And all his seeing and his fashioning is steeped in that
marvellous gayety (_Heiterkeit_) which music first acquired through
him." (Wagner.)
A peculiarity of Beethoven's work often commented on, is the extreme
simplicity of his themes as they first appear in his sketch-books. These
are usually elaborated, thus changing their character, taking on new
meaning with the growth and development of the idea in the composer's
mind; when through with it, however, the thought appears fresh and
spontaneous, such was his consummate art, as if it had never undergone
any elaboration. But sometimes the theme maintains its original
simplicity, and the masterwork appears in the orchestration which
surrounds it; at times even this maintains an archaic simplicity. Thus
in the coda of the vivace of the Seventh Symphony, a simple melody is
reiterated eleven times in succession, with no other orchestration than
the pedal-point on E by the rest of the instruments.
The symphonies in general are the language of a buoyant, gay, blithesome
mood, as befits their design for concert use.
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