Chapter 1 - Beethoven

Life

Overveiw

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), the second-oldest child of the court musician and tenor singer Johann van Beethoven, was born in Bonn. Ludwig's father drilled him thoroughly with the ambition of showcasing him as a child prodigy. Ludwig gave his first public performance as a pianist when he was eight years old. At the age of eleven he received the necessary systematic training in piano performance and composition from Christian Gottlob Neefe, organist and court musician in Bonn. Employed as a musician in Bonn court orchestra since 1787, Beethoven was granted a paid leave of absence in the early part of 1787 to study in Vienna under Mozart. he was soon compelled to return to Bonn, however, and after his mother's death had to look after the family.

In 1792 he chose Vienna as his new residence and took lessons from Haydn, Albrechtsberger, Schenck and Salieri. By 1795 he had earned a name for himself as a pianist of great fantasy and verve, admired in particular for his brilliant improvisations. Before long he was traveling in the circles of the nobility. They offered Beethoven their patronage, and the composer dedicated his works to them in return. By 1809 his patrons provided him with an annuity which enabled him to live as a freelance composer without financial worries. Beethoven was acutely interested in the development of the piano. He kept close contact with the leading piano building firms in Vienna and London and thus helped pave the way for the modern concert grand piano.

Around the year 1798 Beethoven noticed that he was suffering from a hearing disorder. He withdrew into increasing seclusion for the public and from his few friends and was eventually left completely deaf. By 1820 he was able to communicate with visitors and trusted friends only in writing, availing himself of "conversation notebooks".

The final years in the life of the restless bachelor (he changed living quarters no fewer than fifty-two times) were darkened by severe illness and by the struggle over the guardianship of his nephew Karl, upon whom he poured his solicitude, jealousy, expectations and threats in an effort to shape the boy according to his wishes. When the most famous composer of the age died, about thirty thousand mourners and curious onlookers were present at the funeral procession on March 26, 1827.

Childhood

For someone who was destined to be lionized by the aristocracy of his time, Beethoven's start in life was inauspicious. He was born in Bonn on 17 December 1770, the son of an obscure tenor singer in the employ of the Elector of Cologne. His father was said to be a violent and intemperate man, who returned home late at night much worse for drink and dragged young Ludwig from his bed in order to "beat" music lessons into the boy's sleepy head. There are also stories of his father forcing him to play his violin for the amusement of his drinking cronies. Despite these and other abuses - which might well have persuaded as lesser person to loathe the subject - the young Beethoven developed a sensitivity and vision for music.

When, despite his father's brutal teaching methods, Ludwig began to show signs of promise, other teachers were called in. By the age of seven he was advanced enough to appear in public. A year or so later the composer Christian Gottlob Neefe took over his musical training and progress thereafter was rapid. Ch. G. Neefe introduced Beethoven to the works of Bach and Mozart. Beethoven must have felt immense pride when his Nine Variations for piano in C minor were published, and was listed later in a prominent Leipzig catalogue as the work of 'Louis van Betthoven (sic), aged ten'. (The former is an intentional misspelling)

In 1787, Beethoven went to Vienna, a noted musical center, where then Count Waldstein engaged Beethoven was piano teacher and became his friend and patron. Beethoven must have felt a little out of his depth for he was clumsy and stocky; his manners were loutish, his black hair unruly and he habitually wore an expression of surliness on his swarthy face. It was here that Beethoven met the great Mozart, who was dapper and sophisticated. He received the boy doubtfully, but once Beethoven started playing the piano his talent was evident. "Watch this lad," Mozart reported. "Some day he will force the world to talk about him."

The death of Beethoven's mother in the summer of 1787 brought him back to Bonn.



With the death of Beethoven's mother, the last steadying influence on Beethoven's father was removed. The old singer unhesitatingly put the bottle before Ludwig, his two younger brothers, and his one-year-old sister. The situation became so bad that by 1789 Beethoven was forced to show the mettle that was to stand him in good stead later in life. He went resolutely to his father's employer and demanded - and got - half his father's salary so that the family could be provided for; his father could drink away the rest. In 1792 the old man died. No great grief was felt: as his employer put it, "That will deplete the revenue from liquor excise."

For four years Ludwig supported the family. He also made some good friends, among them Stephan von Breuning, who became a friend for life, and Doctor Franz Wegeler, who wrote one of the first biographies of Beethoven. Also, Count Ferdinand von Waldstein entered Beethoven's circle and received the dedication of a famous piano sonata in 1804.

In July 1792 the renowned composer Haydn passed through Bonn on his way to Vienna. He met Beethoven and was impressed, and perhaps disturbed, by his work. Clearly, he felt, this young man's talents needed to be controlled before it could be developed. Consequently Beethoven left Bonn for good early in November 1792 to study composition with Haydn in Vienna. However, if Haydn had hoped to "control" Beethoven's talent he was fighting a losing battle. Beethoven's music strode towards the next century, heavily influenced by the strenuous political and social tensions that ravaged Europe in the wake of the French Revolution. Haydn, who had been a musical trend setter himself in youth, found that Beethoven was advancing implacably along the same radical path. After realizing that Haydn was not the master he was looking for, Beethoven moved onto Albrechtsberger, another prestigious musician who called him an "excited musical free-thinker".

Those first weeks in Vienna were hard for Beethoven. Opportunities were not forthcoming; expectations were unfulfilled. In addition it must have irked him, fired as he was by the current spirit of equality, to have to live in a tiny garret in Prince Lichnowsky's mansion. Soon, however, the Prince gave him more spacious accommodation on the ground floor, and, mindful of the young man's impetuous behavior, instructed the servants that Beethoven's bell was to be answered even before the Prince's own!

Impetuosity was also a feature of his piano playing at this time. In those days pianists were pitted against each other in front of audiences to decide who could play more brilliantly and improvise the more imaginatively. Beethoven's rivals always retired, bloodied, from such combat. While he made enemies of many pianists in Vienna, the nobility flocked to hear him. Personally and professionally his future looked bright. Compositions poured from him and he gave concerts in Vienna as well as Berlin, Prague, and other important centers. His finances were secure enough for him to set up his own apartments. He was the first composer to become a freelance by choice, as opposed to depending on patrons. However, it was his skill as a pianist rather than as a composer that brought him recognition during his twenties. He was one of Vienna's dominant music personalities surrounded by aristocrats and famous musicians. Until the coming of his deafness, he had five principle resources: Pianoforte Playing, Teaching, Composition, Dedications, and Concert-giving.

The first concert of his own responsibility occurred on April 2, 1800 he launched his first Symphony and introduced his world famous Septet op. 20. One year later, however, in 1801 his deafness began to hit Beethoven, causing great turmoil in his life.

The mature Beethoven was a short, well build man. His dark grey hair, then white, but was always thick and unruly. Reports differ as to the color of this eyes. His skin was pock-marked and his mouth, which had been a little petulant in youth, later became fixed in a grim, down-curving line, as if in a permanent expression of truculent determination. He seldom took care of his appearance, and, as he strode through the streets of Vienna with hair escaping from beneath his top hat, his hands clasped behind his back and his coat cross-buttoned he was the picture of eccentricity. His moods changed constantly, keeping his acquaintances guessing. They could never be sure that a chance remark might be misconstrued or displease the master in some way, for his powerful will would admit of no alternative view once he had made a judgement.

