Scan 83
Baker S Biographical Dictionary Of Musicians Third Edition, 1919
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1the score and parts of a symphony in C, which unquestionably antedates the one known as the 'First Symphony.' It was publ. by Breitkopf & Härtel in 1911.] 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.
3The 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. 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, in vol. i of his 'Beethoven-Studien', 1873) curiously exhibit the irrepressible conflict between B.'s imagination and the dry course of study prescribed.
5Welcome at all soirées and private musicales of the aristocracy, B. did not play in public in 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 Wolf, 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 [Petrograd, 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 include 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.). [For a detailed discussion of this point, see 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 about 1820, 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.
7B.'s freest and most joyous creative period was his second. It was the period of the
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