The play-bagatelle "Fur Elise" is one of the most famous works of Ludwig van Beethoven. All novice musicians must learn it when mastering playing the piano. Despite the popularity of the play, the history of its creation remains a real mystery, just as its addressee remains a mystery.
Ludwig van Beethoven showed a talent for music from childhood, his first teachers were his father Johann, who served as a tenor in the court chapel, and the composer Christian Gottlob Nefe. A key role in the development of Ludwig's talent was also played by his grandfather, who held the position of bandmaster. It was he who first noticed his grandson's craving for music and insisted on the need to educate the boy.
At the age of 21, Ludwig goes to Vienna to take lessons from the famous Austrian composer Joseph Haydn, who speaks with approval of his student. Beethoven quickly masters the skill of playing the piano and willingly improvises. Intuitively, he finds new ways, playing techniques, combinations that will determine the development of music in the 18th century.
By the age of 30, Ludwig's hearing began to deteriorate sharply. For a musician, such a diagnosis was worse than death, because the opportunity to play music was under threat. As best he could, he tried to hide the disease from others, but gradually closed in on himself and became unsociable. Despite the fact that over the years Beethoven became completely deaf, he still continued to write music, many of his most famous works were created at the end of his life.
Researchers who work with the archives of Ludwig Beethoven note that the composer had a completely illegible handwriting, eyewitnesses noted that he also had difficulties with pronunciation. All this gave reason to assume that, perhaps, the great composer suffered from dyslexia (poor mastery of writing and reading skills with a general ability to learn). It was because of the fuzzy handwriting that the work known today as the play Für Elise was published under that title.
It is worth noting that the bagatelle play was published 40 years after the death of the composer, it was discovered by the musician Ludwig Nohl. Interestingly, the manuscript was accidentally found in 1865, published in 1867, but soon lost without a trace. To date, only a copy of Zero has survived, where the original is located is unknown. Therefore, the information that we have today is how Zero was able to decipher Beethoven's recordings. It was almost certain that the original was quite difficult to read, so Zero focused on translating the notes correctly. It is unlikely that it was fundamentally important for him to preserve the correct name of the addressee.
Given that the dedication of the play "To Elise", for many years it was believed that its addressee was Elizaveta Alekseevna, the wife of the Russian Emperor Alexander I.
However, researcher Max Unger disagreed with this statement. In his opinion, it is logical to assume that the addressee could be Teresa Malfatti, a student of Beethoven and his close friend. It is known that the great composer was in love with Teresa and even made her a marriage proposal in 1810 (this is the year the manuscript of the play was supposedly dated). However, Teresa refused.
There is also a third version, according to which the play could have been written for the singer Elisabeth Röckel and given to her as a farewell gift before her departure from Vienna. However, it is known for certain that the manuscript was at the disposal of Teresa Malfatti, and if the addressee was Röckel, it is not possible to explain this circumstance.
Ludwig Beethoven lived a difficult life, never married, had no children. As a legacy to mankind, he left his musical masterpieces and went down in history as.
L. Beethoven "To Elise" e"
Sometimes, we do not even think about the fact that the widely known and beloved by us musical works sometimes have a difficult history and their appearance is shrouded in many secrets and mysteries.This may be due to the history of writing, with the sudden discovery of a long-lost manuscript, and sometimes with the title. One of these works is familiar to literally every one of you - this is a piano piece Ludwig van Beethoven
By the way, this is not the only such case in the composer's work. " Moonlight Sonata ”is not at all lunar, and Beethoven himself was probably very surprised to learn that the work bears such a name. Why was there surprised, knowing his explosive character! The maestro himself conceived the idea of writing a "Sonata in the Spirit of Fantasy" and dedicating it to another beloved Giulietta Guicciardi. The name "Lunar" was given to her by his friend Ludwig Relshtab.
Read the history of Beethoven's miniature "" and the content of the work on our page.
The history of the creation of "Fur Elise"
It is noteworthy that the piano miniature "For Elise" can rightly be called Beethoven's most famous work. Initially, the composer titled it as Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor, the name "Für Elise" itself was only a subtitle. What is the reason for such popularity? First of all, this is due to the widespread use of the piece in learning to play the piano. It is included in the compulsory program in music schools. In addition, a beautiful, sonorous and at the same time not complicated work could not go unnoticed and immediately fell in love with the public.
The play was published in 1867, only 40 years after the death of Beethoven researcher of his work. It is believed that the work was created in 1810. It was during this period of time that another of his masterpieces was created - Egmont Overture, the outlines of which were written on the same sheet of paper as the bagatelle.
But back to the most important mystery of the work "To Elise". It is known that it was discovered by the musicologist Ludwig Nohl, who studied the biography of the maestro. There was a mysterious inscription on the leaflet - a dedication to a certain Elise from L.V. Beethoven. But who is this mysterious stranger and what role did she play in the life of a genius? Maybe this is the very distant beloved or another new passion of the amorous great symphonist?
Since its discovery, many researchers have been tirelessly working on the work. So, in 2009, Luca Chiantore, who has been doing this work for eight years, said that this version has nothing to do with the composer. Undoubtedly, the theme and the notes themselves belong to the maestro's pen, there is no doubt about it. Luca Chiantore stated that the very leaflet with the mysterious dedication never existed. A little earlier, in 1923, another researcher, Max Unger, put forward a version that it turns out that the work was addressed to the ward of maestro Teresa Malfatti von Rorenbach zu Dezza, with whom he was in love. Luwig Nohl misinterpreted the inscription on the manuscript without understanding the handwriting. In confirmation of this, it was indicated that it was she who had these notes for a long time.
Another musicologist Martin Kopitz stated that "Fur Elise" was addressed to the vocalist Elisabeth, who was the sister of his close friend. An interesting version also has a place to be, like all the others.
Well? Not yet entangled in the numerous Elizabeth? All these versions were refuted by the Canadian researcher Rita Steblin, who, having studied the available material, came to the conclusion that we are talking about the student of the same Teresa Malfatt - Eliza Barensfeld. She had amazing vocal abilities and began to give concerts early, and Beethoven, in order to please Teresa, dedicated a piece to this student.
Which of the numerous researchers of Beethoven's life and work is 100 percent right so far no one can say for sure, at this time all musicologists are inclined to Rita Steblin's version. If this is true, then all the numerous students of all children's music schools, the compulsory programs of which include "To Elise", received another incentive to study this work, because the play was written and dedicated to their peer.
"To Elise" - sheet music:
Download sheet music
Download sheet music
The greatest virtuoso, who shocked all his contemporaries with the power of improvisation, Beethoven was an excellent piano player. It is noteworthy that if symphonic creativity for the composer was a sphere of mainly monumental, majestic ideas, then in his piano works Beethoven tried to reflect the inner life of a person, penetrating in a special way into the world of his feelings and experiences, albeit the most secret ones. It was in these works that the maestro almost openly expressed what he felt. The composer's piano music can be called his diary, in which he diligently recorded life observations and, of course, experiences.
Speaking about the content of the play "" it is worth noting that during the period of its creation, the lyrics of feelings increasingly penetrate into Beethoven's works. It is these emotional experiences that can be heard in such a small but significant work.
Let's try to parse it, so that it is clear what exactly I wanted to say. Beethoven . Here, first of all, it is worth noting that the form of the play is rondo (from Italian circle). In this case, the main theme (refrain) alternates with episodes, which basically always have a slightly different character. Now think about what word would fully characterize the main topic? Listen, maybe Love? Perhaps this is how lyrically, gently the composer imagined how he confesses his feelings to his distant beloved. And what about the second theme, episode? She already has a slightly different character and it would be more appropriate to compare it with the hope of reciprocity or the joy of anticipating an early meeting with her beloved. Do you agree? The main theme returns again, and with it the feelings of the composer.
The third theme bursts in with completely new intonations and mood. This is no longer the old lyrics, but the composer's torment, mental anguish and the inevitable parting. The play ends with the return of the main theme - love, but only it is perceived in a slightly different way.
Surprisingly, if you are imbued with this work, you can immerse yourself in the secret pages of Beethoven's life, "hear" his feelings that he had for his beloved and feel the composer's personal feelings about his unrequited love.
Popular adaptations and performances of "Fur Elise"
Of course, such a popular work constantly attracted performers from different countries and eras. A large number of interesting performances and original arrangements have been preserved.
For example, the famous Dutch band Shocking Blue used Beethoven's composition in their single "Broken heart", which was included in the 1972 album.
An interesting heavy metal arrangement was performed by the German band Accept, who presented it in 1985. A little later, the performers from Norway, known as Dimmu Borgir, presented their cover version of this composition, performed in the same style.
Many music lovers loved the blues version of "Fur Elise", recorded by Wolf Hoffmann in 1997.
Listen to modern arrangements:
Accept Fur Elise (Metal Heart) (listen)
Shocking Blue - Broken Heart
Wolf Hoffmann (listen)
Among the classical versions, the performance of the play by the American pianist of Ukrainian origin Valentina Lisitsa in London in 2012 together with the Philharmonic Orchestra gained great popularity among music lovers. Also, together with the orchestra, the bagatelle was performed by Georgy Cherkin in 2010, and this version also received wide recognition from a large audience. It is impossible to ignore the performance of "For Elise" by Alexander Malkus.
Video: listen to "To Elise"
Just pay attention, the same work, in which not a single note has been changed, sounds completely different, showing completely new sides of the great maestro's soul!
Not every composer can boast of such a work, which is known literally in every corner of the planet. This small piano piece can be safely called a visiting card Beethoven , which shows us a completely different composer, not a reformer, but a more sensitive romantic. Agree, after all, many graduates of music schools, no matter what instrument they play, play the first bars of this piece with pleasure, but not all of them suspect what depth of feelings and personal drama of the composer is hidden behind each note of the bagatelle.
The joy for many piano students is the performance of a composition"To Elise" by Ludwig Beethoven. This work has been heard in the homes of all countries of the world for many years. Its simple, soothing melody is loved by both those who take their first steps in music and professionals. The famous A-minor bagatelle was not published during Beethoven's lifetime. The public learned about it thanks to the composer's biographer, Mr. Nol, who discovered a manuscript on which it was written: "Elise from L. Beethoven." Who this Eliza was, we do not know. Modern musicologists doubt whether the dedication was read incorrectly due to the poor handwriting of the composer. The famous work of Ludwig Beethoven's "To Elise", as it turned out, is actually dedicated not to Eliza, but to Teresa. The manuscript of this piano elegy, written by the composer in 1808, has disappeared without a trace. However, Austrian musicologists managed to establish for sure that during the creation of the composition, Beethoven was courting the daughter of a Viennese doctor Teresa Malfatti, and it was to her that he dedicated his brilliant work. When typing the score in the printing house, they could not make out the composer's bad handwriting, and the elegy "To Elise" was born.
Beethoven Fur Elise Beethoven Fur Elise
(Performed by Malkus Alexander Markovich) (Alexander Malkus)
“Fur Elise” is delightfully beautiful music, but still, when playing it, one must remember that it was not written by a playboy hero in a tuxedo at a white piano, not by a ladies' man, but by a stern and furious Beethoven, whose every sound is not desire like and conquer a woman's heart, but to tell about something real and, most often, painfully burning the soul ... This does not mean, of course, that you need to play it too violently, tragically or pompously, but you need to keep in yourself the image of Beethoven with his noble, and with a big heart to avoid falling into a syrupy fir or candy wrapping ... Finally, look at the portrait of Beethoven ... This is a titan! And then both you and your grateful listeners will discover much more in this music than just a beautiful melody…
Fur Elise by Beethoven for Piano & Orchestra
Teresa Malfatti
Elisa Roeckel
The second version of the origin of the name is the dedication of the play to the German soprano Elisa Röckel, who later became the wife of Nepomuk Hummel. Eliza, as the parish priests called her, had been Beethoven's friend since 1808.
The first theme is not technically difficult and often learned by beginners, it provides a good basic exercise for playing the piano using technique pedals. However, much more technique is needed in later parts.
Spanish Valentina Lisitsa. Seoul
Beethoven.Psendingto Eliza
"My angel, my sunyo, my "I"!
The pen creaked on the paper, the ink splattered in all directions, but Ludwig did not notice any of this. He almost stopped hearing sounds and for a long time did not pay attention to everyday trifles. Only one thing was important: the feeling that arose in his heart and filled his soul with love and passion - the last love in his life, he knew for sure. "My angel, my everything, my "I"! Can our love stand only at the cost of sacrifice, by refusing to be full, can't you change the position in which you are not completely mine and I am not completely yours? - he feverishly deduced the line "You are suffering, my dearest being... You are suffering - ah, wherever I am, you are also always with me, with me. I love you - just as you love me, only much stronger." "Oh God! What kind of life is this! Without you! So close! So far!.. While still in bed, I was full of thoughts about you, my immortal lover, now joyful, now sad again. I questioned fate, I asked, Will she hear our prayers I can only live entirely with you, otherwise this is not life for me Be calm - love me - today - yesterday What longing and tears for you - you - you - my life "My everything! Farewell! Oh, continue to love me - never misjudge the most faithful heart of your beloved L. Forever yours, forever mine, forever belonging to each other." He threw down his pen and sobbed. The message turned out to be chaotic, abrupt, incomprehensible, but, most importantly, it did not reflect what he wanted to say by a hundredth part. Jumping up from the table, Beethoven ran around the room. A volume of poems by Eiteles caught his eye; Opening the page at random, Ludwig read: I stand on a hill, dreaming, And I look at the crest of rocks, To a distant land, where I, my beloved friend, met you. In endless rows, Like a stone wall, The mountains have become between us, Our happiness and longing. “Mountains have become between us, our happiness and longing,” Ludwig repeated aloud, and these uncomplicated verses seemed to him the pinnacle of poetic art: they seemed to fall on music. He sank into a chair and thought. A strange detachment took possession of him: love, despair, melancholy seemed to have merged into one painful feeling of anticipation. And suddenly chords sounded in his soul; they formed into a coherent composition, which was beautiful. Beethoven rushed to the table and began to quickly write down the composed ... no, the melody he had suffered through! It contained everything he could not put into words. Soon the piano piece was ready. It remained to come up with a name, and it was possible to give it to the copyist of notes. Ludwig wrote on the first page of the "Message to ...". Here he stopped. Make the name of your beloved public, give rise to gossip? Never! "Message to ... Elise," he added and chuckled. So be it!..
