Beethoven

Introduction:

Beethoven belongs to that distinguished category of artists who emerge only a few times in the history of each art form. Widely regarded as the pinnacle of Western music, his work is sublime, and his legacy endures. He is the bridge between the Classical and Romantic eras, the link between the systematic and the passionate. His life, a story of pain and triumph. His work, the greatest tribute to humanity, an undeniable testament to his love for life.

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Childhood and Introduction to Music:

Ludwig van Beethoven, son of Johann van Beethoven, was born in mid-December 1770 and was baptized on the 17th of the same month in the German city of Bonn, on the banks of the Rhine River. Grandson of a chapel master and son of one of the court choir’s tenors, Ludwig was destined for music, introduced to keys, strings, and theory from an early age. Starting with the harpsichord around the age of four, he moved on to the violin and later the viola. His father, Johann, had been deeply impressed by the sensation the young Mozart had caused in Europe a few years earlier and was determined to make his son a prodigy of equal brilliance.

The child revealed a certain aptitude for music, becoming a skilled instrumentalist. However, the boy's talent came at a cost: his father was notoriously violent, forcing him to study far beyond healthy limits and punishing him severely for his mistakes, likely mirroring the education he himself had received from his own father, Ludwig’s namesake, from whom he had learned music. In 1774 and 1776, respectively, Ludwig’s two brothers who survived into adulthood were born: Kaspar and Nikolaus.

When Beethoven made his first public performance, he was seven years old; the announcement claimed he was six. His father often lied about Ludwig’s true age to draw more attention; later, this would cause much confusion for Beethoven, who was never certain of his exact age. The performance was shared with the debut of another of Johann’s students, a young contralto. There are no records of how the recital was received by the audience; however, considering the events that followed, it can be assumed that, even if he played well, Beethoven did not impress; his fame would have to be built gradually.

Though the plan to make him a prodigy was not abandoned, Johann adopted another approach: he would make him a court keyboard soloist and violinist; this way, the young man could demand a salary without further ado. Johann also made a few short trips to nearby cities to showcase his little genius. The boy eventually became a regional success, known for lighting up the houses where he played. The long-term plan was to make Beethoven a chapel master, a position held by Ludwig’s grandfather and one Johann himself had never achieved; a frustration he took out on his family. Johann knew his son’s skills were surpassing his own and that, to make him a great musician, good teachers would be necessary.

After scouring his musical circle, Johann found Gilles van den Eeden, who had served as court organist since the early 1720s and had been close to the family since witnessing Johann’s marriage to Maria Magdalena, Beethoven’s mother, in 1767. The elderly Eeden instructed Beethoven in both keyboard playing and theory, teaching him the fundamentals of harmony and of the improvisational practice of the time, the basso continuo. However, Eeden’s advanced age made his health extremely fragile, leading Johann to seek another teacher for Ludwig: Tobias Friedrich Pfeifer.

With Tobias, Beethoven had a completely different pedagogical experience. The teacher became a great drinking companion to his father, who constantly took him out to drink. The routine Beethoven was accustomed to vanished, and lessons occurred only when Tobias felt up to it, which often happened after he and Johann had finished drinking. They would return home, wake Beethoven, and make him play from midnight until dawn. Around the same time, Beethoven studied violin and viola with Franz Rovantini, a personality opposite to Pfeifer; a shy and devoutly religious man. When Tobias left Bonn, Christian Gottlob Neefe arrived, the most important mentor in Beethoven’s early formation.

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Neefe, Mozart, and Loss:

Ludwig was ten when Christian Neefe became his teacher. It was with Neefe that Beethoven was introduced to the works of Johann Sebastian Bach. The young musician’s exposure to the repertoire in The Well-Tempered Clavier greatly influenced his playing and, later, his compositional style. It was also with Neefe that Ludwig received his first encouragement to compose, an activity his father had not fostered until then. Neefe’s influence on Beethoven, incidentally, extended beyond music; he was one of the key links between Beethoven and Enlightenment philosophy. It was likely Neefe who introduced the young man to Schiller, the poet whose work, many years later, would provide the text for Beethoven’s greatest symphony, the Ninth. At this time, Ludwig attended school, learning French, Latin, and basic arithmetic; he was never taught multiplication or division, which later became a hindrance in adulthood.

