Ludwig van Beethoven

Life and legacy

Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, the grandson of a Kapellmeister and the son of an alcoholic court singer who brutally pushed his son toward music, hoping to produce a second Mozart. Despite this harsh childhood, Beethoven's extraordinary talent was unmistakable. By his mid-teens he was a court musician, and in 1792 he moved to Vienna to study with Haydn, quickly establishing himself as the finest pianist in Europe, famous for his powerful, improvisatory playing.

Beethoven's early works followed the Classical tradition of Haydn and Mozart, but by the time of his Third Symphony, the "Eroica" (1803), he had shattered those conventions. Originally dedicated to Napoleon, whom Beethoven admired as a champion of republican ideals, the dedication was famously scratched out when Napoleon declared himself Emperor. "He is nothing more than an ordinary man," Beethoven reportedly said. The Eroica was longer, louder, and more emotionally turbulent than any symphony before it.

The tragedy of Beethoven's life was his deafness. He first noticed hearing loss around 1798, and by 1802 he was so despairing that he wrote the Heiligenstadt Testament, a letter to his brothers confessing his anguish and his resolve to continue living for his art. His hearing continued to deteriorate; by 1814 he could barely hear his own music performed, and his last decade was spent in near-total deafness. Yet it was precisely during these years that he produced his most profound works.

The late works, including the last five piano sonatas, the late string quartets, the Missa Solemnis, and the Ninth Symphony (1824), are among the supreme achievements of Western art. At the premiere of the Ninth Symphony, Beethoven stood on stage conducting, unable to hear the orchestra. When the performance ended, one of the soloists had to turn him around to see the thunderous applause of the audience.

Beethoven died on March 26, 1827. An estimated 20,000 people lined the streets of Vienna for his funeral. He had transformed music from courtly entertainment into a vehicle for the full range of human experience, and his influence on every subsequent composer was immeasurable.

Key accomplishments

• Composed nine symphonies that redefined orchestral music, including the revolutionary Third ("Eroica") and the monumental Ninth
• Continued composing masterpieces after losing his hearing almost completely
• Bridged the Classical and Romantic periods, transforming the emotional scope of Western music
• Composed 32 piano sonatas, including the "Moonlight," "Pathetique," and "Hammerklavier"
• Wrote the opera "Fidelio," a paean to liberty and conjugal love

Quotes

Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy.

Reported by Bettina von Arnim in a letter to Goethe, May 28, 1810; von Arnim's account is disputed by some scholars

I will seize Fate by the throat; it shall certainly never wholly overcome me.

Letter to Franz Wegeler, November 16, 1801

Related figures