Beethoven and his contemporaries
Encyclopedia
During the course of his lifetime (1770–1827), the composer Ludwig van Beethoven
enjoyed relationships with many of his musical contemporaries. Beethoven was famously difficult to get along with, and the history of his relationships with contemporaries is littered with arguments, misunderstandings, and reconciliations. Beethoven had well-known falling outs with his one-time teacher
, Joseph Haydn
, with the piano virtuoso
and composer Johann Nepomuk Hummel
, and the German composer Carl Maria von Weber
.
n composer Joseph Haydn
. Beethoven studied with a number of composers and teachers in the period 1792–1795, including Antonio Salieri
and Johann Georg Albrechtsberger
. However, of all Beethoven's teachers, Haydn enjoyed the greatest reputation having just returned from his first successful voyage to London. Possibly as early as his first trip to London in 1790, Haydn agreed to take on Beethoven as a student.
There is evidence that Haydn assigned his student composition exercises based on the Fux text Gradus ad Parnassum. During the course of the year, however, the relationship between the two men soured. According to contemporary accounts, the issue surfaced most notably upon the publication of Beethoven's first compositions, the Opus 1 piano trios
. Wishing to assist the young composer, Haydn suggested that Beethoven include the phrase 'pupil of Haydn' underneath his name in order to garner advantage from Haydn's considerable fame. There is generally strong evidence of Haydn's goodwill toward Beethoven, including an interest in taking his pupil with him on his second London voyage, and the personal missives Haydn sent to Beethoven's early patron, Maximilian Francis of Austria, Elector of Cologne.
Beethoven, however, seems to have harbored ill-will toward Haydn during some of his life. At the suggestion that he include the phrase pupil of Haydn, Beethoven bristled. According to the account left by Ferdinand Ries, "Beethoven was unwilling to because, as he said, although he had some instruction from Haydn he had never learned anything from him." The bad feelings produced by the Opus 1 Trios were compounded upon their first performance. Haydn, present in the audience, is reported to have recommended against the publication of the C minor Trio (Opus 1, no. 3) since he suspected the music would not gain public acceptance. Beethoven interpreted this as an indication of Haydn's envy and jealousy.
Despite this, however, Beethoven and Haydn remained on generally good terms until Haydn's death in 1809. Beethoven attended the concert in honor of Haydn's 76th birthday, and it is said that he "knelt down before Haydn and fervently kissed the hands and forehead of his old teacher.
Haydn's towering reputation in Vienna made it hard for Beethoven to be openly antagonistic. However, Haydn was also genuinely admiring of Beethoven's compositions, a trait that usually succeeded in earning Beethoven's goodwill.
In his renowned biography of Beethoven, Maynard Solomon notes that, in his later years, "Beethoven unfailingly referred to his old master in terms of reverence, regarding him as the equal" of Mozart and Bach.
, born in 1778, was a fixture in the Viennese musical world. A child prodigy and former pupil of Mozart
, Hummel was renowned for his incredible virtuosity at the keyboard and legendary prowess at improvisation. Alongside Beethoven, he was widely considered the finest performer of his day. For many years, Hummel enjoyed a close friendship with Beethoven.
Several incidents, however, marred their relationship. In one famous incident, Beethoven was invited by Prince Nikolaus Esterhazy II
to write a mass for his wife in 1807. Beethoven agreed and produced the Mass in C
, which was performed at the prince's estate in Eisenstadt
. Hummel was at the time the Kapellmeister
, having been appointed Haydn's successor to the Esterhazy court. The performance did not go well, and the prince is purported to have made a barbed remark to Beethoven afterwards. According to Schindler, Hummel laughed at the prince's words, compounding the always-sensitive Beethoven's feelings of humiliation and persecution. Beethoven promptly left Eisenstadt and carried the grudge for years afterward. This incident, however, likely did not prompt the eventual falling-out between the two men.
A more likely source of contention between them was artistic. Hummel was well-known for his keyboard arrangements of Beethoven's works, particularly his symphonies. Beethoven disliked Hummel's style of performance and composition, and, according to Ignaz Moscheles
, objected to Hummel's arrangements. Some time in the late 1810s, disagreement surfaced, the exact cause of which is unknown, but which may well have centered on discord over Hummel's arrangements of Beethoven's music.
