Beethoven's history short biography. Ludwig van Beethoven: Brief Biography and Eternal Works

My willingness to serve poor suffering humanity with my art has never, since my childhood ... needed any reward other than inner satisfaction ...
L. Beethoven

Musical Europe was still full of rumors about a brilliant miracle child - W. A. ​​Mozart, when Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, in the family of a tenorist of the court chapel. They christened him on December 17, 1770, naming him after his grandfather, a respected bandmaster, a native of Flanders. Beethoven received his first musical knowledge from his father and his colleagues. The father wanted him to become the "second Mozart", and forced his son to practice even at night. Beethoven did not become a child prodigy, but he discovered his talent as a composer quite early. K. Nefe, who taught him composition and playing the organ, had a great influence on him - a man of advanced aesthetic and political convictions. Due to the poverty of the family, Beethoven was forced to enter the service very early: at the age of 13, he was enrolled in the chapel as an assistant organist; later worked as an accompanist at the Bonn National Theatre. In 1787 he visited Vienna and met his idol, Mozart, who, after listening to the young man's improvisation, said: “Pay attention to him; he will someday make the world talk about him." Beethoven failed to become a student of Mozart: a serious illness and the death of his mother forced him to hastily return to Bonn. There, Beethoven found moral support in the enlightened Breining family and became close to the university environment, which shared the most progressive views. The ideas of the French Revolution were enthusiastically received by Beethoven's Bonn friends and had a strong influence on the formation of his democratic convictions.

In Bonn, Beethoven wrote a number of large and small works: 2 cantatas for soloists, choir and orchestra, 3 piano quartets, several piano sonatas (now called sonatinas). It should be noted that sonatas known to all novice pianists salt and F major to Beethoven, according to researchers, do not belong, but are only attributed, but another, truly Beethoven's Sonatina in F major, discovered and published in 1909, remains, as it were, in the shadows and is not played by anyone. Most Bonn creativity also includes variations and songs intended for amateur music-making. Among them are the familiar song "Marmot", the touching "Elegy on the Death of a Poodle", the rebellious poster " Free man”, dreamy“ The sigh of the unloved and happy love”, containing the prototype of the future theme of joy from the Ninth Symphony, “Sacrificial Song”, which Beethoven loved so much that he returned to it 5 times (last edition - 1824). Despite the freshness and brightness of youthful compositions, Beethoven understood that he needed to study seriously.

In November 1792, he finally left Bonn and moved to Vienna, the largest musical center in Europe. Here he studied counterpoint and composition with J. Haydn, I. Schenck, I. Albrechtsberger and A. Salieri. Although the student was distinguished by obstinacy, he studied zealously and subsequently spoke with gratitude about all his teachers. At the same time, Beethoven began to perform as a pianist and soon gained fame as an unsurpassed improviser and the brightest virtuoso. In his first and last long tour (1796), he conquered the audience of Prague, Berlin, Dresden, Bratislava. The young virtuoso was patronized by many distinguished music lovers - K. Likhnovsky, F. Lobkowitz, F. Kinsky, the Russian ambassador A. Razumovsky and others, in their salons Beethoven's sonatas, trios, quartets, and later even symphonies sounded for the first time. Their names can be found in the dedications of many of the composer's works. However, Beethoven's manner of dealing with his patrons was almost unheard of at the time. Proud and independent, he did not forgive anyone for attempts to humiliate his dignity. The legendary words thrown by the composer to the philanthropist who offended him are known: “There have been and will be thousands of princes, Beethoven is only one.” Of the many aristocrats - students of Beethoven - Ertman, sisters T. and J. Bruns, M. Erdedi became his constant friends and promoters of his music. Not fond of teaching, Beethoven was nevertheless the teacher of K. Czerny and F. Ries in piano (both of them later won European fame) and the Archduke Rudolf of Austria in composition.

In the first Viennese decade, Beethoven wrote mainly piano and chamber music. In 1792-1802. 3 piano concertos and 2 dozen sonatas were created. Of these, only Sonata No. 8 (" pathetic”) has an author's title. Sonata No. 14, subtitled sonata-fantasy, was called "Lunar" by the romantic poet L. Relshtab. Stable names also strengthened for sonatas No. 12 (“With a Funeral March”), No. 17 (“With recitatives”) and later: No. 21 (“Aurora”) and No. 23 (“Appassionata”). In addition to the piano, 9 (out of 10) violin sonatas belong to the first Viennese period (including No. 5 - "Spring", No. 9 - "Kreutzer"; both names are also non-author's); 2 cello sonatas, 6 string quartets, a number of ensembles for various instruments (including the cheerfully gallant Septet).

With the beginning of the XIX century. Beethoven also began as a symphonist: in 1800 he completed his First Symphony, and in 1802 his Second. At the same time, his only oratorio "Christ on the Mount of Olives" was written. The first signs that appeared in 1797 incurable disease- progressive deafness and the realization of the hopelessness of all attempts to treat the disease led Beethoven to a mental crisis in 1802, which was reflected in the famous document - the Heiligenstadt Testament. Creativity was the way out of the crisis: "... It was not enough for me to commit suicide," the composer wrote. - "Only it, art, it kept me."

