Original subtitles

There were

some who found me difficult and

hostile, but they did me

wrong. Little did they know of the

reason why I seemed that way.

It wasn't my choice to shrink from

society, and I had to live

alone,

like someone who'd been banished.

[Music]

[Music]

Heat. Heat.

[Music]

[Music]

Heat. Heat.

[Music]

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

Heat. Heat.

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

By the time his ninth symphony was

performed that night in Vienna, Ludvik

Vlan Beethoven was profoundly deaf.

Almost two centuries later, this music

remains as potent, obsessive, and

bewilderingly brilliant as

ever. It's even more remarkable when you

remember that its composer was unable to

hear.

[Music]

For me, the struggle that comes through

Beethoven's music is what makes it so

compelling. And struggle was always part

of his

life. Just as with Shakespeare, you come

to Beethm to engage with the big

questions that stir nations, that stir

humanity itself.

The struggle against deafness, the

struggle for personal freedom on every

level, the determination to be an artist

on his own

terms. All this I feel acutely in his

music. Music which against the odds

articulates the indomitable power of the

human

[Music]

spirit. His music has changed

lives. It's changed history. And with

him, you might

say, music grew

up. Beethoven was born into a family of

court musicians in the German city of

Bon. From an early age, he'd learned to

fend for himself.

Look at him. What's he so miserable for?

Your mother's dead, isn't she? No, she's

not. Well, she must be. Look at the

state of you.

[Music]

[Applause]

Ludvig's mother wasn't

dead. At least not

[Applause]

then. I don't think his mother meant to

neglect

them. It wasn't as if they were poor.

Certainly not when we were children.

But I don't remember it being exactly a

happy home.

Keep the tempo either.

[Music]

A gifted pianist, Beethoven had

inherited the talents of his late

grandfather, a renowned musician who'd

been director of music at the court.

Unlike young Ludvig, his father Johan, a

tener and music teacher, had failed to

live up to the family

[Music]

name. All right, that's enough.

[Music]

Stop. Enough.

That's enough.

How many times do I have to tell you?

Just play the notes in the exercise. But

papa, it's so beautiful. It's silly

trash. Stop. Grandfather would have

loved it. I said enough.

We all hated the way his father treated

him, but he was always boasting about

his son. Not in front of him, of course,

but outside the family

home. Oh, my Ludvig, my Ludvig, he used

to say. In time, he'll become a great

man in the world. You'll

see. It was bewildering for Ludvig. He

never knew what kind of mood his father

would be in.

And more and

more he withdrew into

[Music]

himself. It was clear that Beethoven's

talent as a musician might provide an

escape from his father. And when he got

his first job, aged only 13, his deputy

court organist, Beethoven's future

suddenly seemed brighter. He began to

study the work of Bach Mozart and

Heiden. And it's around this time you

can see first evidence of his gift for

composing. Since I was 12, my muse has

often whispered to

me, "Try and write down the harmonies in

your soul.

only 12 years old, I thought. And how

would I look as a

composer, and what would men experience

in the art say about it? I was almost

shy. But my muse wished it I obeyed and

[Music]

wrote. This is a work of astonishing

sophistication for such a young

composer. In the previous 20 years,

sonatis had become the principal

benchmark by which piano music was

judged. So it says a lot for the young

Beethoven's ambition that he was

prepared to attempt this form so early

[Music]

on. I remember every element of his

court costume.

It was quite something. Sea green frock

coat, green knee breaches with buckles,

stockings of black or white silk, shoes

with black bow

knots, the vest bound with real gold

cord, hair groomed, hat on the left

arm, sword with a silver belt. It was

really quite

something.

[Music]

People were talking about it. A worthy

successor to Wolf Gang Amadeus

Mozart. My

brother. I don't know. I mean, how could

I

tell? All I know is that his talent was

a blessing for our family. Our

grandfather's inheritance had almost run

out. Father could barely support the

family anymore.

Once he started

drinking, my brother's income was the

only thing that kept us alive.

[Music]

Ro, but lips

[Applause]

are preser.

