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BEETHOVEN 
 
BEETHOVEN 
 
 THE MAN AND THE AETIST, AS 
 EEYEALED IN HIS OWN WOEDS 
 
 COMPILED AND ANNOTATED BY 
 
 FRIEDRICH KERST 
 
 TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH, AND EDITED, 
 WITH ADDITIONAL NOTES, BY 
 
 HENRY EDWARD KREHBIEL 
 
 V - 
 
 AUTHORIZED EDITION 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 B. W. HUEBSCH 
 
 1905 
 
Copyright 1905 by 
 B. W. HUEBSCH 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Preface 7 
 
 • Concernino Art ■ IX 
 
 Love op Nature IS 
 
 Concerning Texts 19 
 
 On Composing 23 
 
 On Performing Music 33 
 
 ■ On His Own Works 41 
 
 • On Art and Artists 49 
 
 'Beethoven as Critic S3 
 
 On Education 63 
 
 • On His Own Disposition and Character . . .67 
 
 The Sufferer 81 
 
 Worldly Wisdom 89 
 
 God 101 
 
 Appendix 107 
 
 5 
 
PREFACE 
 
 This little book came into existence as if it 
 were by chance. The author had devoted him- 
 self for a long time to the study of Beethoven 
 and carefully scrutinized all manner of books, 
 publications, manuscripts, etc., in order to de- 
 rive 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 ad- 
 mirers because hidden away, like concealed vio- 
 lets, in books which have been long out of print 
 and for whose reproduction there is no urgent 
 call. These observations are of the utmost im- 
 portance for the understanding of Beethoven 
 in whom man and artist are inseparably united. 
 Within the pages of this little book are in- 
 cluded 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 ad- 
 7 
 
8 Preface 
 
 vice of professional friends) the remarks intro- 
 ductory 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 biog- 
 raphy by Marx, as revised by Behncke. In sift- 
 ing the material it was found that it fell natu- 
 rally into thirteen subdivisions. In arranging 
 the succession of utterances care was had to 
 group related subjects. By this means unneces- 
 sary interruptions in the train of thought were 
 avoided and interesting comparisons made pos- 
 sible. To this end it was important that time, 
 place and circumstances of every word should 
 be conscientiously set down. 
 
 Concerning the selection of material let it be 
 said that in all cases of doubt the authenticity 
 of every utterance was proved; Beethoven is 
 easily recognizable in the form and contents of 
 his sayings. Attention must be directed to two 
 matters in particular: after considerable reflec- 
 tion the compiler decided to include in the col- 
 lection 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 admi- 
 
Preface 9 
 
 rable 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 pecu- 
 liarities of which differentiate them from the en- 
 tire 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 for- 
 gery, " 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 genuine- 
 ness of a poem by Beethoven to Bettina is in- 
 dubitable ; it will be found in the chapter entitled 
 " Concerning Texts." Doubt was thrown on 
 the letters immediately on their appearance in 
 1839. Bettina could have dissipated all suspi- 
 cion had she produced the originals; she re- 
 mained 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 
 
10 Preface 
 
 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 oif, Beethoven cried out, " Did 
 I really say that? If so I must have had a 
 raptus." 
 
 In conclusion the compiler directs attention to 
 the fact that in a few cases utterances which 
 have been transmitted to us only in an indirect 
 form have been altered to present them in a di- 
 rect form, inasmuch as their contents seemed too 
 valuable to omit simply because their produc- 
 tion involved a trifling change in form. 
 
 Elberfeld, October, 1904. Fr. K. 
 
CONCERNING ART 
 
 Beethoven's relation to art might almost be 
 described as personal. Art was his goddess to 
 whom he made petition, to whom he rendered 
 thanks, whom he defended. He praised her as 
 his savior in times of despair; by his own con- 
 fession 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 on- 
 slaughts on mere virtuosity and all efforts from 
 influential sources to utilize art for other than 
 purely artistic purposes. And his art rewarded 
 his devotion richly ; she made his sorrowful life 
 worth living with gifts of purest joy. 
 
 [" To Beethoven music was not only a manifestation 
 of the beautiful, an art, it was akin to religion. He felt 
 himself to be a prophet, a seer. All the misanthropy en- 
 gendered by his unhappy relations with mankind, could 
 not shake his devotion to this ideal which had sprung 
 
 11 
 
12 Beethoven 
 
 from truest artistic apprehension and been nurtured by 
 enforced introspection and philosophic reflection." " Mu- 
 sic and Manners," page 237. H. E. K.] 
 
 1. 'Tis said, that art is long, and life but 
 
 fleeting : — 
 Nay; life is long, and brief the span 
 of art; 
 If e'er her breath vouchsafes with gods a 
 meeting, 
 A moment's favor 'tis of which we've 
 had a part. 
 Conversation book, March, 1820. Probably a quotation. 
 
 2. The world is a king, and, like a king, de- 
 sires flattery in return for favor; but true art 
 is selfish and perverse — it will not submit to the 
 mould of flattery. 
 
 Conversation book, March, 1820. When Baron von 
 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 conces- 
 sions to the taste of the masses. 
 
 3. Continue to translate yourself to the 
 heaven of art ; there is no more undisturbed, un- 
 mixed, purer happiness than may thus be at- 
 tained. 
 
 August 19, 1817, to Xaver Schnyder,who vainly sought 
 instruction from Beethoven in 1811, though he was pleas- 
 antly received. 
 
 4. Go on ; do not practise art alone but pene- 
 trate to her heart; she deserves it, for art and 
 science only can raise man to godhood. 
 
Concerning Art 13 
 
 Teplitz, July 17, 1812, to his ten years' old admirer, 
 Emilie M. in H. 
 
 5. True art is imperishable and the true artist 
 
 finds profound delight in grand productions of 
 
 genius. 
 
 March IS, 1823, to Cherubini, to whom he also wrote: 
 " I prize your works more than all others written for the 
 stage." The letter asks Cherubini to interest himself in 
 obtaining a subscription from King Louis XVIII for the 
 Solemn Mass in D. [Cherubini declared that he had, 
 never received the letter. That it was not only the hope 
 of obtaining a, favor which prompted Beethoven to ex- 
 press so high an admiration for Cherubini, is plain from 
 a remark made by the English musician Cipriani Potter 
 to A. W. Thayer in 1861. I found it in Thayer's note- 
 books which were placed in my hands for examination 
 after his death. One day Potter asked, "Who is the 
 greatest living composer, yourself excepted? " Beethoven 
 seemed puzzled for a moment, and then exclaimed, 
 " Cherubini." H. E. K.] 
 
 6. Truth exists for the wise; beauty for the 
 
 susceptible heart. They belong together — are 
 
 complementary. 
 
 Written in the autograph book of his friend, Lenz von 
 Breuning, in 1797. 
 
 7. When I open my eyes, a sigh involuntarily 
 
 escapes me, for all that I see runs counter to 
 
 my religion ; perforce I despise the world which 
 
 does not intuitively feel that music is a higher 
 
 revelation than all wisdom and philosophy. 
 
 Remark made to Bettina von Arnim, in 1810, concern- 
 ing Vienna society. Report in a letter by Bettina to 
 Goethe on May 28, 1810. 
 
 8. Art ! Who comprehends her ? With whom 
 can one consult concerning this great goddess? 
 
 August 11, 1810, to Bettina von Arnim. 
 
14 Beethoven 
 
 9. In the country I know no lovelier delight 
 
 than quartet music. 
 
 To Archduke Rudolph, in a letter addressed to Baden 
 on July 24, 1813. 
 
 10. Nothing but art, cut to form like old old- 
 fashioned hoop-skirts. I never feel entirely well 
 except when I am among scenes of unspoiled 
 nature. 
 
 September 24, 1826, to Breuning, while promenading 
 with Breuning's family in the Schonbrunner Garden, 
 after calling attention to the alleys of trees " trimmed 
 like walls, in the French manner." 
 
 11. Nature knows no quiescence; and true 
 art walks with her hand in hand; her sister, 
 from whom heaven forefend us! is called arti- 
 ficiality. 
 
 From notes in the lesson book of Archduke Rudolph, 
 following some remarks on the expansion of the expres- 
 sive capacity of music. 
 
LOVE OF NATURE 
 
 Beethoven was a true son of the Rhine in his 
 love for nature. As a boy he had taken ex- 
 tended 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 
 marvellous motives and themes; brook, birds 
 and tree sang to him. In a few special cases he 
 has himself recorded the fact. 
 
 But when he was excluded more and more 
 from communion with his fellow men because of 
 his increasing deafness, until, finally, he could 
 communicate only by writing with others (hence 
 the Conversation-books, which will be cited often 
 in this little volume), he fled for refuge to na- 
 ture. 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 moun- 
 tain-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 
 15 
 
16 Beethoven 
 
 neighborhood. To call a retired and reposeful 
 little spot his own is his burning desire. 
 
 12. On the Kahlenberg, 1812, end of Sep- 
 tember. 
 
 Almighty One O God! 
 
 In the woods What glory in the 
 
 I am blessed. Woodland. 
 
 Happy every one On the Heights 
 
 In the woods. is Peace, — 
 
 Every tree speaks Peace to serve 
 
 Through Thee. Him— 
 
 This poetic exclamation, accompanied by a few notes, 
 is on a page of music paper owned by Joseph Joachim. 
 
 13. How happy I am to be able to wander 
 among bushes and herbs, under trees and over 
 rocks; no man can love the country as I love 
 it. Woods, trees and rocks send back the echo 
 that man desires. 
 
 To Baroness von Drossdick. 
 
 14. O God! send your glance into beautiful 
 
 nature and comfort your moody thoughts 
 
 touching that which must be. 
 
 To the " Immortal Beloved," July 6, in the morning. 
 [Thayer has spoiled the story so long believed, and still 
 spooking in the books of careless writers, that the " Im- 
 mortal 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. 
 
Love of Nature 17 
 
 v 15. My miserable hearing does not trouble 
 me here. In the country it. seems as if every 
 tree said to me: "Holy! lioly!" — Who can give 
 complete expression to the e%tasy of the woods ! 
 O, the sweet stillness of the woods ! 
 
 July, 1814; he had gone to Baden after the benefit 
 performance of " Fidelio." 
 
 16. My fatherland, the beautiful locality in 
 which I saw the light of the world, appears be- 
 fore me vividly and just as beautiful as when I 
 left you ; I shall count it the happiest experience 
 of my life when I shall again be able to see you, 
 and. greet our Father Rhine. 
 
 Vienna, June 29, to Wegeler, in Bonn. In 1825 Bee- 
 thoven 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 coun- 
 try which I so long to see again." 
 
 17. Briihl, at " The Lamb "—how lovely to 
 see my native country again ! 
 
 Diary, 1812-1818. 
 
 18. A little house here, so small as to yield 
 
 one's self a little room, — only a few days in this 
 
 divine Bruhl, — longing or desire, emancipation 
 
 or fulfillment. 
 
 Written in 1816 in Briihl near Modling among the 
 sketches for the Scherzo of the pianoforte sonata op. 106. 
 [Like many another ejaculatory remark of Beethoven's 
 difficult to understand. See Appendix. H. E. K.] 
 
 19. When you reach the old ruins, think that 
 Beethoven o'ften paused there; if you wander 
 through the mysterious fir forests, think that 
 
18 Beethoven 
 
 Beethoven often poetized, or, as is said, com- 
 posed there. 
 
 In the fall of 1817, to Mme. Streicher, who was at a 
 cure in Baden. 
 
 20. Nature is a glorious school for the heart ! 
 'Tis 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 knowl- 
 edge. Among these occupations my earthly 
 days shall flow peacefully along until I am ac- 
 cepted into that world where I shall no longer 
 be a student, but a knower of wisdom. 
 
 Copied into his diary, in 1818, from Sturm's " Be- 
 trachtungen iiber die Werke Gottes in der Natur." 
 
 21. Soon autumn will be here. Then I wish 
 to be like unto a fruitful tree which pours rich 
 stores of fruit into our laps ! But in the winter 
 of existence, when I shall be gray and sated 
 with life, I desire for myself the good fortune 
 that my repose be as honorable and beneficent 
 as the repose of nature in the winter time. 
 
 Copied from the same work of Sturm's. 
 
t 
 
 CONCERNING TEXTS 
 
 Not even a Beethoven was spared the torment- 
 ing 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 feel- 
 ings than music. Nevertheless it may be ob- 
 served 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 Korner. The conclu- 
 sion of his creative labors was to be a setting of 
 Goethe's " Faust ; " except " Fidelio," however, 
 he gave us no opera. His songs are not many 
 although he sought carefully for appropriate 
 texts. Unhappily the gift of poetry was not 
 vouchsafed him. 
 
 22. Always the same old story: the Germans 
 can not put together a good libretto. 
 
 To C. M. von Weber, concerning the book of " Eury- 
 19 
 
20 Beethoven 
 
 anthe," at Baden, in October, 1823. Mozart said: "Verses 
 are the most indispensable thing for music, but rhymes, 
 for the sake of rhymes, the most injurious. Those who 
 go to work so pedantically will assuredly come to grief, 
 along with the music." 
 
 23. It is difficult to find a good poem. Grill- 
 parzer has promised to write one for me, — in- 
 deed, he has already written one; but we can 
 not understand each other. I want something 
 entirely different than he. 
 
 In the spring of 1825, to Ludwig Rellstab, who was 
 intending to write an opera-book for Beethoven. It may 
 not be amiss to recall the fact that Mozart examined over 
 one hundred librettos, according to his own statement, 
 before he decided to compose " The Marriage of Figaro." 
 
 24. It is the duty of every composer to be 
 familiar with all poets, old and new, and himself 
 choose the best and most fitting for his purposes. 
 
 In a recommendation of Kandler's "Anthology." 
 
 25. The genre would give me little concern 
 provided the subject were attractive to me. It 
 must be such that I can go to work on it with 
 love and ardor. I could not compose operas like 
 " Don Juan " and " Figaro ; " toward them I 
 feel too great a repugnance. I could never have 
 chosen such subjects ; they are too frivolous. 
 
 In the spring of 1825, to Ludwig Rellstab. 
 
 26. I need a text which stimulates me; it 
 must be something moral, uplifting. Texts such 
 as Mozart composed I should never have been 
 able to set to music. I could never have got 
 myself into a mood for licentious texts. I have 
 
Concerning Texts 21 
 
 received many librettos, but, as I have said, 
 none that met my wishes. 
 To young Gerhard von Breuning. 
 
 27. I know the text is extremely bad, but 
 after one has conceived an entity out of even 
 a bad text, it is difficult to make changes in de- 
 tails without disturbing the unity!. If it is a 
 single word, on which occasionally great weight 
 is laid, it must be permitted to stand. He is a 
 bad author who can not, or will not try to make 
 something as good as possible ; if this is not the 
 case petty changes will certainly not improve 
 the whole. 
 
 Teplitz, August 23, 1811, to Hartel, the publisher, who 
 wanted some changes made in the book of "The Mount 
 of Olives." 
 
 28. Good heavens ! Do they think in Saxony 
 that the words make good music? If an inap- 
 propriate 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 common- 
 place — dixl. 
 
 January 28, to Gottfried Hartel, who had undertaken 
 to make changes in the book of " The Mount of Olives " 
 despite the prohibition of Beethoven. 
 
