The interior Beethoven, the private space Beethoven is a different Beethoven and the public space Beethoven, the concert hall Beethoven. And one of Beethoven's string quartets is said that this should never be played in public. These were pieces that...
The great composer's romantic life was much less successful. He gave piano lessons to many women of noble birth. In 1801, he dedicated the Moonlight Sonata to one of these aristocratic pupils whom he loved. Her name was Countess Giulietta Guicciardi....
It's in the Eroica that for the first time everyone is convinced this really is Beethoven's voice. The extraordinary thing about the premiere of Beethoven 3rd was that it was done of course in a very small room, in the Lobkowitz's palace, but I think...
In 1796 or 97, Beethoven had suffered a serious illness, possibly meningitis. My ears continue to hum and buzz day and night, He wrote, I can hear sounds, it's true, but can not make out the words. He first noticed that his hearing was going, when he...
Beethoven's music was controversial; it could be interpreted in two quite extreme ways as, as very bad or very good, therefore perhaps much more so than other music, it was in need of framing, it needed a kind of protective envelope, that could intro...
The typical piano of 1790s, say, 3, in Vienna was a fairly light instrument, and it was very well suited to the kind of pianism that were most conventional in Vienna at that time. Beethoven changed the whole style of playing. He wanted bigger pianos,...
Vienna at that time was a marvelous place for young musicians to go to. It has always been a city of pleasure or frivolity right back to the middle ages. The city was the most crowded city in Europe at the time. It had a population of probably around...
Beethoven's mother died of consumption. The inscription says that she was such a good, kind mother to me and indeed my best friend. His father became more and more alcholic till it finally became the case that, Beethoven had to ask for his father's s...
He was baptized on the 17th of December, 1770 and was probably born the day before. He came from a musical family. His father was a court tenor, His grandfather was a kapellmeister, the top job. But while his grandfather was a great musician, his fat...
When Beethoven died, the weather even sort of noted the event. There was a rare thunderstorm and snowstorm and there was a crash of lightning and thunder and... Beethoven opened his eyes and sort of raised up his fist and the Viennese look it as a po...
