How did you come to love Beethoven?

[Tillyvalle]

I'm a newbie here and forgive me if this has been covered elsewhere but I'm curious as to how and why people develop a passion for Beethoven. I was never even much into classical music until about 3 years ago when I began listening to Classic fm. The first time I heard the slow movement from the 'Emperor' concerto I couldn't believe it was Beethoven. I picked up a cd of the 9th symphony in a charity shop and after that I was hooked! I've been to 3 concerts. 2nd, 5th and 9th symphonies and will definately be going to more. It's hard (almost impossible!) to pick a favourite piece but I really love the 2nd movement of Piano Concerto No 3, sublime! I love learning about his life and it has definately made me appreciate his music even more. My son has promised to take me to Bonn, can't wait!

[Sorrano]

Welcome to the forum! Beethoven is difficult to resist. In my own experience, I came across his music through an easy band arrangement, in school, of the Eroica Symphony. After that I was hooked.

[Chris]

When I was young, perhaps 6 or 7, I had a cassette tape of some of Beethoven's "Greatest Hits", including the first movement of the Fifth Symphony, the first movement of the "Moonlight" Sonata, and "Fur Elise", and that was really the beginning for me.

Also, around the same time, I found an old copy of "Fur Elise" in the piano bench with all the note names written in. It was my mother's from when she was a girl and took piano lessons, and she was able to use it to teach me the piece years before I ever took a piano lesson! (Minus the middle parts.) I also found an easy little arrangement of the the "Ode to Joy" theme in one of her lesson books and was able to learn it myself. So a large part of it also was playing these two pieces on the piano a lot when I was young.

[Bonn1827]

This is a hard question!! My mother gave me an LP of Richter playing "Pathetique" and "Appassionata" sonatas for my 18th birthday (she was a pianist too). I have always loved the piano sonatas. These are my desert island pieces, especially the last 10 or so. I actually don't much fancy the "Ode to Joy": because it has become such a cliche its magic is lost on me. The Symphony No. 9 isn't his best IMO, but sections of it are quite wonderful. I think it a bit ostentatious: apologies!! I prefer Symphonies 2, 3, 6 and 7. Piano concerto Nos. 1 and 4 are faves, especially the latter. But I think this composer is there for all ages (people's), moods, situations and I very much relate to his "back story", if you will. The isolation, illness and domestic crises seem embedded in the music somehow and this always always always touches me. Thanks for this opportunity.

[Quijote]

The Ninth ostentatious? Never apologise for personal opinion (unless it differs from mine).

[Bonn1827]

Context is important: ostentatious in comparison with his other works. By this I mean uncharacteristically "showy" for typical Beethoven.

I was thinking about what I'd written as I've just come home from an appointment. The works I mentioned are not the limit of my love for LvB, just a very few. I think he's a beacon for humanity - somebody recently expressed this and I completely agree with it. Those adagio movements in his works!!! OMG. That slow movement, for example, in Symphony No. 2 - only Bach comes close to this kind of profundity IMO.

[Hollywood]

The first time in my life that I ever heard a work by Beethoven was his Sym. #5, back in the 4th grade (mid 1960s). Needless to say I was hooked for life and that moment was the start of a beautiful journey through his music.

[Cocchini]

It was not until high school that I discovered Beethoven. They played the Fifth Symphony and later I purchased a recording of the Sir Adrian Boult performance. I fell in love with the slow movement, it's texture and feel, and remember playing the track over and over again.



(The "Philharmonic Promenade Orchestra of London" was really the London Philharmonic Orchestra).

[Michael]

Welcome to the forum, Tillyvalle. I first discovered Beethoven at 6.13pm on the evening of the 4th of March, 1968! Seriously though, it was around Easter of 1968 that I bought a cheap mono record, with a very drab cover, entitled "Beethoven, Symphony No. 6 in F major, "Pastoral". (I still have it.) I had little or no experience of "classical" music so it wasn't exactly love at first hearing - I thought it was boring and repetitious, but about a month later I was totally hooked and have remained so.

[Bonn1827]

These are all touching responses!! I loved the image of the LP cover.

I have to be honest and admit that I always thought art music was a long-time development: not a "taste" one could acquire quickly. These anecdotes have completely dispelled that idea and I'm happy to find this the case. I guess I've related things back to my own childhood and the lifetime of evolution to the musical point where I now find myself. No matter what stage - Beatles, B-Gees, Stevie Wonder, Dire Straits, Rodgers & Hart (still there), Gershwin (still there with a vengeance!), Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter (all still there) - Beethoven has always been omnipresent for me, along with Bach and most good art music going back to 1150. Since I've retired, in particular, art music is all I listen to now and the American musical theatre is languishing on my CD racks. (This is EXTRAORDINARY music, BTW, and has some origins in European operetta, a la Lehar et al). Perhaps I need to relax a bit and get back to the melancholic lyrics of Lorenz Hart set to the plangent melodies of Richard Rodgers. I guess, like Jerome Kern, "I'm Old-fashioned".

[Sludlinger]

Tillyvalle, you chanced upon one of the wonders in music, the Emperor 2nd mvt. As one person said to me, "there is magic in there."

[Sludlinger]

I had about zero interest in music - no music in the family - until the age of 13 when we got a hi-fidelity record player about 1960. It somehow came with a two record set entitled 60 Great Moments of Music. I played the record and found many things I liked but most of all I liked the Emperor Concerto excerpt, they were all just excerpts. Somehow, I managed to get a hold of a RCA Camden recording of the Emperor, with Robert Riefling, piano. Things have never been the same since.

[Bonn1827]

I must do a massive back-pedal. Today I had LvB's 9th accompanying me on a 40 minute trip to meet a friend for lunch. It is the John Eliot Gardiner version and I gave it a thorough work-out, to and from. A wonderful performance and I must say I do love the first 3 movements; it's just when the voices start that it doesn't happen for me. I compare Gardiner's performance favourably against Norrington and the LCP many years earlier - terrific clarity and you can hear the lines magnificently. A pity I have become desensitized to the "vocal/choral" because of years of cliche - advertisements, news footage, films etc. Such a terrible shame. But I'll take the three movements to my desert island.

[Michael]

Somehow, I managed to get a hold of a RCA Camden recording of the Emperor, with Robert Riefling, piano. Things have never been the same since.

I know the feeling. There's a running joke in my family that you can't get away from Beethoven. If a snippet of music comes on telly or somebody mentions him, I am immediately alerted - at least once a week - sometimes more.

[Bonn1827]

I had lunch with an erstwhile friend from school (1960s) yesterday and when I told her about my passion for classical music she asked whether I liked Andre Rieu. This happens again and again!! Don't you just hate that???!!! I can never think of a satisfactory reply without offending.