Essay About Ludwig Van Beethoven And Beethovens First Public Appearance

Ludwig Van Beethoven
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The composer of some of the most influential pieces of music ever
written, Ludwig van Beethoven created a bridge between the 18th-century
classical period and the new beginnings of Romanticism. His greatest
breakthroughs in composition came in his instrumental work, including
his symphonies. Unlike his predecessor Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, for whom
writing music seemed to come easily, Beethoven always struggled to
perfect his work.
Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany, and was baptized on
Dec. 17, 1770. (There is no record of his birth date.) His father and
grandfather worked as court musicians in Bonn. Ludwigs father, a
singer, gave him his early musical training. Although he had only meager
academic schooling, he studied piano, violin, and French horn, and
before he was 12 years old he became a court organist. Ludwigs first
important teacher of composition was Christian Gottlob Neefe. In 1787 he
studied briefly with Mozart, and five years later he left Bonn
permanently and went to Vienna to study with Joseph Haydn and later with
Antonio Salieri.
Beethovens first public appearance in Vienna was on March 29, 1795,
as a soloist in one of his piano concerti. Even before he left Bonn, he
had developed a reputation for fine improvisatory performances. In
Vienna young Beethoven soon had a long list of aristocratic patrons who
loved music and were eager to help him.
Onset of Deafness
In the late 1700s Beethoven began to suffer from early symptoms of
deafness. The cause of his disability is still uncertain. By 1802
Beethoven was convinced that the condition not only was permanent, but
was getting progressively worse. He spent that summer in the country and
wrote what has become known as the “Heiligenstadt Testament.” In the
document, apparently intended for his two brothers, Beethoven expressed
his humiliation and despair. For the rest of his life he searched for a
cure, but by 1819 his deafness had become total. Afterward, in order to
have conversations with his friends, Beethoven had them write down their
questions and replied orally.
Beethoven never married. Though he had many friends, he seemed to be
a lonely man. He continued to appear in public but spent more and more
of his time working on his compositions. He lived in various villages
near Vienna and took long walks carrying sketchbooks in which he would
write down his musical ideas. Scholars who have studied these
sketchbooks have discovered the agonizingly long process that the
composer went through in order to perfect his melodies, harmonies, and
instrumentations.
Three Periods of Work
Most critics divide Beethovens work into three general periods,
omitting the earliest years of his apprenticeship in Bonn. Although some
pieces do not fit exactly into the scheme, these divisions can be used
to categorize the composers