Post on 23-Aug-2018
Beethoven: His Life and Music
Kelli McQueenPhd student University of Illinois
Ludwig van BeethovenBonn, Germany
baptized: Dec. 17, 1770
died: March 26, 1827
Beethoven’s BirthplaceBonngasse 20
Beethoven Haus Museum
Kurfürstiches Schloss: Prince-Elector’s Palace
Holy Roman Empire
Electorate of Cologne18th century map
Ludwig van Beethoven, elder1712: Born in Belgium
1717: choir boy church St. Rombaut
1725: keyboard and figured bass
1731: choir director in Louvain
1732: Cathedral of St. Lambert, Liège
1732: Elector of Cologne
1761: Kappelmeister in Bonn
1773: died
Cathedral of St. Lambert, Liège
Bonn, Germany 18th Century painting by Granger
Johann van Beethoven
c. 1740-1792
Maria Magdalena Keverich
1746-1787
Little Ludwig
Baptized Dec. 17, 1770
13 year oldc.1783
She was such a good, kind mother to me and indeed my best friend.
Oh! Who was happier than I, when could still utter the sweet name of mother and it was answered.
And whom shall I say it to now? To the dumb likeness of her which my imagination fashions for me?
—letter Sept. 17, 1787
Ludwig, performer“Sea-green frock cast, green knee breeches with buckles, stockings of white or black silk, shoes with black bowknots, embroidered vest with pocket flaps, the vest bound with real gold cord, hair curled and with queue, crush hat under left arm, sword on the left side with silver belt.”
Christian Gottlob Neefe
BeethovenHorneman portait 1803
Christian Gottlob Neefe1748-1799
Sonata FormExposition
Theme 1: Home (tonic key: I)
Theme 2: Contrasting key (dominant V, or relative minor)
Development
Modulation, variation of ideas
Recapitulation
Repeat of Theme 1 and 2 in the home key
Early WorksOctet for Wind ensemble Op. 103
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8w-JZMzWiQ
Piano Sonata in F minor WoO 47, no 2https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whcOslx068U
Cantata for the Death of Emperor Joseph IIhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1btZWhbbLE
http://www.raptusassociation.org/cantatas.html : LYRICS
EnlightenmentRousseau: sensibilité, nature and emotions over culture
Kant: reason combined with experience
Jane Austin: Sense and Sensibility
Classical aesthetics valued
simplicity, balance, form, diversity within unity, seriousness of purpose, restrained use of ornamentation
The Music Party By Jean Antoine Watteau
1718
Classical musical aesthetics
Galant style: elegant, courtly, bucolic, flirtatious, “naturalness”
Empfindsam style: “to feel,” intimate, sensitive, subjective
Strum und Drang: storm and urge, turgid emotions break free of rationalism
German Romantic Poets: Goethe, Schiller
Creature of PrometheusOp. 43, ballet 1801
Dedicated to Princess Christiane von Lichkowskihttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqIStpvkOrY
Beethoven as “Prophet”
Joseph Willibrord Mähler1804-1805
1792: off to Vienna
Count Ferdinand von WaldsteinBorn in Vienna
Served the Elector of Cologne in Bonn
Patron of Beethoven
Pianist and composer
Went broke trying to fight French
“The Genius of Mozart is mourning and weeping over the death of her pupil. She found refuge but no occupation with the inexhaustible Haydn; Through him she
wishes to form a union with another. With the help of you assiduous labor you shall receive
Mozart’s spirit from Haydn’s hands.”