Ludwig, grandson of Ludwig
Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn to the singer and musician Johann van Beethoven. The exact date of Ludwig's birth has not been established, only the date of his baptism is known - December 17, 1770 (hereinafter, biographical information about Beethoven's life is given according to the book by A.K. Koenigsberg "Ludwig van Beethoven, (1770-1827): A brief outline of life and work "). The boy's mother, the cook Maria Magdalena Keverich, after the death of her first husband, a footman, married the musician Johann van Beethoven. Compared to the lackey, the musician was a more respected person, but the trouble was that Johann had a fatal addiction to alcohol. The actual head of the family was the old Ludwig van Beethoven, the grandfather of the future great composer. Little Ludwig inherited many of his character traits from him. Pride, independent disposition, perseverance and efficiency - all these qualities were inherent in both the grandfather and his famous grandson. The elder Beethoven settled in Bonn in 1732. The surname "Beethoven" at first aroused the laughter of the inhabitants of the city: it meant "a bed with red beets." The grandfather of the great composer came from a respectable family of Flemish burghers - his father sold lace and paintings in the city of Mecheln, and sent his son to a church singing school. The elder Ludwig had a good bass, and the young man became a singer in the ancient center of Flemish musical culture - Liege. Arriving in Bonn, Ludwig van Beethoven received the position of court musician in the elector's chapel, and after working there for 19 years, he became the head of the chapel - bandmaster. Bonn in the middle of the XVIII century had only 8 thousand inhabitants. It was a beautiful and friendly town, located on the banks of the wide North Rhine, on picturesque, fertile hills. However, this quiet town played the role of the capital of the whole principality, since it was in Bonn that the residence of the Prince-Bishop, Elector of Cologne was located. The dwarf state was one of the 360 that made up the "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation". The life of Bonn was subordinated to the needs of the princely court. And the electors loved luxury, pomp, sought to imitate the customs of the brilliant French court and wanted to turn their capital into a small Versailles. The court chapel of the Elector of Bonn was considered one of the best in Germany. The musicians participated in the church service, performed in the theater, where operas, ballets, dramas and comedies were staged, at balls and feasts in the palace. Therefore, every singer had to be able to sing in Latin (in the church), in German, Italian and French (in the theater and at court). Ludwig van Beethoven, for example, often performed in popular comic operas by French composers Grétry and Monsigny. However, the position of court musician was poorly paid. And the enterprising, energetic Beethoven, having acquired a family, decided, following the example of his ancestors, to engage in trade. He opened two wine cellars in Bonn, where his wife sold Rhenish wines. The eldest in the Beethoven family enjoyed the respect of his fellow citizens as an honest, respectable person, with a deeply developed sense of duty. The portrait, under which a laurel wreath was hung on family holidays, depicts a typical Flemish burgher: serious, full of dignity, with a decisive and firm look. This was exactly the character of Beethoven's grandfather: when it turned out that his wife was the best consumer of the wine cellar, he, in order to put an end to family troubles that cast a shadow on his good name, placed his wife in a monastery, from where she did not leave until her death. The elder Ludwig van Beethoven was not happy in his sons either. The pernicious passion of the mother especially affected the second son, Johann. His father had high hopes for him, since even in childhood Johann's musical talent was revealed: at the age of 10 he acted as an angel in an Italian oratorio, and at 12 he was accepted as a court musician. He not only played the harpsichord and violin, but also taught singing, playing the harpsichord and music theory. He was a handsome, cheerful and charming young man who enjoyed the love of friends and women. However, he did not inherit his father's mental health and strength of character. Johann's temper was frivolous, fickle, he quickly got carried away and just as quickly cooled down. Intoxicated with easy success, he forgot that a musician needs to constantly work. His self-conceit increased as his ignorance was revealed, and frivolity and lack of will prevented him from returning to the right path. Johann constantly disappeared in taverns, was an indispensable participant in violent drinking parties and scandals that brought him notoriety in the city. He appeared in the chapel drunk or did not appear at all, his character became hysterical and quarrelsome, he lost his voice, and more and more plunged into the quagmire, not realizing the full horror of his situation. It seemed that marriage had changed Johann. At the age of 28, he married the 19-year-old widow of a court lackey, Mary Magdalene Keverich. Old Ludwig van Beethoven was against this marriage; he even threatened to leave the house, but his sharp objections did not break his son's stubbornness. Then Ludwig really settled separately from the young couple. Mary Magdalene soon managed to win over the old man. Quiet, meek, courteous, she had a wonderful gift to attract hearts. Not distinguished by good health, Mary Magdalene worked tirelessly, trying to keep the household in exemplary order - and this despite the growing family and noisy companies that her husband constantly brought into the house. Old Ludwig supported her in every possible way, peace and prosperity reigned in Johann's family for several years. But four children die in infancy, and Mary Magdalene falls ill with tuberculosis. Johann again disappears for days on end in taverns, without bringing a single guilder to the family, and returning home, mocks his sick, exhausted wife. At this time, old Ludwig dies. Johann quickly lowers his father's inheritance, sells his things, and the need reigns in the family. The house in which the Beethovens live is a real home of poverty. Located near the market square, in an area where no building resembles the luxurious palace of the elector, it seems to be the poorest and most miserable among the surrounding buildings. Three rooms in the attic overlook the courtyard, they are dark and damp, like a barn; a narrow dormer window almost does not let in the sun and air; ceiling beams hang low, supported by a slanting outer wall. It is not surprising that children here do not live long ... Fortunately, not all children were affected by sinister heredity. As already mentioned, on December 17, 1770, a baby named Ludwig was baptized - along with the name, he inherited from his grandfather indestructible health and mental strength. He was destined to glorify the name of Beethoven through the ages. Musical abilities manifested themselves early in little Ludwig, and his father dreamed of improving his material affairs with the help of a talented son. Throughout Europe, the name of Mozart thundered then: everyone could tell many stories about a brilliant child who amazed kings and musicians with his playing and compositions.
An example to follow:Amadeus
Wolfgang Amadeus ("Amadeus" - "Amadeus" - translated from Latin as "god's favorite") Mozart was born on January 27, 1756 in the city of Salzburg, in the family of a musician. Wolfgang's father, Leopold Mozart, was a violinist, organist, teacher and composer. The school of violin playing published by Leopold Mozart was popular not only in Austria and Germany, but also in other countries, including Russia. He worked as a court musician and valet for the Salzburg nobleman Count Thurn, and then entered the palace orchestra of the Salzburg Archbishop as a violinist. (Salzburg, located in the Alps, was at that time the capital of a small principality, similar to Bonn, where Beethoven lived. At the head was the Salzburg archbishop, who combined spiritual and secular power). Wolfgang's musical training took place under the guidance of his father. Mozart studied harpsichord, organ and violin. Already at the age of three, he built chords, improvised, reproduced the music he heard. The memory and hearing of Mozart amazed those around him. A friend of the Mozart family, the court trumpeter in Salzburg, I. A. Shachtner, recalled several facts from Mozart's childhood that he witnessed. One day Mozart's father came home accompanied by Schachtner. Four-year-old Mozart sat at the table, running a pen over music paper. When asked by his father about what he was doing, the boy replied that he was writing a harpsichord concerto. The father took a sheet of musical paper and saw notes written in children's handwriting, smeared with blots. At first, it seemed to him and Shachtner that this was a childish prank. But when he began to peer, tears of joy flowed from his eyes. "Look, Mr. Schachtner," he turned to his friend, "how everything here is correct and meaningful." So at the age of four, Mozart composed his first concerto. Schachtner goes on to say that Mozart was very fond of his violin for its gentle and rich sound. Once, when Mozart was 7 years old, he played this violin. One or two days later he practiced his own violin. When Schachtner caught him doing this, Mozart stopped playing and said that his violin was tuned one-eighth of a tone lower than the one he had played two days before. Shachtner laughed, but his father, knowing Wolfgang's amazing ear and memory, asked Schachtner to bring his violin without rebuilding it. Both were convinced that Wolfgang was right. However, Mozart's sister - Maria Anna (Nannerl, as she was called at home) - was no less talented performer. Father, daughter and son made up a brilliant trio of musicians. Since 1762 (Mozart was six years old), concert performances of this trio began in different cities and countries of Europe. The children played, however, not only with their father, but also on their own. In particular, the concerts given by Wolfgang and Nanerl in Vienna created a sensation. The Mozart musical family was invited to the court in Schönbrunn, the summer residence of the Austrian emperor. There, every day, Wolfgang and Nannerl played either separately or together in four hands. The phenomenal art of Wolfgang caused a storm of enthusiasm. He masterfully performed his own and other people's compositions, read unfamiliar works from a sheet with such ease, as if they had been known to him for a long time, improvised on given topics, played difficult pieces cleanly and unmistakably on a keyboard covered with a handkerchief. But, despite all the triumphs and delights of the public, life in endless traveling and concerts was extremely difficult. Wolfgang and Nannerl were brutally exploited, forced to play and improvise without rest for many hours in a row (concerts at that time lasted 4-5 hours). It is surprising how, with such a busy schedule, Wolfgang found time to compose music: already at the beginning of 1764, his four sonatas for violin and harpsichord were out of print. On the title page it was indicated that they were written by a seven-year-old boy. This big concert tour lasted for more than three years. Leopold Mozart achieved his goal: a long concert trip brought significant financial resources. In addition, good money was received after the end of the trip from the Archbishop of Salzburg: knowing about the composer's successes of the ten-year-old Wolfgang, he ordered him to compose the first part of the festive oratorio. The second part of the oratorio was written by Michael Haydn, the younger brother of Joseph Haydn. In order to test Wolfgang and deprive him of his father's help, the archbishop, while composing an oratorio, kept the boy locked up in his castle for a whole week. Mozart brilliantly completed the task - the part of the oratorio he wrote was a great success when performed in public. And the next year, in 1767, at the age of eleven, Mozart wrote his first opera Apollo and Hyacinth, which was also a success in Salzburg. Soon the archbishop awarded Wolfgang the title of court accompanist. In December 1769, the Mozarts undertook a large concert trip to Italy, where Wolfgang had not yet been. Huge success accompanied him everywhere in this country. Mozart showed his art in all its amazing wealth and skill: sitting at the harpsichord, Wolfgang conducted his symphonies, played the harpsichord and violin, improvised sonatas and fugues, as well as accompaniments to arias. In the biographies of Mozart, an incident is told that once again testifies to the amazing musical ear and memory of the young musician. In Rome, during Passion Week, Leopold and Wolfgang Mozart visited the Sistine Chapel, where "Miserere", a great polyphonic work by Gregorio Allegri (an Italian composer who was a member of the papal chapel in Rome from 1629 to 1640), was performed. This spiritual work, written for two choirs, was performed twice a year (on Passion Week) and was the monopoly of the Cathedral of St. Peter and the Vatican. Rewriting and distribution of "Miserere" was not allowed. Mozart, who listened to the work once, came home and wrote it down entirely from memory, without making a single mistake. So Mozart contributed to the spread of music, which was considered the sacred property of the pope. Triumphs in Italy were the last bright page in the fate of Mozart. In Salzburg, unpleasant changes awaited him. The old archbishop died, and a new one, Count Hieronymus Coloredo, took his place. If the former archbishop did not object to the long absence of the Mozarts, then the new master was much more abrupt and adamant in this regard. It became more and more difficult to get a vacation from him. At the same time, the archbishop found fault with every little thing and became annoyed when he saw Wolfgang's desire for independence. Wolfgang failed to free himself from the service, and the position of the court musician, who was actually a servant, made himself felt more and more. Mozart was obliged to sit for several hours every day in the anteroom, waiting for the orders of the archbishop for that day, to write music pleasing to the owner and his guests. The slightest failure to comply with the requirements aroused the fury of the archbishop and humiliating insults. But Mozart did not belong to the people who bowed their heads before the mighty of this world. Mozart's statements testify to his highly developed self-esteem and disdain for those who have reached a high social position due to origin, and not talent. So, in one of his letters, he says: "It is easier for me to receive all the orders that you are able to get, than for you to become like me, even if you died or resurrected twice." And in a letter to his father, Mozart wrote: "I hate the archbishop to madness" ... When the Austrian Empress Maria Theresa died, the Salzburg archbishop went to Vienna for her funeral. Wolfgang also went there on the orders of the archbishop. However, Mozart's hopes to renew ties with the higher musical world and to perform in the salons of patrons could not be realized, since the archbishop did not give him the right to perform without permission. In his own house, he still bullied Mozart, during dinner he kept him in the servants' room along with the waiters and cooks. Wolfgang's patience came to an end, nothing now could shake his firm decision to end his service - even at the cost of losing material well-being. He wrote to his father: "For your sake, I was ready to sacrifice my happiness, my health and my life, but my honor - it should be dear to me, and to you too." The father tried to persuade his son not to take a rash step, but Mozart's decision was firm and adamant. He submitted a written resignation. The archbishop not only refused, but also met Mozart with abuse. Mozart brought the statement a second time; when he came for an answer, the archbishop's oberkamerger Count Arco pushed him out the door. After this, Mozart was close to a mental breakdown for several days. Recovering his senses, he decided not to return to Salzburg, but to stay in Vienna. Thus, Mozart became the first among famous composers to break with the dependent position of the court musician. The initial period of life in Vienna was difficult for Mozart. Having no permanent income, no support from relatives and friends, having lost his former connections, he was forced to work to the point of exhaustion: compose, give lessons, perform. Added to this was concern for his father and sister, whom he was deprived of the opportunity to help. Mozart was helped by the spirit of the times: under the influence of the general national upsurge of Austria, the Vienna theater reoriented itself towards the creation of its own Austrian operatic art. Emperor Joseph II, who preferred Italian opera, was forced, under pressure from the progressive social movement, to organize in this theater a national "singspiel" - a comic opera with conversational dialogues in German. Mozart received an order for the singspiel "Abduction from the Seraglio" for this theater. The plot of The Abduction from the Seraglio is typical of an 18th-century opera: the beautiful Constance languishes in captivity of a Turkish pasha, who, in the end, is freed by her fiancé Belmonte. But, despite the traditional type of plot, not a single opera of that time had such a soft and subtle musical characterization of the characters and their feelings, deep penetration into their psychology, such sincerity and poetry in the embodiment of lyrical images and such wit and humor in the embodiment of comic images. like in a Mozart opera. The idea of true and selfless love, overcoming all obstacles, was in tune with Mozart's personal experiences. In Vienna, he met the Weber family, whom he had previously known. Once Wolfgang loved Aloisia Weber, the soloist of the Vienna Opera, but now his feelings were taken over by Aloisia's younger sister, Constance, a cheerful, cheerful, attractive girl. The friendship between Wolfgang and Constance quickly developed into mutual love. Mozart's feeling was fueled by the coincidence of the name of his bride with the name of the main character of the opera on which he worked during this period. However, the young people's desire to connect was thwarted by Wolfgang's father and Constance's mother. As a result, Wolfgang secretly took Constance away from home in August 1782, after which he married her. Somewhat earlier, in July 1782, the successful premiere of The Abduction from the Seraglio took place. However, the opera was not liked by the emperor, who accused Mozart's music of excessive "scholarship". "Too good for our ears, and an awful lot of notes, my dear Mozart," said Joseph II. "Exactly as much as needed, Your Majesty," the composer objected. Mozart did not have good relations with all composers in Vienna. Some of them considered the harmonic boldness in a number of his works to be insolence. Others envied the genius of Mozart. Among the envious was Antonio Salieri, who held a high position at the imperial court. It was Salieri who acted against Mozart and, using his influence, prevented him from taking a prominent position in Vienna and receiving due recognition there. But a great joy for Mozart was friendship with Haydn. The beginning of their personal acquaintance dates back to 1781. Mozart dedicated his remarkable six quartets to Haydn, his highest achievement in the field of quartet music. Wolfgang continues to work tirelessly, create musical works, including writing operas, later included in the golden fund of musical art - "The Wedding of Figaro", "Don Giovanni", "Magic Flute". But Mozart is still treated as a daring innovator and troublemaker, his compositions bring little to no income. A difficult time is coming for the composer. If in the first years of his life in Vienna he was invited by various nobles and patrons, generously paying for his performances, but now these invitations (as well as orders for works) became less and less frequent. Mozart was deprived of the most necessary means for the tolerable existence of his family, wife and children. Taking advantage of Mozart's gullibility, gentleness and worldly inexperience, the publishers deceived him, and sometimes simply robbed him. In addition, having debts, he was subjected to harassment by creditors. Only at the end of 1788, after the death of the composer Gluck, who held the position of chamber musician at the imperial court, Mozart was offered this position. But the emperor used Mozart only as a composer of dances for court balls and masquerades, for which he paid him an insignificant salary. The financial situation of the Mozart family was getting worse. Inhuman tension in work, constant material hardships oppressed, drove the great composer to despair and gradually undermined his body. To alleviate his situation, Mozart undertook concert trips, but they brought him little income. It is striking that even in such conditions he created cheerful works: for example, his last opera, The Magic Flute, as a whole is of a comic nature. Even before the end of this opera, Mozart received an order for the "Requiem" under rather strange circumstances, which seemed mysterious for a long time. A man dressed in black came to him, ordered a "Requiem" and disappeared. Mozart never saw him again. This visit made an overwhelming impression on him: having long been unwell, Mozart took the order for a funeral mass as a prophecy of his imminent death. Later, everything was explained: the strange visitor turned out to be a messenger from Count Walzeg Stuppach, who used to order various works from composers in need, buy them for next to nothing and then publish them under his own name. He was going to do the same with the Requiem. However, Mozart never knew all this. Anticipating the imminent end, he began with feverish haste to "Requiem", his last work, but still failed to complete it: the work was interrupted by death. "Requiem" was completed using the remaining sketches and rough notes of Mozart, his student Süssmeier. "Requiem" is one of the greatest creations of the brilliant composer. Written in the traditional Latin text of the funeral mass, its music does not meet the requirements of the liturgical cult. In "Requiem" Mozart embodies the deepest world of human feelings and experiences: the drama of spiritual conflicts, a grandiose picture of the Last Judgment, great sorrow and grief for lost loved ones, love and faith in a person. ... Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died on the night of December 4-5, 1791 (at the age of 36). The cause of Mozart's death is still a matter of controversy. The famous legend of the poisoning of Mozart by the composer Salieri (who, indeed, envied the genius of Mozart), is still supported by some musicologists. But there is no documentary evidence for this version - it is based only on oral data, in particular on the fact that Salieri himself, dying, already in a state of mental disorder, confessed to the murder of Mozart. However, this still does not provide grounds for confirming a terrible crime, so many researchers dispute the fact of Mozart's poisoning. ...Mozart's funeral took place under tragic circumstances. On this day, bad weather broke out, and none of the relatives and friends of the deceased reached the cemetery. Even Mozart's heartbroken widow Constance was unable to go outside. Due to the lack of money from his family, the great composer was buried in a common grave, without a coffin. The exact place of his burial is still unknown.
