John Suchet (8:11)

His father did recognize his talent and the best thing that he did for his boy was to employ a teacher. When Beethoven was about 10 or 11 years of age, his father took him out of school and engaged this man who was an organist and composer to teach the boy from about the age of 11 or 12. And it was the best thing he could have done because this teacher was truly inspirational.

Narrator (8:46)

By the time the teacher, Christian Gottlub Niefer is introduced to the Beethoven household, Ludwig has been joined by two younger brothers, Carl and Johann. But other children have been lost in infancy, adding strain to a household already plagued by alcoholism. For Ludwig, music increasingly becomes a refuge. As do his friends. He grows close to the upper class von Breuning family to whose children he teaches piano. The family's son will be a lifelong friend while Helene, the widowed matriarch, becomes a motherly figure. She teaches manners to the unrefined Ludwig and encourages his love of literature and poetry. Her warmth offers him an escape from his troubled home. A little later, Nefer is promoted to court organist. He arranges for his 13 year old student to become his assistant, Beethoven's first salaried position. As well as providing a musical education. The well read Nefe also introduces his charge to enlightenment ideas of freedom and equality. He encourages Ludwig to compose music too and helps him to publish his compositions. Proud of his pupils prodigious talent, Neefer writes an article for a famed musical publication in which he calls Ludwig a genius. A second Mozart. It is around now that the teenage Ludwig may have made the acquaintance of the Austrian composer.

John Suchet (10:19)

Did Beethoven meet Mozart? Well, thereby hangs the tale. The legend is that Beethoven went to Vienna in April 1787 when he was 16 years of age. He met Mozart once, briefly. Mozart was in his early 30s and not in good health. And Mozart, hearing him play, said to his wife watch out for this boy. One day he'll give the world something to talk about. And offered to take him on as a pupil. But Beethoven 16 years of age got an urgent letter from his father saying, your mother is seriously ill back in Bonn, you need to come home immediately.

Narrator (11:06)

It is possible that the meeting is apocryphal. For the rest of their lives. Neither composer mentions it, but what is true is that Beethoven's mother now dies of consumption. His father's alcoholism spirals further, culminating in his arrest for drunkenness and banishment from the city. Beethoven Sr. Lives out the final few years of his life in exile, leaving the 18 year old Beethoven to become head of the household. But another father figure steps into Beethoven's life when he meets Count Waldstein at the von Breunings. The aristocrat becomes an important early patron, commissioning his first work for the stage, the ballet Music su einem Ritterballet. Patronage during this time is an important matter for musicians. And with the news from Vienna of the death of Mozart at the age of just 35, the world is keener than ever to find his replacement. Waldstein's support couldn't come at a more crucial moment. With the French Revolutionary army invading German territory, now is the perfect time for the ambitious young composer to move out of the danger zone to Vienna, the capital city of the Holy Roman Empire. But first, Beethoven needs the permission of his employer. The Prinz Elector.

John Suchet (12:40)

Napoleon was invading the Rhineland. Bonn was next on his list. The Prince Elector and his family had to get out of Bonn into exile. And that's a perfect moment for Walstein to say, look, this boy Beethoven, who plays viola in your orchestra and who's a brilliant pianist, I'd love him to go to Vienna. Would you give him permission? And the Prince Elector said, do you not think I've got more important things to think of at the moment? Do what you like. And the other reason he was able to go was that the greatest composer of the age, Mozart being dead, was Haydn. And Haydn, on his return from a triumphant tour of London, stopped off in Bonn, met young Beethoven, saw one of his manuscripts and said, this is amazing. If you can get to Vienna, I'll take you on as a pupil. So that was the other incentive. So when Beethoven went there at the age of just under 22, he went to take lessons with Haydn. And that's how he began in Vienna.

