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Beethoven 1770 - 1827 (57)

Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy.


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Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) was a German composer, he is considered as one of the greatest composers of all time. In addition to his masterpieces, he contributed to the transition of Western music from the classical to the romantic era and introduced a number of innovations, combining instruments and vocals in a completely different ways. He was born in Bonn, in December 1770, into a musical family as his grandfather was a choir director and his father a tenor and piano and song teacher. His father was his first teacher, in his attempt to present him as a child prodigy he was very oppressive; little Ludwig had a very bad childhood. When he was 8, his father organized a recital by changing his date of birth to look like 6 to show that his talent was equal to that of Mozart, who at 6 had played with great success for Empress Theresa. The recital did not go badly but it did not become a big issue as in the case of Mozart, which angered the father and made him even more strict and demanding. At the age of 10, Ludwig stopped school; he presented his first composition at the age of 12 and as his father had been left to alcohol and could no longer support them, Ludwig was forced to work as a musician in the royal court to support his family.

In 1787 he went to Vienna at royal expense to become a student of Mozart, but was forced to return home before beginning his apprenticeship as his mother became seriously ill. A few months later his mother died and he was overwhelmed with deep grief. A few years later, in 1792, while Mozart had died in the meantime, he went to Vienna and for 2 years was a student of Joseph Haydn. From this period his talent began to be recognized, first as a pianist and then as a composer.


In 1795 he published a series of piano concertos that were a great success, both artistically and financially, and many Vienna aristocrats began to provide him with funds to create works for them. In 1800 he presented his first symphony (No. 1) at the Royal Theater in Vienna, which was a great success, although he later said that he did not know how to compose at the time. He continued to create and experience great success, at the same time he began to live a drama. He gradually lost his hearing and found it difficult to listen to others, so in order to hide it, he began to withdraw from social gatherings. " In 1804, after the coronation of Napoleon, he wrote in his honor the symphony No. 3, known as the heroic, and continued to create musical masterpieces, however, due to his deafness he lived in sadness and loneliness, he gradually became supple and suspicious; as a result he fought with everybody, people called him demonized. In 1807 he wrote the 5th symphony on the subject of man's struggle with destiny. In 1810 he composed one of the most recognizable works of classical music, "For Eliza".


Αt that time he had proposed to an eighteen-year-old named Teresa and had rejected him. He was generally unlucky with the other sex. In 1815 his brother died and Ludwig became embroiled in a major legal dispute with his sister-in-law over custody of his niece. Eventually he gained custody but the child never loved him and lived under a tyranny by him. Completely deaf and completely cut off from the world, he continued to create monumental works, such as the ninth symphony, the "Hymn to Joy", which was presented in May 1825; he could not hear anythng at all at that time, he had to turn to the audience to understand that he was being applauded. In 1826 he suffered a severe pneumonia from which he did not fully recover and died on March 26, 1827. "In paradise I will hear" were his last words.