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
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
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 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
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.
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.
Through exploring Beethoven’s compositions throughout his career, readers are able to recognize various factors that influenced the style of his music in each period of his life. In his early period, his
Today Beethoven is considered as one of the greatest music composers in history, along with other fabulous ones like Mozart and Bach. Thanks to him, composers have the right to express themselves freely with music. His symphonies have influenced contemporary composers and they might influence future ones too. Beethoven’s music is still played in orchestras all around the world to this day. Beethoven changed the Sonata Form, introducing emotions and intellectual depth to music, inspiring generations of composers.
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
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
The premieres of his First and Second Symphonies in 1800 and 1803 made him one of the most important of a generation of young composers following Haydn and Mozart. Beethoven started to lose his hearing in 1801 following a fit he
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 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.
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.
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.