LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN HIS LIFE AND MUSIC
According to John N. Burk, "Ludwig van Beethoven, with the exceptionof Johann Sebastian Bach, played a more decisive role in the evolution ofmusic than any other single figure" (24). As a musician, Beethovenliberated the classical forms from their former restrictions and gave theman altogether new expanse and flexibility. He brought to the art of musicnew depths of expressiveness that were not known before his time and alsobrought new richness of speech to every instrument for which he wrote hissymphonies and other musical pieces. In essence, Beethoven was highlyinfluential in bringing modernity to the art of music, for as Robert H.Schauffler maintains, Beethoven "stands as the epitome of the master whoinitiated the turning point of the ways of modern art and combined the sumof past human efforts in the direction of musical design" (45). AfterBeethoven, the course of music changed drastically, due to his completeemancipation of human emotion and his attempts to give expression to everykind of mood which was worthy of being brought into the scheme of Western Beethoven's artistic career is generally divided into three distinctperiods. First, ending at about 1800, was his term as an
The violinist wascompelled to read the work at sight, due to Beethoven retaining themanuscript until the last possible moment for revisions. The sixteen quartets can be roughly classifiedinto three groups-first, the six opus 18 quartets which represent the earlyBeethoven who absorbed the forms and speech of Haydn and Mozart and thenbegan to use them for his own purposes; second, the Rasumovsky quartets,opus 59, the "Harp" quartet, opus 74, and the quartet opus 95, representingthe mature Beethoven and the fabulous middle period of his creative powers,and third, the Grosse Fugue in which Beethoven is the mystic, searching fornew worlds and achieving a philosophic depth and at times a certainsublimity never before heard in Western music. Although he hadalready gained a reputation throughout Europe as a composer of instrumentalmusic, opera was still the way in which he could gain fame and fortune. After this, the piano concerto would be concerned with poetic content,dramatic power and expressiveness as well as with virtuosity and glitteringpassage work. Marek notes, Beethoven's musicduring this second period "was no longer sonority pure and simple, butcontained abstract ideas that made it possible for the further developmentof harmonic music" (58). The Missa Solemnis was intended as amusical tribute to Archduke Rudolph for performance during the ceremoniesattending his ascendancy as the Archduke of Olmutz. The heroicepic of the Third Symphony stands between the lyric Second and the elegiacand gentle Fourth; the dramatic Fifth is a partner to the pastoral Sixth;the powerful Seventh is followed by the joyful and sprightly Eighth, andthese are succeeded by the Ninth, "a paean to the musical brotherhood ofman" (Marek, 298). His second period isaccentuated by his deafness which seems to have affected his musical outputvery little, for between 1803 and 1804, he produced sonatas for violin andpiano and the famous Eroica Symphony. This opera might have enjoyed a long and profitablerun but for Beethoven's temper and lack of tact with the managers, for heaccused them of robbing him of royalties and then, in a violent fit ofmadness, insisted upon the removal of the opera from the theater'srepertory. Beethoven's Fidelio was his first and only effort in the operaticfield and he expended much tears and energy upon it. From the descriptions of his symptoms, there is generalagreement among modern otologists that "his deafness was caused byotosclerosis of the mixed type, i. In order to understand Beethoven's musical ruthlessness and toappreciate the extent of his magnificent self-assurance in striking outinto new and uncharted paths, "it is necessary to remember that music isthe reflection of the musician and his psyche" (Solomon, Musical Review35), for Beethoven was the great musical expressionist and the very spiritof the French Revolution who considered himself the equal of nobility. Originally, the Eroica was 10intended to be called the "Bonaparte Symphony" because when Beethoven beganworking on it, he saw the First Consul, namely Napoleon Bonaparte, "as theliberator of the down-trodden, a true son of the French Revolution"(Solomon, 325).
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