Produced by Eduardo Suárez, Andrés V. Galia, Astronomer for the sound files, the Music Team at DP. J. Kasemier and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) [Illustration: BEETHOVEN AT THE AGE OF 48.] _From a Painting by Kloeber._ _To face page 40._ BEETHOVEN BY ROMAIN ROLLAND TRANSLATED BY B. CONSTANCE HULL WITH A BRIEF ANALYSIS OF THE SONATAS, THE SYMPHONIES, AND THE QUARTETS BY A. EAGLEFIELD HULL MUS. DOC. (OXON). WITH 24 MUSICAL ILLUSTRATIONS AND 4 PLATES and an Introduction by EDWARD CARPENTER, Author of _Towards Democracy_, &c. [Illustration] NEW YORK HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 1917 PREFACE "_I want to prove that whoever acts rightly and nobly, can by that alone bear misfortune."_ BEETHOVEN. (To the Municipality of Vienna, Feb. 1, 1819.) The air is heavy around us. The world is stifled by a thick and vitiated atmosphere--an undignified materialism which weighs on the mind and heart hindering the work of governments and individuals alike. We are being suffocated. Let us throw open the windows that God's free air may come in, and that we may breathe the breath of heroes. Life is stern. It is a daily battle for those not content with an unattractive mediocrity of soul. And a sad battle it is, too, for many--a combat without grandeur, without happiness, fought in solitude and silence. Weighed down by poverty and domestic cares, by excessive and senseless tasks which waste the strength to no purpose, without a gleam of hope, many souls are separated from each other, without even the consolation of holding out a hand to their brothers in misfortune who ignore them and are ignored by them. They are forced to rely on themselves alone; and there are moments when even the strongest give way under their burden of trouble. They call out--for a friend.