History Music / LudwigVanBeethoven

* AffectionateParody: The 8th Symphony exaggerates many tropes in early classical symphonies. The first movement has excessive tremolos throughout. The third movement is a pompous minuet. The finale is almost too fast to be unplayable in its proper tempo. The second movement mimics the metronome and has a sudden fortissimo like in Music/JosephHaydn's 94th Symphony ("Surprise").

* {{Bathos}}: The 4th Symphony is famous for its dark and brooding introduction. However, the first movement proper arrives with a jubilant tone and a quirky melody. The rest of the symphony remains mostly jovial throughout. The contrasting introduction and remaining symphony shows a sense of humor and dramatic subversion similar to Haydn's practical jokes.

** The second theme group of the "Pathetique" sonata finale is a motif paired down from the first theme group. This motif cycles through different keys and species counterpoint, a reference to Gradus Ad Parnassum and other counterpoint textbooks.

* BoleroEffect: ''''Ode To Joy'' starts with the theme played quietly by the double basses. It gets richer and louder as other strings and horns gradually join in, up to a triumphant explosion of the main theme by a full orchestra.

!!Films:

** The 8th Symphony8 is smaller in scale and focuses on [[ViewersAreGeniuses witty parodies of classical music tropes]], unlike the frenzied 7th Symphony and monumental 9th Symphony.

* AffectionateParody: The 8th Symphony exaggerates many tropes in early classical symphonies. The first movement has excessive tremolos throughout. The third movement is a pompous minuet. The finale is almost too fast to be unplayable in its proper tempo. The second movement mimics the metronome and has a sudden fortissimo like in Music/JosephHaydn's 94th Symphony (''Surprise'').

** The slow movement of the 6th Symphony (''Pastoral'') ends by depicting several birds calling to each other. A flute, oboes, and clarinates imitate the nightingale, quail, and cuckoo respectively.

* UsefulNotes/BetaTest: Various unpublished Beethoven pieces were first attempts at writing a genre or rendering a subject, some being retooled as later published works. Perhaps the most famous example is the Choral Fantasy, which has the prototype of ''Ode to Joy.'' It also precedes the 9th Symphony in spirit by uniting a choir and the whole orchestra under a theme of universal brotherhood, even adding a solo piano to complete a piano-orchestra-choir trifecta.
** The Choral Fantasy itself has a prototype, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhqVWPXapHg the song arrangement "Gegenliebe" (Returned Love)]].
** An English dance theme would eventually become the last movement of the Eroica Symphony. It first appears as a [[https://youtu.be/1ih8trjrmGE?t=328 contradance in E♭ major.]] The complementing bass line might have derived from the retrograde inversion of a bass part in Daniel Steibelt's piano quintet finale. The English theme and bass line first unite in the [[https://www.yotube.com/watch?v=g8inXQFmXqM Prometheus ballet finale]], then in a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUGK7HeB7mQ&t=153s large set of piano variations]], and finally in the [[https://youtu.be/5E0_Fvp7AFw?t=2000 the Eroica Symphony finale itself.]] Working his way backwards in composing the Symphony, Beethoven created the first movement main theme by inverting the finale bass line and harmonically fleshing it out with triads for the horn parts.
** Beethoven first attempted a symphony with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOwaQEYEntA a Sturm-und-Drang C minor first movement]] with a Mannheim rocket as its main theme.
** A [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8_PEetZCXE "Jena Symphony" in C major]] was once attributed to Beethoven, but now it is known that Friedrich Witt composed it instead.
** An early attempt at a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewYIN0suTbI Violin Concerto]] also exists. It somewhat resembles the published Violin Concerto in D major but is a more traditional work overall.
** A [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c5dWB2gFLY&t=82s"0th" Piano Concerto]] was reconstructed based on orchestral cues from the piano score.
** Beethoven wrote a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrGnQ9pM89Y Macbeth overture]], but he later transplanted its introduction into the "Ghost" Piano Trio.
** Leonard Bernstein goes over Beethoven's drafts of the 5th Symphony in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mu2HJerMp8A this lecture]].
** Beethoven first wrote an [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIYJYJCgCkw Andante Favori]] middle movement for the ''Waldstein'' Sonata. He performed it in front of friends and patrons, who then recommended he write a new middle movement that better fit the overall structure of the Sonata. The Andante Favori wound up on the cutting room floor and was later published seperately.
** Beethoven considered a purely orchestral D minor finale for the 9th Symphony. He chose Ode to Joy instead, and the finale became the [[https://youtu.be/Z7chjLuulvg?t=404 Allegro Appassionato movement of the 15th String Quartet.]]

