Original subtitles

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at the age of 35 ludvig van Beethoven

had pulled himself back from the brink

of suicide after realizing he was going

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down he came through the trauma with

characteristic Defiance he was already

one of the most celebrated composers in

Europe and now embarked on a period of

prodigious

creativity I think the originality and

diversity of the music he kept creating

were a direct consequence of his battle

against the physical odds it's almost as

if he felt he was running out of time to

express what it was he knew he had to

express the biggest and most immediate

challenge facing him was the writing of

an opera the summit of ambition for any

composure at this time

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[Music]

Europe in the early 1800s was in chaos

Napoleon's forces were sweeping across

the continent recently occupying

Beethoven's home city of Vienna although

dismayed by this act of aggression the

revolution's ideals of Freedom truth and

equality resonated with Boven and within

them he found inspiration for his Opera

entitled

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[Applause]

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Leonora this is a work full of fari

revolutionary fervor and idealism where

freedom and Justice

Triumph it's a rescue story and for the

first time in operatic history it's a

woman Leonora who becomes the story's

Hero by rescuing her husband listan Who

Lies imprisoned in a dungeon awaiting

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execution and while the Opera had been

inspired by the revolution it also fell

victim to

it I yes the occupation had dire

consequences for the

Opera most of his friends and supporters

had already left the city and the

opening night audience was made up

almost entirely of French

officers unfortunately it was only under

half

full not good for

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business I wouldn't have missed the

premiere of a new work by my great

friend L also as a patron I had to be

there but even disregarding the small

audiences there were problems with the

work itself

it was too

sophisticated too

long and

frankly it needed more

drama after the performance to encourage

ludvig I gathered some cast together to

sing it

through and to try to persuade him to

Make Some

Cuts Beethoven blamed the difficulties

of the Opera entirely on the tenner who

was playing the husband

floristan personally I thought this a

little

unfair but I arranged for another to

sing the

[Music]

part you've missed tea but that may make

you sing the part of a starving man all

the

[Laughter]

better let's start B Hoven was prone to

passionate outbursts

so I knew it would be a difficult

evening

flan

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flan

excellent I shall have to see to it the

you are starved before every performance

and we shall be sure of a success H you

see

lowski every phrase is there for a

reason yes I agree but that ARA is not

the problem making an opera is not like

choosing which waste coat to wear with a

certain pair of britches it's more

complicated than that please try to

understand people want drama not just

clever

music the first two acts are just too

long they can't be

shortened ludig

please for my sake for your friend

sake please don't let this beautiful

work be lost to the world simply because

it needs some refining

so you all agreed

then well then I shall have to go back

to the

beginning take another look at

it however however fled the dramatic

structure of leanora was musically you

can see in it many Beethoven Hallmarks

in the are which Leonora herself sings

he uses orchestral instruments for their

symbolic effect the horns for instance

are used in a completely new way

traditionally they represent and

accompany a male hero but here they're

reserved for Leora and on one level they

give her added power but on another the

way that they're pushed and tested

beyond their limits potently mirrors

leonora's own trials

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

Detro

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well I suppose the shortened work was a

reasonable success but it made neither

beeo nor my theater a huge amount of

money it so damn

stubborn idealistic you

see I don't I think you could possibly

have given me my right percentage just

just well we can only pay you your

agreed percentage ludvic please do count

it again I don't mean to count it again

I'm not

stupid you are only paid this very

generous amount

generous you are paid this very generous

percentage because we all hold you in

the highest esteem but the fact remains

ludvic the house was under half full

now your music plays to a cultural

audience of course yes it

does but well take The Magic Flute for

instance now that really did Rouse the

multitude I don't compose for the

multitude if we had paid her Mozart the

same percentage of the receipts of his

operas well he would have been a very

rich man what are you saying nothing I

I think you should raise your hair

Mozart from the

dead because the performances of this

Opera are finished what do you mean I

mean what I said I'm I look be pleas

good

day good

God bethoven was true to his word and

locked away the score of his Opera but

he didn't forget it

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in Leonora he'd created the woman who

