32. “Then the loveliest themes slipped out of your eyes into my heart, themes which shall only then delight the world when Beethoven conducts no longer.”
(August 15, 1812, to Bettina von Arnim.)
33. “I always have a picture in my mind when composing, and follow its lines.”
(In 1815, to Neate, while promenading with him in Baden and talking
about the “Pastoral” symphony.)
[Ries relates: “While composing Beethoven frequently thought of an object, although he often laughed at musical delineation and scolded about petty things of the sort. In this respect ‘The Creation’ and ‘The Seasons’ were many times a butt, though without depreciation of Haydn’s loftier merits. Haydn’s choruses and other works were loudly praised by Beethoven.”]
34. “The texts which you sent me are least of all fitted for song. The description of a picture belongs to the field of painting; in this the poet can count himself more fortunate than my muse for his territory is not so restricted as mine in this respect, though mine, on the other hand, extends into other regions, and my dominion is not easily reached.”
(Nussdorf, July 15, 1817, to Wilhelm Gerhard, who had sent him some
Anacreontic songs for composition.)
35. “Carried too far, all delineation in instrumental music loses in efficiency.”
(A remark in the sketches for the “Pastoral” symphony, preserved in the
Royal Library in Berlin.)
[Mozart said: “Even in the most terrifying moments music must never offend the ear.”]