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John Suchet (13:55)

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Exclusion Supply in late 1792, when Beethoven arrives in Vienna, it is known as one of the most exciting and cultured cities in Europe. But despite his supreme talent, Beethoven is unprepared for the sophistication of the society in which he is now immersed. With his harsh Rhineland accent and ill fitting clothes, he has never worn a wig, let alone the powdered ones sported by the city's fashionable elite. At first, he lives in an attic room in a house owned by Waldstein's relative, Prince Karl Lichnowski. One of the wealthiest men in the city and a great patron of the arts, Lichnowsky will be instrumental in Beethoven's transition into Viennese life. Offering financial and social support, Beethoven now throws himself into his work, seeking to refine his compositional technique. And though he takes lessons with Joseph Haydn as planned, the relationship is strained.

John Suchet (15:52)

He was a very difficult pupil, and every time Haydn said, you can't do that, that's wrong. I can do that. I am Beethoven, so you can imagine it. Haydn in his 60s, Beethoven in his 20s, a new man, a new composer.

Narrator (16:06)

In a hurry, Haydn requests that his student includes the phrase pupil of Haydn on the title of his early works. Beethoven, though never plagued by self doubt and increasingly renowned for his fiery temper, refuses point blank. More successful in that relationship are Beethoven's performances at Salon soirees arranged through Lichnowski's contacts. These events help him build a reputation as a virtuoso pianist with a flair for improvisation. Soon he begins to compose in earnest, a set of three piano trios, two full piano concertos, and three piano sonatas. With Lichnowsky's help, he now secures the large Imperial burg Theater in March 1795 for his first major public performance. Beethoven, however, causes consternation by rewriting his piano concerto right up until the last minute, something that will become a Lifelong pattern. But the performance is enough of a success for it to be repeated. The next day, his professional star is on the ascendant. But Beethoven proves unlucky in love. He becomes reacquainted with a friend from his Bonn years, a singer called Magdalena Vilman. But when Beethoven proposes marriage, he is promptly turned down. Later, when she is asked why, she calls him ugly and half crazy. His mood already sour, he is joined in Vienna by his brothers Karl and Johann, with whom he is not close. Karl attaches himself to his talented brother and becomes his business manager, though Beethoven soon escapes him on a tour of Prague, Dresden, Leipzig and Berlin, where he performs to royalty. But just as he appears to be reaching the pinnacle of his career, Beethoven suffers what will turn out to be the greatest loss of his life. Now 27, the composer begins to notice a change in his hearing. At first, he ignores the buzzing in his ears and keeps it to himself. After all, he's still managing to compose works like his dramatic Pathetique Sonata, which reflects a step up in complexity. He completes his first symphony too, which premieres on April 2, 1800, at the Burg Theatre. It gets mixed reviews. But undeterred, Beethoven embarks on his second symphony and a ballet. Even so, despite being busy and productive professionally, privately, he is agonized over the loss of his hearing.

John Suchet (18:58)

If there's one thing that most people know about Beethoven, it is that he's the one who went deaf. That affliction, which was slow to start and slow to develop, it, only became full deafness after about 15 years. But all through that period, he continued to compose. And when you discuss Beethoven's music from the early days to the end of his life, you must never forget that he was slowly losing his hearing. And that had the most profound influence on his music.

Narrator (19:39)

