the entrance of a new path and a fresh period of
his productivity, at once full of significance in itself and of promise
for the future development of the perennial genius which could always
re-create itself from its own elements."

BEETHOVEN.

A general sketch of the life and musical accomplishments of Beethoven has
already appeared in the companion to this work, "The Standard Operas." In
this connection, however, it seems eminently fitting that some attention
should be paid to the religious sentiments of the great composer and the
sacred works which he produced. He was a formal member of the Roman
Church, but at the same time an ardent admirer of some of the Protestant
doctrines. His religious observances, however, were peculiarly his own.
His creed had little in common with any of the ordinary forms of
Christianity. A writer in "Macmillan's Magazine" some years ago very
clearly defined his religious position in the statement that his faith
rested on a pantheistic abstraction which he called "Love." He
interpreted everything by the light of this sentiment, which took the
form of an endless longing, sometimes deeply sad, at others rising to the
highest exaltation. An illustration of this in its widest sense may be
found in the choral part of the Ninth Symphony. He at times attempted to
give verbal expression to this ecstatic faith which filled him, and at
such times he reminds us of the Mystics. The following passages, which he
took from the inscription on the temple of the Egyptian goddess Neith at
Sais, and called his creed, explain this: "I am that which is. I am all
that is, that was, and that shall be. No mortal man hath lifted my veil.
He is alone by Himself, and to Him alone do all things owe their being."
With all this mysticism his theology was practical, as is shown by his
criticism of the words which Moscheles appended to his arrangement of
"Fidelio." The latter wrote at the close of his work: "_Fine_, with God's
help." Beethoven added: "O man! help thyself." That he was deeply
religious by nature, however, is constantly shown in his letters.
Wandering alone at evening among the mountains, he sketched a hymn to the
words, "God alone is our Lord." In the extraordinary letter which he
wrote to his brothers, Carl and Johann, he says: "God looks into my
heart. He searches it, and knows that love for man and feelings of
benevolence have their abode there." In a letter