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LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN According to some atheists, Beethoven did not believe in a Creator. What did he have to say about his own beliefs? “God is immaterial; as He is invisible. He can, therefore, have no form. But from what we are able to perceive in His works we conclude that He is eternal, almighty, omniscient, and omnipresent. The Mighty One, He alone is free from all desire or passion. There is no greater than He . . . His mind is self-existent. He, the Almighty, is present in every part of space. His omniscience is self-inspired, and His conception includes every other. Of His all-embracing attributes the greatest is omniscience. For there is no threefold kind of being--it is independent of everything--O God! Thou art the true, eternal, blessed, unchangeable light of all time and space. Thy wisdom apprehends thousands and still thousands of laws, and yet Thou ever actest of Thy free will, and to Thy honor. Thou wast before all that we worship. To Thee is due praise and adoration. Thou alone art the true . . . Thou, the best of all laws, the image of all wisdom, present throughout the whole world. Thou sustaineth all things.” Kalischer, a. C., Beethoven’s Letters. New York: J.M.Dent and Co., 1926, 393-394.
Beethoven died March 1827. This is his last known written reference to God, found in a letter written July 6, 1826. “When I consider myself in relation to the universe, what am I and what is He - whom we call the greatest - and yet - herein lies the divine in man –" "The Letter: To The Immortal Beloved," Ludwig Van Beethoven Web Site. <http://www.lucare.com/immortal/im_letter.html> (29 July, 2008).
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