Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (December 16, 1770, Bonn, Cologne - March 26, 1827, Vienna) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and piano teacher.. His musical legacy covers, chronologically, from Classicism to the beginnings of Romanticism. He is considered one of the most important composers in the history of music and his legacy has had a decisive influence on the subsequent evolution of this art.
Being the last great representative of Viennese classicism (after Christoph Willibald Gluck, Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart), Beethoven managed to make the music of Romanticism transcend, influencing a variety of musical works of the 19th century. His art was expressed in numerous genres and although symphonies were the main source of his international popularity, his impact proved to be mainly significant in his works for piano and chamber music.
His output includes the genres pianistic (thirty-two piano sonatas), chamber (including numerous works for instrumental ensembles of between eight and two members), concertante (piano, violin and triple concertos), sacra (two masses, an oratorio), lieder, incidental music (the opera Fidelio, a ballet, music for plays), and orchestral, in which Nine symphonies.
Biography
Family
Beethoven's family lived under modest conditions. His paternal grandfather, also called Ludwig, (Malines, 1712-1773), was a descendant of a family of peasants and farmers originally from Brabant, in the Flanders region (Belgium), who moved to Bonn in the XVIII. The particle van of his name, contrary to what might be believed, does not have noble origins, while Beethoven could probably have been derived from Bettenhoven (Fr.: Bettincourt), a town in Liège, although another hypothesis suggests that the surname comes from Beeth (which in Flemish means "beetroot") and Hoven, which is the plural of Hof ("farm"). In this way, "Beethoven" would come to mean "beet farms".
In March 1733 his grandfather emigrated to Bonn, where he worked as conductor and Kapellmeister of the Elector of Cologne's orchestra. On September 17 of that same year he married Maria Josepha Poll, whose witnesses were the organist Gilles van den Aeden and Johann Riechler. They had three children: Maria Bernarda Ludovica (baptized August 28, 1734, died October 17, 1735), Marcus Josephus (baptized April 25, 1736, died shortly thereafter on an undetermined date), and Johann, from whose birth o Baptism no record kept; it is assumed that he was born in late 1739 or early 1740. The third was the only one to survive infancy and was the father of Beethoven. Johann was a musician and tenor of the electoral court.
On November 12, 1767, he married Maria Magdalena Keverich (December 19, 1746 – July 17, 1787), a young widow and daughter of a Trier cook, in the church of St. Remigius in Bonn. For this reason, the marriage of his parents was opposed by his grandfather, who at that time was already the prestigious chapel master of the court and considered the young woman to be of a lower social class than his son, which was not it was true since in his family there were councilors and even senators.
The couple moved to 515 Bonngasse and two years later, in 1769, their first child was born, baptized Ludwig Maria van Beethoven. However, just six days after his baptism, the child passed away. On December 17, 1770, his second son was baptized, in the church of San Remigio in Bonn, with the name of "Ludovicus van Beethoven" (Ludwig van Beethoven) as described in the baptismal certificate. His birth date, generally accepted as December 16, 1770, has no historical documentation to support it. Maria Magdalena still had five more children, of whom only two survived: Kaspar Anton Karl van Beethoven, baptized on April 8, 1774, and Nikolaus Johann van Beethoven, baptized on October 2, 1776. Biographers are unclear on the dates. exact birth dates of any of Maria Magdalena Keverich's children.
Early Life
Beethoven's father was very impressed by the fact that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart gave concertos at the age of seven and wanted his son to follow in his footsteps. With the intention of making Ludwig a new child prodigy, he began to teach him piano, organ and clarinet at an early age. However, the musical study hampered the emotional development of the young man, who hardly related to other children. In the middle of At night, Ludwig was taken out of bed and forced to play the piano for Johann's acquaintances, whom he wanted to impress; this caused him to be tired at school. It was common for him to stop attending classes and stay home to practice music.
The father was an alcoholic, which meant that he lost the position of conductor of the Bonn orchestra - a position inherited from grandfather Ludwig -, and the mother was frequently ill. Although his relationship with Johann was distant, Ludwig loved his mother very much, whom he called his "best friend."
On March 26, 1778, when he was seven years old, Beethoven gave his first public performance in Cologne. His father stated that Ludwig's age was six years old, thus highlighting the precocity of his son; for this reason, Beethoven was always believed to be younger than he really was. Because his father's musical and pedagogical talents were limited, Ludwig began receiving classes from other teachers. His advances were significant, especially in organ playing and composition, guided by experienced musicians such as Christian Gottlob Neefe. Neefe was a very important and influential teacher in his instruction and immediately appreciated Ludwig's exceptional level. In addition to imparting musical knowledge to him, Neefe introduced Beethoven to the works of the greatest thinkers, both ancient and contemporary.
In 1782, when he was eleven years old, Beethoven published his first composition, entitled Nine Variations on a March by Ernst Christoph Dressler (WoO 63). A year later, Neefe wrote in Music Magazine about his student: "If he continues as he has started, he will surely become a second Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart." In June of the following year, Ludwig was hired as a viol player in the court orchestra of the Elector of Cologne Maximilian Francis, on Neefe's recommendation. This position allowed him to frequent the music of the old chapel masters, as well as facilitating his entry into new social circles, which included some of those who would be his lifelong friends, such as the Ries family, the von Breunings (in whose house he met the classics and learned to love poetry and literature) or Dr. Franz Gerhard Wegeler (whom years later he would meet again in Vienna).
