Beethoven and nature

[dahc]

Would anyone agree that the first movement LVBs Piano trio op 70 No 1 is a sound painting of the sea. Crashing waves and rolling ocean. Everyone is familiar with his Pastoral painting. What other compositions of the Master can anyone suggest appear to mimick nature?

[Peter]

I'm not sure about the sea, after all Beethoven never saw it! The greatest musical representation of that has to be Debussy's 'La Mer'. However I'm sure you're right that nature influenced Beethoven greatly - he often quoted from Sturm's "Betrachtungen uber die Werke Gottes in der Natur."

[Michael]

A more accurate representation of the sea - a becalmed one - would be Beethoven's short secular cantata: "Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage".

[AeolianHarp]

I'm not sure about the sea, after all Beethoven never saw it!

Gosh yes, of course, he never travelled along any coastal areas. I cannot imagine not ever having seen the Sea. What would one imagine it is like, having never seen it?

I love the Sea- standing in the waves, listening to the waves crashing and feeling the power.

[Peter]

Gosh yes, of course, he never travelled along any coastal areas. I cannot imagine not ever having seen the Sea. What would one imagine it is like, having never seen it?

I love the Sea- standing in the waves, listening to the waves crashing and feeling the power.

I've just remembered he possibly visited Rotterdam as a child and if so, he obviously would have seen it!

[AeolianHarp]

I've just remembered he possibly visited Rotterdam as a child and if so, he obviously would have seen it!

Funny you should say that Peter, but a childhood travel by the sea came into my mind when reading your earlier post...

[AeolianHarp]

Aha! yes he did! With his Mother!

http://www.beethoven.ws/travels.html

In 1781 Beethoven was invited to Holland. his father could not go but it was an opportunity not to be missed and he let him go with his mother. Like Mozart, Beethoven would tour as a "child prodigy". They arrived in Rotterdam in autumn 1781. Travelling down the Rhine, it was so cold that his mother had to frequently rub his feet to avoid frostbite. Beethoven gave only a few performances in private houses. He obviously was not yet the child prodigy his parents wished him to be.

His poor little feet.

[dahc]

His imagination was everything! The sea was there in literature.

[AeolianHarp]

His imagination was everything! The sea was there in literature.

Yes true- he was very imaginative, but he did see the sea as a child too!

[dahc]

Guess I better research.

[Albert Gans]

Note that visiting Rotterdam is not a guarantee for having seen the sea.... the sea is some miles west of Rotterdam even now, and the city of course was a lot smaller in those days.

[AeolianHarp]

Note that visiting Rotterdam is not a guarantee for having seen the sea.... the sea is some miles west of Rotterdam even now, and the city of course was a lot smaller in those days.

Can you see it in the distance though?