** The Eroica Symphony, which he dedicated to Napoleon because he thought he represented all the good ideals of the French Revolution. When he got the news that Napoleon declared himself emperor, he scratched out the dedication so violently that he slashed a hole in the paper.

* AffectionateParody: Symphony No. 8 in F major is like a high-octane version of an early classical symphony, with exaggerations of the common tropes employed during that period. The first movement has excessive tremolos throughout. The third movement minuet is satirically pompous. The finale is so fast it is almost unplayable in its proper tempo. The slow movement mimics the metronome and even has a sudden fortissimo during the first minute, like in Music/JosephHaydn's Symphony No. 94 in G major (''Surprise'').

** The slow movement of Symphony No. 6 (''Pastoral'') ends with a passage that depicts several birds calling to each other. A flute is used to mimic the nightingale's song, while oboes and clarinets respectively imitate a quail and a cuckoo.
** Occurs during the Credo in the Missa Solemnis, specifically at the moment of the Immaculate Conception. Representing the Holy Spirit with the flute goes back to the middle ages in the Catholic Mass.
* {{Bathos}}: Symphony No. 4 in B♭ major is famous for its grim introduction, suggesting a dark, brooding work. Instead, the first movement proper has a jubilant tone and a quirky melody. The rest of the symphony remains mostly jovial throughout. This is a sense of humor and dramatic subversion similar to Haydn's practical jokes.
* UsefulNotes/BetaTest: Various unpublished Beethoven pieces were first attempts at writing a musical genre or rendering a musical subject, some being retooled as later published works, giving precious insights into the composer's creative process and development. Perhaps the most famous example is the Choral Fantasy, which has the prototype of ''Ode to Joy.'' It also heralds the Symphony No. 9 in spirit by uniting the whole orchestra under a theme of universal brotherhood, although it went even further than the symphony by adding a solo piano to the orchestra with the choir.

** An English dance theme would eventually become the last movement of the Eroica Symphony, first appearing as a [[https://youtu.be/1ih8trjrmGE?t=328 contradance in E♭ major.]] The bass line that later complements the English theme might have derived from the retrograde inversion of the bass part finale of Daniel Steibelt's piano quintet. The English theme and bass line first unite in the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8inXQFmXqM Prometheus ballet finale]], then in a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUGK7HeB7mQ&t=153s large set of piano variations]], and finally in the [[https://youtu.be/5E0_Fvp7AFw?t=2000 finale of the Eroica Symphony.]] Beethoven, working his way backwards in composing the Symphony, created the first movement main theme by inverting the finale bass line and harmonically fleshing it out with triads for the horn parts.
** Beethoven first attempted a symphony with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOwaQEYEntA a stormy C minor first movement]], using a Sturm-und-Drang Mannheim rocket as its theme, which was popular in the earlier 18th century.

** An early attempt at a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewYIN0suTbI Violin Concerto]] also exists. It somewhat resembles the Violin Concerto in D major, but overall it is a more traditional work.
** A [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c5dWB2gFLY&t=82sPiano Concerto No. 0 in E♭ major]] was reconstructed based on orchestral cues from the piano score.
** Beethoven wrote a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrGnQ9pM89Y Macbeth overture]], but he later transplanted the introduction into the "Ghost" Piano Trio.
** Leonard Bernstein goes over Beethoven's drafts of the Symphony No. 5 in C minor in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mu2HJerMp8A this lecture]].
** Beethoven first wrote an [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIYJYJCgCkw Andante Favori]] middle movement for the ''Waldstein'' Sonata. He performed it in front of friends and patrons, who recommended he write a new middle movement that better fit the overall structure of the Sonata. The Andante Favori wound up on the cutting room floor and was published seperately.
** Beethoven considered a purely orchestral D minor finale for the Symphony No. 9 in D minor. He chose Ode to Joy instead, and the finale became the [[https://youtu.be/Z7chjLuulvg?t=404 Allegro Appassionato movement of the String Quartet in A minor.]]
* {{Bookends}}: The famous slow movement of Symphony No. 7 in A major begins and ends with an A minor chord from the woodwinds and horns.

