Blackwell Reference Online

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Ludwig van Beethoven was a revolutionary nineteenth-century German composer of classical and romantic music. Born in Bonn, Germany, Beethoven moved to Vienna, Austria, while in his teens. Living in Vienna during Emperor Joseph II's reforms, Beethoven often discussed liberal ideas, including those of the French Revolution , but his friendship with aristocrats, who were also needed as patrons, probably softened his politics. He espoused liberal ideas while accepting aristocratic patronage, and he remained friends with individual aristocrats while criticizing the aristocracy. Politically liberal but never a political revolutionary, these contradictions never troubled him. In 1793 his writing praised the love of freedom above all. Yet in 1802, as the political current changed, he refused to write a sonata containing references to the French Revolution. Indeed, he avoided obvious political overtones in his music. In his opera Prometheus he portrayed Prometheus as an Enlightenment philosopher dispensing knowledge rather than as the rebel Titan who stole fire to aid humankind. This approach made the opera more palatable to Austrian censors, yet the audience still identified Prometheus' heroic act with rebellion and freedom. Similarly, though he admired Napoleon Bonaparte's reforms as First Consul of France and planned to name his third symphony for him, after Bonaparte proclaimed ... log in or subscribe to read full text