Ludwig van Beethoven: Great composer with water bucket 

Beethoven, who slowly lost his hearing, made a name for himself as a master of the symphonies. His radically new creations are just as legendary as his quirks.

A man trudges research steps over country roads near Gumpoldskirchen near Vienna. He looks neglected. Sometimes he looks thoughtful, then he sings and gestures so wild that the ox of the passing wagons become shy. It is Beethoven when composing. A disruptive factor for some. Once he is even arrested for land stroking. What was his great performance? Why has the passionate walker moved so often - and is it true that at the end of his life, now completely deaf, he did the greatest compositions?

When Beethoven was born in Bonn in December 1770, Mozart is already known as a miracle boy, and father Johann, head of a musical family, tenor in a electoral chapel, wants something similar for his offspring. Here too: extreme talent, great will and willingness to music. She is a real need for him. Beethoven became the second HOFORGANIST at the age of 13. He also plays harpsichord and viola in the Bonn court chapel. 

Difficult childhood, weird habits 

Again, not an easy childhood: the father drinks and likes to perform the boys early in the morning. Invested or spanking are still normal during this time. Beethoven developed a strong bond with a grandfather, a chapel master who dies when he is three years old. Its picture hangs on the wall in all his apartments. 

Beethoven is also extremely disciplined in musical work. Like the other great composers of the Viennese classic, he also shows some ticks and quirks away from the strenuous work. He likes coffee. However, it must always be made of 60 coffee beans that are counted beforehand. For the networking in Hohen Wiener Kreisen, he initially buys well, composes dances to please, and dresses properly. But he doesn't care, even body hygiene is not so important. Sometimes he really comes like a land stroll. And: he becomes world champion in moving. 

From the move to Vienna 1792 until his death in 1827, he changed a total of 68 times: because he wanted, he needed change. Because it wasn't unusual. People didn't have that much and left the tight and hot city in summer when they could. And because he was sometimes thrown out. Landlords did not like to play the piano at two in the morning. When he felt heated by strenuous composing, he poured a bucket of cold water over his head in the middle of the apartment - which the neighbors were not very happy under him.

Musical breakthrough in Vienna 

At the end of December 1786, the 16-year-old Beethoven traveled to Vienna for the first time-the music capital of Europe-to meet Mozart and take lessons with him. He has it well, has a sponsor: the extravagant Count Ferdinand Waldstein, who is in the service of the Bonn Elector. But he has to go back to Bonn, the mother is doing badly. It dies of tuberculosis. There are no vaccinations yet, no antibiotic. His father Johann breaks on the stroke of fate, now completely expires to alcohol. Beethoven even gets the care for his younger siblings, and shortly after he has finally moved to Vienna to take lessons at Joseph Haydn, the father also dies. The composition lessons at Haydn take place in the Hamberg Haus on the Wasserkunstbastei, today's rope center. Practically opposite the House of Music. 

The Viennese believe that Beethoven is noble - because of the "van" in his name. It goes 

Only back to his ancestors in the Belgian Mechelen. Beethoven is smart enough to leave people in this belief and to draw their advantage from it. 

Now he makes contacts and establishes himself as a pianist and composer. It is the beginning of a creative period in which he composes some of his best -known works, including the piano sonatas, the first symphonies and string quartets. He is breaking new ground in the structure. Passion and emotion sound in his works. The man is a genius and has absolute hearing. The shock is all the greater when he got the first hearing problems in 1796, at the age of 26. 

Hearing problems through stain typhoid

"Presumably these problems go back to typhoid disease," explains Katharina Albrecht, ladders of the music placement in the Haus der Musik. “It is interesting how Beethoven dealt with the process until he finally became completely deaf at the age of 47. It took around 20 years. " 

At first it is embarrassing. Then he tries everything: goes to doctors, puts on herbs, drips liquids into the ears, takes hot baths. It doesn't help. The hearing gets worse. A tinnitus appears. A disaster. He no longer hears tones. It rushes and roars. In the end, he has to lead conversation books to communicate. From this one knows what he likes to eat: pike with lemon and thyme. Macaroni with cheese. Bread soup. 

A symphony composes - completely deaf

In 1807 he wrote the fifth symphony and thus set new standards. Breaks taboos. Starting with a tap motif as he does is frowned upon. And he takes it as a leitmotif and melody. But what he makes of it, with what creativity! When he is completely deaf, he wrote the ninth symphony three years before his death. Over 70 minutes of music, for choir, soloists, orchestra. Just out of his head. 

"An incredible performance," says Albrecht. “And he resorted to a text by Schiller he knew from his youth. Someone has to do that once. Just like all of the Winter Olympics are waiting for the downhill run, or in athletics on the hundred-meter run, everyone looks at his symphonies in classical music. There he is lonely class. " 

Ludwig van Beethoven's dramatic final chord

Politically, Beethoven was a sympathizer of the French Revolution and saw the hero in the young Napoleon Bonaparte, who freed the people from the noble bondage. Therefore, he also dedicated him to the "Eroica" - the "heroic symphony". When the Corse could be called to the emperor in 1804, Beethoven felt betrayed and then devoted the symphony to one of his largest patron, the Prince Lobkowitz. It is interesting that, despite his critical attitude to the upper class, Beethoven had no problem to be financed by noble patrons

Beethoven remained childless. He was never married, but often in love. He loved nature and drove to the country as often as possible. When composing, he needed movement: a little walk in the morning, a longer in the afternoon. In between, make notes, whistle melodies, and then put grades on paper. That's why he was also fit and turned 56. After an argument with his brother Nikolaus Johann - he was a pharmacist and lived in Gneixendorf near Krems - he drove to Vienna in cold December with the next best open carriage. He cooled himself. Pneumonia! Then there was a liver cirrhosis. For his funeral on March 29, 1827 at the Währinger local cemetery, 20,000 people came. What a final chord.