Ludwig Van Beethoven

Ludwig Van Beethoven

Introduction

Ludwig van Beethoven was born in the year 1770 and died in the year 1827. He was born in Bonn, Germany as a second born to a man known as Johann van Beethoven son of Lodewijk van Beethoven and a woman named Maria Magdalene Kaverich, the daughter of Johann Heinrich Kaverich (head chef at the court of Archbishopric). Although an alcoholic, his father was a great musician and a tenor singer at the Court of Bonn. His mother was known to be a gentle, warm-hearted retiring woman whom Ludwig referred to as his best friend. He had six other siblings but four died and only three boys survived of whom he was the eldest. He became a pianist and a composer. He is the man that comes in many people’s mind, when we think about the classical and the romantic eras (Lockwood 10).

Beethoven’s interest in music started at a very early age and his father made sure that he did what he could to make it easy for him. He taught his son music in any opportunity that he found and so he was Beethoven’s first teacher. He also wanted his son to be a child prodigy after Mozart. Though he encountered many challenges in the years that he lived including loosing his sense of hearing, he remains the best.

Music Path

As mentioned earlier, Beethoven’s interest in music began at a very early age. After much training from his father, he gave his first public performance playing the piano at the age of 7 1/2 on 26 March, the year 1778. However, his father said that he was six years old. This made Beethoven think that he was much younger than he actually was. When he received a copy of his baptismal certificate, he thought that it was for his brother Ludwig Maria, who was born two years ahead of him, but had already died. Beethoven’s music period is believed to be in three parts: the early part, which lasted until the year 1802, the middle part, which lasted until 1814 and the late part, which lasted until his death in 1827 (Macdonald 65).

When he reached eleven years old, he got the necessary systematic piano performance and composition training. This was done Christian Gottlob Neefe, a court musician and an organist. In 1782, Ludwig brought out his first piece, 9 variations in C minor (Dahlhaus & Whittall 34). This was for the piano, on a march by Ernst C. Dressler. Neefe complimented him in the 1783 issue of the “The Magazine of Music” and said that he went on as he was doing; he would become the new Mozart. In 1784, he selected as the court of Maximillan Franz organist. This was at the young age of 14. One of the major benefits he got from this experience was that he met some people who would become his lifetime friends. This included the Breunig family, Karl Amenda, a violinist, the Reis family, Franz Wegeler, Eleonore, a doctor, just to mention but a few (Parevot, 2001).

In 1787, he was employed as a musician in the Bonn court orchestra. Later, during the early part of 1787, he got a paid leave in order to study in Vienna under Mozart. Unfortunately, he was forced to return to Bonn especially after his mother’s death on 17 July 1787, where he had to take care of his siblings (Dahlhaus & Whittall 55). This is because he felt responsible for them since his father became more and more incapable of taking care of them due to his alcoholic problem (he could hardly keep a job). Five years down the line, in the year 1792, Ludwig went back to Vienna, after getting another scholarship by Prince Elector. He got lessons from Haydn, Salieri, Schenk and Albrechtsberger (Skorownech 18).

In the year 1794, he composed an opus 1. In the year that followed, he performed publicly (first) in Vienna at an Academy. In this performance, each musician was to do his own work. He made other performances in Leipzig, Prague, Berlin and Dresden then went for a concert Budapest. He made many supporters in this place although he often became angry with one or another at some point. In 1800, he made another performance in Vienna, which included a symphony. Although this symphony is now taken as a classical, some people found it strange and risqué and over extravagant at that time. He was already reaching the established boundaries of music and threatening to go further at a very young age (Parevot, 2001).

His music was sometimes inspired by some events or happenings. For example, Bonaparte inspired his third symphony. He dedicated this piece to him as he saw him as a people’s liberator. However, when he put himself as Emperor, Ludwig became angered and erased Bonaparte’s name from the piece. The Eroica symphony was played on 7 April 1805 for the first time. Beethoven is known to have only written one opera known as Leonore, which later changed to Fidelio. He first performed it on 20 November 1805 before some French officers. This is because Napoleon had captured Vienna for the first time. Beethoven did very many works and taught many students in the years later. Amongst his works were the Coriolan Overture, the Pastoral and the letter for Elise. As for the students, he preferred working with the young and attractive students and this made him fall in love a couple of times. One of his students was Archbishop Rudolph who also became his close friend and benefactor (Lockwood 100).

