How did Beethoven change the face of music?

It’s impossible to overemphasise Beethoven’s impact on western culture – a god amongst composers, Beethoven single-handedly pulled classical music into the modern age with works that today still sound new. And what’s even more astonishing, was that his achievements were in spite of hug adversity throughout his life, from crippling deafness that plagued him from early adulthood, to unrequited love and the critics and audiences who simply weren’t able to understand much of his work. But the time of his death, Beethoven had defined a new cultural age and inspired revolutionary fervour, and his funeral was attended by more than 10,000 people. His music was to overshadow the whole of 19th-century music.

In his early twenties, Beethoven travelled to Vienna to study with Josef Haydn and Salieri, and quickly made a name for himself as a concert pianist. But it was while still in his twenties that he began to go deaf, and it was this that Beethoven railed against for the remainder of this life, as well as his desire to see mankind free of oppression. His deafness was, in many ways, symbolic of what he saw as an imprisoned society. And his early Symphony No. 3, the Eroica, is not simply a portrait of the life of a freedom-fighting hero, but the struggles against adversity. These two themes come up again and again in his work – Symphony No. 5, with its famous opening hammer blows of fate, the anguished Symphony No. 7, written during a futile love affair. And of course the awesome Ninth Symphony, with its enormous emotional sweep and epic vision of the future. Beethoven was so profoundly deaf that at the premiere he had to be turned around on the conductor’s podium to acknowledge what was, by all accounts, a riotous reception from the audience.

But circumstances never overwhelmed Beethoven’s ability to write music of the greatest originality and enduring appeal. His most popular works stem from what’s known as his middle period – the years before 1810, during which he composed works of extraordinary melodic and harmonic richness – the Fourth and Fifth piano concertos, the Violin Concerto, the Waldstein and Appassionata piano sonatas.

But it was after 1810, when Beethoven had all but removed himself completely from society, that he wrote his most profound statements – the final five piano sonatas, including the colossal Hammerklavier Sonata, the weird and wonderful Late String Quartets which contain the Grosse Fuge, a movement that still baffles audiences today, the Missa Solemnis and, of course, the Symphony No. 9. commissioned, incidentally, by the Royal Philharmonic Society in London.

At Beethoven’s death in 1827, the challenge to continue his legacy was almost unbearable for the composers that followed soon after – even today, it’s hard to think of a figure who so profoundly and permanently changed the face of music.

[mkkravist]

I find it hard to believe that Maestro Beethoven was a human being like the rest of us. I cannot marry the idea of him being a human with the unworldly work and legacy he created. What he achieved with the technology at the time and the physical handicaps he had really don't add up in any normal sense. What an extraordinary thing Beethoven was, is and will always be.

[continentalgin]

He exemplified our concept of the word 'genius.'

[wagner_]

Amazing description!! Thanks for share. I love LVB.

[markherron]

Happy Black 🖤 History Month Ludwig Beethoven IS BLACK 🖤 Blessings and Hugs

[roberthopkins]

More of a contrabution to humanity than Einstein.
After a hard day slog at work I dont want theory of relativity. I want something that soothes the soul. Beethoven ticks that box without a srcond thought.

[scotchwhisky]

This is too brief almost feels like disrespecting the composer.