1802-12 - the time of the brilliant flowering of the genius of Beethoven. The ideas of overcoming suffering with the strength of the spirit and the victory of light over darkness, deeply suffered by him, after a fierce struggle, turned out to be consonant with the main ideas of the French Revolution and liberation movements. early XIX in. These ideas were embodied in the Third (“Heroic”) and Fifth Symphonies, in the tyrannical opera “Fidelio”, in the music for the tragedy “Egmont” by I. V. Goethe, in the Sonata No. 23 (“Appassionata”). The composer was also inspired by the philosophical and ethical ideas of the Enlightenment, which he adopted in his youth. The natural world appears full of dynamic harmony in the Sixth (“Pastoral”) Symphony, in the Violin Concerto, in the Piano (No. 21) and Violin (No. 10) Sonatas. Folk or close to folk melodies are heard in the Seventh Symphony and in quartets Nos. 7-9 (the so-called "Russians" - they are dedicated to A. Razumovsky; Quartet No. 8 contains 2 Russian melodies folk songs: used much later also by N. Rimsky-Korsakov "Glory" and "Oh, my talent, talent"). The Fourth Symphony is full of powerful optimism, the Eighth is permeated with humor and slightly ironic nostalgia for the times of Haydn and Mozart. The virtuoso genre is treated epicly and monumentally in the Fourth and Fifth Piano Concertos, as well as in the Triple Concerto for Violin, Cello and Piano and Orchestra. In all these works, the style of Viennese classicism found its most complete and final embodiment with its life-affirming faith in reason, goodness and justice, expressed at the conceptual level as a movement “through suffering - to joy” (from Beethoven’s letter to M. Erdedy), and at the compositional level - as a balance between unity and diversity and the observance of strict proportions at the largest scale of the composition.

1812-15 - turning points in the political and spiritual life of Europe. Beyond the period Napoleonic Wars and rise freedom movement followed by the Congress of Vienna (1814-15), after which, in the internal and foreign policy European countries reactionary-monarchist tendencies intensified. The style of heroic classicism, expressing the spirit of revolutionary renewal late XVIII in. and patriotic moods of the early 19th century, had to inevitably either turn into pompous semi-official art, or give way to romanticism, which became the leading trend in literature and managed to make itself known in music (F. Schubert). Beethoven also had to solve these complex spiritual problems. He paid tribute to the victorious jubilation, creating a spectacular symphonic fantasy "The Battle of Vittoria" and the cantata "Happy Moment", the premieres of which were timed to coincide with Congress of Vienna and brought Beethoven unheard of success. However, in other writings of 1813-17. reflected persistent and sometimes painful search for new ways. At this time, cello (Nos. 4, 5) and piano (Nos. 27, 28) sonatas were written, several dozen arrangements of songs different peoples for voice with ensemble, the first in the history of the genre vocal cycle"To a Distant Beloved" (1815). The style of these works is, as it were, experimental, with many brilliant discoveries, but not always as solid as in the period of "revolutionary classicism."

The last decade of Beethoven's life was overshadowed both by the general oppressive political and spiritual atmosphere in Metternich's Austria, and by personal hardships and upheavals. The composer's deafness became complete; since 1818, he was forced to use "conversational notebooks" in which interlocutors wrote questions addressed to him. Having lost hope for personal happiness (the name of the "immortal beloved", to whom Beethoven's farewell letter of July 6-7, 1812 is addressed, remains unknown; some researchers consider her J. Brunswick-Deim, others - A. Brentano), Beethoven took on taking care of raising his nephew Karl, the son of his younger brother who died in 1815. This led to a long-term (1815-20) legal battle with the boy's mother over the rights to sole custody. A capable but frivolous nephew gave Beethoven a lot of grief. The contrast between sad and sometimes tragic life circumstances and perfect beauty created works- manifestation of spiritual achievement who made Beethoven one of the heroes European culture New time.

Creativity 1817-26 marked a new rise of Beethoven's genius and at the same time became the epilogue of the era of musical classicism. Until the last days, remaining faithful to classical ideals, the composer found new forms and means of their embodiment, bordering on the romantic, but not passing into them. late style Beethoven is a unique aesthetic phenomenon. Beethoven's central idea of ​​the dialectical relationship of contrasts, the struggle between light and darkness, acquires an emphatically philosophical sound in his later work. Victory over suffering is no longer given through heroic action, but through the movement of the spirit and thought. A great master of sonata form, in which dramatic conflicts developed in the past, Beethoven in his later compositions often refers to the form of a fugue, the most suitable for embodying the gradual formation of a generalized philosophical idea. The last 5 piano sonatas (Nos. 28-32) and the last 5 quartets (Nos. 12-16) are distinguished by a particularly complex and refined musical language that requires the greatest skill from the performers, and penetrating perception from the listeners. 33 variations on a waltz by Diabelli and Bagatelli, op. 126 are also true masterpieces, despite the difference in scale. Late creativity Beethoven has long been controversial. Of his contemporaries, only a few were able to understand and appreciate him. recent compositions. One of these people was H. Golitsyn, on whose order the quartets No. , and were written and dedicated to. The overture "The Consecration of the House" (1822) is also dedicated to him.

In 1823, Beethoven completed the Solemn Mass, which he himself considered his the greatest work. This mass, designed more for a concert than for a cult performance, became one of the milestone phenomena in the German oratorio tradition (G. Schütz, J. S. Bach, G. F. Handel, W. A. ​​Mozart, J. Haydn). The first mass (1807) was not inferior to the masses of Haydn and Mozart, but did not become a new word in the history of the genre, like the "Solemn", in which all the skill of Beethoven as a symphonist and playwright was realized. Turning to the canonical Latin text, Beethoven singled out in it the idea of ​​self-sacrifice in the name of the happiness of people and introduced into the final plea for peace the passionate pathos of denying war as the greatest evil. With the assistance of Golitsyn, the Solemn Mass was first performed on April 7, 1824 in St. Petersburg. A month later, Beethoven's last benefit concert took place in Vienna, in which, in addition to parts from the Mass, his final, Ninth Symphony was performed with the final chorus to the words of F. Schiller's "Ode to Joy". The idea of ​​overcoming suffering and the triumph of light is consistently carried through the entire symphony and is expressed with the utmost clarity at the end thanks to the introduction of a poetic text that Beethoven had dreamed of setting to music in Bonn. The Ninth Symphony, with its final invocation, "Hug, millions!" - became Beethoven's ideological testament to mankind and had a strong influence on the symphony of the 19th and 20th centuries.

