“But the last master of resounding song, the gracious mouth by which music spoke, the man who inherited and increased the immortal fame of Handel and Bach, of Haydn and Mozart, has ceased to be; and we stand weeping over the broken strings of an instrument now stilled.” —Franz Grillparzer.
The night it happened, a thunderstorm shook Vienna. In the flashes of lightning and peals of thunder, a man, weak and frail, raised his fist to the heavens as the thunder crashed, and then the arm fell as quickly as the crash faded. Ludwig van Beethoven was dead.
Or so goes the account from composer Anselm Hüttenbrenner, who was at Beethoven’s side with only his sister-in-law on the 26th of March 1827 when he died. More than likely an embellished account to bring these final humbling moments of the weak 56-year-old composer in line with the reputation of a musical giant, and to cement this giant as a god for time eternal.
When we talk about the ‘great’ composers, three are consistently named: Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven. But, whilst Beethoven was a celebrity in his later years in Vienna, known by many as an enigmatic and polemic genius, he was by no means the mythical figure many hold him as today. In fact, critics and audiences struggled with his later works, at odds with his more popular early output. French composer and critic Hector Berlioz remarked, upon hearing the C-sharp minor string quartet (No. 14, op. 131),
“Nine-tenths of the audience got up and left, complaining aloud that the music was unbearable, incomprehensible, ridiculous—the work of a madman defying common sense.”
And yet through musical history, evidence of the forthcoming deification abound in letters and records. Beethoven’s father, Johann, a harsh and sometimes violent man afflicted by the family curse of alcoholism, had pushed the musical development of young Ludwig. In nearby Vienna, a young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (just 14 years older than Ludwig) was taking Europe by storm. In his eldest son, Johann saw a Mozart of his own.
From the performing prodigy of his youth to his maturation as a composer, and then his own move to live in Vienna, Beethoven never escaped the associations – from comparisons as he grew in esteem to being listed alongside Mozart as the last of the greats. Moving to Vienna at age 21 (less than a year after Mozart’s death) to study with another great, Joseph Haydn, Beethoven received a book of well-wishes from friends and patrons. Count Waldstein’s well-wishes have been described as ‘prophetic’, and indicate the expectation that many eagerly placed on Beethoven’s young shoulders:
“The Genius of Mozart is still mourning and weeping over the death of her pupil. She found a refuge but no occupation with the inexhaustible Haydn; through him she wishes once more to form a union with another. With the help of assiduous labour you shall receive Mozart’s spirit from Haydn’s hands.”
Through this year, ANAM musicians will explore the life and works of Beethoven across our Chapel series Beethoven’s World – his training, influences, and impact that ripples through time to today, so much so that it’s impossible to look through much of our own program – be it Mostly Mozart, our Chamber Music program, and even our Piano concert featuring Schubert and Dussek – and avoid acknowledging Beethoven.
But our first concert of Beethoven’s World begins at the end: his death and funeral, performing a selection of Beethoven’s own works featured in his funeral proceedings. Unsurprisingly, Beethoven became a musical giant in Vienna, and his funeral saw over 10,000 mourners gather in memory of him (some records estimate closer to 30,000 gathered for the funeral). It was a musical and public affair, with the crowds forming from dawn at Beethoven’s residence to follow his procession through the city, first to the Alserkirche for the funeral service, and then to a cemetery in Währing.
The funeral party was a who’s-who of musical society in Vienna at the time, with opera singers, the chapel choir and a trombone quartet performing in the open air, and Czerny, Böhm and Schubert among the torchbearers following the coffin. The trombone quartet were a notable feature of the day, performing several arrangements of Beethoven’s Three Equali (WoO 30). The Equali had been commissioned by a cathedral in Linz for All Soul’s Day, and Alserkirche chapel master and composer Ignaz Seyfried found that the text to the Miserere (Psalm 51) fit the melody perfectly – and performances of the Equali featured both trombones alone and the addition of the opera and chapel singers through the day.
During Grillparzer’s eulogy (of which an opening segment is included at the top of this article), the question was posed: “Who shall stand beside Beethoven?” In the vacuum following his death, it seemed inconceivable that another great may join him alongside Mozart, Bach, Handel and Haydn. But amongst the torchbearers, young Franz Schubert heard the question and saw himself as the answer. And yet, less than 12 months later, Schubert was also dead, laid to rest beside Beethoven. When the two were exhumed and moved to the central cemetery in Vienna, they were re-buried side-by-side, and though Schubert’s own prescient genius in chamber music and song took far longer to be recognised, the dawn of the Romantic era slowly shifted from the Era of Beethoven to the Era of Beethoven and Schubert.
Words by Alex Owens.
BEETHOVEN'S WORLD: HERO
Thursday 17 April 3pm
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN Three Equals for four trombones, WoO30
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN arr. OWENS Marcia Funebre from Piano Sonata No. 12 in A-flat Major, op. 26
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN arr. Ferdinand RIES Symphony no. 3 Eroica arranged for Piano Quartet
Paavali Jumppanen (ANAM Artistic Director) conductor/piano
ANAM Musicians
Venue Good Shepherd Chapel, Abbotsford
Tickets from $20