The first trip to Vienna
Beethoven found an escape route from family pressure in 1787 when, at the age of 16, he went to the Austrian capital supported by his patron, Count Ferdinand von Waldstein, who covered the travel expenses and, most importantly, he convinced of its chances of success. It seems that during this trip to Vienna he had a fleeting encounter with Mozart. In relation to this meeting, there are only texts of debatable authenticity. In any case, legend has it that Mozart would have said: "Remember his name, this young man will make the world speak."
Soon after, her mother became seriously ill with tuberculosis and her father asked her by letter to return to Bonn immediately. His mother died on July 17, 1787. After this event, his father fell into a depression and his alcoholism worsened, and he was arrested and imprisoned for this fact. After this, the young Ludwig had to take responsibility for his young brothers and was forced to support them, playing violin in an orchestra and giving piano lessons for five years, while his father remained in prison. His father finally passed away on December 18, 1792.
From apprentice to master
In 1792, the Elector of Bonn again financed a trip to Vienna, a city where he remained for the rest of his life composing, trying to achieve social recognition for himself through art and suffering a particularly terrible illness for himself. he: deafness. There, Beethoven received composition classes with Joseph Haydn, counterpoint with Johann Georg Albrechtsberger and Johann Baptist Schenk, and lyric with Antonio Salieri.
During this period he had several musical duels with other pianists. The first was in 1792 ―with 21 years of age―, during a trip with the court orchestra, in which he played with Franz Sterkel, performing works by said composer. In 1800 the famous duel took place at Lobkowitz Palace, in which the pianist and composer Daniel Steibelt challenged him to play together. On that occasion, Beethoven took scores of one of his works, modifying them while he was playing them, with such grace that Steibelt declared that he would not return to Vienna while Beethoven lived there and left the city, settling in Paris.
At the age of twenty-four, he published his first major work: Three Trios for Piano, Violin, and Cello (Opus 1), and the following year, in 1795, he gave his first public concert in Vienna as a professional composer, performing his own plays. That same year he proposed to Magdalena Willman, but she refused. Subsequently, he toured Prague, Dresden, Leipzig, Berlin, and Budapest. In 1796 he published three piano sonatas (Opus 2). The Viennese court, nobility and Church welcomed Beethoven's music and became patrons and protectors of the young musician. Disputes between these estates and the composer were frequent, due to the strong and impulsive character of the musician, but this fact earned him great respect in the city. Among his patrons were personalities such as Prince Karl von Lichnowsky and Baron Gottfried van Swieten.At that time he separated from Haydn, with whom he did not coincide musically but to whom, despite this, he dedicated the three trios.
In 1800, Beethoven organized a new concert in Vienna in which he presented his First Symphony. His musical activity was increasing and he also gave piano lessons to young aristocrats, with whom he had sporadic romances. The following year, Beethoven confessed to his friend Wegeler concerned about his increasing deafness. In Heiligenstadt the following year, he wrote the well-known Heiligenstadt Testament , in which he expresses his despair and disgust at the injustice that a musician could become deaf, something he could neither conceive nor bear.. He even considered suicide, but the music and his strong conviction that he could make a great contribution to the genre kept him going. In said testament he wrote that he knew that he still had a lot of music to discover, explore and achieve.
Their initial music, fresh and light, changed to become epic and turbulent, in keeping with the revolutionary times that Europe was living through. Those were years in which the European monarchical powers had allied to defeat revolutionary France. In a dazzling campaign in northern Italy, in which the Austrian army was defeated, Napoleon Bonaparte gained notoriety, who became an idol among progressive sectors. From this period are the Piano Sonata No. 8, called Pathética, and the Piano Sonata No. 14, called Moonlight. His Third Symphony, called La Eroica (translation of the Italian name Eroica), was originally written in "memory of a great man", Napoleon, who was seen at the time as a liberator of his people. When he declared himself emperor, Beethoven was enraged and violently erased Napoleon's name from the first page of the score. La Eroica was finally released on April 7, 1805.
Success and suffering
Very soon, Beethoven no longer needed concerts and recitals in court halls to survive. Publishers disputed his works; moreover, the Austrian aristocracy, perhaps embarrassed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's death in poverty, allocated him an annual pension. Due to the loss of his hearing abilities, he gave himself up to a feverish creative activity, and, at the same time, suffered personal hardships caused by two love disappointments. He never got married, but several romances are attributed to him, especially among ladies of the nobility. Antonie von Birkenstock, married to the German banker Franz Brentano, was one of the great loves of his life.
Between 1804 and 1807, he was in love with the beautiful young Countess Josephine Brunswick, widow of Joseph Graf Deym. Her love was reciprocated by the countess, but this could not materialize due to the rigid social restrictions of the time and the strict separation between the nobility and the common people, so the relationship ended. During this period, Beethoven had finished Leonore, his only opera. He composed up to four different overtures and finally changed the name of said opera to Fidelio , against his wishes. November 20, 1805 was the date of the first performance, which had little influx of public, since that same week Napoleon's troops had entered Vienna for the first time. In the following years, Beethoven increased his creative activity and composed many works, including the Fifth Symphony, the Sixth Symphony or Pastoral Symphony, the Coriolan Overture i> and the trifle for piano For Elisa.
