135 2. Beethoven, Ludwig van (December 16, 1770 – March 26, 1827).
He studied first with his father, Johann, a singer and instrumentalist.
At 12 he had some music published. Twenty-two-year-old Beethoven
settled in Vienna, where he pursued his studies, first with Haydn and
Salieri. He fo
und patrons among the music-loving Viennese aristocracy
and soon enjoyed success as a piano virtuoso, playing at private houses
or palaces rather than in public. His public debut was in 1795; about the
same time his first important publications appeared. As a pianist, it was
reported, he had fire, brilliance and fantasy as well as depth of feeling.
It is naturally in the piano sonatas, writing for his own instrument,
that he is at his most original in this period; the Pathetique belongs to
1799, the Moonlight to 1801, and these represent only the most obvious
innovations in style and emotional content. These years also saw the
composition of his first three piano concertos, his first two symphonies
and a set of six string quartets.
1802, however, was a year of crisis for Beethoven, with his realization
that the impaired hearing he had noticed for some time was incurable
and sure to worsen. But he came through with his determination
strengthened and entered a new creative phase. It is characterized by a
heroic tone, evident in the Eroica Symphony, in Symphony No. 5, and
in his opera Fidelio. With his powerful and expansive works Beethoven was firmly
established as the greatest composer of his time. His piano-playing career
had finished in 1808.
For Beethoven, the act of composition had always been a struggle,
as the tortuous scrawls of his sketchbooks show; in these late works the
sense of agonizing effort is a part of the music.
His reputation went far beyond Vienna: the late Mass was first heard
in St. Petersburg, and the initial commission that produced the Choral Symphony had come from the Philharmonic Society of London. When
early in 1827 he died, 10,000 are said to have attended the funeral.
He had become a public figure as no composer had done before. Unlike
composers of the preceding generation, he had never written music for
the nobility.