By nature, Beethoven was impatient, impulsive, unreasonable and intolerant; deafness added suspicion and paranoia to these attributes. He would often misunderstand the meaning of a facial expression and accuse faithful friends of disloyalty or conspiracy. He would fly into a rage at the slightest provocation, and he would turn on friends, dismissing them curtly as being unworthy of his friendship. But, likely as not, he would write a letter the next day or so, telling them how noble and good they were and how he had misjudged them.

I have heard him play; but to bring him so far required some management, so great is his horror of being anything like exhibited. Had he been plainly asked to do the company that favour, he would have flatly refused; he had to be cheated into it. Every person left the room, except Beethoven and the master of the house, one of his most intimate acquaintances. These two carried on a conversation in the paper-book about bank stock. The gentleman, as if by chance, struck the keys of the open piano, beside which they were sitting, gradually began to run over one of Beethoven's own compositions, made a thousand errors, and speedily blundered one passage so thoroughly, that the composer condescended to stretch out his hand and put him right. It was enough; the hand was on the piano; his companion immediately left him, on some pretext, and joined the rest of the company, who in the next room, from which they could see and hear everything, were patiently waiting the issue of this tiresome conjuration. Beethoven, left alone, seated himself at the piano. At first he only struck now and then a few hurried notes, as if afraid of being detected in a crime; but gradually he forgot everything else, and ran on during half and hour in a fantasy, in a style extremely varied, and marked, above all, by the most abrupt transitions. The amateurs were enraptured; to the uninitiated it was more interesting to observe how the music of the man's soul passed over his countenance. He seems to feel the bold, the commanding, and the impetuous, more than what is soothing or gentle. The muscles of the face swell, and its veins start out; the wild eye rolls doubly wild, the mouth quivers, and Beethoven looks like a wizard, overpowered by the demons whom he himself has called up.



Beethoven's career as a virtuoso pianist was brought to an end when he began to experience his first symptoms of deafness. In a letter written to his friend Karl Ameda on 1 July 1801, he admitted he was experiencing signs of deafness.

How often I wish you were here, for your Beethoven is having
a miserable life, at odds with nature and its Creator, abusing
the latter for leaving his creatures vulnerable to the slightest
accident ... My greatest faculty, my hearing, is greatly
deteriorated.

Apparently Beethoven had been aware of the problem for about three years, avoiding company lest his weakness be discovered, and retreating into himself. Friends ascribed his reserve to preoccupation and absentmindedness. In a letter to Wegeler, he w rote:

How can I, a musician, say to people "I am deaf!" I shall, if
I can, defy this fate, even though there will be times when I
shall be the unhappiest of God's creatures ... I live only in
music ... frequently working on three or four pieces simultaneously.

Many men would have been driven to suicide; Beethoven may indeed have contemplated it. Yet his stubborn nature strengthened him and he came to terms with his deafness in a dynamic, constructive way. In a letter to Wegeler, written five months after the despairing one quoted above, it becomes clear that Beethoven, as always, stubborn, unyielding and struggling against destiny, saw his deafness as a challenge to be fought and overcome:

Free me of only half this affliction and I shall be a complete,
mature man. You must think of me as being as happy as it is
possible to be on this earth - not unhappy. No! I cannot endure
it. I will seize Fate by the throat. It will not wholly conquer
me! Oh, how beautiful it is to live - and live a thousand times over!

With the end of his career as a virtuoso pianist inevitable, he plunged into composing. It offered a much more precarious living than that of a performer, especially when his compositions had already shown themselves to be in advance of popular taste . In 1802 his doctor sent him to Heiligenstadt, a village outside Vienna, in the hope that its rural peace would rest in his hearing. The new surroundings reawakened in Beethoven a love of nature and the countryside, and hope and optimism returned. Chief amongst the sunny works of this period was the charming, exuberant Symphony no. 2. However, when it became obvious that there was no improvement in his hearing, despair returned. By the autumn the young man felt so low both physically and mentally that he feared he would not surive the winter. He therefore wrote his will and left instructions that it was to be opened only after his death. This 'Heiligenstadt Testament' is a long moving document that reveals more about his state of mind than does the music he was writing at the time. Only his last works can reflect in sound what he then put down in words.

O ye men who accuse me of being malevolent, stubborn and
misanthropical, how ye wrong me! Ye know not the secret
cause. Ever since childhood my heart and mind were disposed
toward feelings of gentleness and goodwill, and I was eager
to accomplish great deeds; but consider this: for six years
I have been hopelessly ill, aggravated and cheated by quacks in
the hope of improvement but finally compelled to face a lasting
malady ... I was forced to isolate myself. I was misunderstood
and rudely repulsed because I was as yet unable to say to people,
"Speak louder, shout, for I am deaf" ... With joy I hasten to meet
death. Despite my hard fate ... I shall wish that it had come later;
but I am content, for he shall free me of constant suffering. Come
then, Death, and I shall face thee with courage. Heiglnstadt (sic)
6 October, 1802.



Just how bad was Beethoven's plight? At first the malady was intermittent or so faint that it worried him only occasionally. but by 1801 he reported that a whistle and a buzz was constant. Low speech tones became an unintelligible hum, shouting became an intolerable din. Apparently the illness completely swamped delicate sounds and distorted strong ones. He may have had short periods of remission, but for the last ten years of his life he was totally deaf.



After his return from Heiligenstadt, Beethoven's music deepened. He began creating a new musical world. In the summer of 1803 he began work on his Third Symphony - the 'Eroica'. It was to be the paean of glory to Napoleon Bonaparte and like its subject, it was revolutionary. It was half as long as any previous symphony and its musical language was so uncompromising that it set up resistance in its first audiences. It broke the symphonic mold, yet established new, logical and cogent forms. This was the miracle Beethoven was to work many times.

Stephan von Breuning, with whom Beethoven shared rooms, reports a thunderous episode in connection with the 'Eroica' Symphony. In December, 1804, the news arrived that Napoleon, that toiler for the rights of the common people, had proclaimed himself Emperor. In a fury, Beethoven strode over to his copy of the Symphony, which bore a dedication to Napoleon, and crossed out the "Bonaparte" name in such violence that the pen tore in the paper. "Is he, too, nothing more than human?" he raged. "Now he will crush the rights of man. He will become a tyrant!"

For the next few years in Vienna, from 1804 to 1808, Beethoven lived in what might be described as a state of monotonous uproar. His relationships suffered elemental rifts, his music grew ever greater, and all the time he was in love with one women or another, usually high-born, sometimes unattainable, always unattained. he never married.

His Fifth and Sixth Symphonies were completed by the summer of 1808. The Fifth indeed takes fate by the throat; the Sixth (Pastoral) is a portrait of the countryside around Heilingenstadt. These and other works spread his name and fame.

In July 1812 Beethoven wrote a letter to an unidentified lady whom he addressed as The Immortal Beloved. It was as eloquent of love as his 'Heiligenstadt Testament' had been of despair. The following is a summary of the letter (follow the above link for more):

My angel, my all, my very self - a few words only today, and
in pencil (thine). Why such profound sorrow when necessity
speaks? Can our love endure but through sacrifice - but through
not demanding all - canst thou alter it that thou art not wholly
mine, I not wholly thine?

So moving an outpouring may well have resulted, at last, in some permanent arrangement - if the lady in question had been free, and if the letter had been sent. It was discovered in a secret drawer in Beethoven's desk after his death.

