1. Beethoven’s Wellington’s Victory is sometimes called Battle of Vitoria, or Battle Symphony. The piece was named after the Duke of Wellington, who defeated Napoleon’s French army near Vitoria, Spain. 2. The original version was not prepared for orchestra, but for the Panharmonicon of Johann Maelzel. This machine could imitate many musical instruments and sounds of canons, gunshots. 3. Beethoven …
One of the least documented tours of Beethoven is the one he made as a young boy to Rotterdam, Holland. This article will cover the story! It all started with the sudden and tragically early death of Franz Georg Rovantini. He was a court musician in Bonn, just as his father, Johann Conrad before him. Young Rovantini lived in the …
It was not often the case that Beethoven was open to work with a musical idea that was not his own. When his friend Johann Maelzel approached him in 1813 about a promising idea that required the cooperation of the two, Beethoven said yes. The result was the Wellington’s Victory. Prelude to Wellington’s Victory In June 1813, Portuguese, Spanish …
Take a showman and inventor, add a grumpy genius composer, shake it well and see what happens! Read on to discover this friendship and the achievements they realized together! Who was Johann Maelzel? Maelzel (sometimes Mälzel, August 15, 1772 – July 21, 1838) was a German inventor, born in Regensburg. His father was an organ builder who made sure …
In this article, find all the most frequently asked questions and answers about the musical metronome! What is a musical metronome? A metronome is a device that makes a click or some other sound at regular intervals. This interval can be set by the person using a metronome. These intervals are measured in beats per minute (BPM). Most mechanical …
Ear trumpets had helped people with hearing difficulty for centuries. It helped Beethoven, too! What is this aid and how it works? Beethoven loosing his hearing Beethoven first experienced troubles in his ears in 1798, at the age of 27. Until that point he had perfect hearing, something a musician should have! Initially, he kept his problems a secret …