 29. Goethe's poems exert a great power over 
 me not only because of their contents but also 
 because of their rhythms; I am stimulated to 
 compose by this language, which builds itself up 
 
22 Beethoven 
 
 to higher orders as if through spiritual agencies, 
 
 and bears in itself the secret of harmonies. 
 
 Reported as an expression of Beethoven's by Bettina 
 von Arnim to Goethe. 
 
 30. Schiller's poems are difficult to set to 
 
 music. The composer must be able to rise far 
 
 above the poet. Who can do that in the case 
 
 of Schiller? In this respect Goethe is much 
 
 easier. 
 
 1809, after Beethoven had made his experiences with 
 the " Hymn to Joy " and " Egmont." 
 
ON COMPOSING 
 
 Wiseacres not infrequently accused Beethoven 
 of want of regularity in his compositions. In 
 various ways and at divers times he gave vigor- 
 ous utterance to his opinions of such pedantry. 
 He was not the most tractable of pupils, es- 
 pecially 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 de- 
 tested 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 irrepres- 
 sible impulse toward freedom is the most prom- 
 inent peculiarity of the man and artist Bee- 
 thoven; nearly all of his observations, no mat- 
 ter what their subject, radiate the word " Lib- 
 erty." In his remarks about composing there 
 is a complete exposition of his method of work._ 
 
 81". As regards me, great heavens! my do- 
 
24 Beethoven 
 
 minion is in the air; the tones whirl like the 
 wind, and often there is a like whirl in my soul. 
 February 13, 1814, to Count Brunswick, in Buda. 
 
 32. Then the loveliest themes slipped out of 
 your eyes into my heart, themes which shall only 
 then delight the world when Beethoven conducts 
 no longer. 
 
 August 15, 1812, to Bettina von Arnim. 
 
 33. I always have a picture in my mind when 
 
 composing, and follow its lines. 
 
 In 1815, to Neate, while promenading with him in 
 Baden and talking about the " Pastoral " symphony. 
 Ries relates: "While composing Beethoven frequently 
 thought of an object, although he often laughed at mu- 
 sical delineation and scolded about petty things of the 
 sort. In this respect ' The Creation ' and ' The Sea- 
 sons ' were many times a butt, though without deprecia- 
 tion of Haydn's loftier merits. Haydn's choruses and 
 other works were loudly praised by Beethoven." 
 
 34. The texts which you sent me are least of 
 all fitted for song. The description of a picture 
 belongs to the field of painting ; in this the poet 
 can count himself more fortunate than my muse 
 for his territory is not so restricted as mine in 
 this respect, though mine, on the other hand, ex- 
 tends into other regions, and my dominion is not 
 easily reached. 
 
 Nussdorf, July 15, 1817, to Wilhelm Gerhard, who 
 had sent him spme_Ana.creontic. sgngs_for composition. 
 
 35. Carried too far, all delineation in instru- 
 mental music loses in efficiency. 
 
 A remark in the sketches for the " Pastoral " sym- 
 phony, preserved in the Royal Library in Berlin. Mozart 
 
On Composing 25 
 
 said: "Even in the most terrifying moments music must 
 never offend the ear." 
 
 36. Yes, yes, then they are amazed and put 
 
 their heads together because they never found it 
 
 in any book on thorough bass. 
 
 To Ries when the critics accused him of making gram- 
 matical blunders in music. 
 
 37. No devil can compel me to write only 
 
 cadences of such a kind. 
 
 From notes written in his years of study. Beethoven 
 called the composition of fugues "the art of making 
 musical skeletons." 
 
 38. Good singing was my guide ; I strove to 
 
 write as flowingly as possible and trusted in my 
 
 ability to justify myself before the judgment- \ 
 
 seat of sound reason and pure taste. 
 
 From notes in the instruction book of Archduke Ru- 
 dolph. 
 
 39. Does he believe that I think of a wretched 
 
 fiddle when the spirit speaks to me? 
 
 To his friend, the admirable violinist Schuppanzigh, 
 when the latter complained of the difficulty of a passage 
 in one of his works. [Beethoven here addresses his 
 friend in the third person, which is the customary style 
 of address for the German nobility and others towards 
 inferiors in rank. H. E. K.] 
 
 40. The Scotch songs show how unconstrain- 
 
 edly irregular melodies can be treated with the 
 
 help of harmony. 
 
 Diary, 1812-1818. Since 1809 Beethoven had arranged 
 Folk-songs for Thomson of Edinburgh. 
 
 41. To write true church music, look through 
 the old monkish chorals, etc., also the most cor- 
 
26 Beethoven 
 
 rect translations of the periods, and perfect 
 prosody in the Catholic Psalms and hymns gen- 
 erally. 
 
 Diary, 1818. 
 
 42. Many assert that every minor piece must 
 end in the minor. Nego! On the contrary I 
 find that in the soft scales the major third at 
 the close has a glorious and uncommonly quiet- 
 ing effect. {Joy follows sorrow, sunshine — rain. 
 It affects me as if I were looking up to the 
 silvery glistering of the evening star. 
 
 - From Archduke Rudolph's book of instruction. 
 
 43. Rigorists, and devotees of antiquity, rel- 
 egate the perfect fourth to the list of disso- 
 nances. Tastes differ. To my ear it gives not 
 the least offence combined With other tones. 
 
 From Archduke Rudolph's book of instruction, com- 
 piled in 1809. 
 
 44. When the gentlemen can think of nothing 
 new, and can go no further, they quickly call 
 in a diminished seventh chord to help them out 
 of the predicament. 
 
 A remark made to Schindler. 
 
 45. My dear boy, the startling effects which 
 many credit to the natural genius of the com- 
 poser, are often achieved with the greatest ease 
 by the use and resolution of the diminished sev- 
 enth chords. 
 
 Reported by Karl Friederich Hirsch, a pupil of Bee- 
 thoven in the winter of 1816. He was a grandson of 
 Albrechtsberger who had given lessons to Beethoven, 
 
On Composing 27 
 
 46. In order to become a capable composer 
 
 one must have already learned harmony and 
 
 counterpoint at the age of from seven to eleven 
 
 years, so that when the fancy and emotions 
 
 awake one shall know what to do according to 
 
 the rules. 
 
 Reported by Schindler as having been put into the 
 mouth of Beethoven by a newspaper of Vienna. Schindler 
 says: "When Beethoven came to Vienna he knew no 
 counterpoint, and little harmony." 
 
 47. So far as mistakes are concerned it was 
 
 never necessary for me to learn thoroughrbass ; 
 
 my feelings were so sensitive from childhood 
 
 that I practised counterpoint without knowing 
 
 that it must be so or could be otherwise. 
 
 Note on a sheet containing directions for the use of 
 fourths in suspensions — probably intended for the in- 
 struction of Archduke Rudolph. 
 
 48. Continue, Your Royal Highness, to write 
 down briefly your occasional ideas while at the 
 pianoforte. For this a little table alongside the 
 pianoforte is necessary. By this means not only 
 is the fancy strengthened, but one learns to hold 
 fast in a moment the most remote conceptions. 
 It is also necessary to compose without the pi- 
 anoforte ; 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 con- 
 trary, feeling yourself thus in the midst of art, 
 a great pleasure. 
 
 July 1, 1823, to his pupjl Archduke Rudolph. 
 
28 Beethoven 
 
 49. The bad habit, which has clung to me 
 from childhood, of always writing down a musi- 
 cal thought which occurs to me, good or bad, 
 has often been harmful to me. 
 
 July 23, 1815, to Archduke Rudolph, while excusing 
 himself for not having visited H. R. H., on the ground 
 that he had been occupied in noting a musical idea which 
 had occurred to him. 
 
 50. As is my habit, the pianoforte part of the 
 concerto (op. 19) was not written out in the 
 score; I have just written it, wherefore, in order 
 to expedite matters, you receive it in my not too 
 legible handwriting. 
 
 April 22, 1801, to the publisher Hofmeister, in Leipsic. 
 
 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 simul- 
 taneously. 
 
 Vienna, June 29, 1800, to Wegeler, in Bonn. 
 
 52. I never write a work continuously, with- 
 out interruption. I am always working on sev- 
 eral at the same time, taking up one, then an- 
 other. 
 
 June 1, 1816, to Medical Inspector Dr. Karl von Bursy, 
 when the latter asked about an opera (the book by Berge, 
 sent to Beethoven by Amenda), which was never written. 
 
 53. I must accustom myself to think out at 
 once the whole, as soon as it shows itself, with 
 all the voices, in my head. 
 
 [Note in a sketch-book of 1810, containing studies for 
 
On Composing 29 
 
 the music to " Egmont " and the great Trio in B-flat, op. 
 97. H. E. K.] 
 
 54. I carry my thoughts about me for a long 
 time, often a very long time, before I write 
 them down; meanwhile my memory is so faith- 
 ful 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 un- 
 til I am satisfied. Then, however, there begins 
 in my head the development in every direction, 
 and, inasmuch 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 noth- 
 ing but the labor of writing it down, which is 
 quickly accomplished when I have the time, for 
 I sometimes take up other work, but never to 
 the confusion of one with the other. (_You will 
 ask me where I get my ideas. That I can not 
 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 trans- 
 lated by the poet into words, by me into tones 
 that sound, and roar and storm about me until.. 
 I have set them down in notes/ 
 
 Said to Louis Schlosser, a youngniiusician, whom Bee- 
 thoven honored with his friendship in 1822-23. 
 
 55. On the whole the carrying out of several 
 
30 Beethoven 
 
 voices in strict relationship mutually hinders 
 their progress. 
 
 Fall of 1812, in the Diary of 1812-18. 
 
 56. Few as are the claims which I make upon 
 
 such things I shall still accept the dedication of 
 
 your beautiful work with pleasure. You ask, 
 
 however, that I also play the part of a critic, 
 
 without thinking that I must myself submit to 
 
 criticism! WJihVoltaire I believe that " _a~few 
 
 Qy=brtES~can-»ottjtop a spirited horse." In this 
 
 respect I beg of you to follow my example. In 
 
 order not to approach you surreptitiously, but 
 
 openly as always, I say that in future works 
 
 of the character you might give more heed to 
 
 the individualization of the voices. 
 
 Vienna, May 10, 1826. To whom the letter was sent 
 is not known, though from the manner of address it is 
 plain that he was of the nobility. 
 
 57. Your variations show talent, but I must 
 
 fault you for having changed the theme. Why ? 
 
 What man loves must not be taken away from 
 
 him; — moreover to do this is to make changes 
 
 before variations. 
 
 Baden, July 6, 1804, to Wiedebein, a teacher of music 
 in Brunswick. 
 
 58. I am not in the habit of rewriting my 
 compositions. I never did it because I am pro- 
 foundly convinced that every change of detail 
 changes the character of the whole. 
 
 February 19, 1813, to George Thomson, who had re- 
 quested some changes in compositions submitted to him 
 for publication. 
 
On Composing 31 
 
 59. One must not hold one's self so divine as 
 to be unwilling occasionally to make improve- 
 ments in one's creations. 
 
 March 4, 1809, to Breitkopf and Hartel, when indi- 
 cating a few changes which he wished to have made in 
 the symphonies op. 60 and 61. 
 
 60. The unnatural rage for transcribing pi- 
 anoforte pieces for string instruments (instru- 
 ments 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 my- 
 self on a level with these great men I assert the 
 same thing about my pianoforte sonatas. Not 
 only must entire passages be elided and changed, 
 but additions must be made ; and right here lies 
 the rock of offence to overcome which one must 
 be the master of himself or be possessed of the 
 same skill and inventiveness. — I transcribed but 
 a single sonata for string quartet, and I am 
 sure that no one will easily do it after me. 
 
 July 13, 1802, in an announcement of several composi- 
 tions, among them the quintet op. 29. 
 
 61. Were it not that my income brings in 
 nothing, I should compose nothing but grand 
 symphonies, church music, or, at the outside, 
 quartets in addition. 
 
 December 20, 1822, to Peters, publisher, in Leipsic. 
 His income had been reduced from 4,000 to 800 florins 
 by depreciation of the Austrian money. [There is in the 
 original one of the puns which Beethoven was fond of 
 making: " Ware mein Gehalt nicht ganzlich ohne Gehalt." 
 H. E. K.] 
 
ON PERFORMING MUSIC 
 
 While reading Beethoven's views on the sub- 
 ject of how music ought to be performed, it is 
 but natural to inquire about his own manner 
 of playing. On this point Ries, his best pupil, 
 reports : " In general Beethoven played his own 
 compositions very capriciously, yet he adhered, 
 on the whole, strictly to the beat and only at 
 times, but seldom, accelerated the tempo a trifle. 
 Occasionally he would retard the tempo in a 
 crescendo, which produced a very beautiful and 
 striking effect. While playing he would give a 
 passage, now in the right hand, now in the left, 
 a beautiful expression which was simply inimi- 
 table ; but it was rarely indeed that he added a 
 note or an ornament." Of his playing when still a 
 young man one of his hearers said that it was in. 
 the slow movements particularly that it charmed 
 everybody. Almost unanimously his contempo- 
 raries give him the palm for his improvisations. 
 Ries says : " His extemporizations were the most' 
 extraordinary things that one could hear. No 
 artist that I ever heard came at all near the 
 height which Beethoven attained. The wealth 
 of ideas which forced themselves on him, the 
 caprices to which he surrendered himself, the 
 variety of treatment, the difficulties, were inex- 
 haustible." His playing was not technically 
 33 
 
34 Beethoven 
 
 perfect. He let many a note " fall under the 
 table," but without marring the effect of his 
 playing. Concerning this we have a remark of 
 his own in No. 75,» Somewhat critical is Czerny's 
 report : " Extraordinary as his extempore play- 
 ing was it was less successful in the perform- 
 ance of printed compositions ; for, since he never 
 took the time or had the patience to practise 
 anything, his success depended mostly on chance 
 and mood; and since, also, his manner of play- 
 ing 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 bril- 
 liant 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 al- 
 most magical impression on every hearer, and, 
 so far as I know, it has never been surpassed." 
 Czerny's remark about the pianofortes of Bee- 
 thoven's day explains Beethoven's judgment on 
 his own pianoforte sonatas. He composed- for 
 the sonorous pianoforte of the future, — the 
 pianoforte building to-day. 
 
 The following anecdote, told by Czerny, will 
 be read with pleasure. Pleyel, a famous musi- 
 cian, 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 
 
On Performing Music 35 
 
 finally was dragged almost by force to the pi- 
 anoforte 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 origi- 
 nality or more grandly than on that evening. 
 But throughout the entire improvisation there 
 ran in the middle voices, like a thread, or cantus 
 frmus, the insignificant notes, wholly insignifi- 
 cant 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 bril- 
 liant concert style. Old Pleyel could only give 
 expression to his amazement by kissing his 
 hands. After such improvisations Beethoven 
 was wont to break out into a loud and satisfied 
 laugh." Czerny says further of his playing: 
 " In rapidity of scale passages, trills, leaps, 
 etc., no one equalled him, — not even Hummel. 
 His attitude at the pianoforte was perfectly 
 quiet and dignified, with no approach to grim- 
 ace, 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 practised stupendously, mostly 
 till past midnight. In teaching he laid great 
 stress on a correct position of the fingers (ac- 
 cording to the Emanuel Bach method, in which 
 
36 Beethoven 
 
 he instructed me) ; he himself could barely span 
 a tenth. He made frequent use of the pedal, 
 much more frequently than is indicated in his 
 compositions. His reading of the scores of 
 Handel and Gluck and the fugues of Bach was 
 unique, inasmuch as he put a polyphony and 
 spirit into the former which gave the works a 
 new form." 
 
