Figure 1.--T.

Ludwig van Beethoven may well be the single greatest genius in the history of music. A HBC reader suggests that Beethoven should be included in the HBC prodigy list. He evaluates him way above Mozart. Be it as a instrument player or as a composer, Beethoven started very young. He played piano and organ (even violin) and gave his first public appearance in Köln at about 6 years old. Nearly reaching 11, he made a virtuosity tour in Holland. At that age he was able to remarkably play the Bach's well tempered harpsichord, a very difficult instrument to play, and presumably already very creative improvisations. As a composer his very first published work was at the age of 12 the nine variations on a Mrcia of Dressler WoO 63 (Werk ohne Opus). Apart from all those marvellous things that Beethoven wrote, it can be noted that he started with the variations, a specific form of art that he later brought to incredible summits with his last piano sonata opus 111 and the Diabelli variations opus 120. In addition to being a child prodigy, Beethoven's musical genius makes his a figure of considerable historical importance.

Genius

Ludwig van Beethoven may well be the single greatest genius in the history of music. A HBC reader suggests that Beethoven should be included in the HBC prodigy list. He evaluates him way above Mozart. The standard capacity of a compact disc (CD), for example, is based on th 74 minutes needed to record Beethoven's 9th Symphony, allowing the listener to appreciate it in one sitting. [Buch]

Parents

The name van Beethoven is Dutch. The family of Ludwig originated from Flandres (now part of Belgium). The family was very musical. His grandfather Lodewijk (Louis) van Beethoven was chapel master at the Kurfürsts court and came from Flanders. His father, Johann van Beethiven a tenor at the chapel of the Kurfürst at Bonn. His grandfather, Lodewijk was born in Mechelen near Antwerp, Belgium, and went to Bonn in 1732 as a young man to pursue a musical career. He was was nominated in 1761 "Hofkapellmeister". His grandmother was a native of Bonn. His father Johann (1740-1792) was musician (Hofmusiker) at the local court and was at the age of 10 - as he did later on with own son Ludwig - led into public appearances. He was a tenor singer in the Electoral choir. Both his grandmother and his father died of alcoholism. Childhood. His mother Maria-Magdalena Keverich (1746-1787) was the daughter of the chief cook at Ehrenbreitstein. She was a loving mother although suffering from perpetual melancholy, and died of tuberculosis.

Brothers

Ludwig was the second of seven children, four of these having not survived their third anniversary. The actual brotherhood was therefore three boys, Ludwig the elder one, Kaspar-Karl and Nikolas-Johann respectively 4 and 6 years younger.

Childhood

Ludwig van Beethoven was born December 16, 1770 in Bonn, Germany and baptised the next day. Beethoven's father, Johann, recognized the enormous talent of his son and tried to make a "wunderkind" a la Mozart out of him. He failed and Ludwig had a miserable youth. He loved his mother, but she had little influence in his upbringing. When he was 10 years old he got music lessons from Christian Gottlob Neefe, a capable teacher, who also brought him in contact with some aristocratic families in Bonn, where he learned some manners and who helped him to move to Vienna in 1787.

Education

He was educated at first by the great musician Christian G. Neefe (in charge of the Hofkapelle). The regular education of Ludwig took place up to his 11th year, when he had, due to the declining physical and financial situation of his parents, to start earning some money. His musical education was initally assured by his father up to about 9 years, mainly the piano, but as well organ, harpsichord, and violin. None of the various teachers were very talented, it is above all the genius and passionate will of Ludwig that made him progress, and obviously this applies even more in the art of composition.

Prodigy

Be it as a instrument player or as a composer, Beethoven started very young. He played piano and organ (even violin) and gave his first public appearance in Köln at about 6 years old. As a 7 yo he gave concerts in Cologne. Nearly reaching 11, he made a virtuosity tour in Holland. At that age he was able to remarkably play the Bach's well tempered harpsichord, a very difficult instrument to play, and presumably already very creative improvisations. As a composer his very first published work was at the age of 12 the nine variations on a Mrcia of Dressler WoO 63 (Werk ohne Opus).

