BEETHOVEN, LUDWIG VAN

(baptized Dec. 17, 1770, Bonn, archbishopric of Cologne [now in Germany]-d. March 26, 1827, Vienna, Austria), German composer of Flemish descent, the predominant musical figure in the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras. Born into a musical family, Beethoven became a professional musician at the age of 11. He was taught by Christian Gottlob Neefe, court organist to the archbishop elector of Cologne, and then successively by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1787) and Joseph Haydn (1792-94) in Vienna, where he made his home. From other composers in Vienna he learned the techniques of counterpoint and vocal composition. In the Austrian capital he first attracted aristocratic patrons with his emotional piano playing rather than with his compositions, but the merit of these was soon recognized, and he received financial support from various private persons for the rest of his life. He is said to have been the first important composer to make a decent living without subsidies from court or church. Tormented by deafness and emotional problems, he composed relatively little in the 1820s. Beethoven's career in Vienna from 1794 is customarily divided into three periods. Although the initial phase includes his first three piano concerti and is closed by his Symphony No. 1 in C Major (1800), most of his output during those years consisted of chamber music. The second period (1801-14) is marked by his Sonata in C-sharp Minor (1801; Moonlight) and Sonata in F Minor (1804; Appassionata); his fourth and fifth (Emperor) piano concerti; his second through eighth symphonies, especially No. 3 in E-flat Major (1804; Eroica); his programmatic Battle Symphony (1813; unnumbered); and his only opera, Fidelio (final version 1814). His increasing preoccupation with counterpoint is evident in the works of his final period (1815-27), among them the Symphony No. 9 and several string quartets (1824-26). Additional reading Works A multivolume complete edition has been begun by the Beethoven Archives in Bonn: Ludwig van Beethoven, Werke, ed. by Joseph Schmidt-Grg (1961- ). The important works for the most part have opus numbers allocated by Beethoven himself. Lists of those of Beethoven's works without opus numbers (Werke ohne Opuszahl) may be found in the catalogs of Kinsky and Hess: Georg Kinsky, Das Werk Beethovens: Thematisch-bibliographisches Verzeichnis seiner smtlichen vollendeten Kompositionen, ed. by Hans Halm (1955), supplemented by Kurt Dorfmller (ed.), Beitrge zur Beethoven-Bibliographie: Studien und Materialen zum Werkverzeichnis von Kinsky-Halm (1979); and Willy Hess, Verzeichnis der nicht in der Gesamtausgabe verffentlichten Werke Ludwig van Beethovens (1957). None of the above is complete in its information. Alan Tyson, The Authentic English Editions of Beethoven (1963), is a bibliographic study with facsimiles and musical illustrations; Kurt E. Schrmann (ed.), Ludwig van Beethoven: Alle vertonten und musikalisch bearbeiteten Texte (1980), is a compilation of texts of Beethoven's vocal works; a discography, with reviews, is The Recordings of Beethoven as Viewed by the Critics from High Fidelity (1971, reprinted 1978); a collection of facsimiles and transcriptions in modern musical notation is presented in Ludwig van Beethoven, Autograph Miscellany from Circa 1786 to 1789, ed. by Joseph Kerman (1970). Letters and conversation books The Letters of Beethoven, 3 vol., collected, trans., and ed. by Emily Anderson (1961), is the standard edition of Beethoven's letters; a selection from these has been issued, with additional notes by Alan Tyson, in Selected Letters of Beethoven (1967). New Beethoven Letters, trans. and annotated by Donald W. MacArdle and Ludwig Misch (1957); and Beethoven Letters in America, ed. by Oscar G. Sonneck (1927), are other selections. Also see Georg Schunemann, Ludwig van Beethovens Konversationshefte, rev. and enl. ed. by Karl-Heinz Kohler and Grita Herre, 8 vol. (1968-81). The Conversation Books represent Beethoven's only way of keeping contact with his friends after the onset of complete deafness; they represent mostly his friends' side of the conversation. A compendium is Ludwig van Beethoven, Letters, Journals, and Conversations, ed. by Michael Hamburger (1966, reprinted 1977). Life Alexander W. Thayer, The Life of Ludwig van Beethoven, 2 vol., ed. by