Beethoven's Music example essay topic

Ludwig van Beethoven is considered one of the greatest composers in the history of music, and he has had a huge impact upon the evolution of musical style. Both Beethoven's life and his musical technique make him an interesting and well-remembered figure in music history. Beethoven has gone down in history as a great musical innovator, but his fame was not achieved without struggle. There is controversy and mystery surrounding Beethoven's birth because no records exist to show his accurate date of birth. Beethoven was most likely born on December 17, 1770 of Flemish decent as he was baptized on December 18, and it was customary during this time to baptize a baby the day after birth. Beethoven was born in Bonn in current Germany, and he thought for years that he was born in 1772 because his pushy, often drunk father told him that so that it would seem like Beethoven was more of a child prodigy.

Although precocious, Beethoven was still not as advanced as his contemporary, Mozart, was at such an age. His father was very preoccupied with Beethoven becoming a "second Mozart". Ludwig van Beethoven was the second of seven children, only 3 of which reached adulthood, remarkable similar to Mozart who also had six siblings only two of which survived into adulthood. Beethoven received schooling only until he was eleven, however he received formal teaching in music and learned violin and viola from Tobias Pfeifer and Christian Neefe in 1779. Neefe later wrote about Beethoven's precociousness and extreme talent in an influential German music journal in 1783 when Beethoven had written nine variations of a march and had three sonatas published.

Beethoven's mother died in 1787, which had a great impact upon his life at this time as his mother was self-proclaimed by him as his "best friend". Beethoven has a unique although not particularly distinguished background. Beethoven's career in many ways began with his famous trip to Vienna. In 1787, Beethoven first traveled to Vienna, where he met and played for Mozart. Upon his visit to Mozart, Mozart predicted a great future for him. The famous musician, Haydn, instigated Beethoven's life-altering trip to Vienna by urging Beethoven's master, the Archbishop Elector of Cologne, to send him.

Mozart took lessons with Haydn in Vienna, and Haydn proved to be a very influential person to Beethoven and his music. He was asked to write an accession for Emperor Joseph II and Leopold II and commissioned to Count Wald stein to compose a ballet. Within a dozen years of going to Vienna, Beethoven was known as one of the foremost pianists and composers of his time. At twenty-two Beethoven moved permanently to Vienna, the capital for aspiring artists during the 18th century.

During this trip while starting out Beethoven apparently had numerous economic problems, as was common for musician, considering their often low income, especially if they were not well known. Beethoven was well known for having a quick temper and moodiness, insulting people, and having much perseverance. Beethoven was known as a difficult, rude, insensitive, often bitter man. It is said that if people cried at his music or talked while he was playing he would shout at them or stalk off stage. If he didn't like that audience, then he wouldn't perform at all.

Beethoven's trip to Vienna was the fomenter of his popular musical success. Beethoven's family relations were often complicated. His grandfather was a businessman and singer, who instilled in Beethoven's father the need for music that was thereby instilled in Beethoven himself. Beethoven's father, Johann, was born in 1740 and was himself a musician, however there remains controversy about Johann and his personality and treatment of his son, Beethoven.

Johann was a severe and demanding teacher with very high expectations from his prize pupil, Beethoven, and he forced Beethoven to practice constantly. His father began giving him piano lessons before he was four years old, rapping Beethoven's knuckles whenever he made a mistake. Beethoven's father was also said to have been drunk a lot of the time (1), and he had a quick temper much like his son would develop later in life. Beethoven's relationship with his brother Carl and Carl's family is perhaps the strangest and most intricate of all. Beethoven attempted to legally break up Carl and Johanna before they married. Later when Carl died and left custody of his son, Karl, to both wife, Johanna, and brother, Ludwig van Beethoven, Beethoven took control of Karl and refused to let him see his mother, while at the same time implicating Johanna in Carl's death.

Beethoven, much through use of his powerful influence during this period of his life, was granted sole custody of Karl by the Upper Austrian Landrecht, a high court. However, he proved to be a poor guardian and neglected Karl, while having very high expectations for Karl and his possible musical future, much like Beethoven's father did. Many times when Karl disobeyed, Beethoven would beat him. Beethoven first enrolled Karl in boarding school and then got him a private tutor, but Karl was miserable and ran away to his mother covertly several times.

In 1818 the matter of Karl's custody came before the courts again because Beethoven was not of noble birth so it was determined that the case shouldn't have been tried at the Landrecht but at a lower court. The lower court ruled that Johanna got custody of Karl, but Beethoven again used his influence and managed to get the decision reversed and once again had sole custody of Karl; 1. In Lives of the Musicians by Kathleen Krull, Beethoven was described as an alcoholic, but was not said to have such an illness in any other source that I found such was an example of the corruption of the court system in France during this time period. Stephen von Breuning, a friend of Beethoven, courageously intervened and told Beethoven not to adopt Karl, at which point Beethoven became enraged and denounced his friendship to Breuning, which is illustrative of Beethoven's extreme temper.