** The third symphony, which he dedicated to Napoleon because he thought he represented all the good ideals of the French Revolution. When he got the news that Napoleon declared himself emperor, he scratched out the dedication so vigorously that he slashed a hole in the paper.

** The second-movement trio of the Ninth Symphony has a subject alluding to the Ode to Joy theme, which eventually appears at the finale.
** The "Hammerklavier" sonata has a brief phrase sounding like the Ode to Joy theme early in the development of the sonata's first movement. Blink and you'll miss it.
** "Es Ist Vollbracht", the aria from Music/JohannSebastianBach's St. John Passion on the death of Jesus, shows up several times as musical quotations, including the development section of the Cello Sonata No. 3 and the arioso leading to the fugue finale of the Piano Sonata No. 31.
** The second theme group of the "Pathetique" sonata finale is a motif paired down from the first theme group. This motif then cycles through different keys and species counterpoint, which many composers would have found relevant as they would have studied Gradus Ad Parnassum and other counterpoint texts.

* EveryoneKnowsMorse: The opening theme of the Fifth Symphony ("da da da DUM") coincidentally matches the Morse Code for the letter "V", so it was popularly played by the Allies during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII to signify "[[VSign Victory]]."
* ForHappiness: The recitative of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, set to snippets of Schiller's ''Ode to Joy'' is about happiness being the right and desire of every human being.

** Beethoven created his Symphony No. 3 in E♭ major with the life of UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte in mind, viewing Napoleon as a [[LaResistance rebel hero]] during UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution. When the Frenchman went all AGodAmI and declared himself emperor, Beethoven lost it - he seized the title page of his work and crossed out Napoleon's name so violently that the paper tore - and renamed the symphony "Eroica" instead of "Bonaparte". He re-dedicated it as "[A] Heroic Symphony, written to celebrate the memory of a great man", which might be read as Beethoven declaring that Bonaparte was Dead to him, but when Bonaparte ''actually'' died, Beethoven remarked "I wrote the music for this sad event seventeen years ago", referring to the second movement of the symphony - the Funeral March.

* LaResistance: The Symphony No. 5 in C minor first movement was likely inspired by "nous jurons tous" from Cherubini's Hymn of the Pantheon, a choral work glorifying the martyrs of the French Revolution. "Nous jurons tous" even has the same "da da da DUM" rhythm. The Symphony No. 5 itself could be seen as such, with a French veteran even shouting, "The Emperor lives!" when hearing the last movement.

* MeaningfulFuneral: Numerous funeral marches are in Beethoven's music though they seem to be more about death as part of the human condition than the death of any specific person. The most famous include the second movement of the Symphony No. 3 in E♭ major, the third movement of the Piano Sonata in A♭ major, and the funeral dirge climaxing the first movement of the Symphony No. 9 in D minor. Also applies to Beethoven's own funeral, one of the largest and most attended funerals in Vienna at the time.

** Averted by Beethoven himself but played straight by later fans in their depictions of him. Contemporaries, including friends, musicians, and visitors, commented that he had an impassive face with piercing eyes. Visitors later in Beethoven's life and future generations of artists would depict Beethoven as a codifier of the wild genius Romantic trope.
** A variation of this trope also applies to Beethoven's playing style, which heavily emphasized substance over style. Beethoven would keep his fingers flat and simply press down on the keyboard, and contemporaries would notice how little he seemed to move. An older observer noted how Beethoven gave each voice a clear unique sound like how Music/JohannSebastianBach did. Fans and artists of future generations and codifiers of Romantic music like Music/FranzLiszt would not follow Beethoven's example.
* OneWomanSong: "Für Elise" is an instrumental piano piece well known by the name of the woman it's dedicated to. [[note]]Ask a music scholar who exactly Elise ''was'', though, and you'll set off a lively argument. The most widely accepted theory is that "Elise" is a nickname for Therese Malfatti, but there are several other Thereses and Elisabeths who have been suggested as the dedicatee.[[/note]]

* {{Retronym}}: The ''Moonlight'' Sonata (No. 14 in in C♯ minor), was given that name in 1832, five years after Beethoven's death, by a music critic who compared the ''first'' movement specifically to the effect of the moonlight shining upon Lake Lucerne, a location Beethoven is not documented as having visited personally. If anything, the ''Moonlight" first movement was inspired by funeral march music, specifically the number the Commandatore in Don Giovanni sings as he is dying.

