Beethoven Berlioz And Chopin
Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany in 1770 to
Johann van Beethoven
and his wife, Maria Magdalena. He took his first music
lessons from his father,
who was tenor in the choir of the archbishop-elector
of Cologne. His father was
an unstable, yet ambitious man whose excessive
drinking, rough temper and
anxiety surprisingly did not diminish Beethoven’s
love for music. He studied
and performed with great success, despite becoming
the breadwinner of his
household by the time he was 18 years old. His
father’s increasingly serious
alcohol problem and the earlier death of his
grandfather in 1773 sent his family
into deepening poverty. At first,
Beethoven made little impact on the musical
society, despite his father’s
hopes. When he turned 11, he left school and
became an assistant organist to
Christian Gottlob Neefe at the court of Bonn,
learning from him and other
musicians. In 1783 he became the continuo player for
the Bonn opera and
accompanied their rehearsals on keyboard. In 1787, he was
sent to Vienna to
take further lessons from Mozart. Two months later, however,
he was called
back to Bonn by the death of his mother. He started to play the
viola in the
Opera Orchestra in 1789, while also teaching in composing. He met
Haydn
in 1790, who agreed to teach him in Vienna, and Beethoven then moved
to
Vienna permanently. He received financial support from Prince Karl
Lichnowsky,
to whom he dedicated his Piano Sonata in C minor, better known as
The Pathétique
?. He performed publicly in Vienna in 1795 for the first time,
and
published his Op. 1 and Op. 2 piano sonatas. His works are traditionally
divided
into three periods. The first is called the Viennese Classical, the
second is
the Heroic, and the third is Late Beethoven. In the first period,
his
individuality and style gradually developed, as he used many methods from
Haydn,
including the use of silence. He composed mainly for the piano during
this
period. These works include Symphony no. 1 in C (1800), his first six
string
quartets, and the Pathétique (1799). His Moonlight Sonata in C# minor
(1801) is
known as the first of Heroic Beethoven. Beethoven learned that he
would become
deaf in 1802 and suffered sever depression. His composing skills
were not
affected by his deafness, but his ability to teach and perform was
inhibited. It
is said that he became deaf from his habit of pouring cold
water over his head
while composing, to refresh himself, and then not drying
his massive amounts of
hair afterwards. He wrote his only opera, Fidelio in
1805. The main theme of the
opera revolves around fidelity, which reflects
his personal desire to marry.
Other works in the Heroic period include
the Kreuzer Sonata (1803), symphonies 3
– 7, the Violin Concerto in D major
(1806), the Razumovsky Quartets (1806),
the Emperor Concerto (1809) and the
Archduke Trio, Op. 97 (1811). After 1813,
during his Late period, Beethoven
composed inwardly. He was totally deaf, as
this is sometimes known as the
"silent period." Some say that Beethoven was
composing music for a different
age. His life became more chaotic and he
composed less and less. In his
works, he used more miniaturization and
expansion. The music began to become
"odd" as he began to experiment with
the number of movements, contrast in
volume and dynamics, harmonic
predictability, sonata movements and trills in
his works. Beethoven became
increasingly argumentative as he was further
tormented by his deafness. Goethe
described his attitude as aggressive, and
perhaps understandable, but not easy
to live with. He gave his last
performance in 1814, on the piano, but continued
to be a respected composer
in Viennese society. Some of his late achievements
include the Diabelli
Variations (1820-1823), the last piano sonatas and six
string quartets, the
Mass in D major, Missa Solemnis (1823), the Choral
Symphony, no. 9
(1824), in which he set Schiller’s "Ode to Joy" in the
final movement. At
Beethoven’s death in 1827, Franz Grillparzer best described
him during his
funeral address when he said: "despite all these absurdities,
there was
something so touching and ennobling about him that one could not
help
admiring him and feeling drawn to him." Berlioz Louis Hector Berlioz was
born
on December 11, 1803, in La Cote-Saint-Andre, a very small town in the
east of
France, fairly close to Grenoble, and a little further from Lyon.
His father was
a very respected doctor, an openly declared atheist and also a
music lover. His
mother was a Catholic. He was brought up under strict
Catholicism as a boy, but
soon left the Church and claimed agnosticism for
the rest of his life. He
started musical education when he was 13. He took
flute (flageolet), vocal and
guitar lessons. He did not study the piano as a
child. In fact, his first
compositions were for piano, flute and guitar. For
his first 20 years or so, his
father was the main influence in his life. In
1821, his father enrolled him in a
medical school in Paris. After about a
year of study there, he became very
excited with the study of music. He
attended operas in Paris, which fueled his
love for music, and he soon
abandoned medical school and enrolled in the
Conservatoire under Jean-
Francois le Suer. He wrote his Missa Solemnis, but at
the time, he did not
have enough money for it to be performed, so it was
performed a year later.
