Ludwig van Beethoven

Born
Bonn
Baptised 17 December 1770
Died 26 March 1827 (aged 56)

Vienna
Occupations
  • Composer
  • pianist
Works List of compositions
Parents
  • Johann van Beethoven
  • Maria Magdalena Keverich

Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 1770 – 26 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire and span the transition from the Classical period to the Romantic era in classical music. His early period, during which he forged his craft, is typically considered to have lasted until 1802. From 1802 to around 1812, his middle period showed an individual development from the styles of Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and is sometimes characterized as heroic. During this time, Beethoven began to grow increasingly deaf. In his late period, from 1812 to 1827, he extended his innovations in musical form and expression.

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Beethoven pushed the boundaries for what was possible to express on the piano. Compared to polished classicists like Mozart and Haydn, he wears his heart on his sleeve – Beethoven is rough, direct, passionate, and bold. He had more than his fair share of inner turmoil, ill health, and personal troubles. Still, he remained an optimist in the deepest sense of the word – his music can be an emotional roller coaster, but more often than not, it leaves you feeling uplifted.

Top Pieces:

Für Elise

The graceful, meandering simplicity of this slightly melancholy music never loses its charm. The opening phrase is one of the best known motifs in classical music.
Für Elise in A Minor by Beethoven piano sheet music

Sonata 8 (Pathéthique) in C Minor, Op. 13

In his eighth piano sonata, Beethoven’s bold, revolutionary approach to the piano becomes truly evident.
Sonata 8 (Pathéthique) Op. 13 in C Minor by Beethoven piano sheet music

Sonata 14 (Moonlight) in C-sharp Minor, Op. 27 No. 2

The soothingly beautiful sadness of Beethoven’s most beloved piano sonata can almost place a listener into a state of hypnosis.
Sonata 14 (Moonlight) Op. 27 No. 2 in C-sharp Minor by Beethoven piano sheet music

Sonata 23 (Appassionata) in F Minor, Op. 57

Beethoven’s own favorite piano sonata is dominated by a sense of anger and frustration – nothing can prepare you for the first movement’s violent outburst and crashing chords.
Sonata 23 (Appassionata) Op. 57 in F Minor by Beethoven piano sheet music

Sonatina 6 in G Major, Anh. 5/1

Beethoven’s most popular Sonatina is a lyrical, pleasant, happy work, with two moderately paced movements. A great piece for the early intermediate student who wants to get to know Beethoven’s style.
Sonatina 6 Anh. 5/1 in G Major by Beethoven piano sheet music

Biography

Ludwig van Beethoven’s (1770-1827) mother died when he was 16; because of his father’s alcoholism he became responsible for his two younger brothers. To stop the family’s money from being spent on drinking, Beethoven even went to his father’s employer to demand half of the salary. At age 22, Beethoven went from his native town Bonn to Vienna to study with Haydn. He established a reputation as a virtuoso improviser at the keyboard and managed to get support from the aristocracy in spite of his uncouth manners; the Archduke Rudolph later decreed that usual court etiquette did not apply to Beethoven.

Beethoven’s first opus, three piano trios, appeared in 1795 and had immediate success. Not long after this Beethoven began to lose his hearing, which not only made it hard for him to perceive music and to perform, but also intensified his antisocial tendencies. He even contemplated suicide but eventually made a resolution to continue living for his art. He then spent the following decade writing some of the most admired works in all music history, many of them expressing struggle and heroism. The first of these, his 3rd symphony Eroica, was originally dedicated to Napoleon – he erased the dedication when Napoleon proclaimed himself emperor. Beethoven became the most respected composer of his time, but his personal difficulties continued, including a series of failed romances. The realisation that he would never marry probably contributed to a period of depression and low productivity from about 1812. That year he wrote a famous love letter to a certain “Immortal Beloved”, the identity of whom remains unknown.

When his brother suddenly died, Beethoven became involved in a long struggle for the custody of his nephew Karl. However, towards the end of the 1810s Beethoven’s creative imagination triumphed once again over his troubles. The works of his late period are written in a unique, highly personal musical language where variation form and contrapuntal writing features prominently and large-scale forms are handled with complete freedom. In spite of his deafness, Beethoven managed to perform on a number of occasions; having conducted the premiere of the Ninth Symphony, he began to weep when he turned around and saw the tumultuous applause of the audience. Beethoven died on 26 March 1827, in the midst of a fierce thunderstorm – legend has it that the dying man shook his fists in defiance of the heavens.

Quotes by Beethoven

“Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy.”

