Live Long and Prosper...

DECEMBER 16, 1770

Today is Beethoven's 250th birthday.

Biography.Com says,

Composer Ludwig van Beethoven was baptized on December 17, 1770, in Bonn, Germany. He was an innovator, widening the scope of sonata, symphony, concerto and quartet, and combining vocals and instruments in a new way. His personal life was marked by a struggle against deafness, and some of his most important works were composed during the last 10 years of his life, when he was quite unable to hear. He died in 1827 at the age of 56.

He performed in his first concert at the age of seven...and published his first work at 13. By 1819 he was completely deaf but went on to compose some of his most famous pieces of music including, the Ninth Symphony.

In 2015 we listened to the Seventh Symphony (my personal favorite) and in 2014, the Ninth Symphony (Ode to Joy).

Beethoven wrote more than his 9 symphonies. He also composed

• a horn sonata

• an opera

• five cello sonatas

• five choral works

• seven piano concertos numbered #0 through 6, the last being unfinished

• seven piano trios and a piano quartet

• ten violin sonatas

• sixteen string quartets

• thirty-two piano sonatas

• and dozens of other works for various instruments and instrumental combination.

A CONCERT OF PIANO WORKS

This year's concert of about 50 minutes, consists of five pieces exploring Beethoven's piano works.

Beethoven's first published work (at age 13): Nine Variations on a March by Dressler for piano.



Piano Concerto in E flat major is one of his earlier works, written in 1784 when he was 13. Only the piano part survives today, although there are some indications in the manuscript for orchestral cues. On the occasions when the work has been performed, the orchestral part has had to be arranged beforehand. The concerto is sometimes referred to as Piano Concerto No. 0, as it came before all of Beethoven's other piano concertos. It is rarely performed.

This is the third movement, Rondo Allegretto.



From early works, to one of the latest – Beethoven wrote his last piano sonata, number 32, in 1822, after he had completely lost his hearing. This is one of his most interesting pieces with traditional phrases, hints of Mozart, along with a pre-shadowing of modern music and a few jazz licks. The second movement is performed here by Spanish pianist, Alberto Cobo.



Für Elise, which Beethoven wrote for piano (1810), is here, played on a classic guitar.



Today's concert closes with the complete Piano Sonata No. 14, the "Moonlight" Sonata. This is perhaps his most well known piano piece, here performed by Valentina Lisitsa.



FURTHER EXPLORATION

A Complete Listing of Beethoven's music

Ludwig van Beethoven on Biography.Com

Ludwig van Beethoven at Encyclopædia Britannica

This was originally posted on Dec 16, 2016. I've made some corrections and updates.

...from George Washington, America's first President, on the occasion of his 285th birthday.

ON EDUCATION

“A primary object should be the education of our youth in the science of government. In a republic, what species of knowledge can be equally important? And what duty more pressing than communicating it to those who are to be the future guardians of the liberties of the country?”
– Eighth Annual Message, December 7, 1796

“There is nothing which can better deserve our patronage than the promotion of science and literature. Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness.”
– First Annual Message to Congress on the State of the Union, January 8, 1790


ON PATRIOTISM AND CAUTION

“Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.”
– Farewell Address, Sep. 17, 1796


ON THE CURRENT CABINET

“Associate yourself with men of good quality, if you esteem your own reputation; for ‘tis better to be alone than in bad company.”
– Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation


ON BLAMING OTHERS

While we are contending for our own liberty, we should be very cautious not to violate the rights of conscience in others, ever considering that God alone is the judge of the hearts of men, and to him only in this case they are answerable.
– letter to Benedict Arnold, Sep. 14, 1775


ON THE EXPECTATIONS OF LEADERS

Remember that it is the actions, and not the commission, that make the officer, and that there is more expected from him, than the title.
– Address to the Officers of the Virginia Regiment, Jan. 8, 1756


ON POLITICAL PARTIES

However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.
– Farewell Address, Sep. 17, 1796


ON IMPULSIVE TWEETS

Think before you Speak pronounce not imperfectly nor bring out your Words too hastily but orderly and distinctly.
– Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation

Today is birthday number 310 for Benjamin Franklin. He was born in Boston on January 17, 1706.

Franklin was one of the most well known and well respected scientists and inventors of his day. We have him to thank for (among other things)...

• Bifocals

• Fire Departments

• Public Libraries

• Understanding the relationship between electricity and lightning

• Lightning Rod

• The U.S. Postal System

• Franklin Stove

• Mapping the Gulf Stream

• Swim Fins

• Glass Armonica

• Flexible Urinary Catheter

• Odometer

• Long Arm

Most people learned about Franklin, the statesman and philosopher. Here are some relevant Franklin quotes for today...

HEALTH CARE

Referring to private hospital funding alone:

That won't work, it will never be enough, good health care costs a lot of money, remembering 'the distant parts of this province' in which 'assistance cannot be procured, but at an expense that neither [the sick-poor] nor their townships can afford.' … '[This] seems essential to the true spirit of Christianity, and should be extended to all in general, whether deserving or undeserving, as far as our power reaches.'

