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This etext was produced by John Mamoun with
help from numerous proofreaders, including those at the
Distributed Proofreaders' page of Charles Franks.

"Beethoven: the Man and the Artist, as Revealed in his own Words"

edited by Friedrich Kerst and Henry Edward Krehbiel

(See the end of this electronic text for information about
the edition)

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

BRIEF BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
PREFACE
CONCERNING ART
LOVE OF NATURE
CONCERNING TEXTS
ON COMPOSING
ON PERFORMING MUSIC
ON HIS OWN WORKS
ON ART AND ARTISTS
BEETHOVEN AS CRITIC
ON EDUCATION
ON HIS OWN DISPOSITION AND CHARACTER
THE SUFFERER
WORLDLY WISDOM
GOD
APPENDIX
INFO ABOUT THIS E-TEXT EDITION

BRIEF BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) is widely considered to be one of
the pre-eminent classical music figures of the Western world.
This German musical genius created numerous works that are firmly
entrenched in the repertoire. Except for a weakness in composing
vocal and operatic music (to which he himself admitted,
notwithstanding a few vocal works like the opera "Fidelio" and the
song "Adelaide,"), Beethoven had complete mastery of the artform.
He left his stamp in 9 symphonies, 5 piano concertos, 10 violin
sonatas, 32 piano sonatas, numerous string quartets and dozens of
other key works. Many of his works are ingeniously imaginative
and innovated, such as his 3rd symphony (the "Eroica"), his 9th
Violin Sonata (The "Kreutzer"), his "Waldstein" piano sonata, his
4th and 5th piano concertos, or his "Grosse Fugue" for string
quartet.

Of course, many of his works have their own unique character and
innovative "angle" to them. Comparing one to another risks
"comparing apples to oranges," since each adds its own detail to
Beethoven's grand musical paradigm.

It is difficult to sum up briefly what his musical works represent
or symbolize, since taken together they encompass a vast system of
thought. Generally, however, those who apprehend his music sense
that it reflects their own personal yearnings and sufferings. It
egoistically, and always intelligently, "discusses" with its
listener his or her feelings in the wake of personal failure and
personal triumph, from the lowest depths of despair to the highest
heights of happy or triumphant fulfillment. In his music, he
represents the feelings felt by those attempting to achieve their
yearnings within their societies.

In a thematic sense, Beethoven does not promote anarchist ideas.
The listener cannot, in listening to Beethoven's music, apprehend
ideas which, if applied, would compromise the welfare of his
society. The music is thus "civically responsible," as is the
music of Bach or Mozart. For Beethoven, the society exists as a
bulwark with which the individual must function in harmony, or at
least not function such as to harm or destroy it. And, should the
society marginalize or hurt the individual, as it often does, the
individual must, according to Beethoven, humbly accept this, never
considering the alternative act of attempting to harm or destroy
the society in the wake of his or her personal frustrations. But,
thanks to Beethoven, such an individual is provided with the means
to sooth his or her misery in the wake of feeling "hurt" at the
hands of society. The means is this music and the euphoric
pleasure that it can provide to minds possessing the psycho-
intellectual "wiring" needed to apprehend it.

The following book consists of brief biographical commentaries
about Beethoven, each followed by sections of quotations
attributed to the muse. In these quotes, Beethoven demonstrates
his intense preoccupation (or obsession) with thinking
artistically and intelligently, and with helping to alleviate
man's suffering by providing man with musical artworks that could
enlighten him, so as to become educated enough to pull himself out
of his misery. He felt immediate, strong disdain at any artistic
statement that was not truly intelligent and artistic, such as the
music of Rossini. Although not prudish, he had high standards
when it came to marriage, and was morally against "reproductory
pleasure" for its own sake, or any form of adultery. He never
married. Interestingly, experimental psychologists have
discovered that people who have an intense love of humanity or
are preoccupied with working to serve humanity tend to have
difficulty forming intimate bonds with people on a personal
level.