Published in 1782, his first commercially released work was a set of variations on a march theme by the composer Ernst Dressler; the piece did not receive an opus number and is currently cataloged as WoO 63. Another notable publication from this period is the trio of "Electoral" Sonatas (WoO 47), written in 1783 and dedicated to Prince-Elector Maximilian Friedrich, a pivotal figure in Bonn’s history.

In 1787, at sixteen, Beethoven received funding from the court to travel to Vienna, then one of the three musical capitals of the world. The purpose of the trip is unclear; however, it likely aimed for Beethoven to take lessons and establish connections with the great musicians of the time. He arrived there on April 7 and, shortly after, was taken to meet Mozart, a living legend. The encounter between the two titans is shrouded in legends and romanticism; what is known for certain is that the young Beethoven played and improvised for the elder, who was probably unimpressed. Being a prodigy himself and, at the time, the greatest musician in the world, it was very hard to surprise him. Despite the lack of documentary evidence, it is said that at the end of the meeting, Mozart, who was extremely busy and about to lose his father, remarked something like: "Keep an eye on that one; someday, he will give the world something to talk about." The encounter inevitably entered history as a passing of the torch. With Mozart’s death a few years later, the phrase became a kind of prophecy.

The trip, which had begun with great prospects, ended miserably short, cut off in less than two weeks when Ludwig received a letter from his father informing him that his mother, already ill for some time, had worsened. Beethoven was forced to return from Vienna to Bonn only to see his mother die, consumed by tuberculosis and surrounded by helpless doctors. To make matters worse, his father sank into alcoholism, which characterized his final years. His mother’s death and his father’s alcoholism placed a heavy burden on Beethoven. Now, he was the family’s provider, supporting them financially through performances, private lessons, and his new position as a violist in the court orchestra. The next five years were spent in Bonn, maturing musically.

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Life in Vienna and the Heiligenstadt Testament:

In November 1792, Beethoven returned to Vienna under the pretext of studying with great masters like Haydn, intending to later return to Bonn as a more accomplished musician. The trip, however, turned into a permanent move. Bonn had become too small for Beethoven’s immense genius; he needed to explore new horizons. In the capital, Ludwig had the opportunity to study with Joseph Haydn, Albrechtsberger, and Antonio Salieri, giants of music who left their mark on his compositional style.

The 1790s were essential for Beethoven’s formation and consolidation as a musician. During these years, his fame grew, first as a piano virtuoso and, to a lesser extent, as a composer. This decade saw the premiere of his first symphony (Op. 21), the composition of his first eleven piano sonatas, his first set of quartets (Op. 18), and his first two piano concertos (Op. 15; Op. 19). During this time, his livelihood came mainly from performances and patrons like Prince Lichnowsky. A secondary source of income was the compositions he sold to publishers, though the payment rarely compensated for the effort, as what sold were small, accessible pieces for the public, not the grand works. The early 19th century was also highly significant in terms of compositions. In 1801, he wrote the famous Sonata in C-sharp minor (Op. 27, No. 2), later known as the "Moonlight" Sonata, and the renowned Sonata in D minor (Op. 31, No. 2), popularly called the "Tempest." Additionally, the set of Bagatelles (Op. 33), his second symphony (Op. 36), his third piano concerto (Op. 37), and his ballet The Creatures of Prometheus also date from this period.

With the turn of the century came the most famous saga in music history: Beethoven’s deafness, a dual condemnation, inseparable from his name. Having felt symptoms for some time and suffering from various other health issues, Beethoven consulted a doctor about his condition; the medicine of the time was pitiful, and the doctor could only diagnose his deafness and recommend rest away from the city. Realizing the progressive nature of his ailment, Ludwig fell into a kind of breakdown; from this crisis emerged one of the most important documents for historians in understanding his life: the Heiligenstadt Testament.

Written in the village of the same name in 1802, the document is a challenge to death, a proclamation of life. The text begins with Beethoven stating that those who judged him misanthropic or stubborn wronged him. He continues with an account of his deafness’s progression and the pain it caused him, among so many afflictions, the most unbearable for a musician. He speaks of how he sometimes thought of "departing this world," but music saved him. In the document, he asks his brothers not to quarrel, makes clear that his belongings are theirs in case of his death, and expresses, in his own way, that he loves them. Other figures mentioned include Prince Lichnowsky, his greatest patron, and Dr. Schmidt, his physician. There is also an appendix written on October 6, where Beethoven states that he is leaving Heiligenstadt with his hearing exactly as before and pleads with Providence to grant him at least one day of happiness, as living in eternal depression would be too much to bear.