In 1751, Franklin's friend, Dr. Thomas Bond, convinced him to champion the building of a public hospital. Through his hard work and political ingenuity, Franklin brought the skeptical legislature to the table, bargaining his way to use public money to build what would become Pennsylvania Hospital. Franklin proposed an institution that would provide — 'free of charge' —the finest health care to everybody, 'whether inhabitants of the province or strangers,' even to the 'poor diseased foreigners"' (referring to the immigrants of German stock that the colonials tended to disparage and discriminate). Countering the Assembly's insistence that the hospital be built only with private donations, Franklin made the above statement. Various articles by Franklin supporting his Appeal for the Hospital in The Pennsylvania Gazette (1751) as quoted in Pulphead: Essays by John Jeremiah Sullivan.

LIBERTY

Pennsylvania Assembly: Reply to the Governor
Printed in Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives, 1755-1756 (Philadelphia, 1756), pp. 19-21. [November 11, 1755]

Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

PRIDE

Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, by Benjamin Franklin

In reality, there is, perhaps, no one of our natural passions so hard to subdue as pride. Disguise it, struggle with it, beat it down, stifle it, mortify it as much as one pleases, it is still alive, and will every now and then peep out and show itself; you will see it, perhaps, often in this history; for, even if I could conceive that I had compleatly overcome it, I should probably be proud of my humility.

CORRUPTION OF THE PEOPLE

Benjamin Franklin's Final Speech in the Constitutional Convention
from the notes of James Madison

I think a General Government necessary for us, and there is no Form of Government but what may be a Blessing to the People if well administered; and I believe farther that this is likely to be well administered for a Course of Years, and can only end in Despotism as other Forms have done before it, when the People shall become so corrupted as to need Despotic Government, being incapable of any other.

TRAITORS OR HEROES

Letter to Thomas Jefferson (March 16th, 1775).

In 200 years will people remember us as traitors or heroes? That is the question we must ask.

DECEMBER 16, 1770

Today is Beethoven's birthday.

Biography.Com says,

Composer Ludwig van Beethoven was baptized on December 17, 1770, in Bonn, Germany. He was an innovator, widening the scope of sonata, symphony, concerto and quartet, and combining vocals and instruments in a new way. His personal life was marked by a struggle against deafness, and some of his most important works were composed during the last 10 years of his life, when he was quite unable to hear. He died in 1827 at the age of 56.

He performed in his first concert at the age of seven...and published his first work at 13. By 1819 he was completely deaf, but went on to compose some of his most famous pieces of music including, the Ninth Symphony.

Last year we listened to the Seventh Symphony (my personal favorite) and in 2014, the Ninth Symphony (Ode to Joy).

Beethoven wrote more than his 9 symphonies. He also composed

• a horn sonata

• an opera

• five cello sonatas

• five choral works

• seven piano concertos numbered #0 through 6, the last being unfinished

• seven piano trios and a piano quartet

• ten violin sonatas

• sixteen string quartets

• thirty-two piano sonatas

• and dozens of other works for various instruments and instrumental combination.

A CONCERT OF PIANO WORKS

This year's concert of about 50 minutes, consists of five pieces exploring Beethoven's piano works.

Beethoven's first published work (at age 13): Nine Variations on a March by Dressler for piano.



Piano Concerto in E flat major is one of his earlier works, written in 1784 when he was 13. Only the piano part survives today, although there are some indications in the manuscript for orchestral cues. On the occasions when the work has been performed, the orchestral part has had to be arranged beforehand. The concerto is sometimes referred to as Piano Concerto No. 0, as it came before all of Beethoven's other piano concertos. It is rarely performed.

This is the third movement, Rondo Allegretto.



From early works, to one of the latest – Beethoven wrote his last piano sonata, number 32, in 1822, after he had completely lost his hearing. This is one of his most interesting pieces with traditional phrases, hints of Mozart, along with a pre-shadowing of modern music and a few jazz licks. The second movement is performed here by Spanish pianist, Alberto Cobo.



Für Elise, which Beethoven wrote for piano (1810), is here, played on a classic guitar.



Today's concert closes with the complete Piano Sonata No. 14, the "Moonlight" Sonata. This is perhaps his most well known piano piece, here performed by Valentina Lisitsa.



FURTHER EXPLORATION

A Complete Listing of Beethoven's music

Ludwig van Beethoven on Biography.Com

Ludwig van Beethoven at Encyclopædia Britannica

Born on this date, December 16, 1770, Ludwig van Beethoven gave his first public performance at the age of 7. He published his first compositions at 11, and at the age of 14 he was appointed organist of the court of Maximillian Franz, the Elector of Cologne.