“Do not merely practice your art, but force your way into its secrets; it deserves that, for only art and science can exalt man to divinity.”

“O you men who think or say that I am malevolent, stubborn or misanthropic, how greatly do you wrong me, you do not know the secret causes of my seeming. I sometimes ran counter to it yielding to my inclination for society, but what a humiliation when one stood beside me and heard a flute in the distance and I heard nothing, or someone heard the shepherd singing and again I heard nothing, such incidents brought me to the verge of despair, but little more and I would have put an end to my life – only art it was that withheld me, ah it seemed impossible to leave the world until I had produced all that I felt called upon me to produce, and so I endured this wretched existence.”

“The true artist has no pride. He sees unfortunately that art has no limits; he has a vague awareness of how far he is from reaching his goal; and while others may perhaps admire him, he laments the fact that he has not yet reached the point whither his better genius only lights the way for him like a distant sun.”

“What you are, you are by accident of birth; what I am, I am by myself. There are and will be a thousand princes; there is only one Beethoven.” (Letter to Prince Karl Lichnowsky)

“I shall seize Fate by the throat; it shall certainly not bend and crush me completely”

Quotes about Beethoven

“When I left out something in a passage, a note or a skip, which in many cases he wished to have specially emphasized, or struck a wrong key, he seldom said anything; yet when I was at fault with regard to the expression, the crescendo or matters of that kind, or in the character of the piece, he would grow angry. Mistakes of the other kind, he said were due to chance; but these last resulted from want of knowledge, feeling or attention. He himself often made mistakes of the first kind, even playing in public.” (Ferdinand Ries)

“His improvisation was most brilliant and striking. In whatever company he might chance to be, he knew how to produce such an effect upon every hearer that frequently not an eye remained dry, while many would break out into large sobs; for there was something wonderful in his expression in addition to the beauty and originality of his ideas and his spirited style of rendering them. After ending an improvisation of this kind he would burst into loud laughter and banter his hearers on the emotion he had caused in them. You are fools! he would say.” (Carl Czerny)

Most popular pieces:

Für Elise A Minor 1810 5
Sonata 8 (Pathéthique) Op. 13 C Minor 1798 8+
Sonata 14 (Moonlight) Op. 27 No. 2 C-sharp Minor 1801 8+
Sonata 23 (Appassionata) Op. 57 F Minor 1805 8+
Sonatina 6 Anh. 5/1 G Major 3

All pieces:

Concertos

Piano Concerto 1 Op. 15 C Major 1797 8+
Piano Concerto 2 Op. 19 B-flat Major 1798 8+
Piano Concerto 3 Op. 37 C Minor 1803 8+
Piano Concerto 4 Op. 58 G Major 1806 8+
Piano Concerto 5 Op. 73 E-flat Major 1809 8+
Triple Concerto Op. 56 C Major 1805 8+
Piano Concerto (arranged from the Violin Concerto) Op. 61 D Major 1807 8+
Choral Fantasy Op. 80 C Minor 1808 8+

Sonatas

Sonata 1 Op. 2 No. 1 F Minor 1795 8
Sonata 2 Op. 2 No. 2 A Major 1795 8+
Sonata 3 Op. 2 No. 3 C Major 1795 8+
Sonata 4 Op. 7 E-flat Major 1797 8+
Sonata 5 Op. 10 No. 1 C Minor 1798 8
Sonata 6 Op. 10 No. 2 F Major 1798 8
Sonata 7 Op. 10 No. 3 D Major 1798 8+
Sonata 8 (Pathéthique) Op. 13 C Minor 1798 8+
Sonata 9 Op. 14 No. 1 E Major 1798 8
Sonata 10 Op. 14 No. 2 G Major 1799 8
Sonata 11 Op. 22 B-flat Major 1800 8
Sonata 12 Op. 26 A-flat Major 1801 8
Sonata 13 Op. 27 No. 1 E-flat Major 1801 8+
Sonata 14 (Moonlight) Op. 27 No. 2 C-sharp Minor 1801 8+
Sonata 15 Op. 28 D Major 1801 8+
Sonata 16 Op. 31 No. 1 G Major 1802 8
Sonata 17 (The Tempest) Op. 31 No. 2 D Minor 1802 8+
Sonata 18 Op. 31 No. 3 E-flat Major 1802 8
Sonata 19 Op. 49 No. 1 G Minor 1797 6
Sonata 20 Op. 49 No. 2 G Major 1797 5
Sonata 21 (Waldstein) Op. 53 C Major 1804 8+
Sonata 22 Op. 54 F Major 1804 8+
Sonata 23 (Appassionata) Op. 57 F Minor 1805 8+
Sonata 24 Op. 78 F-sharp Major 1809 8
Sonata 25 Op. 79 G Major 1809 7
Sonata 26 (Les adieux) Op. 81 E-flat Major 1810 8+
Sonata 27 Op. 90 E Minor 1814 8
Sonata 28 Op. 101 A Major 1816 8+
Sonata 29 (Hammerklavier) Op. 106 B-flat Major 1818 8+
Sonata 30 Op. 109 E Major 1820 8+
Sonata 31 Op. 110 A-flat Major 1822 8+
Sonata 32 Op. 111 C Minor 1822 8+