Hummel spent most of the 1820s at the Weimar
Court, where he was a friend of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
, and did not see Beethoven again until a remarkable reconciliation took place between the two men at Beethoven's deathbed. Hummel, hearing of Beethoven's serious illness, travelled from Weimar to Vienna to visit his erstwhile friend. According to the account left by Hummel's then-student Ferdinand Hiller
, who accompanied his teacher, Hummel may have been motivated by more than compassion. Hummel solicited Beethoven's signature upon a petition he was taking to the Bundestag
in order to protect his compositions (and those of others) from illegal copying. All told, Hummel visited Beethoven three times while he was on his deathbed, the last being on 23 March 1827, just three days before his death, and was present at his funeral.
on the latter's voyage to Vienna in 1805. Cherubini, a longtime resident of Paris, was invited to mount a production of his opera Die Tage der Gefahr
(or Der Wasserträger) after the success of his 1791 opera Lodoïska
, which was staged by Emanuel Schikaneder
on 23 March 1803 at the Theater an der Wien
. Cherubini's time in Vienna was generally unhappy, but he did have the opportunity to meet Beethoven. Cherubini was in attendance for the first performances of Beethoven's opera Fidelio
, to which he reacted sneeringly. He also described Beethoven's piano style as "rough", and more famously the man himself as "an unlicked bear cub". It is remarkable, therefore, that Beethoven, normally so quick to take offense, named Cherubini as the greatest contemporary composer.
was born in 1797, and lived most of his short life in Vienna, during the height of Beethoven's popularity. He was exposed to Beethoven's music from an early age, and several of his works contain thematic resemblance to similar works of Beethoven. Even though both Schubert and Beethoven resided in the same city, and Schubert held Beethoven in the highest of esteem, they moved, for the most part, in different social circles for most of that time. Their first meeting was apparently in 1822, when Schubert, accompanied by the publisher Anton Diabelli
visited Beethoven. Schubert had dedicated a set of Variations on a French Song (Opus 10, D 624) to Beethoven, and wanted to present the dedicatee with a copy. Schubert was apparently nervous during the interview, and nearly lost all sense of composure when the older man pointed out a minor problem in the work. This story is recounted by Anton Schindler, and is of unknown authenticity, as Schindler is known to be an unreliable biographer of Beethoven. Schubert's friend Josef Hüttenbrenner claims that Beethoven was not home when Schubert called, and the variations were left with the house staff. However, Johann Friedrich Rochlitz, the publisher of the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung
, recounts an 1822 meeting of his with Schubert, in which Schubert claims to have discussed Rochlitz with Beethoven, and described other details of a meeting.
When Beethoven was on his deathbed in 1827, Schindler, to give Beethoven some distractions, gave him manuscripts for a number of Schubert's songs. Beethoven was, according to Schindler, astonished at the quantity and quality of what he saw, claiming that "Truly in Schubert there is the divine spark." Schubert would visit Beethoven on his deathbed more than once. On one visit, when Schubert called with Anselm Hüttenbrenner, Beethoven remarked, "You, Anselm have my mind, but Franz has my soul." Schubert would serve as a torch-bearer at Beethoven's funeral.
pianist Franz Liszt
performed in Vienna. It was said that the 53-year-old Beethoven gave him a kiss – the so-called Weihekuss, or 'kiss of consecration' – for his marvellous playing. This is unlikely to be true, as Beethoven was profoundly deaf by this time. A more reasonable account of the Beethoven kiss event is reported in the reminiscences of the pianist Ilka Horovitz-Barnay:
This story is somewhat more convincing, although Beethoven was just as deaf in 1822 as in 1823. It is possible, however, to speculate that Beethoven felt the vibrations of the piano with his hands as he is said to have been able to do, as well as observe Liszt's fingerings. Also, at the time it is meant to have occurred Beethoven was not residing in the Schwarzspanierhaus – but when Liszt told this story he was in his latter years, and his memory may have been a little foggy, if the story itself was not a confabulation.
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
enjoyed relationships with many of his musical contemporaries. Beethoven was famously difficult to get along with, and the history of his relationships with contemporaries is littered with arguments, misunderstandings, and reconciliations. Beethoven had well-known falling outs with his one-time teacher
Music education
Music education is a field of study associated with the teaching and learning of music. It touches on all domains of learning, including the psychomotor domain , the cognitive domain , and, in particular and significant ways,the affective domain, including music appreciation and sensitivity...
, Joseph Haydn
Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...
