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Ludwig van Beethoven

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A portrait by Joseph Karl Stieler, 1820

Ludwig van Beethoven (English /ˈlʊdvɪg væn ˈbeɪtoʊvən/; German IPA: [ˈluːtvɪç fan ˈbeːthoːfn], baptized December 17, 1770 – March 26, 1827) was a German composer and virtuoso pianist. He was an important figure in the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western classical music, and remains one of the most famous and influential musicians of all time.

Beethoven suffered from gradual hearing loss beginning in his twenties. He nonetheless continued to compose his masterpieces, and to conduct and perform, even after he was completely deaf.

Biography

Further information: Life and work of Ludwig van Beethoven and Van Beethoven Family

Early life

Kurfürstliches Schloss (Electoral Prince's Castle) in Bonn, where the Beethoven family has been active since the 1730s

Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany in 1770, to Johann van Beethoven (1740 in Bonn –1792) and Maria Magdalena Keverich (1744 in Ehrenbreitstein–1787), whose father Johann Heinrich Keverich[1] had been Chef at the court of the Archbishopric of Trier at Festung Ehrenbreitstein fortress opposite to Koblenz. Beethoven had, like their first child, been named after his father's father Lodewijk van Beethoven (1712–1773), a musician of Roman Catholic Flemish ancestry who had become Kapellmeister at the court of Clemens August of Bavaria, the Prince-Archbishop-Elector of Cologne, and had married Maria Josepha Ball (1714–1775) in 1733. Of the seven children born to Johann, himself the only survivor of three, only second-born Beethoven and two younger brothers would survive infancy. Beethoven was baptized on December 17, 1770.[2][3] Although his birth date is not known for certain, his family celebrated his birthday on December 16.

Early talent

A portrait of the thirteen-year-old Beethoven by an unknown Bonn master

Beethoven's first music teacher was his father Johann, a tenor in the service of the Electoral court at Bonn, who was reportedly a harsh instructor. Johann later engaged a friend, Tobias Pfeiffer, to preside over his son's training, and it is said Johann and his friend would at times come home late from a night of drinking to pull young Ludwig out of bed to practice until morning. Beethoven's talent was recognized at a very early age, and by 1778 he was studying the organ and viola in addition to the piano. His most important teacher in Bonn was Christian Gottlob Neefe,[4] who was the Court's Organist. Neefe helped Beethoven publish his first work: a set of keyboard variations. In 1787, the young Beethoven traveled to Vienna for the first time, in hopes of studying with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It is not clear whether he succeeded in meeting Mozart, or if he did whether Mozart was willing to accept him as a pupil; see Mozart and Beethoven. In any event, the declining health of Beethoven's mother (she was dying of tuberculosis) forced him to return home after only about two weeks in Vienna. Beethoven's mother died on July 17, 1787, when Beethoven was 16.[5] Due to his father's worsening alcohol addiction, Beethoven was responsible for raising his two younger brothers.

In 1792, Beethoven moved to Vienna , where he studied for a time with Joseph Haydn. He had wanted to study with Mozart, but Mozart had died the previous year. Beethoven received additional instruction from Johann Georg Albrechtsberger (Vienna's pre-eminent counterpoint instructor) and Antonio Salieri. By 1793, Beethoven established a reputation in Vienna as a piano virtuoso.[6] His first works with opus numbers, a set of three piano trios, appeared in 1795. He settled into the career pattern he would follow for the remainder of his life: rather than working for the church or a noble court (as most composers before him had done), he supported himself through a combination of annual stipends or single gifts from members of the aristocracy; income from subscription concerts, concerts, and lessons; and proceeds from sales of his works.

Beethoven’s patrons loved his music but were not quick to support him. He eventually came to rely more on patrons such as Count Franz Joseph Kinsky, (d. 1811), Prince Joseph Franz Maximilian Lobkowicz (1772-1816) and Karl Alois Johann-Nepomuk Vinzenz, Fürst Lichnowsky, and as these patrons passed away or reneged on their pledges, Beethoven fell into debt. In 1807, Prince Lobkowitz advised Beethoven to apply for the position of composer of the Imperial Theatres, and the nobility who had newly been placed in charge of the post did not respond. At that time Beethoven considered leaving Vienna. In the fall of 1808, he was offered a position as chapel maestro at the court of Jerome Bonaparte, the king of Westphalia, which he accepted. In order to stop him from leaving Vienna, the Archduke Rudolf, Count Kinsky and Prince Lobkowitz, upon interventions from the composer’s friends, pledged to pay Beethoven a pension of 4000 florins a year. But the pension was not properly respected, and only Archduke Rudolf paid his share at the established date. Kinsky was immediately called to duty as an officer, did not contribute and soon died falling from his horse. Lobkowitz stopped paying in September 1811. Successors of the nobility did not continue the patronage, and Beethoven relied mostly on selling composition rights and a smaller pension after 1815.

