The German composer Ludwig van
Beethoven was not a onetime thing. If it was luck at all, then it was a
lucky streak, except for a little hiccup in his late 20’s - going deaf.
It may sound like more than ‘just a little hiccup’, but going deaf
didn’t make this great man abandon his career.
 Determined
to overcome his disability he wrote the third to eighth symphonies when
he was almost completely deaf. March 29, 1827 on a day like today
Beethoven was buried in Vienna amidst a crowd of over 10,000 mourners.
Nearly 182 years later people around the world are still enjoying his
music, on CDs, on radio and TV and of course, the Internet.
Beethoven was born on December 17, 1770 in Bonn. Although Beethoven’s
musical genius was compared to that of Mozart’s, his education never
exceeded elementary level. Beethoven’s father - Johann - with the
example of young Mozart in mind, relentlessly pushed his son to achieve
musical celebrity. He started learning music at the tender age of seven.
He also received piano lessons from Tobias Friedrich Pfeiffer, and
Franz Rovantini gave him violin and viola lessons. After the his mother
- Maria Magdalena - died from tuberculosis, his father took to drink and
Beethoven, only 19 at the time had to become the bread winner of the
family. He started his career, playing at parties for the rich and was
often described as being moody and shabby.
In 1792, Beethoven moved to Vienna, where he studied with Haydn for
less than a year, after his father’s death. He also studied with Johann
Georg Albrechtsberger, the best known teacher of counterpoint in Vienna.
In 1800, he performed his first symphony and a septet and his fame
became inevitable.
Unfortunately while still in his 20’s, Beethoven became deaf. He
became a recluse, wanting to hide his disability from the rest of the
world. Friends ascribed his reserve to preoccupation and
absentmindedness.
By 1814, he was using an ear trumpet. He was sent to Heiligenstadt, a
village outside Vienna, in the hope that its rural peace would restore
his hearing, where he wrote the famed Heiligenstadt testament. In this
he reveals that suicide has also crossed his mind.
“If I had not read somewhere that a man should not voluntarily quit
this life so long as he could still perform a good deed, I would have
left this Earth long ago-and what is more, by my own hand. This life is
indeed beautiful, but for me it is poisoned forever.” In the
Heiligenstadt testament Beethoven’s true plight is revealed.
“... for six years I have been hopelessly ill... I was forced to
isolate myself. I was misunderstood and rudely repulsed because I was as
yet unable to say to people, “Speak louder, shout, for I am deaf”
Heiglnstadt 6 October, 1802. Around 1818 he had to use pieces of paper
to communicate with others, now known as ‘Conversation Books’. By age 50
he was almost completely deaf.
In spite of his deafness he kept on composing and wrote symphonies 2,
3, and 4 before 1806. His fame grew far and wide and his symphonic
works, along with his other works, have proved timeless. His Symphonies
No. 3 (Eroica), five and Symphony nine (Ode to Joy or Choral Symphony)
are the most famous.
The Moonlight Sonata and Fur Elise are Beethoven’s most famous piano
works.Beethoven wrote music for the modern piano - in his last sonatas -
when it has not yet been manufactured!
 He
died on March 26, 1827 at age fifty-six of liver cirrhosis or hepatitis,
in Vienna and was buried at the Wahring Cemetery and later relocated to
Zentral-friedhof Cemetary in Vienna, where he now rests side by side
with Franz Schubert. A recent study showed that Beethoven had 100 times
the normal amount of lead in his body, indicating that he might have
actually died of lead poisoning.
Beethoven composed all of nine symphonies between 1799 and 1824 - no
match for Haydn and Mozart, who, combined, wrote over 150 symphonies.
This was probably due to his meticulousness. But what makes Beethoven so
special is his successful attempt to break away from the highly
structured and refined rules of classical period composition and
improvisation and expressive music. He is considered as a bridge linking
classical and romantic periods.
He was in constant exploration of new forms and technical directions.
His music has been subjected to constant study by music experts the
world over in terms of his unparalleled technical composition method and
morphology technique.
Beethoven experts believe that his deafness did not affect his music;
to the contrary it made him unique. Experts believe that since he was
removed from society he became an introvert and since he was deaf and
could not listen to other compositions, they had no influence over him.
Thus his own compositions were unique.
- Sajitha
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