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Scan 61
A Biographical Dictionary Of Musicians, 1900
13 lines. Read by computer on 18 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1BEETHOVEN
3include op. 1-18 (6 pf.-trios, 4 string-trios, the first 3 string-quartets, 9 pf.-sonatas and various sets of variations, the grand aria "Ah perfido," etc., etc.) [For a detailed discussion of this point, cf. v. Lenz, Grove, Thayer, et al.] At this time, too (1800-1801), a malady, which later resulted in total deafness, began to make alarming progress, and caused B acute mental suffering. From his entrance into Viennese society he was known as an "original", even his genuine, sturdy independence and self-sufficiency, due at bottom to a native love of freedom and honesty, a detestation of shams, and just self-appreciation, appeared highly eccentric when contrasted with the courtier-like subservience of great musicians like Haydn and Mozart, and there is no doubt that he purposely exaggerated this eccentricity (he himself remarked that "it is good to mingle with aristocrats, but one must know how to impress them"). His genius and geniality as an artist, and his noble generosity, won the hearts of music-lovers, and caused them to condone his freaks. With increasing deafness, however, his character altered; he gradually grew taciturn, morose, and suspicious (traits aggravated by the sordid meanness of his brothers Karl and Johann, who had also settled in Vienna), and treated his best friends outrageously. From 1822, deafness was total, or nearly so; as early as 1816 he had to use an ear-trumpet. Besides this, when his brother Karl died, in 1815, leaving a son to B.'s guardianship, the latter undertook the boy's bringing-up as a sacred trust, the ingratitude of this graceless scamp of a nephew forms one of the saddest chapters in the great man's life, and still further darkened his declining years.
5B.'s freest and most joyous creative period was his second. It was the period of the fullest flow of ideas (cf. "sketch-books"), not as yet overcast by the gloom of his keenest anguish — It should be noted, that von Lenz's classification is not chronological, either in dates of composition, final completion, or publication; but is, in part, a somewhat arbitrary arrangement according to the "style" of the several works. E.g., he classes the second symphony (written 1802, performed 1803, published 1804, as op. 36) among works of the "first period."—The chief works comprised in the "second period" are the six symphonies from III to VIII inclusive; his one opera, Fidelio; the music to Esmond; the ballet Prometheus; the mass in C, op. 86; the oratorio Christus am Oelberg (1803); the Coriolanus overture; the pf.-concertos in G and Eb; his violin-concerto; the quartets in F min., Eb, and those inscribed to Rasumovsky; 4 pf.-trios (op. 38; op. 70, Nos. 1 and 2; op. 97); and 14 pf.-sonatas (among them the two "quasi fantasia," op. 27; the "pastorale," op. 28; op. 31, No 2 in I) minor; the "Waldstein," op. 53; the "appassionata," op. 57; and "Les adieux, l'absence, et le retour," op. 81); also the Liederkreis, etc.
7The "third period" includes the five pf.-sonatas, op. 101, 106, 109, 110, 111; also (acc to date of publ) op. 102, Nos. 1 and 2, the Missa solemnis in D, op. 123, the Ninth Symphony, op. 125; the "Ruins of Athens" overture, op. 113, and march with chorus, op. 114; the orchestral overtures op. 115 and 124; the grand fugue for string-quartet, op. 133, and the great string-quartets op. 127 (En), op. 130 (Bb), op. 131 (C# minor), op. 132 (A minor), and op. 135 (F). one of two readings
8The "third period" includes the five pf.-sonatas, op. 101, 106, 109, 110, 111; also (acc to date of publ) op. 102, Nos. 1 and 2, the Missa solemnis in D, op. 123, the Ninth Symphony, op. 125; the "Ruins of Athens" overture, op. 113, and march with chorus, op. 114; the orchestral overtures op. 115 and 124; the grand fugue for string-quartet, op. 133, and the great string-quartets op. 127 (En), op. 130 (Bh), op. 131 (C# minor), op. 132 (A minor), and op. 135 (F). one of two readings
10Fidelio probably cost B more pains and exasperation than any other one work. As early as 1803 he arranged with Schikaneder, manager of the Theater an der Wien, to write an opera; it was produced Nov 20, 1805, amid the commotion and gloom incident to the entrance, just a week before, of the French army into Vienna. Originally in 3 acts, it was withdrawn after three consecutive performances; pruned, rearranged, and revised time and again, and brought out March 29, 1806, with better success, but withdrawn by the author after only two performances. Once more sweepingly revised, it was revived in 1814, and was this time very successful. The opera was at first named Leonore, after the heroine; and its overture, twice rewritten, forms an interesting study in evolution; the present Fidelio overture is quite different. B.'s sketch-book for this opera contains 300 large pages of 16 staves each, crammed with heterogeneous notes — The Eroica symphony (No. 3) also has a history. At first entitled the "Sinfonia grande Napoleon Bonaparte," in honor of the supposed champion of "liberty, equality and fraternity," B. tore up the dedication in a transport of rage on hearing of Napoleon's proclamation as emperor (May 18, 1804); the title was altered to "Sinfonia eroica composta per festeggiare il sovvenire d'un grand'uomo" [Heroic symphony, composed to celebrate the memory of a great man] — With the Ninth Symphony B. touches the limit of expression in symphonic form; the choral finale, where orchestral and vocal music blend in an outburst of ecstasy (the words are from Schiller's "Hymn to Joy"), is the apotheosis of musical art. Yet what said Fétis, the French critic and historiographer, to this finale? "Nevertheless, this melody [the theme of the Hymn] which caused him [B.] these transports of joy, is quite vulgar; but he regarded it less from a musical point of view than from that of the sentiment which he wished to express [!!]. In his pre-occupation in this respect there was more of German dreaminess than of aesthetic conception." Such a critique reminds one of what von Lenz said concerning the Parisian conception of Liszt: "They called him 'Litz'—that was as far as they ever got with Liszt in Paris!"
12Up to 1815, B.'s material welfare had increased, though hardly in proportion to his social and artistic triumphs. An honored and frequent guest at the houses of art-lovers like the princes Lichnowsky, Lobkowitz and Kinsky, the counts Moritz Lichnowsky, Rasumovsky and Franz von Brunswick, and Baron von Gleichenstein, his
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