Name: Ludwig van Beethoven
Birthday: December 16, 1770
Horoscope: Sagittarius
Place of Birth: Bonn, a city on the Rhine River not far from France
Status: German composer and pianist
[Edit]Beethoven's Life Introduction
"Do your best for good, love and freedom more than anything else, and even if you forget the throne, do not forget the truth." --Beethoven (handwritten in 1792)
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) great German composer, one of the representative figures of the Viennese Classical School of Music, has a pivotal role in the development of world music (from the Classical period to the Romantic period), and is honored by the world as the "Sage of Music".
Beethoven was born on December 16, 1770 in Bonn, a small town on the Rhine not far from France. He was born into the Flemish family, a musical family. His grandfather's name was Rutwick, orchestra leader of the Bonn court orchestra, and his father was an alcoholic tenor singer. His mother was a maid, the daughter of a cook. Beethoven's musical talent was evident from an early age, and his father, eager to raise him to be a prodigy like Mozart, kept him at home alone with his violin from an early age or forced him to practice all day long at the harpsichord. By the age of eight he was performing in concerts and attempting to compose, but his musical education during this period had been very fragmentary and unsystematic. The most recognized portrait of Beethoven
By the age of twelve, he was already playing comfortably and working as an assistant to the organist Christian Gottlob Neefe (1748-1798). It was at this point that he began his formal musical studies with Neefe. Neefe, a musician of many talents, broadened Beethoven's artistic horizons, familiarized him with some of the finest examples of German classical art, and solidified Beethoven's understanding of a noble purpose. Beethoven's formal studies and systematic upbringing actually began with Niefer's careful teaching and nurturing: Niefer also guided him to Vienna in 1787 to study with Mozart. After hearing him play, Mozart predicted that Beethoven would one day shake the world. Shortly after his arrival in Vienna, Beethoven received news of his mother's death and had to return to Bonn immediately. Due to family commitments, he did not come to Vienna for a second time until after his father's death in the fall of 1792, but by that time Mozart was no longer alive. After his second visit to Vienna, Beethoven quickly earned the reputation of being one of Vienna's most accomplished virtuosos (especially in improvisation). Later, he studied first with Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) and later with Schenker, Johann Albrechtsberger (1736-1809) and Antonio Salieri (1750-1825). In Bonn, through his association with the intellectual Br?nnen, he came into contact with many of the leading professors, writers and musicians of the time and was influenced by the ideas of the "Rampage" movement. His democratic ideas matured in the years leading up to the French Revolution, but grew particularly rapidly during the revolutionary years. Ludwig van Beethoven's plaster cast
The progressive ideology of the French bourgeois revolution of 1789 inspired him a great deal, thus laying the foundation for his humanistic world. Convinced of the equality of mankind, he pursued justice and freedom of individuality, and hated the oppression of feudal despotism. Although the three famous composers of the Viennese Classical School lived in a fairly close era, Beethoven's thinking was obviously not of the same "age" as Haydn and Mozart. Haydn was humiliated throughout his life, and although he was occasionally angered, he was always submissive; he was seldom excited by the progressive literary trends and revolutionary sentiments of the time, and his music was permanently insulated from the struggle. Mozart suffered no less mentally than Haydn; he was brave enough to resist, preferring poverty to the insults of the archbishop, but in his music a hint of pain, melancholy, and sadness can often be sensed behind the sunny and youthful joy of his music. Only Beethoven, who not only raged against the tyranny of the feudal system, but also used his music to call people to fight for freedom and happiness. Beethoven's compositions in Bonn (1782-1792) consisted mostly of small piano pieces, repertoire and songs, and it can be said that he was still in the preparatory stage of his compositions during this period. His first ten years in Vienna (1792-1802), the more famous works are only "Pathétique", "Moonlight" Piano Sonata and "Croce" Violin Sonata and the Third Piano Concerto and so on. But during this period, he had a further understanding of social and political issues, and could realize that he had to work hard to find the goal. 1802-1812, his composition entered a period of maturity, which later became his "heroic years".
Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven's PianoforteThe maturation of Beethoven's creative activity appears to have been rather slow, but in fact it was very solid. He was thirty years old when he began to write his first symphony, whereas at an age like that Mozart had already written some forty symphonies.
Beethoven had a very difficult life and became deaf in his later years; he had felt his hearing weakening from the age of twenty-six in 1796, but it was not until 1801, when he was convinced that his ear disease was incurable, that he told his friends about it. However, his love of art and his love of life overcame his personal suffering and despair - suffering became a source of creative strength. At the peak of such a spiritual crisis, Beethoven overcame all the difficulties with a strong will and began to compose his optimistic Third "Heroic" Symphony. The "Heroic" Symphony marked the beginning of Beethoven's spiritual turnaround, as well as the beginning of the "heroic age" of his compositions.
