my dominion is in the air; the tones
whirl like the wind, and often there is a like whirl in my soul."

(February 13, 1814, to Count Brunswick, in Buda.)

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."]

36. "Yes, yes, then they are amazed and put their heads together because
they never found it in any book on thorough bass."

(To Ries when the critics accused him of making grammatical blunders in
music.)

37. "No devil can compel me to write only cadences of such a kind."

(From notes written in his years of study. Beethoven called the
composition of fugues "the art of making musical skeletons.")

38. "Good singing was my guide; I strove to write as flowingly as
possible and trusted in my ability to justify myself before the
judgment-seat of sound reason and pure taste."

(From notes in the instruction book of Archduke Rudolph.)

39. "Does he believe that I think of a wretched fiddle when the spirit
speaks to me?"