On reaching manhood, he found a world in transition; he realized that he
was on the threshold of a new order of things, and with ready prescience
took advantage of such as could be utilized in his art. Through
Beethoven the resources of the orchestra were increased, an added range
was given the keyboard of the piano, the human voice was given tasks
that at the time seemed impossible of achievement. He established the
precedent, which Wagner acted on later, of employing the human voice as
a tool, an instrument, to be used in the exigencies of his art, as if it
were a part of the orchestra.

Beethoven's birthplace, Bonn, no doubt proved a favorable soil for the
propagation of the new ideas. The unrest pervading all classes, an
outcome of the Revolution, showed itself among the more serious-minded
in increased intellectuality, and a reaching after higher things. This
_Zeitgeist_ is clearly reflected in his compositions, in particular the
symphonies and sonatas. "Under the lead of Italian vocalism," said
Wagner, speaking of the period just preceding the time of which we
write, "music had become an art of sheer agreeableness." The beautiful
in music had been sufficiently exploited by Mozart and Haydn. Beethoven
demonstrated that music has a higher function than that of mere beauty,
or the simple act of giving pleasure. The beautiful in literature is not
its best part. To the earnest thinker, the seeker after truth, the
student who looks for illumination on life's problem, beauty in itself
is insufficient. It is the best office of art, of Beethoven's art in
particular, that it leads ever onward and upward; that it acts not only
on the esthetic and moral sense, but develops the mental faculties as
well, enabling the individual to find a purpose and meaning in life.

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