WHAT SHALL WE MAKE OF BEETHOVEN?

Session 5 – October 13, 2016

Beethoven the Man

Loves and Friendships

In Beethoven’s era, unlike in ours, people could keep many secrets about their personal lives if they chose to do so. Whatever secrets he may have had, Beethoven was forthcoming with many details about his friendships and love life. Family and friends contributed many more. But much is missing, as we shall see.

PERSONALITY TRAITS All of Beethoven’s relationships, amorous or otherwise, were heavily influenced by certain personality traits, including:

 Fear of authority figures

 Hypersensitivity to criticism

 Identification as a victim

 An overdeveloped sense of responsibility

 Lack of awareness of how one affects others

 Craving for, and addiction to, excitement

 Confusion of love, pity, and the need to rescue people

 Fear of being abandoned or rejected

Recent research in the field of addiction shows that these attitudes and behaviors are characteristic of children of alcoholic parents. Beethoven’s father suffered from alcoholism, which caused him to lose his job and the family’s income. Like many other children of alcoholics, this disease influenced his attitude toward intimacy and other aspects of love relationships.

RELATIONSHIPS WITH WOMEN Beethoven’s letters and those of his friends document a long list of brief, very intense, and always unsuccessful relationships with women. These failures show a remarkably consistent pattern throughout his life:

 he was often attracted to women whom he believed were in a pitiful situation and needed to be rescued (he was almost always mistaken about this)

 he was also attracted to women who were unavailable because of their higher social status, or because they were already attached to others

 he seemed to be unaware of his own shortcomings as a potential partner and usually presented himself in ideal terms

 at the same time, he was hypersensitive about his real – or imagined - shortcomings and often ended relationships abruptly before he could be rejected.

A SURROGATE MOTHER As a young teenager Beethoven formed a strong and lasting relationship with the von Breuning family of Bonn. Frau Helene von Breuning was the mother of three teenage children, all close friends of Beethoven. He spent a good deal of time in the von Breuning house, where Helene often fulfilled the role of surrogate for Beethoven’s own ailing Mother. One close friend of Beethoven noted that Helene “had great power over the boy, who was frequently stubborn and sullen.” Another friend observed that she had the power “to compel him to the performance of his duties.”

Both Helene and Beethoven himself were aware of his violent mood swings and conflicting emotions. At age 17 he confessed to a friend: “Since my return to Bonn (from Vienna) I have as yet enjoyed very few happy hours. I have been suffering from melancholia, which in my case is almost as great a torture as my illness.” To Helene herself Beethoven wrote of his “obstinate and passionate moods, my willfulness and irrationality.” She agreed, shrugging her shoulders and commenting to one of her children that “he has his raptus (overwhelming agitation or excitement) again.”

EARLY INFATUATIONS The pattern of Beethoven’s feelings toward women was obvious early in his life. The word infatuation rather than love affair seems the most accurate way to describe these emotional states – they were always brief but very intense, with Beethoven being completely carried away by unreasoning passion. The first such infatuation was with Helene von Breuning’s daughter, Eleanor, another childhood friend. The next was with Jeannette d’Honrath, who was already pledged to an Austrian military officer. There were also mad crushes on several of his female piano students, especially Maria Anna von Westerholt, who soon married a member of the nobility. And many, many, many others.

AN EARLY LOVE LETTER We get a more detailed picture of how Beethoven’s presented himself to women from one of his letters to Eleanor von Breuning:

However little, in your opinion, I may deserve to be believed, yet I beg you to believe, my friend (please let me continue to call you friend), that I have suffered greatly, and am still suffering, from the loss of your friendship … However little I may mean to you, please believe that I entertain just as great a regard for you, and your mother, as I have always done … Think now and then of your true friend, who still cherishes a great regard for you.

THE INFATUATIONS CONTINUE This pattern continued throughout Beethoven’s life: frequent flirtations, extreme excitement and agitation, fantasized love relationships, and invariable, often heartbreaking, breakups. His friend Ferdinand Ries described them this way: “Although Beethoven was very often in love, his attachments were mostly of very brief duration.” His early biographer Thayer noticed the same pattern: “One all-absorbing but temporary passion, lasting until its object is married to a more favored lover, is forgotten in another, destined to end in like manner, until, at length, all faith in the possibility of a permanent, constant attachment to one person was lost.”

Beethoven’s major infatuations with Giulietta Guicciardi, Julie von Vering, Bettina Brentano, Maria Bigot, and Elizabeth Röckel ended with their attachment to other men. His crushes on Magdalena Willmann and Thesese Malfatti ended when they proved to be uninterested in him.

