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diff --git a/3528-h/3528-h.htm b/3528-h/3528-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cb3adb0 --- /dev/null +++ b/3528-h/3528-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,4448 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + Beethoven: the Man and The Artist, by Ludwig Van Beethoven + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +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 + +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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