Beethoven

No one can dispute that Ludwig van Beethoven was the greatest musician of all time. In fact, musical experts are the first to exclaim "Yes! He was!" when asked. Beethoven was not merely good, he was revolutionary: Ludwig carried us from one stage of knowledge (Classicism) to another, wholly new one (Romanticism). His effulgent compositions are ineffable.

I'm not well-versed in classical music despite having an ancestor, Johann Hummel, who was a famous composer. Taught by Mozart, Johann Hummel was a contemporary of Beethoven's. He played at Ludwig's memorial service. 

Beethoven was born in a small German town. A child prodigy at the piano, he soon moved to Vienna which was then music's world capital. Ludwig gained immediate fame as a pianist and started composing complex works. His compositions were initially traditional but later evolved with innovation. 

There are two things everyone knows about Herr Beethoven. First, the most well-known notes in music history are: Da Da Da Dumm, Da Da Da Dumm. These notes open Beethoven's Symphony No. 5. When I was a teenager somebody made a disco version of the symphony using these notes; it was a big hit ("A Fifth of Beethoven" [1976]).

The second commonly-known fact about Ludwig is his struggle with deafness. He began losing his hearing in his late twenties; it got progressively worse and plagued him during his thirties and forties -- the period of his greatest productivity. Deafness didn't interfere with his composing which he did by hearing music in his head but it did socially isolate him. For as long as he could, Beethoven hid being unable to hear, feeling it was shameful. When he couldn't hide it any longer he retreated from society and became very lonely. Ludwig suffered terribly for the rest of his life.

When Beethoven realized his deafness was worsening and unstoppable, he reached a crossroad. He hiked into a remote forest, thought deeply about his plight and wrote something called the "Heiligenstadt Testament." Essentially it is a suicide note. Framed in the form of a 10-page letter to his brothers the document explains why, if he kills himself, he did so. In it Ludwig expresses profound despair. Afterward Beethoven returned to town, stored the document with his private papers and kept it for the rest of his life. It was found prominently in his top drawer when he died at age 56. Nobody saw the document during his lifetime.

I understand what Ludwig described. I wrote a similar document myself two years ago while struggling with my blindness. Sharing Ludwig's shock at having one's life unexpectedly upended I grok the misery he experienced in the wake of such tragedy. Beethoven chose, as I did, to stay alive so he could share his extraordinary gift with the world. He believed he had a destiny for his musical genius. Ludwig stayed alive despite intense physical hardship because he found purpose in advancing humanity. Scholars say Beethoven wrote music "for future generations."

Recently I decided to deepen my knowledge of Beethoven's work. After watching several documentaries I purchased a boxed set of his entire oeuvre. There are 80 CDs in the box. Eighty! The box itself is over a foot long. It is beautifully decorated with paintings of Ludwig, scholarly analyses of his pieces and comprehensive listing of all compositions. Listening to the music I discovered gems not popularly known but extremely entertaining. They excite one's senses and stimulate one's mind. An example is his Piano Concerto No. 2 which he wrote when young and re-wrote several times.

Give Beethoven a listen. You'll be glad you did.