Many Google searches came for Beethoven today, bringing this searchstring to the prominent top-ten list. I hope, that most of the people werelooking for reference to the famous classical composer, rather than to the cutedog, named on his honor.
Ludwig van Beethovendefinitely deserves the public interest, as he was among the most influential,creative and powerful musicians in the history has ever known. This Germancomposer and pianist has produced some classical pieces of work in the field ofmusic, which includes many symphonies, an opera, concerti, piano sonatas, etc.Beethoven was a legend recognized for his great music, also as his temper! In this post, I would like to bring to yourattention some interesting and not widely known facts of his life and career.As any genius, he was also a human being with his feelings, fears, desires, andlove stories.
1. Born inGermany on December 16th, 1770, Beethoven was the eldest of 7siblings, 4 of whom passed away during childhood.
2. Beethoven'searliest music instructions were the piano lessons his father started to givehim when he was four or five years old. Some researchers claim that Beethovensuffered substantial abuse by her father to practice music to the extreme. Somealso believe he was the victim of sexual abuse. There are opinions that hismusic expresses anger later in life at the mistreatment suffered by the victim.
3. Hisfirst public performance came at the age of seven on 26th March1778. Interestingly, 26th March was the same date when Beethovendied. While delivering his first performance in Cologne, Beethoven's fatherannounced him to be six years old. It was due to this declaration that healways thought himself to be 1� years younger than his real age. It was onlyyears later when he received his baptism certificate did he learn about hisreal age. He assumed it to be his elder brother's certificate, who died inchildhood.
4. It isrumored that as a young man, another very famous musician�Mozart, heardBeethoven's playing. He made a comment about the young man, and thatBeethoven's career should be watched for his genius. Mozart seemingly passed onthe torch for being the most famous musicians in the world to the youngBeethoven, and their meeting may have very well inspired Beethoven to work hardto achieve greatness.
5. Beethovenwas lucky to learn music under the guidance of well-known musicians, likeGottlob Neefe, Joseph Haydn, Albrechtsberger, Salieri and the celebratedMozart.
6. It wasin 1782 at the young age of 12 when Beethoven published his first composition.It was a set of keyboard variations that eventually declared him as one of thepopular piano players in history.
7. He movedto Vienna in 1792 where he met the prominent Austrian composer Joseph Haydn andstudied piano under him. This earned him the reputation of a virtuoso pianistin no time.
8. Beethovenis known for composing 9 symphonies, 7 concertos, 17 string quartets, 32 pianosonatas, and 10 violin sonatas, 5 cello sonatas, a sonata for French horn.
9. Beethovenwas one of the first musicians to be given annual grant of 4000 florins, justbecause the people didn't want him to leave Vienna.
10. Beethovenwrote three love letters to an "Immortal Blood", the mystery of which remainsunsolved till date. Since he fell in love with many women, biographers areunable to figure out the woman behind this entire eccentric puzzle. Some researchersbelieve her to be one of three different women. Each of the three women went onto marry other men, but they are believed to have been loved and lost byBeethoven.
11. Beethovendid not have any children, but he formed an attachment to one of his nephews,and he even won custody of him after his brother's death. The nephew did notgrow up to be a musician like his uncle, and he seemed to have been spoiled byhis famous uncle.
12. Duringhis entire lifetime, Beethoven wrote just one opera titled Fidelio which is stillconsidered to be one of the classical and prominent pieces of art.
13. Hismusical life was divided into three major periods. It was during the secondperiod, popularly known as the "Heroic" period, when he struggled a lot andattained heroism. Even his renowned Fifth Symphony was one of the masterpiecescomposed during this period.
14. Around1796, Beethoven started having hearing problems. What started as an annoyingringing sensation worsened and transformed into a severe ailment calledtinnitus. And by 1816, he had completely lost his hearing and became deaf.
15. Despitelosing his hearing powers, Beethoven continued to compose, conduct, andperform. He used a special rod on his piano sound board which he used to biteas it helped him determine the sound through the vibrations that traveled fromthe piano to his jaw. He also sawed off the legs of his piano. This has allowedhim to compose music by feeling the vibrations from the floor.
16. Strangely,Beethoven poured lots of ice water on his head whenever he sat down to composemusic.
17. Beethovenconstantly put 60 coffee beans in his cup of coffee. No wonder where he got allthat energy from!
18. Beethovenwas also known for his poor temper. The truth is, he would stop performing tohis audiences if he felt that they were talking too much or not giving himproper attention. It is also known that Beethoven once threw a plate full offood at a waiter because he wasn't happy with his service.
19. Beethovenspent most of his time composing music. At one occasion, he was arrested by thepolice as his clothes and hair were so messy that the police thought he wassome homeless tramp.
20. Beethoven'sfinal masterpiece is an ironic one. He suffered at the hands of his violentlyalcoholic father while growing up, and then his progressive and eventuallycomplete deafness cut his spirits in his adult life. And yet, he was able tocompose the Ninth Symphony and its "Ode to Joy," arguably one of the most beautifulcompositions in history.
21. UnlikeMozart, who was buried in a common grave (as was the custom at the time),20,000 Viennese citizens lined the streets at Beethoven's funeral on 29 March1827. The funeral procession was one of the most impressive Vienna had. FranzSchubert, a great Beethoven admirer, was one of the grave bearers and died in thefollowing year. He was buried next to Beethoven.
22. InAugust 1845, Beethoven's monument at Bonn was unveiled, which also happened tobe the first monument of a composer that was created in Germany.
23. Beethovenis acknowledged as one of the giants of classical music; occasionally he isreferred to as one of the "three Bs" (along with Bach and Brahms) whoepitomize that tradition. However,
many musicians and music critics � including Beethoven's one-time teacher,Joseph Haydn�actually feared Beethoven's work at the time because it relied somuch on passion rather than the mathematically precise nature consistent withthe Classical style of the age.
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