Beethoven almost always has 2 flutes, and invariably 2 clarinets.
The development of pianoforte technique since Beethoven has been in some ways even more revolutionizing than that of the brass instruments; and pianoforte instrumentation, both in solo and in chamber-music, is a study for a lifetime.
Beethoven was trained in the greatest and most advanced musical tradition of his time.
He often thought, If Beethoven or Chopin had centuries to compose music, imagine the treasures we would have.
Beethoven, we know, lost sympathy with his early works as he grew older; but that was because his later works absorbed his interest, not because his early works misrepresented his ideals.
