March 26, 1827

[Gurn Blanston]

So passes the Master. This, from Grillparzer's Funeral Oration:

"He was an artist, but a man as well. A man in every sense--in the highest. Because he withdrew from the world, they called him a man-hater, and because he held aloof from sentimentality, unfeeling. Ah, one who knows himself to be hard of heart, does not shrink! The finest points are those most easily blunted and bent or broken. An excess of sensitiveness avoids a show of feeling! He fled the world because, in the whole range of his loving nature, he found no weapon to oppose it. He withdrew from mankind after he had given them his all and received nothing in return. . . . Thus he was, thus he died, thus he will live to the end of time."


------------------
Regards,
Gurn
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That's my opinion, I may be wrong.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Peter]

Yes 177 years ago today the great man passed. I wonder Andrea how (if at all) Vienna marks the occasion?

------------------
'Man know thyself'

[Andrea]

Nothing special done today by the city of Vienna that I am aware of but then again I wasn't at Zentralfriedhof today. I was there on Tuesday though taking a member of a Mozart Forum visiting Vienna there to see Beethoven and his fellow composers that are buried here. It was a very cold, windy and rainy day. Other than the two of us and 3 Japanese tourists, there was no one else around. Hopefully there were some visitors paying their respects today at Beethoven's grave in our Zentralfriedhof.

I'm sure that Vienna will have a much anticipated to-do for Beethoven's 200 year anniversary of his death. I guess that 177 years isn't a number worth remembering for the Viennese.

[Amalie]

Monday March 26th, 1827.
Freezing frequent snow, north wind. Tawards 4 o'clock it darkened. Snow blizzards. Thunder and lightning. Nature was in revolt. Three terrific thunderclaps followed. The death of Ludwig van Beethoven in the evening towards 6 o'clock from dropsy in his 56th year.

From the gripping funeral Oration by Grillparzer:
Let not you hearts be troubled! You have not lost him, you have won him.
Beethoven's musical life was over. The musical legend has already begun.

[v russo]

Originally posted by Amalie:


Monday March 26th, 1827.
Freezing frequent snow, north wind. Tawards 4 o'clock it darkened. Snow blizzards. Thunder and lightning. Nature was in revolt. Three terrific thunderclaps followed. The death of Ludwig van Beethoven in the evening towards 6 o'clock from dropsy in his 56th year.

From the gripping funeral Oration by Grillparzer:
Let not you hearts be troubled! You have not lost him, you have won him.
Beethoven's musical life was over. The musical legend has already begun.

...and shaking his fist at the lightening cloud!

GO B!!




------------------
v russo

[Peter]

Originally posted by Andrea:
It was a very cold, windy and rainy day. Other than the two of us and 3 Japanese tourists, there was no one else around.

Slightly different to our blisteringly hot visit Andrea! Incidentally I have recently found out who Beethoven was originally buried next to in the Wahring cemetery - Charles Thomas Talbot (Viscount Ingestre), an Englishman educated at Eton and Oxford who drowned in 1826 aged 24 whilst on a visit to Vienna. Schindler reported this to Sir George Smart in London on 31st march 1827.

------------------
'Man know thyself'

[Joy]

I think a lot of people have a romantic vision of Vienna as being a city that is constantly marking anniversaries of their musical 'heroes'. In reality it's a modern city where probably more than half didn't even realize the meaning of March 26th. We probably did more here with our three hour anniversary concert yesterday which included Christ on the Mount of Olives, and throughout the day on the radio were facts and figures of his life, and last night an all Beethoven concert here in town which was wonderful! Tonight another Beethoven concert which I will be attending. They really marked the occasion nicely.

------------------
'Truth and beauty joined'