His brother Casper Carl died in November 1815. The consequences brought about something that neither the tragedy of deafness nor Napoleon's guns could achieve: they almost stopped Beethoven composing. Beethoven was appointed guardian of his brother's nine-year-old son, Karl - a guardianship he shared with the boy's mother Johanna. Beethoven took the appointment most seriously and was certain that Johanna did not. He believed her to be immoral, and immediately began legal proceedings to get sole guardianship of his nephew. The lawsuit was painful and protracted and frequently abusive, with Johanna asserting "How can a deaf, madman bachelor guard the boy's welfare?" - Beethoven repeatedly fell ill because of the strain. He did not finally secure custody of Karl until 1820, when the boy was 20.

The Ninth Symphony (Choral) was completed in 1823, by which time Beethoven was completely deaf. There was a poignant scene at the first performance. Despite his deafness, Beethoven insisted on conducting, but unknown to him the real conductor sat out of his sight beating time. As the last movement ended, Beethoven, unaware even that the music had ceased, was also unaware of the tremendous burst of applause that greeted it. One of the singers took him by the arm and turned him around so that he might actually see the ovation.

A life mask of Beethoven
make by Franz Klein.

In the autumn of 1826, Beethoven took Karl to Gneixendorf for a holiday. The following is an account of Beethoven the possessed genius as he worked upon his last string quartet:

At 5:30 A.M. he was at his table, beating time with hands
and feet, humming and writing. After breakfast he hurried
outside to wander in the fields, calling, waving his arms about,
moving slowly, then very abruptly stopping to scribble
something in his notebook

In early December Beethoven returned to Vienna with Karl and the journey brought the composer down with pneumonia. He recovered, only to be laid low again with cirrhosis of the liver, which in turn gave way to dropsy. His condition had deteriorated dramatically by the beginning of March and, sensing the worst, his friends rallied round: faithful Stephan brought his family and Schubert paid his respects.

Beethoven's final moments, if a report by Schubert's friend Huttenbrenner are to believed, were dramatic in the extreme. At about 5:45 in the afternoon of 26 March, 1827, as a storm raged, Beethoven's room was suddenly filled with light and shaken with thunder:

Beethoven's eyes opened and he lifted his right fist for
several seconds, a serious, threatening expression on
his face. When his had fell back, he half closed his eyes
... Not another word, not another heartbeat.

Schubert and Hummel were among the 20,000 - 30,000 people who mourned the composer at his funeral three days later. He was buried in Wahring Cemetery; in 1888 his remains were removed to Zentral-friedhof in Vienna - a great resting place for musicians - where he lies side-by-side with Schubert.

When Beethoven entered his thirtieth year, he began to suffer from an annoying roaring and buzzing in both ears. Soon his hearing began to fail and, for all he often would enjoy untroubled intervals lasting for months at a time, his disability finally ended in complete deafness. All the resources of the physician's art were useless. At about the same time Beethoven noticed that his digestion began to suffer. ...

At no time accustomed to taking medical advice seriously, he began to develop a liking for spirituous beverages, in order to stimulate his decreasing appetite and to aid his stomachic weakness by excessive use of strong punch and iced drinks. ... He contracted a severe inflammation of the intestines which, though it yielded to treatment, later on often gave rise to intestinal pains and aching colics and which, in part, must have favored the eventual development of his mortal illness.
                 --Andreas Wawruch, physician attending Beethoven's final illness, 1827

My hearing has become weaker during the last three years. Frank wished to restore me to health by means of strengthening medicines, and to cure my deafness by means of oil of almonds, but, prosit! nothing came of these remedies; my hearing became worse and worse. ... Then an Asinus of a doctor advised cold baths, a more skillful one, the usual tepid Danube baths. These worked wonders; but my deafness remained or became worse. This winter I was truly miserable; I had terrible attacks of Kolik, and I fell quite back into my former state.
                 --Beethoven to Franz Wegeler, 1801

For the last six years I have been afflicted with an incurable complaint, made worse by incompetent doctors. From year to year my hopes of being cured have gradually been shattered ... I must live like an outcast; if I appear in company, I am overcome by a burning anxiety, a fear that I am running the risk of letting people notice my condition. ... How humiliated I have felt if somebody standing beside me heard the sound of a flute in the distance and I heard nothing. ... I have such a sensitive body that any sudden change can plunge me from the best spirits into the worst of humors. ...

When I am dead, request on my behalf Professor Schmidt, if he is still living, to describe my disease, and attach this written document to his record, so that after my death at any rate the world and I may be reconciled. ...
                 --Beethoven to brothers Karl and Johann, 1802 (Heiligenstadt Testament)

Medical science is divided as to whether Beethoven's deafness was due to direct damage to the auditory nerve (sensori-neural deafness) or to thickening and fixation of the bones which conduct sound through the middle ear (otosclerosis). ... Otosclerosis is the commonest cause of deafness in a man of twenty-eight years, but the high-frequency hearing loss described by Beethoven is not typical of the condition and makes the diagnosis doubtful. ...

Johann Wagner in his autopsy report identified the auditory nerves; he clearly thought they were implicated in the pathological process. The appearance of the auditory arteries seems more typical of atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) than of endarteritis obliterans, which would have been seen in a chronic inflammatory condition such as syphilis.
                 --John O'Shea, Was Mozart Poisoned? Medical Investigations into the Lives of the Great Composers, 1991

According to Huttenbrenner, who was in the room, there was a sudden flash of lightning which garishly illuminated the death-chamber--snow lay outside--and a violent thunderclap. At this startling, aweful peal of thunder, the dying man suddenly raised his head and stretched out his right arm majestically, 'like a general giving orders to an army.' This was but for an instant; the arm sank down; he fell back. Beethoven was dead.
                 --A. W. Thayer, Life of Beethoven, 1866

The story of Beethoven apparently 'shaking his fist at the heavens' in one final act of defiance before oblivion has been dismissed as a romantic fiction by most Beethoven biographers. Surprisingly, it is an accurate clinical observation: people who die of hepatic failure often react in an exaggerated way to sudden stimuli such as bright light. This is due to the accumulation of toxic waste products normally excreted by the liver. Beethoven's gesture may be seen as having been due to the cerebral irritation which accompanies hepatic failure, not as a conscious act.

The cause of Beethoven's death--liver failure due to cirrhosis--was confirmed by the autopsy performed by Johann Wagner and Karl von Rokitansky. ... The essential feature was macronodular cirrhosis of long standing with concomitant portal hypertension. Macronodular cirrhosis is less common than micronodular cirrhosis in alcoholic liver disease but certainly occurs frequently. ... Chronic active hepatitis due to viral or auto-immune disease is a possibility, but it is not necessary to invoke this as an explanation in a patient known to have been drinking heavily over a thirty-year period.
                 --O'Shea, 1991

Beethoven's was a long-term hepatitis, as the history from 1821 shows, which had flared up after the exposure during the journey from Gneixendorf. Such a chronic active hepatitis associated with colitis, rheumatism, repeated catarrhs, abscesses, cryopathy (attacks precipitated by chilling), the ophthalmia, and the skin disorder are extremely suggestive of connective tissue immunopathy [auto-immune disease]: such a diagnosis explains all his numerous illnesses. Arterial disease is constant in immunopathy; the atrophy of the auditory nerves could be due to arterial disease.
                 --Edward Larkin, Beethoven's Medical History, 1970

Beethoven once had a terrible Typhus [fever with clouding of the mind]. From this time on dated the ruin of his nervous system and probably the ruin of his hearing, so calamitous in his case.
                 --Aloys Weissenbach, surgeon and Beethoven's friend, 1820

Beethoven may well have had the specific form of immunopathic disease known as Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, which typically commences in early adult life with a fever accompanied by mental confusion. Typical symptoms are destructive rash ('lupus') and redness ('erythema') of the butterfly area of the face. Any of the immunopathic disorders may occur, notably colitis. The excellent life-mask of 1812 shows an elongated atrophic scar particularly suggestive of Lupus. The portraits clearly show flushing of the cheekbones and nose. Beethoven's high color was frequently commented on and may have aroused suspicions of heavy drinking.

