continuously between two extremes; but the power which +swung the pendulum was always the aural malady. He grew peevish +and capricious towards his best friends, rude, even brutal at +times in his treatment of them; only in the next moment to +overwhelm them most pathetically with attentions. Till the end of +his life he remained a sufferer from his passionate disposition +over which he gradually obtained control until, at the end, one +could almost speak of a sunny clarification of his nature. + +He has heedlessly been accused of having led a dissolute life, of +having been an intemperate drinker. There would be no necessity +of contradicting such a charge even if there were a scintilla of +evidence to support it; a drinker is not necessarily a +dishonorable man, least of all a musician who drinks. But, the +fact of the matter is that it is not true. If once Beethoven wrote +a merry note about merrymaking with friends, let us rejoice that +occasions did sometimes occur, though but rarely, when the heart +of the sufferer was temporarily gladdened. + +He was a strict moralist, as is particularly evidenced by the +notes in his journal which have not been made public. In many +things which be fell him in his daily life he was as ingenuous as +a child. His personality, on the whole, presented itself in such +a manner as to invite the intellectual and social Philistine to +call him a fool. + + + +160. "I shall print a request in all the newspapers that +henceforth all artists refrain from painting my picture without +my knowledge; I never thought that my own face would bring me +embarrassment." + +(About 1803, to Christine Gerardi, because without his knowledge a +portrait of him had been made somewhere--in a cafe, probably.) + +161. "Pity that I do not understand the art of war as well as I do +the art of music; I should yet conquer Napoleon!" + +(To Krumpholz, the violinist, when he informed Beethoven of the +victory of Napoleon at Jena.) + +162. "If I were a general and knew as much about strategy as I, a +composer, know about counterpoint, I'd give you fellows something +to do." + +(Called out behind the back of a French officer, his fist doubled, +on May 12, 1809, when the French had occupied Vienna. Reported by +a witness, W. Rust.) + +163. "Camillus, if I am not mistaken, was the name of the Roman +who drove the wicked Gauls from Rome. At such a cost I would also +take the name if I could drive them wherever I found them to where +they belong." + +(To Pleyel, publisher, in Paris, April, 1807.) + +164. "I love most the realm of mind which, to me, is the highest +of all spiritual and temporal monarchies." + +(To Advocate Kauka in the summer of 1814. He had been speaking +about the monarchs represented in the Congress of Vienna.) + +165. "I shall not come in person, since that would be a sort of +farewell, and farewells I have always avoided." + +(January 24, 1818, to Giannatasio del Rio, on taking his nephew +Karl out of the latter institute.) + +166. "I hope still to bring a few large works into the world, and +then, like an old child, to end my earthly career somewhere among +good people." + +(October 6, 1802, to Wegeler.) + +167. "O ye men, who think or declare me to be hostile, morose or +misanthropical, what injustice ye do me. Ye know not the secret +cause of what thus appears to you. My heart and mind were from +childhood disposed for the tender feelings of benevolence; I was +always wishing to accomplish great deeds." + +(October 6, 1802, in the so-called Heiligenstadt Will.) + +168. "Divinity, thou lookest into my heart, thou knowest it, thou +knowest that love for mankind and a desire to do good have their +abode there. O ye men, when one day ye read this think that ye +have wronged me, and may the unfortunate console himself with the +thought that he has found one of his kind who, despite all the +obstacles which nature put in his path, yet did all in his power +to be accepted in the ranks of worthy artists and men!" + +(From the Heiligenstadt Will.) + +169. "I spend all my mornings with the muses;--and they bless me +also in my walks." + +(October 12, 1835, to his nephew Karl.) + +170. "Concerning myself nothing,--that is, from nothing nothing." + +(October 19, 1815, to Countess Erdody.) + +[A possible allusion to the line, "Nothing can come of nothing." +from Shakespeare's "King Lear," Act 1, scene 1] + +171. "Beethoven can write, thank God; but do nothing else on +earth." + +(December 22, 1822, to Ferdinand Ries, in London.) + +172. "Mentally I often frame an answer, but when I come to write +it down I generally throw the pen aside, since I am not able to +write what I feel." + +(October 7, 1826, to his friend Wegeler, in Coblenz. "The better +sort of people, I think, know me anyhow." He is excusing his +laziness in letter-writing.) + +173. "I have the gift to conceal my sensitiveness touching a +multitude of things; but when I am provoked at a moment when I am +more sensitive than usual to anger, I burst out more violently +than anybody else." + +(July 24, 1804, to Ries, in reporting to him a quarrel with +Stephan von Breuning.) + +174. "X. is completely changed since I threw half a dozen books at +her head. Perhaps something of their contents accidentally got +into her head or her wicked heart." + +(To Mme. Streicher, who often had to put Beethoven's house in +order.) + +175. "I can have no intercourse, and do not want to have any, with +persons who are not willing to believe in me because I have not +yet made a wide reputation." + +(To Prince Lobkowitz, about 1798. A cavalier had failed to show +him proper respect in the Prince's salon.) + +176. "Many a vigorous and unconsidered word drops from my mouth, +for which reason I am considered mad." + +(In the summer of 1880, to Dr. Mueller, of Bremen, who was paying +him a visit.) + +177. "I will grapple with Fate; it shall not quite bear me down." +O, it is lovely to live life a thousand times + +(November 16, 1800, or 1801, to Wegeler.) + +178. "Morality is the strength of men who distinguish themselves +over others, and it is mine." + +(In a communication to his friend, Baron Zmeskall.) + +179. "I, too, am a king!" + +(Said to Holz, when the latter begged him not to sell the ring +which King Frederick William III, of Prussia, had sent to him +instead of money or an order in return for the dedication of the +ninth symphony. "Master, keep the ring," Holz had said, "it is +from a king." Beethoven made his remark "with indescribable +dignity and self-consciousness?") + +[On his deathbed he said to little Gerhard von Breuning: "Know +that I am an artist."] + +[At the height of the popular infatuation for Rossini (1822) he +said to his friends: "Well, they will not be able to rob me of my +place in the history of art."] + +180. "Prince, what you are you are by accident of birth; what I +am, I am through my own efforts. There have been thousands of +princes and will be thousands more; there is only one Beethoven!" + +(According to tradition, from a letter which he wrote to Prince +Lichnowsky when the latter attempted to persuade him to play for +some French officers on his estate in Silesia. Beethoven went at +night to Troppau, carrying the manuscript of the (so-called) +"Appassionata" sonata, which suffered from the rain.) + +181. "My nobility is here, and here (pointing to his heart and +head)." + +(Reported by Schindler. In the lawsuit against his sister-in-law +(the mother of nephew Karl) Beethoven had been called on to prove +that the "van" in his name was a badge of nobility.) + +182. "You write that somebody has said that I am the natural son +of the late King of Prussia. The same thing was said to me long +ago, but I have made it a rule never to write anything about +myself or answer anything that is said about me. October 7, 1826, +to Wegeler. "I leave it to you to give the world an account of +myself and especially my mother." + +(The statement had appeared in Brockhaus's "Lexicon.") + +183. "To me the highest thing, after God, is my honor." + +(July 26, 1822, to the publisher Peters, in Leipzig.) + +184. "I have never thought of writing for reputation and honor. +What I have in my heart must out; that is the reason why I +compose." + +(Remark to Karl Czerny, reported in his autobiography.) + +185. "I do not desire that you shall esteem me greater as an +artist, but better and more perfect as a man; when the condition +of our country is somewhat better, then my art shall be devoted +to the welfare of the poor." + +(Vienna, June 29, 1800, to Wegeler, in Bonn, writing of his return +to his native land.) + +186. "Perhaps the only thing that looks like genius about me is +that my affairs are not always in the best of order, and that in +this respect nobody can be of help but myself." + +(April 22, 1801, to Hofmeister, in Leipzig excusing himself for +dilatoriness in sending him these compositions: the Pianoforte +sonata op. 22, the symphony op. 21, the septet op. 20 and the +concerto op. 19.) + +187. "I am free from all small vanities. Only in the divine art is +the lever which gives me power to sacrifice the best part of my +life to the celestial muses." + +(September 9, 1824, to George Nigeli, in Zurich.) + +188. "Inasmuch as the purpose of the undersigned throughout his +career has not been selfish but the promotion of the interests of +art, the elevation of popular taste and the flight of his own +genius toward loftier ideals and perfection, it was inevitable +that he should frequently sacrifice his own advantages and profit +to the muse." + +(December, 1804, to the Director of the Court Theatre, applying +for an engagement which was never effected.) + +189. "From my earliest childhood my zeal to serve suffering +humanity with my art was never content with any kind of a +subterfuge; and no other reward is needed than the internal +satisfaction which always accompanies such a deed." + +(To Procurator Varenna, who had asked him for compositions to be +played at a charity concert in Graz.) + +190. "There is no greater pleasure for me than to practice and +exhibit my art." + +(November 16, 1800, or 1801, to Wegeler.) + +191. "I recognize no other accomplishments or advantages than +those which place one amongst the better class of men; where I +find them, there is my home." + +(Teplitz, July 17, 1812, to his little admirer, Emile M., in H.) + +192. "From childhood I learned to love virtue, and everything +beautiful and good." + +(About 1808, to Frau Marie Bigot.) + +193. "It is one of my foremost principles never to occupy any +other relations than those of friendship with the wife of another +man. I should never want to fill my heart with distrust towards +those who may chance some day to share my fate with me, and thus +destroy the loveliest and purest life for myself." + +(About 1808, to Frau Marie Biot, after she had declined his +invitation to drive with him.) + +194. "In my solitude here I miss my roommate, at least at evening +and noon, when the human animal is obliged to assimilate that +which is necessary to the production of the intellectual, and +which I prefer to do in company with another." + +(Teplitz, September 6, 1811, to Tiedge.) + +195. "It was not intentional and premeditated malice which led me +to act toward you as I did; it was my unpardonable carelessness." + +(To Wegeler.) + +196. "I am not bad; hot blood is my wickedness, my crime is +youthfulness. I am not bad, really not bad; even though wild +surges often accuse my heart, it still is good. To do good +wherever we can, to love liberty above all things, and never to +deny truth though it be at the throne itself.--Think +occasionally of the friend who honors you." + +(Written in the autograph album of a Herr Bocke.) + +197. "It is a singular sensation to see and hear one's self +praised, and then to be conscious of one's own imperfections as I +am. I always regard such occasions as admonitions to get nearer +the unattainable goal set for us by art and nature, hard as it +may be." + +(To Mdlle. de Girardi, who had sung his praises in a poem.) + +198. "It is my sincere desire that whatever shall be said of me +hereafter shall adhere strictly to the truth in every respect +regardless of who may be hurt thereby, me not excepted." + +(Reported by Schindler, who also relates that when Beethoven +handed him documents to be used in the biography a week before his +death, he said to him and Breuning: "But in all things +severely the truth; for that I hold you to a strict +accountability.") + +199. "Now you can help me to find a wife. If you find a beautiful +woman in F. who, mayhap, endows my music with a sigh,--but she +must be no Elise Burger--make a provisional engagement. But she +must be beautiful, for I can love only the beautiful; otherwise I +might love myself." + +(In 1809, to Baron von Gleichenstein. As for the personal +reference it seems likely that Beethoven referred to Elise +Burger, second wife of the poet G. August Burger, with whom he +had got acquainted after she had been divorced and become an +elocutionist.) + +2OO. "Am I not a true friend? Why do you conceal your necessities +from me? No friend of mine must suffer so long as I have +anything." + +(To Ferdinand Ries, in 1801. Ries's father had been kind to +Beethoven on the death of his mother in 1787.) + +201. "I would rather forget what I owe to myself than what I owe +to others." + +(To Frau Streicher, in the summer of 1817.) + +202. "I never practice revenge. When I must antagonize others I do +no more than is necessary to protect myself against them, or +prevent them from doing further evil." + +(To Frau Streicher, in reference to the troubles which his +servants gave him, many of which, no doubt, were due to faults of +his own, excusable in a man in his condition of health.) + +203. "Be convinced that mankind, even in your case, will always be +sacred to me." + +(To Czapka, Magisterial Councillor, August, 1826, in the matter of +his nephew's attempt at suicide.) + +204. "H. is, and always will be, too weak for friendship, and I +look upon him and Y. as mere instruments upon which I play when I +feel like it; but they can never be witnesses of my internal and +external activities, and just as little real participants. I +value them according as they do me service." + +(Summer of 1800, to the friend of his youth, Pastor Amenda. H. was +probably the faithful Baron Zmeskall von Domanowectz.) + +205. "If it amuses them to talk and write about me in that manner, +let them go on." + +(Reported by Schindler as referring to critics who had declared +him ripe for the madhouse.) + +206. "To your gentlemen critics I recommend a little more +foresight and shrewdness, particularly in respect of the products +of younger authors, as many a one, who might otherwise make +progress, may be frightened off. So far as I am concerned I am +far from thinking myself so perfect as not to be able to endure +faulting; yet at the beginning the clamor of your critic was so +debasing that I could scarcely discuss the matter when I compared +myself with others, but had to remain quiet and think: they do +not understand. I was the more able to remain quiet when I +recalled how men were praised who signify little among those who +know, and who have almost disappeared despite their good points. +Well, pax vobiscum, peace to them and me,--I would never have +mentioned a syllable had you not begun." + +(April 22, 1801, to Breitkopf and Hartel, publishers of the +"Allgemeine Musik Zeitung.") + +207. "Who was happier than I when I could still pronounce the +sweet word "mother" and have it heard? To whom can I speak it +now?" + +(September 15, 1787, from Bonn to Dr. Schade, of Augsburg, who had +aided him in his return journey from Vienna to Bonn. His mother +had died on July 17, 1787.) + +208. "I seldom go anywhere since it was always impossible for me +to associate with people where there was not a certain exchange +of ideas." + +(February 15, 1817, to Brentano of Frankfurt.) + +209. "Not a word about rest! I know of none except in sleep, and +sorry enough am I that I am obliged to yield up more to it than +formerly." + +(November 16, 1801, or 1802, to Wegeler. In Homer's "Odyssey" +Beethoven thickly underscored the words: "Too much sleep is +injurious." XV, 393.) + +210. "Rest assured that you are dealing with a true artist who +likes to be paid decently, it is true, but who loves his own +reputation and also the fame of his art; who is never satisfied +with himself and who strives continually to make even greater +progress in his art." + +(November 23, 1809, to George Thomson, of Edinburgh, for whom +Beethoven arranged the Scotch songs.) + +211. "My motto is always: nulla die sine linea; and if I permit +the muse to go to sleep it is only that she may awake +strengthened." + +(October 7, 1826, to Wegeler.) + +212. "There is no treatise likely to be too learned for me. +Without laying claim to real learning it is yet true that since +my childhood I have striven to learn the minds of the best and +wisest of every period of time. It is a disgrace for every artist +who does not try to do as much." + +(November 2, 1809, to Breitkopf and Haerte1, of Leipzig. + +213. "Without wishing in the least to set myself up as an exemplar +I assure you that I lived in a small and insignificant place, and +made out of myself nearly all that I was there and am here;--this +to your comfort in case you feel the need of making progress in +art." + +(Baden, July 6, 1804, to Herr Wiedebein, of Brunswick, who had +asked if it was advisable for a music teacher and student to make +his home in Vienna.) + +214. "There is much on earth to be done,-do it soon! I must not +continue my present everyday life,--art asks this sacrifice also. +Take rest in diversion in order to work more energetically." + +(Diary, 1814.) + +215. "The daily grind exhausts me." + +(Baden, August 23, 1823, to his nephew Karl.) + + + +THE SUFFERER + + + +216. "Compelled to be a philosopher as early as my 28th year;--it +is not an easy matter,--more difficult for the artist than any +other man." + +(October 6, 1802; the Heiligenstadt Will.) + +217. "Compelled to contemplate a lasting malady, born with an +ardent and lively temperament, susceptible to the diversions of +society, I was obliged at an early date to isolate myself and +live a life of solitude." + +(From the same.) + +218. "It was impossible for me to say to others: speak louder; +shout! for I am deaf. Ah! was it possible for me to proclaim a +deficiency in that one sense which in my case ought to have been +more perfect than in all others, which I had once possessed in +greatest perfection, to a degree of perfection, indeed, which few +of my profession have ever enjoyed?" + +(From the same.) + +219. "For me there can be no recreation in human society, refined +conversation, mutual exchange of thoughts and feelings; only so +far as necessity compels may I give myself to society,--I must +live like an exile." + +(From the same.) + +220. "How great was the humiliation when one who stood beside me +heard the distant sound of a shepherd's pipe, and I heard +nothing; or heard the shepherd singing, and I heard nothing. Such +experiences brought me to the verge of despair;--but little more +and I should have put an end to my life. Art, art alone deterred +me." + +(From the same.) + +221. "I may say that I live a wretched existence. For almost two +years I have avoided all social gatherings because it is +impossible for me to tell the people I am deaf. If my vocation +were anything else it might be more endurable, but under the +circumstances the condition is terrible; besides what would my +enemies say,-they are not few in number! To give you an idea of +this singular deafness let me tell you that in the theatre I must +lean over close to the orchestra in order to understand the +actor; if I am a little remote from them I do not hear the high +tones of instruments and voices; it is remarkable that there are +persons who have not observed it, but because I am generally +absent-minded my conduct is ascribed to that." + +(Vienna, June 29, 1800, to Wegeler. "To you only do I confide this +as a secret." Concerning his deafness see Appendix. + +222. "My defective hearing appeared everywhere before me like a +ghost; I fled from the presence of men, was obliged to appear to +be a misanthrope although I am so little such." + +(November 16, 1801, or 1800, to Wegeler, in writing to him about +his happy love. "Unfortunately, she is not of my station in +life.") + +223. "Truly, a hard lot has befallen me! Yet I accept the decree +of Fate, and continually pray to God to grant that as long as I +must endure this death in life, I may be preserved from want." + +(March 14, 1827, to Moscheles, after Beethoven had undergone the +fourth operation for dropsy and was con fronting the fifth. He +died on March 26, 1827.) + +224. "Live alone in your art! Restricted though you be by your +defective sense, this is still the only existence for you." + +(Diary, 1816.) + +225. "Dissatisfied with many things, more susceptible than any +other person and tormented by my deafness, I often find only +suffering in the association with others." + +(In 1815, to Brauchle, tutor in the house of Countess Erdody.) + +226. "I have emptied a cup of bitter suffering and already won +martyrdom in art through the kindness of art's disciples and my +art associates." + +(In the summer of 1814, to Advocate Kauka. "Socrates and Jesus +were my exemplars," he remarks in a Conversation-book of 1819.) + +226. "Perfect the ear trumpets as far as possible, and then +travel; this you owe to yourself, to mankind and to the Almighty! +Only thus can you develop all that is still locked within you;-- +and a little court,--a little chapel,--writing the music and +having it performed to the glory of the Almighty, the Eternal, +the Infinite---" + +(Diary, 1815. Beethoven was hoping to receive an appointment as +chapelmaster from his former pupil, Archduke Rudolph, Archbishop +of Olmutz.) + +228. "God help me. 'Thou seest me deserted by all mankind. I do +not want to do wrong,--hear my prayer to be with my Karl in the +future for which there seems to be no possibility now. O, harsh +Fate, cruel destiny. No, my unhappy condition will never end. +"This I feel and recognize clearly: Life is not the greatest of +blessings; but the greatest of evils is guilt." (From Schiller's +"Braut von Messina"). There is no salvation for you except to +hasten away from here; only by this means can you lift yourself +again to the heights of your art whereas you are here sinking to +the commonplace, --and a symphony--and then away,--away,-- +meanwhile fund the salaries which can be done for years. Work +during the summer preparatory to travel; only thus can you do the +great work for your poor nephew; later travel through Italy, +Sicily, with a few other artists." + +(Diary, spring of 1817. The salaries were the annuities paid him +for several years by Archduke Rudolph, Prince Rinsky and Prince +Lobkowitz. Seume's "Spaezlergang nach Syrakus" was a favorite +book of Beethoven's and inspired him in a desire to make a +similar tour, but nothing came of it.) + +229. "You must not be a man like other men: not for yourself, only +for others; for you there is no more happiness except in +yourself, in your art.