He's given all manner of medical advice. One doctor suggests cold baths, another warm. A third suggests putting almond oil in his ears, which only exacerbates the issue. Worst of all is the physician who soaks the bark of a poisonous plant and straps it to Beethoven's arms. As the bark dries, it shrinks, tightening the skin underneath and causing terrible blisters to form, which the doctor then lances. It's so damaging that Beethoven is temporarily unable to play the piano and the deafness only continues. But there is some consolation during this difficult time in the form of his 16 year old piano student, Giulia Guicciardi. The attraction is apparently mutual, but the match is vetoed by her father on account of Beethoven's unpredictable lifestyle. Peculiar Temperament and his deafness. Despite the painful rejection, the romance inspires a piano sonata, which he dedicates to Julia, a piece of music so hauntingly beautiful that one critic compares it with the moon setting over the lake Lucerne. The Moonlight Sonata. His mood spiraling in early 1802, one of his doctors suggests a break from the hustle and bustle of city life. And so Beethoven rents a small cottage just outside the city. He continues to compose, but after a walk with a friend, during which he fails to hear the lovely sound of a shepherd playing his pipe, his sadness becomes despair. It is the 6th of October, 1802. In the small village of Heiligenstadt. Children are playing in the fallen autumn leaves while a horse and rider trot down the lane. But inside his cottage, seated at a simple wooden desk, Beethoven can only hear the usual humming and buzzing in his ears. He rummages in a drawer for a tinderbox, strikes flint against steel to light a lantern next to his desk, then closes the curtains to block out the world beyond. Sighing, he now reaches for a small inkwell and feathered quill and begins to write a letter to his two brothers. The document will act as his last will and testament, and he embarks upon it furiously. On the paper, Beethoven rails against those who have misunderstood him and against the loss of the one sense, as he puts it, that should have been more highly developed in me than anyone. Would it not be better, he muses, to end it all, to leave behind the burden of a world he can no longer fully experience, to. But as he writes, a flicker of defiance begins to stir, and better still, a melody starts to form in his head. He stands abruptly and makes his way to the upright piano in the corner of the room to try it out. The rebellious tune keeps him there, at the piano. It won't leave him alone. When it's finally done with him, his eyes fall on the manuscripts scattered across the kitchen table, the notes dancing silently on the pages. They remind Beethoven of all the music still trapped in his mind, waiting to be written, waiting to be heard. To end his life would be to deny that to the world. With fresh resolve, he returns to his desk to conclude the letter, his quill flying across the page. He writes now not about surrender, but about fighting on. It becomes not only a letter, but a manifesto. Though he has stared into the abyss, he has also confronted his deafness and remembered the reason he wants to live after all. Soon he returns to Vienna with a new resolve, and instead of sending the letter, he carries it with him, a reminder of his commitment to persevering for the sake of his art. Early in 1803, Beethoven is made composer in residence at the theater Andevin, an appointment which comes with a small apartment in the building. His brother Karl, still managing Beethoven's business affairs, moves in with him. But it's not a peaceful existence. Karl is pushy and annoys publishers with aggressive demands for money. And the temperamental Beethoven isn't an easy housemate either. With works now coming thick and fast, it's fair to say his talents as a composer exceed his organizational skills. On the morning of one concert in 1803, his secretary, Ferdinand Ries, is summoned to Beethoven's apartment, where he finds the composer sitting up in bed, adding trombones to the score of a new oratorio, Christ on the Mount of Olives. With the final rehearsal due to take place in a matter of hours, it's up to Riis to urgently source trombonists. There is no time to hire copyists, so in the end, the hastily assembled musicians play from Beethoven's handwritten manuscript sheets. The reviews are mixed, but it is something of a relief to everyone when the contribution of the trombones is picked out for praise. In the summer of 1803, Beethoven begins work on a new symphony, his third, composing over an intensive three months. He dedicates it to Napoleon Bonaparte, who has risen from humble roots to lead revolutionary France in a new era of liberty, equality and fraternity. A champion, Beethoven believes, of the common man. Despite living under an absolute monarchy and his dependence on wealthy patrons, Beethoven never loses the Enlightenment principles which he adopted under Christian Neefer's tuition. So when Napoleon declares himself emperor, it falls to a brave Rhys to break the news to Beethoven. Furious at what he views as a betrayal of republican ideals, he rips the dedication of the symphony in two, scratching out Bonaparte's name so violently that a hole is left in the script. This symphony becomes known as the Eroica.

John Suchet (27:02)

The Eroica symphony, which began his heroic period, sets a new standard for symphonic composition. He begins it with two massive chords, as if he's saying, pay attention, pay attention. What I think he's saying is, to hell with my deafness. You don't begin a symphony with two massive chords. And it's often said of the Eroica, composed in roughly 1803-1804, it took music into a new century, and it's still looked back on today as just groundbreaking. Every musical form. He broke the rules. If you go to a Mozart concert, Mozart's music is utterly divine. It is perfect. As Salieri says in the Anthony Schaeffer play Amadeus Jealously it's as if God put the music into his head. It flows down his arm, into the pen and onto the paper. Beethoven just look at the manuscripts covered in crossings out ink blotches, torn paper. He struggled to get it down, but once he got it down, this was a new kind of music.

