Ludwig van Beethoven

The most revolutionary musician of his time, Tondichter ("poet of sounds") as he defined himself, Ludwig van Beethoven distinguished himself in all forms, bridging the gap between Classicism and Romanticism. Addressing both man and the universe, he gave his music a new spiritual and metaphysical dimension, endowing it with an eternal power. Destined, like his paternal grandfather and father, to become a musician in the service of the Elector, he was born in Bonn on December 15 or 16, 1770 (only the date of his baptism, December 17, is certain). By no means from a noble family, as the "van" attached to his surname might suggest, but of Dutch descent, he learned the rudiments of the violin and piano at an early age from his father, who exploited the child prodigy for some time on Rhineland tours, However, the venture failed to live up to expectations, and the young Beethoven returned to his beloved studies, studying piano, violin and even horn with Nikolaus Simrock. He completed his training with Christian Gottlob Neefe, who taught him composition and oriented him towards Bach's polyphony. By this stage, the young musician had already written a few pieces and befriended student Franz Gerhard Wegeler, who introduced him to the von Breuning family, where he spent most of his time learning and reading Goethe and Schiller. Engaged at the Bonn court in 1783, he held the positions of orchestral musician, substitute organist, harpsichordist and repetiteur, as well as giving piano lessons. In April 1787, he and his patron, Count Ferdinand von Waldstein, made their first visit to Vienna to take lessons with Mozart, but had to cut their visit short in order to rush to his dying mother's side. At the University of Bonn, where he resumed his studies in 1789, he immersed himself in the ideas of the French Revolution, and the following year met Josef Haydn on his way to London. Haydn invited him to join him in Vienna in 1792, but as the composer was in great demand, he worked on his works with Johann Georg Albrechtsberger and the royal court Kapellmeister Antonio Salieri. Events in Bonn and the overthrow of power led Beethoven to stay indefinitely in Vienna, where he found new aristocratic support. In March 1795, he gave a public performance of one of his works, the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 2, before going on to perform in Prague, Dresden, Leipzig and Berlin. In 1800, he premiered his Symphony no. 1, among many other scores, including the Piano Sonata no. 8, known as "Pathétique", the "Sonata quasi una fantasia" no. 14, better known as "Clair de lune", and no. 15 , known as "Pastorale", titles added by publishers for commercial purposes. His chamber music repertoire expanded greatly, with sonatas for violin and piano (including No. 9 "à Kreutzer"), trios with piano, violin or strings, and string quartets, including the six in Op. 18, dedicated to Prince Lobkowitz. From then on, Beethoven showed himself to be a composer free of all influence, bearing the seeds of innovative ideas perceived as far-fetched, breaking the rules, wielding unfathomable silence, abrupt ruptures, extreme sounds and powerful thematic exposition. In a word, he asserted himself as a Romantic composer, in spite of the ailment that obstructed him for several years and would continue to gnaw at him for the rest of his life, the advance of a deafness that would eventually become total. This condition gradually distanced him from life in society, and the admired pianist took refuge in composition, to the point of isolating himself completely, in order to avoid further mockery, having to use a conversation book with his friends. He was thus fully aware of his condition when, on October 8 and 10, 1802, while resting in a village, he wrote the "Testament d'Heiligenstadt" (Heiligenstadt Testament), in which he expresses the pain of a musician losing his most precious possession, which almost led to his suicide, and the need to contribute through his art to the good of humanity. He traces the origin of his tragedy to syphilis contracted six years earlier. Although causality is unlikely, Beethoven suffered from several other intestinal and respiratory symptoms, seeking a miraculous cure in medical progress. From the Heiligenstadt revival comes Symphony no. 3 "Eroica " (1804) and its famous "funeral march", initially dedicated to Napoleon Bonaparte, whose name he erased when he became emperor. It marks the starting point of an "epic cycle", punctuated by masterpieces that not only defined their era, but also projected a lasting influence. Beethoven's only opera, Leonore, eventually gave its name to an overture, before adopting the name Fidelio (1805), whose heroine succeeds in getting her husband out of prison. The Triple Concerto for piano, violin and cello (1804), the three String Quartets Nos. 7 to 9 Op. 59 (1806), as well as two symphonies: No. 5, the "Destiny" symphony, whose allegory takes the form of an introduction of four notes that have become immortal, and the following one, No. 6, the "Pastoral" symphony, premiered on the same day in December 1808 with the Piano Concerto No. 4, and offering the image of the dreamy, contemplative teenager that Beethoven was. Three thematic piano sonatas, no. 17 "Tempest" (1802), no. 21 "Waldstein" (1804) and no. 23 "Appassionata " (1805), characterized by their vigorous temperament, also emerged. In 1809, the evocation of greatness and power was once again evoked in the Piano Concerto no. 5, which was nicknamed "Emperor", springing from a cascade of scores as noble as the String Quartet no. 10 ("Les Harpes") and no. 11 ("Serioso"), Piano Trio no. 7 ("L'Archiduc"), Symphonies no. 7 and no. 8 and Piano Sonata no. 26 ("Les Adieux"), preceding no. 29 "Hammerklavier" (1818), not to mention "Lettre à Élise", taken from a long-lost Bagatelle. From this decade emerge the disappointed love of Bettina Brentano, who preferred him to another composer, and the encounter with Goethe, who admired his work but had reservations about its unkindness. Be that as it may, the profusion of inspiration never ceased to drive Beethoven's pen, and in his last decade, he raised his ambitions even higher with the Missa solemnis, worked on until 1822, alongside the last three Piano Sonatas nos. 30, 31 and 32 (opp. 109-111), ending with a six-variation arietta offering new perspectives, as well as the initial waltz opening onto the infinity of the thirty-three Diabelli Variations, the six Bagatelles op. 126 and the last five String Quartets nos. 12 to 16 accompanied by a Grande Fugue op. 133 (1824-1826). But doesn't the crowning achievement of this hard-won artistic freedom lie in the 9th Symphony with chorus, premiered on May 7, 1824, which starts with a dissonant chord and ends with a universal "Ode to Joy", after Schiller, to be adopted as the official anthem of the European Union? A bout of pneumonia at the end of 1826 sapped the composer's strength, and the combined effects of various illnesses led to his death after four months of suffering, on March 26, 1827, at the age of 56.

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