" It was
probably in this coldly analytical frame of mind, that the great
councillor viewed the composer. But it was a momentous event to the
latter to know Goethe. He had before this set to music a number of his
ballads and had only recently composed the music to his Egmont. Many
years afterward, in 1822, in an interview with Rochlitz who made a
pilgrimage from Leipzig to make his acquaintance, he reverts to this
time. "Since the Carlsbad summer when I met Goethe, I read him every
day, that is when I do read. He has killed Klopstock for me, but Goethe
he lives and he wants us all to live. This is why it is so easy to make
music to his words."
CHAPTER IX
OPTIMISTIC TREND
Thus, with what has hitherto been effected, the clue to the
labyrinth of what is yet to be done is given us.
--HERDER: _Apotheosis of Humanity_.
Beethoven visited quite a number of places during the summer of 1812 in
quest of health. While at Carlsbad he gave a concert in aid of the
people of Baden, who had lost heavily through a disastrous fire there,
on which occasion he extemporized.
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