The story about Beethoven

Beethoven's grandfather and father were both court singers. Most of the time, his father was drunk and unfriendly to his family. He never even asked his family if they were full and warm. At first, a kind grandfather can save this family from too much suffering; On the other hand, the musical talent of the eldest grandson also makes the old people feel extremely gratified. But when Beethoven was only four years old, his grandfather died. Beethoven's father used to drag the child to the keyboard and let him practice hard for hours, slapping him whenever he played wrong. Neighbors often hear children sobbing to sleep because of fatigue and pain. Soon, Faifr, a poor traveling musician, came to this town and was taken to Beethoven's home. He and old Beethoven often drink until midnight in a pub outside, then go home and drag little Ludwig out of bed and start classes, sometimes until dawn. To make him look like a child prodigy, his father lied about his age. When he was eight years old, he took his six-year-old children out to a concert. But there are no child prodigies in the world. Despite many efforts, the old Beethoven never turned his son into another young Mozart. Compared with Mozart, Beethoven's childhood was too unfortunate. Mozart received a good education in his childhood. His training time was pleasant and quiet, with a loving father and a beloved sister. On the other hand, Beethoven won the respect of his hometown people for his performances, but his travel performances around the world were far less amazing than Mozart's.

Second, the mentor.

The father took the boy from one teacher to another and asked him to learn different musical instruments and the art of composition. Before he fell into the hands of court pianist and manager of Bonn Theatre, none of these teachers were excellent. This is a respectable music teacher, a friendly and well-educated young man. This is really a kind of luck for Beethoven. Because although Bonn has the best schools-even the kind old Bach will happily send many of his children to study-Beethoven's father never thought it worth sending Beethoven there to study even for two or three months. In his eyes, learning is far less than learning music to make money. For the first time in his life, young Beethoven found class enjoyable. Mr. Nifei is very kind to him, not only teaching music, but also teaching him many other things in the world. In order to pay for the tuition, Beethoven took the place of his teacher as an organist when Mr. Niffe was busy or left town. Therefore, when he just turned 14 years old, he was appointed as an assistant court organist and an ancient pianist in the theater. How proud the hateful and unfortunate father was when he saw that his son's music finally made some money!

Three. Visit Mozart

Around this time, he visited Vienna for the first time in his life and played for his favorite idol Mozart. Mozart thought that the child was just playing an exhibit that had been practiced for this occasion for a long time, so he had to praise him politely and coldly out of politeness. Little Beethoven got angry and asked Mozart to give him a theme, and then he improvised on it with so much emotion and genius. Mozart was surprised and immediately ran to the door of the next room. "Pay attention to this young man," he shouted to a group of friends who were having a party inside. "One day the whole world will hear his voice!"

Fourth, Beethoven and Haydn.

Beethoven finally realized that he could not make greater progress in his hometown, so he decided to go to Vienna again to seek his luck. By this time Mozart had died, but Haydn had just won his first victory in London and was at the peak of his reputation. When passing through Bonn, Haydn heard a chorus of Beethoven and enjoyed it very much, so Beethoven decided to learn from Haydn first. Haydn has passed his youth. He works harder than ever to create and direct his greatest works. No wonder he doesn't have much time and energy to correct papers. Moreover, he requires students to pay only 20 cents per class, and he may feel that he doesn't need to spend too much time practicing writing paper. So Beethoven often found some uncorrected mistakes in practice, and he was very angry. When the old teacher went to London for the second time, Beethoven turned to a less talented but strict teacher to study. Later, he often declared loudly that he had learned nothing from Haydn. However, before long, he will gradually feel that if he didn't get anything from the correction exercise, he got inspiration from Haydn because he dedicated his first piano sonata to Haydn. When Haydn appeared on the stage for the last time to perform Genesis, he was helped out by several servants, and Beethoven bent down and kissed the weak old man kindly.

Five, go your own way

Beethoven didn't want to be the darling of the living room. He would rather stay in his own residence and be able to get in and out, get up, dress and eat at will. He likes to fiddle with trifles in the room according to his own interests. Once, in order to ventilate and see the scenery outside the window, he deliberately cut off a piece of the window. He is always in trouble with the landlord and always walks around. Whenever he is at the climax of his creation, he always throws pots of water on his head to cool down until the water soaks through the downstairs room-we can imagine the feelings of the landlord and other tenants! Sometimes he moves so often that he doesn't even want to worry about putting his legs on the piano, but just sits on the floor and plays the piano. Because he has to sign a lease every time he rents a new house, indicating the lease period, he often pays the rent for four apartments at the same time. This is probably why although he earns a lot of money, he always doesn't have much savings!