His father agreed to keep his allowance unless he failed
in music, at which
time he would need to choose another field. But a year later,
he cut it off
anyway. His mother cursed him for choosing the evil life of an
artist. In
1827, Berlioz became a chorus singer at a vaudeville theater, as he
was a
very good sight singer. He did not publicize this, as it was mostly to
make
ends meet. He saw a production of Romeo and Juliet in September of 1827
and
fell in love with the Irish actress Harriet Smithson, but she thought he
was a
mad man. She became an important part of his life and music. That same
year his
father restored his allowance because he admired his son’s
determination and
worried about him. In 1828 he took English lesson so he
could read Shakespeare.
He wrote a few articles on music but soon lost
interest because of the
restrictions of journalism, and he found it to be
boring. Finally in 1830,
Berlioz won the Prix de Rome. During 1829-1830
he wrote his Symphonie
Fantastique, which he finished during the
revolution of 1830. He got his
symphony performed on December 5, 1830. It was
subtitled "Episode in the Life
of an Artist" and was performed in the Paris
Conservatoire under the direction
of Francois Antoine Habenack. To the score,
he attached his program notes, with
descriptions of every part of the song,
which helped to get a better idea of how
the song should sound. It was,
indeed, a wonder performance. After the concert,
Franz Liszt, who he met
the day before, was very excited about Berlioz’s music
and took him out to
dinner. They soon became good friends. He soon met Camille
Mokke, who was
out to prove her current admirer wrong by winning Berlioz over.
She did,
but he should have regretted it. The next year, he was to go to Rome
for his
obligation of winning the Prix de Rome. He stopped in Italy for a month
to
visit home. Now, of course, both of his parents were proud of his
successful
son. He soon left Rome to find Camille, who he had not heard from
in a month as
she was strutting around Paris. On his way, he got a letter in
Florence from
Camille’s mom that informed him that Camille would be
marrying someone else.
Camille had fallen in love with a rich, older
piano player, and Berlioz was
still a young musician. He left for Paris with
plans of a murder/suicide, but
during the long trip, he cooled off a little
and returned back to Rome. He
returned back to Paris in November 1832 and
moved into an apartment that had
just recently been occupied by Harriet
Smithson. When Berlioz learned of this,
his feelings immediately came flowing
back to him. He gave a concert of
Symphonie Fantastique and its sequel,
Lelio in December. He invited Harriet to
sit in a box and she attended. Her
career wasn’t going so well and she was in
financial hardship so she decided
to meet Berlioz. She saw him as a way out of
debt, so on October 3, 1833,
they were married. In December, he gave a
performance of King Lear, after
which Paganini gave him great praise, and they
developed a friendship.
Berlioz wrote a piece for him and turned it into Harold
in Italy. In 1834,
they had a son, Louis. Harriet’s acting career failed, and
her beauty and
health were fading fast. She soon began drinking and was turning
into a
shrew. Berlioz could not deal with her anymore, and moved out and took
a
mistress named Marie Recio, and opera singer. The next few years after
that, he
traveled a lot with success in Germany, Russia and London. He began
his memoirs
in 1848 and a year after that his father died. Between 1848 and
1855, he
traveled more with mixed results. In 1854, Harriet died. In 1855,
Berlioz was
appreciated and recognized as a great composer. His great works
were affecting
other composers and his Treatise on Instrumentation was
becoming a standard
textbook. In 1862, however, Marie died of a heart attack,
and in 1867, his son
died of yellow fever. In January of 1869, Berlioz became
very sick and was
bedridden. He died two months later. He is buried in Paris
today, with a square
bearing his name with an overlooking statue. Chopin!
Frederic Francois Chopin,
one of the greatest composers of all time, was born
in Zelazowa Wola, near
Warsaw on February 22, 1810. His father was a
Frenchman who had lived in Poland
for many years and his mother was Polish
and of noble birth. He loved to play
music, even as a small child. Before he
even knew how to write down his ideas,
he started to compose music. He took
piano lessons when he was 6 years old from
a Czech teacher named Wojceich
Zywny, who used to base his teaching on Bach and
Mozart. When he was 7,
his first composition, the Pollonaise in B flat major,
was written down by
his father, as well as some other dances, marches and
variations now lost. At
the age of 8, he performed at a public charity concert.
During his early
years in Warsaw, he loved to hear the premier artists of the
time perform.
