About Beethoven

Our teacher gave us this question at the end of class to think about. To be honest, I don’t really see a difference in their work-let alone how society affected each of their careers. I’m lost.

Another one of my favourites!!

Born on the 16th December 1770 at Bonn, Beethoven is considered to be a brilliant composer who, through his entire creation, fully contributed to the development of the universal music and the improvement of genres and musical forms.

Origins and background

His father and grandfather were musicians of the court in Bonn and little Ludwig, whose talent came to light since he was 4, was destined to the same career. He studied with different teachers the piano, organ, violin and viola, excelling at playing the first two.

At the age of 11 he became the pupil of the composer Christian Gotthof Neefe, organist and band master of the court, who not only broadened his musical background, but also encouraged him to compose. Though he was still a child, he soon became Neefe’s assistant at the organ, as well as in the Elector’s personal theatre orchestra and of some other families, being later hired as a band master.

With the help of the Elector and some other noble families from Bonn he was sent to study in Vienna where he had as teachers Haydn, Albrechtsberger, Schenk and Salieri. Here, he was firstly remarked as a skilled pianist, gifted with an unusual expressive power, which allowed him to present his own creations.

Character and personality

His artistic personality was doubled by a passionate and unflinching temper which didn’t allow him to be intimidated or humiliated. Though he was supported by a series of aristocrats, he didn’t service anyone, defending ceaselessly his position as an independent professional musician. He is the first great example of this in the history of music, but the conditions of the feudal settlements were to impede him in finding the material stability and peace of mind to freely compose, until the end of his life.

Contemporaneous with the French Revolution from 1789 and the national independence current, which tormented the European peoples in this period, he understood the time’s call and expressed the new ideas of freedom, equality and fraternity, becoming a fighter through art, to accomplish humanity’s most noble aspirations.

Having appeared in the Viennese Classicism’s magnificent period, represented by Haydn and Mozart, he determinedly took over the achievements since, creatively developing them, widening the frame of the classic forms, using new templates, more suitable to the contemporary way of thinking and feeling, bringing in music the force of an impetuous dynamism which passionately revealed the dramas of the human existence. Also, through his language and through considerably increasing the number of the orchestra’s instruments he contributed to the extraction of the music out of the saloons’ privacy.

Musical Creation

According to Harold Schonberg, Beethoven’s creation can be divided in three periods of time:

A first period including approximately twenty works is marked by the appeal to old forms, but prefigures the explosive force to come, here, eloquent examples being the minuet from the 1st Symphony, which prepares the future scherzos or slow motion from the Sonata for piano opera 10 no. 3, with a writing characterized by a direct affective involvement, suggesting an almost romantic tune.

The second period begins with the 3rd Symphony when Beethoven appears as an expert of form, who establishes his own rules, the form of sonata being the one that was to determine the creative evolution of the composer.

The third period includes the last five chords quartets, the piano sonatas “Diabelli Variations”, “Missa Solemnis” and the 9th Symphony when music is written not to be to someone’s liking, but to justify his artistic and intellectual existence, appealing to concepts and symbols.

Beethoven’s Legacy

Through his entire attitude towards music it is natural that he gave a direct programmatic significance to some of his works, among which the most important are: The 3rd Symphony in C major op. “Eroica”, The 5th Symphony in A minor op. 67, The 6th Symphony in D major op.68 “Pastorala”, The 9th Symphony with choir and vocalists in B minor op. 125, the overtures “Coriolan”, “Egmont” and “Leonora”.

His creation also covers: the opera “Fidelio”, the ballet “Prometheus’ Beings”, the scene music for the drama “Egmont” by Goethe, “King Stephen” and “Athena’s Ruins” by Kotzebue, vocal-symphonic works like the oratorio “Jesus on the Olive Mountain”, “Fantasia for Piano, Choir and Orchestra”, “Missa solemnis”, concert works (a concert for violin, two romances for violin, five concerts for piano, treble concert for piano viola and cello), various vocal parts accompanied by orchestra, fanfare music, works for various instrumental room formations (from trio to octet, where the chords quartets are an important stage in this type’s literature), a great number of instrumental compositions among which there are 10 sonatas for violin and piano, 4 sonatas for cello and piano, a sonata for horn and piano, 32 sonatas for piano (The Sonata in A major op. 53 “Waldstein”, The Sonata in D minor op.57 “Appassionata”)etc.

His creation seems even more impressive considering that this genius was struck by deafness since he was 29, affection which became total after approximately a decade, stopping him from singing in public. The pains caused by this illness and the multiple sentimental and family disappointments determined him to gradually isolate from the world but didn’t stop him from becoming one of the most loved figures in the history of music.

