young beethoven biography

Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer whose Symphony 5 is a beloved classic. Some of his greatest works were composed while Beethoven was going deaf.

(1770-1827)

Who Was Ludwig van Beethoven?

Ludwig van Beethoven was a German pianist and composer widely considered to be one of the greatest musical geniuses of all time. His innovative compositions combined vocals and instruments, widening the scope of sonata, symphony, concerto and quartet. He is the crucial transitional figure connecting the Classical and Romantic ages of Western music.

Beethoven’s personal life was marked by a struggle against deafness, and some of his most important works were composed during the last 10 years of his life, when he was quite unable to hear. He died at the age of 56.

Controversial Birthday

Beethoven was born on or about December 16, 1770, in the city of Bonn in the Electorate of Cologne, a principality of the Holy Roman Empire. Although his exact date of birth is uncertain, Beethoven was baptized on December 17, 1770.

As a matter of law and custom, babies at the time were baptized within 24 hours of birth, so December 16 is his most likely birthdate.

However, Beethoven himself mistakenly believed that he was born two years later, in 1772, and he stubbornly insisted on the incorrect date even when presented with official papers that proved beyond any reasonable doubt that 1770 was his true birth year.

Beethoven had two younger brothers who survived into adulthood: Caspar, born in 1774, and Johann, born in 1776. Beethoven's mother, Maria Magdalena van Beethoven, was a slender, genteel, and deeply moralistic woman.

His father, Johann van Beethoven, was a mediocre court singer better known for his alcoholism than any musical ability. However, Beethoven's grandfather, godfather and namesake, Kapellmeister Ludwig van Beethoven, was Bonn's most prosperous and eminent musician, a source of endless pride for young Beethoven.

Childhood Abuse

Sometime between the births of his two younger brothers, Beethoven's father began teaching him music with an extraordinary rigor and brutality that affected him for the rest of his life.

Neighbors provided accounts of the small boy weeping while he played the clavier, standing atop a footstool to reach the keys, his father beating him for each hesitation or mistake.

On a near daily basis, Beethoven was flogged, locked in the cellar and deprived of sleep for extra hours of practice. He studied the violin and clavier with his father as well as taking additional lessons from organists around town. Whether in spite of or because of his father's draconian methods, Beethoven was a prodigiously talented musician from his earliest days.

Meanwhile, the musical prodigy attended a Latin grade school named Tirocinium, where a classmate said, "Not a sign was to be discovered of that spark of genius which glowed so brilliantly in him afterwards."

Beethoven, who struggled with sums and spelling his entire life, was at best an average student, and some biographers have hypothesized that he may have had mild dyslexia. As he put it himself, "Music comes to me more readily than words."

In 1781, at the age of 10, Beethoven withdrew from school to study music full time with Christian Gottlob Neefe, the newly appointed Court Organist, and at the age of 12, Beethoven published his first composition, a set of piano variations on a theme by an obscure classical composer named Dressler.

By 1784, his alcoholism worsening and his voice decaying, Beethoven's father was no longer able to support his family, and Beethoven formally requested an official appointment as Assistant Court Organist. Despite his youth, his request was accepted, and Beethoven was put on the court payroll with a modest annual salary of 150 florins.

Beethoven and Mozart

There is only speculation and inconclusive evidence that Beethoven ever met with Mozart, let alone studied with him. In an effort to facilitate his musical development, in 1787 the court sent Beethoven to Vienna, Europe’s capital of culture and music, where he hoped to study with Mozart.

Tradition has it that, upon hearing Beethoven, Mozart said, "Keep your eyes on him; someday he will give the world something to talk about.”

After only a few weeks in Vienna, Beethoven learned that his mother had fallen ill and he returned home to Bonn. Remaining there, Beethoven continued to carve out his reputation as the city's most promising young court musician.

Early Career as a Composer

When the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II died in 1790, a 19-year-old Beethoven received the immense honor of composing a musical memorial in his honor. For reasons that remain unclear, Beethoven's composition was never performed, and most assumed the young musician had proven unequal to the task.

However, more than a century later, Johannes Brahms discovered that Beethoven had in fact composed a "beautiful and noble" piece of music entitled Cantata on the Death of Emperor Joseph II . It is now considered his earliest masterpiece.

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Beethoven and Haydn

In 1792, with French revolutionary forces sweeping across the Rhineland into the Electorate of Cologne, Beethoven decided to leave his hometown for Vienna once again. Mozart had passed away a year earlier, leaving Joseph Haydn as the unquestioned greatest composer alive.

Haydn was living in Vienna at the time, and it was with Haydn that the young Beethoven now intended to study. As his friend and patron Count Waldstein wrote in a farewell letter, "Mozart's genius mourns and weeps over the death of his disciple. It found refuge, but no release with the inexhaustible Haydn; through him, now, it seeks to unite with another. By means of assiduous labor you will receive the spirit of Mozart from the hands of Haydn."

In Vienna, Beethoven dedicated himself wholeheartedly to musical study with the most eminent musicians of the age. He studied piano with Haydn, vocal composition with Antonio Salieri and counterpoint with Johann Albrechtsberger. Not yet known as a composer, Beethoven quickly established a reputation as a virtuoso pianist who was especially adept at improvisation.

Debut Performance

Beethoven won many patrons among the leading citizens of the Viennese aristocracy, who provided him with lodging and funds, allowing Beethoven, in 1794, to sever ties with the Electorate of Cologne. Beethoven made his long-awaited public debut in Vienna on March 29, 1795.

Although there is considerable debate over which of his early piano concerti he performed that night, most scholars believe he played what is known as his "first" piano concerto in C Major. Shortly thereafter, Beethoven decided to publish a series of three piano trios as his Opus 1, which were an enormous critical and financial success.

In the first spring of the new century, on April 2, 1800, Beethoven debuted his Symphony No. 1 in C major at the Royal Imperial Theater in Vienna. Although Beethoven would grow to detest the piece — "In those days I did not know how to compose," he later remarked — the graceful and melodious symphony nevertheless established him as one of Europe's most celebrated composers.

As the new century progressed, Beethoven composed piece after piece that marked him as a masterful composer reaching his musical maturity. His Six String Quartets, published in 1801, demonstrate complete mastery of that most difficult and cherished of Viennese forms developed by Mozart and Haydn.

Beethoven also composed The Creatures of Prometheus in 1801, a wildly popular ballet that received 27 performances at the Imperial Court Theater. It was around the same time that Beethoven discovered he was losing his hearing.

Personal Life

For a variety of reasons that included his crippling shyness and unfortunate physical appearance, Beethoven never married or had children. He was, however, desperately in love with a married woman named Antonie Brentano.

Over the course of two days in July of 1812, Beethoven wrote her a long and beautiful love letter that he never sent. Addressed "to you, my Immortal Beloved," the letter said in part, "My heart is full of so many things to say to you — ah — there are moments when I feel that speech amounts to nothing at all — Cheer up — remain my true, my only love, my all as I am yours."

The death of Beethoven's brother Caspar in 1815 sparked one of the great trials of his life, a painful legal battle with his sister-in-law, Johanna, over the custody of Karl van Beethoven, his nephew and her son.

The struggle stretched on for seven years, during which both sides spewed ugly defamations at the other. In the end, Beethoven won the boy's custody, though hardly his affection.

Despite his extraordinary output of beautiful music, Beethoven was lonely and frequently miserable throughout his adult life. Short-tempered, absent-minded, greedy and suspicious to the point of paranoia, Beethoven feuded with his brothers, his publishers, his housekeepers, his pupils and his patrons.

In one illustrative incident, Beethoven attempted to break a chair over the head of Prince Lichnowsky, one of his closest friends and most loyal patrons. Another time he stood in the doorway of Prince Lobkowitz's palace shouting for all to hear, "Lobkowitz is a donkey!"

For years, rumors have swirled that Beethoven had some African ancestry. These unfounded tales may be based on Beethoven's dark complexion or the fact that his ancestors came from a region of Europe that had once been invaded by the Spanish, and Moors from northern Africa were part of Spanish culture.

A few scholars have noted that Beethoven seemed to have an innate understanding of the polyrhythmic structures typical to some African music. However, no one during Beethoven's lifetime referred to the composer as Moorish or African, and the rumors that he was Black are largely dismissed by historians.

Was Beethoven Deaf?

At the same time as Beethoven was composing some of his most immortal works, he was struggling to come to terms with a shocking and terrible fact, one that he tried desperately to conceal: He was going deaf.

By the turn of the 19th century, Beethoven struggled to make out the words spoken to him in conversation.

Beethoven revealed in a heart-wrenching 1801 letter to his friend Franz Wegeler, "I must confess that I lead a miserable life. For almost two years I have ceased to attend any social functions, just because I find it impossible to say to people: I am deaf. If I had any other profession, I might be able to cope with my infirmity; but in my profession it is a terrible handicap."

Heiligenstadt Testament

At times driven to extremes of melancholy by his affliction, Beethoven described his despair in a long and poignant note that he concealed his entire life.

Dated October 6, 1802, and referred to as "The Heiligenstadt Testament," it reads in part: "O you men who think or say that I am malevolent, stubborn or misanthropic, how greatly do you wrong me. You do not know the secret cause which makes me seem that way to you and I would have ended my life — it was only my art that held me back. Ah, it seemed impossible to leave the world until I had brought forth all that I felt was within me."

Almost miraculously, despite his rapidly progressing deafness, Beethoven continued to compose at a furious pace.

Moonlight Sonata

From 1803 to 1812, what is known as his "middle" or "heroic" period, he composed an opera, six symphonies, four solo concerti, five string quartets, six-string sonatas, seven piano sonatas, five sets of piano variations, four overtures, four trios, two sextets and 72 songs.

The most famous among these were the haunting Moonlight Sonata, symphonies No. 3-8, the Kreutzer violin sonata and Fidelio , his only opera.

In terms of the astonishing output of superlatively complex, original and beautiful music, this period in Beethoven's life is unrivaled by any other composer in history.

Beethoven’s Music

Some of Beethoven’s best-known compositions include:

Eroica: Symphony No. 3

In 1804, only weeks after Napoleon Bonaparte proclaimed himself Emperor of France, Beethoven debuted his Symphony No. 3 in Napoleon's honor. Beethoven, like all of Europe, watched with a mixture of awe and terror; he admired, abhorred and, to an extent, identified with Napoleon, a man of seemingly superhuman capabilities, only one year older than himself and also of obscure birth.

Later renamed the Eroica Symphony because Beethoven grew disillusioned with Napoleon, it was his grandest and most original work to date.

Because it was so unlike anything heard before it, the musicians could not figure out how to play it through weeks of rehearsal. A prominent reviewer proclaimed "Eroica" as "one of the most original, most sublime, and most profound products that the entire genre of music has ever exhibited."

Symphony No. 5

One of Beethoven’s best-known works among modern audiences, Symphony No. 5 is known for its ominous first four notes.

Beethoven began composing the piece in 1804, but its completion was delayed a few times for other projects. It premiered at the same time as Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, in 1808 in Vienna.

In 1810, Beethoven completed Fur Elise (meaning “For Elise”), although it was not published until 40 years after his death. In 1867, it was discovered by a German music scholar, however Beethoven’s original manuscript has since been lost.

Some scholars have suggested it was dedicated to his friend, student and fellow musician, Therese Malfatti, to whom he allegedly proposed around the time of the song’s composition. Others said it was for the German soprano Elisabeth Rockel, another friend of Beethoven’s.

Symphony No. 7

Premiering in Vienna in 1813 to benefit soldiers wounded in the battle of Hanau, Beethoven began composing this, one of his most energetic and optimistic works, in 1811.

The composer called the piece “his most excellent symphony." The second movement is often performed separately from the rest of the symphony and may have been one of Beethoven’s most popular works.

Missa Solemnis

Debuting in 1824, this Catholic mass is considered among Beethoven’s finest achievements. Just under 90 minutes in length, the rarely-performed piece features a chorus, orchestra and four soloists.

Ode to Joy: Symphony No. 9

Beethoven’s ninth and final symphony, completed in 1824, remains the illustrious composer's most towering achievement. The symphony's famous choral finale, with four vocal soloists and a chorus singing the words of Friedrich Schiller's poem "Ode to Joy," is perhaps the most famous piece of music in history.

While connoisseurs delighted in the symphony's contrapuntal and formal complexity, the masses found inspiration in the anthem-like vigor of the choral finale and the concluding invocation of "all humanity."

String Quartet No. 14

Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 14 debuted in 1826. About 40 minutes in length, it contains seven linked movements played without a break.

The work was reportedly one of Beethoven’s favorite later quartets and has been described as one of the composer’s most elusive compositions musically.

Beethoven died on March 26, 1827, at the age of 56, of post-hepatitic cirrhosis of the liver.

The autopsy also provided clues to the origins of his deafness: While his quick temper, chronic diarrhea and deafness are consistent with arterial disease, a competing theory traces Beethoven's deafness to contracting typhus in the summer of 1796.

Scientists analyzing a remaining fragment of Beethoven's skull noticed high levels of lead and hypothesized lead poisoning as a potential cause of death, but that theory has been largely discredited.

Beethoven is widely considered one of the greatest, if not the single greatest, composer of all time. Beethoven's body of musical compositions stands with William Shakespeare 's plays at the outer limits of human brilliance.

And the fact Beethoven composed his most beautiful and extraordinary music while deaf is an almost superhuman feat of creative genius, perhaps only paralleled in the history of artistic achievement by John Milton writing Paradise Lost while blind.

Summing up his life and imminent death during his last days, Beethoven, who was never as eloquent with words as he was with music, borrowed a tagline that concluded many Latin plays at the time. Plaudite, amici, comoedia finita est , he said. "Applaud friends, the comedy is over."

QUICK FACTS

• Name: Ludwig Beethoven
• Birth Year: 1770
• Birth date: December 16, 1770
• Birth City: Bonn
• Birth Country: Germany
• Gender: Male
• Best Known For: Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer whose Symphony 5 is a beloved classic. Some of his greatest works were composed while Beethoven was going deaf.
• Astrological Sign: Sagittarius
• Nacionalities
• Interesting Facts
• Beethoven's father was an alcoholic who beat his son into practicing music.
• Many of Beethoven's most accomplished works were created during the time he was deaf.
• Death Year: 1827
• Death date: March 26, 1827
• Death City: Vienna
• Death Country: Austria

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CITATION INFORMATION

• Article Title: Ludwig van Beethoven Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/musicians/ludwig-van-beethoven
• Access Date:
• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: July 13, 2021
• Original Published Date: April 3, 2014
• Never shall I forget the time I spent with you. Please continue to be my friend, as you will always find me yours.
• Anyone who tells a lie has not a pure heart and cannot make good soup.
• Love demands all and has a right to all.
• Recommend to your children virtues that alone can make them happy. Not gold.
• I shall seize fate by the throat.
• Music is the mediator between the spiritual and sensual life.
• To play without passion is inexcusable!
• Ever thine, ever mine, ever ours.
• Don't only practice your art, but force your way into its secrets, for it and knowledge can raise men to the divine.
• Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy.

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• World Biography

Ludwig van Beethoven Biography

Born: December 16, 1770 Bonn, Germany Died: March 26, 1827 Vienna, Austria German composer

German composer Ludwig van Beethoven is considered one of the most important figures in the history of music. He continued to compose even while losing his hearing and created some of his greatest works after becoming totally deaf.

Early years in Bonn

Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany, on December 16, 1770. He was the eldest of three children of Johann and Maria Magdalena van Beethoven. His father, a musician who liked to drink, taught him to play piano and violin. Young Ludwig was often pulled out of bed in the middle of the night and ordered to perform for his father's drinking companions, suffering beatings if he protested. As Beethoven developed, it became clear that to reach artistic maturity he would have to leave Bonn for a major musical center.

At the age of twelve Beethoven was a promising keyboard player and a talented pupil in composition of the court organist Christian Gottlob Neefe (1748–1798). He even filled in as church organist when Neefe was out of town. In 1783 Beethoven's first published work, a set of keyboard pieces, appeared, and in the 1780s he produced portions of a number of later works. In 1787 he traveled to Vienna, Austria, apparently to seek out Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) as a teacher. He was forced to return to Bonn to care for his ailing mother, who died several months later. His father died in 1792.

Years in Vienna

In 1792 Beethoven went back to Vienna to study with the famous composer Joseph Haydn (1732–1809). Beethoven was not totally satisfied with Haydn's teaching, though, and he turned to musicians of lesser talent for extra instruction. Beethoven rapidly proceeded to make his mark as a brilliant keyboard performer and as a gifted young composer with a number of works to his credit. In 1795 his first mature published works appeared, and his career was officially launched.

Beethoven lived in Vienna from 1792 to his death in 1827, unmarried, among a circle of friends, independent of any kind of official position or private service. He rarely traveled, apart from summers in the countryside. In 1796 he made a trip to northern Germany, where his schedule included a visit to the court of King Frederick William of Prussia, an amateur cellist. Later Beethoven made several trips to Budapest, Hungary. In 1808 Beethoven received an invitation to become music director at Kassel, Germany. This alarmed several of his wealthy Viennese friends, who formed a group of backers and agreed to guarantee Beethoven an annual salary of 1,400 florins to keep him in Vienna. He thus became one of the first musicians in history to be able to live independently on his music salary.

Personal and professional problems

Although publishers sought out Beethoven and he was an able manager of his own business affairs, he was at the mercy of the crooked publishing practices of his time. Publishers paid a fee to composers for rights to their works, but there was no system of copyrights (the exclusive right to sell and copy a published work) or royalties (profits based on public performances of the material) at the time. As each new work appeared, Beethoven sold it to one or more of the best and most reliable publishers. But this initial payment was all he would receive, and both he and his publisher had to contend with rival publishers who brought out editions of their own. As a result Beethoven saw his works published in many different versions that were unauthorized, unchecked, and often inaccurate. Several times during his life in Vienna Beethoven started plans for a complete, authorized edition of his works, but these plans were never realized.

Beethoven's deafness and his temper contributed to his reputation as an unpleasant personality. But reliable accounts and a careful reading of Beethoven's letters reveal him to be a powerful and self-conscious man, totally involved in his creative work but alert to its practical side as well, and one who is sometimes willing to change to meet current demands. For example, he wrote some works on commission, such as his cantata (a narrative poem set to music) for the Congress of Vienna, 1814.

Examining Beethoven

Beethoven's deafness affected his social life, and it must have changed his personality deeply. In any event, his development as an artist would probably have caused a crisis in his relationship to the musical and social life of the time sooner or later. In his early years he wrote as a pianist-composer for an immediate and receptive public; in his last years he wrote for himself. Common in Beethoven biographies is the focus on Beethoven's awareness of current events and ideas, especially his attachment to the ideals of the French Revolution (1789–99; the revolt of the French middle class to end absolute power by French kings) and his faith in the brotherhood of men, as expressed in his lifelong goal of composing a version of "Ode to Joy," by Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805), realized at last in the Ninth Symphony. Also frequently mentioned is his genuine love of nature and outdoor life.

No one had ever heard anything like Beethoven's last works; they were too advanced for audiences and even professional musicians for some time after his death in 1827. Beethoven was aware of this. It seems, however, he expected later audiences to have a greater understanding of and appreciation for them. Beethoven reportedly told a visitor who was confused by some of his later pieces, "They are not for you but for a later age."

