Ludwig van Beethoven Great composer Date of Birth: 16.12.1770 Country: Germany

Biography of Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer, often considered the greatest creator of all time. His music is classified as both classical and romantic, but it goes beyond these definitions, as Beethoven's compositions are primarily an expression of his genius personality. Beethoven was born in Bonn, presumably on December 16, 1770 (baptized on December 17). In addition to German blood, he also had Flemish ancestry. His paternal grandfather, also named Ludwig, was born in 1712 in Mechelen, Flanders, and served as a singer in Ghent and Leuven before moving to Bonn in 1733, where he became a court musician in the chapel of the Elector-Archbishop of Cologne. He was an intelligent man, a good singer, and a professionally trained instrumentalist, eventually becoming the court conductor and earning the respect of those around him. His only son Johann (his other children died in infancy) sang in the same chapel from childhood, but his position was precarious due to his heavy drinking and disorderly life. Johann married Maria Magdalena Keverich, the daughter of a cook, and they had seven children, of whom three sons survived, with Ludwig, the future composer, being the eldest. Beethoven grew up in poverty. His father squandered his meager salary on alcohol, and he played the violin and piano with his son in the hope that he would become a prodigy, a new Mozart, and support the family. Over time, Beethoven's father received an increased salary in anticipation of his talented and hardworking son's future. Despite this, the young boy was not confident in playing the violin and preferred to improvise on the piano, rather than perfect his playing technique. Beethoven's general education was as haphazard as his musical education. However, practice played a significant role in his musical development: he played the viola in the court orchestra, performed on keyboard instruments, including the organ, which he quickly mastered. Starting in 1782, Beethoven's first real teacher was Christian Gottlob Neefe, the court organist in Bonn, who introduced him to Johann Sebastian Bach's "Well-Tempered Clavier." Beethoven's duties as a court musician expanded significantly when Archduke Maximilian Franz became the Elector-Archbishop of Cologne and began to take an interest in the musical life of Bonn, where his residence was located. In 1787, Beethoven managed to visit Vienna for the first time - the musical capital of Europe at that time. According to stories, Mozart, after listening to the young boy play, highly praised his improvisations and predicted a great future for him. However, Beethoven had to return home soon after - his mother was on her deathbed. He became the sole provider for his family, consisting of his dissolute father and two younger brothers. The young man's talent, his thirst for musical experiences, and his passionate and receptive nature drew the attention of some enlightened families in Bonn, and his brilliant piano improvisations granted him access to any musical gatherings. The Breyning family, in particular, did a lot for him, taking care of the awkward but original young musician. Dr. Franz Gerhard Wegeler became his lifelong friend, and Count Ferdinand Ernst Gabriel Waldstein, his enthusiastic admirer, convinced the archduke to send Beethoven to Vienna for further education. Vienna. 1792-1802. In Vienna, where Beethoven arrived for the second time in 1792 and remained until the end of his days, he quickly found titled patron friends. People who met the young Beethoven described the twenty-year-old composer as a stout young man prone to coquetry, sometimes audacious but good-natured and amiable in his relationships with friends. Realizing the inadequacy of his education, he went to Joseph Haydn, a recognized Viennese authority in instrumental music (Mozart had died a year earlier), and for some time brought him exercises in counterpoint for review. However, Haydn soon cooled towards his stubborn student, and Beethoven secretly took lessons from Ignaz Schenck and then from the more thorough Johann Georg Albrechtsberger. In addition to that, wanting to improve his vocal composition, he attended the famous opera composer Antonio Salieri for several years. He soon became part of a circle that brought together titled amateurs and professional musicians. Prince Karl Lichnowsky introduced the young provincial into his circle of friends. The question of how much the environment and spirit of the time influence creativity is ambiguous. Beethoven read the works of Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, one of the forerunners of the "Storm and Stress" movement. He was familiar with Goethe and deeply admired the thinker and poet. The political and social life of Europe at that time was turbulent: when Beethoven arrived in Vienna in 1792, the city was agitated by news of the revolution in France. Beethoven enthusiastically embraced revolutionary slogans and celebrated freedom in his music. The volcanic, explosive nature of his compositions undoubtedly embodies the spirit of the time, but only in the sense that the character of the composer was to some extent shaped by this era. Boldly breaking the accepted norms, powerful self-assertion, and the stormy atmosphere of Beethoven's music would have been unthinkable in Mozart's time. However, Beethoven's early compositions largely followed the conventions of the 18th century: this applies to the trios (string and piano), violin, piano, and cello sonatas. The piano was Beethoven's closest instrument at the time, and in his piano compositions, he expressed the most intimate feelings with utmost sincerity, and the slow movements of some sonatas (such as the Largo e mesto from Sonata Op. 10, No. 3) were already imbued with romantic yearning. The Pathetique Sonata Op. 13 is also an obvious anticipation of Beethoven's later experiments. In other cases, his innovation takes the form of sudden invasion, and the first listeners perceived it as a clear arbitrariness. The six string quartets Op. 18, published in 1801, can be considered the most significant achievement of this period; Beethoven did not rush to publish them, realizing what high standards of quartet writing Mozart and Haydn had set. Beethoven's first orchestral experience is associated with two piano concertos with orchestra (No. 1 in C major and No. 2 in B-flat major), composed in 1801: it