Another outstanding thing about Beethoven was that he was a free composer. He lived without any financial constraints. This was because some of his wealthy admirers such as Prince Lobkowitz., Archbishop Rudolph and Prince Kinsky offered him an annual gift of 4000 florins as long as he did not leave Vienna. Musicians such as Haydn, Mozart and Bach worked as servants in aristocrat families and they were not given any special privileges. Beethoven could write whatever music that pleased him whether or not under instructions (Macdonald 28).

Goethe, a poet and Beethoven met in the year 1812, when July was ending. The interesting thing about these two is that they did not understand each other yet they really admired one another. Ludwig said that the poet was too servile while Goethe found the composer “untamed’. Beethoven put some of Goethe’s works into music but he said that he wished Goethe understood him better.

Beethoven’s problems started when Prince Lobkowitz fell into financial problems and Prince Kinsky died after falling off a horse. His people stopped the financial help that the prince provided to Ludwig. Czech Johann N. Maelzel started contacting Ludwig. This two had met before as Maelzel had tried to put together some gadgets to help him with his hearing. In 1813, Ludwig wrote another piece known as “The victory of Wellington”. This was written from an inspiration from an instrument (panharmonica) made by Maelzel.

Beethoven did not marry. He lived a very restless life having to change homes at least fifty two times. However, there was a time he cohabitated with his deceased brother’s wife as a sign of granting him his wish of taking care of the son Karl with the mother (Brother’s wife). However, he did not do as well here as there was a barrier of communication since Beethoven had now become completely deaf and a lack of understanding of the child. Beethoven had even tried to introduce Karl to the music world (through Carl Czerny, a former student to Beethoven), but it did not succeed as he had wished to. The boy did not have as much talent as Beethoven (Parevot, 2001).

In 1823, Beethoven finished his ninth symphony. 1824, he played it. By this time, he had become completely deaf. Although it was a general success, there were problems experienced in the musical and the sung sections. However, it did not bring a financial income as was expected. The financial difficulties presented barriers to the writer. One of the major reasons is because he always put aside money for his nephew. During his last years, Beethoven was at the period of the last quartets. These are still a challenge to understand even today. During the same time, he began writing his 10^th symphony (Macdonald 72).

In 1826, he caught a cold when on his way from his brother’s house. This became more complicated due to other health problems that he had faced over the years. He died on 26 May 1827 while surrounded by many close friends. The funeral ceremony took place in the Holy Trinity church and buried in Wahring Cemetery, now known as Schubert Park. It is estimated 30,000 mourners and onlookers attended the funeral.

Some of great admirers, such as Franz Schubert took great interest in his works. He never became close to him although he carried his coffin during his funeral. Other people have also used his works and translated the symphonies into piano. He contributed a lot in the musical world although he did not leave any known children of his own. His nephew Karl did not succeed him as he had wished he would (Prevot, 2001).

Conclusion

Beethoven is classified in the category of Mozart or maybe higher. His works are greatly used even today by both students and the professionals. His considered a great influence in the romantic and the classical musical periods. However, it is clear that one cannot have everything. Since he was considered a genius, it would depend on how one took the word genius to mean. He did not have a girlfriend of his own and the lovers told about were not clearly known. The love letter he wrote is not clear whom it was addressed to.

His financial independence enabled him to work more freely and do what he wanted to do. It gave him to compose music of his choice unlike the others who composed them under the influence of their masters. The favor he got in the eyes of the people also contributed to the widespread of his works.

Works Cited

Dahlhaus, Carl, and Mary Whittall. Ludwig van Beethoven: approaches to his music. London: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print.

Lockwood, Lewis. Beethoven: the music and the life. New York, NY: Norton, 2005. Print.

Macdonald, Hugh. Beethoven’s century: essays on composers and themes. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 2008. Print.

Prevot, Dominique. Beethoven Biography. 2001. Web. 18 April 2011.

Skowroneck, Tilman. Beethoven the Pianist. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2010. Print.

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