1. Chapter 18: Beethoven: Bridge to Romanticism

2. Ludwig von Beethoven (1770-1827)
Used and expanded classical forms and genres
Beethoven’s gradual deafness imparted a feeling of struggle and ultimate victory
Career divided into three periods:
Early ( )
“Heroic” Middle Period ( );
Final Years ( )
Figure Sitting atop Franz Liszt’s piano, a bust of Beethoven as he appeared to listeners around Here Beethoven looms godlike over the scene as Liszt and other artists of the day look up with reverential respect. For the nineteenth century, Beethoven came to personify the divinely inspired genius, perhaps because Beethoven himself said that he “conversed with God.”

3. The Early Years (1770-1802) Came from a family of musicians
Father and grandfather performers at the court at Bonn, Germany
Father was an abusive alcoholic who forcibly made him practice the keyboard at all hours
1787 moved to Vienna, settled there permanently in 1792
Studied with Haydn
Gained entrée into houses of the wealthy due to his phenomenal ability as a pianist
Played louder, more forcefully, and more violently than any pianist Vienna had heard
Gained support from wealthy patrons

4. Piano Sonata, Opus 13, “Pathétique” (1799) Movement I: Grave; Allegro di molto e con brio)
Emphasizes extremes of dynamics, tempo, and range
Slow introduction suggests Beethoven’s style of improvisation
First theme: stormy chords, impetuous and racing theme
Sonata form controls the passionate intensity
Pathetique sonata, 1st movement

5. Beethoven Loses His Hearing
1796: Early symptoms, ringing in his ears (tinnitus)
1802: Heiligenstadt Testament
“I would have ended my life; it was only my art that held me back.”
Emerged with renewed resolve to fulfill his artistic destiny
1816: Began using an ear trumpet
1817: No longer could hear music
1818: Began using “Conversation Books”

6. The “Heroic” Middle Period (1803-1813)
Resurgent, defiant mood
Works became longer, more assertive, full of grand gestures
Simple, often triadic themes, predominate
Majestic proportions
Wrote Symphonies 3-8 during this period
Figure A fanciful, yet in many ways accurate, depiction of Beethoven in the midst of creative chaos. Beethoven’s domestic surroundings were always in disarray. In many ways, he served as the model for the nineteenth-century concept of genius: a solitary, lonely figure who suffered for, and lived only for, his art.

7. Beethoven’s Final Years (1814-1827)
Totally deaf and withdrawn from society
Music more remote and inaccessible
Mainly composed introspective chamber music
Two large scale composition
Missa Solemnis (1823)
Symphony No. 9 (1824)
All Vienna mourned his death in 1827
Figure 18.8 A historically accurate depiction of Beethoven’s music room as drawn by J. N. Hoechle three days after the composer’s death. In truth, this room contained two grand pianos. Note the mess still on the piano and the fact that the instrument is filled with broken strings.

8. Symphony No. 9 in D Minor (1824) Fourth movement
First symphony to include a chorus
An die Freude (Ode to Joy)
Text by Friedrich von Schiller ( )
Only appears in the fourth movement
Text honors idea of universal brotherhood

9. Beethoven and the Nineteenth Century
Lasting musical legacy:
Personal expression might push against and break free from the confines of Classical form
Expanded size of the orchestra and length of the symphony
Pure sound could be glorious in itself