(Baden, July 6, 1804, to Wiedebein, a teacher of music in Brunswick.)

58. "I am not in the habit of rewriting my compositions. I never did it
because I am profoundly convinced that every change of detail changes
the character of the whole."

(February 19, 1813, to George Thomson, who had requested some changes in
compositions submitted to him for publication.)

59. "One must not hold one's self so divine as to be unwilling
occasionally to make improvements in one's creations."

(March 4, 1809, to Breitkopf and Hartel, when indicating a few changes
which he wished to have made in the symphonies op. 67 and op. 68.)

60. "The unnatural rage for transcribing pianoforte pieces for string
instruments (instruments that are in every respect so different from
each other) ought to end. I stoutly maintain that only Mozart could have
transcribed his own works, and Haydn; and without putting myself on a
level with these great men I assert the same thing about my pianoforte
sonatas. Not only must entire passages be elided and changed, but
additions must be made; and right here lies the rock of offence to
overcome which one must be the master of himself or be possessed of
the same skill and inventiveness. I transcribed but a single sonata for
string quartet, and I am sure that no one will easily do it after me."

(July 13, 1809, in an announcement of several compositions, among them
the quintet op. 29.)

61. "Were it not that my income brings in nothing, I should compose
nothing but grand symphonies, church music, or, at the outside, quartets
in addition."

(December 20, 1822, to Peters, publisher, in Leipzig. His income had
been reduced from 4,000 to 800 florins by the depreciation of Austrian
currency.)

[Here, in the original, is one of the puns which Beethoven was fond of
making: "Ware mein Gehalt nicht ganzlich ohne Gehalt." H. E. K.]

ON PERFORMING MUSIC

While reading Beethoven's views on the subject of how music ought to be
performed, it is but natural to inquire about his own manner of playing.
On this point Ries, his best pupil, reports:

"In general Beethoven played his own compositions very capriciously, yet
he adhered, on the whole, strictly to the beat and only at times, but
seldom, accelerated the tempo a trifle. Occasionally he would retard
the tempo in a crescendo, which produced a very beautiful and striking
effect. While playing he would give a passage,