Beethoven was born in Bonn in Germany,
his
mother a singer in the service of the Elector of Köln (Cologne). His father was weak-spirited and drank excessively, but he recognized
the boy's talent and was disappointed when the young Beethoven failed to emulate Mozart as
a child prodigy. Nevertheless, Beethoven soon held positions as harpsichordist in the
court theatre and assistant organist in the Electoral chapel, where he obtained his first
lessons in composition from the court organist.
During his first visit to Vienna in 1787 Beethoven impressed Mozart with his improvisations at the keyboard. Before any formal tuition could take place, however, news that Beethoven's mother was dying took him back to Bonn. By the time he returned to Vienna in 1792, Mozart too was dead. He went instead to Joseph Haydn for composition lessons, but the two men were temperamental opposites, and the instruction he received from Johann Albrechtsberger proved more valuable. Meanwhile, Beethoven's career as a pianist made a promising start. His passion and dynamism at the keyboard more than compensated for a lack of polish. He made his first appearances in Vienna in 1795 playing his Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat, and was soon established as the city's leading pianist. Other compositions from the 1790's include piano sonatas, cello sonatas and violin sonatas. The two forms that were to have special significance for Beethoven were still to come: he completed his first symphony in 1800 and his first set of string quartets in 1801. Beethoven was Vienna's first successful freelance musician: he never again held a court position after leaving Bonn. Instead he had wealthy aristocratic friends, patrons and perhaps loves, to whom he dedicated his early compositions in return for payment. His success in such circles, despite notoriously awkward manners, an unpredictable temper and a refusal to defer to superior social rank, can be attributed to his genius and personal magnetism.
Beginning in 1798, Beethoven experienced a continual humming and whistling in his
ears that gradually grew stronger, eventually prompting the agonizing realization that he
was going deaf. In 1802, in a state of desperation in which he contemplated suicide,
Beethoven retired to the secluded village of Heiligenstadt and addressed to his brothers a
statement expressing his anguish. The Heiligenstadt Testament, as it is known,
marks the start of a new period in Beethoven's output; the next ten years saw one of the
most prodigious outpourings of masterpieces in the history of music. By 1812 he had
completed Symphony 2, 3 Eroica, 4, 5, 6 Pastoral, 7 and 8, Piano Concerto
No. 4 and No. 5 Emperor, the Violin Concerto, his opera Fidelio, the three Rasumovsky
String Quartets and a wealth of piano sonatas and other works. Haydn and Mozart had
demonstrated that melody alone, no matter how beautiful, could not hold an audience's
attention for more than a minute or two and had mastered the principle of using harmonic
tension to sustain large-scale structures. But Beethoven went further; with the first
movement of the Eroica Symphony (1803) he created a single span of uninterrupted
music of unprecedented length. He also widened the scope of the piano sonata to symphonic
proportions with his Waldstein Sonata (1803) - dedicated to his old friend Count
Waldstein - and even more with the Appassionata (1804-4). In this he introduced new
dynamic extremes, shattering the thoughtful calm of the opening with sudden fortissimo
chords.
This music was revolutionary, and not only in technique. Beethoven's
expanded forms broadened the scope for emotional expression, giving voice to the
revolutionary spirit of the age. He was a passionate democrate and greatly admired the
young Napoleon, whose name in fact originally appeared on the title page of the Eroica
Symphony. When Beethoven heard that Napoleon had declared himself Emperor, however, he
tore the page out and substituted 'In Memory of a Great Man'. What raises Beethoven's
genius in music to the level of Shakespeare's in literature is his supreme mastery of
musical form. He was able to create vast and complex musical structures stemming from the
fundamental building blocks of music itself. For him a simple musical figure had manifold
implications that could generate an entire symphony. So, for example, the opening four
notes for his Fifth Symphony (1807), supposedly depicting Fate knocking at the
door, are especially portentous, since some derivation of them is heard in nearly every
bar of the first movement.
After 1812 Beethoven's output dropped drastically. He
became involved in a number of
lawsuits, including one over royalties for his only truly programmatic and probably his
worst published work - Wellington's Victory. In 1820 he won custody of his nephew
Karl, following the death in 1815 of Beethoven's brother. Although there is no doubting
his good intentions and love for the boy the arrangements was not a success. Beethoven had
never married and wanted to treat Karl as his own son, but deepening poverty and a
frenetic resumption of composition meant that his nephew was neglected. The year before
Beethoven's death the boy attempted suicide. Beethoven began composing intensively again
in 1817. Most of 1818 was taken up with his colossal Hammerklavier Sonata, and the
years until 1824 were divided between the last three Piano Sonatas, the Diabelli
Variations, the Missa Solemnis - a Mass commissioned by Beethoven's patron
Archduke Rudolph, delivered three years late owing to the complexities of its composition
- and the Ninth Symphony. This work, whose final movement is a triumphant setting
of Schiller's Ode to Joy, again broke new ground in terms of scale and introduced
choral forces into the symphony for the first time. After the performance Beethoven stood
stone deaf on the stage, oblivious of everything, until one of the soloists turned him
around to see the thunderous applause. In his final years Beethoven turned once again to
the string quartet. In 1825 and 1826 he produced five works, at once profoundly complex
and serene, for this intimate medium. He had become preoccupied with fugal techniques,
just as in later life Bach had done, and the Grosse Fuge - originally the finale to his Quartet
in B flat - is one of the most extended and elaborate examples of the form. These last
works were far ahead of their time and still challenge scholars and listeners.
Beethoven did not live to complete sketches he had made for further
works. At his funeral in 1827 he was mourned by a huge crowd, including fellow artists and
aristocratic friends. His tombstone bore a single word: Beethoven.