 In his later years the deaf master could no 
 longer hear his own playing which therefore 
 came to have a pitifully painful effect. Con- 
 cerning 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 men- 
 tor ; 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 
 
On Performing Music 37 
 
 i 
 
 little nuances, the equable division of light and 
 shade, as also an effective tempo rubato, he was 
 extremely exact and gladly < discussed them with 
 the individual members of the orchestra without 
 showing vexation or anger." 
 
 62. It has always been known that the great- 
 est pianoforte players were also the greatest 
 composers; but how did they play? Not like 
 the pianists of to-day who prance up and down 
 the key-board with passages in which they have 
 exercised themselves, — putsch, putsch, putsch; 
 — what does that mean? Nothing. When the 
 true pianoforte virtuosi played it was always 
 something homogeneous, an entity; it could be 
 transcribed and then it appeared as a well- 
 thought-out work. That is pianoforte playing ; 
 the other is nothing ! 
 
 In conversation with Tomaschek, October, 1814. 
 
 63. Candidly I am not a friend of Allegri di 
 bravura and such, since they do nothing but 
 promote mechanism. 
 
 Hetzendorf, July 16, 1823, to Ries in London, 
 
 64s. The great pianists have nothing but 
 
 technique and affectation. 
 
 Fall of 1817, to Marie Paehler-Koschak, a pianist 
 whom Beethoven regarded very highly. " You will play 
 the sonatas in F major and C minor, for me, will you 
 not?" 
 
 65. As a rule, in the case of these gentlemen, 
 
38 Beethoven 
 
 all reason and feeling are generally lost in the 
 
 nimbleness of their fingers. 
 
 Reported by Schindler as a remark of Beethoven's 
 concerning pianoforte virtuosi. 
 
 66. Habit may depreciate the most brilliant 
 
 talents. 
 
 In 1812, to his pupil, Archduke Rudolph, whom he 
 warns against too zealous a devotion to music 
 
 67. You will have to play a long time yet 
 
 before you realize that you can not play at all. 
 
 July, 1808. Reported by Rust as having been said to, 
 a young man who played for Beethoven. 
 
 68. One must be something if one wishes to 
 put on appearances. 
 
 August IS, 1812, to Bettina von Arnim. 
 
 69. These pianoforte players have their co- 
 teries whom they often join; there they are 
 praised continually, — and there's an end of art ! 
 
 Conversation with Tomaschek, October, 1814. 
 
 70. We Germans have too few dramatically 
 
 trained singers for the part of Leonore. They 
 
 are too cold and unf eeling ; the Italians sing and 
 
 act with body and soul. 
 
 1824, in Baden, to Freudenberg, an organist from 
 Breslau. 
 
 71. If he is a master of his instrument I rank 
 an organist amongst the first of virtuosi. I 
 too, played the organ a great deal when I was 
 young, but my nerves would not stand the power 
 of the gigantic instrument. 
 
 To Freudenberg, in Baden. 
 
On Performing Music 39 
 
 72. I never wrote noisy music. For my in- 
 strumental works I need an orchestra of about 
 sixty good musicians. I am convinced that only 
 such a number can bring out the quickly chang- 
 ing graduations in performance. 
 
 Reported by Schindler. 
 
 73. A Requiem ought to be quiet music, — it 
 
 needs no trump of doom; memories of the dead 
 
 require no hubbub. 
 
 Reported by Holz to Fanny von Ponsing, in Baden, 
 summer of 1858. According to the same authority Bee- 
 thoven valued Chertibini's " Requiem " more highly than 
 any other. 
 
 74. No metronome at all ! He who has sound 
 
 feeling needs none, and he who has not will get 
 
 no help from the metronome; — he'll run away 
 
 with the orchestra anyway. 
 
 Reported by Schindler. It had been found that Bee- 
 thoven himself had sent different metronomic indications 
 to the publisher and the Philharmonic Society of London. 
 
 75. In reading rapidly a multitude of mis- 
 prints may pass unnoticed because you are fa- 
 miliar with the language. 
 
 To Wegeler, who had expressed wonder at Beethoven's 
 rapid prima vista playing, when it was impossible to see 
 each individual note. 
 
 76. The poet writes his monologue or dia- 
 logue in a certain, continuous rhythm, but the 
 elocutionist in order to insure an understand- 
 ing of the sense of the lines, must make pauses 
 and interruptions at places where the poet was 
 not permitted to indicate it by punctuation. 
 
40 Beethoven 
 
 The same manner of declamation can be applied 
 to music, and admits of modification only ac- 
 cording to the number of performers. 
 
 Reported by Schindler, Beethoven's faithful factotum. 
 
 77. With respect to his playing with you, 
 when he has acquired the proper mode of finger- 
 ing and plays in time and plays the notes with 
 tolerable correctness, only then direct his atten- 
 tion to the matter of interpretation ; and when 
 he has gotten this far do not stop him for little 
 mistakes, but point them out at the end of the 
 piece. Although I have myself given very little 
 instruction I have always followed this method 
 which quickly makes musicians, and that, after 
 all, is one of the first objects of art. 
 
 To Czerny, who was teaching music to Beethoven's 
 nephew Karl. 
 
 78. Always place the hands at the key-board 
 
 so that the fingers can not be raised higher than 
 
 is necessary; only in this way is it possible to 
 
 produce a singing tone. 
 
 Reported by Schindler as Beethoven's view on piano- 
 forte instruction. He hated a staccato style of playing 
 and dubbed it " finger dancing " and " throwing the hands 
 in the air." 
 
ON HIS OWN WORKS 
 
 80. I haven't a single friend; I must live 
 alone. But well I know that God is nearer to 
 me than to the others of my art; I associate 
 with Him without fear, I have always recog- 
 nized and understood Him, and I have no fear 
 for my music ; — it can meet no evil fate. Those 
 who understand it must become free from all the 
 miseries that the others drag with them. 
 
 To Bettina von Arnim. (Bettina's letter to Goethe, 
 May 28, 1810.) 
 
 81. The variations will prove a little difficult 
 to play, particularly the trills in the coda ; but 
 let that not frighten you. It is so disposed that 
 you need play only the trills, omitting the other 
 notes because they are also in the violin part. 
 I would never have written a thing of this kind 
 had I not often noticed here and there in Vienna 
 a man who after I had improvised of an evening 
 would write down some of my peculiarities and 
 make boast of them next day. Foreseeing that 
 these things would soon appear in print I made 
 up my mind to anticipate them. Another pur- 
 pose which I had was to embarrass the local 
 pianoforte masters. Many of them are my mor- 
 tal enemies, and I wanted to have my revenge in 
 this way, for I knew in advance that the varia- 
 
 41 
 
42 Beethoven 
 
 tions would be put before them, and that they 
 
 would make exhibitions of themselves. 
 
 Vienna, November 2, 1793, to Eleonore von Breuning, 
 in dedicating to her the variations in F major, " Se vuol 
 ballare." (The pianist whom Beethoven accuses of steal- 
 ing his thunder was Abbe Gelinek.) 
 
 82. The time in which I wrote my sonatas 
 (the first ones of the second period) was more 
 poetical than the present (1823); such hints 
 were therefore unnecessary. Every one at that 
 time felt in the Largo of the third sonata in D 
 (op. 10) the pictured soul-state 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 con- 
 test between two principles, or a dialogue be- 
 tween two persons, because it was so obvious. 
 
 In answer to Schindler's question why he had not in- 
 dicated the poetical conceits underlying his sonatas by 
 superscriptions or titles. 
 
 83. This sonata has a clean face (literally 
 
 *' has washed itself "), my dear brother ! 
 
 January, 1801, to Hofmeister, publisher in Leipsic, to 
 whom he offers the sonata, op. 22, for 20 ducats. 
 
 84. They are incessantly talking about the 
 
 C-sharp minor sonata (op. 27, No. 2) ; on my 
 
 word I have written better ones. The F-sharp 
 
 major sonata (op. 78) is a different thing! 
 
 A remark to Czerny. [The C-sharp minor sonata is 
 that popularly known as the " Moonlight Sonata," a title 
 which is wholly without warrant. Its origin is due to 
 Rellstab, who, in describing the first movement, drew a 
 
On His Own Works 43 
 
 picture of a small boat in the moonlight on Lake Lucerne, 
 In Vienna a tradition that Beethoven had composed it in 
 an arbor gave rise to the title " Arbor sonata." Titles of 
 this character work much mischief in the amateur mind 
 by giving rise to fantastic conceptions of the contents of 
 the music. H. E. K.] 
 
 85. The thing which my brother can have 
 from me is 1, a Septett per U Violino, Viola, 
 Violoncello, Contrabasso, Clarinetto, Corno, Fa- 
 gotto, tutti obligati; for I can not write any- 
 thing that is not obligato, having come into the 
 world with obligato accompaniment. 
 
 December IS, 1800, to Hofmeister, publisher, in Leip- 
 sic. 
 
 86. I am but little satisfied with my works 
 
 thus far; from to-day I shall adopt a new 
 
 course. 
 
 Reported by Carl Czerny in his autobiography in 1842. 
 Concerning the time at which the remark was made, 
 Czerny says: " It was said about 1803, when B. had com- 
 posed op. 28 (the pianoforte sonata in D) to his friend 
 Krumpholz (a violinist). Shortly afterward there ap- 
 peared the sonatas (now op. 31) in which a partial ful- 
 filment of his resolution may be observed." 
 
 87. Read Shakespeare's " Tempest." 
 
 An answer to Schindler's question as to what poetical 
 conceit underlay the sonatas in F minor. Beethoven used 
 playfully to call the little son of Breuning,' the friend of 
 his youth, Ariel, because he employed him often as a 
 messenger. [" Schindler relates that when once he asked 
 Beethoven to tell him what the F minor and D minor (op. 
 31, No. 2) meant, he received for an answer only the 
 enigmatical remark: 'Read Shakespeare's "Tempest."' 
 Many a student and commentator has since read the 
 ' Tempest ' in the hope of finding a clew to the emotional 
 contents which Beethoven believed to be in the two works, 
 so singularly associated, only to find himself baffled. It 
 is a fancy, which rests, perhaps, too much on outward 
 things, but still one full of suggestion, that had Bee- 
 
44 Beethoven 
 
 thoven 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 inter- 
 rupted by a period of calm, reassuring, soul-fortifying 
 aspiration, which, in the symphony as well as in the so- 
 nata, takes the form of a theme with variations." " How 
 to Listen to Music," page 29. H. E. K.] 
 
 ( (83. Sinfonia Pastorella. He who has ever 
 haa a notion of country life can imagine for 
 himself without many superscriptions what the 
 composer is after. Even without a description 
 the whole, which is more sentiment than tone- 
 painting, will be recognized. 
 
 A note among the sketches for the " Pastoral " sym- 
 phony preserved in the Royal Library at Berlin. [There 
 are other notes of similar import among the sketches re- 
 ferred to which can profitably be introduced here. " The 
 hearer should be allowed to discover the situations ; " 
 " Sinfonia caracteristica, or a recollection of country 
 life; " " Pastoral Symphony: No picture, but something in 
 which the emotions are expressed which are aroused in 
 men by the pleasure of the country (or) in which some 
 feelings of country life are set forth." When, finally, 
 the work was given to the publisher, Beethoven included 
 in the title an admonitory explanation which should have 
 everlasting validity : " Pastoral Symphony : more expres- 
 sion of feeling than painting." H. E. K.] 1 
 
 89. My "Fidelio" was not understood by the 
 
On His Own Works 45 
 
 public, but I know that it will yet be appreci- 
 ated; 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 my- 
 self : " Can that be sung? " 
 
 A remark made -in 1823 or 1824 to Griesinger. 
 
 £0,; Thus Fate knocks at the portals ! 
 
 Reported by Schindler as Beethoven's explanation of 
 the opening of the symphony in C minor. [" Hofrath 
 Kuffner told him (Krenn) that he once lived with Bee- 
 thoven in Heiligenstadt, and that they were in the habit 
 evenings of going down to Niissdorf to eat a fish supper 
 in the Gasthaus ' Zur Rose.' One evening when B. was 
 in a good humor, Kuffner 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 note-book. See "Music and Manners in the 
 Classical Period." H. E. K.] 
 
 91. The solo sonatas (op. 109-11?) are per- 
 haps 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 grand- 
 master Handel, and every year write only an 
 oratorio and a concerto for some string or wind 
 instrument, provided I shall have finished my 
 tenth symphony (C minor) and Requiem. 
 
 Reported by Holz. As to the tenth symphony see note 
 to No. 95. 
 
 92. God knows why it is that my pianoforte 
 
46 Beethoven 
 
 music always makes the worst impression on me, 
 especially when it is played badly. 
 
 June 2, 1804. A note among the sketches for the 
 " Leonore " overture. 
 
 93. Never did my own music produce such an 
 effect upon me ; even now when I recall this work 
 it still costs me a tear. 
 
 Reported by Holz. The reference is to the Cavatina 
 from the quartet in B-flat, op. 130, which Beethoven 
 thought the crown of all quartet movements and his 
 favorite composition. When alone and undisturbed he 
 was fond of playing his favorite pianoforte Andante — 
 that from the sonata op. 28. 
 
 [9$/. I do not write what I most desire to, but 
 that which I need to because of money. But 
 this is not saying that I write only for money. 
 When the present period is past, I hope at last 
 to write that which is the highest thing for me 
 as well as art, — " Faust." 
 
 From a conversation book used in 1823. To Buhler, 
 tutor in the house of a merchant, who was seeking hv 
 formation about an oratorio which Beethoven had been 
 commissioned to write by the Handel and Haydn Society 
 of Boston. 
 
 95. Ha ! " Faust ; " that would be a piece of 
 work ! Something might come out of that ! But 
 for some time I have been big with three other 
 large works. Much is already sketched out, 
 that is, in my head. I must be rid of them 
 first : — two large symphonies differing from each 
 other, and each differing from all the others, 
 and an oratorio. And this will take a long time. 
 lYou see, for a considerable time I have had 
 trouble to get myself to write. I sit and think, 
 
On His Own Works 47 
 
 and think I've long had the thing, but it will 
 
 not on the paper. I dread the beginning of 
 
 these large works. Once into the work, and it 
 
 goes. 
 
 In the summer of 1822, to Rochlitz, at Baden. The 
 symphonies referred to are the ninth and tenth. The 
 latter existed only in Beethoven's mind and a few 
 sketches. In it he intended to combine antique and mod- 
 ern views of life. " In the text Greek mythology, can- 
 tique eccUsiastique; in the Allegro, a Bacchic festival."' 
 Sketch-book of 1818. The oratorio was to have been 
 called " The "Victory of the Cross." It was not written. 
 Schindler wrote to Moscheles in London about Beethoven 
 in the last weeks of his life: " He said much about the 
 plan of the tenth symphony. As the work had shaped 
 itself in his imagination it might have become a musical 
 monstrosity, compared with which his other symphonies 
 would have been mere opuscula." 
 
