Beethoven: Background

Ludwig Van Beethoveen was born in 1770 in Bonn, Germany as the son of a court
musician. His talent for the piano was soon realized and he gave his first public
performance at the age of eight. Beethoven’s father wanted to promote him as the next
child prodigy, another Mozart. (This most surely led to Beethoven’s absolute distaste
for child prodigies later in his life.) Nevertheless, Beethoven was employeed as a court
musician in Bonn from 1787. During this time he studied briefly under both Haydn and
Mozart, although it was certainly not a satisfying relationship for Beethoven. It turns
out that events in Beethoven’s life greatly affected (or seem to have affected) him
writing. Because of this Beethoven’s musical output is very episodic. As we shall see,
there are three main periods in Beethoven’s life, known simply as the early, middle,
and late periods.

In 1792, Beethoven relocated to Vienna. This is the beginning of his early period
which lasted rougly until 1800. During this time Beethoven quickly made a name for
himself as a virtuoso pianist. He used his abilities at the piano to gain favor with the
nobility. In fact, he even tried to claim his own noble roots by accidentially changing
the Van (a meaningless title) to Von (a title of nobility). His compositions during this
period consisted mainly of works for his main instrament, the piano. An example of a
piece composed during this time is the Pathétique Sonata, Op. 13 (1798).
Beethoven’s hearing was also beginning to deteriotate at this point, however, he went
to great lengths to hide this fact from those around him. A picture of the apparatus
used by Beethoven to hear is pictured below.

Beethoven is a transistion figure in the history of western music. He is generally known
as the father of the Romantic era. However, during the first period most of his
compositions were classical (ie Hadyn and Mozart) in nature.

However, in 1800 Beethoven is reported to have turned his friend Krumpholz and
said, “I am not very well satisfied with the work I have thus far done. From this day on
I shall take a new way.” And basically, he did. Beethoven abandoned the classical
forms of the previous century and set out for a more expressive (Romantic) musical
voice. His musical imagination began to grow beyond that of the piano. This period,
which later became known as the Heroic Period because of the larger than life nature
that his compositions took on, saw the creations of such masterpieces as the Tempest
Sonata, Op. 31 (1801-2), the 3rd Symphony (Eroica), Op. 55 (1803), his only
opera, Fidelio, Op. 72 (1803-5), and the 5th Piano Concerto (Emperor), Op. 73
(1809). Some say that this middle period was Beethoven’s greatest. It certainly was
his most productive. In about a decade Beethoven produced countless masterpieces in
every genre.

In 1809, however, his musical output began to drop, possibly in connection to his
declining health and mental state. Around 1815 the famous Immortal Beloved affair
occured which left Beethoven in deep depression and contemplating suicide. Although
there has been much debate over the identity of this Immortal Beloved character, it is
now assumed that the lucky woman was Josephine, Countess Deym, née Countess
von Brunswick whose picture is shown below.

Beethoven’s output was mostly null until 1818. At this point he was completely deaf
and slightly mad. Also his brother died leaving Beethoven’s only nephew, Karl, in the
guardianship of his mother. Now Beethoven felt that she was not fit to raise Karl, so
he entered into a vicious lawsuit over custody of the child. For the most part he was
able to use his influence with the aristocracy to win the battle. Unfortunately Beethoven
was not a fit father and his relationship with Karl was quite poor, driving him to an
suicide attempt a few years later. Beethoven loved Karl dearly, and the pain of his
failed attempts to teach Karl music must have been devestating for Beethoven. It’s
often spectulated that Karl was probably a strong contributor to Beethoven’s late style.
The late period saw the compositions of Beethoven’s largest works: the Mass in D
(Missa Solemnis), Op. 123 (1818-23), the 9th Symphony (Choral), Op. 125
(1818-23), the Hammerklavier Sonata, Op. 106 (1818), and the late string quartets.