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. Soon after the death of the Holy Roman Emperor of Austria, Joseph II, Beethoven began to study under prominent musicians and composers such as Joseph Haydn, Antonio Salieri, and Johann Albrechtsberger. It was during his time under the tutelage of these musicians and composers where he began to win the patronage of many Viennese Aristocrats. In 1800 Beethoven debuted his Symphony No. 1 which established his reputation as one of Europe's greatest composers. Meanwhile another prominent European rose to power, Napoleon Bonaparte, although Beethoven may have identified with Bonaparte for their somewhat “inhuman” characteristics he would later develop a grave …show more content…
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
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
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.
As a child, Beethoven’s father pushed him past his limits to be a musician. The young boy’s neighbors accounted for hearing “weeping while he played the clavier, standing atop a footstool to reach the keys, his father beating him for each hesitation or mistake” (“Ludwig”). He was “flogged” on a near daily basis and “locked in the cellar and deprived of sleep for extra hours of practice” (“Ludwig”). Due to the inhuman amount of hours he spent playing music, Beethoven began showing “flashes of the creative imagination that would eventually reach farther than any composer's before or since” (“Ludwig”). He composed a piece entitled Cantata on the Death of Emperor Joseph II, which is now considered his earliest masterpiece.
After learning to live with his disability, Beethoven continued rising to fame, becoming an exceptional musician and composer. His fame started in 1776 at the youthful age of seven. His father, hoping to have Beethoven’s musical talents acknowledged, arranged Beethoven’s first public recital. Although Beethoven played exquisitely well, he did not receive much praise. He worked even harder, looking to gain affection and reverence from his father. Several years later at age nineteen, after his first few compositions, Beethoven was requested to compose a memorial piece for the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph the second, who had recently perished. Fourteen years later, in 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte declared himself Emperor of France. Beethoven, seeing
Ludwig van Beethoven is a name that is common to most people and is synonymies with great classical music. He is known, quite loosely, as the German composer who created beautiful pieces with an incredible disability. Despite an unhappy family setting and the deafness that struck soon after, the man appeared to rise from his misfortunes and follow his passion. Mr. Beethoven created some of the most wonderful music and is considered one of the greatest musicians of all time. Ludwig, at a very young age, began his career as a marvelous piano player and composer of piano music. Beethoven continued his work expanding to string quartets and other kinds of chamber music, songs, two masses, an opera, and nine symphonies. The
Still considered “one of the greatest composers of the West European music traditions” (Columbia), Beethoven has influenced the classical world in great manners. The life of Beethoven was a sorrowful one with him becoming “deaf at age 32” (Eckley), being depressed, ill, and constantly falling in love despite never marrying. Bowden adds Beethoven writing a letter to the ’Immortal Beloved’, “a woman whose identity Beethoven careful to conceal” (Bowden). Such problems never stopped his passion for composing. Beethoven broke the classical music traditions of Haydn and Mozart. For example, he composed the wonderful piece “Third Symphony, the Eorcia.” Columbia believes Erocia showed freedom and nobility through its harmonies and orchestration. Other famous pieces include Moonlight Sonata, Kreutzer Sonata for Violin, and 5th Symphony. The pieces showed pain, sorrow, or pure angst which influenced romantic composers and many afterward.
From the time Ludwig van Beethoven was a young child, everyone around him could see that he was extremely talented. His name is known all around the world and when people think classical music, Beethoven is one of the first names that pop up. Long after his death in 1827, his music is still listened to. Soon to be mothers are sometimes told to allow the baby to listen to classical music, especially by Beethoven, to help with brain development. College and high school students are told we can benefit by listening to Beethoven when studying. Even in some modern songs, you can hear Beethoven’s legacy living on. Beethoven was an excellent composer and wrote pieces that defied the norm of the Romantic Era. Many artists today may not realize that
Beethoven was known for his masterful composition of classical music, but his life was not as one would expect of such a brilliant composer. When 50 personnel were asked what they knew about Beethoven each person responded that he a composer that was deaf. What was not generally known was that Beethoven had a troubled childhood and led a chronically stressful and harsh adulthood. These two things are often not associated with Beethoven. What did Beethoven compose that made him a musical genius of all time? While reading this paper the following things will be discussed: Beethoven’s childhood, introduction to music, his adulthood, and becoming the brilliant composer he is known for to the classical music world.
Ludwig van Beethoven was a composer based in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s. He was born in his house attic in 1770, located in Bonn, Germany. He was the third Ludwig van Beethoven in his family. His childhood, he learned how to play the violin which sparked his interest in music. He did not enjoy music his entire life though. His father who was obsessed in making a musical genius, would make him and his brother play piano for hours at a time until the point he would start crying. The work paid off though, because later in his life, he got to play for the great Mozart, who was overly impressed with how well he was able to play the piano compared to his peers. Later in his life as he began to be known for his ability to improvise while playing
Tragically on March 26, 1827, due to his dimensioning health, and lack of funds to provide care, Ludwig Van Beethoven, the great musical genius ever to walk this earth, died.
Together, they had picked Ludwig Beethoven to write a cantata commemorating the death of Joseph II, the result of this was “Cantata on the death of Joseph II.” Beethoven performed his Third Symphony not too long after Napoleon Bonaparte claimed himself as the emperor of France in 1804 which was called “The Eroica.” During this symphony, he added instruments to orchestra such as the piccolo and the trombone.The length of his symphony had beat any other symphonic work ever performed or written. It was double the time of even Mozart's and Haydn's symphonies. He also had an impact on Igor Stravinsky for juxtaposing chords in this symphony, “The Eroica.” Because it was so different from anything anybody had ever heard before, even after weeks of practice and rehearsal, nobody could figure out how to play it. Ludwig Beethoven’s fifth symphony was very well known and it is known for its menacing first four notes of the symphony. His fifth symphony was performed at the same time as his sixth symphony in Vienna in the year of 1808. All together Ludwig Beethoven had nine symphonies, his ninth being the most famous out of all, but each and every one of them impacted society and other composers. It began to change how other composers saw and wrote music. He wrote a symphony that had human voices, which had never been done before in the composing
Rather, Beethoven’s legacy is that of a performer, a poet, an icon of his time and a precursor of the future. In this essay, I will discuss the aspects of Beethoven that most strongly compel the study of his
Ludwig Van Beethoven was one of the most influential composers of his time. The decades around the 1800’s were years of many changes and Beethoven’s new approach to music was something that reflected that. “His symphonies, concertos, string quartets and piano sonatas are central to the repertory of classical music.” This essay will focus on the historical and theoretical aspects of the third movement of Sonata Op. 28 No. 15.
Ludwig Van Beethoven was one of the greatest musical composers of his time. Starting very young in his studies of music, he held many important positions they would develop him into the composer he became. Born in Bonn, Germany to a singer, he held his first position at the church. He later moved to Vienna where his composed several pieces, and even an opera. He created a new style of music, cyclic form.