"No man on earth can love the
country as I do. Thickets, trees and rocks supply the echo man longs
for." His best ideas came to him while walking through the fields and
woods. At such times his mind became serene and he would attain that
degree of abstraction from the world which enabled him to develop his
musical ideas. He always carried note-books and would jot down a thought
as it came to him. When he got home he would elaborate it and work it
into shape. He would walk for hours in all sorts of weather. Like
Thoreau, he generally preferred to be alone in his walks, the presence
of a companion preventing him from working out his thoughts.
Very properly, he occupied himself but little with the music of other
composers. To a man of his individuality, inspiration from the outer
world was not to be had or desired. His own inner wealth was sufficient.
Curiously, he set a high value on Cherubini during the period of writing
Fidelio and the Third Symphony. His own creations however, were of
paramount interest to him. He was a slow worker, continually polishing
and improving his work up to the moment that it reached the engraver's
hands.
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