1. Ludwig Van Beethoven
Biography & Music
Fantasy for Piano Chorus & Orchestra
in C minor Opus 80

2. Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770 – 1827)
German composer, pianist and conductor. He is one of the most important figures in
all of classical music. His gigantic influence made an impression on nearly every
composer who came after him. He is considered the best of all-time composers.
The influence of Beethoven can be traced through art, literature and music. His
image as a composer and Romantic figure has been immortalized through the works
of later composers as well as artists. Sculptures, paintings, poems, and fictional
novels have been created through the inspiration of Beethoven.
Beethoven's stylistic innovations encompass two achievements. First, he brought the
classical form to its highest expressive level, expanding in formal, structural and
harmonic terms the musical idiom developed by predecessors such as Mozart and
Haydn.
Additionally, he proved immensely influential over the musical language and thinking
of the Romantic era, he was a source of direct inspiration for the music of
Schumann, Liszt, Brahms, Chopin, and Schubert.

3. He also continued the trend, towards larger orchestras and moved the center of the
sound downwards in the orchestra, to the violas and the lower register of the violins
and cello. He took choral music in symphonies to its highest level.
He expressed his creativity in several musical genres and although his symphonies
were the works that gave him international popularity, his piano and chamber music
had also a profound impact in the development of later classical works.
Beethoven published during his life a total of 138 works, including: 9 symphonies,
35 piano sonatas, 16 string quartets, 7 trios, 10 sonatas for violin y piano, 5 concerts
for piano & orchestra, one concert for violin & orchestra, one opera (Fidelio) and more
than 100 songs and lieder.
These works have been classified by “Opus” number.
After his death, 205 unpublished works were found, and they were assigned with a
new numbering system “WoO” (works without Opus number). One of the most famous
is the Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor “For Elise” (WoO 59).

4. Beethoven’s career as a composer is generally divided into three periods of gradual
progress.
The first period extends to the year 1800. at the beginning we see Beethoven under
the influence of his great predecessors, Haydn and Mozart, but progressing in rapid
strides towards independence of thought and artistic power. Examples of this period
are the Pathétique Sonata and the First Symphony, Op. 21
The second period, from 1800-1814, marks the climax of formal perfection. The works
of this time show the highest efforts of which music as an independent art is capable.
Examples of this period are his opera, Fidelio, the overture Egmont; the Concert for
Violin, Op. 61 and the Symphonies 2 to 8, amongst which those called the “Pastoral”
and the “Eroica” , deserve special mention.
The third period may be described as that of poetic music, a distinct poetic idea
became the moving principle before which the forms of absolute music have to yield.
Beethoven has, by the works belonging to this class, ushered in a new phase of
music, as will be later demonstrated in the history of classical music.
The best examples of this period are the Missa Solemnis and the unequalled master-
piece of symphonic art: The Ninth or Choral Symphony.
Piano Sonata in D minor - The Tempest
Opus 31 No.2

5. List of most famous Beethoven works
Opus SubOpus Name Dates Dedicated to Notes
13 Piano Sonata 8, in C minor: "Pathetique" 1797 - 1798 Prince Karl Lichnowsky
Sonata 5 for Piano & Violin
24 1800 - 1801 Count Moritz von Fries
in F major: “Spring”
Piano Sonata 14 in C-sharp minor Countess Giulietta The name was given by
27 2 1800 - 1801
“Moonlight” Guicciardi Ludwig Rellstab
28 Piano Sonata 15 in D Major: "Pastoral" 1801 Joseph Sonnenfels
Piano Sonata 17 in D minor
31 2 1802
“The Tempest”
Prince Ferdinand Initially was dedicated to
55 Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major "Eroica" 1803
Lobkowitz Napoleon Bonaparte.
Piano Sonata 23 in F minor: Count Franz Anatol
57 1804 - 1805
"Appassionata" Brunsvik
Concert for Violin & Orchestra
61 1806 Stephan von Breuning
in D Major:
62 Overture: "Coriolan" 1807 Heinrich Collin Text of H. J. Collin
Prince Lobkowitz &
67 Symphony No. 5 in C minor 1803 - 1808
Count Rasumovsky