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Heroic Period and Prolific Years:

Though the so-called "Heroic Period" is a biographical classification without an exact start date, his return from Heiligenstadt can, in practical terms, be considered the consolidation of this new phase in the composer’s life. The years between 1803 and 1808 were not only the most prolific of Beethoven’s life but also some of the most productive in the history of Western music. Back in Vienna, Beethoven began work on an ambitious project that would take about two years and enter the pantheon of his greatest works: the Symphony No. 3, "Eroica" (Op. 55). Through it, his genius made clear that he had freed himself from the shadows of Mozart, Haydn, and Handel, and was ready to go further, to reach a more personal, deeper sound: a sound more distinctly Beethoven.

During these years, Ludwig redefined the old Classical forms, subordinating them to the music. This is one of the key characteristics of his work: form bends to music, not the other way around. Among the masterpieces of this period are: the "Waldstein" Sonata (Op. 53), which brought an entirely innovative C major to the world; the "Appassionata" Sonata (Op. 57), one of the greatest sonatas of all time; and the early versions of Fidelio, his only opera, later published as Op. 72. Also from this time are three more symphonies besides the Eroica: the Symphony No. 4 (Op. 60) in 1806; the eternally classic Fifth Symphony (Op. 67) in 1808; and finally, the splendid Symphony No. 6, "Pastoral" (Op. 68), which premiered on the same day as the Fifth, alongside the lesser-known Choral Fantasy (Op. 80).

Though musically fertile, these years were not necessarily easy for Beethoven. His deafness progressed rapidly; by 1814, he was almost completely deaf. Moreover, while he managed to support himself financially, it was not without difficulty. In 1806, he had a falling-out with Prince Lichnowsky, costing him his greatest patron; as if that weren’t enough, the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) caused massive instability in Vienna’s economy and politics, inflation spiraled out of control, and Beethoven grew even more financially paranoid. His advancing deafness made him distrustful of everything and everyone, fearing his compositions would be stolen and that he would be betrayed; a suspicion not entirely unfounded, given that such behavior was relatively common in Vienna at the time.

Another noteworthy aspect of the Heroic Period is Beethoven’s passions and their respective failures. One of the pains of his life was never managing to marry, despite numerous attempts. His first such passion was Josephine Brunsvik, whom he met while teaching two of her sisters; it was a lasting infatuation, but it never materialized because Beethoven was a commoner and she, an aristocrat. After the definitive break with Josephine came his passion for Therese Malfatti, fleeting but intense; it was likely for this lady that Ludwig wrote the famous "Für Elise." Following Therese’s outright rejection came Antonie Brentano, a married woman. Evidence of his passion for Antonie is found in letters and her diary entries.

Still in the context of his passions, another important document emerges: the Letter to the Immortal Beloved. Written in Teplitz in the first week of July 1812 and divided into three parts, it materializes what became one of the greatest mysteries of his life: the true identity of the letter’s recipient. Naturally, there are several candidates, with the three main ones being the women mentioned earlier. The letter’s importance lies in revealing a Beethoven who was passionate, desperate, and on the brink of a great romantic disillusionment. At the end of the article, there are some reading recommendations about the mystery of the Immortal Beloved; here, I will limit myself to saying that the letter was found posthumously in a secret drawer where Beethoven kept things that meant much to him, and that this passion also failed, leading to the emotional crisis that would usher in his final period. After 1812, the Heroic Period showed clearer signs of decline, but not without leaving one final effort: upon returning from Teplitz, Beethoven still wrote his Symphonies No. 7 and No. 8 (Op. 92; Op. 93).

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Poetic Period and New Frontiers:

In the years following the Teplitz crisis, Beethoven’s output diminished significantly, resuming only around 1817, by which time he was completely deaf and communicated through notebooks in which his interlocutors wrote what they wished to say to him; he was then 47 years old. In the interim, he lost one of his brothers, Kaspar, and became embroiled in a draining legal battle for the sole custody of his nephew Karl, who legally should have been shared between Beethoven and his mother, Johanna; a woman Ludwig intensely hated.