perfectly embodied Fidelity and

Womanhood but in real life she was much

harder to

find ha Beethoven had a great liking for

female Society if ever he saw a Charming

face we would often share a knowing look

he was always falling in love usually

with his piano students but generally

the passion did not last long and of

course often they were already spoken

for but that didn't stop him

hoping finding a wife the perfect

wife was very important to

him oh beloved

Josephina it is no desire for the

opposite sex that draws me to you

no it's just you your whole self with

all your individual qualities this has

bound all my feelings all my emotional

power to

you one of the piano students bethoven

fell in love with was Countess Josephina

Dem a widow and mother of

four my parents arranged my betrayed

count Dem he died just before I had my

fourth child B often used to come to our

house

and after I saw my own we became very

close I can't deny it I loved being with

him his music was so

powerful it could cheer me up or make me

cry and he was a kind man and good with

my

children but is to anything more

permanent that was different

[Music]

it's beautiful look big

have you had a chance to think about my

proposal do you not enjoy my company you

know I

do do you not enjoy your lessons yes of

course and I have the greatest respect

and admiration for you

I

see

respect

admiration and not

love

yes

no

but I have my

position my my children to think

of how we'd

live these things cost money

I

understand I

do

me a mere

musician a musician who's going

[Music]

deaf cantis stem's refusal to marry

dealt a crushing blow to Beethoven's

hopes of Finding Love and Marriage Not

only was his increasing deafness

isolating him but his uncertain

financial status was also becoming an

impediment to finding

[Music]

happiness at the time of his great

disappointment with yoshina Dem his

brother Carl seemed to find real

happiness in love but Beethoven could

never accept Carl's

choice and he did like to see himself

the Arbiter in all questions of

morality

bra

so it's true

then yes

we are to be

married with all your distractions

I I should need to find someone else to

look after my

Affairs no I can still

work Johanna is expecting our first

child so I

need out of

wedlock a splendid work for brother

that's

just Splendid and true to

form and as for you

lady I know

you and so does all

Vienna oh yes that's

right nothing is ever good enough for

the high and mighty

Beethoven or is it that you can't bear

to see somebody else being happy

go

out why knew him to be an unpredictable

man it is said men with great gifts have

little time for pleasantries but what

had I done to deserve such

harshness and treating Carl his brother

like an

enemy perhaps I was not as fine a lady

lady as the great composer was used to

sharing company

with he made my head spin with his

insinuations bethoven was intolerant of

those who didn't live up to his own high

moral standards unable to reconcile real

people real desires with his own

idealized vision of

women quite a beauty isn't she

misunderstood and frustrated bethoven

consistently felt isolated from those

around him at exactly this time there's

a typical example of how consciously or

subconsciously the tensions in his life

found expression and release in his

music he was writing a new Piano Sonata

which became known as the

apassionata its title tells you

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everything this is music of violent rage

tragedy and despair this Sonata finds

Beethoven in the depths of human

suffering the passion and turmoil caused

by his failed love affair with yosina

and his ambivalent feelings towards his

brother's happiness are woven into the

very fabric of this music which starts

Darkly at the lower register of the

[Music]

keyboard now like in so much Beethoven

this theme is built around a broken

chord this is a

chord here it is broken

then after this Darkness you get a

moment of poignant respite an

acknowledgement perhaps of his

inexorable Spirit he's bruised but he's

not

[Music]

beaten from there he cranks it up a

notch upper semmit tone raising the

[Music]

tension now he explores that fragment

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[Applause]

recognize that the Fifth Symphony

Motif which crops up again and again

throughout Beethoven's

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[Applause]

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compositions Darkness misery

introspection but

determination B same with this piece I'm

still here this is my inner core and I'm

not ashamed to show it to you the

tension between this Despair and his

innate musical strength light a touch

paper so that the piece suddenly

explodes

[Music]

the mood he creates of sheer desperation

and determination is imprinted on every

bar of this first movement

[Music]