6. Opus Name Dates Dedicated to Notes
Prince Lobkowitz &
68 Simphony No. 6 in F major: "Pastoral" 1807 - 1808
Count Rasumovsky
"Fidelio", Opera in 2 Acts, Libretto: Joseph Sonnleithner
72 1814
Includes its famous overture & Georg Friedrich Treitschke
Concert No. 5 for Piano & Orchestra Archduke Rudolph
73 1808 - 1809
in E-flat Major: “The Emperor" of Austria
Fantasy for Piano, Chorus & Orchestra King of Bavaria
80 1808 - 1809 Text: Christoph Kuffner
in C minor (Choral Fantasy) Maximilian Joseph
Incidental music for
84 Overture in F minor: "Egmont 1809 - 1810
Goethe’s tragedy
One of the most difficult to
Piano Sonata 29 in B-flat major: Archduke Rudolph
106 1816 - 1818 execute sonatas, according to
"Hammerklavier-Sonata" of Austria
Beethoven own words
Incidental music for the play By playwright
113 1811
“The Ruins of Athens” August von Kotzebue
Words based on
King of Prussia
125 Symphony No. 9 in D minor: "Choral" 1817 - 1824 ‘‘Ode to joy“
Friedrich Wilhelm III
of Friedrich Schiller
Belongs to his
WoO 59 Bagatelle in A minor “For Elise”
posthumous works

7. Contemporary Composers of Beethoven
Franz Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809)
Antonio Salieri (1750 - 1825)
Muzio Clementi (1752 - 1832)
Giovanni Battista Viotti (1755 - 1824)
Christian Kalkbrenner (1755 - 1806)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791)
Luigi Cherubini (1760 - 1842)
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827)
François Adrien Boïeldieu (1775 - 1834)
Daniel Auber (1782 - 1871)
Nicoló Paganini (1782 - 1840)
Carl Maria von Weber (1786 - 1826)
Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791 - 1864)
Ferdinand Hérold (1791 - 1833)
Gioacchino Rossini (1792 - 1868)
Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828)
Violin Concert in D major - Mov.3
Opus 61

8. Biography
The Beethoven biography starts with his baptism. He was baptized on December
17th 1770 at Bonn. His family originated from Brabant, in Belgium.
His father was a musician at the court of Bonn. His mother was always described
as a gentle, retiring woman, with a warm heart. Beethoven referred to her as his
“best friend.” The Beethoven family consisted of seven children, but only the three
boys survived, of whom Ludwig was the eldest.
At an early age, Beethoven, took an interest in music and his father taught him day
and night, on returning to the house from music practice or the tavern. Without a
doubt, the child was gifted and his father Johann, envisaged creating a new Mozart,
a child prodigy.
At the age of 7, Ludwig Van Beethoven gave his first public performance, at
Cologne, on March 26, 1778.
Soon Ludwig learned music, notably the organ and composition by renowned
musicians, such as Gottlob Neefe. Neefe recognized how extraordinarily talented
Beethoven was and not only did Neefe teach him music, but he made the works of
philosophers, ancient and modern, known to Beethoven as well.

9. In 1782, before the age of 12, Beethoven published his first work: Nine Variations in
C minor, for piano on a march by Earnst Christoph Dressler (WoO 63).
The following year, in 1783, Neefe wrote in the Magazine of Music, about his student.
“If he continues like this, he will be, without a doubt, the new Mozart.”
In June 1784, on Neefe’s recommendations, Ludwig Van Beethoven, was appointed
organist of the court of Maximillian Franz, Elector of Cologne. He was 14 years-old.
This post enabled him to frequent new circles, other than those of his father and
friends of his family. Here he met people who were to remain friends for the rest of
his life: The Ries family and the Von Breuning family, and the charming Eleonore,
Karl Amenda, the violinist, Franz Gerhard Wegeler, a doctor, and a dear friend who
also went to Vienna.
At home, little by little, Ludwig replaced his father. First of all financially, because
Johann, was less and less capable of keeping up his role at the court. The young
Beethoven felt responsible for his two younger brothers, an idea he kept for the rest
of his life, sometimes to the extent of being excessive.
‘‘For Elise“ - Bagatelle in A minor
WoO 59

10. Ludwig van Beethoven Musical Education
Prince Maximillian Franz was also aware of Beethoven music, and so he sent him
to Vienna, in 1787, to meet Mozart and advance further on his musical education.
The city of Vienna was, after all, capital of the culture and music of Europe.
However, the plan had to change, a letter called Beethoven back to Bonn, his
mother was dying. The only person in his family with whom he had developed a
strong and loving relationship with, passed away on July 17, 1787.
Five years later, in 1792, Ludwig Van Beethoven went back to Vienna, benefiting
from another grant, for two years, by the Prince Elector, again to pursue his
musical education. He never went back to the town of his birth. His friend
Waldstein, wrote to him, “you will receive Mozart’s spirit from Haydn’s hands”.
At Vienna, the young musician took lessons with Haydn, then with
Albrechtsberger and Salieri. He captured the attention of, and astonished Vienna
with his virtuosity and his improvisations on piano.