, with the piano virtuoso
Virtuoso
A virtuoso is an individual who possesses outstanding technical ability in the fine arts, at singing or playing a musical instrument. The plural form is either virtuosi or the Anglicisation, virtuosos, and the feminine form sometimes used is virtuosa...
and composer Johann Nepomuk Hummel
Johann Nepomuk Hummel
Johann Nepomuk Hummel or Jan Nepomuk Hummel was an Austrian composer and virtuoso pianist. His music reflects the transition from the Classical to the Romantic musical era.- Life :...
, and the German composer Carl Maria von Weber
Carl Maria von Weber
Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber was a German composer, conductor, pianist, guitarist and critic, one of the first significant composers of the Romantic school....
.
Beethoven and Joseph Haydn
Perhaps the most important relationship in Beethoven's early life, and certainly the most famous, was the young pianist's tutorship under the AustriaAustria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n composer Joseph Haydn
Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...
. Beethoven studied with a number of composers and teachers in the period 1792–1795, including Antonio Salieri
Antonio Salieri
Antonio Salieri was a Venetian classical composer, conductor and teacher born in Legnago, south of Verona, in the Republic of Venice, but who spent his adult life and career as a faithful subject of the Habsburg monarchy....
and Johann Georg Albrechtsberger
Johann Georg Albrechtsberger
Johann Georg Albrechtsberger was an Austrian musician who was born at Klosterneuburg, near Vienna.He originally studied music at Melk Abbey and philosophy at a Benedictine seminary in Vienna and became one of the most learned and skillful contrapuntists of his age...
. However, of all Beethoven's teachers, Haydn enjoyed the greatest reputation having just returned from his first successful voyage to London. Possibly as early as his first trip to London in 1790, Haydn agreed to take on Beethoven as a student.
There is evidence that Haydn assigned his student composition exercises based on the Fux text Gradus ad Parnassum. During the course of the year, however, the relationship between the two men soured. According to contemporary accounts, the issue surfaced most notably upon the publication of Beethoven's first compositions, the Opus 1 piano trios
Piano Trios Nos. 1 - 3, Opus 1 (Beethoven)
Ludwig van Beethoven's Opus 1 is a set of three piano trios , first performed in 1793 in the house of Prince Lichnowsky, to whom they are dedicated. The trios were published in 1795.Despite the Op...
. Wishing to assist the young composer, Haydn suggested that Beethoven include the phrase 'pupil of Haydn' underneath his name in order to garner advantage from Haydn's considerable fame. There is generally strong evidence of Haydn's goodwill toward Beethoven, including an interest in taking his pupil with him on his second London voyage, and the personal missives Haydn sent to Beethoven's early patron, Maximilian Francis of Austria, Elector of Cologne.
Beethoven, however, seems to have harbored ill-will toward Haydn during some of his life. At the suggestion that he include the phrase pupil of Haydn, Beethoven bristled. According to the account left by Ferdinand Ries, "Beethoven was unwilling to because, as he said, although he had some instruction from Haydn he had never learned anything from him." The bad feelings produced by the Opus 1 Trios were compounded upon their first performance. Haydn, present in the audience, is reported to have recommended against the publication of the C minor Trio (Opus 1, no. 3) since he suspected the music would not gain public acceptance. Beethoven interpreted this as an indication of Haydn's envy and jealousy.
Despite this, however, Beethoven and Haydn remained on generally good terms until Haydn's death in 1809. Beethoven attended the concert in honor of Haydn's 76th birthday, and it is said that he "knelt down before Haydn and fervently kissed the hands and forehead of his old teacher.
Haydn's towering reputation in Vienna made it hard for Beethoven to be openly antagonistic. However, Haydn was also genuinely admiring of Beethoven's compositions, a trait that usually succeeded in earning Beethoven's goodwill.
In his renowned biography of Beethoven, Maynard Solomon notes that, in his later years, "Beethoven unfailingly referred to his old master in terms of reverence, regarding him as the equal" of Mozart and Bach.
Beethoven and Johann Nepomuk Hummel
Johann Nepomuk HummelJohann Nepomuk Hummel
Johann Nepomuk Hummel or Jan Nepomuk Hummel was an Austrian composer and virtuoso pianist. His music reflects the transition from the Classical to the Romantic musical era.- Life :...
