DOCSLIB.ORG

Dictionary of Music and Musicians

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Dictionary of Music and Musicians THE NEW GROVE Dictionary of Music Beethoven, Ludwig van 73 and Musicians and the subject of this narrative, was baptized on 17 December 1770. Of five children subsequently born to the couple only two survived infancy: Caspar Anton Carl (bap. 8 April 1774) and Nikolaus Johann (bap. 2 October SECOND EDITION 1776). Both brothers were to play important parts in Beethoven's life. Inevitably the early years of the son of an obscure musician in a small provincial town are themselves sunk in obscurity, and though speculation and myth-making have both been productive, facts are rather scarce. It is Beethoven, Ludwig van Bonn, bap. 17 Dec 1770; d clear that at a very early age he received instruction from ^po 76 MarchJT- German composer. His early his father on the piano and the violin. Tradition adds that achievements, as composer and performer, show him to the child, made to stand at the keyboard, was often in be extending the Viennese Classical tradition that he had tears. Beethoven's first appearance in public was at a inherited from Mozart and Haydn. As personal affliction concert given with another of his father's pupils (a - deafness, and the inability to enter into happy personal contralto) on 26 March 1778, at which (according to the relationships - loomed larger, he began to compose in an advertisement) he played 'various clavier concertos and increasingly individual musical style, and at the end of his trios'. A little later, when he was eight, his father is said life he wrote his most sublime and profound works. From to have sent him to the old court organist van den Eeden, his success at combining tradition and exploration and from whom he may have received some grounding in personal expression, he came to be regarded as the music theory as well as keyboard instruction. He appears dominant musical figure of the 19th century, and scarcely also to have had piano lessons from Tobias Friedrich any significant composer since his time has escaped his Pfeiffer, who lodged for a while with the family, and influence or failed to acknowledge it. For the respect his informal tuition from several local organists. A relative, works have commanded of musicians, and the popularity Franz Rovantini, gave the boy lessons on the violin and they have enjoyed among wider audiences, he is probably viola. His general education was not continued beyond the most admired composer in the history of Western ^the elementary school, but"this waTln accordance with music. the usual custom in Bonn at that time, only a few children going on to a Gymnasium (high school). The comparative | 1. Family background and childhood. 2. Youth. 3. 1792-5. 4. 1796- brevity of Beethoven's formal education, combined with I 1800. 5. 1801-2: deafness. 6. 1803-8. 7. 1809-12. 8. 1813-21. 9. 1822-4. 10. 1824-7. 11. The 'three periods'. 12. Music of the Bonn the fact that most of his out-of-school hours must have I period. 13. Music of the early Vienna period. 14. The symphonic been devoted to music, explains some of the gaps in his fi ideal. 15. Middle-period works. 16. Late-period style. 17. Late-period academic equipment, such as his blindness to orthography works. 18. Personal characteristics. 19. Posthumous influence and and punctuation and his inability to carry out the simplest reception: (i) History of the myth (ii) Beethoven's influence on music multiplication sum. ^—s and musical thought (iii) Political reception. 1. FAMILY BACKGROUND AND CHILDHOOD. Three gen- erations of the Beethoven family tound employment as musicians at the court of the Electorate of Cologne, which had its seat at Bonn. The composer's grandfather, Ludwig (Louis) van Beethoven (1712-73), the son of an enterpris- ing burgher of Mechelen (Belgium), was a trained musician with a fine bass voice, and after positions at Mechelen, Leuven and Liege accepted in 1733 an appointment as bass in the electoral chapel at Bonn. In 1761 he was appointed Kapellmeister, a position which - although he seems not to have been a composer, unlike other occupants of such a post - carried with it the responsibility of supervising the musical establishment of the court. With his wife Maria Josepha Poll, whom he had married in 1733, and who later took to drink, he had only one child that survived. Johann van Beethoven (c!740-1792) was a lesser man than his father. He, too, entered the elector's service, first as a boy soprano in 1752, and continuing after adolescence as a tenor. He was also proficient enough on the piano and the violin to be able to supplement his income by giving lessons on those instruments as well as in singing. In November 1767 he married Maria Magdalena (1745-87), daughter of Hemrich Keverich, 'overseer of cooking' at the electoral summer palace of Ehrenbreitstein, and already the widow of Johann Leym, valet to the Elector of Trier; she was not vet 21. The couple took lodgings in Bonn at 515 Bonngasse. Their first child Ludwig Maria (bap. 2 April 2. Ludwig van Beethoven: miniature by Christian Horneman, 1803 1769) lived only six days; their second, also called Ludwig (Beethoven-Haus, Bonn).
