(Reported by Schindler as having been put into the mouth of
Beethoven by a newspaper of Vienna. Schindler says: "When
Beethoven came to Vienna he knew no counterpoint, and little
harmony.")

47. "So far as mistakes are concerned it was never necessary for
me to learn thorough-bass; my feelings were so sensitive from
childhood that I practiced counterpoint without knowing that it
must be so or could be otherwise."

(Note on a sheet containing directions for the use of fourths in
suspensions--probably intended for the instruction of Archduke
Rudolph.)

48. "Continue, Your Royal Highness, to write down briefly your
occasional ideas while at the pianoforte. For this a little
table alongside the pianoforte is necessary. By this means not
only is the fancy strengthened, but one learns to hold fast in a
moment the most remote conceptions. It is also necessary to
compose without the pianoforte; say often a simple chord melody,
with simple harmonies, then figurate according to the rules of
counterpoint, and beyond them; this will give Y. R. H. no
headache, but, on the contrary, feeling yourself thus in the
midst of art, a great pleasure."

(July 1, 1823, to his pupil Archduke Rudolph.)


49. "The bad habit, which has clung to me from childhood, of
always writing down a musical thought which occurs to me, good