--O God, give me strength to overcome +myself, nothing must hold me to this life." + +(Beginning of the Diary, 1812-18.) + +230. "Leave operas and all else alone, write only for your orphan, +and then a cowl to close this unhappy life." + +(Diary, 1816.) + +231. "I have often cursed my existence; Plutarch taught me +resignation. I shall, if possible, defy Fate, though there will +be hours in my life when I shall be the most miserable of God's +creatures. Resignation! What a wretched resort; yet it is the +only one left me!" + +(Vienna, June 29, 1800, to Wegeler.) + +232. "Patience, they tell me, I must now choose for a guide. I +have done so. It shall be my resolve, lastingly, I hope, to +endure until it pleases the implacable Parca: to break the +thread. There may be improvement,--perhaps not,--I am prepared." + +(From the Heiligenstadt Will.) + +233. "Let all that is called life be offered to the sublime and +become a sanctuary of art. Let me live, even through artificial +means, so they can be found." + +(Diary, 1814, when Beethoven was being celebrated extraordinarily +by the royalties and dignitaries gathered at the Congress of +Vienna.) + +234. "Ah! it seemed impossible for me to leave the world until I +had produced all that I felt called upon to produce; and so I +prolonged this wretched existence." + +(From the Heiligenstadt Will.) + +235. "With joy shall I hasten forward to meet death; if he comes +before I shall have had an opportunity to develop all my artistic +capabilities, he will come too early in spite of my harsh fate, +and I shall probably wish him to come at a later date. But even +then I shall be content, for will he not release me from endless +suffering? Come when you please, I shall meet you bravely." + +(From the Heiligenstadt Will.) + +236. "Apollo and the muses will not yet permit me to be delivered +over to the grim skeleton, for I owe them so much, and I must, on +any departure for the Elysian Fields, leave behind me all that +the spirit has inspired and commanded to be finished." + +(September 17, 1824, to Schott, music publisher in Mayence.) + +237. "Had I not read somewhere that it is not pending man to part +voluntarily from his life so long as there is a good deed which +he can perform, I should long since have been no more, and by my +own hand. O, how beautiful life is, but in my case it is +poisoned." + +(May 2, 1810, to his friend Wegeler, to whom he is lamenting over +"the demon that has set up his habitat in my ears.") + +238. "I must abandon wholly the fond hope, which I brought hither, +to be cured at least In a degree. As the fallen autumn leaves have +withered, so arc now my hopes blighted. I depart in almost the +same condition in which I came; even the lofty courage which often +animated me in the beautiful days of summer has disappeared." + +(From the Will. Beethoven had tried the cure at Heiligenstadt.) + +239. "All week long I had to suffer and endure like a saint. Away +with this rabble! What a reproach to our civilization that we +need what we despise and must always know it near!" + +(In 1825, complaining of the misery caused by his domestics.) + +240. "The best thing to do not to think of your malady is to keep +occupied." + +(Diary, 1812-18.) + +241. "It is no comfort for men of the better sort to say to them +that others also suffer; but, alas! comparisons must always be +made, though they only teach that we all suffer, that is err, +only in different ways." + +(In 1816, to Countess Erdody, on the death of her son.) + +242. "The portraits of Handel, Bach, Gluck, Mozart and Haydn in +my room,--they may help me to make claim on toleration." + +(Diary, 1815-16.) + +243. "God, who knows my innermost soul, and knows how sacredly I +have fulfilled all the duties but upon me as man by humanity, God +and nature will surely some day relieve me from these +afflictions." + +(July 18, 1821, to Archduke Rudolph, from Unterubling.) + +244. "Friendship and similar sentiments bring only wounds to me. +Well, so be it; for you, poor Beethoven, there is no outward +happiness; you must create it within you,--only in the world of +ideality shall you find friends." + +(About 1808, to Baron von Gleichenstein, by whom he thought +himself slighted.) + +245. "You are living on a quiet sea, or already in the safe +harbor; you do not feel the distress of a friend out in the +raging storm,--or you must not feel it." + +(In 1811, to his friend Gleichenstein, when Beethoven was in love +with the Baron's sister-in-law, Therese Malfatti.) + +246. "I must have a confidant at my side lest life become a +burden." + +(July 4, 1812, to Count Brunswick, whom he is urging to make a +tour with him, probably to Teplitz.) + +247. "Your love makes me at once the happiest and the unhappiest +of men. At my age I need a certain uniformity and equableness of +life; can such exist in our relationship?" + +(June 7,1800(?), to the "Immortal Beloved.") + +248. "O Providence! vouchsafe me one day of pure joy! Long has the +echo of perfect felicity been absent from my heart. When O, when, +O Thou Divine One, shall I feel it again in nature's temple and +man's? Never? Ah! that would be too hard!" + +(Conclusion of the Heiligenstadt Will.) + + + +WORLDLY WISDOM + + + +249. "Freedom,--progress, is purpose in the art-world as in +universal creation, and if we moderns have not the hardihood of +our ancestors, refinement of manners has surely accomplished +something." + +(Middling, July 29, 1819, to Archduke Rudolph.) + +250. "The boundaries are not yet fixed which shall call out to +talent and industry: thus far and no further!" + +(Reported by Schindler.) + +251. "You know that the sensitive spirit must not be bound to +miserable necessities." + +(In the summer of 1814, to Johann Kauka, the advocate who +represented him in the prosecution of his claims against the +heirs of Prince Kinsky.) + +252. "Art, the persecuted one, always finds an asylum. Did not +Daedalus, shut up in the labyrinth, invent the wings which +carried him out into the open air? O, I shall find them, too, +these wings!" + +(February 19, 1812, to Zmeskall, when, in 1811, by decree of the +Treasury, the value of the Austrian currency was depreciated one- +fifth, and the annuity which Beethoven received from Archduke +Rudolph and the Princes Lobkowitz and Kinsky reduced to 800 +florins.) + +253. "Show me the course where at the goal there stands the palm +of victory! Lend sublimity to my loftiest thoughts, bring to them +truths that shall live forever!" + +(Diary, 1814, while working on "Fidelio.") + +254. "Every day is lost in which we do not learn something useful. +Man has no nobler or more valuable possession than time; +therefore never put off till tomorrow what you can do today." + +(From the notes in Archduke Rudolph's instruction book.) + +255. "This is the mark of distinction of a truly admirable man: +steadfastness in times of trouble." + +(Diary, 1816.) + +256. "Courage, so it be righteous, will gain all things." + +(April, 1815, to Countess Erdody.) + +257. "Force, which is a unit, will always prevail against the +majority which is divided." + +(Conversation-book, 1819.) + +258. "Kings and Princes can create professors and councillors, and +confer orders and decorations; but they can not create great men, +spirits that rise above the earthly rabble; these they can not +create, and therefore they are to be respected." + +(August 15, 1812, to Bettina von Arnim.) + +259. "Man, help yourself!" + +(Written under the words: "Fine, with the help of God," which +Moscheles had written at the end, of a pianoforte arrangement of +a portion of "Fidelio.") + +260. "If I could give as definite expression to my thoughts about +my illness as to my thoughts in music, I would soon help myself." + +(September, 1812, to Amalie Sebald, a patient at the cure in +Teplitz.) + +261. "Follow the advice of others only in the rarest cases." + +(Diary, 1816.) + +262. "The moral law in us, and the starry sky above us."-Kant. + +(Conversation-book, February, 1820.) + +[Literally the passage in Kant's "Critique of Practical Reason" +reads as follows: "Two things fill the soul with ever new and +increasing wonder and reverence the oftener the mind dwells upon +them:--the starry sky above me and the moral law in me."] + +263. "Blessed is he who has overcome all passions and then +proceeds energetically to perform his duties under all +circumstances careless of success! Let the motive lie in the +deed, not in the outcome. Be not one of those whose spring of +action is the hope of reward. Do not let your life pass in +inactivity. Be industrious, do your duty, banish all thoughts as +to the results, be they good or evil; for such equanimity is +attention to intellectual things. Seek an asylum only in Wisdom; +for he who is wretched and unhappy is so only in consequence of +things. The truly wise man does not concern himself with the good +and evil of this world. Therefore endeavor diligently to preserve +this use of your reason--for in the affairs of this world, such +a use is a precious art." + +(Diary. Though essentially in the language of Beethoven there is +evidence that the passage was inspired by something that he had +read.) + +264. "The just man must be able also to suffer injustice without +deviating in the least from the right course." + +(To the Viennese magistrate in the matter of Karl's education.) + +265. "Man's humility towards man pains me; and yet when I consider +myself in connection with the universe, what am I and what is he +whom we call the greatest? And yet here, again, lies the divine +element in man." + +(To the "Immortal Beloved," July 6 (1800?).) + +266. "Only the praise of one who has enjoyed praise can give +pleasure." + +(Conversation-book, 1825.) + +267. "Nothing is more intolerable than to be compelled to accuse +one's self of one's own errors." + +(Teplitz, September 6, 1811, to Tiedge. Beethoven regrets that +through his own fault he had not made Hedge's acquaintance on an +earlier opportunity.) + +268. "What greater gift can man receive than fame, praise and +immortality?" + +(Diary, 1816-17. After Pliny, Epist. III.) + +269. "Frequently it seems as if I should almost go mad over my +undeserved fame; fortune seeks me out and I almost fear new +misfortune on that account." + +(July, 1810, to his friend Zmeskall. "Every day there come new +inquiries from strangers, new acquaintances new relationships.") + +270. "The world must give one recognition,--it is not always +unjust. I care nothing for it because I have a higher goal." + +(August 15, 1812, to Bettina von Arnim.) + +271. "I have the more turned my gaze upwards; but for our own +sakes and for others we are obliged to turn our attention +sometimes to lower things; this, too, is a part of human destiny." + +(February 8, 1823, to Zelter, with whom he is negotiating the sale +of a copy of the Mass in D.) + +272. "Why so many dishes? Man is certainly very little higher than +the other animals if his chief delights are those of the table." + +(Reported by J. A. Stumpff, in the "Harmonicon" of 1824. He dined +with Beethoven in Baden.) + +273. "Whoever tells a lie is not pure of heart, and such a person +can not cook a clean soup." + +(To Mme. Streicher, in 1817, or 1818, after having dismissed an +otherwise good housekeeper because she had told a falsehood to +spare his feelings.) + +274. "Vice walks through paths full of present lusts and persuades +many to follow it. Virtue pursues a steep path and is less +seductive to mankind, especially if at another place there are +persons who call them to a gently declining road." + +(Diary, 1815.) + +275. "Sensual enjoyment without a union of soul is bestial and +will always remain bestial." + +281. "Look, my dear Ries; these are the great after it one +experiences not a trace of noble connoisseurs who affect to be +able to judge of sentiment, but rather regret any piece of music +so correctly and keenly." + +(Diary, 1812-18.) + +give them but the name of their favorite,--they need no more! + +276. "Men are not only together when they are with each other; +even the distant and the dead live with us." + +(To Therese Malfatti, later Baroness von Drossdick, to whom in the +country he sent Goethe's "Wilhelm Meister" and Schlegel's +translation of Shakespeare.) + +277. "There is no goodness except the possession of a good soul, +which may be seen in all things, from which one need not seek to +hide." + +(August 15, 1812, to Bettina von Arnim.) + +278. "The foundation of friendship demands the greatest likeness +of human souls and hearts." + +(Baden, July 24, 1804, to Ries, describing his quarrel with +Breuning.) + +279. "True friendship can rest only on the union of like natures." + +(Diary, 1812-18.) + +280. "The people say nothing; they are merely people. As a rule +they only see themselves in others, and what they see is nothing; +away with them! The good and the beautiful needs no people,--it +exists without outward help, and this seems to be the reason of +our enduring friendship." + +(September 16, 1812, to Amalie Sebald, in Teplitz, who had +playfully called him a tyrant.) + +281. "Look, my dear Ries; these are the great connoisseurs who +affect to be able to judge of any piece of music so correctly and +keenly. Give them but the name of their favorite,--they need no +more!" + +(To his pupil Ries, who had, as a joke, played a mediocre march at +a gathering at Count Browne's and announced it to be a composition +by Beethoven. When the march was praised beyond measure Beethoven +broke out into a grim laugh.) + +282. "Do not let all men see the contempt which they deserve; we +do not know when we may need them." + +(Note in the Diary of 1814, after having had an unpleasant +experience with his "friend" Bertolini. "Henceforth never step +inside his house; shame on you to ask anything from such an one.") + +283. "Our Time stands in need of powerful minds who will scourge +these petty, malicious and miserable scoundrels, --much as my +heart resents doing injury to a fellow man." + +(In 1825, to his nephew, in reference to the publication of a +satirical canon on the Viennese publisher, Haslinger, by Schott, +of Mayence.) + +284. "Today is Sunday. Shall I read something for you from the +Gospels? "Love ye one another!" + +(To Frau Streicher.) + +285. "Hate reacts on those who nourish it." + +(Diary, 1812-18.) + +286. "When friends get into a quarrel it is always best not to +call in an intermediary, but to have friend turn to friend +direct." + +(Vienna, November 2, 1793, to Eleonore von Breuning, of Bonn.) + +287. "There are reasons for the conduct of men which one is not +always willing to explain, but which, nevertheless, are based on +ineradicable necessity." + +(In 1815, to Brauchle.) + +288. "I was formerly inconsiderate and hasty in the expression of +my opinions, and thereby I made enemies. Now I pass judgment on +no one, and, indeed, for the reason that I do not wish to do any +one harm. Moreover, in the last instance I always think: if it is +something decent it will maintain itself in spite of all attack +and envy; if there is nothing good and sound at the bottom of it, +it will fall to pieces of itself, bolster it up as one may." + +(In a conversation with Tomaschek, in October, 1814.) + +289. "Even the most sacred friendship may harbor secrets, but you +ought not to misinterpret the secret of a friend because you can +not guess it." + +(About 1808, to Frau Marie Bigot.) + +290. "You are happy; it is my wish that you remain so, for every +man is best placed in his sphere." + +(Bonn, July 13, 1825, to his brother Johann, landowner in +Gneisendorf.) + +291. "One must not measure the cost of the useful." + +(To his nephew Karl in a discussion touching the purchase of an +expensive book.) + +292. "It is not my custom to prattle away my purposes, since +every intention once betrayed is no longer one's own." + +(To Frau Streicher.) + +293. "How stupidity and wretchedness always go in pairs!" + +(Diary, 1817.) + +[Beethoven was greatly vexed by his servants.] + +294. "Hope nourishes me; it nourishes half the world, and has been +my neighbor all my life, else what had become of me!" + +(August 11, 1810, to Bettina von Arnim.) + +295. "Fortune is round like a globe, hence, naturally, does not +always fall on the noblest and best." + +(Vienna, July 39, 1800, to Wegeler.) + +296. "Show your power, Fate! We are not our own masters; what is +decided must be,--and so be it!" + +(Diary, 1818.) + +297. "Eternal Providence omnisciently directs the good and evil +fortunes of mortal men." + +(Diary, 1818.) + +298. "With tranquility, O God, will I submit myself to changes, +and place all my trust in Thy unalterable mercy and goodness." + +(Diary, 1818.) + +299. "All misfortune is mysterious and greatest when viewed alone; +discussed with others it seems more endurable because one becomes +entirely familiar with the things one dreads, and feels as if one +had overcome it." + +(Diary, 1816.) + +300. "One must not flee for protection to poverty against the loss +of riches, nor to a lack of friendship against the loss of +friends, nor by abstention from procreation against the death of +children, but to reason against everything." + +(Diary, 1816.) + +301. "I share deeply with you the righteous sorrow over the death +of your wife. It seems to me that such a parting, which confronts +nearly every married man, ought to keep one in the ranks of the +unmarried." + +(May 20, 1811, to Gottfried Hartel, of Leipzig.) + +302. "He who is afflicted with a malady which he can not alter, +but which gradually brings him nearer and nearer to death, +without which he would have lived longer, ought to reflect that +murder or another cause might have killed him even more quickly." + +(Diary, 1812-18.) + +303. "We finite ones with infinite souls are born only for sorrows +and joy and it might almost be said that the best of us receive +joy through sorrow." + +(October 19, 1815, to Countess Erdody.) + +304. "He is a base man who does not know how to die; I knew it as +a boy of fifteen." + +(In the spring of 1816, to Miss Fanny Giannatasio del Rio, when +Beethoven felt ill and spoke of dying. It is not known that he +was ever near death in his youth.) + +305. "A second and third generation recompenses me three and +fourfold for the ill-will which I had to endure from my former +contemporaries." + +(Copied into his Diary from Goethe's "Westostlichen Divan.") + +306. "My hour at last is come; + Yet not ingloriously or passively + I die, but first will do some valiant deed, + Of which mankind shall hear in after + time."-Homer." + +("The Iliad" [Bryant's translation], Book XXII, 375-378.) + +(Copied into his Diary, 1815.) + +307. "Fate gave man the courage of endurance." + +(Diary, 1814.) + +308. "Portia--How far that little candle throws his beams! + So shines a good deed in a naughty world." + +(Marked in his copy of Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice.") + +309. "And on the day that one becomes a + slave, + The Thunderer, Jove, takes half his + worth away."-Homer. + +("The Odyssey" [Bryant's translation], Book XVII, 392-393. +Marked by Beethoven.) + +310. "Short is the life of man, and whoso + bears + A cruel heart, devising cruel things, + On him men call down evil from the + gods + While living, and pursue him, when he + dies, + With scoffs. But whoso is of generous + heart + And harbors generous aims, his guests + proclaim + His praises far and wide to all + mankind, + And numberless are they who call him + good."-Homer. + +("The Odyssey" [Bryant's translation], Book XIX, 408-415. Copied +into his diary, 1818.) + + + +GOD + + + +Beethoven was through and through a religious man, though not in +the confessional sense. Reared in the Catholic faith he early +attained to an independent opinion on religious things. It must +be borne in mind that his youth fell in the period of +enlightenment and rationalism. When at a later date he composed +the grand Mass in honor of his esteemed pupil Archduke Rudolph,-- +he hoped to obtain from him a chapelmastership when the Archduke +became Archbishop of Olmutz, but in vain,--he gave it forms and +dimensions which deviated from the ritual. + +In all things liberty was the fundamental principle of +Beethoven's life. His favorite book was Sturm's "Observations +Concerning God's Works in Nature" (Betrachtungen ber die Werke +Gottes in der Natur), which he recommended to the priests for +wide distribution among the people. He saw the hand of God in +even the most insignificant natural phenomenon. God was to him +the Supreme Being whom he had jubilantly hymned in the choral +portion of the Ninth Symphony in the words of Schiller: +"Brothers, beyond you starry canopy there must dwell a loving +Father!" Beethoven's relationship to God was that of a child +toward his loving father to whom he confides all his joys as well +as sorrows. + +It is said that once he narrowly escaped excommunication for +having said that Jesus was only a poor human being and a Jew. +Haydn, ingenuously pious, is reported to have called Beethoven +an atheist. + +He consented to the calling in of a priest on his death-bed. Eye- +witnesses testify that the customary function was performed most +impressively and edifyingly and that Beethoven expressed his +thanks to the officiating priest with heartiness. After he had +left the room Beethoven said to his friends: "Plaudite, amici, +comoedia finita est," the phrase with which antique dramas were +concluded. From this fact the statement has been made that +Beethoven wished to characterize the sacrament of extreme unction +as a comedy. This is contradicted, however, by his conduct during +its administration. It is more probable that he wished to +designate his life as a drama; in this sense, at any rate, the +words were accepted by his friends. Schindler says emphatically: +"The last days were in all respects remarkable, and he looked +forward to death with truly Socratic wisdom and peace of mind." + +[I append a description of the death scene as I found it in the +notebooks of A. W. Thayer which were placed in my hands for +examination after the death of Beethoven's greatest biographer in +1897: + +"June 5, 1860, I was in Graz and saw Huettenbrenner (Anselm) who +gave me the following particulars:...In the winter of 1826-27 +his friends wrote him from Vienna, that if he wished to see +Beethoven again alive he must hurry thither from Graz. He hastened +to Vienna, arriving a few days before Beethoven's death. Early in +the afternoon of March 26, Huettenbrenner went into the dying +man's room. He mentioned as persons whom he saw there, Stephen v. +Breuning and Gerhard, Schindler, Telscher and Carl's mother (this +seems to be a mistake, i.e. if Mrs. v. Beethoven is right). +Beethoven had then long been senseless. Telscher began drawing the +dying face of Beethoven. This grated on Breuning's feelings, and +he remonstrated with him, and he put up his papers and left (?). + +Then Breuning and Schindler left to go out to Wohring to select a +grave. (Just after the five--I got this from Breuning himself-- +when it grew dark with the sudden storm Gerhard, who had been +standing at the window, ran home to his teacher.) + +Afterward Gerhard v. B. went home, and there remained in the room +only Huttenbrenner and Mrs. van Beethoven. The storm passed over, +covering the Glacis with snow and sleet. As it passed away a flash +of lightning lighted up everything. This was followed by an awful +clap of thunder. Huttenbrenner had been sitting on the side of the +bed sustaining Beethoven's head--holding it up with his right arm +His breathing was already very much impeded, and he had been for +hours dying. At this startling, awful peal of thunder, the dying +man suddenly raised his head from Huttenbrenner's arm, stretched +out his own right arm majestically--like a general giving orders +to an army. This was but for an instant; the arm sunk back; he +fell back. Beethoven was dead. + +"Another talk with Huttenbrenner. It seems that Beethoven was at +his last gasp, one eye already closed. At the stroke of lightning +and the thunder peal he raised his arm with a doubled-up fist; the +expression of his eyes and face was that of one defying death,--a +look of defiance and power of resistance. + +"He must have had his arm under the pillow. I must ask him. + +"I did ask him; he had his arm around B.'s neck." H. E. K.] + + + +311. "I am that which is. I am all that was, that is, and that +shall be. No mortal man has ever lifted the veil of me. He is +solely of himself, and to this Only One all things owe their +existence." + +(Beethoven's creed. He had found it in Champollion's "The +Paintings of Egypt," where it is set down as an inscription on a +temple to the goddess Neith. Beethoven had his copy framed and +kept it constantly before him on his writing desk. "The relic was +a great treasure in his eyes"--Schindler.) + +312. "Wrapped in the shadows of eternal solitude, in the +impenetrable darkness of the thicket, impenetrable, immeasurable, +unapproachable, formlessly extended. Before spirit was breathed +(into things) his spirit was, and his only. As mortal eyes (to +compare finite and infinite things) look into a shining mirror." + +(Copied, evidently, from an unidentified work, by Beethoven; +though possibly original with him.) + +313. "It was not the fortuitous meeting of the chordal atoms that +made the world; if order and beauty are reflected in the +constitution of the universe, then there is a God." + +(Diary, 1816.) + +314. "He who is above,--O, He is, and without Him there is +nothing." + +(Diary.) + +315. "Go to the devil with your "gracious Sir!" There is only one +who can be called gracious, and that is God." + +(About 1824 or 1825, to Rampel, a copyist, who, apparently, had +been a little too obsequious in his address to Beethoven. [As is +customary among the Viennese to this day. H. E. K.]) + +316. "What is all this compared with the great Tonemaster above! +above! above! and righteously the Most High, whereas here below +all is mockery,--dwarfs,--and yet Most High!!" + +(To Schott, publisher in Mayence, in 1822--the same year in which +Beethoven copied the Egyptian inscription.) + +317. "There is no loftier mission than to approach the Divinity +nearer than other men, and to disseminate the divine rays among +mankind.) + +(August, 1823, to Archduke Rudolph.) + +318. "Heaven rules over the destiny of men and monsters +(literally, human and inhuman beings), and so it will guide me, +too, to the better things of life." + +(September 11, 1811, to the poet Elsie von der Recke.) + +319. "It's the same with humanity; here, too (in suffering), he +must show his strength, i.e. endure without knowing or feeling his +nullity, and reach his perfection again for which the Most High +wishes to make us worthy." + +(May 13, 1816, to Countess Erdody, who was suffering from +incurable lameness.) + +320. "Religion and thorough-bass are settled things concerning +which there should be no disputing." + +(Reported by Schindler.) + +331. "All things flowed clear and pure out of God. Though often +darkly led to evil by passion, I returned, through penance and +purification to the pure fountain,--to God,--and to your art. In +this I was never impelled by selfishness; may it always be so. +The trees bend low under the weight of fruit, the clouds descend +when they are filled with salutary rains, and the benefactors of +humanity are not puffed up by their wealth." + +(Diary, 1815. The first portion seems to be a quotation, but +Beethoven continues after the dash most characteristically in +his own words and a change of person.) + +322. "God is immaterial, and for this reason transcends every +conception. Since He is invisible He can have no form. But from +what we observe in His work we may conclude that He is eternal, +omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent." + +(Copied, with the remark: "From Indian literature" from an +unidentified work, into the Diary of 1816.) + +323. "In praise of Thy goodness I must confess that Thou didst try +with all Thy means to draw me to Thee. Sometimes it pleased Thee +to let me feel the heavy hand of Thy displeasure and to humiliate +my proud heart by manifold castigations. Sickness and misfortune +didst Thou send upon me to turn my thoughts to my errantries.