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Elaine Fitz Gibbon
    Elaine Fitz Gibbon »Beethoven und Goethe blieben die Embleme des kunstliebenden Deutschlands, für jede politische Richtung unantastbar und ebenso als Chiffren manipulierbar« (Klüppelholz 2001, 25-26). “Beethoven and Goethe remained the emblems of art-loving Germany: untouchable for every political persuasion, and likewise, as ciphers, just as easily manipulated.”1 The year 2020 brought with it much more than collective attempts to process what we thought were the uniquely tumultuous 2010s. In addition to causing the deaths of over two million people worldwide, the Covid-19 pandemic has further exposed the extraordinary inequities of U.S.-American society, forcing a long- overdue reckoning with the entrenched racism that suffuses every aspect of American life. Within the realm of classical music, institutions have begun conversations about the ways in which BIPOC, and in particular Black Americans, have been systematically excluded as performers, audience members, administrators and composers: a stark contrast with the manner in which 2020 was anticipated by those same institutions before the pandemic began. Prior to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, they looked to 2020 with eager anticipation, provoking a flurry of activity around a singular individual: Ludwig van Beethoven. For on December 16th of that year, Beethoven turned 250. The banners went up early. In 2019 on Instagram, Beethoven accounts like @bthvn_2020, the “official account of the Beethoven Anniversary Year,” sprang up. The Twitter hashtags #beethoven2020 and #beethoven250 were (more or less) trending. Prior to the spread of the virus, passengers flying in and out of Chicago’s O’Hare airport found themselves confronted with a huge banner that featured an iconic image of Beethoven’s brooding face, an advertisement for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s upcoming complete cycle Current Musicology 107 (Fall 2020) ©2020 Fitz Gibbon.
    [Show full text]
  • The Compositional Influence of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart on Ludwig Van Beethoven’S Early Period Works
    Portland State University PDXScholar Young Historians Conference Young Historians Conference 2018 Apr 18th, 12:30 PM - 1:45 PM The Compositional Influence of olfW gang Amadeus Mozart on Ludwig van Beethoven’s Early Period Works Mary L. Krebs Clackamas High School Follow this and additional works at: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/younghistorians Part of the Musicology Commons Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Krebs, Mary L., "The Compositional Influence of olfW gang Amadeus Mozart on Ludwig van Beethoven’s Early Period Works" (2018). Young Historians Conference. 7. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/younghistorians/2018/oralpres/7 This Event is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Young Historians Conference by an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. Please contact us if we can make this document more accessible: [email protected]. THE COMPOSITIONAL INFLUENCE OF WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART ON LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN’S EARLY PERIOD WORKS Mary Krebs Honors Western Civilization Humanities March 19, 2018 1 Imagine having the opportunity to spend a couple years with your favorite celebrity, only to meet them once and then receiving a phone call from a relative saying your mother was about to die. You would be devastated, being prevented from spending time with your idol because you needed to go care for your sick and dying mother; it would feel as if both your dream and your ​ ​ reality were shattered. This is the exact situation the pianist Ludwig van Beethoven found himself in when he traveled to Vienna in hopes of receiving lessons from his role model, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
    [Show full text]
  • Ludwig Van Beethoven: Triumph Over a Life of Tragedy
