Ludwig van Beethoven

:For the dog-character with the same name, see Beethoven (film)

Life and work

Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany, to Johann van Beethoven (1740–1792), of Flemish origins, and Magdalena Keverich van Beethoven (1744–1787). Until relatively recently 16 December was shown in many reference works as Beethoven's "date of birth", since it is known he was baptized on 17 December and children at that time were generally baptized the day after their birth. However, modern scholarship declines to rely on such assumptions.

Related Topics:
Bonn - Germany - Johann van Beethoven - 1740 - 1792 - Flemish - Magdalena Keverich van Beethoven - 1744 - 1787 - 16 December - 17 December

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Beethoven's first music teacher was his father, who worked as a musician in the Electoral court at Bonn, but was also an alcoholic who beat him and unsuccessfully attempted to exhibit him as a child prodigy, like Mozart. However, Beethoven's talent was soon noticed by others. He was given instruction and employment by Christian Gottlob Neefe, as well as financial sponsorship by the Prince-Elector. Beethoven's mother died when he was 17, and for several years he was responsible for raising his two younger brothers.

Related Topics:
Electoral - Alcoholic - Child prodigy - Mozart - Christian Gottlob Neefe

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Beethoven moved to Vienna in 1792, where he intended to study with Joseph Haydn, but the old man had little time for teaching and he passed Beethoven onto Johann Albrechtsberger. He quickly established a reputation as a piano virtuoso, and more slowly, as a composer. He settled into the career pattern he would follow for the remainder of his life: rather than working for the church or a noble court (as most composers before him had done), he was a freelancer, supporting himself with public performances, sales of his works, and stipends from noblemen who recognized his ability.

Related Topics:
Vienna - 1792 - Joseph Haydn - Johann Albrechtsberger - Piano - Virtuoso - Freelancer

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Beethoven's career as a composer is usually divided into Early, Middle, and Late periods.

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In the Early period, he is seen as emulating his great predecessors Haydn and Mozart, at the same time exploring new directions and gradually expanding the scope and ambition of his work. Some important pieces from the Early period are the first and second symphonies, the first six string quartets, the first two piano concertos, and the first twenty piano sonatas, including the famous Pathétique and Moonlight.

Related Topics:
First - Second - Symphonies - First six - String quartet - Piano concerto - First twenty - Piano sonata - Pathétique - Moonlight

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The Middle period began shortly after Beethoven's personal crisis centering around deafness. The period is noted for large-scale works expressing heroism and struggle; these include many of the most famous works of classical music. The Middle period works include six symphonies (Nos. 3–8), the last three piano concertos and his only violin concerto, five string quartets (Nos. 7–11), the next seven piano sonatas including the Waldstein, and Appassionata, and Beethoven's only opera, Fidelio.

Related Topics:
Deafness - Heroism - Six symphonies - Last three - Piano concerto - Violin concerto - String quartets - Piano sonatas - Waldstein - Appassionata - Opera - Fidelio

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Beethoven's Late period began around 1816 and lasted until Beethoven ceased to compose in 1827. The late works are greatly admired for and characterized by intellectual depth, intense and highly personal expression, and Beethoven's experimentation with forms (for example, the Quartet in C Sharp Minor has seven movements, while most famously his Ninth Symphony adds choral forces to the orchestra in the last movement). The period includes the Missa Solemnis, the last six string quartets and the last five piano sonatas.

Related Topics:
1816 - 1827 - Quartet in C Sharp Minor - Ninth Symphony - Missa Solemnis - Last six - Last five

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Considering the depth and extent of Beethoven's artistic explorations, as well as the composer's success in making himself comprehensible to the widest possible audience, the Austrian-born British musician and writer Hans Keller felt able to pronounce Beethoven "humanity's greatest mind altogether".

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Beethoven's personal life was troubled. Around the age of 28, he started to become deaf, a calamity which led him for some time to contemplate suicide (see the 1802 Heiligenstadt Testament). He was attracted to unattainable (married or aristocratic) women, whom he idealized; he never married. A period of low productivity from about 1812 to 1816 is thought by some scholars to have been the result of depression, resulting from Beethoven's realization that he would never marry.

Related Topics:
Deaf - Suicide - 1802 - Heiligenstadt Testament - Aristocrat - 1812 - 1816 - Depression

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Beethoven quarrelled, often bitterly, with his relatives and others (including a painful and public custody battle over his nephew Karl); he frequently behaved badly to other people. He moved often from dwelling to dwelling and had strange personal habits such as wearing filthy clothing while washing compulsively. He often had financial troubles.

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It is common for listeners to perceive an echo of Beethoven's life in his music, which often depicts struggle followed by triumph. This description is often applied to Beethoven's creation of masterpieces in the face of his severe personal difficulties.

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Beethoven was often in poor health, especially after his mid-20s, when he began to suffer from serious stomach pains. In 1826 his health took a drastic turn for the worse. His death in the following year was attributed to liver disease, but modern research on a lock of Beethoven's hair taken at the time of his death shows that lead poisoning could well have contributed to his ill-health and untimely death. (The levels of lead were more than 100 times higher than levels found in most people today.) It is unlikely, however, that lead poisoning was the cause of his deafness, which several researchers have seen as caused by an immunopathic disorder such as systemic lupus erythematosus. When the hair was analysed chemically in 1996, distinctive trace-metal patterns associated with genius, irritability, glucose disorders, and malabsorption were not present. Absence of detectable mercury levels was consistent with the view that Beethoven did not have syphilis, which was treated at the time with mercury compounds. The absence of drug metabolites indicates that Beethoven avoided opiate painkillers. History records that Beethoven continued working on his music until the day he died.

Related Topics:
1826 - Liver - Lead poisoning - Systemic lupus erythematosus - Glucose - Mercury - Syphilis - Opiate - Painkiller

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Amongst possible sources of lead are ingested fish from the heavily polluted Danube River and lead compounds used to sweeten wine.

Related Topics:
Danube River - Wine

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• Statement by William J. Walsh, Ph.D., Director of Beethoven Research Project, The Health Research Institute and Pfeiffer Treatment Center, Naperville, Illinois on 17 October 2000http://www2.sjsu.edu/depts/beethoven/hair/hairtestpc.html

(See also History of sonata form, Romantic music)

Related Topics:
History of sonata form - Romantic music

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