Beethoven rose at daybreak, no matter what season, and went at once to his work-table. There he worked until two or three o' clock, when he took his midday meal. In the interim he usually ran out into the open two or three times, where he also "worked while walking." Such excursions seldom exceeded a full hour's time, and resembled the swarming out of the bee to gather honey. They never varied with the seasons and neither cold nor heat were noticed.

The afternoons were dedicated to regular promenades; and at a later hour Beethoven was wont to hunt up some favorite beer-house, in order to read the news of the day, if he had not already satisfied this need at some cafe. At the time when the English parliament was sitting, however, the Allgemeine Zeitung was regularly read at home for the sake of the debates. It will be easily understood that our politico was arrayed on the side of the Opposition. Nor was his great predilection for Lord Brougham, Hume, and other Opposition orators necessary to this end.

Beethoven always spent his winter evenings at home, and devoted them to serious reading. It was but seldom that one saw him busy with music-paper in the evening, since writing music was too taxing for his eyes. In former years this may not have been the case; yet it is quite certain that at no time did he employ the evening hours for composition (creation). At ten o' clock at the latest he went to bed.



Opus:

1     3 Piano Trios (nos 1-3): Eb, G, c [1794-5]
2     3 Piano Sonatas (nos 1-3): f, A, C [1793-5]
3     String Trio #1 in Eb [1792]
4     String Quintet in Eb (reworking of Op.103) [1795]
5     2 Cello Sonatas (nos 1 & 2): F, g [1796]
6     Sonata in D for pf 4 hands [1796-7]
7     Piano Sonata #4 in Eb [1796-7]
8     Serenade in D for stg trio [1796-7]
9     3 String Trios (nos 2-4): G, D, c [1797-8]
10/1     Piano Sonata #5 in c [?1795-7]
10/2     Piano Sonata #6 in F [1796-7]
10/3     Piano Sonata #7 in D [1797-8]
11     Trio in Bb for pf, cl or vn, vc (sometimes called Piano Trio #4) [1797]
12     3 Violin Sonatas (nos 1-3): D, A, Eb [1797-8]
13     Piano Sonata #8 in c, "Path»tique" [?1798]
14/1     Piano Sonatas #9 in E [1798]
14/2     Piano Sonata #10 in G [?1799]
15     Piano Concerto #1 in C [1795]
16     Quintet in Eb for piano & winds (also in arrmt as Quartet for Piano & Stgs) [1796]
17     Horn Sonata in F [1800]
18     6 String Quartets (nos 1-6): F, G, D, c, A, Bb [1798-1800]
19     Piano Concerto #2 in Bb [1795]
20     Septet in Eb [1799]
21     Symphony #1 in C [1800]
22     Piano Sonata #11 in Eb [1800]
23     Violin Sonata #4 in a [1800]
24     Violin Sonata #5 in F, "Spring" [1800-01]
25     Serenade in D for fl, vn, va [1801]
26     Piano Sonata #12 in Ab [1800-01]
27/1     Piano Sonata #13 in Eb [1800-01]
27/2     Piano Sonata #14 in c#, "Moonlight"
28     Piano Sonata #15 in D, "Pastorale"
29     String Quintet in C [1801]
30     3 Violin Sonatas (nos 6-8): A, c, G [1801-2]
31/1     Piano Sonata #16 in G [1802]
31/2     Piano Sonata #17 in d, "Tempest" [1802]
31/3     Piano Sonata #18 in Eb [1802]
32     Song, "An die Hoffnung" [1805]
33     7 Bagatelles (pf) [1801-2]
34     6 Variations in F on an Original Theme (pf) [1800]
35     15 Variations & Fugue on a Theme from "Prometheus" (pf), "Eroica Variations" [1802]
36     Symphony #2 in D [1801-2]
37     Piano Concerto #3 in c [?1800]
38     Piano Trio in Eb (arr of Op. 20) [?1803]
39     2 Preludes "through all the major keys" (pf or organ) [?1789]
40     Romance #1 in G for vn & orch [?1801-2]
41     Serenade in D for vn/fl & pf (arr of Op.25; the arrangement was made by another hand, but corrected by B.) [1803]
42     Notturno in D for pf & vla (arr of Op.8) [1803]
43     The Creatures of Prometheus (ballet) [1800-1]
44     14 Variations in Eb for pf trio (sometimes called Piano Trio #10) [?1792]
45     3 Grand Marches for pf 4 hands: C, Eb, D [?1803]
46     Song, "Adelaide" [1795]
47     Violin Sonata #9 in A, "Kreutzer" [1802-3]
48     6 Songs [before March 1802]
49/1     Piano Sonata #19 in g [?1797]
49/2     Piano Sonata #20 in G [1795-6]
50     Romance #2 in F for vn & orch [?1798]
51/1     Rondo in C (pf) [?1796-7]
51/2     Rondo in G (pf) [?1798]
52     8 Songs [c1790-94]
53     Piano Sonata #21 in C, "Waldstein" [1803-4]
54     Piano Sonata #22 in F [1804]
55     Symphony #3 in Eb, "Eroica" [1803-4]
56     Triple Concerto in C for piano, violin, cello, & orch [1803-4]
57     Piano Sonata #23 in f, "Appassionata" [1804-5]
58     Piano Concerto #4 in G [1805-6]
59     3 String Quartets (nos 7-9), "Razumovsky": F, e, C [1805-6]
60     Sym. #4 in Bb [1806]
61     Violin Concerto in D [1806]
62     Coriolan Overture [1807]
63     Piano Trio in Eb (arr of Op.4, probably spurious) [nd]
64     Duet in G for pf & vc [after 1792]
65     Concert aria for soprano, "Ah, perfido!" [1796]
66     12 Variations in F on "Ein Moedchen oder Weibchen" from Mozart's Magic Flute for vc & pf [1796]
67     Sym. #5 in c [1807-8]
68     Sym. #6 in F, "Pastorale" [1808]
69     Cello Sonata #3 in A [1807-8]
70/1     Piano Trio #4 (or 5) in D, "Ghost" [1808]
70/2     Piano Trio #5 (or 6) in Eb [1808]
71     Sextet in Eb for 2 clarinets, 2 horns, 2 bassoons [1796]
72     Fidelio (opera) (the overture is sometimes called Op.72a) (c1803-5; Fidelio Ov. 1814]
72a     Leonore Overture #2 (sometimes referred to as Op.72b) [1805]
72b     Leonore Overture #3 (sometimes referred to as Op.72c) [1806]
73     Piano Concerto #5 in Eb, "Emperor" [1809]
74     String Quartet #10 in Eb, "Harp" [1809]
75     6 Songs [1809]
76     6 Variations in D on an Original Theme, Op.76 (pf) (the theme was later used by B. as the Turkish March in Op. 113) [1809]
77     Fantasy in g (pf) [1809]
78     Piano Sonata #24 in F# (sometimes called, "Fur Therese") [1809]
79     Piano Sonata #25 in G [1809]
80     Choral Fantasy in c (pf, chorus, orch) [1808]
81a     Piano Sonata #26 in Eb, "Les Adieux" or "Lebewohl" [1809-10]
81b     Sextet in Eb for 2 horns, 2 violins, viola, cello [?1795]
82     4 Ariettas & a Duet [?1809, or ?c1801]
83     3 Songs [1810]
84     Egmont (incidental music) [1809-10]
85     Christ on the Mount of Olives (oratorio) [1803, rev.1804]
86     Mass in C [1807]
87     Trio in C for 2 oboes & English horn [1795]
88     Song, "Das Gloeck der Freundschaft" [1803]
89     Polonaise in C (pf) [1814]
90     Piano Sonata #27 in e [1814]
91     WellingtonÌs Victory [1813]
92     Symphony #7 in A [1811-12]
93     Symphony #8 in F [1812]
94     Song, "An die Hoffnung" [?1815; sketched 1813]
95     String Quartet #11 in f, "Serioso" [1810]
96     Violin Sonata #10 in G [1812]
97     Piano Trio #6 (or #7) in Bb, "Archduke" [1810-11]
98     Song cycle, "An die ferne Geliebte" [1816]
99     Song, "Der Mann von Wort" [1816]
100     Duet, "Merkenstein" [1814-15]
101     Piano Sonata #28 in A [1816]
102     2 Cello Sonatas (nos 4, 5): C, D [1815]
103     Octet in Eb for winds [?1792-3]
104     String Quintet in c (arr of Op. 1 #3) [1817]
105     6 Very Easy Themes for fl/vn, pf [c1818]
106     Piano Sonata #29 in Bb, "Hammerklavier" [1817-18]
107     10 National Themes with Variations (fl/vn, pf) [c1818]
108     25 Scottish Songs (harmonizations) [?1815]
109     Piano Sonata #30 in E [1820]
110     Piano Sonata #31 in Ab [1821-2]
111     Piano Sonata #32 in c [1821-2]
112     Cantata, "Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage" [1814-15]
113     The Ruins of Athens (incidental music) [1811]
114     March & Chorus for 113 [1822]
115     Name Day Overture [1814-15]
116     Terzetto (STB), "Tremate" [1814]
117     King Stephen (incidental music) [1811]
118     Elegiac Song (chorus & strings) [1814]
119     11 Bagatelles (pf) [nos 1-6, 1822; nos 7-11, 1820 or before]
120     33 Variations in C on a Waltz by Diabelli (pf) [1819 & 1822-3]
121a     Variations in G on "Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu" (pf trio) [?1803] (sometimes called Pf Trio #11)
121b     Opferlied (soprano, chorus, orch) [1824]
122     Bundeslied (soprano, tenor, chorus, winds) [1823-4]
123     Missa Solemnis in D [1819-23]
124     Consecration of the House: Overture [1822]
125     Symphony #9 in d, "Choral" [1822-4]
126     6 Bagatelles (pf) [1823-4]
127     Stg Quartet #12 in Eb [1825]
128     Song (arietta), "The Kiss" [?1822; sketched 1798]
129     Rondo a capriccio in G, "Rage Over a Lost Penny" (pf) [1795]
130     Stg Quartet #13 in Bb [1825]
131     Stg Quartet #14 in c# [1826]
132     Stg Quartet #15 in a [1825]
133     Grosse Fuge in Bb [1825-6]
134     Grosse Fuge arr for pf 4 hands [1826]
135     Stg Quartet #16 in F [1826]
136     Cantata, "Der glorreiche Augenblick" [1814]
137     Fugue in D for stg quintet [1817]
138     Leonore Overture #1 [1806-7]