ON ART AND ARTISTS 
 
 96. How eagerly mankind withdraws from the 
 
 poor artist what it has once given him; — and 
 
 Zeus, from whom one might ask an invitation 
 
 to sup on ambrosia, lives no longer. 
 
 In the summer of 1814, to Kauka, an advocate who 
 represented him in the lawsuit against the heirs of 
 Kinsky. 
 
 97. I love straightforwardness and upright- 
 ness, and believe that the artist ought not to be 
 belittled ; for, alas ! brilliant as fame is exter- 
 nally, it is not always the privilege of the artist 
 to be Jupiter's guest on Olympus all the time. 
 Unfortunately vulgar humanity drags him down 
 only too often and too rudely from the pure 
 upper ether. 
 
 June 5, 1822, to C. F. Peters, music publisher, in 
 Leipsic, when treating with him touching » complete edi- 
 tion of his works, v 
 
 \ 98. The true artist has no pride; unhappily 
 he realizes that art has no limitations, he feels 
 darkly how far. hi is from the goal, and while, 
 perhaps heltajjdni^jedby others, he grieves that 
 he has nolgplt reacl^a the point where the bet- 
 ter genius shall shine before him like a distant 
 sun. 
 
 Teplitz, July 17, to an admirer ten years old. 
 
 / 99. You yourself know what a change is 
 49 
 
50 Beethoven 
 
 wrought by a few years in the case of an artist 
 who is continually pushing forward. The 
 greater the progress which one makes in art, 
 the less is one satisfied with one's old works. 
 
 Vienna, August 4, 1800, to Mathisson, in the dedica- 
 tion of his setting of " Adelaide." " My most ardent 
 wish will be fulfilled if you are not displeased with the 
 musical composition of your heavenly 'Adelaide.'" 
 
 100. Those composers are exemplars who 
 
 unite nature and art in their works. 
 
 Baden, in 1824, to Freudenberg, organist from Bres- 
 lau. 
 
 101. What will be the judgment a century 
 hence concerning the lauded works of our fa- 
 vorite composers to-day? Inasmuch as nearly 
 everything is subject to the changes of time, 
 
 I and, more's the pity, the fashions of time, only 
 
 that which is good and true, will endure like a 
 
 rock, and no wanton hand will ever venture to 
 
 defile it. Then let every man do that which is 
 
 right, strive with all his might toward the goal 
 
 which can never be attained, develop to the last 
 
 breath the gifts with which a gracious Creator 
 
 has endowed him, and never cease to learn ; for 
 
 " Life is short, art eternal ! " 
 
 From the notes in the instruction book of Archduke 
 Ttudolph. 
 
 102. Famous artists always labor under an 
 embarrassment; — therefore first works are the 
 best, though they may have sprung out of dark 
 ground. 
 
 Conversation-book of 1830. 
 
On Art and Artists 51 
 
 X 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 diffi- 
 cult tasks. 
 
 August IS, 1812, to Bettina von Arnim. 
 
 104. I told Goethe my opinion as to how ap- 
 plause affects men like us, and that we want our 
 equals to hear us understandingly ! Emotion 
 suits women only; music ought to strike fire 
 from the soul of a man. 
 
 August IS, 1812, to Bettina von Arnim. 
 
 105. Most people are touched by anything 
 
 good; but they do not partake of the artist's 
 
 nature; artists are ardent, they do not weep. 
 
 Reported to Goethe by Bettina von Arnim, May 28, 
 1810. 
 
 106. L'art unit tout le monde, — how much 
 more the true artist! 
 
 March IS, 1823, to Cherubini, in Paris. 
 
 107. Only the artist, or the free scholar, 
 
 carries his happiness within him. 
 
 Reported by Karl von Bursy as part of a conversation 
 in 1816. 
 
 108. There ought to be only one large art 
 warehouse in the world, to which the artist could 
 carry his art-works and from which he could 
 carry away whatever he needed. As it is one 
 must be half a tradesman. 
 
 January, 1801, to Hofmeister, in Leipsic. 
 
BEETHOVEN AS CRITIC 
 
 The opinion of artist on artists is a dubious 
 quantity. Recall the startling criticisms of 
 Bocklin on his associates in art made public by 
 the memoirs of his friends after his death. Such 
 judgments are often one-sided, not without 
 prejudice, and mostly the expression of impulse. 
 It is a different matter when the artist speaks 
 about the disciples of another art than his own, 
 even if the opinions which Bocklin and Wagner 
 held of each other are not a favorable example. 
 Where Beethoven speaks of other composers we 
 must read with clear and open eyes ; but even 
 here there will be much with which we can be in 
 accord, especially his judgment on Rossini, 
 whom he hated so intensely, and whose airy, 
 sense-bewitching art seduced the Viennese from 
 Beethoven. Interesting and also characteristic 
 of the man is the attitude which he adopted 
 towards the poets of his time. In general he 
 estimated his contemporaries as highly as they 
 deserved. 
 
 109. Do not tear the laurel wreaths from the 
 heads of Handel, Haydn and Mozart ; they be- 
 long to them, — not yet to me. 
 
 Teplitz, July 17, 1812, to his ten-year-old admirer, 
 Emilie M., who had given him a portfolio made by her- 
 self. 
 
 53 
 
54 Beethoven 
 
 110. Pure church music ought to be per- 
 formed by voices only, except a " Gloria," or 
 some similar text. For this reason I prefer 
 Palestrina; but it is folly to imitate him with- 
 out having his genius and religious views; it 
 would be difficult, if not impossible, too, for, the 
 singers of to-day to sing his long notes m a 
 sustained and pure manner. 
 
 To Freudenberg, in 1824. 
 
 111. Handel is the unattained master of all 
 
 masters. Go and learn from him how to achieve 
 
 vast effects with simple means. 
 
 Reported by Seyfried. On his death-bed, about the 
 middle of February, 1827, he said to young Gerhard von 
 Breuning, on receiving Handel's works : " Handel is the 
 greatest and ablest of all composers; from him I can still 
 learn. Bring me the books ! " 
 
 112. Handel is the greatest composer that 
 ever lived. I would uncover my head and kneel 
 on his grave. 
 
 Fall of 1823, to J. A. Stumpff, harp maker of London, 
 who acted very nobly toward Beethoven in his last days. 
 It was he who rejoiced the dying composer by sending 
 him the forty volumes of Handel's works (see 11). 
 [" Cipriani Potter, to A. W. T., February 27, 1861. Bee- 
 thoven 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 note-book, reprinted in " Music 
 and Manners in the/ Classical Period," page 208. H, 
 E.K.J. 
 
Beethoven as Critic 55 
 
 113. Heaven forbid that I should take a 
 
 journal in which sport is made of the manes of 
 
 such a revered one. 
 
 Conversation-book of 1825, in reference to a criticism 
 of Handel. 
 
 114. That you are going to publish Sebas- 
 tian 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 har- 
 mony; I want to see them soon. 
 
 January, 1801, to Hofmeister, in Leipsic. 
 
 115. Of Emanuel Bach's clavier works I have 
 
 only a few, yet they must be not only a real 
 
 delight to every true artist, but also serve him 
 
 for study purposes; and it is for me a great 
 
 pleasure to play works that I have never seen, 
 
 or seldom see, for real art lovers. 
 
 July 26, 1809, to Gottfried Hartel, of Leipsic, in order- 
 ing all the scores of Haydn, Mozart and the two Bachs. 
 
 116. See, my dear Hummel, the birthplace of 
 Haydn. I received it as a gift to-day, and it 
 gives me great pleasure. A mean peasant hut, 
 in which so great a man was born! 
 
 Remarked on his death-bed to his friend Hummel. 
 
 117. I have always reckoned myself among 
 
 the greatest admirers of Mozart, and shall do 
 
 so till the day of my death. 
 
 February 6, 1826, to AbbS Maximilian Stadler, who 
 had sent him his essay on Mozart's " Requiem." 
 
56 Beethoven 
 
 118. Cramer, Cramer! We shall never be 
 
 able to compose anything like that ! 
 
 To Cramer, after the two had heard Mozart's con- 
 certo in C-minor at a concert in the Augarten. 
 
 119. " Die Zauberflote " will always remain 
 Mozart's greatest work, for in it he for the first 
 time showed himself to be a German musician. 
 " Don Juan " still has the complete Italian cut ; 
 besides our sacred art ought never permit itself 
 to be degraded to the level of a foil for so scan- 
 dalous a subject. 
 
 A remark reported by Sey fried. [" 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, sud- 
 denly clasping his hands and throwing up his eyes, ex- 
 claimed : ' Oh, Mozart ! ' " From A. W. Thayer's note- 
 books, reprinted in " Music and Manners in the Classical 
 Period," page 198. H. E. K.] 
 
 120. Say all conceivable pretty things to 
 
 Cherubini, — that there is nothing I so ardently 
 
 desire as that we should soon get another opera 
 
 from him, and that of all our contemporaries I 
 
 have the highest regard for him. 
 
 May 6, 1823, to Louis Schlosser, afterward chapel- 
 master in Darmstadt, who was about to undertake a 
 journey to Paris. See note to No. 112. 
 
 121. Among all the composers alive Cheru- 
 
Beethoven as Critic 57 
 
 bini is the most worthy of respect. I am in com- 
 plete agreement, too, with his conception of the 
 " Requiem," and if ever I come to write one I 
 shall take note of many things. 
 
 Remark reported by Seyfried. See No. 112. 
 
 122. Whoever studies Clementi thoroughly 
 has simultaneously also learned Mozart and 
 other authors; inversely, however, this is not 
 the case. 
 
 Reported by Schindler. 
 
 123. There is much good in Spontini ; he un- 
 derstands theatrical effect and martial noises 
 admirably. 
 
 Spohr is so rich in dissonances; pleasure in 
 his music is marred by his chromatic melody. 
 
 His name ought not to be Bach (brook), but 
 Ocean, because of his infinite and inexhaustible 
 wealth of tonal combinations and harmonies. 
 Bach is the ideal of an organist. 
 
 In Baden, 1824, to Freudenberg. 
 
 124. The little man, otherwise so gentle, — I 
 never would have credited him with such a thing. 
 Now Weber must write operas in earnest, one 
 after the other, without caring too much for 
 refinement ! Kaspar, the monster, looms up like 
 a house; wherever the devil sticks in his claw 
 we feel it. 
 
 To Rochlitz, at Baden, in the summer of 1822. 
 
 125. There you are, you rascal; you're a 
 
58 Beethoven 
 
 devil of a fellow, God bless you ! . 
 Weber, you always were a fine fellow. 
 
 Beethoven's hearty greeting to Karl Maria von Weber, 
 in October, 1823. 
 
 126- K. M. Weber began to# learn too late; 
 art did not have a chance to develop naturally 
 in him, and his single and obvious striving is to 
 appear brilliant. 
 
 A remark reported by Seyfried. 
 
 127. " Euryanthe " is an accumulation of 
 diminished seventh chords — all little backdoors ! 
 
 Remarked to Schindler about Weber's opera. 
 
 128. Truly, a divine spark dwells in Schu- 
 bert! 
 
 Said to Schindler when the latter made him acquainted 
 with the " Songs of Ossian," " Die Junge Nonne," " Die 
 Burgschaft," " Grenzen der Menschheit," and other songs 
 of Schubert's. 
 
 129. There is nothing in Meyerbeer; he 
 
 hasn't the courage to strike at the right time. 
 
 To Tomaschek, in October, 1814, in a conversation 
 about the " Battle of Victoria," at the performance of 
 which, in 1813, Meyerbeer had played the big drum. 
 
 130. Rossini is a talented and a melodious 
 composer; his music suits the frivolous and sen- 
 suous spirit of the times, and his productivity 
 is such that he needs only as many weeks as the 
 Germans do years to write an opera. 
 
 In 1824, at Baden, to Freudenberg. 
 
 131. This rascal Rossini, who is not respected 
 by a single master of his art! 
 
 Conversation-book, 1825. 
 
Beethoven as Critic 59 
 
 132. Rossini would have become a great com- 
 poser if his teacher had frequently applied some 
 blows ad posteriora. 
 
 Reported by Schindler. Beethoven had been reading 
 the score of " II Barbiere de Seviglia." 
 
 133. The Bohemians are born musicians. The 
 Italians ought to take them as models. What 
 have they to show for their famous conserva- 
 tories? Behold! their idol, Rossini! If Dame 
 Fortune had not given him a pretty talent and 
 amiable melodies by the bushel, what he learned 
 at school would have brought him nothing but 
 potatoes for his big belly. 
 
 In a conversation-book at Haslinger's music shop, 
 where Beethoven frequently visited. 
 
 134. Goethe has killed Klopstock for me. 
 You wonder? Now you laugh? Ah, because I 
 have read Klopstock ! I carried him about with 
 me for years when I walked. What besides? 
 Well, I didn't always understand him. He skips 
 about so; and he always begins so far away, 
 above or below ; always Maestoso! D-flat major ! 
 Isn't it so? But he's great, nevertheless, and 
 uplifts the soul. When I couldn't understand 
 him I sort of guessed at him. 
 
 To Rochlitz, in 1823. 
 
 135. As for me I prefer to set Homer, Klop- 
 stock, Schiller, to music ; if it is difficult to do, 
 these immortal poets at least deserve it. 
 
 To the directorate of the " Gesellschaft der Musik- 
 freunde" of Vienna, January, 1824, in negotiations for 
 an oratorio, " The VMpry of the Cross " [which he had 
 
60 Beethoven 
 
 been commissioned to write by the Handel and Haydn 
 Society of Boston. H. E. K.]. 
 
 136. Goethe and Schiller are my favorite 
 poets, as also Ossian and Homer, the latter of 
 whom, unfortunately, I can read only in trans- 
 lation. 
 
 August 8, 1809, to Breitkopf and HarteL 
 
 137. Who can sufficiently thank a great poet, 
 
 — the most valuable jewel of a nation! 
 
 February 10, 1811, to Bettina von Arnim. The refer- 
 ence was to Goethe. 
 
 138. When you write to Goethe about me 
 search out all the words which can express my 
 deepest reverence and admiration. I am myself 
 about to write to him about " Egmont " for 
 which I have composed the music, purely out of 
 love for his poems which make me happy. 
 
 February 10, 1811, to Bettina von Arnim. 
 
 139. I would have gone to death, yes, ten 
 
 times to death for Goethe. Then, when I was 
 
 in the height of my enthusiasm, I thought out 
 
 my " Egmont " music. Goethe, — he lives and 
 
 wants us all to live with him. It is for that 
 
 reason that he can be composed. Nobody is so 
 
 easily composed as he. But I do not like to 
 
 compose songs. 
 
 To Rochlitz, in 1822, when Beethoven recalled Goethe's 
 amiability in Teplitz. 
 
 140. Goethe is too fond of the atmosphere of 
 the court; fonder than becomes a poet. There 
 is little room for sport over the absurdities of 
 
Beethoven as Critic 61 
 
 the virtuosi, when poets, who ought to be looked 
 
 upon as the foremost teachers of the nation, 
 
 can forget everything else in the enjoyment of 
 
 court glitter. 
 