It was in 1817 that Beethoven began writing his twenty-ninth piano sonata, the immensely important "Hammerklavier" Sonata (Op. 106), which would become his most difficult piano piece and one of the most ambitious in music history. Not only is it his longest sonata, but it is so by a substantial margin, lasting between 45 and 50 minutes, depending on the interpretation. The sonatas of this late period are marked by an expressiveness never before imagined; this is three-dimensional music, with layers unfolding over one another, a whirlwind of poetry. It is no wonder Beethoven liked to refer to himself as the "Poet of Sound."

Other notable works from the Poetic Period include the 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli (Op. 120), the Missa Solemnis (Op. 123), the String Quartets (Op. 127, 130, 131, 132, 135), the Great Fugue for String Quartet (Op. 133), and, finally and most importantly: the Ninth Symphony, the most famous, popular, iconic, and emblematic piece in the entire history of classical music. Audiences of this late period received Beethoven with some apprehension; his works were considered difficult and subversive. Many listeners believed his deafness had ruined his composing and that the strangeness of the new pieces stemmed from the composer’s inability to cope with his condition.

His health in these years continually assailed him, making his daily life truly deplorable. His lack of organization turned his surroundings into chaos; accounts from the time describe his apartments as dirty, dark, filled with stacks upon stacks of score drafts and empty wine bottles everywhere. His health problems dated back to his youth, but now they worsened with time and became increasingly unbearable.

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Final Months and Death:

At the end of 1826, Beethoven was staying at a rural estate in the Gneixendorf region with his brother and nephew. Ludwig’s health was pitiable: he suffered from terminal liver cirrhosis, ascites, jaundice, and respiratory pain. Being impulsive by nature, emotionally shaken by a recent suicide attempt by Karl, and having recently quarreled with his brother, Beethoven made the decision that would seal his fate; in a fit of anger, he boarded an open carriage and returned to Vienna through the snow and cold of the Austrian winter.

Accounts indicate that Beethoven arrived in the city extremely debilitated, "half-blue and trembling." His final months were spent under ineffective medical care. During his suffering, the ailing man received a few gifts that brought him great joy: a portrait of Haydn’s birthplace, which Beethoven greatly admired for being a simple, humble house where a great man was born; a collection of Handel’s works, a composer Beethoven deeply admired, considering him one of, if not the greatest, of the old masters; and finally, a set of wine bottles from the Rhine region, his homeland.

We may never know for certain how Beethoven’s final moments unfolded; the most common version, however, is as follows: in the great master’s last week in this world, a great storm arose in Vienna, darkening the days and blackening the nights even further. A day before his death, he awoke and said, "Plaudite, amici, comedia finita est!", which translates from Latin as "Applaud, friends, the comedy is over"; the phrase was traditionally used to conclude ancient theater plays and had been uttered by Emperor Augustus on his own deathbed. The next day, March 26, Ludwig passed away amid the storm. It is said that, in a final gesture, the giant of art suddenly rose in a feverish outburst and thrust his fist toward the heavens, as if trying to grasp something.

His funeral was one of the largest ever held in Vienna for a commoner. The funeral procession on March 29, 1827, gathered over 20,000 people, including his student Carl Czerny, destined to become one of the greatest piano pedagogues; a young musician named Franz Schubert, who would unfortunately join the master the following year; and the piano virtuoso Nepomuk Hummel. The procession passed through several chapels and important points in the city, with musical performances at each stop. Among the tributes, excerpts from the Funeral March of his "Eroica" Symphony, passages from Mozart’s Requiem, and a Funeral March by Cherubini were played. His remains were later transferred to Vienna’s Central Cemetery, where they now rest.

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Essential Works:

Sonatas

If Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier is the "Old Testament" of music, then Beethoven’s 32 Piano Sonatas are the "New," as proclaimed by the master Hans von Bülow. Written throughout Beethoven’s life, the sonatas reflect the artist’s emotional fluctuations as well as his technical and stylistic development. From the consolidation of his profound C minor in the "Pathétique" Sonata (Op. 13) to the "Revolution of the Trills" in the sonatas of the Poetic Period, these pieces do more than demonstrate the evolution of a composer; they represent, in absolute terms, the evolution of an art form.

