Beethoven, the Man and the Artist Part 9

117. "I have always reckoned myself among the greatest admirers of Mozart, and shall do so till the day of my death."

(February 6, 1886, to Abbe Maximilian Stadler, who had sent him his essay on Mozart's "Requiem.")

118. "Cramer, Cramer! We shall never be able to compose anything like that!"

(To Cramer, after the two had heard Mozart's concerto in C-minor at a concert in the Augarten.)

119. "'Die Zauberflote' will always remain Mozart's greatest work, for in it he for the first time showed himself to be a German musician. 'Don Juan' still has the complete Italian cut; besides our sacred art ought never permit itself to be degraded to the level of a foil for so scandalous a subject."

(A remark reported by Seyfried.)

["Hozalka says that in 1820-21, as near as he can recollect, the wife of a Major Baumgarten took boy boarders in the house then standing where the Musikverein's Saal now is, and that Beethoven's nephew was placed with her. Her sister, Baronin Born, lived with her. One evening Hozalka, then a young man, called there and found only Baronin Born at home. Soon another caller came and stayed to tea. It was Beethoven. Among other topics Mozart came on the tapis, and the Born asked Beethoven (in writing, of course) which of Mozart's operas he thought most of. 'Die Zauberflote' said Beethoven, and, suddenly clasping his hands and throwing up his eyes, exclaimed: 'Oh, Mozart!'" From A. W. Thayer's notebooks, reprinted in "Music and Manners in the Cla.s.sical Period,"

page 198. H. E. K.]

120. "Say all conceivable pretty things to Cherubini,--that there is nothing I so ardently desire as that we should soon get another opera from him, and that of all our contemporaries I have the highest regard for him."

(May 6, 1823, to Louis Schla.s.ser, afterward chapel master in Darmstadt, who was about to undertake a journey to Paris. See note to No. 112.)

121. "Among all the composers alive Cherubini is the most worthy of respect. I am in complete agreement, too, with his conception of the 'Requiem,' and if ever I come to write one I shall take note of many things."

(Remark reported by Seyfried. See No. 112.)

122. "Whoever studies Clementi thoroughly has simultaneously also learned Mozart and other authors; inversely, however, this is not the case."

(Reported by Schindler.)

123. "There is much good in Spontini; he understands theatrical effect and martial noises admirably.

"Spohr is so rich in dissonances; pleasure in his music is marred by his chromatic melody.

"His name ought not to be Bach (brook), but Ocean, because of his infinite and inexhaustible wealth of tonal combinations and harmonies.

Bach is the ideal of an organist."

(In Baden, 1824, to Freudenberg.)

124. "The little man, otherwise so gentle,--I never would have credited him with such a thing. Now Weber must write operas in earnest, one after the other, without caring too much for refinement! Kaspar, the monster, looms up like a house; wherever the devil sticks in his claw we feel it."

(To Rochlitz, at Baden, in the summer of 1823.)

125. "There you are, you rascal; you're a devil of a fellow, G.o.d bless you!... Weber, you always were a fine fellow."

(Beethoven's hearty greeting to Karl Maria von Weber, in October, 1823.)

126. "K. M. Weber began too learn too late; art did not have a chance to develop naturally in him, and his single and obvious striving is to appear brilliant."

(A remark reported by Seyfried.)

127. "'Euryanthe' is an acc.u.mulation of diminished seventh chords--all little backdoors!"

(Remarked to Schindler about Weber's opera.)

128. "Truly, a divine spark dwells in Schubert!"

(Said to Schindler when the latter made him acquainted with the "Songs of Ossian," "Die Junge Nonne," "Die Burgschaft," of Schubert's "Grenzen der Menschheit," and other songs.)

129. "There is nothing in Meyerbeer; he hasn't the courage to strike at the right time."

(To Tomaschek, in October, 1814, in a conversation about the "Battle of Victoria," at the performance of which, in 1813, Meyerbeer had played the big drum.)

130. "Rossini is a talented and a melodious composer, his music suits the frivolous and sensuous spirit of the times, and his productivity is such that he needs only as many weeks as the Germans do years to write an opera."

(In 1824, at Baden, to Freudenberg.)

131. "This rascal Rossini, who is not respected by a single master of his art!"

(Conversation-book, 1825.)

132. "Rossini would have become a great composer if his teacher had frequently applied some blows ad posteriora."