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PREFACE

This little book came into existence as if it were by chance.
The author had devoted himself for a long time to the study of
Beethoven and carefully scrutinized all manner of books,
publications, manuscripts, etc., in order to derive the greatest
possible information about the hero. He can say confidently that
he conned every existing publication of value. His notes made
during his readings grew voluminous, and also his amazement at
the wealth of Beethoven's observations comparatively unknown to
his admirers because hidden away, like concealed violets, in
books which have been long out of print and for whose
reproduction there is no urgent call. These observations are of
the utmost importance for the understanding of Beethoven, in
whom man and artist are inseparably united. Within the pages
of this little book are included all of them which seemed to
possess value, either as expressions of universal truths or as
evidence of the character of Beethoven or his compositions.
Beethoven is brought more directly before our knowledge by these
his own words than by the diffuse books which have been written
about him. For this reason the compiler has added only the
necessary explanatory notes, and (on the advice of professional
friends) the remarks introductory to the various subdivisions of
the book. He dispensed with a biographical introduction; there
are plenty of succinct biographies, which set forth the
circumstances of the master's life easily to be had. Those who
wish to penetrate farther into the subject would do well to
read the great work by Thayer, the foundation of all Beethoven
biography(in the new revision now making by Deiters), or the
critical biography by Marx, as revised by Behncke. In sifting
the material it was found that it fell naturally into thirteen
subdivisions. In arranging the succession of utterances care
was had to group related subjects. By this means unnecessary
interruptions in the train of thought were avoided and
interesting comparisons made possible. To this end it was
important that time, place and circumstances of every word
should be conscientiously set down.

Concerning the selection of material let it be said that in all
cases of doubt the authenticity of every utterance was proved;
Beethoven is easily recognizable in the form and contents of his
sayings. Attention must be directed to two matters in particular:
after considerable reflection the compiler decided to include in
the collection a few quotations which Beethoven copied from books
which he read. From the fact that he took the trouble to write
them down, we may assume that they had a fascination for him, and
were greeted with lively emotion as being admirable expressions
of thoughts which had moved him. They are very few, and the fact
that they are quotations is plainly indicated. By copying them
into his note-books Beethoven as much as stored them away in the
thesaurus of his thoughts, and so they may well have a place
here. A word touching the use of the three famous letters to
Bettina von Arnim, the peculiarities of which differentiate them
from the entire mass of Beethoven's correspondence and compel an
inquiry into their genuineness: As a correspondent Bettina von
Arnim has a poor reputation since the discovery of her pretty
forgery, "Goethes Briefwechsel mit einem Kinde" (Goethe's
Correspondence with a Child). In this alleged "Correspondence"
she made use of fragmentary material which was genuine, pieced
it out with her own inventions, and even went so far as to turn
into letters poems written by Goethe to her and other women. The
genuineness of a poem by Beethoven to Bettina is indubitable; it
will be found in the chapter entitled "Concerning Texts." Doubt
was thrown on the letters immediately on their appearance in 1839.

Bettina could have dissipated all suspicion had she produced the
originals and remained silent. One letter, however, that dates
February 10, 1811, afterward came to light Bettina had given it
to Philipp von Nathusius. It had always been thought the most
likely one, of the set to be authentic; the compiler has
therefore, used it without hesitation. From the other letters,
in which a mixture of the genuine and the fictitious must be
assumed so long as the originals are not produced, passages have
been taken which might have been thus constructed by Beethoven.
On the contrary, the voluminous communications of Bettina to
Goethe, in which she relates her conversations with Beethoven,
were scarcely used. It is significant, so far as these are
concerned, that, according to Bettina's own statement, when she
read the letter to him before sending it off, Beethoven cried out,
"Did I really say that? If so I must have had a raptus."

In conclusion the compiler directs attention to the fact that in
a few cases utterances which have been transmitted to us only in
an indirect form have been altered to present them in a direct
form, in as much as their contents seemed too valuable to omit
simply because their production involved a trifling change in
form.

--Elberfeld, October, 1904. Fr. K.

CONCERNING ART

Beethoven's relation to art might almost be described as
personal. Art was his goddess to whom he made petition, to whom
he rendered thanks, whom he defended. He praised her as his
savior in times of despair; by his own confession it was only
the prospect of her comforts that prevented him from laying
violent hands on himself. Read his words and you shall find
that it was his art that was his companion in his wanderings
through field and forest, the sharer of the solitude to which
his deafness condemned him. The concepts Nature and Art were
intimately bound up in his mind. His lofty and idealistic
conception of art led him to proclaim the purity of his goddess
with the hot zeal of a priestly fanatic. Every form of pseudo
or bastard art stirred him with hatred to the bottom of his
soul; hence his furious onslaughts on mere virtuosity and all
efforts from influential sources to utilize art for other than
purely artistic purposes. And his art rewarded his devotion
richly; she made his sorrowful life worth living with gifts of
purest joy:

"To Beethoven music was not only a manifestation of the
beautiful, an art, it was akin to religion. He felt himself to
be a prophet, a seer. All the misanthropy engendered by his
unhappy relations with mankind, could not shake his devotion to
this ideal which had sprung in to Beethoven from truest
artistic apprehension and been nurtured by enforced
introspection and philosophic reflection."

