Beethoven Accomplishments
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) is widely recognized to be one of the pre-eminent classical music personalities of the Western world. This German musical wizard created numerous works that firmly entrenched in the repertoire. Although, Beethoven may have suffered from bipolar disorder, hearing loss consistent with Paget's disease, he still managed to be the one of the best composers of all time. (Dehm, 2008) (Mai, 2007)
Beethoven demonstrates his intense preoccupation with thinking artistically and intelligently about his music. His thought process would help mitigate man’s suffering by presenting man with musical artworks that could illuminate him, to become educated enough to pull himself out of his misery. He felt immediate, extreme haughtiness …show more content…
at any artistic statement that was not intelligent and creative, such as, in his viewpoint, the music of Rossini. Although not conventional, he had high standards when it came to marriage and was morally against reproductory pleasure. Interestingly, preliminary psychologists have discovered that people who have an extreme love of virtue or are preoccupied while working to serve humanity tend to have trouble forming special bonds with people on a personal level. Therefore, Beethoven immersed himself into his work. (Mai, 2007)
Beethoven entered the musical world at a time when Enlightenment theories held sway. Many musicians, however, continued to perceive their art regarding the eighteenth-century. Beethoven took more than a passing interest in both theories. (Sanborn, 2015) However, something plagued Beethoven because he started to lose his hearing at age 28. Therefore, by age 44, his hearing loss was complete, most likely caused by squeezing of the eighth cranial nerve linked with Paget's disease of bone. Beethoven's head became large, and he had a protruding forehead, a large jaw, and a protruding chin features that are consistent with Paget's disease. (Dehm, 2008) The hearing was the function Beethoven required more than any other. His love of music was a dominant force, preventing him from perpetrating suicide. Much of his great music emerged from the mind of a man who never listened to its beauty. He used an ear trumpet that was secured with a headband, leaving his hands free for conducting. Much like an ear piece a singer or composer would wear into days’ time. (Wolf, 2001)
Beethoven's music thus became a lightning rod for the testing of these ideas. A common thread in contemporaneous reviews of Beethoven is the struggle between analysis and interpretation. He discovered that these critics attempted either to arrive at some coordination of these two different modes of criticism or to weave a synthetic pattern using both strands while at the same time creating a new, and sometimes mystical, vocabulary for writing about music.
Except for a weakness in composing vocal and operatic music to which he admitted, despite a few oral compositions like the opera “Fidelio” and the song “Adelaide,” Beethoven had complete mastery of the art form.
He left his stamp in nine symphonies, five piano concertos, ten violin sonatas, 32 piano sonatas, various string quartets and dozens of other key works. Many of his works are ingeniously imaginative and innovative, such as his 3rd Symphony, his 9th Violin Sonata, his “Waldstein” piano sonata, his fourth and fifth piano concertos, or his “Grosse Fugue” for string quartet. Of course, each of Beethoven’s works brings its unique detail to Beethoven’s grand musical paradigm. (Sanborn 2015)
Beethoven musical works represent or signify since collective genius that includes a vast system of thought. However, those who grasp his music sense that it reflects their personal desires and sufferings. Although one could hypothesize that, if one were to describe to those who knew him, what manic-depression was, most of them would agree that he suffered from it. It was made evident to many of Beethoven’s close friends’ accounts of him fit startlingly well the behavior that is associated today with bipolar …show more content…
disorder.
His music is egoistically, and always brilliantly, engages with its listener his or her feelings in the wake of personal failure and personal achievement, from the lowest depths of despair to the highest heights of happy or successful fulfillment.
Ironically enough, Beethoven’s sense humor exhibited in his trio section, with scampering runs in the strings rising between chorale phrases in the woodwinds. The finish production of this full symphony circle, with a slow prelude setting up a tone presentation that explains the riddle posed by the symphony’s opening chords. The violins test an ascending scale, scoring a note at a time; when they reach the top of the octave, they propel a light and hearty valediction.
In his music, he embodies the feelings felt by those attempting to achieve their goals within their societies, whether they are striving for love, status, money, power, mates and any other things individuals feel willing to attempt to procure. (Suchet, 2014)
In a thematic sense, Beethoven does not support anarchist ideas. The listener cannot, in listening to Beethoven’s music, understand ideas which, if applied, would jeopardize the welfare of his society. The music is, therefore, one has a civically responsible, as is the music of Bach or Mozart. For Beethoven, the culture exists as a defense with which the individual must operate in unison, or at least not work such as to harm or destroy it. To him, the society marginalizes or damage the individuality of a person. Beethoven humbly accepts this, never contemplating the alternative act of trying to harm or destroy the culture in the wake of his personal frustrations. However, thanks to Beethoven, such an individual is provided with the means to soothing his or her anxiety in the aftermath of feeling “hurt” at the hands of society. The means is this music and the euphoric gratification that it can provide to minds possessing the psycho-intellectual needed to grasp it. (Kerst, 2011)
Although, repudiation of the music Beethoven because of its absolute reliance on beautiful artwork as a way of communicating idealized concepts. Furthermore, since the music intimately reflects the cravings and thought-processes of the natural human mind, which in various ways is emotionally and intellectually irrational, the music may itself be consequently illogical.
