finding one like himself, who, in spite of
all the impediments of Nature, yet did all that lay in his power to
obtain admittance into the rank of worthy artists and men.... I go to
meet death with joy. If he comes before I have had occasion to develop
all my professional abilities, he will come too soon for me, in spite
of my hard fate, and I should wish that he had delayed his arrival. But
even then I am content, for he will release me from a state of endless
suffering. Come when thou wilt, I shall meet thee with firmness.
Farewell, and do not quite forget me after I am dead; I have deserved
that you should think of me, for in my lifetime I have often thought of
you to make you happy. May you ever be so!"

VIII.

The music of Beethoven has left a profound impress on art. In speaking
of his genius it is difficult to keep expression within the limits of
good taste. For who has so passed into the very inner _penetralia_ of
his great art, and revealed to the world such heights and depths of
beauty and power in sound?

Beethoven composed nine symphonies, which, by one voice, are ranked as
the greatest ever written, reaching in the last, known as the "Choral,"
the full perfection of his power and experience. Other musicians have
composed symphonic works remarkable for varied excellences, but in
Beethoven this form of writing seems to have attained its highest
possibilities, and to have been illustrated by the greatest variety of
effects, from the sublime to such as are simply beautiful and melodious.
His hand swept the whole range of expression with unfaltering mastery.
Some passages may seem obscure, some too elaborately wrought, some
startling and abrupt, but on all is stamped the die of his great genius.

Beethoven's compositions for the piano, the sonatas, are no less notable
for range and power of expression, their adaptation to meet all the
varied moods of passion and sentiment. Other pianoforte composers have
given us more warm and vivid color, richer sensual effects of tone, more
wild and bizarre combination, perhaps even greater sweetness in melody;
but we look in vain elsewhere for the spiritual passion and poetry, the
aspiration and longing, the lofty humanity, which make the Beethoven
sonatas the _suspiria de pro-fundis_ of the composer's inner life. In
addition to his symphonies and sonatas, he wrote the great opera of
"Fidelio," and in the field of oratorio asserted his equality with
Handel and Haydn by