Beethoven's grandfather and father were both court singers. For most of their lives, his father drank heavily, was never kind to the family, and never even asked if the family had enough to eat or wear. At first the kindly grandfather managed to save the family from too much suffering; and, in turn, the musical talents of his oldest grandson were a great comfort to the old man. But when young Beethoven was only four years old, the grandfather died. Beethoven's father used to drag the boy to the keyboard and make him practice there for many grueling hours, slapping him whenever he made a mistake. The neighbors often heard the little child sobbing himself to sleep from exhaustion and pain. Soon a traveling musician of little level, Faivre, came to the town and was brought to Beethoven's house. He and old Beethoven used to drink outside in a tavern until midnight, and then go home and drag young Ludwig out of bed to begin a lesson that sometimes lasted until dawn. To make him look like a child prodigy, his father lied about his age and took him out to concerts as a six-year-old when he was eight. But there is no such thing as a child prodigy, and in spite of all the trouble he went through, Beethoven the Elder was never able to make his son into another young Mozart. Beethoven's childhood was unfortunate compared to Mozart's. Mozart was well educated in his childhood. Mozart was well educated in his childhood, his practice time was pleasant and quiet, with a loving father and a beloved sister; Beethoven is not, although his playing won the respect of the people in his hometown, but the world travel performance is far from the same as Mozart caused the world to marvel.
Two: Good Teachers
The father took the boy to teacher after teacher to learn different instruments and the art of composition. None of these teachers could be called good until he fell into the hands of Neefe, the court organist and manager of the Bonn theater. This was a respectable music teacher, friendly, well-educated young man. This was a real blessing for Beethoven. For although there were the best schools in the city of Bonn - schools to which even good old Bach would gladly have sent many of his children - Beethoven's father never thought it worthwhile to send Beethoven there for even two or three months. But Beethoven's father never thought it worthwhile to send Beethoven there for even two or three months; in his eyes, studying was far less profitable than learning music. For the first time in his life, young Beethoven found lessons enjoyable. Mr. Neffer was very kind to him and taught him not only about music, but also about many other things in the world. To pay for his lessons, Beethoven worked as an organist in place of his teacher when Mr. Neffer was busy or away from town. Thus when he had just reached the age of fourteen he was appointed assistant court organist and ancient pianist at the theater. How pleased that hateful and unfortunate father was when he saw that his son was at last earning some money for his music!
Three: A Visit to Mozart
At about this time, he visited Vienna for the first time in his life to play for Mozart, his most admired idol. Mozart thought the boy was just playing an exhibit of showmanship that he had practiced long enough for such an occasion, and out of politeness had to give him a polite but cold compliment. Young Beethoven became angry and demanded that Mozart give him a theme, on which he then improvised variations with so much feeling and genius. Mozart was so astonished that he ran at once to the door of the next room, "Pay attention to this young man," he exclaimed to a group of friends inside who were partying, "and one day the whole world will hear him!"
Four: Beethoven and Haydn
Beethoven finally realized that he could make no more progress in his homeland, and decided to seek his fortune again in Vienna. By this time Mozart had died, but Haydn, fresh from his first London triumph, was at the height of his fame. While passing through Bonn, Haydn had already heard and greatly admired one of Beethoven's grand choruses, so Beethoven decided to turn first to Haydn for lessons. Haydn was by this time long past his youth, and more diligent than ever in composing and conducting his greatest works. No wonder he had little time or energy to correct papers. And since he asked his students to pay only twenty cents per lesson, he probably didn't feel the need to spend much time on practicing script paper himself. So Beethoven often found some uncorrected mistakes in his exercises, and he was angry. When the aged teacher set out for a second visit to London, Beethoven turned to a less gifted but very strict teacher for his studies. Later he often declared aloud that he had learned nothing from Haydn. Before long, however, he must have grown to feel that if he had gained nothing from corrective exercises, he had gained inspiration from Haydn, to whom he dedicated his first few piano sonatas. And when Haydn made his last appearance on stage for his performance of Genesis and was helped out by some of his servants, Beethoven bent down and kissed the decrepit old man affectionately.