 Franzensbrunn, August 9, 1812, to Gottfried Hartel 
 of Leipsic. 
 
 141. When two persons like Goethe and I 
 
 meet these grand folk must be made to see what 
 
 our sort consider great. 
 
 August 15, 1812, in a description of how haughtily he, 
 and how humbly Goethe, had behaved in the presence of 
 the Imperial court. 
 
 142. Since that summer in Carlsbad I read 
 Goethe every day, — when I read at all. 
 
 Remarked to Rochlitz. 
 
 143. Goethe ought not to write more; he will 
 meet the fate of the singers. Nevertheless he 
 will remain the foremost poet of Germany. 
 
 Conversation-book, 1818. 
 
 144. Can you lend me the " Theory of Col- 
 ors " for a few weeks ? It is an important work. 
 His last things are insipid. 
 
 Conversation-book, 1820. 
 
 145. After all the fellow writes for money 
 only. 
 
 Reported by Schindler as having been said by Bee- 
 thoven when, on his death-bed, he angrily threw a book 
 of Walter Scott's aside. 
 
 146. He, too, then, is nothing better than an 
 ordinary man ! Now he will trample on all hu- 
 man rights only to humor his ambition ; he will 
 
62 Beethoven 
 
 place himself above all others, — become a 
 
 tyrant ! 
 
 With these words, as testified to by Ries, an eye-wit- 
 ness, Beethoven tore the title-page from the score of his 
 " Eroica " symphony (which bore a dedication to Bona- 
 parte) when the news reached him that Napoleon had 
 declared himself emperor. 
 
 147. I believe that so long as the Austrian 
 has his brown beer and sausage he will not re- 
 volt. 
 
 To Simrock, publisher, in Bonn, August 2, 1794. 
 
 148. Why do you sell nothing but music? 
 Why did you not long ago follow my well-meant 
 advice ? Do get wise, and find your raison. In- 
 stead of a hundred-weight of paper order genu- 
 ine unwatered Regensburger, float this much- 
 liked article of trade down the Danube, serve it 
 in measures, half -measures and seidels at cheap 
 prices, throw in at intervals sausages, rolls, 
 radishes, butter and cheese, invite the hungry 
 and thirsty with letters an ell long on a sign : 
 " Musical Beer House," and you will have so 
 many guests at all hours of the day that one 
 will hold the door open for the other and your 
 office will never be empty. 
 
 To Haslinger, the music publisher, when the latter had 
 complained about the indifference of the Viennese to 
 
ON EDUCATION 
 
 Beethoven's observations on this subject were 
 called out by his experiences in securing an edu- 
 cation 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 friv- 
 olous 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 fol- 
 lowed by periods of extravagant fondness. Karl 
 neglected his studies, led a frivolous life, was 
 fond of billiards and the coffee-houses which 
 were then generally popular, and finally, in the 
 summer of 1826, made an attempt at suicide in 
 the Helenental near Baden, which caused his 
 social ostracism. When he was found he cried 
 out : " I went to the bad because my uncle 
 wanted to better me." Beethoven succeeded in 
 63 
 
64 Beethoven 
 
 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. 
 
 To 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 un- 
 wearyingly at his own intellectual and moral 
 advancement until his death. 
 
 It seems difficult to reconcile his almost ex- 
 travagant estimate of the greatest possible lib- 
 erty 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 lib- 
 erty. His model as a sensitive and sympathetic 
 educator was his motherly friend, the wife of 
 Court Councillor von Breuning in Bonn, of 
 whom he once said : " She knew how to keep the 
 insects off the blossoms." 
 
 Beethoven's views on musical education are to 
 be*found in the chapters "On Composition" and 
 " On Performing Music." 
 
 , ^149. Lik e the State, each man must have his 
 
 own constitution. ~~ ~ ■ — 
 
 Diaiy, 1815. 
 
 150. Recommend virtue to your children; 
 that alone can bring happiness ; not wealth, — 
 
On Education 65 
 
 I speak from experience. It was virtue alone 
 that bore me up in my misery; to her and my 
 art I owe that I did. not end my life by self- 
 murder. 
 
 October 6, 1802, to his brothers Karl and Johann (the 
 so-called Heiligenstadt Will). 
 
 151. I know no more sacred duty than to rear 
 and educate a child. 
 
 January 7, 1820, in a communication to the Court of 
 Appeals in the suit touching the guardianship of his 
 nephew Karl. 
 
 152. Nature's weaknesses are nature's endow- 
 ments ; reason, the guide, must seek to lead and 
 lessen them. 
 
 Diary, 1817. 
 
 153. It is man's habit to hold his fellow man 
 in esteem because he committed no greater er- 
 rors. 
 
 May 6, 1811, to Breitkopf and Hartel, in a letter com- 
 plaining of faulty printing in some of his compositions. 
 
 154. There is nothing more efficient in en- 
 forcing 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 wis- 
 dom in their pupils ; even the laws, by compel- 
 ling tears from the citizens, compel them also to 
 strive for justice. 
 
 Diary, 1815. 
 
 155. It is only becoming in a youth to com- 
 bine his duties toward education and advance- 
 ment with those which he owes to his benefactor 
 and supporter ; this I did toward my parents. 
 
 May 12, 1825, to his nephew Karl. 
 
66 Beethoven 
 
 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 hon- 
 est and excellent man. 
 
 To his nephew, 1816-18. 
 
 157. Let your conduct always be amiable; 
 through art and science the best and noblest of 
 men are bound together and your future voca- 
 tion will not exclude you. 
 
 Baden, July 18, 1825, to his nephew, who had decided 
 to become a merchant. 
 
 158. It is very true that a drop will hollow 
 a stone ; a thousand lovely impressions are oblit- 
 erated when children are placed in wooden insti- 
 tutions w"hile they might receive from their par- 
 ents the most soulful impressions which would 
 continue to exert their influence till the latest 
 age. 
 
 Diary, spring of 1817. Beethoven was dissatisfied with 
 Giannatasio's school in which he had placed his nephew. 
 " Karl is a different child after he has been with me a 
 few hours" (Diary). In 1826, after the attempt at sui- 
 cide, Beethoven said to Breuning: "My Karl was in an 
 institute; educational institutions furnish forth only hot- 
 house plants." 
 
 159. Drops of water wear away a stone in 
 
 time, not by force but by continual falling. 
 
 Only through tireless industry are the sciences 
 
 achieved so that one can truthfully say : no day 
 
 without its line, — nulla dies sine tinea. 
 
 1799, in a sketch for a theoretical handbook for Arch- 
 duke Rudolph. 
 
ON HIS OWN DISPOSITION AND 
 CHARACTER 
 
 So open-hearted and straightforward a char- 
 acter as Beethoven could not have pictured him- 
 self with less reserve or greater truthfulness 
 than he did during his life. Q^rankness toward 
 himself, frankness toward others (though some- 
 times it went to the extreme of rudeness and ill- 
 breeding) was his motto./ The joyous nature 
 which was his as a lad, ana which was not at all 
 averse to a merry prank now and then, under- 
 went a change when he began to lose his hear- 
 ing. The dread of deafness and its conse- 
 quences drove him nearly to despair, so that he 
 sometimes contemplated suicide. Increasing 
 hardness of hearing gradually made him re- 
 served, morose and gloomy. With the progress 
 of the malady his disposition and character un- 
 derwent a decided change, — a fact which may 
 be said to account for the contradictions in his 
 conduct and utterances. It made him suspi- 
 cious, distrustful; in his later years he imag- 
 ined himself cheated and deceived in the most 
 trifling matters by relatives, friends, publishers, 
 servants. 
 
 Nevertheless Beethoven's whole soul was filled 
 with a high idealism which penetrated through 
 67 
 
68 , Beethoven 
 
 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 refec- 
 tion of his friends. Thus he oscillated continu- 
 ously between two extremes ;put the power which 
 swung the pendulum was always the aural mal- 
 ady* He grew peevish and capricious towards 
 hisT)est friends, rude, even brutal at times in 
 his treatment of them ; only in the next moment 
 to overwhelm them most pathetically with atten- 
 tions. 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 clari- 
 fication of his nature. 
 
 He has heedlessly been accused of having led 
 a dissolute life, of having been an intemperate 
 drinker. There would be no necessity of con- 
 tradicting 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 some- 
 
On His Disposition and Character 69 
 
 times occur, though but rarely, when the heart 
 of the sufferer was temporarily gladdened. 
 
 He was a strict moralist, as is particularly 
 evidenced by the notes in his journal which have 
 not been made public. In many things which be- 
 fell him in his daily life he was as ingenuous as a 
 child. His personality, on the whole, presented 
 itself in such a manner as to invite the intel- 
 lectual and social Philistine to call him a fool. 
 
 160. I shall print a request in all the news- 
 papers that henceforth all artists refrain from 
 painting my picture without my knowledge; I 
 never thought that my own face would bring 
 me embarrassment. 
 
 About 1803, to Christine Gerardi, because without his 
 knowledge a portrait of him had been made somewhere 
 — in a cafe, probably. 
 
 161. Pity that I do not understand the art of 
 
 war as well as I do the art of music; I should 
 
 yet conquer Napoleon! 
 
 To Krumpholz, the violinist, when he informed Bee- 
 thoven of the victory of Napoleon at Jena. 
 
 162. If I were a general and knew as much 
 
 about strategy as I, a composer, know about 
 
 counterpoint, I'd give you fellows something 
 
 to do. 
 
 Called out behind the back of a French officer, his fist 
 doubled, on May 12, 1809, when the French had occupied 
 Vienna. Reported by a witness, W. Rust. 
 
 163. Camillus, if I am not mistaken, was the 
 name of the Roman who drove the wicked Gauls 
 
70 Beethoven 
 
 from Rome. At such a cost I would also take 
 the name if I could drive them wherever I found 
 them to where they belong. 
 
 To Pleyel, publisher, in Paris, April, 1807. 
 
 164. I love most the realm of mind which, to 
 
 me, is the highest of all spiritual and temporal 
 
 monarchies. 
 
 To Advocate Kauka in the summer of 1814. He had 
 been speaking about the monarchs represented in the 
 Congress of Vienna. 
 
 165. I shall not come in person, since that 
 
 would be a sort of farewell, and farewells I have 
 
 always avoided. 
 
 January 24, 1818, to Giannatasio del Rio, on taking 
 his nephew Karl out of the latter institute. 
 
 166. I hope still to bring a few large works 
 into the world, and then, like an old child, to 
 end my earthly career somewhere among good 
 people. 
 
 October 6, 1802, to Wegeler. 
 
 167. O ye men, who think or declare me to 
 be hostile, morose or misanthropical, what in- 
 justice 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 ten- 
 der feelings of benevolence ; I was always wish- 
 ing to accomplish great deeds. 
 
 October 6, 1812, in the so-called Heiligenstadt Will. 
 
 168. Divinity, thou lookest into my heart, 
 thou knowest it, thou knowest that love for man- 
 kind and a desire to do good have their abode 
 
On His Disposition and Character 1\ 
 
 there. O ye men, when one day ye read this 
 think that ye have wronged me, and may the 
 unfortunate console himself with the thought 
 that he has found one of his kind who, despite 
 all the obstacles which nature put in his path, 
 yet did all in his power to be accepted in the 
 ranks of worthy artists and men! 
 From the Heiligenstadt Will. 
 
 169. I spend all my mornings with the 
 muses ; — and they bless me also in my walks. 
 
 October 12, 1825, to his nephew Karl. 
 
 170. Concerning myself nothing, — that is, 
 from nothing nothing. 
 
 October 19, 1815, to Countess Erdbdy. 
 
 171. Beethoven can write, thank God; but do 
 nothing else on earth. 
 
 December 22, 1822, to Ferdinand Ries, in London. 
 
 172. Mentally I often frame an answer, but 
 
 when I come to write it down I generally throw 
 
 the pen aside, since I am not able to write what 
 
 I feel. 
 
 October 7, 1826, to his friend Wegeler, in Coblenz. 
 "The better sort of people, I think, know me anyhow." 
 He is excusing his laziness in letter-writing. 
 
 173. I have the gift to conceal my sensitive- 
 ness touching a multitude of things ; but when 
 I am provoked at a moment when I am more sen- 
 sitive than usual to anger, I burst out more vio- 
 lently than anybody else. 
 
 July 24, 1804, to Ries, in reporting to him a quarrel 
 with Stephan von Breuning. 
 
72 Beethoven 
 
 174. X. is completely changed since I threw 
 half a dozen books at her head. Perhaps some- 
 thing of their contents accidentally got into her 
 head or her wicked heart. 
 
 To Mme. Streicher, who often had to put Beethoven's 
 house in order. 
 
 175. I can have no intercourse, and do not 
 
 want to have any, with persons who are not 
 
 willing to believe in me because I have not yet 
 
 made a wide reputation. 
 
 To Prince Lobkowitz, about 1798. A cavalier had 
 failed to show him proper respect in the Prince's salon. 
 
 176. Many a vigorous and unconsidered 
 
 word drops from my mouth, for which reason I 
 
 am considered mad. 
 
 In the summer of 1820, to Dr. Miiller, of Bremen, 
 who was paying him a visit. 
 
 177. I will grapple with Fate; it shall not 
 quite bear me down. O, it is lovely to live life 
 a thousand times ! 
 
 November 16, 1800, or 1801, to Wegeler. 
 
 178. Morality is the strength of men who 
 distinguish themselves over others, and it is 
 mine. 
 
 In a communication to his friend, Baron Zmeskall. 
 
 179. I, too, am a king! 
 
 Said to Holz, when the latter begged him not to sell 
 the ring which King Frederick William III, of Prussia, 
 had sent to him instead of money or an order in return 
 for the dedication of the ninth symphony. "Master, 
 keep the ring," Holz had said, " it is from a king." 
 Beethoven made his remark "with indescribable dignity 
 and self-consciousness." On his death-bed he said to lit- 
 
On His Disposition and Character 73 
 
 tie Gerhard von Breuning: " Know that I am an artist." 
 At the height of the popular infatuation for Rossini 
 (1822) he said to his friends: "Well, they will not be 
 able to rob me of my place in the history of art." 
 
 180. Prince, what you are you are by acci- 
 dent of birth ; what I am, I am through my own 
 efforts. There have been thousands of princes 
 and will be thousands more; there is only one 
 Beethoven ! 
 
 According to tradition, from a letter which he wrote 
 to Prince Lichnowsky when the latter attempted to per- 
 suade him to play for some French officers on his estate 
 in Silesia. Beethoven went at night to Troppau, carry- 
 ing the manuscript of the (so-called) " Appassionata " 
 sonata, which suffered from the rain. 
 
 181. My nobility is here, and here (pointing 
 
 to his heart and head). 
 
 Reported by Schindler. In the lawsuit against his 
 sister-in-law (the mother of nephew Karl) Beethoven 
 had been called on to prove that the " van " in his name 
 was a badge of nobility. 
 
 182. You write that somebody has said that 
 I am the natural son of the late King of Prussia. 
 The same thing was said to me long ago, but I 
 have made it a rule never to write anything 
 about myself or answer anything that is said 
 about me. 
 
 October 7, 1826, to Wegeler. "I leave it to you to 
 give the world an account of myself and especially my 
 mother." The statement had appeared in Brockhaus's 
 " Lexicon." 
 
