Thoughts on LvB

Beethoven has this stereotype of being a mean, arrogant, grumpy man, but seriously, a musician who gets steadily deafer and deafer over 20 or so years? I would be too. He was suicidal by age 32 (probably even before) according to the Heiligenstaedter Testament, but "his art" kept him alive. I think I'd get a kick out of him though, because of things like this:

"The piano variations I have written will be rather difficult to play...because I knew they'll try to play these new pieces and that they'd struggle [Viennese pianists]."

He wanted revenge against the Viennese pianists who passed off his talents as their own (In Search of Beethoven). The humor is slightly ill-hearted, but funny! If you think about it, here is this 20-something who KNOWS he's a genius, and therefore has the confidence for it! I'm a 20-something and could only wish to have a hundredth of the mind he had.

One of the many reasons why he really is one of the greatest composers is his use of a motif. He was SO economical. Dun-dun-dun-duuun! You know what four notes I'm talking about, the four-note motif that starts off the 5th Symphony, and is heard throughout that first movement. Over and over again... but it never gets old! It's catchy anyway, but to create an entire symphony on four notes is aMAzing.

And I have Ludwig to thank for making the piano what it is today. Without his demands for more keys...a bigger sound... well, Liszt probably would have taken his place in history books in that aspect.

Here I'd like to share my favorite portrait of Beethoven. I would really like to know the background of this, because he obviously had to pose like that for as long as the artist took to paint him... so did he choose to pose like that, and to portray what, or did the artist catch him doing that and wanted him to keep that pose...? He's with a lyre, so I don't know if it has something to do with that. Oh of all the great mysteries of Beethoven, I dwell over this one.

Franz Schubert (Referat)

Along with a Powerpoint of my Schubert-photos, this is what I presented to my German class.

Franz Schubert war ein österreichischer Komponist "im Zeitalter der Romantik." Er wurde am 31. Januar 1797 in Wien geboren. Seine Mutter gebar ihn in der Küche. Er hatte acht Brüder und sechs Schwestern, aber nur vier Jungen und ein Mädchen überlebten. Sie lebten alle in einer Einzimmerwohnung, bevor sie in eine größere Wohnng über der Schule seines Vaters zogen.

Er bekam seinen ersten Klavierunterrichten von seinem Bruder und seinen ersten Geigeunterrichten von seinem Vater. Er spielte auch die Orgel in der Ortskirche (Lichental Kirche). Die Leute hatten große Erwartungen in ihn. Er war einer von drei Jungen, der als Soprano in der Imperialhofkapelle ausgewählt wurde. Er war elf Jahre alt und jetzt konnte er musikalisch ausgebildet werden. Er war immer an Musik interessiert, aber jetzt konnte er viel Zeit der Komposition widmen.

Schubert war nicht bekannt außerhalb seines einheimischen Wiens, bis nach seinem Tod. Heute ist er ein Komponist, am besten bekannt für sein kleines Vokal- und Klavierwerk. Währen seines Lebens, war er ein freischaffender Komponist. Komponisten wie Haydn und Mozart hatten ein Schirmherren und sie wurden zum Komponieren gefordert. Aber bis um die Zeit von Beethoven und Schubert, hatten sie die Freiheit für sich und ihre Freunde zu komponieren.

Schuberts Spitzname war "Liederfürst," weil seine Lieder ihn berühmt machten. Sein erstes Meisterstück war von 1814: "Gretchen am Spinnrade." Das Lied, das ihn am meisten berühmt machte, war: "Erlkönig." Die Worte waren aus einem Gedicht von Goethe, wie die meisten seiner Lieder. Insgesamt hat Schubert mindestens 630 Lieder von 150 verschiedenen Dichtern komponiert, alle in achtzehn Jahre.

Schubert hatte ein Haus auf dem Lande, etwa zwei Stunden vom Wien: Schloss Atzenbrugg. Da hatte er ein Einzel- "Häuschen" auf einem Hügel, mit Blick aufs Lande. Er konnte hier privat komponieren. Aber Schubert war auch sehr sozial. Er hatte oft "Schubertiads" bei Atzenbrugg. Dies waren Zusammenkünfte von Freunden, bei denen sie Musik und Spiele spielten. Es gibt einige Bilder, die diese Zusammenkünfte zeigen.

Schubert wurde zu einem der meist veröffentlichten und aufgeführten Komponisten in Wien um 1820. Kritiker wanden sich an ihn als einen "beliebten Tonsetzer." Er hat viele Werke in seinem kurzen Leben sehr schnell komponiert.