G. Berlioz, F. Liszt, I. Brahms, A. Bruckner, G. Mahler, S. Prokofiev, D. Shostakovich accepted and continued Beethoven's traditions in one way or another. As their teacher, Beethoven was also honored by the composers of the Novovensk school - the “father of dodecaphony” A. Schoenberg, the passionate humanist A. Berg, the innovator and lyricist A. Webern. In December 1911, Webern wrote to Berg: “There are few things so wonderful as the feast of Christmas. ... Shouldn't Beethoven's birthday be celebrated this way too? Many musicians and music lovers would agree with this proposal, because for thousands (perhaps millions) of people, Beethoven remains not only one of the greatest geniuses of all times and peoples, but also the personification of the unfading ethical ideal, the inspirer of the oppressed, the comforter of the afflicted, a true friend in sorrow and joy.

L. Kirillina

Beethoven is one of the greatest phenomena of world culture. His work ranks on a par with the art of such titans artistic thought like Tolstoy, Rembrandt, Shakespeare. In terms of philosophical depth, democratic orientation, courage of innovation, Beethoven has no equal in the musical art of Europe of the past centuries.

The work of Beethoven captured the great awakening of the peoples, the heroism and drama of the revolutionary era. Addressing all advanced humanity, his music was a bold challenge to the aesthetics of the feudal aristocracy.

Beethoven's worldview was formed under the influence of the revolutionary movement that spread in the advanced circles of society at the turn of the 18th and 19th century. As its original reflection on German soil, the bourgeois-democratic Enlightenment took shape in Germany. The protest against social oppression and despotism determined the leading directions of German philosophy, literature, poetry, theater and music.

Lessing raised the banner of struggle for the ideals of humanism, reason and freedom. The works of Schiller and the young Goethe were imbued with civic feeling. The playwrights of the Sturm und Drang movement rebelled against the petty morality of feudal-bourgeois society. The reactionary nobility is challenged in Lessing's Nathan the Wise, Goethe's Goetz von Berlichingen, Schiller's The Robbers and Insidiousness and Love. The ideas of the struggle for civil liberties permeate Schiller's Don Carlos and William Tell. The tension of social contradictions was also reflected in the image of Goethe's Werther, "the rebellious martyr", in the words of Pushkin. The spirit of challenge marks every outstanding piece of art of that era, created on German soil. Beethoven's work was the most generalizing and artistically perfect expression in art popular movements Germany at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries.

The great social upheaval in France had a direct and powerful effect on Beethoven. This brilliant musician, a contemporary of the revolution, was born in an era that perfectly corresponded to the warehouse of his talent, his titanic nature. With rare creative force and emotional sharpness, Beethoven sang the majesty and tension of his time, its stormy drama, the joys and sorrows of the gigantic masses of the people. To this day, Beethoven's art remains unsurpassed as artistic expression feelings of civic heroism.

The revolutionary theme by no means exhausts Beethoven's legacy. Undoubtedly, the most outstanding works of Beethoven belong to the art of the heroic-dramatic plan. The main features of his aesthetics are most vividly embodied in works that reflect the theme of struggle and victory, glorifying the universal democratic beginning of life, the desire for freedom. "Heroic", Fifth and Ninth symphonies, overture "Coriolan", "Egmont", "Leonora", "Pathétique Sonata" and "Appassionata" - it was this circle of works that almost immediately won Beethoven the widest worldwide recognition. And in fact, Beethoven's music differs from the structure of thought and manner of expression of its predecessors primarily in its effectiveness, tragic power, and grandiose scale. There is nothing surprising in the fact that his innovation in the heroic-tragic sphere, earlier than in others, attracted general attention; mainly on the basis of Beethoven's dramatic works, both his contemporaries and the generations immediately following them made a judgment about his work as a whole.

However, the world of Beethoven's music is stunningly diverse. There are other fundamentally important aspects in his art, outside of which his perception will inevitably be one-sided, narrow, and therefore distorted. And above all, this is the depth and complexity of the intellectual principle inherent in it.

The psychology of the new man, liberated from feudal fetters, is revealed by Beethoven not only in a conflict-tragedy plan, but also through the sphere of high inspirational thought. His hero, possessing indomitable courage and passion, is endowed at the same time with a rich, finely developed intellect. He is not only a fighter, but also a thinker; along with action, he has a tendency to concentrated reflection. Not a single secular composer before Beethoven achieved such philosophical depth and scale of thought. Beethoven's glorification real life in its multifaceted aspects intertwined with the idea of ​​the cosmic greatness of the universe. Moments of inspired contemplation in his music coexist with heroic-tragic images, illuminating them in a peculiar way. Through the prism of a sublime and deep intellect, life in all its diversity is refracted in Beethoven's music - stormy passions and detached dreaminess, theatrical dramatic pathos and lyrical confession, pictures of nature and scenes of everyday life...

Finally, against the background of the work of its predecessors, Beethoven's music stands out for that individualization of the image, which is associated with the psychological principle in art.

Not as a representative of the estate, but as a person with his own wealth inner world, a man of a new, post-revolutionary society was aware of himself. It was in this spirit that Beethoven interpreted his hero. He is always significant and unique, each page of his life is an independent spiritual value. Even motifs that are related to each other in type acquire in Beethoven's music such a richness of shades in conveying mood that each of them is perceived as unique. With an unconditional commonality of ideas that permeate all of his work, with a deep imprint of a powerful creative individuality that lies on all Beethoven's works, each of his opuses is an artistic surprise.

