1. Beethoven was stone deaf
Ludwig van Beethoven rose through the artistic ranks of Vienna at breakneck speed in the 1790s, hailed as the likely successor to Mozart. In his late twenties, though, he experienced the first symptoms of hearing loss. It was in 1802 that he faced up to the fact that it would be incurable - and considered taking his own life. Fortunately, he bounced back through dedication to his music. Around 1812-16 he used ear trumpets and later notebooks to aid conversation, plus some intriguing contraptions to help him compose at the piano. Recently it has been revealed that in fact he retained some hearing in his left ear until shortly before his death.
Immortal
2. He was uncouth, rude and ill tempered.
Beethoven, originally from Bonn, spent his adult life in Vienna and hated it. He loathed the aristocracy’s stuffy traditions, while conversely to them he was an eccentric foreigner. He had a Rhineland accent, dressed in modern garb and held not only an early admiration for Napoleon (this evaporated when Bonaparte made himself emperor) but also social ideals about liberty which would have seemed politically suspect, if not downright dangerous. Then, with his hearing worsening, he felt humiliated and began to isolate himself, but without explaining why - having previously been the life and soul of the party. It probably suited Viennese society, feeling snubbed, to regard him as rude and uncouth, not realising that he was stymied by circumstance. Later, when his deafness had worsened, did he shout? Probably.
He did have a hell of a temper and his fallouts were difficult to repair. There was no false modesty about him: he knew he was a genius and didn’t mind telling people so when they crossed him. “There have been and will be thousands of princes. There is only one Beethoven,” he scrawled in a furious note to an importunate patron.
3. No woman would fall in love with him.
Beethoven was not of noble birth, had no property, job or reliable income and was going deaf: hardly a great marriage prospect. Usually he was attracted to aristocratic women, whose families forbade them even to think of marrying a “commoner”. That doesn’t mean they found him unattractive. You only need to glance at some of today’s pop stars to see the sheer pulling power of musical talent and celebrity.
In his twenties, according to one of his friends, Beethoven was continually in and out of love, but quickly became bored with his girlfriends. A man of high-minded principles, he was determined never to have an affair with a married woman and once rejected outright a proposition from a famous beauty, recently married, to whom he had once been in thrall.
It seems, though, that someone seriously won his heart, the chief evidence being an unsent letter he addressed only to his ‘Immortal Beloved’ and kept for the rest of his life. Academics now believe there is a 90 per cent chance this woman was Countess Josephine Brunsvik von Korompa, whom Beethoven first met in 1799, when she became his piano pupil. This passion burst into flame in 1804-5 after she had been married and widowed; it was probably consummated in 1812, then staggered on at a distance, ending in earnest only in death: a long, intense and tragic tale.
4. He was a great composer because he suffered so much.
Beethoven was a great composer long before the worst of his suffering kicked in. If he had written only his Septet Op. 20 (1799) and his first 10-15 piano sonatas, he’d still be a great composer. Moreover, if he’d had a secure home base, instead of his habitual chaos, might he have won the time and mental space to compose, for instance, 18 symphonies instead of nine? He might not have written the same music, but something else instead, just as good and probably more plentiful. He might have lived longer too: his personal demons, stresses and strains contributed to his demise at 56.
The myth of the suffering artist is a cruel trope. Maybe it salves the consciences of those who let artists live in hardship to imagine that it is, in some weird way, for their own good. We should devise better societal structures to support creative artists: we’ve seen, this year, just how much we need their work.
5. His music is difficult and inaccessible…
“Ta-ta-ta DAAAA.” Has there ever been a more memorable musical idea than the start of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony? Time and again he creates music that you can’t forget even if you try. Even if he develops his themes with great technical sophistication, they are strong and simple in essence and can get straight under your skin. Some of his works seem “difficult” at first, especially those from his last years, but the more you hear them, the more you can appreciate their beauty and wisdom. Beethoven believed that art should be difficult, that we should have to make an effort on its behalf - otherwise what is the point? Yet he also makes his music so exciting, absorbing and moving that once you fall under his spell, he’s got you for life.
RELATED: 10 Things You Never Knew About Beethoven By Susan Lund
Beethoven was praised as an innovative composer from the age of 12. His father encouraged him to practise but threatened to ‘box his ears’ if he composed. While still a boy he rose at dawn to play the organ at his local church, giving the money to his mother. She died when he was 16. He looked after his two younger brothers, Caspar Carl and Johann, officially receiving half his father’s salary and a grain-allowance. The three brothers rescued their father from being arrested when he reeled home, drunk, after the death of his wife... to read more click HERE
