Ludwig van Beethoven / YMMV

Ending Fatigue: Even some professional musicians think Beethoven had a hard time bringing Symphony No. 5 to an end.
- According to concert pianist Charles Rosen in The Classical Style, the long coda of the finale is needed to balance out the extreme tension of the whole symphony.
Gateway Series: Both through being one of the most recognizable composers in pop culture, and having written such widely played pieces as Für Elise, the Moonlight Sonata, Ode to Joy, and the Fifth Symphony, Beethoven is many people's first introduction to Classical Music as a whole.
Germans Love David Hasselhoff: His 9th Symphony, and especially the Ode to Joy part, is huge in Japan. Every December, it is a holiday tradition to organize large singalong concerts that hundreds to thousands of people participate in.
Growing the Beard: Musical historians divide Beethoven’s career into three profoundly different periods: early, middle and late; the composer grew the beard twice, at the start of the latter two periods.
- Transition from early to middle coincided with the death of his teacher, Joseph Haydn (whose shadow he had been trying to escape) as well as the discovery of the deterioration of his hearing: this is the time Beethoven composed his 17th and 21st Piano Sonatas and his Third Symphony, these particular pieces being considered a turning point in their genre's compositions.
- The middle-to-late transition came about after he learned to deal with the complete loss of his hearing: this is the time where Beethoven composed his last three Piano Sonatas, the Missa Solemnis, the Ninth Symphony, and his last String Quartets.
Heartwarming Moments: At the end of the first performance of his Ninth Symphony, which Beethoven directed himself despite being completely deaf, the audience gave him five standing ovations - and they did it by waving hats and handkerchiefs in the air so he could see the applause he couldn't hear. Another story goes that Beethoven, who insisted on "conducting" (the real conducting was done by someone else but Beethoven was allowed to believe the musicians were following his lead) was several bars behind when the symphony finished and was therefore still conducting when the audience broke into applause. One of his sopranos physically turned him around to observe the audience's reaction, which of course he could not hear.
Just Here for Godzilla: There are many people who listen the Fifth Symphony only for its first movement.
Memetic Mutation:
- Dun-dun-dun DUUUUNNNN!^ExplanationThe opening of the Fifth Symphony
- BAM! BAM! Naaa-na-naaa-na-na-na-na-naaaa!^ExplanationThe opening of the Third Symphony
Narm: "Wellington's Victory" commemorates the Battle of Vitoria by playing the opposing countries' national anthems ("Rule Britannia" and "God Save the King" for the British, and "Marlbrough s'en va-t-en guerre" for the French) and a battery of artillery percussion effects. It's exactly as corny as it sounds, but it was a big hit in its day which helped pay the bills. Beethoven apparently had no illusions about its musical quality, but defended himself from critics by remarking, "What I shit is better than anything you could ever think up!"
Older Than They Think: For all Beethoven's musical accomplishments and monumental legacy, his Fifth Symphony was not the first symphony to include trombones or piccolos. In 1807, the year before the première of Beethoven's Fifth, Swedish composer Joachim Nicolas Eggert wrote his Third Symphony which used trombones, and symphonies with piccolo parts go as far back as Michael Haydn's (younger brother of Joseph Haydn) Eighteenth Symphony, composed in 1773. Beethoven is incorrectly credited because he was and continues to be recognized as one of the greatest composers of all time; in contrast, Michael Haydn is obscure and Eggert is almost entirely forgotten.
Sampled Up: Henry van Dyke's hymn "Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee" is set to Ode to Joy.
Shocking Moments: Beethoven was a fan of this technique.
- The Eroica symphony was chock full of these, from the seemingly new theme in the middle of the development of the first movement to the sudden slowdown in the finale. However, the crowning shock of the symphony probably has to go to the anguished fugue in the middle of the funeral march with its striking dissonances—right after a false reprise of the opening section.
- O Freunde, nicht diese Töne! from the Ninth symphony—the first words sung in a symphony.
Tear Jerker:
- The funeral march from the Eroica symphony (no. 3) is a very morose piece to begin with, even with the brief respite of the major trio. However, after a brief reprise of the opening section it suddenly shifts to a fugue on an earlier theme, which develops into almost a mass grieving session. This ends up making the true reprise of the opening almost sound like the grievers are collecting themselves. By the end, the theme can't even be stated in full without being broken up.
- "Cavatina" from String Quartet No. 13 sounds almost as if the music itself is weeping, with long notes blending into each other like raindrops. The two violins end up exchanging lines for a while before the lead violin is left alone, desperate, in a staccato Beklemmt — choked — passage. Beethoven himself was so drained by the experience of writing it that he found it hard to write anything else for a while. This emotional experience led to its inclusion as the final track on the Voyager Golden Record.
Vindicated by History:
- The premiere of the Fifth Symphony (and the Sixth) was in a concert that lasted four hours on a cold, December night and the audience was tired. Needless to say, it was not very well accepted in its first performance. It took a review by E. T. A. Hoffmann to bring its genius to light. However, It Makes Sense in Context - the premiere was during the Napoleonic Wars, and as a result the orchestra was only able to rehearse the piece once before the performance, and mangled it so badly that Beethoven was forced to stop and restart at one point.
- The Große Fuge, originally from String Quartet No. 13 in B♭ major, was profoundly different from anything else at the moment. It featured a complex syncopated melody and liberal use of dissonance on top of being very difficult to play. Even by the 20th century, its use of dissonance was still considered radical and esoteric, and was rarely performed. It wasn't until later that century that it became recognized as one of Beethoven's great works and far ahead of its time.

YMMV / Ludwig van Beethoven

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