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Narrator (29:46)

Ask your doctor about ebglis and visit ebgliss.lilly.com or call 1-800-lilyrx or 1-800-545-5979. Beethoven now works on an opera Leonor, but his life is once again about to be shaped by larger forces. Fearing Napoleon's expansionism, Austria joins Britain and other powers in a coalition against him, and soon the Napoleonic wars are underway. By October 1805, a mere month before the opera's November premiere. Napoleon is marching towards Vienna. Soon he and his army storm into the city, which surrenders to the occupation with little resistance. With most of the opera going public, having fled, Leonor opens to a handful of friends and a few French soldiers. It closes after just three nights. Beethoven keeps working, but this turbulent time is further marred by fractures in some key relationships. First, history repeats itself when he falls in love with and is rejected by one of his pupils. This time, the object of his affections is a beautiful young woman called Josephine Brunswick. Second, to add salt to the wound, his brother Karl, during this time, makes a match that Beethoven deems most unsuitable. Johanna Ries, his brother's intended, is the daughter of a Viennese upholsterer who had a brush with the law in her youth. Ignoring his brother's disapproval, Karl marries her anyway and steps down from his role as Beethoven's manager just in time for the arrival of their son. Knowing Beethoven is under strain, his patron, Prince Lichnowski, invites the composer to his country estate at Graz, near the border between the Czech Republic and Poland. Today, unfortunately, one evening, the prince also entertains a number of French officers. The French, by this stage, have withdrawn from Vienna, but Beethoven has neither forgiven nor forgotten Napoleon's treachery. So when the officers expect the great composer to play for them, he angrily refuses. Lichnowsky insists, so Beethoven charges to his room. He packs up his things and leaves the house, but not before scribbling a note that says, there have been and will always be thousands of princes. There is only one Beethoven. Back at home in Vienna, still in a rage, Beethoven smashes his marble bust of the prince to pieces. The rift is irreparable, and soon Lichnowski brings a halt to the annuity he's been paying him. Beethoven's life seems to be becoming increasingly chaotic. Yet he continues to compose, now bringing to life one of the most renowned pieces of his career.

John Suchet (33:06)

It's well known that the most famous, perhaps orchestral composition of them all is the Fifth Symphony. And that famous opening, da da da da, which most people know, everybody knows it's not even a tune, it's not a melody, it's a motif. And what he does with it in that symphony is extraordinary. A lot of Beethoven's music was rejected when it was first heard, simply because he just broke the rules so conclusively all the time that they found it very, very difficult.

Narrator (33:41)

The Fifth Symphony is closely followed by his sixth, a very different work, which he calls the Pastoral. Imbued as it is, with his love of the countryside, in December 1808, he organizes a colossal concert featuring the premieres of his fifth and sixth symphonies, among other works. It draws a strong audience, but the concert itself is a marathon of a performance in a freezing theater, undermined by inadequate rehearsals, repeated interruptions, and the fiery temper of the composer shouting at the musicians. At. Around this time, Beethoven receives an enticing offer from Napoleon's brother, Jerome Bonaparte. He invites him to serve as Kapellmeister in Westphalia, a client state of the French empire in central Germany. To keep him in Vienna, three of the city's wealthiest aristocrats step in, including Archduke Rudolf, the youngest son of Austria's emperor, Leopold II. They pledge him a generous stipend of 4,000 florins annually on the condition he remains in the city. But by early the next year, Austria has once again declared war on France. As Napoleon marches on Vienna, determined to teach the Austrians a lesson once and for all, the imperial family flee, including Beethoven's patron, Archduke Rudolf. Beethoven himself stays behind, sheltering in his brother Karl's cellar, covering his head with pillows during the assault. After the subsequent occupation, Vienna is a changed city with soaring prices and an uneasy atmosphere. In this unhappy period, Beethoven again falls in unrequited love, this time with the daughter of an Italian family, Therese Malfatti. He composes a piece of music for her, simple enough that she might be able to play it on the piano. Entitled Bagatelle, the work is more commonly known by what Beethoven scribbled on the title page, feu Elise, meaning for Elise, which is likely to have been Therese's nickname. Just as before, though, the romance comes to nothing, just another in a long series of unfulfilled longings. Destabilized by the wars, Austria's currency weakens, prices skyrocket, and some of Vienna's wealthiest individuals lose their fortunes overnight. One of Beethoven's three wealthy patrons is bankrupted, and a second is thrown off his horse and killed. Yet Beethoven continues to create at a furious rate, completing a seventh symphony and beginning work on the eighth, among other projects. His health, however, is troubling him, particularly stomach problems. So in the summer of 1812, when he is 41, he retreats for a break. It's in the town of what is now Teplice in the Czech Republic that he meets a mystery woman.

