Adventures with Beethoven

Scene Two

Beethoven’s Childhood and Early Life (1770-1792)

The Beethoven family business was music. When young Ludwig, whom we know as Ludwig van Beethoven, was born in December 1770, he would become the third generation of the family who would make his living as a musician. He was undoubtedly the most talented member of his family and his father hoped that it would bring fame and fortune to the family. Although Beethoven’s talents were recognized early, they were not always nurtured in the best ways and family life was often tumultuous. 

Beethoven was named after his grandfather, or Ludwig the elder, who was born in 1712 in a small town in what is now Belgium. After his talents were recognized, he moved to Bonn at age 21 and joined the musical ensemble of the Archbishop-Elector of Cologne, the ruler of the city. In 1761, Ludwig the elder was appointed Kapellmeister (music director), the most important position in the musical establishment. As Kapellmeister, Ludwig the elder would have been in charge of the chapel choir and all the other musicians associated with the court who would have regularly performed at both religious and city functions. 

Ludwig the elder had a son, Johann, who was born in either 1739 or 1740 and who became a musician like his father. Johann played several keyboard instruments, violin, zither (a string instrument somewhat similar to the guitar, although it lacks a neck or frets), and was a fine singer. He became a member of the chapel choir, singing as a tenor. To make a bit more money, Johann taught keyboard and violin lessons. 

In 1767 Johann met and married Maria Magdalena Keverich, the widowed daughter of the head chef for the Archbishop of Trier, a nearby city. The couple eventually had seven children, only three of whom, Ludwig (born 1770), Kaspar (born 1774), and Nikolaus (born 1776), survived to adulthood. Ludwig was most likely born either December 16 or 17, 1770. At the time there were not birth certificates and the only official record that survives is the baptismal information from the local parish church. Typically, infants were baptized within twenty-four hours of their birth due to the high infant mortality rate. Parents wanted to make sure their child would go to heaven if something happened to them. Beethoven’s baptismal record is dated December 17, 1770. 

Johann soon realized that his son, young Ludwig, had a talent for music and began teaching the boy, starting keyboard lessons around age five. Johann became obsessed with his son becoming the next child prodigy, like the Mozart siblings, who would tour Europe playing for royalty and nobility, bringing money and prestige to the family. To achieve this goal, Johann began an intensive musical education which was often brutal and draconian. Johann enlisted other musicians in Bonn to help with his son’s musical education, including Giles van den Eeden, the court organist, Tobias Pfeiffer, a family friend and keyboardist, Franz Rovantini, a relative and string player, and Franz Anton Ries, the court’s concertmaster who taught violin. During his lessons with Pfeiffer, an insomniac, the young Ludwig would sometimes be dragged from his bed to make him practice the piano late at night. Often these lessons left Beethoven in tears. According to some contemporary reports, Johann would beat his son if he did not spend enough time practicing. A member of the court said that the boy would be locked in the cellar. Johann had exceedingly high expectations for the young Ludwig who, when he failed to live up to these impossible standards, was often told he was an embarrassment to the family. Beethoven gave his first public performance in 1778. Still trying to pass off Ludwig as a child prodigy, Johann lied about his son’s age, claiming Ludwig was only six, not seven. 

Around 1780-81 Beethoven began studying with Christian Gottlob Neefe, a local composer and conductor. Under Neefe’s instruction Beethoven began composition lessons, completing his first published work, a set of keyboard variations, in 1783. Next, Beethoven completed his first three piano sonatas which he dedicated to  Elector Maximilian Friedrich. The press first noticed Beethoven’s talent the same year. The Magazin der Musik reported, “…Beethoven…a boy of 11 years and most promising talent. He plays the piano very skillfully and with power…” In 1784 Beethoven was hired to work as a musician at the court chapel. Beethoven continued his employment with the court after the death of the elector, Maximilian Friedrich. The new elector, Maximilian Franz, appointed Beethoven court organist. As a young man Beethoven made friends with people who remained important throughout his life including Franz Wegeler, the von Breuning family, and Count Ferdinand von Waldstein, who also supported Beethoven financially. 

There are no compositions, nor any mention of any completed works by Beethoven between 1785-1790. This could be because his first published works were not hugely popular, but more likely it was due to the family issues Beethoven had to deal with. In 1787 Beethoven made his first trip to Vienna hoping to meet Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. There is no definitive evidence that the two ever met. Beethoven’s trip was cut short when, only two weeks after he arrived, he got word from home that his mother had died. Beethoven returned home to Bonn to help take care of the family, including becoming the substitute father for his two younger brothers, then thirteen and eleven. 

Johann had always been a heavy drinker; after the loss of his wife he steadily descended into alcoholism. As his addictions grew worse, Johann could no longer perform his job as a court musician and was forced to retire, dealing the family a serious financial setback. Fortunately, Johann had been granted a pension, half of which was paid directly to Ludwig so the family would actually see the money. In order to bring in more income, Beethoven taught music lessons, which he hated, and played viola in the court’s orchestra, thus earning enough to keep the family afloat financially. Playing in the orchestra did have some benefit for Beethoven. The group played a lot of new music, including operas by Christoph Willibald Gluck and Mozart. Beethoven also became friends with Anton Reicha, a flautist, violinist, and composer, who was the nephew of the orchestra’s conductor. 

Beethoven became more mature as a composer, completing more complicated and better quality works between 1790-92, none of which were published at the time. Several of the themes from these early works found their way into later compositions, most notably a theme from a set of variations written in 1791 that was later used, in an adapted form, in the Third Symphony. In 1790 Beethoven, probably at the urging of Neefe, received his first two commissions, two cantatas for the Literary Society of Bonn. The first work was in memory of the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II after his death, while the second celebrated the new emperor, Leopold II. Although the society paid for the compositions, the two works were never performed and were long thought to be lost. However, in the 1880s the works were rediscovered and the composer Johannes Brahms described them as “Beethoven through and through.” 

The year 1790 was important in Beethoven’s life for another reason as well. That year, he met Franz Joseph Haydn, at the time the most famous composer in Europe. Haydn was traveling from Vienna to London for a series of concerts featuring his symphonies. On the way, Haydn stopped in Bonn on Christmas Day and briefly met Beethoven. On Haydn’s return home, a year and a half later, he once again stopped in Bonn. This time, Haydn heard Beethoven play in the local orchestra. Soon thereafter, arrangements were made for the talented twenty-two year old to move to Vienna to study with the old master. Partially funded by the elector, Beethoven made his way to Vienna to begin his studies. His friend Count Waldstein wrote Beethoven a letter before he left. In it Waldstein wrote, “You are going to Vienna in fulfillment of your long-frustrated wishes…With the help of assiduous labour you shall receive Mozart’s spirit from Haydn’s hands.” 

In spite of a difficult family life, the responsibility he had to take on at a young age, and the horrific treatment at the hands of his father, Beethoven created some of the most inspirational and moving music in the symphonic tradition. Beethoven spent the rest of his adult life in Vienna and through his studies with Haydn and his own ingenuity, Beethoven became one of the best-known and well-loved composers in western classical music.