FEBRUARY 23, 2020 – Someone in my book club (not I) had the bright idea of choosing a biography of Beethoven by the American scholar/composer/teacher, Jan Swafford. Nearly 1,000 pages long, this “score” is no beach book. I’m only at page 420—with 12 days before our book club meeting.
I’d previously read George Marek’s tome about Beethoven, so I had some background, but Swafford’s work goes deeper and cuts a broader swath, affording the reader a wider historical and cultural context in which to understand one of the greatest musical geniuses of all time.
Here was a human being cut from dysfunctional familial cloth, influenced by political upheaval, schooled in what preceded him, frustrated by friends and foes alike, and challenged mightily by physical maladies, but above all, driven by an inner, titanic artistic force.
For the connoisseur, Swafford provides detailed analyses of Beethoven’s more famous works. Not being a student of music theory, I skimmed a lot of this technical exposition (so to speak). I suspect my fellow book club members will by-pass it altogether, though as “math and science” guys, they are certainly capable of learning the theory. I appreciate the author’s knowledgeable dissertations enough, however, to see that Beethoven’s brain resembled the motherboard of the computer on which I’m “composing” this post.
Yet, surrounding Beethoven’s motherboard was a tangle of crossed wires. He couldn’t multiply or divide. He was stubborn, impatient, and often a complete ass toward his friends and patrons. Though Beethoven was no lecher (Swafford deems him a prude, even by standards of the day), #MeToo militants would have ripped him to shreds, given his affinity for attractive young women students. Probably the most horrible thing in his life was his abominable health. The deafness, of course, was a musician’s nightmare, and it nearly drove him to suicide. But he suffered mightily from chronic headaches and constant gastro-intestinal troubles.
On top of all his troubles, Beethoven was ugly and irascible, but Swafford’s treatment of Beethoven the man captures the composer’s endearing qualities too. He could laugh and embrace his friends and spill his regrets, his apologies, his emotions in heartfelt letters.
Like all professional musicians of his day, he often had to scratch for recompense, but fortunately he had well-heeled patrons whose stipends kept him out of the poor house. A primary source of income were one-time payments from stingy publishers. Copyright law and royalties didn’t exist, however, and often works were pirated. There wasn’t much money in performance—most concerts were private soirees, performed by free-lancers who also scratched out a living. Full-time, professional orchestras would have to wait their time.
Beethoven lived and worked against the backdrop of Aufklärung (the Enlightenment), the French Revolution, and the Age of Napoleon. Those influences—felt directly in Bonn, where the composer was born and grew up, and Vienna, where he lived the rest of his life—had a powerful impact on Beethoven’s world view and accordingly, his music.
Few Titans as great as Beethoven have descended from Mount Othrys.
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© 2020 by Eric Nilsson