("Music and Manners," page 237. H. E. K.)

1. "'Tis said, that art is long, and life but fleeting:--
Nay; life is long, and brief the span of art;
If e're her breath vouchsafes with gods a meeting,
A moment's favor 'tis of which we've had a part."

(Conversation book, March, 1820. Probably a quotation.)

2. "The world is a king, and, like a king, desires flattery in
return for favor; but true art is selfish and perverse--it will
not submit to the mould of flattery."

(Conversation book, March, 1820. When Baron van Braun expressed
the opinion that the opera "Fidelio" would eventually win the
enthusiasm of the upper tiers, Beethoven said, "I do not write
for the galleries!" He never permitted himself to be persuaded
to make concessions to the taste of the masses.)

3. "Continue to translate yourself to the heaven of art; there
is no more undisturbed, unmixed, purer happiness than may thus
be attained."

(August 19, 1817, to Xavier Schnyder, who vainly sought
instruction from Beethoven in 1811, though he was pleasantly
received.)

4. "Go on; do not practice art alone but penetrate to her heart;
she deserves it, for art and science only can raise man to
godhood."

(Teplitz, July 17, 1812, to his ten years' old admirer, Emilie M.
in H.)

5. "True art is imperishable and the true artist finds profound
delight in grand productions of genius."

(March 15, 1823, to Cherubini, to whom he also wrote, "I prize
your works more than all others written for the stage." The
letter asked Cherubini to interest himself in obtaining a
subscription from King Louis XVIII for the Solemn Mass in D).

[Cherubini declared that he had never received the letter. That
it was not only the hope of obtaining a favor which prompted
Beethoven to express so high an admiration for Cherubini, is
plain from a remark made by the English musician Cipriani
Potterto A. W. Thayer in 1861. I found it in Thayer's note-books
which were placed in my hands for examination after his death.

One day Potter asked, "Who is the greatest living composer,
yourself excepted?" Beethoven seemed puzzled for a moment, and
then exclaimed, "Cherubini." H. E. K.]

6. "Truth exists for the wise; beauty for the susceptible heart.
They belong together--are complementary."

(Written in the autograph book of his friend, Lenz von Breuning,
in 1797.)

7. "When I open my eyes, a sigh involuntarily escapes me, for all
that I see runs counter to my religion; perforce I despise the
world which does not intuitively feel that music is a higher
revelation than all wisdom and philosophy."

(Remark made to Bettina von Arnim, in 1810, concerning Viennese
society. Report in a letter by Bettina to Goethe on May 28,
1810.)

8. "Art! Who comprehends her? With whom can one consult concerning
this great goddess?"

(August 11, 1810, to Bettina von Arnim.)

9. "In the country I know no lovelier delight than quartet
music."

(To Archduke Rudolph, in a letter addressed to Baden on July 24,
1813.)

10. "Nothing but art, cut to form like old-fashioned hoop-
skirts. I never feel entirely well except when I am among scenes
of unspoiled nature."

(September 24, 1826, to Breuning, while promenading with
Breuning's family in the Schonbrunner Garden, after calling
attention to the alleys of trees "trimmed like walls, in the
French manner.")

11. Nature knows no quiescence; and true art walks with her hand
in hand; her sister--from whom heaven forefend us!--is called
artificiality."

(From notes in the lesson book of Archduke Rudolph, following
some remarks on the expansion of the expressive capacity of
music.)

LOVE OF NATURE

Beethoven was a true son of the Rhine in his love for nature. As
a boy he had taken extended trips, sometimes occupying days, with
his father "through the Rhenish localities ever lastingly dear to
me." In his days of physical health Nature was his instructress
in art; "I may not come without my banner," he used to say when
he set out upon his wanderings even in his latest years, and
never without his note books. In the scenes of nature he found
his marvelous motives and themes; brook, birds and tree sang to
him. In a few special cases he has himself recorded the fact.

