Beethoven was born in Bonn in Germany, the son of a singer in
the service of die Elector of Cologne. His father was
weak-spirited and drank excessively, but he recognized the boy's
talent and was disappointed when the young Beethoven failed to
emulate Mozart as a child prodigy. Nevertheless, Beethoven soon
held positions as harpsichordist in the court theatre and
assistant organist in the Electoral chapel, where he obtained his
first lessons in composition from the court organist.
During his first visit to Vienna in 1787
Beethoven impressed Mozart with his improvisations at the
keyboard. Before any formal tuition could take place, however,
news that Beethoven's mother was dying took him back to Bonn. By
the time he returned to Vienna in 1792, Mozart too was dead. He
went instead to Haydn for composition lessons, but the two men
were temperamental opposites, and the instruction he received from
Johann Albrechtsberger proved more valuable.
Meanwhile, Beethoven's career as a pianist made
a promising start. His passion and dynamism at the keyboard more
than compensated for a lack of polish. He made his first
appearance in Vienna in 1795 playing his Piano concerto Л'о.
2 m В flat, and was soon established as the city's leading
pianist. Other compositions from the 1790s include piano sonatas,
cello sonatas, and violin sonatas. The two forms that
were to have special significance for
Beethoven were still to come: he completed his first symphony in
1800 and his first set of string quartets in 1801. Beethoven was
Vienna's first successful freelance musician: he never again held
a court position after leaving Bonn. Instead he had wealthy
aristocratic friends, patrons and perhaps lovers, to whom he
dedicated his early compositions in return for payment. His
success in such circles, despite notoriously awkward manners, an
unpredictable temper, and a refusal to defer to superior social
rank, can be attributed to his genius and personal magnetism.
Beginning in 1798, Beethoven experienced a continual humming and
whistling m his ears that gradually grew stronger, eventually
prompting the agonizing realization that he was going deaf. In
1802, in a state of desperation in which he contemplated suicide,
Beethoven retired to the secluded village of Heiligenstadt and
addressed to his brothers a
statement expressing his anguish. The ''Heiligenstadt Testament",
as it is known, marks the start of a new period in Beethoven's
output; the next ten years saw one of the most prodigious
outpourings of masterpieces in the history of music. By 1812 he
had completed Symphonies 2—8, Piano concertos 4 and 5, the
Violin concerto, his opera Fidelio, the three
Rasumovsky string quartets and a wealth of piano sonatas and
other works.
Haydn and Mozart had demonstrated that melody
alone, no matter how beautiful, could not hold an audience's
attention for more than a minute or two and had mastered the
principle of using harmonic tension to sustain large-scale
structures. But Beethoven went further; with the first movement or
the Eroica symphony (1803) he created a single span of
uninterrupted music of unprecedented length. He also widened the
scope of the piano sonata to symphonic proportions with his
Waldstein sonata (1803) - dedicated
to his old friend Count Waldstein — and even more
with the Appassionata (1804—5). In this he introduces new
dynamic extremes, shattering the thoughtful calm of the opening
with sudden fortissimo chords. This music was revolutionary, and
not only in technique. Beethoven's expanded forms broadened the
scope for emotional expression, giving voice to the revolutionary
spirit of the age. He was a passionate democrat and greatly
admired the young Napoleon, whose name in fact originally appeared
on the title page of the Eroica symphony. When Beethoven
heard that Napoleon had declared himself Emperor, however, he tore
the page out and substituted "In Memory of a Great Man."
What raises Beethoven's genius in music to the level of
Shakespeare's in literature is his supreme master)' of musical
form. He was able to create vast and complex musical structures
stemming from the fundamental building blocks of music itself. For
him a simple musical figure had manifold implications that could
generate an entire symphony. So, for example, the opening four
notes of his Fifth symphony (1807), supposedly depicting
Fate knocking at the door, are especially portentous, since some
derivation of them is heard in nearly every bar of the first
movement.
After 1812 Beethoven's output dropped
drastically. He became involved in a number of lawsuits, including
one over royalties for his only truly programmatic and probably
his worst published work - Wellington's victory. In 1820 he
won custody of his nephew Karl, following the death in 1815 of
Beethoven's brother. Although there is no doubting his good
intentions and love for the boy the arrangement was not a success.
Beethoven had never married and wanted to treat Karl as his own
son, but deepening poverty and a frenetic resumption of
composition meant that his nephew was neglected. The year before
Beethoven's death the boy attempted suicide.
Beethoven began composing intensively again in
1817. Most of 1818 was taken up with his colossal Hammerklavier
sonata, and the years until 1824 were divided between the last
three Piano sonatas, the Diabelli variations, the
Missa Solemnis -a Mass commissioned by Beethoven's patron
Archduke Rudolph, delivered three years late owing to the
complexities of its composition — and the Ninth symphony.
This work, whose final movement is a triumphant setting of
Schiller's Ode to joy, again broke new ground in terms of
scale and introduced choral forces into the symphony for the first
time. After the first performance Beethoven stood stone deaf on
the stage, oblivious of everything, until one of the soloists
turned him around to see the thunderous applause.
In his final years Beethoven turned once again
to the string quartet. In 1 825 and 1826 he produced five works,
at once profoundly complex and serene, for this intimate medium.
He had become preoccupied with fugal techniques, just as in later
life Bach had done, and the Grossc fuge — originally the
finale to his Quartet in В flat - is one of the most
extended and elaborate examples of the form.
These last works were far ahead of their time
and still challenge scholars and listeners. Beethoven did not live
to complete sketches he had made for further works. At his funeral
in 1827 he was mourned by a huge crowd, including fellow artists
and aristocratic friends. His tombstone bore a single word:
"Beethoven."
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