His public appearances became increasingly infrequent. On December 22, 1808, Beethoven gave one of his last live concerts, in a long day that included the premiere of the Fantasia for piano, orchestra and choir Op. 80, the symphonies Fifth and Sixth, the Piano Concerto No. 4 Op. 58, the aria Ah perfido! and three movements from the Mass in C Major Op. 86. He was a student of Archduke Johann Joseph Rainer Rudolph, brother of the Emperor, and eventually became his greatest benefactor as well. In 1809 Beethoven was not satisfied with his situation in Vienna, especially under the economic aspect. Then the invitation of Jerome Bonaparte was raised, to leave Vienna and move to Westphalia. His old friend Countess Anna Marie Erdödy managed to convince Beethoven to stay in Vienna with the help of his wealthiest admirers, including Archduke Rudolf, Prince Lobkowitz and Prince Kinsky, who offered Beethoven a pension. annual payment of 4,000 guilders, which allowed him to live without financial worries. The only condition they put on him was not to leave the city of Vienna, a condition accepted by the composer. This pension made him the first independent artist and composer in history, since previously most musicians and composers (Haydn and Mozart included) were servants in the houses of the aristocracy, forming part of their domestic staff and composing and performing. as their masters requested. Instead, the terms of the arrangement that Beethoven reached with his benefactors gave the composer the freedom to compose what he wanted, and when he wanted.
The Teplice Incident
In 1812, Beethoven moved to the Teplitz (Teplice) spa and during his stay he wrote the letter to his "Immortal Beloved", which caused a lot of speculation about its recipient although it has never been possible to ascertain exactly. In 1977, the American musicologist Maynard Solomon claimed that the letter was addressed to Antonie Brentano, the wife of a Frankfurt am Main merchant and mother of four children. Due to his ethical sense and his fear of marriage, Beethoven abandoned this relationship, despite the emotional conflicts it caused him. In July of that year, Bettina von Arnim arranged a meeting between the composer and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Later, the Countess herself published her correspondence with Goethe and in one of her letters to Count Hermann von Pückler-Muskau she recounted a certain event that apparently occurred in said spa that same summer, when Beethoven and Goethe met. for the first time. They were both walking along the alley of the spa and suddenly the Empress Maria Luisa of Austria-Este appeared in front of them with her family and her court. Goethe, seeing them, stepped aside and took off his hat. Instead, the composer soaked it even deeper and continued on his way without slowing his pace, causing the nobles to step aside to salute. When they were some distance away he stopped to wait for Goethe to tell him what he thought of his "lackey" behavior.
According to Elisabeth von Arnim, Beethoven himself would have told her this anecdote. However, its veracity is highly disputed and today there is a certain agreement in considering it, if not completely at least in large part, Elisabeth's invention. In her letter to von Pückler-Muskau, she asks if she likes the story, Kannst du sie brauchen? ("Can you use it?"). Von Arnim, however, decided to use it herself, and in 1839 published in the magazine Athenäum a letter, supposedly from Beethoven, in which he recounted her anecdote. The original of this letter never appeared; only the copy and some details (such as the date) indicate that Beethoven never wrote it, or at least not as it was transcribed. Regardless of its authenticity, the incident enchanted Viennese society, who believed it to be true for a long time.
Financial problems
Beethoven had made contact with the inventor Johann Mäzel, who built him several instruments to help him with his hearing difficulties, such as acoustic horns or a piano listening system. His orchestral work Wellington's Victory was composed in 1813 to be performed with a panharmonic, another of Mäzel's inventions. This work was a tribute to the victory over the Napoleonic armies at the Battle of Vitoria by the Duke of Wellington and achieved great popularity, as well as making the composer truly famous, bringing him a large income. However, he himself described it as "garbage" (something he did not say about any of his other works) and today it is completely forgotten. Mäzel's invention that most impressed the composer was the metronome, and he wrote letters of recommendation to publishers and began annotating sheet music with the metronome times so that his works would be played at the tempo he had conceived. At that time the composer's financial problems began, since one of his patrons, Prince Lobkowitz, suffered financial bankruptcy and Prince Kinsky died when he fell from his horse, after which his heirs decided not to pay the financial obligations that the composer prince had contracted with the musician.
In 1814, he finished the Seventh and Eighth symphonies and reformed the opera Fidelio, which was a great success, both in terms of public as economical, like the rest of the concerts he performed at that time. That same year the Congress of Vienna took place, which brought together in the city numerous leaders who decided the future of Europe after the defeat of Napoleon. This was one of Beethoven's moments of glory, since he was invited on many occasions to participate in the many concerts that were given at the celebrations and was received with admiration and recognition.
Some sources suggest that Beethoven's last public concert took place on April 11 of that same year (1814) and consisted of the premiere of the Trio op. 97, along with violinist Ignaz Schuppanzigh and cellist Joseph Lincke.