Fathers are not chosen
If Mozart's father cherished and developed his son's talent with thoughtful systematic studies, then the carelessness of Johann Beethoven manifested itself in the upbringing of the young Ludwig. The father set out to make Ludwig a virtuoso at all costs and forced him to endlessly repeat boring exercises, often bringing the child to tears. Johann was rude and quick-tempered, although he loved his son in his own way. And the mother, whom Ludwig adored, was deprived of the opportunity to devote time and attention to him: the last strength was taken from her by the household, and even two kids - Karl and Johann, two and four years younger than Ludwig. Beethoven very quickly mastered musical notation and played freely from the sheet; almost simultaneously he showed the gift of an improviser. At the age of eight, he already performed in Cologne, and at eleven he made his first foreign tour, visiting the homeland of his ancestors - the Dutch city of Rotterdam. Beethoven had no luck with teachers for a long time. For 4 years, he changed at least 5 teachers, many of whom did not deserve this name at all. Many years later, having already become a famous composer, Beethoven complained to his student that he could not get a real musical education in childhood. Beethoven's general education was even more fragmentary and unsystematic. For some time he had the opportunity to attend a school where they taught Latin, German and arithmetic, but at the age of 10 he was forced to quit classes in order to start working and help his family. Nevertheless, Beethoven stubbornly, almost without outside help, studied languages, so that already in his youth he was fluent in Latin and a little Greek, and even wrote in French and Italian (although not without errors). Ludwig grew up as an abandoned child. Difficult living conditions, poverty, drunkenness of his father, illness of his mother early made him an adult, formed character traits. Beethoven had an unusually developed sense of dignity and independence. Despite his lively temperament and sense of humor, the boy was distinguished by great concentration and isolation, often plunging into deep thought, from which it was impossible to get him out. Despite his meager education, Beethoven developed a good taste and was well versed in literature - modern and ancient, German and foreign. His favorite reading was ancient authors. Beethoven admired the epic heroes of Homer's Odyssey and Iliad, and the sublime images of Plutarch's Comparative Lives - biographies of the famous heroes of Greece and Rome - seemed to be carriers of civic virtues, role models; among them, Beethoven's favorite hero was Brutus. (The cult of antiquity was inherent in all advanced people of the late 18th century in Germany and especially in France, where the leaders of the revolution resurrected the traditions of ancient festivities and even took ancient Greek and Roman names for themselves.) Along with antique, Beethoven was also fond of English literature: however, not only creations Shakespeare, who was his idol all his life (four volumes of Shakespeare, covered with numerous notes, were kept in Beethoven's personal library), but the novels of the 18th century were his constant reading. The lofty ideals of friendship, fidelity, self-sacrifice, love, glorified by literature, captivated the young Beethoven.
The Importance of Finding a Good Mentor
At the age of eleven, Ludwig finally had a real mentor who completed his musical education and did a lot to shape his tastes and views. It was Christian-Gotlob Nefe. One of the most educated musicians of his time, Nefe left many comic operas, piano and orchestral works. Coming from a poor family (his father was a tailor), Nefe was distinguished by his democratism, which sometimes spoke rather sharply. He said that he hated princes more than robbers, was an enemy of ceremonial and etiquette, a hater of flatterers. Is it because Nefe, in the last years of his life, knew severe need and hunger and died in 1798 in poverty. Starting to study with Beethoven, Nefe immediately introduced him to the theater. On the Bonn stage, both dramatic and opera performances were staged simultaneously, as was customary at that time. There were plays by Lessing and Schiller, Voltaire, Beaumarchais and Molière, Shakespeare's tragedies "King Lear" and "Richard III". Operas were staged mainly comic - Italian, French and German. The theater orchestra was no less in composition than the elector's chapel. Ludwig not only attended performances, attended rehearsals, but also learned parts with singers. In 1782, Nefe secured a position as court organist in the elector's chapel and made Ludwig his assistant, an unpaid candidate waiting for a position to become vacant. Beethoven worked hard under the guidance of Nefe, often replacing him at the organ, striking everyone with his improvisations. Nefe wrote an article in one of the music magazines in which he predicted a great future for Beethoven: "This young genius deserves support in order to be able to travel. He will certainly become a second Mozart if he goes forward the same way he started." Nefe not only taught his student composition, but also introduced him to the great works of the past, to the heights of polyphonic music. Nefe's idols were Johann-Sebastian Bach and Handel; their works accompanied Beethoven throughout his life. From childhood, he became close to the philosophical motives of the work of Bach, the heroic Handel, who glorified the struggle and victory of the people. At the age of 13, after the death of the old elector, Beethoven became a court musician and on solemn days appears at the organ in full dress: a tailcoat with sea water-colored cords, a floral waistcoat trimmed with gold galloon, a white collar, short trousers with buckles, white or black silk stockings, shoes with black buckles and a sword at the side; on her head is a powdered wig with a pigtail. Gradually, Beethoven won recognition in Bonn not only as an excellent improviser - organist and harpsichordist, but also as a composer. At the age of 14, he had already written 3 quartets, piano pieces, songs, and even conceived a piano concerto. He is invited to perform in aristocratic houses, where he also gives music lessons. But now this no longer satisfies him - Beethoven dreams of studying with Mozart. Having saved and borrowed money, in the spring of 1787 he went to Vienna.
"He'll make everyone talk about him"
The capital of Austria impressed the 17-year-old provincial youth with the scope of musical life. Everything in this city sang. Austrian, German, Hungarian, Slavic, Italian, Gypsy songs and dances performed by street singers to the accompaniment of a guitar, harp, violin or a small instrumental ensemble sounded on the streets and squares, in the gardens, where crowded folk festivals were held. In the aristocratic salons of the richest Austrian, Hungarian and Czech princes, outstanding musicians gave concerts, who were also invited to the imperial palace. The Viennese nobility had their own opera troupes, orchestras, and ensembles. Many aristocrats were not only philanthropists - patrons of musicians, but were themselves considered composers and performers: they took lessons in composition and playing the harpsichord, violin or some other instrument from famous musicians, and then performed with their own symphonies or quartets. From six to eight in the morning, a symphony orchestra from among the highest nobility played in the hall of the Augarten garden, in which the ladies also participated. Four times a year, open concerts called "academies" were held for the benefit of the widows and orphans of musicians. At the concerts of the Society of Musicians, oratorios were performed, and the number of performers reached several hundred. Two imperial opera houses in the center of Vienna staged Italian and German operas and ballets. In two folk theaters located in the suburbs, there were mainly Austrian "magic" and comic operas. Shortly before Beethoven's arrival, one of Mozart's best operas, The Marriage of Figaro, was staged in Vienna. And soon the composer began to work on Don Juan. However, he took the time to listen to the young Beethoven. He improvised on a theme set by Mozart, and Mozart said: "Pay attention to him. He will make everyone talk about himself." Beethoven managed to take several lessons from Mozart, but the sudden news of his mother's serious illness forced him to hastily leave Vienna. Returning to Bonn, Beethoven found his mother near death. Need and grief undermined her health, consumption did the rest. Mary Magdalene died in the arms of her son, who kept her bright image in his soul until the end of his days. Shortly after the death of his mother, Beethoven wrote: “I found my mother still alive, but in the most difficult condition; she was ill with consumption and finally died about seven weeks ago, after much pain and suffering. She was so kind, sweet to me mother, my best friend. Oh! who was happier than me, while I could still pronounce the sweet name - mother, and it was heard! To whom can I tell it now?" The grief that befell Ludwig undermined his strength: he soon fell ill with typhus, complications after which tormented him all his life, then smallpox came. Beethoven was afraid of hereditary tuberculosis. But suffering did not break him. On the contrary, consciousness of responsibility, a sense of duty caused a surge of energy and supported the young man, who at the age of 17 was forced to become the head of the family and the educator of 13 and 15-year-old brothers. By that time, his father had completely drunk himself, lost his voice and became the laughingstock of the city. Ludwig asked the elector to evict his father from Bonn and about the transfer of half of his salary, which amounted to 200 thalers, to his young brothers. The elector's permission was received, but at the last moment Ludwig took pity on his father, as if foreseeing that he had only 5 years of life left. Johann continued to live in Bonn and carefully paid the elder son 100 thalers for the maintenance of younger sons.Soon Ludwig managed to find a place for them: Karl, according to family tradition, became a musician, Johann Jr. became an apprentice pharmacist. By that time, Ludwig's official duties had expanded significantly. In the elector's chapel, he was now not only an organist, but also a violist, and since 1789 - a "chamber musician", a soloist at court. To this was added work as a second violist in the theater, of which Nefe became the director. Numerous performances by Beethoven, his fiery improvisations caused more and more enthusiastic reception. The music critic Juncker wrote: “I heard how he improvised, and I myself was even offered to give him a theme for variations. In my opinion, one can judge with confidence the degree of virtuosity of this greatest pianist, a sweet and delicate person, very special expressiveness of the manner of playing, by the perfection with which he plays. I could not say what else he lacked to be a great artist. I heard Vogler play the piano ... But Beethoven, regardless of the degree of perfection, more significant, more eloquent, more expressive, in short, this excellent performer of both adagio and allegro, gives more to the heart. Excellent musicians of the choir themselves admire him, and everything turns to the ear when he plays. However, he is modest, without any claims." Beethoven attracted attention at first sight. He had a characteristic, memorable appearance. The dominant feature is will, plebeian, peasant strength. Short, squat, stocky, strong, even athletic build. A large round head on a short neck, a broad, extremely swarthy, almost brown (and according to others, brick-red) face with large features. A large mouth with a prominent lower lip and powerful jaws capable of cracking nuts, a short square nose resembling a lion's. The comparison with a lion's mane is also caused by hair - a forest of thick, pitch-black hair framing a mighty bulging forehead. The smallpox suffered at the age of 17 forever left its marks on the face and made Beethoven short-sighted. But despite this, his gray-blue eyes, small and deep-set, constantly burn with inner fire, suddenly expanding from passion or anger, and on a swarthy face they seem almost black. Beethoven's facial expression is often gloomy, concentrated, reflecting the hard work of thought; only sometimes a kind smile illuminates him; and the laughter, short and loud, is unpleasant - the laughter of a man not accustomed to fun. During long and distant walks, which Beethoven loves from his youth, he developed a quick, energetic gait with a characteristic forward tilt of the body. In the autumn of 1789, Beethoven entered the recently opened University of Bonn at the Faculty of Philosophy. It still retained a good deal of medieval scholasticism: church law was considered the main subject, the largest number of professors - six - taught theology. Along with this, lectures were given on the German philosophy of Leibniz and Kant. Among the professors of the university, the "German Jacobin", a former monk, a brilliant orator and poet, a connoisseur of ancient literature, Eulogy Schneider, who was constantly attacked by the Catholic clergy, stood out for his radical political views. In 1790, Beethoven met once more with Eulogius Schneider. The composer wrote a cantata on the death of Joseph II, known for his liberal, though not realized intentions. The cantata was to be performed at a meeting in memory of the enlightened monarch, which was organized by the Bonn Society of Readers. Schneider undertook to read the solemn speech. However, the performance of Beethoven's music did not take place - it was recognized as too complicated.
"Papa Haydn"
But Beethoven's music was approved by the great Haydn, who, along with Mozart, then occupied first place on the musical Olympus. Franz Joseph Haydn was born on March 31, 1732 in the Austrian village of Rorau, near the border with Hungary, in the family of a carriage master and a cook. His parents considered music a noble and profitable occupation, and in 1737 they sent Josef to study music and singing. So, five years old, he ended up in the small town of Hainburg, where he began to live with his cousin, who worked as a choirmaster. He began to teach the boy to sing. They treated Josef harshly, he later recalled that he was "flogged much more often than fed." Soon G. Reiter, Kapellmeister of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, who was looking for musically gifted children for his chapel, drew attention to the seven-year-old Joseph. The wonderful voice and extraordinary musical abilities of the little singer captivated Reiter. He enrolled Haydn in his chapel. However, during the ten years that Josef spent in the chapel, he received only two lessons in composition. When, at the age of seventeen, Haydn lost his voice, the bandmaster threw the young man out into the street. For a long time, Josef wandered the roads of Austria as a traveling musician. Once in the famous troupe of the comedian Kurz, he created an innovative comic opera for those times, Lame Demon, which brought him 25 guilders, which were quickly spent. Finally, Joseph was lucky - he tripled as an accompanist for the famous Italian composer N. Porpora. He appreciated Haydn's musical abilities and began to study composition with him. Unexpected luck allowed Haydn to start an independent life. He rented a miserable attic under the roof of a six-story building in Vienna, which became his first permanent apartment. In 1759, Haydn entered the service of Count Morcin, and two years later - for a long 30 years to the richest Hungarian prince Miklos Esterházy. Esterhazy's service was difficult. The contract deprived Haydn of the right to leave the prince's possessions, the copyright for his works also belonged to the princely family. Among other things, it was stipulated that Josef would "refrain from unnecessary talk, vulgarity, immoderation in food and the use of strong drinks." Haydn called himself a serf servant, which, in essence, he was ... By nature, Joseph Haydn was a kind simple man. Musicians loved him very much. Both old and young colleagues began affectionately calling him "Papa Haydn" when he was not yet 35 years old. For a long time he could not give up some of his old habits: he continued, for example, to wear his white powdered wig even when wigs fell out of fashion everywhere. Haydn got acquainted with the intimate side of life rather late. Although the musician lived all his youth surrounded by Viennese bohemia, he did not then have any relationship with women. The innocence of the young composer was revealed when, at one of the music lessons he gave to the young countess, she, wanting to better examine the notes, leaned forward strongly, and Haydn saw her breasts. "For the first time in my life I saw such a thing!" Haydn later exclaimed, telling his friend about this incident. "I was very embarrassed and stopped playing." Shy and unsure of himself, Josef was aware that his appearance was not particularly attractive to women either: he was short, his face was covered with smallpox spots, and his large nose was slightly deformed. Haydn considered himself a freak and once remarked that women were attracted "by no means my beauty." When Josef finally fell in love, his chosen one was the daughter of a wig maker, who by that time had already firmly decided to become a nun. In response to Haydn's courtship, the girl categorically stated that she was sick of the sinful human world, and thoughts of marriage horrified and disgusted her. Josef was shocked and crushed. However, the girl's father calmed the confused musician and persuaded him to marry his other daughter. This marriage was extremely unsuccessful. Anna Maria Keller, Haydn's wife, showed complete disrespect for her husband's profession - for example, by using his manuscripts as hair curlers. Josef and Anna did not have children, which also affected the relationship between the spouses. After his marriage, Haydn was practically a "married bachelor". He, nevertheless, was faithful to his wife for almost twenty years. Then he suddenly fell in love with nineteen-year-old Luigia Polzelli, an Italian opera singer who was also in an unsuccessful marriage. Luigia's voice and manner of performance were not very good, but her appearance and figure were simply excellent. Josef loved Luigia for several years and even promised to marry her if both of them were suddenly free. But by the time Luigia's husband died first, and then Anna Maria, Haydn's love had cooled off. This was influenced by several factors. Firstly, Luigia became more and more insistent in demanding money from Haydn, and secondly, during his trip to England, he met a woman there who seemed to him much more pleasant and cultured than his Italian mistress. Haydn, however, continued to send money carefully to Luigia for the rest of his life. It is claimed that Haydn was the father of her second child, although he himself never acknowledged this paternity. The Englishwoman who made such a lasting impression on Haydn was Rebecca Schroeter. She was a widow and in her sixties. The composer sent her passionate letters and was going to marry her. It is still unknown why they suddenly stopped the correspondence. After the death of Anna Maria, parting with Luigia and ending relations with Rebecca, matters of the heart played an insignificant role in Haydn's life. Some argue that he began to write his operas precisely because passionate and lasting love did not happen in his life. For fifty-three years of creativity, Haydn created almost a thousand musical works of various genres: 104 symphonies, 83 string quartets, 24 operas, 3 oratorios, 41 piano and 21 string trios, 52 piano sonatas and much, much more: songs, variations, fantasies , marches, dances. Haydn is rightfully considered one of the founders of the Viennese classical school. He completed the formation of the symphony orchestra, establishing its classical composition, the strict laws of which are binding to this day. He brought quartet music to full perfection, ensuring that all instruments (two violins, viola and cello) became equal members of this still popular ensemble. Despite the hardships of his life, Haydn continued to be a sociable, cheerful, resourceful person. And his musical works are filled with love of life, cordiality and good-natured humor, permeated with intonations of Austrian, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak and Croatian songs and dances, reflecting pictures of nature and folk life.
