Uh-oh...guess what day it is? Guess what day. It. IS? Man this oughta be a global holiday
On this day 255 years ago, the most consequential figure in the classical-romantic era was born in Bonn, Germany. The great Ludwing Van Beethoven...one of the greatest composers that ever lived. No composer singlehandedly brought about a new era of music quite the way he did.
Beethoven was always a fiercely independent and determined man, and burst forth onto the music scene first in Bonn, and then in Vienna. He was a brilliant virtuoso whose talent quickly reached wide accalim. The musical world increasingly at his feet.
But then...the malady that was so crushing hit him. BUT...after a near-death struggle coming to terms with his incurable deafness, Beethoven came out with a new determination: To express all the music that was within him. And he was determined to make music on his own terms.
Because of the crushing affliction of gradually increasing deafness, among other trials, struggle and triumph permeate his music. And perhaps it is for this reason that his music still resonates so much today. His music was the raw expression of the human soul; all of it! And could this expression be fit into a musical box? It could not! Someone had to come along and open the door; and Beethoven not only opened it, he broke the whole wall down. No longer confined within certain walls, classical music was expanded to fully express what's in the soul. But in order for this to happen, somebody had to
It is almost as if his struggle with deafness and a couple other physical afflictions. was the very thing that helped create the revolutionary music; that, combined with his sheer determination and fire, created music that forced the door open. As one documdrama ("The Genius of Beethoven") put it: With Beethoven, "music grew up". Everything Beethoven did tested the limits of instruments, musical form, and the very performers themselves. How things were done before could not contain Beethoven's music! His "new way", as he termed it coming out of his battle with accepting deafness, continued for the rest of his life...and gave birth to an entirely new era of music known as the Romantic Era.
I could say so much more, but...his music touches me in a way nobody else's does. My soul identifies with Beethoven, and his music gives me thrills so much that anyone that knows me knows how I move when I hear any Beethoven work! He is the composer I revere the most--and I thank God for him!
Happy Birthday, LVB!