After the death of her brother Kaspar Karl on November 15, 1815, she made the decision to foster her nine-year-old nephew Karl against her sister-in-law's will. In the years between 1815 and 1820, she devoted much of her energies and his time to the legal battle to win custody of his nephew Karl. This effort meant that he practically stopped composing (which did not prevent him from writing six cycles of Lieder and the Hammerklavier sonata). His brother's will established him as Karl's guardian, but on his deathbed, at the request of his sister-in-law, a joint guardianship was established. Ludwig, who hated his sister-in-law, had to take his case to court. The ordinary courts did not know him and it was difficult for him to assert his influence, although he finally won the case, and since then he dedicated himself to Karl's musical training with false hopes, since the boy had no musical gifts. One of the teachers his nephew had was Carl Czerny, who was later a teacher of Franz Liszt and had previously been a student of Beethoven himself. Also, his relationship with his adoptive son was not great; he constantly had to find new guardians for him, as he had conflicts with them, and he ran away with his mother and constantly fought with his uncle. The concern for money, which accompanied Beethoven from the childhood days when he had to provide for the family, occupied him in this period as never before. The publishers did not trust him, as he did not fulfill his exclusivity promises and constantly asked for more money for his works. According to his biographer, Emil Ludwig, from this period there is not a single letter in which money problems are not dealt with, at least tangentially.
After 1815, Napoleon was definitively defeated and the Austrian chancellor Klemens von Metternich established a police regime to prevent revolutionary outbreaks. Beethoven was a critical voice of the regime. At that time, his name was highly respected in the Empire and in Western Europe, especially in England, partly thanks to the success of Wellington's Victory . But the rise of Gioachino Rossini and Italian opera, which Beethoven considered unserious, pushed him into the background.
In 1816, he made the first draft of the Ninth Symphony and two years later his former student and benefactor, Archduke Rudolf, was made a cardinal, which is why Beethoven began composing the Mass in re, although it was not finished before the enthronement ceremony. In 1822, Beethoven had a meeting with Rossini in Vienna, a city where he was enjoying great success. Due to language difficulties and Beethoven's deafness, the meeting was brief.
Last years in Vienna
Beethoven spent the last years of his life almost totally isolated due to his deafness, relating only to a few of his friends through "conversation notebooks", which served as a means of communication. His last great success was the Ninth Symphony , completed in 1823. In the final three years, he devoted himself to composing string quartets and the Missa Solemnis . On April 13 of that year he met Franz Liszt, then eleven years old, during a concert by the Hungarian composer and congratulated him on his performance. Years later, Liszt transcribed all of Beethoven's symphonies for piano and was a leading interpreter of Beethoven's work. The premiere of the Ninth Symphony took place on May 7, 1824 and was a resounding success despite the technical difficulties involved in the work. This success did not translate into financial gain and financial problems continued to plague the composer, who although he had the money he was saving, he could not use it as it was intended as an inheritance for his niece.
The teacher's health declined inexorably during his stay at his brother's house in Gneixendorf, despite his family's care. His brother Nikolaus Johann recalled: "At lunch he ate only soft-boiled eggs, but afterwards he drank more wine, and so he often suffered from diarrhea, so that his belly grew larger and larger, and for a long time he carried it bandaged." He had edema in his feet and continually complained of thirst, stomach pains and loss of appetite.At that time, he began composing the Tenth Symphony .
On December 1, 1826, Beethoven and Karl returned to Vienna. The haste of the decision meant that they lacked adequate transportation and could only get hold of an old open wagon. The trip is catastrophic for a person in the state Beethoven was in, who was wearing summer clothes and was forced to spend the night in a village tavern, where the room had no heating or shutters to protect him from the cold. About midnight he suffered a feverish chill and began a dry cough accompanied by intense thirst and severe pains in his sides. Being like this, the teacher drank large amounts of ice water that only aggravated his condition. However, he managed to recover from his crisis thanks to the attention of Dr. Wawruch and managed to reach the capital. On December 20, abdominal fluids were drawn. Karl stayed by his side for the whole month until he joined his regiment in January. The young man had fully reconciled with his uncle after the unfortunate episode of suicide: "My dear father: I live satisfied and it only hurts me to see myself separated from you."
Nearly penniless, despite having a large fortune in financial stocks, he wrote to his friends in London to ask for some money. The reply came immediately, together with a hundred pounds sterling lent unconditionally. When Beethoven's terminal condition was publicized in Vienna, all of his former friends who were still living came to his home in the Schwarzspanierhaus to express their wishes for a speedy recovery, although in reality it was his purpose. it was to say goodbye to the aging composer.
Despite the care of his doctor and the affection of his friends, the poor health of the musician, who had suffered from liver problems throughout his life, worsened. In those last days he was accompanied by Franz Schubert, who actually did not dare to visit the maestro, but a friend of both showed the dying man the scores of his lieder, which Beethoven had the opportunity to admire and was given. attributes the phrase: "It is true that in this Schubert there is a divine spark", recalling the comment that Mozart made about him and paying the compliment that he did not pay to any other musician. On March 20 he wrote: "I am sure that I'll be leaving very soon." And on the 23rd, between the death rattles of the dying man, some sources indicate that he exclaimed: «Clap your hands, friends, comedia finita est» («The comedy has ended»), a typical ending of the comedy of art, although in 1860 Anselm Hüttenbrenner denied that Beethoven had uttered such words. That same afternoon, he took up pen to designate his nephew Karl as legatee of all his property.