Count Waldstein
Baron Gottfried van SwietenDiplomat and Imperial Librarian
Patron to Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven
Introduced them to Late Baroque composers
Prunksaal“hall of splendor”Austrian National
Library
Prince Karl LichnowskyBorn in Vienna, title Prussian
Musician, composer, collected Bach manuscripts
Supported Beethoven with housing, 600 florin annuity
Dedicatee of the Sonata Pathétique
“one of my most loyal friends and promoters of my art”—Beethoven
Franz-Joseph Haydn
Choir boy until voice changed
Free-lance musician
Kapellmeister of Princes Esterházy
Famous as “Father of the Symphony”
Invitations to London (while teaching in Vienna)
(1732-1809)
Concert culture ~18th century
Aristocratic Patronage
No public concerts
Benefit concerts, subscription
Contests
Muzio Clementi
Johann Baptist Cramer
Joseph Wölffl
Johann Nepomuk Hummel
Daniel Steinbelt
Abbé Joseph Gelinck
That young fellow Beethoven must be in league with the Devi—Abbé Joseph Gelinck
Sonata PathétiquePiano Sonata in C minor, op. 13
1797-98, publisher Joseph Eder “Grand sonata pathétique”
ancient Greek:
Pathos (suffering) vs. Ethos (natural emotions)
Schiller essay “On the Pathetic”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79gzdskOGu4
Heiligenstadt Testament
Written in 1802, to be read after his death
Heiligenstadt Testament
Written in 1802, to be read after his death
http://music-toronto.com/beethovens-heiligenstadt-testament-with-audio/
Letters to friend Wegeler
http://www.raptusassociation.org/freundewegeler_e.html
Eroica, Symphony no. 3
Originally dedicated to Napoleon Bonaparte
Take the symphony in a “New direction”
“Some day all will, be well is our hope; all is well today, is illusion” ––Voltaire
Fideliohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI-CF_rOApI
Theater an der Wien
Immortal Beloved
http://www.lettersofnote.com/2011/06/immortal-beloved.html
Immortal Beloved?
Countess GiuliettaGuicciardi(1782-1856)
Immortal Beloved?
CountessJosephine von Brunsvik
(1779-1821)
Immortal Beloved?
Therese Malfatti(1792-1851)
Immortal Beloved?
Antonie Brentano(1780-1869)
Immortal Beloved“An die Ferne Geliebte,” (To the Distant Beloved ) ~1816
Song cycle: Leiderkreiss
Lyrics by Alois Jeittles (1794-1858)
young medical student
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOk7EWYbyqk
Family Life
1812: Nikolaus Johann and Therese marry
Nikolaus Johann van Beethoven (1776-1848)
Family Life1813-1815: Carl Casper grows ill and dies of consumption
Wife: Johanna Reiß“Queen of the Night”
Son: Karl
Karl van Beethoven (1806-58)
Wellington's Victory op. 91
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NQ55Qp78mo
(1813)
National and International fame on par with Haydn
Thayer: “a stupendous musical joke…a gigantic professional frolic”
Contemporary Newspaper: “applause rose to the point of ecstasy”
The Last Decade1816-1819: lowest creative output of adult life
1820: signs of jaundice from cirrhosis of the liver
1822-23: Johann Sporschil “one of the most active men who ever lived”
1823-27: more family conflict and reconciliation
Late Period WorksSynthesis of Baroque masters: Bach, Handel, Palestrina with Classical Style and personal works
Fugue: contrapuntal composition with a subject unfolding in “imitation”
33 Diabelli Variations ~1819-1823
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAI4-9yc6kA&t=304s
Publisher Brendel labeled #24 “Pure spirit”Variation 24: Fughetta (Andante)
Late Period WorksSynthesis of Baroque masters: Palestrina
Missa Solemnis
Composed: 1819-1823, premiered 1824
Gloria: 3/4 time, shifting textures, 2 fugue sections
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3u1EduLH7L8&t=2291s
Late Period Works
String Quartet in A minor, Op.132 No.15
3rd movement: “Sacred Song of Thanksgiving of a Convalescent to the Godhead in the Lydian Mode”
“Feeling New Strength”: dance-like section
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyDs0wb3FAE
“…indecipherable, uncorrected horrors.” –Louis Spohr
Symphony no. 9violinist Karl Holz “When I think of the music of Beethoven, I am happy to be alive.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOjHhS5MtvA