Six, deafness

When he really felt that his ears were getting deaf, he almost despaired. Life doesn't seem worth living: what is more unfortunate for a musician than not hearing the sweet voice that he likes to listen to and live by? At first, only a few old friends, such as Dr. Vigreux and Stephen von Braeuning, knew about his misfortune. He gave up going to the palace to listen to the cheerful concert he liked very much. He is worried that people will notice his deafness and think that an deaf musician can't write good works. Don't! He remembers all the music he wants to write. "I want to hold my destiny by the throat!" "Maybe it's not as difficult for him to create music when he is deaf as other musicians. In his view, music is not only to arrange various themes or sound patterns with charming voices, but also a language to express the deepest thoughts.

Beethoven and his friends

No musician has so many successes and so few happy days in his life. His friend

He is kind and loyal, but his damn deafness separates him from them. Even his hearing AIDS often disappoint him, so the only way for him to keep in touch with hearing AIDS is the "talking book" and pencil he always carries with him. He saw them talking to each other and thought they were always talking about him, speaking ill of him and plotting against him. One day he wrote, "Never show your face in front of me! You are a mean dog, a dishonest guy! " The next day, when he found that his suspicion was wrong and his friend was sincere, he wrote another note: "Dear friend, you are an honest man, and you are right. I understand now. So come to me this afternoon and accept your Beethoven love. " And his friends-how good people they are-always forgive his rude quarrel and accompany him to the end. His family life is miserable from beginning to end: he has never been married. When he first came to Vienna, he proposed to his hometown singer Magdalene willman, but she refused because Beethoven was "so ugly". From then on, he fell in love with several aristocratic women-lovely women with lovely names-and he confided in them with music, but they accepted his music and refused his love!

[Master demeanor]

The first is the heroic symphony.

Beethoven's heart is full of ideals of freedom, equality and universal love. He is an enthusiastic supporter of 1789 French bourgeois revolution. 1798, General Bernadotte (1763-1844) became the French ambassador to Vienna. Beethoven often visited his home and kept close contact with the people around him. 1802, at the suggestion of Bernadotte, Beethoven began to compose the third symphony dedicated to Napoleon. In his mind, Napoleon was a hero who destroyed the autocratic system and realized his ideal. 1804, Beethoven completed the third symphony. Just as he was about to dedicate it to Napoleon, the news that Napoleon proclaimed himself emperor spread to Vienna. When Beethoven learned the news from the student Lisi (1784- 1838), he roared angrily: "He is just an ordinary man. Now he will trample on human rights to show his personal ambition. He will ride on everyone's head and become a tyrant! " As he spoke, he went to the table and tore up the dedication to Napoleon and threw it on the floor. No one was allowed to pick it up. After many days, Beethoven's anger gradually subsided and he was allowed to make this work public. In February, this symphony was first performed in the court of Prince Rob Kovitz in Vienna. Beethoven made his first public performance at Vienna Theatre in April 1985. The program reads: "A new symphony in D major by Mr. Ludwig van Beethoven is dedicated to His Royal Highness Prince Rob Kovitz." Strangely, Beethoven said that it was not in E flat major, but in D flat major. When the score was published in June, 1806, it was printed on the title page: the heroic symphony was written in memory of a great man. Since then, the third symphony has been called "Hero Symphony".

Second, the symphony of destiny.

