“Roll over Beethoven / Dig to these rhythm and blues”
Chuck Berry sang these lyrics in 1956 in his hit single “Roll Over Beethoven” (1956), only to be covered and further popularized by The Beatles in 1963. The song’s premise is that Beethoven would be 'rolling in his grave' if he had heard the new music Chuck Berry was playing. While we will never know what Beethoven would have thought about it, Berry gets something right; the image of Beethoven as lifeless, stagnant and old surely has to go. As 2020 marks 250 years since the birth of Beethoven, it’s important to remember how remarkably innovative Beethoven’s music is and to look at his life with fresh eyes.
Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany, which was quite far away from the fashionable capital of music in Vienna. His father tried to make him into a prodigy like Mozart and, although he was a virtuoso pianist, he never quite succeeded. Beethoven was often prone to bad moods and had periods of deep psychological distress. He was no Vitruvian man, but his music shows the power of expression to transcend life. That is why he deserves to be heard again and again as long as we hear the new things he has to say.
At age 28, he began to complain of fluctuating deafness and, by 1814, he was almost totally deaf. As a musician, this is my worst fear, and I could only imagine what sense of isolation and profound despair which he could have experienced. Some recorded Beethoven walking the streets alone, sinking into alcoholism. Yet, at these most harrowing moments, Beethoven was able to compose his greatest symphonies and sonatas from his middle and late period, making a powerful statement on nearly every classical form. It is remarkable that he was able to write Symphony No. 9 (1824) with Schiller’s “Ode to Joy” (1786) when all worldly joy had gone out of his life. As Schiller writes of Joy: “Your magic brings together / what custom has sternly divided. / All men shall become brothers, / wherever your gentle wings hover.” Even as ill as Beethoven was, he understood the transformational power of art to break down every human wall. We could also just as easily replace “Joy” with Beethoven himself. His magic has brought hundreds of years of musicians together in service of our common humanity.
Hearing Symphony No. 9 so often, we forget how innovative it was musically. No composer had ever conceived of putting voices in a symphony. Beethoven created a new world for Wagner, Mahler, Gorecki and countless others to explore the power of the voice in a symphonic setting. As a violinist, I am also shocked by one of Beethoven’s late works, the “Missa Solemnis”(1819–22), which took the Christian mass to its greatest scale. In the “Sanctus”section, Beethoven wove a lyrical violin solo into the ancient text. The violin perhaps acts as his own voice — his own spiritual statement — which is beyond language. It is another dream of mine to play it.
250 years later, I don’t care to be remembered as Beethoven has been, but I hope I can say that I had the strength of his heart and undying passion for art Beethoven teaches me each day. I hope we can listen for what is fresh and new in music and all recognize the joy of art which is as unstoppable today as it was then.
Beginner Mentality: Beethoven at 250
