Steve writes:

>However, unlike many composers who work this way, Beethoven also had an
>incredible sense of architecture.  It's unlikely anyone could improvise
>the Missa Solemnis.  The effects are too complex, and, of course, it's well
>known that Beethoven worried his themes for years in order to shape them to
>his satisfaction.

I found this in his letter to Friedrich Treitschke, dated February, 1814

   "...  The Cantata which I wished to give, robbed me of 5 or 6 days;
   now, indeed, something must be done suddenly, and I would write
   something new quicker, as I am accustomed to write, than now the new
   to the old.  Also, in my instrumental music I always have the whole
   in my mind; here, however, that whole is to a certain extent divided,
   and I have afresh to think myself into my music."

Bill Pirkle