Joyce Maier writes ...

>That Beethoven had told her that he "carried his ideas" with him for
>a long period before starting to compose.  And this testimony is not the
>only one.  By 1808/9, for instance, he obviously decided to write three
>more symphonies, for on sketches of other compositions he wrote down the
>structure (tempi of the movements) and the key of the symphonies of which
>he had not yet composed a single note.  IMHO, this all does look like
>having "meta-compositions" in mind.

I agree he sketched his work and I have some of his sketches.  I'm not sure
what a meta-composition is aside from what I understand by the word itself.
That why I asked the poster to describe it more.  That might be a good
thread.  A meta-language is a language used to describe languages.  The
grammar and syntax of a meta-composition (language) would be of great
interest to me.

I sense a lot of impulse, rather than overall design in Beethoven's music.
As if he decided to fly into a rage at a point in a composition - like OK
that's enough of this, it time for some excitement.  Maybe that is part of
his meta-composing style.

Bill Pirkle.