--One +thing, only, O Father, do I ask: cease not to labor for my +betterment. In whatsoever manner it be, let me turn to Thee and +become fruitful in good works." + +(Copied into the Diary from Sturm's book, "Observations Concerning +the Works of God in Nature.") + + + +APPENDIX + + + +Some observations may finally be acceptable touching Beethoven's +general culture to which the thoughts of the reader must naturally +have been directed by the excerpts from his writings set forth in +the preceding pages. His own words betray the fact that he was not +privileged to enjoy a thorough school-training and was thus +compelled to the end of his days to make good the deficiencies in +his learning. As a lad at Bonn he had attended the so-called +Tirocinium, a sort of preparatory school for the Gymnasium, and +acquired a small knowledge of Latin. Later he made great efforts +to acquire French, a language essential to intercourse in the +upper circles of society. He never established intimate relations +with the rules of German. He used small initials for substantives, +or capitalized verbs and adjectives according as they appeared +important to him. His punctuation was arbitrary; generally he drew +a perpendicular line between his words, letting it suffice for a +comma or period as the case might be (a proceeding which adds not +a little to the embarrassments of him who seeks to translate his +sometimes mystical utterances). + +It is said that a man's bookcase bears evidence of his education +and intellectual interests. Beethoven also had books,--not many, +but a characteristic collection. From his faithful friend and +voluntary servant Schindler we have a report on this subject. Of +the books of which he was possessed at the time of his death there +have been preserved four volumes of translations of Shakespeare's +works, Homer's "Odyssey" in the translation of J. H. Voss, Sturm's +"Observations" (several times referred to in the preceding pages), +and Goethe's "Westostlichen Divan." These books are frequently +marked and annotated in lead pencil, thus bearing witness to the +subjects which interested Beethoven. From them, and volumes which +he had borrowed, many passages were copied by him into his daily +journal. Besides these books Schindler mentions Homer's "Iliad," +Goethe's poems, "Wilhelm Melster" and "Faust," Schiller's dramas +and poems, Tiedge's "Urania," volumes of poems by Matthisson and +Seume, and Nina d'Aubigny's "Letters to Natalia on Singing,"--a +book to which Beethoven attached great value. These books have +disappeared, as well as others which Beethoven valued. We do not +know what became of the volumes of Plato, Aristotle, Plutarch and +Xenophon, or the writings of Pliny, Euripides, Quintilian, Ovid, +Horace, Ossian, Milton and Thomson, traces of which are found in +Beethoven's utterances. + +The catalogue made for the auction sale of his posthumous effects +on September 7, 1827, included forty-four works of which the +censorship seized five as prohibited writings, namely, Seume's +"Foot Journey to Syracuse," the Apocrypha, Kotzebue's "On the +Nobility," W.E. Muller's "Paris in its Zenith" (1816), and "Views +on Religion and Ecclesiasticism." Burney's "General History of +Music" was also in his library, the gift, probably of an English +admirer. + +In his later years Beethoven was obliged to use the oft-quoted +"Conversation-books" in his intercourse with friends and +strangers alike who wrote down their questions. Of these little +books Schindler preserved no less than 134, which are now in the +Royal Library in Berlin. Naturally Beethoven answered the written +questions orally as a rule. An idea of Beethoven's opinions can +occasionally be gathered from the context of the questions, but +frequently we are left in the dark. + +Beethoven's own characterization of his deafness as "singular" is +significant. Often, even in his later years, he was able to hear a +little and for a time. One might almost speak of a periodical +visitation of the "demon." In his biography Marx gives the +following description of the malady: "As early as 1816 it is found +that he is incapable of conducting his own works; in 1824 he could +not hear the storm of applause from a great audience; but in 1822 +he still improvises marvelously in social circles; in l856 he +studies their parts in the Ninth Symphony and Solemn Mass with +Sontag and Ungher, and in 1835 he listens critically to a +performance of the quartet in A-minor, op. 132." + +It is to be assumed that in such urgent cases his willpower +temporarily gave new tension to the gradually atrophying aural +nerves (it is said that he was still able to hear single or a few +voices with his left ear but could not apprehend masses), but +this was not the case in less important moments, as the +Conversation-books prove. In these books a few answers are also +written down, naturally enough in cases not in tended for the +ears of strangers. At various times Beethoven kept a diary in +which he entered his most intimate thoughts, especially those +designed for his own encouragement. Many of these appear in the +preceding pages. In these instances more than in any others his +expressions are obscure, detached and, through indifference, +faulty in construction. For the greater part they are remarks +thrown upon the paper in great haste. + + + END OF THIS EDITION + + ******************************** + + +INFO ABOUT THIS E-TEXT EDITION + +This edition of "Beethoven: the Man and the Artist, as Revealed in +his own Words," was translated into english and published in 1905 +by B.W. Huebsch. It was also republished unabridged by Dover +Publications, Inc., in a 1964 edition, ISBN 0-486-21261-0. + +This electronic text was prepared by John Mamoun with help from +numerous other proofreaders, including those associated with +Charles Franks' Distributed Proofreaders website. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.06/12/01*END* +[Portions of this header are copyright (C) 2001 by Michael S. Hart +and may be reprinted only when these Etexts are free of all fees.] +[Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be used in any sales +of Project Gutenberg Etexts or other materials be they hardware or +software or any other related product without express permission.] + + + + + +This etext was produced by John Mamoun <mamounjo@UMDNJ.EDU> with +help from numerous proofreaders, including those at the +Distributed Proofreaders' page of Charles Franks. + + + + + +"Beethoven: the Man and the Artist, as Revealed in his own Words" + +edited by Friedrich Kerst and Henry Edward Krehbiel + + + + +(See the end of this electronic text for information about the edition) + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS: + +BRIEF BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH +PREFACE +CONCERNING ART +LOVE OF NATURE +CONCERNING TEXTS +ON COMPOSING +ON PERFORMING MUSIC +ON HIS OWN WORKS +ON ART AND ARTISTS +BEETHOVEN AS CRITIC +ON EDUCATION +ON HIS OWN DISPOSITION AND CHARACTER +THE SUFFERER +WORLDLY WISDOM +GOD +APPENDIX +INFO ABOUT THIS E-TEXT EDITION + + + + +BRIEF BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH + + + +Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) is widely considered to be one +of the pre-eminent classical music figures of the Western world. +This German musical genius created numerous works that are firmly +entrenched in the repertoire. Except for a weakness in composing +vocal and operatic music (to which he himself admitted, +notwithstanding a few vocal works like the opera "Fidelio" and the +song "Adelaide,"), Beethoven had complete mastery of the artform. +He left his stamp in 9 symphonies, 5 piano concertos, 10 violin +sonatas, 32 piano sonatas, numerous string quartets and dozens of +other key works. Many of his works are ingeniously imaginative +and innovative, such as his 3rd symphony (the "Eroica"), his 9th +Violin Sonata (the "Kreutzer"), his "Waldstein" piano sonata, his +4th and 5th piano concertos, or his "Grosse Fugue" for string +quartet. (Of course, each of Beethoven's works adds its own unique +detail to Beethoven's grand musical paradigm.) + +It is difficult to sum up briefly what his musical works represent +or symbolize, since taken together they encompass a vast system of +thought. Generally, however, those who apprehend his music sense +that it reflects their own personal yearnings and sufferings. It +egoistically, and always intelligently, "discusses" with its +listener his or her feelings in the wake of personal failure and +personal triumph, from the lowest depths of despair to the highest +heights of happy or triumphant fulfillment. In his music, he +represents the feelings felt by those attempting to achieve their +goals within their societies, whether they are competing for love, +status, money, power, mates and/or any other things individuals +feel naturally inclined to attempt to acquire. + +In a thematic sense, Beethoven does not promote anarchist ideas. +The listener cannot, in listening to Beethoven's music, apprehend +ideas which, if applied, would compromise the welfare of his +society. The music is thus "civically responsible," as is the +music of Bach or Mozart. For Beethoven, the society exists as a +bulwark with which the individual must function in harmony, or at +least not function such as to harm or destroy it. And, should the +society marginalize or hurt the individual, as it often does, the +individual must, according to Beethoven, humbly accept this, never +considering the alternative act of attempting to harm or destroy +the society in the wake of his or her personal frustrations. But, +thanks to Beethoven, such an individual is provided with the means +to sooth his or her misery in the wake of feeling "hurt" at the +hands of society. The means is this music and the euphoric +pleasure that it can provide to minds possessing the psycho- +intellectual "wiring" needed to apprehend it. + +Some post-World-War-II composers, such as the late, LSD-using John +Cage, reject the music of Beethoven because of its predominant +reliance on "beauty" as way of communicating idealized concepts. +Also, since the music intimately reflects the cravings and thought- +processes of the natural human mind, which in numerous ways is +emotionally and intellectually irrational, the music may itself be +consequently irrational. + +The following book consists of brief biographical commentaries +about Beethoven, each followed by sections of quotations +attributed to the muse. In these quotes, Beethoven demonstrates +his intense preoccupation (or obsession) with thinking +artistically and intelligently, and with helping to alleviate +man's suffering by providing man with musical artworks that could +enlighten him, so as to become educated enough to pull himself out +of his misery. He felt immediate, strong disdain at any artistic +statement that was not truly intelligent and artistic, such as, in +his view, the music of Rossini. Although not prudish, he had high +standards when it came to marriage, and was morally against +"reproductory pleasure" for its own sake, or any form of adultery. +He never married. Interestingly, experimental psychologists have +discovered that people who have an intense love of humanity or +are preoccupied with working to serve humanity tend to have +difficulty forming intimate bonds with people on a personal +level. + + + + ********************************* + + + +PREFACE + + + +This little book came into existence as if it were by chance. +The author had devoted himself for a long time to the study of +Beethoven and carefully scrutinized all manner of books, +publications, manuscripts, etc., in order to derive the greatest +possible information about the hero. He can say confidently that +he conned every existing publication of value. His notes made +during his readings grew voluminous, and also his amazement at +the wealth of Beethoven's observations comparatively unknown to +his admirers because hidden away, like concealed violets, in +books which have been long out of print and for whose +reproduction there is no urgent call. These observations are of +the utmost importance for the understanding of Beethoven, in +whom man and artist are inseparably united. Within the pages +of this little book are included all of them which seemed to +possess value, either as expressions of universal truths or as +evidence of the character of Beethoven or his compositions. +Beethoven is brought more directly before our knowledge by these +his own words than by the diffuse books which have been written +about him. For this reason the compiler has added only the +necessary explanatory notes, and (on the advice of professional +friends) the remarks introductory to the various subdivisions of +the book. He dispensed with a biographical introduction; there +are plenty of succinct biographies, which set forth the +circumstances of the master's life easily to be had. Those who +wish to penetrate farther into the subject would do well to +read the great work by Thayer, the foundation of all Beethoven +biography (in the new revision now making by Deiters), or the +critical biography by Marx, as revised by Behncke. In sifting +the material it was found that it fell naturally into thirteen +subdivisions. In arranging the succession of utterances care +was had to group related subjects. By this means unnecessary +interruptions in the train of thought were avoided and +interesting comparisons made possible. To this end it was +important that time, place and circumstances of every word +should be conscientiously set down. + +Concerning the selection of material let it be said that in all +cases of doubt the authenticity of every utterance was proved; +Beethoven is easily recognizable in the form and contents of his +sayings. Attention must be directed to two matters in particular: +after considerable reflection the compiler decided to include in +the collection a few quotations which Beethoven copied from books +which he read. From the fact that he took the trouble to write +them down, we may assume that they had a fascination for him, and +were greeted with lively emotion as being admirable expressions +of thoughts which had moved him. They are very few, and the fact +that they are quotations is plainly indicated. By copying them +into his note-books Beethoven as much as stored them away in the +thesaurus of his thoughts, and so they may well have a place +here. A word touching the use of the three famous letters to +Bettina von Arnim, the peculiarities of which differentiate them +from the entire mass of Beethoven's correspondence and compel an +inquiry into their genuineness: As a correspondent Bettina von +Arnim has a poor reputation since the discovery of her pretty +forgery, "Goethes Briefwechsel mit einem Kinde" (Goethe's +Correspondence with a Child). In this alleged "Correspondence" +she made use of fragmentary material which was genuine, pieced +it out with her own inventions, and even went so far as to turn +into letters poems written by Goethe to her and other women. The +genuineness of a poem by Beethoven to Bettina is indubitable; it +will be found in the chapter entitled "Concerning Texts." Doubt +was thrown on the letters immediately on their appearance in 1839. + +Bettina could have dissipated all suspicion had she produced the +originals and remained silent. One letter, however, that dated +February 10, 1811, afterward came to light. Bettina had given it +to Philipp von Nathusius. It had always been thought the most +likely one, of the set to be authentic; the compiler has +therefore, used it without hesitation. From the other letters, +in which a mixture of the genuine and the fictitious must be +assumed so long as the originals are not produced, passages have +been taken which might have been thus constructed by Beethoven. +On the contrary, the voluminous communications of Bettina to +Goethe, in which she relates her conversations with Beethoven, +were scarcely used. It is significant, so far as these are +concerned, that, according to Bettina's own statement, when she +read the letter to him before sending it off, Beethoven cried out, +"Did I really say that? If so I must have had a raptus." + +In conclusion the compiler directs attention to the fact that in +a few cases utterances which have been transmitted to us only in +an indirect form have been altered to present them in a direct +form, in as much as their contents seemed too valuable to omit +simply because their production involved a trifling change in +form. + + +--Elberfeld, October, 1904. Fr. K. + + + +CONCERNING ART + + + +Beethoven's relation to art might almost be described as +personal. Art was his goddess to whom he made petition, to whom +he rendered thanks, whom he defended. He praised her as his +savior in times of despair; by his own confession it was only +the prospect of her comforts that prevented him from laying +violent hands on himself. Read his words and you shall find +that it was his art that was his companion in his wanderings +through field and forest, the sharer of the solitude to which +his deafness condemned him. The concepts Nature and Art were +intimately bound up in his mind. His lofty and idealistic +conception of art led him to proclaim the purity of his goddess +with the hot zeal of a priestly fanatic. Every form of pseudo +or bastard art stirred him with hatred to the bottom of his +soul; hence his furious onslaughts on mere virtuosity and all +efforts from influential sources to utilize art for other than +purely artistic purposes. And his art rewarded his devotion +richly; she made his sorrowful life worth living with gifts of +purest joy: + +"To Beethoven music was not only a manifestation of the +beautiful, an art, it was akin to religion. He felt himself +to be a prophet, a seer. All the misanthropy engendered by +his unhappy relations with mankind, could not shake his +devotion to this ideal which had sprung in to Beethoven +from truest artistic apprehension and been nurtured by +enforced introspection and philosophic reflection." + +("Music and Manners," page 237. H. E. K.) + + + + +1. "'Tis said, that art is long, and life but fleeting:-- +Nay; life is long, and brief the span of art; +If e're her breath vouchsafes with gods a meeting, +A moment's favor 'tis of which we've had a part." + +(Conversation-book, March, 1820. Probably a quotation.) + +2. "The world is a king, and, like a king, desires flattery in +return for favor; but true art is selfish and perverse--it will +not submit to the mould of flattery." + +(Conversation-book, March, 1820. When Baron van Braun expressed +the opinion that the opera "Fidelio" would eventually win the +enthusiasm of the upper tiers, Beethoven said, "I do not write +for the galleries!" He never permitted himself to be persuaded +to make concessions to the taste of the masses.) + +3. "Continue to translate yourself to the heaven of art; there +is no more undisturbed, unmixed, purer happiness than may thus +be attained." + +(August 19, 1817, to Xavier Schnyder, who vainly sought +instruction from Beethoven in 1811, though he was pleasantly +received.) + +4. "Go on; do not practice art alone but penetrate to her heart; +she deserves it, for art and science only can raise man to +godhood." + +(Teplitz, July 17, 1812, to his ten years' old admirer, Emilie M. +in H.) + +5. "True art is imperishable and the true artist finds profound +delight in grand productions of genius." + +(March 15, 1823, to Cherubini, to whom he also wrote, "I prize +your works more than all others written for the stage." The +letter asked Cherubini to interest himself in obtaining a +subscription from King Louis XVIII for the Solemn Mass in D). + +[Cherubini declared that he had never received the letter. That +it was not only the hope of obtaining a favor which prompted +Beethoven to express so high an admiration for Cherubini, is +plain from a remark made by the English musician Cipriani +Potter to A. W. Thayer in 1861. I found it in Thayer's note-books +which were placed in my hands for examination after his death. + +One day Potter asked, "Who is the greatest living composer, +yourself excepted?" Beethoven seemed puzzled for a moment, and +then exclaimed, "Cherubini." H. E. K.] + +6. "Truth exists for the wise; beauty for the susceptible heart. +They belong together--are complementary." + +(Written in the autograph book of his friend, Lenz von Breuning, +in 1797.) + +7. "When I open my eyes, a sigh involuntarily escapes me, for all +that I see runs counter to my religion; perforce I despise the +world which does not intuitively feel that music is a higher +revelation than all wisdom and philosophy." + +(Remark made to Bettina von Arnim, in 1810, concerning Viennese +society. Report in a letter by Bettina to Goethe on May 28, +1810.) + +8. "Art! Who comprehends her? With whom can one consult concerning +this great goddess?" + +(August 11, 1810, to Bettina von Arnim.) + +9. "In the country I know no lovelier delight than quartet +music." + +(To Archduke Rudolph, in a letter addressed to Baden on July 24, +1813.) + +10. "Nothing but art, cut to form like old-fashioned hoop-skirts. +I never feel entirely well except when I am among scenes of +unspoiled nature." + +(September 24, 1826, to Breuning, while promenading with +Breuning's family in the Schonbrunner Garden, after calling +attention to the alleys of trees "trimmed like walls, in the +French manner.") + +11. "Nature knows no quiescence; and true art walks with her hand +in hand; her sister--from whom heaven forefend us!