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Father: Johann van Beethoven, sang in the court chapel at Bonn, also
a music teacher. He earned a modest amount, but was an alcoholic
and there are reports of him also being abusive. Compared to his
father, he was not as successful a musician.
Beethoven had a younger brother also named Ludwig, two years old,
who died after only 6 days. This gave Beethoven some confusion about
what year he was born in. Later, there were rumors that Beethoven
was the illegitimate son of a king of Prussia, either Friedrich Wilhelm II
or Frederick the Great. Beethoven did not deny this, perhaps feeling
uneasy about his own family. The Dutch origins of his name, from his
grandfather, may have lead some to assume he was an aristocrat.
According to Maynard Solomon, the unhappy circumstances of his
family life may have lead Beethoven to distance himself from his
family.
The two works that do not fit the conventional mode of his early works
are the Cantata on the Death of Emperor Joseph II and the Cantata
on the Elevation of Leopold II to the Imperial Dignity. These two
works have elements of the “heroic” style that Beethoven would later
compose in. There are parts of this cantata that were reused in the
Eroica, the 6th and 7th symphonies, as well as the overtures to
Coriolan and Egmont. There are also elements of Beethoven’s later
style, such as sudden p and f, as well as a single “main melody” like
the Ode to Joy theme.
Beethoven’s studies with Haydn were likely not too helpful when it
came to technical matters. There are counterpoint exercises that
exist between Beethoven and Haydn and many are not corrected by
Haydn and some corrections by Haydn even contain mistakes. This
lead Beethoven to initiate private study with the composer Johann
Schenk, who helped Beethoven on his counterpoint homework with
Haydn. He even completed the exercises for Beethoven to fool Haydn.
Beethoven had some unease studying with Haydn, worrying that he
might simply be remembered as a pupil of Haydn, as other composers
such as Ignaz Pleyel were thought of.
The Nobility Pretense started around this time in Vienna. This is the
idea that Beethoven was a noble, came from nobility, or was the
illegitimate offspring of a nobleman. There is no evidence if Beethoven
started this idea or of its origins. Beethoven didn’t need to be a noble
to advance his career (for example, Haydn was not nobility and was at
the top of his profession). Rather, this may have been Beethoven
viewing himself as an exceptional person and thinking that he needed
to come from an exceptional background. He didn’t seem to be
attracted to nobility specifically, but he didn’t think too highly of
common people. This leads back to the earlier idea of Family
Romance.
Piano Sonata:
Sonata in E-flat, Op.7, 1796-97
Sonata in C minor “Pathetique”, Op.13, 1798-99
Sonatas in E and G, Op.14, 1798-99
Sonata in A-flat “Funeral March”, Op.26, 1800-1801
Sonata in E-flat and C-sharp minor “Moonlight”, Op.27 , 1800-1801
Sonata in D “Pastoral”, Op.28, 1801
3 Piano Sonatas, Op.31, 1802
Duo Sonatas:
2 Cello Sonatas, Op.5, 1796 - noteworthy because most of his Viennese
models of composers did not compose cello sonatas. Mozart never
wrote a solo for cello, while Haydn did compose concertos but not
sonatas.
3 Violin Sonatas, Op.12, 1797-1798
Violin Sonatas, Op.23, No.24 “Spring”, 1800-1801
3 Violin Sonatas, Op.30, 1801-1802
Horn Sonata, Op.17
Orchestra:
Symphony No.1, Op.21, 1800
Symphony No.2, Op.36, 1802