Elliot Forbes (1964, reissued in 1 vol., 1973), is the standard biography, representing the third completed edition, revised and brought up-to-date, of Thayer's original work. It is, however, considerably condensed; and students are recommended to consult in addition the earlier American edition, The Life of Ludwig van Beethoven, ed. and trans. by Henry E. Krehbiel, 3 vol. (1921); and the German Ludwig van Beethovens Leben, 5 vol., ed. by Hermann Deiters and Hugo Riemann (1907-11, reissued 1917-23). Anton F. Schindler, Biographie von Ludwig van Beethoven, 3rd rev. ed. (1860; trans. into English by Constance S. Jolly as Beethoven As I Knew Him, ed. by Donald W. MacArdle, 1966, reprinted 1972), has the value of a detailed life written by someone who knew the composer intimately, and its errors and distortions of fact are corrected in some excellent annotations. Beethoven: Impressions of Contemporaries, ed. by Oscar G. Sonnek (1926, reissued 1967), is a useful anthology of opinions and accounts given by those with whom Beethoven came into contact. George R. Marek, Beethoven: Biography of a Genius (1969, reissued 1972), gives a balanced, readable, and convincing account of the composer's life without going into as much detail as Thayer. Editha and Richard Sterba, Beethoven and His Nephew: A Psychological Study of Their Relationship, trans. by Willard R. Trask (1954, reissued 1971), is a controversial exercise in posthumous psychoanalysis. H.C. Robbins Landon (comp.), Beethoven: A Documentary Study (1970; abridged ed. 1975; originally published in German, 1970), is a commemorative scholarly study, with documents and colour illustrations; Thomas K. Scherman and Louis Biancolli (eds.), The Beethoven Companion (1972), is an anthology combining biography, analysis, reminiscences, and letters; Martin Cooper, Beethoven: The Last Decade 1817-1827 (1970), includes an account of his medical history; Peter Ptschner, Das Schwarzspanierhaus: Beethovens letzte Wohnsttte (1970), is a description, with illustrations, of the composer's last home in Vienna; Joseph Schmidt-Grg, Beethoven: Die Geschichte seiner Familie (1964); and Joseph Schmidt-Grg and Hans Schmidt (eds.), Ludwig van Beethoven (1974), is a commemorative pictorial biography; Fritz Zobeley, Portrait of Beethoven (1972), is an illustrated biography based on contemporary research; Maynard Solomon, Beethoven (1977), is a psychoanalytical approach to Beethoven's life and music; Mundaneum, Beethoven: Biographies (1972), is one in a series of scholarly bibliographies prepared at the National Bibliographic Centre of Belgium. Studies of the music Donald F. Tovey, Beethoven, ed. by Hubert J. Foss (1944, reprinted 1975), is a series of penetrating essays on various aspects of Beethoven's work; it was intended to form the basis of a full study, which the author never lived to complete. Equally valuable is his Companion to Beethoven's Pianoforte Sonatas (1931, reprinted 1976), which provides a close structural analysis of all 32 works. Eric Blom, Beethoven's Pianoforte Sonatas Discussed (1938, reissued 1968), is compiled from a set of notes written for the famous recordings made by Artur Schnabel. Carl Czerny, On the Proper Performance of All Beethoven's Works for the Piano (1970), is a work by a great pianist and teacher, edited by another great pianist, Paul Badura-Skoda; Kenneth Drake, The Sonatas of Beethoven As He Played and Taught Them (1972, reprinted 1981), is an interpretative analysis of the sonatas; Wilfrid Mellers, Beethoven and the Voice of God (1983), is also devoted to the piano sonatas. See also William Newman, Performance Practices in Beethoven's Piano Sonatas (1971); and Rudolph R. Reti, Thematic Patterns in Sonatas of Beethoven (1967). Joseph Kerman, The Beethoven Quartets (1967, reprinted 1982), offers a comprehensive and stimulating treatment of the music.Philip Radcliffe, Beethoven's String Quartets, 2nd ed. (1978), is a shorter study but very concentrated; Robert Winter, Compositional Origins of Beethoven's Opus 131 (1982), is another study of the string quartets. In the symphonic field Eorge Grove, Beethoven and His Nine Symphonies, 3rd. ed. (1898, reprinted 1962), is an established classic; Antony Hopkins, The Nine Symphonies of Beethoven (1981), is a later study that provides structural and harmonic analysis of every movement, with illustrations; Lionel