Perhaps it is this unquenchable desire to reveal the unique essence of each image that makes the problem of Beethoven's style so difficult.

Beethoven is usually spoken of as a composer who, on the one hand, completes the classicist (In domestic theater studies and foreign musicological literature, the term “classicist” has been established in relation to the art of classicism. Thus, finally, the confusion that inevitably arises when the single word “classical” is used to characterize the pinnacle, “eternal” phenomena of any art, and to define a single stylistic category, but by inertia we continue to use the term "classical" in relation to musical style XVIII century, and to classical samples in music of other styles (for example, romanticism, baroque, impressionism, etc.).) era in music, on the other hand, opens the way for the "romantic age". In broad historical terms, such a formulation does not raise objections. However, it does little to understand the essence of Beethoven's style itself. For, touching on some sides at certain stages of evolution with the work of the classicists of the 18th century and the romantics of the next generation, Beethoven's music actually does not coincide in some important, decisive features with the requirements of either style. Moreover, it is generally difficult to characterize it with the help of stylistic concepts that have developed on the basis of studying the work of other artists. Beethoven is inimitably individual. At the same time, it is so many-sided and multifaceted that no familiar stylistic categories cover all the diversity of its appearance.

With a greater or lesser degree of certainty, we can only speak of a certain sequence of stages in the composer's quest. Throughout creative way Beethoven continuously expanded the expressive boundaries of his art, constantly leaving behind not only his predecessors and contemporaries, but also his own achievements more early period. Nowadays, it is customary to marvel at the multi-style of Stravinsky or Picasso, seeing this as a sign of the special intensity of the evolution of artistic thought, characteristic of the 20th century. But Beethoven in this sense is in no way inferior to the above-named luminaries. It is enough to compare almost any arbitrarily chosen works of Beethoven to be convinced of the incredible versatility of his style. Is it easy to believe that the elegant septet in the style of the Viennese divertissement, the monumental dramatic "Heroic Symphony" and the deeply philosophical quartets op. 59 belong to the same pen? Moreover, they were all created within the same six-year period.

None of Beethoven's sonatas can be distinguished as the most characteristic of the composer's style in the field of piano music. Not a single work typifies his searches in the symphonic sphere. Sometimes, in the same year, Beethoven publishes works so contrasting with each other that at first glance it is difficult to recognize commonalities between them. Let us recall at least the well-known Fifth and Sixth symphonies. Every detail of thematism, every method of shaping in them is as sharply opposed to each other as the general artistic concepts of these symphonies are incompatible - the sharply tragic Fifth and the idyllic pastoral sixth. If we compare the works created at different, relatively distant from each other stages of the creative path - for example, the First Symphony and the Solemn Mass, the quartets op. 18 and the last quartets, the Sixth and Twenty-ninth Piano Sonatas, etc., etc., then we will see creations so strikingly different from each other that at first impression they are unconditionally perceived as the product of not only different intellects, but also different artistic epochs. Moreover, each of the mentioned opuses is highly characteristic of Beethoven, each is a miracle of stylistic completeness.

One can speak about a single artistic principle that characterizes Beethoven's works only in the most general terms: throughout the entire creative path, the composer's style developed as a result of the search for a true embodiment of life. The powerful coverage of reality, the richness and dynamics in the transmission of thoughts and feelings, finally a new understanding of beauty compared to its predecessors, led to such many-sided original and artistically unfading forms of expression that can only be generalized by the concept of a unique “Beethoven style”.

By Serov's definition, Beethoven understood beauty as an expression of high ideological content. The hedonistic, gracefully divertissement side of musical expressiveness was consciously overcome in the mature work of Beethoven.

Just as Lessing stood for precise and parsimonious speech against the artificial, embellishing style of salon poetry, saturated with elegant allegories and mythological attributes, so Beethoven rejected everything decorative and conventionally idyllic.

In his music, not only the exquisite ornamentation, inseparable from the style of expression of the 18th century, disappeared. Balance and symmetry musical language, smoothness of rhythm, chamber transparency of sound - these stylistic features, characteristic of all Beethoven's Viennese predecessors without exception, were also gradually squeezed out of his musical speech. Beethoven's idea of ​​the beautiful demanded an underlined nakedness of feelings. He was looking for other intonations - dynamic and restless, sharp and stubborn. The sound of his music has become rich, dense, dramatically contrasting; his themes acquired hitherto unprecedented conciseness, severe simplicity. To people brought up on the musical classicism of the 18th century, Beethoven's manner of expression seemed so unusual, "unsmoothed", sometimes even ugly, that the composer was repeatedly reproached for his desire to be original, they saw in his new expressive techniques the search for strange, deliberately dissonant sounds that cut the ear.

And, however, with all originality, courage and novelty, Beethoven's music is inextricably linked with the previous culture and with the classicist system of thought.

The advanced schools of the 18th century, covering several artistic generations, prepared Beethoven's work. Some of them received a generalization and final form in it; the influences of others are revealed in a new original refraction.

Beethoven's work is most closely associated with the art of Germany and Austria.

First of all, there is a perceptible continuity with Viennese classicism XVIII century. It is no coincidence that Beethoven entered the history of culture as last representative this school. He began on the path laid down by his immediate predecessors Haydn and Mozart. Beethoven also deeply perceived the structure of the heroic-tragic images of Gluck's musical drama, partly through the works of Mozart, which in their own way refracted this figurative beginning, partly directly from lyrical tragedies Gluck. Beethoven is equally clearly perceived as the spiritual heir of Handel. The triumphant, light-heroic images of Handel's oratorios began new life on an instrumental basis in Beethoven's sonatas and symphonies. Finally, clear successive threads connect Beethoven with that philosophical and contemplative line in the art of music, which has long been developed in the choral and organ schools of Germany, becoming its typical national beginning and reaching its highest expression in the art of Bach. The influence of Bach's philosophical lyrics on the entire structure of Beethoven's music is deep and undeniable and can be traced from the First Piano Sonata to the Ninth Symphony and the last quartets created shortly before his death.