11. Beethoven’s Teachers
Franz Ries (1755-1846)
Ries was the young Beethoven's music violin teacher at Bonn, and one of those who
recognized his musical talent early, and did all he could to foster it. Franz Ries was
the leader of the Elector's orchestra.
A kindly, caring man, he was particularly solicitous of Ludwig's welfare after Ludwig's
mother died in 1787, almost certainly supporting him financially.
In 1789, Ries helped Ludwig draft the letter to the Elector which resulted in Johann
van Beethoven's retirement as court singer and half his pension being paid to
Ludwig. His son, Ferdinand (1784-1838) was a student of Beethoven at Vienna.
Christian Gottlob Neefe (1748-1798)
This composer was one of Beethoven's first teachers, notably of the organ and of
composition. Neefe arrived at Bonn in 1779 and in 1783, he wrote of Beethoven in
the "Magazine of music", "If he continues like this he will, without doubt, become the
next Mozart". Beethoven always recognized how much he owed to Neefe.
Concert No.5 for Piano & Orchestra – “Emperor”
Opus 73

12. Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Famous composer who taught Beethoven from 1792 to 1794, when Haydn had to
return to London. Haydn taught Beethoven counterpoint, amongst other things.
The relationship between the two men was variable, but Beethoven remained very
grateful to Haydn.
Johann Georg Albrechtsberger (1736-1809)
Beethoven's music teacher for about a year and a half in 1794 and 1795.
Albrechtsberger was renowned for his mastery of counterpoint. He followed on from
Haydn, even Beethoven was taking lessons from the two masters at the same time.
Antonio Salieri (1750-1825)
Beethoven studied with Salieri from 1800 to 1802. Salieri taught him singing,
essentially for the opera. There was little contact between the two composers
afterwards.

13. Beethoven in Vienna
In 1794, Beethoven composed Opus 1, the Trios for Piano. The following year, he
made his first public performance at Vienna (an “Academy”) whereby each musician
was to play his own work. Then followed a tour; Prague, Dresden, Leipzig, and
Berlin, before leaving for a concert in Budapest.
Beethoven made numerous acquaintances at Vienna. Everybody in the musical and
aristocratic world admired the young composer. These music-lovers were
Beethoven’s greatest supporters.
In 1800, Beethoven organized a new concert at Vienna including, notably, the
presentation of his first symphony. Although today we find this work classical, and
close to the works of Mozart and Haydn, at the time certain listeners found the
symphony strange, overly extravagant, and even risky. The genius of Beethoven,
who was still a young, new composer, was already pushing the established
boundaries of music.
In 1801, Beethoven confessed to his friends at Bonn his worry of becoming deaf.
At Heiligenstadt, in 1802, he wrote a famous text which expressed his disgust at the
unfairness of life, that he, a musician, could become deaf was something he did not
want to live through.
Symphony No.5 in C minor Mov.1
Opus 67

14. But, music made him carry on and he wrote that he knew that he still had many other
musical domains to explore, to discover, and to pass on to the world.
Beethoven, knowing that his handicap was getting worse and worse. He threw himself
into his greatest compositions; Sonatas for Piano, notably The Storm, Opus 31, the
second and the third symphonies, The Eroica and of course many more.
Beethoven wrote his third symphony in honor of a great man, Bonaparte. He was
seen as the liberator of the people, opening, from the French Revolution, a door to
hope. When the First Consul declared himself Emperor, Beethoven became enraged
and took out Bonaparte’s name from the score. On April 7th, 1805, the Eroica
symphony was played for the first time.
Meanwhile, Beethoven had finally finished his opera, Leonore, the only opera he ever
wrote. He wrote and re-wrote four different overtures. The name of the opera
therefore, changed to Fidelio, against the wishes of the composer.
November 20th 1805 was the date of the opening performance before a thin audience
of French offices. This was because Napoleon, head of the army, had captured
Vienna for the first time. This happened again in 1809.

15. In the years that followed, the creative activity of the composer became intense.
He composed many symphonies, and also the Coriolan Overture, and the famous
Letter for Elise.
He taught music to many young students, but also to some important personalities
like the Archbishop, Rudolph, brother of the emperor, who also became his student,
his friend, and eventually one of his benefactors.
In 1809, Beethoven wanted to leave Vienna, at the invitation of Jerome Bonaparte.
His long-standing friend, the Countess Anna Marie Erdody, kept him at Vienna with
the help of his wealthiest admires: the Archbishop Rudolph, the Prince Lobkowitz,
and the Prince Kinsky. These men gave Beethoven and annual grant of 4,000 florins,
allowing him to live without financial constraint. The only condition was that
Beethoven was not to leave Vienna. Beethoven accepted.
This grant made him the first independent composer. Before this, contract musicians
and composers alike, had became servants in the houses of wealthy aristocratic
families.
In 1812, Beethoven went for hydrotherapy at Teplitz, where he wrote his ardent letter
to “The Immortal Beloved.” This letter which was found in a secret draw with the
Heiligenstadt Testament, has not stopped the theories and suppositions of
researchers and biographers ever since
Symphony No.7 in A major Mov.2
Opus 92