Deafness

One cannot trace in few words life and works of Beethoven without reminding of the worst that could happen to a musician, his deafness. Listen to the famous "pastoral" symphony with those winds, storm or birds' songs, where are these coming from, Beethoven had been deaf for 10 years at the time he wrote them. This illness started with buzzing, but he could still hear, although with more and more difficulties. And presumably this buzzing became permanent, so that deafness was for the outside world, not for his inner world. Medically it his partly explained by his stomach ilness, but it is actually due to the incredible and terrible fixity of his thinking when he was concentrating on an idea. The for ever unanswered question with Beethoven: Is his genius the cause of his deafness, or is it the result ?

Career

Beethoven in 1784 became the vice organist at the Kurfürsts court. In 1887 he went to Vienna, were he was educated by Mozart, became a Bratscher at the Hofkapelle, and was introduced to the nobles of Vienna, who later financed him. He’s thus regarded as the first musician, who could work without money fears. Because of the sickness of his mother he returned to Bonn, very soon. In 1792 he settled to Vienna, were he took further education by J. Haydn, H. Schenk, J. G. Albrechtsberger and A. Salieri. It was discovered that he wasbecoming deaf in 1802. Because of this, he wrote the “Heiligenstädter Testament”. In 1812 he met Goethe at Teplitz, who said about him: "Sein Talent hat mich in Erstaunen gesetzt, allein er ist leider eine ganz ungebändigte Persönlichkeit." (His talent took me by surprise, although sadly, his personality is wholly wild). It was a slow process, but by 1819 he was completely deaf. In 1814-1815 he played the piano at the Congress of Vienna.

Music

Many believe that Beethoven's 9th Symphony and especially the lat movement to be the greatest composition in muic history. It certainly must be amnong the modst stirring. Apart from all those marvellous things that Beethoven wrote, it can be noted that he started with the variations, a specific form of art that he later brought to incredible summits with his last piano sonata opus 111 and the Diabelli variations opus 120.

Final Years

When the deafness had grown worse, he abandoned public live, as he could only communicate by writing in “Konversationshefte”. Beethoven died March 26, 1827 at Vienna. He was buried with many people around in Vienna. The grave speech was given by Grillparzer.

Historical Importance

In addition to being a child prodigy, Beethoven's musical genius makes his a figure of considerable historical importance. Many composers have acquired historical and political importance. The NAZIs attachment to Wagner is legendary. No composer, however, has had a comparable political of Beethoven. The intreaging fact is the range on the political spectrum that has been inspired by Beethoven. Hitler was not only inspired by Wagner, but was inspired by Beethoven, especially the forboding fanfare of the 9th Symphony--Beethoven's last symphonic piece. This is the same 9th Symphony that became an athemn for 19th century liberal internationalis--the "ode to Joy", Beethoven's choral arrangement for Schiller's clasdsic poem is used as the finale for the 9th Symphony. Inexplicably, committed internationalists appropriate the same work. It inspired French revolutuinaries. Hitler so appreciated its Teutonic qualities that Reich conductor Furtwångler conducted performances of the 9th Symphony for Hitler's birthday celebrations in 1937 and 1942. Hitler's birthday was a major event during the Third Reich. Ian Smith who tried to establish a white-dominated Rhodesian in the 1970s made the 9th Symphony the country's nathional anthemn. Beethoven has had a special appeal to Germans other than just Hitler. When during the Cold war East and West Germany jointly fielded a German team, the "Ode to Joy" was the anthemn selected as their own individual anthemns were not mutually acceptable. And for Leonard Bernstein's Christmas celebration of the 1989 fall of thge Berlin wall, the 9th Symphony was chosen and the "Ode to Joy" changed to be the "Ode to Freedom", Freude changed to Freiheit. Today the "Ode to Joy" is tge official anthemn of a united Europe--the European Union. [Buch] The intreauging question is how can one work inspire men of such divergent political views. The 9th Symphony is not the only work of Beethoven's with political significance. He composed a canata, "Der Glorreicche Augenblick" (The Glorious Moment). It was written to commemorate Europe's dominance at the 1814 Congress of Vienna. At the time it was seen as pro-monarchist work, but ends with a hymn to European ideals. It is widely seen as a major influence on the "Ode to Joy" writen over 10 years later.

Sources

Buch, Estban. Trans. Richard Miller. Beethoven's Ninth: A Political History (University of Chicago), 353p.

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Created: May 16, 2003
Last updated: May 24, 2003