Fifth, I do what I want
Beethoven did not want to be a parlor favorite, he preferred to be in his own residence, to be able to go in and out of the house, get up, dress and eat at his own will. He liked to fool around with the minutiae of the room according to his own interests. On one occasion he went so far as to cut out a piece of a window for the sake of air circulation and to see out of it. He was always in trouble with his landlords, always moving. Whenever he was at the height of his creativity, he cooled it down by pouring pot after pot of water over his head until it soaked into the room downstairs - we can only imagine the emotions of the landlord and the other tenants! Sometimes he moved so often that he wouldn't even worry about putting the legs of the piano up and simply sat down on the floor to play it. Since he had to sign a lease each time he rented a new apartment, specifying the term of the lease, he tended to pay rent for four apartments at the same time. That was probably why, although he made a lot of money, he never had much in the way of savings!
Sixth: Deafness
When he really felt that he was getting deaf, he almost despaired. Life did not seem worth living: could there be anything more unfortunate for a musician than not being able to hear the sweet sounds he loved to hear and lived by! At first, only Dr. Wiegler and Stefan. Dr. Wiegler and Stefan von Browning were the only ones at first. At first only Dr. Wiegler and Stefan von Breuning and a few other old friends knew of his misfortune. He gave up going to the various royal palaces to hear the merry concerts which he so loved, fearing that people would notice his deafness, and think that a musician who could not hear could not write a good work. NOT! He thought of all the music he wanted to write, "I will take fate by the throat!" Maybe it wasn't as hard for him as it was for other musicians to write music while deaf. To him, music was not only about arranging various themes or sound patterns in a captivating voice; it was also a language for expressing the deepest thoughts.
VII. Beethoven and his friends
No musician has had so many successes and so few happy days in his life as he. His friends
were kind and loyal, but his cursed deafness separated him from them. Even his hearing aids often failed him, so the only way he kept in touch with them was the "talking book" and pencil he always carried with him. He saw them talking to each other and thought they were always talking about him, saying bad things about him, plotting against him. One day he wrote: "Don't ever show your face to me again! You are a vile dog, a dishonest fellow!" The next day, when he realized that his suspicions were wrong and his friend was sincere, he wrote another note: "Dear friend, you are an honest man and you are right. I understand that now. So come to me this afternoon and receive your Beethoven love." And his friends-what good people they were-always forgave him for his rough quarrels and stayed with him to the end. His family life was miserable from the beginning: he never married. On his first visit to Vienna, he proposed to Magdalene Willman, a singer from his home town, but she refused because Beethoven was "too ugly". Since then, he had fallen in love with several noblewomen - lovely women with lovely names - to whom he confided in his music, but they accepted his music and rejected his love!
[ Maestro Style ]
I. Heroic Symphonies
Beethoven's heart was filled with the ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity, and he was an ardent advocate of the French bourgeois revolution of 1789.In 1798, when General Bernadotte (1763-1844) became the French ambassador to Vienna, Beethoven often visited his In 1802, at the suggestion of General Bernadotte, Beethoven wrote his Third Symphony, dedicated to Napoleon. In his mind, Napoleon was a hero who destroyed autocracy and realized his ideals. 1804, Beethoven completed his Third Symphony. Just as he was about to dedicate it to Napoleon, the news of Napoleon's claim to the throne reached Vienna. When Beethoven learned of the news from his student Lis (1784-1838), he roared with rage, "He is no more than a mere mortal. Now he too will trample on human rights in order to fulfill his personal ambitions. He will ride on the heads of all and become a tyrant!" With that, he went to the table, tore the dedication to Napoleon to pieces, and threw it on the floor, forbidding anyone to pick it up. It took many days for Beethoven's anger to subside and he allowed the work to be released to the public, and in December 1804 the symphony was first performed in Vienna at the court of Prince Lobkowitz, and in April 1805 at the Vienna Theater, where Beethoven conducted the first public performance, with a program that reads: "A new grand symphony in ascending D major, conducted by Ludwig. D major, by Herr Ludwig van Beethoven, dedicated to His Royal Highness Prince Lobkowitz." Strangely, Beethoven did not say E-flat major, but D-flat major, and when the general score was published in October 1806, the title page read: "Heroic Symphony In Honor of a Great Man" From that time on, Symphony No. 3 became known as the "Heroic Symphony".
