Running head: Research Paper Mpofu 1

Extra credit Research Paper

Jasper Mpofu

Point University

Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven was a German-born composer who moved to Vienna at 22 and

was a gifted pianist. He was a wildly known composer and musical figure during his time,

especially in the transitional period between the romantic and classical eras. With all this

exposure, Beethoven was regarded as one of the greatest composers ever to live by showing the

world the true power of music and how it has impacted things such as the philosophy of life

without the help of the spoken word.

When he arrived in Vienna, he was swiftly accepted and well-supported by the

aristocracy, where he spent most of his life among nobles and royalty. Where he demanded equal

footing with them and to be seen as an equal rather than a servant, Beethoven was considered a

genius with a similar musical ear as Mozart, even though he was deaf, where he could listen to

the vibrations and replay music with a single listen, making his talents that much more special.

Beethoven had three compositional periods: Early, where there was the classical influence of

Hayden and Mozart; and Middle, where there was a dynamic contrast with more prolonged

movements and late, with chromatic harmonies and experimentation. He also wrote famous

symphonies, but he could only write nine ones before his death because he was more of a
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perfectionist. Beethoven came from a very troubling situation with his father being a court

musician who was a harsh disciplinarian who gave Ludwig his first music lesson but later

suffered from alcoholism. His mother was an earnest woman who gave birth to seven, but four

would die at an infant age. Some of his most noticeable music was his moonlight sonata which

had three movements and was written for a solo pianist, composed in 1801 at the end of his first

style period. The nickname moonlight was shortly given to his song soon after his death breaking

the barriers of conventional music molds with this piece. He also had symphony No 5 in C

Minor, which showed unification and the struggle that led to victory. The 1st movement of the

symphony is in Sonata- allegro form with a rhythmic recurring motive, 2nd movement with

theme and variations, 3rd movement with Scherzo and Tino finally, 4th movement with sonata-

allegro in C major.

Reference Page

Dahlhaus, C. (1993). Ludwig van Beethoven: approaches to his music. Oxford university press.

Swafford, J. (2014). Beethoven: anguish and triumph: a biography. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Kubba, A. K. (1996). Ludwig van Beethoven: a medical biography. The Lancet, 347(8995), 167-170.

MacArdle, D. W. (1949). The family van Beethoven. The Musical Quarterly, 35(4), 528-550.

Churgin, B. (1998). Beethoven and the New Development-Theme in Sonata-Form Movements. The

Journal of musicology, 16(3), 323-343.

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