During his latter years in Vienna, Beethoven's compositions were in a temporary decline (1813-1817), as Europe was experiencing a period of severe political reaction, particularly under Metternich's reactionary rule. From 1818 onwards, in the last decade of his life (1818-1827), in spite of his total deafness, his deteriorating health, his poverty, and his mental torture, Beethoven composed with titanic perseverance the Ninth "Choral" Symphony, which sums up his glorious, epic life and shows the good will of mankind. The Ninth Choral Symphony summarizes his glorious, epic life and expresses the hopes of mankind.
Beethoven died on March 26, 1827, in Vienna; he had no relatives with him at the time of his death, but his burial on the 29th of the same month was a mass event, with all schools closed in mourning, 20,000 people escorting his coffin, and an inscription by the Austrian poet G?rg Bartsch (1791-1872) inscribed on his tombstone: "The Ninth Chorus is the most beautiful of all the symphonies of the world. 1872) inscription: "When you stand in front of his casket, enveloped in you is not a disillusionment, but a sublime feeling; we can only say to such a person as he is: he accomplished great things ...... Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven's Desk
Beethoven is one of the world's leading artists. > Ludwig van Beethoven is one of the great composers in the world's art history, his creations reflect his titanic character, reflecting the progressive ideas of the era, and its revolutionary heroism can be summarized by the image of "through the suffering - to joy; through the struggle - to victory". His works are not only magnificent and grandiose, but also very simple and distinctive, with rich musical content, and at the same time, easy for the audience to understand and accept. Beethoven's music is a reflection of the pain and joy, the struggle and the triumph of the people of his time, so it has always been so inspiring and motivating, and even now it makes people feel close and inspired.
Beethoven's works "Ninth Choral Symphony", "Fifth Symphony of Fate", "Sixth Symphony of Fields", "Third, Fourth and Fifth Emperor's Piano Concerto", "Moonlight", "Pathétique Piano Sonata", "Solemn Mass", "Destiny" and so on, these are all free from classicism, show freedom, passionate and unrestrained beautiful music.
[edit]Beethoven's creative career
Beethoven grew up in a time when Joseph II was practicing "enlightened dictatorship", and the rulers of Bonn also implemented some improvement measures. Bonn became one of the centers of the German Enlightenment.
A portrait of the 13-year-old Beethoven Beethoven's struggle with destiny began at birth. His father wanted to develop his musical talent and always showed him off as a child prodigy. At the age of four, his father made him sit all day at the pianoforte (an instrument similar in form and organization to the piano, a keyboard instrument that predates the piano) or locked him in a room with a violin. His father always used violence to force him to learn. At the age of eleven, Beethoven joined the theater orchestra. At thirteen, he became an organist. He was very lucky that he didn't get sick of music after all.
From 1781, while working in the theater, Beethoven studied Bach's Piano Pieces in Mean Time and composition with the orchestra's conductor, Nervo. He was a highly educated, Enlightenment-oriented composer and conductor who had a strong interest in the development of German music. He contributed to the development of German national opera and oratorio. Beethoven realized the importance of learning the German folk music tradition through his studies with this teacher, and under the guidance of Nervo, he also accepted the influence of the Enlightenment, and became interested in the progressive literature of Germany at that time.
Beethoven's skill as a pianist impressed all. He was not only a successful performer but also an excellent teacher. He soon became a prolific composer. His works were so popular that he could easily sell them to publishers at the age of twenty-five or twenty-six. beethoven_house_of_birth Birthplace
Beethoven's deafness began to set in when he was nearly a teenager, and the young composer was understandably apprehensive about this ominous sign. At one point he contemplated suicide. Beethoven continued to write a great deal of music. But as the years passed, his interest in the music of his time, which was so popular with musical audiences, dwindled. But he continued to be successful. When Beethoven reached the age of 50, he became completely deaf. As a result, he stopped performing on stage and became even more solitary and eccentric. He was not as prolific as he had been, and his works were difficult to read. At that time he composed mainly for himself and for some ideal future audience. He is said to have told a critic that his work was "composed not for you but for a future generation."