For More Information

Autexier, Philippe A. Beethoven: The Composer As Hero. Edited by Carey Lovelace. New York: H. N. Abrams, 1992.

Balcavage, Dynise. Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer. New York: Chelsea House, 1996.

Solomon, Maynard. Beethoven. 2nd ed. New York: Schirmer Books, 1998.

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Biography Online

Beethoven Biography

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827) is one of the most widely respected composers of classical music. He played a crucial role in the transition from classical to romantic music and is considered one of the greatest composers of all time.

“Music is … A higher revelation than all Wisdom and Philosophy”

– Beethoven

Beethoven was born 16 December 1770 in Bonn (now part of Germany) From an early age, Beethoven was introduced to music. His first teacher was his father who was also very strict. Beethoven was frequently beaten for his failure to practise correctly. Once his mother protested at his father’s violent beatings, but she was beaten too. It is said, Beethoven resolved to become a great pianist so his mother would never be beaten.

Beethoven’s talent as a piano virtuoso was recognised by Count Ferdinand Ernst Gabriel von Waldstein. He sponsored the young Beethoven and this enabled him to travel to Vienna, where Mozart resided. It was hoped Beethoven would be able to learn under the great Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , but it is not clear whether the two ever met. Mozart was to die shortly, but Beethoven was able to spend time with the great composer Joseph Haydn, who taught him many things.

Rather than working for the church, Beethoven relied on private donations from various benefactors. However, while many loved his music, they were often not forthcoming with donations and Beethoven sometimes struggled to raise enough finance. He complained about the way artists like him were treated.

“One clashes with stupidity of all kinds. And then how much money must be spent in advance! The way in which artists are treated is really scandalous… Believe me, there is nothing to be done for artists in times like these.” – Beethoven

His situation was made more difficult by his mother’s early death and his father’s descent into alcoholism; this led to Beethoven being responsible for his two brothers.

Beethoven by August Klober, 1818

Beethoven was widely regarded as a great musician, though his habits were unconventional for the social circles which he moved in. He was untidy, clumsy and (by all accounts) ugly. All attempts to make Beethoven behave failed. On one occasion, Beethoven pushed his way up to the Archduke saying it was impossible for him to follow the many rules of social behaviour. The Archduke smiled and said – ‘we will have to accept Beethoven as he is.’ Beethoven himself had great faith in his own capacities, referring to the princes at court.

“There are and always will be thousands of princes, but there is only one Beethoven!”

Beethoven’s music was also unconventional, he explored new ideas and left behind the old conventions on style and form. His freer and explorative musical ideas caused estrangement with his more classical teachers like Haydn and Salieri.

From his early 20s, Beethoven experienced a slow deterioration in his hearing, which eventually left him completely deaf.

Beethoven once said:

“Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life.”

Beethoven by Mahler, 1815

Yet, despite his deafness and the frustration this caused him, Beethoven was still able to compose music of the highest quality. He was still able to inwardly hear the most sublime music. However, his deafness meant he struggled to perform with an orchestral backing, as he often fell out of time. This caused the great pianist to be ridiculed by the public, causing much distress. As a result, he retreated more into his private world of composition. Despite these later difficulties, his most widely admired works were composed in this difficult last 15 years. This included the great works Missa Solemnis and the Ninth Symphony – both finished shortly before his death. The Ninth Symphony was groundbreaking in creating a choral symphony from different voices singing separate lines to create a common symphony. The final part of the symphony (often referred to as “Ode to Joy”) is a symbolic musical representation of universal brotherhood. It was a fitting climax to Beethoven’s unique musical creativity and life. Beethoven considered music as one of the greatest contributors to a higher philosophy.

Beethoven was also a supporter of the Enlightenment movement sweeping Europe. He was going to dedicate a great symphony to Napoléon , whom Beethoven believed was going to defend the ideals of the French Republic. However, when Napoléon’s imperial ambitions were made known, Beethoven scratched out his name so powerfully, he tore a hole in the paper.

Religious views of Beethoven

Beethoven was born and raised a Catholic. His mother was a devout Catholic and sought to share her religious views with her children. Beethoven was considered a fairly moral person, he recommended the virtues of religion to those around him and encouraged his nephew to attend mass.

“Recommend to your children virtues, that alone can make them happy, not gold.”

In his mid-life, his deafness and stomach pains created something of a spiritual crisis in Beethoven. He stopped attending Mass regularly and looked to a wider source of spiritual inspiration. One of his favourite works was Reflections on the Works of God and His Providence Throughout All Nature by a Lutheran Pastor which praised the ‘romantic’ view of the value of nature. Beethoven also became interested in Hindu religious texts and expressed belief in a Supreme Being in a language which was not overtly Catholic. Beethoven wrote

” O God! – you have no threefold being and are independent of everything, you are the true, eternal, blessed, unchangeable light of all time and space.” – Beethoven’s Letters with explanatory notes by Dr. A.C. Kalischer (trans. J.S. Shedlock ), 1926.

Beethoven never formally left the Catholic Church, but some identify him more the tradition of Theists – those who believe in God but don’t follow a particular religion. Others suggest that Beethoven remained a Catholic, but he just redefined Catholicism in a more liberal understanding to accommodate the current enlightenment thinking and his own spiritual exploration of music. In terms of music, he did compose specific religious music such as Missa Solemnis – the great choral symphony. When asked whether he thought this work was intended for church or the concert hall, Beethoven replied that such a distinction was not so important.

“My chief aim was to awaken and permanently instill religious feelings not only into the singers but also into the listeners.” ( link )

• For piano: Sonata in C sharp minor, op. 27, nr. 2 “The Moonlight Sonata”
• For piano: Sonata in C minor, op. 13, “Pathetique”
• Symphony No. 3 “Eroica”; in E flat major (Op. 55)
• Symphony No. 5 in C minor
• Symphony No. 9 in D minor, including well known “Ode to Joy”.
• Missa Solemnis D Major, Op. 123
• Piano Concerto no. 5 “Emperor” in E flat major op. 73

Beethoven’s Death

For the last few months of his life, Beethoven was confined to his bed with illness. Amongst his last view visitors was the younger composer Franz Schubert , who had been deeply inspired by Beethoven. Beethoven, in return, expressed great admiration for the works of Schubert and said of him “Schubert has my soul.” Beethoven’s last words were reported to be:

“Plaudite, amici, comedia finita est. (Applaud, my friends, the comedy is over.) and Ich werde im Himmel hören! (I will hear in heaven!)”

He died on 26 March 1827, aged 56. The precise cause of death is uncertain, but, he had significant liver damage – due to either the accumulation of lead poisoning or excess alcohol consumption. Over 20,000 people are said to have lined the streets of Vienna for his funeral. Though Beethoven had a difficult temperament, and although his music was sometimes too visionary for the general public, Beethoven was deeply appreciated for his unique contribution to music.

Citation: Pettinger, Tejvan . “Biography of Beethoven”, Oxford, UK.  www.biographyonline.net , 28th May 2008. Last updated 1 February 2020.

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Beethoven: Compositions, biography, siblings and more facts

He reinvented the symphony, reshaped string quartets, and redefined piano sonatas - but there's much more to learn about Ludwig van Beethoven, the deaf composer who changed music forever.

1. When is Beethoven's birthday?

Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany in December 1770… but no one is sure of the exact date! He was baptised on 17 December, so he was probably born the day before. His birthplace (pictured) is now the Beethoven-Haus museum.

2. Beethoven's father creates a child prodigy

Never mind the exact date, the year of Beethoven’s birth is sometimes questioned, and for years the composer thought he was born in 1772, two years too late. This may have been a deliberate deception on the part of his father (pictured) to make the musical prodigy seem younger – and therefore, more advanced for his age – than he actually was.

3. Beethoven's siblings

Beethoven had seven sibings: Kaspar Anton Karl, Nikolaus Johann (pictured), Ludwig Maria, Maria Margarita, Anna Maria Francisca and Franz Georg van Beethoven, and Johann Peter Anton Leym.

4. Beethoven on the violin

As a young boy, Beethoven played the violin, often enjoying improvisation rather than reading the notes from a score. His father once asked: “What silly trash are you scratching together now? You know I can’t bear that – scratch by note, otherwise your scratching won’t amount to much.” How wrong he was…

5. Beethoven's first composition

There’s some speculation about when the young composer started setting his ideas on paper, but the only piece to date from as early as 1782 is a set of nine variations for piano. Beethoven set himself apart as a musical maverick even at the age of 12 – the music is in C minor, which is unusual for music of the time, and it’s fiendishly difficult to play!

6. Beethoven, Haydn and Mozart

After the death of Mozart in 1791, musicians in his hometown of Vienna were in need of a new genius. The Viennese Count Waldstein (pictured) told the young Beethoven if he worked hard enough he would receive ‘Mozart’s spirit through Haydn’s hands’. No pressure then.

7. Beethoven in Vienna

Finding a wig maker? Noting the address of a dance teacher? Oh, and finding a piano, of course. Beethoven kept a diary of his day-to-day activities when he moved to Vienna in 1792, giving us insights into his personality.

8. Beethoven and Bach

By 1793, aged just 22, Beethoven often played the piano in the salons of the Viennese nobility. He often performed the preludes and fugues from Bach’s Well Tempered Clavier and quickly established himself as a piano virtuoso.

9. Was Beethoven deaf?

Composing anything at all is a challenge, even for a musical genius. So when you consider Beethoven started to go deaf around 1796, aged just 25, it’s a wonder he managed to write any music at all. He communicated using conversation books, asking his friends to write down what they wanted to say so he could respond.

10. Beethoven's Symphony No. 1 – a musical joke?

Beethoven was 30 when his first symphony was first performed in the Burgtheater in Vienna (pictured), and it went where no symphony had ever gone before. Symphonies were seen to be pretty light-hearted works, but Beethoven took this one step further with the introduction, which sounds so musically off-beam it’s often considered to be a joke!

11. Deafness and despair: The Heiligenstadt Testament

Despite his increasing deafness, by 1802 Beethoven was almost at breaking point. On a retreat to Heiligenstadt, just outside Vienna, he wrote: “I would have ended my life – it was only my art that held me back. Ah, it seemed to me impossible to leave the world until I had brought forth all that I felt was within me.” It’s known as the ‘Heiligenstadt Testament’, and was published in 1828.

12. Beethoven’s three musical periods: early period

It's hard to split Beethoven’s music up into sections, but it’s generally agreed there are three different periods with three broad styles. The first is his early period, ending around 1802 after the Heiligenstadt Testament, and includes the first and second symphonies, a set of six string quartets, piano concerto no. 1 and 2, and around a dozen piano sonatas – including the 'Pathétique' sonata.

13. Beethoven’s three musical periods: ‘heroic’ middle period

After his personal crisis, it’s perhaps no surprise that Beethoven’s middle period works are more emotional. A lot of the music from this period expresses heroes and struggles – including Symphony No. 3, the last three piano concertos, five string quartets, Beethoven’s only opera, Fidelio, and piano sonatas including the ‘Moonlight’, ‘Waldstein’ and ‘Appassionata’.

14. Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight’ Sonata

It’s one of Beethoven’s great piano works, but he never knew the piece as the ‘Moonlight’ Sonata. He simply called it Piano Sonata No. 14, and it wasn’t given its poetic nickname until 1832, five years after Beethoven’s death. German poet Ludwig Rellstab said the first movement sounded like moonlight shining upon Lake Lucerne, and the name stuck.

15. Beethoven’s temper and Symphony No. 3 ‘Eroica’

Beethoven admired the ideals of the French Revolution, so he dedicated his third symphony to Napoleon Bonaparte… until Napoleon declared himself emperor. Beethoven then sprung into a rage, ripped the front page from his manuscript and scrubbed out Napoleon’s name. Some modern reproductions of the original title page have scrubbed out Napoleon’s name to create a hole for authenticity’s sake!

16. Beethoven’s opera: Fidelio

If a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing properly. He may have only composed one opera, but Beethoven poured blood, sweat, and tears into revising and improving it. He reworked the whole opera over a ten year period, giving us the two act version performed today – the older version is sometimes known as Leonore.

17. Beethoven’s three musical periods: late period

Symphony No. 9 with its choral finale, the Missa Solemnis, late string quartets, and some of his greatest piano music including sonatas and the Diabelli variations – Beethoven’s late period is jam-packed with musical genius. Much of the music is characterised by its intellectual intensity, but it sounds just as wonderful to beginners and Beethoven-lovers alike.

18. Beethoven at the movies

The moving music from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 is a perfect soundtrack to 2010 blockbuster smash, The King’s Speech, as George VI makes his address to the nation. You’ll also find hints of his fifth symphony in unexpected places, if you listen carefully – have you watched Saturday Night Fever recently…?

19. Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and the 'Ode to Joy'

Symphony No. 9 is often nicknamed the ‘choral’ symphony, but it’s only the finale that features a choir. Using singers in a symphony was a wild idea at the time, but it seems to have paid off – Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony changed the face of classical music forever, and continues to inspire listeners and composers to this day!

20. When and how did Beethoven die?

We all like a tipple, but Beethoven may have been more partial to a pint than most. He was once arrested for being a tramp by an unsuspecting policeman who didn’t recognise him! After his death in 1827, his autopsy revealed a shrunken liver due to cirrhosis.

21. Famous last words?

Just like Beethoven’s birth, his last words are also a bit of a mystery. It’s often thought his last words were ‘applaud friends, the comedy is ended’ (in Latin!) but his parting gift to the world was far less cerebral. After a publisher bought Beethoven 12 bottles of wine as a gift, the dying composer’s final words were: ‘Pity, pity, too late!’

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Beethoven Biography – History of Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig Van Beethoven is a well known musical virtuoso who conquered the musical world. His effects and contributions to the musical world are still felt even though he departed from this world and went ahead to dance with the angels.

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Read also: Interesting Beethoven Facts, Best of Beethoven

Early Life And Family

This musical legend was a German composer as well as a pianist. His baptism was performed in 1770, December 17th. It has been suggested that his date of birth could be 16th December 1770 because in those days a child used to be baptized a day after their birth as decreed by the Catholic Church. For this reason, a lot of scholars are settled on this being the birth date of Ludwig Van Beethoven and especially because his parents used to celebrate his birthday on this date. His birth date that was marked with joy and celebrations little did the parents know that a legend has been born. Ludwig Van Beethoven was born in Bonn which was then a capital of Electorate of cologne.

Ludwig Van Beethoven was named after his grandfather who was also a musician. His grandfather was from Mechelen town located in the Flemish region which is currently Belgium. When he attained the age of 21 years, he relocated to Bonn. As a musician, his first job was as a bass singer working in the Elector of Cologne Court and by 1761 he was made the director of music. Soon after he became one of the ‘big fish’ in the music industry and he thrived.

Ludwig’s grandfather only had one son, Johann who was born in 1740 and lived up to 1792. He was also a talented musician. Contrary to his father, he was a tenor and also worked at the Elector of Cologne court. As a way to increase his income, he also taught piano and violin lessons. It is noted that he had alcohol issues as he just could not resist it. When Johann was of age, he married Maria Magdalene Keverich in the year 1767. Mary was known to be very gentle as well as very warm at heart; qualities that made her a great mother judging from how much she was loved. The product of this union was Ludwig Van Beethoven and his siblings .

Johann and Maria had a total of seven children and out of the seven only three survived. It is s unfortunate that Ludwig Van Beethoven had the misfortune of witnessing some of them die. The siblings were; Kaspar Anton Karl Van Beethoven, Johann Peter Anton Laym, Anna Maria Francisca Van Beethoven, Nikolaus Johann Van Beethoven, Franz Georg Van Beethoven and Maria Margarita Van Beethoven , in no particular order. While four dies, Ludwig Van Beethoven, Kaspar Anton Karl, and Nikolaus Johann lived to see better days.

From the family background highlighted above, we clearly get to see where Ludwig Van Beethoven got his musical talent. Born in a family of musicians, there was bound to be a musical genius, a virtuoso from among the kids. Lucky enough the talent laid heavily of Ludwig Van Beethoven. The two brothers also were talented but it could not compare to how good Ludwig was and the impact he made in the society even up to date.

As a young boy, Ludwig Van Beethoven was sickly and throughout his life, he suffered the following. He suffered from rheumatism, jaundice, rheumatic fever, ophthalmic, inflammatory degeneration of the arteries, chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, skin disorders, Syphilis, infectious hepatitis, a number of infections, obsesses, typhus, just but to mention a few.

Personal Life and Character

Ludwig Van Beethoven was thought to be bipolar. He became irritable in his twenties and this was thought to be because of the abdominal pains he had. More often than not he was described to be irascible. At one particular time, he contemplated suicide but did not attempt. He always displayed strength in his personality. He had a deep dislike for authority and social rank. He always demanded respect for himself and his work. At some occasions, he refused to perform when called to because of a chatty audience. He always required the total attention of people in the audience before he could go on.

Ludwig Van Beethoven is not known to have a very active love life throughout his life. This can mostly be attributed to the class difference between him and the ladies that he fancied. For some ladies, he was handsome and very attractive yet some other described him as ugly and repulsive. All the ladies he wanted were simply out of his social league.

In the year 1801, Ludwig fell in love with a lady, Countess Julie Guicciardi whom he met while he was teaching Josephine Brunsvik how to play the piano. Even so, he had no intentions of marrying her because of the difference in social class. It was just not going to happen no matter how bad he wanted to. He composed his Sonata no. 14 and dedicated it to her.

Later, after Josephine Brunsvik’s husband passed on, Ludwig and Josephine has a mutual attraction but these feelings never amounted to much as she was later married off to Baron Von Stackelberg. This is because she would have lost custody of her kids had she married a commoner. He, later on, fell in love with another lady called Therese Malfatti who was dedicated to Fur Elise and even went ahead to propose to her. Unfortunately, he was turned down and this can be linked t the fact that he was a commoner.

Education and Musical Training

Ludwig Van Beethoven became the best pianist as well as a composer of his time through hard work and a love for music. As a young child, he only attended school for a short while. While at the age of 11 years, Ludwig had to drop out of school (formal school) so that he can offer a helping hand to his father and consequently increase the income of the family. His father was constantly under the influence of alcohol and the family was left to suffer. This was such a noble gesture even though no child should ever have to sacrifice school for the well-being of their family.

The school is very important and vital in the development of a child. It is a funny thing to note that Ludwig actually never got to learn about multiplication or division which is basic math. Some people say that if he had to do any multiplication, the best way out for him was to put down all the numbers and add them together so as to arrive at an answer. This is what lack of education can do to a person. Even so, this was not a factor to keep him from developing his talent. If anything, it was a door swung open for him by the heavens.

As a young kid, Ludwig Van Beethoven had a very noticeable musical talent as he showed a lot of interest in music. His father noticed this and become his very first teacher who would teach him all about music when he came from work on the court. In an era which Mozart dominated the music industry, Johann, his father sought to make Ludwig a prodigy. While his tuition began at the age of five, he faced a lot of difficulties trying to be the best his father needed him. More often than not, the tuition regime was always harsh and very intense. For a child his age, this could have been seen as child abuse as most of the times he would end up in tears because of what he went through. There were instances where he would be dragged out of bed and taken to play the keyboard at a very ungodly hour of the night. This was simply too much for a kid of his age. Well-being father wanted to make a music prodigy and he would do it regardless of the cost.

