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Beethoven: Century Vienna
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Most experts think that it has to do with the fact that in the seventeenth century the Beethoven family was a family of Catholic farmers, living in Flanders. The word "beet" (these days spelled "biet") means, not surprisingly, "beet". The word "hof" (plural "hoven") means "garden", not only the grounds, but ... the buildings. Some researchers point to a part of the Netherlands, called the "Betuwe", where a long time ago a (German?) family had found "better meadows" (the prefix "bet" meaning "better") and later on travelled southwards to Flanders where they settled down. In Flanders there was a locality called Betouwe and in the sixteenth century it's mentioned in the archives as Bethove or Bethoven. Anyway, the use of "van" ("from") does suggests that the name points to a particular place, be it the original "better meadow" or the later one developed "beetgarden".
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Beethoven was the assistant (and formal student) of Christian Gottlob Neefe. As a teen, he performed more than he composed. In 1787, Neefe sent him to Vienna for reasons unknown, but many agree that he met and briefly studied with Mozart. Two weeks later, he returned home because his mother had tuberculosis. She died in July. His father took to drink, and Beethoven, only 19, petitioned to be recognized as the head of the house; he received half of his father's salary to support his family.
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By 1818 Beethoven had become virtually deaf and relied on small “conversation books”, in which visitors wrote their remarks to him. He withdrew from all but a steadily shrinking circle of friends. Except for the premieres of his Symphony no. 9 and parts of the Missa Solemnis in 1824, his music remained fashionable only among a small group of connoisseurs. His prestige was still such... that during his last illness he received huge outpourings of sympathy. He died in Vienna on March 26, 1827; tens of thousands witnessed his funeral procession.
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The division of Beethoven's career into three phases originated with A. Schindler and W. von Lenz in the mid-19th century and forms a convenient means of reference. The first period, extending from his beginnings in Bonn to about 1802, shows a wide spectrum of compositions in virtually every genre of the time. The major works of this phase are the First and Second Symphonies, the first three Piano Concertos (written for his own performance and withheld from publication for some years), the first six String Quartets (Op. 18), much piano chamber music, and more than half of the 32 Piano Sonatas. The piano plays a conspicuous role in Beethoven's early work, reflecting his dual ambition as composer and performer, and as an instrument it was his major vehicle for technical experimentation. He was the first to exploit a number of pianistic effects, such as the pedal and the use of registral extremes, in a way that foreshadowed much in later piano music.
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On returning to Vienna in the fall of 1808, Beethoven organized a gala concert to premiere the two symphonies, together with other new works. The concert took place at the Theater an der Wien on December 22nd. Here's the program: first, the Symphony no. 6, followed, in order, by the concert aria, "Ah, perfido", two movements from the Mass in C major, the Fourth Piano Concerto, the Symphony no. 5, and, last but not least, the Choral Fantasy. It was four hours of music, new music to their ears. The theater was unheated, the orchestra was under-rehearsed, and the soprano soloist had a bad case of stage-fright. The whole experience led one listener to comment later that "one can have too much of a good thing --- and still more of a loud".
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Beethoven was tolerated by Vienna society despite his physical unattractiveness and arrogance. Just as he was developing a reputation as a composer, he began to go deaf, but stoically accepted the fact. None of this stopped him from falling in love with his pupils, including Giulietta Guicciardi and Josephine von Brunswick. From 1812 he was increasingly assailed by ill health, business, and family worries, which included prolonged litigation to obtain custody of his dead brother's son, Karl. His last work was completed at Gneixendorf in 1826, where he developed a severe chill (exacerbated by returning to Vienna in an open chaise), from which he died.
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