Beethoven - The Genius
The significance of an artist is measured by the projections in the future which his creative artworks outline. The influence of these creative works is not only on one particular art and the artist's representatives of the next generations, but on other arts as well. Such creators proclaim ideas which have not been proclaimed until then. They trace demarcation lines between two epochs, and very often they are the transition between them.
Ludwig van Beethoven is one of the creators who, with his ideas and the messages of his creative works, turned into a Prophet and Messenger for the music of the 19th century.
Beethoven is born on December 16, 1770 in Bonn. He comes from an old Flemish family of musicians. His first teacher in music is Christian Gottlob Neefe - a famous and cultivated musician in Bonn of the time. He directs the young Beethoven to study works by J.S. Bach and especially the preludes and fugues of "Well-Tempered Piano". He says about his 13 years old pupil: "One day, he will become the second Mozart." In 1787, Beethoven undertakes his trip to Vienna and there takes place the only meeting between him and Mozart. Beethoven performs his compositions and improvisations in front of Mozart. Mozart expresses high praise about the talent of the young Beethoven with the following significant words: "Remember the name of this young man. Very soon, the world will talk about him."
After his return from Vienna, Beethoven establishes contacts with Franz Wegeler, the von Breuning family, and Count Ferdinand von Waldstein, who become admirers and patrons of his art. In 1792, Beethoven leaves Bonn and moves to live in Vienna to study with Franz Joseph Haydn - the father of the classical symphony and string quartet, and one of the "Holy Trinity" of the Vienna classical music school. Beethoven's patron Count Waldstein tells him: "With your ceaseless diligence and efforts, you will receive from the hands of Haydn the spirit of Mozart." Aside from Haydn, Beethoven also studies with other masters, such as Johann Albrechtsberger and Antonio Salieri. A circle of people from the Vienna aristocracy, such as Prince von Lobkowicz, Prince Lichnowsky, Baron van Swieten, and Prince Razumovsky, become his patrons, and Beethoven will dedicate his works to them.
From 1792 to 1802 is the first creative period of Beethoven. During this time he composes his first six string quartets op. 18, First and Second symphonies, sonata #13 for piano "Pathetique", First and Second piano concertos, the oratorio "Christ on the Mount of Olives". This first period will end with the Heiligenstadt testament from October 1802, where Beethoven for the first time announces to the world his sickness - deafness, which is still in the stage of development.
"Oh you men who think or say that I am malevolent, stubborn, or misanthropic, how greatly do you wrong me. You do not know the secret cause which makes me seem that way to you. From childhood on, my heart and soul have been full of the tender feeling of goodwill... for me there can be no relaxation with my fellow men, no refined conversations, no mutual exchange of ideas... I must live almost alone, like one who has been banished... Divine One, thou seest my inmost soul thou knowest that therein dwells the love of mankind and the desire to do good..."
But we must say straight away that his deafness is only a physical illness for the outside world, but in his inner musical world he is not deaf, he hears music better than anybody in the world.
From 1803 to 1817 is the second, mature, creative period of Beethoven. These years are marked by and are under the influence of the movement "Sturm und Drang". It is also called the "heroic period". The works created in this period are characterized by maturity, dramatism, and spiritual power. At the beginning, it is marked with the appearance of Symphony #3 "Eroika". This symphony is the longest and largest work created until then in symphonic literature. It is dedicated to Napoleon Bonaparte, but when Beethoven learns about Napoleon's self-proclamation as emperor, he tears the title page and dedicates the symphony in the memory of the Unknown Soldier. The old Haydn attends the performance in 1804 and after the end of the first night performance speaks: "Music is not that which it was up to this moment." In this period, Beethoven creates his symphonies ##4, 5, 6, 7, 8, the opera "Fidelio", concerto for violin and orchestra, sonata "Appassionata", string quartets from #7 to #11, concertos for piano and orchestra #3, 4, 5. Beethoven says "I know that my inherent spontaniety is the symphony. When I hear something in myself, that thing is always a big orchestra." The period is also marked with the wars which Napoleon leads in all of Europe, and the occupation of Vienna in 1805 by his soldiers.
The third of Beethoven's creative periods encompasses the period from 1817 to the death of the composer in 1827. In this period are written the last five sonatas for piano, the last five string quartets, the great fugue, Symphony #9 (Choral Symphony) on Schiller's "Ode of Joy", the monumental "Missa Solemnis", dedicated to Rudolf, the Crown Prince of Austria. On May 7, 1824 takes place the first performance of both works.
Beethoven creates masterpieces in every genre of music as his great contemporary Johann Wolfgang von Goethe creates masterpieces in every genre of literature. It seems as if Beethoven leaves no room for other composers to stand out. The only genre that remains beyond his ambitions and endeavors is that of art song, and this void will be filled by Franz Schubert - the singer of suffering.
Beethoven, through his music, sets man and the depths of human profundity in the center of his creative striving. For the first time in music, a whole community of people becomes the ultimate aim of expression through musical means. The purpose of man, according to Beethoven, is to lead a fight, struggle by means of his entire spiritual and moral power to overcome hardships in life. The core of creative works by Beethoven are human elevation, moral highness, and nobility of the soul. Beethoven creates the heroic style in music, and at the same time we perceive some romantic features in his music. Despite giving creative ideas to the romantic composers, we must not relate Beethoven to them. For his "Pastoral" symphony - the most romantic of his symphonies - he says: "more expression of feeling than sound painting".
The well-known saying of the German philosopher Immanuel Kant that in his whole life he is astonished by two things: "the starry sky above me and the moral law within me". The moral law within is our conscience, our feeling of justice, and the fulfillment of our duty. Kant considers the most important for a human being is to fulfill his duty. That is the main philosophical idea of the heroes from the opera "Fidelio". Later, Richard Wagner will write under the influence of the pessimistic philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer, his music drama "Tristan and Isolde" - the music drama of pessimism, doomed love, and inexorable destiny. Beethoven is a rare example in the history of music and arts, of a unity between a genius creator and a man of duty with high moral.
Beethoven has great interests outside music. He is interested in ancient Greek writers and thinkers such as Aristotle, Euripides, and Plutarch. He makes a list of works of literature which he wants to read. His idol is Shakespeare and considers him the genius of all time and nations. While Mozart takes and knows from Shakespeare how to individualize the human spirit, thus does Beethoven take from Shakespeare the universality of the world spirit.
If we can compare Beethoven's life and destiny, it is only to that of Michelangelo. In both, we observe a frantic will for creative work, a titanic spirit charging towards something bordering on impossibility, and a life full of misfortune, poverty, and material privations. Beethoven has creative plans for writing a 10th Symphony, Requiem, music on Faust by Goethe, and new overture.
Beethoven dies on March 26, 1827 in Vienna. On that day a storm occurs. It seems that Nature in its way responds to the death of people which in some way change the world.