While he was seven and a half years, on March 26th, 1778, Ludwig was ready for his very first performance out in the open for a large number of people at Cologne. In this time, his father introduced him to the public as a six-year-old boy and this actually messed up Ludwig’s mind when it came to his age. He ended up thinking he was younger than he was thanks to his father. Even to the time when he saw his certificate of baptism copy, he still had a tough time believing it was his. He thought it belonged to his older brother who dies shortly after his birth.

Other than his father, Ludwig Van Beethoven has several other teachers that included Gilles Van Den Eeden who worked at the court as an organist, Tobias Friedrich Pfeiffer who was a good friend to the family and taught Ludwig all about the keyboard, and Franz Rovantini who was a relative that instructed Ludwig on how to play the violin and the viola. All these teachers did well in giving his good ground to start his musical journey as a young talented kid. Other than them, he also had training by some of the best musicians in that time. These well-known teachers opened him up to a whole new world that made him the virtuoso we still talk about up to date.

Christian Gottlob Neefe was one of the great teachers that Ludwig Van Beethoven passed through in his journey to success. He was the organist of the court as appointed in that year, 1779. He probably was the first teacher that taught Ludwig about the composition of music. After teaching him and training him for a few years, Ludwig started working as Gottlob’s assistant in the office of an organist, appointed after being recommended by him. Even so, he was not paid as from the year 1781 but later on; he became a paid employee in the year 1784. After working with Gottlob for a while, Gottlob helped him to write his first composition as well as getting it published. This composition was simply a variation set of the keyboard, these variations were in C minor and they were nine in total; this was in the year 1783.

With all the talent that Ludwig had, Gottlob went ‘all in’ for him , and made study materials from the works of renowned philosophers available to him. These works were from ancient philosophers as well as the modern ones who were trending at that time. This massive knowledge played a great role in molding Ludwig into the excellent composer he was. Because he managed to impress Gottlob with his talent, Gottlob could help but mention in a musical magazine that if Ludwig continued the way he did, he will definitely be the new Mozart of his age. It is exciting to note that what Ludwig’s father, Johann, saw in his, Gottlob also saw the same thing; a boy who would grow to be just like Mozart, a music virtuoso, a music genius.

While working at the Court as an assistant organist, Ludwig composed piano sonatas that were three in number and he called them “Kurfurst” (Elector). These piano sonatas were dedicated to Maximilian Friedrich who was the Elector and they were published in the year 1783. What a noble gesture from Ludwig to Freidrich and this made Maximilian notice the massive talents that Ludwig had. He, therefore, decided to subsidize and also encourage the young man to keep up with his study of music .

After the death of Freidrich, he was succeeded by Maximilian Francis as the Elector of Bonn. He came with changes that were positive and would later be very beneficial in the life of Ludwig. These changes were based on what his Brother Joseph had implemented in Vienna. Maximilian Francis a type of reform that would see to it that the support for education and the arts was increased in Bonn and this reform was on the basis of Enlightenment Philosophy. The ideas that came with this reform impressed Ludwig that he was definitely influenced by them at one level or the other. At around this time also, ideas connected to freemasonry had also taken root among some of the elite members of the society as most of them took part as members of the order of Illuminati. Since Gottlob was part of this group of people and many other people who were within the circle of Beethoven’s associates, he was influenced by the ideas also at some points.

In the year 1787, Prince Maximilian Franz had noticed the great talent that Ludwig had and therefore sent him to Vienna so that he can get the chance to further his musical study under Mozart who was the very best in the industry. Vienna was practically the heart of music and culture and this would have been a great opportunity for Ludwig. What happened after Ludwig got to Vienna is something that is really not clear. Even so, it was noted by other that Ludwig Van Beethoven has an appointment and was scheduled to perform in front of Mozart . Up to date no one really knows how the meeting went down but speculations go round that Mozart made a comment that implied that people should watch out for Ludwig Van Beethoven as he would give them something to talk about. In the event that this is true, then it means that Mozart was impressed with what he saw that day.

It was not so long after Ludwig had been in Vienna that he got a letter that called him back to Bonn as his mother was ailing and the odds of her living for a long time were very little. For this reason, Ludwig Van Beethoven had to go back home . On July 17th, 1787, Ludwig’s dear mother passed on and this took a toll on him because he loved his mother so much that at one point he said she was his best friend. This was a hard blow for him but even so, he survived the pain. His father, however, did not take the news as expected. His wife’s death led him to indulge in alcohol even more. He became less of a father to his children as he could no longer support them in anything including financially and soon enough Ludwig had to fit the shoes of a ‘father figure’ for his siblings. He stayed in Bonn for five years so as to provide for his siblings.

In the year 1789, Ludwig was forced to take a legal action against his father as the responsibilities dumped on him were too much. He managed to get the court to order that half of what his father makes be paid to him directly so that he can take care of his siblings in a better way. To supplement what he was getting from his father, Ludwig used to play the violin as part of the Court’s orchestra. In this period, Ludwig benefited a lot as he got to hear a lot of different operas and he familiarized himself with them. Some of the operas were Mozart’s works and they used to be performed at the court giving him a great opportunity to familiarize with Mozart’s works.

As from 1779, Ludwig had a great opportunity to rub shoulders with some of the greatest people in the society as well as the music world. He was introduced to a number of people who contributed a lot into who he became in life. The influences these people had in his life was just amazing and it built him up to a wholesome in depended individual; a music virtuoso. One of the people that he met and became great friends with was a young medical student called Franz Wegeler who presented him with an amazing opportunity when he introduced him to the Van Breuning family. Ludwig managed to secure a position as a piano teacher to the children of that family. He also met a man who later became his long life friend as well as one of the people who offered him financial support when he needed it. This friend was Count Ferdinand Von Waldstein .

Musical Development

In the year 1790 up to the year 1792, Beethoven had put his knowledge in composition to work and composed a number of works that were simply great. Even so, they were never published for one reason or the other. Currently, these musical works that he came up with are listed in the ‘works without opus number’. This works demonstrated just how he had grown and matured musically.

In 1792, Ludwig Van Beethoven went back to Vienna after he had received a grant from the Prince Elector . This grant was for two years and this meant that in those two years, Ludwig had to grasp all he could from the masters that he would later come into contact with. His friend Waldstein wrote to him telling him that “he should receive Mozart’s spirit from Haydn’s hands” as he was the one who trained and nurtured Mozart. Also in a farewell note by Count Waldstein, he wrote to Ludwig telling him, “Through uninterrupted diligence, you will receive Mozart’s spirit from Haydn’s hands”. These words were exactly the kind of words that Ludwig needed to strengthen him.

As history has it, the very first encounter between Ludwig and Joseph Haydn was in the year 1790 when Haydn was traveling to London and stopped in Bonn in December when it was Christmas time. In July 1792, the two had another encounter that resulted with Ludwig being Haydn’s student.

When he had just arrived in Vienna following the grant he had been awarded, he learned that his father had died . His death did not affect him as much as that of his mother did. This is probably because of the influence each parent had on him and his life. He also learned that Mozart was no more. Over the following years, the feeling that Ludwig was the successor of Mozart in the music world grew so much as he displayed the talents and mannerist in terms of music as Mozart displayed. After all, he was under training by the master that trained the deceased.

In Vienna, Ludwig did not really indulge deeper into composition but did more of studying and performing. He particularly desired to gain mastery over Counterpoint under the leadership of his master, Haydn. Ignaz Schuppanzigh was also his teacher and under his leading and instructions, he was able to master the violin and improve on the skills he had. Between the years 1802 and the year 1809, Ludwig established a relationship with Antonio Salieri who instructed him on a number of occasions concerning Italian Vocal style of composition.

At around 1794, Haydn departed to England and the Elector expected that he would return home, at Bonn. After all, the study grant was to cover two years. Even so, this did not happen as Ludwig had other plans that would grow his musical talent as well as musical career. His study on Counterpoints continued under Johann Albrechtsberger and some other well-known teachers. With the financial support from some of the elite Viennese members who had recognized the great talent he had, Ludwig was able to stay in Vienna without necessarily struggling. Some of these supporters were Prince Joseph Franz Lobkowitz, Prince Karl Lichnowsky, and even Gottfried Van Swieten.

By the year 1793, Ludwig had begun making a name for himself around Vienna because of his exquisite music that most of the noble people in the society loved and enjoyed. In this very year, he was known as Vienna’s piano virtuoso and a publisher by the name Nikolaus Simrock, who was also his friend, started publishing his works. Not much of his work was published in this year and the reason being that they would have a greater effect and a bigger impact when they get published later.

In the year 1795, Ludwig had his first performance in Vienna organized. In this concert, he performed one of his Piano Concertos. His works had a very closely knit tie to Mozart and Haydn works but what made them unique is the fact that they were described to be overly extravagant and to a greater extent risqué. Shortly after this, he went ahead to publish the first of his compositions and he assigned an Opus number as well as his three piano trios, opus 1 . These published works were in honor of Prince Lichnowsky and were consequently dedicated to him. They were a great success and they opened financial doors for Ludwig, something that was simply amazing because he could now live comfortable for a year in Vienna without having to depend on anyone for help.

Ludwig’s first symphony was premiered in the year 1800 and his second symphony in the year 1803. These two made him gain a wider recognition than before such that he was regarded to be one of the most influential as well as one of the most important composers of his generation at his age right after Haydn and Mozart. His compositions had characters of strength, they had a very deep emotional root, had the sense of originality such that you would just know he is the composer by just listening and they also had great manipulation of their tone. In his entire life, the Septet was one of his greatest works that he completed in the year 1799.

To premiere his First Symphony, Burg Theater was hired to bring to life the works of Ludwig on stage. This was in the year 1800. During this premiere, Ludwig staged his Septet as well as famous works by Mozart and Haydn. The influence of these two could be felt in Ludwig’s works but even so, his personal touch was what set him apart from the influence. His musical melodies, the development of the music, the modulation of the music, the texture of the music and the emotional characteristics his music bore set him apart from the rest. By the end of that year, the demand for Ludwig and his work grew as more people became accustomed to his works as well as his musical features that set him apart from Mozart and Haydn. Thereafter, Ludwig has some other concert performances that had great financial returns that he was even able to charge thrice the amount he usually charged for his tickets.

Just like his teachers, Ludwig was not selfish with the massive knowledge he had gotten over the years, he became a music teacher to many people including Countess Anna Brunsvik’s daughters who was from Hungary. He also taught other students like Ferdinand Reis and Carl Czerny who went ahead to do great works like teaching and composing music. His students also had a great impact in the music industry in those times.

From the year 1802, he published more of his works as his relationship with publishers improved. This can be credited to the efforts of his brother Carl who played a great role in the financial management of Ludwig’s affairs.

Ludwig Van Beethoven grew to become one of the great people when it comes to classical music . He was greatly known for his improvisation and he was really good. Some of his greatest works were his nine symphonies, his piano sonatas, the violin sonata, string quartets, the piano concerto and many other compositions. To get the full list of his music, visit imslp.org and you will get all his works .

His Role in His Brother’s Life

In the year 1812, Ludwig went to visit his brother (Johann) with the main agenda of convincing him to drop his relationship with Theresa Obermayer for a simple fact that she had an illegitimate child and had also been convicted of theft but his plan failed as the two married.

After a while, his brother fell ill. He was suffering from tuberculosis and therefore Ludwig was obliged to take care of him and his family. Due to the expenses, he had to incur while doing all these, he was financially drained. In the year 1815, his brother Carl died leaving his family under the care of Ludwig.

Custody Battle

Now that Carl had left the parenting of his young son to Ludwig and his wife, Ludwig sought to get complete custody of his nephew. He always though Carl’s wife to be immoral and consequently unfit to take care his nephew, Karl. He wanted to be named the sole guardian of the boy. For a while, he had troubles because Carl’s will have outlined that the two should have joint custody over baby Karl. Even so, in the year 1816, he managed to get Karl from the mother and the case got fully resolved in 1820.

During the fight, Ludwig tried all he could to ensure that he got the custody. He even went as far as disguising the fact that ‘Van’ as in his name denoted a commoner, unlike Von which denoted a member of a noble family. For a period of time, he had an influence on the court because of his supposed nobility but when he could not prove that he was from a noble family to the Landrechte, his case was thrown back to the magistracy and lost the battle in 1818. Even so, he did not faint. He appealed and he later got sole custody.

As his nephew lived with him, he felt like Ludwig always interfered with his life and this had a negative influence on him that he contemplated suicide. In the year 1826, Karl attempted to kill himself by aiming at his head and pulling the trigger. It seemed that the pressure was simply too much. Even so, he survived the ordeal and was taken to his mother’s place where he fully recovered from the injury. Karl later insisted on joining the army and the last time he saw his uncle was in the year 1827.

Illnesses, Deafness, and Death

In the year 1811, Ludwig Van Beethoven was struck down by a serious illness . He suffered from severe headaches and very high fever. He was advised by his doctors to take a trip and spend some time in Bohemian spa town found in Teplitz. After this period he seemed better. This was during spring. The following winter he fell ill again when he was working on his seventh symphony. He was then ordered to spend the following spring back at the spa. While in the spa, he wrote a beautiful letter hat spoke his love to his ‘immortal beloved’. There have been speculations that this letter was meant for either of the women he had fallen in love with. These are Julie Guicciardi, Therese Malfatti, and Josephine Brunsvik. Even so, there is no concrete evidence to support whom it was meant for.

While Ludwig Van Beethoven was 27 years old, he started hearing a constant bussing sound in his ears. While at the age of thirty he wrote to his doctor friend letting him know what was happening to him and particularly that his h earing has been growing weaker and weaker by the day. He had been having troubles hearing the orchestra while in theaters unless he got really close. He also had troubles hearing the high notes as well as the voices of the singers. If people spoke in low tones and softly, he also had a tough time hearing them.

For a while, he tried to keep this devastating news to himself because if it got out, his musical career would have suffered a great deal. The fear in him would not let him tell people of the problem he was going through. He had developed a habit of secluding himself and avoiding social gatherings so as to minimize the chances of people noticing his persistent hearing problems. Up until 1812, Ludwig Van Beethoven was able to hear some speech as well as music. Even so, when he got to the age of 44 years, things have gotten so bad that he almost could not hear any kind of sound be it speech or music.

The main reason that led to his deafness has been a real source of controversies . A times it is attributed to a fall he had that led to him going deaf , a times it is attributed to syphilis, some other times Ludwig attributed it to gastrointestinal problems, other theories have it that it was lead poisoning or the constant plunging of his head in very cold water in an attempt to keep himself awake or maybe typhus. Regardless of all these, when an autopsy was carried out after his death, it was found that his inner ear was distended and that there was a lesion which developed over time.

This deafness affected him a great deal both in his personal life as well as his career. This problem even brought him troubles while raising his brother’s son, Karl as he had difficulties communicating with a child.

Before Beethoven died, he had been bedridden for a number of months. His cause of death has been thought to be due to excessive consumption of alcohol, syphilis, infectious hepatitis, Whipple’s disease, sarcoidosis and lead poisoning; same causes that are suspected to lead to his deafness. Even so, the autopsy also revealed that his liver was badly damaged by the excessive alcohol he took.

Finally, on March 26th, 1827, Ludwig Van Beethoven died . A funeral procession was done in his honor and there was a total of approximately 20, 000 people in attendance. Franz Schubert was one of his torchbearers and he later died and was buried next to Beethoven. He was buried in a Wahring cemetery where he had a dedicated grave and in 1862, the remains were exhumed for the purposes study purposes.

Some of Beethoven’s Great Works

Symphony No. 5

Moonlight Sonata

Symphony No. 9

References:

Biography.com

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Music Library Blog

250 years of beethoven, linda jenkins.

What do you think of when you hear the name ‘Ludwig van Beethoven’?

Maybe it’s the iconic opening figure of his Symphony 5 (think: dundundunDUNNNNNN from a sample of these performances ).

Or his famously thunderous countenance:

Joseph Karl Stieler, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Beethoven is one of the most celebrated composers in Western classical music. In his lifetime, Beethoven enjoyed a privileged lifestyle as the musical darling of Vienna’s aristocracy. Unlike many of his predecessors, such as Joseph Haydn, he was not tied to a royal court and still managed to be financially successful through the support of aristocratic patronage. His contributions to form and harmony across the genre directly inspired composers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. To this day, Beethoven remains one of the most frequently programmed composers in the United States. In a study of participating orchestras across America from 2000 to 2012, Beethoven was the most programmed composer in all but three seasons. And for the seasons he wasn’t first on the list, it was a close second to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart ( League of American Orchestras, 2020).

On the 250 th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, some scholars are examining the mythos surrounding Beethoven and have chosen to recognize Beethoven’s birthday in alternative ways, such as identifying lesser known works of Beethoven and unrecognized works of others ( Wilson, 2020 ).

Regardless of how people are choosing to reflect on Beethoven at his 250 th birthday, two and a half centuries later, Beethoven’s body of work still speaks to the concert-going public. What makes his music so impactful? Let’s explore some of his background and musical influences.

Ludwig van Beethoven was born in December of 1770 to a musical family in the town of Bonn, Germany. Both his father and grandfather were musicians in the choir of the archbishop-elect of Cologne; so, like most of the working class at this time, Beethoven was born into his profession. Beethoven took violin and piano lessons from his father Johann, who hoped his son would be seen as a child prodigy a la Mozart. Johann even passed his son as younger to mirror Mozart’s debut age, a fact that Beethoven himself only found out as a young teen (Biography.com Editors, 2020) .

Around 1780, political shifts and new appointments resulted in Bonn becoming a thriving city of culture with a newly established university and an influx of German renaissance literary minds like Goethe – widely considered the greatest German literary figure of the modern era (Boyle, n.d.) . It was in this environment that 12-year-old Beethoven became the assistant to Christian Neefe, the appointed court organist and Beethoven’s teacher (Knapp, 2020) .

Over the next ten years, Beethoven was able to make important societal connections. The first important family in this network was the house of the late Joseph von Breuning, who hired Beethoven to teach two of their children piano and to perform for a variety of social events. Beethoven acquired a number of wealthy students and patrons through the Breunings, including the Count Waldstein (whose name you might recognize as the dedicatee to Beethoven’s famous Waldstein Sonata, opus 53). Beethoven even composed a ballet score for the Count to pass off as his own composition, although it was well-known to be Beethoven’s work. This ballet ended up being his ticket out of Bonn when, in 1790, London-based composer Josef Hadyn saw the score while staying with the arch-bishop. Haydn was impressed enough that he invited Beethoven to study with him in Vienna when Hadyn returned from his London residency (Budden, 2020) .

Beethoven in Vienna

Beethoven received a warm welcome from the Viennese aristocracy, his reputation as a performer preceded him thanks in large part to Count Waldstein who heralded Beethoven as the successor to Mozart. With the support of wealthy patrons for food and lodging, Beethoven was able to fully cut ties with the Electorate in Cologne in 1794.  

