Beethoven was born on December 16, 1770.
In Beethoven's day, we can list a long list of German-Austrian, French, or English composers, but most of them are drowned in the old paper piles of history. We only have to find one of the "representatives", impassioned, such as the Czech composer Anton Lyča, who was born in the same year as Beethoven and died nine years later.
All composers of Beethoven's contemporaries, such as Lycia, were mere composers, and Beethoven not only far surpassed his contemporaries in composition and paved the way for the creation of music that continues to this day, but also gave the identity of composer and even musician the fullest meaning and depth that all his followers could not reach.
However, no kind of deification contributes to the understanding of the composer, and Beethoven has the growth trajectory of any individual "person", except that, unlike otherwise, the experiences encountered in Beethoven's life are mostly contrary to his life goals as a composer.
Beethoven did not have the childhood prodigy like Mozart, nor did he become famous like Handel——— Beethoven was born and raised in an environment where it was impossible to become a great composer. His birthplace of Bonn is "a 10-year lag in musical development compared to the major European music cities, such as Vienna and Paris". That is to say, when Beethoven composed his first works in Bonn before the age of 15, it was roughly equivalent to the musical style of Haydn's period around 1775. The boy, who was still considered a potential child prodigy even in Bonn at the time, published his first works, but was not considered to have been the work of a future first-rate composer. Beethoven's composition teacher during Bonn, Karl Neve, was often rebuked by later generations, and even Beethoven himself complained that Neff's criticism of his first works was too harsh. From Beethoven's comments and the disappointing social evaluation of his first works, we have every reason to think that Nef was of little help to Beethoven in composition.
Beethoven's only connection to the court during his lifetime also appeared during this period. In 1784, Beethoven's name appeared in a report to Max Franz, Elector of Cologne, who was not addressed as a composer but as a "capable" keyboard player. Until mid-1791, Beethoven did not appear as a composer in the list of electors. Between 1785 and 1789, Beethoven also did not have any music composition, which may have been the hope of the Elector of Cologne at the time to train Beethoven to become a court pianist.
How would you rate the future composer's years in Bonn? Alexander Wheelock Taylor's assertion ——— Beethoven of Bonn as a "slow-growing master" is very reliable. Of course, Maynard Salomon's assessment is a little too extreme: "These works that may have been created in this period are at most the graffiti works of a layman or a music lover, not even the work of a serious student." ”
In 1787, the young Beethoven met Mozart in Vienna, perhaps his first closest contact with the profession of composer, but this meeting was not confirmed. Although there are even rumors that Mozart had a high opinion of the young Beethoven, he was touted by later historians as a connection between Beethoven and his predecessors of the Viennese School of Music. Beethoven did love Mozart, and after he became famous, he expressed his love for Mozart with his actions——— the only work he publicly played in his life was not composed by himself, Mozart's Piano Concerto in D minor (K466), for which Beethoven also wrote a brilliant section, which is still used by almost all pianists who play this concerto.
Movie "Copy beethoven"
With the help of the Elector of Cologne, in November 1792, the 22-year-old Beethoven came to Vienna from his hometown of Bonn after a week of carriage labor. Originally, he wanted to study with Mozart, but after arriving in Vienna, Beethoven learned that Mozart had died. In 1793, Beethoven began studying composition with Haydn until Haydn visited London in January 1794. This can be seen as one of Beethoven's most important encounters with his predecessors in his youth.
Beethoven was not satisfied with Haydn's teaching. Perhaps Haydn did not pay attention to this fledgling young man at all, or it may be that Beethoven was also very dismissive of Haydn, and the two broke up unhappily. While writing down the amount of tuition paid to Haydn (a true portrayal of Beethoven as a "man"), Beethoven dedicated the first important works he composed, the three Piano Sonatas numbered Op.2——— however, almost every stroke beethoven wrote was not found in Haydn's music. From this set of works, we can also clearly find that Beethoven has not only fully mastered the "era style", but also has begun to embark on the road of innovation beyond the "era style". Continuous innovation in composition techniques became Beethoven's lifelong creative principle, and it was also the rule he laid down for all future composers.
In this way, the connection between Beethoven in his school years and the first two composers recognized by later generations as the Viennese Classical School——— Haydn and Mozart, broke off.
There is no doubt, however, that Beethoven's reputation as a pianist, especially as an improvised pianist, was already established at the time. People who have heard Beethoven play once commented: "I have heard one of the best pianists——— dear Mr. Beethoven play. Even the members of the orchestra are his admirers, and every member of the band listens when he plays. ”
Beethoven, who could make a name for himself by playing the piano, did not make it his lifelong career, because playing was a second-rate profession for him after all.
This was followed by historical facts that almost everyone knew——— Beethoven's deafness. Fate always hindered Beethoven's ideals of achieving composers, and Beethoven suffered from deafness all his life. Like a blind painter, who would have thought of a deaf musician? Beethoven, who came out of the trough of his life of writing the "Heiligenstadt Testament", achieved his heroic musical creation, leaving a large number of grand poems for posterity that "people" struggled against fate.
It did not take long for Beethoven to quickly cross the barriers of heroism and write the famous Pastoral Symphony. This is what I consider to be the highest symphony in Beethoven's life: after experiencing the joy of life in the first three movements, life has undergone the baptism of storms, and finally in the fifth movement, it has reached the philosophical realm of selflessness that transcends human beings and transcends nature (borrowed from Mr. Wang Guowei), which is a realm of "big above and big". In this respect, this movement has also transcended the boundaries of philosophy and religion, which is an infinite admiration and worship of the universe.
In the movie "Immortal Truth - The Biography of Beethoven", Gary Oldman played Beethoven
Beethoven further realized that composing is also a second-rate profession after all, and only writing philosophy with music is eternal. However, no one has ever given such a profound connotation to the professional identity of "composer" as he did. The wise Beethoven placed more dramatic musical compositions in the symphony, while leaving philosophical contemplation to the more personal piano sonata and string quartet. After that, Beethoven sent himself to an island constructed by himself in the language of musical philosophy, and Beethoven, who had become completely deaf, continued to create in a completely isolated environment, practicing the artistic creed that "all artistic problems ultimately point to philosophy", and after the German classical philosopher Kant, continued to explore philosophy as "the cause of the entire German nation".
Looking back at that period of history today, Beethoven's significance has not only been limited to sorting out and establishing the creative norms of the main key music in the field of music; more importantly, Beethoven has established the professional connotation of the identity of musicians, laid the status of music in the humanities comparable to philosophy and religion, and proved to the world the indispensable importance of musicians in the development of human civilization, as well as the great power of music to change human life.
Author: Zou Yan (Professor, Department of Musicology, Shanghai Conservatory of Music)
Edit: Shao Ling