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Ludwig Van Beethoven

Born: December 16, 1770 in Bonn

Died: March 27, 1827 after a long illness

Beethoven, being fourteen years Mozart's junior, was an aristocrat and a great artist and creator. As such, he was superior to kings and nobles and had radical beliefs about society, and passionate ideas about music. "What is in my heart must come out and so I write it down," he said to one of his pupils. This is not something that you would have heard from Mozart, Haydn, or Bach as they were capable artisans who were supplying a product, and who never thought of writing their music down for the sake of posterity. But Beethoven knew that his writing would be preserved. Goethe wrote of him, "Never have I met an artist of such spiritual concentration and intensity, such vitality and great-heartedness. I can well understand how hard he must find it to adapt to the world and its ways." Beethoven had a commanding personality and genius, and basically controlled life on his own terms, except for the tragedy of his deafness.

Ludwig Van Beethoven was about 5 feet 4 inches tall, amply and solidly built with a large head, a huge and wild mass of hair, protruding teeth, a diminutive and rounded nose, and had a bad habit of spitting whenever the mood struck him. Lacking coordination, often things were broken or a shambles when he touched them. He was a suspicious man who believed that most people were out to take advantage of him in some way, had no manners, was addle-brained and absent-minded, and sometimes unethical with his publishers. He was a bachelor who basically lived in a mess for the most part because he couldn't keep servants due to his tantrums.

The one way Beethoven was not disorderly and chaotic was his music. He was recognized for having genius from a very young age. He was a child prodigy, with a strict regimen which affected his life. A child psychiatrist who studied the life of Beethoven said of him, "An early rebellion against his father's arbitrariness and unjust strictness laid the foundation for the revolt against every kind of authority which appears in Beethoven with an intensity which can only be described as highly unusual." His father hoped that Beethoven would be another Mozart, following in his footsteps. However, it would not be that way. Although Beethoven certainly had the talent and skill, and at the age of twelve, was a skilled pianist, violinist and organist, he was actually more than that; he was a true architect of music, full of elucidation and innovation. This innovation set him apart from the rest. He had lessons with such salient composers of the day as Haydn and Mozart, but was not satisfied, and the lessons ended. He could not be taught because his own genius took over his abilities. He was deterred when one of his friends pointed out a series of parallel fifths, which is a 'sin' in the rules of classical music. Beethoven said, "I admit them," and wrote a notebook wherein one harmony is worked out seventeen times to prove that parallel fifths do work. He was always suspicious of the rules of music and would write his own rules!

His first claim to fame was on the piano. The critic Carl Ludwig Junker heard him play and exclaimed, "His style of treating the instrument is so different from that usually heard that it gives one the idea that he has attained that height of excellence on which he now stands by a path of his own discovery." He played with such power that he often broke the strings of the instrument, begging the manufacturers to come up with a much more sturdy piano than the harp-like Viennese piano to which Mozart had become accustomed. He was a great pianist and improviser, who could outplay such greats as Hummel, the Abbe Gelinek, Joseph Wolffl, Daniel Steibelt and Ignaz Moscheles. He traveled with, played for and even dined with nobility, unlike his counterparts Haydn and Mozart who were expected to dine with the servants when in similar situations. He had many love affairs within these circles, although none ever went anywhere serious. As a matter of fact, it seems he avoided women who might be interested in marriage, and relegated himself to only those who were already married or who had no interest in taking the vows.

During his early years, all was well as Beethoven had a fortuitous career and was well-celebrated. He was a great pianist and composer, and had a list of famous pupils from Vienna to teach. He was well-off, being able to state his price for his compositions. But at this point in time a horrible thing was beginning to happen...his hearing was beginning to fail! "My ears buzz continually day and night. I can say that I am living a wretched life because it is impossible to say to people: 'I am deaf'...In order to give you an idea of this singular deafness of mine, I must tell you that in the theater I must get very close to the orchestra in order to understand the actor. If I am a little too distant I do not hear the high notes of the instruments, singers, and if I am a little further back I do not hear at all. Frequently I can hear a low conversation, but not the words, and as soon as anybody shouts, it is intolerable," Beethoven had written to Wegeler. He tried everything he could think of to cure the problem to no avail.

He refused to allow his deafness to slow him down, although his hearing degraded slowly and continually until in 1817 he was almost completely deaf. The cause could possibly have been from typhus, or from syphilis (acquired or congenital). Though deaf, Beethoven continued to play the piano and conduct his own music. Soon he let sight take the place of his hearing; he would follow the bowing of the instruments and notice the "smallest imperfections in tempo or rhythm and correct them immediately," according to Joseph Bohm, leader of a string quartet. Beethoven had perfect pitch, and a great internal acuity for music. He had the ability to hear and name any note or combination of notes; he could sing any note named without the help of the piano also, so that 'hearing' was not something he needed his ears to do because his mind did it.

His sonatas and other works hinted at a new world. The eighteenth century was rolling into the nineteenth and along with it, the great and powerful music of Beethoven. The difference between the styles of these periods, the classical and the romantic, is the difference between a society based on aristocracy and one based on the concept of individuality. However, once he became totally deaf, his composing began to wane, and his pen became still. He had some health issues, along with the deafness, as well as some very bad times with his nephew Karl whom he had come to be guardian over on the death of his brother. Karl attempted suicide at one point, and Beethoven did not take it well, having been told by his nephew to leave him alone. Eventually Karl went into the army, then married, inherited his Uncle Johann's estate and died in 1858.

In Vienna, Beethoven was purported to be the most famous composer ever, even more famous than Johann Nepomuk Hummel. He was also one of the great eccentrics of his time! At his death, on March 27, 1827, it is said that there were thunder and lightning and he got up and shook his fist at them before passing...he was defiant throughout his life, why not be in death also? It is reported that 20,000 people came to his funeral.

He was the greatest musical intellect in the history of music. He is the tie between the classical and romantic periods, having started in the classical custom, and developing a musical language all his own which is dark and raging. He was a very slow worker, having written and rewritten his works several times before being satisfied with them. He would break all of the rules of classical writing, and bend sonata form to suit himself and his writing. His Ninth Symphony, written once he was deaf, is a fine example of making rules and creating a crippling experience musically...it is absolute music.

Beethoven said, "I don't want to know anything about your system of ethics. Strength is the morality of the man who stands out from the rest, and it is mine." And he did stand out from the rest in all he accomplished!

A Bust of Beethoven

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