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 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, 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.)