Ludwig van Beethoven spent all his life among nobles, aristocrats and royalty. Many believed him to be of noble birth, but was he? Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn in Germany’s Rhine country, but his family on his father’s side was from the town called Malines or Mechelen. This city is in the duchy of Brabant, modern day Belgium. …
The average height of humans is not a constant number. It varies throughout history and dependent on gender and race. Periods of abundance in food usually resulted a growing average height in upcoming generations. Beethoven lived from 1770 to 1827. In this period an average European male was 160-170 cm tall (5’3-5’7). Unfortunately, we do not have written evidence on …
The composer Ludwig van Beethoven was a very emotional man. He longed for intimacy and love in their highest and most noble form. He fell in love often, even proposed to some, but he never got married. As a child he grew up in a dysfunctional family. Alcoholic, abusive father, sad and depressed mother. Yet, probably in Beethoven’s life it …
Probably the most influential philosopher of all time is Pythagoras. Who was he and what ideas he had about music? This article attempts to sum it up. Who was Pythagoras? Pythagoras or Pythagoras of Samos lived between c. 570 BC and c. 495 BC. He was an ancient Greek philosopher, who greatly influenced not only Plato or Aristotle, but Western …
Copyright for music was non-existent in Beethoven’s time. Piracy and unauthorized publishing were commonplace. What practices did composers follow to make the best out of their sometimes desperate situation? Read on to find out! Music publishing gathered speed in the second part of the eighteenth century. Partly because of the emerging middle-class society and their ever-growing need for new …
In his life Beethoven always aimed ever higher, creating more and more ambitious compositions for eternity. He wished to leave something behind. Today, in deep space, on a spacecraft that traveled further from Earth than any other human made object, there is a phonograph record carrying his music. What is Voyager 1 and 2? Voyager 1 (and its twin, …