Beethoven Argumentative Essay

Ever since his father began teaching him as a child to play the violin and clavier, any keyboard instrument such as the harpsichord, Ludwig van Beethoven has been amongst the most renowned and influential composers of music. Despite the harsh punishments and mistreatment Beethoven suffered through while practicing with his father, he still managed to become a “prodigy” at a rather young age, having his first public recital at around seven years old. After his first recital role music played in his continued to grow, and soon after dropping out of school to pursue music “full time” he published his first composition.

Only a few composers in the history of time have ever successfully left their mark throughout our musical world we live in today. It’s been over two hundred years since the birth of Beethoven and his music still speaks to us today as he originally expressed and composed it. Ludwig Van Beethoven was born in the city of Bonn Germany on December 16th 1770 and has since been one of the most influential composers known to man. A common theme of early age learning and mastering seems to emerge in Beethoven’s life because while living in a musical family as a child, his father taught him how to play the piano, violin and in addition how to compose musical pieces since he was four years of age. A few short years later, he gave his first public piano performance at the age of seven. While Beethoven certainly gained a lot of knowledge from his peers, he also supported his family by giving music lessons and also by playing in the court orchestra. In the year 1792, Beethoven worked under an Austrian composer Franz Joseph Haydn and by the year 1800, his compositions established him as a strong Mozart successor.

Also among Beethoven’s teachers, though later in his life, were Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, an organist at the imperial court in Vienna whom he studied under until 1795, and Antonio Salieri; Mozart’s old rival whom Beethoven learned vocal composition in the same period he was studying under Albrechtsberger. Before Albrechtsberger and Salieri was a man named Haydn, whom he studied under for a period of about three years starting in 1792 until 1794 when Haydn moved to London. It is said that Beethoven admired Haydn so much that he was the only man he had ever bent his knee to kiss the hand of. Finally, Beethoven studied under Aloys Forster, a specialist in writing scores for quartets. It is plane to see that throughout his life, his talent was not only constructed through his love of music, but forged by his exposure to multiple mediums and teachings throughout his life.

Beethoven returned to Vienna in 1972 to continue his musical education. Beethoven never returned to his hometown and stayed in Vienna for a while. The in Vienna, Beethoven had valuable lessons from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Hayden, Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, Antonio Salieri, and Aloys Forster. Each of them had taught Beethoven something special. Beethoven quickly adopted a reputation as a great pianist, a child prodigy. Everyone in the music industry has learned to admire Beethoven and his talent.

The comparison between Mozart and Beethoven furnished a broken heart to Beethoven withal the failure of the second opera. Braun rang the bell to give an order to deliver the score and parts to Beethoven and after this dialogue, the opera, Leonore/ Fidelio was not appeared until

Napoleon becoming the Emperor was not the only reason he did not dedicate the Third Symphony to him. Beethoven was disappointed in Napoleon's turn towards imperialism. Beethoven had a repressive, anti-liberal attitude that drove him into an inner emigration.

The early piano sonatas of Beethoven deserve special mention. Although his first published examples of concertos and trios and the first two symphonies are beneath the masterpieces of Mozart and Haydn, the piano sonatas bear an unmistakably Beethovian stamp: grandiose in scope and length, and innovative in their range of expression. The sonatas were able to move expression from terrible rage to peals of laughter to deep depression so suddenly. Capturing this unpredictable style in his music, a new freedom of expression which broke the bounds of Classical ideals, was to position Beethoven as a disturbed man in the minds of some of his contemporaries. Furthermore, he was to be seen as the father of Romanticism and the single most important innovator of music in the minds of those after him. (Bookspan 27).

Even though the master, Ludwig van Beethoven composed a wide range of masterpieces in different genres, the opera, Leonore/Fidelio, Op.72 was his only work in the opera genre. In the last year of his life, he mentioned, “I wanted to write one more opera, but I haven’t found a suitable libretto for it. I need something that inspires me; it has to be something moral, edifying. I would never have been able to set to music texts like those Mozart composed. I could never get into the mood with a disreputable libretto. I have been given many suggested librettos but, as I said, nothing I could care for.” In this regard, the libretto, Leonore/Fidelio was the only one that Beethoven aims to compose music in his life and it contributes to infer how significant

Beethoven

In June of 1792, Haydn left London for Germany. Along the way, he stopped in Bonn, where the Ludwig van Beethoven, a 22-year-old composer, was introduced to him, and it was arranged that the frenetic young composer should relocate to Vienna to receive Haydn’s instruction. In a letter of 1793 to Beethoven’s patron, the elector of Cologne, Haydn stated that “Beethoven will one day be considered one of Europe’s greatest composers, and I shall be proud to be called his

After leaving Bonn, Beethoven hit Vienna ready to make a new life for himself. It takes him three months to settle all the arrangements Beethoven’s new teacher. Lessons with Haydn stood for over a year and were done then latter left London. It seems that although their relationship started out on the wrong foot, the lack of spending time with each other and Haydn’s age, combined with Beethoven’s anger issues, made the worst time of their lessons.

An accurate understanding and description of Beethoven’s piano music can be achieved with a concise analysis of his piano sonatas. Beethoven

The depression however, did not last and Beethoven continued carrying on as a young musician. In 1790, Beethoven, just 19 years old, received a remarkable honor of composing a musical memorial for the death of the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II. With no reasons known, this piece was never played. “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” (“Biography”). Just under two decades old, this man was pronouncing himself in the world. As Mozart said before, he was giving the world amazing music to talk about.

In the year 1793 “Beethoven begins lessons with Haydn. The city 's most influential musical patrons -- particularly Prince Lichnowsky - take Beethoven under their wing, and put him forward to take on the city 's piano virtuosos in improvisation contests. One after the other he defeats them and quickly establishes his reputation as the finest piano virtuoso in Vienna (Suchet).” After working with Haydn for a while he got frustrated due to the fact that Haydn was busy with his own works. In 1794 Haydn went off to London and while he was there Beethoven secretly took lessons from other teachers so Haydn would not know.

Beethoven elevated the importance of the finale of a symphony. His influence can be traced through the painting that artist paint of him, the poems poets write about, and the music we listen to today. Music is the most important part of our history, and he had a big part in the way composer did their work after he passed. He influenced a majority of the composers of the Romantic era including Schumann, Liszt, Brahms, Chopin, and Schubert. Beethoven’s image as a composer and Romantic figure has been shown