 U--183. To me the highest thing, after God, is 
 my honor. 
 
 July 26, 1822, to the publisher Peters, in Leipsic. 
 
74 Beethoven 
 
 *» 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 com- 
 pose. 
 
 Remark to Karl Czerny, reported in his autobiog- 
 raphy. 
 
 185. I do not desire that you shall esteem 
 
 me greater as an artist, but better and more 
 
 perfect as a man; when the condition of our 
 
 country is somewhat better, then my art shall 
 
 be devoted to the welfare of the poor. 
 
 Vienna, June 29, 1800, to Wegeler, in Bonn, writing 
 of his return to his native land. 
 
 186. Perhaps the only thing that looks like 
 genius about me is that my affairs are not al- 
 ways in the best of order, and that in this re- 
 spect nobody can be of help but myself. 
 
 April 22, 1801, to Hofmeister, in Leipsic, excusing 
 himself for dilatoriness in sending him compositions (Pi- 
 anoforte sonata op. 22, symphony op. 21, septet op. 20 
 and concerto op. 19). 
 
 187. I am free from all small vanities. Only 
 in the divine art is the lever which gives me 
 power to sacrifice the best part of my life to 
 the celestial muses. 
 
 September 9, 1824, to George Nageli, in Zurich. 
 
 188. Inasmuch as the purpose of the under- 
 signed throughout his career has not been sel- 
 fish but the promotion of the interests of art, 
 the elevation of popular taste and the flight of 
 his own genius toward loftier ideals and per- 
 fection, it was inevitable that he should fre- 
 
On His Disposition and Character 75 
 
 quently sacrifice his own advantages and profit 
 to the muse. 
 
 December, 1804, to the Director of the Court Theatre, 
 applying for an engagement which was never effected. 
 
 189. From my earliest childhood my zeal to 
 serve suffering humanity with my art was never 
 content with any kind of a subterfuge ; and no 
 other reward is needed than the internal satis- 
 faction which always accompanies such a deed. 
 
 To Procurator Varenna, who had asked him for com- 
 positions to be played at a charity concert in Graz. 
 
 190. There is no greater pleasure for me 
 than to practise and exhibit my art. 
 
 November 16, 1800, or 1801, to Wegeler. 
 
 191. I recognize no other accomplishments or 
 
 advantages than those which place one amongst 
 
 the better class of men ; where I find them, there 
 
 is my home. 
 
 Teplitz, July 17, 1812, to his little admirer, Emile M., 
 inH. 
 
 _- 192. From childhood I learned to love virtue, 
 and everything beautiful and good. 
 About 1808, to Frau Marie Bigot. • 
 
 193. It is one of , my foremost principles 
 never to occupy any other relations than those 
 of friendship with the wife of another man. I 
 should never want to fill my heart with distrust 
 towards those who may chance some day to 
 share my fate with me, and thus destroy the 
 loveliest and purest life for myself. 
 
 About 1808, to Frau Marie Bigot, after she had de- 
 clined his invitation to drive with him. 
 
76 Beethoven 
 
 194. In my solitude here I miss my room- 
 mate, 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 an- 
 other. 
 
 Teplitz, September 6, 1811, to Tiedge. 
 
 195. It was not intentional and premeditated 
 malice which led me to act toward you as I did ; 
 it was my unpardonable carelessness. 
 
 To Wegeler. 
 
 196. I am not bad; hot blood is my wicked- 
 ness, 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 
 
 Jjirone itself. — Think occasionally of the friend 
 who honors you. 
 
 Written in the autograph album of a Herr Bocke. 
 
 197. It is a singular sensation to see and 
 
 hear one's self praised, and then to be conscious 
 
 of one's own imperfections as I am. I always 
 
 regard such occasions as admonitions to get 
 
 nearer the unattainable goal set for us by art 
 
 and nature, hard as it may be. 
 
 To Mdlle. de Girardi, who had sung his praises in a 
 poem. 
 
 198. It is my sincere desire that whatever 
 shall- be said of me hereafter shall adhere 
 
On His Disposition and Character 77 
 
 strictly to the truth in every respect regardless 
 of who may be hurt thereby, me not excepted. 
 
 Reported by Schindler, who also relates that when 
 Beethoven handed him documents to be used in the biog- 
 raphy a week before his death, he said to him and 
 Breuning: "But in all things severely the truth; for 
 that I hold you to a strict accountability." 
 
 199. Now you can help me to find a wife. 
 If you find a beautiful woman in F. who, may- 
 hap, endows my music with a sigh, — but she 
 must be no Elise Burger — make a provisional 
 engagement. But she must be beautiful, for I 
 can love only the beautiful; otherwise I might 
 love myself. 
 
 In 1809, to Baron von Gleichenstein. As for the per- 
 sonal reference it seems likely that Beethoven referred 
 to Elise Burger, second wife of the poet G. August 
 Burger, with whom he had got acquainted after she had 
 been divorced and become an elocutionist. 
 
 200. Am I not a true friend? Why do you 
 
 conceal your necessities from me? No friend of 
 
 mine must suffer so long as I have anything. 
 
 To Ferdinand Ries, in 1801. Ries's father had been 
 kind to Beethoven on the death of his mother in 1787. 
 
 201. I would rather forget what I owe to 
 myself than what I owe to others. 
 
 To Frau Streicher, in the summer of 1817. 
 
 202. I never practise revenge. When I must 
 antagonize others I do no more than is neces- 
 sary to protect myself against them, or prevent 
 them from doing further evil. 
 
 To Frau Streicher, in reference to the troubles which 
 his servants gave him, many of which, no doubt, were 
 
78 Beethoven 
 
 due to faults of his own, excusable in a man in his con- 
 dition of health. 
 
 203. Be convinced that mankind, even in your 
 
 case, will always be sacred to me. 
 
 To Czapka, Magisterial Councillor, August, 1826, in 
 the matter of his nephew's attempt at suicide. 
 
 204. H. is, and always will be, too weak for 
 friendship, and I look upon him and Y. as mere 
 instruments upon which I play when I feel like 
 it; but they can never be witnesses of my in- 
 ternal and external activities, and just as little 
 real participants. I value them according as 
 they do me service. 
 
 Summer of 1800, to the friend of his youth, Pastor 
 Amenda. H. was probably the faithful Baron Zmeskall 
 von Domanowectz. 
 
 205. If it amuses them to talk and write 
 
 about me in that manner, let them go on. 
 
 Reported by Schindler as referring to critics who had 
 declared him ripe for the madhouse. 
 
 206. To your gentlemen critics I recommend 
 a little more foresight and shrewdness, particu- 
 larly in respect of the products of younger au- 
 thors, 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 
 
On His Disposition and Character 79 
 
 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, fax vobiscum, peace to them and 
 
 me, — I would never have mentioned a syllable 
 
 had you not begun. 
 
 April 22, 1801, to Breitkopf and Hartel, publishers of 
 the " Allgemeine Musik Zeitung." 
 
 207. Who was happier than I when I could 
 
 still pronounce the sweet word " mother " and 
 
 have it heard? To whom can I speak it now? 
 
 September IS, 1787, from Bonn to Dr. Schade, of 
 Augsburg, who had aided him in his return journey from 
 "Vienna to Bonn. His mother had died on July 17, 1787. 
 
 208. I seldom go anywhere since it was al- 
 ways impossible for me to associate with people 
 where there was not a certain exchange of ideas. 
 
 February IS, 1817, to Brentano of Frankfort. 
 
 209. Not a word about rest ! I know of none 
 , except in sleep, and sorry enough am I that I 
 
 am obliged to yield up more to it than formerly. 
 November 16, 1801, or 1802, to Wegeler. In Homer's 
 "Odyssey" Beethoven thickly underscored the words: 
 " Too much sleep is injurious." XV, 393. 
 
 210. Rest assured that you are dealing with 
 
 a true artist who likes to be paid decently, it is 
 
 true, but who loves his own reputation and also 
 
 the fame of his art; who is never satisfied with 
 
 himself and who strives continually to make even 
 
 greater progress in his art. 
 
 November 23, 1809, to George Thomson, of Edinburgh, 
 for whom Beethoven arranged the Scotch songs. 
 
80 Beethoven 
 
 211. My motto is always: nulla dies sine 
 linea; and if I permit the muse to go to sleep 
 it is only that she may awake strengthened. 
 
 October 7, 1826, to Wegeler. 
 
 212. There is no treatise likely to be too 
 learned for me. Without laying claim to real 
 learning it is yet true that since my childhood 
 I have striven to learn the minds of the best 
 and wisest of every period of time. It is a dis- 
 grace for every artist who does not try to do 
 as much. 
 
 November 2, 1809, to Breitkopf and Hartel, of Leipsic. 
 
 213. Without wishing in the least to set my- 
 self up as an exemplar I assure you that I lived 
 in a small and insignificant place, and made out 
 of myself nearly all that I was there and am 
 here; — this to your comfort in case you feel 
 the need of making progress in art. 
 
 Baden, July 6, 1804, to Herr Wiedebein, of Bruns- 
 wick, who had asked if it was advisable for a music 
 teacher and student to make his home in Vienna. 
 
 214. There is much on earth to be done, — do 
 it soon ! I must not continue my present every- 
 day life, — art asks this sacrifice also. Take rest 
 in diversion in order to work more energetically. 
 
 Diary, 1814. 
 
 215. The daily grind exhausts me. 
 Baden, August 23, 1823, to his nephew Karl. 
 
THE SUFFERER 
 
 216. Compelled to be a philosopher as early 
 as my 28th year; — it is not an easy matter, — 
 more difficult for the artist than any other man. 
 
 October 6, 1802; the Heiligenstadt Will. 
 
 217. Compelled to contemplate a lasting mal- 
 ady, born with an ardent and lively tempera- 
 ment, susceptible to the diversions of society, I 
 was obliged at an early date to isolate myself 
 and live a life of solitude. 
 
 From the same. 
 
 218. It was impossible for me to say to 
 others: speak louder; shout! for I am deaf. 
 Ah! was it possible for me to proclaim a defi- 
 ciency 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 perfec- 
 tion, to a degree of perfection, indeed, which 
 few of my profession have ever enjoyed? 
 
 From the same. 
 
 219. For me there can be no recreation in 
 human society, refined conversation, mutual ex- 
 change of thoughts and feelings; only so far 
 as necessity compels may I give myself to so- 
 ciety, — I must live like an exile. 
 
 From the same. 
 
 220. How great was the humiliation when 
 
 81 
 
82 Beethoven 
 
 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 noth- 
 ing. Such experiences brought me to the verge 
 of despair; — but little more and I should have 
 put an end to my life. Art, art alone deterred 
 me. \ 
 
 From the same. 
 
 I may say that I live a wretched exist- 
 ence. 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 ter- 
 rible ; 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 orches- 
 tra in order to understand the actor ; if I am a 
 little remote from them I do not hear the high 
 tones of instruments and voices ; it is remarkable 
 that there are persons who have not observed it, 
 but because I am generally absent-minded my 
 conduct is ascribed "to that. 
 
 Vienna, June 29, 1800, to Wegeler. " To you only do 
 I confide this as a secret." Concerning his deafness see 
 Appendix. 
 
 222. My defective hearing appeared every- 
 where before me like a ghost; I fled from the 
 presence of men, was obliged to appear to be a 
 misanthrope although I am so little such. 
 
 November 16, 1801, or 1800, to Wegeler, in writing to 
 
The Sufferer 83 
 
 him about his happy love. " Unfortunately, she is not of 
 my station in life." 
 
 > 223. Truly, a hard lot has befallen me ! Yet 
 I accept the decree of Fate, and continually 
 pray to God to grant that as long as I must 
 endure this death in life, I may be preserved 
 from want. 
 
 March 14, 1827, to Moscheles, after Beethoven had 
 undergone the fourth operation for dropsy and was con- 
 fronting the fifth. He died on March 26, 1827. 
 
 <K224. Live alone in your art! Restricted 
 though you be by your defective sense, this is 
 still the only existence for you. 
 Diary, 1816. 
 
 225. Dissatisfied with many things, more sus- 
 ceptible than any other person and tormented 
 by my deafness, I often find only suffering in 
 the association with others. 
 
 In 1815, to Brauchle, tutor in the house of Countess 
 Erdody. 
 
 226. I have emptied a cup of bitter suffering 
 and already won martyrdom in art through the 
 kindness of art's disciples and my art associ- 
 ates. 
 
 In the summer of 1814, to Advocate Kauka. "Socrates 
 and Jesus were my exemplars," he remarks in a Conver- 
 sation-book of 1819. 
 
 227. Perfect the ear trumpets as far as pos- 
 sible, 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, — I 
 
84 Beethoven 
 
 writing the music and having it performed to 
 the glory of the Almighty, the Eternal, the In- 
 finite ! 
 
 Diary, 1815. Beethoven was hoping to receive an ap- 
 pointment as chapelmaster from his former pupil, Arch- 
 duke Rudolph, Archbishop of Olmtitz. 
 
 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 fu- 
 ture for which there seems to be no possibility 
 now. O, harsh "Fate, cruel destiny. No, my un- 
 happy conditiqn 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 your- 
 self 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 prepara- 
 tory to travel; only thus can you do the great 
 work for your poor nephew ; later travel through 
 Italy, Sicily, with a few other artists. 
 
 Diary, spring of 1817. The salaries were the annuities 
 paid him for several years by Archduke Rudolph, Prince 
 Kinsky and Prince Lobkowitz. Seume's " Spaisiergang 
 nach Syrakus" was a favorite book of Beethoven's and 
 inspired him in a desire to make a similar tour, but noth- 
 ing came of it. 
 
 X 229. You must not be a man like other men ; 
 not for yourself, only for others ; for you there 
 
The Sufferer 85 
 
 is no more happiness except in yourself, in your 
 art. — O God, give me strength to overcome my- 
 self, nothing must hold me to this life. 
 Beginning of the Diary, 1812-18. 
 
 230. Leave operas and all else alone, write 
 only for your orphan, and then a cowl to close 
 this unhappy life. 
 
 Diary, 1816. 
 
 231. I have often cursed my existence; Plu- 
 tarch taught me resignation. I shall, if possi- 
 ble, 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 re- 
 sort ; yet it is the only one left me ! 
 
 Vienna, June 29, 1800, to Wegeler. 
 
 232. Patience, they tell me, I must now 
 choose for a guide. I have done so. It shall 
 be my resolve, lastingly, I hope, to endure until 
 it pleases the implacable Parcas to break the 
 thread. There may be improvement, — perhaps 
 not, — I am prepared. 
 
 From the Heiligenstadt Will. 
 
 233. Let all that is called life be offered to 
 the sublime and become a sanctuary of art. Let 
 me live, even through artificial means, so they 
 can be found. 
 
 Diary, 1814, when Beethoven was being celebrated ex- 
 traordinarily by the royalties and dignitaries gathered at 
 the Congress of Vienna. 
 
 234. Ah ! it seemed impossible for me to leave 
 the world until I had produced all that I felt 
 
86 Beethoven 
 
 called upon to produce; and so I prolonged 
 this wretched existence. 
 From the Heiligenstadt Will. 
 