"You will receive from the hands of Haydn the spirit of Mozart"
"Moonlight Sonata" for Juliet
Keepers of the old, venerable traditions in music rejected Beethoven's works for quite understandable reasons. Beethoven, taking all the best from his illustrious teachers, advanced far ahead in the art of music. Romantic motifs were already distinctly heard in his music; to some extent he became the forerunner of romanticism, the first musical "romantic". Romanticism is a trend in the culture of the end of the 18th - the first half of the 19th century. At this time, faith in the possibility of restructuring public life for the better was lost, because the Great French Revolution, which tried to establish a just social order based on the ideas of the Enlightenment, led to chaos, lawlessness, cruelty, executions, and a series of despotic governments. The world appeared "lying in evil": it is darkened by the forces of decay, "ancient chaos" is resurrecting in man, "global evil" triumphs everywhere. The discord between the ideal and reality, which is also characteristic of previous trends, acquires extraordinary sharpness and tension in romanticism, which is the essence of the so-called romantic dual world. At the same time, in the work of some romantics, the idea of the dominance of incomprehensible and mysterious forces in life, of the need to submit to fate, prevailed, while in the work of others (including Beethoven's music), moods of struggle and protest against the evil reigning in the world prevailed. A genius does not obey the rules, but creates them - this idea of I. Kant became one of the main slogans of romanticism. Most romanticism manifested itself in Germany. Here, its prerequisites are formed already in the time of Beethoven, when a turn is made from classicism to romanticism in music. Musical romanticism is characterized by a focus on the inner world of a person, on the infinity of his feelings and moods. Hence the special role of the lyrical beginning, emotional immediacy, freedom of expression. Significantly updated means of expression. The melody becomes more individualized, embossed, characteristic, internally changeable, "responsive" to the subtlest shifts in mental states; harmony and instrumentation - richer, brighter, more colorful; in contrast to the balanced and logically ordered structures of the classics, the role of comparisons, free combinations of diverse episodes, increases. The works of Ludwig van Beethoven fully possessed all this, but that is why they were not recognized by all creators and connoisseurs of music. Love as one of the strongest feelings of a person, a feeling based on a mystery, affecting the hidden strings of the soul, was a favorite motif of romantic works. Moreover, it often constituted the whole meaning of the life of "romantics" from culture. At the same time, "romantic" love was rarely happy - the tragic denouement gave it a special meaning, allowed it to show a storm of feelings and experiences. It is no coincidence that the legend of the Lorelei was one of the favorite plots of German romantics. This maiden-enchantress, river fairy was the central character of romantic poetry. The name "Lorelei" goes back to the name of the steep cliff Lurley (Lurlei) on the Rhine near Bacharach. This name, literally meaning "slate rock", was later reinterpreted twice: first as "guard rock", and then as "rock of deceit". According to the Minnesinger of the 13th c. Marner, it was at this rock that cunning dwarfs (Luri, Lurli) guarded the treasures of the Nibelungs. Later, the legend of Lorelei acquired a new meaning: “In ancient times, at twilight and in the moonlight, a girl appeared on the rock of Lurley, who sang so seductively that she captivated everyone who listened to her. Many swimmers crashed against pitfalls or died in the abyss, because they forgot about their boat, and the heavenly voice of the magical singer took them away from life "(Alois Schreiber. Handbook for travelers on the Rhine. 1818). The literary life of the image of Lorelei, as well as the literary name itself, was given by the German romantic poet Clemens Brentano in his poetic ballad "Lorelei". Here, Lorelei is not just a sorceress, a mermaid, indifferently destroying people, she is an unhappy woman, weighed down by her fatal magic. In G. Heine's poem "Lorelei" (1823), the tragic seriousness of feelings is preserved, but tragedy becomes the lot of a swimmer, and not Lorelei. The heroine herself appears here as the focus of romantic "anxieties" and "sorrows", as the personification of an inexorable fate, disastrous fate. Below is a translation of this poem by A. Maykov: It's a problem, is it a prophecy... My soul is so dull, And the old, terrible fairy tale Follows me everywhere... Everything seems to be the fast-flowing Rhine, The fogs are already flying over it, And only the rays of the sunset of the Summit rocks are burning. And the miraculously beautiful maiden Sits there in the glow of the dawn, And she combs her golden curls with a golden comb. And everything glitters and shines, And sings a wonderful song: A powerful, passionate song Rushing across the mirror of the waters... Here comes a shuttle... And suddenly, Overwhelmed by her song, The swimmer forgets about the steering wheel And only looks at her... And fast waters rush ... A swimmer will die among the swells! Lorelei will destroy him with his wonderful song!.. "Inexorable fate" and "disastrous fate" permeate all the works of romantics - in this regard, Beethoven's music was no exception. Moreover, he knew firsthand about the boiling of passions - he himself had to know stormy love. Beethoven's first youthful passion was fifteen-year-old Lorchen von Breuning. Ludwig often visited her mother's house when he was still in Bonn. Lorchen was, in fact, a sweet child, and Ludwig admired her purity and innocence. The idea of marriage with this immaculate creature seemed blasphemous to Beethoven. He secretly idolized Lorchen, but did not dare to admit it, pretending that he visited the Braining house solely because of his friendship with Stefan - Lorchen's older brother. The girl, in turn, treated Ludwig as a friend of her brother - she was simple and direct in communicating with Beethoven, and it was unlikely that she would think of linking her fate with this man. Beethoven dedicated several pieces of music to Lorchen von Breuning, but when the time came for him to leave Bonn, he did not suffer from separation from her. Light sadness and pleasant bright memories remained as a memory of first love ... A few years after his arrival in Vienna, the composer was adopted by the Brunswick family. This noble Hungarian family was descended from one of the heroes of the Crusades and had the title of count, but four children - Teresa, Josephine, Charlotte and Franz - grew up freely and without supervision in a huge estate in the countryside. In the spring of 1799, Teresa and Josephine were brought to Vienna by their mother; the eldest at that time was twenty-four years old, the youngest twenty. Beethoven began to give them lessons. He wrote in the album of the Brunswick sisters variations on the theme of the song on the words of Goethe "Everything is in your thoughts." Musical classes lasted more than a year, but no special feelings arose between the teacher and his students, and soon Beethoven met the cousin of the Brunswick family, sixteen-year-old Juliet Guichardi, "beautiful Guichardi," as she was immediately nicknamed in Vienna. Juliet, indeed, was extraordinarily beautiful - with an angelic face, with huge brown eyes. Thirty-year-old Beethoven fell in love with her immediately, at first sight, fell in love passionately and recklessly, fell in love with all his heart - and he was not capable of loving in any other way. What kind of love, in which the feeling either burns brightly or barely smolders? What kind of love if it obeys the voice of reason? What kind of love if it is cold and measured? Ludwig thought so, he told his friends about it. Beethoven gave himself up to love completely, without a trace, and, oh, happiness! His lover seemed to reciprocate. “Now I am more often in society,” Ludwig writes to one of his friends. “This change was made in me by a sweet, charming girl who loves me, and whom I love ... You can hardly believe how lonely and sad I spent the last two years, "continues Beethoven. "I avoided people, seemed to be a misanthrope, which I have so little resemblance to. Previously, I was constantly ill, but now my bodily strength, and at the same time my spiritual strength, has been getting stronger for some time ... No need for rest "I do not recognize any rest but sleep. You must see me happy. Oh, how wonderful it is to live a thousandfold life!" Beethoven was preparing for the wedding; he was sure that it would certainly take place - after all, happiness was so close, so accessible. The summer of 1801, spent by Beethoven at the Brunsvik estate with Juliet, was a wonderful idyll... Everything collapsed overnight. Juliet's parents did not object to the friendship of the famous composer with their daughter, but they, of course, were not going to marry her to him, the son of a singer and a cook. For the Guichardi family, the musician was a second-class person, just an artist, attendants - and there was no question of intermarrying with him! Having received a decisive refusal to his marriage proposal, Beethoven almost went crazy. Later, he confessed to his friends that more than once thoughts of suicide came to his mind ... But what about Juliet? She grieved, grieved, - and calmed down. Two years later, Juliet Guichardi happily married twenty-year-old Count Robert Gallenberg. He came from a noble family and, by the way, also studied music. To sweeten the bitter pill presented to Ludwig, Juliet wrote to him that she was leaving one genius for another. Gallenberg's overtures, whose music was almost literally borrowed from Mozart (newspapers noted that one can always indicate where this or that measure was taken from), were then performed together with Beethoven's symphonies, and Juliet did not see any difference between them. At the beginning of 1802, a Beethoven sonata with a dedication to Countess Guichardi was published. All Beethoven's disappointment, all the storm of passions that raged in his soul, deep thoughts and mournful reconciliation found their embodiment in this work, which received the name "Moonlight Sonata". This is one of the most lyrical and poetic musical creations of world culture. It is no coincidence that the "Moonlight Sonata" has always inspired poets to create its poetic images. One of these poems belongs to Konstantin Balmont: The evening hour went out. And the shadow grows wider. But like a fairy tale, another obscure light arose in us, It seems to me that we are with you in the starry world, That we are among silent dreaming planets. I love you so much. But in this prelunar hour, When a wave is agitated by foreboding, My love grows like a multi-stringed roar, Like a many-singing deep sea. The world has moved away. Eternity breathes above us, The expanse of the sea lives by the influence of the moon, I am yours, my love is bottomlessness, infinity, We are lightly separated from everything with you. And the Lithuanian poetess Mara Griezane composed a lullaby for her little daughter called "Moonlight Sonata": My big blue country is sleeping Above its snows - a blue moon ... As if someone suddenly speaks to us "Moonlight" sonata will light up the heart, Beethoven in the blue of the night will stand as a moon shadow Here, in front of me... "Moonlight" sonata speaks to me. "Moonlight" sonata, blue country... "Moonlight" sonata, blue moon. This sonata was Beethoven's farewell to Juliet Guichardi. However, a few years later, Juliet repentantly came to Beethoven's apartment, begging for forgiveness. He didn't forgive.
Terrible disease
The tragedy of love coincided for Beethoven with another, no less terrible tragedy: he began to rapidly lose his hearing. “My ears are buzzing and making noise day and night ... I drag out a miserable existence. For almost 2 years now, I have been avoiding all society, because I cannot tell people: I am deaf. If I had any other profession, it was it would still be possible, but in my case, my position is terrible. What would my enemies, of whom there are many, say about this! .. In the theater, I have to sit right next to the orchestra in order to understand the artists. If I sit further away, I don’t hear high notes instruments and voices. It is amazing that there are people who do not notice this in a conversation ... When they speak softly, I can hardly hear; yes, I hear sounds, but not words; and meanwhile, when they shout, it is unbearable for me .. "I have often cursed my existence and my creator... I want, if possible, I want to fight fate; but there are moments in life when I become the most miserable of God's creatures. I beg you not to tell anyone about my condition... Humility "What a sad refuge! And yet this is the only thing left for me!" Beethoven wrote to his friend. The deafness became evident. What to do?.. How to live on, and is it worth living?.. Trying to recover, Beethoven fulfills all the prescriptions of doctors, and on the advice of doctors leaves for a small resort town of Heiligenstadt on the banks of the Danube. Alas, the last hopes for the return of hearing were buried here, as the treatment recommended by the doctors did not give any results! Thoughts of death do not leave Beethoven now. In October 1802, he wrote his will: "To my brothers Karl and Johann to read and execute after my death. O people who consider or call me hostile, stubborn, misanthrope, how unfair you are to me! You do not know the secret reason that you I imagine. My heart and mind from childhood were inclined to a tender feeling of kindness. I was ready even for feats. But just think: for six years I have been suffering from an incurable disease, aggravated by the treatment of ignorant doctors. Every year, more and more losing hope of recovery, I I am facing a long-term illness (which will take years to cure, or it must be quite impossible.) Being born of an ardent, lively temperament, prone to social amusements, I had early to isolate, lead a closed life. If at times I wanted to neglect all this, oh how cruelly, with what redoubled force, my damaged hearing reminded me of the bitter reality! And yet I did not have the courage to tell people: speak louder, shout, because I am deaf. Oh, how could I let you notice the weakness of that feeling, which I should have more perfect than others, the feeling, the highest degree of perfection of which I possessed - as only a few representatives of my profession possess and possessed. Oh, I can't do this. Forgive me, therefore, if, in your opinion, I am avoiding you instead of drawing closer, as I would like. My misfortune is doubly painful for me because I have to hide it. For me there is no rest in human society, no intimate conversation, no mutual outpourings. I am almost completely alone and can appear in society only in cases of emergency. I must live as an exile. When I am in society, I am thrown into a fever from the fear that my condition will be revealed. So it was in those six months that I spent in the countryside. My doctor prudently ordered me to protect my hearing as much as possible, although he met my natural need; but I, carried away by the desire for society, sometimes could not resist the temptation. However, what humiliation I felt when someone, being next to me, heard a flute from a distance, and I did not hear anything, or he heard the shepherd's singing, and again I did not hear anything! .. Such cases drove me to despair; a little more and I would have committed suicide. The only thing that kept me going was art. Ah, it seemed unthinkable to me to leave the world before I had fulfilled everything to which I felt called. And I dragged out this miserable existence, truly miserable for me, a being so sensitive that the slightest surprise could change my mood from the best to the worst! Patience is the name of what should be my guide. I have it. I hope that my determination to endure will last as long as the inexorable Parks please to break the thread of my life. Maybe I'll get better, maybe not; I am ready for everything... I have to be a philosopher. It's not easy, and even harder for an artist than anyone else. O deity, you see my heart from above, you know it, you know that love for people and the desire for good live in it. O people, if you ever read this, then remember that you have been unfair to me; let the unfortunate one take comfort in seeing a fellow sufferer who, in spite of all the opposition of nature, did everything in his power to join the ranks of worthy artists and people. .. You, my brothers, Karl and Johann, immediately after my death, ask Professor Schmidt on my behalf, if he is still alive, to describe my illness; you will attach the same sheet to the description of my illness, so that people, even after my death, will, if possible, reconcile with me. At the same time, I declare you both heirs of my small fortune, if I may call it that. Share honestly, live peacefully and help each other. Everything that you did to me unpleasant, as you know, has long been forgiven to you. To you, brother Carl, I am especially grateful for the affection shown to me lately. I wish you a better, less burdened life than mine. Teach your children virtue. Not money - only she alone can make a person happy. I say this from experience. She supported me in adversity. To her and my art I owe the fact that I did not commit suicide. Farewell, love one another... So let it be done. With joy I hasten towards death. If she comes before I have developed all my artistic powers, she will come too soon; I wish, in spite of my cruel fate, that she would come later. However, even then I would be glad of her; won't it free me from endless suffering? Come whenever you want: I will courageously meet you. Farewell and do not forget me completely after death. I have deserved this before you, because during my life I often thought about making you happy. Be happy. Ludwig van Beethoven. Heiligenstadt, October 6, 1802. Even more desperately sounds a postscript made four days later. “To my brothers, Karl and Johann, to read and perform after my death. Heiligenstadt, October 10, 1802. So I say goodbye to you in deep sadness. Yes, the sweet hope that I have brought here, the hope of recovery, even if only partially, must leave me forever. As autumn leaves fall and wither, so she withered for me. Almost the same as I came here, I'm leaving. Even the lofty courage that often inspired me on beautiful summer days was gone. O providence! Let me see a day just once, one day of pure joy! For so long, the echo of real joy is alien to me! Oh when, oh when, god, will I be able to feel it again in the temple of nature and people? .. Never? .. No! In 1804, the Appassionata was first performed, filled with passion, suffering and struggle. Just like the "Moonlight Sonata", this work by Ludwig van Beethoven inspired not only musicians, but also poets. Just as about the Moonlight Sonata, many poems were written about the Appassionata. And the gunpowder of silence is blown up. I need to understand everything myself. I don't need explanations. Comrade lecturer, do not rush to explain what's what. Let the stars circle at the zenith, Night burning through the darkness. Let the expanse seized by the winds buzz in your ears, And is it very important - To know where is the minor and where is the major? A powerful explosion of a chord swayed And under me, faster and faster, the Earth floats lightly and proudly, Rotating around its axis Comrade lecturer, for once I hear myself, I hear myself, How the rivers call back, How the echo wanders through the forests. I beg you: don't, Don't reveal the secret to me... Beethoven... Appassionata... We are alone with the music. (Mikhail Plyatskovsky. Appassionata) Seething and seething sounds, Like waves they crowd, Take each other by the hand And fall to rise. And each one is strong and faithful in His combination with others; So gushing blood from the arteries In a victorious and stormy anthem. Is there an excess of joy in it Or an excess of sorrow ... Here is a riot of primitive forces, Which are primordial in us. (Justinas Marcinkevichus. Appassionata. Pep. from lit. D. Samoilova) The name "Appassionata" does not belong to Beethoven, it was given by the Hamburg publisher Kranz. Almost simultaneously with the creation of the Appassionata, Beethoven began to give birth to the magnificent idea of \u200b\u200ba symphony, unlike any that had existed until then. This symphony was called "Heroic"; Beethoven dedicated it to his idol, whom he then worshiped - Napoleon Bonaparte.
