Ludwig Van Beethoven: A Mighty Olympian of Music
There are three basic reasons why so much attention has been paid Ludwig van Beethoven: 1) He wrote wonderful music that we never tire of; 2) He made many significant contributions to the technique of composition; 3) He defined music in an entirely new way.
''The great German composer who represents the fullest maturity (in emotional scope, in formal construction and in instrumental treatment) of the allied classic forms of the sonata, concerto, string quartet and the symphony.'' Thal is how Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians begins its treatment of Beethoven. The end of the same article includes six columns of bibliography--a listing that just begins to mention the incredibly voluminous material on this unique musician, whose death occurred 150 years ago on March 26, 1827.
There are three basic reasons why so much attention has been paid Ludwig van Beethoven: 1) He wrote wonderful music that we never tire of; 2) He made many significant contributions to the technique of composition; 3) He defined music in an entirely new way.
The first point is obvious but requires a brief consideration. After all, how many composers really stand the test of time without suffering periods of relative neglect and renewed popularity? Beethoven is probably the only composer truly appreciated, at least admired and honestly valued, during his lifetime. Sure, critics complained of one thing or another, but he was respected and looked upon as a major force in music while he wrote. And after his death this continued and continues to the present, each new generation marveling anew at his greatness. When it comes to Beethoven, tastes remain constant. Not so, Brahms, for example, who is also a great master, but currently in a state of relative unpopularity. And where is Mendelssohn, also a great composer not fully appreciated today? And of Beethoven's contemporaries, such big favorites (then) as Hummel, Spohr, even Weber, barely receive a hearing nowadays. Beethoven is there, like a Gibraltar, standing out prominently, noble and secure.
Musicians, students of music, and music historians will be more concerned with Beethoven's technical achievements than the average listener. In a word, he expanded just about every aspect of the compositional process, be it harmonic, architectural, orchestrational, whatever. He was an innovator, but not a revolutionary. His accomplishments rest clearly on the traditions he grew up in. There are precedents, foreshadowings, implications in works by Haydn and Mozart, his chief models. He simply carried on their work, which is not to minimize his originality and genius. Indeed, his achievements take on even greater import when seen in relation to music's evolutionary process altogether.
We customarily refer to the Viennese Classic composers: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven. There's justification enough for this. But we also see Beethoven among the Romantics, not in the generation of Chopin, Schumann and Liszt, but clearly not simply a forerunner, a man who suggested some of their later methods. Here Beethoven's position and significance reach epic proportions. For he was not the product of the social order that Haydn and Mozart belong to; he was the true product of the new order created by, or resulting from, the French Revolution. It is worth mentioning that Beethoven was probably the first successful free-lance musician, belonging to no court and accepting only those commissions that interested him. His personal life reflected the new scheme of things, and so did his music.
His lone opera, Fidelio, is symptomatic. Unlike the popular operas of the time, it deals with a very serious subject and extols the virtue of fidelity and the triumph of good over evil. (Beethoven could never understand why Mozart bothered with such an immoral subject as Don Juan, which he regarded as beautiful music wasted on a bad subject.) It may sound odd, but Beethoven's music has an ethical quality to it, a deep sincerity that perhaps defies definition but nevertheless can be perceived and understood.
Tied up with Beethoven's attitude toward his art is his desire to make its intent clear to the listener. Analysts would say that this reflects his personal striving to be understood and loved, especially because of the obvious communication problems he had on account of deafness. There is truth to this. But the fact remains, the Romantic composers spent a good deal of time and effort looking for "meaning" in music. For Haydn, music simply existed as music. For Schumann, music had "meaning" beyond just tonal organization. This aesthetic distinction is at the crux of the Classic-Romantic split, and Beethoven forms the crucial link between them. With Beethoven there can no longer be music without a meaning. It may be going too far to look for a program, or story, in each of his works, but can we really listen to the "Eroica" or the Fifth Symphony without being aware of a message? Beethoven gave himself away in the "Pastorale" Symphony, where each movement has a descriptive title, ''more an expression of feeling than tone painting,'' in the composer's view. And in the Ninth he simply gave in and set a text.
So Beethoven occupies a special place in musical-historic terms. He is at once the culmination of the Classic ideal, shared with his Austrian forerunners, and the motivating force of the Romantic movement, which simultaneously marveled at and was intimidated by him. Today we continue to admire, respect and love this giant, whose personal sufferings--and they were great--could not prevent his expressing in music the most exalted and sublime truths.