Death
The next day, March 24, 1827, Beethoven received extreme unction and communion according to the Catholic rite. It should be noted that Beethoven's personal beliefs were highly unorthodox. That same afternoon he slipped into a coma, only to wake up two days later. His brother Nikolaus Johann, his sister-in-law and his staunch admirer Anselm Hüttenbrenner accompanied him at the end, since his few friends had gone out looking for a grave. His last words were addressed to the Rhine wine, which arrived after a long wait for the order, and which was expected to have good effects on the musician's health: "Too late, too late...". Hüttenbrenner recounted the last moments of the composer on March 27, 1827 as follows:
He remained lying, without knowledge, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Suddenly there was a lightning, accompanied by a violent thunder, and the dying room was illuminated by a blinding light. After that sudden phenomenon, Beethoven opened his eyes, raised his right hand, with his fist closed, and a threatening expression, as if he tried to say: “O hostile powers, I challenge you!, God is with me!” or as if he were willing to shout, as a courageous leader to his troops “Valor, soldiers! Trust! Victory is ours!” When he dropped his hand on the bed again, his eyes were already closed. I held his head with my right hand, while my left rested on his chest. I could no longer feel the breath of his breath; the heart had stopped beating.Anselm Hüttenbrenner.
Three days after his death, on March 29, the funeral took place. It was held in the Church of the Holy Trinity, a couple of blocks from Beethoven's home, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Requiem in D minor was performed. It was attended by more than 20,000 people, including Schubert, a great admirer of his. Actor Heinrich Anschütz read the funeral oration, which was written by the poet Franz Grillparzer, at the gates of the Währing Cemetery, now Schubert Park.
The Heiligenstadt Testament was found on his work desk, written in 1802, in which he explained to his brothers the reason for his deep bitterness. The aforementioned heartbreaking love letter addressed to his "immortal Beloved", whom he calls "my angel, my everything, my very self", was also found.
Studies on the causes of his death
Throughout his life, Beethoven visited a large number of doctors to cure his various physical ailments, such as poor digestion, chronic abdominal pain, cirrhosis of the liver, nephropathy, chronic pancreatitis, irritability, depression, as well as other syndromes with no proven etiology., such as gastrointestinal, bronchial, joint and ocular disorders. In a letter to a friend, he expressed his wish that, after his death, his remains be used to determine the cause of his illness and prevent others from suffering the same suffering. Since his death at fifty-six years of age, in 1827, there have been many speculations and studies about the causes of his multiple ailments and death, but they have failed to determine a systemic pathology to explain at least much of it. their syndromes.
Studies conducted at the Pfeiffer Treatment Center in Warrenville, Illinois in 2005 have revealed some information about the causes of his death. Analysis of a lock of his hair and a fragment of his skull revealed high concentrations of lead, indicating that the composer may have suffered from lead poisoning. Beethoven apparently drank lead-contaminated water, which was obtained from a country stream, believed to have healing properties. The latest investigations indicate that it was because of the lead in the glasses he used to drink. As a result of these studies, it was possible to learn that the composer suffered from stomach problems since he was twenty years old and that, on occasions, he suffered from depressive episodes. The stomach problems and the change in personality that he suffered at the age of twenty are consistent with the diagnosis of poisoning. by lead. These studies also note the absence of detectable levels of cadmium or mercury in the lock and bone, elements that had previously been identified as causing Beethoven's disease. The presence of lead in the skull confirmed that the musician's exposure to this element was not a one-time event in his life, but that he had to be subjected to it for many years. Although there are some rare cases of deafness caused by lead poisoning, there is no solid evidence to support that this was the cause of what Beethoven suffered from.
Another study states that Beethoven died of liver failure that led to a hepatic coma. In addition, he may have suffered from final septicemia, with a history of fistulized and infected ascites. It cannot be stated with certainty whether kidney failure and decompensated diabetes were the reason for his death. In modern medicine, his cause of death would be classified as multisystem failure, caused by his liver failure.
Personality
Beethoven's personal life was problematic due to his increasing deafness, which led him to consider suicide, according to documents found in the Heiligenstadt Testament. Beethoven was often quick-tempered and may have suffered from bipolar disorder, however, he had an intimate circle of loyal friends throughout his life, perhaps drawn by the strength of his reputed personality. Towards the end of his life, Beethoven's friends competed in his efforts to help the composer alleviate his physical disabilities.
There is ample evidence of Beethoven's disdain for authority and the system of social classes. He would stop his piano playing if his audience started talking to each other or stopped paying full attention to him. At social events, he refused to interpret if he was invited to do so without prior notice. Finally, and after much confrontation, Archduke Rudolf decreed some basic rules of court etiquette that did not apply to Beethoven.
Music Production
Beethoven is recognized as one of the greatest composers in history. Occasionally, he is mentioned as part of "The Three B's" (along with Bach and Brahms), who personalize this tradition. He is also the central figure of the transition between the musical classicism of the XVIII century and the romanticism of the XIX, for the profound influence it had on subsequent generations of musicians.