[Applause]

I'll give you

away bastard.

Come on now. I want you to play

something beautiful for us.

Hey.

[Music]

I never understood why Ludvig's mother

didn't step

in. He certainly never criticized his

parents in front of

us, but I had the feeling that he'd

given up relying on them.

[Music]

Lord Vig, how lovely to see you. Come

and see how your pupil is getting on.

Beethoven found refuge at the home of

Elanora's family. He taught young

Elanora the

piano. Her mother, Helen, doted on him.

The whole of Bond was talking about this

young genius. But my mother was one of

the few who understood how fragile he

was.

employer, the elector of Bon asking that

half his father's salary be paid to

him. It was typical of Beethoven's

boldness and he got his way.

[Music]

By now, Beethoven had come to the

attention of Bon's rulers and through

them was given his first big musical

break.

He was chosen to write the music for a

canarta commemorating the death of

Joseph II, the popular and modernizing

Hapsburg emperor who had embodied the

ideals of the French Enlightenment.

[Music]

Close to the French border, Bon had

always been influenced by French

enlightenment thought. And the young

Beethoven also found himself drawn to

its values of virtue, reason, freedom,

and

progress.

[Music]

Here as an idealistic and demanding

young man, he penned this sublime tune,

almost Mozartian in its effortless

beauty.

[Music]

This soaring line, mankind climbs

towards the light, has been called

Beethoven's melody of humanity. And its

shape, its melodic contour, we'll hear

again and again in other works. What

does it consist of? A rising

figure and up again, and then it turns

back in on itself.

So, it's about an overall shape, not the

specific notes, which makes it a motto

theme, which is an ongoing obsession in

Beethoven's music throughout his life.

[Music]

No, no, no. Stop.

[Music]

Stop. Unless my ears deceive me, you are

playing

flat. The whole of the last

phrase was flat.

[Applause]

again from the beginning.

[Music]

The work was rehearsed but never

performed in Beethoven's

lifetime. It's an ambitious, elaborate

piece, and at 800 bars, longer than

anything he'd written before.

[Music]

I'm

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

speak commissioned at a turning point in

European history and it's the first time

we see Beethoven dealing with political

ideas.

The storming of the Bastile in France

had sent shock waves throughout the

continent. And here, Beethoven seems to

bid farewell to Europe's

past by giving this work an image of an

idealized golden age of aristocratic

heroism, just as so much of Europe is on

the brink of devastating

revolution.

[Music]

might be had attained recognition in

Bon's aristocratic circles. It was now

time for him to seek a wider horizon.

His life in bond could only take him so

far. He was well aware of that.

And he had so much more to learn in

[Music]

Vienna. But he knew not to rely on

anyone. That much he'd learned from his

childhood.

It's hard to say goodbye. It's something

I know you have to do. But if only it

weren't such a long way away.

Elanora would like to say goodbye. I'm

late. I'm sorry. Please don't be angry

with her.

I wasn't able to return his

love. And in his usual

way, he was angry with me for it.

But he wrote to me from

Vienna and

slowly we were able to be friends again.

[Music]

At the age of 21, Beethoven left Bomb

behind him and set off to seek his

fortune in Vienna, the musical capital

of

[Music]

[Applause]

Europe. He arrived with an invitation to

study with the world's greatest living

composer, Joseph Hayen.

[Music]

Hidenberg. So pleased to meet you.

Welcome to Vienna. How are you getting

on? Oh, come sit. Sit down over here.

Over

there.

Now, I was shown a manuscript of Yantata

when I visited

Bon. Yes. Your patron Volstein. Yes. He

told me you were

brilliant. Yes. He said, "With a lot of

hard

work, he shall receive Mozart's spirit

to the hands of

[Laughter]

Heiden." And what you make of that then?

Well, I would be

um honored to study with you, Hayen,

but you know better than I do that every

true artist must find his own path.

Of course.

an extraordinary young man. I wasn't

surprised at his

impatience. After all, I suppose this

was a young man in a

hurry, and I was a composer in my

twilight

years.