, born in 1778, was a fixture in the Viennese musical world. A child prodigy and former pupil of Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
, Hummel was renowned for his incredible virtuosity at the keyboard and legendary prowess at improvisation. Alongside Beethoven, he was widely considered the finest performer of his day. For many years, Hummel enjoyed a close friendship with Beethoven.
Several incidents, however, marred their relationship. In one famous incident, Beethoven was invited by Prince Nikolaus Esterhazy II
Nikolaus II, Fürst Esterházy de Galántha
Nikolaus II Esterházy was a wealthy Hungarian prince. He served the Austrian Empire and was a member of the famous Esterházy family...
to write a mass for his wife in 1807. Beethoven agreed and produced the Mass in C
Mass in C major (Beethoven)
Ludwig van Beethoven wrote his Mass in C major, Op. 86, to a commission from Prince Nikolaus Esterházy II in 1807. In fulfilling this commission, Beethoven was extending a tradition established by Joseph Haydn, who following his return from England in 1795 had composed one mass per year for the...
, which was performed at the prince's estate in Eisenstadt
Eisenstadt
- Politics :The current mayor of Eisenstadt is Andrea Fraunschiel ÖVP.The district council is composed as follows :* ÖVP: 17 seats* SPÖ: 8 seats* Austrian Green Party: 2 seats* FPÖ: 2 seats- Castles and palaces :...
. Hummel was at the time the Kapellmeister
Kapellmeister
Kapellmeister is a German word designating a person in charge of music-making. The word is a compound, consisting of the roots Kapelle and Meister . The words Kapelle and Meister derive from the Latin: capella and magister...
, having been appointed Haydn's successor to the Esterhazy court. The performance did not go well, and the prince is purported to have made a barbed remark to Beethoven afterwards. According to Schindler, Hummel laughed at the prince's words, compounding the always-sensitive Beethoven's feelings of humiliation and persecution. Beethoven promptly left Eisenstadt and carried the grudge for years afterward. This incident, however, likely did not prompt the eventual falling-out between the two men.
A more likely source of contention between them was artistic. Hummel was well-known for his keyboard arrangements of Beethoven's works, particularly his symphonies. Beethoven disliked Hummel's style of performance and composition, and, according to Ignaz Moscheles
Ignaz Moscheles
Ignaz Moscheles was a Bohemian composer and piano virtuoso, whose career after his early years was based initially in London, and later at Leipzig, where he succeeded his friend and sometime pupil Felix Mendelssohn as head of the Conservatoire.-Sources:Much of what we know about Moscheles's life...
, objected to Hummel's arrangements. Some time in the late 1810s, disagreement surfaced, the exact cause of which is unknown, but which may well have centered on discord over Hummel's arrangements of Beethoven's music.
Hummel spent most of the 1820s at the Weimar
Weimar
Weimar is a city in Germany famous for its cultural heritage. It is located in the federal state of Thuringia , north of the Thüringer Wald, east of Erfurt, and southwest of Halle and Leipzig. Its current population is approximately 65,000. The oldest record of the city dates from the year 899...
Court, where he was a friend of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath. He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long...
, and did not see Beethoven again until a remarkable reconciliation took place between the two men at Beethoven's deathbed. Hummel, hearing of Beethoven's serious illness, travelled from Weimar to Vienna to visit his erstwhile friend. According to the account left by Hummel's then-student Ferdinand Hiller
Ferdinand Hiller
Ferdinand Hiller was a German composer, conductor, writer and music-director.-Biography:Ferdinand Hiller was born to a wealthy Jewish family in Frankfurt am Main, where his father Justus was a merchant in English textiles – a business eventually continued by Ferdinand’s brother Joseph...
, who accompanied his teacher, Hummel may have been motivated by more than compassion. Hummel solicited Beethoven's signature upon a petition he was taking to the Bundestag
Bundestag
The Bundestag is a federal legislative body in Germany. In practice Germany is governed by a bicameral legislature, of which the Bundestag serves as the lower house and the Bundesrat the upper house. The Bundestag is established by the German Basic Law of 1949, as the successor to the earlier...
in order to protect his compositions (and those of others) from illegal copying. All told, Hummel visited Beethoven three times while he was on his deathbed, the last being on 23 March 1827, just three days before his death, and was present at his funeral.