Loss of hearing

Around 1796, Beethoven began to lose his hearing.[7] He suffered a severe form of tinnitus, a "ringing" in his ears that made it hard for him to perceive and appreciate music; he would also avoid conversation. He left Vienna for a time for the small Austrian town of Heiligenstadt, where he wrote his Heiligenstadt Testament. He resolved to continue living for and through his art. Over time, his hearing loss became profound: there is a well-attested story that, at the end of the premiere of his Ninth Symphony, he had to be turned around to see the tumultuous applause of the audience; hearing nothing, he began to weep.[8] Beethoven's hearing loss did not affect his ability to compose music, but it made concerts — lucrative sources of income — increasingly difficult.

As an interesting side note, he used a special rod attached to the soundboard on a piano that he could bite, the vibrations would then transfer from the piano to his jaw to increase his perception of sound. A large collection of his hearing aids such as special ear horns can be viewed at the Beethoven House Museum in Bonn, Germany. By 1814 Beethoven was totally deaf, and when visitors saw him play a loud arpeggio or thundering bass notes at his piano remarking, "Ist es nicht schön?" (Isn't that beautiful?), they felt deep sympathy, and saw his courage and sense of humor.[9]

As a result of Beethoven's hearing loss, a unique historical record has been preserved: he kept conversation books (his friends would write in the book so that he could know what they were saying, and he would respond either verbally or in the book) discussing music and other issues, and giving an insight into his thoughts. Even today, the conversation books form the basis for investigation into how he felt his music should be performed and his relationship to art. Some of the books, however, were altered or destroyed by Anton Schindler.[10]

Ludwig van Beethoven: detail of an 1804 portrait by W.J. Mähler

Illness and death

After Beethoven lost custody of his nephew, he went into a decline that led to his death on March 26, 1827 during a thunderstorm. [11]

A Viennese pathologist and forensic expert Christian Reiter (head of the Department of Forensic Medicine at Vienna Medical University) claimed that Beethoven's physician, Andreas Wawruch, inadvertently hastened Beethoven's death. According to Reiter, Warwuch worsened Beethoven's already lead poisoned condition with lead poultices applied after surgical drainings of his bloated abdomen. Various theories attempt to explain how Beethoven's lead poisoning first developed, and he was very sick years before his death in 1827 at the age of 56.[12]

Character

Beethoven frequently treated other people badly, and may have suffered from bipolar disorder, and/or irritability brought on by chronic abdominal pain beginning in his 20s, which has been attributed to his lead poisoning.[12] Nonetheless, he had a close and devoted circle of friends all his life, all of whom are thought to have been attracted by his reputed strength of personality. Towards the end of his life, Beethoven's friends competed in their efforts to help him cope with his incapacities,[13] and after his death destroyed many of the conversation books to protect his reputation.

Sources show he indulged a disdain for authority, and for those who outranked him socially. He stopped performing at the piano if the audience chatted among themselves, or failed to give him their full attention. At soirées, he refused to perform if suddenly called upon to do so. Eventually, after many confrontations, the Archduke Rudolph decreed that the usual rules of court etiquette did not apply to Beethoven.[14]

Romantic difficulties

Beethoven's personal life was troubled. His encroaching deafness led him to contemplate suicide (documented in his Heiligenstadt Testament). He was attracted to "unattainable" women (married or aristocratic), and he never married, though he was engaged to Giulietta Guicciardi. Her father was the main obstacle to their marriage. Giulietta's marriage to a nobleman was unhappy, and when it ended in 1822, she attempted unsuccessfully to return to Beethoven. His only other documented love affair with an identified woman began in 1805 with Josephine von Brunswick, young widow of the Graf von Deym. It is believed the relationship ended by 1807 due both to his own indecisiveness and the disapproval of Josephine's aristocratic family.[15]

In 1812, Beethoven wrote a long love letter to a woman he identified only as "Immortal Beloved". Several candidates have been suggested, but the identity of the woman to whom the letter was written has never been proven. (The 1994 film Immortal Beloved was based on this.)

