01 BEETHOVEN THE TITAN Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany, on December 16,
01 BEETHOVEN THE TITAN Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany, on December 16, 1770, the son of a court musician. His father was determined to make him a child prodigy and trained him vigorously. Once the young Beethoven played for Mozart and afterwards Mozart commented, “Mark that young man, he will make a name for himself in the world.” Beethoven eventually became one of the greatest musical geniuses ever lived and was best known for his nine symphonies. He played an crucial part in connecting the Classical and Romantic styles of Western music. His life was heroic but at the same time tragic, much like his music.03 CONVERSATION IN A CAFE From 1818 onwards, Beethoven started carrying blank “conversation books” in order to communicate with friends and acquaintances. They would write in his conversation book, to which he would reply. In 1823, once when Beethoven was visiting his favorite coffee house, a stranger suffering the same hearing condition as Beethoven approached him and sought his advice, to which Beethoven replied:“Baths [and] country air could improve many things. Just do not use mechanical devices [ear trumpets] too early; by abstaining from using them, I have fairly preserved my left ear in this way…When possible, [conversing] through writing is better; the hearing will be spared.”04 SIXTY COFFEE BEANSBeethoven’s secretary Anton Schindler recalled: “For breakfast, he drank coffee, which he usually prepared in a glass coffee-maker…coffee seems to have been the one indispensable item in his diet, and he was as fastidious as an Oriental in its preparation. He estimated sixty beans to the cup and would often count them out, especially when guests were present.”05 BEETHOVEN’S MENU Beethoven loved fish and especially sea bass and codfish. He also loved his coffee in the morning and when friends came to visit, he would make them his other favorite dish, macaroni with butter and cheese. He also enjoyed soup with twelve drowned eggs. When it came to beverages, Beethoven preferred flat water and light Austrian wine.06 FÜR ELISE Beethoven’s ‘Für Elise’ is most likely dedicated to Therese Malfatti, a woman to whom Beethoven proposed in 1810. Malfatti also had the original ‘Für Elise’ manuscript in her possession. Beethoven once wrote to Malfatti: “Bear me in memory—no one can wish you a brighter, happier life than I—even should it be that you care not at all for your devoted servant and friend, Beethoven.” ‘Für Elise’ is especially well-known in Taiwan because it is the music that accompanies garbage trucks. The trucks were imported from Germany and the piece ‘Für Elise’ was already installed in the trucks before they were imported.07 IMMORTAL BELOVED A passionate love letter was discovered after Beethoven’s death. It was never mailed and the addressee of this “immortal beloved” (Unsterbliche Geliebte) remained unknown. Beethoven had four great loves in life: Therese Malfatti, Julie Guicciardi, Josephine von Brunsvik and Antonie Brentano. Historians can never be sure to whom this letter was addressed. The letter remains one of the most famous love letters ever written in Western history. Deep down inside, Beethoven was an rebellious soul waiting to be passionately loved:“My angel, my everything, my very self…Wherever I am, you are with me…Your love makes me at once most happy and most unhappy…You - you my life – my everything - farewell - oh continue to love me - never misjudge the most faithful heart of your BelovedEver thine Ever mineEver us.”08 THE WORLD CAN’T BE HEARD Beethoven first noticed he was gradually losing his hearing when he was 28, at the height of his early fame. By 1802, his hearing only worsened but the proud Beethoven did not want the cultural circle in Vienna to find out about his defect, so he often withdrew from social life. In the Heiligenstadt Testament, a letter written by Beethoven to his brothers Carl and Johann, Beethoven described the despair he felt about slowly losing his hearing and how he even contemplated suicide:“If I apporach near to people a hot terror seizes upon me and I fear being exposed to the danger that my condition might be noticed…I would have ended my life—it was only my art that held me back. Ah, it seemed to me impoosible to leave this world until I had brought forth all that I felt was within me…”09 SYMPHONY NO.5 ‘FATE’ The premiere of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony took place in Vienna’s Theater an der Wien on Dec. 22, 1808, conducted by Beethoven himself. Although the premiere did not garner immediate success, later writer/music critic E.T.A Hoffmann praised the symphony with this imagery:“Radiant beams shoot through this region’s deep night, and we become aware of gigantic shadows which, rocking back and forth, close in on us and destroy everything within us except the pain of endless longing—a longing in which every pleasure that rose up in jubilant tones sinks and succumbs, and only through this pain, which, while consuming but not destroying love, hope, and joy, tries to burst our breasts with full-voiced harmonies of all the passions, we live on and are captivated beholders of the spirits.”10 THE LAST CURTAIN CALL Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, also known as the Choral Symphony, premiered on May 7, 1824 in Vienna, and was an immediate success with the audience. Beethoven was almost completely deaf at this point and couldn’t possibly conduct the orchestra himself, so he stood alongside the “official conductor”, Michael Umlauf. Violinist Joseph Böhm recalled,“At one moment he [Beethoven] stretched to his full height, at the next he crouched down to the floor, he flailed about with his hands and feet as though he wanted to play all the instruments and sing all the chorus parts.” According to the critic for the Theater-Zeitung: “the public received the musical hero with the utmost respect and sympathy, listened to his wonderful, gigantic creations with the most absorbed attention and broke out in jubilant applause, often during sections, and repeatedly at the end of them.” The audience was ecstatic, they gave Beethoven five standing ovations, and threw handkerchiefs in the air, hats, and raised hands to show the nearly deaf Beethoven their undeniable excitement.11 LIGHT IN A DARK PLACE Beethoven passed away on March 26, 1827 at the age of 56. His friend Anselm Hüttenbrenner was present when Beethoven passed and recalled during a thunderstorm, as a flash of lightening stroke:“Beethoven opened his eyes, lifted his right hand and looked up for several seconds with his fist clenched … not another breath, not a heartbeat more.” About 10,000 Viennese attended Beethoven’s funeral procession on March 29, 1872. Franz Schubert was one of the pallbearers. The world is not alone anymore because Beethoven had left his greatest legacy for us to enjoy for centuries and paved the way for the Romantics. His music offers us not only passion and despair but also hope, strength, and consolation. -- source link
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