    Ludwig van Beethoven: Triumph Over a Life of Tragedy Madeline Brashaw Senior Division Historical Paper Paper Length: 2,448 words “It seemed unthinkable for me to leave the world forever before I had produced all that I felt Heiligenstadt Testament called upon to produce,” Ludwig van Beethoven wrote in ​ ​ shortly before he passed away. Ludwig van Beethoven practiced music his entire life. He told people that he did not know what he would do without music. Beethoven was brought up during the Classical Period which was defined and determined by its clear characteristics such as its emphasis on beauty, elegance, and balance, and by the variety and contrast within the musical pieces. It is said that his music altered the course of musical history and that it modified the Classical Period (Classical Music). Sadly, Beethoven’s career came to a halt when he began to lose his hearing, and it became nearly impossible for him to compose and conduct his works. The tragic loss of Beethoven’s hearing led to his triumph in changing musical history. Beethoven was brought into this world in December of 1770. As a child, Ludwig van Beethoven often had a sad life. He had no friends and had nobody to care for him. The one thing that he did have, and he used almost every day, was his music. Beethoven’s main instruments were the piano and the violin. As a child, he even composed his own music at times. His father, Johann van Beethoven, was young Beethoven’s first music teacher. As a child, his father harshly pushed him in his musical studies.
    [Show full text]
  • Ludwig Van Beethoven Hdt What? Index
    LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN HDT WHAT? INDEX LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN 1756 December 8, Wednesday: The Emperor’s son Maximilian Franz, the Archduke who in 1784 would become the patron of the young Ludwig van Beethoven, was born on the Emperor’s own birthday. Christoph Willibald Gluck’s dramma per musica Il rè pastore to words of Metastasio was being performed for the initial time, in the Burgtheater, Vienna, in celebration of the Emperor’s birthday. ONE COULD BE ELSEWHERE, AS ELSEWHERE DOES EXIST. ONE CANNOT BE ELSEWHEN SINCE ELSEWHEN DOES NOT. Ludwig van Beethoven “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN 1770 December 16, Sunday: This is the day on which we presume that Ludwig van Beethoven was born.1 December 17, Monday: Ludwig van Beethoven was baptized at the Parish of St. Remigius in Bonn, Germany, the 2d and eldest surviving of 7 children born to Johann van Beethoven, tenor and music teacher, and Maria Magdalena Keverich (widow of M. Leym), daughter of the chief kitchen overseer for the Elector of Trier. Given the practices of the day, it is presumed that the infant had been born on the previous day. NEVER READ AHEAD! TO APPRECIATE DECEMBER 17TH, 1770 AT ALL ONE MUST APPRECIATE IT AS A TODAY (THE FOLLOWING DAY, TOMORROW, IS BUT A PORTION OF THE UNREALIZED FUTURE AND IFFY AT BEST). 1. Q: How come Austrians have the rep of being so smart? A: They’ve managed somehow to create the impression that Beethoven, born in Germany, was Austrian, while Hitler, born in Austria, was German! HDT WHAT? INDEX LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN 1778 March 26, Thursday: In the Academy Room on the Sternengasse of Cologne, Ludwig van Beethoven appeared in concert for the initial time, with his father and another child-student of his father.
    [Show full text]
  • Simply Beethoven
    Simply Beethoven Simply Beethoven LEON PLANTINGA SIMPLY CHARLY NEW YORK Copyright © 2020 by Leon Plantinga Cover Illustration by José Ramos Cover Design by Scarlett Rugers All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher at the address below. [email protected] ISBN: 978-1-943657-64-3 Brought to you by http://simplycharly.com Contents Praise for Simply Beethoven vii Other Great Lives ix Series Editor's Foreword x Preface xi Introduction 1 1. The Beginning 5 2. Beethoven in Vienna: The First Years, 1792-1800 20 3. Into the New Century, 1800-05 38 4. Scaling the Heights, 1806-1809 58 5. Difficult Times, 1809-11 73 6. Distraction and Coping: 1812-15 91 7. 1816–1820: More Difficulties 109 8. Adversity and Triumph, 1821-24 124 9. Struggle and Culmination, 1825-1827 149 10. Beethoven’s Legacy 173 Sources 179 Suggested Reading 180 About the Author 182 A Word from the Publisher 183 Praise for Simply Beethoven “Simply Beethoven is a brief and eminently readable introduction to the life and works of the revered composer.Plantinga offers the lay- man reliable information based on his many years as a renowned scholar of the musical world of late-eighteenth and nineteenth- century Europe.
