December Composer Birthdays

This month we celebrate the birthdays of the late great composer, Ludwig van Beethoven (12.17.1770). Beethoven is often ranked as one of the most influential and greatest composers ever to have lived.

Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany. His father, Johann was a local musician, who forced Ludwig to practice at odd hours of the night, sometimes beating him. He wished for Ludwig to become a child prodigy like that of Mozart, but it seemed that the young Beethoven would develop differently.

Around age 18, Beethoven went to study with the godfather of the symphony, Joseph Haydn. He was highly influenced by him, but soon left because his ideas were beginning to clash with the older teacher. At this point Beethoven was becoming known both as a famous composer and as a world-class pianist.

Beethoven's life can be broken up into three periods, the Early, Middle and Late. Each period has a distinct flavor of music. The Early contains influences of Haydn and other early Classical composers. The Middle retains a little of that influence, but moves towards a more passionate and virtuosic writing style. The Late contains perhaps Beethoven's most eccentric and innovative works. During the Middle period (his early 30s) Beethoven had essentially become completely deaf. While this would obviously hinder anybody from composing, Beethoven saw it as spiting fate, so he bravely carried on.

Beethoven is seen as a bridge between the Classical Era and Romantic Era. During his time, his piano sonatas and symphonies were at the pinnacle of their styles, respectively. His increasingly dramatic and emotional style is what connected the two eras together. There are entirely too many great pieces to name, but as a start, you should definitely listen to Symphonies 3, 5, 7 and 9; Piano Sonatas "Waldstein", "Hammerklavier", "The Tempest" and "Moonlight".

Some other interesting Beethoven facts:

He didn't know how to multiply!
He moved more than 70 times in his life.
One of his favorite things to do was take walks and explore nature.
He spent about 4 hours everyday at a tavern.
While Mozart's manuscripts are usually very neat and clean, Beethoven's were very messy with lot's of scratch outs and mistakes - never give up!
There are accounts of Beethoven refusing to stand up or bow to royalty, in which he would get away with it. In other words, Beethoven was the essentially the first rock star!