Overview
Beethoven composed works in a wide variety of genres and for a wide range of musical instrument combinations. His works for symphony orchestra include nine symphonies (the Ninth Symphony includes a chorus) and about a dozen pieces of "occasional" music. He composed nine concertos for one or more solo instruments and orchestra, as well as four short works featuring soloists accompanied by orchestra. Fidelio is the only opera he wrote and his vocal works with orchestral accompaniment include two masses and a number of short works.
He composed a wide repertoire of piano works, including thirty-two piano sonatas and numerous short works, including arrangements (for solo piano or piano duet), of some of his other works. Works in which he uses the piano as an accompaniment instrument include ten violin sonatas, five cello sonatas, and one French horn sonata, as well as numerous lieder.
The amount of chamber music Beethoven produced was remarkable. In addition to the sixteen string quartets, he wrote five works for string quintet, seven for piano trio, five for string trio, and more than a dozen works for a variety of wind instrument combinations.
The three periods
According to the Russian writer Wilhelm von Lenz, Beethoven's career as a composer is divided into three periods: early, middle and late. The early period runs until about 1802, the middle period runs from 1803 to about 1814 and the late period goes from 1815 until the death of the composer. This division of Lenz's, made in Beethoven et ses trois styles (1852), has been widely used by other musicologists, with slight changes, ever since.
In his early period, Beethoven's work was strongly influenced by his predecessors, Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, but he also explored new directions and gradually broadened the scope and ambition of his work. Some important works from this period are the First and Second Symphonies, a set of six string quartets (Opus 18), the first two piano concertos (the No. 1 and No. 2) and the first dozen piano sonatas, including the famous Sonata Pathétique, Op. 13.
The middle period, also called heroic, begins after the personal crisis caused by the growing deafness of the musician. He is noted for large-scale works that denote heroism and struggle. Compositions from this period include six symphonies (no. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8), the last three piano concertos, the Triple concerto and the Violin Concerto, five quartets strings (nos. 7 to 11), several piano sonatas (including the Moonlight, Waldstein and Appassionata sonatas), the Kreutzer Sonata for violin, and his only opera, Fidelio.
The late period begins around 1815. The works of this period are characterized by their deep intellectual charge, their formal innovations and their intensity, highly personal expression. The String Quartet No. 14, Op. 131 has seven linked movements and the Ninth Symphony incorporates the choral force of an orchestra in the last movement. Other compositions by this period are the Missa Solemnis, the last five string quartets (including the Grosse fugue) and the last five piano sonatas.
Works
In his prolific musical career, Beethoven left an important legacy for posterity: nine symphonies, one opera, two masses, three cantatas, thirty-two piano sonatas, five piano concertos, one violin concerto, one triple concerto for violin, cello, piano and orchestra, sixteen string quartets, a great fugue for string quartet, ten sonatas for violin and piano, five sonatas for cello and piano and countless overtures, chamber works, series of variations, arrangements of popular songs and trifles for piano.
Symphonies
Beethoven composed nine symphonies throughout his musical career. Among them are the Third Symphony, also called in Spanish Eroica, in E♭ major, the Fifth Symphony, in C minor and the Ninth Symphony, in D minor (whose fourth movement is based on the Ode to Joy, written by Friedrich von Schiller in 1785).
He composed his First Symphony between 1799 and 1800, when he was 30 years old, and continued to compose symphonies until his death.
There is controversy about the existence of a Tenth Symphony, which Beethoven was working on when he died.
Overtures
Beethoven's ten overtures are short pieces that would later be expanded and worked on for incorporation into larger works. Basically, it is music composed to musicalize ballets (The Creatures of Prometheus) and plays: Coriolanus by William Shakespeare, Egmont by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, etc. These are closed and uniform compositions that express emotions and ideas full of heroism. The theme of freedom is very present in this section of the production of the Bonn musician. For example, the Coriolan Overture (Op. 62) musically illustrates Shakespeare's drama of the same name based on the hero who has to choose between freedom of conscience and his loyalty to Roman laws, Leonora No. 3 (Op. 72a), for its part, is an outstanding overture of the four written for the opera Fidelio. Of identical worth are The Creatures of Prometheus (Op. 43) and Egmont (Op. 84), the latter being a good example of the typical Beethovenian composition.
Concerts
Each Beethoven piano concerto is different and develops a highly virtuosic piano writing (he himself was a great virtuoso in his youth). Perhaps the most famous is the Piano Concerto No. 5 “Emperor”, from 1809, where virtuosity and symphonism are perfectly combined. It is an epic composition that has a very original start and superb cadences. The origin of the nickname of this concert was not given by the composer himself, but by the first attendees as audience, given the greatness and majesty of the work.
The first and second piano concertos stand out for their cheerful conception, while the Piano Concerto No. 3, from 1801, serious in tone, is of incomparable breadth and quality. For its part, the Piano Concerto No. 4, Op. in May 1809, as the "best solo instrument concerto ever composed". As for the concertos in which other instruments participate, it is worth noting the Violin Concerto and the Triple Concerto for violin, cello, piano and orchestra, in which Beethoven replaces symphonism with an entertainment very much in the taste of the time, giving rise to somewhat exotic resonances: Rondó alla polacca is his rhythmic third motion.
Beethoven also composed a Fantasy for Piano, Orchestra and Choir, Op. 80, which is a triple fantasy: the solo piano begins, the orchestra joins it, and near the end, he makes his entrance the chorus —a scheme similar to that of the Ninth symphony.