These seemingly desirable relationships also seemed to be threatening as well. The 20th century American musician Elliot Forbes put it this way: “Beethoven frequently decided to plunge into composition work when faced with the possibility of a permanent attachment with a woman.”

NOT MARRIAGE MATERIAL? And yet these infatuations do not tell us the whole story about Beethoven’s romantic life. As these two letters show, written in his early thirties, by age 30 Beethoven seemed to feel that the pursuit of unattainable women had great advantages, and that he was resigned to this because bachelorhood maximized his opportunity for artistic achievement.

Was Beethoven really only interested in the excitement of romantic pursuits, or are these letters yet another example of “sour grapes,” which he often used to cover disappointments.

THE “IMMORTAL BELOVED” Or – were some of his infatuations deeper and more serious? Found in Beethoven’s personal effects after his death was the only unalloyed love letter of his life, an uncontrolled outburst of passionate feeling, exalted in tone, confused in thought, and ridden with conflicting emotions. There is no date on this letter, nor on a similar one written to the same woman on the following day. Nor- more importantly – do we know to whom these letters written.

My angel, my all, my very self – Only a few words today and at that with pencil…Why this deep sorrow when necessity speaks – can our live endure except through sacrifices, through not demanding everything from one another; can you change the fact that you are not wholly mine and I not wholly thine.

We shall surely see each other soon; moreover, today I cannot share with you the thoughts I have had during these last few days … My heart is full of so many things to say to you – ah – there are moments when I feel that speech amounts to nothing at all. Cheer up – remain my true, my only treasure, my all as I am yours. The gods must send us the rest, what for us must and shall be… Your faithful LUDWIG

The identity of the “Immortal beloved” has been debated by music scholars since the letter was found in 1827. Although several different women have been suggested, no one has been able to identify her with certainty.

FRIENDSHIPS

Many who knew Beethoven during his childhood described him as a lonely, friendless, isolated boy. But from early adolescence on, Beethoven attracted friends and maintained several friendships over many years. Some of his friends were musicians, not uncommon for a composer; others became friends because they were attracted to his genius or personal qualities. Still others were influential people Beethoven thought might further his career.

 Stephan von Breuning, close and loyal friend of B from childhood on despite many squabbles and tantrums on B’s part. Beethoven briefly lived in his house. He helped Beethoven revise the libretto of Fidelio.

 Franz Gerhard Wegeler, renowned Bonn physician, an intimate friend of Beethoven throughout their lives.

 Ferdinand Ries, a prolific composer, pupil and friend and of Beethoven. He published a detailed reminiscence of Beethoven in 1838.  Ignatz Schuppanzigh, a celebrated violin virtuoso, met Beethoven when he became his violin student soon after moving to Vienna. They remained friends and music associates for the rest of B’s life. Schuppanzigh premiered most of B’s works for violin and conducted the first performance of the 9th Symphony. In 1808 he founded and played first violin in Count Rasumovsky’s string quartet - the first professional string quartet – which was formed in order to practice and perform Beethoven’s very difficult works.

 Carl Czerny, long-time friend and a leading piano virtuoso and composer, studied with Beethoven in Bonn from age 10, and premiered three of his piano concertos.

 Anton Schindler, Viennese law clerk and violinist. From 1822 he lived in Beethoven’s house and served as his private secretary. At Beethoven’s death Schindler inherited much of Beethoven’s estate, including his 400 “conversation books” used by people to converse with B in his later years. In 1840 Schindler published “Beethoven as I Knew Him,” a wonderfully intimate and detailed biography, now largely discredited.

Beethoven the Composer

Piano Variations

In today’s musical world, the genre of Piano Variations is a rare bird. The few pieces of this type that we hear on piano recitals date from the mid19th century: big, virtuoso pieces by Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann, and Brahms. But in Beethoven’s time, the piano variation was perhaps the most popular genre in all of classical music.

PIANO VARIATIONS BEFORE BEETHOVEN By the time Beethoven was born, piano variations was already popular. Keyboard variations for harpsichord were popular during the long history of that instrument. In the organ repertoire the variation genre has long held an important place. During the classical period Haydn wrote 19 sets of keyboard variations; Mozart another 16, and both composers had written individual movements of piano sonatas in the variation form. Almost without exception these pieces had been at the lighter end of the musical spectrum, entertaining, not-too-demanding pieces based on well-known operatic arias or popular songs of the day, and often used to show off the dazzling skill of keyboard virtuosos.