WoO:

1     Musik zu einem Ritterballett [1790-1]
2     Tarpeja (incidental music; just two pcs: Triumphal March & Intro. to Act 2) [1813]
3     Gratulations-Menuett (orch) [1822]
4     Piano Concerto in Eb [1784]
5     Violin Concerto mvmt in C [c1790-2]
6     Rondo in Bb for pf & orch (original finale of Op.19) [bfr 1794]
7     12 Minuets (orch) [1795]
8     12 German Dances (orch) [1795]
9     6 Minuets [nd]
10     6 Minuets [1795]
11     7 Landler (pf) [?1798]
12     12 Minuets (orch) (probably by Carl van Beethoven)
13     12 German Dances (survives in pf version only) [nd]
14     12 Contredanses (orch) [completed 1802]
15     6 Landler (2 vns, bass) [1801-2]
16     12 Ecossaises (2 vns, bass) (doubtful)
17     11 Moedlinger Tanze (orch) (doubtful?) [1819]
18     March in F "fur die boehmische Landwehr" (wd band) [1809, trio added ?1822-3]
19     "Yorck" March in F (wd band) [1810]
20     March in C (wd band) [bfr 1823]
21     Polonaise in D (wd band) [1810]
22     Ecossaise in D (wd band) [1810]
23     Ecossiase in G (wd band) [?1810]
24     Military March in D (wd band) [1816]
25     Rondino in Eb for 2 ob, 2 cl, 2 hn, 2 bsn (prob. orig. finale of Op. 103) added ?1822-3]
26     Allegro & Menuetto in G for 2 flutes [1792]
27     3 Duos for clar & bsn: C, F, Bb (probably spurious) [?1792]
28     8 Variations in C on "Lo ci darem" from Mozart's Don Giovanni (2 obs, eng hn) [?1795]
29     March in Bb (2 cl, 2 bsn, 2 hn) [1798]
30     3 Equali for 4 trbns: d, D, Bb [1812]
31     ?
32     Duo in Eb for va & vc, "with two obbligato eyeglasses" [1796-7]
33     5 Pieces for a mechanical clock: 1. Adagio in F [?c1799], 2. Scherzo in G [1799-1800],3. Allegro in G [?c1799], 4. Allegro in C [?1794], 5. Minuet in C [?1794]
34     Duet in A for 2 vns [1822]
35     Canon in 2 parts (2 vns?) for Otto de Boer [1825]
36     3 Piano Quartets in Eb, D, C [1785]
37     Trio in G for pf, fl, bsn [1786]
38     Piano Trio #9 in Eb [?1791]
39     Piano Trio #8 in Bb [1812]
40     12 Variations in F on "Se vuol ballare" from Mozart's Marriage of Figaro (pf, vn) [1792-3]
41     Rondo in G for pf & vn [1793-4]
42     6 German Dances (vn, pf) [1796]
43/1     Sonatina in c (mand, hpsch) [1796]
43/2     Adagio in Eb (mand, hpsch) [1796]
44/1     Sonatina in C (mand, hpsch) [1796]
44/2     Andante & Variations in D (mand, hpsch) [1796]
45     12 Variations in G on Handel's "See the Conquering Hero Comes" from Judas Maccabaeus (vc, pf) [1796]
46     7 Variations in Eb on "Bei Moennern" from Mozart's Magic Flute (vc, pf) [1801]
47     3 Piano Sonatas, "Elector": Eb, f, D [1782-3]
48     Rondo in C (pf) [1783]
49     Rondo in A (pf) [?1783]
50     Pf. Sonatina in F [bfr 1793]
51     Pf. Sonata in C (2nd mvmt completed by Ferdinand Ries) [?1797-8]
52     Presto in c (pf) (probably originally intended for Op. 10 #1) [?1795]
53     Allegretto in c (pf) (probably originally intended for Op. 10 #1) [1796-7]
54     Bagatelle in C, "Lustig-Traurig" (pf) [?1802]
55     Prelude in f (pf) [bfr 1805]
56     Allegretto in C (pf) [1803]
57     Andante favori in F (pf) (originally intended for Op. 53) [1805]
58     Cadenzas to the 1st & 3rd mvmts of Mozart's K.466 [?1809]
59     Bagatelle in a, "Fur Elise" (pf) [1810]
60     Bagatelle in Bb (pf) [1818]
61     Allegretto in b (pf) [1821]
61a     Allegretto quasi andante in g (pf) [1825]
62     String Quintet in C (frgmt) [1826]
63     9 Vars in c on a march by Dressler (pf) [1782]
64     6 Vars in F on a Swiss air (pf or harp) [bfr 1793]
65     24 Vars in D on Righini's air "Venni amore" (pf) [1790-1]
66     13 Vars in A on Dittersdorf's air "Es war einmal" (pf) [1792]
67     8 Vars in C on a theme by Count von Waldstein (pf 4 hands) [?1792]
68     12 Vars in C on a minuet from Haibel's Le nozze disturbate (pf) [1795]
69     9 Vars in A on Paisiello's air "Quant' o piu bello" (pf) [1795]
70     6 Vars in G on Paisiello's duet "Nel cor piu" (pf) [1795]
71     12 Vars in A on the Russian dance from P. Vranicka's Waldmadchen (pf) [1796-7]
72     8 Vars in C on Gretry's air "Une fievre brulante" (pf) [?1795]
73     10 Vars in Bb on Salieri's air "La stessa, la stessissima" (pf) [1799]
74     6 Vars in D on "Ich denke dein" (pf 4 hands) [vars 1,2,5,6: 1799; vars 3,4: 1803]
75     7 Vars in F on Winter's quartet "Kind, willst du" (pf) [1799]
76     8 Vars in F on Sussmayr's trio "Tundeln und Scherzen" (pf) [1799]
77     6 Very Easy Vars in G on an orig. theme (pf) [1800]
78     7 Vars in C on "God Save the King" (pf) [1802-3]
79     5 Vars in D on "Rule, Britannia" (pf) [1803]
80     32 Vars in c (pf) [1806]
81     Allemande in A (pf) [1795]
82     Minuet in Eb (pf) [?1783]
83     6 Ecossaises in Eb [nd]
84     Waltz in Eb (pf) [1824]
85     Waltz in D (pf) [1825]
86     Ecossaise in Eb (pf) [1825]
87     Cantata on the death of Emperor Joseph II [1790]
88     Cantata on the accession of Emperor Leopold II [1790]
89     Bass Aria, "Prufung des Kussens" [c1790-2]
90     Bass Aria, "Mit Modeln sich vertragen" [c1790-2]
91     2 Arias for Umlauf's Die schoene Schusterin [?1796]
92     Soprano Aria, "Primo amore piacer del ciel" [c1790-2]
92a     Soprano Aria, "No, non turbarti" [1801-2]
93     Duet for Soprano & Tenor, "Nei giorni tuoi felici" [1802-3]
94     "Germania!" (finale for a Singspiel) [1814]
95     Chorus, "Ihr weisen Groender" [1814]
