1. Intro: Composer Ludwig van Beethoven was an innovator, widening the scope of sonata, symphony, concerto, and quartet, and combining vocals and instruments in a new way. His personal life was marked by a struggle against deafness, and some of his most important works were composed during the last 10 years of his life, when he was quite unable to hear. He is an crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, a pianist, a composer who remains one of the most famous and influential of all composers.
2. Body:
Family: Composer, pianist, Ludwig Van Beethoven, widely considered the greatest composer of all time, was born on or about December 16, 1770 in the city of Bonn, Germany. Although
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The most famous masterpieces in this period of time is symphonies No. 3-8, the "Moonlight Sonata," the "Kreutzer" violin sonata and Fidelio, his only opera. Despite his extraordinary output of beautiful music, Beethoven was lonely and frequently miserable throughout his adult life. Short-tempered, absent-minded, greedy and suspicious to the point of paranoia, Beethoven feuded with his brothers, his publishers, his housekeepers, his pupils and his patrons. By 1814, Beethoven was almost totally deaf. In 1826, Beethoven caught cold, The illness complicated other health problems from which Beethoven had suffered all his life. He passed away encircled by his closest friends on March 26th 1827, just as a storm broke out.Beethoven died on 26 March 1827 at the age of 56 during a thunderstorm. Beethoven 's funeral procession on 29 March 1827 was attended by an estimated 20,000 Viennese citizens.
Music:
Beethoven is acknowledged as one of the giants of classical music. His influence on subsequent generations of composers was profound. His work comprises more than 650 compositions. Beethoven composed in several musical genres. His works for symphony orchestra include nine symphonies, and about a dozen pieces of "occasional" music, seven concerti and only one for opera. His large body of compositions for piano includes 32 piano sonatas, 10 violin sonatas, 5 cello sonatas.
Beethoven 's
When we talk about Beethoven people often recall him as one that was great. When you think of Beethoven you can consider him a transitional composer and that is mainly because he is the crucial transitional figure linking the Classical and Romantic eras of musical history. Beethoven's innovation was the ability to briskly establish imperishability in bringing together different keys and unexpected notes to join them. Beethoven's music was correspondent to the agreement of the music in literature. Most of his music focused on life drama of one or more individuals through hard life circumstances. Beethoven’s role as a transitional composer between the classical and romantic periods took
Beethoven is perhaps the most famous musician of all time. His influence on later composers was extremely huge, to the extent where many composers were intimidated by his music. Ludwig van Beethoven was born in 1770 into a family of musicians. His father and grandfather were both musicians at the court of Elector in the German town of Bonn. His grandfather was very respected, but his dad not so much given that he was an alcoholic. At a young age, Beethoven was put in charge of his family’s finances and started a job at the court. He composed music and helped look after the instrumentation. Around the same time, he began to write music. In 1790, an important visitor passed through Bonn: this was Franz Joseph Haydn. He was on his way to London for a visit when he stopped to meet Beethoven and agreed to take him on as a student when he came back from London to Vienna. In 1792, Beethoven moved to Vienna to study with Hayden. Apparently, it did not go as planned. Hayden was old fashion and a little overbearing, while Beethoven was rebellious and headstrong. Beethoven found support among the rich arts who lived in Vienna. Prince Lichnowsky gave him board and lodging at his place for in return, Beethoven would compose music and preform at evening parties.
1819 is the year in which his hearing was thoroughly depleted. He could no longer play the piano virtuously and had to communicate by text. As a result, he spent a majority of his time composing. Beethoven would sketch out his compositions in a book. These books have been maintained and it is evident that he would work on several pieces at once. During this time, his compositions ranged from simple melodies to more elaborate and edited works. In 1804 Beethoven completed his Third Symphony. This piece was originally a tribute to Napoleon Bonaparte, but when Beethoven found that Napoleon was proclaimed an emperor he deleted the dedication. At this point in his life, Beethoven seriously considered marriage. His first love was for a woman named Giulietta Guicciardi. When this relationship eventually broke, he sought the hand of Giulietta’s cousin, Josephine. The bond between them broke and the engagement was ended. Beethoven’s final attempt with a woman was with his doctor’s daughter, Therese Malfatti. As is expected, this relationship also failed and Beethoven reached the final part of his life as a bachelor. The rate and quality of his compositions slowed and he became more and more isolated. Another depressing and negative event in Beethoven’s life took place in 1815. His brother died. Caspar Anton Carl left behind a son and a widow and instructed
In fact it was in 1824, only three years prior to his death, that he completed another of his very popular works, his “Ninth Symphony.” Soon after the completion of his “Ninth Symphony”, Beethoven had fallen ill and ultimately died at the age of 56 on March 26, 1827. Despite having to drop out a school in order to help feed his family and having to suffer complete hearing loss, Ludwig von Beethoven was still able to master the styles established by Franz Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as well as have profound impact on music that is still studied to this
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.
In Bonn, on December of 1770, a child was born to a lower middle class Finnish couple; Johann and Maria. Given the name Ludwig after his grandfather, a choirmaster, this child would grow to continue the name of the musically inclined Beethoven family, and eventually supersede its reputation with his own genius. As a deaf composer and musician, Ludwig von Beethoven is one of the greatest paradoxes in the realm of music. From his upbringing, his triumph over his disability, and his world renowned success in music, it is still proclaimed that he is one of the most influential and well known classical musicians in the world.
