works of that master. His second finale to Don Juan inspired me
to include him in my spirit world.

I was now filled with a desire to compose, as I had before been
to write verse. I had, however, in this case to master the
technique of an entirely separate and complicated subject. This
presented greater difficulties than I had met with in writing
verse, which came to me fairly easily. It was these difficulties
that drove me to adopt a career which bore some resemblance to
that of a professional musician, whose future distinction would
be to win the titles of Conductor and Writer of Opera.

I now wanted to set Leubald und Adelaide to music, similar to
that which Beethoven wrote to Goethe's Egmont; the various ghosts
from the spirit world, who were each to display different
characteristics, were to borrow their own distinctive colouring
from appropriate musical accompaniment. In order to acquire the
necessary technique of composition quickly I studied Logier's
Methode des Generalbasses, a work which was specially recommended
to me at a musical lending library as a suitable text-book from
which this art might be easily mastered. I have distinct
recollections that the financial difficulties with which I was
continually harassed throughout my life began at this time. I
borrowed Logier's book on the weekly payment system, in the fond
hope of having to pay for it only during a few weeks out of the
savings of my weekly pocket-money. But the weeks ran on into
months, and I was still unable to compose as well as I wished.
Mr. Frederick Wieck, whose daughter afterwards married Robert
Schumann, was at that time the proprietor of that lending
library. He kept sending me troublesome reminders of the debt I