Looking for help

[crystalbeneker]

Greetings,
I am a student in Music History Class. I have to present a 20 minute speech on Beethoven. My areas are - Major Contributions, Defenitive Works (most famous contributions), Important Students, Context of composer in History. I have searched through various materials and have learned that there is simply too much for me to narrow down, being the novice that I am in this subject. I would appreciate any replies to any of the above subjects.
Thank You,
Crystal

[Peter]

Major contributions: Expansion and development of the classical forms of sonata, Symphony and concerto.

Definitive works: Eroica Symphony, 5th and 9th symphonies, Razumovsky quartets, last 5 quartets, Emperor piano concerto, Waldstein piano sonata, Moonlight sonata, Appassionata sonata, Hammerklavier sonata, Diabelli variations.

Most important student : Carl Czerny - most famous for his countless piano studies, but also as Liszt's teacher.

Historical context: The French Revolution and its repercussions (Napoleon)were without doubt the single most important event - Beethoven's music particularly in the first decade of the 19th century was much influenced by this and the 'heroic style' is prominent in these works.

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'Man know thyself'

[Sophia]

The only thing I have to add is that Beethoven's expansion of these classical forms was mostly done by his expansion of classical tonality. And that can be seen very clearly in his treatment of secondary subject areas and development areas.

Also a useful piece of information that you can use to make an impression is that, while the 48 preludes and fugues of the Woltemperiertes Klavier by Bach were considered the Old Testament, in the same way the 32 piano sonatas by Beethoven were considered the New Testament (I think I read this years ago in Headington's history of music)