In his composition studies, Beethoven worked with Haydn on piano, Antonio Salieri for choral composition, and counterpoint with organist Johann Albrechtsberger. In 1795, he performed his public debut recital in Vienna with a program featuring his piano Concerto No. 2, Opus 19, as well as works by Mozart and Haydn. Around this time Beethoven was also able to publish a set of Trios to a long list of subscribers. Beethoven’s symphonic debut in Vienna occurred in 1800 and featured a performance of his Symphony No. 1, a piano concerto, and the Septet (Opus 20) alongside works by Mozart and Haydn (Biography.com Editors, 2020) .

Musical Influences

Working in the Breuning’s household, Beethoven was introduced to the literary movement ‘Sturm und Drang’, which is defined by the Encyclopedia Britannica as a “German literary movement of the late 18th century that exalted nature, feeling, and human individualism and sought to overthrow the Enlightenment cult of Rationalism” (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, n.d.) .

In music, this movement translated to grand and sudden contrasts of tempo and dynamics aimed at expressing vast extremes of emotion. Beethoven’s affinity for improvisation is heavily reminiscent of his study of this movement, as well as the work of C.P.E. Bach.

Other early musical influences came from Bonn’s proximity to the city of Mannheim and the Mannheim Orchestra, the first orchestra comprised entirely of elite players, who had strong ties to Paris. Beethoven supported the French Revolution and greatly admired Napoleon Bonaparte. Beethoven’s Third Symphony was originally dedicated to the French military leader but, upon hearing that Bonaparte had declared himself Emperor of France, Beethoven changed the dedication to “for the memory of a great man”, and renamed the symphony “ Eroica ” (Budden, 2020) .

Heiligenstadt and Beethoven’s Second Period

The turn of the 19th century marks a shift in Beethoven’s compositional style. Around 1800, his writing becomes more nuanced and widens in scope, using large musical forces in new and unconventional ways. Until this point, his works were mostly for solo piano and conformed to the musical forms and rules of the time (Budden, 2020) . A major reason behind this shift is Beethoven’s growing realization that he was going deaf. As this illness progressed, his efforts moved from solo performances to composing. He began to avoid public gatherings, confessing in an 1801 letter that he “leads a miserable existence…because [he] find[s] it impossible to say to people: I am deaf.” (Biography.com Editors, 2020) . This internal turmoil came to a head in the poignant note Beethoven penned in 1802 while taking a respite in the country village of Heiligenstadt titled “The Heiligenstadt Testament”. Addressed to his brothers, it also outlines a basic will and was kept in a private drawer to be discovered after Beethoven’s death. An excerpt from this unsent letter reads:

“O you men who think or say that I am malevolent, stubborn or misanthropic, how greatly do you wrong me. You do not know the secret cause which makes me seem that way to you and I would have ended my life — it was only my art that held me back. Ah, it seemed impossible to leave the world until I had brought forth all that I felt was within me” (Beethoven; Thackara (Ed)., 1902; 1979) .

Beethoven returned home from Heiligenstadt and continued to compose in a fervor. The next period of composition (~1802-1814) is considered his most productive era, producing six symphonies, his only opera ( Fidelio ), four solo concerti, five string quartets, six-string sonatas, seven piano sonatas, five sets of piano variations, four overtures, four trios, two sextets and 72 songs (Biography.com Editors, 2020) .

Beethoven’s Private Life

Financially and artistically, Beethoven was extremely successful. However, in his personal life, Ludwig van Beethoven struggled to maintain relationships with his patrons, fellow musicians, and relatives. He was infamously temperamental, prone to being incredibly defensive, and thus constantly feuded with those around him. Beethoven never married, although he is rumored to have been in love with multiple female students. Upon his death, along with the “Heiligenstadt Testament”, secret letters addressed to the “Immortal Beloved” were found hidden away in Beethoven’s desk. The identity of the recipient is still unknown, and each letter is labeled only by month and day (Biography.com Editors, 2020) .

More on Beethoven

We have so much information about Beethoven’s life and musical output thanks to the letters, journal entries, and notebooks left behind after his death in 1827. Want to read more? Here are some online resources from UNT’s online library catalogue:

Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph: a biography by Jan Swafford

Beethoven the pianist by Tilman Skowroneck

Beethoven and the Construction of Genius: Musical Politics in Vienna (1792-1803) by Tia DeNora

Beethoven, L.V.; Thackara, W.T.S. (Ed.) (1802; 1979). The Heiligenstadt Testament of Ludwig Van Beethoven: Notes by W.T.S. Thackara. The Society. https://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/sunrise/28-78-9/s28n07p244_the-heiligenstadt-testament.htm

Biography.com Editors, 2020. Ludwig van Beethoven: c. 1770-1827 . Biography. https://www.biography.com/musician/ludwig-van-beethoven

Boyle, N, (n.d.). Johann Wolfgang von Goethe . Encyclopedia Britannica Online. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Johann-Wolfgang-von-Goethe/First-Weimar-period-1776-86

Budden, J.M., (2020). Ludwig van Beethoven: German Composer. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ludwig-van-Beethoven#ref21581

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, (n.d.). Sturm und Drang: German Literary Movement . Encyclopedia Britannica Online. https://www.britannica.com/event/Sturm-und-Drang

Knapp, Raymond. Ludwig van Beethoven: German Composer. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ludwig-van-Beethoven#ref21580

League of American Orchestras, (2020). ORR Archive. https://www.americanorchestras.org/knowledge-research-innovation/orr-survey/orr-archive.html

Wilson, J. (2020). Celebrate Beethoven by resisting ‘Beethoven’: how to programme concerts for the great composer’s 250th anniversary. Classical Music from BBC Music Magazine. https://www.classical-music.com/features/composers/celebrate-beethoven-by-resisting-beethoven-how-to-programme-concerts-for-the-great-composers-250th-anniversary/

Edited by Kristin Wolski

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One response to “250 years of beethoven”.

Fadia Jenkins

Great synopsis of a great composer! Happy 250 th!

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A Brief History of Beethoven

Ludwig Van Beethoveen was born in 1770 in Bonn, Germany as the son of a court musician. His talent for the piano was soon realized and he gave his first public performance at the age of eight. Beethoven's father wanted to promote him as the next child prodigy, another Mozart. (This most surely led to Beethoven's absolute distaste for child prodigies later in his life.) Nevertheless, Beethoven was employeed as a court musician in Bonn from 1787. During this time he studied briefly under both Haydn and Mozart, although it was certainly not a satisfying relationship for Beethoven. It turns out that events in Beethoven's life greatly affected (or seem to have affected) him writing. Because of this Beethoven's musical output is very episodic. As we shall see, there are three main periods in Beethoven's life, known simply as the early, middle, and late periods. In 1792, Beethoven relocated to Vienna. This is the beginning of his early period which lasted rougly until 1800. During this time Beethoven quickly made a name for himself as a virtuoso pianist. He used his abilities at the piano to gain favor with the nobility. In fact, he even tried to claim his own noble roots by accidentially changing the Van (a meaningless title) to Von (a title of nobility). His compositions during this period consisted mainly of works for his main instrament, the piano. An example of a piece composed during this time is the Pathétique Sonata, Op. 13 (1798). Beethoven's hearing was also beginning to deteriotate at this point, however, he went to great lengths to hide this fact from those around him. A picture of the apparatus used by Beethoven to hear is pictured below. Beethoven is a transistion figure in the history of western music. He is generally known as the father of the Romantic era. However, during the first period most of his compositions were classical (ie Hadyn and Mozart) in nature. However, in 1800 Beethoven is reported to have turned his friend Krumpholz and said, "I am not very well satisfied with the work I have thus far done. From this day on I shall take a new way." And basically, he did. Beethoven abandoned the classical forms of the previous century and set out for a more expressive (Romantic) musical voice. His musical imagination began to grow beyond that of the piano. This period, which later became known as the Heroic Period because of the larger than life nature that his compositions took on, saw the creations of such masterpieces as the Tempest Sonata, Op. 31 (1801-2), the 3rd Symphony ( Eroica ), Op. 55 (1803), his only opera, Fidelio , Op. 72 (1803-5), and the 5th Piano Concerto ( Emperor ), Op. 73 (1809). Some say that this middle period was Beethoven's greatest. It certainly was his most productive. In about a decade Beethoven produced countless masterpieces in every genre. In 1809, however, his musical output began to drop, possibly in connection to his declining health and mental state. Around 1815 the famous Immortal Beloved affair occured which left Beethoven in deep depression and contemplating suicide. Although there has been much debate over the identity of this Immortal Beloved character, it is now assumed that the lucky woman was Josephine, Countess Deym, née Countess von Brunswick whose picture is shown below. Beethoven's output was mostly null until 1818. At this point he was completely deaf and slightly mad. Also his brother died leaving Beethoven's only nephew, Karl, in the guardianship of his mother. Now Beethoven felt that she was not fit to raise Karl, so he entered into a vicious lawsuit over custody of the child. For the most part he was able to use his influence with the aristocracy to win the battle. Unfortunately Beethoven was not a fit father and his relationship with Karl was quite poor, driving him to an suicide attempt a few years later. Beethoven loved Karl dearly, and the pain of his failed attempts to teach Karl music must have been devestating for Beethoven. It's often spectulated that Karl was probably a strong contributor to Beethoven's late style. The late period saw the compositions of Beethoven's largest works: the Mass in D ( Missa Solemnis ), Op. 123 (1818-23), the 9th Symphony ( Choral ), Op. 125 (1818-23), the Hammerklavier Sonata, Op. 106 (1818), and the late string quartets.

Compositional Processes

 It is relevant at this time to include a few words about Beethoven's compositional processes. Mozart was able to get on a train, a few hours later get off with a whole opera composed in his head. Beethoven couldn't do that. In fact every phrase, every note was like pulling teeth. Beethoven never had less than one composition going on at the same time. He used sketch books to write down his ideas when they flew into his head, before he forgot them. Even after he had an idea, he had to work it out just right. What resulted was a mess of erasures and scribbles on a piece of paper that a copyist would later havet to decipher. One look at the page below from his sketches on the Missa Solemnis and one wonders how the music ever made it out.

Ludwig Van Beethoven

Ludwig Van Beethoven   Biography

Ludwig Van Beethoven was a composer, pianist, and conductor, born in Bonn, Germany in 1770. Beethoven was baptized on December 17, 1770, which is why historians place his birth a day earlier, on December 16 of 1770. Ludwig Van Beethoven has been considered the greatest composer of all time by many specialized critics.

Beethoven was deaf and yet managed to compose the greatest symphonies in history. From an early age, he was an exceptional pianist and managed to elevate classical music like no one had ever done before.

Ludwig Van Beethoven was the first son of Johann Van Beethoven and Maria Magdalena Keverich, who had two more children: Karl Kaspar and Nikolaus Johann.

Beethoven’s childhood can be considered particularly difficult. He did not have a functional home, due to the father figure, who assumed dictatorial attitudes mired in alcoholism. His father had had a musical career without transcendence, so he managed in a despotic manner to force Beethoven to triumph in the musical field at a very early age.

Throughout history, not all the cases in which the parents pretend to satisfy their frustrations by influencing excessively in the life of their children have had remarkable results. However, and despite the constant pressure exerted by Beethoven’s father, Ludwig showed an innate talent, very exceptional, especially the with the piano.

In 1778, at the age of eight, Beethoven gave his first concert in Cologne, Germany, sponsored by the elector of the city, who at the same time gave him the job as the organist, where he began a childhood dedicated exclusively to music.

It is often said about Beethoven that he used to be lonely, romantic and hostile; and a great part of his personality was forged in the adolescence, time in which the music occupied his absolute dedication, moving away from the friends, the games, and immersed in a much more complex familiar atmosphere still.

“Consider difficulties as stepping stones to a better life.” Ludwig Van Beethoven.

In 1787, helped by the elector, Beethoven traveled to Vienna (Austria), a journey that would change the course of his life. Nevertheless, a great part of their aspirations undergoes a remarkable impact after the death of his mother they would go back to Bonn.

After his return to Bonn, Beethoven finds a Dantesque picture in his family. His father succumbed absolutely to alcohol, which did not let him keep a stable job and support his brothers. So then, Beethoven assumes the responsibilities of home, plays the violin and gives piano lessons to support his family, likewise accumulates for a little more than five years, a great resentment and a remarkable frustration.

For Ludwig Van Beethoven, Bonn represents his suffering, not only in childhood but also in adolescence. It symbolizes the pain of his mother and dreams of the possibility of traveling.

In 1792, the elector would finance Beethoven’s return to Vienna, which was known as “the European capital of music.” Beethoven in Vienna received classes from who was the teacher of the already consecrated Mozart, the famous composer Salieri . Also, he received classes from Haydn , considered a musical eminence.

At the age of twenty-five, Beethoven would compose his first considerable works: Pathetic and Moonlight , which catapulted him to the point of being able to offer for the first time a concert in public as a professional composer.

The success of Beethoven was already resounding in all Vienna and surroundings. The clergy, the nobility, and the court celebrated his compositions. Beethoven, concerned that his success will be eclipsed by the figure of his teacher Haydn, separated from his classes and begins to receive them in secret from Schenk and Albrechstberger. Regarding his style, Beethoven combined classicism and romanticism perfectly, in his intention to compose for the nobility and the church; already by those times, Beethoven thought about composing for himself, abandoning a little his style, acquiring an epic tone.

The fact that Mozart died years before immersed in the acutest poverty, motivated the Austrian aristocracy to protect Beethoven; to whom an annual annuity was assigned. In addition, the editors valued his works in high economic sums.

Ludwig Van Beethoven would begin to face two new ghosts: his constant amorous disappointments, and, a loss of auditory capacity that would become more severe until it became total deafness. Beethoven then is decidedly devoted to his career as a composer, leaving an invaluable legacy for history.

In 1805, he premiered his work Fidelio , his only composition for opera, which would not become popular until 1816. Three years later, Vienna and Europe celebrate his 5th Symphony , his supreme work.

“Without introduction, its four movements range from the tense construction of the first to the solemnity of the second, passing through the instrumental tension of the third and the apotheosis of the fourth, an unheard-of crescendo of more than 50 measures.”

In 1824, after having composed 8 symphonies, Beethoven successfully premiered his glorious and magnificent 9th symphony, the famous choral. “it is called choral because of the vocal choir of the 4th movement, the famous ode to joy, a poem by Schiller adapted by Beethoven.”

Ludwig Van Beethoven would pass away in Vienna on March 26, 1827 , at the age of 57.

• 1st Symphony (1800): Fresh and original.
• 2 nd Symphony (1803): Symphony in D major.
• 3rd Symphony (1805): Symphony in E flat major.
• 4th Symphony (1806): Symphony in B flat major.
• 5th Symphony (1808): Symphony in C minor.
• 6th Symphony (1808): Symphony in F major.
• 7th Symphony (1813): Symphony in A major.
• 8th Symphony (1814): Symphony in F major.
• 9th Symphony (1824): Choral.

Ludwig Van Beethoven not only wrote symphonies, he also wrote 32 sonatas, chamber works, overtures, quartets and much more.

 “Those of you who think or say that I am malevolent, obstinate or misanthrope, how wrong they are about me” Beethoven.

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Fernando Botero

Fernando Botero Biography

Fernando Botero Angulo (April 19, 1932 – September 15, 2023) was a sculptor, painter, muralist, and draftsman, hailing from Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia. He was a Colombian artist known and celebrated for infusing a substantial volume to human and animal figures in his works.

Early Years and Beginnings

Fernando Botero was born into an affluent Paisa family , composed of his parents, David Botero and Flora Angulo, along with his older brother Juan David, who was four years his senior, and his younger brother, Rodrigo, who would be born four years after Fernando, in the same year that their father passed away. In 1938, he enrolled in primary school at the Ateneo Antioqueño and later entered the Bolivariana to continue his high school education. However, he was expelled from the institution due to an article he published in the newspaper El Colombiano about Picasso , as well as his drawings that were considered obscene. As a result, he graduated from high school at the Liceo of the University of Antioquia in 1950.

In parallel to his studies, Fernando attended a bullfighting school in La Macarena at the request of one of his uncles. However, due to an issue related to bullfighting, Botero left the bullring and embarked on a journey into painting. In 1948, he held his first exhibition in Medellín. Two years later, he traveled to Bogotá where he had two more exhibitions and had the opportunity to meet some intellectuals of the time. He then stayed at Isolina García’s boarding house in Tolú, which he paid for by painting a mural. Once again in Bogotá, he won the second prize at the IX National Artists Salon with his oil painting “Facing the Sea” .

“Ephemeral art is a lesser form of expression that cannot be compared to the concept of art conceived with the desire for perpetuity. What many people fail to understand is that Picasso is a traditional artist”- Fernando Botero

Due to the prize from the IX Salon and the sale of several of his works, Fernando Botero traveled to Spain in 1952 to enroll at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid. There, he lived by selling drawings and paintings in the vicinity of the Prado Museum. In 1953, he went to Paris with filmmaker Ricardo Irrigarri, and later, they both traveled to Florence. Here, he entered the Academy of San Marco, where he was heavily influenced by Renaissance painters such as Piero della Francesca, Titian, and Paolo Uccello.

Career and Personal Life

In 1955, Botero returned to Colombia to hold an exhibition featuring several of his works created during his time in Europe, but it was met with a lukewarm reception from the public.

Woman With a Mirror / Foto:Luis García (Zaqarbal) / Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Spain (CC BY-SA 3.0 ES)

In 1956, he married Gloria Zea, with whom he would later have three children: Fernando, Juan Carlos, and Lina. The couple traveled to Mexico City, where Fernando Botero was eager to see the works of Mexican muralists, but this experience left him disillusioned. Consequently, he began searching for his own artistic style, drawing influence from both the Mexican artist Rufino Tamayo and the Colombian artist Alejandro Obregón . In this quest, he started experimenting with volume, initially in still lifes, and gradually extending this approach to other elements.

In 1957, he successfully exhibited in New York, showcasing his new artistic sensibility. The following year, he returned to Bogotá, where he was appointed as a professor at the School of Fine Arts at the National University of Colombia . He presented his work “La Camera Degli Sposi” at the X Colombian Artists Salon , winning the first prize and becoming the country’s most prominent painter. This piece sparked some controversy as it was initially censored for being almost a parody of Andrea Mantegna’s “La Cámara de los Esposos”. However, it was later reinstated in the exhibition on the advice of Marta Traba. Subsequently, Fernando Botero exhibited his works in various spaces in the United States, where a businessman from Chicago purchased “La Camera Degli Sposi” .

“Fernando Botero and his works are the finest ambassadors of our country in this land of navigators and discoverers, of poets and fado singers”- Juan Manuel Santos

In 1960, Botero separated from Gloria Zea and traveled to New York. He led a modest life here as the New York art scene was primarily inclined towards abstract expressionism. Consequently, Botero was influenced by artists like Pollock, which led him to experiment with color, brushwork, and format, to the point of nearly abandoning his distinctive style characterized by the manipulation of volume. Aware of this, Botero returned to his usual style of flat colors and figurative representations.

Starting in 1962, he began a series of exhibitions in both Europe and the United States, as well as in Colombia. By 1970, the year his son Pedro was born to his second wife, Cecilia Zambrano, Fernando Botero had already become the world’s most sought-after sculptor. However, in 1974, his son Pedro tragically died in a traffic accident, leading to his second divorce and leaving significant marks on his artistic endeavors.

