Today, December 16, is the 249th anniversary of the birth of one of Western music’s most remarkable and innovative composers.
I was raised on Beethoven. My Dad’s favorite music in the world was Beethoven’s one and only Violin Concerto, as performed by Jascha Heifetz with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. On Sunday mornings my Dad would get up and make the week’s worth of bread, and put on a classical music LP for accompaniment while he worked, and more often than not, it was the Violin concerto.
When my Dad lay on his deathbed we set up a CD player in his room and played this music for him, to ease his final hours. This music has deep, emotional connotations for me. It has to be this version, too — only Heifetz plays the cadenzas right.
Another of my favorite pieces is Piano Concerto #5, “Emperor.” Even if you don’t know anything about its history, it is a mesmerizing, beautiful piece. A few years ago I heard it on the radio, and the host said that while Beethoven was composing this piece, the city of Vienna, where he lived, was under siege by Napoleon’s army. He sought refuge in the basement of his brother’s house, and tied pillows over his ears to try to preserve his fragile hearing from the noise of the bombardment. Out of this war and chaos came the joyful and sublime “Emperor” concerto.
There are many great performances and recordings of this piece. Here is the great Daniel Barenboim, with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Years ago I accompanied my eldest sister to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, NH, where her husband was recovering from a stroke. There is a vast atrium there, hundreds of feet long and about 60 feet high, running down the center of the hospital, and at one end is a grand piano, where performances are given for the mental refreshment of patients, staff and visitors alike. That morning, a young cardio-thoracic surgical resident (whose name I have sadly forgotten) played the second movement of Beethoven’s “Pathetique” Sonata, the notes echoing through the open, sunny space through the heart of the hospital. When he had finished, I went up and thanked him for the Beethoven, for the music had eased some of the fear and stress of that day.
Again, here is Daniel Barenboim:
The times we are living in are painful and frightening. I hope that some of this music will give a few minutes of peace and joy to you.