the passionata was created in stormy

political times Austria was still under

French occupation despite the political

uncertainty Beethoven's reputation was

growing and Wealthy patrons gravitated

to him because of his increasing

celebrity in Prince leowski he thought

he'd found someone who understood his

uncompromising artistic Vision the whole

region was in chaos

there were troops everywhere one had to

make one's life as comfortable as

possible and if that meant spending the

odd evening entertaining some French

officers then that's what one

did some of them were actually very

cultured and even loved

music

obviously they were very interested to

hear of my support of my great

friend there are

um l

come in but come and join

us I'd like you to meet my

friends we never stop moving you never

know the next time you'll feel clean

sheets or a comfortable bed and that is

until we stay here gentlemen

I propose a toast to our host

our thank you well I hope I can make

your stay all the better by persuading

our guest of honor here ludvic van Boven

to play for

us

I I'm very

tired I better go to bed

it's

early I have a very busy day

tomorrow lot to

do B Heaven please you would honor us

with your

playing

play play play play play play play play

play play play play play another

performing s

he may not be a performing seal but he's

certainly a rhyland pig perhaps we

should arrest him

gentlemen I doubt if any of you swine

would know what a piano keyboard look

like if it was blown or two from the end

of a

can I will not play for you

now will I play for your

Emperor

Napoleon can't your guest take a

joke such is the nature of the artistic

mind gentlemen if you'll excuse me

what are you doing where are you going

at this time of

night lri

please there are and there always will

be thousands of princes but there's only

one be then what about your new word the

manuscript will be rued

[Music]

to this day the rain streaks from that

night can still be seen on the

apassionata manuscript

[Music]

sir sir this note right for

you dear

ludvig I wanted you to know I have great

news Johanna has given me a beautiful

son Carl the

boy it's a new bethoven

H I hope you will visit and see your

nephew

soon Beethoven refused to see his

newborn

nephew once again his impossibly high

and unrealistic moral standards short

circuited his natural

feelings for him Yanna was simply not a

good enough mother for the Beethoven

family and therefore he couldn't visit

them in fact he didn't see his new

nephew for eight

years in the meantime I think he found

an emotional substitute in his

relationship with the teenage Arch Duke

Rudolph who was himself a talented

musician and who became his new

[Music]

Patron so big

hello

big

yeah I've been wanting to ask for some

time I'm intrigued by your

methods please do not think me rude

but with your hearing difficulties how

do you

compose I'm sorry that was out of

place

that's I know there's much curiosity

about

me much titl tattle

huh it's true many of the high notes are

lost to

me and sometimes

more both good days and bad days and it

did doesn't affect me though as you

might

think you see all of the music that I

write I can

hear in my

mind I know the sounds that every

instrument can

make I can hear them all in a trio

quartet Orchestra

it's it's all

there it's all

there and my head

one of the pieces that beome was working

on during this time was his pastoral

symphony music which does I think

Express his deepest sense of loss for

the sounds of nature that he'd soon not

be able to hear the countryside for so

many 19th century composers a source of

inspiration was for Beethoven a place

where man could encounter God

[Music]

[Applause]

although large public orchestral

concerts were rare in the early 19th

century Beethoven's Fame secured him a

night in Vienna's most popular theater

just before Christmas

1808 even today this concert seems like

an extraordinary event just imagine

being present at the public premiere of

five major Boven Works including the

Fifth Symphony pastoral symphony the

fourth piano conto some of the most

famous music in history for Beethoven

the concert was an important personal

statement he was saying just look at

what I'm capable of the whole of Vienna

wanted to see how he had refine his gift

and of course they wanted to see the

famous Boven

himself well he realized that this

concert was very important for his

reputation and for his financial

situation as well

Boven decided to start the concert with

the pastoral symphony it was his way of

easing the audience into an evening

which would become increasingly

challenging challenging not just for the

concert goer but for the orchestra as

well with just one rehearsal for the

musicians to learn the music the tension

before the concert was

palpable stop

stop is it

what's

wrong what's the matter what marking

have you got here why have you

stopped really SI for

you come

[Music]

on I know it's

early

again well he didn't make it easier for

himself or others

[Music]

why have you stopped what's wrong with

you

people bov's conducting style was so

wild and hard to follow and he was so

demanding that eventually the orchestra

refused to play if he was

present was left the unfortunate Rees to

act as goet

[Music]

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

[Music]

h

[Music]

now

[Applause]

sir they say there is too

much there is so much new work and it

is too

difficult bethoven you know we only have

one rehearsal and the orchestra are

merely

human just tell them to play

it exactly as I have written it

the orchestra eventually got through the

enormous repertoire planned for the

concert and on a freezing cold December

evening hundreds of people flocked to an

unheated venes theater to see and hear

the city's most famous resident

[Music]

after the evocative lyricism of the

pastoral symphony Beethoven assaulted

his audience with the violent Fifth

Symphony a kind of electric shock

therapy

[Music]