seems that he was not confident in them either, being well acquainted with Mozart's great achievements in this genre. Among the most famous (and least provocative) early works are the Septet Op. 20 (1802). The following opus, the First Symphony (published in late 1801), is Beethoven's first purely orchestral composition. We can only speculate to what extent Beethoven's deafness influenced his creativity. The ailment developed gradually. As early as 1798, he complained of noise in his ears, and he often had difficulty distinguishing high tones and understanding whispered conversations. Fearing becoming an object of pity - a deaf composer, he confided in his close friend Karl Amenda and doctors, who advised him to protect his hearing as much as possible. He continued to move in the circle of his Viennese friends, participated in musical evenings, and composed a lot. He concealed his deafness so well that even people who frequently met him did not suspect how serious his illness was until 1812. They attributed his occasional irrelevant responses during conversations to a bad mood or absentmindedness. In the summer of 1802, Beethoven withdrew to the quiet suburb of Vienna - Heiligenstadt. There he wrote a remarkable document - the "Heiligenstadt Testament," a torturous confession of the tormented musician. The testament was addressed to Beethoven's brothers (with instructions to read and fulfill it after his death) and spoke about his mental suffering: "It is agonizing when 'a man standing next to me hears the distant sound of a flute, which is inaudible to me; or when someone hears the singing of a shepherd and I cannot hear the sound at all." However, in a letter to Dr. Wegeler, he exclaimed, "I will take fate by the throat!" and the music he continued to write confirmed this decision: in the same summer, the bright Second Symphony, Op. 36, the magnificent piano sonatas Op. 31, and three violin sonatas, Op. 30, appeared. According to the "three-period" classification proposed in 1852 by one of the first researchers of Beethoven's works, Wilhelm von Lenz, the second period roughly covers 1802-1815. The definitive break with the past was rather the realization and continuation of the tendencies of the early period, rather than a conscious "declaration of independence": Beethoven was not a reformer-theorist like Gluck before him or Wagner after him. The first decisive breakthrough towards what Beethoven called the "new path" occurred in the Third Symphony (Eroica), which he worked on from 1803 to 1804. Its duration is three times longer than any symphony written before. The first movement - music of extraordinary power, the second - an expression of overwhelming grief, the third - a witty, capricious scherzo, and the finale - variations on a triumphant, festive theme, far surpassing the traditional rondo finales composed by Beethoven's predecessors in terms of power. It is often claimed (and not without reason) that Beethoven initially dedicated the Eroica Symphony to Napoleon, but when he learned that Napoleon had declared himself Emperor, he canceled the dedication. "Now he will trample on human rights and satisfy only his own ambition," Beethoven is said to have commented when he tore the title page of the score with the dedication. In the end, the Eroica Symphony was dedicated to one of Beethoven's patrons - Prince Lobkowitz. In these years, genius works poured out of his pen one after another. The composer's major works, listed in order of their creation, form an incredible stream of genius music, replacing his composer's departing world of real sounds. It was a triumphant self-affirmation, a reflection of intense mental work, and evidence of the rich inner life of the musician. We can only mention the most important works of the second period: violin sonata in A major, Op. 47 (Kreutzer Sonata, 1802-1803); Third Symphony, Op. 55 (Eroica, 1802-1805); oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives, Op. 85 (1803); piano sonatas: Waldstein, Op. 53; F major, Op. 54; Appassionata, Op. 57 (1803-1815); piano concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58 (1805-1806); Beethoven's only opera - Fidelio, Op. 72 (1805, second version 1806); three "Razumovsky" quartets, Op. 59 (dedicated to Count Razumovsky; 1805-1806); Fourth Symphony in B-flat major, Op. 60 (1806); violin concerto, Op. 61 (1806); overture to the tragedy Coriolan, Op. 62 (1807); Mass in C major, Op. 86 (1807); Fifth Symphony in C minor, Op. 67 (1804-1808); Sixth Symphony, Op. 68 (Pastoral, 1807-1808); cello sonata in A major, Op. 69 (1807); two piano trios, Op. 70 (1808); piano concerto No. 5, Op. 73 (Emperor, 1809); quartet, Op. 74 (Harp, 1809); piano sonata, Op. 81a (Les Adieux, 1809-1810); three songs on texts by Goethe, Op. 83 (1810); music to Goethe's tragedy Egmont, Op. 84 (1809); quartet in F minor, Op. 95 (1810); Eighth Symphony in F major, Op. 93 (1811-1812); piano trio in B-flat major, Op. 97 (Archduke, 1818). The second period includes Beethoven's highest achievements in the genres of violin and piano concertos, violin and cello sonatas, and operas; the genre of piano sonata is represented by such masterpieces as the Appassionata and Waldstein. Even musicians were not always able to perceive the novelty of these works. It is said that one of his colleagues once asked Beethoven if he considered one of the quartets dedicated to the Russian ambassador in Vienna, Count Razumovsky, to be music. "Yes," said the composer, "but not for you, for the future." Beethoven deeply admired the works of Goethe, composed several songs to his texts, and music for his tragedy Egmont, but he only met Goethe in the summer of 1812 when they found themselves together at the spa resort in Teplitz. The refined manners of the great poet and the sharpness of the composer's behavior did not contribute to their closeness. "His talent amazed me extraordinarily, but unfortunately, he has an untamed character, and the world appears hateful to him," Goethe said in one of his letters. Beethoven's friendship with Archduke Rudolph, the Austrian archduke and the stepbrother of the emperor, is one of the most intriguing historical plots. Around 1804, the archduke, who was then 16 years old, began taking piano lessons from the composer. Despite the vast difference in their social status, the teacher and the student had a genuine fondness for each other. When Beethoven went to the archduke's palace for lessons, he had to pass countless corridors.