Beethoven was seventeen when he met Count Waldstein in Bonn and already had admirers in the city, but no one came close to the influential, generous and musically sophisticated Waldstein. This article reveals how the Count influenced the fate of Beethoven. A short biography of Count Waldstein Count Ferdinand Ernst Gabriel von Waldstein was born in Vienna in 1762 …
The Flow is a psychological term we use often. Although, it became popular in the past decades this state of mind is not new to humans. Buddhism and Daoism, under different name have this concept for thousands of years. What is it exactly and what evidence we have that Beethoven was familiar with the flow? What is the Flow? In …
Apart from Neefe probably it was Georg Albrechtsberger, who was the most influential music teacher in Beethoven’s life. In this article we discover who Albrechtsberger was and his influence on Beethoven. Johann Georg Albrechtsberger (1736-1809) was an Austrian musician, a composer and organist. As a young man he had learned music and philosophy what he later combined in music theory. …
In previous articles we revealed at what age Beethoven started playing keyboard and on what piano brands did he play in his adult life. There was one brand and one piano in particular that he cherished, his beloved Broadwood. In this article we learn about the history of this piano. In his life Beethoven played many piano brands. This shallow …
Beethoven had and played many pianos from different brands. In the background of this shallow brand loyalty there are two main reasons. For once, pianos were not that enduring in those times, and second Beethoven was always in search for a better sounding piano suitable for his brave compositions. Despite being an Italian invention by Beethoven’s time there were three …
Ludwig van Beethoven started playing the keyboard very early, at age 5. His first instructor was his own father, but his most influential early teacher was Christian Gottlob Neefe. At that time piano was not yet fully developed and most probably Beethoven started his pianist life on a harpsichord. Beethoven was born into a musician family. His grandfather (also called …