In conclusion, Beethoven’s relation to art might best describe as interpersonal; he gave his music life as if it were an alive person.
Music was his true love, a love like a man may have for a woman. Musical art was his muse to whom he made a petition, to whom he gave thanks, and whom he maintained. By his confession, he praised her (music) as his savior in times of despair. The prospect of her comforts that prevented him from laying violent hands on himself. (Mai, 2007) While reading his words, one shall find that it was his art that was his companion in his meanderings through field and forest, to the experience the solitude to which his deafness condemned him. (Sanborn, 2015) The theories of Nature and Art were intimately bound up in his mind. His lofty and idealistic conception of art led him to proclaim the purity of his goddess with the fiery zeal of a priestly fanatic. Every form of pseudo-art stirred him with hatred to the bottom of his soul; therefore, his furious invasions on mere virtuosity and all efforts from prominent sources to utilize art for other than purely artistic purposes. Moreover, his art rewarded his commitment richly; she (music) made his sad life worth living with gifts of purest
joy. Beethoven music was a demonstration of the embodiment of beautiful art, but it was also akin to theology. He felt himself to be an oracle or even a visionary of the arts. All the cynicism engendered by his troubled relations with humanity, could not shake his devotion to this ideal which had sprung into Beethoven from truest artistic apprehension and nurtured by enforced introspection and profound reflection. Although his disorder was not being understood during his lifetime because some people were labeling Beethoven as a certified lunatic, however, that is what made him a genius of the art. Nonetheless, his health situation, to the contrary, helped establish who he was, thus playing a vital role in the conception of each of his musical masterpieces. In short, it was Ludwig van Beethoven, the manic-depressive, who grabbed fate by the throat, exceeded his deafness and memorialized himself as one of the prominent musical minds of all time.
Reference:
Dehm, P. Beethoven: (2008) The Man and the Madness Behind the Music.
Kerst, F., H. Krehbiel, H. (2011) Beethoven: The Man and the Artist, As Revealed in His Own Words
Mai, F.M., (2007) Diagnosing Genius: The Life and Death of Beethoven
Paget's disease of bone Overview Mayo Clinic. (2015) Retrieved from http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/pagets-disease-of-bone/home/ovc-20
Sanborn, P. (2015) Beethoven “The Man and the Artist” Beethoven, as revealed in his words Author Beethoven, Ludwig van,
Suchet, J. (2014) Summary and reviews of Beethoven
Wolf, P. (2001) Creativity and chronic disease Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Retrieved from http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC10715
Beethoven demonstrates his intense preoccupation with thinking artistically and intelligently about his music. His thought process would help mitigate man’s suffering by presenting man with musical artworks that could illuminate him, to become educated enough to pull himself out of his misery. He felt immediate, extreme haughtiness …show more content…
at any artistic statement that was not intelligent and creative, such as, in his viewpoint, the music of Rossini. Although not conventional, he had high standards when it came to marriage and was morally against reproductory pleasure. Interestingly, preliminary psychologists have discovered that people who have an extreme love of virtue or are preoccupied while working to serve humanity tend to have trouble forming special bonds with people on a personal level. Therefore, Beethoven immersed himself into his work. (Mai, 2007)
Beethoven entered the musical world at a time when Enlightenment theories held sway. Many musicians, however, continued to perceive their art regarding the eighteenth-century. Beethoven took more than a passing interest in both theories. (Sanborn, 2015) However, something plagued Beethoven because he started to lose his hearing at age 28. Therefore, by age 44, his hearing loss was complete, most likely caused by squeezing of the eighth cranial nerve linked with Paget's disease of bone. Beethoven's head became large, and he had a protruding forehead, a large jaw, and a protruding chin features that are consistent with Paget's disease. (Dehm, 2008) The hearing was the function Beethoven required more than any other. His love of music was a dominant force, preventing him from perpetrating suicide. Much of his great music emerged from the mind of a man who never listened to its beauty. He used an ear trumpet that was secured with a headband, leaving his hands free for conducting. Much like an ear piece a singer or composer would wear into days’ time. (Wolf, 2001)
Beethoven's music thus became a lightning rod for the testing of these ideas. A common thread in contemporaneous reviews of Beethoven is the struggle between analysis and interpretation. He discovered that these critics attempted either to arrive at some coordination of these two different modes of criticism or to weave a synthetic pattern using both strands while at the same time creating a new, and sometimes mystical, vocabulary for writing about music.
Except for a weakness in composing vocal and operatic music to which he admitted, despite a few oral compositions like the opera “Fidelio” and the song “Adelaide,” Beethoven had complete mastery of the art form.