MOZART: TEN VARIATIONS ON “AH, VOUS DIRAI-JE MAMAN", 1784 “Oh, Shall I Tell You, Mommy” was a popular children’s song that would have been familiar to most 18th century listeners. In the hands of a master like Mozart, we can see the tremendous popular appeal of the variation genre: it is based on a familiar tune, shows off the keyboard skills of the performer and, demonstrates the wide variety of sounds the instrument is capable of.

Oh! Shall I tell you, Mommy What is tormenting me? Daddy wants me to reason Like a grown-up person. Me, I say that sweets Are worth more than reasoning.

PLAY

THE TRANSFORMATION OF A GENRE There are many sets of fortepiano variations among Beethoven’s teenage output of “WoO” pieces – without opus numbers. When he moved to Vienna he became aware of the demand for piano variations among Vienna’s multitude of pianists and piano students, and be the age of 30 he had written more than a dozen more. Although publishers often delayed publishing his other compositions due to fears about whether they would sell, they published his keyboard variations immediately.

The earliest of these pieces were worthy successors to the Mozart piece we just heard: showy, highly ornamental works based on well-known themes - entertaining, brilliant, and often deliberately superficial. Just as with his fortepiano sonatas and string quartets, Beethoven gradually began to explore a deeper, more serious type of variation, insisting to his publishers that they be considered major works rather than just popular entertainments.

THE SONATA HOUSE Compared to the sonata form, the variation form is at the opposite end of the musical spectrum, in the same way that the design of a New England colonial house is opposite from, say, a house by Frank Lloyd Wright. Here is a “Sonata House.” It has a predictable pattern of rooms in a predictable floor plan. Just be looking at it from the outside, you know a lot about how many rooms it has, and what the shape of each room is.

The task of the architect here is to provide beauty and function following a familiar pattern. Likewise, in sonata form music the task of the composer is to provide beauty and variety within in a predictable pattern of contrasting themes.

THE VARIATION HOUSE And this is a “Beethoven Variation House,” actually designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Looking at it from the outside, we are not sure what is behind the brick façade and banks of windows, what lies within does not follow a familiar patterns and is not at all obvious.

The task of the architect here is to provide beauty and function in a unique way, not to repeat a familiar architectural pattern. Even after looking carefully we may have questions: how many rooms are there, and of what shape? Where is the entrance? Does it have a large, eat-in kitchen or only a small galley? How many bedrooms, and of what size? A full basement or none?

In one important way a set of fortepiano variations is predictable: each variation of the piece will be built on the same theme. But many other things are not so predictable: how many variations will there be? What will they be like? What kinds of keyboard technique will they use?

BEETHOVEN: 15 VARIATIONS AND A FUGUE, 1802 Now we’re going to listen to Beethoven’s “15 Variations and a Fugue.” This piece is commonly called the “Eroica Variations” because its theme is very similar to the theme of the last movement of Beethoven’s Eroica symphony. Despite the jokey, quirky nature of its theme, this is a serious piece for a discerning audience. When Beethoven sent this and another set of variations to his Viennese publisher he took special pains to point out that they were not trivial entertainments but serious compositions:

As the variations are distinctly different from my earlier ones, I have included them in the proper numerical series of my greater musical works, the more so as the themes have been composed by me.

PLAY

BEETHOVEN: 33 VARIATIONS ON A WALTZ BY DIABELLI, 1823 The so-called Diabelli Variations is Beethoven’s last foray into the variation form. This is one of his most monumental works and has often been called the greatest set of piano variations ever written. It is also one of Beethoven’s most adventurous works, written over a period of four years.

Like the Eroica Variations of 20 years before, it is based on a very short, seemingly simple tune written by the Viennese music publisher, Anton Diabelli, who offered the tune to several composers living in Vienna, asking them each to write one variation, which he would gather together and publish as one piece. Beethoven refused this rather crude marketing trick, and then lavished several years of effort to produce his own set of 33 variations.

PLAY COMPARISON If we were to compare these three sets of variations, we would find the same results as with our other comparisons. The trend is from shorter, simpler, more highly predictable music to longer, more complex, richer sounding, less predictable music that places many more demands on the performer - and on the audience as well.

OTHER PIANO VARIATIONS If you want to hear other piano variations, you’ll find links on our class website to these outstanding examples:

 Beethoven: Six Variations on “Nel com piu non mi sento,” 1796

 Schubert: Impromptu in B-Flat Major, 1827

 Brahms: Variations on a Theme by Paganini, 1851

BEETHOVEN AND SOCIETY

City of Dreams, City of Dreamers

Beethoven’s move from Bonn to Vienna was not just a move from one city to another; it was also a move from the Holy Roman Empire to the Austrian Empire. Beethoven was leaving behind the easy-going but artistically limiting culture of Bonn and entering a much larger, incomparably more diverse and cosmopolitan city. Vienna was the second largest German-speaking city in the world and the third most populous city in Europe. Socially and politically the two empires were remarkably different in their impact on individual people in general, and especially on artists like Beethoven.