The difference between Beethoven and other great composers who preceded him is that he considered himself an artist and stood up to defend his rights. He was an artist, a creator and that is why he considered himself superior to kings and aristocrats.

One of the great, even reassuring, things about what the CD shops ignorantly label “Classical Music” is its freedom, its liberality, its democratic principles. Yes, it has its stars. Yes, it has its forms and conventions. But in “Classical Music” these aspects never dominate. The music is always the prime focus. Anyone can learn any piece, anyone can play it, and anyone is free to interpret the composer’s intentions – as long as those intentions are respected, of course. And all of this is done unencumbered by wires, microphones or amplification, since real sound and real experience are always the goal. Performance, therefore, becomes a form of communication, a presentation of the music, itself, plus often much more. Contrast that with some other genres where commerce and celebrity are the raisons d’être, where the music is merely a secondary, often irrelevant accompaniment. Never mind the quality of the lip-sync, feel the width of the show.

Critics of “Classical Music” often cite a lack of bravura on behalf of the performers. This, of course, is to misunderstand both the medium and the content, since the passion is always in the music and good performances should always highlight the music, not themselves. Not all performers perform well, of course, but then that is true of every staged activity, not least of other genres of music than “Classical”.

So when a performer is exceptional both in terms of interpretation and delivery, an occasional flaw or inaccuracy passes by unnoticed. So it was with the Berlin Mendelssohn Trio in Palau Altea, not that there were many flaws to pass by. They offered their audience seven pieces, including an encore, one of which did indeed happen to be “classical” and four of which were presented as a single item, not really because the composer necessarily intended it, but because it made musical sense. The commitment and energy that the group displayed was quite remarkable.

They opened with Beethoven’s Opus 11 trio. If Schubert always sings, then Beethoven usually dances, and this trio hopped and pranced with energy, always, of course, with Beethoven’s musical tension showing through.

The trio became a duo for Grieg’s Op36 Cello Sonata, with cellist Ramon Jaff? playing a work to which he is clearly and utterly committed. It’s a well-known sonata but, perhaps, not as well-known as it ought to be, since it is nothing less than a masterpiece. It’s a big, hefty work, which moves from tender to tough, pulsating to pensive, sardonic to sombre and back again throughout its full thirty minutes. To describe Ramon Jaff?’s playing of this hugely demanding piece as both exciting and committed would be stretching under-statement to its limits. But at the end, it seemed that the audience, not the performer, bore the exhaustion, since the cellist’s complete mastery of the piece and his instrument had led everyone up and down every path through the music. Absolute and undiluted magic.

And then the Berlin Mendelssohn Trio actually played a piece of classical music, Haydn’s trio number 45. See Haydn on a concert programme and the mind automatically thinks elegance, wit, proportion – at least when the performers are sufficiently aware of these things, themselves. Too often, I have to admit, one sees Haydn on a programme and thinks “a loosener”. Not so if it’s played third and not so if it’s offered by the Berlin Mendelssohn Trio. Indeed these performers found an edge or two on which to balance, harmonies to stress for surprise and occasional idiosyncratic rhythms to highlight. Quite revelatory.

Their final work was the four seasons, not of Vivaldi, but of Piazzolla. Now I have never before heard these offered as a group in performance and wondered whether their stylistic and melodic similarities might prove repetitive. Not so. The faster tempo parts of these tangos were performed as true allegros, the slower sections as adagios, and so the pieces became, in effect, four twentieth century concerti grossi to emulate their more famous late baroque cousins, though via a tougher, grittier musical language. And they brought the house down.

To say that these three guys were exhausted by this time is no under-statement. Their audience offered an immediate and prolonged standing ovation and the Berlin Mendelssohn Trio responded with a single, sad, gentle encore in the form of Piazzolla’s Oblivion. Prior to this, the pianist actually apologised, saying that that piano provided had really been too small for such a large auditorium. No-one, of course, had noticed, since the group’s music had more than filled the place.

this is one of the most relaxing songs i know, nice for meditation, or just some relaxing after a long day. Sheet music can be found here: www.musopen.com

Worldrenowned conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s artistic endeavors will come to a culmination when he conducts seven extraordinary concerts this summer at the ‘Styriarte Festival of Music’ in Graz, the capital of Steiermark (Styria), a Region in the South-Eastern part of Austria.

