Beethoven: Ludwig Van Beethoven and Late Period Essay

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Ludwig Van Beethoven was arguably, the most innovative and brilliant musician, not only of his time, but of all human history, and his music was largely, if not wholly, the product of the impact that his abusive father, his lack of a social life, his deafness and his near suicidal depression had upon his life. He was the first musician ever to support himself solely upon music composition, when most musicians at the time had to work menial jobs and have church sponsors for their music. Beethoven, without a doubt, gave us some of the most beloved music throughout history, and did it while conquering, surviving his past, present and uncertain future. His music formed a peak in the development of tonal music, and he was truly something to behold, as his music still is today, which was solely impacted by figures and events in his life.

Ludwig Van Beethoven was born in 1770 in Bonn, Germany where the seat of a Rhineland court was situated, and his ancestors were Flemish. His father was a tenor in an electoral music establishment, and attempted to show young Ludwig off as a musical child prodigy, like Mozart. His father was a man known to drink heavily and beat his son for not advancing as quickly as he would have liked. By the age of 12, Beethoven was a promising virtuosic keyboardist. It became obvious, however, that if Beethoven was ever to gain such fame as Mozart, he would have to leave Bonn and settle in a European Musical Capital.

Beethoven left for Vienna, the capital city of the Austrian Empire, in 1792. He was 22 years old and went to seek out Mozart as a teacher. Mozart was apparently too busy to receive Beethoven as a student and so, handed him off to Franz Haydn instead. What Beethoven received from Haydn could hardly be considered teaching, however, and Beethoven soon stopped going to Haydn for lessons and struck out on his own. Beethoven led a quiet, lonely life. The only company he had most of the time was his nephew, Karl. Karl lived with Beethoven after an ugly battle in court over custody of the boy. Different books disagree on who was the worse of the two, wether Karl was simply too much of a burden for Beethoven to handle, or if Beethoven was abusive of the boy. Either way, the two did not get along. Beethoven was never married, he lacked social savvy enough to woo a woman, and he became deeply depressed over his dilemma and was nearly driven to suicide. Towards his later years, Beethoven started to lose his hearing. It went slowly, and he was informed that nothing could be done to stop it. This yet again almost drove him to suicide, however, musicians and music lovers alike all rejoice that he did not commit suicide, as some of his best works came from his "Late Period," a period for most of which, he was nearly or
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