--is called +artificiality." + +(From notes in the lesson book of Archduke Rudolph, following +some remarks on the expansion of the expressive capacity of +music.) + + + +LOVE OF NATURE + + + +Beethoven was a true son of the Rhine in his love for nature. As +a boy he had taken extended trips, sometimes occupying days, with +his father "through the Rhenish localities ever lastingly dear to +me." In his days of physical health Nature was his instructress +in art; "I may not come without my banner," he used to say when +he set out upon his wanderings even in his latest years, and +never without his note books. In the scenes of nature he found +his marvelous motives and themes; brook, birds and tree sang to +him. In a few special cases he has himself recorded the fact. + +But when he was excluded more and more from communion with his +fellow men because of his increasing deafness, until, finally, +he could communicate only by writing with others (hence the +conversation-books, which will be cited often in this little +volume), he fled for refuge to nature. Out in the woods he again +became naively happy; to him the woods were a Holy of Holies, a +Home of the Mysteries. Forest and mountain-vale heard his sighs; +there he unburdened his heavy-laden heart. When his friends need +comfort he recommends a retreat to nature. Nearly every summer he +leaves hot and dusty Vienna and seeks a quiet spot in the +beautiful neighborhood. To call a retired and reposeful little +spot his own is his burning desire. + + + +12. On the Kahlenberg, 1812, end of September: + +Almighty One +In the woods +I am blessed. +Happy every one +In the woods. +Every tree speaks +Through Thee. + +O God! +What glory in the +Woodland. +On the Heights +is Peace,-- +Peace to serve +Him-- + +(This poetic exclamation, accompanied by a few notes, is on a +page of music paper owned by Joseph Joachim.) + +13. "How happy I am to be able to wander among bushes and herbs, +under trees and over rocks; no man can love the country as I love +it. Woods, trees and rocks send back the echo that man desires." + +(To Baroness von Drossdick.) + +14. "O God! send your glance into beautiful nature and comfort +your moody thoughts touching that which must be." + +(To the "Immortal Beloved," July 6, in the morning.) + +[Thayer has spoiled the story so long believed, and still +spooking in the books of careless writers, that the "Immortal +Beloved" was the Countess Giulietta Guicciardi, to whom the +C-sharp minor sonata is dedicated. The real person to whom the +love-letters were addressed was the Countess Brunswick to whom +Beethoven was engaged to be married when he composed the fourth +Symphony. H. E. K.) + +15. "My miserable hearing does not trouble me here. In the +country it seems as if every tree said to me: 'Holy! holy!' +Who can give complete expression to the ecstasy of the woods! +O, the sweet stillness of the woods!" + +(July, 1814; he had gone to Baden after the benefit performance +of "Fidelio.") + +16. "My fatherland, the beautiful locality in which I saw the +light of the world, appears before me vividly and just as +beautiful as when I left you; I shall count it the happiest +experience of my life when I shall again be able to see you, +and greet our Father Rhine." + +(Vienna, June 29, to Wegeler, in Bonn.) + +[In 1825 Beethoven said to his pupil Ries, "Fare well in the Rhine +country which is ever dear to me," and in 1826 wrote to Schott, +the publisher in Mayence, about the "Rhine country which I so long +to see again."] + +17. "Bruhl, at "The Lamb"--how lovely to see my native country +again!" + +(Diary, 1812-1818.) + +18. "A little house here, so small as to yield one's self a +little room,--only a few days in this divine Bruehl,--longing or +desire, emancipation or fulfillment." + +(Written in 1816 in Bruehl near Modling among the sketches for +the Scherzo of the pianoforte sonata op. 10.) + +[Like many another ejaculatory remark of Beethoven's, it is +difficult to understand. See Appendix. H. E. K.] + +19. "When you reach the old ruins, think that Beethoven often +paused there; if you wander through the mysterious fir forests, +think that. Beethoven often poetized, or, as is said, composed +there." + +(In the fall of 1817, to Mme. Streicher, who was at a cure in +Baden.) + +20. "Nature is a glorious school for the heart! It is well; I +shall be a scholar in this school and bring an eager heart to her +instruction. Here I shall learn wisdom, the only wisdom that is +free from disgust; here I shall learn to know God and find a +foretaste of heaven in His knowledge. Among these occupations my +earthly days shall flow peacefully along until I am accepted into +that world where I shall no longer be a student, but a knower of +wisdom." + +(Copied into his diary, in 1818, from Sturm's "Betrachtungen uber +die Werke Gottes in der Natur.") + +21. "Soon autumn will be here. Then I wish to be like unto a +fruitful tree which pours rich stores of fruit into our laps! But +in the winter of existence, when I shall be gray and sated with +life, I desire for myself the good fortune that my repose be as +honorable and beneficent as the repose of nature in the winter +time." + +(Copied from the same work of Sturm's.) + + + +CONCERNING TEXTS + + + +Not even a Beethoven was spared the tormenting question of texts +for composition. It is fortunate for posterity that he did not +exhaust his energies in setting inefficient libretti, that he did +not believe that good music would suffice to command success in +spite of bad texts. The majority of his works belong to the field +of purely instrumental music. Beethoven often gave expression to +the belief that words were a less capable medium of proclamation +for feelings than music. Nevertheless it may be observed that he +looked upon an opera, or lyric drama, as the crowning work of his +life. He was in communication with the best poets of his time +concerning opera texts. A letter of his on the subject was found +in the blood-spotted pocketbook of Theodor Komer. The conclusion +of his creative labors was to be a setting of Goethe's "Faust;" +except "Fidelio," however, he gave us no opera. His songs are not +many although he sought carefully for appropriate texts. +Unhappily the gift of poetry was not vouchsafed him. + + + +22. "Always the same old story: the Germans can not put together a +good libretto." + +(To C. M. von Weber, concerning the book of "Euryanthe," at Baden, +in October, 1823. Mozart said: "Verses are the most indispensable +thing for music, but rhymes, for the sake of rhymes, the most +injurious. Those who go to work so pedantically will assuredly +come to grief, along with the music.") + +23. "It is difficult to find a good poem. Grillparzer has promised +to write one for me,--indeed, he has already written one; but we +can not understand each other. I want something entirely different +than he." + +(In the spring of 1825, to Ludwig Rellstab, who was intending to +write an opera-book for Beethoven. It may not be amiss to recall +the fact that Mozart examined over one hundred librettos, +according to his own statement, before he decided to compose "The +Marriage of Figaro.") + +24. "It is the duty of every composer to be familiar with all +poets, old and new, and himself choose the best and most fitting +for his purposes." + +(In a recommendation of Kandler's "Anthology.") + +25. "The genre would give me little concern provided the subject +were attractive to me. It must be such that I can go to work on +it with love and ardor. I could not compose operas like 'Don +Juan' and 'Figaro;' toward them I feel too great a repugnance. I +could never have chosen such subjects; they are too frivolous." + +(In the spring of 1825, to Ludwig Rellstab.) + +26. "I need a text which stimulates me; it must be something +moral, uplifting. Texts such as Mozart composed I should never +have been able to set to music. I could never have got myself +into a mood for licentious texts. I have received many librettos, +but, as I have said, none that met my wishes." + +(To young Gerhard von Breuning.) + +27. "I know the text is extremely bad, but after one has conceived +an entity out of even a bad text, it is difficult to make changes +in details without disturbing the unity. If it is a single word, +on which occasionally great weight is laid, it must be permitted +to stand. He is a bad author who can not, or will not try to make +something as good as possible; if this is not the case petty +changes will certainly not improve the whole." + +(Teplitz, August 23, 1811, to Hartel, the publisher, who wanted +some changes made in the hook of "The Mount of Olives.") + +28. "Good heavens! Do they think in Saxony that the words make +good music? If an inappropriate word can spoil the music, which +is true, then we ought to be glad when we find that words and +music are one and not try to improve matters even if the verbal +expression is commonplace--dixi." + +(January 28, to Gottfried Hartel, who had undertaken to make +changes in the book of "The Mount of Olives" despite the +prohibition of Beethoven.) + +29. "Goethe's poems exert a great power over me not only because +of their contents but also because of their rhythms; I am +stimulated to compose by this language, which builds itself up to +higher orders as if through spiritual agencies, and bears in +itself the secret of harmonies." + +(Reported as an expression of Beethoven's by Bettina von Arnim to +Goethe.) + +30. "Schiller's poems are difficult to set to music. The composer +must be able to rise far above the poet. Who can do that in the +case of Schiller? In this respect Goethe is much easier." + +(1809, after Beethoven had made his experiences with the "Hymn to +Joy" and "Egmont.") + + + +ON COMPOSING + + + +Wiseacres not infrequently accused Beethoven of want of +regularity in his compositions. In various ways and at divers +times he gave vigorous utterance to his opinions of such +pedantry. He was not the most tractable of pupils, especially in +Vienna, where, although he was highly praised as a player, he +took lessons in counterpoint from Albrechtsberger. He did not +endure long with Papa Haydn. He detested the study of fugue in +particular; the fugue was to him a symbol of narrow coercion +which choked all emotion. Mere formal beauty, moreover, was +nothing to him. Over and over again he emphasizes soul, feeling, +direct and immediate life, as the first necessity of an art work. +It is therefore not strange that under certain circumstances he +ignored conventional forms in sonata and symphony. An +irrepressible impulse toward freedom is the most prominent +peculiarity of the man and artist Beethoven; nearly all of his +observations, no matter what their subject, radiate the word +"Liberty." In his remarks about composing there is a complete +exposition of his method of work. + + + +31. "As regards me, great heavens! my dominion is in the air; the +tones whirl like the wind, and often there is a like whirl in my +soul." + +(February 13, 1814, to Count Brunswick, in Buda.) + +32. "Then the loveliest themes slipped out of your eyes into my +heart, themes which shall only then delight the world when +Beethoven conducts no longer." + +(August 15, 1812, to Bettina von Arnim.) + +33. "I always have a picture in my mind when composing, and follow +its lines." + +(In 1815, to Neate, while promenading with him in Baden and +talking about the "Pastoral" symphony.) + +[Ries relates: "While composing Beethoven frequently thought of +an object, although he often laughed at musical delineation and +scolded about petty things of the sort. In this respect 'The +Creation' and 'The Seasons' were many times a butt, though without +depreciation of Haydn's loftier merits. Haydn's choruses and other +works were loudly praised by Beethoven."] + +34. "The texts which you sent me are least of all fitted for song. +The description of a picture belongs to the field of painting; in +this the poet can count himself more fortunate than my muse for +his territory is not so restricted as mine in this respect, though +mine, on the other hand, extends into other regions, and my +dominion is not easily reached." + +(Nussdorf, July 15, 1817, to Wilhelm Gerhard, who had sent him +some Anacreontic songs for composition.) + +35. "Carried too far, all delineation in instrumental music loses +in efficiency." + +(A remark in the sketches for the "Pastoral" symphony, preserved +in the Royal Library in Berlin.) + +[Mozart said: "Even in the most terrifying moments music must +never offend the ear."] + +36. "Yes, yes, then they are amazed and put their heads together +because they never found it in any book on thorough bass." + +(To Ries when the critics accused him of making grammatical +blunders in music.) + +37. "No devil can compel me to write only cadences of such a kind." + +(From notes written in his years of study. Beethoven called the +composition of fugues "the art of making musical skeletons.") + +38. "Good singing was my guide; I strove to write as flowingly as +possible and trusted in my ability to justify myself before the +judgment-seat of sound reason and pure taste." + +(From notes in the instruction book of Archduke Rudolph.) + +39. "Does he believe that I think of a wretched fiddle when the +spirit speaks to me?" + +(To his friend, the admirable violinist Schuppanzigh, when the +latter complained of the difficulty of a passage in one of his +works.) + +[Beethoven here addresses his friend in the third person, which is +the customary style of address for the German nobility and others +towards inferiors in rank. H. E. K.] + +40. "The Scotch songs show how unconstrainedly irregular melodies +can be treated with the help of harmony." + +(Diary, 1812-1818. Since 1809 Beethoven had arranged Folksongs for +Thomson of Edinburgh.) + +41. "To write true church music, look through the old monkish +chorals, etc., also the most correct translations of the periods, +and perfect prosody in the Catholic Psalms and hymns generally." + +(Diary, 1818.) + +42. "Many assert that every minor piece must end in the minor. +Nego! On the contrary I find that in the soft scales the major +third at the close has a glorious and uncommonly quieting effect. +Joy follows sorrow, sunshine--rain. It affects me as if I were +looking up to the silvery glistering of the evening star." + +(From Archduke Rudolph's book of instruction.) + +43. "Rigorists, and devotees of antiquity, relegate the perfect +fourth to the list of dissonances. Tastes differ. To my ear it +gives not the least offence combined with other tones." + +(From Archduke Rudolph's book of instruction, compiled in 1809.) + +44. "When the gentlemen can think of nothing new, and can go no +further, they quickly call in a diminished seventh chord to help +them out of the predicament." + +(A remark made to Schindler.) + +45. "My dear boy, the startling effects which many credit to the +natural genius of the composer, are often achieved with the +greatest ease by the use and resolution of the diminished +seventh chords." + +(Reported by Karl Friederich Hirsch, a pupil of Beethoven in the +winter of 1816. He was a grandson of Albrechtsberger who had +given lessons to Beethoven.) + +46. "In order to become a capable composer one must have already +learned harmony and counterpoint at the age of from seven to +eleven years, so that when the fancy and emotions awake one +shall know what to do according to the rules." + +(Reported by Schindler as having been put into the mouth of +Beethoven by a newspaper of Vienna. Schindler says: "When +Beethoven came to Vienna he knew no counterpoint, and little +harmony.") + +47. "So far as mistakes are concerned it was never necessary for +me to learn thorough-bass; my feelings were so sensitive from +childhood that I practiced counterpoint without knowing that it +must be so or could be otherwise." + +(Note on a sheet containing directions for the use of fourths in +suspensions--probably intended for the instruction of Archduke +Rudolph.) + +48. "Continue, Your Royal Highness, to write down briefly your +occasional ideas while at the pianoforte. For this a little +table alongside the pianoforte is necessary. By this means not +only is the fancy strengthened, but one learns to hold fast in a +moment the most remote conceptions. It is also necessary to +compose without the pianoforte; say often a simple chord melody, +with simple harmonies, then figurate according to the rules of +counterpoint, and beyond them; this will give Y. R. H. no +headache, but, on the contrary, feeling yourself thus in the +midst of art, a great pleasure." + +(July 1, 1823, to his pupil Archduke Rudolph.) + + +49. "The bad habit, which has clung to me from childhood, of +always writing down a musical thought which occurs to me, good +or bad, has often been harmful to me." + +(July 23, 1815, to Archduke Rudolph, while excusing himself for +not having visited H.R.H., on the ground that he had been +occupied in noting a musical idea which had occurred to him.) + +50. "As is my habit, the pianoforte part of the concerto (op. 19) +was not written out in the score; I have just written it, +wherefore, in order to expedite matters, you receive it in my +not too legible handwriting." + +(April 22, 1801, to the publisher Hofmeister, in Leipzig.) + +51. "Correspondence, as you know, was never my forte; some of my +best friends have not had a letter from me in years. I live only +in my notes (compositions), and one is scarcely finished when +another is begun. As I am working now I often compose three, +even four, pieces simultaneously." + +(Vienna, June 29, 1800, to Wegeler, in Bonn.) + +52. "I never write a work continuously, without interruption. I am +always working on several at the same time, taking up one, then +another." + +(June 1, 1816, to Medical Inspector Dr. Karl von Bursy, when the +latter asked about an opera (the book by Berge, sent to +Beethoven by Amenda), which was never written.) + +53. "I must accustom myself to think out at once the whole, as +soon as it shows itself, with all the voices, in my head." + +(Note in a sketch-book of 1810, containing studies for the music +to "Egmont" and the great Trio in B-flat, op. 97. H. E. K.) + +54. "I carry my thoughts about me for a long time, often a very +long time, before I write them down; meanwhile my memory is so +faithful that I am sure never to forget, not even in years, a +theme that has once occurred to me. I change many things, +discard, and try again until I am satisfied. Then, however, +there begins in my head the development in every direction, and, +in as much as I know exactly what I want, the fundamental idea +never deserts me,--it arises before me, grows,--I see and hear +the picture in all its extent and dimensions stand before my +mind like a cast, and there remains for me nothing but the labor +of writing it down, which is quickly accomplished when I have +the time, for I sometimes take up other work, but never to the +confusion of one with the other. + +You will ask me where I get my ideas. That I cannot tell you with +certainty; they come unsummoned, directly, indirectly,--I could +seize them with my hands,--out in the open air; in the woods; +while walking; in the silence of the nights; early in the morning; +incited by moods, which are translated by the poet into words, by +me into tones that sound, and roar and storm about me until I have +set them down in notes." + +(Said to Louis Schlosser, a young musician, whom Beethoven honored +with his friendship in 1822-23.) + +55. "On the whole, the carrying out of several voices in strict +relationship mutually hinders their progress." + +(Fall of 1812, in the Diary of 1812-18.) + +56. "Few as are the claims which I make upon such things I shall +still accept the dedication of your beautiful work with +pleasure. You ask, however, that I also play the part of a +critic, without thinking that I must myself submit to criticism! +With Voltaire I believe that 'a few fly-bites can not stop a +spirited horse.' In this respect I beg of you to follow my +example. In order not to approach you surreptitiously, but +openly as always, I say that in future works of the character +you might give more heed to the individualization of the voices." + +(Vienna, May 10, 1826. To whom the letter was sent is not known, +though from the manner of address it is plain that he was of the +nobility.) + +57. "Your variations show talent, but I must fault you for having +changed the theme. Why? What man loves must not be taken away +from him;--moreover to do this is to make changes before +variations." + +(Baden, July 6, 1804, to Wiedebein, a teacher of music in +Brunswick.) + +58. "I am not in the habit of rewriting my compositions. I never +did it because I am profoundly convinced that every change of +detail changes the character of the whole." + +(February 19, 1813, to George Thomson, who had requested some +changes in compositions submitted to him for publication.) + +59. "One must not hold one's self so divine as to be unwilling +occasionally to make improvements in one's creations." + +(March 4, 1809, to Breitkopf and Hartel, when indicating a few +changes which he wished to have made in the symphonies op. 67 and +op. 68.) + +60. "The unnatural rage for transcribing pianoforte pieces for +string instruments (instruments that are in every respect so +different from each other) ought to end. I stoutly maintain that +only Mozart could have transcribed his own works, and Haydn; and +without putting myself on a level with these great men I assert +the same thing about my pianoforte sonatas. Not only must entire +passages be elided and changed, but additions must be made; and +right here lies the rock of offence to overcome which one must +be the master of himself or be possessed of the same skill and +inventiveness. I transcribed but a single sonata for string +quartet, and I am sure that no one will easily do it after me." + +(July 13, 1809, in an announcement of several compositions, among +them the quintet op. 29.) + +61. "Were it not that my income brings in nothing, I should +compose nothing but grand symphonies, church music, or, at the +outside, quartets in addition." + +(December 20, 1822, to Peters, publisher, in Leipzig. His income +had been reduced from 4,000 to 800 florins by the depreciation of +Austrian currency.) + +[Here, in the original, is one of the puns which Beethoven was +fond of making: "Ware mein Gehalt nicht ganzlich ohne Gehalt." +H. E. K.]) + + + +ON PERFORMING MUSIC + + + +While reading Beethoven's views on the subject of how music ought +to be performed, it is but natural to inquire about his own +manner of playing. On this point Ries, his best pupil, reports: + +"In general Beethoven played his own compositions very +capriciously, yet he adhered, on the whole, strictly to the beat +and only at times, but seldom, accelerated the tempo a trifle. +Occasionally he would retard the tempo in a crescendo, which +produced a very beautiful and striking effect. While playing he +would give a passage, now in the right hand, now in the left, a +beautiful expression which was simply inimitable; but it was +rarely indeed that he added a note or an ornament." + +Of his playing when still a young man one of his hearers said that +it was in the slow movements particularly that it charmed +everybody. Almost unanimously his contemporaries give him the palm +for his improvisations. Ries says: + +"His extemporizations were the most extraordinary things that one +could hear. No artist that I ever heard came at all near the +height which Beethoven attained. The wealth of ideas which forced +themselves on him, the caprices to which he surrendered himself, +the variety of treatment, the difficulties, were inexhaustible." + +His playing was not technically perfect. He let many a note "fall +under the table," but without marring the effect of his playing. +Concerning this we have a remark of his own in No. 75. Somewhat +critical is Czerny's report: + +"Extraordinary as his extempore playing was it was less successful +in the performance of printed compositions; for, since +he never took the time or had the patience to practice anything, +his success depended mostly on chance and mood; and since, also, +his manner of playing as well as composing was ahead of his time, +the weak and imperfect pianofortes of his time could not +withstand his gigantic style. It was because of this that +Hummel's purling and brilliant manner of play, well adapted to +the period, was more intelligible and attractive to the great +public. But Beethoven's playing in adagios and legato, in the +sustained style, made an almost magical impression on every +hearer, and, so far as I know, it has never been surpassed." +Czerny's remark about the pianofortes of Beethoven's day explains +Beethoven's judgment on his own pianoforte sonatas. He composed +for the sonorous pianoforte of the future,--the pianoforte +building today. + +The following anecdote, told by Czerny, will be read with +pleasure. Pleyel, a famous musician, came to Vienna from Paris in +1805, and had his latest quartets performed in the palace of +Prince Lobkowitz. Beethoven was present and was asked to play +something. "As usual, he submitted to the interminable entreaties +and finally was dragged almost by force to the pianoforte by the +ladies. Angrily he tears the second violin part of one of the +Pleyel quartets from the music-stand where it still lay open, +throws it upon the rack of the pianoforte, and begins to +improvise. We had never heard him extemporize more brilliantly, +with more originality or more grandly than on that evening. + +But throughout the entire improvisation there ran in the middle +voices, like a thread, or cantus firmus, the insignificant notes, +wholly insignificant in themselves, which he found on the page of +the quartet, which by chance lay open on the music-stand; on them +he built up the most daring melodies and harmonies, in the most +brillant concert style. Old Pleyel could only give expression to +his amazement by kissing his hands. After such improvisations +Beethoven was wont to break out into a loud and satisfied laugh." + +Czerny says further of his playing: "In rapidity of scale +passages, trills, leaps, etc., no one equaled him,--not even +Hummel. His attitude at the pianoforte was perfectly quiet and +dignified, with no approach to grimace, except to bend down a +little towards the keys as his deafness increased; his fingers +were very powerful, not long, and broadened at the tips by much +playing; for he told me often that in his youth he had practiced +stupendously, mostly till past midnight. In teaching he laid +great stress on a correct position of the fingers (according to +the Emanuel Bach method, in which he instructed me); he himself +could barely span a tenth. He made frequent use of the pedal, much +more frequently than is indicated in his compositions. His