The first four notes of Beethoven's Symphony in C Minor (Op.67) are as strong and heavy as the knocking of fate. This work is therefore called "Symphony of Destiny". Symphony of Destiny was written from 1805 to 1808. Beethoven wrote a letter to his friend Wegele (1765- 1808) in June, and he has said, "I will hold my destiny by the throat, and it will never completely overwhelm me!" The beating of fate appeared in the third movement of Piano Sonata in C minor (Op. 10) written by 1798, and later appeared in the third movement of String Quartet in D major (Op. 18 No.3) and Sonata for Passion (Op.57). The passion for struggle shown in the Symphony of Destiny has a strong appeal. Mary Boland, a Spanish alto, was scared to death when she first listened to the Symphony of Destiny and had to leave. Napoleon, an old guard, heard the main theme at the beginning of the fourth movement and couldn't help jumping up and shouting, "This is the emperor!" " Berlioz regarded the thrilling struggle scene in the Symphony of Destiny as Othello's terrible anger, because he listened to the slander of the ego and mistakenly thought Desdemona was having an affair. Schumann said, "Although you often hear this symphony, it always has a constant power for you-just like natural phenomena always scare people." "1During May and June of 830, Mendelssohn stayed in Weimar for two weeks, met Goethe for the last time, and played famous works in ancient and modern times for him on the piano. Goethe was very excited after listening to the first movement of the symphony of destiny. He said: "This is magnificent and thrilling, and it will almost collapse the house. I don't know what will happen if many people play together. " 1841March, Engels listened to the performance of Symphony of Destiny. In a letter to his sister, he praised the work and said, "If you don't know this wonderful thing, then you have never heard anything in your life." He said that in the first movement, he heard "that kind of complete despair and sorrow, that kind of sad pain"; In the second movement, I heard "tender sadness of love"; In the third and fourth movements, "the joy of strength, youth and freedom expressed by trumpet" is so inspiring. Engels revealed the essence of the Symphony of Destiny in a few short sentences.

Third, the legend of Moonlight Music

"More than one hundred years ago, there was a German musician named Beethoven who wrote many famous songs. Among them, there is a famous piano piece called Moonlight Music. The legend goes like this: One autumn, Beethoven traveled around and performed in a small town on the Rhine. One night, he was walking along a quiet path and heard the intermittent piano sound coming from a small room, playing his music. Beethoven approached the hut, the piano suddenly stopped and someone was talking in the room. A girl said,' How difficult it is to play this song! I've only heard others play it a few times, but I don't remember how. "If only I could listen to how Beethoven played himself!" A man said,' Yes, but tickets for the concert are too expensive, and we are too poor.' The girl quickly said,' Brother, don't be sad, I'm just saying.' Hearing this, Beethoven gently pushed open the door and came in. Candles were lit in the hut, and in the dim candlelight, the man was making leather shoes. There is an old piano in front of the window, and a girl of sixteen or seventeen is sitting in front of it. Her face is handsome, but she is blind. The shoemaker saw a stranger come in, stood up and asked, "Who are you looking for, sir?" Wrong door, right? Beethoven said,' No, I'm here to play a tune for this girl. The girl quickly stood up and offered her seat. Beethoven sat in front of the piano and played the tune that the blind girl had just played. The blind girl was so absorbed in listening that when the song ended, she said excitedly, "How skilled you are at playing!" " How deep the feelings are! You, you must be Mr Beethoven, right? Beethoven didn't answer. He asked the blind girl, "Do you like it?" Let me play another song for you. A gust of wind blew out the candle. The moonlight shone through the window, and everything in the hut seemed to be covered with silver gauze. Beethoven looked at the poor brothers and sisters standing beside him and pressed the keys in the quiet moonlight. The shoemaker listened quietly. He seems to be facing the sea, and the moon is rising from where the water meets the sky. On the sparkling sea, silver light is temporarily scattered everywhere. The moon rose higher and higher, passing through a wisp of gauze-like Wei Yun. Suddenly, the wind blew on the sea and rolled up huge waves. The waves glistened in the moonlight and rushed to the shore one by one ... The shoemaker looked at his sister, and the moonlight was shining on her quiet face, and her eyes were wide open. She seemed to see something she had never seen before, the rough sea in the moonlight. Brother and sister were intoxicated by the wonderful piano sound. When they woke up, Beethoven had left the hut. He flew back to the inn and spent the whole evening recording the "Moonlight Music" he had just improvised. This is an article in the seventh volume of Chinese textbooks for primary schools in China, which tells the story of Beethoven playing Moonlight for blind girls. This is indeed a beautiful legend. This Beethoven work (Op.27 bis-Piano Sonata in C minor) describes the moonlight scenery on the sea. This work originated from German music critic Rael Stubb (1799- 1860). Russian pianist anton rubinstein (1829-1894) is very opposed to using "moonlight" to explain this piece of music. He said: "Moonlight should be thoughtful, thoughtful and quiet in music description. In short, it is a soft and bright emotion. The first movement of Sonata in C minor, from the first note to the last note, is completely tragic (implied by minor), full of dark clouds and gloomy mood. The last action is violent and passionate, which shows the opposite side to the gentle moon. Only the short second movement can be said to be a moonlight moment. " In Germany, some people also call this kind of music "Garden Pavilion" sonata. Garden gazebo is a gazebo built in the shade of a tree. Obviously, this title is also inaccurate for this sonata. It seems that this piece of music is by no means a clear landscape painting, but an inner gloomy mood. Thiel (18 17- 1897), the author of Beethoven's biography, said that the first movement was "a girl prays for her sick father", which is more suitable than "moonlight" and "garden pavilion" in any case. This piece of Beethoven was written in 65438 when he was a young girl. On 1 1 month 16 this year, when Beethoven wrote to Wegler, he mentioned her and said, "She loves me and I love her." But at the beginning of 1802, she fell in love with Count Andrew Helenberg and married him in 1803. Romain rolland associated this song with Beethoven's lovelorn love. He said, "Fantasy didn't last long, and the pain and indignation in sonata have surpassed love." Roland interprets the first movement as melancholy, whining and crying. Russian musician Ole Biyishev (1794- 1858) thinks that the first movement is the "deep sorrow" of lovelorn, just like "hanging fire". However, 180 1 is the time when Beethoven and Gishildi fell in love. It may not be true to say that this work is about the pain of lovelorn love. Perhaps the opinion of Russian art critic Stasov (1824- 1906) is more reasonable for the explanation of this work. After recalling listening to Liszt's performance in Petersburg, he thinks that this sonata is a complete tragedy, and the first movement is affectionate and sometimes full of dark premonition. He had a similar impression when listening to anton rubinstein's performance ... From a distance, as if from the depths of an invisible soul, a silent voice suddenly sounded.

