BTHVN on Tour - Orchestrated by DHL

Beethoven was born in 1770 in Bonn, Germany and died on March 26, 1827 in Vienna, Austria. In the music world, these two anniversaries make their mark on a decade that begins in 2020 with the 250th birthday celebration and includes the 200th anniversary of Beethoven’s death in 2027.

In Europe in the late 1700s and early 1800s, focus began to shift towards concepts such as freedom and individual liberty. Beethoven was born in the Rhineland – today part of the Federal Republic of Germany – where Prince-Electors increasingly promoted freedom of thought. This tension between aristocratic estate-based society and the beginnings of bourgeois society very much influenced Beethoven. He was moved by the ideals of the Enlightenment, but throughout his life sought a permanent position in the royal and aristocratic courts of the time.

Ludwig was born in 1770 to Johann and Maria Magdalena van Beethoven. December 16 is commonly accepted as Beethoven’s date of birth, since he was baptized in Bonn’s St. Remigius Church on December 17. Beethoven's grandfather and namesake Ludwig van Beethoven (1712-1773), a singer and court Kapellmeister under Archbishop-Elector of Cologne Maximilian Friedrich, was Beethoven’s role model growing up. His father, Johann, who served “only” as a court musician, was less successful as a musician. Nevertheless, music had become the “trade” with which the Beethoven family earned its money.

Ludwig was born in Johann and Maria’s home at Bonngasse 515, the site of today’s Beethoven-Haus museum; the family later moved to a house at Rheingasse 934, which no longer exists.

In 1817, the London Philharmonic Society commissioned Beethoven to compose two symphonies, and requested that Beethoven himself premiere the pieces in London. But the deadline proved to be unrealistic, and it took several more years before Beethoven completed his monumental 9th Symphony. It finally premiered in Vienna in 1824, and was first performed in London in 1825. Today, the fourth movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 serves as the “Anthem of Europe”. The symphony in its entirety is on UNESCO's World Cultural Heritage list, and it remains one of the world’s most famous works of classical music. Choruses around the world sing the music together with the text from Schiller’s “Ode to Joy”. The world premiere of the 9th Symphony was one of the great triumphs of Beethoven’s career. The commissioned 10th Symphony, however, remained unfinished.

There are many ways to describe Beethoven: an exceptional talent, a visionary, a supremely confident artist. There is truth in all of it, and Beethoven himself is said to have been well aware of his extraordinary abilities. The Diabelli Variations provide an insight into his creative genius. The publisher Anton Diabelli, a friend of Beethoven’s, had asked various composers, including Franz Schubert and Franz Liszt, to write a single variation on a simple waltz. But for Beethoven, one variation was neither adequate nor appropriate. He set out instead to write 23 variations, and ended up with 33. His Diabelli Variations – a complex and magnificent work that pushes the boundaries of composition – has come to symbolize Beethoven’s brilliance.

Missa solemnis was Beethoven’s last attempt to ingratiate himself to the aristocracy, and to finally obtain a permanent position. His goal was to complete the mass for the enthronement of his piano student and patron Rudolph, Archduke of Austria, who was to be made Archbishop of Olomouc. Beethoven got to work in 1819, but was unable to finish on schedule, as was often the case. His concept of the mass was far too monumental to compose in just twelve months. In the end, he did not finish Missa solemnis in time for the 1820 enthronement, but in 1823 instead. Beethoven himself considered the Missa solemnis to be his most important composition.

The era following the Vienna Congress in 1814-1815 was a time of political, social and economic upheaval. The Vienna Congress redrew the map of Europe and created new countries. Emperor Franz I and his Chancellor of State Metternich increasingly turned to censorship and police-state tactics to nip the revolutionary ideas of the Enlightenment and emerging bourgeoisie in the bud, ushering in the Biedermeier period. The bourgeoisie now met privately in their parlors – a new setting for the arts. Although Beethoven’s words were often controversial, he was tolerated politically because of his status as a composer and musician. Beethoven himself continued to seek and maintain ties to the aristocracy, but those in power tended to avoid getting too close to him.

