Ludwig van Beethoven was not born deaf, he became deaf over a period of twenty years starting from 1798, at age 27. One day Beethoven had a tenor at his apartment. The two men argued about something, the tenor left in hurry just to return for something again a bit later. As he knocked on the door Beethoven jumped up …
Like a certain form of civilized cage fights piano duels were common entertainment in contemporary Vienna. Beethoven himself participated in many proving himself a true heavy weight champion. In this article we look at the curious case of the Beethoven vs. Steibelt fight. In the Wild Wild West people used to make duels usually with one participant ending quite dead. …
We continue our ‘No man is an island’ series and in this new article we discover who Prince Lobkowitz was, what part he played in Viennese music history and in Beethoven’s life. Joseph Franz von Lobkowitz (1772-1816) was an aristocrat of Bohemia, present day Czech Republic. He was a full time music enthusiast, spending fortunes on music, most notably for …
When Bach plays, even God is listening! That was the saying among the lucky ones who had the privilege to hear Bach playing. Many decades later there was a composer who was listening still and listening very carefully. In this article we explore how Bach influenced Beethoven and his musical development and eventually his style. Strangely enough in Beethoven’s time …
As we continue our studies on friends and influencers in Beethoven’s life, we focus this time on the kind and noble Lichnowsky-family, in Vienna. One of Beethoven’s earliest Vienna friends was Prince Lichnowsky and his family. The Prince was a noble man, a gentleman and not least a music lover. He was the pupil of non-other than Mozart himself! Both …
Antonio Salieri was a very, very talented musician and composer! It was his bad luck that he was living in the same period and in the same city as Haydn, Mozart or Beethoven. History was not kind to him and designated Salieri to be in the shadow of these Masters. This article will uncover how Salieri influenced Beethoven. As we …