Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven

The late Pitts Sanborn wrote this booklet under the title Beethoven and his Nine Symphonies and stated in a short preface that it made no claim to originality and no secret of its indebtedness to the masterly treatises on the same subject. I have left Mr. Sanborns pages on the symphonies virtually intact and have only expanded the work a little by incorporating here and there matter about other major works of Beethovens, especially some of the concertos, overtures, piano and vocal works, besides certain of the greater specimens of his chamber music. Even if this procedure probably lends the booklet a patchy character, I have followed it in order to supply a rather fuller picture of the composers creative achievements. No more than my predecessor do I make the slightest claim to originality of matter or treatment, or deny my indebtedness to Thayer and Paul Bekker. Ludwig van Beethoven was born on December 16, 1770, at Bonn, then one of the most important cities on the lower Rhine. Though Bonn was German and Beethovens mother and his fathers mother were both Germans, he was of Flemish descent through his fathers father, a native of the country that eventually became Belgium, whence the van in the name. Louis van Beethoven, a tenor singer, went to Bonn in his youth and promptly became a court musician to the resident archbishop-elector. His son Johann, Beethovens father, was also a singer in the Electors employ, but he was a worthless fellow, who was fortunate, however, in having as wife a woman of character. Realizing that his son Ludwig had been born with uncommon musical talent, he had the child begin to study violin and piano very early with the idea of putting him forward as a prodigy, as Mozarts father had done. But 2 the young Ludwig was less precocious than Mozart and rebelled strenuously against the enforced training. However, he did appear at a concert on March 26, 1778. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 50242
Author: Sanborn, Pitts
Release Date: Oct 17, 2015
Format: eBook
Language: English

Contributors

Editor: Peyser, Herbert F. (Herbert Francis), 1886-1953