John Suchet (37:16)

He arrives late at night. The carriage wheel is broken, so he's late, and he gets to the hotel, and his room has been taken, just to go down the hill to a new hotel. And he starts to write a letter that night to a woman, and he tells her about what a dreadful journey he's had. The next morning, he writes an addendum to it, telling her more about it. And the next night, in a third addendum, it's only about half a page long, his writing has become really right across the page. It's totally disorganized. And in the second line of this second addendum, he calls her meine und sterbliche Ge liebte, My eternally beloved, or My immortal beloved.

Narrator (38:05)

It is a long letter, full of intense declarations of love and an indication of a mutual passion. But there is no address, and the letter appears never to have been sent. It is shoved into a secret drawer of his desk, where it is found after his death. Most frustratingly of all, the recipient remains nameless, her identity evading historians ever since.

John Suchet (38:33)

A very distinguished American musicologist, Maynard Solomon, wrote a definitive biography of him in which he had even investigated the times of the mail coach from Teplitz to Carlsbad, because Beethoven refers to this other town with a K, saying, I'll send the letter by the mail coach. Damn it, I just missed it. It just left. This guy did all the research possible and identifies the woman as Antoni Brentano because he knew her in Vienna very well, which has to be the case from the evidence of the letter. She was in Prague in the first week of July, 1812, when he was, and then she was in Carlsbad in the weeks following to where the letter was sent. And he names her as the immortal beloved. And he says in his biography, I think without boasting, we can now regard this mystery as solved. Well, he was wrong there, because since then so many other names have been put forward.

Narrator (39:34)

Other possibilities include Beethoven's former crushes, Julia Guicciardi and Teres Malfatti. But the other top suspect, along with Antoni Brentano, is Josephine Brunswick, with whom the composer fell in love many years before. There is no proof of her being in the correct place at the correct time, but for some, the fact that she gave birth exactly nine months on from the writing of the letter to a daughter who resembled Beethoven in her adult years has been too tempting a coincidence to resist. The composer's trip away is cut short by what he deems to be a family emergency. On discovering that his brother Johann is about to make an inappropriate match in marriage, Beethoven rushes to the central Austrian town of Linz. Ever the moralist, despite his revolutionary ideals, he is determined to prevent the wedding on the basis that his brother's fiance, who was initially his housekeeper, already has an illegitimate child. The composer takes the matter to the bishop and even the police. But despite terrible scenes between the brothers, he's unable to get his way.

John Suchet (40:49)

Beethoven was not a very nice man. He upset his family. He upset his patrons. He upset fellow musicians. He upset everyone. He came into contact with one restaurant, you know, if he was given eggs that had gone off in a restaurant, he would hurl them at the waiter. Once he threw them out of the window and they landed on diners outside. And once people were eating in the restaurant and he was at a table next door and they said to the maitre d, I'm really sorry. This man at the table next door is investigating the contents of his nose. Please, may we move to another table? That was Beethoven. He was eccentric and difficult, and they all knew he was difficult. Mozart, by contrast, was almost infantile. He had a childlike quality to him, but everybody loved him. And Haydn was adored by everyone. Mozart christened him Papa. Papa Haydn, which stuck. But everyone gave Beethoven a wide berth when they could because he was not an easy man.