 235. With joy shall I hasten forward to 
 meet death ; if he comes before I shall have had 
 an opportunity to develop all my artistic capa- 
 bilities, he will come too early in spite of my 
 harsh fate, and I shall probably wish him to 
 come at a later date. But even then I shall be 
 content, for will he not release me from endless 
 suffering? Come when you please, I shall meet 
 you bravely. 
 
 From the Heiligenstadt Will. 
 
 236. Apollo and the muses will not yet per- 
 mit me to be delivered over to the grim skeleton, 
 for I owe them so much, and I must, on my 
 departure for the Elysian Fields, leave behind 
 me all that the spirit has inspired and com- 
 manded to be finished. 
 
 September 17, 1824, to Schott, music publisher in 
 Mayence. 
 
 237. Had I not read somewhere that it is not 
 
 permitted man to part voluntarily from his life 
 
 so long as there is a good deed which he can 
 
 perform, I should long since have been no more, 
 
 — and by my own hand. O, how beautiful life 
 
 is, but in my case it is poisoned. 
 
 May 2, 1810, to his friend Wegeler, to whom he is 
 lamenting over " the demon that has set up his habitation 
 in my ears." 
 
 238. I must abandon wholly the fond hope, 
 which I brought hither, to be cured at least in 
 a degree. As the fallen autumn leaves have 
 
The Sufferer 87 
 
 withered, so are now my hopes blighted. I de- 
 part in almost the same condition in which I 
 came; even the lofty courage which often ani- 
 mated me in the beautiful days of summer has 
 disappeared. 
 
 From the Will. Beethoven had tried the cure at 
 Heiligenstadt. 
 
 239. All week long I had to suffer and en- 
 dure like a saint. Away with this rabble ! What 
 a reproach to our civilization that we need what 
 we despise and must always know it near! 
 
 In 1825, complaining of the misery caused by his 
 domestics. 
 
 240. The best thing to do not to think of 
 your malady is to keep occupied. 
 
 Diary, 1812-18. 
 
 241. It is no comfort for men of the better 
 sort to say to them that others also suffer ; but, 
 alas ! comparisons must always be made, though 
 they only teach that we all suffer, that is err, 
 only in different ways. 
 
 In 1816, to Countess Erdbdy, on the death of her son. 
 
 242. The portraits of Handel, Bach, Gluck, 
 Mozart and Haydn in my room, — they may help 
 me to make claim on toleration. 
 
 Diary, 1815-16. 
 
 243. . God, who knows my innermost soul, and 
 knows how sacredly I have fulfilled all the duties 
 put upon me as man by humanity, God and 
 nature will surely some day relieve me from 
 these afflictions. 
 
 July 18, 1821, to Archduke Rudolph, from Unter- 
 Dobling. 
 
88 Beethoven 
 
 244. Friendship and similar sentiments bring 
 
 only wounds to me. Well, so be it; for you, 
 
 poor Beethoven, there is no outward happiness ; 
 
 you must create 'it within you, — only in the 
 
 world of ideality shall you find friends. 
 
 About 1808, to Baron von Gleichenstein, by whom he 
 thought himself slighted. 
 
 245. You are living on a quiet sea, or al- 
 ready in the safe harbor ; you do not feel the 
 distress of a friend out in the raging storm, — 
 or you must not feel it. 
 
 In 1811, to his friend Gleichenstein, when Beethoven 
 was in love with the Baron's sister-in-law, Therese Mal- 
 fatti. 
 
 \ 246. I must have a confidant at my side lest 
 
 life become a burden. 
 
 July 4, 1812, to Count Brunswick, whom he is. urging 
 to make a tour with him, probably to Teplitz. 
 
 247. Your love makes me at once the hap- 
 piest and the unhappiest of men. At my age 
 I need a certain uniformity and equableness of 
 life; can such exist in our relationship? 
 
 June 7, 1800 (?), to the "Immortal Beloved." 
 
 248. O Providence! vouchsafe me one day 
 of pure joy! Long has the echo of perfect 
 felicity been absent from my heart. When O, 
 when, O Thou Divine One, shall I feel it again in 
 nature's temple and man's? Never? Ah! that 
 would be too hard ! 
 
 Conclusion of the Heiligenstadt Will. 
 
WORLDLY WISDOM 
 
 249. Freedom, — progress, is purpose in the 
 art-world as in universal creation, and if we 
 modems have not the hardihood of our ances- 
 tors, refinement of manners has surely accom- 
 plished something. 
 
 MSdling, July 29, 1819, to Archduke Rudolph. 
 
 250. The boundaries are not yet fixed which 
 shall call out to talent and industry: thus far 
 and no further ! 
 
 Reported by Schindler. ■* - 
 
 251. You know that the sensitive spirit must 
 
 not be bound to miserable necessities. 
 
 In the summer of 1814, to Johann Kauka, the advocate 
 who represented him in the prosecution of his claims 
 against the heirs of Prince Kinsky. 
 
 252. Art, the persecuted one, always finds an 
 
 asylum. Did not Daedalus, shut up in the 
 
 labyrinth, invent the wings which carried him 
 
 out into the open air ? O, I shall find them, too, 
 
 these wings ! 
 
 February 19, 1812, to Zmeskall, when, in 1811, by de- 
 cree of the Treasury, the value of the Austrian currency " 
 was depreciated one-fifth, and the annuity which Bee- 
 thoven received from Archduke Rudolph and the Princes 
 Lobkowitz and Kinsky reduced to 800 florins. 
 
 Show me the course where at the goal 
 there stands the palm of victory ! Lend sublim- 
 
 89 
 
90 Beethoven 
 
 ity to ray loftiest thoughts, bring to them truths 
 that shall live forever ! 
 
 Diary, 1814, while working on " Fidelio." 
 
 254. Every day is lost in which we do not 
 
 learn something useful. Man has no nobler or 
 
 more valuable possession than time; therefore 
 
 never put off till to-morrow what you can do 
 
 to-day. 
 
 From the notes in Archduke Rudolph's instruction- 
 book. 
 
 255. This is the mark of distinction of a 
 truly admirable man: steadfastness in times of 
 trouble. 
 
 Diary, 1816. 
 
 256. Courage, so it be righteous, will gain 
 all things. 
 
 April, 1815, to Countess Erdody. 
 
 257. Force, which is a unit, will always pre- 
 vail against the majority which is divided. 
 
 Conversation-book, 1819. 
 
 258. Kings and Princes can create profes- 
 sors and councillors, and confer orders and 
 decorations ; but they can not create great men, 
 spirits that rise above the earthly rabble; 
 these they can not create, and therefore they 
 are to be respected. 
 
 August 15, 1812, to Bettina von Arnim. 
 
 259. Man, help yourself! 
 
 Written under the words: "Fine, with the help of 
 God," which Moscheles had written at the end of a piano- 
 forte arrangement of a portion of " Fidelio." 
 
Worldly Wisdom 91 
 
 260. If I could give as definite expression to 
 
 my thoughts about my illness as to my thoughts 
 
 in music, I would soon help myself. 
 
 September, 1812, to Amalie Sebald, a patient at the 
 cure in Teplitz. 
 
 i- 261. Follow the advice of others only in the 
 rarest cases. 
 Diary, 1816. 
 
 " The moral law in us, and the starry 
 sky above us." — Kant. 
 
 Conversation-book, February, 1820. Literally the pas- 
 sage reads as follows in Kant's " Critique of Practical 
 Reason:" "Two things fill the soul with ever new and 
 increasing wonder and reverence the oftener the mind 
 dwells upon them: — the starry sky above me and the 
 moral law in me." 
 
 263. Blessed is he who has overcome all pas- 
 sions and then proceeds energetically to per- 
 form 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 re- 
 sults, be they good or evil ; for such equanimity 
 is attention to intellectual things. Seek an asy- 
 lum 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. There- 
 fore endeavor diligently to preserve this use, of 
 
92 Beethoven 
 
 your reason; for in the affairs of this world 
 
 such a use is a precious art. 
 
 Diary. Though essentially in the language of Bee- 
 thoven there is evidence that the passage was inspired by 
 something that he had read. 
 
 264. The just man must be able also to suf- 
 fer injustice without deviating in the least from 
 the right course. 
 
 To the Viennese magistrate in the matter of Karl's 
 education. 
 
 265. Man's humility towards man pains me; 
 and yet when I consider myself in connection 
 with the universe, what am I and what is he 
 whom we call the greatest? And yet herein, 
 again, lies the divine element in man. 
 
 To the "Immortal Beloved," July 6 (1800?). 
 
 266. Only the praise of one who has enjoyed 
 praise can give pleasure. 
 
 Conversation-book, 1825. 
 
 267. Nothing is more intolerable than to be 
 compelled to accuse one's self of one's own er- 
 rors. 
 
 Teplitz, September 6, 1811, to Tiedge. Beethoven re- 
 grets that through his own fault he had not made Tiedge's 
 acquaintance on an earlier opportunity. 
 
 268. What greater gift can man receive than 
 fame, praise and immortality? 
 
 Diary, 1816-17. After Pliny, Epist. III. 
 
 269. Frequently it seems as if I should almost 
 go mad over my undeserved fame ; fortune seeks 
 
Worldly Wisdom 93 
 
 me out and I almost fear new misfortune on 
 that account. 
 
 July, 1810, to his friend Zmeskall. " Every day there 
 come new inquiries from strangers, new acquaintances, 
 new relationships." 
 
 270. The world must give one recognition, — 
 it is not always unjust. I care nothing for it 
 because I have a higher goal. 
 
 August 15, 1812, to Bettina von Arnim. 
 
 271. I have the more turned my gaze up- 
 wards ; 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 des- 
 tiny. 
 
 February 8, 1823, to Zelter, with whom he is negotiat- 
 ing the sale of a copy of the Mass in D. 
 
 272. Why so many dishes ? Man is certainly 
 
 very little higher than the other animals if his 
 
 chief delights are those of the table. 
 
 Reported by J. A. Stumpff, in the " Harmonicon " of 
 1824. He dined with Beethoven in Baden. 
 
 273. Whoever tells a lie is not pure of heart, 
 
 and such a person can not cook a clean soup. 
 
 To Mme. Streicher, in 1817, or '18, after having dis- 
 missed an otherwise good housekeeper because she had 
 told a falsehood to spare his feelings. 
 
 274. Vice walks through paths full of pres- 
 ent lusts and persuades many to follow it. Vir- 
 tue pursues a steep path and is less seductive to 
 mankind, especially if at another place there 
 are persons who call them to a gently declining 
 road. 
 
 Diary, 1815. 
 
94 Beethoven 
 
 275. Sensual enjoyment without a union of 
 souls is bestial and will always remain bestial; 
 after it one experiences not a trace of noble 
 sentiment, but rather regret. 
 
 Diary, 1812-18. 
 
 276. Men are not only together when they 
 
 are with each other; even the distant and the 
 
 dead live with us. 
 
 To Therese Malfatti, later Baroness von Drossdick, 
 to whom in the country he sent Goethe's "Wilhelm 
 Meister" and Schlegel's translation of Shakespeare. 
 
 277. There is no goodness except the posses- 
 sion of a good soul, — which may be seen in all 
 things, from which one need not seek to hide. 
 
 August IS, 1812, to Bettina von Arnim. 
 
 278. The foundation of friendship demands 
 
 the greatest likeness of human souls and hearts. 
 
 Baden, July 24, 1804, to Ries, describing his quarrel 
 with Breuning. 
 
 279. True friendship can rest only on the 
 union of like natures. 
 
 Diary, 1812-18. 
 
 280. The people say nothing ; they are merely 
 people. As a rule they only see themselves in 
 others, and what they see is nothing ; away with 
 them! The good and the beautiful needs no 
 people, — it exists without outward help, and this 
 seems to be the reason of our enduring friend- 
 ship. 
 
 September 16, 1812, to Amalie Sebald, in Teplitz, who 
 had playfully called him a tyrant. 
 
Worldly Wisdom 95 
 
 281. Look, my dear Ries ; these are the great 
 
 connoisseurs who affect to be able to judge of 
 
 any piece of music so . correctly and keenly. 
 
 Give them but the name of their favorite, — they 
 
 need no more ! 
 
 To his pupil Ries, who had, as a joke, played a medi- 
 ocre march at a gathering at Count Browne's and an- 
 nounced it to be a composition by Beethoven. When the 
 march was praised beyond measure Beethoven broke out 
 into a grim laugh. 
 
 282. Do not let all men see the contempt 
 
 which they deserve; we do not know when we 
 
 may need them. 
 
 Note in the Diary of 1814, after having had an un- 
 pleasant experience with his "friend" Bertolini. "Hence- 
 forth never step inside his house; shame on you to ask 
 anything from such an one." 
 
 283. Our Time stands in need of powerful 
 
 minds who will scourge these petty, malicious 
 
 and miserable scoundrels, — much as my heart 
 
 resents doing injury to a fellow man. 
 
 In 1825, to his nephew, in reference to the publication 
 of a satirical canon on the Viennese publisher, Has- 
 linger, by Schott, of Mayence. 
 
 284. To-day is Sunday. Shall I read some- 
 thing for you from the Gospels ? " Love ye 
 one another ! " 
 
 To Frau Streicher. 
 
 285. Hate reacts on those who nourish it. 
 Diary, 1812-18. 
 
 3. When friends get into a quarrel it is 
 
96 Beethoven 
 
 always best not to call in an intermediary, but 
 to have friend turn to friend direct. 
 
 Vienna, November 2, 1793, to Eleonore von Breuning, 
 of Bonn. 
 
 287. There are reasons for the conduct of 
 men which one is not always willing to explain, 
 but which, nevertheless, are based on ineradic- 
 able necessity. 
 
 In 1815, to Brauchle. 
 
 288. I was formerly inconsiderate and hasty 
 in the expression of my opinions, and thereby 
 I made enemies. Now I pass judgment on no 
 one, and, indeed, for the reason that I do not 
 wish to do any one harm. Moreover, in the last 
 instance I always think: if it is something de- 
 cent it will maintain itself in spite of all attack 
 and envy; if there is nothing good and sound 
 at the bottom of it, it will fall to pieces of itself, 
 bolster it up as one may. 
 
 In a conversation with Tomaschek, in October, 1814. 
 
 289. Even the most sacred friendship may 
 harbor secrets, but you ought not to misinter- 
 pret the secret of a friend because you can not 
 guess it. 
 
 About 1808, to Frau Marie Bigot. 
 
 290. You are happy ; it is my wish that you 
 
 remain so, for every man is best placed in his 
 
 sphere. 
 
 Baden, July 13, 1825, to his brother Johann, landowner 
 in Gneixendorf. 
 
Worldly Wisdom 97 
 
 291. One must not measure the cost of the 
 useful. 
 
 To his nephew Karl in a discussion touching the pur- 
 chase of an expensive book. 
 
 292. It is not my custom to prattle away my 
 purposes, since every intention once betrayed is 
 no longer one's own. 
 
 To Prau Streicher. 
 
 How stupidity and wretchedness always 
 go in pairs ! 
 
 Diary, 1817. Beethoven was greatly vexed by his ser- 
 vants. 
 
 294. Hope nourishes me; it nourishes half 
 the world, and has been my neighbor all my life, 
 ■ — else what had become of me! 
 
 August 11, 1810, to Bettina von Arnim. 
 
