Beethoven Bibliography
September 20, 2013
On December 17, 1770, Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany to the parents of Maria Keverich and Johann van Beethoven. He was raised by his father who hoped he was going to become a child prodigy in music like Mozart was. Although Beethoven’s father was quite a singer, he never did match up to the music abilities that Beethoven’s grandfather had. The talent that the grandfather had, fortunately was present in Beethoven even though it was not present in his father. That is just what his father was hoping for. At the same age as Mozart, Beethoven did not quite have the talent as Mozart did. Mozart had a photographic memory for music which abled him to just be able to listen to a piece of music and go home and write all of the notes down exactly how he heard it, while Beethoven could of only partially done that, not note for note. As a young boy, Beethoven would try to throw together his own compositions on the piano, but his father did not like it when he would just focus on that. His father wanted him to focus mainly on learning to read the music and the notes how they were written which greatly helped him later on in life when he began to lose his hearing. Occasionally, Beethoven’s father would have his friend, a drinking partner, to come to the house to give lessons to young Beethoven. Sometimes it would be after midnight before they got home, causing them to have to wake up poor Beethoven from sleeping just to practice. Soon, he started practicing with a man of the name, Christian Neefe. They believe this is the man who organized for Beethoven to go audition for Mozart. Listening to Beethoven’s piano playing, Mozart was not very impressed on it. Although Mozart was not impressed with his music reading, when he gave Beethoven a chance to improvise upon a tune, he noticed the real compositional talent that Beethoven had and told some of the people in the room to “keep an eye on him because he will bring something important to
On December 17, 1770, Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany to the parents of Maria Keverich and Johann van Beethoven. He was raised by his father who hoped he was going to become a child prodigy in music like Mozart was. Although Beethoven’s father was quite a singer, he never did match up to the music abilities that Beethoven’s grandfather had. The talent that the grandfather had, fortunately was present in Beethoven even though it was not present in his father. That is just what his father was hoping for. At the same age as Mozart, Beethoven did not quite have the talent as Mozart did. Mozart had a photographic memory for music which abled him to just be able to listen to a piece of music and go home and write all of the notes down exactly how he heard it, while Beethoven could of only partially done that, not note for note. As a young boy, Beethoven would try to throw together his own compositions on the piano, but his father did not like it when he would just focus on that. His father wanted him to focus mainly on learning to read the music and the notes how they were written which greatly helped him later on in life when he began to lose his hearing. Occasionally, Beethoven’s father would have his friend, a drinking partner, to come to the house to give lessons to young Beethoven. Sometimes it would be after midnight before they got home, causing them to have to wake up poor Beethoven from sleeping just to practice. Soon, he started practicing with a man of the name, Christian Neefe. They believe this is the man who organized for Beethoven to go audition for Mozart. Listening to Beethoven’s piano playing, Mozart was not very impressed on it. Although Mozart was not impressed with his music reading, when he gave Beethoven a chance to improvise upon a tune, he noticed the real compositional talent that Beethoven had and told some of the people in the room to “keep an eye on him because he will bring something important to