Beethoven and Luigi Cherubini
Beethoven met the composer Luigi CherubiniLuigi Cherubini
Luigi Cherubini was an Italian composer who spent most of his working life in France. His most significant compositions are operas and sacred music. Beethoven regarded Cherubini as the greatest of his contemporaries....
on the latter's voyage to Vienna in 1805. Cherubini, a longtime resident of Paris, was invited to mount a production of his opera Die Tage der Gefahr
Les deux journées
Les deux journées, ou Le porteur d'eau is an opera in three acts by Luigi Cherubini with a libretto by Jean-Nicolas Bouilly. It takes the form of an opéra comique, meaning not that the subject matter is humorous, but that the piece is a mixture of spoken dialogue and musical numbers...
(or Der Wasserträger) after the success of his 1791 opera Lodoïska
Lodoïska
Lodoïska is an opera by Luigi Cherubini to a French libretto by Claude-François Fillette-Loraux after an episode from Jean-Baptiste Louvet de Couvrai’s novel, Les amours du chevalier de Faublas. It takes the form of a comédie héroïque in three acts, and was a founding work of rescue opera...
, which was staged by Emanuel Schikaneder
Emanuel Schikaneder
Emanuel Schikaneder , born Johann Joseph Schickeneder, was a German impresario, dramatist, actor, singer and composer. He was the librettist of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera The Magic Flute and the builder of the Theater an der Wien...
on 23 March 1803 at the Theater an der Wien
Theater an der Wien
The Theater an der Wien is a historic theatre on the Left Wienzeile in the Mariahilf district of Vienna. Completed in 1801, it has seen the premieres of many celebrated works of theatre, opera, and symphonic music...
. Cherubini's time in Vienna was generally unhappy, but he did have the opportunity to meet Beethoven. Cherubini was in attendance for the first performances of Beethoven's opera Fidelio
Fidelio
Fidelio is a German opera in two acts by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is Beethoven's only opera. The German libretto is by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly which had been used for the 1798 opera Léonore, ou L’amour conjugal by Pierre Gaveaux, and for the 1804 opera Leonora...
, to which he reacted sneeringly. He also described Beethoven's piano style as "rough", and more famously the man himself as "an unlicked bear cub". It is remarkable, therefore, that Beethoven, normally so quick to take offense, named Cherubini as the greatest contemporary composer.
Beethoven and Franz Schubert
Franz SchubertFranz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
was born in 1797, and lived most of his short life in Vienna, during the height of Beethoven's popularity. He was exposed to Beethoven's music from an early age, and several of his works contain thematic resemblance to similar works of Beethoven. Even though both Schubert and Beethoven resided in the same city, and Schubert held Beethoven in the highest of esteem, they moved, for the most part, in different social circles for most of that time. Their first meeting was apparently in 1822, when Schubert, accompanied by the publisher Anton Diabelli
Anton Diabelli
Anton Diabelli was an Austrian music publisher, editor and composer of Italian descent. Best known in his time as a publisher, he is most familiar today as the composer of the waltz on which Ludwig van Beethoven wrote his set of thirty-three Diabelli Variations.-Early life:Diabelli was born in...
visited Beethoven. Schubert had dedicated a set of Variations on a French Song (Opus 10, D 624) to Beethoven, and wanted to present the dedicatee with a copy. Schubert was apparently nervous during the interview, and nearly lost all sense of composure when the older man pointed out a minor problem in the work. This story is recounted by Anton Schindler, and is of unknown authenticity, as Schindler is known to be an unreliable biographer of Beethoven. Schubert's friend Josef Hüttenbrenner claims that Beethoven was not home when Schubert called, and the variations were left with the house staff. However, Johann Friedrich Rochlitz, the publisher of the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung
Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung
The Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung was a German-language periodical published in the 19th century. Comini has called it "the foremost German-language musical periodical of its time"...
, recounts an 1822 meeting of his with Schubert, in which Schubert claims to have discussed Rochlitz with Beethoven, and described other details of a meeting.
When Beethoven was on his deathbed in 1827, Schindler, to give Beethoven some distractions, gave him manuscripts for a number of Schubert's songs. Beethoven was, according to Schindler, astonished at the quantity and quality of what he saw, claiming that "Truly in Schubert there is the divine spark." Schubert would visit Beethoven on his deathbed more than once. On one visit, when Schubert called with Anselm Hüttenbrenner, Beethoven remarked, "You, Anselm have my mind, but Franz has my soul." Schubert would serve as a torch-bearer at Beethoven's funeral.
