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Why Is Beethoven Called The Age Of Enlightenment

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The Classical era took place during the latter half of the eighteenth century and the early nineteenth century, specifically 1750 to 1825. Its roots were based off the revival of ancient Greek and Romans values. It was a period of control, form, order, and objectivity as Europe was still under the rule of strong aristocratic sovereigns. Economically, power was growing through the Industrial Revolution. James Watt’s steam engine, Eli Whitney’s cotton gin, and Benjamin Franklin’s invention of electricity were all significant advances. Not only is it called the Age of Enlightenment, but also the Age of Reason. They were advocates for the rising middle class, which eventually led to the first wave of a new social structure. During this period, the Austrian capital of Vienna became the musical center of Europe. According to Robert Sherrane’s “A Guide to Western Composers and Their Music from the Middle Ages to the Present,” composers came from all over Europe to train in and around Vienna. Gradually, they developed …show more content…

Biography.com believes Beethoven’s father began teaching him music at a young age, but he used an extraordinary rigor and brutality that would affect him for the rest of his life. He would be beaten for each hesitation or mistake, locked in a cellar, and deprived of sleep for extra hours of practice. He studied the violin and clavier with his father and took additional lessons from an organist. In 1792, he moved to Vienna where he studied with Joseph Hayden and performed as a pianist. Music-loving aristocrats paid him for lessons and the middle-class aided him with publicity of the concert life and music publishing (Forney 221). Unfortunately, Beethoven bean to lose his hearing. It hurt his pride as he struggled with a fear of isolation. His was eventually forced to retire from public performance and concentrate on composing. He died on March 26, 1827 at the age of fifty-six due to an attack of

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