In July of 1826, Karl attempted to commit suicide with a pistol but only wounded himself in the head. Beethoven's distorted relationship ended with Karl in 1827 when Karl was finally allowed to join the army, left Vienna, and never saw Beethoven again. Beethoven's family life was fascinating but often somber. Beethoven's musical genius is evident through his works and his life.

Beethoven was unique in that unlike other famous composers of his time, he went through many revisions, which often took months or years, before publishing a piece and was very critical of his music. (2) Some consider Beethoven's most famous work to be his fifth symphony, and his ninth symphony is also well-known and is often seen as an outgrowth of the 18th century humanitarian movement. Beethoven produced nine symphonies, seven concertos, thirty-two piano sonatas, five sonatas for piano and cello, and ten for piano and violin, five string trios and seven piano trios, concert overtures, and the great Mass in D and the Mass in C during his lifetime. (3) It is customary to divide Beethoven's works into three periods based on style and chronology. The first period is to about 1802, and it greatly illustrates his initial dependence upon the Classical tradition. The first period uses octaves frequently and extensively uses minor keys and was reminiscent of Haydn, most likely because Beethoven took lessons from Haydn 2. derived from Beethoven by Robin May 3. list of complete works can be found in both A History of Western Music by Grout and Beethoven by Robin May during a great period of this time.

The second period ended about 1816 and utilizes a wide range of style and form, while still similar to Mozart and the Classical ideals. Beethoven's third period was mainly abstract music; during a great deal of this period Beethoven was completely deaf, and his music was more like that illustrative of the Romantic Movement and remarkably different from that of Haydn and Mozart. Hoffman wrote that, "Beethoven's music sets in motion the lever of fear, of awe, of horror, of suffering, and awakens just that infinite longing... ". (4) Beethoven's music was very much expressive and emotional, especially in his later music, which paralleled romantic ideals more. In fact, Beethoven was seen by many as the bridge between the Classical and Romantic periods of music.

As expressed by one man, "But [Beethoven] himself is neither Classic nor Romantic; he is Beethoven, and his figure towers like a colossus astride the two centuries". (5) Beethoven's music paved the way for future composers, and his influence was evident in the music of Schumann, Brahms, Bruckner, and Mahler among others. Beethoven produced a wide range of musical works and was a very versatile composer. The end of his life was a depressing, dismal time for Beethoven. Beethoven became paranoid at times, and he often suspected his friends had cheated him out of some of his income. However, the most defining aspect of his aging was his deafness.

Beethoven's deafness began to become evident in 1798 but by 1820 it was total. Beethoven often wrote about how his deafness made him feel very lonely and sad and isolated him in his own world of deafness. Beethoven became very depressed by his deafness and the limitations it put on him. In addition, Beethoven 4. quote obtained from A History of Western Music by Grout, E.T.A. Hoffman argues that Beethoven belongs only in the category of the Romantic generation, and he considers Haydn and Mozart to belong to the same category 5. quote found in A History of Western Music by Grout, speaker unnamed 6. as told in Beethoven by Stanley Sadie, when conducting the Fidelio, Beethoven sat staring at the players completely unaware that the audience was applauding him enthusiastically could no longer direct due to his deafness after he had a few failures at conducting and an embarrassing experience of having to give up an attempt to conduct Fidelio when completely deaf. (6) Often, Beethoven would become very frustrated by his deafness, which made him more moody and at times suicidal.

He broke strings in his piano trying to pound loud enough that he could hear his compositions. Directly before his death Beethoven contracted pneumonia and later dropsy and was also suffering from jaundice at the same time, but it is said that the cause of his death was liver failure. Ludwig van Beethoven died on March 26, 1827 in the company of fellow musician, Huttenburg and Johann's wife. Mozart's Requiem was played at Beethoven's funeral. Twenty thousand Viennese came to Beethoven's funeral, which was approximately one out of every ten people who lived there. (7) Beethoven is "probably the most admired composer in the history of Western music".

(8) Beethoven's influence in the musical world can not be overlooked, and his contribution to the development of music is tremendous. 7. in Beethoven by David Jacobs, Jacobs speculates that so many people attended Beethoven's funeral because they still remembered in shame Mozart's rather recent funeral in which few came at all 8. as defined by Graves in his A History of Western Music.