Protestant chorale and traditional everyday German song, democratic singspiel and Viennese street serenades - these and many other types of national art are also uniquely embodied in Beethoven's work. It recognizes both the historically established forms of peasant songwriting and the intonations of modern urban folklore. Essentially, everything organically national in the culture of Germany and Austria was reflected in Beethoven's sonata-symphony work.

The art of other countries, especially France, also contributed to the formation of his multifaceted genius. Beethoven's music echoes the Rousseauist motifs that were embodied in French comic opera in the 18th century, starting with Rousseau's The Village Sorcerer and ending with Gretry's classical works in this genre. The poster, sternly solemn nature of the mass revolutionary genres of France left an indelible mark on it, marking a break with chamber art XVIII century. Cherubini's operas brought sharp pathos, spontaneity and dynamics of passions, close to the emotional structure of Beethoven's style.

Just as the work of Bach absorbed and generalized at the highest artistic level all the significant schools of the previous era, so the horizons of the brilliant symphonist of the 19th century embraced all the viable musical currents of the previous century. But Beethoven's new understanding of musical beauty reworked these sources into such an original form that in the context of his works they are by no means always easily recognizable.

In exactly the same way, the classicist structure of thought is refracted in Beethoven's work in a new form, far from the style of expression of Gluck, Haydn, Mozart. This is a special, purely Beethoven variety of classicism, which has no prototypes in any artist. Composers of the 18th century did not even think about the very possibility of such grandiose constructions that became typical for Beethoven, like freedom of development within the framework of sonata formation, about such diverse types of musical thematics, and the complexity and richness of the very texture of Beethoven's music should have been perceived by them as unconditional a step back to the rejected manner of the Bach generation. Nevertheless, Beethoven's belonging to the classicist structure of thought clearly emerges against the background of those new aesthetic principles that began to unconditionally dominate the music of the post-Beethoven era.

From first to latest works Beethoven's music is invariably characterized by clarity and rationality of thinking, monumentality and harmony of form, a magnificent balance between the parts of the whole, which are characteristic features classicism in art in general, in music in particular. In this sense, Beethoven can be called a direct successor not only to Gluck, Haydn and Mozart, but also to the very founder of the classicist style in music - the Frenchman Lully, who worked a hundred years before the birth of Beethoven. Beethoven showed himself most fully within the framework of those sonata-symphonic genres that were developed by the composers of the Enlightenment and reached the classical level in the work of Haydn and Mozart. He is the last 19th composer century, for which the classicist sonata was the most natural, organic form of thinking, the last, in which the internal logic of musical thought dominates the external, sensually colorful beginning. Perceived as a direct emotional outpouring, Beethoven's music actually rests on a virtuoso erected, tightly welded logical foundation.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) is a German composer and pianist who vividly represented the "classical Viennese school", and is one of the world's most performed composers. He wrote compositions for choirs, music for dramatic performances and operas. His most significant works are concertos and sonatas for violin, cello, and piano.

Childhood

On December 16, 1770, a boy was born in Bonn, who was given the name Ludwig. The next day he was baptized in the Catholic Church of St. Remigius.

The boy's father, Johann Beethoven, was a singer, he sang in the court chapel as a tenor. Ludwig's mother, Mary Magdalene (maiden name Keverich), was the daughter of a cook, her father served at the court in Koblenz. Johann and Maria were married in 1767, during their marriage they had seven children, but only three survived, Ludwig was the eldest child in the family.

The paternal grandfather's name was also Ludwig, in addition to German, Flemish blood flowed in his veins. He was also a singer, he served in the same chapel, where his son Johann was later taken. My musical career he graduated as bandmaster and was a very respected person.

Ludwig Beethoven's childhood years were spent in poverty, as his father drank heavily and spent almost all of his salary on booze and girls. At the same time, he wanted to raise a second Mozart from his son, and he taught him to play the violin, piano and harpsichord.

But the miracle child from Ludwig did not work out, he owned the violin uncertainly, and on the piano he not only mastered the technique of performance, but improvised.

The father gave Ludwig to study with his friends and colleagues, one studied the violin with the boy, the second the organ.

But he really taught him to play the musical instruments organist and composer Christian Nefe, who arrived in Bonn in 1780. He immediately managed to discern the talent in the child.

Youth

When my grandfather died, the family became very difficult financially. Ludwig had to stop schooling and go to work. Already at the age of 12, he helped the court organist. And he continued his studies on his own, learned Latin, Italian and French, read a lot, especially loved Homer and Plutarch, Goethe, Schiller and Shakespeare.

At the same time, the first written musical works of Beethoven fall. While he did not print anything, he later revised many of his youthful writings.

In 1787, Ludwig had the opportunity to visit Vienna, the musical capital of Europe. There, Mozart himself listened to his improvisations, who predicted a great future for the guy.

Unfortunately, the young man was forced to return home, his mother was dying, and he was left with two younger brothers and a dissolute father.

When his mother died, Beethoven lived and worked in Bonn for another five years. Enlightened urban families drew attention to the gifted young man, and thanks to his ardent nature, greed for music, Beethoven quickly became a member of any musical gathering.

The Breuning family especially helped the talented young composer, they helped him to continue his studies in Vienna.

And in 1792 Ludwig left for Vienna, where he remained until the end of his life.

Vein

Arriving in Vienna, Ludwig began to look for a teacher. Unfortunately, Mozart had died the year before. At first, Beethoven studied with Haydn, then his mentor left for England and handed over the student to Albrechtsberger. Later, Ludwig began to study with Antonio Salieri.

