Born: Bonn, 16 December 1770, Died: Vienna, 26 March 1827

Without doubt, one of the true greats. Just awesome, man. Beethoven didn’t write as much as Mozart or Schubert, but what he produced is all worth listening to. (The stereotype has it that he sweated over every note in a way that Mozart didn’t. This makes light of Mozart unduly however; letters of his describe how he found the composition of works such as his later quartets very hard.)

I can recommend all of Beethoven’s symphonies but in particular, the third (Eroica), the fifth, the sixth (“Pastoral”), the seventh and the ninth (“Choral”). The last three piano concerti (nos. 3, 4 and 5), the Missa Solemnis, the triple concerto (for violin, piano and cello) and the string quartets are also all well worth listening to.

Apart from the triple concerto mentioned above, a wonderful violin concerto, and a Choral Fantasy for piano, orchestra and choir, I believe that Beethoven didn’t write any other concerti for orchestral instruments. Though this seems a shame, I suspect it was probably because he had little experience of other instruments. (Beethoven was primarily a pianist, having earned his living for a while in Vienna from performing, but did also play the viola). My own theory is that perhaps this came about because concerti for instruments for other instruments seemed unduly “light”.

Of course, one of the most famous things about Beethoven as a person was his deafness. I find it hard to imagine being able to compose music as wonderful as the Choral symphony whilst being unable to hear the music except in one’s head. There is an impressive, but rather sad, story about how Beethoven was encouraged to help conduct at a rehearsal for the Choral symphony. Even as the rehearsal finished, Beethoven was still conducting to the orchestra, and he had to be made aware that the musicians had finished playing.

Links: Deryk Barker has written a very comprehensive review of various Beethoven symphony recordings, which is worth looking at. There is a very extensive site (in French, English and Italian) at www.lvbeethoven.com. Another comprehensive site is Iulian Munteanu’s All about Beethoven.

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