In der Tat, Schubert lebte nicht bis zu seinem zweiunddreißigsten Geburtstag. Er zeigte im Februar 1823 erste Zeichen vom Kranksein und er war krank für die nächsten fünf Jahre bis zu seinem Tod in 1828. Es gibt keine Bestätigung, aber er könnte Syphillis gehabt haben. Das Jahr bevor er starb, starb ein anderer großer Komponist: Ludwig van Beethoven. Schubert war ein Taschenlampeträger in Beethovens Trauerzug.

Leider verschlechtert sich Schuberts Gesundheit gerade als er berühmter wurde. Schubert hat in den letzten zehn Wochen seines Lebens mit seinem Bruder gewohnt. Schubert fühlte sich schwach, konnte nicht essen, und klagte in den letzen Wochen besonders über Kopfweh. Er wurde wahnsinnig und rief aus: "Dies is nicht, wo Beethoven liegt." Kurz danach, der 19. November 1828, starb Schubert.

Sein Bruder wusste, dass Schubert gleich neben Beethoven begraben sein wollte. Deshalb is Schubert in Währing auf dem Friedhof begraben, drei Grabstellen von Beethoven entfernt. Seine Grabenschrift saft: "Die Tonkunst begrub hier einen reichen Besitz aber noch viel schoenere Hoffnungen." Heute sind Schubert und Beethoven nebeneinander auf dem Zentralfriedhof Wien begraben. Schubert is ein Beispiel von musikalischem Genie, das der Welt zu schnell geraubt wurde.

The distant future...the year 2000...

Dear Internet,

I like black and white. I like textbooks. I used to call "feelings" the F word, for things like essays in English class. I wasn't good at it.

I'm trying to get better.

I never know what to write in my so-called blog! Maybe I'll start spewing out random facts and make it an educational blog. For Rachmaninoff and the Beatles of course. etc.

It was Chopin's birthday on Monday, March the 1st. Happy Birthday Frederic. 200th birthday at that. You will be celebrated all year long. I haven't heard anything about Schumann though. His birthday is on June 8th. Doesn't mean we can't also have a yearlong Schumann celebration. I was in Austria in 2006 when it was Mozart's 250th. I think the celebration is still going on.

I just realized I was at the Schumanns' grave within a month of his birthday. Sorry Robert. I could have sang Happy Birthday to you. Like when Lyndsay and I sang to Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms and "Mozart."

Did I really just have a conversation with long-gone composers? Well who am I talking to anyway?

Celebrities galore

Wow I have been so lucky in the past 2 days... in the past 2 weeks even, starting with Adam Sandler at the Mary Poppins musical!

So Monday me and Bethany went to Hollywood to see the unveiling of Ringo Starr's star! It's right in line with John and George's, with one spot open for Paul! I would really like to try to go to that... The street was blocked off to cars, but we walked right on. It was so easy, and the crowd wasn't too terribly huge. We got close enough. And there was a big crowd of celebrities too! Eric Idle from Monty Python...Noah Wyle from ER...Ben Harper...Joe Walsh from the Eagles...etc.

Ever since I saw Paul I knew I had to see Ringo too! So dream # ??? came true! I feel so satisfied seeing the 2 Beatles that I probably ever had a chance of seeing.

Monday night was also the premiere of Valentine's Day at Grauman's, but it was about the same time as Ringo's thing, and by the time we got over there all the stars (ALL the stars) from the movie were at their after party. And there was no sign of them coming out any time soon. Oh well.

THEN today we go to the Ellen DeGeneres show, but since we had stand by tickets, we didn't get in. There was no chance, they filled so quickly. We hung out in the riff raff room and watched the show on TV screens. We didn't get to see Patrick Dempsey, but we heard their voices haha. I think we made out better though in this instance, because Drew Brees, the Superbowl MVP from the Saints, came out of the studio into the riff raff room, and I got to touch the Superbowl trophy!! He hadn't washed it yet, so all the fingerprints from everyone were left on there haha. Ellen came out too! But she stayed up on the stairs as to not get mangled I guess. It was during one commercial break.

We didn't get in, but we got to choose another date we wanted to go with guaranteed tickets! So hopefully there'll be good guests! It seemed like a really fun show to be in!

I must have done something good

favorite scene from Sound of Music

However I just read that this interior scene was filmed in Hollywood in a recreated gazebo. It does looks much wider than what the exterior looks like it could hold. We tried to get into the gazebo at Hellbrunn Palace but it was locked. If only we could trust one another to not deface or screw up important landmarks like this. Even if they have to put a guard in it, I don't care too much.

People of Earth,

Please learn the difference between "your" and "you're" before you go writing "Your the best!"again.

tune me in to the wild side of life

This is a very old blog that was just unearthed. I read all my past posts like a stranger to the person I once was.

I don't really have anything to say, I just wanted to stir up a wanting to write. Now I know I got a good blog to do so.