Last Hero
At that time, Napoleon became a cult figure for many young people in Europe. The fate of the unknown Corsican, who became a brilliant commander and First Consul of France, who achieved all this with his mind, talent, will, excited the minds of young people. Napoleon was the personification of the romantic hero, he seemed to be the very great personality that the young romantics were frantically looking for. ...Napoleon was born on August 15, 1769 in the town of Ajaccio on the island of Corsica, in a poor noble family of Charles and Letitia Buonaparte (there were 5 sons and 3 daughters in the family). Corsica was a French possession and a remote province politically and culturally. It was impossible to make a career there. Careers were made in France, and ten-year-old Napoleon was sent there to study. But, since the Buonaparte family had neither the means nor the connections to hope to get a good place for him in the future in the civil service or in privileged army units, he was assigned to an artillery school. Service in the artillery was difficult and was considered not as noble an occupation for a nobleman as serving in the cavalry or even in the infantry regiment - therefore, everyone was admitted to the artillery school, and training in it, unlike other military schools, was free. At the age of sixteen, Napoleon received the rank of lieutenant, and he would have had to pull the army strap for many years before he even rose to the rank of captain, but four years later a revolution began in France. The old system of obtaining officer ranks, when they were either bought for money or obtained through many years of routine service, was eliminated. The revolution needed young talented commanders, and Lieutenant Bonaparte was here at the right time. Already in 1793, he became a captain of regular artillery, and in addition, he received the rank of lieutenant colonel of volunteers (volunteers). In October of the same year, fate gave Napoleon a chance to show all his brilliant abilities: he was appointed chief of artillery in a detachment besieging the city of Toulon. Here, the opponents of the revolution raised a rebellion, seized power, and then the British were let into the city - the worst enemies of revolutionary France. If the British and the rebels managed to build up forces in Toulon, then they could launch an attack on the central regions of the country and on Paris from here. The situation was extremely dangerous for the revolutionary government, given that the Austrian army was already advancing on Paris from the east, the English fleet blocked the sea coast of France, and entire regions were engulfed in revolts inside the country. Napoleon was ordered to act quickly and decisively. In fact, it was he who led the French corps that approached Toulon; this was explained both by the personal qualities of the young officer and by the patronage of the authorities. The fact is that Napoleon was an active member of the so-called "club of Jacobins". The Jacobins represented the radical wing of the revolutionary movement, their leader was Maximillian Robespierre, the de facto head of state in 1793-1794. They got their name due to the fact that they occupied the former monastery of St. Jacob in Paris under their headquarters. Napoleon often visited there, participated in the political work of the "Jacobin club" and was on friendly terms with the brother of the all-powerful Robespierre - Augustin. However, it is unlikely that Napoleon became close to the Jacobins solely out of careerist aspirations; for people like him - talented, but not rich and humble - in the old days the way up was closed. Only the revolution gave them the opportunity to express themselves fully, so Napoleon was a sincere and staunch supporter of it. Personally, Maximillian Robespierre appointed Napoleon Bonaparte to command artillery in the troops besieging the rebellious Toulon, and before the young captain arrived there, he had already received the rank of major. This was an advance on the future, and Napoleon more than worked it out: he carried out a brilliant military operation, Toulon was taken as soon as possible, although even the bravest officers of the French army doubted that the assault on this city was even possible. For the capture of Toulon, Major Bonaparte was immediately promoted to general, - the name of this general, who was only twenty-four years old, became known throughout France. It seemed that the road to even higher peaks was now opening before him, to the command, perhaps, of the entire French army, but soon he almost died in a whirlwind of revolutionary events. The revolution plunged more and more into a bloody chaos of cruelties, executions, coups. In July 1794, the government of Robespierre was overthrown in Paris. He and his closest assistants were executed, many Jacobins were arrested - among the latter was Napoleon Bonaparte. Fortunately, the glory of the winner in the battle of Toulon was so great that they did not dare to subject him to severe punishment. He was released from prison after a two-week sentence. For Napoleon, however, not the best of times came: for a year he remained without a post, and then was appointed to a ridiculous post in the topographic committee. It is not known how long a retired general would have to sit there, sorting out geographical maps, but another rebellion broke out in Paris, this time a royalist one (it was raised by supporters of the restoration of the monarchy). Napoleon was immediately appointed to lead the suppression of the rebellion, and he suppressed it, cruelly and quickly. For this, Bonaparte was promoted to the rank of divisional general and appointed commander of the rear troops. Less than a year later, he received the post of commander of the Italian army - in Italy, the French fought the Austrians, who threatened France from here. Thus, a new star rose on the European political horizon, and a new era began in the history of the continent, which was called the Napoleonic Wars. Contemporaries believed that Napoleon received the post of commander of the Italian army as a wedding gift. On March 9, 1796, General Bonaparte married the widow of Count Beauharnais, Josephine Tasha de La Pagerie, the former mistress of one of the then rulers of France, P. Barras. "In historical novels about the Napoleonic era, Josephine - the first wife of Napoleon - traditionally appears as a woman of a small mind, a wasteful society lady," writes Elena Grigoryevna Folina, candidate of art criticism. “The question arises: how could such a disorderly and frivolous person conquer this great man, in whose power“ half the world turned out to be ”? - he continues. - However, Napoleon’s numerous confessions addressed to Josephine testify to his sincere love for her. Love that forgot everything inflicted insults and forgave numerous betrayals. "You are alone - the happiness and torment of my life"; "I do not ask you for either eternal love or fidelity. The day when you say: “I love you less” will be the last day of my love or the last in my life,” Napoleon wrote. deep mind. She was married at the age of less than sixteen years to the Count of Beauharnais. Her husband, who quickly made Josephine twice a mother, deceived and left her. She was not represented in society, she did not go out into the world, she did not own women's tricks. time, without cunning, admitted that he leads the life of a free man, and reproached his young wife for unattractiveness, impoliteness and ignorance. Josephine herself subsequently admits that he was right in assessing her appearance and development. During the period of Jacobin rule, the spouses find themselves in He will go to the chopping block, they will let her go... Josephine is 32. She looks older than her years, her skin is covered with a network of wrinkles - Creoles quickly mature and age very early. On the hands of two young children and - hopeless poverty. She will tell her confidante that a woman's life is ending, but it is worth trying to extend it for several years. In front of her is noisy and cheerful Paris, whose stormy nightlife resembles a feast during the plague. Now nothing prevents her from plunging into the whirlwind of light, looking for rich boyfriends. Quite quickly, Josephine realizes that she does not have a single trump card: neither beauty, nor intelligence, nor youth. And begins in her life a period of hard self-education. Noble ladies of salons become "teachers", and the first witnesses of success, "allies in the war against old age" are countless mirrors with which she decorates her wretched home. In the evenings, Josephine watches the aristocrats, and during the day she repeats their walk, manner of speaking, and the ability to greet coquettishly. In the autumn of 1795, in the midst of these secret lessons, Josephine met with the future "ruler of the world." The commander-in-chief of the army, the young General Bonaparte, who was still unknown to anyone yesterday, gives the order to disarm the Parisians. A boy breaks through to him for an audience with a request to leave the sword of his dead father as a keepsake. The next day, the mother of the child, the widow of the commander-in-chief of the Army of the Rhine, Countess Josephine de Beauharnais, comes with gratitude. Bonaparte is 26 years old, in front of him is a lady who has exchanged her fourth decade. She seems to him elegant and graceful, noble and proud. How intuitively correct Josephine behaved! She skillfully distributed the roles in the scene of gratitude: he is a patron and benefactor, she is a weak petitioner. The vanity of the future emperor is fully satisfied. Realizing that Bonaparte was interested, Josephine, however, is not sure that it is worth continuing the game with this "impudent upstart". Bonaparte returns the widow's courtesy call. Blindly in love, he does not notice that in the house of Beauharnais, which Josephine maintains on credit, he is treated from clay plates, and the leg of a dilapidated chair can break at any moment. He sees not an aging lady, but a gentle maiden with brown hair and graceful movements, a courageous woman who "pulls" two children and needs help. He proposes. She, no doubt, is pleased with the love of a savage who does not notice her shortcomings. His passion proves that she is still young and new acquired manners can be successful not only with the young Bonaparte. She "mows" about five years, enrolling according to the metrics of her deceased sister, and turns out to be only two years older than the groom. They entered into a marriage alliance at a time when even close associates of Bonaparte did not foresee his dizzying career. The newlywed in love goes on military campaigns for a long time. Josephine, in the absence of her husband, prefers to continue the lessons of self-improvement and follow the instincts. Each new man seems to her an "angel", she embarks on love adventures swiftly, without looking back. Later, she admits that she did not know how to love apart, at a distance. Letters from Napoleon fly from all over the world. Sometimes he does not take off his boots for fifteen days, sleeps for three hours a day without undressing, but sends news to Paris every day: "If you don't love me anymore, then I have nothing to do on earth"; "If they ask me if I slept well, then before answering, I need to wait for the mail with the message that you had a good rest. Illnesses and madness of people scare me only at the thought that they can be dangerous for you. Let my angel- the keeper, who patronized me in the most dangerous moments, protects you, let me be left without his protection. His letters breathe love. On the eve of battles, he prays in front of her portraits. She does not miss a single ball and deftly demonstrates her "skill": gracefully chatting nonsense, compliments in time, listens attentively. And at home he "works out" coquetry techniques: slow laziness of movements, light, slightly swaying gait, sliding small steps. She learns to sit on the edge of an armchair and nestle in it like a bird in a nest. She does the almost impossible - changes the natural mimic habits. Suffering from her dark, decayed teeth, she invents for herself a chesty laugh with slightly stretched lips. "Not a single person has seen me with an open mouth," she admitted. To divert the attention of the interlocutor from the mouth, she "works out" fluttering movements with her nostrils, and lengthens her eyelids with a dark line. “I was not a beauty, and I had to play the role of a beauty, and compensate for the shortcomings with femininity,” she recalled. Her eyes and voice caress, as if promising special attention, but not guaranteeing it. Nature generously endowed her with a unique voice, with marvelous melodies of which she enchants everyone. Contemporaries said that even the servants, passing by Josephine's room, stopped to enjoy the "plays of the silver bell" of her speech. Thanks to Josephine, a soft manner of speaking comes into fashion, uttering hard sounds as if under a mute. Napoleon idolizes everything about this woman. Despair causes only non-approaching pregnancy. Napoleon dreams of an heir, she wants to give him a son. Josephine is treated on the waters. Upon arrival, he tells his friends about the methods of treatment. The most powerful regenerating agent is warm mineral baths. Doctors believe that only those baths that bring fatigue and induce sleep are effective. Rejuvenating procedures - hot camphor compresses on the face and masks from boiled potatoes. Doctors advise with the help of klisters to always keep the intestines in a free state. And the morning at the resort begins with a glass of lemonade - the so-called lemon juice, diluted with mineral water. Since then, Josephine has been fond of gifting silver-gilt lemon juicers. The First Lady of the Republic never uses perfume, believing that there is nothing better than the smell of a clean body. Every morning, Josephine takes a long bath and rubs herself with creams and balms. Her cleanliness was outlandish in a time when ladies preferred to wash away dirt with lotions and perfumes. Josephine, who not without reason considered herself an intermediary between the emperor and the people, patronizes fashion. Her subjects are equal to her taste. A flexible body, developed by hunting and walking, she does not constrain either a corset or a bra. In times of frivolous permissiveness, she refuses transparent robes, her dresses have only one risky open detail, "emphasizing mystery and mystery." For example, a deep neckline, exposing the top of the chest on one side, the second was chastely covered with a decorative flower, or with a closed bodice, one deep slit on the skirt. Josephine's hairstyle is imitated by all aristocrats: smooth hair, parted, enlivens the curls falling on the forehead and shoulders. Josephine rapidly changed her hats: in the form of a cylinder, a beret, a helmet. “I myself came up with a“ ponytail ”: a fake ponytail, reminiscent of a dragoon sultan, which I coquettishly let out from under a hat-helmet.” According to Josephine herself, the third passion of her life, after love and dresses, were flowers. In greenhouses and greenhouses, her gardeners discovered about two hundred new plant species. “Flowers decorate a mature woman better than any outfit,” Josephine taught her thirty-year-old friends to her daughter. In the morning, the hairdresser Duplan wove delicate small flowers into Josephine's hair, in the evenings - her favorite roses, adding pearls and diamonds to them. According to Josephine, a wife should learn to do what pleases her husband. She herself often plays swooning comedies with sighs, rolling her eyes and theatrical slipping to the floor - Napoleon loves weakness and fragility in her. She blushes like a girl and is embarrassed when she greets the guests. After breakfast, he reads newspapers, does needlework, invents incredible stories, and even plays music, having learned a piece on the harp - "all this amuses my husband." Josephine deliberately does not hide from her husband how she takes care of herself: in the morning - a bath and careful makeup, once a week - a manicure, twice a month - a pedicure. In the performance of life staged by her, her husband was assigned the role of the main spectator, and she always showed him creams, lipsticks, balms and elixirs. She made it clear that for his sake she was trying to become a symbol of beauty, a model of a tender woman. Josephine remained the only one for Napoleon. From the memoirs: "The Emperor did not see any shortcomings in his wife. She did not grow old and did not change for him, and if Josephine could give her wife the heir to his fame and power, he could never leave her. In his dreams, he is so with her and didn't break up. Having decided to break the marriage ties with Josephine, Napoleon wrote: "I demand that she retain the title and title of crowned empress for life, and most importantly, that she, my dearest person, never doubt my feelings for her" "... Napoleon divorced Josephine on December 16, 1809. By this time, he had already proclaimed himself Emperor of the French and won a number of victories in battles on the fields of Europe.As a result of the Napoleonic Wars, the territories of Belgium, Holland, northern Germany, part of Italy became part of France. In Italy, in the center of Europe, in Spain, kingdoms were created dependent on Napoleon, ruled by members of his family.The former revolutionary turned into a conqueror and dictator.Those who saw in Bonaparte the embodiment of the dream of a new type of state in which the ideals of “freedom, equality, fraternity.” The romantic veil that covered the image of Napoleon disappeared ... Napoleon's divorce from Josephine was the beginning of the end of the dizzying career of the Corsican. The second marriage of Bonaparte was short-lived and unhappy. In 1810 he married, for dynastic interests, Marie-Louise of Habsburg-Lorraine, Archduchess of Austria. (Austria defeated by Napoleon was forced to agree to this marriage). In 1811, Marie-Louise gave birth to his son, but the Austrian marriage of the emperor was extremely unpopular in France, and Napoleon's wife was cold to him and did not hide the fact that she married him only under duress. In 1812, Napoleon suffered a crushing defeat in Russia, after which the French army began to retreat under the onslaught of the Russians to the West. In European countries, resistance to the French grew, and an anti-Napoleonic coalition was again formed. In the "Battle of the Nations" near Leipzig (October 16 - 19, 1813), Russian, Austrian, Prussian and Swedish troops opposed Napoleon. Napoleon was defeated and after the Allies entered Paris in 1814 he abdicated. He received possession of the small island of Elba in the Mediterranean. The Bourbons returned to France (the royal dynasty that ruled in France from 1596 to 1792, in 1814 - 1815, and from 1815 (after the "hundred days of Napoleon") to 1830) and emigrants who sought to return their property and privileges. This caused discontent and fear in French society and in the army. Taking advantage of this, Napoleon fled from Elba and, greeted by the enthusiastic cries of the crowd, returned to Paris. The war resumed, but France was no longer able to bear its burden. "Hundred Days" ended with the final defeat of Napoleon near the Belgian village of Waterloo (June 18, 1815). He became a prisoner of the British and was sent to the distant island of St. Helena in the Atlantic Ocean. Napoleon spent the last six years of his life there. He died May 5, 1821; in 1840 his body was transported to France and now rests in Les Invalides in Paris. The "Heroic Symphony", dedicated to Napoleon, became for Ludwig van Beethoven a real take-off of the composer's creative powers. "She is some kind of miracle even among the works of Beethoven. If in his subsequent work he moved further, then he never took such a big step at once. This symphony is one of the great days of music. It opens an era," Romain Rolland wrote about her. The symphony is filled with the heroism of the struggle, sharp conflicts. To embody such images, Beethoven needed not only new forms, but also the gigantic, unprecedented scale of each part, which amazed his contemporaries. The first open performance of the Heroic Symphony took place on April 7, 1805, at the home of the bankers Wirth and Felner. According to one of the newspapers, “the audience and Mr. van Beethoven, who acted as a conductor, were dissatisfied with each other that evening. For the public, the symphony is too difficult and long, and Beethoven is too impolite, because he did not even honor the applauding part of the audience with a bow, on the contrary, he considered success insufficient." Some impatient listener shouted from the gallery: "I'll give a kreuzer to stop all this." And Beethoven, irritated by the attacks on the length of his new symphony, grimly promised: "When I write a symphony that lasts a whole hour, the Heroic will seem short" (he fulfilled his threat 20 years later, in the Ninth Symphony). This non-recognition of the symphony, which Beethoven loved more than all others until the end of his life, upset the composer. But a much greater blow for him was disappointment in the hero to whom he dedicated the work. One of Ludwig's friends recalled: "This symphony was conceived in connection with Bonaparte when he was still First Consul. Beethoven valued him exceptionally highly and compared him with the greatest Roman consuls. Both I and his other closest friends often saw this symphony rewritten in score on his desk, on the top of the title page was the word "Buonaparte", and below "Ludwig van Beethoven" - and not a word more ... I was the first to bring him the news that Bonaparte had declared himself emperor. Beethoven was furious and exclaimed: "This is also an ordinary man! Now he will trample on all human rights with his feet, follow only his ambition, he will put himself above all others and become a tyrant! "Beethoven went to the table, grabbed the title page, tore it from top to bottom and threw it on the floor." But more than once, in Beethoven's conversations with friends, the name of Napoleon flashed. Upon learning of the brilliant victory of Napoleon at Jena, Beethoven exclaimed: "What a misfortune that I am not an expert in military affairs as much as in music! I would have beaten him!" And at the news of the death of Napoleon in exile on the island of St. Helena, Beethoven said: "It has been 17 years since I wrote music suitable for this sad event ...".
