Page 21 - Pastiche Vol 1 Edition 1 January 2019

One of the most recognised and influential of all composers of all times and a
crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in
Classical music, the German composer and pianist composed 9 symphonies; 5
piano concertos; 1 violin concerto; 32 piano sonatas; 16 string quartets; a
mass, the Missa solemnis; and an opera, Fidelio – witness the musical journey
of Ludwig van Beethoven.

Ludwig van Beethoven was born to Johann Cologne, eventually rising to become music
van Beethoven in Bonn, then the capital of director in 1761, and thereafter the pre-
the Electorate of Cologne and part of the eminent musician in Bonn.
Holy Roman Empire. Besides his father being
his first music teacher, he later had other At the age of 21 in November 1792,
local teachers: the court organist Gilles van Beethoven moved to Vienna, where he began
den Eeden, Tobias Friedrich Pfeiffer, and studying composition with Joseph Haydn
Franz Rovantini. Beethoven began his and gained a reputation as a successor of the
studies with Christian Gottlob Neefe - the recently deceased Mozart by studying his
Court's Organist in 1779 where he learnt work and writing works with a distinctly
composition and by March 1783 had helped Mozartean flavour. Instead of establishing
him write his first published composition: a himself as a composer, Beethoven rather
set of keyboard variations (WoO 63), and devoted himself to study and performance
soon began working with Neefe as assistant under Haydn, and studied violin under Ignaz
organist, at first unpaid in 1781, and then as Schuppanzigh, with occasional instructions
a paid employee from 1784 at the court from Antonio Salieri, primarily in Italian
chapel. His first three piano sonatas - vocal composition style. He got reputation as
"Kurfürst" ("Elector") for their dedication to an improviser in the salons of the nobility,
the Elector Maximilian Friedrich (1708– often playing the preludes and fugues of J. S.
1784), were published in 1783. As a teen, Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier in1793. By
Beethoven was greatly influenced by the 1794, a number of Viennese noblemen like
based on Enlightenment philosophy Prince Joseph Franz Lobkowitz, Prince Karl
introduced by Maximilian Frederick, and Lichnowsky, and Baron Gottfried van
also by the freemasonry ideas, as Neefe and Swieten recognised his ability and offered
others around Beethoven were members of him financial support. In March 1795, he
the local chapter of the Order of the made his first public performance in Vienna
Illuminati. Frederick impressed by his talent, where he first performed one of his piano
subsidised and encouraged Beethoven’s concertos, dedicated to his patron Prince
musical studies and employed him as Lichnowsky.
a bass singer at the court of the Elector of
Contd…

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