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Charlotte, written from Bonn,[1] the following notice of that intention, when Beethoven, at the age of twenty-two, was just beginning his public career: "I have preserved," says he, "a setting[2] of the Feuerfarbe for you, on which I should like your opinion. It is by a young man of this place, whose musical talent is becoming notorious, and whom the Elector has just sent to Vienna to Haydn. He intends to compose Schiller's 'Freude,' verse by verse." This was in 1793.
The musical theme to which Beethoven at last wedded the words thus fondly cherished for thirty years was, as usual with him, no sudden inspiration, but the fruit of long consideration and many a trial. Of this, his sketch-books—leaves of paper, some-times loose, sometimes sewed together, which the great musician carried about with him, and on which he threw down his thoughts as they occurred on the instant, often in the wildest and most disorderly writing—contain many evidences.
The general relation of the Choral Fantasia to the Choral Symphony has been already mentioned. A more definite connection perhaps exists in the melody of their vocal portions, the close resemblance between which has been often noticed. But it is surely more than a mere coincidence that the melody