Concertos

While the sonatas were often intimate pieces, the concertos were overtly public in character. Initially composed to showcase the young Beethoven’s pianistic virtuosity, they stand as true musical treasures for those seeking technical challenges. Like the sonatas, they trace the composer’s development: from the Piano Concerto No. 1 (Op. 15), clearly rooted in Classical tradition and representative of a young Beethoven, to the Piano Concerto No. 5, "Emperor" (Op. 73), a mature work emblematic of the Heroic Period.

There are no piano concertos from the Poetic Period, as concertos were promotional pieces, and public performances were no longer feasible at that stage of his life. Beethoven’s contributions to the concerto form are diverse, but the defining feature is that he elevated concertos from mere showpieces to true dramatic dialogues between soloist and orchestra.

Variations

Continuing the revolution begun by Bach and sustained by Mozart, Beethoven pushed the genre even further, significantly expanding the boundaries of what a set of variations could be. He introduced a broader tonal range in his collections, sometimes venturing into distant keys from the original theme. He also composed variations of tremendous difficulty, such as his famous 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli, which not only represent a compositional frontier but also demand from the performer colossal technical and expressive mastery.

Bagatelles

In the bagatelles, we find a Beethoven completely unconcerned with form; these are free, mostly short pieces. Beethoven wrote bagatelles in both the Heroic and Poetic Periods, publishing three sets: 6 Bagatelles (Op. 33) in 1802, 12 Bagatelles (Op. 119) in 1822, and 6 Bagatelles (Op. 126) in 1824. Ironically, his most famous bagatelle was not published during his lifetime and was not originally intended for publication. His Bagatelle in A minor (WoO 59) ended up becoming his most popular bagatelle and one of his best-known pieces; the timeless "Für Elise".

Other Works

This great composer’s piano output, as usual, extends far beyond what has been mentioned here. In addition to these iconic, essential collections for music lovers, I would also like to highlight some lesser-known yet noteworthy pieces:

• Piano Trios: Having written around 12 such pieces, they stand out as both an enjoyment and a challenge for musicians interested in performing them, representing an important part of Beethoven’s chamber repertoire. Incidentally, his first work to receive an opus number was the Piano Trio in E-flat Major (Op. 1).

  
  

• Songs for Voice and Piano: Totaling an impressive nearly 100 pieces, Beethoven’s songs are lively and truly beautiful. Moreover, though not as widely known on their own, they influenced some of the most famous works in the genre, Schubert’s Lieder.

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Further Reading and References:

• BEETHOVEN, Ludwig. Letters 1790-1826 - Volume 1. 2004 . Available at: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/13065/pg13065-images.html. Accessed on: [31/05/2025]

• BEETHOVEN, Ludwig. Letters 1790-1826 - Volume 2. 2004. Available at: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/13272/pg13272-images.html. Accessed on: [31/05/2025]

• BEETHOVEN-HAUS. Beethoven: a Life in Pictures. Disponível em: https://internet.beethoven.de/biography/picturebiography.html. Accessed on: [31/05/2025]

• BEETHOVEN-HAUS. Chronology Beethoven in Bonn. Available at: https://www.beethoven.de/en/g/zeittafel-beethoven-in-bonn. Accessed on: [31/05/2025]

• BEETHOVEN-HAUS. Chronology Beethoven in Vienna. Available at: https://www.beethoven.de/en/g/zeittafel-beethoven-in-wien. Accessed on: [31/05/2025]

• DRAKE, K. The Beethoven sonatas and the creative experience. Indiana University Press, 1994.

• LOCKWOOD, L. Beethoven: The Music and the Life. W.W. Norton, 2003.

• SOLOMON, M. Beethoven. Schirmer Books, 1997.

• SWAFFORD, Jan. Beethoven: Angústia e Triunfo, 2017. Translation by Laura Folgueira. São Paulo: Amarylis.

• UNGER, Max; MARTENS, Frederick H. The" Immortal Beloved". The Musical Quarterly, v. 13, n. 2, p. 249-260, 1927. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/738411.pdf?refreqid=fastly-default%3Ad7a4d3def078474e1ba0d9c71dd2ce7a&ab_segments=&initiator=&acceptTC=1. Accessed on: [31/05/2025]

• WALDEN, C. E. Beethoven's " Immortal Beloved": Arguments in Support of the Candidacy of Bettina Brentano. The Beethoven Journal, 17(2), 54-68,  2002.