reading +of the scores of Handel and Gluck and the fugues of Bach was +unique, inasmuch as he put a polyphony and spirit into the former +which gave the works a new form." + +In his later years the deaf master could no longer hear his own +playing which therefore came to have a pitifully painful effect. +Concerning his manner of conducting, Seyfried says: "It would no +wise do to make our master a model in conducting, and the +orchestra had to take great care lest it be led astray by its +mentor; for he had an eye only for his composition and strove +unceasingly by means of manifold gesticulations to bring out the +expression which he desired. Often when he reached a forte he +gave a violent down beat even if the note were an unaccented one. +He was in the habit of marking a diminuendo by crouching down +lower and lower, and at a pianissimo he almost crept under the +stand. With a crescendo he, too, grew, rising as if out of a +stage trap, and with the entrance of a fortissimo he stood on his +toes and seemed to take on gigantic proportions, while he waved +his arms about as if trying to soar upwards to the clouds. +Everything about him was in activity; not a part of his +organization remained idle, and the whole man seemed like a +perpetuum mobile. Concerning expression, the little nuances, the +equable division of light and shade, as also an effective tempo +rubato, he was extremely exact and gladly discussed them with the +individual members of the orchestra without showing vexation or +anger." + +62. "It has always been known that the greatest pianoforte players +were also the greatest composers; but how did they play? Not like +the pianists of today who prance up and down the key-board with +passages in which they have exercised themselves,--putsch, putsch, +putsch;--what does that mean? Nothing. When the true pianoforte +virtuosi played it was always something homogeneous, an entity; it +could be transcribed and then it appeared as a well thought-out +work. That is pianoforte playing; the other is nothing!" + +(In conversation with Tomaschek, October, 1814.) + +63. "Candidly I am not a friend of Allegri di bravura and such, +since they do nothing but promote mechanism." + +(Hetzendorf, July 16, 1823, to Ries in London.) + +64. "The great pianists have nothing but technique and +affectation." + +(Fall of 1817, to Marie Pachler-Koschak, a pianist whom Beethoven +regarded very highly. "You will play the sonatas in F major and +C minor, for me, will you not?") + +65. "As a rule, in the case of these gentlemen, all reason and +feeling are generally lost in the nimbleness of their fingers." + +(Reported by Schindler as a remark of Beethoven's concerning +pianoforte virtuosi.) + +66. "Habit may depreciate the most brilliant talents." + +(In 1812 to his pupil, Archduke Rudolph, whom he warns against too +zealous a devotion to music.) + +67. "You will have to play a long time yet before you realize that +you can not play at all." + +(July, 1808. Reported by Rust as having been said to a young man +who played for Beethoven.) + +68. "One must be something if one wishes to put on appearances." + +(August 15, 1812, to Bettina von Arnim.) + +69. "These pianoforte players have their coteries whom they often +join; there they are praised continually,--and there's an end of +art!" + +(Conversation with Tomaschek, October, 1814.) + +70. "We Germans have too few dramatically trained singers for the +part of Leonore. They are too cold and unfeeling; the Italians +sing and act with body and soul." + +(1824, in Baden, to Freudenberg, an organist from Breslau.) + +71. "If he is a master of his instrument I rank an organist +amongst the first of virtuosi. I too, played the organ a great +deal when I was young, but my nerves would not stand the power of +the gigantic instrument." + +(To Freudenberg, in Baden.) + +72. "I never wrote noisy music. For my instrumental works I need +an orchestra of about sixty good musicians. I am convinced that +only such a number can bring out the quickly changing graduations +in performance." + +(Reported by Schindler.) + +73. "A Requiem ought to be quiet music,--it needs no trump of +doom; memories of the dead require no hubbub." + +(Reported by Holz to Fanny von Ponsing, in Baden, summer of 1858. +According to the same authority Beethoven valued Cherubini's +"Requiem" more highly than any other.) + +74. "No metronome at all! He who has sound feeling needs none, and +he who has not will get no help from the metronome;--he'll run +away with the orchestra anyway." + +(Reported by Schindler. It had been found that Beethoven himself +had sent different metronomic indications to the publisher and +the Philharmonic Society of London.) + +75. "In reading rapidly a multitude of misprints may pass +unnoticed because you are familiar with the language." + +(To Wegeler, who had expressed wonder at Beethoven's rapid +primavista playing, when it was impossible to see each individual +note.) + +76. "The poet writes his monologue or dialogue in a certain, +continuous rhythm, but the elocutionist in order to insure an +understanding of the sense of the lines, must make pauses and +interruptions at places where the poet was not permitted to +indicate it by punctuation. The same manner of declamation can +be applied to music, and admits of modification only according +to the number of performers." + +(Reported by Schindler, Beethoven's faithful factotum.) + +77. "With respect to his playing with you, when he has acquired +the proper mode of fingering and plays in time and plays the +notes with tolerable correctness, only then direct his attention +to the matter of interpretation; and when he has gotten this far +do not stop him for little mistakes, but point them out at the +end of the piece. Although I have myself given very little +instruction I have always followed this method which quickly +makes musicians, and that, after all, is one of the first +objects of art." + +(To Czerny, who was teaching music to Beethoven's nephew Karl.) + +78. "Always place the hands at the key-board so that the fingers +can not be raised higher than is necessary; only in this way is +it possible to produce a singing tone." + +(Reported by Schindler as Beethoven's view on pianoforte +instruction. He hated a staccato style of playing and dubbed it +"finger dancing" and "throwing the hands in the air.") + +[#79 was skipped in the 1905 edition--error?] + + + +ON HIS OWN WORKS + + + +80. "I haven't a single friend; I must live alone. But well I +know that God is nearer to me than to the others of my art; I +associate with Him without fear, I have always recognized and +understood Him, and I have no fear for my music,--it can meet +no evil fate. Those who understand it must become free from all +the miseries that the others drag with them." + +(To Bettina von Arnim. [Bettina's letter to Goethe, May 28, +1810.]) + +81. "The variations will prove a little difficult to play, +particularly the trills in the coda; but let that not frighten +you. It is so disposed that you need play only the trills, +omitting the other notes because they are also in the violin +part. I would never have written a thing of this kind had I not +often noticed here and there in Vienna a man who after I had +improvised of an evening would write down some of my +peculiarities and make boast of them next day. Foreseeing that +these things would soon appear in print I made up my mind to +anticipate them. Another purpose which I had was to embarrass the +local pianoforte masters. Many of them are my mortal enemies, and +I wanted to have my revenge in this way, for I knew in advance +that the variations would be put before them, and that they would +make exhibitions of themselves." + +(Vienna, November 2, 1793, to Eleonore von Breuning, in +dedicating to her the variations in F major, "Se vuol ballare." +[The pianist whom Beethoven accuses of stealing his thunder was +Abbe Gelinek.]) + +82. "The time in which I wrote my sonatas (the first ones of +the second period) was more poetical than the present (1823); +such hints were therefore unnecessary. Every one at that time +felt in the Largo of the third sonata in D (op. 10) the +pictured soulstate of a melancholy being, with all the nuances +of light and shade which occur in a delineation of melancholy +and its phases, without requiring a key in the shape of a +superscription; and everybody then saw in the two sonatas +(op. 14) the picture of a contest between two principles, or +a dialogue between two persons, because it was so obvious." + +(In answer to Schindler's question why he had not indicated the +poetical conceits underlying his sonatas by superscriptions or +titles.) + +83. "This sonata has a clean face (literally: 'has washed +itself'), my dear brother!" + +(January, 1801, to Hofmeister, publisher in Leipzig to whom he +offers the sonata, op. 22, for 20 ducats.) + +84. "They are incessantly talking about the C-sharp minor sonata +(op. 27, No. 2); on my word I have written better ones. The +F-sharp major sonata (op. 78) is a different thing!" + +(A remark to Czerny.) + +[The C-sharp minor sonata is that popularly known as the +"Moonlight Sonata," a title which is wholly without warrant. Its +origin is due to Rellstab, who, in describing the first movement, +drew a picture of a small boat in the moonlight on Lake Lucerne. +In Vienna a tradition that Beethoven had composed it in an arbor +gave rise to the title "Arbor sonata." Titles of this character +work much mischief in the amateur mind by giving rise to fantastic +conceptions of the contents of the music. H. E. K.] + +85. "The thing which my brother can have from me is 1, a Septett +per il Violino, Viola, Violoncello, Contrabasso, Clarinetto, +Cornto, Fagotto, tutti obligati; for I can not write anything +that is not obligato, having come into the world with obligato +accompaniment." + +(December 15, 1800, to Hofmeister, publisher, in Leipzig.) + +86. "I am but little satisfied with my works thus far; from today +I shall adopt a new course." + +(Reported by Carl Czerny in his autobiography in 1842. Concerning +the time at which the remark was made, Czerny says: "It was said +about 1803, when B. had composed op. 28 (the pianoforte sonata in +D) to his friend Krumpholz (a violinist). Shortly afterward there +appeared the sonatas (now op. 31) in which a partial fulfillment +of his resolution may be observed.") + +87. "Read Shakespeare's 'Tempest.'" + +(An answer to Schindler's question as to what poetical conceit +underlay the sonatas in F minor. Beethoven used playfully to +call the little son of Breuning, the friend of his youth, A&Z, +because he employed him often as a messenger.) + +["Schindler relates that when once he asked Beethoven to tell +him what the F minor and D minor (op. 31, No. 2) meant, he +received for an answer only the enigmatical remark: 'Read +Shakespeare's "Tempest."' Many a student and commentator has +since read the 'Tempest' in the hope of finding a clew to the +emotional contents which Beethoven believed to be in the two +works, so singularly associated, only to find himself baffled. +It is a fancy, which rests, perhaps, too much on outward things, +but still one full of suggestion, that had Beethoven said: 'Hear +my C minor symphony,' he would have given a better starting- +point to the imagination of those who are seeking to know what +the F minor sonata means. Most obviously it means music, but it +means music that is an expression of one of those psychological +struggles which Beethoven felt called upon more and more to +delineate as he was more and more shut out from the companionship +of the external world. Such struggles are in the truest sense of +the word tempests. The motive, which, according to the story, +Beethoven himself said, indicates, in the symphony, the rappings +of Fate at the door of human existence, is common to two works +which are also related in their spiritual contents. Singularly +enough, too, in both cases the struggle which is begun in the +first movement and continued in the third, is interrupted by a +period of calm, reassuring, soul-fortifying aspiration, which, +in the symphony as well as in the sonata, takes the form of a +theme with variations."--"How to Listen to Music," page 29. +H. E. K.] + +88. "Sinfonia Pastorella. He who has ever had a notion of +country life can imagine for himself without many +superscriptions what the composer is after. Even without a +description the whole, which is more sentiment than tone +painting, will be recognized." + +(A note among the sketches for the "Pastoral" symphony preserved +in the Royal Library at Berlin.) + +[There are other notes of similar import among the sketches +referred to which can profitably be introduced here: + +"The hearer should be allowed to discover the situations;" + +"Sinfonia caracteristica, or a recollection of country life;" + +"Pastoral Symphony: No picture, but something in which the emotions +are expressed which are aroused in men by the pleasure of the +country (or) in which some feelings of country life are set +forth." + +When, finally, the work was given to the publisher, +Beethoven included in the title an admonitory explanation which +should have everlasting validity: "Pastoral Symphony: more +expression of feeling than painting." H. E. K.] + +89. "My 'Fidelio' was not understood by the public, but I know +that it will yet be appreciated; for though I am well aware of +the value of my 'Fidelio' I know just as well that the symphony +is my real element. When sounds ring in me I always hear the +full orchestra; I can ask anything of instrumentalists, but when +writing for the voice I must continually ask myself: 'Can that +be sung?' + +(A remark made in 1823 or 1824 to Griesinger.) + +90. "Thus Fate knocks at the portals!" + +(Reported by Schindler as Beethoven's explanation of the opening +of the symphony in C minor.) + +["Hofrath Kueffner told him (Krenn) that he once lived with +Beethoven in Heiligenstadt, and that they were in the habit +evenings of going down to Nussdorf to eat a fish supper in the +Gasthaus 'Zur Rose.' One evening when B. was in a good humor, +Kueffner began: `Tell me frankly which is your favorite among your +symphonies?' B. (in good humor) 'Eh! Eh! The Eroica.' K. 'I +should have guessed the C minor.' B. 'No; the Eroica.'" From +Thayer's notebook. See "Music and Manners in the Classical +Period." H.E.K.] + +91. "The solo sonatas (op. 109-ll?) are perhaps the best, but +also the last, music that I composed for the pianoforte. It is +and always will be an unsatisfactory instrument. I shall +hereafter follow the example of my grandmaster Handel, and every +year write only an oratorio and a concerto for some string or +wind instrument, provided I shall have finished my tenth +symphony (C minor) and Requiem." + +(Reported by Holz. As to the tenth symphony see note to No. 95.) + +92. "God knows why it is that my pianoforte music always makes +the worst impression on me, especially when it is played badly." + +(June 2, 1804. A note among the sketches for the "Leonore" +overture.) + +93. "Never did my own music produce such an effect upon me; even +now when I recall this work it still costs me a tear." + +(Reported by Holz. The reference is to the Cavatina from the +quartet in B-flat, op. 130, which Beethoven thought the crown of +all quartet movements and his favorite composition. When alone +and undisturbed he was fond of playing his favorite pianoforte +Andante--that from the sonata op. 28.) + +94. "I do not write what I most desire to, but that which I need +to because of money. But this is not saying that I write only for +money. When the present period is past, I hope at last to write +that which is the highest thing for me as well as art,--'Faust.'" + +(From a conversation-book used in 1823. To Buhler, tutor in the +house of a merchant, who was seeking information about an oratorio +which Beethoven had been commissioned to write by the Handel and +Haydn Society of Boston.) + +95. "Ha! 'Faust;' that would be a piece of work! Something might +come out of that! But for some time I have been big with three +other large works. Much is already sketched out, that is, in my +head. I must be rid of them first:--two large symphonies +differing from each other, and each differing from all the +others, and an oratorio. And this will take a long time. you +see, for a considerable time I have had trouble to get myself to +write. I sit and think, and think I've long had the thing, but it +will not on the paper. I dread the beginning of these large works. +Once into the work, and it goes." + +(In the summer of 1822, to Rochlitz, at Baden. The symphonies +referred to are the ninth and tenth. They existed only in +Beethoven's mind and a few sketches. In it he intended to combine +antique and modern views of life.) + +["In the text Greek mythology, cantique ecclesiastique; in the +Allegro, a Bacchic festival." (Sketchbook of 1818)] + +[The oratorio was to have been called "The Victory of the Cross." +It was not written. Schindler wrote to Moscheles in London about +Beethoven in the last weeks of his life: "He said much about the +plan of the tenth symphony. As the work had shaped itself in his +imagination it might have become a musical monstrosity, compared +with which his other symphonies would have been mere opuscula."] + + + +ON ART AND ARTISTS + + + +96. "How eagerly mankind withdraws from the poor artist what it +has once given him;--and Zeus, from whom one might ask an +invitation to sup on ambrosia, lives no longer." + +(In the summer of 1814, to Kauka, an advocate who represented him +in the lawsuit against the heirs of Kinsky.) + +97. "I love straightforwardness and uprightness, and believe that +the artist ought not to be belittled; for, alas! brilliant as +fame is externally, it is not always the privilege of the artist +to be Jupiter's guest on Olympus all the time. Unfortunately +vulgar humanity drags him down only too often and too rudely from +the pure upper ether." + +(June 5, 1852, to C. F. Peters, music publisher, in Leipzig when +treating with him touching a complete edition of his works.) + +98. "The true artist has no pride; unhappily he realizes that art +has no limitations, he feels darkly how far he is from the goal, +and while, perhaps he is admired by others, he grieves that he +has not yet reached the point where the better genius shall +shine before him like a distant sun." + +(Teplitz, July 17, to an admirer ten years old.) + +99. "You yourself know what a change is wrought by a few years in +the case of an artist who is continually pushing forward. The +greater the progress which one makes in art, the less is one +satisfied with one's old works. + +(Vienna, August 4, 1800, to Mathisson, in the dedication of his +setting of "Adelaide." "My most ardent wish will be fulfilled if +you are not displeased with the musical composition of your +heavenly 'Adelaide.'") + +100. "Those composers are exemplars who unite nature and art in +their works." + +(Baden, in 1824, to Freudenberg, organist from Breslau.) + +101. "What will be the judgment a century hence concerning the +lauded works of our favorite composers today? Inasmuch as nearly +everything is subject to the changes of time, and, more's the +pity, the fashions of time, only that which is good and true, will +endure like a rock, and no wanton hand will ever venture to defile +it. Then let every man do that which is right, strive with all his +might toward the goal which can never be attained, develop to the +last breath the gifts with which a gracious Creator has endowed +him, and never cease to learn; for 'Life is short, art eternal!'" + +(From the notes in the instruction book of Archduke Rudolph.) + +102. "Famous artists always labor under an embarrassment;-- +therefore first works are the best, though they may have sprung +out of dark ground." + +(Conversation-book of 1840.) + +103. "A musician is also a poet; he also can feel himself +transported by a pair of eyes into another and more beautiful +world where greater souls make sport of him and set him right +difficult tasks." + +(August 15, 1812, to Bettina von Arnim.) + +104. "I told Goethe my opinion as to how applause affects men +like us, and that we want our equals to hear us understandingly! +Emotion suits women only; music ought to strike fire from the +soul of a man." + +(August 15, 1810, to Bettina von Arnim.) + +105. "Most people are touched by anything good; but they do not +partake of the artist's nature; artists are ardent, they do not +weep." + +(Reported to Goethe by Bettina von Arnim, May 28, 1810.) + +106. "L'art unit tout le monde,--how much more the true artist!" + +(March 15, 1823, to Cherubini, in Paris.) + +107. "Only the artist, or the free scholar, carries his happiness +within him." + +(Reported by Karl von Bursy as part of a conversation in 1816.) + +108. "There ought to be only one large art warehouse in the +world, to which the artist could carry his art-works and from +which he could carry away whatever he needed. As it is one must +be half a tradesman." + +(January, 1801, to Hofmeister, in Leipzig.) + + + +BEETHOVEN AS CRITIC + + + +The opinion of artist on artists is a dubious quantity. Recall +the startling criticisms of Bocklin on his associates in art +made public by the memoirs of his friends after his death. Such +judgments are often one-sided, not without prejudice, and mostly +the expression of impulse. It is a different matter when the +artist speaks about the disciples of another art than his own, +even if the opinions which Bocklin and Wagner held of each other +are not a favorable example. Where Beethoven speaks of other +composers we must read with clear and open eyes; but even here +there will be much with which we can be in accord, especially his +judgment on Rossini, whom he hated so intensely, and whose airy, +sense-bewitching art seduced the Viennese from Beethoven. +Interesting and also characteristic of the man is the attitude +which he adopted towards the poets of his time. In general he +estimated his contemporaries as highly as they deserved. + +109. "Do not tear the laurel wreaths from the heads of Handel, +Haydn and Mozart; they belong to them,--not yet to me." + +(Teplitz, July 17, l852, to his ten-year-old admirer, Emilie M., +who had given him a portfolio made by herself.) + +110. "Pure church music ought to be performed by voices only, +except a 'Gloria,' or some similar text. For this reason I prefer +Palestrina; but it is folly to imitate him without having his +genius and religious views; it would be difficult, if not +impossible, too, for the singers of today to sing his long notes +in a sustained and pure manner." + +(To Freudenberg, in 1824.) + +111. "Handel is the unattained master of all masters. Go and learn +from him how to achieve vast effects with simple means." + +(Reported by Seyfried. On his death-bed, about the middle of +February, 1827, he said to young Gerhard von Breuning, on +receiving Handel's works: "Handel is the greatest and ablest of +all composers; from him I can still learn. Bring me the books!" + +112. "Handel is the greatest composer that ever lived. I would +uncover my head and kneel on his grave." + +(Fall of 1823, to J. A. Stumpff, harp maker of London, who acted +very nobly toward Beethoven in his last days. It was he who +rejoiced the dying composer by sending him the forty volumes of +Handel's works (see 111).) + +["Cipriani Potter, to A. W. T., February 27, 1861. Beethoven used +to walk across the fields to Vienna very often. B. would stop, +look about and express his love for nature. One day Potter asked: +'Who is the greatest living composer, yourself excepted?' Beethoven +seemed puzzled for a moment, and then exclaimed: 'Cherubini!' +Potter went on: 'And of dead authors?' B.--He had always considered +Mozart as such, but since he had been made acquainted with Handel +he put him at the head." From A. W. Thayer's notebook, reprinted in +"Music and Manners in the Classical Period," page 208. H.E.K.] + +113. "Heaven forbid that I should take a journal in which sport is +made of the manes of such a revered one." + +(Conversation-book of 1825, in reference to a criticism of +Handel.) + +114. "That you are going to publish Sebastian Bach's works is +something which does good to my heart, which beats in love of the +great and lofty art of this ancestral father of harmony; I want +to see them soon." + +(January, 1801, to Hofmeister, in Leipzig.) + +115. "Of Emanuel Bach's clavier works I have only a few, yet they +must be not only a real delight to every true artist, but also +serve him for study purposes; and it is for me a great pleasure +to play works that I have never seen, or seldom see, for real art +lovers." + +(July 26, 1809, to Gottfried Hartel, of Leipzig in ordering all +the scores of Haydn, Mozart and the two Bachs.) + +116. "See, my dear Hummel, the birthplace of Haydn. I received it +as a gift today, and it gives me great pleasure. A mean peasant +hut, in which so great a man was born!" + +(Remarked on his death-bed to his friend Hummel.) + +117. "I have always reckoned myself among the greatest admirers of +Mozart, and shall do so till the day of my death." + +(February 6, 1886, to Abbe Maximilian Stadler, who had sent him +his essay on Mozart's "Requiem.") + +118. "Cramer, Cramer! We shall never be able to compose anything +like that!" + +(To Cramer, after the two had heard Mozart's concerto in C-minor +at a concert in the Augarten.) + +119. "'Die Zauberflote' will always remain Mozart's greatest +work, for in it he for the first time showed himself to be a +German musician. 