But I sense that in time he would give

the world something to talk about, and I

would be proud to call myself his

teacher.

[Music]

Soon after he arrived in

Vienna, our father

died. I read to tell

Ludvig, but uh he didn't come back for

the

[Music]

funeral. In fact, he never returned to

Bond.

I was more than happy to follow him to

Vienna. There was nothing in bond for

[Music]

me. I suppose in a way I was living in a

[Music]

shadow. Ludvig got on with his

life, his new life.

The death of his father meant that

Beethoven could finally put his

childhood behind him. Before long, he

was being fated in the salons of the

vianese nobility as the city's most

exciting newcomer. Nothing could hold

him back.

[Music]

[Music]

So, what do you

It's

genius. It's

novel and I like it because of it

novelty. Others may find it too

complex. If I were you, I wouldn't

publish this last one just

yet. Needs more work.

[Music]

What's wrong with it? No, no, no, no,

no. Nothing's wrong with it. I I simply

meant that um this is a complicated

work. Absolutely too much.

So, the public hasn't caught up with you

[Music]

yet. Perhaps they're not quite ready for

this.

[Music]

[Music]

attack. Good day.

It was a little

embarrassing to say the

least. All I meant to say was that the

public may not take so readily to such a

difficult and stormy

finale, but the work was outstanding. It

made me

proud. And uh I asked him uh later if he

would put pupil of hiden on the

piece. It's a normal practice but not

for

Beethoven. He refused

[Music]

outright. Perhaps it was necessary for

the young composer to carve his own way.

He needed to make his work distinct from

that of his contemporaries or teachers

like

[Music]

Heiden. And he does that here in the F

minor piano sonata, setting himself

challenging ground rules in order to

express the

[Applause]

maximum. Whereas composers like Heiden

and Mozart might achieve contrast

through key change, Bates here sticks

pretty much to the one key F

minor. And he forces us to sit up and

listen through the use of very clever

localized

effects, repetition, strange syncopated

rhythms, and extreme shifts between loud

and soft.

[Music]

He's taken the idea of contrast to a

much higher, more provocative

[Music]

degree. The feelings he aroused in his

teachers were not confined to me alone.

He was so

stubborn, so bent on having his own way

that uh many of us had our disagreements

with

[Music]

him. He claimed apparently that I was

jealous of him.

But when you heard the

work, how could one not feel it had all

been

worthwhile? Beethoven's early years in

Vienna were characterized by his writing

for the

piano. And it's in these sonatas,

private works intended for domestic and

not public consumption, that we see the

real masterpieces of his

[Music]

youth. With them, you have a sense that

he's discovered his inner voice.

[Music]

It was his skill as a virtuoso pionist

that propelled Beethoven to fame in

Vienna. Within just a few years of his

arrival, he was already wildly popular

as the city's foremost improviser.

Contenders would spar in contests where

each had to improvise on a well-known

piece of music. And to maintain his

position, Beethoven had to see off the

competition, taking on the heavyweights

of the European music scene.

Hey

gentlemen have Beethoven. Tonight we'll

meet more than his match. I believe may

I present the brilliant the hither two

unbeaten all the way from Paris. But

don't hold that against him.

He's dextrous. He's dashing. He's dear.

He's Mr. Daniel Styel.

Hallelujah.

So, when are you going to

start? We haven't got all day.

[Music]

[Applause]

Join me.

[Applause]

Absolutely delightful.

And now I introduce the toast of our

beloved Vienna. We know him, we love

him. His fingerwork is finesse itself.

But is he the best? Let's find out.

[Applause]

[Music]

There we

go.

Heat.

Heat.

[Applause]

Heat. Heat.

[Music]

[Applause]

Woohoo! Woo!

[Music]

He used to write to me from

Vienna. He sounded so

excited. Life was full of

promise. If we met again, he told me I'd

find him very different. You'll see, he

said, that a better life has done much

to erase the traces of unhappy

times. He was lionized by the

aristocracy, adored by the

wealthy, and he even wrote to my husband

France to say that there was love in the

air. Despite what people say, I'm no

misanthrop. You know that.

