One of the
acknowledged masterpieces of romantic music is Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony,
which finishes with the great Ode to Joy, Schiller’s verses about international
harmony set to a memorable and moving tune.
Even when poorly played, as when I saw it recently at Geneva’s Victoria
Hall, it’s an amazing work of great power, requiring an enlarged orchestra and
several choirs. Yet when it was
premiered on 7 May 1824 to a tumultuous reception, it is said that Beethoven,
his back to the audience, had to be turned around to see the applause which he
had been unable to hear, being totally deaf by this point in his life.
Born in Bonn, he was the son
and grandson of musicians, and was soon recognized as having innate talent himself. His upbringing was chaotic, his mother died, and his father's music teaching was brutal. Because his father was also a feckless
drunk, Beethoven looked after his two younger brothers and supplemented the
family income by playing in the court orchestra. By 13, he had published two sonatas and
attracted support from the Elector of
Bonn. Thanks to this assistance,
in 1792 Beethoven went to Vienna to study with Haydn. He quickly established a reputation as a
piano virtuoso, and from 1795 began publishing his own compositions, soon
earning enough from them to cover his living expenses. After 1800 there followed the works of his middle
period, known as his “Heroic” period, which comprised the great symphonies,
piano sonatas, the violin concerto and the opera Fidelio.
But aged 26, at
exactly the same time as his career began to took off, Beethoven began to lose
his hearing. As he explained to a
friend: "I must confess that I lead a
miserable life. For almost two years I have ceased to attend any social
functions, just because I find it impossible to say to people: I am deaf. If I
had any other profession, I might be able to cope with my infirmity; but in my
profession it is a terrible handicap."
He was not just hard of hearing, he also suffered from tinnitus,
a perpetual and distracting ringing in his ears. No wonder that his first thoughts were of
suicide, as he explained in letters to his brother. In the Heiligenstadt testament, written on 6 October 1802, he talks about his loneliness:
"O how harshly was I repulsed by the doubly sad
experience of my bad hearing, and yet it was impossible for
me to say to men speak louder, shout, for I am deaf."
But he changed his mind, and decided instead to dedicate his life to music: he had seven more symphonies to come at this point in his career. After 1811, he never played in public, and by 1814 he was totally deaf, unable to hear either music or speech.
"O how harshly was I repulsed by the doubly sad
experience of my bad hearing, and yet it was impossible for
me to say to men speak louder, shout, for I am deaf."
But he changed his mind, and decided instead to dedicate his life to music: he had seven more symphonies to come at this point in his career. After 1811, he never played in public, and by 1814 he was totally deaf, unable to hear either music or speech.
A side effect of
Beethoven’s deafness is that more is known of his everyday life than of those
of his contemporaries. If you wanted to
talk to Beethoven, you wrote down your questions or comments in a bound volume –
a Conversation Book – of which 400 were known to have been filled in, although
264 were later destroyed. The surviving Conversation Books give a unique
insight into his discussions with friends and colleagues.
Beethoven seems
to have been a rather irascible character.
He refused to play if people were not paying attention. He had no respect for rank. The Archduke Rupert was forced to announce
that the usual rules of court etiquette did not apply to Beethoven. But nevertheless, Beethoven had a close circle
of devoted friends who supported him. He fell in love with aristocratic ladies on several
occasions, but unfortunately as a commoner he had no hope of marrying one of them.
In the years
after 1816, Beethoven was sick and produced little. But he recovered, and another period of
amazing creativity followed, partly influenced by renewed study of Baroque
masters such as Bach and Handel. In this
last phase of his career, he composed the late string quartets, Missa Solemnis,
Diabelli Variations, and the Ninth Symphony – all while completely unable to
hear a note.
From 1825, when
he was completing the string quartets, Beethoven was again seriously ill. He died on 26 March 1827, following hepatitis. His funeral was attended by 20,000 people,
among then Franz Schubert, who was one of the torchbearers and who was himself
to die the following year. Ludwig van Beethoven's life may have been frustrating and troubled, but his work puts him into the first rank of composers, alongside Bach and Mozart.
Tom, you would probably like this book, The 9th Symphony. It gives the political and personal context of Beethoven's one piece of work and makes it the hub of a discussion on the effect of isolation on Beethoven's musical imagination. Even as a lay-person I could understand it. I began to play some of the random Beethoven CDs we have lying around. You can compare early Beethoven to Haydn and Mozart. You can see how he easily fit among his peers of his time. As Beethoven enters his middle period of his work progressively becomes deaf his music begins to differ. His solitary study of Bach and Handel, who were the old-timers, was something like going back to Dixieland Jazz when everyone else was playing Swing Jazz. Then at the point when he is truly deaf, in his later works you can see how he broke through the molds and ushered in romanticism. If you play the music of contemporary composers his late work it doesn't meld with the peers of his time for about 5 to 10 years. The book was an interesting relay of the positive contribution of the outsider and this time the outsider status conferred by a disability. In a sense Beethoven's deafness provided a creative isolation chamber. The book examines the question closely, but does not judge the loss of hearing as a tragedy or a triumph. It's a very fine, elegant line to tread and the book does it well. I highly recommend it.
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