By 1814, the Napoleonic Wars had redrawn the map of Europe. Following Napoleon’s defeat at Leipzig, leaders from around Europe and beyond convened for the Congress of Vienna (1814/15) to establish the new political order. Beethoven used the occasion to increase his visibility among Europe’s elites through concerts and compositions commemorating individual heads of state. As these aristocrats returned to their home countries, they brought with them the music of the now-famous Beethoven, thus contributing to the further expansion of his international fame. In stark contrast to Beethoven’s public success, his personal suffering continued in the form of increased hearing loss and, eventually, total deafness.

The early 1800’s marked the high point of Beethoven’s productivity. He composed six of his nine symphonies between 1802 and 1812. And yet financial security eluded him. Earnings from concerts, publishing contracts and aristocratic patrons still did not guarantee regular income. Although wealthy, he was never able to overcome the sense of lack ingrained in him during his younger years, or the fear of becoming poor again.

At the end of 1808, Beethoven decided to leave Vienna to take a job at the court of Napoleon's brother, Jérome Bonaparte, in Kassel, Germany. But nobles in Vienna – led by Archduke Rudolph, Prince Ferdinand Kinsky and Prince Lobkowitz – did not want Beethoven to leave and signed a contract agreeing to provide Beethoven with an annuity on the condition that he remained in Vienna. Beethoven then declined Bonaparte’s offer to become the Kapellmeister at the court in Kassel.

The French ruled over Beethoven’s home region on the Rhine River for about 20 years between 1794 and 1814. During this period, France changed from the land of revolution to an expansive empire and Europe’s dominant power. Napoleon had determined the fate of France since 1799, unleashed war on Europe, and ultimately crowned himself Emperor in 1804. It wasn’t until the Battle of Leipzig in 1813 that Napoleon was decisively defeated. His evolution from champion of liberty to war-waging tyrant was hugely disappointing to Beethoven and many others.

Beethoven’s deafness worsened and became increasingly problematic. In 1802 he wrote his Heiligenstadt Testament, a farewell letter to his brothers, which not only served as his will, but also provided poignant documentation of the helplessness he felt in the face of his deteriorating mental and physical health. By 1814, Beethoven had stopped giving concerts in public; by 1818 he could only communicate with others with the help of writing. The resulting conversation books consist mainly of the entries made by others, since Beethoven usually answered verbally.

Originally, Beethoven wanted to name his Symphony No. 3 “Bonaparte” in honor of Napoleon Bonaparte. For Beethoven, the French Revolution and Napoleon himself had been powerful symbols of liberty. So it was all the more disappointing for Beethoven when Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of France in 1804. For Beethoven and many others, their former hero had become nothing more than a tyrant. At the time, the score of his Third Symphony still carried Napoleon’s name, but Beethoven had renamed it “Eroica” by the time it was published in 1806.

You needed a certain reputation to be allowed to organize your own concert – which included finding the musicians, renting a location, advertising, ticketing and so on. And you carried the full financial risk. On April 2, 1800, Beethoven’s first so called “Akademie” took place, including the premiere of his Symphony No. 1. To be on the safe side he also included some works of the very popular composers Haydn and Mozart – something he would not do in the future. Beethoven had developed his own unique style and achieved popular acclaim, and Symphony No. 1 now heralded the next level of his success and fame as a symphonic composer.

Prince Karl von Lichnowsky in Vienna was Beethoven’s first longtime patron. He let Beethoven live with him, introduced Beethoven to Viennese society, and organized a major concert tour. He also gave Beethoven a very valuable set of string quartet instruments consisting of two violins, a viola and a cello. The four instruments have survived to this day and can be viewed in Bonn’s Beethoven-Haus. A replica of Beethoven’s violin is also part of this exhibition. To mark the instruments as his property, Beethoven carved a large “B” at their base and added his signet on the back.

After studying with Haydn, Beethoven published his first major work of chamber music in 1795: a set of three piano trios, which he designated as Opus 1. Beethoven then turned his attention to two core classical music genres: the string quartet and the symphony. Between 1798 and 1800, after intense study of the Haydn and Mozart quartets, Beethoven composed his first series of six quartets. His most productive years had begun.

