Beethoven the Music of Ludwig

Beethoven

The Music of Ludwig Van Beethoven

Ludwig Van Beethoven was a German composer born on December 17th, 1770. However, there is a debate about whether he was born on the 16th or the 17th, as babies were traditionally baptized within 24 hours of being born and his official baptism took place on the 17th (Biography.com, 2012). He died on March 26th, 1827, after his health had completely deteriorated and his hearing was completely gone. The fact that he was deaf is very well-known; he somehow managed to write his best work without being able to hear a sound. Beethoven started demonstrating interest in music early on in life; while his father was known to be a less than stellar court singer with a strong alcohol problem, his grandfather was one of Bonn's most famous musicians (Biography.com, 2012). History has it that Ludwig would be forced to spend hours at the piano while his father criticized and beat him at every mistake. He made his first debut at 7 years old -- his father had declared that he was six years old, which was a source of confusion for Beethoven later on life (Prevot, 2001). After that, Beethoven went on to study with Gottlob Neefe, with whom he studied organ and composition. He published his first work, 9 variations in C minor, in 1782 (Prevot, 2001).

Beethoven's Work

Unlike other composers who often stayed within on particular genre or style, Beethoven's body of work extends itself over many different musical styles. While he has written beautiful piano pieces, such as concertos and sonatas, he has also made his mark through impressive symphonies, string quartets and an opera. His most widely acclaimed pieces include the Piano Sonata op.13 in C minor (Sonata Pathetique), Piano Sonata op. 27 no.2 in C. sharp mino (the Moonlight Sonata), Missa Solemnis, String Quartet no. 14, Symphony no.5, Symphony no.9 and Fidelio, his only opera (Biography.com, 2012; Dalhaus & Whittall, 1991). Of course, the list goes on, as Beethoven's body of work is immense and includes many masterpieces still heard in concert halls across the world today.

Beethoven's body of work is often divided into three periods: Early, Middle and Late periods. His first period, referred to as Early, was influenced by other composers such as Mozart while the Middle period is characterized by his debilitating loss of hearing (Biography.com, 2012). However, the disease led him to isolate himself and dive into his compositions. The Middle period, or Heroic period, saw the birth of many acclaimed pieces including 'an opera, six symphonies, four solo concerti, five string quartets, six string sonatas, seven piano sonatas, five sets of piano variations, four overtures, four trios, two sextets and seventy-two songs' (Biography.com, 2012). The last period, the Late period, is perhaps the period during which he wrote his most influential music. This is the period that will be focused on for the objective analysis.

Objective Analysis

I believe that the most interesting work written by Beethoven came from the Late period -- this also happens to be the general consensus. One of the most well-known work from this period, the 9th Symphony, represents very well the inner turmoil of the composer and is very characteristic of other work published during this Late period. Many historians also consider this symphony to be the greatest piece of music to be ever written (Cook, 1993). It also happened to be the very first symphony using voices; the chorus can be heard in the fourth movement, referred to as 'Ode to Joy'. This symphony is also a great example of how Beethoven influenced the course of music history. During the Classical period, symphonies usually followed a very strict form in which the slow movement (the second movement) before the scherzo movement (the third movement). However, Beethoven strived to push the boundaries and, as a composer who successfully crossed over from the Classical era to the Romantic era, forms had to be altered. One of the ideologies of the Romantic period was that form should not be the leading characteristic of music and art. Thus, in Symphony no.9, the slow movement happens to be placed after the scherzo. This symphony is also a unique example of contrapuntal and formal complexity (Biography.com, 2012).

Other work from the Late period include notably Missa Solemnis and the String Quartet no.14, which are both characterized by an impressive number of modulations and great dynamic constrasts. The 14th String Quartet is also highly unique in its genre, as it includes seven different movements played one after the other without pausing between each as customary.

Subjective Analysis