[Music]

starting with those four powerful notes

The Fifth Symphony is really an exercise

in compression in St contrast to the

sixth Symphony the pastal which takes

the same opening rhythmic

fragment and expands it it's interesting

to look at these two Symphonies side by

side and that's how bethoven saw them

very much as a pair and where the sixth

symphony is lyrical and expansive The

Fifth Symphony is brutal and compact act

and lacking in any obvious Melody and

unlike any Symphony that had gone before

the whole piece is one through line

towards the exultant finale Beethoven

uses a variety of musical devices to

bring about this tremendous sense of

climax but none more so than the use of

that opening rhythmic device it's

everywhere and in fact it pervades his

entire compositional

output near the end of the third

movement of the scat so Beethoven strips

the music music right back the timony

just keeping that rhythmic cell ticking

away and it's out of this sparse sound

world that the Fourth Movement erupts

pushing decibel levels to new heights

you hear Piccolo and trombones for the

first time in a symphony and the whole

Orchestra explodes in this climactic

finale where bethoven is taking us from

minor to Major from Darkness to a blaze

of light

[Music]

a e

of the piano in a conto invariably the

orchestra would lead before creating

space for the piano but Beethoven turns

this on its head starting with a solo

piano and not only that he starts

tentatively almost in the manner of an

improvisation it's a very introverted

beginning the antithesis of the grand

gesture

[Music]

Fifth Symphony fourth piano conchetto

invariably it's somewhere

close with this strange beginning

Beethoven is starting a conversation or

even a set of negotiations where the

piano is attempting to dictate terms to

the orchestra the tension between the

two is there right from the start the

orchestra come in in a key which is

completely foreign to the piano so much

of the time this is conversation through

Discord

[Music]

the

[Music]

[Music]

the tension becomes much more pronounced

in the second movement where the

orchestra and the soloists are

determined not to engage with each other

they're almost in gridlock two utterly

alien musics at work

[Music]

when the piano finally breaks out it

does so in a very unusual way sounding

almost unlike anything which has gone

before and now the gulf between soloist

and Orchestra seems almost unbridgeable

you might expect the orchestra to just

stand up and leave the room

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

eventually though Beethoven brings about

resolution and Reconciliation the piano

and the orchestra unite to allow for the

catharus of the last movement the piano

has mollified the orchestra the

individual voice has soothed the masses

and Beethoven's violent instincts have

been tempered by his compassionate will

it's a very accurate self-portrait in

music

[Music]

[Music]

[Applause]

the success of this concert confirmed

beom's position as Vienna's and indeed

Europe's most celebrated

composer but his financial situation was

precarious the concert didn't make

ludvig the money he wanted and even

deserved and an offer had come through

for a job working away from

Vienna so he soon let all his patrons

including me know that he might desert

us of course we had to do something you

must have understand I need total

artistic Freedom yes it's all fine lck I

need to travel whenever I want and have

benefit concerts I need them it's all in

the annuity

contract what we

ask is that you agree to continue to

live in Vienna

this was an extraordinary and unique

agreement the first time an artist had

been recognized in this way Beethoven

was to be paid a lifelong yearly sum to

compose whatever he wanted whenever he

wanted at around this time with his

money worries seemingly at an end

Beethoven entered into a passionate

relationship with a woman he called in

an extraordinary letter his Immortal

Beloved her real identity has been the

subject of debate for the past 150 years

while we may never know for certain the

most recent research seems to indicate

that she was Anton brentano the wife of

a merchant baven had a close

relationship with the

[Music]

couple my angel my all my very self much

as you love me I love you more

I can only live either wholly with you

or not at all no one else can ever

possess my heart never

never your love makes me at once the

happiest and the unhappiest of men

continue to love me never misjudge the

most faithful heart of your beloved

Forever Yours forever mine forever us l

Vic I was Ill because I didn't want to

leave

Vienna my husband's work meant that we

had to go and live in Frankfurt

and I I just couldn't bear

it how wish you

today no better I'm

afraid it's good of you to come

should I play something for her yes

please I'm sure it would help it always

does now if you'll excuse me I I'll go

back to the office there is still a lot

of work to do before we

leave thank you my friend

[Music]

only L comforted

me his music told me everything about

his feelings from

me I would have given up everything for

[Music]

[Music]

him we loved each other deeply

but he loved my husband as well

and I just

I just don't think he felt able to cause

so much pain to a

[Music]

friend I would have gone with

him but

ludig

well perhaps when it came to it the the

idea of a married life was was something

best kept as a dream because his music

would always come first

[Music]