    [Show full text]
  • Museum and Digital Beethoven-Haus a Brief Guide
    BEETHOVEN’S BIRTHPLACE Beethoven-Haus Bonn museum and digital beethoven-haus a brief guide BEETHOVEN-HAUS BONN BEETHOVEN’S BIRTHPLACE museum Beethoven – oRiginal anD Digital digital beethoven- haus The Beethoven family lived for some years in the yellow house on the left­hand side in the courtyard of the set of buildings which today comprise the Beethoven­ Haus. Ludwig van Beethoven was born here in Decem­ ber 1770. Since 1889 the Beethoven­Haus Society has maintained a commemorative museum in the birthplace, which today houses the world’s largest Beethoven collection. The exhibition rooms contain a selection of more than 150 original documents from the time Beethoven spent in Bonn and Vienna. The hi­ storical building adjoining on the right (the white rear building), in which Beethoven’s christening was once celebrated, has since 2004 accommodated the “Digital Beethoven­Haus”. Modern methods of presentation lead the visitor on a journey of exploration through Beethoven’s life and work (Studio of Digital Archives). His music is interpreted in a completely new way as audiovisual art and for the first time it is presented virtually (Stage for Musical Visualisation). TOUR You may begin your tour as you wish with: • Beethoven’s Birthplace (museum), the yellow house, entered from the courtyard • the Digital archives studio (multimedia­based Beethoven), the white house (ground floor), entered from the Sculptures Courtyard • the stage for Musical visualisation (virtual theatre), performance times available at the ticket office, meeting point
    [Show full text]
  • The Increasing Expressivities in Slow Movements of Beethoven's Piano
    The Increasing Expressivities in Slow Movements of Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas: Op. 2 No. 2, Op. 13, Op. 53, Op. 57, Op. 101 and Op. 110 Li-Cheng Hung A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts University of Washington 2019 Reading Committee: Robin McCabe, Chair Craig Sheppard Carole Terry Program Authorized to Offer Degree: School of Music ©Copyright 2019 Li-Cheng Hung University of Washington Abstract The Increasing Expressivities in Slow Movements of Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas: Op. 2 No. 2, Op. 13, Op. 53, Op. 57, Op. 101 and Op. 110 Li-Cheng Hung Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Dr. Robin McCabe School of Music Ludwig van Beethoven’s influential status is not only seen in the keyboard literature but also in the entire music world. The thirty-two piano sonatas are especially representative of his unique and creative compositional style. Instead of analyzing the structure and the format of each piece, this thesis aims to show the evolution of the increasing expressivity of Beethoven’s music vocabulary in the selected slow movements, including character markings, the arrangements of movements, and the characters of each piece. It will focus mainly on these selected slow movements and relate this evolution to changes in his life to provide an insight into Beethoven himself. The six selected slow movements, Op. 2 No. 2, Op.13 Pathétique, Op. 53 Waldstein, Op. 57 Appassionata, Op. 101 and Op. 110 display Beethoven’s compositional style, ranging from the early period, middle period and late period.