Message to Eliza
From time to time, Beethoven continued to visit the house of Count Franz Brunswick, he was still friends with the count's daughters - Teresa and Josephine. Although they were sisters, they differed sharply in character. Teresa was an outstanding person, with a passionate imagination and strong will, a serious mind and a constant thirst for activity. Teresa deeply felt music: at the age of three she began to learn to play the piano, at the age of six she already performed with an orchestra, later she was one of the best performers of Beethoven's sonatas. Josephine Brunswick had a different character - fragile and nervous. Her fate was unfortunate. As a young girl, she was given in marriage against her will to Count Dame, who was almost thirty years her senior; the husband died early, leaving Josephine with four children and a distressed state. Only music and meetings with Beethoven consoled her. Beethoven regularly gave Josephine piano lessons. As soon as he wrote a sonata, he hurried to Josephine to show her his new work. She was the first to whom he played excerpts from his opera "Fidelio" - it was Josephine who became the prototype of the gentle and proud, loving and faithful to the duty of the main character of this opera - Leonora. Soon Beethoven's friendship with Josephine grew into love. While working on Fidelio, he said: “The main character is in me, in front of me, wherever I go, wherever I am. I have never been at such a peak. Everything is light, purity, clarity . Until now, I was like a child in a fairy tale who collects pebbles without seeing the magnificent flower that bloomed in his path. And again he dreams of marriage. The difference in years between Beethoven and Josephine is not so big - ten years: in 1809 he was thirty-nine, she was twenty-nine. Ludwig loves Josephine's children from her first husband, and they managed to become attached to him. What other obstacles remain? Deafness? But how can this push a loving woman away from him? Estate inequality? But Josephine's father is an admirer of Beethoven's talent and is unlikely to object to Ludwig's marriage to his daughter ... Could Beethoven imagine that this time the main obstacle to happiness would be his beloved sister! Teresa had a huge influence on her father, in fact, she had the last and decisive vote in all important family matters. She categorically spoke out against Josephine marrying Beethoven. Causes? Those that the old count and Josephine herself did not pay attention to: Beethoven is no match for the Bruswick family, moreover, he is seriously ill. The sister's tears and the father's attempts to change the decision of his eldest daughter did not touch Teresa. On top of that, fate seemed to intervene here: Baron Stackelberg was engaged to Josephine - quite a worthy match for the daughter of Count Brunswick. Beethoven was refused, and in 1810 Josephine married a baron. This marriage did not bring her happiness, like the first marriage; worries about the economy, about money absorbed all the forces; nervous fever undermined her health. Teresa later reproached herself for interfering with the union of Josephine and Beethoven. Twenty years after the composer's death, she wrote: "Beethoven, who was so kindred in spirit to her ... A friend of Josephine's home and heart! They were born for each other and would still be alive if they were connected ... How Beethoven was unhappy, despite such spiritual gifts! And Josephine was unhappy! .. Together they would be happy, perhaps ... ". But was Teresa completely frank, even to herself, destroying the emerging union of Ludwig and Josephine? Probably not; in any case, subsequent events make one strongly doubt the reasons for which she opposed this marriage. There is no doubt that Teresa herself secretly loved Beethoven - in any case, having removed her rival sister, she soon achieved reciprocity from him. He avoided her and treated her with hostility, which was quite natural, but Teresa had a strong means to arouse Beethoven's sympathy, and later love. That medium was music. Teresa was one of the best performers of Beethoven's sonatas, which, of course, resonated with the composer's heart. Ludwig and Teresa spent long hours at the piano, learning the works of Beethoven, and the time came when he saw in her a close person. Forgotten was her role in the breakdown of her marriage to Josephine; Teresa eclipsed her younger sister. Now, when Beethoven and Teresa played music together, he touched her hand and looked with excitement at his partner, a beautiful, sympathetic, sweet woman. Finally, he decided to explain. Embarrassed and confused in words, Ludwig said: - Teresa! Let's leave the music for now... I wanted to tell you. There was a time when I hated you, but now... Now you have become more than just a friend to me. You understand? Teresa, I love you! I love you endlessly ... I will never love anyone more, I know that! All my thoughts are only about you, I suffer when you are not near me... Do you love me? Be my wife, dear, sweet, beloved Teresa! Do not refuse me, because fate has treated me so ruthlessly until now, I will not withstand another blow! He painfully peered into Teresa's face, trying to read from her lips what she would answer - he heard very badly when he was worried. But she did not say anything: she simply hugged his head and pressed it to her chest. - How long have I been waiting for your explanation, - Teresa whispered, - and, lo and behold, he heard her every word! .. Many years after this explanation, Beethoven will say: like the day I confessed my love to her." Teresa Brunswick was faithful to Beethoven until the end of his days - the last love, the last joy of the great sufferer. They got engaged, but their betrothal was secret: after the story with Josephine, Beethoven's marriage to Teresa would have looked ambiguous. Immediately after the betrothal, Teresa presented Ludwig with her portrait with the inscription: "To a rare genius, great artist, good man" and an allegorical drawing depicting the composer in the form of an eagle looking at the sun. This portrait hung in the composer's office until Beethoven's death. Beethoven loved Teresa madly. When they were apart, he suffered immensely without his secret wife. Friends somehow found Beethoven crying over a portrait of Teresa; kissing him, he repeated: "You are so beautiful, so great, like angels!" Unfortunately, they had to part often: he was forced to give concerts in different cities of Austria and Germany, in the homes of his wealthy patrons; in addition, at the insistence of doctors, he was periodically treated at resorts, although there was little sense from this treatment. Since Teresa was not officially Beethoven's wife, she could not follow him, just as he followed her; it depressed them greatly. Once, when Teresa left Vienna, and Beethoven was supposed to stay, he wrote several letters to his beloved, the drafts of which were found much later, after his death. "You are suffering, my dearest being ... You are suffering - oh, wherever I am, you are also always with me, with me. And with you, I know that only with you I can live - what a life! So!!! I cry at the thought that you probably won't get the first news from me until Sunday. I love you - just like you love me, only much more...". “Still lying in bed, I was full of thoughts about you, my immortal beloved, now joyful, then sad again. I asked fate, I asked if she would hear our prayers. I can only live entirely with you, otherwise it’s not for me life... Oh my God, why do you have to leave when you love each other? And yet my life in Vienna is troublesome now - your love has made me both the happiest and the most unhappy of people. At my age, I need a certain uniformity and evenness of life - can this be with our relationships?". "My angel, my everything, my "I"! Is it possible that our love can only endure at the cost of sacrifice, by renouncing fullness, can’t you change the situation in which you are not completely mine and I am not completely yours? .. Oh my God! What a life! Without you! So close! So far! .. Be calm - love me - today - yesterday. What longing and tears for you - you - you - my life - my everything! Goodbye! Oh, keep on loving me - never falsely judge the most faithful heart of your beloved L. Forever yours, forever mine, forever belonging to each other. "Love and sadness gave birth to a gentle musical message that contained everything that Beethoven could not tell in words "He wrote this piano piece very quickly. All that remained was to come up with a title, and you could give it to a copyist of music. Ludwig wrote on the first page "Message to ...". Here he stopped. Make the name of his beloved public, give rise to gossip? Never! "Message to ... Elise", - he added and grinned. So be it! France lived a famous philosopher, professor at the University of Paris Pierre Abelard.He fell in love with his young student Eloise (Elise), and she responded to him in return.However, since Abelard wore a priesthood, according to the rules of Catholicism, he could not marry. This did not stop the lovers; defying existing moral standards, they secretly became husband and wife and were happy. Their secret was revealed when Eloise became pregnant. Eloise's uncle, Fubert, who raised her, was furious - he considered that Abelard had dishonored the girl. Fobert hired some scoundrels, and they brutally took revenge on Abelard: he was terribly and shamefully mutilated, after which he had no choice but to go to the monastery. Eloise also took tonsure, becoming a nun. But their love has not faded. They exchanged tender letters, which were published much later and became a model of high love feelings. When Abelard died, Eloise buried his ashes in the monastery where she was abbess, and bequeathed to bury herself next to her lover. According to legend, roses grew on their graves: on the grave of Abelard - a white bush, on the grave of Eloise - a pink one. These bushes were so intertwined with branches that it was impossible to separate them. The love drama of Abelard and Heloise, partially described by the philosopher himself in his book "The History of My Disasters", and reflected in the correspondence of lovers, has become one of the most popular themes of various literary works for many centuries. The main events of this drama were rethought and interpreted in their own way by famous poets and writers. In the 16th century, for example, "the first lyricist of French poetry" P. Ronsard created a poem about Abelard and Eloise; in the 18th century, J.J. Rousseau based his novel "The New Eloise" on the "modernized" plot of this story. Note that in the 20th century the old drama was not forgotten. Certain borrowings of its storyline can be traced in the novel by V. Nabokov "Lolita" and in the fate of the main characters of the novel by Colleen McClow "The Thorn Birds". Beethoven, like all educated people of the 19th century, knew well the love story of Abelard and Heloise. For him, "Eloise" is a symbol of a distant beautiful beloved, a symbol of separated loving hearts. Naturally, not wanting to show the whole world his true relationship with Teresa, Beethoven encrypted her name in a piece of music addressed to her - this is how the "Message to ... Elise" appeared. ...Immediately after the first performances, the play "Fur Elise" gained a noisy and well-deserved success. Contemporaries said that if Beethoven had written only it, then even then he would have received universal recognition. Of course, everyone was interested in who "Eliza" is, who is this amazing gentle melody dedicated to? Beethoven remained silent, and none of his contemporaries managed to reveal his secret. And a few years later he wrote a vocal cycle on the poems of the poet Eiteles that he loved. There were also such lines: I stand on a hill, dreaming, And I look at the crest of rocks, To a distant land, where I, my beloved friend, met you. In endless rows, Like a stone wall, The mountains have become between us, Our happiness and longing. But even this vocal cycle did not reveal to the idle public the name of the woman who became the composer's muse. Beethoven dedicated his vocal works to "Distant Beloved"...
"The expression of the deepest suffering did not leave his face"
Meanwhile, Beethoven's life flowed more and more secluded, he was more and more removed from the world. Numerous descriptions of Beethoven's Viennese dwellings have survived. He changed them very often - over 30 times in 35 years of his life in Vienna, but they were all very modest. “A truly amazing mess reigns in his house,” recalled the conductor Seyfried. “Books and notes are scattered in all corners, as well as the remnants of cold food, uncorked or half-drunk bottles; leftovers from breakfast, on the piano, on pages speckled with scribbles, material for a magnificent symphony still dormant in its infancy and proofreading pleading for salvation... The search for things lasted for weeks. praising his neatness and love of order with Ciceronian eloquence. In 1816, the traveler de Burey visited Vienna. He decided to visit Beethoven and went to look for his house, confident that it would not be difficult: “I assumed that Beethoven should live in one of the princely palaces under the patronage of a patron. How surprised I was when the herring seller pointed me to a neighboring house and said : "It seems that Mr. Beethoven lives here nearby, I often saw how he entered here .... Miserable house and third floor! Stone steps lead directly into the room where Beethoven creates ... Beethoven comes out to meet me ... He small in stature, dense, his hair slicked back with strong graying, a reddish face, fiery eyes, small, but deep-seated and full of life ... "I have the misfortune of being abandoned by all my friends and stuck alone in this ugly Vienna," he said. He asked me to speak loudly, because now his hearing is especially bad again ... In general, he has been unwell for a long time and has not composed anything new ... From embarrassment, he speaks a lot and very loudly. Poisonous bile boils in him. dissatisfied with everything and especially curses Austria and Vienna. He speaks quickly and very animatedly. He often strikes the piano with his fist ... "Circumstances chain me here," he said, "but here everything is vile and dirty. Everyone is scoundrels from top to bottom. Nobody can be trusted ... The music here is in complete decline. The emperor does nothing for art, and the rest of the public is content with what is "... During the silence, his forehead wrinkled, and he looked gloomy, so that one could be afraid of him if it were not known that the soul of this artist is beautiful. "In these years not only creativity, but also the performance of Beethoven was noticeably reduced. In 1814 he made his last public appearance as a pianist. The violinist and composer Spohr had listened to Beethoven at a rehearsal shortly before: “It was not a pleasure, because, firstly, the piano was very out of tune, which Beethoven cared little, because he already did not hear anything; secondly, from his almost nothing was left of the former so amazing virtuosity due to the deafness of the artist.In strong places, the poor deaf composer struck so that the strings rang, and with a quiet sonority he played so gently that whole pieces could not be heard ... Can a musician endure such a misfortune, without despair? An equally sad spectacle was presented by Beethoven at the conductor's stand. The same Spohr wrote: “Beethoven learned to show signs of expressiveness to the orchestra through all sorts of strange body movements. With quiet sounds, he bent the lower, the weaker the desired audibility was. , shouted to enhance the sonority. During the rehearsal, Beethoven lost his way due to his deafness and ran ahead by 10 - 12 bars. In the right place, as it seemed to him, he showed forte; the orchestra, playing according to the notes, continued to play the piano. Then Beethoven looked back at the orchestra in fear and surprise ... and felt good only when the long-awaited sonority was finally heard by him. And when the production of the opera Fidelio was resumed, the following tragic incident occurred, told by Schindler, Beethoven's secretary: tempo; and while the orchestra followed his baton, the singers for their part went forward. The permanent conductor of the theater, Umlauf, offered to take a short break for rest, without explaining the reasons; and after a few words said to the singers, they began again. The same disorder was repeated "I had to make a second pause. The impossibility of continuing under Beethoven was obvious; but how to make him understand? No one had the courage to say: "Go away, poor fellow, you cannot conduct." Alarmed, agitated, Beethoven turned in all directions, tried read the expressions of individuals and understand where the obstacle comes from: silence reigned everywhere.Suddenly he imperatively called me. When I approached him, he handed me his notebook and asked me to write with a sign. I jotted down the following words: "I beg you not to continue; I will explain the reason at home." With one jump, he jumped into the stalls, shouting to me: "Let's leave quickly!" Without stopping, he ran up to the house, entered and fell motionless on the sofa, covering his face with both hands; so he remained until dinner. At the table it was impossible to extract a single word from him; the expression of oppression and the deepest suffering did not leave his face. After dinner, when I wanted to leave him, he restrained me, expressing a desire not to be left alone. At the moment of parting, he asked me to take him to the doctor who treated him, who was considered a great specialist in ear diseases ... For all the time of my subsequent relationship with Beethoven, I do not find a day that could compare with this fateful November day. He was struck in the heart and until his death he lived under the impression of this terrible scene.
