How Did Beethoven Influence The French Revolution

The impressions of Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) as a person, as discussed by Greenberg (2005), may lead one to believe he was a deeply troubled and conflicted individual, a great artist and. a product of his times. “There were, my friends, internal and external factors that shaped the development of Beethoven's music, personal issues on one hand, and societal issues on the other. He was, very simply, the right man at the right place at the right time. And his music gives voice and substance to that time, a rapidly changing revolutionary time, as very little else does” (L30, 14:48). An external factor that attributed to Beethoven’s situational influences was the French Revolution; “In 1789, when the French Revolution began, Beethoven was an impressionable, testosterone-filled eighteen and a half year old. Like so many young people of his generation, he was energized by the heady sense of change that the revolution engendered, and at
He suffered abuse from his father and neglect from his mother thereby becoming a man with little respect for authority. During his late childhood, Beethoven became withdrawn from abuse; his musical talent notwithstanding was forcibly cultured in order for his father to take advantage of his prodigy. As an adult and no longer under his father’s control, Beethoven determinately cultivated his own talents. Beethoven’s contemporaries at the time considered him an arrogant ill-tempered genius. Inspired by his own emotional turmoil he went on to compose the most intense symphonies which sparked the beginning of the Romantic era. His anguish regarding his health and hearing loss caused him deep depression and suicidal thoughts. Deciding that he would somehow overcome his disability and go on living; he channeled his emotions and composed one of his most original and emotional pieces of music, which stands alone in its own category, his fifth