Beethoven Essay -- Biography

Introduction Like many people of this time period Beethoven was affected by the French Revolution, the enlightenment and romantic periods; in 1789 the French Revolution was raging and people were dying. The French general Napoleon defeated France’s enemies and inspired Beethoven with ideas of freedom and equality. It was because those inspirations that Beethoven was going to dedicated his Third Symphony, Erocia which means heroic to him, that was until Napoleon decided to declared himself emperor, which made him so angry that he viciously scratched out the dedication. (Alvarez 2006-2007) He was also influence by nature and especially the country side. This is evident by his sixth Symphony, Pastoral which means simple country, below are the titles for each movement of this Symphony â€Å"Awakening of Cheerful Feelings upon Arrival in the Country,† â€Å"Scene by the Brook,† Merrymaking of Country Folk,† â€Å"Thunder Storm,† and â€Å"Song of the Shepard’s, Joy and Gratitude after the Storm.† Along with other musical composition Beethoven was a man of head of his time. He was a classicalist but he should have been a romantic. In fact it is because of him that the Romantic period of music was started. Just like Frank Schubert he drew on poets like Goethe and Schiller for his songs. Just the stirring emotions of his compositions gets my vote for being a romantic. Most biographers tend to divide Beethoven life into three stages. I will continue with this practice event though this is just summarized version of events that took placed due Ludwig van Beethoven’s Life. His career is divided into Early, Middle and Late Periods. Early general is thought to be from birth to 1802, the middle from 1803 to 1814, and the late period from 1815... ...Alvarez 2006-2007) There is much debate about what has caused Beethoven’s hearing loss. Since there wasn’t any hearing specialist during that time period the real cause may never be known. I have listed one theory below. Beethoven may well have had the specific form of immunopathic disease known as Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, which typically commences in early adult life with a fever accompanied by mental confusion. Typical symptoms are destructive rash ('lupus') and redness ('erythema') of the butterfly area of the face. Any of the immunopathic disorders may occur, notably colitis. The excellent life-mask of 1812 shows an elongated atrophic scar particularly suggestive of Lupus. The portraits clearly show flushing of the cheekbones and nose. Beethoven's high color was frequently commented on and may have aroused suspicions of heavy drinking. (Lane 2005)