Between then, and his death at the age of 56, Beethoven produced some of the world's most familiar music – even to those who don't generally listen to classical music: the Fifth Symphony, Moonlight Sonata, Fur Elise, and the Ode to Joy from the finale of his Ninth Symphony.

Most people know some of the themes from his symphonies, the Fifth and the Ninth especially, but one of my favorites is the Seventh (I've embedded some parts, but was unable to embed the entire symphony which you can hear by clicking here. The entire symphony can only be viewed from the original youtube site).

The Seventh was written by Beethoven at the age of 42. He was at the Bohemian spa town of Teplice trying to improve his health. NPR writes of the Symphony,

The Seventh Symphony's premiere concert was performed to benefit the soldiers wounded a few months earlier in the Battle of Hanau. It was one of Beethoven's most successful concerts.

The second movement was the most popular of the four parts of the symphony. When it was first played the audience immediately called for an encore of that movement...and it was frequently played separately from the entire symphony. Again, NPR...

Occasionally, Beethoven wrote something that was immediately recognized as both artistically great and hugely popular. An example is the second movement of his Seventh Symphony, a piece that was often performed separately from the complete Symphony and that may have been Beethoven's most popular orchestral composition.

Here is The second movement of Symphony Number 7, Allegretto.


My personal favorite movement is the third – especially the tympani, the flute/oboe duets, and the contrast between the two tempos of the movement. He starts the third movement at a fast-pace which he alternates with the trio, first introduced (at about 2:15 in the video below) by a stirring call of the french horns, echoed by reeds.


The conductor for this (and all those listed below) is Leonard Bernstein. He doesn't need the music and often dances along as he conducts.

Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No 7 A major, Leonard Bernstein conducts Wiener Philarmoniker

Movement 2: Allegretto
Movement 3: Presto. Assai meno presto

Here are links to all 9 of Beethoven's Symphonies performed by Bernstein and the Wiener Philarmonker (Vienna Philharmonic) [source for titles].

• Opus 21: Symphony No. 1 in C major (composed 1799–1800, premièred 1800)

• Opus 36: Symphony No. 2 in D major (composed 1801–02, premièred 1803)

• Opus 55: Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major ("Eroica") (composed 1803/04, premièred 1805)

• Opus 60: Symphony No. 4 in B-flat major (composed 1806, premièred 1807)

• Opus 67: Symphony No. 5 in C minor ("Fate") (composed 1804–08, premièred 1808)

• Opus 68: Symphony No. 6 in F major ("Pastoral") (composed 1804–08, premièred 1808)

• Opus 92: Symphony No. 7 in A major (composed 1811–12, premièred 1813)

• Opus 93: Symphony No. 8 in F major (composed 1812, premièred 1814)

• Opus 125: Symphony No. 9 in D minor ("Choral") (composed 1817–24, premièred 1824)

I posted this video two years ago. See that entry for credits...

Today, December 16, 2014 is Beethoven's 244th birthday. The Ninth Symphony, from which this Ode to Joy was taken, was completed and premiered in 1824. By that time Beethoven was completely deaf.

His early fame was earned as a pianist as well as a composer, but as his deafness increased he could not hear himself play and turned to composing full time. When composing the Seventh Symphony he pressed his ear against the wooden piano in order to hear. By the time he composed the Ninth Symphony, he could hear nothing. It's ironic that the composer himself never heard one of his greatest works. At the premier of the Ninth, he had to be turned around to see the crowd because he could not hear them cheer and applaud.

Would Beethoven have approved of this sort of performance? Possibly. He was very particular about his music and was known to become very angry when people weren't paying attention. However, this performance shows just how much the music draws the attention and interest of a random group of citizens. He was irritable and unpleasant as his deafness made his music more difficult for him to enjoy, but I would like to think he would soften enough to appreciate seeing people enjoy his music.

Public Education Note: Watch the children. Keep music part of public education.

If you're interested, the link below will take you to a video of an emotional performance in 1989 of the Ninth Symphony (1:33:51). The performance is conducted by Leonard Bernstein (less than a year before his death in October of 1990) in the former East Berlin, in celebration of the opening of the Berlin Wall. It includes curtain calls, dozens of flowers and 8 minutes of standing ovation.

The Berlin Celebration Concert - Beethoven, Symphony No 9 Bernstein 1989

Today is my youngest daughter's birthday. At 29 she's too young to remember the world-wide excitement during "the space-race."

Today, however, marks a couple of important dates in that "space race."

On April 12, 1961, Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to enter space...and the first person to orbit the earth from space.

So, aside from Ellen's 29th birthday, today is Yuri's Day honoring the first steps humans took into space.

There's another anniversary in space. Thirty years ago today, a year to the day before the youngest Bloom came into the world, the US launched its first space shuttle.

In honor of the anniversary NASA astronaut Cady Coleman and Jethro Tull founder Ian Anderson hooked up late last week to pay homage to Yuri Gagarin when they whipped out their flutes for "the first space-Earth duet".



Enjoy.