The Symphony of Fate
Beethoven's Symphony in C Minor (Op. 67) begins with four notes that are strong and heavy, as if fate were knocking at the door. This work is therefore called the Symphony of Fate. The Symphony of Fate was composed between 1805 and 1808. Beethoven, in a letter to his friend Wegler (1765-1848) in November 1808, had already said, "I will jam fate's throat, and it will never be able to overwhelm me completely!" The "voice of fate knocking at the door" had already appeared in the third movement of the Piano Sonata in C minor (Op. 10, No. 1), written in 1798, and later in the third movement of the String Quartet in D major (Op. 18, No. 3), the first movement of the Passionate Sonata (Op. 57), the Overture to Leonora No. 3 (Op. 72), and the Overture in E-flat (Op. 72), as well as the Overture to the Pianola No. 3 (Op. 73), which was written by the same composer. Op. 72), String Quartet in E-flat Major (Op. 74), and a series of other works. It can be seen that victory over fate through struggle is Beethoven's consistent creative thinking. Symphony of Fate" shows the passion of struggle in full swing, with a strong infectious force. Spanish female bass singer Mari Bran first listened to the "Symphony of Fate", scared to death, had to leave the table and go. Napoleon an old guard, listening to the opening theme of the fourth movement, could not help jumping up and shouting, "This is the Emperor!" Berlioz saw the thrilling scenes of struggle in the Symphony of Fate as "Othello's terrible fury when he listened to Egou's slander and mistook Desdemona for an illicit affair." According to Schumann, "Though you hear this symphony from time to time, it always has a constant power over you - just as the phenomena of nature, though they occur from time to time, always teach one to be frightened." In May and June of 1830, Mendelssohn stayed in Weimar for two weeks for a final meeting with Goethe, playing for him at the piano famous works of the past and present. Goethe was thrilled to hear the first movement of the Symphony of Fate, and said, "It is magnificently grand and thrilling, it would shake the house down. One wonders what would have happened if many people had played it together." In March 1841, Engels heard a performance of the Symphony of Fate. He praised the work in a letter to his sister, saying, "If you do not know this marvelous thing, then you have heard nothing in your life, if anything." In the first movement, he said, he heard "that utter despair of grief, that anguish of sorrow"; in the second, "that tender melancholy of love"; and in the third and fourth, "the powerful, youthful expression of the trumpet, the young, the young, the young, the young, the young, the young, the young, the young, the young, the young, the young, the young, the young, the young, the young, the young, the young, the young, the young, the young. In the third and fourth movements, "the powerful, youthful, free joy expressed by the trumpet" is so inspiring. In just a few words, Engels revealed the essence of the Symphony of Fate.
