On May 7, 1824 in Vienna, Austria, Ludwig van Beethoven sat in the middle of the orchestra attempting to follow the score. It was the premiere performance of his Ninth Symphony. Fraülein Unger, the Alto soloist of that performance, remembered that amazing event. “The Master, though in the midst of this confluence of music, heard nothing...not hearing the applause, he continued standing with his back to the audience until encouraged to turn around to see the people still clapping. Realizing that Beethoven was completely deaf, there was a volcanic explosion of both sympathy and admiration.”

Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany, December 1770, six years before the American Revolution and 19 years before the French rebellion. In 1787 the aristocrats of Bonn paid for Beethoven’s trip to Vienna. The purpose was to meet Mozart and further his musical career as both a pianist and a composer. It is reported that when Beethoven was introduced to Mozart, Beethoven played a few of Mozart’s works. Mozart, however, was not terribly impressed. Then Mozart asked the young musician to play some of his own music. At that point Mozart was extremely impressed with Beethoven’s skill with theme and variations. He told Beethoven, “You will make it big on stage one day.” Beethoven was eventually called back home by his father due to his mother’s grave illness. The composer was very close to his mother and was devastated when she succumbed to tuberculosis. By the time Beethoven was able to return to Vienna in 1792 Mozart had already died. Fortunately, however, Josef Haydn agreed to take him on as a student.

In 1800, Beethoven’s First Symphony was premiered. In this work we see a conformity to convention. The symphony still had the traditional four movements, however, it was the third movement that gave us a hint of the revolutionary composer who was yet to come. Instead of a stately minuet, traditionally danced by the aristocracy, the composer substitutes a “scherzo” (the Italian word for joke), at an incredibly quick speed. This was as if to say, “You can’t dance to this.” Beethoven’s extensive use of the brass and woodwind instruments was also apparent, much to the chagrin of Haydn, with his classical sensibilities.

By 1802, the time of the energetic, graceful and witty second symphony, Beethoven himself was in agony. This is the time when he was forced to faced the probability that he might lose his hearing completely; deafness was all but certain. That summer he wrote a tragic letter to his brothers, which we now call “The Heiligenstadt Testament.” It begins with a great feeling of despair. “I was compelled early to keep apart, to live in loneliness; when at times I tried to surmount all this. O how harshly was I defeated by the doubly tragic experience of my bad hearing, and yet I could not bring myself to say to people “speak louder, shout, for I am deaf.” The Testament ended however, with a solemn resolve, “I shall, as much as possible defy my fate.”

At the time Beethoven was composing his Third Symphony in 1803, he had his great hero, Napoleon Bonaparte, in mind. “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” was the message of the French Revolution represented by Bonaparte. A tremendously inspired Beethoven put all of his efforts into capturing this spirit in his Symphony, “The Eroica.” Although ultimately disillusioned when Napoleon made himself Emperor, Beethoven would nonetheless look back and call the “Eroica” his favorite. The Fifth Symphony was written next and may have become the most recognized musical work in western culture. The “Fifth” was interrupted in fulfillment of a commissioned work that we now know as the “Fourth” and was therefore published first. The “Fifth” marked the beginning of the “Climax Symphony” where the tremendous struggle is presented at the beginning and through Herculean efforts, victory is achieved by the end. We also hear variations of the main theme throughout each movement. To achieve this victory the composer enlisted the help of a piccolo, contrabassoon and three trombones for the first time in history. Although symphonies 6 (Pastorale), 7 (Apotheosis to the Dance), and 8 each have charming personalities, 3, 5 and 9 were the leaders in the symphonic revolution.

One of my favorite Beethoven stories was told by several people of the time. It is reported that one of his benefactors, Prince Lichnowsky, promised his visiting friends that Beethoven would entertain them with a concert. Each day the Prince would send word to the composer that his presence was requested at the palace. The following is Beethoven’s response. “Prince! What you are, you are by birth. What I am, I am through myself. There have been and will be thousands of princes. There is only one Beethoven.”

On November 9, 1989 the Berlin Wall fell. Germany was united once again. As a result, musically historic cities were again open to the west. Six years later I was invited to guest conduct in Leipzig, the city of J. S. Bach and Felix Mendelssohn. The program concluded with Beethoven’s 5th Symphony. There was tremendous skepticism among the musicians and concert goers that an American conductor could truly understand Beethoven. What eventually became clear, however, first to the orchestra and eventually to the audience, was that I, as they would term it, am a “Beethoven Expert.”

From early childhood through the present, Beethoven has been my favorite composer. Studying at the Academy of Music in Vienna, listening to the Vienna Philharmonic in rehearsal and working as the research assistant for H. C. Robbins Landon (the world authority on Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven) gave me unique insight into understanding both the composer and his works. In a radio interview I was asked, “How can an American understand the works of Beethoven?” My reply was simply, “The music of Beethoven has no borders, it is universal.”

The concert was sold out. We received four standing ovations, one at the conclusion of the concert and one after each of the three encores. I also received an invitation to return on New Year’s Day to conduct the 9th Symphony. Its performance was met with tremendous success as well. Whether it is the explosive rhythmic energy, intensive thematic development or the deep spirituality felt in his slow movements, Beethoven’s message is timeless.

More recently, I took Loma (my wife Dr. Loma Cobbs) to Vienna to show her the places I would often visit in my youth. I took her to the house in Heiligenstadt where Beethoven stayed, and we sat in the room where he wrote is famous “Testament.” We took a hike in Baden along the stream that inspired the “Pastoral Symphony.” The brook still babbles and both cuckoos and nightingales still sing. We also visited the countryside and ate at a family restaurant in Grinsing where Beethoven visited to get away from frantic city life. It is all still there, relatively unchanged. One can easily experience the same feelings the composer felt when inspired to write his works.

This is Beethoven’s 250th birthday year and yet we are still inspired by the same message today as he was two and a half centuries ago. “All men (and women) will become brothers (and sisters).”

Listen to this classic performance of Beethoven’s epic Symphony No. 9: