In this article we discover what happened to the Beethoven family after the death of Ludwig van Beethoven, the composer. Ludwig van Beethoven never got married and did not have children. This way there is no bloodline continuing from the famous composer. In his family seven children were born, but only three survived childhood: Ludwig himself, Kaspar and Nikolaus. From …
Continuing our series on influencers in Beethoven’s life our next stop is Joseph Haydn. The two composers had turbulent relationship, young Beethoven pushed the gentle old Master to the limits, even making a fraud move behind his back. Who was Joseph Haydn? Franz Joseph Haydn (31 March 1732 – 31 May 1809) was a major Austrian composer in the …
Ludwig van Beethoven was not born deaf, he became deaf over a period of twenty years starting from 1798, at age 27. One day Beethoven had a tenor at his apartment. The two men argued about something, the tenor left in hurry just to return for something again a bit later. As he knocked on the door Beethoven jumped up …
Like a certain form of civilized cage fights piano duels were common entertainment in contemporary Vienna. Beethoven himself participated in many proving himself a true heavy weight champion. In this article we look at the curious case of the Beethoven vs. Steibelt fight. In the Wild Wild West people used to make duels usually with one participant ending quite dead. …
We continue our ‘No man is an island’ series and in this new article we discover who Prince Lobkowitz was, what part he played in Viennese music history and in Beethoven’s life. Joseph Franz von Lobkowitz (1772-1816) was an aristocrat of Bohemia, present day Czech Republic. He was a full time music enthusiast, spending fortunes on music, most notably for …
When Bach plays, even God is listening! That was the saying among the lucky ones who had the privilege to hear Bach playing. Many decades later there was a composer who was listening still and listening very carefully. In this article we explore how Bach influenced Beethoven and his musical development and eventually his style. Strangely enough in Beethoven’s time …