The first three concerts on June 22nd, 23rd and 24th will be Beethoven’s Mass in C major. This is a work written at times filled with storms, overshadowed by Napoleon’s wars, like the 5th Symphony. “Of my mass, I believe that I dealt with the text as it has only seldom been handled before.” The great depth of this work reflects one of the most important desires of the people of Europe in those times – their longing for hope and their urgent wish for peace. This concert is featuring Julia Kleiter (soprano), Elisabeth von Magnus (mezzo-soprano), Herbert Lippert (tenor), Geert Smits (baritone), the Arnold Schoenberg Choir and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.

The fourth and fifth concert on June 30th and July 1st will be Haydn’s “The Seasons”. The English poet Thomson from the ‘Europeans of the Enlightenment’ was the Magna Carta of a new era. In his description of a beautiful new world, civic virtues such as being industrious, cheerful and godfearing, are most important. Being the son of a blue-collar worker, these rhymes left an impression on Haydn and he gave them free interpretation in his “Seasons“. Together with an all-star ensemble Harnoncourt angles Haydn’s rich colorful musical score formation to it’s peak. This concert is featuring Genia Kuehmeier (soprano), Ian Bostridge (tenor), Christian Gerhaher (baritone), the Arnold Schoenberg Choir and the Concentus Musicus Wien (Vienna).

The sixth and seventh concert on July 7th and 8th will be Schubert’s “Intende voci” and Beethoven’s “Christ at Mount Olives” – this is the turning point of our history from the point of view of Christianity: Jesus drinks from the chalice of affliction and starts to approach the Passion and Resurrection. In his oratorio of 1803, Beethoven focused on the events of that night in the “Gardens of Gethsemane”. Performed not as often as the Mass in C major, it is nonetheless one of his greatest influential pieces. It is featuring Laura Aikin (soprano), Herbert Lippert (tenor), Florian Boesch (baritone), the Arnold Schoenberg Choir and the Concentus Musicus Wien.

Tickets to these events range from Euros 10 to 110. Many other events are scheduled during the Styriarte festival, which will take place between June 22 and July 22, 2007.

Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s musical career spans almost 60 years and his career as a conductor of both orchestral works and opera comprehends Viennese Classicism, the Romantic repertoire and works from the 20th century. In 1953 he founded the Concentus Musicus Wien (Vienna) together with his wife Alice, a violinist, to provide an outlet for his increasingly intensive work with instruments of the Renaissance and baroque period’s musical tradition.

The Austrian conductor Harnoncourt was born in Berlin, brought up in Graz and studied music in Vienna. His mother was Ladislaja Gräfin von Meran, Freiin von Brandhoven and she was the granddaughter of the Styrian Archduke Johann. His father, Eberhard de la Fontaine Graf d’Harnoncourt-Unverzagt was an engineer working in Berlin. The family eventually moved to Graz, where Harnoncourt still resides.

Founded in 1985, the Styriarte Festival of Music, under the direction of Harnoncourt, has built its reputation on attracting high-profile musicians, such as principal players from major orchestras, in addition to stars like violinist Riccardo Minasi and piano virtuoso Pierre-Laurent Aimard. Artists like Viennese Symphonics principal oboist, Paul Kaiser, return year after year to share their talents with the community and to relive the invigorating spirit that is found in the people and the beauty of Graz. Harnoncourt encourages the Festival to be a rediscovery of long-lost variations of our musical heritage and with this years motto “Wanted: Europe” the Styriarte 2007 sets out on a search for the abducted princess of a mythical past, while at the same time strives to explore the continent of Europe and its changing identity.

Magnificent German soprano Julia Kleiter sets examples that wonderful music can even be more elated with her flawless artistic direction as a musician. Kleiter has a pure, rich, chime sounding voice with no rough edges whatsoever. The connoisseur of music can only respond with pleasure to the quality of her singing. She is a terrific Beethoven interpreter and has a true feel how to shape the phrasing.

Austrian mezzo-soprano Elisabeth von Magnus, who is also Harnoncourt’s daughter, and probably best known for her work in sacred music with her velvet and warm voice, is a steady mezzo-soprano, rounded and beautiful and with a great deal of temperament. No matter what — her interpretations etch themselves into ones memory.

Herbert Lippert from Vienna, a smooth and engaging tenor is a real standout. “In mir brennt das Feuer ganz gross!” – “In me the fire is burning very high”, says the polite and straightforward thoroughbred musician. Above all he shows that he is feeling good when singing while enjoyment and beauty are transferred to the listener.

Vibrant baritone Geert Smits, who was born in Holland, manages a convincing portrayal of his roles with a pleasing vocalism. He handles the passages with precision, displaying a beautifully resonant tone.

