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12-08 Beethoven Unharmed In Crash
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The events of Beethoven's life are the stuff of Romantic legend, evoking images of the solitary creator shaking his fist at Fate and finally
overcoming it through a supreme effort of creative will. Born in the small German city of Bonn on or around December 16, 1770, he received
his early training from his father and other local musicians. As a teenager, he earned some money as an assistant to his teacher, Christian
Gottlob Neefe, then was granted half of his father's salary as court musician from the Electorate of Cologne in order to care for his two
younger brothers as his father gave in ...read more
The events of Beethoven's life are the stuff of Romantic legend, evoking images of the solitary creator shaking his fist at Fate and finally
overcoming it through a supreme effort of creative will. Born in the small German city of Bonn on or around December 16, 1770, he received
his early training from his father and other local musicians. As a teenager, he earned some money as an assistant to his teacher, Christian
Gottlob Neefe, then was granted half of his father's salary as court musician from the Electorate of Cologne in order to care for his two
younger brothers as his father gave in to alcoholism. Beethoven played viola in various orchestras, becoming friends with other players such
as Antoine Reicha, Nikolaus Simrock, and Franz Ries, and began taking on composition commissions. As a member of the court chapel
orchestra, he was able to travel some and meet members of the nobility, one of whom, Count Ferdinand Waldstein, would become a great
friend and patron to him. Beethoven moved to Vienna in 1792 to study with Haydn; despite the prickliness of their relationship, Haydn's
concise humor helped form Beethoven's style. His subsequent teachers in composition were Johann Georg Albrechtsberger and Antonio
Salieri. In 1794, he began his career in earnest as a pianist and composer, taking advantage whenever he could of the patronage of others.
Around 1800, Beethoven began to notice his gradually encroaching deafness. His growing despondency only intensified his antisocial
tendencies. However, the Symphony No. 3, "Eroica," of 1803 began a sustained period of groundbreaking creative triumph. In later years,
Beethoven was plagued by personal difficulties, including a series of failed romances and a nasty custody battle over a nephew, Karl. Yet
after a long period of comparative compositional inactivity lasting from about 1811 to 1817, his creative imagination triumphed once again
over his troubles. Beethoven's late works, especially the last five of his 16 string quartets and the last four of his 32 piano sonatas, have an
ecstatic quality in which many have found a mystical significance. Beethoven died in Vienna on March 26, 1827.
Beethoven's epochal career is often divided into early, middle, and late periods, represented, respectively, by works based on Classic.
period models, by revolutionary pieces that expanded the vocabulary of music, and by compositions written in a unique, highly personal
musical language incorporating elements of contrapuntal and variation writing while approaching large-scale forms with complete freedom.
Though certainly subject to debate, these divisions point to the immense depth and multifariousness of Beethoven's creative personality.
Beethoven profoundly transformed every genre he touched, and the music of the nineteenth century seems to grow from his compositions as
if from a chrysalis. A formidable pianist, he moved the piano sonata from the drawing room to the concert hall with such ambitious and
virtuosic middle-period works as the "Waldstein" (No. 21) and "Appassionata" (No. 23) sonatas. His song cycle An die ferne Geliebte of
1816 set the pattern for similar cycles by all the Romantic song composers, from Schubert to Wolf. The Romantic tradition of descriptive or
"program" music began with Beethoven's "Pastoral" Symphony No. 6. Even in the second half of the nineteenth century, Beethoven still
directly inspired both conservatives (such as Brahms, who, like Beethoven, fundamentally stayed within the confines of Classical form) and
radicals (such as Wagner, who viewed the Ninth Symphony as a harbinger of his own vision of a total art work, integrating vocal and
instrumental music with the other arts). In many ways revolutionary, Beethoven's music remains universally appealing because of its
characteristic humanism and dramatic power.
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Similar Bands: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Franz Schubert, Carl Czerny |
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| LPs |  | Late String Quartets
1826
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 | Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125
1824
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 | Various Late Sonatas
1822
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 | Symphony No. 8 in F Major, Op. 93
1814
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 | Symphonies [Various]
1814
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 | Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92
1813
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 | Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor for Piano
1810
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 | Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat Major, Op. 73
1809
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 | Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68
1808
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 | Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67
1808
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 | Symphony No. 4 in B flat major, Op. 60
1807
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 | Sonata No. 23 in F Minor, Op. 57
1807
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 | Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, Op. 55
1805
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 | Two Piano Sonatas, Op. 49
1805
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 | Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 36
1803
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 | Three Piano Sonatas, Op. 31
1802
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 | Two Piano Sonatas, Op. 27
1801
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 | Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21
1800
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 | Two Piano Sonatas, Op. 14
1799
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 | Three Piano Sonatas, Op. 10
1798
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 | Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 15
1797
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 | Piano Sonata in A major, Op. 2, No. 2
1796
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 | Piano Sonata in C major, Op.2 No.3
1795
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| Piano Sonata in F minor, Op. 2, no. 1
1795
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 | Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13
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| Compilations |  | Complete Piano Sonatas
1858
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