96     Leonore Prohaska (incidental music) [1815]
97     "Es ist vollbracht" (finale for a Singspiel) [1815]
98     Chorus, "Wo sich die Pulse" (for "Consecration of the House") [1822]
99     ?Exercises in Italian declamation prepared for Salieri [c1801-2]
100     Canon, "Schuppanzigh ist ein Lump" [1801]
101     Canon, "Graf, Graf, Graf, Graf" [1802]
102     Song of farewell (TTB), "Die Stunde schloegt" [1814]
103     Cantata campestre (STTB, pf), "Un lieto Brindisi" [1814]
104     Song of the monks (TTB), "Rasch tritt der Tod" [1817]
105     Wedding song with chorus, "Auf, Freunde, singt dem Gott" [1819]
106     Birthday cantata for Prince Lobkowitz, "Es lebe unser theurer Foerst" (S, chorus, pf) [1823]
107     Song, "Schilderung eines Madchens" [?1783]
108     Song, "An einen Soeugling" [1783]
109     Song, "Trinklied" [?1790]
110     Song, "Elegie auf den Tod eines Pudels" [?1791]
111     Song, "Punschlied" [c1790-2]
112     Song, "An Laura" [?1792]
113     Song, "Klage" [?1790]
114     Song, "Selbst gesprach" [?1792]
115     Song, "An Minna" [?1792]
116     Song, "Que le temps me dure" [1793]
117     Song with unison voices, "Der freie Mann" [1792, rev.Ì94]
118     2 Songs, "Seufzer eines Ungeliebten" & "Gegenliebe" [1794-5]
119     Song, "O care selve" [1794]
120     Song, "Man strebt die Flamme zu verhehlen" [c1800-02]
121     Song, "Abschiedsgesang an Wiens Boerger" [1796]
122     Song with chorus, "Kriegslied der-sterreicher" [1797]
123     Song, "Zoertliche Liebe" [?1795]
124     Song, "La partenza" [?1795-6]
125     Song, "La tiranna" [1798-9]
126     Song, "Die Flamme lodert" (Opferlied) [1794; rev.1801-02]
127     Song, "Neue Liebe, neues Leben" [1798-9]
128     Song, "Plaisir d'aimer" [1799]
129     Song, "Der Wachtelschlag" [1803]
130     Song, "Gedenke mein!" [?1804-5; rev.1819-20]
131     ?
132     Song, "Als die Geliebte sich trennen wollte" [1806]
133     Song, "In questa tomba oscura" [1807]
134     Song, "Sehnsucht" (4 settings) [1808]
135     Song, "Die laute Klage" [c1815?]
136     Song, "Andenken" [1809]
137     Song, "Lied aus der Ferne" [1809]
138     Song, "Der Jungling in der Fremde" [1809]
139     Song, "Der Liebende" [1809]
140     Song, "An die Geliebte" [1811, 2d version ?1814]
141     Song, "Gesang der Nachtigall" [1813]
142     Song, "Der Bardengeist" [1813]
143     Song, "Des Kriegers Abshied" [1814]
144     Song, "Merkenstein" [1814]
145     Song, "Das Geheimnis" [1815]
146     Song, "Die Sehnsucht" [1815 or 1816]
147     Song, "Ruf vom Berge" [1816]
148     Song, "So oder so" [1817]
149     Song, "Resignation" [1817]
150     Song, "Abendlied unterm gestirnten Himmel" [1820]
151     Song, "Der edle Mensch" [1823]
152     25 Irish Songs (harmonizations for 1 or 2 voices with pf, vn, vc) [?1813]
153     20 Irish Songs (harmonizations) [?1813]
154     12 Irish Songs (harmonizations) [?1813]
155     26 Welsh Songs (harmonizations) [1817]
156     12 Scottish Songs (harmonizations) [?1815]
157     12 Songs of Various Nationality (harmonizations) [?]
158a     23 Songs of Various Nationality
158b     7 British Songs
158c     6 Songs of Various Nationality
159     Canon, "Im Arm der Liebe" [?1795]
160     2 Canons [?1795]
161     Canon, "Ewig dein" [?c1810]
162     Canon, "Ta ta taoelieber Moelzel" (?forgery by Schindler)
163     Canon, "Kurz ist der Schmerz" [1813]
164     Canon, "Freundschaft ist die Quelle" [1814]
165     Canon, "Gluck zum neuen Jahr" [1815]
166     Canon, "Kurz ist der Schmerz [1815]
167     Canon, "Brauchle, Linke" [?c1815]
168/1     Canon, "Lerne schweigen" [1815-16]
168/2     Canon, "Rede, rede" [1815-16]
169     Canon, "Ich kusse Sie" [1816]
170     Canon, "Ars longa, vita brevis" [1816]
171     Canon, "Gluck fehl'dir vor allem" [1817]
172     Canon, "Ich bitt'dich, schreib' mir die Es-Scala auf" [?c1818]
173     Canon, "Hol'euch der Teufel!" [1819]
174     Canon, "Glaube und hoffe" [1819]
175     2 Canons, "Sankt Petrus war ein Fels" & "Bernardus war ein Sankt" [1819-20]
176     Canon, "Gluck zum neuen Jahr" [1819]
177     Canon, "Bester Magistrat, ihr friert" [?c1820]
178     Canon, "Signor Abate" [nd]
179     Canon, "Alles Gute! alles Schoene" [1819]
180     Canon, "Hoffmann, sei ja kein Hoffmann" [1820]
181     3 Canons, "Gedenket heute an Baden," "Gehabt euch wohl" & "Tugend ist kein leerer Name" [?1820]
182     Canon, "O Tobias!" [1821]
183     Canon, "Bester Herr Graf, Sie sind ein Schaf!" [1823]
184     Canon, "Falstafferel, lass' dich sehen!" [1823]
185     Canon, "Edel sei der Mensch" [1823]
186     Canon, "Te solo adoro" [1824] (see also Hess 263 & 264)
187     Canon, "Schwenke dich ohne Schwoenke!" [1824]
188     Canon, "Gott ist eine feste Burg" [1825]
189     Canon, "Doktor, sperrt dem Tor das Tod" [1825]
190     Canon, "Ich war hier, Doktor" [1825]
191     Canon, "Koehl, nicht lau" [1825]
192     Canon, "Ars longa, vita brevis" [1825]
193     Canon, "Ars longa, vita brevis" [nd]
194     Canon, "Si non per portas, per muros" [1825]
195     Canon, "Freu' dich des Lebens" [1825]
196     Canon, "Es muss sein" [1826]
197     Canon, "Da ist das Werk" [1826]
198     Canon, "Wie irren allesamt" [1826]
199     ?
200     ?
201     ?
202     Canon, "Das Schoene zum Guten" [1823]
203     Canon, "Das Schoene zu dem Guten" [1825]
204     Canon, "Holz, Holz, geigt die Quartette so" [1825]
Anh.4-Fl.     Sonata in Bb (doubtful) [c1790-2]