But his growing success as a pianist and composer was overshadowed by an increasingly serious problem. By the mid 1790s, the signs of hearing loss could not be ignored and as his deafness gradually worsened, Beethoven began avoiding the company of others. By 1818 he had become completely deaf. Hearing aids like the exhibited original ear trumpet were manufactured for him but for the most part, Beethoven avoided using them, fearing that this might exacerbate the problem in the longer term.

Joseph Haydn was considered the most important composer of his time. In 1792, on the way home to Vienna from England, Haydn stopped halfway in Bonn and met with Beethoven. Bonn’s court had requested that Beethoven study with Haydn in Vienna, and Haydn agreed to the arrangement.

But in October 1794, while Beethoven studied in Vienna, French troops occupied the Rhineland and the Elector fled Bonn, which meant that Beethoven would no longer have a job at the Bonn court upon his return. Thus Beethoven’s second study trip to Vienna became a permanent move.

Ties to his hometown of Bonn had further thinned after Beethoven’s father died in December 1792 and his two brothers, Kaspar and Nikolaus, had moved to Vienna as well. Some of Beethoven’s friends also followed to Vienna, as they feared repression at the hands of the French occupiers.

Beethoven traveled to Vienna for the first time at the end of 1786. He returned home in May 1787 to find his mother, who had been the stabilizing force in his family, on her deathbed. Beethoven’s father increasingly lost control of his alcoholism and was suspended from his job in 1789. Forced to contribute to the family’s income from a young age, the burden of providing for the family now lay on Ludwig’s shoulders. He was granted discretionary power over half of his father’s pension, which effectively made him the head of the family.

During this time, Beethoven found refuge, warmth and affection in the home of the von Breuning family. Helene von Breuning, mother and widow, treated him like an adopted son, and he gave the children piano lessons. Another important source of support for Beethoven was Franz Anton Ries, one of the top musicians in Bonn’s orchestra. Beginning in 1789, Ludwig also played viola in Bonn’s court orchestra.

Beethoven was a composer, pianist, violinist, and a good organist. In June 1784, he finally got his first paid job under the new Prince-Elector Max Franz. As second court organist, he accompanied Mass services and other church-related celebrations, earning a modest annual salary of 150 florins but still making a significant contribution to his family’s otherwise meager income. The years of hard studying had begun to pay off.

Beethoven’s first compositions as a child were testament to his musical talent. His first published piece (1782) was a collection of nine variations on a march by Dressler, and served as his job application to the Elector’s court.

Beethoven’s career had been chosen for him, and – typical for the time – at the age of eleven he was applying for work in music. But a steady job as a court musician would forever elude Beethoven, who throughout his life continued to try – and fail – to obtain a permanent position.

A career in music was more or less predetermined for Ludwig. At an early age he began learning piano under the strict hand of his father, and studied violin as well. On March 26, 1778 – at the tender age of seven – Beethoven gave his first public concert in the neighboring city of Cologne. Higher education was not considered a realistic option for the Beethoven family, and Ludwig attended school for only four years.

Ludwig van Beethoven died on March 26, 1827 in Vienna at the age of 56. He had suffered from deafness, colic and elevated amounts of lead in his blood, but died from cirrhosis of the liver. His burial on the outskirts of Vienna three days after his death rivaled a state funeral. Some 20,000 people attended the funeral procession, Franz Schubert was one of the torchbearers, and schools were closed. In 1888, Beethoven’s remains were moved to an honorary grave at Vienna's central cemetery. Bonn, which Beethoven had left in 1792 and recalled wistfully throughout his life, never saw its famous son again.

The world commemorates the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birthday. Beethoven’s birthplace – Bonn, Germany – is the epicenter of the celebration.

The anniversary logo is based on Beethoven’s own signature. He occasionally signed his scores and letters with this abbreviation of his name.

The five main themes of the anniversary celebration program are also based on this abbreviation:

B – Beethoven as a Bonn-born Cosmopolitan
T – Beethoven as Musician (“tone artist” in German)
H – Beethoven as Humanist
V – Beethoven as Visionary
N – Beethoven as a Nature Lover