THE TWO EMPIRES Bonn was part of the Holy Roman Empire, a loose federation of many small, principalities, duchies, free cities, and other territories, each with its own distinct culture and politics. To govern this vast territory, the Holy Roman Emperor appointed members of his family and inner circle to rule over various geographical areas. For example, the Emperor’s youngest son was appointed Archbishop of Cologne and Elector of the Holy Roman Empire. He established his court, not in Cologne proper, but in nearby Bonn.

The result of this radical decentralization of power was a series of regionally- focused governments that respected local cultures and relied on personal interaction. Thus, for most residents of the Holy Roman Empire, and for Beethoven, the Empire had a friendly, local face. Young Beethoven was personally known at the court from an early age; his Father and many friends were employed there, as was Beethoven himself from age 14.

Vienna, by contrast, had long been part of another large and diverse territory of central and eastern Europe, that had historically be governed by the Habsburg family. They focused on uniting and controlling their vast territories through an impersonal bureaucracy centralized in Vienna. Part of this form of governance required the suppression of local and regional interests in favor of the interests of the Empire as a whole. In1806 this political entity became the Austrian Empire.

STATE CENSORSHIP The centralized bureaucracy of the Empire affected Beethoven and other creative artists directly. For example, in preparing his opera, Fidelio, for a performance in 1805, he had to win the approval of the Imperial Board of Censors. As with every opera in Austria, every play, novel, poem, painting, and other artistic production involving words or stories or images, the libretto had to be approved by the censors. Censorship rules were many and intricate: there were to be no religious or current political themes; the military must be treated in a positive manner; the very mention of cowards and deserters was forbidden; a couple could not leave the stage without a chaperone; certain words, such as freedom, equality, and enlightenment, could be permitted only in particular and rare circumstances.

Everyone involved knew that Fidelio was going to be a hard sell: its themes were prisons, tyranny, and liberation; its dramatic and musical climaxes came on the word “Freiheit” (freedom); and many of the relationships between characters were considered subversive. To help improve the odds for its approval, the setting of the opera was changed from France to Spain.

But all this was to no avail: the Imperial censors rejected the opera. After much negotiating and arm-twisting, however, they approved it, but with the condition that a police officer would be present at all performances, libretto in hand, to make sure the text was performed exactly as the censors had approved it

EMPEROR FRANZ I Two short years before Beethoven arrived in Vienna, Emperor Joseph II died, and with him, the enlightened, forward-looking, anti-clerical, and anti-feudal policies and attitudes that had characterized his reign. Joseph had been both Holy Roman Emperor and the Emperor of the Habsburg Empire, and his enormous progressive influence had been felt throughout most of what is now central and Eastern Europe.

The year Beethoven arrived in Vienna, Emperor Franz II became the head of state. Like Joseph, Franz held the dual titles of Holy Roman Emperor and Emperor of the Habsburg Empire. After Napoleon defeated Austria at the Battle of Waterloo, in 1804, he dissolved the Holy Roman Empire. Two years later he founded the Austrian Empire and became Emperor Franz I of Austria.

Franz I’s long, 43-year rule lasted until many years after Beethoven’s death. It was radically different in almost every way from the liberal, enlightened, progressive mood that Beethoven had experienced in Bonn. Some historians have described it as a regime “wholly devoted to the preservation of privilege.”

KLEMENS VON METTERNICH Three years after becoming Emperor of Austria, Franz appointed Klemens von Metternich Foreign Minister. This wily, vain politician had outstanding talents as a statesman and as an oppressive protector of Franz’s conservative interests. On the other hand, Metternich’s diplomatic skill helped prevent any major wars from breaking out during his lifetime.

THE “POLICE STATE” The culture Metternich created has often been called “the classic example of a police state.” A list of his repressive policies includes:

 Complete governmental control of the press

 A vast network of spies penetrated all levels of society, inhibiting the expression of criticism and “dangerous thoughts”

 Censorship of all reading matter and a complete ban on foreign books

 Imprisonment and execution of leaders of dissonant groups

So it is fair to say the social and political climate of Vienna went against all of Beethoven’s enlightenment values. And he was extremely aware of the oppressive conditions in which he was trying to live and compose.

