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A house of music, hardship and love
Esther Williams
visits a music lovers’ treasure trove- Beethoven-Haus in Bonn In the 19th century, the house that is made up of two buildings was used as a restaurant. When the whole building complex was put up for sale and was in danger of being torn down, twelve interested citizens of Bonn founded the Beethoven House Society in 1889, bought the house and had it restored. Beethoven's life and works are excellently documented at this memorial site. An overview of his life and his compositional efforts can be viewed here. The museum also houses the viola he used to play in the orchestra, the organ manuals and a grand piano; identical to his original. A bust of Beethoven by Viennese sculptor Franz Klein, considered an accurate portrayal as it was made after the life mask, and the most famous Beethoven portrait of all times, painted in 1820 by Joseph Karl Stieler are also displayed together with smaller items from Beethoven's everyday life such as his ‘Moonlight Sonata’ manuscripts, his travel desk, etc. In the lecture room, music can be heard, as it must have sounded during the composer's time from the concerts that are played on the historical Hammerklavier built by Conrad Graf. Born on December 16 or 17, 1770, Ludwig van Beethoven was the second child of Johann and Maria Magdalena van Beethoven. When he was 12 years old, he was employed in the court orchestra, first as a substitute before becoming a regular organist and later also as a violist. He was thus able to contribute to the family’s finances. When his mother died in 1787 he was the sole breadwinner and bore this burden alone. Johann van Beethoven apparently tried to present to the public his talented son whom he compared to the likes of Mozart. In an announcement to the public of the concert on March 26, 1778 in Cologne, he knowingly misstated Beethoven's age as 6 years to attract greater attention to him. Beethoven's first compositions were published in 1782 (nine variations for piano on a March by Dressler), aided by his most important teacher in Bonn, the court organist, theatre conductor and composer Christian Gottlob Neefe. He still remained a friend of children and gave them piano lessons. In addition, he played regularly at the Church of the Minor Orders from the age of ten. Studies show that Beethoven left Bonn to study composition with Joseph Haydn in 1792. At the end of his studies he was supposed to return to Bonn as a court musician. However, the French occupation of the Rhineland in 1794 led to the dissolution of the electoral system and so Beethoven remained permanently in Vienna and never saw his hometown of Bonn again. Friends in Bonn presented Beethoven with an autograph album when he left. In it is an entry by Count Ferdinand Waldstein that wished him success in receiving "Mozart's spirit through Haydn's hands". It is to the Count that Beethoven later dedicated his Sonata Op.53m the ‘Waldstein Sonata’. In all, his work comprised a varied cycle of 32 piano sonatas. With "Wellington's Victory or the Battle of Vittoria, Op.91, Beethoven reached the zenith of his fame in 1813. 1798 saw the beginning of his hearing problems. Evidence of his deafness is clear from the ear trumpets that were of limited help and the note /conversation books that he used to communicate, an important source of Beeth-oven research today. The agony that Beethoven felt, not to mention the physical and psychological problems he faced, are revealed in his letters to his childhood friend: "…you can hardly imagine how gloomy, how sad my life has been during the last two years, my poor hearing has appeared to me everywhere as a ghost and I have fled - from the people." He opposed his fate with fervour as he continued, "…I shall grab my destiny by the throat, it certainly will not manage to overcome me completely." At the age of 30, Beethoven reported his growing difficulty with hearing and the distress it caused him to his friend Franz Gerhard Wegeler. A year later he wrote his famous "Heiligenstadt Testament" for his two brothers, amidst thoughts of suicide. One of Beethoven's romantic pieces, among the world's best-loved pieces of piano music was 'Moonlight Sonata', dedicated to his lady love Guulietta Guicciardi, whose identity remained a secret until after his death. His feelings for her went far beyond the relationship between a teacher and pupil. The Moonlight Sonata has through the years fired the imagination of listeners. Two miniatures with portraits of ladies and a love letter addressed to the "Immortal beloved" were discovered in his portable writing desk after his death. However, there is a fable surrounding its composition: Beethoven meets a blind girl sitting at a piano and stricken by her fate, he sits down at the piano and suddenly feels the rays of moonlight coming in through the window, weaving themselves into the notes he plays. He rushes home to write the Moonlight Sonata. In another version he watches how the moonlight is reflected on the features of a blind girl while he is playing for her and her brother. Three days before his death, Beethoven willed his entire estate to his nephew Karl with his handwriting showing his physical decline. Beethoven died on March 26, 1827. A death mask (displayed at the museum) was made 12 hours after Beethoven's death. Shortly thereafter, his skull was opened during an autopsy to investigate the causes of the composer's deafness. A watercolour painting by Franz Stober depicts about 20,000 mourners flocking to Beethoven's funeral on March 29, 1827. |
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