"People are brothers among themselves!"
However, in spite of everything, Beethoven continues to write music. In the last decade of his life, new features intensified in his work. Beethoven's greatest work was the Ninth Symphony. It is unlike any of the symphonies created up to that time. It seemed to Beethoven that a symphony orchestra was not enough to embody his grandiose idea: he wanted to sing the brotherhood of millions, the brotherhood of all the people of the world, united in a single impulse of joy and freedom, and for this he introduced the choir and soloists singing Schiller's "Ode to Joy" into the finale of the symphony. People are brothers among themselves! Hug, millions! Merge in the joy of one! This symphony leaves an amazing impression! “What conquest is equal to this, what battle of Bonaparte, what sun of Austerlitz achieve the glory of this superhuman effort, this victory, the most brilliant of the spirit ever won? - says Romain Rolland. the world withholds joy, it creates joy itself to give it to the world! It forges it out of its misfortune, as he expressed it in the proud phrase that sums up his life and is the motto of every heroic soul: "Through suffering to joy." And poets do not passed by Beethoven's brilliant Symphony No. 9. Here is what Nikolay Zabolotsky wrote: On the very day when your harmonies Overcame the complex world of labor, Light overpowered light, a cloud passed through a cloud, Thunder moved towards thunder, a star entered the star. In the orchestras of thunderstorms and the trembling of thunders, You climbed the cloudy steps And touched the music of the worlds, Oak trumpets and a lake of melodies You overcame the discordant hurricane, And you shouted in the face of nature itself, Your lion's face thrusting through the organ. And in the face of the space of the world You put such a thought into this cry, That the word broke out of the word with a cry And became music, crowning the lion's face. The lyre sang again in the horns of the bull, The bone of the eagle became the shepherd's flute, And you understood the living beauty of the world And separated its good from evil. And through the peace of the space of the world To the very stars passed the ninth wave Open, thought! Become music, word, Strike the hearts, so that the world triumphs. The first performance of the Ninth Symphony in Vienna on May 7, 1824 turned into a triumph for the composer. At the entrance to the hall there was a fight over tickets - so great was the number of people who wanted to get to the concert. Beethoven, who gave the tempos at the beginning of each movement, standing at the ramp, did not hear the enthusiastic applause that the audience burst out at the end of the second movement of the symphony, demanding its repetition. Then one of the singers went up to the composer and, taking him by the hands, turned her face to the audience so that he could see scarves, hats, and raised hands flashing in the air; many cried. Beethoven was greeted with a standing ovation five times, while the emperor, according to etiquette, was met with only three applause. It took the intervention of the police to put an end to this demonstration. However, the fees from the concert were negligible - neither the emperor and his family, nor the courtiers, having received an invitation, not only did not honor the composer with their presence, but did not send a penny. Beethoven's income was only 420 guilders. And the repetition of the same program on Sunday, May 23, did not gather the public at all - the Viennese went to the bosom of nature, and the concert brought large losses.
Late recognition
It was only at the very end of his life that Beethoven received true recognition. The publisher Thomson of Edinburgh wrote in the preface to the first volume of Beethoven's Irish Melodies: "Among living composers, it is clear to every open-minded musician that the only one who occupies a position as eminent as the late Haydn is Beethoven." The composer was assured that in England his portraits could be seen literally at every crossroads. The famous manufacturer of English pianos Bradwood sent Beethoven the last sample of his instrument as a gift, the English manufacturer Strumpf - a luxurious edition of the complete works of Handel in 40 volumes, the London Philharmonic Society - 100 pounds sterling. Shortly after Beethoven's completion of the Solemn Mass, on April 7, 1824, it was already performed in Russia, in St. Petersburg. The Royal Academy of Music in Sweden made him an honorary member, and the King of France sent him a gold medal inscribed with the profile of Beethoven. Viennese admirers of the composer's work brought him a solemn address, in which there were such words: "From you alone the nation is waiting for a new life, new laurels and a new kingdom of truth and beauty, contrary to the fashion of our days ... Give us hope that we will soon see the performance of our wishes ... And may the coming spring bloom doubly for us and for the world thanks to your talent! Many musicians dreamed of meeting Beethoven and expressing their deep respect for him. In 1823, the creator of the German romantic opera Weber visited him, and the first Austrian romantic, Schubert, brought him his variations with a dedication. Schubert lived all his life with Beethoven in the same city, but shyness and admiration for genius prevented him from getting to know Beethoven; dying, he asked to be buried next to Beethoven. The honor of acquaintance with Beethoven was also sought by Rossini, the idol of the Viennese public, who made her forget about the great Austrian classics. Rossini's music sounded everywhere in Vienna. Back in 1816, after the appearance of The Barber of Seville, the following opinion was established in the salons: “Mozart and Beethoven are old pedants; they liked the stupidities of the previous era; only thanks to Rossini did we learn what a melody is. Fidelio is rubbish; it is not clear how you can give yourself the trouble to go bored on it. However, the thirty-year-old Rossini, surrounded by fans, in the rays of European glory, dreamed of meeting the gloomy, deaf, tormented by need and illness, the fifty-two-year-old Beethoven. Rossini's admiration was expressed in characteristic statements: "Beethoven is a miracle among people", "What strength, what fire this man had! What treasures his piano sonatas contain!" "I am glad that I could at least see him." The meeting took place in 1822, when Rossini came to Vienna to stage his opera Zelmira. He made an attempt to penetrate Beethoven with the help of the famous Viennese publisher Artaria. They went to Beethoven's house, and the illustrious Rossini patiently waited for permission on the street. Finally, Artaria appeared and said that Beethoven was ill, as a result of a cold, his eyes were affected, and he did not receive anyone. Then Rossini turned to his compatriot Salieri : "He confirmed that he sometimes met with Beethoven, but in view of his gloomy and capricious nature, it would not be very easy to fulfill my request ... he met me halfway and turned with my request to the Italian poet Carpani, who was an important person under Beethoven, whose mediation promised success. Indeed, Carpani persuaded Beethoven so persistently that he agreed to receive me. ... Climbing the stairs that led to the squalid apartment where the great man lived, I struggled to overcome my excitement. When the door was opened for us, I found myself in a rather dirty little room in which a terrible mess reigned. I especially remember the ceiling, which was, apparently, under the roof itself. It was all in wide cracks, through which the rain must have poured in a stream. The portraits of Beethoven that we know, in general, quite faithfully convey his appearance. But no chisel can display the inexplicable sadness that permeated his features. At the same time, under his thick eyebrows, as if from a cave, small eyes sparkled, but it seemed to pierce you. His voice was soft and somewhat muffled. When we entered, he did not at first pay any attention to us, busy finishing the musical proofs. Then, raising his head, he impetuously turned to me in rather understandable Italian: “Ah, Rossini! Are you the author of The Barber of Seville? I congratulate you, this is a wonderful buffa opera. I read it and enjoyed it. opera, they won’t stop playing it. Write only buffa operas, and in another genre you shouldn’t tempt fate "". The visit to Beethoven did not last long. "This is understandable," Rossini recalled, "because on our part the conversation had to be conducted in writing. I expressed to him all my admiration for his genius and gratitude for the fact that he gave me the opportunity to express all this to him ... He took a deep breath and said only: "Oh, I'm unhappy! .." Going down the shaky stairs, I experienced such a heavy feeling at the thought of the loneliness and hardships of the life of this great man, who could not hold back tears. Despite the loud fame, the need stubbornly pursued Beethoven. True, back in 1809, three of the richest nobles of Vienna - Archduke Rudolf, Count Kinsky and Prince Lobkowitz - signed a decree: to pay Beethoven a lifetime pension of 4 thousand florins in order to "protect Ludwig van Beethoven from deprivation and thus eliminate pitiful obstacles that might hinder the upsurge of his genius." But the pension was paid very inaccurately: in the same year, Kinsky went to the army, creditors seized Lobkowitz's property in the middle of 1811, and he himself was forced to leave Vienna. The financial reform of 1811 significantly reduced the real value of money. In 1812, Kinsky fell to his death from a horse, and four years later Lobkowitz died. The compositions brought Beethoven little income. For each of the last sonatas, he received no more than 30 - 40 ducats, and for the three quartets ordered by the Russian prince Golitsyn - nothing: the prince forgot to pay for them. When Beethoven wanted to distribute his "Solemn Mass" by subscription and assigned 50 ducats for each copy, there were only 7 people who wanted to throughout Austria and Germany. Beethoven personally addressed letters to Goethe and Cherubini - the artists most revered by him - but neither one nor the other even answered him. And if earlier Beethoven joked about the eternal lack of money, now it became more and more difficult for him to take this humorously. Once Spohr asked Beethoven after he had not seen him for several days in a tavern: "Are you ill?" “My boot was sick, and since I have only one pair of them, I was under house arrest,” was the answer. In 1818, Beethoven wrote: "I have almost reached the point of begging, but I must pretend that I have everything I need." Sometimes he has nothing to pay even a copyist of notes. Sending Rhys directions to parts of Sonata No. 29, he asked: “Sorry for the confusion. If you know my position, you won’t be surprised by this, but rather be surprised that I’m still able to compose ... The sonata was written in cramped circumstances. work for bread. That's what I've come to." The sad expression almost never left Beethoven's face. Relshtab said in 1825 that it cost him the greatest effort to refrain from tears at the sight of Beethoven's meek eyes and their soul-grabbing sorrow. Braun von Braunthal met Beethoven the following year in a beer hall, sitting in a corner smoking a long pipe with his eyes closed, as he did more and more often as death approached him. Some friend spoke to him. Beethoven smiled sadly, took out a notebook from his pocket and in a piercing voice, often observed among the deaf, asked him to write what he wanted to ask him. However, in recent years, Beethoven's life was overshadowed not only by poverty and illness, but also by painful relationships with relatives. He repeatedly tried to live with his brothers, but all these attempts ended in failure. Brother Karl, who received a musical education, acted as his secretary for several years, negotiated with publishers and even made various arrangements of his works. At the same time, he did not at all take into account the wishes of the composer, secretly selling his manuscripts. Here is an example of Carl's negotiations with the publishers: "At present, we can not offer anything except a symphony and a grand piano concerto; for the first 300 florins, for the second the same. If you wanted 3 piano sonatas, then I could not give them for less than 900 florins, and then not all at once, but with an interval of 5 or 6 weeks, since my brother does not deal much with such trifles and writes only oratorios, operas, etc. Then we must receive 8 copies of each thing engraved by you ... We also have 2 adagios for violin and full instrumental accompaniment, which cost 135 florins, then 2 small light two-movement sonatas, which are at your service for 280 florins." The indignant publisher Simrock replied caustically: "I have not yet forgotten how to speak German, but I do not understand what you mean by the words "our publishers" and "we" ... I was of the opinion that Ludwig van Beethoven composes his works himself. Not possessing a great mind, Karl inherited a violent disposition and arrogance from his father. He was very proud of the position of cashier and signed like this: "Carl van Beethoven, Imperial Royal Cashier." Despite the persistent persuasion of friends not to do this, Karl married Johanna Reiss, whom Beethoven compared with the sinister heroine of Mozart's Magic Flute - the Queen of the Night: she was a depraved and frivolous woman. At the end of his life, Karl was ill a lot, and Beethoven, forgetting the previous strife, was very attentive to his brother, helping him with money. In 1815, Karl died of tuberculosis: "He valued his life as much as I would willingly part with mine," wrote Beethoven. In his will, his brother appointed Beethoven as the guardian of his nine-year-old son, also Karl. Beethoven adored the boy and gladly undertook to replace his father. Eternally in need, however, he invested money in securities for little Karl and swore not to spend a penny of them on himself. But this ardent affection brought Beethoven only grief. For five years, he continuously sued because of guardianship with the mother of little Karl, the "Queen of the Night", who did not disdain anything to restore her son against Beethoven. Finally, in 1820, the court recognized Beethoven as Karl's sole guardian and removed his mother from raising her son. But the boy, smart and gifted with abilities for languages and music, was at the same time spoiled to the marrow of his bones: lazy, deceitful, he knew how to deftly play on Beethoven's boundless love for him and did not want to learn anything. Often, having agreed with the maids, he ran away from the boarding house to his mother and refused to return. Beethoven's letters to his nephew are full of love and despair: "Am I really going to have to get the lowest ingratitude again as a reward? Well, if the connection between us should break, so be it! All impartial people who find out about this will hate you ... With your spoiledness, it would not hurt you to try to finally become simple and truthful; my heart has suffered too much from your hypocrisy with me, and it’s hard for me to forget ... God is my witness that I only dream of being distant lands from you, and from this pitiful brother, and from this terrible family... I don't want to trust you any more... Unfortunately, your father - or rather not a father." But then Beethoven himself asks for reconciliation: "My dear son! Not a word more - come into my arms; you will not hear a single harsh word ... I will receive you with the same love. We will talk amicably about what needs to be done for your future. On my word of honor, not a single reproach! They would lead nowhere. You must expect from me only the most tender help and care. Come - come to the faithful heart of your father. " In response to all the reproaches of those around him, Karl answered boldly and coolly: "I became worse because my uncle wanted me to become better." In the summer of 1826, entangled in debt and failing his exams, he tried to commit suicide. This shocked Beethoven so much that he turned into a decrepit old man, broken, without strength, without will. He would have died if Carl had not survived... Beethoven's relationship with his younger brother Johann, a pharmacist who got rich on speculation, was no better. He, too, occasionally handled Beethoven's affairs on behalf of the composer, and his arrogance, knavery, and greed aroused general indignation. Johann considered his brother half-mad, and his music was nonsense, but pretended to admire the works of Beethoven. He especially "appreciated" the opera "Fidelio" and stubbornly persuaded his brother to continue this experience - after all, Rossini, for example, made a fortune thanks to operas! Since Johann bought the Gneixendorf estate, he has invariably signed: "Johann van Beethoven, owner of the estate." Beethoven parodied it by signing "Ludwig van Beethoven, master of the mind".
"Applause, friends, the comedy is over!"