After many personal crises in his life, Beethoven's music reflects his mood. His masterpiece represented struggle followed by triumph. Later, his influence has been worked by the ideals of the Enlightenment, which led him to dedicate the symphony "Erotica" Napoleon. Symphony "Ode to Joy" was estimated at about the brotherhood of humanity. His works are admired for their intellectual depth, intense expression, and experimental forms. It is considered one of the greatest minds of humanity. His work was ambitious head of the transition between eras of classical and romantic music led Beethoven's life of a child to an adult. A overcame alcoholic father; the death of his mother did not, and has provided a way to support his family. He carried through personal crises, including the loss of his hearing and earned him critical acclaim in social circles. His
“Beethoven said that it’s better to hit the wrong note confidentially than hit the right note unconfidently. Never be afraid to be wrong or to embarrass yourself; we are all students in this life, and there is always something more to learn.” – Mike Norton. This quote by Mike Norton hits spot on Beethoven’s character and his person in general. Unlike other musicians of his time, Beethoven had several unique characteristics about his compositions. In his time, he was called a revolutionary. In his later years, Beethoven became deaf and could not always verbally show his emotion, he portrayed his feelings in his music. Although considering the matters of religion and thoroughbass cut and dry, his study of aesthetics was something that he could create something of his own. Throughout several of his Sonata’s and compositions, he holds a darker style of music that shocked and disturbed rather than calmed like the traditional music in the 18th century. Much like his appearance, his contemporaries perceived his compositions as wild, bizarre and crazy. The pieces were more complicated than pieces that were being written in that time period, and Beethoven claimed he was writing them for the future. In one of his final pieces, Piano Sonata, Op. 111, he “shows his radical approach to form and his revolutionary brilliance stands out in every movement of his five Late Quartets, simply the greatest body of music ever composed” (Woods). He went against the grain of the musical society in
Ludwig van Beethoven was born in the town of Bonn, Germany on December 16 of 1770. Bonn is located in western Germany on the Rhine River. Beethoven showed an affinity for music at an early age. His father, Johann, taught Ludwig to play the piano as well as the violin. Johann did this in hopes that his son would become a prodigy, and then reach fame like Wolfgang A. Mozart. Unfortunately though Beethoven
Ludwig Von Beethoven was born in December 1770, in Germany or at least close to that date there seems to be a bit of controversy with the actual date. His father Johann Beethoven was a court musician and singer. He recognized Ludwig’s talent and potential early and thought he may have another Mozart in his son. He thought to capitalize on his son’s talent and made the young child practice relentlessly. “Beethoven paid heavily for his father’s ambitions. More than one visitor to the house saw the little boy weeping as he practiced. Repeatedly he was locked in the cellar and/or deprived of food” (Siepmann, Beethoven His Life & Music)It was also noted that Johann Beethoven drank excessively and not to have been an easy father leaving the children in the care of serving maids. (Robbins - Landon)
Beethoven’s works are typically divided into three different periods. During the first period, to 1802, Beethoven incorporated the musical language of his time while developing his own unique compositional voice. During this time, he wrote six String quartets, the first ten piano sonatas, the first three piano concertos and the first two symphonies. The second period last until about 1816 and showcases his individualism more than ever before. During this period, he wrote Symphonies Nos. 3-8, the last two piano concertos, the Violin Concerto, the String Quartets Opp. 59, 74 and 95, and the Piano Sonatas through Op. 90. The third period is recognized as
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).
Music had driven Beethoven's life from a small child to an adult. It helped him overcome an alcoholic father, his mother's death, failed love, and provided a means of support for his family. It carried him through personal crises including the loss of his hearing and won him critical acclaim in social circles. His life ended in 1826 following complications of a cold and chronic health problems. He used his music to preach through art and has remained a model to later composers in the use of classical principles of
This is also the time when the middle period starts. From now up until 1813, Beethoven develops and enhances the high classical style into a more dynamic and individualistic style. It is now that he writes symphonies Nr. 3 - 8, piano consert Nr. 5 and a lot of chamber music. But as he learns to control his craft and develop the music into new undiscovered grounds, he also suffers from reminders of the pains of real life. He has early in life discovered that his hearing wasn't what it should be, and the disorder gets worse as time goes by. It gets to the point where Beethoven is thinking of ending his life as he sees no way out of his despair. That fact is documented in the letter he wrote to his brothers in 1802, the so called . This hearing disorder seems to have affected his social life to a great extent. He became difficult to handle in social interactions and could suddenly burst into outbreaks of anger and show bad temper where he usually insulted someone. If that is the reason for his troubles with women, or if their is something traumatic hidden in his childhood, I don't know, but the fact is that he never got involved with a woman in a normal relation. Beethoven seems to have been attracted to women he couldn't get, or at least was hard to get. An example is Antoine Brentano, with whom he had a relationship, but who broke up with him to marry a friend. It is
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770- 28 March 1827) was one of the greatest art musicians, and probably had more influence over musical events than any composer, of his time (Charlton, 2016). He was born in Bonn, Germany to Father Johann van Beethoven, and named after his grandfather, Ludwig van Beethoven. There is no official record of his birthday, but the church had on file his baptism on 17 December 1770. Because one of his teacher celebrated his birthday on 16 December, his birthday is generally accepted to be on this date. He had seven brothers and sister, being one of three to survive early childhood.