" The King of Saxony delayed
his remittance for a long while, and Beethoven was greatly irritated
thereby.
But little other work was undertaken during the four years he was
occupied on the Mass unless we except the three grand piano sonatas,
opus 109, 110 and 111, which were composed during the intervals. A mere
by-product so to speak, undertaken with the object of resting his
faculties jaded by the strain of the greater work, his mind
notwithstanding was keyed up to a high pitch, while engaged on them. The
lofty imaginings which occupied his thoughts while on the Mass are
reflected in them, rendering them unapproachable as piano sonatas. The
master himself, set a great value on them.
Now that the Mass was completed he began to give his attention to other
works. To celebrate the opening of the rehabilitated Josephstadt theatre
which occurred in the autumn of 1822, Beethoven wrote a new overture,
Weihe des Hauses. He also worked over for this occasion his Ruins of
Athens, written in 1812, for which the text was altered to suit the new
conditions and several new numbers added.
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