'Don Juan' still has the complete Italian cut; +besides our sacred art ought never permit itself to be degraded +to the level of a foil for so scandalous a subject." + +(A remark reported by Seyfried.) + +["Hozalka says that in 1820-21, as near as he can recollect, the +wife of a Major Baumgarten took boy boarders in the house then +standing where the Musikverein's Saal now is, and that Beethoven's +nephew was placed with her. Her sister, Baronin Born, lived with +her. One evening Hozalka, then a young man, called there and found +only Baronin Born at home. Soon another caller came and stayed to +tea. It was Beethoven. Among other topics Mozart came on the +tapis, and the Born asked Beethoven (in writing, of course) which +of Mozart's operas he thought most of. 'Die Zauberflote' said +Beethoven, and, suddenly clasping his hands and throwing up his +eyes, exclaimed: 'Oh, Mozart!'" From A. W. Thayer's notebooks, +reprinted in "Music and Manners in the Classical Period," page +198. H. E. K.] + +120. "Say all conceivable pretty things to Cherubini,--that there +is nothing I so ardently desire as that we should soon get +another opera from him, and that of all our contemporaries I have +the highest regard for him." + +(May 6, 1823, to Louis Schlasser, afterward chapel master in +Darmstadt, who was about to undertake a journey to Paris. See +note to No. 112.) + +121. "Among all the composers alive Cherubini is the most worthy +of respect. I am in complete agreement, too, with his conception +of the 'Requiem,' and if ever I come to write one I shall take +note of many things." + +(Remark reported by Seyfried. See No. 112.) + +122. "Whoever studies Clementi thoroughly has simultaneously also +learned Mozart and other authors; inversely, however, this is not +the case." + +(Reported by Schindler.) + +123. "There is much good in Spontini; he understands theatrical +effect and martial noises admirably. + +Spohr is so rich in dissonances; pleasure in his music is marred +by his chromatic melody. + +His name ought not to be Bach (brook), but Ocean, because of his +infinite and inexhaustible wealth of tonal combinations and +harmonies. Bach is the ideal of an organist." + +(In Baden, 1824, to Freudenberg.) + +124. "The little man, otherwise so gentle,--I never would have +credited him with such a thing. Now Weber must write operas in +earnest, one after the other, without caring too much for +refinement! Kaspar, the monster, looms up like a house; wherever +the devil sticks in his claw we feel it." + +(To Rochlitz, at Baden, in the summer of 1823.) + +125. "There you are, you rascal; you're a devil of a fellow, God +bless you!...Weber, you always were a fine fellow." + +(Beethoven's hearty greeting to Karl Maria von Weber, in October, +1823.) + +126. "K. M. Weber began too learn too late; art did not have a +chance to develop naturally in him, and his single and obvious +striving is to appear brilliant." + +(A remark reported by Seyfried.) + +127. "'Euryanthe' is an accumulation of diminished seventh chords +--all little backdoors!" + +(Remarked to Schindler about Weber's opera.) + +128. "Truly, a divine spark dwells in Schubert!" + +(Said to Schindler when the latter made him acquainted with the +"Songs of Ossian," "Die Junge Nonne," "Die Burgschaft," of +Schubert's "Grenzen der Menschheit," and other songs.) + +129. "There is nothing in Meyerbeer; he hasn't the courage to +strike at the right time." + +(To Tomaschek, in October, 1814, in a conversation about the +"Battle of Victoria," at the performance of which, in 1813, +Meyerbeer had played the big drum.) + +130. "Rossini is a talented and a melodious composer, his music +suits the frivolous and sensuous spirit of the times, and his +productivity is such that he needs only as many weeks as the +Germans do years to write an opera." + +(In 1824, at Baden, to Freudenberg.) + +131. "This rascal Rossini, who is not respected by a single master +of his art!" + +(Conversation-book, 1825.) + +132. "Rossini would have become a great composer if his teacher +had frequently applied some blows ad posteriora." + +(Reported by Schindler. Beethoven had been reading the score of +"Il Barbiere di Siviglia.") + +133. "The Bohemians are born musicians. The Italians ought to take +them as models. What have they to show for their famous +conservatories? Behold! their idol, Rossini! If Dame Fortune had +not given him a pretty talent and amiable melodies by the bushel, +what he learned at school would have brought him nothing but +potatoes for his big belly." + +(In a conversation-book at Haslinger's music shop, where Beethoven +frequently visited.) + +136. "Goethe has killed Klopstock for me. You wonder? Now you +laugh? Ah, because I have read Klopstock. I carried him about +with me for years when I walked. What besides? Well, I didn't +always understand him. He skips about so; and he always begins so +far away, above or below; always Maestoso! D-flat major! Isn't, +it so? But he's great, nevertheless, and uplifts the soul. When I +couldn't understand him I sort of guessed at him." + +(To Rochlitz, in 1822.) + +135. "As for me I prefer to set Homer, Klopstock, Schiller, to +music; if it is difficult to do, these immortal poets at least +deserve it." + +(To the directorate of the "Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde" of +Vienna, January, 1824, in negotiations for an oratorio, "The +Victory of the Cross" [which he had been commissioned to write by +the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston. H. E. K.].) + +136. "Goethe and Schiller are my favorite poets, as also Ossian +and Homer, the latter of whom, unfortunately, I can read only in +translation." + +(August 8, 1809, to Breitkopf and Hartel.) + +137. "Who can sufficiently thank a great poet,--the most valuable +jewel of a nation!" + +(February 10, 1811, to Bettina von Arnim. The reference was to +Goethe.) + +138. "When you write to Goethe about me search out all the words +which can express my deepest reverence and admiration. I am +myself about to write to him about 'Egmont' for which I have +composed the music, purely out of love for his poems which make +me happy." + +(February 10, 1811, to Bettina von Arnim.) + +139. "I would have gone to death, yes, ten times to death for +Goethe. Then, when I was in the height of my enthusiasm, I +thought out my 'Egmont' music. Goethe,--he lives and wants us all +to live with him. It is for that reason that he can be composed. +Nobody is so easily composed as he. But I do not like to compose +songs." + +(To Rochlitz, in 1822, when Beethoven recalled Goethe's amiability +in Teplitz.) + +140. "Goethe is too fond of the atmosphere of the court; fonder +than becomes a poet. There is little room for sport over the +absurdities of the virtuosi, when poets, who ought to be looked +upon as the foremost teachers of the nation, can forget +everything else in the enjoyment of court glitter." + +(Franzensbrunn, August 9, 1812, to Gottfried Hartel of Leipzig.) + +141. "When two persons like Goethe and I meet these grand folk +must be made to see what our sort consider great." + +(August 15, 1812, in a description of how haughtily he, and how +humbly Goethe, had behaved in the presence of the Imperial court.) + +142. "Since that summer in Carlsbad I read Goethe every day,--when +I read at all." + +(Remarked to Rochlitz.) + +143. "Goethe ought not to write more; he will meet the fate of the +singers. Nevertheless he will remain the foremost poet of Germany." + +(Conversationbook, 1818.) + +144. "Can you lend me the 'Theory of Colors' for a few weeks? It +is an important work. His last things are insipid." + +(Conversation-book, 1820.) + +145. "After all the fellow writes for money only." + +(Reported by Schindler as having been said by Beethoven when, on +his death-bed, he angrily threw a book of Walter Scott's aside.) + +146. "He, too, then, is nothing better than an ordinary man! Now +he will trample on all human rights only to humor his ambition; +he will place himself above all others,--become a tyrant!" + +(With these words, as testified to by Ries, an eye-witness, +Beethoven tore the title-page from the score of his "Eroica" +symphony (which bore a dedication to Bonaparte) when the news +reached him that Napoleon had declared himself emperor.) + +147. "I believe that so long as the Austrian has his brown beer +and sausage he will not revolt." + +(To Simrock, publisher, in Bonn, August 2, 1794.) + +148. "Why do you sell nothing but music? Why did you not long ago +follow my well-meant advice? Do get wise, and find your raison. +Instead of a hundred-weight of paper order genuine unwatered +Regensburger, float this much-liked article of trade down the +Danube, serve it in measures, half-measures and seidels at cheap +prices, throw in at intervals sausages, rolls, radishes, butter +and cheese, invite the hungry and thirsty with letters an ell +long on a sign: 'Musical Beer House,' and you will have so many +guests at all hours of the day that one will hold the door open +for the other and your office will never be empty." + +(To Haslinger, the music publisher, when the latter had complained +about the indifference of the Viennese to music.) + + + +ON EDUCATION + + + +Beethoven's observations on this subject were called out by his +experiences in securing an education for his nephew Karl, son of +his like-named brother, a duty which devolved on him on the death +of his brother in the winter of 1815. He loved his nephew almost +to idolatry, and hoped that he would honor the name of Beethoven +in the future. But there was a frivolous vein in Karl, inherited +probably from his mother, who was on easy footing with morality +both before and after her husband's death. She sought with all her +might to rid her son of the guardianship of his uncle. Karl was +sent to various educational institutions and to these Beethoven +sent many letters containing advice and instructions. The nephew +grew to be more and more a care, not wholly without fault of the +master. His passionate nature led to many quarrels between the +two, all of which were followed by periods of extravagant +fondness. Karl neglected his studies, led a frivolous life, was +fond of billiards and the coffee-houses which were then generally +popular, and finally, in the summer of 1826, made an attempt at +suicide in the Helenental near Baden, which caused his social +ostracism. When he was found he cried out: "I went to the bad +because my uncle wanted to better me." + +Beethoven succeeded in persuading Baron von Stutterheim, commander +of an infantry regiment at Iglau, to accept him as an aspirant for +military office. In later life he became a respected official and +man. So Beethoven himself was vouchsafed only an ill regulated +education. His dissolute father treated him now harshly, now +gently. His mother, who died early, was a silent sufferer, had +thoroughly understood her son, and to her his love was devotion +itself. He labored unwearyingly at his own intellectual and moral +advancement until his death. + +It seems difficult to reconcile his almost extravagant estimate of +the greatest possible liberty in the development of man with his +demands for strict constraint to which he frequently gives +expression; but he had recognized that it is necessary to grow +out of restraint into liberty. His model as a sensitive and +sympathetic educator was his motherly friend, the wife of Court +Councillor von Breuning in Bonn, of whom he once said: "She knew +how to keep the insects off the blossoms." + +Beethoven's views on musical education are to be found in the +chapters "On Composition" and "On Performing Music." + + + +149. "Like the State, each man must have his own constitution." + +(Diary, 1815.) + +150. "Recommend virtue to your children; that, alone can bring +happiness; not wealth,--I speak from experience. It was virtue +alone that bore me up in my misery; to her and my art I owe that +I did not end my life by self-murder." + +(October 6, 1802, to his brothers Karl and Johann [the so-called +Heiligenstadt Will].) + +151. "I know no more sacred duty than to rear and educate a +child." + +(January 7, 1820, in a communication to the Court of Appeals in +the suit touching the guardianship of his nephew Karl.) + +152. "Nature's weaknesses are nature's endowments; reason, the +guide, must seek to lead and lessen them." + +(Diary, 1817.) + +153. "It is man's habit to hold his fellow man in esteem because +he committed no greater errors." + +(May 6, 1811, to Breitkopf and Hartel, in a letter complaining of +faulty printing in some of his compositions.) + +154. "There is nothing more efficient in enforcing obedience upon +others than the belief on their part that you are wiser than +they...Without tears fathers can not inculcate virtue in their +children, or teachers learning and wisdom in their pupils; even +the laws, by compelling tears from the citizens, compel them also +to strive for justice." + +(Diary, 1815.) + +155. "It is only becoming in a youth to combine his duties toward +education and advancement with those which he owes to his +benefactor and supporter; this I did toward my parents." + +(May 19, 1825, to his nephew Karl.) + +156. "You can not honor the memory of your father better than to +continue your studies with the greatest zeal, and strive to +become an honest and excellent man." + +(To his nephew, 1816-18.) + +157. "Let your conduct always be amiable; through art and science +the best and noblest of men are bound together and your future +vocation will not exclude you." + +(Baden, July 18, 1825, to his nephew, who had decided to become a +merchant.) + +158. "It is very true that a drop will hollow a stone; a thousand +lovely impressions are obliterated when children are placed in +wooden institutions while they might receive from their parents +the most soulful impressions which would continue to exert their +influence till the latest age." + +(Diary, spring of 1817. Beethoven was dissatisfied with +Giannatasio's school in which he had placed his nephew. "Karl is +a different child after he has been with me a few hours" (Diary). +In 1826, after the attempt at suicide, Beethoven said to +Breuning: "My Karl was in an institute; educational institutions +furnish forth only hot house plants.") + +159. "Drops of water wear away a stone in time, not by force but +by continual falling. Only through tireless industry are the +sciences achieved so that one can truthfully say: no day without +its line,--nulla dies sine linea." + +(1799, in a sketch for a theoretical handbook for Archduke +Rudolph.) + + + +ON HIS OWN DISPOSITION AND CHARACTER + + + +So open-hearted and straightforward a character as Beethoven +could not have pictured himself with less reserve or greater +truthfulness than he did during his life. Frankness toward +himself, frankness toward others (though sometimes it went to the +extreme of rudeness and ill-breeding) was his motto. The joyous +nature which was his as a lad, and which was not at all averse to +a merry prank now and then, underwent a change when he began to +lose his hearing. The dread of deafness and its consequences drove +him nearly to despair, so that he sometimes contemplated suicide. +Increasing hardness of hearing gradually made him reserved, morose +and gloomy. With the progress of the malady his disposition and +character underwent a decided change,--a fact which may be said to +account for the contradictions in his conduct and utterances. It +made him suspicious, distrustful; in his later years he imagined +himself cheated and deceived in the most trifling matters by +relatives, friends, publishers, servants. + +Nevertheless Beethoven's whole soul was filled with a high +idealism which penetrated through the miseries of his daily life; +it was full, too, of a great love toward humanity in general and +his unworthy nephew in particular. Towards his publishers he often +appeared covetous and grasping, seeking to rake and scrape +together all the money possible; but this was only for the purpose +of assuring the future of his nephew. At the same time, in a merry +moment, he would load down his table with all that kitchen and +cellar could provide, for the reflection of his friends. Thus he +oscillated continuously between two extremes; but the power which +swung the pendulum was always the aural malady. He grew peevish +and capricious towards his best friends, rude, even brutal at +times in his treatment of them; only in the next moment to +overwhelm them most pathetically with attentions. Till the end of +his life he remained a sufferer from his passionate disposition +over which he gradually obtained control until, at the end, one +could almost speak of a sunny clarification of his nature. + +He has heedlessly been accused of having led a dissolute life, of +having been an intemperate drinker. There would be no necessity +of contradicting such a charge even if there were a scintilla of +evidence to support it; a drinker is not necessarily a +dishonorable man, least of all a musician who drinks. But, the +fact of the matter is that it is not true. If once Beethoven wrote +a merry note about merrymaking with friends, let us rejoice that +occasions did sometimes occur, though but rarely, when the heart +of the sufferer was temporarily gladdened. + +He was a strict moralist, as is particularly evidenced by the +notes in his journal which have not been made public. In many +things which befell him in his daily life he was as ingenuous as +a child. His personality, on the whole, presented itself in such +a manner as to invite the intellectual and social Philistine to +call him a fool. + + + +160. "I shall print a request in all the newspapers that +henceforth all artists refrain from painting my picture without +my knowledge; I never thought that my own face would bring me +embarrassment." + +(About 1803, to Christine Gerardi, because without his knowledge a +portrait of him had been made somewhere--in a cafe, probably.) + +161. "Pity that I do not understand the art of war as well as I do +the art of music; I should yet conquer Napoleon!" + +(To Krumpholz, the violinist, when he informed Beethoven of the +victory of Napoleon at Jena.) + +162. "If I were a general and knew as much about strategy as I, a +composer, know about counterpoint, I'd give you fellows something +to do." + +(Called out behind the back of a French officer, his fist doubled, +on May 12, 1809, when the French had occupied Vienna. Reported by +a witness, W. Rust.) + +163. "Camillus, if I am not mistaken, was the name of the Roman +who drove the wicked Gauls from Rome. At such a cost I would also +take the name if I could drive them wherever I found them to where +they belong." + +(To Pleyel, publisher, in Paris, April, 1807.) + +164. "I love most the realm of mind which, to me, is the highest +of all spiritual and temporal monarchies." + +(To Advocate Kauka in the summer of 1814. He had been speaking +about the monarchs represented in the Congress of Vienna.) + +165. "I shall not come in person, since that would be a sort of +farewell, and farewells I have always avoided." + +(January 24, 1818, to Giannatasio del Rio, on taking his nephew +Karl out of the latter institute.) + +166. "I hope still to bring a few large works into the world, and +then, like an old child, to end my earthly career somewhere among +good people." + +(October 6, 1802, to Wegeler.) + +167. "O ye men, who think or declare me to be hostile, morose or +misanthropical, what injustice ye do me. Ye know not the secret +cause of what thus appears to you. My heart and mind were from +childhood disposed for the tender feelings of benevolence; I was +always wishing to accomplish great deeds." + +(October 6, 1802, in the so-called Heiligenstadt Will.) + +168. "Divinity, thou lookest into my heart, thou knowest it, thou +knowest that love for mankind and a desire to do good have their +abode there. O ye men, when one day ye read this think that ye +have wronged me, and may the unfortunate console himself with the +thought that he has found one of his kind who, despite all the +obstacles which nature put in his path, yet did all in his power +to be accepted in the ranks of worthy artists and men!" + +(From the Heiligenstadt Will.) + +169. "I spend all my mornings with the muses;--and they bless me +also in my walks." + +(October 12, 1835, to his nephew Karl.) + +170. "Concerning myself nothing,--that is, from nothing nothing." + +(October 19, 1815, to Countess Erdody.) + +[A possible allusion to the line, "Nothing can come of nothing." +from Shakespeare's "King Lear," Act 1, scene 1] + +171. "Beethoven can write, thank God; but do nothing else on +earth." + +(December 22, 1822, to Ferdinand Ries, in London.) + +172. "Mentally I often frame an answer, but when I come to write +it down I generally throw the pen aside, since I am not able to +write what I feel." + +(October 7, 1826, to his friend Wegeler, in Coblenz. "The better +sort of people, I think, know me anyhow." He is excusing his +laziness in letter-writing.) + +173. "I have the gift to conceal my sensitiveness touching a +multitude of things; but when I am provoked at a moment when I am +more sensitive than usual to anger, I burst out more violently +than anybody else." + +(July 24, 1804, to Ries, in reporting to him a quarrel with +Stephan von Breuning.) + +174. "X. is completely changed since I threw half a dozen books at +her head. Perhaps something of their contents accidentally got +into her head or her wicked heart." + +(To Mme. Streicher, who often had to put Beethoven's house in +order.) + +175. "I can have no intercourse, and do not want to have any, with +persons who are not willing to believe in me because I have not +yet made a wide reputation." + +(To Prince Lobkowitz, about 1798. A cavalier had failed to show +him proper respect in the Prince's salon.) + +176. "Many a vigorous and unconsidered word drops from my mouth, +for which reason I am considered mad." + +(In the summer of 1880, to Dr. Muller, of Bremen, who was paying +him a visit.) + +177. "I will grapple with Fate; it shall not quite bear me down. +O, it is lovely to live life a thousand times!" + +(November 16, 1800, or 1801, to Wegeler.) + +178. "Morality is the strength of men who distinguish themselves +over others, and it is mine." + +(In a communication to his friend, Baron Zmeskall.) + +179. "I, too, am a king!" + +(Said to Holz, when the latter begged him not to sell the ring +which King Frederick William III, of Prussia, had sent to him +instead of money or an order in return for the dedication of the +ninth symphony. "Master, keep the ring," Holz had said, "it is +from a king." Beethoven made his remark "with indescribable +dignity and self-consciousness.") + +[On his deathbed he said to little Gerhard von Breuning: "Know +that I am an artist."] + +[At the height of the popular infatuation for Rossini (1822) he +said to his friends: "Well, they will not be able to rob me of my +place in the history of art."] + +180. "Prince, what you are you are by accident of birth; what I +am, I am through my own efforts. There have been thousands of +princes and will be thousands more; there is only one Beethoven!" + +(According to tradition, from a letter which he wrote to Prince +Lichnowsky when the latter attempted to persuade him to play for +some French officers on his estate in Silesia. Beethoven went at +night to Troppau, carrying the manuscript of the (so-called) +"Appassionata" sonata, which suffered from the rain.) + +181. "My nobility is here, and here (pointing to his heart and +head)." + +(Reported by Schindler. In the lawsuit against his sister-in-law +(the mother of nephew Karl) Beethoven had been called on to prove +that the "van" in his name was a badge of nobility.) + +182. "You write that somebody has said that I am the natural son +of the late King of Prussia. The same thing was said to me long +ago, but I have made it a rule never to write anything about +myself or answer anything that is said about me." + +(October 7, 1826, to Wegeler.) + +["I leave it to you to give the world an account of myself and +especially my mother." The statement had appeared in Brockhaus's +"Lexicon."] + +183. "To me the highest thing, after God, is my honor." + +(July 26, 1822, to the publisher Peters, in Leipzig.) + +184. "I have never thought of writing for reputation and honor. +What I have in my heart must out; that is the reason why I +compose." + +(Remark to Karl Czerny, reported in his autobiography.) + +185. "I do not desire that you shall esteem me greater as an +artist, but better and more perfect as a man; when the condition +of our country is somewhat better, then my art shall be devoted +to the welfare of the poor." + +(Vienna, June 29, 1800, to Wegeler, in Bonn, writing of his return +to his native land.) + +186. "Perhaps the only thing that looks like genius about me is +that my affairs are not always in the best of order, and that in +this respect nobody can be of help but myself." + +(April 22, 1801, to Hofmeister, in Leipzig excusing himself for +dilatoriness in sending him these compositions: the Pianoforte +sonata op. 22, the symphony op. 21, the septet op. 20 and the +concerto op. 19.) + +187. "I am free from all small vanities. Only in the divine art is +the lever which gives me power to sacrifice the best part of my +life to the celestial muses." + +(September 9, 1824, to George Nigeli, in Zurich.) + +188. "Inasmuch as the purpose of the undersigned throughout his +career has not been selfish but the promotion of the interests of +art, the elevation of popular taste and the flight of his own +genius toward loftier ideals and perfection, it was inevitable +that he should frequently sacrifice his own advantages and profit +to the muse." + +(December, 1804, to the Director of the Court Theatre, applying +for an engagement which was never effected.) + +189. "From my earliest childhood my zeal to serve suffering +humanity with my art was never content with any kind of a +subterfuge; and no other reward is needed than the internal +satisfaction which always accompanies such a deed." + +(To Procurator Varenna, who had asked him for compositions to be +played at a charity concert in Graz.) + +190. "There is no greater pleasure for me than to practice and +exhibit my art." + +(November 16, 1800, or 1801, to Wegeler.) + +191. "I recognize no other accomplishments or advantages than +those which place one amongst the better class of men; where I +find them, there is my home." + +(Teplitz, July 17, 1812, to his little admirer, Emile M., in H.) + +192. "From childhood I learned to love virtue, and everything +beautiful and good." + +(About 1808, to Frau Marie Bigot.) + +193. "It is one of my foremost principles never to occupy any +other relations than those of friendship with the wife of another +man. I should never want to fill my heart with distrust towards +those who may chance some day to share my fate with me, and thus +destroy the loveliest and purest life for myself." + +(About 1808, to Frau Marie Bigot, after she had declined his +invitation to drive with him.) + +194. "In my solitude here I miss my roommate, at least at evening +and noon, when the human animal is obliged to assimilate that +which is necessary to the production of the intellectual, and +which I prefer to do in company with another." + +(Teplitz, September 6, 1811, to Tiedge.) + +195. "It was not intentional and premeditated malice which led me +to act toward you as I did; it was my unpardonable carelessness." + +(To Wegeler.) + +196. "I am not bad; hot blood is my wickedness, my crime is +youthfulness. I am not bad, really not bad; even though wild +surges often accuse my heart, it still is good. To do good +wherever we can, to love liberty above all things, and never to +deny truth though it be at the throne itself.