An Exploration of Beethoven and Haydn Music Careers - Essay Example

Running Head: Beethoven and Haydn Paper An Exploration of Beethoven and Haydn Music Careers Ludwig van Beethoven and Haydn are renowned as a legendary German musician. The famous artistes were prominent for his classical music compositions that earned him them association with various celebrated classic music icons in the like of Mozart and many more. Eisen, Cliff (2006) notes, "The works of two musicians characterised what has been termed, 'The Midway' period between the classical and romantic eons in western classical music." Beethoven and Haydn's impeccable compositions have made their music memorable and undeniably made them some of the most celebrated musicians of all time. Beethoven was born in a place then called Cologne which is the Germany at present. During his youth Beethoven moved to Vienna and stayed there. It is in this phase of his youth that he met another influential icon Joseph Haydn. Beethoven experienced a meteoric rise in his career as a virtuoso pianist although his youth was later plagued by the deterioration of his hearing capabilities. The predicament did not annihilate his career as he continued conducting and performing even when he had gone totally deaf. While Joseph Haydn developed his music career as an isolated musician a condition which as he put it, "forced him to be original", Beethoven on the other end stemmed from a musically endowed pedigree. He was named after His grandfather Ludwig by his mother Ludwig Maria. Davies, Peter J, states that,"His grandfather was a musician at Roman Catholic Flemish lineage and was at some point Kapellmeister at the court of Roman Clemens August of Bavaria." Beethoven's father was Johann van Beethoven who lived from 1740-1792. Beethoven got his initial orientations into music from his father who was a natural tenor singer at the electoral court at Bonn. The development of Beethoven's music career was later supervised by Tobias Pfeiffer, a friend to Beethoven's father Johann. Like Haydn' Beethoven's music endowments were noted when he was of a tender age and this is well illustrated by the fact that by 1778 the youngster was already learning the organ and the viola upon his piano mastering endeavors. Haydn parents noted that Haydn had a musical endowment and reckoned that he would not get proper training in the place they were living in then Rohrau thus they accepted the offered by a relative Johann Matthias Franck to have Haydn trained as a musician by Franck from his home in Hainburg. On Beethoven's part, one of the most noted mentors of Beethoven was Christian Gottlob Neefe, the court organist. Neefe is particularly remembered for helping Beethoven make inroads into the classical music pedestal by assisting him to get his first compositions published. The compositions were an assortment of some keyboard melodies and variations. Musicians like other artists are custodians of a society's culture and history. This is so owing to the undeniable sensitivity of artists to the influence of various factors that charcterise their place and time settings. Traces of cultural, political, economic and social influences can be identified in an artists work and Beethoven's works are not an exception. A close exploration of His music indicates illuminant influences of values of Enlightenment and the surge of Romanticism which dominated the European society in his time. As Davies, Peter J, (Opcit) concurs this is glowingly illustrated by the composition and dedication of his music piece the Eroica which is Italian term for 'heroic" to the Leader Napoleon whom the musician had admired for his ideals of democracy and republicanism values of the French Revolution. Haydn's mettle in his isolated music career development earned him the label of "father of Symphony' and also father of "String Quartet". Haydn and Beethoven shared similar inclinations to the values of enlightenment in music. Beethoven later retracted the dedication to Napoleon when the Leader shifted into embracing imperial ambitions and sacrificed the virtues of democracy and republicanism.. The musician is said to have erased the dedication title so violently that paper upon which the song was inscribed was damaged. The piece was then re-dedicated as a piece created to 'celebrate the memory of a great man'. The great in the reference of the rededication was his long time patron and mentor Prince Joseph Franz von Lobkowitz. Haydn demonstrated his inclination to Christianity as well as a Catholic in His Music Beethoven. One of Beethoven's remarkable compositions is entailed in his fourth movements. The Ninth Symphony is cherished for its subtle choral ambience which brings reminiscences of the Schiller's Ode. The piece is cherished for its optimistic nuances and cadences much hailed for celebrating and fostering the brotherhood of humanity. Perhaps the highlight Beethoven's brilliance and genius are well demonstrated by the adoption the orchestral version of his fourth movement composition re-arranged by Herbert Von Karajan as the European anthem in 1972. "The piece was later embraced as the European Community and European Union international hymn. The milestones point to the musician's responsibility to the community within which he lived." (Erich Schenk: 1998) External cultural and ideological influences had a significant bearing in Beethoven's music career which also inturn had immense cultural contributions to the broad European community up to date. On the other Haydn Haydn's music is laced with "In the name of the Lord" beginnings and "Praise be to the Lord" endings. This illustrates his profound inclination to Christianity as catholic. For Beethoven there are resonating concurrences and dissonances on the degree of the influence of religious beliefs on his music yet it is undeniable that musicians are some of the most sensitive elements of the society and hence their works are susceptible to various forms of influence in the precincts of the milieus within which the musicians function. Assertions have been made that Beethoven was a Freemason. One remarkable aspect of Beethoven's music career is that he worked largely as a freelance in the molds of other legendary predecessors like Handel. Erich Schenk (Opcit) states, "Like Handel, Beethoven's music career was characterised by a freelancing setting up subscription concerts and selling music pieces to publishers while leveraging on financial boosts from affluent patrons." As such Beethoven pursued these kinds of work in the stead of committing to full time music work engagements. While Haydn is renowned as one of the most prominent composers of the Classical period Beethoven's genius and ingenuity in compositions has earned him the prestigious association with what has been termed the 'three bs' which are Beethoven himself, Brahms and Bach. (Erich Schenk: 1998) notes "Together with this legendaries Beethoven hogged the limelight in the Classical music pedestal. His career was also one illustrious feature in the changeover phase from 18th century Classicism to