Beethoven and Franz Liszt
On 13 April 1823, the twelve year old HungarianHungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
pianist Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
performed in Vienna. It was said that the 53-year-old Beethoven gave him a kiss – the so-called Weihekuss, or 'kiss of consecration' – for his marvellous playing. This is unlikely to be true, as Beethoven was profoundly deaf by this time. A more reasonable account of the Beethoven kiss event is reported in the reminiscences of the pianist Ilka Horovitz-Barnay:
- "The most memorable time I experienced with Liszt was when he told me of his meeting with Beethoven. 'I was about eleven years old', he began, 'when my highly esteemed teacher CzernyCarl CzernyCarl Czerny was an Austrian pianist, composer and teacher. He is best remembered today for his books of études for the piano. Czerny's music was profoundly influenced by his teachers, Muzio Clementi, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Antonio Salieri and Ludwig van Beethoven.-Early life:Carl Czerny was born...
introduced me to Beethoven. He had long before told him about me and had asked him to hear me play. But Beethoven had aversions against prodigiesChild prodigyA child prodigy is someone who, at an early age, masters one or more skills far beyond his or her level of maturity. One criterion for classifying prodigies is: a prodigy is a child, typically younger than 18 years old, who is performing at the level of a highly trained adult in a very demanding...
and for a long time refused to hear me. Finally though he was persuaded by my indefatigable teacher Czerny and said: "Then for God's sake – bring the little rascal".
- "'It was one morning about ten o'clock when we entered the two small rooms of the Schwarzspanierhaus, where Beethoven lived. I was somewhat embarrassed – but Czerny kindly encouraged me. Beethoven was sitting by the window at a long narrow table working. For a moment he looked at us with a serious face, said a couple of quick words to Czerny but turned silent as my dear teacher signaled to me to go to the piano.
- "'First I played a small piece of RiesFerdinand RiesFerdinand Ries was a German composer.- Life :Born into a musical family of Bonn, Ries was a friend and pupil of Beethoven who published in 1838 a collection of reminiscences of his teacher, co-written with Franz Wegeler...
[Ferdinand Ries, another pupil of Beethoven]. When I had finished Beethoven asked if I could play a fugue by BachJohann Sebastian BachJohann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
. I chose the C minor fugueFugueIn music, a fugue is a compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject that is introduced at the beginning in imitation and recurs frequently in the course of the composition....
from Wohltemperiertes Klavier. "Can you transposeTransposition (music)In music transposition refers to the process, or operation, of moving a collection of notes up or down in pitch by a constant interval.For example, one might transpose an entire piece of music into another key...
this fugue?" Beethoven asked.
- "'Fortunately I could. After the finishing chord I looked up. Beethoven's deep glowing eyes rested upon me – but suddenly a light smile flew over his otherwise serious face. He approached me and stroked me several times over my head with affection.
-
- "'"Well – I'll be blowed" he whispered, "such a little devil".
- "'Suddenly my courage rose: "May I play one of your pieces?" I asked with audacity. Beethoven nodded with a smile. I played the first movement of his C major piano concerto [nr. 1Piano Concerto No. 1 (Beethoven)Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major, op. 15, was written during 1796 and 1797. The first performance was in Prague in 1798, with Beethoven himself playing the piano, dedicated to his student Babette Countess Keglevics....
]. When I had finished Beethoven stretched out his arms, kissed me on my forehead and said in a soft voice:
-
- "'"You go on ahead. You are one of the lucky ones! It will be your destiny to bring joy and delight to many people and that is the greatest happiness one can achieve"'.
- "Liszt told me this with great emotion; his voice trembled but you could feel what divine joy these simple words had given him. Never did Liszt – the human being – make a greater impression on me. The flamboyant man-of-the-world, the revered artist was gone; this great moment he had experienced in his childhood still resounded in his soul. For a little while he was silent – then he said quietly:
-
- "'This was the proudest moment in my life – the inauguration to my life as artist. I tell this very rarely – and only to special friends.'"
This story is somewhat more convincing, although Beethoven was just as deaf in 1822 as in 1823. It is possible, however, to speculate that Beethoven felt the vibrations of the piano with his hands as he is said to have been able to do, as well as observe Liszt's fingerings. Also, at the time it is meant to have occurred Beethoven was not residing in the Schwarzspanierhaus – but when Liszt told this story he was in his latter years, and his memory may have been a little foggy, if the story itself was not a confabulation.