But when he was excluded more and more from communion with his
fellow men because of his increasing deafness, until, finally, he
could communicate only by writing with others (hence the
conversation-books, which will be cited often in this little
volume), he fled for refuge to nature. Out in the woods he again
became naively happy; to him the woods were a Holy of Holies, a
Home of the Mysteries. Forest and mountainvale heard his sighs;
there he unburdened his heavy-laden heart. When his friends need
comfort he recommends a retreat to nature. Nearly every summer he
leaves hot and dusty Vienna and seeks a quiet spot in the
beautiful neighborhood. To call a retired and reposeful little
spot his own is his burning desire.

12. On the Kahlenberg, 1812, end of September:

Almighty One
In the woods
I am blessed.
Happy every one
In the woods.
Every tree speaks
Through Thee.

O God!
What glory in the
Woodland.
On the Heights
is Peace,--
Peace to serve
Him--

(This poetic exclamation, accompanied by a few notes, is on a
page of music paper owned by Joseph Joachim.)

13. "How happy I am to be able to wander among bushes and herbs,
under trees and over rocks; no man can love the country as I love
it. Woods, trees and rocks send back the echo that man desires."

(To Baroness von Drossdick.)

14. "O God! send your glance into beautiful nature and comfort
your moody thoughts touching that which must be."

(To the "Immortal Beloved," July 6, in the morning.)

[Thayer has spoiled the story so long believed, and still
spooking in the books of careless writers, that the "Immortal
Beloved" was the Countess Giulietta Guicciardi, to whom the
C-sharp minor sonata is dedicated. The real person to whom the
love-letters were addressed was the Countess Brunswick to whom
Beethoven was engaged to be married when he composed the fourth
Symphony. H. E. K.)

15. "My miserable hearing does not trouble me here. In the
country it seems as if every tree said to me: 'Holy! holy!' Who
can give complete expression to the ecstasy of the woods ! O,
the sweet stillness of the woods!"

(July, 1814; he had gone to Baden after the benefit performance
of "Fidelio.")

16. "My fatherland, the beautiful locality in which I saw the
light of the world, appears before me vividly and just as
beautiful as when I left you; I shall count it the happiest
experience of my life when I shall again be able to see you,
and greet our Father Rhine."

(Vienna, June 29, to Wegeler, in Bonn.)

[In 1825 Beethoven said to his pupil Ries, "Fare well in the Rhine
country which is ever dear to me," and in 1826 wrote to Schott,
the publisher in Mayence, about the "Rhine country which I so long
to see again."]

17. "Bruehl, at "The Lamb"--how lovely to see my native country
again!"

(Diary, 1812-1818.)

18. "A little house here, so small as to yield one's self a
little room,--only a few days in this divine Bruehl,--longing or
desire, emancipation or fulfillment."

(Written in 1816 in Bruehl near Modling among the sketches for
the Scherzo of the pianoforte sonata op. 10.)

[Like many another ejaculatory remark of Beethoven's, it is
difficult to understand. See Appendix. H. E. K.]

19. "When you reach the old ruins, think that Beethoven often
paused there; if you wander through the mysterious fir forests,
think that. Beethoven often poetized, or, as is said, composed
there."

(In the fall of 1817, to Mme. Streicher, who was at a cure in
Baden.)

20. "Nature is a glorious school for the heart! It is well; I
shall be a scholar in this school and bring an eager heart to her
instruction. Here I shall learn wisdom, the only wisdom that is
free from disgust; here I shall learn to know God and find a
foretaste of heaven in His knowledge. Among these occupations my
earthly days shall flow peacefully along until I am accepted into
that world where I shall no longer be a student, but a knower of
wisdom."

(Copied into his diary, in 1818, from Sturm's "Betrachtungen uber
die Werke Gottes in der Natur.")

21. "Soon autumn will be here. Then I wish to be like unto a
fruitful tree which pours rich stores of fruit into our laps! But
in the winter of existence, when I shall be gray and sated with
life, I desire for myself the good fortune that my repose be as
honorable and beneficent as the repose of nature in the winter
time."

(Copied from the same work of Sturm's.)

