From "The Life and Works of Beethoven" by John N. Burk:
Beethoven felt helpless in all things but music and unable to cope with ordinary contingencies. “If I were only in London,” he wrote in 1822, “what would I not compose for the Philharmonic Society? For Beethoven, thank God, can compose; of all else he is incapable.” His God-given function to compose was his service to the world, his one ability, his one loyalty.
Beethoven felt helpless in all things but music and unable to cope with ordinary contingencies. “If I were only in London,” he wrote in 1822, “what would I not compose for the Philharmonic Society? For Beethoven, thank God, can compose; of all else he is incapable.” His God-given function to compose was his service to the world, his one ability, his one loyalty.