And something's happened recently to

lift my mood. This change has been

brought about by an enchanting girl who

loves me and whom I love. This is the

first time I feel that marriage may

bring me

happiness. Of course, we were all

delighted. He'd always had such

difficulties with women, always falling

in love, but somehow it never quite

worked out.

Well, he's talented. I mean, he's

brilliant. He plays like a dream

and and he's

ugly. Well, he's not exactly ugly,

but he doesn't make the best of himself,

does he? He wears cheap, nasty jackets.

I almost want to pay for him just to go

to a tailor.

Oh, but he has a kind of charm, a sort

of

magnetism. He's written a sonata for

me. I know.

[Music]

This hypnotic work was dedicated to

Beethoven's pupil, Countest Julieta

Guardi, in 1801. and it only became

known as the Moonlight Sonata years

after Beethoven's death. He himself gave

it the subtitle sonata in the manner of

a fantasia. And it's this fantasylike

quality which builds on the huge talent

Beethoven had for

improvisation. Here we see that very

gift taken out of the public sphere into

the private realm.

[Music]

It's very rare for a sonata of this

period to begin with a slow

movement of delicate dreamlike texture

which sounds as if the pianist is

spinning a spontaneous thread of

expressive thought.

And then there's the melody almost a

song without

[Music]

words in its lyrical and melancholic

nature which would have a great

influence on 19th century romantics like

shopper. This work takes the piano

sonata into dark new territory.

[Music]

I understand you're going to be at

Prince Nicolas this Friday. No, I won't

be

going. Can't bear that crowd.

I shall be there.

Well, how

nice. I think we should move on to the

next

movement. Julieta was one of many women

with whom Beethoven would fall in

love. Yet, it wasn't just a fear of

intimacy that stopped him getting too

close. There was something else. I was

lucky enough to be taken on as hairbe's

assistant. An honor indeed. And as such,

I was privileged to spend a great deal

of time with him, just the two of

us, which sometimes meant knowing things

about him the rest of the world as yet

had no idea of.

Have you seen the quint yet? Yes. And

I've marked the misprints.

Why can't they ever get it

right? Listen to

that. This must be a

shepherd. Beautiful, isn't it?

What are you talking about? Flute.

Listen. There it is again.

You're joking, aren't you?

[Music]

H. Yes. Yeah. I must have misheard it.

You asked about my present

situation. Well, to the outside world,

everything is fine. I'm being offered

more work than I can possibly deliver.

And I I I no longer even have to

negotiate with people. I state my price

and they

[Music]

pay. But the truth is that that secret

demon, my health, is destroying

everything. My ears continue to buzz and

hum day and

[Music]

night. Can you imagine what a disaster

that is for me? A

musician. I don't go out in public.

Just because I cannot possibly tell

people I'm going

[Music]

deaf. Beethoven would lose his hearing

slowly over the next 10 years, but the

first symptoms of deafness, a ringing in

his ears and an inability to understand

people's speech, threw him into a

panic. There wasn't a moment to lose.

When he wrote to me again, there was a

new sense of urgency in his

voice, a

determination, almost a

mania, a feeling that time was running

out.

[Music]

[Music]

Everything Beethoven had fought for

seemed in

jeopardy. With typical defiance, he

threw himself into his work and embarked

on the most public form of artistic

expression, a symphony.

[Music]

I live entirely in my music. I've barely

completed one work before beginning

[Music]

another. At my current rate, I'm often

composing three or four works at the

same time.

At the moment I feel equal to

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

entry. It's an extraordinary work

reflecting the swings between

melancholia and exuberance which

characterize this time for

Beethoven. This last movement has a kind

of ferocity about it.

[Music]

The music of a

[Music]

hooligan. This symphony sits on a fault

line between the 18th and 19th

centuries.