His first published work, a rondo, appeared when he was only 15
years old. He
graduated from the lyceum at age 17, and he was recognized as the
leading
pianist of Warsaw and a very talented composer. After Chopin gave
two
successful concerts in Vienna when he was 19, he began writing works
designed
for his original piano style. In 1822, he finishes his studies with
Zywny and
begins private composition lessons with Josef Elsner. He enters
classes at the
Warsaw Lyceum the next year to further study classical
literature, singing,
drawing, music theory and harmony. By the late 1820s, he
had already won the
reputation as a piano virtuoso and composer. He toured
throughout Europe to the
acclaim of audiences and critics, alike. He made his
first visit to Vienna in
1829, where he played concerts and received
critical acclaim. The audience's
response was very favorable and Chopin was
impressed with the warm acceptance of
his music and pianistic abilities. The
following year, he performed the Concerto
in F minor with a small orchestra
for family and friends, then has its premier
in Warsaw’s National Theater on
March 17. In Vienna in 1831, he continues to
compose some Mazurkas and
Etudes, and attends the local opera and becomes very
involved in the local
musical life. According to some, the first sketches of the
1st Scherzo
and Ballade originated in Vienna. Poland then decided to revolt
against its
Russian rulers. As a result, the Russian czar put Warsaw under
strict
military rule, and Chopin decided to go to Paris, which was the center of
the
romantic movement in the arts. He fell deeply in love with the city in
1831,
and never again returned to Warsaw. He soon became a favorite of the
Parisian
salons, and the society elite. He gave lessons and concerts, and
publishers paid
well for his compositions. The French loved his genius and
charm, and he was
always in great demand as both a pianist and a teacher.
1833 and 1834 were very
productive years for Chopin. His works greatly
increased. Among them are the
Variations Brillantes, the Rondo op. 16,
and the Waltz op. 18. He completed the
Andante Spianato, Grande Polonaise
Brillante, and the Scherzo no. 1 in 1835. He
traveled to meet his parents and
continues on to Dresden and Leipzig where he
has a series of meetings with
Robert Schumann and Mendelssohn. He became very
ill during the winter months
of 1835, and writes his will and testament. In
1836, some of his greatest
works appear in print for the first time, such as
Concerto in F minor,
Polonaise op. 22, Ballade op. 23, Mazurkas op. 24,
Polonaise op. 26, and
Nocturnes op. 27. In late October of 1836, Chopin met the
novelist, Baroness
Aurore Dudevant, who used the pen name George Sand. He did
not at first like
Sand, but upon his return from London in 1837, their
relationship
intensified. They began a relationship that would prove to be the
most
influential and devastating events of his life. He published his Etudes
op.
25 and dedicated them to Countess Marie d’Agoult . In November he
wrote the
Trio from the Funeral March Sonata on the anniversary evening
of the uprising in
Poland. Chopin’s fame continuing in Paris, he gives a
concert in the Tuileries
at the court of Louis Philippe I, then at a concert
given by Valentin Alkan at
the Pape salons. In 1840, as his illness
progresses, he continues to give piano
lessons to members of the aristocracy.
It was the fashion among the ladies and
girls of Paris society to be known as
a pupil of Chopin. He published Sonata op.
35, Impromptu op. 36, Nocturne
op. 37, Ballade op. 38, Scherzo op. 39,
Polonaises op. 40, Mazurkas op.
41 and the Waltz op. 42 during the summer of
1840. His reputation only
increased as his health worsened. In 1843, he and Sand
go to Nohant in the
summer where he works on the Nocturnes op. 55 and the
Mazurkas op. 56.
There he composed the Sonata op. 58 and the Berceuse in the
summer and
autumn. He composes and corresponds with friends and family as his
health
continued to deteriorate in 1845. He attended concerts in Paris and
receives
visits from Delacroix and Mickiewicz. He composed the Mazurkas op. 59
and
completed the Sonata for cello, the Barcarolle and the
Polonaise-Fantasie.
By 1847, Chopin’s highly-charged relationship with
Sand had ended, leaving
Chopin heartbroken. On February of 1848, Chopin
played his last concert in Paris
at the Pleyel salon. He performed some of
the preludes, mazurkas, waltzes, the
Berceuse, the Barcarolle, and with
Auguste Franchomme his own cello sonata. A
few days after, the February
revolution broke out in Paris, reducing the number
of lessons and affecting
Chopin’s livelihood. He then traveled to England and
stayed there for 7
months, giving concerts in salons and public halls. He
continued to give
lessons to the aristocracy there, and also met Queen Victoria,
Charles
Dickens and Lady Byron. He then goes to Scotland and composes the Waltz
in B
minor. In November of 1848, he returns to London, very ill. In 1949,
Chopin
stops teaching and visits the sick Mickiewicz. He receives numerous
visits from
friends, pupils and ladies, and Delacroix is a regular visitor.
The Mazurka in F
minor, his last work dates from the summer of 1849. He is
visited by his sister
Ludwika with her daughter and husband. He orders
them to throw all of his
unpublished and uncompleted works into the fire.
"You will find many works,
more or less worth of me; in the name of the
affection which you hold for me,
please burn them all apart from the
beginning of my method for piano. The rest,
without any exception, must be
consumed by fire, for I have too much respect for
my public and I do not want
all the pieces unworthy of my public to be
distributed on my responsibility
under my name." Soon after 2:00 AM on October
17, 1849, Chopin dies. On
the 30th of October, Preludes in E minor and B minor,
and also his Requiem
were performed at his funeral by his wishes. His heart was
taken to Warsaw
and placed in the Holy Cross Church according to his wishes.