Bill Pirkle, responding to me:

>>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...

That's a euphemism.  Some of his works he seemed to have written twice or
more, judging the number of sketches.

>I'm not sure what a meta-composition is...

Neither do I.  I wasn't the one who introduced the word and that's why I
put between "".  Maybe it's not the correct one.  Should we should change
it into, yes, into what? The word plan seems too less.  Concept perhaps?
Frame-work? Maybe this is something for native English speakers (and I'm
not) who are also composers, to ponder over and tell us their experiences.

>I sense a lot of impulse, rather than overall design in Beethoven's music.

I think this is an error.  I think he pondered over every note, over and
over again.  Oh yes, we can safely assume that he also wrote down some
impulsive notes, but I'm almost sure that later on during the process of
composing he began to rethink these impulsivenesses.  It's striking that he
often even sketched such trifles like canons.  As a composer Beethoven was
a true perfectionist, maybe the "worst" of all famous composers.

Greetings,
Joyce Maier
www.ademu.com/Beethoven