In 1978, the Colombian painter married Sophia Vari , a renowned Greek artist with whom he shared a significant part of his life, until sadly, she passed away in May 2023.

Since 1983, Fernando Botero has been exhibiting his works and donating them to various cities around the world. As a result, we can find his pieces in the streets of Medellín, Barcelona, Oviedo, Singapore, and Madrid, among others. In 2008, the Autonomous University of Nuevo León in Mexico conferred upon him an honorary Doctorate.

Renowned Colombian artist, Fernando Botero, died on September 15, 2023 , in Monaco at the age of 91 due to pneumonia . His artistic legacy will endure forever. In his hometown, seven days of mourning were declared.

Pedrito a Caballo, Fernando Botero (1975).

Top 10 Famous works by Fernando Botero

Some of the most recognized works by Colombian painter and sculptor Fernando Botero:

• “Pedrito on Horseback” / “Pedrito a Caballo” (1974): This is an oil painting on canvas measuring 194.5 cm x 150.5 cm. For Botero, this work is his masterpiece and a refuge during a personal tragedy. The child depicted is Pedro, his son from his second marriage, who tragically passed away in an accident when he was young.
• “Mona Lisa at 12 Years Old” / “Mona lisa a los 12 años” (1978): This piece stands out as a unique version of Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting, the Mona Lisa . Painted in oil on canvas and measuring 183 cm x 166 cm, Botero incorporates his characteristic style of voluptuous and rounded figures into this work, which has become one of his most distinctive pieces.
• “Woman’s Torso” / “Torso de Mujer” (1986): It is a majestic bronze sculpture that rises to an impressive height of approximately 2.48 meters. It is often affectionately referred to as “La Gorda” (“The Fat One”). This artwork finds its home in Parque de Berrío, located in the captivating city of Medellín.
• “Woman with Mirror” / “Mujer con Espejo” (1987): An imposing bronze sculpture weighing 1000 kg. It is located in Plaza de Colón, in the heart of Madrid, Spain. The artwork captivates the gaze with the portrayal of a woman peacefully lying face down on the ground, holding a mirror in her hands. Her expression reflects deep introspection and enigmatic melancholy.
• “The Orchestra” / “La Orquesta” (1991): In this oil on canvas artwork, measuring 200 cm x 172 cm, Botero presents a band of musicians with a singer, all immersed in a spirit of celebration. The artist aims to convey a sense of harmony and joy through his portrayal.
• “Woman Smoking” / “Mujer Fumando” (1994): It is a creation executed in watercolor, spanning dimensions of 122 cm x 99 cm. In this work, Maestro Botero skillfully captures the essence of a woman elegantly holding a cigarette between her fingers. His meticulous focus on voluptuous forms, posture, and the serene expression of the figure masterfully combine to emphasize the sensuality and profound intimacy of the moment captured in the artwork.
• “Man on Horseback” / “Hombre a Caballo” (1996): This bronze sculpture is one of the most iconic works in the artist’s career. It depicts a rider in a majestic and proud posture. Over the years, this imposing work has been exhibited in multiple cities around the world, solidifying its place as a prominent piece in the sculptor’s body of work.
• “The Horse” / “El Caballo” (1997): This iconic sculpture showcases a horse of majestic presence and a distinctive rounded form, sculpted in bronze and measuring approximately 3 meters in height. This masterpiece reflects Botero’s profound passion for horses while also serving as a powerful representation of the mythical Trojan Horse.
• “The Death of Pablo Escobar” / “La muerte de Pablo Escobar” (1999): This artwork, created using the oil on canvas technique, has dimensions of 58 cm x 38 cm. While not considered a masterpiece, this artistic piece represents one of the most significant moments in Colombia’s history. Fernando Botero captures, in his distinctive style, the moment of the death of the drug lord Pablo Escobar , addressing issues related to violence and criminality that have marked the country’s history. An interesting detail is that, although Pablo Escobar admired Fernando Botero’s art, it cannot be said that the admiration was mutual. The painter created two works depicting the death of the drug trafficker.
• “Boterosutra Series” / “Serie Boterosutra” (2011): This work by Botero is part of an erotic art collection called Boterosutra , marking a milestone in the history of Colombian art as the first artistic representation of sexual intimacy between lovers. This series comprises around 70 small-sized pieces created using various techniques, including colored drawings, watercolors, brushstrokes, and also black and white, all of which constitute one of the most contemporary works by the painter.

Ryan Reynolds

Biography of Ryan Reynolds

Ryan Rodney Reynolds was born on October 23, 1976 in Vancouver, Canada, and he is a well-known actor. When Ryan was born, his mother, Tammy, was a student and a salesperson, while his father, Jim, worked in wholesale food sales and also excelled as a semi-professional boxer. In addition, Ryan has three older siblings.

He studied in his hometown of Vancouver until 1994 when he decided to join a theater group as an extracurricular activity while attending Kwantlen College. However, his passion for acting became a vocation, and Ryan dropped out of college to devote all his time and energy to his acting career.

Debut as an actor

He quickly landed small roles in successful and memorable TV series such as “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” and “The X-Files”. In 1998, his big break came with the series “Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place”, which ran until 2001 and catapulted him to fame. The show became very popular thanks to its great comedic content, an area where Reynolds demonstrated perfect skill, but this was not the first time that Ryan had made a name for himself in a Hollywood comedy, as he had already been in “Life During Wartime” in 1997.

After working in several minor jobs, Ryan got his first major role as a protagonist in the crazy “Van Wilder – Animal Party”, where he played a college party organizer. The success of the film opened doors for him to work alongside Michael Douglas in “Till Death Do Us Part”, support Wesley Snipes in “Blade Trinity” or star in the horror movie “The Amityville Horror”. However, at this stage of his career, Ryan stood out mainly as a protagonist in comedies such as “Just Friends”, “Waiting” and “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle”. This led him to want to leave his comedic side behind, getting involved in different projects such as the thriller “Smokin’ Aces”, the independent film “Adventureland” and the action film “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”. Later on, he also participated in romantic films such as “The Proposal” and “Definitely, Maybe”. However, recognition of his acting ability did not come until Ryan was nominated for a Goya Award for his demanding role in “Buried”. It is worth noting that he also brought to life the comic book hero “Green Lantern” and the renowned “Deadpool”.

Contracts, curiosities

Prestigious brands like Hugo Boss have not been oblivious to Ryan Reynolds’ popularity, charisma, and good looks, offering him contracts to be the face of one of their fragrances : Boss Bottled Night, a fragrance that, through great advertising, managed to convey an irresistible seductive effect.

Two curiosities can be highlighted from his work: first, the nearly 10 kilos of solid muscle he gained thanks to rigorous physical training to bring Hannibal King to life in “Blade: Trinity”; and second, his appearance on the animated TV series Zeroman, in which he lent his voice to the character Ty Cheese. In addition, like many Hollywood stars, Ryan Reynolds has an eccentricity outside the world of entertainment: a great passion for motorcycles , of which he owns three collector’s items, one of which was designed exclusively for him and is none other than a Harley Davidson.

Romantic relationships

Regarding his personal life, Ryan Reynolds was in a romantic relationship with singer Alanis Morissette from 2002 to 2007. The couple got engaged in 2004, but in July 2006, People magazine reported that they had separated, although neither of them officially confirmed the news. Shortly after, in February 2007, they decided to end their engagement by mutual agreement. In May 2008, Reynolds announced his engagement to actress Scarlett Johansson , and they got married on September 27 of the same year. However, in December 2010, the couple announced in a statement to People magazine that they had decided to end their marriage.

So, on September 9, 2012, he married the actress Blake Lively in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. In October 2014, they announced that they were expecting their first child, and in December of that same year, Ryan Reynolds and his wife Blake Lively became parents with the birth of their daughter: Ines. Later, on April 14, 2016, his wife’s second pregnancy was confirmed, and on September 30, 2016, he became a father for the second time to a boy named James.

Biography of Tom Hanks

Thomas Jeffrey Hanks, born July 9, 1956 in Concord, California, United States, is an actor known as Tom Hanks. Hanks was raised by his father Amos Mefford Hanks, who worked as a cook of English food, and his mother Janet Marylyn, a nurse. He was raised with the values of the Catholic and Mormon religion. During his time at Skyline High School in Oakland, he attended theater classes with his best friend. During his adolescence, Hanks demonstrated his acting talent and won the Best Theater Actor award at his institute. Later, he enrolled in Chabot College in Hayward, California and two years later did a exchange at California State University, Sacramento.

1981 – Debut as an actor

In 1979, the Hanks family moved to New York, which gave Tom the opportunity to debut as a supporting actor in the horror film “Sabe que estás sola” in 1981. Two years later, he landed a lead role in another film. Additionally, he did his first television work in the comedy series “Bosom Buddies.” Later, he decided to move to Los Angeles to participate in “Despedida de soltero” in 1984, although the film was not very successful, it allowed him to be discovered by Ron Howard, who later contacted him to offer a role in “Splash” in 1984.

Since then, Tom starred in several comedy films such as “Amigos del alma” (1980), “Esta casa es una ruina” (1986), “Big” (1988), “No matarás… al vecino” (1989), “Socios y sabuesos” (1989), and “Joe contra el volcán” (1990). His father was always very important in his career, constantly encouraging him to keep fighting for his dream. On several occasions, he helped him to get small roles. He also supported his participation in the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival in Cleveland, Ohio. Tom had already made some appearances in series like “Vacaciones en el mar”, “Happy Days”, “Taxi”, or “Family Ties”.

“The King of Comedy”

After a small role in the horror film “He Knows You’re Alone” (1980) directed by Armand Mastroianni, he starred in several comedies that typecast him in comedic roles. His charming personality and natural talent contributed to his growing popularity. Definitely his consecration came in the eighties, he was cataloged as the king of comedy . Thanks to “Big” (1988), he achieved great success for his performance, receiving the Los Angeles Critics Award and an Oscar nomination . Although he had a bit of a downfall after that, he regained momentum as a disillusioned former baseball pitcher who trains a women’s team in “A League of Their Own” (1992).

Tom considered it appropriate to change direction and tackle other stories, to move away from comedy a little. So, he eagerly sought more intense themes where he could showcase his versatility. With his work in “The Bonfire of the Vanities” (1989), directed by Brian de Palma, he attempted to take the first step to break away from light comedies, but the result was not as expected. However, his career took off again with his portrayal of an AIDS-stricken lawyer in “Philadelphia” (1992), directed by Jonathan Demme, an intense character that was quite a challenge. His effort was rewarded with an Oscar. He renewed his commercial success with “Sleepless in Seattle” (1993), directed by Nora Ephron, where he teamed up with Meg Ryan, and worked with her again in “You’ve Got Mail” (1998).

Some of his most acclaimed performances

In the mid-90s, Hanks established himself as one of Hollywood’s brightest stars. It’s worth mentioning that his career enjoyed significant success. For his role in Robert Zemeckis’ “ Forrest Gump ” (1994), this has been one of the most striking films of the decade, he was again deserving of an Oscar , a prize that increased, turning him into one of the best-paid actors in Hollywood. With the comedy “The Wonders” (1996), he made his directorial debut.

Later, he did the same in the field of production with the TV series “From the Earth to the Moon,” a work that took him several years. Hanks had the lead role in the feature film “Saving Private Ryan” (1997), directed by Steven Spielberg , with this role he was nominated for the Academy Award, although the film received five Oscars. In 2000, he worked with Robert Zemeckis again in the film “Cast Away,” a film in which his solo performance was praised, for which he received an Oscar nomination.

Between 2003 and 2004, he repeated his collaboration with Spielberg in “Catch Me If You Can” and also in “The Terminal.” In 2006, he starred in the hit film “The Da Vinci Code,” the cinematic version of Dan Brown’s controversial work. Starting in 2014, Hanks’ films have grossed over 4.2 billion in countries such as the United States and Canada, and over 8.4 billion in the rest of the world, he is definitely an actor who ensures great success for films. His fame is such that the asteroid (12818) Tomhanks bears his name.

Marriages, children.

The actor has had several marriages throughout his life. His first marriage was to Samantha Lewes in 1978, from which two children were born: Colin Hanks in 1977 and Elisabeth Ann in 1982. However, the couple divorced in 1985. Later, in 1988, he married actress and producer Rita Wilson , with whom he had two additional children: Chester Marlon in 1991 and Truman Theodore in 1996. In recent years, the actor has been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, which requires a strict diet and daily care to maintain his health.

Marc Anthony

Biography of Marc Anthony

Marc Anthony (born September 16, 1968) is an American salsa singer and actor , born in New York. His real name is Marco Antonio Muñiz Rivera . From a young age, he has been involved in music, growing up with rock and rhythm & blues. His parents, Felipe Muñiz and Guillermina Rivera, discovered his passion and musical ability when he was a child. During his teenage years, to earn money, he began singing at bars and nightclubs , and quickly gained popularity. He was contacted by one of the members of the Latin Rascals group, and their producer Louie Vega invited him to record several albums with the Atlantic Records label.

Beginnings as a singer

One of Marc Anthony’s most successful musical products was the album “Rebel”, which achieved some success on the disco music charts. In 1992, his career in the salsa world took off when the famous Tito Puente took him as an opening act for a concert at Madison Square Garden. A year later, he recorded a salsa version of a song by Juan Gabriel that received excellent reviews and great popularity in the musical circles of New York. Soon, Marc Anthony appeared in several television productions and began to receive offers for concerts. After a few years, he was recognized as the new “king of salsa”. During the 1990s, his lyrics occupied the top position in Latin America and also in the United States.

The new “musical phenomenon”

Marc Anthony became a massively successful musical phenomenon , comparable to the success of Héctor Lavoe. At the same time, he continued to develop his acting career, appearing in films such as “Bringing out the Dead” directed by Martin Scorsese; “Big Night” directed by Stanley Tucci; “Hackers,” and “The Capeman,” a Broadway musical directed by singer and songwriter Paul Simon. He also performed the main theme of the soundtrack of “The Mask of Zorro” (1998), in which Antonio Banderas was the lead actor.

Third salsa album “Against the Stream”

That same year, he worked on the production of his third salsa album: “Contra la Corriente,” undoubtedly many salsa critics and aficionados affirm that it was the best album of his career, for which he received a Grammy for Best Latin-Tropical Album. In 1999, he released the album “Marc Anthony” to the market, this album undoubtedly demonstrates a new stage in his musical career, as it combined salsa with pop and also featured songs in English, in order to reach and conquer the Anglo-Saxon audience and market.

The first single, “I Need to Know,” put him in the top positions of the North American charts: it remained in the Top 10 of the Billboard for eleven weeks and eight more weeks in the Top 40. He also released the Spanish version, titled “Dímelo.” With this song, he won the Grammy for Best Latin Song of the Year and was number one on the Latin Billboard chart. He quickly released the second single, “You Sang to Me,” repeating the success of the previous one and selling over two million copies of the album.

Starting the new millennium, he released a greatest hits salsa album titled “Desde el principio.” After that, Marc Anthony went on a extensive tour that took him through the United States. All magazines and press talked about his triumphant concert at Madison Square Garden. Then he was in Canada and Central America. At that time, Marc Anthony received the admiration of his fans when he helped with his charitable work for the victims of Hurricane George, in sum, he founded a foundation that bears his name.

International tours

In 2011, he started the Dos Mundos Tour, with the company of Alejandro Fernández , a concert across Latin America. The following year, he was in Colombia at the Manacacías Summer Festival, many people from different parts of the country traveled to attend his concert. He had a significant participation in the 53rd International Song Festival of Viña del Mar, Chile, where he sang the song “¿Y cómo es él?” from his album “Iconos”. He received the highest distinction.

On March 3, 2012, Marc returned to Uruguay after 17 years and gave his performance at the Charrúa Stadium in Montevideo with an attendance of 25,000 spectators. In the GIGANT3S TOUR, he performed in several North American cities alongside Chayanne and Marco Antonio Solís . In 2013, he released his album 3.0. In 2014, he was the big winner of four of the five awards for which he was nominated at the Premios Lo Nuestro. Additionally, his career was recognized as one of the most successful Latin music artists. In 2016, he released a song called “Deja que te bese” with the collaboration of Spanish singer Alejandro Sanz, the song has over 50 million views on Youtube.

In September 2016, he carried out his “Marc Anthony Live” tour which included 5 dates at Radio City Music Hall. His private life has been somewhat controversial and has been exposed to various comments. He had his first daughter in 1994, Arianna Rosado-Muñiz, a product of his relationship with a former police officer from New York. In 2000 he married for the first time to Dayanara Torres, with whom he had two children. He later helped Jennifer Lopez in the production of the song “Sway” for the soundtrack of the movie Shall We Dance?. They then fell in love and after only one month of relationship, they got engaged in March 2004.

The couple had twins and Jennifer sold the exclusive photos of the children to People Magazine. However, after a few years, the couple decided to end their marriage on April 9, 2012. It is said that everything started when Jennifer Lopez met dancer Casper Smart and began a relationship with him two months after her separation from Marc. Later, Marc started a relationship with Venezuelan model Shannon de Lima, whom he married in 2014. Despite this, his relationship with Jennifer, the mother of his children, is harmonious, and he even participated in her song “Olvídame y pega la vuelta” in 2016. Two years earlier, the Puerto Rican singer made an impact with the hit song “Flor Pálida”.

On January 28, 2023, he married Nadia Ferreira in an incredible wedding surrounded by stars from film, music, and sports. The ceremony took place at the Perez Art Museum in Miami, with David Beckham as the best man.

  Ver esta publicación en Instagram   Una publicación compartida por Nadia Ferreira (@nadiatferreira)

Biography of Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney (born June 18, 1942) is a singer. He was born in Liverpool, England. His mother, Mary Patricia, was a nurse, while his father, James McCartney, was a volunteer firefighter. During Paul’s birth, his father was not present as he was fighting in the Battle of England during World War II. Paul grew up in a religious and strict environment, with his mother Catholic and his father Protestant, but later became agnostic. After returning from the war, his father devoted himself to selling cleaning products and, in his free time, played in bars.

Death of his mother

That’s why his son developed a deep love for music. He stood out in school for his intelligence and discipline and studied at Liverpool Institute secondary school, a good free secondary school. In 1954, he met George Harrison, with whom he quickly formed a strong friendship. At the time, McCartney’s mother was the one who kept the household and for work reasons they moved to Allerton, where they lived until 1964. On October 31, 1956, when McCartney was 14 years old, his mother died from a stroke.

After his mother’s death, McCartney was devastated. It took some time for him to return to normal. H is father saw music as a refuge to help his son feel better, so he took him to listen to the Jim Mac’s Jazz Band, where his father played trumpet or piano. He also gave him a trumpet, but when rock and roll became popular, he chose an acoustic guitar. The first song he composed was “I Lost My Little Girl” on that guitar, a Zenith. He also composed “When I’m Sixty-Four” on the home piano.

1957 – Met John Lennon

He met Lennon on July 6th, 1957. McCartney joined The Quarrymen, a school band led by Lennon, in 1958 as the lead guitarist. The band mixed rock and roll and skiffle, a popular music style, with jazz and blues. After several name changes, the band decided to call themselves The Beatles in August 1960 and recruited drummer Pete Best for their move to Hamburg. In 1961, one of its members, Sutcliffe, left the band and McCartney was forced to take over as bassist. They recorded as a backing band for English singer Tony Sheridan on the single My Bonnie.