    [Show full text]
  • 12 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Beethoven Originally 19
    12 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Beethoven Originally 19 Things BY GILI MALINSKY AUGUST 12, 2014 (UPDATED: MARCH 9, 2020) Beethoven-Haus, Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain BEETHOVEN-HAUS, WIKIMEDIA COMMONS // PUBLIC DOMAIN Ludwig van Beethoven, one of the greatest composers who ever lived, was born in December 1770 in Bonn, Germany to a musical family. His grandfather and father were both singers in the state choir. Stubborn and self-involved, dramatic yet loving of his friends, Beethoven would become a virtuoso pianist and canonical composer of nine symphonies, concertos for piano, piano sonatas, and string quartets. His oeuvre spanned the period between the Classical style, characterized by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Joseph Haydn, and Romantic style, led by Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt, and created a new vocabulary of humanism and enlightenment in music. Having performed brilliantly for much of his youth and into his early thirties, Beethoven slowly lost his hearing, yet went on to write many of the most important works in musical history. To celebrate the 250th birthday of Ludwig van Beethoven this year, here’s a list of things you might not know about this beloved artist, with information from Jan Swafford’s biography Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph. 1. LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN’S FATHER HUSTLED HIS SON INTO PERFORMING. Early on, Johann van Beethoven noticed the boy’s penchant for playing. He set his sights on creating a prodigy just as Mozart had been a couple of decades before. Johann forced his son to practice day and night to reach the same level of genius.
    [Show full text]
  • BEETHOVEN Prelims 18/7/98 10:13 Am Page I
    BEETHOVEN Prelims 18/7/98 10:13 am Page i The life of Beethoven i BEETHOVEN Prelims 18/7/98 10:13 am Page ii ii BEETHOVEN Prelims 18/7/98 10:13 am Page iii Musical lives The books in this series will each provide an account of the life of a major composer, considering both the private and the public figure. The main thread will be biographical, and discussion of the music will be integral to the narrative. Each book thus presents an organic view of the composer, the music, and the circumstances in which the music was written. Published titles The life of Bellini John Rosselli The life of Beethoven David Wyn Jones The life of Berlioz Peter Bloom The life of Debussy Roger Nichols The life of Mahler Peter Franklin The life of Mozart John Rosselli The life of Webern Kathryn Bailey iii BEETHOVEN Prelims 18/7/98 10:13 am Page iv iv BEETHOVEN Prelims 18/7/98 10:13 am Page v The life of Beethoven David Wyn Jones v BEETHOVEN Prelims 18/7/98 10:13 am Page vi published by the press syndicate of the university of cambridge The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge cb2 1rp, United Kingdom cambridge university press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge, cb2 2ru, United Kingdom 40 West 20th Street, New York, ny 10011-4211, USA 10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166, Australia © Cambridge University Press 1998 This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
    [Show full text]
  • Ludwig Van Beethoven: the Heard and the Unhearing
    Bernhard Richter / Wolfgang Holzgreve / Claudia Spahn (ed.) Ludwig van Beethoven: the Heard and the Unhearing A Medical-Musical-Historical Journey through Time Bernhard Richter / Wolfgang Holzgreve / Claudia Spahn (ed.) Ludwig van Beethoven: the Heard and the Unhearing Bernhard Richter / Wolfgang Holzgreve / Claudia Spahn (ed.) Ludwig van Beethoven: the Heard and the Unhearing A Medical-Musical-Historical Journey through Time Translated by Andrew Horsfield ® MIX Papier aus verantwor- tungsvollen Quellen ® www.fsc.org FSC C083411 © Verlag Herder GmbH, Freiburg im Breisgau 2020 All rights reserved www.herder.de Cover design by University Hospital Bonn Interior design by SatzWeise, Bad Wünnenberg Printed and bound by CPI books GmbH, Leck Printed in Germany ISBN 978-3-451-38871-2 Words of welcome from Nike Wagner Bonn is not only the birthplace of Beethoven. The composer spent the first two decades of his life here, became a professional musician in this city and absorbed here the impulses and ideas of the Enlightenment that shaped his later creative output, too. To this extent, it is logical that Bonn is preparing to celebrate Beethoven with a kind of “Cultural Capital Year” to mark his 250th birthday. In this special year, opportunities have been cre- ated in abundance to engage with the “great mogul,” as Haydn called him. There is still more to be discovered in his music, as in his life, too. In this sense, a symposium that approaches the phenomenon of Beethoven from the music-medicine perspective represents an additional and necessary enrichment of the anni- versary year. When I began my tenure as artistic director of the Beethoven- feste Bonn in 2014, I set out to bring forth something that was always new, special and interdisciplinary.
