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Beethoven，German composer. He is universally recognized as one of the

greatest composers of the Western European music tradition. Beethoven's work

crowned the classical period and also effectively initiated the romantic era in

music. He is one of the few artists who genuinely may be considered

revolutionary.

Life

Born in Bonn, Beethoven showed remarkable talent at an early age. His father,

a court musician, subjected him to a brutal regimen, hoping to exploit him as a

child prodigy. While this plan did not succeed, young Beethoven's gifts were

recognized and nurtured by his teachers and by members of the local aristocracy.

In 1787 Beethoven first visited Vienna, at that time the center of the music

world. There he performed for Mozart, whom he greatly impressed.

In 1792 Haydn invited him to become his student, and Beethoven returned to

Vienna, where he was to remain permanently. However, Beethoven's unorthodox

musical ideas offended the old master, and the lessons were terminated.

Beethoven studied with several other eminent teachers, including Antonio

Salieri, but was developing according to his own singular genius and could no

longer profit greatly from instruction.

Both his breathtaking piano virtuosity and his remarkable compositions won

Beethoven favor among the enlightened aristocracy congregated at Vienna, and he

enjoyed their generous support throughout his life. They were tolerant, too, of

his notoriously boorish manners, careless appearance, and towering rages. His

work itself was widely accepted, if controversial, and from the end of the 1790s

Beethoven was not dependent on patronage for his income.

The year 1801 marked the onset of Beethoven's tragic affliction, his

deafness, which became progressively worse and, by 1817, total. Public

performance eventually became impossible; but his creative work was not

restricted. Beethoven never married; however, he was stormily in and out of love

all his life, always with women unattainable because of marriage or station. His

personal life was further complicated when he was made the guardian of his

nephew Karl, who caused him much anxiety and grief but to whom he nevertheless

remained fondly attached.

Beethoven died, after a long illness, in the midst of a fierce thunderstorm,

and legend has it that the dying man shook his fist in defiance of the

heavens.

Compositions

By the 19th cent., Beethoven's work could already be divided into three

fairly distinct periods. The works of the first period include the First (1800)

and Second (1802) Symphonies; the first three piano concertos (1795?800); the

first group of string quartets (1800); and a number of piano sonatas, among them

the Pathique (1798) and the Moonlight Sonata (1801).

Although the compositions of the first period have Beethoven's unmistakable

breadth and vitality, they are dominated by the tradition of Haydn and

Mozart.

Beginning about 1802, Beethoven's work took on new dimensions. The premiere

in 1805 of the massive Third Symphony, known as the Eroica (composed 1803?), was

a landmark in cultural history. It signaled a definitive break with the past and

the birth of a new era. The length, structure, harmonies, and orchestration of

the Eroica all broke the formal conventions of classical music; unprecedented

too was its intention to celebrate human freedom and nobility. The symphony was

originally dedicated to Napoleon, who at first symbolized to Beethoven the

spirit of the French Revolution and the liberation of mankind; however, when

Napoleon proclaimed himself emperor, the disillusioned composer renamed his work

the "Heroic Symphony to celebrate the memory of a great man."

The works of Beethoven's middle period, his most productive, include the

Piano Concertos No. 4 (1806) and No. 5 (Emperor Concerto, 1809); the Razumovsky

Quartets (1806); his Ninth Sonata for violin, the Kreutzer Sonata (1803), and

his one Violin Concerto (1806); the Fourth through Eighth Symphonies (1806?2); a

number of piano sonatas, among them the Waldstein and the Appassionata (both

1804). His sole opera, Fidelio, was produced in its first version in 1805 and in

its final form in 1814. Beethoven wrote four overtures for the opera, three of

them known as the Leonore Overture. He also composed overtures to Collin's

Coriolan (1807) and to Goethe's Egmont (1810). From about 1813 to 1820 there was

some slackening in Beethoven's productivity, probably due in part to

difficulties concerning his nephew.

Beethoven's final period dates from about 1816 and is characterized by works

of greater depth and complexity. They include the demanding, nearly symphonic

Hammerklavier sonata (1818) and the other late piano sonatas; the monumental

Ninth Symphony (1817?3) with its choral finale based on Schiller's Ode to Joy;

and the Missa Solemnis (1818?3). The last five string quartets and the Grosse

Fuge (also for quartet), composed in his last years, are considered by many

music lovers to be Beethoven's supreme creations, and by some the most sublime

music ever composed.

An extraordinarily prolific composer, Beethoven produced, in addition to the

works mentioned, sonatas for violin and piano and for cello and piano; string

and piano trios; music for wind instruments; miscellaneous piano works,

including the popular bagatelle Elise (1810); over 200 songs; a number of

shorter orchestral works; and several choral pieces.

Beethoven's influence on subsequent composers has been immeasurable. Aside

from his architectonic innovations and expansion of the classical sonata and

symphony, he brought to music a new depth and intensity of emotion that was

emulated by later romantic composers but probably never surpassed.