 295. Fortune is round like a globe, hence, 
 naturally, does not always fall on the noblest 
 and best. 
 
 Vienna, July 29, 1800, to Wegeler. 
 
 296. Show your power, Fate! We are not 
 our own masters ; what is decided must be, — and 
 so be it! 
 
 Diary, 1812-18. 
 
 297. Eternal Providence omnisciently directs 
 the good and evil fortunes of mortal men. 
 
 Diary, 1818. 
 
 298. With tranquility, O God, will I submit 
 myself to changes, and place all my trust in 
 Thy unalterable mercy and goodness. 
 
 Diary, 1818. 
 
98 Beethoven 
 
 299. All misfortune is mysterious and great- 
 est when viewed alone; discussed with others it 
 seems more endurable because one becomes en- 
 tirely familiar with the things one dreads, and 
 feels as if one had overcome it. 
 
 Diary, 1816. 
 
 300. One must not flee for protection to pov- 
 erty against the loss of riches, nor to a lack of 
 friendship against the loss of friends, nor by 
 abstention from procreation against the death 
 of children, but to reason against everything. 
 
 Diary, 1816. 
 
 301. I share deeply with you the righteous 
 sorrow over the death of your wife. It seems 
 to me that such a parting, which confronts 
 nearly every married man, ought to keep one 
 in the ranks of the unmarried. 
 
 May 20, 1811, to Gottfried Hartel, of Leipsic. 
 
 302. He who is afflicted with a malady which 
 he can not alter, but which gradually brings 
 him nearer and nearer to death, without which 
 he would have lived longer, ought to reflect that 
 murder or another cause might have killed him 
 even more quickly. 
 
 Diary, 1812-18. 
 
 303. We finite ones with infinite souls are 
 born only for sorrows and joy and it might al- 
 most be said that the best of us receive joy 
 through sorrow. 
 
 October 19, 1815, to Countess Erdody. 
 
Worldly Wisdom 99 
 
 304. He is a base man who does not know 
 
 how to die ; I knew it as a boy of fifteen. 
 
 In the spring of 1816, to Miss Fanny Giannatasio del 
 Rio, when Beethoven felt ill and spoke of dying. It is 
 not known that he was ever near death in his youth. 
 
 305. A second and third generation recom- 
 penses me three and fourfold for the ill-will 
 which I had to endure from by former contem- 
 poraries. 
 
 Copied into his Diary from Goethe's " Westostlichen 
 Divan." 
 
 306. " My hour at last is come ; 
 
 Yet not ingloriously or passively 
 I die, but first will do some valiant deed, 
 Of which mankind shall hear in after 
 time." — Homer. 
 "The Iliad" [Bryant's translation], Book XXII, 375- 
 378. Copied into his Diary, 1815. 
 
 307. Fate gave man the courage of endur- 
 ance. 
 
 Diary, 1814. 
 
 308. 
 " Portia — How far that little candle throws his 
 beams ! 
 So shines a good deed in a naughty 
 world." 
 Marked in his copy of Shakespeare's " Merchant of 
 Venice." 
 
 309. " And on the day that one becomes a 
 slave 
 The Thunderer, Jove, takes half his 
 worth away." — Homer. 
 "The Odyssey" [Bryant's translation], Book XVII, 
 392-393. Marked by Beethoven. 
 
100 Beethoven 
 
 310. " Short is the life of man, and whoso 
 bears 
 
 A cruel heart, devising cruel things, 
 
 On him men call down evil from the 
 gods 
 
 While living, and pursue him, when he 
 dies, 
 
 With scoffs. But whoso is of gener- 
 ous heart 
 
 And harbors generous aims, his guests 
 proclaim 
 
 His praises far and wide to all man- 
 kind, 
 
 And numberless are they who call him 
 
 good." — Homer. 
 
 "The Odyssey" [Bryant's translation], Book XIX, 
 408-415. Copied into his diary, 1818. 
 
GOD 
 
 Beethoven was through and through a re- 
 ligious 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 ration- 
 alism. When at a later date he composed the 
 grand Mass in honor of his esteemed pupil Arch- 
 duke Rudolph, — he hoped to obtain from him a 
 chapelmastership when the Archduke became 
 Archbishop of Olmiitz, but in vain, — he gave it 
 forms and dimensions which deviated from the 
 ritual. 
 
 In all things liberty was the fundamental 
 principle of Beethoven's life. His favorite book 
 was Sturm's " Observations Concerning God's 
 Works in Nature" (Betrachtungen iiber die 
 Werke Gottes in der Natur), which he recom- 
 mended to the priests for wide distribution 
 among the people. He saw the hand of God 
 in even the most insignificant natural phenom- 
 enon. "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 yon starry can- 
 opy there must dwell a loving Father ! " Bee- 
 thoven's relationship to God was that of a child 
 101 
 
102 Beethoven 
 
 toward his loving father to whom he confides 
 all his joys as well as sorrows. It is said that 
 once he narrowly escaped excommunication for 
 having said that Jesus was only a poor human 
 being and a Jew. Haydn, ingenuously pious, is 
 reported to have called Beethoven an atheist. 
 
 He consented to the calling in of a priest on 
 his death-bed. Eye-witnesses testify that the 
 customary function was performed most impres- 
 sively and edifyingly and that Beethoven ex- 
 pressed his thanks to the officiating priest with 
 heartiness. After he had left the room Bee- 
 thoven said to his friends : " Plaudite, amici, 
 comoedia finita est" the phrase with which an- 
 tique 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 administra- 
 tion. It is more probable that he wished to 
 designate his life as a drama; in this sense, at 
 any rate, the words were accepted by his 
 friends. Schindler says emphatically : " The 
 last days were in all respects remarkable, and 
 he looked forward to death with truly Socratic 
 /•wisdom and peace of mind. 
 
 [I append a description of the death scene as I found 
 it in the note-books of A. W. Thayer which were placed 
 in my hands for examination after the death of Beetho- 
 ven's greatest biographer in 1897. " June 5, 1860, I was 
 in Graz and saw Hiittenbrenner (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 
 
God 103 
 
 from Graz. He hastened to Vienna, arriving a few days 
 before Beethoven's death. Early in the afternoon of 
 March 26, Hiittenbrenner 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. Beetho- 
 ven is right). Beethoven had then long been senseless. 
 Telscher began drawing the dying face of Beethoven. 
 This grated on Breuning's feelings, and he remonstrated 
 with him, and he put up his papers and left (?). Then 
 Breuning and Schindler left to go out to Wahring to 
 select a grave. (Just after five — I got this from Breu- 
 ning himself — when it grew dark with the sudden storm, 
 Gerhard, who had been standing at the window, ran 
 home to his teacher.) Afterward Gerhard v. B. went 
 home, and there remained in the room only Hiittenbren- 
 ner 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. Hiittenbren- 
 ner 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 
 maj estically — ' like » general giving orders to an army.' 
 This was but for an instant; the arm sunk back; he fell 
 back. Beethoven was dead. 
 
 " Another talk with Hiittenbrenner. 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 de- 
 fiance and power of resistance. 
 
 " He must have had his arm under the pillow. I must 
 ask him. 
 
 "I did ask him; he had his arm around B.'s neck." 
 H. E. K.] 
 
 311. I am that which is. I am all that was, 
 that is, and that shall be. No mortal man has 
 ever lifted the veil of me. He is solely of him- 
 
104 Beethoven 
 
 self, and to this Only One all things owe their 
 existence. 
 
 Beethoven's creed. He had found it in Champollion's 
 " The Paintings of Egypt," where it is set down as an 
 inscription on a temple to the goddess Neith. Beethoven 
 had his copy framed and kept it constantly before him on 
 his writing desk. " The relic was a great treasure in his 
 eyes." (Schindler.) 
 
 312. Wrapped in the shadows of eternal soli- 
 tude, in the impenetrable darkness of the thicket, 
 impenetrable, immeasurable, unapproachable, 
 formlessly extended. Before spirit was breathed 
 (into things) his spirit was, and his only. As 
 mortal eyes (to compare finite and infinite 
 things) look into a shining mirror. 
 
 Copied, evidently, from an unidentified work, by Bee- 
 thoven; though possibly original with him. 
 
 313. It was not the fortuitous meeting of the 
 chordal atoms that made the world; if order 
 and beauty are reflected in the constitution of 
 the universe, then there is a God. 
 
 Diary, 1816. 
 
 314. He who is above, — O, He is, and with- 
 out Him there is nothing. 
 
 Diary. 
 
 315. Go to the devil with your " gracious 
 
 Sir ! " There is only one who can be called 
 
 gracious, and that is God. 
 
 About 1824 or 1825, to Rampel, a copyist, who, ap- 
 parently, had been a little too obsequious in his address 
 to Beethoven. [As is customary among the Viennese to 
 this day. H. E. K.] 
 
 316. What is all this compared with the 
 
God 105 
 
 great Tonemaster above! above! above! and 
 righteously the Most High, whereas here below 
 all is mockery, — dwarf s ? — and yet Most High ! ! 
 To Schott, publisher in Mayence, in 1824— the same 
 year in which Beethoven copied the Egyptian inscription. 
 
 317. There is no loftier mission than to ap- 
 proach the Divinity nearer than other men, and 
 to disseminate the divine rays among mankind. 
 
 August, 18g3, to Archduke Rudolph* 
 
 318. Heaven rules over the destiny of men 
 and monsters (literally, human and inhuman be- 
 ings), and so it will guide me, too,, to the better 
 things of life. 
 
 September 11, 1811, to the poet Elsie von der Recke. 
 
 319. It's the same with humanity; here, too 
 
 (in suffering), he must show his strength, i.e. 
 
 endure without knowing or feeling his nullity, 
 
 and reach his perfection again for which the 
 
 Most. High wishes to make us worthy. 
 
 May 13, 1816, to Countess Erdody, who was suffering 
 from incurable lameness. 
 
 320. Religion and thorough-bass are settled 
 things -concerning which there should be no dis- 
 puting. 
 
 Reported by Schindler. 
 
 321. All things flowed clear and pure out of 
 God. Though often darkly led to evil by pas- 
 sion, I returned, through penance and purifica- 
 tion to the pure fountain, — to God, — and to 
 your art. In this I was never impelled by self- 
 ishness; may it always be so. The trees bend 
 
106 Beethoven 
 
 low under the weight of fruit, the clouds de- 
 scend when they are filled with salutary rains, 
 and the benefactors of humanity are not puffed 
 up by their wealth. 
 
 Diary, 1815. The first portion seems to be a quotation, 
 but Beethoven continues after the dash most character- 
 istically in his own words and a change of person. 
 
 322. God is immaterial, and for this reason 
 transcends every conception. Since He is in- 
 
 ( visible He can have no form^__But_Xrxffi(L.whatjwe 
 
 observe in His work we may conclude that He 
 
 is eternal^ omnipotent, omniscient and omni- 
 
 presenO 
 
 Copied, with the remark: "From Indian literature" 
 from an unidentified work, into the Diary of 1816. 
 
 323. In praise of Thy goodness I must con- 
 fess 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 displeas- 
 ure and to humiliate my proud heart by mani- 
 fold castigations. Sickness and misfortune didst 
 Thou send upon me to turn my thoughts to my 
 errantries. — One thing, only, O Father, do I 
 ask : cease not to labor for my betterment. In 
 whatsoever manner it be, let me turn to Thee 
 and become fruitful in good works. 
 
 Copied into the Diary from Sturm's book, " Observa- 
 tions Concerning the 'Wforks of God in Nature." 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 Some observations may finally be acceptable 
 touching Beethoven's general culture to which 
 the thoughts of the reader must naturally have 
 been directed by the excerpts from his writings 
 set forth in the preceding pages. His own 
 words betray the fact that he was not privileged 
 to enjoy a thorough school-training and was 
 thus compelled to the end of his days to make 
 good the deficiencies in his learning. As a lad 
 at Bonn he had attended the so-called Tiroci- 
 nium, a sort of preparatory school for the Gym- 
 nasium, 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 estab- 
 lished intimate relations with the rules of Ger- 
 man. He used small initials for substantives, 
 or capitalized verbs and adjectives according 
 as they appeared important to him. His punc- 
 tuation was arbitrary ; generally he drew a per- 
 pendicular line between his words, letting it suf- 
 fice for a comma or period as the case might be 
 ( a proceeding which adds not a little to the em- 
 barrassments of him who seeks to translate his 
 sometimes mystical utterances). 
 
 It is said that a man's bookcase bears evi- 
 dence of his education and intellectual interests. 
 107 
 
108 Appendix 
 
 Beethoven also had books, — not many, but a 
 characteristic collection. From his faithful 
 friend and voluntary servant Schiudler 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 transla- 
 tions of Shakespeare's works, Homer's " Odys- 
 sey " in the translation of J. H. Voss, Sturm's 
 " Observations " (several times referred to in 
 the preceding pages), and Goethe's " Westost- 
 lichen Divan." These books are frequently 
 marked and annotated in lead pencil, thus bear- 
 ing witness to the subjects which interested Bee-, 
 thoven. 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 Meister " and " Faust," Schil- 
 ler'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 writ- 
 ings of Pliny, Euripides, Quintilian, Ovid, Hor- 
 ace, Ossian, Milton and Thomson, traces of 
 which are found in Beethoven's utterances. 
 The catalogue made for the auction sale of his 
 posthumous effects on September 7, 1827, in- 
 cluded forty-four works of which the censorship 
 
Appendix 109 
 
 seized five as prohibited writings, namely, Seu- 
 me's " Foot Journey to Syracuse," the Apoc- 
 rypha, Kotzebue's "On the Nobility," W. E. 
 Muller's "Paris in its Zenith" (1816), and 
 Fessler's " Views on Religion and Ecclesiasti- 
 cism." Burney's " General History of Music " 
 was also in his library, the gift, probably of an 
 English admirer. 
 
 In his later years Beethoven was obliged to 
 use the oft-quoted " Conversation-books " in his 
 intercourse with friends and strangers alike who 
 wrote down their questions. Of these little 
 books Schindler preserved no less than 134, 
 which are now in the Royal Library in Berlin. 
 Naturally Beethoven answered the written ques- 
 tions orally as a rule. An idea of Beethoven's 
 opinions can occasionally be gathered from the 
 context of the questions, but frequently we are 
 left in the dark. 
 
 Beethoven's own characterization of his deaf- 
 ness 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 marvellously in social circles ; 
 in 1824 he studies their parts in the Ninth Sym- 
 phony and Solemn Mass with Sontag and Un- 
 
110 Appendix 
 
 gher, and in 1825 he listens critically to a per- 
 formance of the quartet in A-minor op. 132." 
 It is to be assumed that in such urgent cases his 
 will-power 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 im- 
 portant moments, as the Conversation-books 
 prove. In these books a few answers are also 
 written down, naturally enough in eases hot in- 
 tended for the ears of strangers. At various 
 times Beethoven kept a diary in which he en- 
 tered 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. 
 
MOZART 
 
 THE MAN AND THE ARTIST 
 
 AS REVEALED IN HIS OWN WORDS 
 
 Compiled and Annotated by 
 
 FRIEDRICH KERST 
 
 Translated and Edited by 
 HENRY EDWARD KREHBIEL 
 
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 B. W. HUEBSCH 
 
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