Third, the legend of "Moonlight Song"
"More than a hundred years ago, there was a musician in Germany named Beethoven, who composed many famous songs. One of them is a famous piano piece called "Moonlight Piece", the legend is composed in this way: one fall, Beethoven traveled around the world to perform, came to a small town on the Rhine River. One night, he was walking along a quiet path when he heard the intermittent sound of a piano coming out of a hut, playing his piece. Beethoven approached the cottage, the piano suddenly stopped, and there was a conversation in the house. A girl said, 'How difficult this piece is to play! I have only heard others play it a few times, but I can never remember how to play it; how wonderful it would be to hear how Beethoven himself played it! A man said, 'Yes, but concert tickets are too expensive, and we are too poor.' The girl said, 'Don't be sad, brother, I'm just talking.' Hearing this, Beethoven pushed open the door and gently went in. There was a candle lit in the hut, and in the faint candlelight the man was making leather shoes. There was an old piano in front of the window, and in front of it sat a girl of sixteen or seventeen years of age, with a very clear face, but blind. The cobbler saw a stranger come in, stood up and asked, 'Who are you looking for, sir? You've come to the wrong door, haven't you?' Beethoven said, 'No, I have come to play a piece for the girl.' The girl quickly stood up and gave up her seat. Beethoven sat down at the piano and played the piece the blind girl had just played. The blind girl was mesmerized, and when the piece was finished, she said excitedly, 'How purely well played it is! How deep is the feeling! You, you are Mr. Beethoven, aren't you?' Beethoven did not answer, he asked the blind girl: 'Do you like it? I'll play you another one.' A gust of wind blew out the candle. The moonlight shone through the window, and everything in the cottage seemed to be covered with a silver veil. Beethoven looked at the poor brother and sister standing beside him, and by the light of the moon, pressed the keys of the piano. The cobbler listened quietly. It seemed to him that he was facing the sea, and that the moon was rising from the place where the water and the sky met, and that the shimmering sea was for a moment sprinkled with silver light. The moon rose higher and higher, passing through wisps and wisps of gauzy clouds. Suddenly, a wind blew on the sea and huge waves rolled up. The waves, made snowy by the moonlight, came one after another towards the shore ...... The cobbler looked at his sister, on whose serene face the moonlight was shining, and in whose wide-open eyes it shone. It was as if she, too, saw, saw a sight she had never seen before, the rough sea in the moonlight. The siblings were mesmerized by the wonderful sound of the piano. By the time they awoke, Beethoven had long since left the cottage. He flew back to the inn and spent the night recording the 'Moonlight Song' he had just improvised." This is an article in the seventh book of our elementary school language textbook, which tells the story of Beethoven's playing of "Moonlight Pieces" for a blind girl. It is indeed a beautiful legend. The idea that this piece by Beethoven (Opus 27 No. 2 - Piano Sonata in #c minor) depicts moonlight at sea originated with the German music critic Rellstab (1799-1860). The Russian pianist Anton Rubinstein (1829-1894) strongly objected to the interpretation of the piece in terms of "moonlight". He said: "Moonlight in a musical description should be all-night, contemplative, quiet, in short, a soft and bright mood. The first movement of the Sonata in #c minor, from the first note to the last, is entirely tragic (implied by the minor key), a cloud-covered sky, a somber mood. The final movement is furious and passionate, expressing exactly the opposite of the gentle bright moon. Only the short second movement can be described as a moment of moonlight." In Germany, it is also called the "Pavilion" Sonata. A garden pavilion is a gazebo built in the shade of a tree, and it is clear that this title is equally inaccurate for this sonata. It seems that the piece is not a clear landscape, but rather a mood of inner gloom. The author of Beethoven's biography, Thiele (1817-1897), describes the first movement as "a maiden's prayer for her sick father", which is in any case more appropriate to Beethoven than the "Moonlight" and "Pavilion". "Beethoven composed this piece in 1801, when he was in love with Giulifatta Guicciardi (1784-1856), to whom it is dedicated. Beethoven's letter to Wegler of November 16 of that year mentions her with the words, "She loves me and I love her." But by early 1802 she had fallen in love with Count Robert Harrenhal in addition, and married him in 1803. Romain Rolland linked this piece to Beethoven's lost love, saying "The illusion was not long maintained, and the sonata already contains more pain and grief than love." Roland interpreted the first movement as melancholy, lamentation, and bitter weeping. The Russian musicologist Olbyshev (1794-1858) considered the first movement to be the "bitter sorrow" of lost love, like a "dying fire". However, in 1801, the year of Beethoven's love affair with Guicciardi, it may not be true to say that this work is about the pain of lost love. Perhaps the insights of the Russian art critic Stasov (1824-1906) are more plausible as to the interpretation of this work. After recalling hearing Liszt play it in Petersburg, he considered the sonata to be a complete tragedy , with the first movement being all-night long in a tender and sometimes darkly foreboding state of mind. He had a similar impression when listening to Anton Rubinstein: "...... From far, far away, as if from the depths of the unseen soul suddenly rises the voice of silence.
