How well can composers judge their own ideas and works? This question remains largely
unanswered, in part because qualitative data sources like quotations and anecdotes
have not been systematically examined. This archival case study of Ludwig van
Beethoven remedies this by comprehensively analyzing his self-critical statements.
Explicit self-criticisms of 70 compositions were found in Beethoven's
letters or conversations, spanning his whole career and most musical forms.
Beethoven's positive or negative assessments are reliably associated with
three citation measures of aesthetic success, and the likelihood of correct
decisions strongly increased with age. His comments comparing several similar
masterpieces are likewise largely consistent with expert ratings and recording
counts. Finally, the ranking of works by listener-hours (number of complete
recordings multiplied by performance duration) correspond closely to
Beethoven's intra-genre preferences. The results suggest considerable
self-critical acumen on Beethoven's part. The results support an expertise
view of musical creativity in which knowledge and experience are likely to enable
both progressively greater creative accomplishments and sounder self-criticism.
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