December 16 marked Ludwig van Beethoven's 242nd birthday. And, being a massive Beethoven fan, I wanted to do something to mark the occasion. So let's celebrate the great composer by taking a look at some of the Best of Beethoven Trivia:
-- Beethoven was born in 1770. When little Ludwig was old enough to start showing a talent for music, his father (a musician himself) decided his son was going to be a child prodigy. Of course, Beethoven actually was a child prodigy -- but it still wasn't enough for dear Dad. Determined to make his son appear as brilliant as possible, Johann Beethoven routinely told people that Ludwig was two years younger than he actually was. It was years before Ludwig himself discovered that he actually hadn't been born in 1772.
-- When he was about 18, Beethoven was lucky enough to travel to Vienna (the European center of music at the time) and meet his hero: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart later commented on Beethoven's musical performance to friends, saying, "Keep your eyes on him; someday he will give the world something to talk about."
-- Beethoven's eccentric personality was one of his most defining characteristics. He could be moody, arrogant, and insulting; or warm, good-humored, and compassionate.
-- He liked jokes, bad puns, and even pranks, and was known to sometimes be a chair-puller.
-- One of his most famous patrons was Prince Karl Lichnowsky. He once told the prince (who provided Beethoven with financial support, mind), "There are and there will be thousands of princes. There is only one Beethoven."
-- Beethoven was not the most desirable of customers. He went through servants and landlords as an alarming rate. At restaurants, he'd forget to pay the bill, wrote musical notations on the tablecloths, and once dumped a dish of veal and gravy over a waiter.
-- He wrote, among other things, nine symphonies, five piano concertos, 16 string quartets, 10 violin sonatas (plus five for cello and 30 for piano), and two masses.
-- "Ever thine. Ever mine. Ever ours. ..." Although he never married, Beethoven loved several women in his life. The most famous, though her identity remains a mystery to this day, is the "Immortal Beloved" to whom he wrote a love letter.
-- The great tragedy of Beethoven's life as a musician was his increasing deafness. He was hard of hearing and suffered from increasingly severe tinnitus (ringing of the ears). He famously carried around "Conversation books" (many of which survived to this day), asking those around him to write down their responses to him instead of speaking aloud.
-- Beethoven's Ninth (and final) Symphony had its premiere performance on May 7, 1824. (That's the one featuring the famous "Ode to Joy" chorus in the final movement.) By this time, Beethoven's hearing was virtually gone -- but he still insisted on conducting the concert himself. A second conductor, Michael Umlauf, stood beside him, and instructed the performers to disregard Beethoven's signals and focus only on Umlauf. Beethoven, for his part, continued to conduct with his usual enthusiastic vigor (even though much of his gesturing did not match the orchestra's actual performance).
That opening concert of the Ninth Symphony was unlike anything anyone had ever heard before. At the end of the performance, the audience leapt to their feet, cheering and applauding with wild enthusiasm, already calling for an encore. But Beethoven, his back to the audience, conducted onward, unable to hear the applause -- and lost in the world of music he heard inside. Finally, Karoline Unger, one of the sopranos, stepped forward and touched Beethoven's sleeve to turn him around ... so he could see the audience's joyous response.
Video: Ode to Joy flash mob
-- Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are space probes that were launched in 1977. (Stick with me; I promise this is related.) The probes were launched to explore the furthest reaches of our solar system, but they're also something of messages-in-bottles. Each probe contains a gold-plated copper "phonograph record" disk (along with instructions on how to play them), meant to be messages about humanity to any intelligent life that may run across them. The disks are etched with pictures of Earth, and contain samples of sound ... and music. Including a recording of the Fifth Symphony.
After a flash mob that awesome, it seems only fitting to find out that Beethoven's music has reached the stars.
Music:
- Beethoven's Last Night (album): The rock band Trans-Siberian Orchestra is mostly known for their rocked-out Christmas music releases. I much prefer this concept album for a "musical," featuring Beethoven, a deal with the devil, and the fate of his "lost" Tenth Symphony.
- Music collection of Beethoven (county library collection)
Films:
- Immortal Beloved: Starring Gary Oldman as the famous composer, this 2000 movie tries to answer the question of the identity of Beethoven's famous and enigmatic "Immortal Beloved."
- Beethoven Lives Upstairs: This charming (and family-friendly) little movie tells the story of ten-year-old Christoph, whose family has a most unusual and eccentric second-floor tenant.
- Copying Beethoven: Taking place during the last three years of Beethoven's life, the film opens with the composing of the Ninth Symphony. Ed Harris stars as Beethoven, with Diane Kruger as the copyist hired to help him complete his manuscripts.
- Fantasia and Fantasia 2000: These Disney classics feature works of classical music set to animated sequences. The first Fantasia film features the gods of Greek Mythology in Beethoven's Pastoral Sixth Symphony, while the Fantasia 2000 sequence has an exert from the Fifty Symphony featuring a battle ... of butterflies!
Books:
- Beethoven's Hair: DNA testing on a lock of Beethoven's hair revealed some startling theories about the composer's death and life. (Was later made into a documentary.)
- Beethoven As I Knew Him: A biography written by one of Beethoven's own students.
- Beethoven's Letters: Does what it says on the tin. This collection of letters, written throughout the composer's lifetime, offers a fascinating look into, as they say, the man behind the myth. (You can hear dramatic readings of some of those letters in this documentary.)
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