Beethoven quarreled, often bitterly, with his relatives and others (including a painful and public custody battle over his nephew Karl).

Custody struggle

On 15 November 1815 Beethoven's brother Karl Van Beethoven died of tuberculosis leaving a son Karl who is known as Beethoven's nephew. Although Beethoven had shown little interest in the boy up to this point he now became totally obsessed with the possession of this nine year old child. The fight for possession of his nephew brought out the very worst aspects of Beethoven's character and in the following lengthy court cases Beethoven stopped at nothing to ensure that he achieved this goal. For long periods Beethoven stopped composing.

At that period the Austrian court system had a court for nobility, The Landsrechte, and another, The Magistracy, for the commoners. Beethoven deliberately disguised the fact that the Dutch "Van" in his name did not denote nobility as does the Germanic "Von." Thus, he was able to ensure his case was tried in the Landsrechte, and due to his influence with the court, he was ensured a favourable outcome. Beethoven was awarded sole guardianship. Karl's mother, Johanna, a commoner and widow with little money, 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 inadequate pension. While giving evidence to the Landsrechte, Beethoven inadvertently admitted that he was not nobly born, and the case was transferred to the Magistracy, where he lost sole guardianship.

Beethoven fought on by appeal, and regained custody of Karl. Not even an appeal for justice and human rights to the Emperor, who, like Pontius Pilate, "washed his hands of the matter", could reunite mother and son. Both suffered not only years of separation, but damage to their reputations. Beethoven stopped at nothing to blacken both their characters, as can be read in surviving court papers. Eventually Beethoven's nephew could stand his tyrannical uncle no longer, and on 31 July 1826 attempted suicide by shooting himself in the head. He survived, and later asked to be taken to his mother's house. This desperate action finally freed Karl from the bonds of Beethoven.

Beethoven in 1823; copy of a destroyed portrait by Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller

Beliefs and their musical influence

Beethoven was attracted to the ideals of the Enlightenment and by the growing Romanticism in Europe. He initially dedicated his third symphony, the Eroica (Italian for "heroic"), to Napoleon in the belief that the general would sustain the democratic and republican ideals of the French Revolution. But in 1804, when Napoleon's imperial ambitions became clear, Beethoven took hold of the title-page and scratched the name Bonaparte out so violently that he created a hole in the paper. He later changed the title to "Sinfonia Eroica, composta per festeggiare il sovvenire di un grand Uomo" ("Heroic Symphony, composed to celebrate the memory of a great man"). The fourth movement of his Ninth Symphony features an elaborate choral setting of Schiller's Ode An die Freude ("Ode to Joy"), an optimistic hymn championing the brotherhood of humanity. Since 1972, an orchestral version of the fourth movement has been the official anthem of the European Union.

Scholars disagree on Beethoven's religious beliefs and the role they played in his work. For discussion, see Ludwig van Beethoven's religious beliefs. It has been asserted, but not proven, that Beethoven was a Freemason.[16]

Like Handel had, Beethoven worked freelance — arranging subscription concerts, selling his compositions to publishers, and gaining financial support from a number of wealthy patrons — rather than seek out permanent employment by the church or by an aristocratic court.

Music

Further information: [[:Beethoven's musical style and innovations, Beethoven and C minor, and List of compositions by Ludwig van Beethoven]]

Beethoven is acknowledged as one of the giants of Western classical music; occasionally he is referred to as one of the "three Bs" (along with Bach and Brahms) who epitomize that tradition. He was also a pivotal figure in the transition from 18th Century musical classicism to 19th Century romanticism, and his influence on subsequent generations of composers was profound.[17]

Overview

Beethoven is regarded as one of the greatest masters of musical construction, sometimes sketching the architecture of a movement before he had decided upon the subject matter. He was one of the first composers to systematically and consistently use interlocking thematic devices, or "germ-motives," to achieve inter-movement unity in long compositions. Equally remarkable was his use of "source-motives," which recurred in many different compositions and lent some unity to his life's work. He made innovations in almost every form of music he touched. For example, he diversified even the well-crystallized form of the rondo, making it more elastic and spacious, which brought it closer to sonata form.

Beethoven composed in a great variety of genres, including symphonies, concerti, piano sonatas, other sonatas (including for violin), string quartets and other chamber music, masses, an opera, lieder, and various other genres. He is viewed as one of the most important transitional figures between the Classical and Romantic eras of musical history.

