But, though determined to retain full liberty in composing this work [Stravisnky’s piano sonata], I had, while engaged on it, a strong desire to examine more closely the sonatas of the classical masters in order to trace the direction and development of their thought in the solution of the problems presented by that form. / I therefore replayed, among others, a great many of Beethoven’s sonatas. In our early youth we were surfeited by his works, his famous ‘Wetschmerz’ being forced upon us at the same time, together with his “tragedy” and all the commonplace utterances voiced for more than a century about this composer who must be recognized as one of the world’s greatest musical geniuses. / Like many other musicians, I was disguted by this intellectual and sentimental attitude, which had little to do with serious musical appreciation. This deplorable pedagogy did not fail in its result. It alienated me from Beethoven for many years. / Cured and matured by aged, I could now approach him objectively so that he wore a different aspect for me. Above all I recognized in him the indisputable monarch of the instrument. It is the instrument that inspires his thought and determines its substance. The relations of a composer to his sound medium may be of two kinds. Some, for example, compose music ‘for piano’; others compose ‘piano music’. Beethoven is clearly in the second category. In all his immense pianist work, it is the “instrumental” side which is characteristic of him and makes him infinitely precious to me. It is the giant instrumentalist that predominates in him, and it is thanks to that quality that he cannot fail to reach any ear that is open to music. << less