Heiligenstadt Testament Questions, Comment
 

1. If Beethoven ultimately wants his hearing malady described publicly ("You my brothers Carl and [-----] as soon as I am dead if Dr. Schmid is still alive ask him in my name to describe my malady and attach this document to the history of my illness so that so far as possible at least the world may become reconciled with me after my death"), why is he paralyzed by the terror of discovery of that malady at the time of his writing? If he genuinely believes that others will understand him & forgive him for his eccentricities & perhaps even his ill humor, why would he not want others to be informed as soon as possible?

2. It's interesting to see Beethoven's words about joy ("grant me at least but one day of pure joy - it is so long since real joy echoed in my heart - O when - O when, O Divine One - shall I find it again in the temple of nature and of men - Never?") in the Testament addenda & then to compare them with his use of the "Joy" ode in the Ninth. It's almost as if, in the bounding, cosmic Ninth, he were finding answers to problems he posed to himself in the Testament, approximately twenty years earlier. It's very moving in that sense.

3. Not the Testament, but the June 1801 letter to Franz Wegeler: What on earth does Beethoven mean (I know he was prone to exaggeration & irrationality & even sort of a persecution complex) when he says, "If my enemies, of whom I have a fair number, were to hear about it [hearing loss], what would they say?"? This conception he has of his "enemies" in Vienna & abroad & the extreme anxiety he seems to have about their learning of his malady -- what part (if any) does it play in the Testament? What specifically is the cause of this paralyzing anxiety he was feeling -- NOT just that he was losing his hearing but that certain people would find out about it?
http://www.sculptureyard.com/busts/bustsp/beethoven.jpg

On a slightly different note (not unlike a hard-of-hearing musician), I would like to mention that when I was a child we had in our house a bust very similar to that, except that it had more colours.

I dont know anything about Beethoven, but what I saw on that movie Immortal Beloved (I think that was it) and I must say the man was mercurial in his moods, but I suppose he had good reason. About your question re: Beethoven and his anxiety about his enemies finding out about his hearing loss, the only thing I can think of is possibly he might be accused of not writing his own music?

Its just a guess so dont flame me....Im not an expert, but it would seem to make sense that a musician who cant hear might not be capable of making music....

I'd like to thank both of you for participating with your comments & perceptions.

The world will never die, so long as Beethoven lives in our hearts.

He was a conflicted man. But, to think he wrote the 9th essentially while deaf is astounding because the symphony is very complex to someone with intact hearing.

Other than Mozart's Clarinet Concerto and Berlioz's Symphany Fantastique, it is amongst my favorites ever. I truly can go into the stars during the Ode To Joy a la that scene in Immortal Beloved.

Also, David, I think the manner in which the baritone almosts erupts

Oh friends, not these tones!
Let us raise our voices in more
pleasing and more joyful sounds!

is cunning in execution.

Beethoven first noticed odd ringing in his ears -- sort of like tinnitus -- as early as 1796, about four years after he moved to Vienna from the Rhineland, his birth country.

His hearing loss -- far from being a sudden, complete attack -- was a very long, slow, torturous phenomenon, with days or weeks of perfectly good hearing interspersed with loss of hearing in one ear or the other (generally the right), over a period of twenty or even twenty-five years.

By 1818/1819, Beethoven had begun to require others to use conversation books to talk to him (the person wrote out his or her question, & of course Beethoven would answer in speech--so the conversation books are strictly one-sided).

Even in his final years, Beethoven could still -- on good days -- hear low frequencies in his left ear: thunder, passing carriages, gunshots, people farting, etc. On very rare occasions, he could still hear some things in his right ear, too (such as when one of the naughty Brunsvik sisters leaned over & whispered her marveling at the size of his member in a sexy, teasing voice).

The compositional angle as it relates to the hearing loss is a bit misunderstood. True, a composer like me -- an ordinary chap -- would be highly if not completely handicapped by such an infirmity. But in the case of a musical mind like Beethoven's, the infirmity would have proved no more a hindrance than a flea buzzing around one's face.

In Beethoven's case, the crisis of the hearing loss was psychological, not musical. A highly skilled musician -- never mind a genius like Beethoven -- doesn't need to be able to hear in order to compose & to conceptualize in musical terms (although the matter is different for someone born deaf, but this doesn't apply in Beethoven's case).

In fact, most contemporary Beethoven scholars & biographers have posited the view that the hearing loss -- in a sociological & logistical sense -- was actually good for Beethoven the composer because it curtailed his activities as a virtuoso pianist & performer in his 30s & 40s, thus forcing him to concentrate his efforts on composition.

Once again, I am indebted to all of you for your insights & fresh perceptions. May the Divine One, the ruler of all the universe, show our paths with radiance!

I agree that the insidious onset of the deafness pretty much in no significant way compromised the overal theme to the music that he had in his head from the start, which is a testament to his genius. I was just referring to the natural tweaking that everyone does, though perhaps he did not.

I have often thought Mozart may have been more brilliant in the sense that he could hear it once and remember it. But, to me, Beethoven, and even Hayden for that matter, were more complex in their own productions. Interestingly, I think all three could hear it in their heads regardless of their ability to hear in reality. So, that is sort of a level playing field.

I hope that made sense :laugh:

i can offer no insight regarding the first post's comments and questions, but i will happily opine on beethoven's symphonies.

while beethoven's 9th is undoubtably brilliant and an amazing feat considering he wrote it despite being deaf, his 5th will always be my favorite. i can't get enough of the simmering strings and the blistering horns in the first movement, and i swear the second movement can bring me to tears. and it's funny how obvious from the writing (at least in the 2nd violin part, which i played) it is that beethoven was a keyboard player rather than a violin player - many parts did not appear to be challenging at first glance but required technical gymnastics to execute! :laugh: this is in stark contrast to a composer like rimsky-korsakov, whose fingerings were laid out quite nicely despite being v. intricate. but now we're not talking about beethoven, are we??

I agree about its being sort of a level playing field. At that level, all three were beyond reach, in the cognitive sense. They were freaks of nature.

Both Mozart & Beethoven had such abilities: Mozart 'carried around' the Requiem & other monstrously scaled works in his head; Beethoven, too, had vast reserves of memory for music & concept, & was capable of improvising, ex tempore, on themes shouted out to him from across the salon. They both had something akin to photographic memories on a gargantuan scale. These abilities are off the scale of normal abilities across the population. Difficult to fathom, but nonetheless there.

Beethoven also had terrible gas & intestinal distress, as I am having now, probably owing to gallstones or liver disease; but I'll find out more on Monday when I see the gastroenterologist.

The high point of Rimsky-Korsakov to me is the Procession of the Nobles march from Mlada:

http://s14.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1...73TUM5QJ9UEQYR

Play this one LOUDLY as you march triumphantly into breakfast from your bedroom in the morning, or as you send the dog outside to do his doo-doo. You (& the dog) will be stirred & braced!

I feel as if this march should accompany me everywhere I go.

OUCH :eek:

Also, was Beethoven the last of the greats of that genre? Perhaps so.

Finally, did I mention I also love Egmont?

I thought this was an interesting site I pulled up in an effort to answer my own question :laugh: :rolleyes:

Seriously, I liked the layout and discussion of the site and found it informative

http://www.baroquemusic.org/bardefn.html

BTW - did I ever tell you my ex used to play Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words on the 1930's Steinway M that they gave to me. I would sit there with a Scottie in my lap and the other by the pedals and just be in complete bliss.

Well, Egmont loves you, too! ;)

this is the perfect example jazzy! ;)

As long as Goethe stays away from my Fidelio I am okay :wavey: