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

Death: March 26, 1827

http://www.sjsu.edu/beethoven/

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