Sonatinas

Sonatina 1 WoO 47 E-flat Major 1783 5
Sonatina 2 WoO 47 F Minor 1783 6
Sonatina 3 WoO 47 D Major 1783 6
Sonatina 4 WoO 50 F Major 1792 5
Sonatina 5 WoO 51 C Major 6
Sonatina 6 Anh. 5/1 G Major 3
Sonatina 7 Anh. 5/2 F Major 5

Variations

Nine Variations on a March by Dressler WoO 63 C Minor 1782 8+
Six Easy Variations on a Swiss Song WoO 64 F Major 1791 6
24 Variations on “Vieni amore” by Righini WoO 65 D Major 1791 8+
13 Variations on “Es war einmal ein alter Mann” by Dittersdorf WoO 66 A Major 1792 8+
12 Variations on a theme by Haibel WoO 68 N/A 1795 8
Nine Variations on “Quanto è bello l’amor contadino” WoO 69 A Major 1795 8+
Six Variations on “Nel cor più non mi sento” by Paisiello WoO 70 G Major 1795 8+
Eight Variations on “Ich hab’ ein kleines Hüttchen nur” B-flat Major 1795 8
Twelve Variations on “Das Waldmädchen” (a Russian Dance) WoO 71 A Major 1797 8+
Eight Variations on “Une fièvre brûlante” by Grétry WoO 72 C Major 1798 8+
Ten Variations on “La stessa, la stessissima” by Salieri WoO 73 B-flat Major 1799 8+
Seven Variations on “Kind, willst du ruhig schlafen” by Winter” WoO 75 F Major 1799 8+
Eight Variations on “Tändeln und Scherzen” by Süssmayr WoO 76 F Major 1799 8+
Six Easy Variations WoO 77 G Major 1800 7
Six Variations Op. 34 F Major 1802 8+
15 Variations and a Fugue (Eroica) Op. 35 E-flat Major 1802 8+
Seven Variations on “God Save the King” WoO 78 C Major 1803 7
Five Variations on “Rule Britannia” WoO 79 D Major 1803 7
32 Variations WoO 80 C Minor 1806 8+
Six Variations Op. 76 D Major 1809 8+
33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli Op. 120 C Major 1823 8+

Bagatelles

Bagatelle WoO 52 C Minor 1795 8
Bagatelle WoO 56 C Major 1804 4
Bagatelle WoO 60 B-flat Major 1818 5
Bagatelle WoO 61a G Minor 1825 3
Bagatelle Op. 33 No. 1 E-flat Major 1803 7
Bagatelle Op. 33 No. 2 C Major 1803 7
Bagatelle Op. 33 No. 3 F Major 1803 5
Bagatelle Op. 33 No. 4 A Major 1803 6
Bagatelle Op. 33 No. 5 C Major 1803 8
Bagatelle Op. 33 No. 6 D Major 1803 5
Bagatelle Op. 33 No. 7 A-flat Major 1803 7
Bagatelle Op. 119 No. 1 G Minor 1822 6
Bagatelle Op. 119 No. 2 C Major 1822 7
Bagatelle Op. 119 No. 3 D Major 1822 7
Bagatelle Op. 119 No. 4 A Major 1822 6
Bagatelle Op. 119 No. 5 C Minor 1822 6
Bagatelle Op. 119 No. 6 G Major 1822 7
Bagatelle Op. 119 No. 7 C Major 1822 8
Bagatelle Op. 119 No. 8 C Major 1822 7
Bagatelle Op. 119 No. 9 A Minor 1822 6
Bagatelle Op. 119 No. 10 A Major 1822 4
Bagatelle Op. 119 No. 11 B-flat Major 1822 7
Bagatelle Op. 126 No. 1 G Major 1824 7
Bagatelle Op. 126 No. 2 G Minor 1824 7
Bagatelle Op. 126 No. 3 E-flat Major 1824 7
Bagatelle Op. 126 No. 4 B Minor 1824 6
Bagatelle Op. 126 No. 5 G Major 1824 5
Bagatelle Op. 126 No. 6 E-flat Major 1824 6