As far as musical form is concerned, Beethoven worked from the principles of sonata form and motivic development that he had inherited from Haydn and Mozart, but greatly extended them, writing longer and more ambitious movements.

The three periods

Beethoven's compositional career is usually divided into Early, Middle, and Late periods.[18] His early period was from 1770-1802, the middle period was from 1803-1814, and the late period was from 1815 up to 1827. [19]

In the Early period, he is seen as emulating his great predecessors Haydn and Mozart, while concurrently exploring new directions and gradually expanding the scope and ambition of his work. Some important pieces from the Early period are the first and second symphonies, the first six string quartets, the first three piano concertos, and the first twenty piano sonatas, including the famous "Pathétique" and "Moonlight" sonatas.

The Middle period began shortly after Beethoven's personal crisis centering around his encroaching deafness. The period is noted for large-scale works expressing heroism and struggle, many of which have become very famous. Middle-period works include six symphonies (Nos. 3–8), the fourth and fifth piano concertos, the triple concerto and violin concerto, five string quartets (Nos. 7–11), the next seven piano sonatas (including the "Waldstein" and the "Appassionata"), and Beethoven's only opera, Fidelio.

Beethoven's Late period began around 1815. The Late-period works are characterized by intellectual depth; intense, highly personal expression; and formal innovation (for example, the String Quartet, Op. 131 has seven linked movements, and the Ninth Symphony adds choral forces to the orchestra in the last movement).[20] Works of this period also include the "Missa Solemnis", the last five string quartets (including the massive "Grosse Fuge") and the last five piano sonatas, of which the "Hammerklavier" Sonata is the best known.

Media

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Piano solo

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Orchestral

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Chamber

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Other

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Cinematic Depictions

The composer has been depicted in a number of biopic films for both theatrical and television release. They include a 1909 silent film from the French writer/director Victorin-Hippolyte Jasset, Beethoven, starring Harry Baur as the composer and a 1927 German film from Hans Otto Löwenstein, Das Leben des Beethoven. Another French writer/director, Abel Gance, made a film in 1936, Un grand amour de Beethoven, (Harry Baur once again starred as the composer); the film has been praised for its depiction of Beethoven's struggle with deafness and touches upon the romantic themes from the composer's life, which would later be explored in the 1994 film Immortal Beloved. Also of note is the Emmy Award winning 1992 Television movie, Beethoven Lives Upstairs, a 1985 film Le Neveu de Beethoven (or Beethoven's Nephew), which deals with the composer's custody battle for his nephew, and the 2006 theatrical release of Copying Beethoven from director Agnieszka Holland, and Ed Harris starring as the composer. Beethoven's music has been used in the soundtracks of over 250 films and television programs.[21] In 2007 the critically acclaimed play 33 Variations by Moises Kaufman was first produced at Arena Stage in Washington, DC. The play depicts a modern-day researcher struggling to understand the process of creativity as she delves into how Beethoven composed his Diabelli Variations.

See also

References

  1. ^ Johann van BEETHOVEN, Tenorist an der kurfürstlichen Hofkapelle zu Bonn, geboren um 1740 in Bonn? (Religion: rk), gestorben am 18.12.1792 in Bonn, Sohn von Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (siehe IIb) und Maria Josepha BALL. Kirchliche Trauung am 12.11.1767 in Bonn, St. Remigius mit Maria Magdalena KEVERICH, 20 Jahre alt, geboren am 19.12.1746 in Ehrenbreitstein (Religion: rk), gestorben am 17.07.1787 in Bonn mit 40 Jahren. Schwindsucht, Tochter von Johann Heinrich KEVERICH, Kurfürstlich Trierscher Oberhofkoch, und Anna Clara WESTORFF. [1]
  2. ^ Beethoven was baptized on 17 December, 1770. Well into adulthood he believed he had been born in 1772, telling friends the 1770 baptism was of his older brother Ludwig Maria, who died in infancy, but Ludwig Maria was actually baptized in 1769. Some biographers assert that his father tried to make him seem younger than he was in order to pass him off as a child prodigy similar to Mozart, however this is disputed. Children of that era were usually baptized the day after birth, but there is no documentary evidence that this occurred in Beethoven's case. It is known that his family and his teacher Johann Albrechtsberger celebrated his birthday on 16 December. While the known facts support the probability that 16 December, 1770, was Beethoven's date of birth, this cannot be stated with certainty. This is discussed in depth in Solomon's biography, chapter 1.
  3. ^ Kerman and Tyson
  4. ^ H. C. Robbins Landon, Beethoven, Macmillan Company 1970
  5. ^ Jim Powell, "Ludwig van Beethoven's Joyous Affirmation of Human Freedom", The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty, December 1995 Vol. 45 No. 12
  6. ^ Milton Cross, David Ewen, The Milton Cross New Encyclopedia of the Great Composers and Their Music, Doubleday 1953 p79
  7. ^ Sadie, Stanley; Tyrrell, John, eds. (2001). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd ed.). London: Macmillan Publishers. ISBN 978-1-56159-239-5. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)‎
  8. ^ "Some Tributes to Beethoven in English Verse" - Felix White The Musical Times, Vol. 68, No. 1010 (Apr. 1, 1927) mentions this fact
  9. ^ An incident described in Maynard Solomon's biography.
  10. ^ Stanley, Glenn (2000). The Cambridge Companion to Beethoven. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521589347.
  11. ^ R&E Sterba
  12. ^ a b Cold Case in Vienna: Who Killed Beethoven? - CBS News
  13. ^ Kerman and Tyson
  14. ^ Kerman and Tyson
  15. ^ H. C. Robbins Landon, Beethoven, Macmillan Company 1970
  16. ^ Ludwig van Beethoven - Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon
  17. ^ Kerman and Tyson
  18. ^ Kerman and Tyson
  19. ^ The Art Of Beethoven, Volumes I & II, Peter Dimmond
  20. ^ Kerman and Tyson
  21. ^ Ludwig van Beethoven, IMDb.

