Ludwig Van Beethoven's Life and Accomplishments Essay

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

Ludwig van Beethoven was one of the greatest composers and a musical genius. Beethoven was born on December 16, 1770 in Bonn, Germany and died on March 26, 1827 in Vienna, Austria. Beethoven came from a family of musicians just like many other great composers before him had. At the age of only 11 Beethoven began serving as an assistant to the court organist and had several published piano compositions at the age of 12. At the age of 18, he became the legal guardian of both of his younger brothers, after the death of his mother and dismissal of his father from the court choir because of alcoholism. By this team Beethoven was also a court organist, violinist and responsible for composing and performing.

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

WIth an extraordinary talent for piano playing, he begins composing when he is only twelve years old. [Slide 12] what were some of the adversity he had to face. Well, being a musician the most important scence to Beethoven would have been his hearing unfortunately after his work kept being interrupted, he had an outragecausing him to trip over and bang is head on the floor. When he came to he found himself completely def. after several years if hearing never fully recovered and on his doctors recommendation moved to the countryside away from the noice of an 17th century big city and continue writing music their.

“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

Like many people of this time period Beethoven was affected by the French Revolution, the enlightenment and romantic periods; in 1789 the French Revolution was raging and people were dying. The French general Napoleon defeated France’s enemies and inspired Beethoven with ideas of freedom and equality. It was because those inspirations that Beethoven was going to dedicated his Third Symphony, Erocia which means heroic to him, that was until Napoleon decided to declared himself emperor, which made him so angry that he viciously scratched out the dedication. (Alvarez 2006-2007)

In Beethoven’s second period he generated many of his most famous works. This period lasted from about 1800 to 1820. It was in this time span that Beethoven wrote symphonies three through eight, two piano concertos, one violin

In 1795 Beethoven was pleased with his brother's decision to take up residency in Vienna. Also in this year, Beethoven began to play in public concerts. This concert was organized by his mentor Haydn. His music selections included Mozart, Haydn, as well as his own. Amazingly, Ludwig was not keen on performing publicly. As a matter of fact, Beethoven only gave one more public appearance in the "early" period and declined numerous other offers to share with the audience his musical skills. It has been postulated that the composer may have already suffered minor hearing loss, as well as having an "overly suspicious" personality that caused him to hide from the public eye. (Stanley 17) Beethoven's "early"

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).

Ludwig Van Beethoven served as an important link between two important periods of time, the classic and romantic eras of music, and his compositions still stand today as a famous memorial of the past. Many people say, ‘Music never dies!’, and that statement has proven true by Beethoven’s Legacy, a creation of many famous compositions of classical music that still stand, untouched by history today as a sound, a true monument that represents the golden age of classical music, a trip into the ever-growing distance of the past. Ludwig Van Beethoven created many pieces of classical music and piano sonatas, persisted to innovate ways to continue to compose music when he was unable to hear, and illuminated the world by encouraging the transition between the classical and romantic eras of musical history.

Following many personal crises in his life, Beethoven's music reflected his mood. His masterpieces depicted struggle followed by triumph. Later, his worked was influence by the ideals of Enlightenment, leading him to dedicate the symphony "Erotica" to Napoleon. The symphony "Ode to Joy" was believed to be about the brotherhood of humanity. His works are admired for intellectual depth, intense expression, and experimental forms. He is considered one of the greatest minds of humanity. His ambitious works made him prominent in the transition between eras of Classical and Romantic music.

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