Thoughts
On Music
"Il n'y a pas de règle qu'on ne peut blesser à cause de Schöner" (There is no rule which one cannot break for the sake of Beauty). This expression appears in the original in French except for the last word Schöner.
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"Music ought to create and fan the fire of the spirit of man."
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"Music is a higher revelation than the whole of wisdom and the whole of philosophy He who penetrates the meaning of my music shall be freed from all the misery which afflicts others."
(To Bettina, 1810.)
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"There is nothing finer than to approach the Divine and to shed its rays on the human race."
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"Why do I write? What I have in my heart must come out; and that is why I compose."
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"Do you believe that I think of a divine violin when the spirit speaks to me and that I write what it dictates?"
(To Schuppanzigh.)
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"According to my usual manner of composing, even in my instrumental music, I always have the whole in my mind; here, however, that whole is to a certain extent divided, and I have afresh to think myself into the music."
(To Treitschke: from correspondence concerning Beethoven's musical settings to some of his poems. Treitschke was the man who revised the libretto of Fidelio when it was seriously thought of reviving it.)
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"One should compose without a piano. The faculty of expressing what one desires and feels (which is so essential a need to noble natures) comes only by degrees."
(To the Archduke Rudolph.)
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"The descriptions of a picture belong to painting; even the poet in this matter may, in comparison with my art, esteem himself lucky, for his domain in this respect is not so limited as mine, yet the latter extends further into other regions, and to attain to our kingdom is not easy."
(To Wilhelm Gerhardi in Leipzig from Nussdorf, July, 1817.)
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"Liberty and progress are the goals of art just as of life in general. If we are not as solid as the old masters, the refinement of civilization has at least enlarged our outlook."
(To Archduke Rudolph.)
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"I am not in the habit of altering my compositions when they are once finished. I have never done this, for I hold firmly that the slightest change alters the character of the composition."
(To George Thomson, publisher, Edinburgh.)
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"Pure Church music ought to be performed entirely by the voices only, except for the Gloria or words of that kind. That is why I prefer Palestrina; but it would be absurd to imitate him without possessing his spirit and his religious convictions."
(To the organist Freudenberg.)
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"When your piano pupil has the proper fingering, the exact rhythm and plays the notes correctly, pay attention only to the style; do not stop for little faults or make remarks on them until the end of the piece. This method produces musicians, which after all is one of the chief aims of musical art . . . . . For the passage work (virtuosity) make him use all the fingers freely. . . . . Doubtless by employing fewer fingers a 'pearly' effect is obtained—as it is put—'like a pearl.' But one likes other jewels at times."
(To Czerny.)
(The Baron de Trémont wrote in 1809, "Beethoven's piano playing was not very correct and his manner of fingering was often faulty; the quality of his tone was not beyond reproach. But who could dream of the player? One was completely absorbed by the thoughts which his hands tried to express as well as they could.")
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"Amongst the old masters, only Handel and Sebastian Bach had true genius."
(To the Archduke Rudolph, 1819.)
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"My heart beats in entire concord with the lofty and grand art of Sebastian Bach, that patriarch of harmony (dieses Urvaters der Harmonie.")
(To Hofmeister, 1801.)
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"I have always been one of the greatest admirers of Mozart, and I shall remain so until my latest breath."
(To the Abbé Stadler, 1826.)
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"I admire your works above all other pieces for the theatre. I am in ecstasy each time I hear a new work by you, and I take more interest in them than in my own. In brief, I admire you and I love you . . . . . You will always remain the one I esteem most amongst all my contemporaries. If you wish to give me an extreme pleasure do write me a few lines. That would give me great satisfaction. Art unites everybody, how much more true artists, and perhaps you will consider me also worthy of being counted one of this number."
(To Cherubini, 1823.)
(The words in italics are in French in the original with some defective spelling. This letter to Cherubini was not answered.)
On Criticism.
"In all that concerns me as an artist, no one has ever heard me say that I pay the least attention to what has been written about me."
(To Schott, 1825.)
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"I think with Voltaire that mere fly-stings will not hold back a run-away horse."
(1826.)
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"As for these idiots, one can only let them talk. Their prattling will certainly not make anyone immortal, any more than it will raise to immortality any of those whom Apollo has destined for it."
(1801.)
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