Beethoven's compositional career is usually divided into Early, Middle, and Late periods.The early period is taken to last until about 1802, the middle period from about 1803 to about 1814, and the late period from about 1815.
Beethoven's Early Period
By 1793, Beethoven established a reputation in Vienna as a piano virtuoso and improviser in the salons of the nobility, often playing the preludes and fugues of J. S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier. His friend Nikolaus Simrock had also begun publishing his compositions; the first are believed to be a set of variations. Beethoven spent much of 1794 composing. Beethoven's first public performance in Vienna was in March 1795, a concert in which he debuted a piano concerto. Shortly after this performance, he arranged for the publication of the first of his compositions, piano trios of Opus 1. These works were dedicated to his patron Prince Lichnowsky,and were a financial success; Beethoven's profits were nearly sufficient to cover his living expenses for a year.
In 1796, Beethoven embarked on a tour of central European cultural centers that was an echo of a similar tour by Mozart in 1789. Accompanied by Prince Lichnowsky (who also accompanied Mozart on his tour), Beethoven visited Prague, Dresden, Leipzig, and Berlin, composing and performing to acclaim. He spent the most time in Prague, where his reputation had already preceded him through Lichnowsky's family connections, and Berlin, where he composed two cello sonatas (Op. 5) dedicated to King Friedrich Wilhelm II, a lover of music who played that instrument. These works are notable for successfully combining virtuoso cello and piano parts, a difficult task considering the differing natures of the two instruments.The king presented Beethoven with a snuffbox full of gold coins; Beethoven observed that the trip earned him "a good deal of money". Beethoven returned to Vienna in July 1796, and embarked on another tour in November, heading east instead of north, to the cities of Pressburg (present-day Bratislava) and Pest.
Beethoven spent most of 1797 in Vienna, where he continued to compose (apparently in response to an increasing number of commissions) and perform, although he was apparently stricken with a serious disease (possibly typhus) in the summer or autumn. It is also around this time (although it may have been as early as 1795) that he first became aware of issues with his hearing. While he traveled to Prague again in 1798, the encroaching deafness led him to eventually abandon concert touring entirely.
Between 1798 and 1802 Beethoven finally tackled what he considered the pinnacles of composition: the string quartet and the symphony. With the composition of his first six string quartets (Op. 18) between 1798 and 1800 (written on commission for, and dedicated to, Prince Lobkowitz), and their publication in 1801, along with premieres of the First and Second Symphonies in 1800 and 1802, Beethoven was justifiably considered one of the most important of a generation of young composers following after Haydn and Mozart. He continued to write in other forms, turning out widely known piano sonatas like the "Pathétique" sonata (Op. 13) He also completed his Septet (Op. 20) in 1799, which was one of his most popular works during his lifetime.
For the premiere of his First Symphony, Beethoven hired the Burgtheater on 2 April 1800, and staged an extensive program of music, including works by Haydn and Mozart, as well as the Septet, the First Symphony, and one of his piano concertos (the latter three works all then unpublished).
WhileMozartand Haydn were undeniable influences other composers like Muzio Clementi were also stylistic influences. Beethoven's melodies, musical development, use of modulation and texture, and characterization of emotion all set him apart from his influences, and heightened the impact some of his early works made when they were first published.By the end of 1800 Beethoven and his music were already much in demand from patrons and publishers
Beethoven had a few students. From 1801 to 1805, he tutored Ferdinand Ries, who went on to become a composer and later wroteBeethoven remembered, a book about their encounters. The young Carl Czerny studied with Beethoven from 1801 to 1803. Czerny went on to become a renowned music teacher himself, taking on Franz Liszt as one of his students, and also gave the Vienna premiere of Beethoven's fifth piano concerto (the "Emperor") in 1812.
Beethoven's compositions between 1800 and 1802 were dominated by two works, although he continued to produce smaller works, including the Moonlight Sonata. In the spring of 1801 he completed The Creatures of Prometheus, a ballet. The work was such a success that it received numerous performances in 1801 and 1802, and Beethoven rushed to publish a piano arrangement to capitalize on its early popularity.In the spring of 1802 he completed the Second Symphony, intended for performance at a concert that was eventually cancelled. The symphony received its premiere at a subscription concert in April 1803 at the Theater an der Wien, where Beethoven had been appointed as composer in residence. In addition to the Second Symphony, the concert also featured the First Symphony, the Third Piano Concerto, and the oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives. While reviews were mixed, the concert was a financial success; Beethoven was able to charge three times the cost of a typical concert ticket.
Beethoven's business dealings with publishers also began to improve in 1802 when his brother Carl, who had previously assisted him more casually, began to assume a larger role in the management of his affairs. In addition to negotiating higher prices for recently composed works, Carl also began selling some of Beethoven's earlier unpublished works, and encouraged Beethoven (against the latter's preference) to also make arrangements and transcriptions of his more popular works for other instrument combinations. Beethoven acceded to these requests, as he could not prevent publishers from hiring others to do similar arrangements of his works
Around 1796, Beethoven began to lose his hearing. He suffered a severe form of tinnitus, a "ringing" in his ears that made it hard for him to perceive and appreciate music; he also avoided conversation. The cause of Beethoven's deafness is unknown, but it has variously been attributed to syphilis, lead poisoning, typhus, auto-immune disorder (such as systemic lupus erythematosus), and even his habit of immersing his head in cold water to stay awake. The explanation, from the autopsy of the time, is that he had a "distended inner ear" which developed lesions over time. Because of the high levels of lead found in samples of Beethoven's hair, that hypothesis has been extensively analyzed. While the likelihood of lead poisoning is very high, the deafness associated with it seldom takes the form that Beethoven exhibited.
As early as 1801, Beethoven wrote to friends describing his symptoms and the difficulties they caused in both professional and social settings (although it is likely some of his close friends were already aware of the problems). Beethoven, on the advice of his doctor, lived in the small Austrian town of Heiligenstadt, just outside Vienna, from April to October 1802 in an attempt to come to terms with his condition. There he wrote his Heiligenstadt Testament, which records his resolution to continue living for and through his art.Over time, his hearing loss became profound: there is a well-attested story that, at the end of the premiere of his Ninth Symphony, he had to be turned around to see the tumultuous applause of the audience; hearing nothing, he wept. Beethoven's hearing loss did not prevent his composing music, but it made playing at concerts—lucrative sources of income—increasingly difficult. After a failed attempt in 1811 to perform his own Piano Concerto No. 5 (the "Emperor"), he never performed in public again.
.The second part deals with the styles of music cultivated by him and the final part looks at the way beethoven's music has been interpreted by performers and writers.