Pike, Beethoven, Sibelius, and the "Profound Logic" (1978), is a comparative study. For a great musician's opinion, see Hector Berlioz, A Critical Study of Beethoven's Nine Symphonies, with a Few Words on His Trios and Sonatas, a Criticism of Fidelio, and an Introductory Essay on Music (1913, reprinted 1976), a translated selection from the author's Travers Chants (1898). The only Beethoven opera is discussed in the English National Opera guide Fidelio (1980), which includes the libretto in the original German, an English translation, a critical essay, and a bibliography and discography. Irving Singer, Mozart and Beethoven: The Concept of Love in Their Operas (1977), explores moral, aesthetic, and erotic concepts in the music of the Romantic composer. Robert Winter and Bruce Carr (eds.), Beethoven, Performers, and Critics (1980), is the material of the International Beethoven Congress of 1977. Alan Tyson (ed.), Beethoven Studies (1973), Beethoven Studies 2 (1977), and Beethoven Studies 3 (1982), are collections of scholarly essays on the composer's music and life. Irving Kolodin, The Interior Beethoven: A Biography of the Music (1975), explores the development of Beethoven's musical ideas and their influence on others. David B. Green, Temporal Processes in Beethoven's Music (1981), examines musical form and aesthetics. Denis Arnold and Nigel Fortune (eds.), The Beethoven Reader (1971), is a collection of essays. Charles Rosen, The Classical Style, rev. ed. (1976), is a blend of musical, literary, and art criticism; Gerald Abraham (ed.), The Age of Beethoven: 1790-1830 (1982), is a history of the music of the period. Paul Nettl, Beethoven Encyclopedia (1956, reprinted 1975 as Beethoven Handbook), is a reference source. Donald W. MacArdle, Beethoven Abstracts (1973), provides an index to and summarizes the Beethoven literature. Major Works: Orchestral music Symphonies No. 1 in C Major, op. 21 (1800); No. 2 in D Major, op. 36 (1802); No. 3 in E Flat Major, op. 55 (Eroica; 1804); No. 4 in B Flat Major, op. 60 (1806); No. 5 in C Minor, op. 67 (1808); No. 6 in F Major, op. 68 (Pastoral; 1808); No. 7 in A Major, op. 92 (1812); No. 8 in F Major, op. 93 (1812); No. 9 in D Minor, op. 125 (Choral; 1824). Wellington's Victory, op. 91 (also known as The Battle of Vitoria and the Battle Symphony; 1813). Concerti (piano): "No. 1" in C Major, op. 15 (1798), "No. 2" in B Flat Major, op. 19 (in fact composed first 1795, revised 1798); No. 3 in C Minor, op. 37 (1800); No. 4 in G Major, op. 58 (1806); No. 5 in E Flat Major, op. 73 (Emperor; 1809). (violin): Violin Concerto in D Major, op. 61 (1806); Triple concerto in C Major, op. 56 (violin, cello, piano; 1804). Other orchestral compositions 2 romances for violin and orchestra; various overtures, including Coriolan, op. 62 (1807); Leonore No. 1, op. 138, 2, op. 72A and 3, op. 72B. Chamber music String quartets No. 1-6, op. 18 (1798-1800); No. 1-3, op. 59 (Razumovsky; 1806); op. 74 (Harp 1809); op. 95 (1810); and the late quartets (1824-26); op. 127, 130, 131, 132, 133 (Grosse Fuge, originally the finale to 130) and op. 135. Other chamber works Octet, op. 103 (winds; 1792); Septet (strings and wind; 1800); Sextet for Horns and String Quartet, op. 81B (1795); Quintet for Piano and Winds, op. 16 (1796); String Quintet in C Major, op. 29 (1801); 7 piano trios; 5 string trios; 10 sonatas for violin and piano, including Sonata in A Major (Kreutzer; 1803); 5 sonatas for cello and piano; sonata for horn and piano. Piano music 32 sonatas, including Sonata in C Sharp Minor, op. 27, no. 2 (Moonlight; 1801); and Sonata in F Minor, op. 57 (Appassionata; 1804); 3 sets of Bagatelles; 20 sets of variations; 4 rondos. Vocal music Missa Solemnis (mass in D major; 1823); Mass in C Major, op. 86 (1807); Christus am lberg (oratorio 1803); various smaller works for chorus and orchestra including Choral Fantasia, op. 80 for piano, chorus, and orchestra (1808); songs, including the cycle An die ferne Geliebte, op. 98 (1816), and Goethe and Gellert settings; Scottish, Irish, and Welsh folk-song settings. Theatre music One opera, Fidelio (1805; revised versions, 1806, 1814-the final version is the one usually heard today); one ballet, Die Geschpfe des Prometheus (1801); incidental music to four plays; Egmont, op. 84 (1810), Die Ruinen von Athen, op. 113 (1811), Knig Stephan, op. 117 (1811), Die Weihe des Hauses, op. 124 (1822).