** The Piano Concerto No. 2 in B♭ major went through many revisions before it was finally published in 1795. One revision was changing the finale of the Concerto. The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-5nvAxEVvE original finale]] has all the seamless grace of a Mozart Rondo, and it was indeed inspired by Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 22 in E♭ major, but Beethoven thought another finale worked better.
** The String Quartet No. 13 in B♭ major originally ended with the Große Fuge, which was forward-looking centuries ahead but poorly received by a bewildered early 19th century audience. Mathias Artaria, Beethoven's publisher, thought it best to publish the Fugue separately and give the Quartet an alternate ending. Beethoven surprisingly agreed for all sorts of speculated reasons; maybe he needed the money, or he wanted to satisfy the critics or thought the Fugue best worked as its own piece. Either way, the new finale resembles the style of Music/JosephHaydn in its rustic, relatively cheerful character. And Beethoven may have had other reasons for changing the Große Fuge finale. This trope almost became a fact with the Symphony No. 9 itself. Beethoven considered replacing the "Ode to Joy" with a more conventional finale while making the Ode a separate work. Beethoven tried different finales throughout his career, exploring how best to balance and conclude a work. Perhaps Beethoven still had mixed feelings when the Große Fuge premiered, thinking the Fugue was too large and [[OvershadowedByAwesome overshadowed the rest of the Quartet]], and therefore he felt another finale was more appropriate.
** As said above, Beethoven came close to replacing Ode to Joy of the Symphony No. 9 for a purely orchestral D minor finale. The finale later became the [[https://youtu.be/Z7chjLuulvg?t=404 Allegro Appassionato movement of the String Quartet in A minor.]]
* {{Romanticism}}: Regarded as a TropeCodifier by contemporaries and future generations, at least regardig his later compositions. Inverted by Beethoven himself as he actually went deeper into Baroque counterpoint and Classical structures during his Late Period, avoiding the program music, supernatural literary themes, nationalism, and smaller structures of Romantic music.

** Beethoven was prone to compose pieces that starkly contrast each other. The most notable example includes the Symphony No. 5 and Symphony No. 6. Both works are built from a similar rhythmic idea, but one is compact and potent with concentrated energy emphasized over orchestral color, while the other is expansive and lyrical with programmatic elements.
** Another is the contrast between the Symphony No. 5 and Piano Concerto No. 4. Both more obviously derive from the same rhythmic cell, but the Piano Concerto No. 4 is more emotionally nuanced and narratively meandering.
** With pieces written in succession, an ambitious and emotionally heavy piece is often followed by a more lighthearted and humorous one. The jovial Symphony No. 4 is very different next to the epic Symphony No. 3 and imposing Symphony No. 5. The composer Robert Schumann aptly described the Symphony No. 4 as a slender maiden in between two giants.
** The Symphony No. 8 is smaller in scale and focuses on [[ViewersAreGeniuses witty parodies of several musical tropes from Beethoven's day]], unlike the frenzied but immaculately choreographed Symphony No. 7 and monumental Symphony No. 9.
** The Opus 1 Piano Sonatas vary greatly in their character. The Piano Sonata No. 1 is dark and impassioned, Beethoven wanting to make a strong first impression. The Piano Sonata No. 2 is warm, lyrical, and humorous. The Piano Sonata No. 3 is brilliant, extravagant, and virtuosic.
** The Piano Sonata No. 13 and Piano Sonata No. 14 are both in the manner of fantasias, but the Piano Sonata No. 13 has a wide pallette of emotions while the Piano Sonata No. 14 is the brooding "Moonlight."

