Ludwig van Beethoven
December 16th 1770 - March 26th 1827
Here is my favorite composer, Beethoven. His story is simply amazing, the things he overcame and his disastrous personal life would put most soap operas to shame. Suffice it to say he has a special place in my musical pantheon of composers.
I won't go into the details of all his struggles here, but I might add a few colorful historical accounts to my posts along the way.
My Beethoven library is huge, I'll do an actual count later and list my collection.
If you are new to him, it's simple start with his 9 symphonies, that is what I did. I am positive that there are more recordings by various conductors and orchestras of his symphonies than any other composer living or deceased, they are amazing.
Here's the first movement of the 5th, Herbert Von Karajan conducting.
Last edited by Lord Grendel; 11-17-2009 at 10:16 AM.
Hey great to see you in here buddy,,,I have no doubt that if Ludwig were alive in the 70's, he would have been a Heavy Metal guitarist, and done some laid back solo albums on the side for his romantic soul.
I love the symphonies but I love his piano concertos and the violin concerto more. When I used to play the piano in my youth I played a lot of Beethoven.
When I play my Beethoven piano music, and I have every piece he ever composed for it, it makes me wish I learned how to play it myself...but I'll have to settle for just enjoying his genius.
Beethoven may or may not be the greatest of all time, but I'd be willing to bet he'd be at the very top of more lists than any other classical composer.
You're right about his symphonies, LG. They are a very easy way to get exposure to his work, while at the same time experiencing some of his best and most important work. His early symphonies are extremely accessible (though it seems ridiculous to think of any of them as being inaccessible), and it's fascinating to listen to his musical growth and development as he starts with very classical forms in the earliest ones and progresses to more romantic and monumental themes. The early symphonies are not unlike late Mozart, but with the easily recognizable glimpses of what would come later.
His violin concerto and his 5 piano concertos are also great listening, even for those new to classical music in general, or to Beethoven in particular (the same simple-to-complex compositional growth patterns heard in his symphonies is also evident in the piano concertos).
You can also get his essence in any number of smaller pieces - any of his various overtures like Egmont, or the various Leonore overtures, or his "Creatures of Prometheus."
And like his symphonies and concerti, his piano sonatas are all practically basic repertoire, and new listeners will probably be surprised to realize how many of them they recognize, having already heard them throughout their lives. Not quite as well-known are his sonatas for violin and piano, but they're great too. I especially like the "Kreutzer."
He wrote one opera, Fidelio, though I admit I have not heard it. Opera is not typically my thing. (I appreciated a scene from the old "Family Ties" TV series, where Alex (Michael J. Fox's character) has come home from the library with a box full of books, records and art prints to review so he can impress his new "arty" girlfriend. As the family pulls out item after item from the box and read their titles, they find one that's called "Opera: Why It's More than Just Annoying")
I also admit I have not spent much, if any, time with his quartets, and I view that as a personal failing of mine. They're known to be among the finest pieces of art that western civilization has ever produced, especially true for his late quartets. I've stayed away from them only because they're musically complex and intellectually demanding pieces, and in my limited experience with them it takes a lot of effort to even get comfortable with them, let alone begin to understand them. I would guess that how I feel about them may be similar to how listeners of his time reacted to his other works that we consider mainstream now. His music just seems so "right" (Leonard Bernstein famously said that Beethoven was the one composer he knew who chose the perfect note every time, that anything different would have diminished the work in some way - a concept that a musicologist described to me as "inevitability" in music), that it's easy to forget that in his day his music was revolutionary.
__________________ Hire an architect - an ego is a terrible thing to waste
Last edited by Craig in Indy; 11-17-2009 at 10:17 AM.
How could I forget the Triple Concerto. The first time I heard it was live with Isaac Stern, Eugene Istomin and Mstislav Rostropovich (I think). That was back in the 60s when one of the doormen let me in for free and I had to stand until someone didn't show up for a vacant seat. The first time ever that the hairs on my arms stood up and I had chills all over.
Wow Annie, that would have been awesome,,,I am feeling a little jealous.
...Another fan in the house.
I have just started to dig into his Quartets, and I am not a musicologist or anything other than a fan so I'll just enjoy them as a layman...lol.
One interesting note, Franz Joseph Haydn, was Beethoven's mentor, and always encouraged him throughout his turbulent career to keep writing the music the way he wanted and to hell with the critics, one of his staunchest friends. Beethoven always referred to Haydn as "The Master".
Where to start,,,well for me at the very beginning is as good a place as any. I bought a copy of his first two symphonies, when I was collecting CD's early in the 90's I used to always try and get a DDD copy of the work, it wasn't until later that I realized that a better orchestra conductor made more of a difference than the technology involved. I owe that to my friend who owns his own Classical music store, he taught me everything I know about it to this day. I would simply go into to his store mill around aimlessly like a kid in a toy store then he would ask what I was interested in so we'd start talking he would walk over to a section of his displays and pull out a work that he felt was one of the best he could offer. That was how I began to learn about the subtleties in Classical music.
Still this is the first CD I ever bought from him, Telarc's been one of my favorite labels for over 30 years so I knew the quality would be good. These two Symphonies are not as grand or famous as the later ones, in fact if you played these two after listening to Joseph Haydn's London Symphonies you would think they were related. Beethoven always looked up to Haydn and you can hear his tribute to "the Master" easily in these works if you know what to listen for.(I realize they are both quite long, but if you are interested just open another Tab and load them and keep browsing posting in the forum, that's what I do when I'm catching up on all the recommendations in here.)
That is a great drawing of old Ludwig in action MP...
Later on when he was almost completely deaf he would still conduct some of his works and the orchestra just played on their own, many times the music was over and he was still waving his arms and baton commanding the troops, the audience was very understanding and knew about his condition.
As promised Beethoven's 3rd Symphony, named "Eroica". This composition was written with the intent of Ludwig to embrace the "Age of Enlightenment" that Napoleon was supposed to bring to the continent, as history played out however things didn't turn out so well for the countries that Bonaparte visited on his "Grand Tour". I always wondered if he fired his travel agent after they convinced him it was a good idea to visit Russia in the winter. Anyway despite the motivations the piece remains a great symphony, and can be enjoyed without any historical background details.
I have two complete sets of Beethoven's Symphonies, one with modern instruments, and the one I am posting the picture of now, done with Period Instruments and keeping to the exact time notations of Beethoven to try and reproduce as faithfully as possible the work as it would have sounded when it was written.
Man, I love Beethoven. Listening to Symphony No. 8 on my iPod right now. Sounds kind of odd coming from a teenager of the 21st century, but I speak the truth!
Ludwig van Beethoven 
Re: Ludwig Von Beethoven 
...Another fan in the house.
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