1963 – “Beatlemania”

They managed to attract the attention of Brian Epstein, who became their manager in January 1962 and a key figure in their later success. With their first hit, “Love Me Do” in 1963, the “Beatlemania” began. John Lennon and Paul wrote a large number of songs together, but later their egos collided and they preferred to write separately. In 1970, The Beatles disbanded. But Paul continued his successful career with songs that reached number one. He recorded his first solo LP, “McCartney”, with songs very different from those that Lennon would write, with commercial melodies for varied tastes.

1980 – Paul McCartney Guinness Records

In 1980, he entered the Guinness Book of Records as the highest-selling songwriter in the world. His theme Yesterday , one of the most celebrated by The Beatles , has around 2,500 versions in the most diverse musical styles. Some of his solo hits are: Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey, Live and Let Die for the James Bond film received the Oscar for best musical theme; Coming Up from his solo album Paul McCartney II. He joined George Martin and Ringo Starr in 1982 for the recording of Tug of War. On Press to play, his next album, was recorded with Eric Stewart.

Awards, arrest, record.

Winner of 18 Grammy Awards, including two Lifetime Achievement Grammy Awards (one with the Beatles and another as a solo artist). He is a vegetarian and an animal rights advocate. He was arrested for marijuana possession in Tokyo in 1980 and was briefly in jail. He participated in the “Live Aid” concert against hunger in Ethiopia in 1985. I n 1990, he achieved the record for the largest attendance at a concert with 184,000 people in Rio de Janeiro. Since 1997 he is Sir Paul McCartney, invested as a knight by Queen Elizabeth II.

2013 – Other awards, marriages.

On February 10, 2013, he received a Grammy for “Best Traditional Pop Album” for his album “Kisses On The Bottom”. Later, he received a special award from PRS for Music in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the composition of his most famous song, “ Yesterday “. These songs, as well as “And I Love Her,” “You Will Not See Me,” and “I’m Looking Through You,” were written inspired by his relationship with British actress Jane Asher. After five years of engagement, the couple broke up due to his infidelity with Francie Schwartz. He married Linda Eastman on March 12, 1969, and together they formed the musical group Wings after the dissolution of the Beatles . In 1999, he presented his collection of poems entitled “Blackbird Singing: Poems and Lyrics (1965-1999)”. After the death of his wife, McCartney experienced deep sadness.

In 2002, Paul McCartney married former model Heather Mills in an Irish castle. After a long legal battle in the London Supreme Court, in 2008 Mills was authorized to collect one fifth of the 250 million dollars she had demanded from McCartney for their four-year marriage. In 2011, McCartney married Nancy Shevell in a civil ceremony in London on October 9th of that year.

Relevant aspects of his life and musical career

• With 60 gold records and the sale of over 100 million albums and singles as a solo artist and with The Beatles, McCartney is recognized as one of the most successful composers and artists of all time.
• As a solo artist in 1999 and as a member of The Beatles in 1988, he has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice.
• As a solo artist and with The Beatles, he has been recognized with twenty-one Grammy Awards.
• 32 of the songs that McCartney has written or co-written have reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
• As of 2014, he had sold over 15 million certified units by the RIAA in the United States.
• In 1997, McCartney was elevated to the rank of knight for his services to music.
• In 1965, McCartney, Lennon, Harrison and Starr were named members of the Order of the British Empire .
• He has been married three times and is the father of five children.
• He has participated in projects to help international charities related to issues such as animal rights, seal hunting, landmine cleaning, vegetarianism, poverty and musical education.
• He ranks 11th on Rolling Stone’s list of 100 Greatest Singers.
• He ranks first on Rolling Stone’s list of 100 Greatest Artists as a member of The Beatles.
• He ranks third on Rolling Stone’s list of 100 Greatest Bassists.
• Only surpassed by Bob Dylan , he ranks second on Rolling Stone’s list of 100 Greatest Songwriters.

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Culture History

Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) was a German composer and pianist, widely regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western classical music. Born in Bonn, Beethoven displayed exceptional musical talent from a young age. He composed a vast and influential body of work, including symphonies, piano sonatas, string quartets, and more. Notably, Beethoven’s later compositions, created during a period of increasing deafness, are considered revolutionary for their emotional depth and innovative structures. His Ninth Symphony, featuring the “Ode to Joy,” is particularly celebrated. Beethoven’s legacy extends beyond his music, inspiring generations of composers and leaving an indelible mark on the world of classical music.

Beethoven’s early years were marred by adversity. Born into a musical family, his father, Johann van Beethoven, recognized young Ludwig’s musical talent and sought to mold him into a child prodigy like Mozart. However, the family faced financial hardships, exacerbated by Johann’s struggles with alcoholism. These challenges cast a shadow over Beethoven’s formative years.

In 1787, at the age of 17, Beethoven traveled to Vienna, the musical capital of Europe, to study under Joseph Haydn. Vienna, a vibrant hub of artistic and intellectual activity, provided the young composer with exposure to the leading musicians and thinkers of his time. Under Haydn’s guidance, Beethoven honed his craft and developed a mastery of classical forms.

Beethoven’s early compositions reflected the influence of his contemporaries, including Haydn and Mozart, but he quickly began to forge his own path. His compositions from this period, such as the Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor, showcased a burgeoning musical voice marked by emotional depth and technical brilliance.

The turn of the century marked a significant shift in Beethoven’s life and career. Around 1800, he began to experience the first signs of hearing loss, a condition that would gradually worsen over the years. Despite this profound challenge, Beethoven continued to compose with unparalleled intensity, delving into new and innovative musical realms.

The early 1800s witnessed the emergence of Beethoven’s heroic period, characterized by compositions that exuded passion, drama, and a sense of triumph over adversity. One of the most iconic works from this period is the Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, commonly known as the “Eroica.” Originally dedicated to Napoleon Bonaparte, Beethoven later withdrew the dedication, expressing disillusionment with Napoleon’s imperial ambitions.

During this period, Beethoven also composed a series of groundbreaking piano sonatas, including the famous “Moonlight Sonata” (Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor) and the “Waldstein” Sonata (Piano Sonata No. 21 in C major). These works showcased Beethoven’s innovative use of form and harmonic language, pushing the boundaries of classical conventions.

As Beethoven’s hearing deteriorated, he grappled with the emotional toll of his affliction. In a poignant document known as the Heiligenstadt Testament, written in 1802 but discovered after his death, Beethoven revealed his despair and contemplation of suicide due to his increasing deafness. However, he found solace in his art, declaring his commitment to overcoming adversity and contributing to the world of music.

The middle period also gave birth to Beethoven’s only opera, “Fidelio.” Premiered in 1805, “Fidelio” explores themes of justice, freedom, and marital devotion. While not an immediate success, the opera underwent revisions and eventually found acclaim for its powerful narrative and musical innovation.

The late period of Beethoven’s life, marked by increasing isolation due to his hearing loss, produced some of his most profound and introspective works. The Ninth Symphony in D minor, completed in 1824, stands as a monumental achievement, incorporating a choral finale that includes the famous “Ode to Joy.” This symphony is a testament to Beethoven’s belief in the universal power of music to convey joy and humanity.

In the final years of his life, Beethoven continued to compose despite deteriorating health. His late string quartets, including the transcendent “Late Quartets” (Op. 127, 130, 131, 132, 133, and 135), are considered some of the most profound and forward-looking works in the chamber music repertoire. These compositions pushed the boundaries of tonality, structure, and expression, influencing generations of composers who followed.

Beethoven’s personal life was marked by his struggles with relationships, including unrequited love and failed romantic pursuits. His famous “Immortal Beloved” letter, discovered after his death, remains a source of speculation regarding the identity of the mysterious woman who captured his heart.

On March 26, 1827, Ludwig van Beethoven passed away in Vienna at the age of 56. His funeral was attended by a multitude of mourners, reflecting the profound impact of his music on both his contemporaries and future generations. Beethoven’s legacy extended far beyond the confines of his time, influencing the Romantic era and leaving an indelible mark on the course of classical music.

Beethoven’s impact on music extended beyond his compositions. His emphasis on individual expression, emotional depth, and innovation paved the way for the Romantic movement in music. Composers like Brahms, Wagner, and later figures like Mahler and Shostakovich drew inspiration from Beethoven’s groundbreaking approach to composition.

The deafness that plagued Beethoven’s later years did not silence his voice; rather, it fueled a creative fire that transcended the limitations of the physical world. His ability to channel personal turmoil into artistic expression remains an enduring testament to the transformative power of music.

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The biography of ludwig van beethoven.

Ludwig van Beethoven , a name synonymous with profound musical innovation, stands as one of the most influential composers in the annals of music history. Born in the late Classical period, his revolutionary compositions and personal resilience bridged the gap between the Classical and Romantic eras, reshaping the course of music. While other composers are praised for their dexterity or their inventiveness, Beethoven is revered for a combination of these traits, punctuated by an indomitable spirit that resonates through his pieces. His work, rich in texture and emotion, was unlike anything heard before, and it challenged the conventions of his time. This guide delves deep into the life, struggles, and monumental achievements of this titan of classical music, exploring how a man grappling with profound personal challenges could produce such timeless art.

Early Life and Beginnings

Ludwig van Beethoven was born in December 1770 in Bonn, situated in the Electorate of Cologne – a principal electorate of the Holy Roman Empire. The Beethoven household was deeply embedded in the world of music, with Ludwig’s grandfather being a musician at the court of Bonn and his father serving as a tenor in the electoral choir. It was evident from an early age that Ludwig had a prodigious musical talent.

Guided initially by his father’s rather strict hand, Beethoven’s early musical education was intensive. Johann van Beethoven, recognizing his son’s gift, envisioned a prodigious trajectory for him akin to the childhood of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. As Ludwig matured, he studied with several prominent musicians in Bonn, including Christian Gottlob Neefe, who introduced him to the works of Johann Sebastian Bach – a pivotal influence in Beethoven’s musical formation.

These formative years were instrumental in shaping the young Beethoven. They instilled in him not just the technical prowess for which he became renowned, but also a deep-seated appreciation for the profound emotional capabilities of music.

Transition to Vienna

By his early twenties, Beethoven recognized the limited opportunities Bonn offered for his burgeoning talents. Hence, in 1792, he made a life-altering decision to move to Vienna, the undisputed musical capital of Europe. Vienna was a city humming with artistic potential, where legends like Mozart and Haydn had crafted their masterpieces.

Rumors of a young prodigious pianist from Bonn had reached the Viennese elite, and Beethoven’s arrival was anticipated. Shortly after settling in Vienna, he began studying composition with Joseph Haydn. Their student-teacher relationship was not without its challenges, but it undoubtedly enriched Beethoven’s musical perspectives.

Vienna became Beethoven’s canvas, where he showcased his brilliance both as a pianist and an emerging composer. He quickly caught the attention of influential patrons, and soon, his compositions began to echo through the halls of the Viennese aristocracy. The city not only provided him with the ideal platform to hone his artistry but also became the backdrop against which many of his most celebrated works were composed.

Musical Innovations and Style

Ludwig van Beethoven’s musical innovations remain some of the most groundbreaking and significant in the history of classical music. As he transitioned from the Classical period’s poised structures into the emotive swells of the Romantic era, Beethoven expanded and transformed the very foundation of music.

One of Beethoven’s most notable innovations was his treatment of the sonata form, a structure central to Classical music. In pieces like the “Waldstein” and “Appassionata” sonatas, Beethoven stretched and expanded the typical boundaries of the form, introducing new thematic material and extending the development sections. This not only increased the length of individual movements but also augmented their emotional depth and complexity.

Rhythmically, Beethoven was a pioneer. He utilized unexpected syncopations, drastic changes in tempo, and expanded rhythmic motifs in ways that were unforeseen in his time. The famous opening four-note motif of Symphony No. 5 is a testament to his ability to generate vast landscapes from simple rhythmic ideas.

Harmonically, he was a trailblazer, often moving away from the traditional tonal centers and introducing remote modulations, chromaticism, and unexpected dissonances. These harmonic adventures can be seen in works like the “Grosse Fuge” for string quartet, where dissonance and counterpoint meld into a challenging but rewarding listening experience.

Lastly, Beethoven’s musical narratives often showcased a journey from struggle to triumph. This “heroic” style, evident in pieces like Symphony No. 3 “ Eroica ,” underscored a departure from the more balanced and reserved expressions of the Classical era. Through these innovations, Beethoven essentially set the stage for the Romantic era’s expansive, emotive compositions.

The Symphonies

Spanning Beethoven’s entire career, his nine symphonies are monumental pillars in the symphonic repertoire, each marking a distinct phase of his creative evolution.

Symphony No. 1 in C Major, though rooted in the Classical traditions of Mozart and Haydn, showed glimpses of Beethoven’s unique voice, particularly in its unexpected harmonic shifts.

Symphony No. 2 in D Major, still in the Classical vein, carries a vivacious energy, especially in its final movement. However, the undercurrents of Beethoven’s emerging individual style are unmistakably present.

Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major, “Eroica” (Heroic), stands as a turning point. Originally dedicated to Napoleon Bonaparte, Beethoven’s disillusionment with the ruler led him to simply label it “Eroica.” With this symphony, he transcended Classical norms, presenting a grand narrative of struggle and victory.

Symphony No. 4 in B-flat Major, by contrast, is more introspective, with its mysterious introduction and spirited rhythms. It acts as a gentle interlude between the more forceful third and fifth symphonies.

Symphony No. 5 in C Minor is arguably his most iconic. Its dramatic four-note motif, representing “fate knocking at the door,” evolves throughout the symphony, culminating in a triumphant C Major finale.

Symphony No. 6 in F Major, “Pastoral,” is an ode to nature. A programmatic work, its five movements depict scenes like babbling brooks, merry gatherings, and stormy weather, presenting a picturesque landscape.

Symphony No. 7 in A Major is rhythmically vigorous and infectious. Particularly notable is the Allegretto, a movement of such profound emotion that it often overshadows the others in popularity.

Symphony No. 8 in F Major is Beethoven’s shortest symphony but by no means lacks depth. It’s a work brimming with humor, vitality, and joy.

Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, the “Choral” symphony, is Beethoven’s magnum opus. Integrating soloists and a choir into the final movement, it’s a powerful testament to the universal brotherhood of mankind, with the “Ode to Joy” theme representing a pinnacle in Western music.

Collectively, Beethoven’s symphonies changed the course of music history. They expanded the symphony’s scope, both in terms of structure and emotional depth, laying the groundwork for future composers to explore uncharted musical territories.

Beethoven’s Struggles with Hearing Loss

One of the most tragic ironies in the annals of music history is Beethoven’s deteriorating hearing. For a composer of such stature, whose life was interwoven with the intricacies of sound, this loss was akin to a painter losing their sight. Beginning in his late twenties, Beethoven started experiencing episodes of tinnitus, which progressively worsened. By the time he was in his late forties, he was almost completely deaf.

Throughout these distressing years, Beethoven grappled with feelings of despair, frustration, and isolation. The pivotal moment in understanding his emotional turmoil came in the form of the Heiligenstadt Testament, a letter written to his brothers in 1802. In it, Beethoven conveyed the depth of his anguish, even admitting contemplation of suicide. Yet, he resolved to continue living for and through his art.

His deafness brought about a change in his compositions. As external sounds dimmed, Beethoven turned inward, leading to a deepened introspection in his works. His music from this period exhibits a profound depth of emotion, ranging from the fiercest anger to the most tender expressions of love and yearning.

Remarkably, many of Beethoven’s most celebrated compositions, including his late symphonies, string quartets, and the monumental Ninth Symphony, were conceived when he was severely hard of hearing or entirely deaf. These works stand as a testament to his unparalleled inner musical ear and his unyielding spirit.

Late Period Masterpieces

Beethoven’s late period, roughly from 1815 onwards, is characterized by works of unparalleled depth, complexity, and introspection. While his earlier compositions revolutionized music, his late works transcended the norms and conventions of his time, pointing the way to future developments in Western classical music.

Among the jewels of this period are the last five piano sonatas. Pieces like the *Sonata No. 29 in B-flat Major, Op. 106* (commonly known as the “Hammerklavier”) are masterclasses in structure, thematic development, and expressiveness. This particular sonata is both technically challenging and emotionally draining, representing a summation of Beethoven’s pianistic innovations.

Equally significant are the late string quartets. Compositions like the *String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 131*, with its seven interlinked movements played without a break, are explorations of new musical territories. These quartets are dense, otherworldly, and at times, enigmatic, requiring intense engagement from both performers and listeners.

Another monumental achievement from this period is the *Missa Solemnis in D Major, Op. 123*. While it’s a religious work, Beethoven’s treatment goes beyond liturgical function. It’s a profound exploration of faith, doubt, and transcendence, written in his characteristically intricate style.

These late period masterpieces, often described as “ahead of their time,” baffled many of Beethoven’s contemporaries. Their complexity and depth were not fully appreciated until years after his death. Today, however, they are recognized as works of profound genius, where Beethoven, unburdened by the constraints of convention and unfettered by his physical limitations, reached the pinnacle of musical expression.

Personal Life and Challenges

Beyond the music sheets and grand performances, Beethoven’s personal life was fraught with challenges and heartaches. Born into a family where his father, Johann, was an alcoholic, young Ludwig often bore the weight of familial responsibilities. His relationships with his brothers were tumultuous, with Beethoven taking on a paternal role for his nephew, Karl, which resulted in prolonged legal battles and personal strife.

Romantically, Beethoven’s life was marked by unrequited loves and fleeting relationships. The mystery surrounding the identity of the “Immortal Beloved,” to whom he penned a series of passionate letters in 1812, remains one of music history’s tantalizing enigmas.

Beethoven also struggled with deteriorating health, which wasn’t limited to his hearing loss. He suffered from abdominal ailments, joint pain, and, in his final years, a series of illnesses that contributed to his death. These challenges, intertwined with his artistic journey, deeply influenced his musical narratives of struggle, resilience, and triumph.

Legacy and Influence

Beethoven’s impact on the world of music is monumental. His compositions set the stage for the Romantic era, allowing subsequent generations to explore richer emotional depths and thematic complexities. Composers like Brahms, Wagner, and Mahler owe a significant debt to Beethoven’s innovations.

More than just influencing composers, Beethoven reshaped public concerts. His works demanded larger orchestras and grander venues, indirectly contributing to the rise of the modern concert hall. His insistence on artistic integrity over catering to popular tastes set a precedent for composers as artists, rather than just entertainers.

Beyond classical music, traces of Beethoven’s influence can be found in contemporary genres. Rock bands, pop artists, and film scores have borrowed from his motifs, rhythms, and emotional intensity. His “Ode to Joy” from the Ninth Symphony, for example, has been adapted countless times, becoming a universal anthem for hope and unity.

Beethoven’s life story — one of overcoming personal adversities to achieve artistic greatness — continues to inspire not just musicians but individuals from all walks of life. His dedication to his art, despite overwhelming challenges, stands as a testament to human resilience and the indomitable spirit.

