a question about Beethoven?

Question

is it true that he was very rude and loud among many other unfavorable traits? after seeing the movie "copying Beethoven", this is what im led to believe, but i was just wondering if it was true.

Answer 1

Dear Friend, I saw the movie as well. Remember, the female was fiction.

I would suggest that you follow Malcolm D
advice. Read his biography. Also see the movie, Immortal Beloved as suggested. It tells a story of the brokenhearted Beethoven who true love married his brother. It is believed by some that Karl was actually Beethoven's child, although he was called nephew to protect his mother, who married Beethoven's brother while carrying Beethoven's child.

For more info, see Immortal Beloved and read the true story of Beethoven. It is true that Beethoven drank from a container that had heavy lead contents and it is believed he died from lead poisoning.

Most deaf people are rude or loud because they can't hear. All Beethoven heard in his latter years was the vibration from the keyboard.

Keep in mind that movies about Beethoven are not necessarily all factual.

Answer 2

Here are some documented examples of Beethoven's dealings with other people and you can make your own decision:

Beethoven once told a prince "There are and there will be thousands of princes, but there is only one Beethoven."

A noble with whom Beethoven stayed for a short while, swears that when he left there was a full chamber pot under the piano Beethoven was using.

Beethoven once became angry at a waiter in a restaurant and dumped his plate of veal and gravy over the mans head, he then burst out laughing.

Beethoven had a tendency to walk out of restaurants without paying, or paying for meals he had not ordered. He also would write music on the linen table cloths and napkins.

He had trouble keeping help. He fired a maid he had hired just several months earlier and another maid ran away less than two months of working for him.

A countess (I belive, but perhaps a dutchess) once got down on her knees and begged Beethoven to play for her. He refused.

Another person had to check over Beethoven's music assignments when he was studying with Haydn to correct embarressing errors.

He had a long legal battle with his sister-in-law over custody of her son after the boys father (Beethoven's brother) died. He made some comments about her that are just not proper to repeat here.

I could go on... It is important to note that while his increasing deafness did leave him more and more isolated from people it did take place later in his life. He was always rather rude to others though... I think he probably just felt like he was being bothered by them.

Answer 3

Beethoven started going deaf around 1800, which caused him a great deal of emotional/psychological trauma. He did not want anyone to know that he was deaf- he thought that if anyone knew that the Great Beethoven, Composer Extraordinaire, was deaf, that he would be made a public laughingstock and not taken seriously. Because of that, he didn't want to have a conversation with anyone (as that would be a potentially excruciatingly humiliating situation) and often pretended not to notice people when they tried to speak with him.

Also, before he went deaf he had been a very famous piano player (as famous as a modern-day rockstar, minus the internet) and conductor. When he went deaf, that all changed and he could no longer physically create the music that was so central to his soul. He became an embittered old man, hearing the beauty of music only in his head.

Another cause of his grumpiness was family relationships. His father was abusive, his mother died when he was about 18, his two brothers Johann and Karl were tight-fisted moneygrubbers who stole from him when he was well off financially and denied him a cent when he was poor, and his nephew (also named Karl) whom he ended up raising was a party animal and strongly resented the presence of his overprotective uncle.

So though the man was a musical genius, his public triumph was tempered by personal tragedy.

Answer 4

I probably would not form my opinion of Beethoven from a movie. To gain insight into Beethoven's charactor, you should read the "Heiligenstadt Testament". It is an eyeopening window into Beethoven's innermost feelings. Here is the link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heiligenstadt_Testament

Hope this helps.

Answer 5

Besides all that's allready stated, there are people who actually think that Beethoven suffered from the 'Asperger's syndrome'. A kind of autism spectrum disorder. So that would mean that he was autistic. Not like Rainman, but in a very different way. (Read this article about Asperger if you want to know more about it http://www.udel.edu/bkirby/asperger/aswhatisit.html )
The difference between 'normal' autism and Asperger is that (many) who suffer from Asperger can be highly creative and intelligent.
(For exampe van Gogh was said to suffer from Asperger to.) and there was a time that one thought that mozart did as well.

of course it's very difficult to be certain. After all beethoven died almost 200 years ago. But based on his behaviour as described it would certainly be a possibility.

Answer 6

Yes, it is fairly well documented that Beethoven was a bit of a curmudgeon especially in this later years. He had a rough childhood, thanks mainly to his father who beat him and dragged him out of bed to play for his drinking buddies.
He did have many redeeming qualities as well. He was convinced of the nobility and uniqueness of the human spirit, being inspired by ordinary people. He was not an attractive man and had a tendency to fall for women who were socially unattainable, so he poured his emotion into his music. So unique and timeless is his music that even today it does not sound out of its era. It has become a high water mark by which other art music is compared.
The rudeness and loudness characteristic grew worse as he lost his hearing, and he withdrew into himself and his music. It is likely that it was caused by lead poisoning.
Another movie worth watching is "Immortal Beloved."
There are many good books on him that will enable you to gain an insight into the mind of this remarkable man.

Answer 7

Beethoven was actually deaf which may account for the loudness. Not sure about rude.

Answer 8

It seems true, let aside his being deaf for most of his life. Remember also that he was the first composer to live independent from noble masters like the archbishop of Salzburg for Mozart or Prince Esterhazy for Haydn, so he had to make a living from the sale of his works and that stands for his meanness. He stubbornly wanted to conduct his 9th to save the conductor's money, and there are terrible stories about him deaf continuing to wave around while the players had finished already, to the point that his friend Schuppanzigh offered to conduct for free. But my advice is to read the beautiful and complete biography by Romain Rolland (1903) and make an opinion of your own, like I did about 35 years ago.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romain_Rolland

Answer 9

Yes it's true, according to all the biography's that I've read, he was a tyrant. Think about it though if your were a genius and your genius was composing beautiful music and all of a sudden you discovered that your were slowly losing your hearing wouldn't that make you moody and miserable? I can't imagine having such a gift and then have it taken away.

Answer 10

He had no patience with his fellow man, who was preoccupied in his riches instead of treating all equally. He had a short fuse for abuse. and also, a short fuse for anyone bothering him. However, in real life, he was always attending Mozart concerts when Wolfgang was still alive, being enamored with Mozart's composing and pianistic skills. Mozart was highly complimentary towards the young Ludwig as well.