Hess:

12     Oboe Concerto in F (lost) [?1792-3]
13     Romance in e for pf, fl, bsn & orch (frgmt) [1786]
15     Sketches for a Pf. Conc. in D [1815]
19     Quintet in Eb for ob, 3 hns, bsn [?1793]
28     Different trio for the minuet of Op.9 #2
29-31     Contrapuntal exercises prepared for Haydn & Albrechtsberger [1792-5]
33     Minuet in Ab for stg quartet [c1790]
34     Stg Quartet arrmt of Pf. Sonata, Op.14 #1 (q.v.)
35     Arrmt for stg qr of BachÌs Prelude & Fugue #24 in b from Well-Tempered Clavier, Bk I (unfinished) [1817]
40     Prelude in d for stg quintet [?1817]
41     Stg Quintet in C (same as WoO 62)
46     Violin Sonata in A (frgmt) [c1790-2]
48     Allegretto in Eb for piano trio [c1790-2]
58-61     Various keyboard exercises, dances, etc. [mostly 1790-8]
64     Fugue in C (pf) [1795]
65     "Concert finale" in C (arrmt of coda to finale of Op.37) [1820-1]
67,68     Various keyboard exercises, dances, etc. [mostly 1790-8]
69     Allegretto in c (pf) (probably originally intended for Op. 10 #1) [1796-7]
70-74     Various keyboard exercises, dances, etc. [mostly 1790-8]
107     Grenadiermarsch in F for a mechanical clock [?1798]
115     Vestas Feuer (unfinished opera; first scene only completed) [1803]
133     Song, "Das liebe Koetzchen" [1820]
134     Song, "Der Knabe auf dem Berge" [1820]
151     Song, "Traute Henriette" [c1790-2]
208-232     Exercises in Italian declamation prepared for Salieri [c1801-2]
229     Canon, "Languisco e moro" [1803]
233-246     Contrapuntal exercises prepared for Haydn & Albrechtsberger [1792-5]
263     Canon, "Te solo adoro" [?1824](?earlier version of WoO 186)
264     Canon, "Te solo adoro" [?1824](?earlier version of WoO 186)
274     Canon for 2 vv [1803]
275     Canon for 2 vv [1803]
276     Canon, "Herr Graf, ich komme zu fragen" [?1797]
277     Canon, "Esel aller Esel" [1826]
278-295     Various musical greetings in letters & diaries
298     Sketches for a Sym. in c [c1790-92]
300     Canon, "Liebe mich, werter Weissenbach" [1819-20]
312-334     Various keyboard exercises, dances, etc. [mostly 1790-8]




Symphony No.1 in C, Op.21
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MIDI files
[ulist]
3rd mov - Menuetto (30k) -- (J.Segor)
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Symphony No. 3 Op. 55 "Eroica"
[ulist]
MIDI files
[ulist]
1st mov

2nd mov (134k) -- Hans-Joachim Roeder
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Symphony No. 4 Op. 60




Symphony No. 5 Op. 67
[ulist]
Article by E.T.A. Hoffmann

MIDI files (mov 1-4: R.Sierra)
[ulist]
Beginning

1s t mov (107k)

2n d mov (68k)

3r d mov (58k)

4t h mov (310k)

1st mov for piano solo as transcribed by F. Liszt (44k) -- (T.E.Janzen)
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Symphony No. 6 Op. 68 (Pastorale)




Symphony No.7
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MIDI Files:
[ulist]
2nd mov (47k) -- Hans-Joachim Roeder
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Symphony No. 8
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MIDI Files:
[ulist]
1st mov (60k) -- Ron Pearcy

2nd mov (19k)

3rd mov (24k)

4th mov (54k)

1st mov (Liszt Piano arr.) (51k) -- (H.Tokuno)
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Symphony No. 9 Op. 125 (Choral)
[ulist]
About the Symphony

Article by Henry Feldman

What the critics say

Text and translation of Schiller's Ode to Joy

MIDI files (T.E.Janzen)
[ulist]
2nd mov Molto Vivace (109k)

2nd mov (89k) -- Greg McCollum

3rd mov (34k)

4th mov (104k) -- William C Yu

Ode to Joy (101k) as transcribed by Liszt for piano solo
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Symphony No. 10 ???
[ulist]
Something interesting

Liner Notes - from Barry Cooper's recording of the Tenth.
[/ulist]