He left his stamp in nine symphonies, five piano concertos, ten violin sonatas, 32 piano sonatas, various string quartets and dozens of other key works. Many of his works are ingeniously imaginative and innovative, such as his 3rd Symphony, his 9th Violin Sonata, his “Waldstein” piano sonata, his fourth and fifth piano concertos, or his “Grosse Fugue” for string quartet. Of course, each of Beethoven’s works brings its unique detail to Beethoven’s grand musical paradigm. (Sanborn 2015)
Beethoven musical works represent or signify since collective genius that includes a vast system of thought. However, those who grasp his music sense that it reflects their personal desires and sufferings. Although one could hypothesize that, if one were to describe to those who knew him, what manic-depression was, most of them would agree that he suffered from it. It was made evident to many of Beethoven’s close friends’ accounts of him fit startlingly well the behavior that is associated today with bipolar …show more content…
disorder.
His music is egoistically, and always brilliantly, engages with its listener his or her feelings in the wake of personal failure and personal achievement, from the lowest depths of despair to the highest heights of happy or successful fulfillment.
Ironically enough, Beethoven’s sense humor exhibited in his trio section, with scampering runs in the strings rising between chorale phrases in the woodwinds. The finish production of this full symphony circle, with a slow prelude setting up a tone presentation that explains the riddle posed by the symphony’s opening chords. The violins test an ascending scale, scoring a note at a time; when they reach the top of the octave, they propel a light and hearty valediction.
In his music, he embodies the feelings felt by those attempting to achieve their goals within their societies, whether they are striving for love, status, money, power, mates and any other things individuals feel willing to attempt to procure. (Suchet, 2014)
In a thematic sense, Beethoven does not support anarchist ideas. The listener cannot, in listening to Beethoven’s music, understand ideas which, if applied, would jeopardize the welfare of his society. The music is, therefore, one has a civically responsible, as is the music of Bach or Mozart. For Beethoven, the culture exists as a defense with which the individual must operate in unison, or at least not work such as to harm or destroy it. To him, the society marginalizes or damage the individuality of a person. Beethoven humbly accepts this, never contemplating the alternative act of trying to harm or destroy the culture in the wake of his personal frustrations. However, thanks to Beethoven, such an individual is provided with the means to soothing his or her anxiety in the aftermath of feeling “hurt” at the hands of society. The means is this music and the euphoric gratification that it can provide to minds possessing the psycho-intellectual needed to grasp it. (Kerst, 2011)
Although, repudiation of the music Beethoven because of its absolute reliance on beautiful artwork as a way of communicating idealized concepts. Furthermore, since the music intimately reflects the cravings and thought-processes of the natural human mind, which in various ways is emotionally and intellectually irrational, the music may itself be consequently illogical.
In conclusion, Beethoven’s relation to art might best describe as interpersonal; he gave his music life as if it were an alive person.
Music was his true love, a love like a man may have for a woman. Musical art was his muse to whom he made a petition, to whom he gave thanks, and whom he maintained. By his confession, he praised her (music) as his savior in times of despair. The prospect of her comforts that prevented him from laying violent hands on himself. (Mai, 2007) While reading his words, one shall find that it was his art that was his companion in his meanderings through field and forest, to the experience the solitude to which his deafness condemned him. (Sanborn, 2015) The theories of Nature and Art were intimately bound up in his mind. His lofty and idealistic conception of art led him to proclaim the purity of his goddess with the fiery zeal of a priestly fanatic. Every form of pseudo-art stirred him with hatred to the bottom of his soul; therefore, his furious invasions on mere virtuosity and all efforts from prominent sources to utilize art for other than purely artistic purposes. Moreover, his art rewarded his commitment richly; she (music) made his sad life worth living with gifts of purest
joy. Beethoven music was a demonstration of the embodiment of beautiful art, but it was also akin to theology. He felt himself to be an oracle or even a visionary of the arts. All the cynicism engendered by his troubled relations with humanity, could not shake his devotion to this ideal which had sprung into Beethoven from truest artistic apprehension and nurtured by enforced introspection and profound reflection. Although his disorder was not being understood during his lifetime because some people were labeling Beethoven as a certified lunatic, however, that is what made him a genius of the art. Nonetheless, his health situation, to the contrary, helped establish who he was, thus playing a vital role in the conception of each of his musical masterpieces. In short, it was Ludwig van Beethoven, the manic-depressive, who grabbed fate by the throat, exceeded his deafness and memorialized himself as one of the prominent musical minds of all time.
Reference:
Dehm, P. Beethoven: (2008) The Man and the Madness Behind the Music.
Kerst, F., H. Krehbiel, H. (2011) Beethoven: The Man and the Artist, As Revealed in His Own Words
Mai, F.M., (2007) Diagnosing Genius: The Life and Death of Beethoven
Paget's disease of bone Overview Mayo Clinic. (2015) Retrieved from http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/pagets-disease-of-bone/home/ovc-20
Sanborn, P. (2015) Beethoven “The Man and the Artist” Beethoven, as revealed in his words Author Beethoven, Ludwig van,
Suchet, J. (2014) Summary and reviews of Beethoven
Wolf, P. (2001) Creativity and chronic disease Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Retrieved from http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC10715