The only Violin Concerto, Op. 61 (which also has a transcription for piano, the work of Beethoven himself, Op. 61b) was at the time a controversial work that attracted little attention in its premiere, with the violinist Franz Clement in the solo part. It was only in 1850, led by the violinist Joseph Joachim, a friend of Johannes Brahms, that the concerto achieved notoriety. The explanation for this delay in establishing itself is the complexity of its interpretation, which meant that few violinists dared to play it for years, arguing that the participation of the violin on a par with the orchestra reduced their prominence, which was added to the strong demand from Beethoven. Within this category of works for violin and orchestra should also be included two short Romanzas for violin and orchestra.
Piano Sonatas
His thirty-two sonatas manifest Beethoven's revolutionary and transitional personality, and the composer ranks as the foremost sonata form composer in the period between Classicism and Romanticism. Faithful to the sonata form, the German composer allows himself more than one innovation: sonata of two (Op. 111), four (Op. 109) or five movements, themes with variations, fugues, scherzi, etc
These sonatas present new sonorities, daring experiments, and the inner world of the composer is enclosed, as well as the recently arrived expressive language of the romantic revolution. In the early Pathetique, in the tempestuous Appassionata, in the abrupt and labyrinthine Hammerklavier, in the later sonatas Op. 110 and 111, the composer it reaches the frontiers of piano exposition, which will be reached in Op. 120. Beethoven was one of the composers who most demanded from piano makers to improve the sonority and resistance of nineteenth-century pianofortes.
Beethoven's inadequate training in his early years of musical studies is reflected in the three piano sonatas written in 1783. The sudden piano, the sudden bursts, the arpeggio figures (played at high speeds in several octaves of ascending or descending) known as the "Mannheim rockets", are characteristic of Beethoven's musical and sentimental personality. He is the first to use the unprepared ninth chord, which can be seen in the first movement of his Piano Sonata No. 14 “Claro de Luna”, dedicated to another of his great loves. of his life, Countess Giulietta Guicciardi.
Beethoven's piano sonatas transported music to a new order. After 1800, Beethoven began to develop the genre with romantic projections. The Sonata No. 11 Op. 22, in B ♭ major, is the last sonata of the first period of composition, which Beethoven declared his favorite sonata. Op. 26 in ♭, the first he composed since the turn of the century, is it opens with a slow theme with variations, follows with a reckless and dizzying scherzo, a funeral march “to the death of a hero” and concludes in a stirring finale. This was followed by the two sonatas Quasi una fantasia Op. 27 (the second is usually called Moonlight ) which are formally unconventional. The following milestones in his piano composition coincided with the great crisis caused by the worsening of his deafness. The brilliant Waldstein (the surname of the count to whom it is dedicated, better known as Aurora in Spanish-speaking countries) and the sweeping Appasionata were from so revolutionary that even Beethoven himself refrained from writing for solo piano for a few years. But the pinnacle of his pianism are the last four of the thirty-two sonatas, from Op. 106, Hammerklavier —which is often referred to as "symphonic" because of its four movements—, to Op. 111 in C minor, the key used for his music Sturm und Drang, such as his Fifth Symphony. The sonatas demanded unprecedented piano virtuosity until then and were practically untouchable at the time. Franz Liszt was the one who demonstrated that they were "interpretable."
Sonatas for piano and violin
The ten sonatas for violin and piano also stand out, especially the Violin Sonata No. 9 “Kreutzer”, Op. 47, known for the demands it places on the violin part. It is dedicated to Rodolphe Kreutzer, a well-known violinist of the time. Likewise, the Violin Sonata no. are very popular.
Opera and vocal music
Beethoven focused above all on orchestral music, combining it with chamber and piano music. He also developed vocal works, although hopefully very diverse. For example, his only opera written by him, Fidelio, revised from 1805 to 1814, was a flop on its opening day. The musician had to wait until May 23, 1814 to be enthusiastically acclaimed by a passionate audience. The new version represented for the public more than the recreation of the principles of the Enlightenment, as was its first objective in 1805, the celebration of the victories over Napoleon and as an allegory of the liberation of Europe. It was then that, blushing at such displays of support and affection from the public, he wrote in his book of conversations: "It is evident that one composes more beautifully when he does it for the public at large." It was, without a doubt, the same composer who had shouted at the publisher, after the disaster of his first Fidelio: "I don't compose for the gallery, let them all go to hell", nine years earlier.
The truth is that Beethoven would not show particular interest in writing operas. A long-conversed project with Goethe to transform Faust into an opera would never come to fruition for reasons unknown until today. However, some authors, based mainly on Beethoven's own annotations, have described some of Beethoven's symphonies as "covert operas". Such a character has been assigned to both the Sixth Symphony and the Third.
The Missa Solemnis, written between 1819 and 1823, his second work for the Catholic Church, is a song of faith in God and in the nature of man. It is one of his most famous works, composed at the request of his student, Archduke Rudolf, named Archbishop of Olomouc at that time. The Missa solemnis caused Beethoven quite a few problems. The work was partially premiered together with the Ninth Symphony.