Beethoven quickly found philanthropist friends in Vienna, Prince Likhnovsky introduced the young composer to a circle where both professional and titled amateur musicians gathered. Ludwig played, striking the audience, ─ and gradually fame came to him virtuoso pianist.

Ludwig combined a good disposition with a very stern character. One day, while he was playing the piano, someone started talking to a neighbor. Beethoven stopped playing, saying: “And for such pigs I don’t play!” And no persuasion helped bring him back to the instrument.

What else he differed from the young people of that time was his casual appearance. He was always unkempt and clumsily dressed.

But neither a daring character nor external data prevented him from creating unique works:

• the oratorio "Christ on the Mount of Olives";
• about twenty sonatas and three piano concertos;
• First and Second Symphonies;
• eight sonatas for violin;
• ballet "The Creations of Prometheus".

His writings were widely published and were a huge success.

Deafness, solitude, death

In 1796, Ludwig developed an inflammation of the inner ear, and his hearing began to disappear. In desperation, he retired to the small provincial town of Heiligenstadt, he even had thoughts of suicide. However, realizing how much more he could have done, Ludwig banished these nonsense from himself. During this period, he began work on the Third Symphony, which later received the name Heroic, as it was written by a deaf composer.

Due to deafness, Ludwig rarely left the house, he became gloomy and unsociable. But it was during this period that the creation of his best works falls.

Beethoven was quite amorous, but never received reciprocity in return. his famous " moonlight sonata he dedicated to the young Countess Giulietta Guicciardi. He really liked this girl, and he even thought about proposing to her, but he stopped in time, deciding that a deaf composer was not the most suitable part for a young beauty.

In the last years of his life, Beethoven composed much less often. He took custody of his nephew after the death of his brother, tried his best to give him a decent education, but the young man was only interested in billiards and cards. Ludwig was very worried about this.

To deafness and nervous experiences, problems with the liver were added. The composer's health began to deteriorate sharply. In mid-March 1827, Ludwig's lungs became inflamed. On March 26, the composer died. He was buried at the Central Vienna Cemetery, 20 thousand people followed the coffin, and his favorite Requiem sounded.

More than two hundred years have passed since Beethoven's works were first heard by the Viennese public. But the music of the great composer still excites millions of people around the world today.

Childhood

Ludwig van Beethoven, whose musical works are included in the golden collection of world classics, was born in the city of Bonn, in the family of a tenor of the court chapel. The composer's father dreamed that his son would someday become the second Mozart. Therefore, under his guidance, Ludwig van Beethoven studied piano from an early age. The young pianist studied musical works with incredible zeal. However, the young Beethoven, like Mozart, did not become a child prodigy.

The father was rude and quick-tempered. Perhaps that is why the young musician did not immediately show his talent. The lessons of Kapellmeister Nefe, to whom Ludwig went as a student, turned out to be much more effective than the exercises imposed by his father.

The beginning of creativity

Beethoven was only fifteen years old when he was entrusted with the position of organist of the chapel. And seven years later, on the orders of one of his mentors, he left for Vienna in order to continue his music studies. There he took lessons from Haydn and Salieri.

The most significant musical works of Beethoven in the eighties of the eighteenth century:

1. "Pathetic Sonata".
2. "Moonlight Sonata".
3. "Kreutzer Sonata".
4. Opera Fidelio.

Beethoven's earliest musical works were not published. But children's sonatas and the song "Marmot" have survived to this day.

Return to Bonn

Once Beethoven's works were heard by Mozart. The great composer, according to the memoirs of contemporaries, said: "This musician will make you talk about himself!" Mozart's prophecy came true. But later. Not long after Beethoven arrived in Vienna, his mother fell ill. The young composer was forced to return to his native city.

After the death of his mother, all the worries about the family fell on the shoulders of the young Ludwig. In order to feed his younger brothers, he got a job in the orchestra as a violist. Beethoven's works were once heard by Haydn, returning from England and stopping by in Bonn. This musician was also delighted with the compositions of the young Beethoven. In 1792, Ludwig left again for Vienna, where this time he lived for more than ten years.

Haydn's lessons

The Austrian composer became Beethoven's teacher. However, his lessons, according to Ludwig, did not bring any benefit. Beethoven's works seemed strange and gloomy to his teacher. Soon Ludwig stopped taking lessons from Haydn and became a student of Salieri.

Style

The works of Ludwig Beethoven differed significantly from the works of contemporary composers. He used the upper and lower registers, the pedal. His style was different from the styles of other writers. In the second half of the eighteenth century, exquisite lace works for harpsichord were popular.

In addition, Ludwig van Beethoven, whose works seemed too extravagant to his contemporaries, was himself an unusual person. First of all, he stood out for his appearance. Unrecognized genius often appeared in public unkempt, casually dressed. In conversation, he was often extremely blunt.

Once, during a speech, one of those present in the hall had the imprudence to speak to his lady. Beethoven canceled the concert. No apologies or requests softened the pianist's heart. But despite the proud and unshakable disposition, according to the memoirs of his contemporaries, he was an extremely kind and sympathetic person.

hearing loss

The works of Ludwig Beethoven began to enjoy wide popularity in the nineties. During his ten years in Vienna, he wrote three piano concertos and about twenty sonatas. His writings were well published and enjoyed success. But in 1796, a disease began to develop, which led to complete deafness.

Due to illness, Beethoven rarely left the house. He became withdrawn and sullen. Surprisingly, but the best works were created just when he lost his hearing. Works of recent years - "Solemn Mass", Symphony No. 9. The last was performed in 1824. Beethoven was given an ovation by the public, which lasted so long that the police had to subdue the piano fans.

