Ludwig van Beethoven Periods of His Life and Contextual Politics (Various sources, but especially Beethoven in German Politics, by David B. Dennis)

Period 1: Beethoven was born in He lived in Bonn until He lived in an area ruled by Maximilian Franz from 1784 to 1801, a “nice” despot. Maximilian was generally progressive, modernizing the educational and financial systems of the day.

Period 1: (cont.) The early influence of a benign absolute ruler influenced Beethoven throughout his life. During this period, Beethoven was also exposed to the ideas of the philosophers of his day, such as Kant, Rousseau, and Voltaire.

Period 1: (cont.) Beethoven’s musical mentors and acquaintances were deeply involved in political thinking. They were members of the Order of the Illuminati, and anticlerical group. Beethoven knew of Eulogious Schneider, a democratic thinker, eventually guillotined in France.

Period 1: (cont.) The French Revolution extended from In a coup d’etat, Napoleon Bonaparte seized power and established a new government, with himself as the first consul, a virtual dictator. Napoleon made himself Emperor in 1804.

Period 2: Beethoven shows little evidence of being deeply interested in the French Revolution until he moves to Vienna in In Vienna, he developed many friendships among an influential group of liberal thinkers.

Period 2: (cont.) Beethoven indicated his desire to put music to Schiller’s poem, “Ode to Freedom.” Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 (“Eroica”) was initially dedicated to Napoleon Bonaparte. It was composed in Beethoven was attracted to the early Napoleonic republican principles. Beethoven later changed the dedication of Eroica to Prince Franz Joseph von Lobkowitz after Napoleon crowned himself Emperor.

Period 2: (cont.) Beethoven also wrote the opera Fidelio during this period. In Fidelio, a nobleman is unjustly imprisoned by a political opponent. The opera ends with the King seeking to end tyranny and promote justice. Prisoners are released.

Period 2: (cont.) Beethoven also wrote songs during that period this suggested support for notably non-Republican Germanic politics. Some of these songs were battle songs used to support fights with Napoleon.

Period 3: In this period, Beethoven distanced himself from the French ideas he entertained in his youth. Napoleon fought to capture Vienna when Beethoven was finishing his opera, Leonore. The noise of the shelling further hurt his ears.

Period 3: (cont.) By the time of Waterloo, Beethoven was deeply defending the old regime in repudiation of everything political that was French. In 1813 (two years before Waterloo), he wrote Wellington’s Victory (the so-called “Battle Symphony”) in support of the victory over the French in the Battle of Victoria.

Period 3: (cont.) With the defeat of Napoleon in 1815 at Waterloo, Beethoven wrote a number of patriotic pieces to celebrate the restoration of the prior establishment. This was his most conservative phase.

Period 3: (cont.) WoO (Work without Opus number) 94: Germania, Opus 136: The Glorious Moment WoO 95: Chorus to the United Princes WoO 97: It is Achieved These are examples of songs celebrating the end of the Napoleonic era.

Period 4: Post-Napoleon politics in Europe were repressive. Beethoven returned to his earlier more progressive political views. The Ninth Symphony came out of this period (written between 1822 and 1824).

Period 4: (cont.) Here Beethoven finally puts music to Schiller’s hymn in the famous choral to the Ninth Symphony. The Ninth Symphony was first performed in 1824 in Vienna at the Kaertnerthortheater to an audience so struck by it they gave it five ovations and forced the police commissioner to order quiet.

Period 4: (cont.) Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony was considered potentially revolutionary in a political sense in its day. This is an example of music having a representational political force.