The great composer’s love of nature is well documented; Beethoven’s walks in the countryside surrounding Vienna were woven into his daily routine. The stunning forested hills filled with birdsong brought Beethoven great pleasure, and served as an important part of his creative process. Those solitary walks would, in a sense, allow his ideas to incubate, and flourish into the masterpieces …
Alexander Wheelock Thayer (1817-1897) was an American writer and journalist who travelled to Europe to conduct extensive research on Beethoven’s life, with the intension of writing the first scholarly biography of the great composer. His work became the basis for modern research on Beethoven. Thayer was born in South Natick, Massachusetts. He attended Harvard college, and it was whilst he …
Ferdinand Ries (1784-1838) was Beethoven’s pupil, secretary and loyal friend. He was a talented pianist and went on to compose 180 works. Like Beethoven, Ries was also born in Bonn. He journeyed to Vienna at the age of 19 to learn from the great composer. In 1838, Ries and Beethoven’s friend Franz Wegeler published a joint effort biographical text, …
A talented jazz pianist I know, Peter, recently asked this question: Does Beethoven lend itself to being jazzed up? Peter, a lifelong lover of Bach, readily offered up a number of examples of Bach jazzed up, but as for Beethoven, we agreed to do our separate research and get back to each other. We discovered a tremendous display of talent! …
What do the books on your shelf say about you? Thanks to the dedication and hard-work of the Beethoven-Haus Bonn, we know a fair amount about Beethoven’s taste in literature. Amongst the list of fine literature, non-fiction, and reference books, we can find a hidden gem: a spiritual text, containing one essay for every day of the year. This book …
This article will introduce one of Beethoven’s talented piano students, Carl Czerny (1791-1857). Czerny became a teacher himself at the age of 15, played in the premieres of Beethoven’s concertos and became a respected friend for life. He composed a vast library of pieces, numbering over 1000 and a large collection of piano study exercises which are still used today. …