Dances

Minuet WoO 217 F Major 3
Ecossaise WoO 86 E-flat Major 2
Allemande WoO 81 A Major 1793 3
12 German Dances WoO 8 N/A 1795 4
12 Minuets WoO 7 N/A 1795 5
6 minuets WoO 10 N/A 1795 4
12 German Dances WoO 13 N/A 1797 3
7 Ländler WoO 11 N/A 1799 3
6 Ländler WoO 15 N/A 1802 3
Minuet WoO 82 E-flat Major 1803 5
6 Écossaises WoO 83 E-flat Major 1806 5
Ecossaise WoO 23 G Major 1810 3
Waltz WoO 84 E-flat Major 1824 3
Waltz WoO 85 D Major 1825 3
German Dance WoO 8 No. 1 C Major 2
German Dance WoO 42 No. 1 F Major 1795 2
German Dance WoO 42 No. 2 D Major 1795 2
Minuet in G WoO 10 No. 2 G Major 1796 3
German Dance WoO 42 No. 3 F Major 2
German Dance WoO 42 No. 4 A Major 1795 2
German Dance WoO 42 No. 5 D Major 2
German Dance WoO 13 No. 6 B-flat Major 1800 3
Polonaise Op. 89 C Major 1814 8

Pieces for piano four hands

Sonata – for four hands Op. 6 D Major 1797 5
3 Marches – for four hands Op. 45 N/A 1803 8
Grosse Fuge – for four hands Op. 134 B-flat Major 1826 8+
Eight Variations on a theme by Count Waldstein – for four hands WoO 67 C Major 1792 8
Six Variations on “Ich denke dein” – for four hands WoO 74 D Major 1799 8

Symphonies – arranged for piano four hands

Symphony 1 Op. 21 C Major 1800 8+
Symphony 2 Op. 36 D Major 1802 8+
Symphony 3 (Eroica) Op. 55 E-flat Major 1803 8+
Symphony 4 Op. 60 B-flat Major 1806 8+
Symphony 5 Op. 67 C Minor 1808 8+
Symphony 6 Op. 68 F Major 1808 8+
Symphony 7 Op. 92 A Major 1812 8+
Symphony 8 Op. 93 F Major 1812 8+
Symphony 9 Op. 125 D Minor 1824 8+

Sonatas for Violin and Piano

Sonata 1 – for violin and piano Op. 12 No. 1 D Major 1798 8+
Sonata 2 – for violin and piano Op. 12 No. 2 A Major 1798 8+
Sonata 3 – for violin and piano Op. 12 No. 3 E-flat Major 1798 8+
Sonata 4 – for violin and piano Op. 23 A Minor 1800 8+
Sonata 5 (Spring) – for violin and piano Op. 24 F Major 1801 8+
Sonata 6 – for violin and piano Op. 30 No. 1 A Major 1802 8+
Sonata 7 – for violin and piano Op. 30 No. 2 C Minor 1802 8+
Sonata 8 – for violin and piano Op. 30 No. 3 G Major 1802 8+
Sonata 9 (Kreutzer) – for violin and piano Op. 47 A Major 1803 8+
Sonata 10 – for violin and piano Op. 96 G Major 1812 8+

Miscellaneous pieces

Andante WoO 211 C Major 3
Rondo Anh. 6 B-flat Major 8
Fugue WoO 31 D Major 1783 4
Rondo WoO 48 C Major 1783 5
Rondo WoO 49 A Major 1783 7
Allegretto WoO 53 C Minor 1797 5
Lustig-Traurig WoO 54 C Major 1802 3
Prelude WoO 55 F Minor 1803 6
Andante Favori WoO 57 F Major 1805 8+
Für Elise A Minor 1810 5
Turkish March B-flat Major 1811 8+
Allegretto WoO 61 B Minor 1821 4
Prelude Op. 39 No. 1 C Major 1804 8
Prelude Op. 39 No. 2 C Major 1804 6
Rondo Op. 51 No. 1 C Major 1802 6
Rondo Op. 51 No. 2 G Major 1802 8
Fantasy Op. 77 G Minor 1810 8+
Russian Folk Song Op. 107 No. 3 G Major 1
Russian Folk Song Op. 107 No. 7 A Minor 1819 2
Rondo a Capriccio (Rage Over a Lost Penny) Op. 129 G Major 1828 8+

Copy by : pianosintheparks.com

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