CONCERNING TEXTS

Not even a Beethoven was spared the tormenting question of texts
for composition. It is fortunate for posterity that he did not
exhaust his energies in setting inefficient libretti, that he did
not believe that good music would suffice to command success in
spite of bad texts. The majority of his works belong to the field
of purely instrumental music. Beethoven often gave expression to
the belief that words were a less capable medium of proclamation
for feelings than music. Nevertheless it may be observed that he
looked upon an opera, or lyric drama, as the crowning work of his
life. He was in communication with the best poets of his time
concerning opera texts. A letter of his on the subject was found
in the blood-spotted pocketbook of Theodor Komer. The conclusion
of his creative labors was to be a setting of Goethe's "Faust;"
except "Fidelio," however, he gave us no opera. His songs are not
many although he sought carefully for appropriate texts.
Unhappily the gift of poetry was not vouchsafed him.

22. "Always the same old story: the Germans can not put together a
good libretto."

(To C. M. von Weber, concerning the book of "Euryanthe," at Baden,
in October, 1823. Mozart said: "Verses are the most indispensable
thing for music, but rhymes, for the sake of rhymes, the most
injurious. Those who go to work so pedantically will assuredly
come to grief, along with the music.")

23. "It is difficult to find a good poem. Grillparzer has promised
to write one for me,--indeed, he has already written one; but we
can not understand each other. I want something entirely different
than he."

(In the spring of 1825, to Ludwig Rellstab, who was intending to
write an opera-book for Beethoven. It may not be amiss to recall
the fact that Mozart examined over one hundred librettos,
according to his own statement, before he decided to compose "The
Marriage of Figaro.")

24. "It is the duty of every composer to be familiar with all
poets, old and new, and himself choose the best and most fitting
for his purposes."

(In a recommendation of Kandler's "Anthology.")

25. "The genre would give me little concern provided the subject
were attractive to me. It must be such that I can go to work on
it with love and ardor. I could not compose operas like "Don
Juan" and "Figaro;" toward them I feel too great a repugnance. I
could never have chosen such subjects; they are too frivolous."

(In the spring of 1825, to Ludwig Rellstab.)

26. "I need a text which stimulates me; it must be something
moral, uplifting. Texts such as Mozart composed I should never
have been able to set to music. I could never have got myself
into a mood for licentious texts. I have received many librettos,
but, as I have said, none that met my wishes."

(To young Gerhard von Breuning.)

27. "I know the text is extremely bad, but after one has conceived
an entity out of even a bad text, it is difficult to make changes
in de tails without disturbing the unity. If it is a single word,
on which occasionally great weight is laid, it must be permitted
to stand. He is a bad author who can not, or will not try to make
something as good as possible; if this is not the case petty
changes will certainly not improve the whole."

(Teplitz, August 23, 1811, to Hartel, the publisher, who wanted
some changes made in the hook of "The Mount of Olives.")

28. "Good heavens! Do they think in Saxony that the words make
good music? If an inappropriate word can spoil the music, which
is true, then we ought to be glad when we find that words and
music are one and not try to improve matters even if the verbal
expression is commonplace--dixi."

(January 28, to Gottfried Hartel, who had undertaken to make
changes in the book of "The Mount of Olives" despite the
prohibition of Beethoven.)

29. "Goethe's poems exert a great power over me not only because
of their contents but also because of their rhythms; I am
stimulated to compose by this language, which builds itself up to
higher orders as if through spiritual agencies, and bears in
itself the secret of harmonies."

(Reported as an expression of Beethoven's by Bettina von Arnim to
Goethe.)

30. "Schiller's poems are difficult to set to music. The composer
must be able to rise far above the poet. Who can do that in the
case of Schiller? In this respect Goethe is much easier."

(1809, after Beethoven had made his experiences with the "Hymn to
Joy" and "Egmont.")

ON COMPOSING

Wiseacres not infrequently accused Beethoven of want of
regularity in his compositions. In various ways and at divers
times he gave vigorous utterance to his opinions of such
pedantry. He was not the most tractable of pupils, especially in
Vienna, where, although he was highly praised as a player, he
took lessons in counterpoint from Albrechtsberger. He did not
endure long with Papa Haydn. He detested the study of fugue in
particular; the fugue was to him a symbol of narrow coercion
which choked all emotion. Mere formal beauty, moreover, was
nothing to him. Over and over again he emphasizes soul, feeling,
direct and immediate life, as the first necessity of an art work.
It is therefore not strange that under certain circumstances he
ignored conventional forms in sonata and symphony. An
irrepressible impulse toward freedom is the most prominent
peculiarity of the man and artist Beethoven; nearly all of his
observations, no matter what their subject, radiate the word
"Liberty." In his remarks about composing there is a complete
exposition of his method of work.

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