The composition is from 1798, when Beethoven was attempting to gain a foothold in Vienna, where he had relocated at the age of 21. The influence of Mozart and Haydn can be heard in the Piano Sonata No. In fact, he studied with Haydn and others, in Vienna, and several early works in a strong upper range were clearly indebted to Mozart. The Early Period: Glorious Music (and No Sign of Hearing Loss)ĭuring Beethoven’s early years as a musician, when his hearing was not an issue, he was strongly influenced by Bach, Haydn, and Mozart, masters of the age whose work he found inspiring. We’ll examine each of these periods and explore how the slow but relentless progress of deafness may have influenced his approach to composition differently in each of the eras. Let’s explore how Beethoven’s hearing issues affected the three stages of his growth as an artist, and how he focused his considerable gifts to respond to the challenges posed by his gradual inability to hear normally the music he composed. They are registered as 138 works and groups of works with an opus number (op.) and 228 pieces without an opus number (WoO).” And his final, or “mature” period concludes with his death in 1827.Īccording to the Beethoven “ Digital Archive,” “Beethoven’s work comprises 722 larger and smaller compositions. His middle period runs through about 1814. His early period begins with his first compositions in the 1780s and ends around 1801. It’s generally accepted that Beethoven’s music can be divided into three eras, roughly. In fact, not only did he continue, but his music changed, deepened, and became even more profound as he slipped ineluctably into his final years of profound deafness. The maestro did continue, to the great benefit of audiences around the globe. In that remarkable document, discovered among his papers after his death, he shares that his hearing loss sparked in him a life-and-death crisis, writing, “I would have ended my life – it was only my art that held me back.” However, his career as a performer (he was a gifted pianist from a very young age) ended when the tinnitus overwhelmed his ability to hear his own playing, much less the other instruments onstage.īeethoven’s gradually intensifying hearing problems, of course, were a source of great concern for him and figure prominently in the above-quoted “Heilegenstadt Testament,” a letter he wrote to his brothers in 1802. By then, Beethoven was already well known as a composer and performer, and of course he continued to compose until his death at the age of 56. The first symptom was tinnitus, a high-pitched droning sound that interferes with clarity and definition in hearing. In his 20s, Beethoven began experiencing issues with his hearing. Ah! Was it possible for me to proclaim a deficiency in that one sense which in my case ought to have been more perfect than in all others, which I had once possessed in greatest perfection, to a degree of perfection, indeed, which few of my profession have ever enjoyed?” – Ludwig van Beethoven, 1802, “Heilegenstadt Testament”Įarly Signs of Deafness Send Beethoven into Crisis “It was impossible for me to say to others: speak louder shout! For I am deaf. The effect of his gradual descent into deafness upon his music corresponded to the three generally accepted periods of his career (early, middle, and late) in revealing ways. But for much of his career he was unable to listen to what he had written. Ludwig van Beethoven’s music includes some of the most memorable, profound, and beautiful compositions of all time.
0 kommentar(er)