Some of the voices are melancholic, full of infinite sadness; others are contemplative, a flurry of memories, dark omens ...... "The Sonata in #c minor is particularly famous for its title and legend "Moonlight". The Sonata in #c minor is particularly famous for its title and the legend "Moonlight". Beethoven once said: "People often talk about the Sonata in #c minor, but I have written better things than this, like the Sonata in #F major (Op. 78) is an example." It is clear that Beethoven himself was not very satisfied with the Moonlight Song.
Four, Passionate Sonatas
Hindler once asked Beethoven about the contents of the Sonata in D Minor (Op. 31 No. 2) and the Sonata in F Minor (Op. 57), to which Beethoven replied, "Read Shakespeare's The Tempest." Thus the former became known as the Tempest Sonata, while the latter had the title of the Passion Sonata added to it by the Hamburg sheet music publisher Kranz (1789-1870). (The alternative claim that the title "Passion" was added by the German pianist, violinist, composer and conductor Reinecke (1824-1910) seems to be unfounded.) The title "Passion" was not approved by Beethoven, but it is quite appropriate for this heroic and majestic work. After hearing the Russian composer and conductor Dobrowen (1894-1953) play the sonata in Moscow, Lenin, the mentor of the proletarian revolution, said, "I know of nothing better than the Passion Sonata, and I would like to hear it every day. It is marvelous, unprecedented music. I always think with perhaps childish boastfulness: what wonders people are capable of!" On October 30, 1870, Paris had been surrounded by Prussian troops for more than three months during the Franco-Prussian War. In the base camp of King Wilhelm of Prussia at Versailles, the iron Chancellor Bismarck was negotiating the terms of an armistice with Thiers, the head of the French bourgeoisie. On this evening, Gerdel, who had been the German ambassador to Italy, played the "Passion Sonata" for Bismarck on a battered piano in Versailles. Bismarck listened to the last movement and said, "This is the howl of a whole generation's struggle." He understood Beethoven's "passion" from the standpoint of a bloodthirsty ambitious man. He once said, "If I could only listen to this piece more often, my courage would not dry up," because "Beethoven is best suited to my nerves." Beethoven said on June 29, 1801, "My art is used to improve the lot of poor people." If Beethoven had known that his music was being utilized for Bismarck, he would have died without a sound.
Fifth, the beat machine - friendship - Canon
Beethoven's friend Meltzer (1772-1838), known for the invention and manufacture of mechanical musical instruments, in the fall of 1813, Beethoven for Meltzer's invention of the universal piano (i.e., the mechanical orchestra) to write a war symphony, titled "Victory at Wellington" or "Victoria", describing the battle of the same year, the battle of Victoria. The Battle of Vitoria, depicting the defeat of Napoleon by the British general Wellington in the northern Spanish city of Vitoria on June 21 of the same year. Meltzer had created the metronome that is common today, based on the invention of Winkel (1776-1826). Beethoven was the first to adopt it, and marked the tempo of his work by the number of beats it struck per minute. Beethoven's hearing aid, too, was made for him by Meltzer around 1810. On one occasion, while sending Meltzer on a trip, Beethoven wrote a sardonic canon in praise of the creator of the metronome. This Canon, which symbolizes the friendship between Beethoven and Meltzer, was later chosen by Beethoven for his Eighth Symphony (Op. 93), becoming the theme of the second movement. Sixth, the ballet stage of the Seventh Symphony Wagner called Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 (Op. 92) "the ultimate dance", "the highest form of dance", "according to the ideal form of the body's movement of the most wonderful embodiment". embodiment of physical movement according to the ideal form". He is said to have envisioned a dance performance of the Seventh Symphony accompanied by Liszt's piano. Wagner's vision was later realized by the Russian choreographer Marcin, who, in 1938, choreographed the symphony as a ballet to represent an allegorical storyline - the creation and destruction of the world:
Movement 1: Creation - The first movement, "The Seventh Symphony", is a ballet in which the creation of the world is guided by the spirit of creation. -Guided by the spirit of creation, the chaotic world is transformed into an orderly abode for plants and animals. Men and women appeared, as well as dangerous serpents. Movement 2: Earth - Abominations and rapes appear on Earth. A group of men and women mourn a murdered teenager. Movement 3: Sky - The gods and goddesses in the sky are indifferent to the turmoil on the earth and still rejoice Movement 4: Drinking and Destruction - People indulge in drinking and sex. The god sees their bad imitation of the joys of the upper world and destroys the world with fire in his anger.In May 1938, the first performance of the play was given by Basil's Ballets Russes in Monte Carlo, Monaco.