Sweet and young soprano, the exquisite Genia Kühmeier from Salzburg is full of undoubted gifts, simply golden!

London born tenor Ian Bostridge is well known for his Schubert interpretations and admired for his high approach to singing the songs. He has a perfect glorious, light and radiant tenor that indicates emotional weight and intensity with some transparency.

Young German baritone Christian Gerhaher who has studied with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, shows a considerable care for coloration, phrasing, articulation and enunciation with his fine-spun tone.

World renowned American soprano Laura Aikin is considered a leader amongst the generation of dynamic young sopranos today. She possesses a range of over three octaves and has a mesmerizing stage presence. She is impressive, both in musical accuracy as well as dramatic pertinency.

Austrian baritone Florian Boesch sings with a deep, resonant, crystal-clear voice that is forceful and dramatic where required, but can also be gentle and soft whenever it is called for.

The Arnold Schoenberg Choir is an established and highly praised choir among conductors, critics and the musical scene in Europe and the Concentus Musicus Wien, founded by Nikolaus Harnoncourt, plays early music on instruments of that period and has paved the way for historical performances with great success. The Chamber Orchestra of Europe draws its membership of fifty musicians from fifteen countries and are performing with the world’s leading conductors, besides recording albums and winning many international awards.

Harnoncourt shows the world with “his” Styriarte that music is opening horizons beyond borders, scrutinizes all prejudices and shows that Europe is not a frozen entity, but always inventing itself anew again: as vision, chance and hope.–www.austriatravel.ws

The Romantic Era was the music of Western civilization in the 19th century. Some of the most notable composers of the Romantic Era were Beethoven, Berlioz, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Schumann, Schubert, Chopin, and Wagner. Beethoven is the most difficult to place because much of his earlier compositions were in the classical style, while his later compositions were romantic. The ultimate goal of Romantic music was to attain freedom of design to express powerful human emotions through music.

Romantic music had its foundations in classical music, or music written in the classical style. Romantic composers did not seek to stray from classical form, but to manipulate the rules in order to create more expressive and passionate music. The structure of the classical form was very strict and limiting with what the composer could do musically. The romantics appreciated the form, but broke the limitations, adding or expanding sections of music that would not normally be allowed. Beethoven, for example, was the leader of separating from the classical form and tradition. In his controversial Symphony No. 9, Beethoven introduced vocalists, and a chorus into his final movement. In the classical form, this would not have been allowed. If a piece began as an instrumental piece, it was to remain and end as an instrumental piece.

The Romantic era did not only try the limits of classical form, but it also changed the form of the orchestra. As the musical range of work increased, the size of the orchestra increased with the addition of new instruments and larger sections. The tuba was added to the brass section. New valves for brass instruments were introduced and utilized to give the instruments a more flexible sound. The string section was enlarged to accentuate the sound and dramatic richness of the strings. Bongos and other less conventional percussion instruments were added to the orchestra as well.

Another aspect of Romantic music that separated it from its predecessor was its integration of literature and art into the pieces. This was called Program Music, or music that tells a story. There are three types of program music; the program symphony, the concert overture and the symphonic poem.

The program symphony is characterized by a recurring theme, as in Berlioz’s Symphonic Fantastique where a young man dreams about a woman who comes in the form of a melody which recurs in his mind indefinitely. The concert overture is a one movement piece intended for a performance at a concert. An example would be Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, or Romeo and Juliet. The final type is the symphonic poem. The symphonic poem was invented by the romantic composer Franz Liszt. It is a one movement piece for orchestra, but the main theme is transformed (thematic transformation) in mood and character. The piece which introduced this type of program music was called Hamlet.

Two very popular forms of music during the Romantic Era were suites and waltzes. Suites were related pieces gathered together for a performance of a play, such as Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, The Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty. The waltz was the most popular dance in the nineteen century, so the composers responded to demand and produced many.

The chief characteristics of the Romantic Era are the dramatic contrasts of dynamics and pitch, large orchestra (due mostly to brass), the freedom of powerful emotional expression, new shape and form from recurring and transforming themes and nationalism.

I have always admired Beethoven’s music deeply since at a very young age and have always wanted to meet him (if he were alive) since that this year i am going to Austria for a holiday with my family possibly to Vienna, does anybody know whether the Währing cemetery is open to the public to visit? becuase it would mean alot to visit his grave.
thanks!

Beethoven was born into a happy family that proved to be his greatest support.

Is this true or False?

I like Beethoven and Mozart. I know that everyone who claims to love music should atleast respect them. But is it lame for me to actually like them if I love metal and classic rock?