Narrator (42:02)

Though he's been plagued with pains for a while, Beethoven's health now begins to deteriorate. He gives up completely on hygiene, drinks more heavily, and experiences a rare creative block. At this time, too. There is a glimmer of hope on the horizon, however. After the British, Portuguese and Spanish forces under Wellington defeat Napoleon's brother Joseph Bonaparte in Spain, the mood in Vienna is jubilant. With the people in the mood for music, Beethoven gives three successful concerts at which he conducts the first public performance of his seventh Symphony, shortly followed by the eighth. There is also the premiere of a piece celebrating the recent battle called Wellington's Victory. Beethoven's only operatic work, Leonore, is revived as Fidelia and performed to Europe's triumphant heads of state at a gala evening in September. But this professional pinnacle is followed almost immediately by a personal low. In November 1815, his brother Karl dies. Though he had previously written a will that would leave Beethoven in sole charge of his son, a more recent version gives guardianship to both Beethoven and Karl's widow, Joanna. To the horror of everyone involved, Beethoven now embarks on a prolonged legal battle over the matter. Eventually, his nephew Carl is removed from his mother at the age of nine. His uncle Beethoven promptly puts him into boarding school. Though the tug of war continues for years, it takes its toll on the composer. By 1818, his hearing has deteriorated so badly that he has to find alternative means to communicate.

John Suchet (43:53)

When Beethoven's deafness was as total as it would ever be. He began to carry around little notebooks with him so that if people wanted to talk to him, he'd hand them the notebook and they would write the question down. He would answer it verbally, of course. They were called conversation books. And then he got through several hundred in his lifetime. Sadly, after his death, his secretary, Anton Schindler, burned over a hundred, or it may even be 200. But he burned a whole load of the conversation books because they reflected badly on Beethoven's character.

Narrator (44:32)

But it is now that Beethoven receives a new concert grand piano from a London piano manufacturer. The gift inspires the creation of his monumental Hammer Clavier sonata. It stands as a turning point in his compositional style, his longest and most complex sonata. While the years after the Hammer Clavier will bring to light some of the composer's best loved masterpieces, they are marked by immense personal challenges. In 1821, he endures a near fatal bout of rheumatic fever. He also learns of the death of Josephine Brunswick, high on the list, as a possibility for being his immortal beloved. This series of events will bring Beethoven to the brink of ruin. Neglecting his health, he turns increasingly to drink. It is autumn, 1822. A quiet, cold night on the outskirts of Vienna. A young constable picks up his pace to keep warm as he patrols the cobbled streets. In the distance, he hears a noise, some kind of commotion. A man runs towards him, his arm raised. There's a tramp, he tells the constable, who is disturbing the peace. The officer is led to a scruffy man slumped on a bench beneath the dim glow of a street lamp, wrapped in a tattered coat. The tramp is hatless, with an unruly nest of hair that looks as if it has been untouched by a comb for weeks. He is shouting, though what he's shouting about is unclear. The constable addresses the tramp politely, but struggles to make himself understood. Eventually, through gesture, he makes it clear that he's going to have to take him into custody if he doesn't quieten down. The vagrant fixes the constable with a glare, his dark eyes flashing in the lamplight. Arrest me, he demands. But I am Beethoven. His appearance does not match his imperious tone, and even from a few steps away, he reeks of alcohol and neglect. Another constable now arrives, drawn by the sound of incoherent ranting. The two briefly discuss whether this could indeed be the man the whole of Vienna hails as a genius. There is nothing about him to suggest the wealth or stature of the famous composer. Incensed, the tramp now rises angrily, if unsteadily, to his feet and making a quick assessment, the officers seize him by the army and frog march him to the police station. He is swiftly booked for the night into a holding cell. But that is not the end of the matter. He spends the night rattling the bars of his cell and shouting in ever increasing volume that he is Beethoven. His noise disturbs everyone in the station, so the young constable is sent back out into the city to track down the Commissioner of the police. He finds him enjoying an early evening drink at one of his favorite local taverns. Though not overjoyed to be disturbed, the commissioner decides to call upon a musical director he knows to settle the matter. Hours later, the men convene at the station. The musical director is led to the holding cell where the vagrant sits on the other side of the bars, his face set in a furious scowl. His arms are crossed tightly over his chest, his boots scuffed and damp. Adjusting his spectacles, the musical director takes one glance and confirms to the police that is Beethoven. The constable is told in no uncertain terms to release the prisoner. With shaking hands, he unlocks the door and Vienna's most famous composer storms out of his cell, leaving a stunned silence in his wake.