Seven, Ode to Joy and Choral Symphony
In January 1793, Fischernich, a friend of the German poet Schiller and a professor of law at the University of Bonn, wrote to Schiller's wife, Charlotte, saying, "There is a young man ...... who holds a great and noble ambition to put Schiller's Ode to Joy to music verse by verse." This youth was Beethoven, who was living in Bonn at the time and was only 23 years old. Beethoven had drafted the music for the Ode to Joy in both 1798 and 1812. The theme from the Ode to Joy, written in 1812, was later used in the Overture to the Nameday Festivities in C major (Op. 115), which was completed in October 1814, and which Beethoven wrote in 1795 for the Ode to Joy. Beethoven's song "Mutual Love", which he composed around 1795 for Bürger's poem, and the theme of "Ode to Joy" in the last movement of the Choral Symphony are so closely related tonally that they can be regarded as the predecessor of the theme of "Ode to Joy". Beethoven later borrowed this tune as the theme for Kuffner's poem celebrating the charms of music in his Choral Fantasy for Piano in C minor (Op. 80) of 1808. The choral part of the Choral Fantasy for Piano was an attempt to write the finale of the Choral Symphony, and in March 1824, Beethoven wrote to Probst: "The finale of the Choral Symphony is written in the style of the Choral Fantasy for Piano, but on a far more ambitious scale." This shows that Beethoven's intention to compose the Ode to Joy was pondered for 30 years, starting in 1793, before it was finally realized in the Choral Symphony. The Choral Symphony was composed during the reactionary period after the Carlsbad Resolution, when all free thought and democratic movements were brutally suppressed, and when it was first performed in May 1824 in Vienna's Kreutnacht Theater, the audience's response was unprecedentedly enthusiastic. When Beethoven appeared, he was applauded and cheered five times by the audience, so much so that the police had to intervene. But standing in the orchestra with his back to the audience, Beethoven could not hear anything, but fortunately, the baritone singer Unger held his hand and turned around, only to "see" the audience's cheers. From the extraordinary emotions aroused by the first performance, it can be seen that singing for joy, that is, singing for freedom, had such a deep practical significance at that time. [The Holy Realm of Music]
One day, Beethoven came to a restaurant to eat. After ordering the food, he was suddenly inspired, then copied the menu on the table, and composed a song on the back of the menu. In a short while, he was completely immersed in the beautiful melody. When the waiter saw Beethoven's devotion, he did not dare to disturb him, and planned to wait for a while before serving him the food. About an hour later, the waiter finally came to Beethoven's side: "Sir, would you like to be served?" Beethoven woke up as if he had just woken up from a dream, and immediately paid the bill. The waiter was as confused as a monk: "Sir, you haven't eaten yet!" "No," he said. ""No! I'm sure I've already eaten." Beethoven simply could not listen to the waiter's repeated explanations, he paid according to the pricing on the menu, grabbed the written notes of the recipe, and rushed out of the restaurant.
Second, the day has advanced
In his later years, Beethoven once heard a friend play his Thirty-two Variations in C minor. After listening for a while, he asked, "Whose work is this?"
"Yours." The friend replied.
"Mine? I would have written such a clumsy tune?" Then added: "Ah, Beethoven was a fool in his day!" Goethe commented on Schiller in a way that applies perfectly to Beethoven: "He changes and grows every week. Every time I see him I always feel that his knowledge, learning and insights have advanced from the last." At one point, Beethoven even tried to destroy the songs Adéla?de Moss and the Seventh Quartet in E-flat Major (Op. 20), which he had composed as a youth. This is no accident, like Beethoven, can be said to be "fifty and know forty-nine of the wrong".