--Think +occasionally of the friend who honors you." + +(Written in the autograph album of a Herr Bocke.) + +197. "It is a singular sensation to see and hear one's self +praised, and then to be conscious of one's own imperfections as I +am. I always regard such occasions as admonitions to get nearer +the unattainable goal set for us by art and nature, hard as it +may be." + +(To Mdlle. de Girardi, who had sung his praises in a poem.) + +198. "It is my sincere desire that whatever shall be said of me +hereafter shall adhere strictly to the truth in every respect +regardless of who may be hurt thereby, me not excepted." + +(Reported by Schindler, who also relates that when Beethoven +handed him documents to be used in the biography a week before his +death, he said to him and Breuning: "But in all things +severely the truth; for that I hold you to a strict +accountability.") + +199. "Now you can help me to find a wife. If you find a beautiful +woman in F. who, mayhap, endows my music with a sigh,--but she +must be no Elise Burger--make a provisional engagement. But she +must be beautiful, for I can love only the beautiful; otherwise I +might love myself." + +(In 1809, to Baron von Gleichenstein. As for the personal +reference it seems likely that Beethoven referred to Elise +Burger, second wife of the poet G. August Burger, with whom he +had got acquainted after she had been divorced and become an +elocutionist.) + +200. "Am I not a true friend? Why do you conceal your necessities +from me? No friend of mine must suffer so long as I have +anything." + +(To Ferdinand Ries, in 1801. Ries's father had been kind to +Beethoven on the death of his mother in 1787.) + +201. "I would rather forget what I owe to myself than what I owe +to others." + +(To Frau Streicher, in the summer of 1817.) + +202. "I never practice revenge. When I must antagonize others I do +no more than is necessary to protect myself against them, or +prevent them from doing further evil." + +(To Frau Streicher, in reference to the troubles which his +servants gave him, many of which, no doubt, were due to faults of +his own, excusable in a man in his condition of health.) + +203. "Be convinced that mankind, even in your case, will always be +sacred to me." + +(To Czapka, Magisterial Councillor, August, 1826, in the matter of +his nephew's attempt at suicide.) + +204. "H. is, and always will be, too weak for friendship, and I +look upon him and Y. as mere instruments upon which I play when I +feel like it; but they can never be witnesses of my internal and +external activities, and just as little real participants. I +value them according as they do me service." + +(Summer of 1800, to the friend of his youth, Pastor Amenda. H. was +probably the faithful Baron Zmeskall von Domanovecz.) + +205. "If it amuses them to talk and write about me in that manner, +let them go on." + +(Reported by Schindler as referring to critics who had declared +him ripe for the madhouse.) + +206. "To your gentlemen critics I recommend a little more +foresight and shrewdness, particularly in respect of the products +of younger authors, as many a one, who might otherwise make +progress, may be frightened off. So far as I am concerned I am +far from thinking myself so perfect as not to be able to endure +faulting; yet at the beginning the clamor of your critic was so +debasing that I could scarcely discuss the matter when I compared +myself with others, but had to remain quiet and think: they do +not understand. I was the more able to remain quiet when I +recalled how men were praised who signify little among those who +know, and who have almost disappeared despite their good points. +Well, pax vobiscum, peace to them and me,--I would never have +mentioned a syllable had you not begun." + +(April 22, 1801, to Breitkopf and Hartel, publishers of the +"Allgemeine Musik Zeitung.") + +207. "Who was happier than I when I could still pronounce the +sweet word 'mother' and have it heard? To whom can I speak it +now?" + +(September 15, 1787, from Bonn to Dr. Schade, of Augsburg, who had +aided him in his return journey from Vienna to Bonn. His mother +had died on July 17, 1787.) + +208. "I seldom go anywhere since it was always impossible for me +to associate with people where there was not a certain exchange +of ideas." + +(February 15, 1817, to Brentano of Frankfurt.) + +209. "Not a word about rest! I know of none except in sleep, and +sorry enough am I that I am obliged to yield up more to it than +formerly." + +(November 16, 1801, or 1802, to Wegeler. In Homer's "Odyssey" +Beethoven thickly underscored the words: "Too much sleep is +injurious." XV, 393.) + +210. "Rest assured that you are dealing with a true artist who +likes to be paid decently, it is true, but who loves his own +reputation and also the fame of his art; who is never satisfied +with himself and who strives continually to make even greater +progress in his art." + +(November 23, 1809, to George Thomson, of Edinburgh, for whom +Beethoven arranged the Scotch songs.) + +211. "My motto is always: nulla die sine linea; and if I permit +the muse to go to sleep it is only that she may awake +strengthened." + +(October 7, 1826, to Wegeler.) + +212. "There is no treatise likely to be too learned for me. +Without laying claim to real learning it is yet true that since +my childhood I have striven to learn the minds of the best and +wisest of every period of time. It is a disgrace for every artist +who does not try to do as much." + +(November 2, 1809, to Breitkopf and Hartel, of Leipzig.) + +213. "Without wishing in the least to set myself up as an exemplar +I assure you that I lived in a small and insignificant place, and +made out of myself nearly all that I was there and am here;--this +to your comfort in case you feel the need of making progress in +art." + +(Baden, July 6, 1804, to Herr Wiedebein, of Brunswick, who had +asked if it was advisable for a music teacher and student to make +his home in Vienna.) + +214. "There is much on earth to be done,--do it soon! I must not +continue my present everyday life,--art asks this sacrifice also. +Take rest in diversion in order to work more energetically." + +(Diary, 1814.) + +215. "The daily grind exhausts me." + +(Baden, August 23, 1823, to his nephew Karl.) + + + +THE SUFFERER + + + +216. "Compelled to be a philosopher as early as my 28th year;--it +is not an easy matter,--more difficult for the artist than any +other man." + +(October 6, 1802; the Heiligenstadt Will.) + +217. "Compelled to contemplate a lasting malady, born with an +ardent and lively temperament, susceptible to the diversions of +society, I was obliged at an early date to isolate myself and +live a life of solitude." + +(From the same.) + +218. "It was impossible for me to say to others: speak louder; +shout! for I am deaf. Ah! was it possible for me to proclaim a +deficiency in that one sense which in my case ought to have been +more perfect than in all others, which I had once possessed in +greatest perfection, to a degree of perfection, indeed, which few +of my profession have ever enjoyed?" + +(From the same.) + +219. "For me there can be no recreation in human society, refined +conversation, mutual exchange of thoughts and feelings; only so +far as necessity compels may I give myself to society,--I must +live like an exile." + +(From the same.) + +220. "How great was the humiliation when one who stood beside me +heard the distant sound of a shepherd's pipe, and I heard +nothing; or heard the shepherd singing, and I heard nothing. Such +experiences brought me to the verge of despair;--but little more +and I should have put an end to my life. Art, art alone deterred +me." + +(From the same.) + +221. "I may say that I live a wretched existence. For almost two +years I have avoided all social gatherings because it is +impossible for me to tell the people I am deaf. If my vocation +were anything else it might be more endurable, but under the +circumstances the condition is terrible; besides what would my +enemies say,--they are not few in number! To give you an idea of +this singular deafness let me tell you that in the theatre I must +lean over close to the orchestra in order to understand the +actor; if I am a little remote from them I do not hear the high +tones of instruments and voices; it is remarkable that there are +persons who have not observed it, but because I am generally +absent-minded my conduct is ascribed to that." + +(Vienna, June 29, 1800, to Wegeler. "To you only do I confide this +as a secret." Concerning his deafness see Appendix.) + +222. "My defective hearing appeared everywhere before me like a +ghost; I fled from the presence of men, was obliged to appear to +be a misanthrope although I am so little such." + +(November 16, 1801, or 1800, to Wegeler, in writing to him about +his happy love. "Unfortunately, she is not of my station in +life.") + +223. "Truly, a hard lot has befallen me! Yet I accept the decree +of Fate, and continually pray to God to grant that as long as I +must endure this death in life, I may be preserved from want." + +(March 14, 1827, to Moscheles, after Beethoven had undergone the +fourth operation for dropsy and was confronting the fifth. He +died on March 26, 1827.) + +224. "Live alone in your art! Restricted though you be by your +defective sense, this is still the only existence for you." + +(Diary, 1816.) + +225. "Dissatisfied with many things, more susceptible than any +other person and tormented by my deafness, I often find only +suffering in the association with others." + +(In 1815, to Brauchle, tutor in the house of Countess Erdody.) + +226. "I have emptied a cup of bitter suffering and already won +martyrdom in art through the kindness of art's disciples and my +art associates." + +(In the summer of 1814, to Advocate Kauka. "Socrates and Jesus +were my exemplars," he remarks in a conversation-book of 1819.) + +227. "Perfect the ear trumpets as far as possible, and then +travel; this you owe to yourself, to mankind and to the Almighty! +Only thus can you develop all that is still locked within you;-- +and a little court,--a little chapel,--writing the music and +having it performed to the glory of the Almighty, the Eternal, +the Infinite---" + +(Diary, 1815. Beethoven was hoping to receive an appointment as +chapelmaster from his former pupil, Archduke Rudolph, Archbishop +of Olmutz.) + +228. "God help me. Thou seest me deserted by all mankind. I do +not want to do wrong,--hear my prayer to be with my Karl in the +future for which there seems to be no possibility now. O, harsh +Fate, cruel destiny. No, my unhappy condition will never end. +'This I feel and recognize clearly: Life is not the greatest of +blessings; but the greatest of evils is guilt.' (From Schiller's +"Braut von Messina"). There is no salvation for you except to +hasten away from here; only by this means can you lift yourself +again to the heights of your art whereas you are here sinking to +the commonplace,--and a symphony--and then away,--away,-- +meanwhile fund the salaries which can be done for years. Work +during the summer preparatory to travel; only thus can you do the +great work for your poor nephew; later travel through Italy, +Sicily, with a few other artists." + +(Diary, spring of 1817. The salaries were the annuities paid him +for several years by Archduke Rudolph, Prince Rinsky and Prince +Lobkowitz. Seume's "Spaziergang nach Syrakus" was a favorite +book of Beethoven's and inspired him in a desire to make a +similar tour, but nothing came of it.) + +229. "You must not be a man like other men: not for yourself, only +for others; for you there is no more happiness except in +yourself, in your art.--O God, give me strength to overcome +myself, nothing must hold me to this life." + +(Beginning of the Diary, 1812-18.) + +230. "Leave operas and all else alone, write only for your orphan, +and then a cowl to close this unhappy life." + +(Diary, 1816.) + +231. "I have often cursed my existence; Plutarch taught me +resignation. I shall, if possible, defy Fate, though there will +be hours in my life when I shall be the most miserable of God's +creatures. Resignation! What a wretched resort; yet it is the +only one left me!" + +(Vienna, June 29, 1800, to Wegeler.) + +232. "Patience, they tell me, I must now choose for a guide. I +have done so. It shall be my resolve, lastingly, I hope, to +endure until it pleases the implacable Parca: to break the +thread. There may be improvement,--perhaps not,--I am prepared." + +(From the Heiligenstadt Will.) + +233. "Let all that is called life be offered to the sublime and +become a sanctuary of art. Let me live, even through artificial +means, so they can be found." + +(Diary, 1814, when Beethoven was being celebrated extraordinarily +by the royalties and dignitaries gathered at the Congress of +Vienna.) + +234. "Ah! it seemed impossible for me to leave the world until I +had produced all that I felt called upon to produce; and so I +prolonged this wretched existence." + +(From the Heiligenstadt Will.) + +235. "With joy shall I hasten forward to meet death; if he comes +before I shall have had an opportunity to develop all my artistic +capabilities, he will come too early in spite of my harsh fate, +and I shall probably wish him to come at a later date. But even +then I shall be content, for will he not release me from endless +suffering? Come when you please, I shall meet you bravely." + +(From the Heiligenstadt Will.) + +236. "Apollo and the muses will not yet permit me to be delivered +over to the grim skeleton, for I owe them so much, and I must, on +any departure for the Elysian Fields, leave behind me all that +the spirit has inspired and commanded to be finished." + +(September 17, 1824, to Schott, music publisher in Mayence.) + +237. "Had I not read somewhere that it is not pending man to part +voluntarily from his life so long as there is a good deed which +he can perform, I should long since have been no more, and by my +own hand. O, how beautiful life is, but in my case it is +poisoned." + +(May 2, 1810, to his friend Wegeler, to whom he is lamenting over +"the demon that has set up his habitat in my ears.") + +238. "I must abandon wholly the fond hope, which I brought hither, +to be cured at least in a degree. As the fallen autumn leaves have +withered, so arc now my hopes blighted. I depart in almost the +same condition in which I came; even the lofty courage which often +animated me in the beautiful days of summer has disappeared." + +(From the Will. Beethoven had tried the cure at Heiligenstadt.) + +239. "All week long I had to suffer and endure like a saint. Away +with this rabble! What a reproach to our civilization that we +need what we despise and must always know it near!" + +(In 1825, complaining of the misery caused by his domestics.) + +240. "The best thing to do not to think of your malady is to keep +occupied." + +(Diary, 1812-18.) + +241. "It is no comfort for men of the better sort to say to them +that others also suffer; but, alas! comparisons must always be +made, though they only teach that we all suffer, that is err, +only in different ways." + +(In 1816, to Countess Erdody, on the death of her son.) + +242. "The portraits of Handel, Bach, Gluck, Mozart and Haydn in +my room,--they may help me to make claim on toleration." + +(Diary, 1815-16.) + +243. "God, who knows my innermost soul, and knows how sacredly I +have fulfilled all the duties but upon me as man by humanity, God +and nature will surely some day relieve me from these +afflictions." + +(July 18, 1821, to Archduke Rudolph, from Unterubling.) + +244. "Friendship and similar sentiments bring only wounds to me. +Well, so be it; for you, poor Beethoven, there is no outward +happiness; you must create it within you,--only in the world of +ideality shall you find friends." + +(About 1808, to Baron von Gleichenstein, by whom he thought +himself slighted.) + +245. "You are living on a quiet sea, or already in the safe +harbor; you do not feel the distress of a friend out in the +raging storm,--or you must not feel it." + +(In 1811, to his friend Gleichenstein, when Beethoven was in love +with the Baron's sister-in-law, Therese Malfatti.) + +246. "I must have a confidant at my side lest life become a +burden." + +(July 4, 1812, to Count Brunswick, whom he is urging to make a +tour with him, probably to Teplitz.) + +247. "Your love makes me at once the happiest and the unhappiest +of men. At my age I need a certain uniformity and equableness of +life; can such exist in our relationship?" + +(June 7, 1800 (?), to the "Immortal Beloved.") + +248. "O Providence! vouchsafe me one day of pure joy! Long has the +echo of perfect felicity been absent from my heart. When O, when, +O Thou Divine One, shall I feel it again in nature's temple and +man's? Never? Ah! that would be too hard!" + +(Conclusion of the Heiligenstadt Will.) + + + +WORLDLY WISDOM + + + +249. "Freedom,--progress, is purpose in the art-world as in +universal creation, and if we moderns have not the hardihood of +our ancestors, refinement of manners has surely accomplished +something." + +(Middling, July 29, 1819, to Archduke Rudolph.) + +250. "The boundaries are not yet fixed which shall call out to +talent and industry: thus far and no further!" + +(Reported by Schindler.) + +251. "You know that the sensitive spirit must not be bound to +miserable necessities." + +(In the summer of 1814, to Johann Kauka, the advocate who +represented him in the prosecution of his claims against the +heirs of Prince Kinsky.) + +252. "Art, the persecuted one, always finds an asylum. Did not +Daedalus, shut up in the labyrinth, invent the wings which +carried him out into the open air? O, I shall find them, too, +these wings!" + +(February 19, 1812, to Zmeskall, when, in 1811, by decree of the +Treasury, the value of the Austrian currency was depreciated one- +fifth, and the annuity which Beethoven received from Archduke +Rudolph and the Princes Lobkowitz and Kinsky reduced to 800 +florins.) + +253. "Show me the course where at the goal there stands the palm +of victory! Lend sublimity to my loftiest thoughts, bring to them +truths that shall live forever!" + +(Diary, 1814, while working on "Fidelio.") + +254. "Every day is lost in which we do not learn something useful. +Man has no nobler or more valuable possession than time; +therefore never put off till tomorrow what you can do today." + +(From the notes in Archduke Rudolph's instruction book.) + +255. "This is the mark of distinction of a truly admirable man: +steadfastness in times of trouble." + +(Diary, 1816.) + +256. "Courage, so it be righteous, will gain all things." + +(April, 1815, to Countess Erdody.) + +257. "Force, which is a unit, will always prevail against the +majority which is divided." + +(Conversation-book, 1819.) + +258. "Kings and Princes can create professors and councillors, and +confer orders and decorations; but they can not create great men, +spirits that rise above the earthly rabble; these they can not +create, and therefore they are to be respected." + +(August 15, 1812, to Bettina von Arnim.) + +259. "Man, help yourself!" + +(Written under the words: "Fine, with the help of God," which +Moscheles had written at the end of a pianoforte arrangement of +a portion of "Fidelio.") + +260. "If I could give as definite expression to my thoughts about +my illness as to my thoughts in music, I would soon help myself." + +(September, 1812, to Amalie Sebald, a patient at the cure in +Teplitz.) + +261. "Follow the advice of others only in the rarest cases." + +(Diary, 1816.) + +262. "The moral law in us, and the starry sky above us."