Classical Era

In 1801 the young and charming Ludwig van Beethoven wrote the Moonlight Sonata. Beethoven a German born composer moved to Venice at a young age to study under already widely known composer Joseph Hayden. Beethoven became widely known for his music and his artistic approach to it. He flung a great deal of his personal emotions into his work. There is a great deal of this emotional range heard in each of his pieces. He had an extremely close nit group of friends that had become aware of his hearing loss but did what they could not to mention it. He did however after eventually completely losing his hearing, did not give up on his passion for music still writing up to a couple of years before his death. He had become bed ridden and was unable to go about a normal day. He died in 1827 and to this day even after his body was exhumed and studied twenty years after his death people still argue over what killed him. The leading consensus is that his death was caused by lead poising, after being given too much medicine by his doctor.

Writing music and performing music was the most important thing to Beethoven. His music lead the transition from the Baroque Period into the Classical Period for music. He was in the shadow of some of the greatest composers such as: Hayden and Mozart. He was committed to writing his music for the rising middle class as long as the money was there. It cannot be held against him for that. In the early 1800’s the middle class movement lead to more then just music and art and theater but in government as well. These middle class uprisings caused unrest in theses fields. Money was becoming less and less and composers and artists form this time being were forced to find wealthy upper class to pay the bills. Beethoven even resorted to taking a job from Napoleons brother.

I enjoy Beethoven’s music very much and had a hard time deciding which piece to pick when I was going to write this blog. I ended up choosing this one because of the story behind it. It is said that he wrote this piece for a women that he loved, her name Giulietta Guicciardi. His love for her inspired him to write a piece of music that truly expresses emotion with every pounding of the key, with every breath of the vocalist. For a man to be so deeply devoted to a woman to be able to write a piece of music so amazingly personal blows my mind. Beethoven sought to marry Giulietta but her father blocked the marriage and she was forced to marry another man. So amazingly divested by the loss of his love he decided not to take her back after her failed marriage was over some twenty years late. Passion and pride, this is an awesome combination to make such wonderful music, which was widely demonstrated, in all of Beethoven’s work. For your enjoyment I also added a piece that adds a modern twist to Beethoven’s classic.

“Ludwig van Beethoven.”  Wikipedia. 13 Mar. 2010. Web 15 Mar. 2010

“Mellow Sonic- Moonlight Sonata DnB Rmx.” YouTube, 23 Jul. 2009. Web 15 Mar. 2010.

“Moonlight Sonata.” YouTube. 25 Mar. 2006. Web. 15 Mar. 2010

“Piano Sonata No. 14 (Beethoven).” Wikipedia. 10 Mar. 2010. Web 15 Mar. 2010

Advertisement