July 6, in the morning
My angel, my all, my very self - Only a few words today and at that with pencil (with yours) - Not till tomorrow will my lodgings be definitely determined upon - what a useless waste of time - Why this deep sorrow when necessity speaks - can our love endure except through sacrifices, through not demanding everything from one another; can you change the fact that you are not wholly mine, I not wholly thine - Oh God, look out into the beauties of nature and comfort your heart with that which must be - Love demands everything and that very justly - thus it is to me with you, and you with me. But you forget so easily that I must live for me and for you; if we were wholly united you would feel the pain of it as little as I - My journey was a fearful one: I did not reach here until 4 o'clock yesterday morning. Lacking horses the postcoach chose another route, but what an awful one; at the stage before the last I was warned not to travel at night; I was made fearful of the forest, but that only made me the more eager - and I was wrong. The coach must needs break down on the wretched road, a bottomless mud road. Without such postilions as I had with me I should have remained stuck in the road. Esterhazy, traveling the usual road here, had the same fate with eight horses that I had with four - yet I got some pleasure out of it, as I always do when I successfully overcome difficulties - Now a quick change to things internal from things external. We shall surely see each other soon; moreover, today I cannot share with you the thoughts I have had during these last few days touching my own life - If our hearts were always close together, I would have none of these. My heart is full of so many things to say to you - ah - there are moments when I feel that speech amounts to nothing at all - Cheer up - remain my true, my only treasure, my all as I am yours. The gods must send us the rest, what for us must and shall be-

Your faithful Ludwig

Evening, Monday, July 6
You are suffering, my dearest creature - only now have I learned that letters must be posted very early in the morning on Mondays - Thursdays - the only day on which the mail-coach goes from here to K. - You are suffering - Ah, wherever I am, you are with me - I will arrange it with you and me that I can live with you. What a life!!!! thus!!!! without you - pursued by the goodness of mankind hither and thither - which I as little want to deserve as I deserve it - Humility of man towards man - it pains me - and when I consider myself in relation to the universe, what am I and what is He - whom we call the greatest - and yet - herein lies the divine in man - I weep when I reflect that you will probably not receive the first report from me until Saturday - Much as you love me - I love you more - But do not ever conceal yourself from me - good night - As I am taking the baths I must go to bed - Oh God - so near! so far! Is not our love truly a heavenly structure, and also as firm as the vault of Heaven? -

Good morning, on July 7
Though still in bed, my thoughts go out to you, my Immortal Beloved, not and then joyfully, then sadly, waiting to learn whether or not fate will hear us - I can only live wholly with you or not at all - Yes, I am resolved to wander so long away from you until I can fly to your arms and say that I am really at home with you, and can send my soul enwrapped in you into the lands of spirits - Yes unhappily it must be so - You will be the more contained since you know my fidelity to you. No one else can ever possess my heart - never - never - Oh God, why must one be parted from one whom one so loves. And yet my life in V[ienna] is now a wretched life - Your love makes me at once the happiest and the unhappiest of men - at my age I need a steady, quiet life - can that be so in out connection? My angel, I have just been told that the mailcoach goes everyday - therefore I must close at once so that you may receive the l[etter] at once. - Be calm, only by a calm consideration of our existence can we achieve out purpose to live together - Be calm - love me - today - yesterday - what tearful longings for you - you - you - my life - my all - farewell. -Oh continue to love me - never misjudge the most faithful heart of you beloved.

ever thine
ever mine       

ever ours



For my brothers Carl and [Johann] Beethoven

Oh you men who think or say that I am malevolent, stubborn, or misanthropic, how greatly do you wrong me. You do not know the secret cause which makes me seem that way to you. From childhood on, me heart and soul have been full of the tender feeling of goodwill, and I was ever inclined to accomplish great things. But, think that for six years now I have been hopelessly afflicted, made worse by senseless physicians, from year to year deceived with hopes of improvement, finally compelled to face the prospect of a lasting malady (whose cure will take years or, perhaps, be impossible). Though born with a fiery, active temperament, even susceptible to the diversions of society, I was soon compelled to withdraw myself, to live life alone. If at times I tried to forget all this, oh how harshly I was I flung back by the doubly sad experience of my bad hearing. Yet it was impossible for me to say to people, "Speak louder, shout, for I am deaf." Ah, how could I possibly admit an infirmity in the one sense which ought to be more perfect in me than others, a sense which I once possessed in the highest perfection, a perfection such as few in my profession enjoy or ever have enjoyed.--Oh I cannot do it; therefore forgive me when you see me draw back when I would have gladly mingled with you. My misfortune is doubly painful to me because I am bound to be misunderstood; for me there can be no relaxation with my fellow men, no refined conversations, no mutual exchange of ideas. I must live almost alone, like one who has been banished; I can mix with society only as much as true necessity demands. If I approach near to people a hot terror seizes upon me, and I fear being exposed to the danger that my condition might be noticed. Thus it has been during the last six months which I have spent in the country. By ordering me to spare my hearing as much as possible, my intelligent doctor almost fell in with my own present frame of mind, though sometimes I ran counter to it by yielding to my desire for companionship. But what a humiliation for me when someone standing next to me heard a flute in the distance and I heard nothing, or someone standing next to me heard a flute in the distance and I heard nothing, or someone heard a shepherd singing and again I heard nothing. Such incidents drove me almost to despair; a little more of that and I would have ended me life -- it was only my art that held me back. Ah, it seemed to me impossible to leave the world until I had brought forth all that I felt was within me. So I endured this wretched existence -- truly wretched for so susceptible a body, which can be thrown by a sudden change from the best condition to the very worst. -- Patience, they say, is what I must now choose for my guide, and I have done so -- I hope my determination will remain firm to endure until it pleases the inexorable Parcae to break the thread. Perhaps I shall get better, perhaps not; I am ready. -- Forced to become a philosopher already in my twenty-eighth year, -- oh it is not easy, and for the artist much more difficult than for anyone else. -- Divine One, thou seest me inmost soul thou knowest that therein dwells the love of mankind and the desire to do good. -- Oh fellow men, when at some point you read this, consider then that you have done me an injustice; someone who has had misfortune man console himself to find a similar case to his, who despite all the limitations of Nature nevertheless did everything within his powers to become accepted among worthy artists and men. -- You, my brothers Carl and [Johann], as soon as I am dead, if Dr. Schmidt is still alive, ask him in my name to describe my malady, and attach this written documentation to his account of my illness so that so far as it possible at least the world may become reconciled to me after my death. -- At the same time, I declare you two to be the heirs to my small fortune (if so it can be called); divide it fairly; bear with and help each other. What injury you have done me you know was long ago forgiven. To you, brother Carl, I give special thanks for the attachment you have shown me of late. It is my wish that you may have a better and freer life than I have had. Recommend virtue to your children; it alone, not money, can make them happy. I speak from experience; this was what upheld me in time of misery. Thanks to it and to my art, I did not end my life by suicide -- Farewell and love each other -- I thank all my friends, particularly Prince Lichnowsky and Professor Schmidt -- I would like the instruments from Prince L. to be preserved by one of you, but not to be the cause of strife between you, and as soon as they can serve you a better purpose, then sell them. How happy I shall be if can still be helpful to you in my grave -- so be it. -- With joy I hasten to meed death. -- If it comes before I have had the chance to develop all my artistic capacities, it will still be coming too soon despite my harsh fate, and I should probably wish it later -- yet even so I should be happy, for would it not free me from a state of endless suffering? -- Come when thou wilt, I shall meed thee bravely. -- Farewell and do not wholly forget me when I am dead; I deserve this from you, for during my lifetime I was thinking of you often and of ways to make you happy -- please be so --

Ludwig van Beethoven
Heiglnstadt, [Heiligenstadt]
October 6th, 1802












































The End

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