16. Numerous women amongst his students and friends have been, in turn, proposed as
the recipient of this letter. Unless a new document is discovered, it is very likely that
the truth about this mysterious woman will remain a secret.
At the end of July 1812, Beethoven met Goethe, under the organization of Bettina
Brentano. These two great men admired each other, but didn’t understand each other.
Beethoven admired Goethe; he put to music several of his poems. He always
regretted not having been better understood by Goethe.
Then one of his benefactors, the Prince Lobkowitz, fell into financial difficulty, and the
Prince Kinski, died from falling off his horse. Kinski’s descendant decided to put an
end to the financial obligations towards Beethoven. Here started one of the
composer’s many attempts to save his financial independence.
The Czech, Johann Nepomuk Maelzel, took up contact with Beethoven. Inventor of
genius, and probable inventor of the metronome, Maelzel had already met Beethoven
and had created various devices to help Beethoven with his hearing: acoustic cornets,
a listening system linking up to the piano, etc.
In 1813, Beethoven composed “The Victory of Wellington,” a work written for a
mechanical instrument made by Maelzel, the “pan harmonicon”.

17. It was above all the metronome, which helped evolve music and Beethoven, who had
taken interest straight way, noted scrupulously the markings on his scores, so that
his music could be played how he wished.
Beethoven conducted the first public performance of his 7th and 8th Symphonies in
1814. This was also the time of the re-writing of Leonore as Fidelio, Beethoven’s only
opera. This work eventually became successful before the public.
Then the Congress of Vienna met, which brought together all the heads of state, to
decide the future of Europe after Napoleon. This was one of Beethoven’s moments of
glory. He was invited to play many times, bringing him recognition and admiration of
which he could be truly proud.
On November 15th 1815, Kaspar Karl, Beethoven’s brother, died. He left behind his
wife, whom the composer referred to as “The queen of the night” due to her bad
reputation, as well as a son, Karl, who was 9.
Here Beethoven’s life was to change dramatically. His brother had written that he
wished Karl’s guardianship to be exercised by both his wife and his brother, Ludwig.
Symphony No.9 in D minor Mov.4
Opus 125

18. Beethoven took this role very seriously, but the 45 year-old celibate, who could no
longer hear, found it difficult to live with and understand a child and then a young
man. This cohabitation was the cause of a new trial against the mother of the child,
a generation conflict and numerous troubles.
In 1816, Carl Czerny, future teacher of Franz Liszt, became Karl’s music teacher,
but didn’t find the talent in the boy who Beethoven hoped him to possess.
At this time he ended his cycle of lieder “To the distant loved one”, and drafted the
first theme for his ninth symphony.
Two years later, the Archduke Rudolph became Cardinal and Beethoven began
composing his mass in D. It was never ready for the intonation, but the work was
rich beyond compare.
The ninth symphony was practically finished in 1823, the same year as the Missa
Solemnis. Liszt, who was 11 years old, met Beethoven who came to his concerto on
April 13th. He congratulated the young virtuoso heartily who, years later, transcribed
the entirety of Beethoven’s symphonies for piano.

19. May 7th 1824 was the date of the first playing of the ninth symphony and despite the
musical difficulties, and problems in the sung parts, it was a success. Unfortunately it
was not financially rewarding
Then began the period of the last quartets of Beethoven music, which are still
difficult, even for today’s audience, who knows how to interpret his other works. He
started to compose his tenth symphony.
His Final Year
In 1826, Beethoven caught cold coming back from his brother’s house. The illness
complicated other health problems from which Beethoven had suffered all his life. He
passed away encircled by his closest friends on March 26, 1827. He was buried at
the Wahring cemetery, now Schubert Park.
The funeral rites took place at the church of the Holy Trinity. It is estimated that
between 10,000 and 30,000 people attended. Franz Schubert, timid and a huge
admirer of Beethoven, without ever having become close to him, was one of the
coffin bearers, along with other musicians. Schubert died the next year and was
buried next to Beethoven.

20. Beethoven’s Funeral – Painting by Franz Stober
Beethoven’s Piano Beethoven’s Tomb
at Bonn Museum in Viena

21. E N D
Reference:
http://www.lvbeethoven.com/ AVM 27.05.2012