Beethoven 1770 was born in Bonn, Germany. Grandfather is a court orchestra conductor, father is a court singer, and mother is the daughter of a court chef. Beethoven spent his childhood in poverty and his father's tyranny. In order to make him a musical "prodigy" like Mozart, his father often forced him to practice the piano, but never gave him a systematic music education. Even primary schools only let him read 10 years old. Beethoven's growth depends on the progressive cultural atmosphere in Bonn and his personal efforts.
Beethoven's boyhood coincided with the enlightened autocracy of Austria-Hungary. His hometown Bonn was one of the centers of the Enlightenment, where he established a library, a national theater and a university, and hired scholars with democratic ideas to teach. German literary works and foreign translations can be seen everywhere, and Rousseau's works are widely circulated. Shakespeare's and Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais's plays, Schiller's and Lessing's works, Gluck's and Mozart's operas are all staged here. Joseph II and his successors adopted a series of improvement measures to promote economic, scientific and cultural development. For example, 1783 abolished more than 600 monasteries for men and women, opposed religious rights, advocated secular education, and trained German professional civil servants. Beethoven was one year old at that time (178 1) and studied under Nie Fei, an active participant in the Enlightenment and composer of operas and songs. He had an important influence on Beethoven's thought. He once said, "I hate bad marquis more than robbers!" " "Nie Fei laid a good foundation for Beethoven's creation, and introduced Bach's Twelve Balanced Piano Music Collection and Mannheim's works to him.
Beethoven has been in the court band since 13 years old. During 1787' s short trip to Vienna, he met Mozart who was busy writing The Magic Flute and was praised and blessed. However, due to his mother's serious illness, he finally failed to learn from Mozart. After Beethoven's mother died, his father was rejected by the court for drinking. At this time, Beethoven, who has reached the age of 18, suddenly assumed the legal guardians of his two younger brothers and became the head of the family, making a living by composing music and playing in the court. 1790 Haydn passed Bonn on his way to London, and Beethoven was introduced to him. Haydn appreciated his talent and suggested that his teacher let him study in Vienna. Later, Beethoven went to Vienna and was directly under the guidance of Haydn.
During his stay in Bonn, Beethoven met some enlightened aristocrats and progressive intellectuals, such as Koch family and von Brenning family. He often listened to them discuss social, political, historical, literary and artistic issues, and read a lot of classical literature in Greek and Latin, as well as the works of Goethe, Schiller and Shakespeare. Beethoven, who was entering his youth, actively pursued the ideal of bourgeois harmony, and his strong thirst for knowledge prompted him to attend lectures at Bonn University. There, he was deeply influenced by radical enlightener and Greek literature professor E Schneider (born in unknown times and died in 1794). When he was 19 years old, the earth-shattering French Revolution broke out in Europe. After the news that the French people captured the Bastille came, Schneider soon published a passionate collection of poems to praise the revolution. Beethoven was deeply infected and loved poetry. When he died in Joseph II under the direct encouragement of Schneider, he wrote the chorus Death of Joseph II (1790) to mourn the enlightened monarch, and later wrote the chorus Who is a Free Man?
Beethoven was influenced by the Enlightenment and a group of advanced intellectuals in Bonn, and inspired by the French revolutionary spirit, and established his own outlook on life. He wrote in his notes, "Freedom! What can people need more than it? ! ""I love freedom more than anything else-I won't betray the truth even before the throne! "
1792, Beethoven left Bonn for Vienna. Soon after, he studied under Haydn, Bryce Berger (J.G.Albrechtsberger, 1736- 1809) and Schenk (JohannSchenck, 1753-65438). Beethoven at this time is different from Haydn and Mozart. He no longer belongs to any court or church. On the contrary, the music-loving aristocrats in Vienna supported him in other ways, such as paying money to teach him and giving him gifts as a reward. Middle-class public concerts and publishers also funded him. His superb piano skills and outstanding creative talents made him recognized and favored by the upper class, but the harsh life also made his thoughts mature gradually. His fantasy of marrying your wife was frustrated again and again, and he found that they "don't belong to my class"; His desire to make a living as a freelance artist often runs into a wall; He resented the exploitation of him by the publisher. He said, "at present, artists have to become businessmen to some extent ... what does it feel like for artists in this position?" In this case, he is arrogant, despises powerful people, and always maintains his personal dignity and artist integrity. He said: "It is good to be active among the nobles, but first let them respect you." From 65438 to 0796, his ears began to become deaf, which seriously threatened his whole life and career. 1802, in extreme pain, he went to Heiligenstadt in the suburbs to live alone, so desperate that he almost wanted to commit suicide. He wrote a touching will and a short message to his two younger brothers. Later, he overcame this ideological crisis and realized the oath made two years ago: "I will hold my destiny by the throat, and it will never make me completely yield!" " He also composed a cheerful and optimistic second symphony.
We should see that Beethoven's becoming a freelance artist was not entirely voluntary, because the French Revolution and the subsequent Napoleonic Wars caused many nobles to go bankrupt or flee, and they had no money to maintain private opera houses and orchestras, nor to support musicians. So in a sense, Beethoven and some later freelance artists were thrown into the market.
The period of 1803- 18 16 is the mature period of Beethoven's life and creation. At this time, new turmoil has taken place in Europe; The French Revolution went through many times, and the feudal forces of various countries jointly attacked revolutionary France many times. After Napoleon came to power, he overthrew the feudal system and removed the obstacles to the development of capitalism. At the same time, out of the nature of capitalist expansionism, he invaded and plundered all countries, causing resistance from people of all countries. In this way, the Napoleonic Wars lasted for more than ten years in Europe. 18 16 The sixth anti-French allied forces entered Paris, and the war ended with Napoleon being forced to abdicate.
Beethoven