The classical music composers of the 19th century
«Music has healing power. It has the ability to get people out of themselves for a few hours. “Elton John.
Ludwig van Beethoven
Biography
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.
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.
Family
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.
Education
Hoping that his young son would be recognized as a musical prodigy à la Wolfgang Mozart, Beethoven's father arranged his first public recital for March 26, 1778. Billed as a "little son of 6 years," (Mozart's age when he debuted for Empress Maria Theresia) although he was in fact 7, Beethoven played impressively, but his recital received no press whatsoever.
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.
1804
Oleo 1815
1823
Top Questions
What is Ludwig van Beethoven known for?
Beethoven is widely regarded as the greatest composer who ever lived, in no small part because of his ability—unlike any before him—to translate feeling into music. His most famous compositions included Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67 (1808), Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op 92 (1813), and Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 (1824).
How did Ludwig van Beethoven get his start in music?
Beethoven was born into a musical family. His father tried to make him into a child prodigy, like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, but did not succeed. Beethoven did, however, meet Mozart in 1787. By that time, the teenaged Beethoven had published a composition (Nine Variations on a March by Dressler [1783]) and had been appointed continuo player to the Bonn opera. After their meeting, Mozart reportedly said of Beethoven, “This young man will make a great name for himself in the world.” Three years later, composer Joseph Haydn “discovered” Beethoven, who was then a viola player in the Bonn orchestra, and took him under his wing. In 1792 Beethoven left Bonn for good. He took with him several musical souvenirs, including the sudden pianos, unexpected outbursts, and “Mannheim rockets” typical of the Bonn orchestra. These elements feature prominently in Beethoven’s later work.
What did Ludwig van Beethoven compose?
Beethoven composed music in the transitional period between the Classical and the Romantic eras, and his work has been divided into (roughly) three periods. The first period, between 1794 and 1800, is characterized by traditional 18th-century technique and sounds. The second period, between 1801 and 1814, is marked by an increased use of improvisatory material. The third period, between 1814 and 1827, featured a wide range of musical harmonies and textures. Beethoven’s second period was his most prolific. He composed many of his most famous pieces—including the Eroica Symphony (1805), Symphony No. 5 in C Minor (1808), Symphony No. 6 in F Major (1808), and Symphony No. 7 in A Major (1813)—during that time.
Was Ludwig van Beethoven deaf?
Beethoven was not born deaf, but he gradually became deaf. Although his deafness did not become total until 1819, the first symptoms of the impairment manifested before 1800. Early on, Beethoven reported hearing buzzing and ringing in his ears. Later he disclosed “that from a distance I do not hear the high notes of the instruments and the singers’ voices.” Beethoven’s hearing loss didn’t stop him from composing music, though. He continued to write music well into the later years of his life. In fact, he wrote many of his most famous pieces while partially or totally deaf. It’s likely that Beethoven never heard a single note of his magnum opus, Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, played.
How did Ludwig van Beethoven change music?
Beethoven was an innovator of musical form. He widened the scope of the symphony, the sonata, the concerto, and the quartet and in so doing broke many patterns of Classical music. In Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, for example, Beethoven rearranged the formal structure of the Classical symphony and incorporated a choral finale. The finale was a first in the history of Classical music: Beethoven was the first composer to combine vocal and instrumental music in a symphony. In short, Beethoven’s work elevated instrumental music—hitherto considered inferior to vocal music—to the realm of high art.
With affection,
Ruben
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