Beethoven's other choral works include the Choral Fantasy for piano, chorus and orchestra (Op. 80), the Mass in C major, Latina (Op. 86), as well as numerous lieder, arias, choruses and canons, a cycle of melodies, the cantata «On the Death of Emperor Joseph II» (Op. 196) and the oratorio Christ on the Mount de los Olivos, from 1803, as well as the famous presto from the Ninth Symphony.
String Quartets
There are some music critics who believe that the genre of string quartets developed by Beethoven is more representative than that of piano sonatas and symphonies. In fact, Beethoven died composing quartets.
In the quartets you can see the development of Beethoven through his «three styles»: the first quartets, faithful to Haydn; the second period dominated by the so-called Russian Quartets, composed at the request of the aristocrat Razumovski; but the most significant are the final six, composed between 1824 and 1827, that is, corresponding to the last stage, sometimes called "esoteric." The importance of the genre in Beethoven exceeds the limits of Romanticism, to the extent that his last works are a stylistic and technical anticipation that would influence Dmitri Shostakóvich, Béla Bartók and the Second Viennese School at the beginning of the century XX. The quartets show the deepest and most original Beethoven.
Op. 18 constitutes Beethoven's first major effort in this complex musical genre and encompasses six works dedicated to his teacher, Joseph Haydn: although there is still evidence of Mozart's and Haydn's earlier works, there is already a desire to show the originality that will be reflected in his later works, such as the final movement of the String Quartet No. 6 in B♭ major, «La malinconia», which is a slow introduction that almost crosses the tonal limits before giving way to the concluding rondo.
In the middle period, a mature Beethoven can already be seen, fully aware of his power as a creator and artist, but immersed in the fight against deafness. The first part of this middle period is constituted by the powerful opus 59 Razumovski, made up of three quartets. Several music critics have tried to see a cycle in this group of pieces dedicated to Count Razumovski, who gave Beethoven access to various Russian melodies for inspiration, although this did not lead to a definitive influence. There are several reasons to believe that the cyclical point of view is close to reality, taking into account that the first movement of the first quartet is a kind of synthesis of the sonata form and that precisely the last of the third is a complex fugue, which it has quite a few heritage elements from the final movement of Mozart's Jupiter Symphony, although the stylistic development of the quartet is naturally much greater than that of the said symphony.
The last quartets and the Grosse fugue transcend Romanticism and are considered Beethoven's true musical legacy due to their melodic, harmonic and execution complexity. At the time of its premiere they were not well received, but when they commented to the composer that the Grosse fugue had caused general rejection, he replied «It doesn't matter, I didn't write it for them, but for the future ». However, Beethoven agreed to remove it from the String Quartet No. 13 (Op. 130), of which it was initially a part (now the piece has the opus number 133) and composed a new ending for it. this quartet.
Beethoven in popular culture
Beethoven's presence as a symbol, and not only as a musician, is a phenomenon inherited from Romanticism. Traditionally, the vision of the painting by Joseph Karl Stieler has been disseminated, whose enormous impact was revealed after the success of Andy Warhol's serigraphs in 1987. Other versions have been left aside, either because they had an artistic quality considered inferior, or because will show an image considered in some way "untrue" with respect to the image that is already established in the popular imagination about the musician.
Philately and numismatics
There are numerous postage stamps and other philatelic and numismatic documents from countries around the world honoring Ludwig van Beethoven. Germany is the most prolific country of all, although there are stamps issued in France, Monaco, Austria, countries in Africa and South America, among others. In total there are around two hundred stamps dedicated to the German composer.Beethoven has also appeared on various coins and medals, minted in many cases on the anniversaries of his birth, his death or to commemorate some outstanding event in his hometown, Bonn. These coins or medals have been minted in countries throughout Europe, the United States or Asia.
Cinema, theater and television
The composer has been shown biographically on numerous occasions in the cinema, on stage and on television. These are some of them:
- They began their performances in 1909 with a silent film by the French writer and director Victorin-Hippolyte Jasset, which was titled Beethoven and starring Harry Baur.
- Next film about the composer, Das Leben des Beethoven (Beethoven's life), was German and shot in 1927, directed by Hans Outto Löwenstein.
- The French writer and director Abel Gance made in 1936 another film by the composer, A grand amour of Beethoven (A great love of Beethoven), in which it was Harry Baur again who represented the role of the composer.
- Walt Disney illustrated Sixth symphony in one of the numbers of your film Fantasy.
- Beethoven in 1977-1978 a series of Japanese anime called "Manga Ijin Monogatari", made a brief short film about Beethoven's life.
- In 1985 he appeared Le Neveu de Beethoven (Beethoven's nephew).
- In 1992, a TV movie, Beethoven Lives Upstairs (Beethoven lives on the top floor) was the Emmy Award winner.
- In 1994, director Bernard Rose created Immortal Beloved (Immortal beloved) with Gary Oldman in the role of the composer.
- In 2006, director Agnieszka Holland produced Copying Beethoven (Copying Beethoven), with Ed Harris as protagonist.
- In the same year, the Panrusa Guerásimov University of Cinematography produced the short film of cartoons Fantasy about a dead man by Beethoven's music (Рантаэия о мертвом человеке на музыку метховена, directed by Mariya Litvínova (Mâрия Lитвинова).
In addition, his music has been used in more than 250 films and television shows.
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