It certainly was his most productive. In about a decade Beethoven produced countless masterpieces in every genre. In , however, his musical output began to drop, possibly in connection to his declining health and mental state.
Around the famous Immortal Beloved affair occured which left Beethoven in deep depression and contemplating suicide. Beethoven's output was mostly null until At this point he was completely deaf and slightly mad. Also his brother died leaving Beethoven's only nephew, Karl, in the guardianship of his mother. Now Beethoven felt that she was not fit to raise Karl, so he entered into a vicious lawsuit over custody of the child.
For the most part he was able to use his influence with the aristocracy to win the battle. Unfortunately Beethoven was not a fit father and his relationship with Karl was quite poor, driving him to an suicide attempt a few years later. Beethoven loved Karl dearly, and the pain of his failed attempts to teach Karl music must have been devestating for Beethoven.
It's often spectulated that Karl was probably a strong contributor to Beethoven's late style. It is relevant at this time to include a few words about Beethoven's compositional processes. Mozart was able to get on a train, a few hours later get off with a whole opera composed in his head.
Beethoven couldn't do that. In fact every phrase, every note was like pulling teeth. 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.
He died at the age of Beethoven was born on or about December 16, , 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, 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 , and he stubbornly insisted on the incorrect date even when presented with official papers that proved beyond any reasonable doubt that was his true birth year.
Beethoven had two younger brothers who survived into adulthood: Caspar, born in , and Johann, born in 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.
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. 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 , 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 , 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 florins. There is only speculation and inconclusive evidence that Beethoven ever met with Mozart, let alone studied with him. 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. When the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II died in , a 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. In , with French revolutionary forces sweeping across the Rhineland into the Electorate of Cologne, Beethoven decided to leave his hometown for Vienna once again.
Mozart had passed away a year earlier, leaving Joseph Haydn as the unquestioned greatest composer alive. Haydn was living in Vienna at the time, and it was with Haydn that the young Beethoven now intended to study.
As his friend and patron Count Waldstein wrote in a farewell letter, "Mozart's genius mourns and weeps over the death of his disciple. It found refuge, but no release with the inexhaustible Haydn; through him, now, it seeks to unite with another. By means of assiduous labor you will receive the spirit of Mozart from the hands of Haydn.
In Vienna, Beethoven dedicated himself wholeheartedly to musical study with the most eminent musicians of the age. As a result Beethoven saw his works published in many different versions that were unauthorized, unchecked, and often inaccurate. Several times during his life in Vienna Beethoven started plans for a complete, authorized edition of his works, but these plans were never realized. Beethoven's two main personal problems, especially in later life, were his deafness and his relationship with his nephew, Karl.
Beethoven began to lose his hearing during his early years in Vienna, and the condition Ludwig van Beethoven. Courtesy of the Library of Congress. So severe was the problem that as early as he actually considered suicide. In he gave up hope of performing publicly as a pianist. After he was no longer able to carry on conversations with visitors, who were forced to communicate with him in writing. The second problem arose when he became Karl's guardian upon the death of his brother in Karl proved to be unstable and a continuing source of worry to an already troubled man.
Beethoven's deafness and his temper contributed to his reputation as an unpleasant personality. But reliable accounts and a careful reading of Beethoven's letters reveal him to be a powerful and self-conscious man, totally involved in his creative work but alert to its practical side as well, and one who is sometimes willing to change to meet current demands.
For example, he wrote some works on commission, such as his cantata a narrative poem set to music for the Congress of Vienna, Beethoven's deafness affected his social life, and it must have changed his personality deeply. In any event, his development as an artist would probably have caused a crisis in his relationship to the musical and social life of the time sooner or later.
In his early years he wrote as a pianist-composer for an immediate and receptive public; in his last years he wrote for himself. Common in Beethoven biographies is the focus on Beethoven's awareness of current events and ideas, especially his attachment to the ideals of the French Revolution —99; the revolt of the French middle class to end absolute power by French kings and his faith in the brotherhood of men, as expressed in his lifelong goal of composing a version of "Ode to Joy," by Friedrich Schiller — , realized at last in the Ninth Symphony.
Also frequently mentioned is his genuine love of nature and outdoor life. No one had ever heard anything like Beethoven's last works; they were too advanced for audiences and even professional musicians for some time after his death in Beethoven was aware of this.
It seems, however, he expected later audiences to have a greater understanding of and appreciation for them. Beethoven reportedly told a visitor who was confused by some of his later pieces, "They are not for you but for a later age.
Autexier, Philippe A. Beethoven: The Composer As Hero. Edited by Carey Lovelace. New York: H. Abrams, Balcavage, Dynise. Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer. New York: Chelsea House, Solomon, Maynard.
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