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Narrator (49:45)

In the last years of his life, Beethoven experiences remarkable creative achievement despite deteriorating health and personal struggles. It is during this period that he completes some of his most famous works. With May 1824 marking the premiere of his monumental Ninth Symphony. A towering masterpiece, it redefines symphonic music with its inclusion of choral voices in the famous Ode to Joy.

John Suchet (50:14)

The words of the final movement are from a poem by Schiller called Andy Freude, which is translated as Ode to Joy, which is a hymn to liberty, a hymn to freedom, a plea for all mankind to become brothers. And that is what appealed to Beethoven, and that is the poem that he uses in the final movement of the Ninth Symphony. And it completely sums up his philosophy. That is the significance of the 9th.

Narrator (50:49)

The work debuts to immediate acclaim, though Beethoven, unable to hear the applause, has to be turned around to see the audience's reaction. In these final years, Beethoven's compositions become introspective and complex. His late string quartets are considered some of the most profound works in Western classical music. Yet his difficult temperament, exacerbated by his frustrations with deafness and isolation, continues to strain his personal relationships. His guardianship of his nephew is particularly tumultuous. Despite lavishing affection on young Karl, Beethoven is far from an ideal guardian. He puts immense pressure on the unmusical young man to follow in his footsteps and denies his wish to join the army with frequent, bitter quarrels. They reach a breaking point in 1826, when Karl attempts to shoot himself in the head just before his university examination. He survives, and Beethoven reluctantly permits him to begin a military career after all. Just a year later, Beethoven's health declines rapidly. Following months of severe illness from cirrhosis of the liver, he dies on March 26, 1827, in his apartment in Vienna. He's 56 years old. His funeral is attended by an estimated 20,000 people. Among them are many notable musicians, including Franz Schubert, who not only accompanies his coffin, but also, 18 months later, will be buried beside him. Despite the struggles and hardships that defined his later years, Beethoven's legacy as one of history's greatest composers has been solidified in the centuries since his death. Among his many masterpieces, the Ninth Symphony endures as a global symbol of unity and hope, with its Ode to Joy adopted as the anthem of the European Union in 1972. But most of all, Beethoven's music has never lost its power to speak to ordinary people.

John Suchet (53:11)

Go to a Mozart concert, and at the end of it, sit back and the music has washed over you. Everything is right with the world. Go to a Beethoven concert and your knuckles should be white gripping your chair. What has he done? Where is he taking me? I've never heard anything so exciting in my life. That's the big difference. And that I believe, is what sets Beethoven apart, because he breaks the rules. His music is as fresh today as it was when he wrote it over 200 years ago, and that is what I believe makes him the greatest of them all.

Narrator (53:51)

Next time on Short History of We'll bring you a short history of the printing press.

John Suchet (53:57)

The first major impact of Gutenberg's press was it allowed ordinary people to read things in their own language. And so ordinary people for the first time were able to skip past the authority of priests and, as it were, commune directly with God in their own language.

Narrator (54:18)

That's next time. If you can't wait a week until the next episode, you can listen to it right away by subscribing to Noiser Plus. Head to www.nozza.comscriptions for more information.

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