96. “How eagerly mankind withdraws from the poor artist what it has once
given him;--and Zeus, from whom one might ask an invitation to sup on
ambrosia, lives no longer.”
(In the summer of 1814, to Kauka, an advocate who represented him in the
lawsuit against the heirs of Kinsky.)
97. “I love straightforwardness and uprightness, and believe that
the artist ought not to be belittled; for, alas! brilliant as fame is
externally, it is not always the privilege of the artist to be Jupiter’s
guest on Olympus all the time. Unfortunately vulgar humanity drags him
down only too often and too rudely from the pure upper ether.”
(June 5, 1852, to C. F. Peters, music publisher, in Leipzig when
treating with him touching a complete edition of his works.)
98. “The true artist has no pride; unhappily he realizes that art has
no limitations, he feels darkly how far he is from the goal, and while,
perhaps he is admired by others, he grieves that he has not yet reached
the point where the better genius shall shine before him like a distant
sun.”
(Teplitz, July 17, to an admirer ten years old.)
99. “You yourself know what a change is wrought by a few years in the
case of an artist who is continually pushing forward. The greater the
progress which one makes in art, the less is one satisfied with one’s
old works.”
(Vienna, August 4, 1800, to Mathisson, in the dedication of his setting
of “Adelaide.” “My most ardent wish will be fulfilled if you are not
displeased with the musical composition of your heavenly ‘Adelaide.’”)
100. “Those composers are exemplars who unite nature and art in their
works.”
(Baden, in 1824, to Freudenberg, organist from Breslau.)
101. “What will be the judgment a century hence concerning the lauded
works of our favorite composers today? Inasmuch as nearly everything is
subject to the changes of time, and, more’s the pity, the fashions of
time, only that which is good and true, will endure like a rock, and no
wanton hand will ever venture to defile it. Then let every man do that
which is right, strive with all his might toward the goal which can
never be attained, develop to the last breath the gifts with which a
gracious Creator has endowed him, and never cease to learn; for ‘Life is
short, art eternal!’”
(From the notes in the instruction book of Archduke Rudolph.)
102. “Famous artists always labor under an embarrassment;--therefore
first works are the best, though they may have sprung out of dark
ground.”
(Conversation-book of 1840.)
103. “A musician is also a poet; he also can feel himself transported by
a pair of eyes into another and more beautiful world where greater souls
make sport of him and set him right difficult tasks.”
(August 15, 1812, to Bettina von Arnim.)
104. “I told Goethe my opinion as to how applause affects men like us,
and that we want our equals to hear us understandingly! Emotion suits
women only; music ought to strike fire from the soul of a man.”
(August 15, 1810, to Bettina von Arnim.)
105. “Most people are touched by anything good; but they do not partake
of the artist’s nature; artists are ardent, they do not weep.”
(Reported to Goethe by Bettina von Arnim, May 28, 1810.)