** There is recent recognition that the introduction to Symphony No. 3 "Eroica" falls under this category.
** Symphony No. 5 (''Da da da DUMMM!''). During UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, the first measure was an Allied {{Leitmotif}}, its four notes matching the [[EveryoneKnowsMorse Morse Code]] for "V" (for Victory). And the irony of using Germany's greatest composer against the Germans.
** Piano Sonata No. 14 in C♯ minor (''Moonlight''). The first movement is probably best known to 8-bit-era gamers as "the ''VideoGame/JetSetWilly'' theme". ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil'' also featured the first movement of this piece.
** The "Ode to Joy" from Symphony No. 9 is the official anthem of the European Union. ''Film/DieHard'' and ''Film/AClockworkOrange'' too.

** A motif from the Ruins of Athens finale eventually evolved into the Mexican hat dance.

* ToiletHumor: The quirky Symphony No. 2 in D major finale has (at the time) inside jokes of Beethoven's digestive problems.
* UrbanLegend: The story of Beethoven defacing the title page of the "Eroica" in a rage over Napoleon often gets exaggerated in the retelling. Contrary to some accounts, Beethoven did not rip the score in half, stomp on it, or throw it in the fire; he did, however, cross out Bonaparte's name so violently that the pen ripped through the page. (It can be seen [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/Eroica_Beethoven_title.jpg here]].)

Throughout the 19th century, Beethoven's works were upheld among even the greatest composers as the impossibly-high standard one should always try to strive to match, even if one could never succeed in doing so. Music/FranzSchubert went into a kind of compositional paralysis after he heard a Beethoven symphony, believing much of his own work was no longer worth pursuing when something ''that'' great was out there. Music/RichardWagner, whose ego was as large as Germany itself and someone who never hesitated to tell everyone how great he was, could only bring himself to proclaim that he was the ''successor'' to Beethoven, not Beethoven's equal or better.

** Leonard Bernstein goes over Beethoven's drafts of the Symphony No. 5 in C minor in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrDyvxSnqb0 this lecture]].

[[caption-width-right:1000:''"There are many princes and there will continue to be thousands more, but there is only one Beethoven."'']]

->''"You never know how Beethoven is going to affect someone..."''
-->-- '''Schroeder''', ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}''

->''"There are many princes and there will continue to be thousands more, but there is only one Beethoven."''
-->-- '''The man himself'''.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'', the Warner Siblings are chimney sweeps and come to clean his chimney. While they're at it, they keep humming the first notes of the (not yet written) ''Fifth Symphony'' which he's working on, annoying him to no end. By the end, he turns that humming's melody into a symphony.

* ''[[Film/Napoleon1955 Napoléon]]'' (1955), played by Creator/ErichVonStroheim.
* ''Immortal Beloved'' (1994), played by Creator/GaryOldman.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'', the Warner Siblings are chimney sweeps and keep humming the first notes of the (not yet written) ''Fifth Symphony'' which he's working on, annoying him to no end. By the end, he turns that humming's melody into a symphony.

[[AC:Films:]]

[[AC:Western Animation:]]
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'', the Warner Siblings are chimney sweeps and keep humming the first notes of the (not yet written) ''Fifth Symphony'' which he's working on, annoying him to no end. By the end, he turns that humming into a symphony.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'', the Warner Siblings are chimney sweeps and keep humming the (not yet written) ''Fifth Symphony'' which he's working on, annoying him to no end. By the end, he translates that humming into a symphony.

[[Tropes present in Beethoven's works:]]

[[folder: Portrayals]]

!! Tropes present in Beethoven's life and work include:

* ProperlyParanoid: Somewhat justified. Beethoven was secretive about his creative method and any music he had not published... in an age where copyright was not a thing yet and a place where literally thousands of musicians competed with each other. Beethoven never even directly taught his students how to compose, preferring they learn from him by example. This tendency lead to several fights with friends. Beethoven played for his pupil Ferdinand Reis the Andante Favori movement of the ''Waldstein'' Sonata, a slow movement that wound up on the cutting room floor but was later published separately. Reis played it for Beethoven's patron Prince Lichnowsky, who then later played it for Beethoven. Beethoven refused to ever play in front of Reis again, even when Reis was leaving for England to possibly never return to Vienna. A smaller example is when Beethoven was drafting music in Heilegenstadt with his apartment window open, and a woman would go out in the garden complex to hear him play. Once Beethoven saw her spying on him, he shut the windows, and she never heard him again.

