At times, however, this
reserve gave way to Schindler's persistency. When he asked him about the
opening bars of the C minor Symphony (the Fifth) it brought out the
well-known remark, "thus fate knocks at the door." At another time, he
asked him for an elucidation of the Sonatas in F minor (opus 57) and D
minor (opus 29), and received the answer "read Shakespeare's Tempest,"
which was only half an answer. More definite is his meaning in the two
Sonatas (opus 14), which represents the entreating and resisting
principle in the conversation of a pair of lovers.
[Musical notation.]
Men of genius seldom care to explain their utterances. "The spirit gives
it to me and I write it down" is a remark attributed to Beethoven, and
this stated the case sufficiently from his point of view.
Zelter, director of the Singakademie of Berlin wrote Beethoven on
completion of the Mass, asking him to arrange it for voices only, as
nothing but _a capella_ music was permitted by the institution. To this
Beethoven gave a favorable reply, saying that with some modifications
the project was feasible.
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