Beethoven: A Study in Spiritual Development

I say I read it, but reading a book about Beethoven, no matter how deeply it delves into the secrets of this being who heard everything except the clamorous sounds of the world, without pursuing Beethoven's music through the corridors and labyrinths of the soul, this being who never ceased to come to us without the burden of waiting, and whom we sometimes await while he is among us like unseen oxygen – such reading is not enriching, just as talking about swimming is not a substitute for swimming itself, and describing a color does not replace seeing it. So let us go to Beethoven, then, and hear from him before we hear about him from others. If this essential priority is achieved, then talking about him becomes like talking about a visit from which we gained an intimate friend, who is not that grim-faced figure who stares at us from his pictures, nor that quarrelsome recluse whom people sometimes shunned due to his intense aversion to people. Rather, he is the pure, truthful, joyful, cheerful, connected, affectionate, heavenly companion, the captivating one with a generous hand and spirit, grieving with a cosmic sorrow that is individual and stems from him. That is Beethoven in his music: power without arrogance, and gentleness without effeminacy, and an audible ray. And most of what he wrote is a reorganization of feelings through a spiritual experience that has no parallel in the history of art whatsoever, as confirmed by more than one of those who have been touched by the sun of his music.

• Category : Biography

• Number of Pages : 205 pages