Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/522

506 In the same year lie received the freedom of that city, an honour much valued by him. After that time his immediate popularity began to some extent to decline before the ephemeral splendour of the composers of the day ; and the great master seemed henceforth to speak more to coming generations than to his ungrateful contemporaries. When, however, on rare occasions he emerged from his solitude, the old spell of his overpowering genius proved to be unbroken. In particular, mention must be made of that memorable Academic (concert) in 1824, at -which his 9th Symphony, and parts of the grand Missa Solemnis, were performed, producing a storm of applause inaudible, alas ! to the composer, who had to be turned round by one of the singers to realize, from the waving of hats and handkerchiefs, the effect of his work on the excited multitude. The last-mentioned incident leads us to one of the most tragic features of Beethoven s life. By the bitter irony of fate, he who had given to thousands enjoyment and eleva tion of the heart by the art of sound, was himself deprived of the sense of hearing. The first traces of beginning deafness showed themselves as early as 1797, and were per ceived by the master with an anxiety bordering on despair. Physicians and quacks were consulted with eagerness, but all their efforts (partly impaired, it must be confessed, by the unruly disposition of the patient) proved unable to stem the encroaching evil. The Royal Library of Berlin pos sesses a melancholy collection of ear-trumpets and similar instruments, partly made expressly for Beethoven to assist his weakened sense, but all to no avail. In his latter years conversation with him could be carried on by writing only, and of the charms of his own art he was wholly deprived. But here, again, the victory of mind over matter, of genius over circumstance, was evinced in the most triumphant manner. It has been asserted, not without reason, that the euphonious beauty of some of Beethoven s vocal compositions has suffered through his inability to listen to them ; but how grand is, on the other hand, the spectacle of an artist deprived of all intercourse with what to him in this world was dearest, and yet pouring forth the lonely aspirations of his soul in works all the more sublime as we seem to hear in them the voice of the inner most spirit of mankind, inaudible to the keen ears of other mortals. If in this manner the isolation of Beethoven further sublimated his efforts as an artist, it, on the other hand, poignantly intensified his sufferings as a man. His was a heart open to the impressions of friendship and love, and, in spite of occasional roughness of utterance, yearning for the responsive affection of his kind. It is deeply touching to read the following words in the master s last will, written during a severe illness in 1802 : &quot;Ye men,&quot; Beethoven writes, &quot; who believe or say that I am inimical, rough, or misanthropical, how unjust are you to me in your ignorance of the secret cause of what appears to you in that light. . . - Born with a fiery, lively temper, and susceptible to the enjoyment of society, I have been compelled early to isolate myself and lead a lonely life ; whenever I tried to overcome this isolation, oh ! how doubly bitter was then the sad experience of my bad hearing, which repelled me again ; and yet it was impossible for me to tell people, Speak louder, shout, for I am deaf. &quot; Domestic troubles and discomforts contributed in a minor degree to darken the shadow cast over our master s life by the misfortune just alluded to. Although by no means insensible to female beauty, and indeed frequently enraptured in his grand, chaste way, with the charms of some lady, Beethoven never married, and was, in con sequence, deprived of that feeling of home and comfort which only the unceasing care of refined womanhood can bestow. His helplessness and ignorance of worldly matters completely exposed him to the ill-treatment of servants, frequently, perhaps, excited by his own morbid suspicions and complaints. On one occasion the great master was discovered with his face bleeding from the scratches inflicted by his own valet. It was from amidst such surroundings that Beethoven ascended to the sublime eleva tion of such works as his Missa Solemnis or his 9th Symphony. But his deepest wounds were to be inflicted by dearer and nearer hands than those of brutal domestics. Beethoven had a nephew, rescued by him from vice and misery, and loved with a more than father s affection. His education the master watched with unceasing care. For him he hoarded with anxious parsimony the scanty earnings of his artistic labour. Unfortunately, the young man was unworthy of such love, and at last disgraced his great name by an attempt at suicide, to the deepest grief of his noble guardian and benefactor. Beethoven died on March 27, 1827, during a terrible thunderstorm. It ought to fill every Englishman s heart with pride that it was given to the London Philharmonic Society to relieve the anxieties of Beethoven s deathbed by a liberal gift, and that almost the last utterances of the dying man were words of thanks to his friends and admirers in this country. Beethoven s compositions, 138 in number, comprise all the forms of vocal and instrumental music, from the sonata to the symphony, from the simple song to the opera and oratorio. In each of these forms he displayed the depth of his feeling, the power of his genius ; in some of them he reached a greatness never approached by his predecessors or followers. His pianoforte sonatas have brought the technical resources of that instrument to a perfection previously unknown, but they at the same time embody an infinite variety and depth of emotion. His nine symphonies show a continuous climax of development, ascending from the simpler forms of Haydn and Mozart to the colossal dimensions of the Choral Symphony, which almost seems to surpass the possibilities of artistic expansion, and the subject of which is humanity itself with its sufferings and ideals. His dramatic works the opera FidcMo, and the overtures to Egmont and Coriolanus display depth of pathos and force of dramatic characterization. Even his smallest songs and pianoforte-pieces reflect a heart full of love, and a mind bent on thoughts of eternal things. Beethoven s career as a composer is generally divided into three periods of gradual progress. We subjoin a list of his most important compositions, grouped according to the principle indicated. The first period extends to the year 1800. At the beginning we see Beethoven under the influence of his great predecessors, Haydn and Mozart, but progressing in rapid strides towards independence of thought and artistic power. To this time belong Three Trios for Pianoforte and Strings, Op. 1 ; Sonata for Pianoforte in E flat, Op. 7 ; Trio for Pianoforte and Strings in B flat, Op. 11 ; Senate PatMtique; First Concerto for Pianoforte and Orchestra in C, Op. 1 5 ; Adelaida (composed 1797); also the celebrated Septuor, Op. 20, and the First Symphony, Op. 21 (the last two works published in 1800). The second period, from 1800-1814, marks the climax of formal perfection. The works of this time show the highest efforts of which music as an independent art is capable. We mention the Mass in C, Op. 86; our master s only opera, Fidelio, and his overture and incidental music to Goethe s Egmont ; the Symphonies, Nos. 2-8, amongst which those called the Pastoral, the Eroica, and those 