10 Wildly Shocking Facts About Beethoven

Beethoven’s life mask.

With upcoming performances of Beethoven's 5th, 6th, and 7th Symphonies with the Longmont Symphony Orchestra, I have been doing a lot of research into the life of Beethoven. I wanted to share my top ten fun, shocking, and wildly exciting facts that I learned about his life and work.

1. The Story of Beethoven's Life Mask: In 1812, a famous sculptor, Franz Klein, turned up at Beethoven's door, wanting to make a plaster life mask of the famous man's face. Beethoven agreed and one day found himself lying face up at an angle, face and hair soaked in soapy water and oil, and straws stuck up his nose so that he could breathe as Klein slathered a stinky type of plaster all over his face. As the procedure went on (and on… and on…), Beethoven became increasingly fearful that he would suffocate — and in a fit of anger and fear, Beethoven ripped off the almost set cast, threw it to the floor, after which it shattered into pieces. Beethoven ran from the room. Klein was able to put back to pieces into the "true" face of the composer. That famous life mask would be the basis of other artists' portraits of Beethoven for years to come. Was this Beethoven's "true" face? Or was it the face of a man who is scowling because he is angry, uncomfortable, and scared as his feelings of claustrophobia crept upon him as he breathed through straws for hours.

2. Beethoven's Most Extensive — and Negligible —Body of Work: At the end of 1806, Beethoven was offered some piecemeal work by Scottish publisher George Thomson, to compose British Isles Folk Songs, composing some 120 folk songs for mixed instruments and voices. Thomson would reiterate his plea countless times to Beethoven that the piano part be made easier. And Beethoven would say, "I will take care to make the compositions easy… as far it is consistent with the elevation of [my] style… from which I shall never stoop. I cannot bring myself to write for the flute, as this instrument is too limited and imperfect." This project lasted for years!

3. Inspiration leads to Generations of Oppressed Players: Famed Double-bass virtuoso, Domenico Dragonetti, went to Vienna and met with Beethoven. To get acquainted, Dragonetti came prepared to play Beethoven's Second Cello Sonata on the double bass (an unbelievable feat at that time in history). Beethoven played the piano part as Dragonetti accomplished what many deemed impossible. Beethoven jumped up from the piano and embraced both the man and his instrument. From that point on, Beethoven's new appreciation for the capabilities of that instrument would torment generations of orchestral bass players.

4. Beethoven Goes Deaf: As Beethoven would later recall, his deafness came on suddenly when he was 28 years old. Beethoven and a tenor had been heatedly arguing over something musical when the tenor stormed out of Beethoven's apartment. Beethoven had gotten back to work at his composing desk when the tenor returned and pounded on Beethoven's door. Beethoven jumped up from his desk — and was so furious at the tenor who was pounding away — that he fell facedown to the floor and landed on his hands. When he got up, he said, "I found myself deaf and have been so ever since."

5. Beethoven: The Programmatic Composer: With a few exceptions, notably, the "Pathetique" Sonata, "Pastoral" symphony, and "Les Adieux," Beethoven did not mention the images, stories, or characters of his works. But there is evidence that he did use these types of tools as an aid in shaping a piece and keeping the musical narrative moving in the right direction. In fact, in his youth, he would improvise musical portraits based upon the character traits of his friends.

6. Symbolism in the Finale of Eroica: The Finale of Beethoven's 3rd Symphony, the "Eroica" began several years before he wrote any other parts of his Third Symphony. The Finale was conceived as the finale number of his ballet, The Creatures of Prometheus — and was the music for the final dance, called the "Englishe Dance." What is so interesting about the "Englishe Dance" is its symbolism. With its constant changing of partners, the dance allowed for an intermingling of classes; a commoner could end up hand in hand with a member of the aristocracy. This concept was radical but in line with the ideals of the Enlightenment. To symbolize how a commoner could rise in standing (as Beethoven wished for himself), he chose Napoleon as the protagonist for the 3rd Symphonies' narrative. (Originally, he titled the symphony "Bonaparte.")

7. Symphonies in Pairs: Beethoven seems to have conceived his symphonies in pairs. The 5th and 6th Symphonies were premiered at the same concert, as were the 7th and 8th Symphonies a few years later. But the 9th stands alone; Did Beethoven envision a 10th Symphony? He did and even was paid a commission by the Royal Philharmonic Society. A hypothetical — and controversial — completion of the first movement of the 10th Symphony was assembled and premiered in 1988 by the Royal Philharmonic Society.

8. Beethoven's Religious Symphony: Haydn had been praying to God for inspiration for his magnum opus, the oratorio, "The Creation," for some time when it finally premiered in 1799. Haydn had thrown down the gauntlet for the age's religious music, and this would challenge Beethoven for years to come. Beethoven made a concerted effort to compose an inspired spiritual work in his oratorio, Christus Ölberge, but dogmatic religious inspiration eluded Beethoven. In reality, Beethoven found God in nature. It is there that, in his "Pastoral" Symphony, the fullness of heavenly blessings is poured over fields, meadows, and brooks to create his own entirely new kind of deeply felt religious music.

9. Nephew Karl "Helps" Beethoven with 9th Symphony Metronome Numbers: Two years after the premiere of the 9th Symphony, Beethoven and his nephew, Karl, sat down so that Beethoven could dictate metronome numbers to the boy. Karl noted that the fourth movement's opening was the bar = 96 beats per minute. However, he wrote with the first number upside down; it should have been bar = 66 beats per minute. This error remained in print for over two centuries!

10. The Revelation of His Famous Letters: Beethoven's most famous letters are his Heiligenstadt Testament and the letter to his Immortal Beloved, and were discovered in the days following his death. Beethoven's brother and a few colleagues looked around Beethoven's apartment for the bank shares that Beethoven had left to his nephew, Karl. After a few hours of looking and about to give up, they noticed a nail sticking out of a cupboard; They pulled on the pin, which opened a secret drawer. The contents spilled out. Besides the bank shares to his nephew, the team discovered what the world would later call his Heiligenstadt Testament and the letter to his Immortal Beloved.