To say that this most gifted of composers beyond time and space suffered the pangs of deafness would be to say that it was a most unmitigated mockery of fate; and to say that Beethoven continued to ensure the quality of his work with a kind of superhuman perseverance, in spite of the agony of his deafness, is an inspirational, almost unbelievable, feat. But the truth is even more surprising than it seems: Beethoven actually composed music beyond the level of his earlier works during his years of total deafness. The works he composed in his later years are generally considered to be the greatest masterpieces of his life. He died in Vienna in 1827 at the age of 57.
Beethoven_death_mask statueBeethoven composed a vast body of work, including nine symphonies, 32 piano sonatas, five piano concertos, ten piano and violin sonatas, a series of string quartets, vocal compositions, dramatic compositions, and many other pieces of music. But more important than the quantity of his numerous scores is their quality. His compositions are an organic blend of perfect imagery and spirited emotion. Beethoven tugged at the heartstrings of people with his playing, and they no longer considered instrumental music a secondary art.
Beethoven was a creative composer, and many of the changes he brought to music have had a lasting effect. He enlarged the size of the orchestra, increased the length of symphonies, and broadened their scope. He proved that the piano was extremely versatile and contributed to making it a first-rate instrument. Beethoven represented a shift in music from the classical to the romantic. His works have inspired many romantic compositions.
Beethoven was a great influence on many later composers, including people of various styles, such as Brahms, Wagner, Schubert and Tchaikovsky. He also blazed the trail for Berlioz, Gustav, Mahler, Strauss and many others.
Although Johann Sebastian Bach almost shared his fame, Beethoven's compositions had a wider and more numerous audience than Bach's, and Beethoven made numerous innovations that had a more profound impact on later musical developments than Bach's works.
Beethoven's symphonies are mostly in the form of expanded sonatas, and his compositions are broad and grand in conception, profound in thought, contrasting and diverse in image, and highly unified in the treatment of the form, changing the third movement of the original symphony into a harmonic march, and applying to his symphonies the dramatic expression of the struggle to triumph in the opera over the contradictions of the world. The dramatic approach of the opera to the conflict in the world through the victory of the struggle was applied to the symphony, and even a chorus was added to the ninth symphony, which enlarged the expressive ability and atmosphere of the symphony. In addition, in the creation of symphonies, Beethoven made bold innovations in the orchestration, established the position of clarinet in the orchestra, used four trombones in the Ninth Symphony and so on, which formed a novel style and started a new field, fully expressed his inner world in this innovative form of music, reflected the progressive trend of the society at that time, and developed the music of the European Classical School to the highest peak, and created the 19th century European Romantic School.
But Beethoven's final years were the most tragic and painful of his life, and the threat of loneliness and poverty left him destitute and alone, dying on March 26, 1827, in Vienna. It is said that at the moment of his death, rainstorms and thunder and lightning, Beethoven raised his dry arm to the sky for the last fight. This spirit of endless fighting, all through his immortal masterpieces.
Beethoven is one of the greatest creators of human art. On the one hand, he had a remarkable musical talent, a fiery rebellious temperament, and a titanic strength of character; on the other hand, his indomitable will and a sense of responsibility to the community, resulting in lofty ideas, forming his special qualities as a musician. Through his compositions, especially in his nine symphonies, he reflected the great people's movements and the most progressive ideas of his time. He wrote a series of symphonies on the theme of the times and the fate of individuals, combining profound philosophy and touching artistic images, expressing the spiritual course of the bourgeoisie's ascent from struggle to victory, from darkness to light, from misery to joy, and his nine symphonies shine like pearls forever.
Beethoven had a rebellious spirit and freedom of character. In 1807, Beethoven was living in the home of Duke Lichnowsky in Vienna. One day, a large number of guests came to the Duke's home, they were all Napoleon sent to occupy Vienna at the time of the French officers. The Duke wanted to invite the guests to listen to music, so he sent someone to invite Beethoven, but did not explain the situation to Beethoven. Beethoven did not know what to expect, with his newly completed "Passion" Sonata excitedly rushed to. Into the living room, it is a bunch of occupation troops, Beethoven immediately rejected the duke's request, the duke was infuriated, and even put up a face on Beethoven under the order of the performance, Beethoven for the Lichnovsky's shameless traitorous behavior to the extreme, he ignored the night of the pouring rain to pick up the sheet music angrily left, and the duke previously sent him a bust fell to pieces.
