Ludwig van Beethoven Free Sheet Music, Program Notes Recordings and biography

The Revolutionary of Music

In 1804, Ludwig van Beethoven prepared the title page for his monumental new third symphony. He had dedicated it to a man he believed was a hero of the people, a champion of freedom and revolution: Napoleon Bonaparte. But when his student Ferdinand Ries brought him the news that Napoleon had crowned himself Emperor of France, Beethoven flew into a volcanic rage. "So he is no more than a common mortal!" he roared. "Now, too, he will tread under foot all the rights of Man, indulge only his ambition... and become a tyrant!" Beethoven strode to the table, seized the title page, and scratched out Napoleon’s name so violently that he tore a hole through the paper. He rededicated the work, the "Eroica" Symphony, "to the memory of a great man." This single, passionate act reveals the essence of Beethoven: a man of fiery temperament and deeply held beliefs, an artist who shattered the old image of the courtly composer and forged a new one—the artist as a moral, spiritual, and revolutionary hero.

The Prodigy from Bonn

Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany. His father, a court musician and a harsh alcoholic, recognized his son's immense talent and was determined to create a new Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The young Ludwig was subjected to a brutal and abusive practice regimen, often being dragged from his bed late at night to play for his father's drunken friends. Despite his difficult childhood, his genius was undeniable. He became a virtuoso pianist and a vital member of the musical court in Bonn.

Conquering Vienna

In 1792, Beethoven moved to Vienna, the musical capital of Europe, to hone his craft. He briefly took lessons with the aging master Joseph Haydn, but the two strong-willed personalities clashed. Beethoven famously declared, "I never learned anything from him." He quickly made his name in the aristocratic salons of Vienna not as a composer, but as a ferocious piano virtuoso. His improvisations were legendary—powerful, emotional, and wildly original, often reducing his listeners to tears. He was a new kind of artist: not a powdered-wigged servant, but a proud, difficult, and utterly compelling genius who commanded respect.

The Heiligenstadt Testament: A Descent into Silence

Around 1798, Beethoven began to experience the first symptoms of what would become the central tragedy of his life: his progressive and profound deafness. For a musician, there could be no crueler fate. He was tormented by buzzing and ringing in his ears and grew increasingly isolated, avoiding social gatherings for fear that his secret would be discovered. In 1802, while staying in the village of Heiligenstadt, he fell into a deep despair and wrote a long, unsent letter to his brothers known as the "Heiligenstadt Testament." In it, he confessed his suicidal anguish but ultimately resolved to overcome his affliction and live on for the sake of his art. "It seemed impossible to leave the world until I had produced all that I felt called upon to produce," he wrote.

The Heroic Period

Having confronted his demons, Beethoven entered a period of astonishing, explosive creativity known as his "Heroic Period." He seemed to channel all his rage and determination into his music, expanding the forms of the Classical era to contain a new, unprecedented level of emotional depth and dramatic power. His works grew longer, louder, and more complex. It was during this time that he composed some of his most famous masterpieces: the Symphony No. 3 ("Eroica"), which revolutionized the symphony; the iconic Symphony No. 5, with its unforgettable four-note "fate" motif; the "Waldstein" and "Appassionata" piano sonatas; his only opera, Fidelio, a passionate story of justice and freedom; and his magnificent Violin Concerto.

The Late Period: A Glimpse of the Infinite

By 1818, Beethoven was almost totally deaf and had withdrawn from public life almost completely, communicating with friends via conversation books. In his final decade, isolated from the world, he entered his "late period," composing music of profound complexity, introspection, and spiritual transcendence. These late works were often considered incomprehensible by his contemporaries but are now seen as some of the supreme achievements of Western art.

This period produced the final five piano sonatas, the monumental Missa solemnis, and, most remarkably, the late string quartets. These quartets, particularly the towering Grosse Fuge, explore a musical and spiritual world of breathtaking originality. His final symphony, the Symphony No. 9, was another revolutionary masterpiece. For the first time in a symphony, he introduced a chorus and vocal soloists for a triumphant final movement based on Friedrich Schiller's poem "Ode to Joy," a radical call for universal brotherhood. At its premiere in 1824, the deaf composer had to be turned around by one of the soloists to see the thunderous, waving applause he could not hear.

Beethoven died in 1827 during a thunderstorm, and his funeral was a major public event, attended by an estimated 20,000 Viennese citizens. He had forever changed the idea of what music could be and what an artist could achieve, leaving a legacy that influenced every composer who followed, from Franz Schubert and Johannes Brahms to Richard Wagner.

Section 4: References and Further Reading

References and Further Reading

• Swafford, Jan. Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014.

• Solomon, Maynard. Beethoven. 2nd rev. ed. Schirmer Books, 2001.

• Lockwood, Lewis. Beethoven: The Music and the Life. W. W. Norton & Company, 2003.

• Geck, Martin. Beethoven. Translated by Anthea Bell. Haus Publishing, 2003.