I may no longer be a man not for

myself only for

others for there is no longer

happiness except in my

music bethoven was devastated by the

breakup of the affair it put an end to

the illusion that he could ever find a

normal family life and I don't think

it's a coincidence that at this time his

hearing began to deteriorate more

[Music]

rapidly added to this the money from his

special contract with his aristocratic

patrons had stopped the effect of

crippling inflation under the rule of

France meant his backers couldn't keep

up their annuity payments

[Music]

I went to his lodgings to see how he

was he wasn't at

home but what I found shocked

me everything just seemed to go wrong at

once you

seemed

broken so unhappy and suddenly extremely

hard of

hearing although that may only have

seemed worse do to the Mala that now

engulfed

him he sent me a

letter in which he seemed to be in a bad

way by then we had not seen each other

since our

arguments a number of unfortunate

incidents which have occurred one after

the other have really driven me into a

state bordering

on mental

confusion he complains

of a thoroughly

lacerated

Heart by all

accounts he had become so neglectful of

his

person as to appear positively dirty

oh my brother so good to see you

what is it what's the matter are you

sick what's wrong with your father H

tell me what speak up H I'm your

uncle uncle

lud what is it what is

you come come on is this where you a

chance meeting with his brother Carl now

ill with tuberculosis gave bethoven the

opport opportunity to claw back his

family in the most extreme and desperate

way I must speak

plainly the reason you are in trouble is

that Johanna has none of the qualities

that make a good wife

n don't

worry I will look after little

Carl but you must make me the so

Guardian

H Jesus mother yes yes yes yes yes and

so she shall

remain but

this this document

will give me a certain right

Susie to look after your interests you

the

father van

beethovens

H so here

Carl read

sign car car that's right much as I am

convinced of the openhearted disposition

of my brother ludic van B

Hoven I desire that after my death he

undertake the guardianship of my

surviving minor son Carl Von bethoven

I do not know what drives a man to want

to separate a child from his mother

I can only think that he wanted a family

of his own

so mine was the obvious

choice pushing my weakened husband who

so close to

death could not stop

him was beyond worldly

explanation Beethoven's Behavior seems

incredible to us now but he genuinely

believed he was protecting his family

from a woman who he saw as a completely

unsuitable mother and by bizarre twist

of fate his belief in his own rectitude

and his sense of his standing as an

artist were about to receive the most

colossal boost his freedom Opera loraa

was chosen to be performed before the

crowned heads who were assembled for the

Congress of Vienna which redrew the map

of Europe after Napoleon's downfall

[Music]

retitled Fidelio some of the most

dramatic changes to the work were in

florist

[Music]

tanzara he places extra emphasis on the

word fight or freedom in an incredibly

high-pitched conclusion that's almost

impossible to sing at the very limits of

a tena's range forcing him like Flor

stand into a state of exhaustion and

physical breakdown

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

this time the Opera was a success its

Universal themes of triumph over

adversity and hope over despair were

embraced by audiences Yearning For Peace

after the turmoil of the Napoleonic

Wars professionally Beethoven could do

no wrong fidelo had made him the most

sought after composer in Europe but

privately his life life was

unraveling his brother's illness and his

worsening hearing were conspiring

against

[Music]

him good

evening

[Applause]

welcome please sir me to

[Music]

[Music]

I remember the performance of the trio

he had written for me I was so looking

forward to it

[Music]

in certain

passages my dear

friend pounded on the keys until the

strings

jangled and in others he played so

softly that her groups of notes were

omitted so the music became

unintelligible

[Laughter]

please sign this call for our

son give me your hand

[Music]

it is a great Misfortune for anyone to

be

deaf but how shall a musician endure it

without giving way to

despair I have found it necessary to add

to my will that I by no means desire

that my son be taken away from his

mother but that he shall always remain

with her

to which end the guardianship of him is

to be exercised by her as well as my

brother God permit them to be harmonious

for the sake of my child's

[Music]

welfare humiliated Beethoven never

performed in public again

[Music]

call

call

call this is the last wish of the dying

husband and

brother Carl Van

Beethoven with his brother's death

Beethoven's incredibly productive and

Innovative heroic period was

over the next decade would be minated by

a bitter custody battle with Yanna for

his nephew Carl and a slow and agonizing

descent into near total

deafness but once again he would find a

triumphantly defiant musical response by

composing works so radical that even to

our sophisticated and knowing ears they

still have the power to amaz

[Music]

for

and you can hear the hole of the piano

conchetto number four as it would have

sounded at its Premiere with Beethoven

uncovered on BBC 4 now