With enough certainty we know that on his deathbed Beethoven had with him some books from Plutarch, Homer, Ovid and Epictetus. In this article we will discover who was Epictetus and how he – and stoic philosophy in general – influenced his approach to emotions. Who was Epictetus? Epictetus was a Greek philosopher born around 50 AD in Phrygia (today …
In order to understand what a leap day is, first we have to define what a leap year is! A leap year (also known as an intercalary year) is a year when one additional day is added to the calendar. This additional day is called leap day. Why do we need these leap days? Astronomical events do not happen according …
Some books, movies or lectures we remember for years, maybe for a lifetime. For me, Robert Greenberg’s courses, especially the The Symphonies of Beethoven, is such an experience. In this audio course Greenberg covers Beethoven’s symphonies in 32 lectures. In the duration of 24 hours and 12 minutes, the course will guide you not only in the history of his …
Poor Beethoven had a formidable adversary all his life: his own health. Among the many-many symptoms and illnesses he had, one sticks out as especially scary. In 1807 he wrote his playwright friend Heinrich Collin, “My colic is better, but my poor finger had to undergo a drastic nail operation. When I wrote to you yesterday it looked very angry. …
Beethoven was born in Bonn (today Germany), where he had lived for 22 years. For the rest of his life, apart from some concert tours he made, he lived in Vienna, Austria. This may sound like a person, who is a couch potato, but nothing can be more far from the truth! Beethoven was a frequent mover in and around …
One might think that listing a composer’s works is not a difficult task. The case of Beethoven shows it is not that easy after all! According to the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn, over 45 years Beethoven is estimated to have created about 750 works. The ones published during his life received an opus number (138 opus numbers in total). What about …