The next day, the Duke received this letter, "Duke! You have earned your position by virtue of occasional birth. I, on the other hand, owe it all to myself that I am Beethoven. While the Duke has now and will have in the future, I, Beethoven, will always have only one!" Perhaps the actual situation was even more violent than the information contained, but Beethoven's friends managed to sweep things under the rug. Beethoven, a friend of Wegler and the Bruhling family, in Wegler's library, has a letter from Rees to Wegler, dated December 28, 1837, which mentions that "without the presence of Count Opstorf and others, it is to be feared that a brawl would not have been avoided, and that Beethoven had already lifted up a chair and was ready to deliver a blow to Prince Ridzinowski, as Beethoven hid himself in his room and tied the door, but the Prince slammed it open. The Prince, however, broke down the door. Fortunately Opusdorf stood between the two of them." The quarrel arose when Beethoven refused to allow Richnowsky to play for some French officers whom he had called to dinner.
Through the study and analysis of Beethoven's nine symphonies, especially the analysis of four of them (i.e., the Third, Fifth, Sixth, and Ninth), we can not only understand the basic appearance of Beethoven's entire creation and his great and innocent thoughts, but also understand the major innovation in symphonic creation, and we can see how the symphony transitioned from the era of Haydn and Mozart to that of Schubert and Mendelssohn. The new development of symphonic music is represented by Schubert and Mendelssohn.
As early as Beethoven's lifetime, he was already recognized as a musician of world significance, both as a great classical composer and as a pioneer of the Romantic School. When Beethoven died in 1827, his friends and admirers came to pay their respects.
Beethoven was buried in the Waehringer Friedhof cemetery. Literary giant Grillparzer once said in his eulogy "Beethoven gave everything he had to the multitude, and from them he gained nothing, so he turned away from the multitude." What would allow Beethoven to rest in peace was that Schubert was also buried here in 1828, with him. A Schubert garden (Schubertpark) was built next to the Wehringer cemetery in honor of Schubert, a talented young musician. Today, this Schubert garden on Wehringerstrasse is a place where many tourists hang out.
[edit]Beethoven's Musical Style
Beethoven was an architect of music of the highest order, and his genius is expressed in the structural form of the sonata-symphony idea. His shorthand notebooks show how the musical ideas he conceived were finalized step by step, and how hard he labored to infuse the material into its inevitable form.
Beethoven inherited the sonata form from the symphonies of Haydn and Mozart, and adapted it to his own ideas by making it a massive structure. He enlarged the scale of the first movement, especially the coda. He looked to Haydn and Mozart alike for the unfolding section as the power center of the sonata form. His short but profound themes offer endless opportunities for expansion and development, and they unfold with fierce power and momentum. The slow movement has the character of a hymn in Beethoven's hands, embodying Beethovenian pathos. He transforms the minuet movement into a harmonic movement, a movement with rhythmic dynamics, with moods ranging from "laughing" to mystery and wonder. He expanded the finale to become a movement similar in scale and mood to the first movement, ending the symphony in triumph.
Piano music occupies a central place in Beethoven's art, and his 32 sonatas are an indispensable part of the repertoire, both for amateur pianists and for concert soloists. They have been aptly called the pianist's "New Testament" (the "Old Testament" refers to Bach's even-tempered piano pieces). Contrasts of intensity. Explosive accents, counterpoint in the upper and lower registers, syncopation, and powerful crescendos are all essential features of Beethoven's piano style. His penchant for variations on a theme was also characteristic, and in this respect he was a masterful architect, using endless ideas to build the simplest of materials into towering edifices. When Beethoven wanted to express more "intense emotions" and began to use new techniques on the piano, the result of his "passionate expression" was damaged mallets and broken strings, as described by one of Beethoven's scribes: "I often twisted the broken strings to make the piano work. One of Beethoven's scribes described it as follows: "I used to twist off the broken strings, I worked back and forth, pulling out the broken strings, and going over the score, and my work was much harder than Beethoven's."
Beethoven saw the symphony as the ideal means of addressing humanity, and his nine symphonies are universally infectious spiritual dramas. They affirm life with sweeping and thrilling grandeur. Beethoven's style matured in the Third Symphony (Heroic). The work was originally titled for Napoleon, whom he saw as the embodiment of the revolutionary spirit and human freedom. When news of Napoleon's claim to the throne arrived, Beethoven had no illusions about him. Enraged, the composer tore out the dedicatory page from his newly completed work and rewrote it as the "Heroic Symphony, in honor of a great man".
It is widely recognized that the Fifth Symphony is the archetype of the symphony, and that it has everything that a symphony has. The Seventh Symphony rivals it in its infectious power in many ways. The Ninth Symphony plays the profound tones of Beethoven's most late period, and its finale features Schiller's famous Ode to Joy, sung by the human voice, a prophecy of the times that rings out loud and clear.