“A DESPAIRING FRIVOLITY” But, as Beethoven pointed out in letters to friends in Bonn, these oppressive policies had not created a sullen, rebellious populace but a fearful, obedient one. Artists and professional people who depended on the Empire - a group that included most of Beethoven’s friends - felt excluded from the main circles of power, but they cherished their position in the social order. They went along to get along.

Outwardly the Viennese remained pious and conformist. Inwardly they were demoralized, especially those who had experienced ten years of enlightened leadership under Joseph II. An astute cultural observer noted that although Viennese live presented a surface of gaiety, “at its heart was a despairing frivolity.”

Rather than fighting for their freedom, the Viennese focused on their own entertainment. One leading writer commented that “what succeeds most here is buffoonery, and even the better most part of the reading public is satisfied with superficial plays, romances, and fairy tales.” And, he added, with licentious sexual behavior. And, we should add, with frivolous, superficial music. Serious topics of conversation were generally avoided; dancing was the universal amusement. Outward expressions of love for the Emperor merely disguised a widespread dread of his secret police. The ironic motto of Viennese society became, “Desperate but not serious.”

The use of light entertainment to pacify an oppressed population was nothing new, but in Vienna it was public policy widely enforced. When city authorities proposed closing the almost new Theater-an-der-Wein, a venue for serious plays and music where Beethoven lived and frequently performed, a police memorandum argued that it should be kept open, with these cynical words:

The people are accustomed to theatrical shows. In times like these, when the character of individuals is affected by many sufferings, the police are more than ever obliged to cooperate in the diversion of the citizens by every moral means. The most dangerous hours of the day are the evening hours. They cannot be filled more innocently than in the theatre.

JOHANN STRAUSS, SR. The most popular and politically correct composer of this era was Johann Strauss, Sr. His waltzes have long been considered masterpieces of their kind: brief, entertaining, melodious, well-crafted pieces that fulfill our desire for light entertainment, for dreams of a perfect life without care or blemish. Viennese waltzes provided the perfect distraction for the increasingly fearful, and increasingly spied-upon, Viennese

A WORLD OF NOSTALGIA If younger and middle-aged Viennese surrendered to lives of frivolous gaiety, older generations still yearned for the decade between 1780 and 1790 when Emperor Joseph II ruled the Habsburg Empire based on Enlightenment values. To this wealthy and influential minority the music of Haydn, Mozart, and early Beethoven represented their so-called “Josephine” values. In an era of severe censorship and centralized control, they saw instrumental music as the purest, most noble, and least censorable of the arts. Mozart, who was never able to win over the Viennese upper class while he lived, in death became its favorite composer; Haydn, who lived in Vienna until his death in 1809, was universally revered and memorialized in a hundred different ways.

The government of Franz and Metternich found this nostalgia completely to their liking – what better way to pacify the upper classes than to support their yearnings for Mozart symphonies and Haydn string quartets?

BEETHOVEN’S CHANGING FORTUNES In his twenties and thirties Beethoven consciously tried to position himself as the successor to Haydn and Mozart, mastering their genres, styles and traditions, and attempting to further develop the classical style, now called “Viennese classicism.” For the ten years of his “heroic” period this was a successful strategy, which gained Beethoven fame, social acceptance, and a comfortable income from public performances, publishing contracts, and the patronage from wealthy admirers.

The aging upper classes in Vienna desired nothing more than a new, younger hero who would revive their hopes for a return to better times; Beethoven became that hero. Carl Czerny, his friend, student and fellow composer, wrote:

Beethoven received all manner of support from our high aristocracy and enjoyed as much care and respect as ever fell to the lot of a young artist.

Beethoven himself was aware of this new role, writing to friends and family:

I am best appreciated, and best comprehended as an artist, by noble and other high personages.

Then, at about age forty, Beethoven’s role in Viennese life was to change drastically. As time went on he became less successful, less widely admired, than before, both because of his rebellious nature and his increasingly complex, challenging music.

A MAN FOR THE AGES But with a surprising twist of fate, in the long run his rebelliousness and challenging music had the opposite effect. Late in his life, and even more after his death Vienna found in Beethoven not just an admired composer but a mythmaker, a model of heroism and a creator of beauty. Whether by accident, luck, or intention, Beethoven was able to merge his most intimate desires with the collective striving of Viennese still pining for personal freedom, still believing in their heart of hearts the idealistic principles of the Enlightenment: virtue, personal responsibility, ethical action. He would be, and still is, their hero, a deeply flawed man who overcame humble beginnings and personal hardship to create music that speaks to the world with unprecedented power. That is why Beethoven mattered to that generation and to every succeeding generation over the past 200 years.