Some voices are melancholy and full of infinite sadness; Others are meditation, endless memories and gloomy omens ... "Sonata in C minor" is especially famous for its title and legend of "Moonlight". Beethoven once said, "People often talk about sonatas in #c minor, but I have written better works than this, such as sonatas in #F major (Op.78). "It can be seen that Beethoven himself is not very satisfied with the song of moonlight.

Fourthly, sonata of passion.

When Schindler once asked Beethoven about the contents of sonatas in D minor (Op. 3 1 2) and F minor (Op. 57), Beethoven replied, "Please read Shakespeare's The Tempest." Therefore, the former is called "sonata of the storm", while the latter is named "sonata of passion" by Hamburg music publisher Crantz (1789- 1870). (On the other hand, the title of "Enthusiasm" was added by German pianist, violinist, composer and conductor Reineck (1824- 19 10), which seems unfounded. ) The title of Enthusiasm is not recognized by Beethoven, but it is quite appropriate for this heroic and magnificent work. Lenin, the teacher of proletarian revolution, once heard Russian composer and conductor Dobro Wan (1894- 1953) play this sonata in Moscow, and said, "I don't know what is better than" Sonata of Passion ".I would like to listen to it every day. This is wonderful and unprecedented music. I always think with perhaps childish boast: what miracles can people create! " 18701October 30th, during the Franco-Prussian War, Paris was surrounded by Prussian troops for more than three months. Bismarck, the bloody prime minister, is located in the base camp of King William of Prussia at Versailles, and he is negotiating the armistice terms with thiers, the head of the French bourgeois government. That night, Gaertel, the former German ambassador to Italy, played "Sonata of Passion" for Bismarck on an old piano in Viham. After listening to the last movement, Bismarck said, "This is the lament of the struggle of a whole generation." He understood Beethoven's "enthusiasm" from the standpoint of a bloodthirsty careerist. He once said: "If I can listen to this piece of music often, my courage will not be exhausted" because "Beethoven is the best for my nerves". Beethoven said on June 29th, "My art is used to improve the fate of the poor." If Beethoven knew something underground and heard that his music was used by Bismarck, he must be dead.

5. Defeat the holiday machine, friendship and cannon.

Beethoven's friend melzer (1772— 1838) is famous for inventing and manufacturing mechanical musical instruments. 18 13 autumn, Beethoven wrote a war symphony for the universal piano (that is, the mechanical band) invented by melzer, called Victory in Wellington or Battle of Victoria, which described the scene that the British army defeated Napoleon in the northern Spanish city of Victoria on June 2 1 3 of the same year. On the basis of Winkle's invention (1776— 1826), melzer once created today's universal cell phone. Beethoven first adopted this method and marked the speed of his works according to the number of beats per minute. Beethoven's hearing AIDS were also made in melzer 18 10 years ago. Once, when Beethoven Paimer took a trip, he wrote that the richest man was a funny cannon to praise the creator of the holiday machine. This Canon symbolizes the friendship between Beethoven and melzer, and was later selected by Beethoven in his Eighth Symphony (Op.93) and became the theme of the second movement. Sixthly, the ballet Symphony No.7 Wagner called Beethoven's Symphony No.7 (Op.92) "the ultimate dance", "the highest form of dance" and "the most wonderful embodiment of body movement according to the ideal form". It is said that he once imagined the performance of the Seventh Symphony with the dance accompanied by Liszt piano. Wagner's ideal was later realized by Russian choreographer Masin. 1938, he adapted this symphony into a ballet to show a fable-the creation and destruction of the world:

