English Translation

They wanted to hear something about myself and Beethoven, dear friend: I was musically obsessed with childhood. I still remember today that as a little boy I dreamed about old Vienna over and over again. I often saw Schubert in my dreams and was so happy to be able to clean Beethoven's shoes in a dream. Yes, I even saw Mozart in front of me on the bright day — he played something for me. And later I managed to build up my own symphony orchestra, from the very beginning. I conducted this "New Symphony Orchestra Tokyo" myself for ten years. At the end of each season I always brought a Beethoven cycle with this orchestra (six Beethoven evenings). These concerts were always sold out, even with multiple repetitions, and often it was possible to cover the entire deficit of the season from the income of this Beethoven cycle. There are certainly many conductors who memorize their Beethoven. But how many may there be who can write down his symphonies by heart note for note? Well, during World War II, there were very few orchestral scores in Japan, and the war made it impossible to draw more from Germany. At that time, I was forced to write down the scores by hand day and night in my school hours. And from that time on, I can still write down many of Beethoven's works by heart. It is true that throughout the years the Japanese people have felt more and more deeply into German music life, and the German classics have found a second home in Japan. Now you may understand, my dear friend, when we speak of Ludwig van Beethoven today in Japan as "our Beethoven." If we need a symbol of German-Japanese friendship, we want to take Beethoven's music as such a symbol for mutual understanding, a signpost for the spiritual structure that the two young peoples Germany and Japan have begun. The creations of the great German Runst belong not to a few chosen ones, but to the whole people. In the lonely hours in the East, the German soldier above all felt the power to donate the German #usik. For the first time, many have received Mozart and Bach, Beethoven and Schubert with devotion in the bunkers and have been called by the omnipotence of the sounds to the last decisive achievement. In often desperate situations, some of the previous friends of the "light" #ufik also felt their soft taste of lemonade on the funge, and he has found himself in the unforgetable creations of the great masters. 18