Final Thoughts

Ludwig van Beethoven, a titan of classical music, embodies the essence of artistic genius combined with unwavering human spirit. Through personal challenges that would have derailed many, he created masterpieces that continue to resonate with audiences around the world. From intimate piano sonatas to grand symphonies, his works tap into the universal human experiences of love, loss, struggle, and joy. In understanding Beethoven’s life and legacy, we gain insight not just into the evolution of music but also the profound depths of the human soul. As we look back on his monumental achievements, we are reminded of the timeless power of music and the enduring spirit of humanity.

Recommended Listening and Further Reading

1. Symphony No. 5 in C Minor 2. “Moonlight” Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor 3. String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 131 4. “Emperor” Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major

1. “ Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph ” by Jan Swafford 2. “ Beethoven: The Music and the Life ” by Lewis Lockwood 3. “ Beethoven’s Letters ” (translated by Emily Anderson) – a collection of Beethoven’s correspondence offering intimate insights into his mind.

For those eager to delve deeper into Beethoven’s world, these resources provide a gateway to understanding the maestro’s genius and humanity.

Frequently Asked Questions about Ludwig van Beethoven

Child Prodigy: Beethoven showed musical promise from a very young age. Under his father’s guidance, he gave his first public piano performance at the age of 7, showcasing his talent as a child prodigy, though not as precocious as Mozart.

Shift to Romanticism: Beethoven’s compositions bridged the Classical and Romantic periods in Western music. While he began his career composing in the Classical style, his later works exhibit the emotion, depth, and individualism characteristic of the Romantic era.

Heiligenstadt Testament: In 1802, amidst the despair of his worsening hearing loss, Beethoven penned the Heiligenstadt Testament. This deeply personal letter, addressed to his brothers, expressed his emotional anguish over his impending deafness and his determination to overcome it through his art.

Late Start on Symphonies: Unlike Mozart, who began composing symphonies as a child, Beethoven wrote his First Symphony when he was almost 30. However, he followed this with eight more, each distinct and revolutionary in its own way.

Dedicated Works: Many of Beethoven’s works were dedicated to patrons, lovers, and friends. One of the most famous dedications was to his patron and pupil, Archduke Rudolph, to whom he dedicated a number of major works, including the “Archduke” Piano Trio.

This is a common misconception. Beethoven was not blind; he was deaf. His hearing began to deteriorate in his late twenties and he became progressively more deaf as he aged. By the last decade of his life, he was almost completely deaf, a fact which makes his later compositions all the more remarkable. The confusion might arise because both Beethoven and the famous Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach faced significant health challenges. While Beethoven was deaf , Bach became blind in the last years of his life.

There is much speculation, but no concrete evidence, that Beethoven and Mozart met. Beethoven moved to Vienna in 1792, shortly after Mozart’s death in 1791. However, accounts suggest that Beethoven had visited Vienna a few years earlier, and during this time, he might have met Mozart.

Legend has it that Mozart, upon hearing the young Beethoven play, remarked, “Keep your eyes on him; someday he will give the world something to talk about.” However, this story, while romantic, is not substantiated by primary sources.

What is clear is that Beethoven greatly admired Mozart’s work. He was deeply influenced by Mozart’s compositions, especially his piano concertos and symphonies. In fact, Beethoven’s early works often drew comparisons to Mozart, highlighting both the inspiration and the shadow that Mozart cast over the young composer.

Ludwig van Beethoven’s gradual hearing loss is one of the most poignant aspects of his life story. Beginning in his late twenties, he experienced signs of auditory degradation, which worsened progressively. By his late forties, he was profoundly deaf. The exact cause remains uncertain, even after centuries of research and speculation.

Some medical historians suggest that lead poisoning may have been a significant contributor. This hypothesis is based on analyses of hair samples from Beethoven’s remains, which indicated elevated lead levels. The sources of this exposure might have ranged from contaminated wine, lead-based drinking vessels, or medications available in his era.

Alternative theories propose that autoimmune disorders, typhus, or even the numerous treatments he underwent (often involving heavy metals) might have led to his hearing loss.

Whatever the cause, Beethoven’s deafness added layers of both tragedy and triumph to his narrative, profoundly influencing his later works.

Yes, Beethoven continued to play and compose even after losing his hearing. As his condition deteriorated, he began relying more on the vibrations and sensations of the instruments to gauge sound. He would often place his ear close to the piano and, in some instances, used a special rod attached to the instrument to feel the vibrations.

His deafness did not deter his creativity. Arguably, some of his most profound compositions, including the late string quartets and the Ninth Symphony, were created when he was nearly or completely deaf. His ability to compose and engage with music without actively hearing it is a testament to his deep internal understanding of musical structures and his prodigious memory.

Beethoven’s contributions to classical music are vast, and he’s celebrated for several seminal works. His nine symphonies stand at the core of his legacy, with each representing a unique musical journey. The Symphony No. 5 in C Minor , with its instantly recognizable motif, and the Symphony No. 9 in D Minor with its “Ode to Joy”, are often heralded as pinnacle achievements in Western music.

Additionally, his 32 piano sonatas are cornerstones of the piano repertoire, with pieces like the “Moonlight” Sonata resonating across generations. His chamber music, especially the late string quartets, are revered for their complexity and depth.

Beyond compositions, Beethoven’s fearless innovation, bridging the Classical and Romantic eras, and his powerful narrative of personal struggle and artistic perseverance, make him a figure of enduring admiration.

Beethoven’s final years, though marked by personal and health challenges, were intensely creative. He composed some of his most introspective and revolutionary works during this period. The String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132 , with its “Heiliger Dankgesang” movement, reflected his gratitude after recovering from an illness. Similarly, the Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111 , his last piano sonata, showcased his evolving, boundary-pushing style.

While his health deteriorated, leading to his death in 1827, Beethoven remained artistically active, leaving behind sketches for further projects and a rich legacy of completed works. His resilience, in the face of mounting challenges, adds to the profound respect he commands in the annals of music history.

Yes, by the end of his life, Ludwig van Beethoven was almost completely deaf. His hearing issues began in his late twenties and progressed steadily. Despite this immense personal challenge, Beethoven continued to compose and create music, even as his ability to hear it diminished. By his mid-40s, he was profoundly deaf. Despite this handicap, or perhaps even because of it, he produced some of his most profound and innovative work during this period. His determination and resilience in the face of such adversity make his achievements all the more awe-inspiring.

While Beethoven composed many iconic pieces that are popularly recognized and loved, the Symphony No. 5 in C Minor is arguably his most famous. Recognizable from its opening four-note motif — short-short-short-long — this motif has been described as “fate knocking at the door.” The symphony is celebrated not just for its powerful beginning, but for its entire journey, which takes listeners from tension and conflict to triumphant resolution. It has been performed, studied, and admired extensively since its premiere and holds a significant place in Western music.

Despite his hearing loss, Beethoven continued to compose masterpieces. Among the many works he composed while partially or completely deaf are his later symphonies, notably the Ninth Symphony, also known as the “Choral” Symphony, which features the renowned “Ode to Joy.” Additionally, his late piano sonatas and string quartets, recognized for their depth and complexity, were written during this period of his life.

Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C Minor is not only recognized for its unforgettable opening motif but also for the way it epitomizes Beethoven’s mastery of form, development, and expression. The symphony’s journey from its tumultuous beginning to its triumphant end represents a triumph over adversity, which many interpret as Beethoven’s personal narrative in battling his increasing deafness. Its recurring four-note motif, its intricate structures, and its emotional breadth make it a staple in concert halls worldwide and a representation of Beethoven’s genius.

“Für Elise” translates to “For Elise” in English. It’s one of Beethoven’s most popular and recognizable compositions, especially noted for its charming and simple melody. However, the identity of “Elise” remains a mystery. There has been much speculation about her identity — whether she was a lover, a friend, a student, or even a fictional or symbolic figure. Some theories suggest she might have been Therese Malfatti, a woman Beethoven reportedly proposed to. It’s believed that the title might have been mis-transcribed and originally could have been “Für Therese.” Regardless of the muse’s identity, the piece remains a beloved staple in piano repertoire and is often one of the first pieces aspiring pianists learn to play.

The true identity of “Elise” from “Für Elise” remains one of the most enduring mysteries in the realm of classical music. While the title translates to “For Elise”, historians and musicologists have not been able to conclusively determine who this Elise was. One popular theory posits that “Elise” might have been a transcription error and that the piece was originally dedicated to Therese Malfatti, a woman Beethoven reportedly proposed to. It’s suggested that an error in reading Beethoven’s handwriting might have turned “Therese” into “Elise.” Regardless of the actual identity of Elise or Therese, the piece itself has become one of the most recognizable and beloved compositions in the classical piano repertoire.

No, Ludwig van Beethoven never married. However, his personal letters and documented accounts of his life suggest that he had several romantic attachments and infatuations throughout his lifetime. One of the most profound mysteries surrounding his personal life is the identity of the “Immortal Beloved,” a name found in a love letter written by Beethoven. The identity of this woman has been the subject of much speculation, but her true identity remains uncertain.

The exact last words of Beethoven are a matter of some debate, as various accounts exist. According to one of his close friends, Anselm Hüttenbrenner, Beethoven’s last words were in response to the gift of twelve bottles of wine from his publisher. He reportedly said, “Pity, pity, too late!” However, this account might be apocryphal. Another version suggests that he expressed gratitude or made a gesture of affirmation right before his death. Given the varying narratives, it’s challenging to pinpoint his exact final words.

Beethoven’s personal life, particularly his romantic life, remains a subject of much intrigue. While he had several love interests throughout his life, the most intense and mysterious of his relationships is represented by the letters to his “Immortal Beloved.” In these letters, Beethoven expressed deep passion and longing for this unnamed woman. Various candidates have been suggested, including Antonie Brentano, Josephine Brunsvik, and Giulietta Guicciardi, among others. Given the lack of conclusive evidence, the identity of his greatest love remains speculative.

This question likely pertains to a famous scene from the movie “Immortal Beloved”, wherein Beethoven shares a passionate kiss with his love interest. In real life, Beethoven had romantic attachments and infatuations with several women, including Giulietta Guicciardi, to whom he dedicated his “Moonlight” Sonata. Given the private nature of personal relationships in his era, detailed accounts of intimate moments, like a kiss, are not well-documented. The portrayal of such moments in films or literature is often a blend of factual basis, interpretation, and artistic liberty.

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Ludwig van Beethoven

Beethoven, Ludwig van (1770–1827), was a German composer and virtuoso pianist. He is universally recognized as one of the greatest composers of the Western European music tradition. Beethoven's work crowned the classical period and also effectively initiated the romantic era in music. He is one of the few artists who genuinely may be considered revolutionary.

Beethoven's musical output spanned multiple genres including symphonies, concerti, piano sonatas, other sonatas (including for violin), string quartets and other chamber music, masses, an opera, and Lieder.

• 1 Biographical notes
• 2.1.1 Development sections
• 2.3 Size of the orchestra
• 2.4 Beethoven's mode of composition
• 2.5 Beethoven and romanticism
• 2.6 References

Biographical notes

Born in Bonn, Germany, he showed remarkable musical talent at an early age. His father, a court musician, imposed a strict regime of musical training on the young Beethoven. In 1787, Beethoven first visited Vienna, the center of the musical world at the time. There he hoped to study with Mozart; whether or not he did is unclear.

In 1792, Beethoven moved to Vienna and studied with Haydn (among others), a year after the death of Mozart. By 1793, he had gained a reputation as a piano virtuoso. He composed his first works, 3 piano trios, in 1795.

Around 1796, Beethoven began to lose his hearing. He started to hear a "ringing" in his ear witch made it hard for him to hear music. He also started to avoid conversation. For a while he lived in a small town called Heiligenstadt, where he wrote his famous Heiligenstadt Testament in which he professed a desire to continue living for and through his art. During this time, his deafness worsened, and by 1814 Beethoven had completely lost his hearing.

On 15 November 1815, Beethoven's brother Karl van Beethoven died of tuberculosis, leaving his son Karl, who was Beethoven's nephew. Beethoven became obsessed with the custody of Karl, whom he had previously shown no interest in. The fight for custody brought out the very worst aspects of Beethoven's character, and also caused him to stop composing for long periods. Eventually, Beethoven was awarded sole guardianship of the child. Karl's mother, Johanna, was not only refused access to her son, except under exceptional circumstances, but Beethoven insisted that she pay for her son's education out of her pension. The case was transferred to the Magistracy on 18 December 1818, at which point Beethoven lost sole guardianship. He appealed, and regained custody of Karl. When Karl couldn't stand his tyrannical uncle any longer, he attempted suicide, and later asked to be taken to his mother's house. This desperate act finally freed Karl from the bonds of Beethoven.

After he lost custody of Karl, Beethoven's health went into decline. He died on March 26 1827 in Vienna, just as a thunderstorm and a blizzard broke out.

Beethoven's music

Beethoven's musical life is usually divided into the Early , Middle , and Late periods. In the Early period, he is seen as looking back to composers such as Haydn and Mozart. The Middle period is noted for including works that express heroism and struggle. The Late period's works are characterized by their intellectual depth, their formal innovations, and their intense, highly personal expression.

Beethoven and music architecture

Above all, his works distinguish themselves from those of any prior composer through his creation of large, extended architectonic structures characterized by the extensive development of musical material, themes, and motifs, usually by means of modulation through a variety of keys or harmonic regions. Although Haydn's later works often showed a greater fluidity between distant keys, Beethoven's innovation was the ability to rapidly establish a solidity in juxtaposing different keys and unexpected notes to join them. This expanded harmonic realm creates a sense of a vast musical and experiential space through which the music moves, and the development of musical material creates a sense of unfolding drama in this space.

In this way Beethoven's music parallels the simultaneous development of the novel in literature, a literary form focused on the life drama and development of one or more individuals through complex life circumstances, and of contemporaneous German idealism's philosophical notion of self, mind, or spirit that unfolds through a complex process of contradictions and tensions between the subjective and objective until a resolution or synthesis occurs in which all of these contradictions and developmental phases have been resolved or encompassed in a higher unity.

Development sections

Beethoven continued to expand the "development" section of works, extending a trend in the works of Haydn and Mozart, who had dramatically expanded both the length and substance of instrumental music. As Beethoven's major immediate predecessors and influences, he looked to their harmonic and formal models for his own works. However, while both Mozart and Haydn placed the great weight of a musical movement in the statement of ideas called the exposition, for Beethoven the development section of a sonata form became the heart of the work. Beethoven was able to do this by making the development section not merely longer, but also more structured. The very long development section of his third symphony, for example, is divided into four roughly equal sections. The first movement alone of this symphony is as long as an entire typical Italian-style Mozart symphony from the 1770s.

Although Beethoven wrote many beautiful and lyrical melodies, another radical innovation of his music, compared especially to that of Mozart and Haydn, is his extensive use of forceful, marked, and even stark rhythmic patterns throughout his compositions and, in particular, in his themes and motifs, some of which are primarily rhythmic rather than melodic. Some of his most famous themes, such as those of the first movements of the third, fifth, and ninth symphonies, are primarily non-melodic rhythmic figures consisting of notes of a single chord, and the themes of the last movements of the third and seventh symphonies could more accurately be described as rhythms rather than as melodies. This use of rhythm was particularly well suited to the primacy of development in Beethoven's music, since a single rhythmic pattern can more easily than a melody be taken through a succession of different, even remote, keys and harmonic regions while retaining and conveying an underlying unity. This allowed him to combine different features of his themes in a wide variety of ways, extending the techniques of Haydn in development.

Size of the orchestra

He also continued another trend—towards larger orchestras—that went on until the first decade of the 20th century, and moved the center of the sound downwards in the orchestra, to the violas and the lower register of the violins and cellos, giving his music a heavier and darker feel than Haydn or Mozart. Gustav Mahler modified the orchestration of some of Beethoven's music—most notably the 3rd and 9th symphonies—with the idea of more accurately expressing Beethoven's intent in an orchestra that had grown so much larger than the one Beethoven used: for example, doubling woodwind parts to compensate for the fact that a modern orchestra has so many more strings than Beethoven's orchestra did. Needless to say, these efforts remain controversial.

Beethoven's mode of composition

Beethoven labored heavily over his work, leaving intermediate drafts that provide considerable insight into his creative process. Early drafts of his Ninth Symphony used rough vertical marks on the score in place of actual notes, to indicate the structure he had in mind for the melody. Studies of his sketch books show the working out of dozens of variations on a particular theme, changing themes to fit with an overall structure that evolved over time, and extensive sketching of counter-melodies.

Beethoven and romanticism

Beethoven's place as a transitional figure between the neo-classical period in the arts, called the "classical" period in music, and the Romantic period was a conscious intention of the many 19th century writers and composers, who pointed to his work as the radical departure from the past. As a result, a great deal of literature, including writing by ETA Hoffman, Robert Schumann, Richard Wagner and Gustav Mahler, placed his work at the pinnacle of what they were trying to achieve in music.

Because of his central importance, methods of conducting and playing, as well as music theory, were centered around his most important works, particularly his symphonies, concerti, string quartets, piano trios and sonatas for piano or piano and other instrument. Beginning from his pupil Carl Czerny and moving forward, basic terms such as tonality, sonata form and tempo were defined or redefined in reference to his musical practice.

As importantly Beethoven's life was seen as the model for the "heroic artist", who cast his personal experiences, perceptions and biography into works, which would then be experienced by the audience members who would be transported to the emotional state of the artist, and thus participate in a "sublime" experience. That Beethoven had great difficulties in his life was joined to the sense of struggle and difficulty in his music, and used as the basis for an entire mythology of the role of the artist in society, and the difficulties of artistic creation. A biography by Anton Schindler was in accordance with this sense of Beethoven as Romantic, constantly putting direct emotional symbols into his work, such as saying "Thus Fate Knocks at the Door!" for the opening of the C Minor Symphony, number 5. Beethoven as icon can be seen in the efforts to erect a monument to him, led by Franz Liszt, and in the arguments over whether Johannes Brahms or Richard Wagner better represented the tradition of music that Beethoven was thought to have created.

With the 20th century a reaction against this "cult of the Romantic artist" began to be seen. In a sense it was a continuation of the Romantic cult in a different form: a new generation of artists wanted to claim Beethoven as their own, and place him in the context as the pinnacle figure of musical enlightenment and rationality. The emphasis on harmonic practice led to arguments that Beethoven was not "really" a romantic because of his general rejection of chromaticism in melodies, and his structural practices in preparing modulations. By the 1950's it was common to deny that Beethoven was a Romantic at all.

In the late 20th century, the pendulum began to swing back in the other direction, in some measure because of a revival of interest in Romanticism, and in part because of a change in the status of musical technique. With the falling out of favor of the idea that music was about "progress", the need to see Beethoven in technical terms diminished. The differences between his work and Mozart's became accentuated, in part because of the rise of neo-classical styles of playing or historically informed performance. Beethoven came to many to be seen in relation to contemporaries such as Goethe and Jacques-Louis David - having both neo-classical and Romantic elements to their work.

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How Young America Came to Love Beethoven

On the 250th anniversary of the famous composer’s birth, the story of how his music first took hold across the Atlantic

Nora McGreevy

Correspondent

On April 10, 1805, in honor of the Christian Holy Week, a German immigrant and conductor named Jacob Eckhard organized a special concert for the gentry of Charleston, South Carolina. The performance opened with a “grand overture” by Ludwig van Beethoven—likely the first movement of Beethoven’s First Symphony , which the composer had debuted in Europe just five years earlier .