After moving to Vienna, Beethoven yearned for the wide banks of the Rhine until the end of his life. He loved to spend the summer in quiet villages in the vicinity of Vienna, made many hours of walks through forests and meadows, wandered without a hat from dawn to dusk, in rain and sun, and in this communion with nature, the ideas of many works were born. "No one in the world can love the village as much as I do," said Beethoven. Once, on a sheet of music, he left a prose poem, born of the contemplation of nature: "Almighty! In the forests I am happy, happy in the forests, where every tree says: thank you. God, what a splendor! In these forests, on the hills - that's where peace is ..." Coming to Johann on his estate, Beethoven kept himself very modest there, and when the brothers went on visits to their neighbors, Ludwig was mistaken for Johann's servant, and sometimes even for a village fool and offered him a glass of wine. The excited gestures of Beethoven, walking through the fields, and his unexpected cries frightened the peasants. He was often seen stopping suddenly to sketch something in his notebook, and then writing while sitting for hours on the side of a wooded hill. And Beethoven is full of new ideas, he dreamed of writing a requiem, an oratorio, a Tenth Symphony. According to contemporaries, this symphony existed not only in sketches, but even in its entirety - in the head of the composer, who played it on the piano to his friends. At the same time, he was working on the overture in memory of Bach, assuming that it would be performed in one concert with the new symphony. Staying in the village at first had a beneficial effect on Beethoven's health and mood. However, quarrels with his brother soon began, new diseases. But Beethoven was slow to return to Vienna - he was held back by his nephew. Carl loafed in the countryside, disappearing for days on end, taking advantage of any excuse to escape to the nearest town, where he indulged in his favorite pastime - playing billiards. When the brothers had another quarrel over their nephew, Beethoven vowed in a fit of rage that he would no longer owe Johann anything. He did not want to return to Vienna with his brother and his wife, and on December 1, 1826, in the cold, without warm clothes, he set off on a milkman's cart. I spent the night in an unheated village tavern with a leaky roof, where the breeze blew from all the cracks. By midnight, Beethoven began to feel chills, coughing, pains in his side; he was tormented by thirst, and he drank two or three liters of ice-cold water in one gulp. At dawn, he hardly got on a peasant cart and reached Vienna on December 2, barely alive. He had bilateral pneumonia, he was spitting up blood. A week later, the composer's mighty body coped with the disease, but on the night of December 9-10, a sharp deterioration in health occurred. It was suspected that the reason for this was a terrible quarrel with Karl. However, Beethoven forgave his nephew and appointed him his sole heir. Soon, Beethoven developed dropsy, and four operations had to be performed in two months. In March he was visited by an old friend, Hummel, who had specially come from Weimar with his pupil. Although Hummel had been warned of Beethoven's grave condition, he was so shocked by the composer's appearance that he burst into tears. Beethoven asked him about Goethe's health, with childlike joy he showed him a recently received lithograph of the house where Haydn was born. Beethoven felt abandoned in indifferent Vienna. Schindler wrote about this: “Here, no one thinks about him. Truly, this complete indifference is incomprehensible. Previously, at the slightest indisposition, carriages continuously rolled up to the house, but now it is complete oblivion, as if he had never lived in Vienna!” But Schindler himself, who called himself Beethoven's closest friend, was tired of caring for the dying man and was counting the remaining days. On March 23, 1827, a consultation of doctors took place, after which Beethoven, in his favorite sarcastic and mocking manner, said in Latin: "Applause, friends, the comedy is over!" The next day, from the Mainz publishers, golden old wine arrived, filled with the aroma of the native Rhine land. Beethoven looked and said: "Pity! .. Too late." The excruciating agony continued for two days. March 26 came. The day was gloomy. Heavy clouds covered the sky. There was snow in front of the house. “About three o’clock, the young poet Anselm Huttenbrenner, who was passing through Vienna, silently entered the room. Between four and five o’clock such clouds moved in that it became completely dark in the room. Suddenly, a terrible storm broke out with a snowstorm and hail. a flash of lightning in the snow. Beethoven opened his eyes, threateningly raised his right hand to the sky with a clenched fist. His expression was terrible. It seemed that he would now shout: "I challenge you to battle, hostile forces! .." Huttenbrenner compares him with a commander who shouts to his troops: "We will win! .. Forward!". The hand fell. His eyes closed ... He fell in battle." This is how Romain Rolland described Beethoven's death. The funeral took place on March 29, 1827. Many hours before the start of the funeral ceremony, crowds of people flooded the huge square in front of the house. The orchestra played the funeral march from Beethoven's Twelfth Sonata. There was also a crowd in front of the cemetery gates. At the last moment, when it became known that they were going to give a speech over Beethoven's grave, the authorities categorically banned even a short gravestone. Therefore, a speech written by the famous poet Grillparzer was read in front of the gate. Forty days after his death, on May 5, a sale of Beethoven's property was arranged. All his manuscripts, books and household items were valued at 1575 florins. Only 982 florins 37 kreutzers fetched for the manuscripts. Conversational notebooks and diaries went for 1 florin 20 kreuzers. Vienna wanted to honor Beethoven's memory with a big concert, the proceeds of which were to be used to build a monument. However, at first the concert was postponed until autumn, and then they completely forgot about it. The monument was nevertheless opened on Beethoven's grave six months later, and then another one - in Heiligenstadt, where Beethoven wrote his famous will. By an evil irony of fate, Beethoven's "beautiful lover", his secret wife Teresa Brunswick, was herself seriously ill in the winter of 1826-1827. Under the supervision of her relatives, she lived on her Hungarian estate. She learned about Beethoven's death from a letter from one of her friends, and this news almost took her life. Having recovered from the terrible shock, Teresa arrived in Vienna, came to Beethoven's grave and laid a bouquet of the first spring flowers that he loved so much. Teresa lived after Beethoven's death for another twenty years, but she never married, remaining faithful to the memory of her lover. She devoted the rest of her days to charitable work, taking care of orphans and organizing children's institutions. Thanks to Teresa, the country's first kindergarten was opened in Hungary. Occasionally she came to Vienna to visit Beethoven's grave and listen to his music in concerts. When the "Message to Eliza" was performed, sweet pain pierced Teresa's heart - pain and pride at the same time: there are few women in the world who were so loved and who were told about their love in such a way.
Sometimes, we do not even think about the fact that the widely known and beloved by us musical works sometimes have a difficult history and their appearance is shrouded in many secrets and mysteries.
This may be due to the history of writing, with the sudden discovery of a long-lost manuscript, and sometimes with the title. One of these works is familiar to literally every one of you - this is L. Beethoven's piano piece "To Elise".
Perhaps there is no one who has not heard at least once in his life this play. This work by Beethoven has been one of the most famous and beloved masterpieces of world music for many years. The original score of this melody has not survived, so for many years musicologists and composer biographers have not been able to come to a consensus about who it was actually dedicated to. "To Elise".
Biographer of the famous composer Ludwig Nohl ( Ludwig Nohl) was the first to express a version regarding the addressee of the play, which originally had the name Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor (from French bagatelle - “trinket”).
The play was published in 1867, only 40 years after the death of Beethoven himself by a researcher of his work. It is believed that the work was created in 1810. It was during this period of time that another of his masterpieces was created - the Egmont Overture, the outlines of which were written on the same sheet of paper as the bagatelle.
Ludwig Nohl found the manuscript with notes of the melody in the house of Teresa Malfatti, who at one time was a student and friend of the composer.
It is known that Beethoven was in love with Teresa and even proposed to her in 1810, which she rejected, preferring him to a wealthy nobleman. Ludwig Nohl interpreted the inscription on the sheet music as follows: "Elise from L. Beethoven." The fact is that the composer himself had a terrible illegible handwriting (it is believed that he suffered from mild dyslexia), so the biographer decided that Teresa was the addressee, but did not correct the original title.
This version was considered the only one until 2009, when the British musicologist Martin Kopitz proposed another "candidate". According to his theory, "To Elise" (German: "Für Elise") was dedicated to the singer Elisabeth Röckel, the younger sister of a friend of the tenor composer Josef Röckel.
E Lisabeth Reckel is an opera singer. | Photo: thevintagenews.com.
Beethoven met Elisabeth in 1806 when she was 13 and he was 36. This acquaintance resulted in a long friendship and touching courtship on the part of the composer. In a friendly circle, the girl was called Eliza, and when in 1810 she moved from Vienna to Bamberg, Beethoven gave her a farewell gift.
Today, no one can say with certainty who the composer dedicated his creation to, but "To Elise" is one of the most recognizable and beloved works. Ludwig van Beethoven
In preparation
Found some very interesting stuff
Message to Eliza
From time to time, Beethoven continued to visit the house of Count Franz Brunswick, he was still friends with the count's daughters - Teresa and Josephine. Although they were sisters, they differed sharply in character. Teresa was an outstanding person, with a passionate imagination and strong will, a serious mind and a constant thirst for activity. Teresa deeply felt music: at the age of three she began to learn to play the piano, at the age of six she already performed with an orchestra, later she was one of the best performers of Beethoven's sonatas.
Josephine Brunswick had a different character - fragile and nervous. Her fate was unfortunate. As a young girl, she was given in marriage against her will to Count Dame, who was almost thirty years her senior; the husband died early, leaving Josephine with four children and a distressed state. Only music and meetings with Beethoven consoled her. Beethoven regularly gave Josephine piano lessons. As soon as he wrote a sonata, he hurried to Josephine to show her his new work. She was the first to whom he played excerpts from his opera "Fidelio" - it was Josephine who became the prototype of the gentle and proud, loving and faithful to the duty of the main character of this opera - Leonora.
Soon Beethoven's friendship with Josephine grew into love. While working on Fidelio, he said: “The main character is in me, in front of me, wherever I go, wherever I am. I have never been at such a peak. Everything is light, purity, clarity . Until now, I was like a child in a fairy tale who collects pebbles without seeing the magnificent flower that bloomed in his path.
And again he dreams of marriage. The difference in years between Beethoven and Josephine is not so big - ten years: in 1809 he was thirty-nine, she was twenty-nine. Ludwig loves Josephine's children from her first husband, and they managed to become attached to him.
What other obstacles remain? Deafness? But how can this push a loving woman away from him? Estate inequality? But Josephine's father is an admirer of Beethoven's talent and is unlikely to object to Ludwig's marriage to his daughter...
Could Beethoven imagine that this time the main obstacle to happiness would be the sister of his beloved! Teresa had a huge influence on her father, in fact, she had the last and decisive vote in all important family matters. She categorically spoke out against Josephine marrying Beethoven. Causes? Those that the old count and Josephine herself did not pay attention to: Beethoven is no match for the Bruswick family, moreover, he is seriously ill.
The sister's tears and the father's attempts to change the decision of his eldest daughter did not touch Teresa. On top of that, fate seemed to intervene here: Baron Stackelberg was engaged to Josephine - quite a worthy match for the daughter of Count Brunswick. Beethoven was refused, and in 1810 Josephine married a baron.
This marriage did not bring her happiness, like the first marriage; worries about the economy, about money absorbed all the forces; nervous fever undermined her health. Teresa later reproached herself for interfering with the union of Josephine and Beethoven. Twenty years after the composer's death, she wrote: "Beethoven, who was so kindred in spirit to her ... A friend of Josephine's home and heart! They were born for each other and would still be alive if they were connected ... How Beethoven was unhappy, despite such spiritual gifts! And Josephine was unhappy! .. Together they would be happy, perhaps ... ".
But was Teresa completely frank, even to herself, destroying the emerging union of Ludwig and Josephine? Probably not; in any case, subsequent events make one strongly doubt the reasons for which she opposed this marriage. There is no doubt that Teresa herself secretly loved Beethoven - in any case, having removed her rival sister, she soon achieved reciprocity from him.
He avoided her and treated her with hostility, which was quite natural, but Teresa had a strong means to arouse Beethoven's sympathy, and later love. That medium was music. Teresa was one of the best performers of Beethoven's sonatas, which, of course, resonated with the composer's heart. Ludwig and Teresa spent long hours at the piano, learning the works of Beethoven, and the time came when he saw in her a close person.
Forgotten was her role in the breakdown of her marriage to Josephine; Teresa eclipsed her younger sister. Now, when Beethoven and Teresa played music together, he touched her hand and looked with excitement at his partner, a beautiful, sympathetic, sweet woman.
Finally, he decided to explain. Embarrassed and confused in words, Ludwig said:
Theresa! Let's leave the music for now... I wanted to tell you. There was a time when I hated you, but now... Now you have become more than just a friend to me. You understand? Teresa, I love you! I love you endlessly ... I will never love anyone more, I know that! All my thoughts are only about you, I suffer when you are not near me... Do you love me? Be my wife, dear, sweet, beloved Teresa! Do not refuse me, because fate has treated me so ruthlessly until now, I will not withstand another blow!
He painfully peered into Teresa's face, trying to read from her lips what she would answer - he heard very badly when he was worried.
But she did not say anything: she simply hugged his head and pressed it to her chest.
How long have I been waiting for your explanation, - Teresa whispered, - and, lo and behold, he heard her every word! ..
Many years after this explanation, Beethoven would say: "When I think about her, my heart beats as fast as on the day I confessed my love to her."
Teresa Brunswick was faithful to Beethoven until the end of his days - the last love, the last joy of the great sufferer. They got engaged, but their betrothal was secret: after the story with Josephine, Beethoven's marriage to Teresa would have looked ambiguous.
Immediately after the betrothal, Teresa presented Ludwig with her portrait with the inscription: "To a rare genius, great artist, good man" and an allegorical drawing depicting the composer in the form of an eagle looking at the sun. This portrait hung in the composer's office until Beethoven's death.
Beethoven loved Teresa madly. When they were apart, he suffered immensely without his secret wife. Friends somehow found Beethoven crying over a portrait of Teresa; kissing him, he repeated: "You are so beautiful, so great, like angels!"
Unfortunately, they had to part often: he was forced to give concerts in different cities of Austria and Germany, in the homes of his wealthy patrons; in addition, at the insistence of doctors, he was periodically treated at resorts, although there was little sense from this treatment.
Since Teresa was not officially Beethoven's wife, she could not follow him, just as he followed her; it depressed them greatly. Once, when Teresa left Vienna, and Beethoven was supposed to stay, he wrote several letters to his beloved, the drafts of which were found much later, after his death.
"You are suffering, my dearest being ... You are suffering - oh, wherever I am, you are also always with me, with me. And with you, I know that only with you I can live - what a life! So!!! I cry at the thought that you probably won't get the first news from me until Sunday. I love you - just like you love me, only much more...".
“Still lying in bed, I was full of thoughts about you, my immortal beloved, now joyful, then sad again. I asked fate, I asked if she would hear our prayers. I can only live entirely with you, otherwise it’s not for me life... Oh God, why should you part when you love each other? And meanwhile my life in Vienna is now troublesome - your love has made me both the happiest and most unhappy of people. At my age I need a certain monotony and evenness of life - - can this be in our relationship?".
"My angel, my everything, my "I"! Can our love stand only at the cost of sacrifice, by refusing to be full, can't you change the position in which you are not completely mine and I am not completely yours? ..
Oh my God! What a life! Without you! So close! So far!..
Be calm - love me - today - yesterday. What longing and tears for you - you - you - my life - my everything! Goodbye! Oh, keep on loving me - never misjudge the most faithful heart of your beloved L.
Forever yours, forever mine, forever belonging to each other."
Love and sadness gave birth to a tender musical message that contained everything Beethoven could not put into words. He wrote this piano piece very quickly. It remained to come up with a name, and it was possible to give it to the copyist of notes. Ludwig wrote on the first page of the "Message to ...". Here he stopped. Make the name of your beloved public, give rise to gossip? Never!
"Message to ... Elise," he added and chuckled. So be it!..
But why did "Elise" become the addressee of Beethoven's play? Since the Middle Ages, this name has been reminiscent of sublime strong love. In the 11th century, a famous philosopher, professor at the University of Paris, Pierre Abelard, lived in France. He fell in love with his young student Eloise (Eliza), and she responded to him in return. However, since Abelard was a clergyman, according to the rules of Catholicism, he could not marry. This did not stop the lovers; defying existing moral standards, they secretly became husband and wife and were happy. Their secret was revealed when Eloise became pregnant. Eloise's uncle, Fubert, who raised her, was furious - he considered that Abelard had dishonored the girl.
Fobert hired some scoundrels, and they brutally took revenge on Abelard: he was terribly and shamefully mutilated, after which he had no choice but to go to the monastery. Eloise also took tonsure, becoming a nun. But their love has not faded. They exchanged tender letters, which were published much later and became a model of high love feelings.
When Abelard died, Eloise buried his ashes in the monastery where she was abbess, and bequeathed to bury herself next to her lover. According to legend, roses grew on their graves: on the grave of Abelard - a white bush, on the grave of Eloise - a pink one. These bushes were so intertwined with branches that it was impossible to separate them.
The love drama of Abelard and Heloise, partially described by the philosopher himself in his book "The History of My Disasters", and reflected in the correspondence of lovers, has become one of the most popular themes of various literary works for many centuries. The main events of this drama were rethought and interpreted in their own way by famous poets and writers. In the 16th century, for example, "the first lyricist of French poetry" P. Ronsard created a poem about Abelard and Eloise; in the 18th century, J.J. Rousseau based his novel "The New Eloise" on the "modernized" plot of this story.
Note that in the 20th century the old drama was not forgotten. Certain borrowings of its storyline can be traced in the novel by V. Nabokov "Lolita" and in the fate of the main characters of the novel by Colleen McClow "The Thorn Birds".
Beethoven, like all educated people of the 19th century, knew well the love story of Abelard and Heloise. For him, "Eloise" is a symbol of a distant beautiful beloved, a symbol of separated loving hearts. Naturally, not wanting to show the whole world his true relationship with Teresa, Beethoven encrypted her name in a piece of music addressed to her - this is how the "Message to ... Elise" appeared.
Immediately after the first performances, the play "Fur Elise" gained a noisy and well-deserved success. Contemporaries said that if Beethoven had written only it, then even then he would have received universal recognition.
Of course, everyone was interested in who "Eliza" is, who is this amazing gentle melody dedicated to? Beethoven remained silent, and none of his contemporaries managed to reveal his secret.
And a few years later he wrote a vocal cycle on the poems of the poet Eiteles that he loved. There were also lines like this:
I'm standing on a hill, dreaming
And I look at the crest of the rocks,
To a distant land, where I am,
Dear friend, met.
endless rows,
Like a stone wall
There are mountains between us
Our happiness and sadness.
But even this vocal cycle did not reveal to the idle public the name of the woman who became the composer's muse. Beethoven dedicated his vocal works to "Distant Beloved"...
Kuvshinnikova Olga Valerievna