Further reading

  • Joseph Kerman and Alan Tyson (and others): "Beethoven, Ludwig van", Grove Music Online ed L.Macy (accessed 18th March 2007), grovemusic.com, subscription access.
  • Albrecht, Theodor, and Elaine Schwensen, "More Than Just Peanuts: Evidence for December 16 as Beethoven's birthday." The Beethoven Newsletter 3 (1988): 49, 60-63.
  • Bohle, Bruce, and Robert Sabin. The International Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians. London: J.M.Dent & Sons LTD, 1975. ISBN 0-460-04235-1.
  • Clive, Peter. Beethoven and His World: A Biographical Dictionary. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-19-816672-9.
  • Davies, Peter J. The Character of a Genius: Beethoven in Perspective. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2002. ISBN 0-313-31913-8.
  • Davies, Peter J. Beethoven in Person: His Deafness, Illnesses, and Death. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2001. ISBN 0-313-31587-6.
  • DeNora, Tia. "Beethoven and the Construction of Genius: Musical Politics in Vienna, 1792-1803." Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1995. ISBN 0-520-21158-8.
  • Geck, Martin. Beethoven. Translated by Anthea Bell. London: Haus, 2003. ISBN 1-904341-03-9 (h), ISBN 1-904341-00-4 (p).
  • Hatten, Robert S. Musical Meaning in Beethoven. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. p. 372. ISBN 0-253-32742-3. {{cite book}}: Check |first= value (help); Unknown parameter |tear= ignored (help)
  • Kropfinger, Klaus. Beethoven. Verlage Bärenreiter/Metzler, 2001. ISBN 3-7618-1621-9.
  • Martin, Russell. Beethoven's Hair. New York: Broadway Books, 2000. ISBN 978-0767903509
  • Meredith, William. "The History of Beethoven's Skull Fragments." The Beethoven Journal 20 (2005): 3-46.
  • Morris, Edmund. Beethoven: The Universal Composer. New York: Atlas Books / HarperCollins, 2005. ISBN 0-06-075974-7.
  • Rosen, Charles. The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven. (Expanded ed.) New York: W. W. Norton, 1998. ISBN 0-393-04020-8 (hc); ISBN 0-393-31712-9 (pb).
  • Solomon, Maynard. Beethoven, 2nd revised edition. New York: Schirmer Books, 2001. ISBN 0-8256-7268-6.
  • Solomon, Maynard. Late Beethoven: Music, Thought, Imagination. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003. ISBN 0-520-23746-3.
  • Stanley, Glenn, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Beethoven. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. ISBN 0-521-58074-9 (hc), ISBN 0-521-58934-7 (pb).
  • Thayer, A. W., rev and ed. Elliot Forbes. Thayer's Life of Beethoven. (2 vols.) Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-09103-X
  • Editha & Richard Sterba,MD. "Beethoven & his Nephew - a Psychoanalytic Study of their Relationship" Pantheon Books Inc. New York.
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