--Kant. + +(Conversation-book, February, 1820.) + +[Literally the passage in Kant's "Critique of Practical Reason" +reads as follows: "Two things fill the soul with ever new and +increasing wonder and reverence the oftener the mind dwells upon +them:--the starry sky above me and the moral law in me."] + +263. "Blessed is he who has overcome all passions and then +proceeds energetically to perform his duties under all +circumstances careless of success! Let the motive lie in the +deed, not in the outcome. Be not one of those whose spring of +action is the hope of reward. Do not let your life pass in +inactivity. Be industrious, do your duty, banish all thoughts as +to the results, be they good or evil; for such equanimity is +attention to intellectual things. Seek an asylum only in Wisdom; +for he who is wretched and unhappy is so only in consequence of +things. The truly wise man does not concern himself with the good +and evil of this world. Therefore endeavor diligently to preserve +this use of your reason--for in the affairs of this world, such +a use is a precious art." + +(Diary. Though essentially in the language of Beethoven there is +evidence that the passage was inspired by something that he had +read.) + +264. "The just man must be able also to suffer injustice without +deviating in the least from the right course." + +(To the Viennese magistrate in the matter of Karl's education.) + +265. "Man's humility towards man pains me; and yet when I consider +myself in connection with the universe, what am I and what is he +whom we call the greatest? And yet here, again, lies the divine +element in man." + +(To the "Immortal Beloved," July 6 (1800?).) + +266. "Only the praise of one who has enjoyed praise can give +pleasure." + +(Conversation-book, 1825.) + +267. "Nothing is more intolerable than to be compelled to accuse +one's self of one's own errors." + +(Teplitz, September 6, 1811, to Tiedge. Beethoven regrets that +through his own fault he had not made Tiedge's acquaintance on an +earlier opportunity.) + +268. "What greater gift can man receive than fame, praise and +immortality?" + +(Diary, 1816-17. After Pliny, Epist. III.) + +269. "Frequently it seems as if I should almost go mad over my +undeserved fame; fortune seeks me out and I almost fear new +misfortune on that account." + +(July, 1810, to his friend Zmeskall. "Every day there come new +inquiries from strangers, new acquaintances new relationships.") + +270. "The world must give one recognition,--it is not always +unjust. I care nothing for it because I have a higher goal." + +(August 15, 1812, to Bettina von Arnim.) + +271. "I have the more turned my gaze upwards; but for our own +sakes and for others we are obliged to turn our attention +sometimes to lower things; this, too, is a part of human destiny." + +(February 8, 1823, to Zelter, with whom he is negotiating the sale +of a copy of the Mass in D.) + +272. "Why so many dishes? Man is certainly very little higher than +the other animals if his chief delights are those of the table." + +(Reported by J. A. Stumpff, in the "Harmonicon" of 1824. He dined +with Beethoven in Baden.) + +273. "Whoever tells a lie is not pure of heart, and such a person +can not cook a clean soup." + +(To Mme. Streicher, in 1817, or 1818, after having dismissed an +otherwise good housekeeper because she had told a falsehood to +spare his feelings.) + +274. "Vice walks through paths full of present lusts and persuades +many to follow it. Virtue pursues a steep path and is less +seductive to mankind, especially if at another place there are +persons who call them to a gently declining road." + +(Diary, 1815.) + +275. "Sensual enjoyment without a union of soul is bestial and +will always remain bestial." + +(Diary, 1812-18.) + +276. "Men are not only together when they are with each other; +even the distant and the dead live with us." + +(To Therese Malfatti, later Baroness von Drossdick, to whom in the +country he sent Goethe's "Wilhelm Meister" and Schlegel's +translation of Shakespeare.) + +277. "There is no goodness except the possession of a good soul, +which may be seen in all things, from which one need not seek to +hide." + +(August 15, 1812, to Bettina von Arnim.) + +278. "The foundation of friendship demands the greatest likeness +of human souls and hearts." + +(Baden, July 24, 1804, to Ries, describing his quarrel with +Breuning.) + +279. "True friendship can rest only on the union of like natures." + +(Diary, 1812-18.) + +280. "The people say nothing; they are merely people. As a rule +they only see themselves in others, and what they see is nothing; +away with them! The good and the beautiful needs no people,--it +exists without outward help, and this seems to be the reason of +our enduring friendship." + +(September 16, 1812, to Amalie Sebald, in Teplitz, who had +playfully called him a tyrant.) + +281. "Look, my dear Ries; these are the great connoisseurs who +affect to be able to judge of any piece of music so correctly and +keenly. Give them but the name of their favorite,--they need no +more!" + +(To his pupil Ries, who had, as a joke, played a mediocre march at +a gathering at Count Browne's and announced it to be a composition +by Beethoven. When the march was praised beyond measure Beethoven +broke out into a grim laugh.) + +282. "Do not let all men see the contempt which they deserve; we +do not know when we may need them." + +(Note in the Diary of 1814, after having had an unpleasant +experience with his "friend" Bertolini. "Henceforth never step +inside his house; shame on you to ask anything from such an one.") + +283. "Our Time stands in need of powerful minds who will scourge +these petty, malicious and miserable scoundrels,--much as my +heart resents doing injury to a fellow man." + +(In 1825, to his nephew, in reference to the publication of a +satirical canon on the Viennese publisher, Haslinger, by Schott, +of Mayence.) + +284. "Today is Sunday. Shall I read something for you from the +Gospels? 'Love ye one another!'" + +(To Frau Streicher.) + +285. "Hate reacts on those who nourish it." + +(Diary, 1812-18.) + +286. "When friends get into a quarrel it is always best not to +call in an intermediary, but to have friend turn to friend +direct." + +(Vienna, November 2, 1793, to Eleonore von Breuning, of Bonn.) + +287. "There are reasons for the conduct of men which one is not +always willing to explain, but which, nevertheless, are based on +ineradicable necessity." + +(In 1815, to Brauchle.) + +288. "I was formerly inconsiderate and hasty in the expression of +my opinions, and thereby I made enemies. Now I pass judgment on +no one, and, indeed, for the reason that I do not wish to do any +one harm. Moreover, in the last instance I always think: if it is +something decent it will maintain itself in spite of all attack +and envy; if there is nothing good and sound at the bottom of it, +it will fall to pieces of itself, bolster it up as one may." + +(In a conversation with Tomaschek, in October, 1814.) + +289. "Even the most sacred friendship may harbor secrets, but you +ought not to misinterpret the secret of a friend because you can +not guess it." + +(About 1808, to Frau Marie Bigot.) + +290. "You are happy; it is my wish that you remain so, for every +man is best placed in his sphere." + +(Bonn, July 13, 1825, to his brother Johann, landowner in +Gneisendorf.) + +291. "One must not measure the cost of the useful." + +(To his nephew Karl in a discussion touching the purchase of an +expensive book.) + +292. "It is not my custom to prattle away my purposes, since +every intention once betrayed is no longer one's own." + +(To Frau Streicher.) + +293. "How stupidity and wretchedness always go in pairs!" + +(Diary, 1817.) + +[Beethoven was greatly vexed by his servants.] + +294. "Hope nourishes me; it nourishes half the world, and has been +my neighbor all my life, else what had become of me!" + +(August 11, 1810, to Bettina von Arnim.) + +295. "Fortune is round like a globe, hence, naturally, does not +always fall on the noblest and best." + +(Vienna, July 29, 1800, to Wegeler.) + +296. "Show your power, Fate! We are not our own masters; what is +decided must be,--and so be it!" + +(Diary, 1818.) + +297. "Eternal Providence omnisciently directs the good and evil +fortunes of mortal men." + +(Diary, 1818.) + +298. "With tranquility, O God, will I submit myself to changes, +and place all my trust in Thy unalterable mercy and goodness." + +(Diary, 1818.) + +299. "All misfortune is mysterious and greatest when viewed alone; +discussed with others it seems more endurable because one becomes +entirely familiar with the things one dreads, and feels as if one +had overcome it." + +(Diary, 1816.) + +300. "One must not flee for protection to poverty against the loss +of riches, nor to a lack of friendship against the loss of +friends, nor by abstention from procreation against the death of +children, but to reason against everything." + +(Diary, 1816.) + +301. "I share deeply with you the righteous sorrow over the death +of your wife. It seems to me that such a parting, which confronts +nearly every married man, ought to keep one in the ranks of the +unmarried." + +(May 20, 1811, to Gottfried Hartel, of Leipzig.) + +302. "He who is afflicted with a malady which he can not alter, +but which gradually brings him nearer and nearer to death, +without which he would have lived longer, ought to reflect that +murder or another cause might have killed him even more quickly." + +(Diary, 1812-18.) + +303. "We finite ones with infinite souls are born only for sorrows +and joy and it might almost be said that the best of us receive +joy through sorrow." + +(October 19, 1815, to Countess Erdody.) + +304. "He is a base man who does not know how to die; I knew it as +a boy of fifteen." + +(In the spring of 1816, to Miss Fanny Giannatasio del Rio, when +Beethoven felt ill and spoke of dying. It is not known that he +was ever near death in his youth.) + +305. "A second and third generation recompenses me three and +fourfold for the ill-will which I had to endure from my former +contemporaries." + +(Copied into his Diary from Goethe's "West-ostlicher Divan.") + +306. "My hour at last is come; + Yet not ingloriously or passively + I die, but first will do some valiant deed, + Of which mankind shall hear in after + time."--Homer. + +("The Iliad" [Bryant's translation], Book XXII, 375-378.) + +(Copied into his Diary, 1815.) + +307. "Fate gave man the courage of endurance." + +(Diary, 1814.) + +308. "Portia--How far that little candle throws his beams! + So shines a good deed in a naughty world." + +(Marked in his copy of Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice.") + +309. "And on the day that one becomes a + slave, + The Thunderer, Jove, takes half his + worth away."--Homer. + +("The Odyssey" [Bryant's translation], Book XVII, 392-393. +Marked by Beethoven.) + +310. "Short is the life of man, and whoso + bears + A cruel heart, devising cruel things, + On him men call down evil from the + gods + While living, and pursue him, when he + dies, + With scoffs. But whoso is of generous + heart + And harbors generous aims, his guests + proclaim + His praises far and wide to all + mankind, + And numberless are they who call him + good."--Homer. + +("The Odyssey" [Bryant's translation], Book XIX, 408-415. Copied +into his diary, 1818.) + + + +GOD + + + +Beethoven was through and through a religious man, though not in +the confessional sense. Reared in the Catholic faith he early +attained to an independent opinion on religious things. It must +be borne in mind that his youth fell in the period of +enlightenment and rationalism. When at a later date he composed +the grand Mass in honor of his esteemed pupil Archduke Rudolph,-- +he hoped to obtain from him a chapelmastership when the Archduke +became Archbishop of Olmutz, but in vain,--he gave it forms and +dimensions which deviated from the ritual. + +In all things liberty was the fundamental principle of +Beethoven's life. His favorite book was Sturm's "Observations +Concerning God's Works in Nature" (Betrachtungen uber die Werke +Gottes in der Natur), which he recommended to the priests for +wide distribution among the people. He saw the hand of God in +even the most insignificant natural phenomenon. God was to him +the Supreme Being whom he had jubilantly hymned in the choral +portion of the Ninth Symphony in the words of Schiller: +"Brothers, beyond you starry canopy there must dwell a loving +Father!" Beethoven's relationship to God was that of a child +toward his loving father to whom he confides all his joys as well +as sorrows. + +It is said that once he narrowly escaped excommunication for +having said that Jesus was only a poor human being and a Jew. +Haydn, ingenuously pious, is reported to have called Beethoven +an atheist. + +He consented to the calling in of a priest on his death-bed. Eye- +witnesses testify that the customary function was performed most +impressively and edifyingly and that Beethoven expressed his +thanks to the officiating priest with heartiness. After he had +left the room Beethoven said to his friends: "Plaudite, amici, +comoedia finita est," the phrase with which antique dramas were +concluded. From this fact the statement has been made that +Beethoven wished to characterize the sacrament of extreme unction +as a comedy. This is contradicted, however, by his conduct during +its administration. It is more probable that he wished to +designate his life as a drama; in this sense, at any rate, the +words were accepted by his friends. Schindler says emphatically: +"The last days were in all respects remarkable, and he looked +forward to death with truly Socratic wisdom and peace of mind." + +[I append a description of the death scene as I found it in the +notebooks of A. W. Thayer which were placed in my hands for +examination after the death of Beethoven's greatest biographer in +1897: + +"June 5, 1860, I was in Graz and saw Huttenbrenner (Anselm) who +gave me the following particulars:...In the winter of 1826-27 +his friends wrote him from Vienna, that if he wished to see +Beethoven again alive he must hurry thither from Graz. He hastened +to Vienna, arriving a few days before Beethoven's death. Early in +the afternoon of March 26, Huttenbrenner went into the dying +man's room. He mentioned as persons whom he saw there, Stephen v. +Breuning and Gerhard, Schindler, Telscher and Carl's mother (this +seems to be a mistake, i.e. if Mrs. v. Beethoven is right). +Beethoven had then long been senseless. Telscher began drawing the +dying face of Beethoven. This grated on Breuning's feelings, and +he remonstrated with him, and he put up his papers and left (?). + +Then Breuning and Schindler left to go out to Wohring to select a +grave. (Just after the five--I got this from Breuning himself-- +when it grew dark with the sudden storm Gerhard, who had been +standing at the window, ran home to his teacher.) + +Afterward Gerhard v. B. went home, and there remained in the room +only Huttenbrenner and Mrs. van Beethoven. The storm passed over, +covering the Glacis with snow and sleet. As it passed away a flash +of lightning lighted up everything. This was followed by an awful +clap of thunder. Huttenbrenner had been sitting on the side of the +bed sustaining Beethoven's head--holding it up with his right arm +His breathing was already very much impeded, and he had been for +hours dying. At this startling, awful peal of thunder, the dying +man suddenly raised his head from Huttenbrenner's arm, stretched +out his own right arm majestically--like a general giving orders +to an army. This was but for an instant; the arm sunk back; he +fell back. Beethoven was dead. + +"Another talk with Huttenbrenner. It seems that Beethoven was at +his last gasp, one eye already closed. At the stroke of lightning +and the thunder peal he raised his arm with a doubled-up fist; the +expression of his eyes and face was that of one defying death,--a +look of defiance and power of resistance. + +"He must have had his arm under the pillow. I must ask him. + +"I did ask him; he had his arm around B.'s neck." H. E. K.] + + + +311. "I am that which is. I am all that was, that is, and that +shall be. No mortal man has ever lifted the veil of me. He is +solely of himself, and to this Only One all things owe their +existence." + +(Beethoven's creed. He had found it in Champollion's "The +Paintings of Egypt," where it is set down as an inscription on a +temple to the goddess Neith. Beethoven had his copy framed and +kept it constantly before him on his writing desk. "The relic was +a great treasure in his eyes"--Schindler.) + +312. "Wrapped in the shadows of eternal solitude, in the +impenetrable darkness of the thicket, impenetrable, immeasurable, +unapproachable, formlessly extended. Before spirit was breathed +(into things) his spirit was, and his only. As mortal eyes (to +compare finite and infinite things) look into a shining mirror." + +(Copied, evidently, from an unidentified work, by Beethoven; +though possibly original with him.) + +313. "It was not the fortuitous meeting of the chordal atoms that +made the world; if order and beauty are reflected in the +constitution of the universe, then there is a God." + +(Diary, 1816.) + +314. "He who is above,--O, He is, and without Him there is +nothing." + +(Diary.) + +315. "Go to the devil with your 'gracious Sir!' There is only one +who can be called gracious, and that is God." + +(About 1824 or 1825, to Rampel, a copyist, who, apparently, had +been a little too obsequious in his address to Beethoven. [As is +customary among the Viennese to this day. H. E. K.]) + +316. "What is all this compared with the great Tonemaster above! +above! above! and righteously the Most High, whereas here below +all is mockery,--dwarfs,--and yet Most High!!" + +(To Schott, publisher in Mayence, in 1822--the same year in which +Beethoven copied the Egyptian inscription.) + +317. "There is no loftier mission than to approach the Divinity +nearer than other men, and to disseminate the divine rays among +mankind." + +(August, 1823, to Archduke Rudolph.) + +318. "Heaven rules over the destiny of men and monsters +(literally, human and inhuman beings), and so it will guide me, +too, to the better things of life." + +(September 11, 1811, to the poet Elsie von der Recke.) + +319. "It's the same with humanity; here, too (in suffering), he +must show his strength, i.e. endure without knowing or feeling his +nullity, and reach his perfection again for which the Most High +wishes to make us worthy." + +(May 13, 1816, to Countess Erdody, who was suffering from +incurable lameness.) + +320. "Religion and thorough-bass are settled things concerning +which there should be no disputing." + +(Reported by Schindler.) + +331. "All things flowed clear and pure out of God. Though often +darkly led to evil by passion, I returned, through penance and +purification to the pure fountain,--to God,--and to your art. In +this I was never impelled by selfishness; may it always be so. +The trees bend low under the weight of fruit, the clouds descend +when they are filled with salutary rains, and the benefactors of +humanity are not puffed up by their wealth." + +(Diary, 1815. The first portion seems to be a quotation, but +Beethoven continues after the dash most characteristically in +his own words and a change of person.) + +322. "God is immaterial, and for this reason transcends every +conception. Since He is invisible He can have no form. But from +what we observe in His work we may conclude that He is eternal, +omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent." + +(Copied, with the remark: "From Indian literature" from an +unidentified work, into the Diary of 1816.) + +323. "In praise of Thy goodness I must confess that Thou didst try +with all Thy means to draw me to Thee. Sometimes it pleased Thee +to let me feel the heavy hand of Thy displeasure and to humiliate +my proud heart by manifold castigations. Sickness and misfortune +didst Thou send upon me to turn my thoughts to my errantries.--One +thing, only, O Father, do I ask: cease not to labor for my +betterment. In whatsoever manner it be, let me turn to Thee and +become fruitful in good works." + +(Copied into the Diary from Sturm's book, "Observations Concerning +the Works of God in Nature.") + + + +APPENDIX + + + +Some observations may finally be acceptable touching Beethoven's +general culture to which the thoughts of the reader must naturally +have been directed by the excerpts from his writings set forth in +the preceding pages. His own words betray the fact that he was not +privileged to enjoy a thorough school-training and was thus +compelled to the end of his days to make good the deficiencies in +his learning. As a lad at Bonn he had attended the so-called +Tirocinium, a sort of preparatory school for the Gymnasium, and +acquired a small knowledge of Latin. Later he made great efforts +to acquire French, a language essential to intercourse in the +upper circles of society. He never established intimate relations +with the rules of German. He used small initials for substantives, +or capitalized verbs and adjectives according as they appeared +important to him. His punctuation was arbitrary; generally he drew +a perpendicular line between his words, letting it suffice for a +comma or period as the case might be (a proceeding which adds not +a little to the embarrassments of him who seeks to translate his +sometimes mystical utterances). + +It is said that a man's bookcase bears evidence of his education +and intellectual interests. Beethoven also had books,--not many, +but a characteristic collection. From his faithful friend and +voluntary servant Schindler we have a report on this subject. Of +the books of which he was possessed at the time of his death there +have been preserved four volumes of translations of Shakespeare's +works, Homer's "Odyssey" in the translation of J. H. Voss, Sturm's +"Observations" (several times referred to in the preceding pages), +and Goethe's "West-ostlicher Divan." These books are frequently +marked and annotated in lead pencil, thus bearing witness to the +subjects which interested Beethoven. From them, and volumes which +he had borrowed, many passages were copied by him into his daily +journal. Besides these books Schindler mentions Homer's "Iliad," +Goethe's poems, "Wilhelm Melster" and "Faust," Schiller's dramas +and poems, Tiedge's "Urania," volumes of poems by Matthisson and +Seume, and Nina d'Aubigny's "Letters to Natalia on Singing,"--a +book to which Beethoven attached great value. These books have +disappeared, as well as others which Beethoven valued. We do not +know what became of the volumes of Plato, Aristotle, Plutarch and +Xenophon, or the writings of Pliny, Euripides, Quintilian, Ovid, +Horace, Ossian, Milton and Thomson, traces of which are found in +Beethoven's utterances. + +The catalogue made for the auction sale of his posthumous effects +on September 7, 1827, included forty-four works of which the +censorship seized five as prohibited writings, namely, Seume's +"Foot Journey to Syracuse," the Apocrypha, Kotzebue's "On the +Nobility," W.E. Muller's "Paris in its Zenith" (1816), and "Views +on Religion and Ecclesiasticism." Burney's "General History of +Music" was also in his library, the gift, probably of an English +admirer. + +In his later years Beethoven was obliged to use the oft-quoted +"conversation-books" in his intercourse with friends and +strangers alike who wrote down their questions. Of these little +books Schindler preserved no less than 134, which are now in the +Royal Library in Berlin. Naturally Beethoven answered the written +questions orally as a rule. An idea of Beethoven's opinions can +occasionally be gathered from the context of the questions, but +frequently we are left in the dark. + +Beethoven's own characterization of his deafness as "singular" is +significant. Often, even in his later years, he was able to hear a +little and for a time. One might almost speak of a periodical +visitation of the "demon." In his biography Marx gives the +following description of the malady: "As early as 1816 it is found +that he is incapable of conducting his own works; in 1824 he could +not hear the storm of applause from a great audience; but in 1822 +he still improvises marvelously in social circles; in 1826 he +studies their parts in the Ninth Symphony and Solemn Mass with +Sontag and Ungher, and in 1825 he listens critically to a +performance of the quartet in A-minor, op. 132." + +It is to be assumed that in such urgent cases his willpower +temporarily gave new tension to the gradually atrophying aural +nerves (it is said that he was still able to hear single or a few +voices with his left ear but could not apprehend masses), but +this was not the case in less important moments, as the +conversation-books prove. In these books a few answers are also +written down, naturally enough in cases not intended for the +ears of strangers. At various times Beethoven kept a diary in +which he entered his most intimate thoughts, especially those +designed for his own encouragement. Many of these appear in the +preceding pages. In these instances more than in any others his +expressions are obscure, detached and, through indifference, +faulty in construction. For the greater part they are remarks +thrown upon the paper in great haste. + + + END OF THIS EDITION + + ******************************** + + +INFO ABOUT THIS E-TEXT EDITION + +This edition of "Beethoven: the Man and the Artist, as Revealed in +his own Words," was translated into English and published in 1905 +by B.W. Hubsch. It was also republished unabridged by Dover +Publications, Inc., in a 1964 edition, ISBN 0-486-21261-0. + +This electronic text was prepared by John Mamoun with help from +numerous other proofreaders, including those associated with +Charles Franks' Distributed Proofreaders website. Special thanks +to S. Morrison and R. Zimmerman for proofing, and to Andrew Sly for +key finishing touches. This e-text is public domain, freely +copyable and distributable for any non-commercial purpose, and may +be included without royalty or permission on a mass media storage +product, such as a cd-rom, that contains at least 50 public domain +electronic texts, whether offered for non-commercial or commercial +purposes. Any other commercial usage requires permission. The +biographical sketch was prepared for this e-text and is also not +copyright and public domain. + +Use of the Project Gutenberg Trademark requires separate permission. + + + + + +End of +***Project Gutenberg Etext Beethoven: the Man and the Artist*** +******as Revealed in his own Words by Ludwig van Beethoven***** +edited by Friedrich Kerst and Henry Edward Krehbiel + diff --git a/old/lvbma11.zip b/old/lvbma11.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..58bdc8d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/lvbma11.zip |