Last years

After the defeat of Napoleon in Austria, a curfew was introduced. The government imposed censorship on all spheres of activity. Freethinking was severely punished. Beethoven, even in his younger years, was distinguished by independent judgments. One day, while walking with Goethe, he met Emperor Franz with his retinue. The poet bowed respectfully. Beethoven, however, passed through the courtiers, slightly raising his hat. This story happened when the composer was still young. In the last years of his life, when spies and secret agents met at every step, Beethoven became completely unrestrained in expressions. But his authority was so great that the authorities turned a blind eye to very harsh judgments.

Despite his deafness, the composer was aware of all the musical and political news. He looked through the scores of Schubert and Rossini. During these years, Beethoven met Weber, the author of the operas Evryanta and The Magic Shooter.

In 1926, the composer's health deteriorated sharply. He began to develop liver disease. In March 1927, Ludwig van Beethoven died. About twenty thousand people attended the funeral of the author of the Moonlight Sonata and other great works.

Beethoven wrote nine symphonies, eight symphonic overtures and five piano concertos. In addition, he is the author of several dozen sonatas and other musical works. Many monuments around the world were erected to Ludwig van Beethoven. The first of them is in the homeland of one of the greatest composers, in Bonn.

Ludwig van Beethoven was born in December 1770 in the family of a court musician. Secrets accompanied musical classic all his life - from birth to the grave - and even today there are unresolved mysteries associated with the name of the great composer.

Was it a boy?

The very birth of the German genius is shrouded in mystery. He was baptized on December 17th. In the past, his date of birth was considered to be December 16, since according to Catholic tradition babies were baptized the day after they were born. His family also celebrated the boy's birthday on the 16th. However, there is no written evidence that he was born on that day.

Another myth from the "early Beethoven": it was believed that Ludwig's mother was sick with tuberculosis, and his father with syphilis. Their first child was born blind, the second died during childbirth, the third was deaf and dumb, and the fourth had tuberculosis.

Nothing is known for certain about diseases in the Beethoven family. The level of development of medicine at that time was low, children really often died at birth or in the first years of life. In addition, there is evidence that the father of the family was an alcoholic. This increased the risk of neonatal mortality: out of seven children, four died in infancy.

Flemish roots

Although the future classic Viennese school Born in Bonn, his surname contains the prefix "van". This is easily explained: the van Beethoven family comes from Flanders. The bandmaster's grandfather, after whom the musician was named, was from Mechelen, a city in Belgium, between Brussels and Antwerp. Hence the prefix before the name.

In a small electorate, the family keeps memories of Meheln, Louvain and Antwerp. It is said that "van Beethoven" means "red beet garden".

Grandfather Ludwig was a respectable man, respected by all. In the portrait that Beethoven kept in his Vienna, the grandfather is depicted in a beret, in a fur coat trimmed with fur, and his whole Flemish appearance is full of dignity. Beethoven treated him with great respect.

In the footsteps of Mozart

Beethoven was born at a time when talk about the brilliant talent of Mozart had not subsided yet. Ludwig's father, who devoted his whole life to music, caught fire with the idea of ​​​​making a second miracle child out of his son.

The boy for 8 hours, or even more, practiced the harpsichord under the sensitive gaze of an ambitious father. It is traditionally believed that Beethoven Sr. was very severe in relation to the offspring, who "often was in tears behind the instrument." However, the researchers believe that there is no reliable documentary evidence for this, and that "speculation and myth-making have done their job."

Be that as it may, although Ludwig did not become a genius, the daily drill helped develop the boy's natural talent and subsequently make him the greatest musician who masterfully composed in all genres that existed at that time, including opera, music for dramatic performances, choral compositions.

He gave his first concert in Cologne at the age of eight, at the age of 12 he freely played the harpsichord, violin, and organ.

Diagnosis: Silence

Beethoven began to lose his hearing around 1796.

He suffered from a severe form of hearing impairment: "ringing" in the ears prevented him from perceiving and appreciating music, and at a later stage of the disease he also avoided talking.

The cause of Beethoven's deafness is unknown. Assumptions such as syphilis, lead poisoning, typhus, systemic lupus erythematosus are expressed. According to one version, even the habit of dipping your head in cold water in order not to fall asleep affected the composer's health.

Over time, his hearing became so weakened that at the end of the premiere of his Ninth Symphony, he had to turn around to see how enthusiastic fans applauded.

AT last years Beethoven, with the persistence of a fanatic, continued to write music, but was forced to completely abandon performances. Progressive deafness brought him true suffering. It is said that Beethoven destroyed his piano when, in vain trying to hear the sounds made by the instrument, with incredible strength hit the keys.

One result of deafness was a unique historical material: notebooks that Beethoven used to communicate with friends for the last ten or so years. For performers of his music, they are an important source of information about the author's opinion on the interpretation of his compositions.

lead poisoning

The composer died at the age of 56 in 1827.

As evidenced by the facts of Beethoven's biography, from about 20 years old he was tormented by abdominal pains, which became more and more severe with age.

American scientists, having examined the hair and fragments of Beethoven's skull, came to the conclusion that the German composer could have died from prolonged lead poisoning: the content of this metal in the remains was 100 times higher than the norm. How exactly lead got into Beethoven's body is unknown. According to one version, the great composer was treated for stomach diseases with an ointment containing lead in in large numbers. According to another version, lead could also enter Beethoven's body with water, since pipes for supplying drinking water were made from this metal at that time.

Lost Music

In 2011, the British media reported that the lost music of Beethoven would be performed in Manchester for the first time: specialists managed to restore the second, slow part of the work, written by the composer in 1799, from rough excerpts.

Beethoven was working on an opus for string quartet, however, a year later, being a perfectionist, he became disillusioned with the composition, abandoned drafts and began to write new version. The full notes have not been preserved, but the professor at the University of Manchester managed to restore the missing parts.

