Ludwig van Beethoven

1
Ludwig van Beethoven

• ?Why did he have a hard
• life?
• ? What was the hardest
• thing for him to
• overcome?
• ? Why is his music still
• so important and
• loved today, so many
• years after his death?

2
Birth and childhood

• Born in Bonn, Germany in 1770.
• His father was Ludwigs first music teacher.
• Ludwig had to practice many nights when his
  father came home drunk.
• Ludwig showed an interest in composing when he
  was a child.

3
Young adulthood

• Beethoven went to Vienna, Austria to learn more
• about composing
• when he was 17.
• He had to return
• home when his
• mother died,
• and help raise
• his brothers.

4
Return to Vienna

• When Beethoven was 22, he moved to Austria and
  never returned to Germany.
• He learned from Haydn, another great
• composer, ...and
• played for Mozart
• before he died.

5
Losing his hearing

• Beethoven began hearing buzzing in his ears.
• At first he tried to hide his loss of hearing
  from his friends.
• He continued to write music when he was deaf.

• Beethoven tried many hearing devices, but none of
  them worked.
• He could watch peoples lips to understand what
  they were saying, or have them write in a
  notebook.

6
Medical methods back then...

• Doctors poured warm milk and crushed nuts in
  Beethovens ears, telling him that this would
  help restore his hearing!
• Doctors rubbed Beethovens arms with an ointment
  until they blistered, then punctured and drained
  the blisterstelling him that this would help
  restore his hearing!

7
His Later Years

• He still composed when he was deaf..
• how could he do this?

8
He could hear the music inside his head.and he
wasnt bothered with other noises around him.He
wrote some of his best music during this time.
9
His temperament

• Beethoven was not easy to be around. He had a
  temper, and he was very demanding.
• He would get lost in his own thoughts and would
  get impatient with others when they didnt do
  what he thought they should do.

• He criticized other musicians when they didnt
  perform his pieces the way he wanted them to
  sound.
• His whole life was very stormy there were many
  sad and discouraging times.

10
Some of his Works

• 32 Piano Sonatas
• Moonlight Sonata
• Sonata Pathetique
• Fur Elise
• Fidelio (his only opera)
• 9 Symphonies
• Choral Symphony 9 (Ode to Joy)
• Beethovens Fifth 5
• Symphony 7 (the one well hear at the concert)
• Pastorale ..6

11
Beethovens death

• Beethoven died in Vienna, Austria in 1827.
• It was storming when he died. (There was
  thundering during a snow storm!)
• Beethoven raised his fist toward the storm and
  fell back on his bed, dying.
• 50,000 lined the streets at his funeral to pay
  tribute to this great man.

12
Ludwig van Beethoven

• Because his music was so fiery, powerful, and
  different from the music that came before him,
  his music marks the beginning of a new era of
  music in history, the ROMANTIC ERA.

13
Truly a great Composer !!!
14
Books and films about Beethoven
video
book
films
15
Ludwig van Beethoven

• ?Why did he have a hard
• life?
• ? What was the hardest
• thing for him to
• overcome?
• ? Why is his music still
• so important and
• loved today, 181
• years after his death?

16
Beethoven
PowerPoint based on the wonderful work of Sue
White with editing by Meredith Inserra