His music, characterized by great swells of emotion and technical difficulty, would have been cutting-edge for the time. “[Beethoven] wasn’t the famous composer that we think of now. He was young and upcoming, an upstart kind of person,” says Michael Broyles , a professor of musicology at Florida State University and author of the 2011 book Beethoven in America .

Such obscurity might seem unimaginable today as the world commemorates the 250th anniversary of his birth . In truth, fervor around his music wouldn’t fully take off in the United States until after Beethoven died in 1827, and it would take major nationwide shifts in how music was consumed, and in technology and demography—not to mention the effusive praise of a few key admirers—to boost the composer’s profile in the young, rapidly growing country.

Beethoven’s music and legacy has since permeated American culture. In comics , Hollywood films , the writings of African American and feminist scholars, during wartime , and in rock’n’roll songs , Beethoven’s influence proves inescapable.

Born in December 1770 in Bonn, Germany, Beethoven spent most of his adult life in Vienna , where his stunning symphonies and personal tragedy had made him a celebrity at the time of his death in 1827. Some accounts indicate that 10,000—or even 30,000 —attended his funeral march. Depictions of the scene show throngs of people gathering in carriages and on foot, decked in their finery and hustling to glimpse the procession.

But his cultural ascendancy in America was far from a foregone conclusion. As historian Ann Ostendorf has written , a number of music cultures coexisted in colonial America, from the music of enslaved Africans, the many types of Native American music and the hymns sung in church congregations. As European colonizers settled and amassed wealth, they began to slowly establish centers for the music of their home countries by creating societies, which supported the incomes of musicians through benefit concerts.

Beethoven himself never traveled to the United States, and it’s hard to know for certain when his music first arrived on American shores. Performances of his work during the composer’s lifetime were scattered, and usually tied to wealth, Broyles notes. The 1805 Charleston performance, which Broyles believes to be the earliest of Beethoven’s work in the nascent United States, followed this trend.

A port city, the South Carolina city’s status as a hub for the rice trade and an epicenter for the enslavement and sale of people had made it home to some of the wealthiest men in the country.

Decades prior, these gentlemen founded the St. Cecilia Society, a music society based on similar entities in Europe. Many of these men—and membership was exclusively limited to men, with women only allowed to attend concerts as guests—had doubtless made their fortunes, in part, through the enslavement of Africans. “In one sense, then, Beethoven arrived in America on the backs of African slaves,” Broyles writes in Beethoven in America .

The 1805 concert would have looked and sounded remarkably different from what we imagine today, says Bradley Strauchen-Scherer , curator of musical instruments at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Unlike modern instruments, which have been exquisitely crafted to sound smooth and homogenous, 19th-century period instruments sounded “sort of like handloomed, nubby silk,” the curator says.

“Musicologists will often describe the musical world before Beethoven … as event-orientated,” Strauchen-Scherer explains. Concerts were for celebrating specific occasions, and music was not considered high art—for instance, Broyles notes that the Charleston program lists a “potpourri” of performers alongside a rendition of Beethoven’s music that included amateur musicians as well as professionals.

But the landscape of America changed rapidly in these years, and so, too, did the landscape of classical music. An influx of German immigrants in the late 1840s brought passion for Beethoven and printed scores of his music across the Atlantic. Traveling groups of European virtuosos took advantage of an ever-expanding network of railroads to crisscross the country, bringing classical arrangements to major cities across the nation.

The establishment of two concert halls in the middle of the century further advanced the composer’s popularity: the Boston Academy of Music in 1833 and the New York Philharmonic in 1842. In the decades just following Beethoven’s death, these organizations performed Beethoven on repeat: In Boston through the 1840s, for instance, his Fifth and Sixth symphonies were played more than any other compositions, Broyles found.

These performances marked a sea-change in music history. Previously, performing the work of a recently deceased composer would have been unthinkable, notes Strauchen-Scherer. “Certainly, pre-Beethoven, the idea of performing any music where the composer wasn't alive, was a minority pursuit,” she says.

“And that the idea that you listen to the same composition over and over again in this very focused way—Beethoven really ushers in that era,” she adds.

The “sheer emotional power” of Beethoven’s scores—however long or difficult—struck a chord with audiences, Broyles says. And among the most vocal and enthusiastic supporters of Beethoven in America were Transcendentalist writers Margaret Fuller and John S. Dwight .

Fuller attended the first concert of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony in Boston on April 3, 1841. Two days later, she recounted the concert in breathless detail in a letter to her friend, Unitarian minister and philosopher William Henry Channing .

“Oh William, what majesty, what depth, what tearful sweetness of the human heart, what triumph of the Angel mind! […] Into his hands he drew all the forces of sound, then poured them forth in tides such as ocean knows not […] When I heard this symphony I said I will triumph more and more above the deepenin[g] abysses.”

Dwight, too, was profoundly moved by the performance. Decades later in a study of Boston’s music history, the minister would write that “the first great awakening of the musical instinct here was when the C-minor Symphony of Beethoven was played.” Fuller went on to write extensively about Beethoven in The Dial , the Transcendentalist journal that she edited.

These writers and their contemporaries were likely attracted to the Romantic themes embedded in Beethoven’s symphonies, which evoked grand emotional sagas. Although Beethoven himself was not a Romantic, his music came to embody the 19th-century ideal of the genre—such as in his Sixth “Pastoral” Symphony , which evoked the sounds of nature in a way that would have appealed to the Transcendentalists, who perceived spirituality as closely tied to the natural world, Broyles says.

Beethoven also provided fodder for another popular trope of the nineteenth century: “The mythology around Beethoven is all about the mid-19th-century cult of the lone genius,” says Strauchen-Scherer. In 1842, Fuller reviewed the Fifth Symphony concert in the Dial and compared the composer to Shakespeare—another European “genius” gaining traction in America at the time.

In their enthusiastic reviews, Fuller, Dwight and their contemporaries also helped to elevate music in American thought as an art form on par with painting or literature—what musicologists call the process of “sacralization,” Broyles says.

The story of how Americans came to love Beethoven explains how contemporary attitudes about Beethoven and classical music developed, says Broyles. “Classical music became something with spiritual or moral value,” he adds. “[Beethoven] changed how Americans thought about music.”

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Nora McGreevy is a former daily correspondent for Smithsonian . She is also a freelance journalist based in Chicago whose work has appeared in Wired , Washingtonian , the Boston Globe , South Bend Tribune , the New York Times and more.

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‘Beethoven, A Life’ assesses the composer’s enduring legacy

Ludwig van Beethoven

Belgian musicologist and conductor Jan Caeyers took a break from his duties in 2004 to write a “short article” or “manifest” on Ludwig van Beethoven — the composer whose music he had spent so much time studying and performing. “Writing a big biography on Beethoven was never a long-cherished dream or a mission for me,” he said. ’

Just such a tome, however, is what he wound up producing. What began as an essay morphed over several years into a full-fledged look at Beethoven’s life and music — a book that was finally published in 2009 in Dutch. The English translation, Beethoven, A Life , was released 11 years later, logging in at 680 pages.

As music director Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra continue their 2021-22 exploration of Beethoven’s symphonies with Jan. 13 and 15 performances of the No. 5 and 8 and the Coriolan Overture, Caeyers discusses his biography and his longtime relationship with Beethoven’s music:

Why another Beethoven biography?

Because I’m a conductor, I have a specific approach, which is different from a normal Beethoven scholar. When making this music, when you are thinking about how to find an interpretation of this music, there is a different entry to the music and to the circumstances in which Beethoven developed his musical ideas. When I was working for Claudio Abbado [as an assistant], I did many new pieces, and you see the very complicated, psychological process of a composer.

There are a lot of parallels between, say,  and Beethoven. I did, for example, the first rehearsal of [György] Kurtág’s Stele , Op. 33, which was premiered by the Berlin Philharmonic [in 1994]. You could say that the whole process for Kurtág was very equivalent to what happened to Beethoven, and this helped to me to understand the process and mechanism of Beethoven’s composing. It’s totally different when you are a scholar and only studying the sketches.

How else does your biography differ from previous ones?

The idea that Beethoven was a normal human being struggling day by day to find his way in life. In my opinion, there is no romantic dimension of Beethoven’s life. You have this myth of the great Beethoven, elected by God to write exceptional music and lead an exceptional life. No, he had a very ordinary life, struggling with problems.

For example, Beethoven never or almost never wrote a piece out the blue. There was always a very practical reason why he wrote a piece. There was a command or there was an invitation or he had an opportunity to earn money or there was a publisher asking something. Normally, we think, he got up in the morning and had a wonderful musical idea and for many weeks he wrote. No, there was always a pragmatic dimension to the things he did.

What was the biggest surprise for you during the research and writing of this biography?

I was very grateful for the fact that the field of Beethoven’s activities was very broad. He composed music in almost every form, every discipline you could imagine in his time. And nearly always at a high level. What is very interesting when you are writing a biography of Beethoven is that you can write a kind of history of the music of his time. Compare him with, say, [Johann Sebastian] Bach. Imagine that you should write a book about Bach, and then you have to speak about 200 cantatas or the 30 Mozart operas [in the case of a Mozart book]. A book on Beethoven’s music can evolve effortlessly into a general textbook on musical genre.

What was the most difficult part of the project? The writing? The research? The traveling?

The most important problem was to find a structure for the story. You have two dimensions. You have the normal, historical way. But then to find a method to speak about some details, for example, the development of the construction of pianos. How can you integrate that aspect in the book? Because there is a direct link between Beethoven’s development as a composer and the development of piano building in his time.

To make a comparison with [Lewis] Lockwood, who is one of the most important scholars of Beethoven, his method was very clear. There are four periods in Beethoven’s life. Every period is one part of the book. Every period starts with general outline of the time. Then you tell the vital details and then you speak about the music, starting with the most important music. All four parts of the book are constructed in the same way. I refused to do that.

I wanted a very flexible way of thinking about the structure of my book, although it is a chronological book. So you have this horizontal dimension, the chronology and sometimes you have these vertical moments, where now I’m speaking about the development of the piano, where I’m speaking about opera in Beethoven’s time. This dichotomy was most the important exercise and challenge in writing this biography.

What is the most underestimated aspect of Beethoven’s music?

Without any doubt, his vocal music. The fact is Beethoven was an instrumental composer, who wrote very, very important symphonies, piano concertos and so on, and who transformed the music of the whole 19th century. From the beginning to the end of the century, Beethoven symphonies are the most important things in music, together with opera. Before, symphonies were second class. Beethoven was the founder of the Romantic symphony.

But in my opinion, he was [also] a brilliant composer in the vocal field. I really like the Mass in C Major, a wonderful, modern piece — underestimated. I like the two first versions of his Leonore opera. I like his songs. There are many songs 20 years before Schubert that sound like Schubert. Beethoven was able to write wonderful, good-sounding and good-singing Italian-like melodies. In the end, his most important work, in my opinion, is not the Ninth Symphony but the Missa solemnis . There, you have a kind of synthesis of all his music and intellectual capacities.

Why is Beethoven’s music still so powerful and appealing to audiences?

Because generally speaking, you have two parameters that exclude each other. One side is an intellectual dimension of music — rationality — and on the other hand is the emotional dimension. You’ll see in a piece, one is more important than the other. You can nearly say they exclude each other. The more a piece is emotional, the less it’s intellectual. That’s a general rule. A beautiful example are the Verdi operas, which are very emotional.

On the other hand, you have composers who are more intellectual. With Beethoven, you have extreme emotional dimensions and at the same time, in the same piece, you have an incredible structure and intellectual charge for the listener. The Appassionata [Sonata] is an extremely emotional piece, but you can trust that there will be a logical ending. We have the feeling that Beethoven will always bring us back home. I think this combination is unique in the history of music.

Jan Caeyers was appointed a full-time professor of musicology at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, in 1985, becoming part-time in 2001 and retiring last year. In 1993-1997, he served as assistant to famed conductor Claudio Abbado at the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra. He has led major orchestras across Europe and conducted such choral ensembles as the Arnold Schoenberg Chor in Vienna and Nederlands Kamerkoor. In 2010, he founded Le Concert Olympique, a 45-member European orchestra devoted to the music of Beethoven and continues to serve as its artistic director and conductor.

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The former classical music critic of the Denver Post, Kyle MacMillan is a Chicago-based arts journalist.

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Beethoven Is More Intimate Than Ever in New Poems

Ruth Padel tells the great composer’s life story, more profoundly than most biographies, in “Beethoven Variations.”

By Anthony Tommasini

Though much is known about Beethoven, whole swaths of his life remain elusive. His deafness, for one thing. He started experiencing hearing loss before he was 30. But how extensive was the initial problem? How quickly did it worsen? It’s not clear.

His most revealing words on the subject come in a letter he wrote (though never sent) to his brothers in 1802, while seeking isolation and resting his ears in Heiligenstadt, on the outskirts of Vienna. In the Heiligenstadt Testament, as it became known, his fear comes through poignantly. But what did it feel like to go deaf? What sensations did he experience? What did music sound like to him?

The British poet Ruth Padel tries to fathom this mystery, and other long-mythologized strands of the composer’s life story, in “Beethoven Variations: Poems on a Life,” recently published in the United States. Padel’s imagery and imagination took me deeper into Beethoven than many biographies I’ve read.

In one of the first poems, “On Not Needing Other People,” Padel describes the 13-year-old Beethoven visiting the Breunings, a rich, cultured family that befriended him. Most books on the composer present this episode as an opportunity for the young Beethoven to enjoy some familial companionship — one of the sons became a lifelong friend — and develop career skills by teaching piano to some of the children.

But Padel dwells on how different, how apart, Beethoven must have felt, even while savoring the family’s attention. The mother told her children to let their young visitor alone when he slipped into, as Padel puts it, “the solitude she calls raptus ” and displayed his “surly way of shouldering people off,” his “fits of reverie, lost/in a re-tuning of the spheres.” As Padel perceives it, Beethoven early on drifted into states that prefigured how deafness would increasingly isolate him:

This boy has no idea that before he’s thirty some inflamed wet muddle of labyrinth and cochlea, thin as a cicada wing, will clog his ears with a whistling buzz, then glue them into silence.

In “Moonlight Sonata,” Padel, in an imaginative leap, describes that famous piano work as music of loss — not just of love, but of hearing: “Bass clef/High treble only once/and in despair.” For Beethoven, she continues, this is the new “shocked calm of Is it true .” Is this “what it sounds like, going deaf?”

In a poem about Beethoven’s five-month stay in Heiligenstadt, Padel recounts her own visit there — with views of the Danube canal and vineyards in bud — as she follows his steps into a cobbled yard: “God invents curious/torture for his favourites. He’s thirty-one./Fate has swung a wrecking ball.” Beethoven has walked into a place “of zero sum,” she writes, where “he must cast himself as victim or as hero.”

Though he “cannot hear the driving rain,” he is sketching a funeral march — a symphony — taking him down a new path. In “Eroica” Padel arrestingly describes that path:

You are havoc on the brink, a jackhammer shattering the night and soaring past world-sorrow. Against everything that can happen to you or anyone, you pitch experiment and the next new key, ever more remote.

Most traditional biographers are reticent about guessing how Beethoven’s deafness affected his composing. Padel, though, suggests — daringly but compellingly — that Beethoven’s isolating deafness contributed to his greatness. “What we forget,” she writes, “makes us who we are” — perhaps for Beethoven that eventually included the actual sound of music. Describing what she felt as she examined the manuscript of the late Op. 131 String Quartet, Padel asks, “Does being deaf break the chains?”

“Could he,” she writes, “have written this otherwise?”

Padel knows her history. But a poet is free to inhabit her subject and elaborate on the record. And she describes Beethoven’s music vibrantly, as in her acute phrases on the sublime slow movement of the Op. 132 String Quartet: “Cloud iridescence”; “Wave-shadow like mourning ribbon”; “Quiet as a wreath of sleep/for anyone in sorrow.”

A writer and teacher, Padel has also explored ancient Greek culture, the contemporary issues of refugees and homelessness, and science. (Darwin was her great-great-grandfather, and her book “Darwin: A Life in Poems” was published in 2009.) The Beethoven poems are informed by her lifelong immersion in music, starting from her youth, when her father, a psychoanalyst and cellist, conscripted her into a family ensemble; she played the viola.

The book originated through her work over the past decade with the Endellion String Quartet, to whom it is dedicated. Padel first worked with the Endellion on performances of pieces by Haydn and Schubert, in which she wrote poems and read them between the movements. Asked to collaborate on a Beethoven program that included the Op. 131 Quartet, she wrote seven poems to be interspersed between that visionary work’s seven movements. As the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, in 2020, approached, she went further and wrote what is, in effect, a poetic biography.

Naturally, some of the poems will speak more immediately to those with knowledge of the events and characters of Beethoven’s life. So Padel helpfully includes “Life-Notes: A Coda,” some 30 pages of short biographical bits linked to the four sections of poems (49 in all). Even these entries have poetic elegance. Explaining that Beethoven’s alcoholic, abusive father put his young son to work playing viola, she explains why the instrument appealed to her, and may have suited Beethoven: “It does not have the brilliance of the violin or power of the cello, but when playing it you hear everything going on around you, all the relationships and harmonies, from inside. It is a writer’s instrument, inward and between.”

Visiting the house in Bonn, Germany, in which Beethoven was born, Padel imagines “your mother/carrying the shopping,” “your father staggering home drunk/up these stairs” to “wake you in the middle of the night.” In “Meeting Mozart,” she describes the 16-year-old Beethoven after a three-week winter journey to Vienna, “burning” to be taught by the master.

Many biographers struggle to deal with this meeting between two of the titans of music history. Padel puts herself in the mind of the young Beethoven, to whom Mozart “looks like a fat little bird./Bug eyes, fidgety,/tapping his toes.” Beethoven’s performance of a Mozart sonata fails to impress its composer, who suddenly urges Beethoven to improvise.

“And at last he’s caught,” Padel writes. It’s a thrilling moment in her telling.

Then the news comes that his adored mother is gravely ill and Beethoven is “snatched away”:

She waits till you return to drown in the coughed-up dregs of her own lungs.

There are poems about Beethoven’s hapless infatuations for unattainable women from the upper ranks of Viennese society; about his sexual activities (“Brothels? Probably. Everyone did.”); and, especially, about his long, contorted legal battle to gain custody of his young nephew Karl from his widowed sister-in-law. His obsession with being a substitute father causes a long dry spell in his composing:

You’re not working. You’re a mountain king waylaid in your own black corridors.

The final poem, “Musica Humana,” begins with a description of a postmortem examination of Beethoven’s inner ears, the auditory canal “covered in glutinous scales/shining throughout the autopsy.” Other biographies report on this, but not with such gruesomely poetic imagery. And “how he died,” Padel marvels, “lifting his fist/as if it held a bird he would release into the storm.”

I thought back to an early poem about Beethoven’s bullying father:

your response to challenge ever after will be attack. You will need no one. Only the relationship of sound and key. You improvise.

Anthony Tommasini is the chief classical music critic. He writes about orchestras, opera and diverse styles of contemporary music, and he reports regularly from major international festivals. A pianist, he holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts from Boston University. More about Anthony Tommasini

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