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A Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, 1900
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1BEETHOVEN
3(mrs Keverich), the widow of the chief cook at Ehrenbreitstein; and Ludwig was the second child born to them.—B. attended the public schools at Bonn till his 14th year. His musical education was taken in hand in his fourth year by his father, a strict and stern master, who taught him till 1779. At eight he played the violin well; at eleven he could play Bach's "Wohltemperirtes Clavier" fluently and skilfully. His next instructors were Pfeiffer, a music-director and oboist; Van der Eeden, the court organist; and the latter's successor, Neefe. He was already a notable improviser on the piano; and in 1781 ('82?) appeared his first published composition, 3 pf.-sonatas. In 1782, during Neefe's absence, B. was formally installed as his deputy at the organ; in 1783, he was app. cembalist for the rehearsals of the opera-orch.—for the present, to be sure, without emolument. In 1784 the new Elector, Max Franz, app. B. asst.-organist at a salary of 150 florins (about $63); this place he held till 1792; from 1788 he also played 2nd viola in the orch. of the theatre and church, Reicha being the conductor. On a visit of a few months to Vienna, in 1787, B. awakened great interest by his extraordinary ability as an extempore pianist; eliciting from Mozart the exclamation: "He will give the world something worth listening to." In July his mother died; his father gave way to intemperance, gradually losing his voice; and B.'s home-life became wretched. He found consolation in the family of Frau von Breuning, the widow of a court councillor, to whose daughter and youngest son B. gave music-lessons. In their refined society his taste for German and English literature was quickened. About this time he made the acquaintance of the young Count Waldstein, his life-long friend, admirer, and benefactor. In his leisure hours he gave other lessons, took long walks, and occupied himself with composition. Despite his remarkable faculty for improvisation, the display of known works for the first ten years (1782-92) is comparatively meagre: half a dozen songs; a rondo, a minuet, and 3 preludes f. pf.; 3 pf.-quartets; a pf.-trio; a string-trio, op. 3; 4 sets of pf.-variations; a rondino f. wind; the "Ritter-Ballet" with orch. [publ. 1872]; the Bagatelles, op. 33; 2 violin-rondos, op. 51; the "Serenade Trio," op. 8;—to which add the lost cantata praised by Haydn, a lost trio f. pf., flute, and bassoon, and an Allegro and Minuet f. 2 flutes (all unpubl.). And, in point of fact, B. never possessed the fatal facility of invention which rejoices in rapidity rather than solidity of production. His way of working is exhibited in the "sketch-books" of this early period, which contain rough draughts, as it were, of motives, themes, ideas; fragments jotted down in moods of inspiration, frequently reappearing in modified forms, and in many cases recognizable as the germs of later compositions. This method of tentative notation and careful and oft-repeated working-over, was his through life.
5The year 1792 marks a turning-point. Haydn, passing through Bonn, warmly praised a cantata of B.'s composition; the Elector, probably influenced by the master's opinion and the representations of the friendly Waldstein, made up his mind to send B. to Vienna, then the centre of musical Europe. Here, a member of the highest circles of artists and art-lovers, to which his native genius and letters from the Elector procured speedy admission, B. found himself in a most congenial atmosphere. Besides his salary from the Elector (discontinued in 1794), and an annual stipend of 600 florins from Prince Lichnowsky, one of his truest friends and warmest admirers, his income was derived from the increasing sale of his works. He applied to Haydn for further instruction; but, dissatisfied with his loose methods of teaching, and angered at his lack of appreciation of compositions submitted to him for approval, B. surreptitiously took lessons of Schenk, carrying his exercises, after correction by Schenk, to Haydn. This peculiar arrangement continued for a little more than a year, terminating at Haydn's departure (Jan., 1794) for England. [Nottebohm publ. B.'s exercises in vol. i of his "Beethovens Studien" (1873).] During 1794 he had quite regular lessons in counterpoint with Albrechtsberger, whose verdict: "He has learned nothing, and will never do anything properly," can hardly be called prophetic; Salieri gave him many valuable hints on vocal style; and Aloys Förster contributed good counsel on the art of quartet-writing. B.'s contrapuntal exercises under Albrechtsberger (publ. Paris, 1832; revised ed. by Nottebohm, 1873) curiously exhibit the irrepressible conflict between B.'s imagination and the dry course of study prescribed.
7Welcome at all soirées and private musicales of the aristocracy, B. did not play in public at Vienna until Mar. 29, 1795, when he performed his C major pf.-concerto at a concert in the Burgtheater. In 1796 he visited Nuremberg, Prague and Berlin, and played before King Friedrich Wilhelm II. The publication of the Eb pf.-sonata (op. 7) in 1797, a work of strongly individual type, is noteworthy. Two public concerts given at Prague in 1798 are chronicled as making a profound impression. In the same year he met two famed piano-virtuosi: Steibelt, whose challenge to B. as an extemporizer and composer resulted in his own overwhelming discomfiture; and Wölfl, a worthier opponent, with whom B. associated and made music on a friendly footing (W. inscribed 3 sonatas to him). To 1799 belong the 3 sonatas for pf. and violin (op. 12), the Grande sonate pathétique (op. 13), the second pf.-concerto (in Bb), and several lesser publications. With 1800 closes what is called (after the generally-accepted classification by W. von Lenz in his "Beethoven et ses trois styles" [St. Petersburg, 1852]) Beethoven's "first period" of composition; the "second period" extends to 1815; the "third," to the master's decease in 1827. The works of this first period
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