Ludwig van Beethoven, the struggler, the endurer of suffering, lonely and heroic? We have the tendency to create simple pictures of historical personalities, but be careful! One citation from the composer can already change our perspective about his music: “Last year I was improvising on the piano… I suddenly saw that the fools were crying. I ran away and never played for them again.”

How important it was to Beethoven that we view his art as “real” work! His compositions, particularly the late piano sonatas and string quartets, are pinnacles of Western music. But they are the result of long and difficult struggle. His mother died young, his father, who had beaten Beethoven into practicing for hours, succumbed to alcoholism. In spite of this, Beethoven became an outstanding pianist. At the age of twenty-three, the native of Bonn found a home in Vienna, along with financial support from aristocratic, art-loving patrons. And this was in spite of constantly changing apartments and embattled relations with his family and servants. When he was twenty-six, he started noticing the first signs of hearing problems, which would eventually turn him into an unsociable and suspicious man. But as he lost more and more of his hearing, his inner suffering was no longer what was important, but what he wanted to communicate to us. His gradual loss of hearing was a life-changing experience, but according to renowned Beethoven biographer Lewis Lockwood, “It had no lasting effect on his work.” His artistic striving was not directed toward his suffering, but toward surpassing, transcending human existence. Ludwig van Beethoven was a master builder who created architecture that resonates with the soul. His work still shines today in all its colors.


© Helmut Jasbar, ORF - Radio Österreich 1