the 19th century romanticism." As much as his music career was significantly impacted by other contemporary artist he came to contact with like Haydn, Beethoven would later render significant influences to later musicians who familiarized themselves with his music works. Beethoven met Haydn when he relocated from Bonn to Vienna. Haydn expressed his keen interest on the youngster and offered to take him for music lessons. Reportedly Haydn schedules were cluttered with his load of music work ranging from concerts to compositions and that Beethoven's volatile temperaments made the stunt of these two to last only for a year. At some point Beethoven pointed out that he did not learn anything from Haydn although some key musical elements in his compositions are clearly derived from Haydn's style. In Vienna Beethoven started making ground breaking inroads and entries into the musical spheres. He accomplished this by holding concerts in series and making his presence felt in various music circles. He fostered relations with various musicians of his time who had varying levels of influence on his style and thrust. "He related with Prince Karl Lichowsky, van Swieten and also went on to study with the likes of Johann Schenk, Alois Forster, Johann-Georg Albrechtsberger and Antonio Salieri." (Erich Schenk: 1998) This has led some scholars to describe Beethoven as an apprentice of premium Vienna icons of his time. Haydn was one outstanding musician of his time who contributed significantly to the explorations of novel musical inclinations out of the traditional Classicism. "Some names in the wagon include Mozart and Albrechtsberge who contributed to the shaping of Beethoven's career to glamour." note Joseph Kerman et al (2007). From another angle Salieri brought the bourgeois musical tragedy influences to the style and composition matter of the Beethoven's music. Beethoven also learnt the composition of quartets from Alois Forster. Beethoven's music career and meteoric rise to musical stardom was a product of the integrated influences of the astute artistes of his time. His career drew various forms of influence, style and matter from those he got in contact with as student, performer and full time musician. This has made him one of the most erudite musicians of all time. The influence that Haydn had on Beethoven is however evidently nominal in comparison to that which he had on other musicians like Mozart. Haydn called Mozart the greatest composer he ever knew. Martin Secker (1959) notes, "Mozart too adopted a lot on structural organisation from Haydn. When they met Haydn was already one of the most celebrated musicians in Europe". Notably also is that most reviews from the Haydn and Mozart eon indicate that Mozart's compositions have magnificence, organisation and admirable simplicity. Martin Secker also notes that the working together of the two influenced Haydn's music towards becoming more "intricate than before" There is overwhelming evidence of the Michael Haydn's influence on Mozart's music which by far surpasses the influence the musician had on Beethoven. There is not as proportional amount of the influence of Mozart of Haydn's music largely to the fact that Haydn played the role of a mentor to Mozart hence influencing his musical acumen and compositions yet some traces of the Mozart's influence are evident some patters observable in Haydn's music. Mozart's six great string quartets were dedicated as a set to the Haydn, partly as appreciation of how much he had learned from Haydn's own essays in music form. Haydn's later quartets are said to have been influenced in turn by the quartets Mozart wrote under his influence. "After Mozart's death, the gaffer might have experienced something like a survivor's guilt; he turned down a call to write string quintets and withheld his initial from being presented, this was done on the basis that Mozart's contributions in these music forms were superior." (Eisen: Opcit) Davies, Peter J. (2001) asserts, "Unlike Beethoven's music, Haydn music has slithered off conventional symphony genus in the contemporary music spheres. On the other end Mozart's concerto is still fashionable wherever classical music is appreciated" Haydn was an Austrian and like his protg Mozart spent much of their professional lives in Vienna where he also came to contact with Beethoven. The pair of Haydn and Beethoven is remarkable for the distinctiveness of the contributions of the two musicians whose works have been hailed for style, creativity and talent with no limits. The two have been celebrated for their outstanding music acumen demonstrated in their timeless compositions of classical music. Joseph Kerman et al (2007) note that Haydn and Beethoven had their heart and soul and resourcefulness in their music work. "This is well illustrated in the two analogous works, Haydn's Creation and Beethoven's The Creatures of Prometheus" (Opcit). The scholar further observes that the two musicians exuded complete genius in their inventive ways of articulating composite themes in their music pieces. Haydn music has nonetheless arguably slipped out of the mainstream symphony genre in the contemporary music circles. Unlike Beethoven music works Haydn's music exuded evident religious influences. A closer exploration of Haydn's music will indicate that the theme of genesis is indefinable through his timeless compositions. Alexander et al (1908) outline that in his compositions Haydn presents a religious piety in forms of the articulations of the motifs of creation as an oratoria. The oratoria can be held as a biblical analogy of opera. The scholars further contend that the biblical allusions replace the numerous themes of the then contemporary opera in substantive basis on various biblical themes and stories. The two musicians Beethoven and Haydn will always be hailed and remembered for the immense music and cultural contributions they made not only to the societies they lived in but the world over. Their music contributions are timeless and although their contact lasted for a year the influences of Haydn of Beethoven's music career has sustained the savor of Beethoven's music whose luster sometimes perciavbley eclipses the music of his mentors. References Alexander Wheelock Thayer, Ludwig van Beethoven's Leben, 5 vols., Berlin 1866-1908 (vols. 4 and 5 posthumously ed. by Hugo Riemann, 1908 Joseph Kerman et al, "Beethoven, Ludwig van", Grove Music Online ed L.Macy, 2007 Erich Schenk, Clara Winston, Richard Winston, Mozart and His Times, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, New York (1959) Eisen, Cliff , The Cambridge Mozart Encyclopedia, Cambridge University Press, 2006 Davies, Peter J. The Character of a Genius: Beethoven in Perspective. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2002 Davies, Peter J. Beethoven in Person: His Deafness, Illnesses, and Death. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2001. DeNora, Tia. "Beethoven and the Construction of Genius: Musical Politics in Vienna, 1792-1803." Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1995 Read More