(April 22, 1801, to the publisher Hofmeister, in Leipzig.)
51. “Correspondence, as you know, was never my forte; some of my best friends have not had a letter from me in years. I live only in my notes (compositions), and one is scarcely finished when another is begun. As I am working now I often compose three, even four, pieces simultaneously.”
(Vienna, June 29, 1800, to Wegeler, in Bonn.)
52. “I never write a work continuously, without interruption. I am always working on several at the same time, taking up one, then another.”
(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 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 faithful that I am sure never to forget, not even in years, a theme that has once occurred to me. I change many things, discard, and try again until I am satisfied. Then, however, there begins in my head the development in every direction, and, in as much as I know exactly what I want, the fundamental idea never deserts me,—it arises before me, grows,—I see and hear the picture in all its extent and dimensions stand before my mind like a cast, and there remains for me nothing but the labor of writing it down, which is quickly accomplished when I have the time, for I sometimes take up other work, but never to the confusion of one with the other.
“You will ask me where I get my ideas. That I cannot tell you with certainty; they come unsummoned, directly, indirectly,—I could seize them with my hands,—out in the open air; in the woods; while walking; in the silence of the nights; early in the morning; incited by moods, which are translated by the poet into words, by me into tones that sound, and roar and storm about me until I have set them down in notes.”
(Said to Louis Schlosser, a young musician, whom Beethoven honored with
his friendship in 1822-23.)