It would be a mistake to suppose that Beethoven was a pessimist, or a
misanthrope. Placed here to live and suffer, not knowing why it should
be so, he yet teaches that relentless fate cannot prevail against those
who make a good fight. "I did not wish to find when I came to die that I
had not lived," said Thoreau, paraphrasing from Voltaire, (most men die
without having lived). "I did not wish to live what was not life, living
is so dear." Beethoven's idea of the purport of life was similar. He
believed, and put his theory into practice, that each man has within
himself the potentialities with which he shapes his own destiny. Fate
and Destiny are verities that have to be faced, but they do not have all
their own way with us. Each of us has the power to control his destiny
to some extent. By willing it so the tendency is toward betterment.
Always the highest powers are on our side. Life, after all, is worth
while. This was the gist of his philosophy. He sought to establish an
optimistic view of life, with the object of making the problem easier to
solve.
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