The first movement: creation-under the guidance of creative spirit, the chaotic world has become an orderly residence for animals and plants. There are men and women, and dangerous snakes. The second movement: the earth-hatred and rape appear on the earth. A group of men and women mourned the murdered teenager. The third movement: the sky-the gods and goddesses in the sky are indifferent to the riots on the earth and still enjoy themselves. The fourth movement: debauchery and destruction-people are addicted to debauchery. God saw that they seriously imitated the joy of the upper world and destroyed the world with fire because of anger. 1938 In May, this ballet was first performed by ballets russes Basile in Monte Carlo, Monaco.

Seven. Ode to Joy and Chorus Symphony

1793 65438+ 10, a friend of German poet Schiller and a law professor at Bonn University wrote to Schiller's wife Charlotte, saying, "There is a young man ... who wants to set Schiller's Ode to Joy to music paragraph by paragraph?" The young man was Beethoven, who lived in Bonn at that time and was only 23 years old. Beethoven contributed the music of Ode to Joy in 1798 and 18 12. The theme of Ode to Joy was written in 18 12, and was later used in 18 14 as a prelude to the named day festival in C major (work 1 15). The song "Love" written by Beethoven for Bieger's poems around 1795 is closely related to the theme of Ode to Joy in the last movement of the chorus symphony, which can be said to be the predecessor of the theme of Ode to Joy. Later, Beethoven used this song as the theme in Piano Chorus Fantasia in C minor (Op.80) from 65438 to 0808, and sang Kuffner's poems praising the charm of music. The chorus part of Fantasia for Piano Chorus is an attempt of the finale of chorus symphony. 1in March, 824, Beethoven wrote to probst: "The finale of the chorus symphony was written in the style of piano chorus fantasia, but on a much larger scale." It can be seen that Beethoven's intention to compose Ode to Joy began at 1793, and it took 30 years to finish in Chorus Symphony. Chorus symphony was completed in the reactionary period after Carlsbad's resolution, when all free thoughts and democratic movements were brutally suppressed. In May, during the first performance of 1824 at Lentnethor Theatre in Vienna, the audience's enthusiasm was unprecedented. When Beethoven appeared, the audience applauded and cheered five times, and the police had to intervene. But Beethoven, who stood in the band with his back to the audience, couldn't hear anything. Fortunately, contralto singer Hong Ruo turned around holding his hand and "saw" the cheers of the audience. From the unusual emotions caused by the first performance, we can see how profound the practical significance of singing happiness is singing freedom at that time. [Music field]

First, forget to eat happily.

One day, Beethoven came to a restaurant for dinner. After ordering, he was suddenly inspired, so he grabbed the menu on the dining table and wrote a song on the back of the menu. After a while, he was completely immersed in the beautiful melody. Seeing Beethoven's devotion, the waiter didn't dare to disturb him, but he planned to serve him later. About an hour later, the waiter finally came to Beethoven's side: "Sir, are you ready to serve?" Beethoven paid the bill as if he had just woken up from a dream. The waiter is like a monk-confused: "Sir, you haven't eaten yet!" " ""no! I'm sure I've eaten. " Beethoven didn't listen to the waiter's repeated explanations at all. After paying the price on the menu, he grabbed the menu full of money and rushed out of the restaurant.

Second, Japan has entered the country.

In his later years, Beethoven once heard a friend play his variations in C minor. After listening for a while, he asked, "Whose work is this?"

"yours." The friend replied.

"My? I wrote such a clumsy song? " Then he added, "Ah, Beethoven is a fool!" Goethe's evaluation of Schiller is completely applicable to Beethoven: "He is changing and growing every week. Every time I see him, I always feel that his knowledge, knowledge and opinions are better than last time. " Beethoven even tried to destroy the songs Adelaide and Septet in E-flat major (Op. 20) he wrote when he was young. This is by no means accidental. Just like Beethoven, it can really be said that "fifty knowledge is not wrong."