Ludwig Van Beethoven

If Mozart was God’s Voice then, certainly, Beethoven was God’s

FIRE.

Salieri had said that Mozart’s music sounded like the voice of God.

Of all the great composers, Beethoven was probably the one most inclined to brood. He was moody, arrogant, and often insulting. He could also be warm, affectionate and good-humored. You just had to catch him on the

right day.

Ludwig Van Beethoven was

born on December 16th, 1770, in Bonn, Germany, in a little house on

Bonngasse River.

His father was merely a mediocre musician, and sorry to say, a drunk.

Johann Van Beethoven

Ludwig’s father would come home sometimes late at night, wake the boy from his sleep, and force him to practice the piano or viola until the morning church bells sounded. It is said that his sole companion was a spider who would crawl out of the corner and perch on the boy’s viola.

You’d think that after that kind of treatment, music would be the last thing Ludwig wanted to do with his life. In spite of his father, he grew to love music, and became a skilled pianist.

His father also told everyone that he was two years younger, just to make him seem more talented. Beethoven himself didn’t know his real age for much of his life.

Beethoven’s father very much wanted the boy to become a musical prodigy like Mozart. Little Beethoven started piano lessons when he was very young, in fact so small that he had to stand on the piano bench to reach the keys.

Beethoven was a grubby little boy, the type who always forgets to wash behind his ears. He quit school at 11 and by 16 was court organist to the elector. He was already beginning to compose small pieces and was an absolute whiz at sight reading.

In 1792, he moved to Vienna, where he was introduced to a 30-year-old Mozart. Armed with

a letter of introduction from a friend, whom Mozart knew, he gained entry into Mozart's

home and was ushered into the music room to meet his great idol.

Mozart was in no mood to receive him. His health was plaguing him - his untimely death

at the age of 35 was less than five years away - and he did not want to stop working to listen to a child prodigy from somewhere hundreds

of miles away."Play something," he told Beethoven.

Beethoven played the opening of Mozart's C minor Piano Concerto. "Not that," said Mozart.

"Anybody can play that. Play something of your own."

Beethoven did, and when the young man had finished, Mozart walked into the adjoining

room where his wife Constanze was entertaining friends.

"Stanzi, Stanzi," he said, pointing back into the music room, "watch out for that boy. One day

he will give the world something to talk about."

MozartYoung

Beethoven

Mozart agreed to take Beethoven on as a pupil, but when Beethoven returned to his lodgings there was an urgent telegram

from his father telling him to return home immediately - his mother was seriously ill and doctors feared for her life.

Beethoven had no choice but to leave. Less than two weeks after arriving in Vienna, he left for home-

without ever achieving his ambition of taking lessons with Mozart.By the time he returned to Vienna in November 1792, Mozart was

dead. Instead, he did take lessons from Haydn and Salieri for a short while. He was too pig-headed to learn much from either of

them, though.

Haydn Salieri

Beethoven did stay in Vienna this time, and was

quite a hit as a concert pianist. He was regarded

as the city’s foremost improviser. Contenders would spar in a contest

where each would have to improvise on a well-

known piece of music. To maintain his position, he would have to crush the

competition…and he always did.Video of Beethoven in an improvising contest

.

He could be very stubborn when he wanted to be, which was most of the time. If he didn’t feel like it, he wouldn’t play when you asked him, even if, like the Countess Thun, you got down on your knees and begged him.

Beethoven knew his place – it just wasn’t the same place they expected of him.

The aristocracy expected him to be subservient and to know his place.

He once told off his patron, Prince Lichnowsky, with the remark,

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

As you might expect with such a hot temper, Beethoven had real trouble keeping servants. They just wouldn’t put up with him. He didn’t get along very well with landlords either, so he had to move every few months. He was a slob, basically. When Beethoven came visiting, it was a good idea to hide away the fine porcelain. He dropped things.

He was no better in restaurants. He would leave without paying a bill, or sometimes absent-mindedly pay for a meal he hadn’t ordered. He scribbled music on the napkins, tablecloths or menus. He once got so angry at a waiter that he dumped his plate of veal and gravy over the man’s head.

He was hardly the tall, dark, and handsome type. He had good teeth, piercing eyes, and a stern, pock-marked face. He was only 5 feet 4 inches tall.

Even though he was rough around the edges, all seemed to be going well for

Beethoven in Vienna.

He was gaining

popularity not only as pianist, but

as a talented

composer too.

Beethoven video

He began to notice his hearing loss when he was about 30. After a while, it was difficult for him to hear what

people were saying, so he just stayed at home as much as possible. He wanted it to remain a secret. If it got

any worse, what kind of life waited for a deaf musician? Would there be any hope of marriage?

Beethoven video

However, the second time was even worse. A friend wrote "Go Home" on a piece of paper and passed it to Beethoven. Finally he realized what was

happening . He threw his baton down and stormed out of the building. He never really recovered from this. He was found at home with his face buried in his

hands.

In 1805, a performance of Beethoven’s only opera, "Fidelio,” was announced and he insisted upon conducting it. By this time, his deafness, although never

admitted by himself, was common knowledge in society. At the first playing

there was some confusion. The orchestra played ahead of the singer.

Nobody had the heart to tell Beethoven that all was wrong. Finally, one of the violinists pretended to be sick in order to allow a short pause and start again.

Before the age of 50, Ludwig had lost his

hearing entirely. As the years wore on, he broke

more and more strings on his piano by pounding the

keys trying to hear the sounds.

Even after he was completely deaf, Beethoven composed a large number of pieces, including one of his most famous symphonies. He might have heard them in his head, but he never got to hear them out

loud.

In the end, he fell apart completely and died in 1827. A witness at his bedside reported that Beethoven came out of his coma and raised an angry fist at

the heavens.

Ludwig van Beethoven may have been rude, clumsy,

unrefined, and even deaf, but he is considered among the

greatest composers that ever lived. He wrote 9 symphonies, five piano concertos, 16 string quartets, 10 sonatas for violin

and five for cello, 30 piano sonatas, two masses, more chamber music than we can name, and one opera called

“Fidelio.” All of it is remarkably original and emotional. He gave future composers the freedom of

expression without the music being tied to any social or

religious activity. The music could be enjoyed for its own

sake.

At Beethoven’s funeral, a crowd of 20,000 lined the streets to pay their last

respects.

Listening:

1) Symphony No. 52) Symphony No. 9 (sometimes this is referred to as “Ode to ?”)