Beethoven was one of Germany's greatest musicians.
[edit]Beethoven's legacy
Beethoven, despite being born in Germany, never left Vienna since he left the country at the age of 22. He left numerous legacies in Vienna.
Pasqualatihaus
This building, named after the owner of the house, was built between 1791 and 1798. Between 1804 and 1815, Beethoven lived here several times. It was here that Beethoven experienced his creative heyday, composing his Symphonies 4, 5 and 6, his Piano Concerto No. 4 and his opera Fidelio.
Heiligenstaedter Testament-Haus 19., Probusgasse 6
Heiligenstaedter was a long way outside the walls of Vienna in its day, and is now an elegant villa district in the north of the city. It is here that Beethoven, in his despair at losing his hearing, left his will in October 1802, and this home is now open to the public.Beethoven grave
House of Heroes Eroica-Haus
Not far from the house of wills is another Beethoven home, the House of Heroes, where Beethoven composed his Heroic Symphony. where he composed the Heroic Symphony. Beethoven's other symphony, The Field, was also composed in the neighborhood. The former residence has now been transformed into a very famous new wine store. On the paths, which are full of suburban atmosphere, visitors can enjoy the atmosphere of Beethoven's compositions. Here, the path where Beethoven walked is called "Beethoven's Path", and at the end of the path, there is a "Beethoven's Resting Place".
Beethoven Monument Beethovendenkmal
Opposite the Vienna Konzerthaus, there is a monument to Beethoven, which gives the square its name. Built in 1880, the monument portrays a seated figure of Beethoven surrounded by nine cherubs, symbolizing the master musician's nine symphonies.
Beethoven's Tomb (Weihringer Cemetery) Waehringer Friedhof
Beethoven was buried in the Weihringer Cemetery on the northern outskirts of Vienna at the time of his death in 1827, and when Beethoven's good friend, Schubert, died in 1828, Schubert was buried here as well, and the coffins of the two masters of music were moved together to the Central Mausoleum in 1888. Beethoven's grave is now in section 32A, crypt 29.
[edit]Beethoven's major musical works
Symphonies:
Symphony No. 1 Op. 21 1794--1796 C major
Symphony No. 2 Op. 36 1801--1802.10 D major
Symphony No. 3 "Heroes "Symphony No. 4 Op. 55 1803-1804 in E flat major
Symphony No. 4 Op. 60 1806.10 in B flat major
Symphony No. 5 "Destiny" Op. 67 1804-1808 in C minor
Symphony No. 6 Symphony No. 6 "Idylls" Op. 68 1807--1808 in F major
Symphony No. 7 Op. 92 1811-- 1812.6 in A major
Symphony No. 8 Op. 93 1811--1812.10 in F major
Symphony No. 9 "Chorale" Op.125 1824.2 D minor
Symphony No.10 (posthumous) (unfinished)
War Symphony Wellingtons Sieg Op.91 1813 D major
Concertos:
Piano Concerto No.1 Pinao Concertos No. 1 Op. 15 1796 C major
Piano Concerto No. 2 Pinao Concertos No. 2 Op. 19 1794-1795 B-flat major
Piano Concerto No. 3 Pinao Concertos No. 3 Op. 37 1800 C minor
Piano Concerto No.4 Op.58 1805-1806 G major
Piano Concerto No.5 Op.73 E flat major
Piano Concerto No.6 Op.61 in D 1807
Piano Concerto Pinao Concertos in E flat WoO.4 1784
Rondo for Piano and Orchestra in B flat WoO.6 1795
Choral Fantasie Fantasie fur Klavier. Chor Und Orchester Op.80 1808 C minor
Concerto Triple Concerto for violin, cello and piano Op.56 1803-1804 C major
Violin concerto Violin Concerto Op.61 1806 D major
Two Romances 2 Romances Op.40 & Op.50 1802-1803 G major and F major
Overtures:
Leonore Leonore Overtures No.1-1805 No.2-1805 No.3-1806 No.4-1814
Egmond Egmond 1809
Coriolanus Overture Op.93 1807 C major
King Stephen Op.112 1811
The Consecration of the house Op.93 1807
King Stephen Op.112 1811
The Consecration of the house Op.124 1822 C major
Knightly ballet music Musik Zu einem Ritterballett WoO.1 1790-1791
Overture to the Naming Day Celebration Ouverture " Namensfeier" Op.115 1814 C major
The ruins of Athens Op.113
Chamber music:
By the faint light of a candle, the man is making leather shoes. There is an old piano in front of the window, and in front of it sits a girl of sixteen or seventeen.