In his opinion, all 74 measures are present in the drafts, but the parties for all the instruments of the quartet were not written everywhere. Therefore, he filled in some of the gaps on his own.

Beethoven is greatest creator of all time, unsurpassed Master. Beethoven's works are difficult to describe using conventional musical terms- any words here seem not bright enough, too banal. Beethoven is a brilliant personality, an extraordinary phenomenon in the world of music.

Among the many names of the great composers of the world, the name Ludwig van Beethoven Van Beethoven) always stand out. Beethoven is the greatest creator of all time, the unsurpassed Master. People who consider themselves far from the world classical music, fall silent, enchanted, at the very first sounds of the Moonlight Sonata. Beethoven's works are difficult to describe using ordinary musical terms - any words here seem not bright enough, too banal. Beethoven is a brilliant personality, an extraordinary phenomenon in the world of music.

No one knows the exact date of birth of Ludwig van Beethoven. It is known that he was born in Bonnet, December 1770. Contemporaries who personally knew the composer in different years noticed that he inherited his character from his grandfather, Louis Beethoven. Pride, independence, incredible diligence - these qualities were inherent in the grandfather - they also went to the grandson.

Beethoven's grandfather was a musician, served as a bandmaster. Ludwig's father also worked in the chapel - Johann van Beethoven. My father was a talented musician, but he drank a lot. His wife served as a cook. The family lived in poverty, but Johann nevertheless noticed early musical ability son. Little Ludwig was not taught much music (there was no money for teachers), but he was often forced to practice by shouting and beatings.

By the age of 12, young Beethoven could play the harpsichord, violin, and organ. 1782 was a turning point in Ludwig's life. Director of the Bonn Court Chapel was appointed Christian Gottlob Nefe. This man showed interest in a talented teenager, became his mentor, taught him the modern piano style. In that year, the first musical compositions Beethoven, and an article about the "young genius" was published in the city newspaper.

Under the guidance of Nefe, the young musician continued to improve his skills, received and general education. At the same time, he worked a lot in the chapel to support his family.

The young Beethoven had a goal - to get acquainted with Mozart. To fulfill this goal, he went to Vienna. He achieved a meeting with the great maestro and asked to be examined. Mozart was amazed by the talent of the young musician. New horizons could have opened before Ludwig, but a misfortune happened - his mother fell seriously ill in Bonn. Beethoven had to return. Mother died, father died soon after.

Ludwig stayed in Bonn. He was seriously ill with typhus and smallpox, and worked hard all the time. He had long been a virtuoso musician, but did not consider himself a composer. In this profession, he still lacked skill.

In 1792, a happy change took place in Ludwig's life. He was introduced to Haydn. famous composer promised support to Beethoven and recommended him to go to Vienna. Again, Beethoven found himself in the "abode of music." He had about fifty works to his credit - in some ways they were unusual, even revolutionary for that time. Beethoven was considered a freethinker, but he did not deviate from his principles. He studied with Haydn, Albrechtsberger, Salieri- and teachers did not always understand his works, finding them "dark and strange."

Beethoven's work attracted the attention of patrons, and he was doing well. He worked out own style, was formed as an extraordinary innovative composer. He was invited to the highest circles of the Viennese aristocracy, but Beethoven did not want to play and create for the needs of a wealthy public. He maintained independence, believing that talent is an advantage over wealth and high birth.

When the maestro was 26 years old, a new misfortune occurred in his life - he began to lose his hearing. This was a personal tragedy for the composer, terrible for his profession. He began to avoid society.

In 1801, the composer fell in love with a young aristocrat Juliet Guicciardi. Juliet was 16 years old. The meeting with her changed Beethoven - he began to be in the world again, to enjoy life. Unfortunately, the girl's family considered a musician from the lower circles an unworthy party for her daughter. Juliet rejected the courtship and soon married a man of her circle - Count Gallenberg.

Beethoven was destroyed. He didn't want to live. He soon retired to small town Heiligenstadt, and even wrote a will there. But Ludwig's talent was not broken, and even at that time he continued to create. During this period he wrote brilliant works: "Moonlight Sonata"(dedicated to Giulietta Guicciardi), Third piano concert, "Kreutzer Sonata" and a number of other masterpieces included in the world musical treasury.

There was no time to die. The master continued to create and fight. "Heroic Symphony", Fifth Symphony, "Appassionata", "Fidelio"- Beethoven's efficiency bordered on obsession.

The composer again moved to Vienna. He was famous, popular, but far from rich. New failed love for one of the sisters Brunswick and material problems prompted him to leave Austria. In 1809, a group of patrons awarded the composer a pension in exchange for a promise not to leave the country. The pension tied him to Austria, limited his freedom.

Beethoven still created a lot, but his hearing was actually lost. In society, he used special "conversational notebooks." Periods of depression alternated with periods of fantastic performance.

The apotheosis of his work was Ninth Symphony which Beethoven completed in 1824. It was performed on May 7, 1824. The work delighted the audience and the performers themselves. Only the composer did not hear his own music, nor the thunder of applause. The young choir singer had to take the maestro by the hand and turn her face to the audience so that he could bow.

After that day, the composer was overcome by illness, but he was able to write four more large and complex quartets. Once he had to go to his brother Johann to persuade him to write a will in favor of the sole right to custody of Ludwig's beloved nephew - Karl. The brother refused the request. Frustrated, Beethoven went home - on the way he caught a cold.

On March 26, 1827, the composer died. The Viennese, who had already begun to forget their idol, remembered him after his death. A crowd of thousands followed behind the coffin.

brilliant composer and great person Ludwig van Beethoven was always independent and adamant in his convictions. He proudly walked the path of life and left many immortal creations to mankind.

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