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.  In them, for the most part, he addresses people in their holiday humor.  His experience with Fidelio may have impressed the fact upon his mind that sorrow and pain should be sparingly portrayed on festive occasions.  Not so with the piano sonatas, which can be heard and studied in the privacy of one’s home.  Even the quartets may be placed in the category since they do not require an elaborate equipment and preparation for their production.

Take him all in all optimism prevails with him, or rather, in true philosophic spirit, he demonstrates that the sorrow, the inevitable trouble and misery of life, is more than offset by the good things the gods have provided.  Life, after all, is a precious gift, which should be duly appreciated.  A period of enjoyment, gayety, strengthens and fortifies the mind, and enables it better to bear the burdens when they come.  The great creative genius, must perforce, in the very nature of things, be optimistic in his chosen work.  He is more alive, more possessed with the belief that life with its opportunities is worth while, than is the case with the ordinary man going about his petty concerns.  In common life, the busiest man is the happiest man, that is the most satisfied; and this contentment springs from the consciousness of doing something worth doing, the advantage of which will remain.  With the man of genius, the feeling rises to elation, to rapture, when he considers the transcendent, imperishable nature of his work.  “Dass Hervorbringen selbst ein Vergnuegen und sein eigner Lohn ist.”

The Eighth Symphony which was brought out at the same time as the Seventh is the shortest by a few bars, of the nine.  It was completed in about four months from the date of its inception.  Here as in the Seventh, the dance element is in the ascendant, commanding, swaying everything, thus coming back to first principles, almost to the origin of the art, as an art.  The dance is the primordial, autochthonic form of music; its foundation so to speak.  The song had its origin