It's still very much part of the

tradition that Beethoven has inherited,

but through its audacity, its

aggression, and its sheer size, it's

creating a whole new

template. And more than ever, his

unerring sense of himself as an artist

is becoming

[Music]

clear. I can't possibly marry this man.

I don't know what I was thinking.

My head must have been turned by the

music. I mean, obviously, he's without

rank or or permanent

position. I mean, what would my future

be? Something

else? All of Vienna's whispering about

it. Let's talk. He might be losing his

hearing. A deaf musician.

Can you imagine that?

[Music]

It's

just what

it's

[Music]

Heat. Heat.

[Music]

[Music]

Heat. Heat.

[Music]

My hearing hasn't improved. In fact, I

think it may be getting

worse. And the lady I told you about is

not of my

class. So marriage is out of the

question.

And in any case, I really am far too

busy with my music.

[Music]

Well, bravo.

Oh, you want to know what his state of

mind was like

then? Utter

distress. Not only was that relationship

doomed, but he was a man who up until

now could do no wrong in

Vienna with a secret that could destroy

all that.

[Music]

He began to avoid his friends. He

stopped coming out in company. People

thought he was downright

rude. Not many of us knew the reason

why.

[Music]

[Music]

Stop.

[Music]

Oh, he left Vienna for a few months. I

was worried. I tried to keep his

business going for him back here to give

him a chance to relax.

I think he pinned his hopes on the peace

and quiet of the

countryside and the possibility that

there must be

something that could cure

him. Beethoven traveled to a small

village called Hiligan outside

Vienna. The move was to change

everything, but not in a way he could

have imagined.

[Music]

So the puses, the baths, the infusions,

none of them have worked.

Now you're telling me there may be no

cure.

[Music]

You people who think or say that I am

hostile, stubborn, or

misanthropic, how greatly you wrong

You have no idea of the secret

reason which makes me seem that way to

you. I would have ended my

life. It was only my art that held me

back. I couldn't possibly leave the

world until I had brought forth

everything I felt was in me. Any idea I

had that by coming here I would be

cured. I must now give that

[Music]

up. As the autumn leaves fall and

wither, so does my

hope. Oh God, grant me at least but one

day of pure

joy. It's been so

long since any real joy echoed in my

heart.

The long document that Beethoven wrote

in Hiligan, a letter to his brothers

that flirted with the idea of suicide,

was never

sent. But in this letter, Beethoven had

created a metaphor for his own heroism,

death, and rebirth.

[Music]

Bidding farewell to his old self,

Beethan embarked upon what he called his

new

way. And on his return to Vienna, he

composed his most radical work to date,

a symphony which he intended to dedicate

to his political hero Napoleon. But when

Napoleon declared himself emperor of

France, Beethoven, feeling betrayed,

withdrew the

dedication and he turned the symphony

into what you might say is the story of

his own heroic

struggle. I was bound to be

misunderstood and I had to live alone

like someone who'd been

banished. But now all this I've resolved

to overcome.

Significantly, he gave this symphony a

title,

heroica. This was his passionate and

defiant response to crisis.

[Music]

In its scale, ambition, and complexity,

the Araka Symphony was Huge leap forward

for Beethoven, immediately eclipsing the

achievements of the

second. He's demanding that the world

perceive him as a true artistic hero,

albeit a flawed one.

[Music]

[Music]

He wrote to us that every day was

bringing him closer to his goal. A goal

he couldn't describe, but he could

feel. "You'll see," he said. "I will be

happy

again, as happy as this world allows me

to be.

[Applause]

Resigned to his fate, he wrote, "Let my

deafness no longer be a secret, even in

[Music]

[Music]

art. After heroica, Beethoven would

create music of previously unimagined

scale and brilliance.

[Music]

But the deeply personal crisis of losing

his hearing was only the start of his

difficulties. As he reached his peak as

a composer, Beethoven would experience

even greater struggles with the world

around him.

[Music]

And now over on BBC 4, join Charles

Hazelwood in the new series Beethoven

Uncovered as he takes It's a closer look

at Beth Hovven's second

[Music]

symphony. Heat. Heat.

[Music]

[Music]