What is so great about Beethoven?

Question

Yes I know this question is ignorant and I haven't done any research of Beethoven, but hey it is your job now to sway me into seeing the genius that he possessed.

Answer 1

While it is true that LvB was completely deaf by his late 40s, he started to lose his hearing at about age 28, suffered horrible depression and suicidal ideation and yet still managed to work through that and create genius. He changed the symphonic form and changed the sound of other forms that were considered daring in his time. His music is both dynamic and passionate! While some stereotype exists that make him out to be a brooding and cantankerous soul, those who knew him best including the likes of the great German writer Goethe (Faust, Young Werther, and more) found him to be a loving person and generous of spirit.

My favorite quote of his is below, it says a lot about him , it is from a letter he wrote to a friend:

"I shall seize Fate by the throat, it will not bend or break me completely!"

As you can see from my avatar, he is my hero, MY immortal beloved!

To the poster below me. If LvB was 80% or 100% deaf it DOES matter. Certainly not on his composing ability but from an emotional aspect. Imagine a great painter losing his sight and can no longer enjoy his work or others. Imagine then the emotional toll on Ludwig? How deaf was he, I don't know and we probably never will but since he had to resort to his conversation books to get by, the deafness was profound by anyones standards. The emotional toll may have made him a better composer, but he had to pay for it with angst and despair.

Answer 2

all i know that he was like blind or deaf and played piano amazing

Answer 3

Aaron Copland, in "What to Listen for in Music," says it best.  He said that the true sign of a great composer is expressing a different message in every composition he writes.  

Many people--myself included--are impressed with Ravel because he takes his listeners to a lovely ethereal forest.  Copland, however, compares Ravel unfavorably with Beethoven because it's the same lovely ethereal forest every time.

As a struggling, unrecognized composers, I can understand the difficulty in writing something completely original every time.  I have a small bag of favorite tricks, and I use those few favorite tricks over and over.

But what do the Moonlight, Pathetique, and Waldstein sonatas have in common?  Virtually nothing, except that they are all great sonatas.

Answer 4

Well, Beethoven was an excellent composer, anyway but, towards the end of his life, he became completely deaf. After going deaf, he continued to compose symphonies and such by only imagining how they would sound, I suppose. That is my attempt at swaying you into seeing is genius. : )

Answer 5

No one has ever been more influential in the history of music, he changed it forever.  He inspired so many great composers after him and was a major  factor in the change from classical to romantic.  His symphonies are amazing

Answer 6

     Beethoven for one thing, "straddled" the classical and romantic periods, in "classical music".  HIs third symphony, the "Eroica" is generally considered to be the major transition point from one, to the other.  Recommend you obtain a recording of this work, and study it.

     That his music was widely popular during his life time, and still is to this day, says a great deal about his monumental genius.  And he was by the way, one of very few classical composers who achieved financial success: a real rarity.  

     Many composers have become popular during their life time, but then faded out of memory, and few people have even heard of them today.

     I think Leonard Bernstein put it best: "-----it's the inevitability of what comes next-----": to quote from one of his "young people's concerts" TV broadcast.

     Nearly all of his music, leaves one with a sense of completeness, wholeness, satiated and satisfied; that all has been said, that can be.

                                                    Alberich

Answer 7

It is not our job to do anything of the sort. Let me sum it up for you...

Beethoven was the most important and influencial composer of all time.

Now go read about him. There are loads of on line resources, not the least of which is wikipedia.

Answer 8

The newest research suggests that Beethoven probably wan't completely deaf.  Anyway, being hard of hearing has nothing to do with anything.  If he had perfect hearing throughout his entire life, nothing would be different--he'd still be possibly the greatest and most influential composer of all time.

In short, his compositions have a depth to them that almost no other composer ever reaches.  By depth I mean craftsmanship, emotional, stylistic, pianistic/idiomatic, aesthetic, innovative, etc.  You really have to understand a lot about music in order to understand why Beethoven was so great.  I'd recommend two books if you're interested, both written by Maynard Solomon.  One of them is entitled "Late Beethoven," the other I can't remember the exact title, but you shouldn't have any problems finding them.

Answer 9

Beethoven was what's known as a prodigy. I'm assuming you know what that is.

He is still today considered to be one of the best piano composers in history, maybe even the best.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about him is that he went deaf later in life, and didn't even hear the songs he composed at that time. They are still masterpieces because he was just that good.

I'm a major fan of Beethoven and have played many of his works. I get a little defensive sometimes. :]

I hope you see it my way now!