The Power of Ludwig Van Beethoven

Beethoven was born in Bonn in 1770 and died in Vienna in 1827. His early music education came from his father. Beethoven’s dad was not a sweet, tender, sensitive man with a joie de vivre. He was, however, a drunken, often mean man, probably trying to achieve fulfillment through his talented son… poor Ludwig!

Beethoven had many teachers, the most noteworthy of them being Christian Gottlob Neefe and Haydn. Believe it or not, he actually didn’t get along with Haydn and ultimately moved on to other teachers including Schenk and Salieri.

1795 and 1798 were two important years for Beethoven. The former year saw him in Vienna in his first public appearance playing his energetic Piano Concerto in Bb. The latter year was the year Beethoven realized that his precious hearing was failing him.

So why has Beethoven always been so important historically? It certainly wasn’t due to his speed of composing, relative to some of the other composers of his time. The truth is that Beethoven was a genius at developing musical ideas. He was a master architect, not afraid to change and transform traditions of the past. As an example, the minuet in Beethoven’s hands was reinvented into energetic scherzo, and the coda was made into a much larger and exciting section of music than previously seen.

Beethoven never married and did not have an easy life (at one point, he considered suicide). Poor guy; poor heroic guy! Our hero composer is undoubtedly popular because of his powerful, heroic music and because he constantly reminds us of the daily struggle of life, and how it can be overcome triumphantly.

An Amazing Beethoven Fact

Beethoven’s crowning achievements undoubtedly included his late string quartets and last three piano sonatas. These works were definitely ahead of their time.

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