** The third symphony, which he dedicated to Napoleon because he thought that he represented all the good ideals of the French Revolution. When he got the news that Napoleon declared himself emperor, he scratched out the dedication so vigorously that he slashed a hole in the paper.

** [[Music/WolfgangAmadeusMozart Mozart]] had a profound impact on Beethoven. In fact, in his earliest efforts to compose, Beethoven feared he was plagiarising Mozart by mistake; he once thought he borrowed from one of Mozart's symphonies and slightly altered the passage. Also, it is said that during his years as a prodigy, Beethoven came to Vienna in the hopes of studying under Mozart's tutelage. After Beethoven met his musical hero, Mozart asked Beethoven to play something for him. Beethoven began to play the opening of one of Mozart's concertos, but Mozart said that anyone could play that. He then asked Beethoven to play something of his own, giving him a theme to improvise on at the prodigy's request. When Beethoven finished performing for him, Mozart went to the next room and told his friends[[note]]One of whom was fellow composer Antonio Salieri, who was also Beethoven's teacher[[/note]]: "Watch out for that boy. One day he will give the world something to talk about."

* MeaningfulFuneral: Numerous funeral marches are in Beethoven's music though they seem to be more about death as part of the human condition than the death of any specific person. The most famous include those the second movement of the Symphony No. 3 in E♭ major, third movement of the Piano Sonata in A♭ major, and the funeral durge climaxing the first movement of the Symphony No. 9 in D minor. Also applies to Beethoven's own funeral, one of the largest and most attended funerals in Vienna at the time.

** Averted by Beethoven himself but played straight by later fans in their depictions of him. Contemporaries including friends, musicians, and visitors commented that he had an impassive face with piercing eyes. Visitors later in Beethoven's life and future generations of artists would depict Beethoven as a codifier of the wild genius Romantic trope.

** The Symphony No. 8 is smaller in scale and focuses on [[ViewersAreGenuises witty parodies of several musical tropes from Beethoven's day]], unlike the frenzied but immaculately choreographed Symphony No. 7 and monumental Symphony No. 9.

** The jovial Symphony No. 4 is very different next to the epic Symphony No. 3 and imposing Symphony No. 5. The composer Robert Schumann aptly described the Symphony No. 4 as a slender maiden in between two giants.

** Mozart had a profound impact on Beethoven. In fact, in his earliest efforts to compose, Beethoven feared he was plagiarising Mozart by mistake; he once thought he borrowed from one of Mozart's symphonies and slightly altered the passage. Also, it is said that during his years as a prodigy, Beethoven came to Vienna in the hopes of studying under Mozart's tutelage. After Beethoven met his musical hero, Mozart asked Beethoven to play something for him. Beethoven began to play the opening of one of Mozart's concertos, but Mozart said that anyone could play that. He then asked Beethoven to play something of his own, giving him a theme to improvise on at the prodigy's request. When Beethoven finished performing for him, Mozart went to the next room and told his friends[[note]]One of whom was fellow composer Antonio Salieri, who was also Beethoven's teacher[[/note]]: "Watch out for that boy. One day he will give the world something to talk about."

* NoPokerFace: Averted by Beethoven himself. Friends, musicians, and visitors commented that he had an impassive face with piercing eyes. Later played straight by future generations in depicting Beethoven as the wild genius Romantic trope became widespread.

* SpiritualAntithesis Beethoven was prone to compose pieces that starkly contrast each other. The most notable example includes the Symphony No. 5 and Symphony No. 6. Both works are built from a similar rhythmic idea, but one is compact and potent with concentrated energy emphasized over orchestral color, while the other is expansive and lyrical with programmatic elements.

** The Opus 1 Piano Sonatas vary greatly in their character. The Piano Sonata No. 1 is dark and impassioned, Beethoven wanting to make a strong first impression. The Piano Sonata No. 2 is warm, lyrical, and humorous. The Piano Sonata No. 3 is brilliant, extravagant, and virtuosic. |