    [Show full text]
  • Beethoven's Promethean Concerto in C Minor
    BEETHOVEN’S PROMETHEAN CONCERTO IN C MINOR WoO A FOUR MOVEMENT MUSIC DRAMA BASED ON LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN: THE MAN, THEY MYTH, THE MUSIC SCORE by Ludwig Van Beethoven Libretto By Cindi Sansone-Braff “Our collective prayer for inner and outer peace. From the heart, B. May it return to the heart.” Dona Nobis Pacem i BEETHOVEN’S PROMETHEAN CONCERTO in C MINOR WoO ACT I: OVERTURE FIRST MOVEMENT SCENE ONE … Late afternoon, August 6, 1826. SCENE TWO … A moment later. SCENE THREE …Immediately following previous scene. SCENE FOUR … A moment later. SCENE FIVE … A few moments later. SECOND MOVEMENT SCENE SIX … A moment later. SCENE SEVEN … A moment later. SCENE EIGHT … Immediately following previous scene, sun is setting. SCENE NINE … A moment later. SCENE TEN … A moment later. SCENE ELEVEN … A moment later. SCENE TWELEVE … A moment later. SCENE THIRTEEN … A moment later, twilight. SCENE FOURTEEN … A moment later, nightfall. THE END OF ACT I INTERMEZZO ii ACT II: THIRD MOVEMENT SCENE ONE … The middle of the same endless night. SCENE TWO … A moment later. SCENE THREE … A moment later. FOURTH MOVEMENT SCENE FOUR … A moment later, dawn is breaking. CODA THE END iii CAST OF CHARACTERS LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN … The MASTER is 56 years old and gravely ill. A little more than seven months from this day, all of Vienna would watch The Master’s funeral procession making its way through their streets. He is short, of stocky build with broad shoulders that his oversized head appears to rest on, almost neckless in appearance. He once had a dark complexion, but with time, it has turned ruddy.
    [Show full text]
  • Ludwig Van Beethoven ­ Pianist, Composer ­ Biography.Com
    1/23/2016 Ludwig van Beethoven ­ Pianist, Composer ­ Biography.com HAPPY BIRTHDAY VIDEO Mariska William Hargitay Shakespeare Ludwig van Beethoven Pianist, Composer (c. 1770–1827) Ludwig van Beethoven was a deaf German composer and the predominant musical figure in the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras. Synopsis NAME Composer Ludwig van Beethoven was baptized on December 17, Ludwig van Beethoven 1770, in Bonn, Germany. He was an innovator, widening the scope of sonata, symphony, concerto and quartet, and combining vocals and OCCUPATION Pianist, Composer instruments in a new way. His personal life was marked by a struggle against deafness, and some of his most important works were BIRTH DATE composed during the last 10 years of his life, when he was quite c. December 16, 1770 unable to hear. DEATH DATE March 26, 1827 PLACE OF BIRTH Early Years Bonn, Germany Composer and pianist Ludwig Van Beethoven, widely considered the PLACE OF DEATH Vienna, Austria greatest composer of all time, was born on or about December 16, 1770 in the city of Bonn in the Electorate of Cologne, a principality of the Holy Roman Empire. Although his exact date of birth is uncertain, Beethoven was baptized on December 17, 1770. Since as a matter of law and custom, babies were baptized within 24 hours of birth, December 16 is his most likely birthdate. However, Beethoven himself mistakenly believed that he was born two years later, in 1772, and he stubbornly insisted on the incorrect date even when presented with official papers that proved beyond any reasonable doubt that 1770 was his true birth year.
    [Show full text]