Commemorating Beethoven amidst a pandemic

By Satyajith Andradi

The two hundred and fiftieth birth anniversary of a great personage is indeed an occasion for grand celebration and festivities. More importantly, it is a time for contemplation and prayer. The two hundred and fiftieth birth anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven, which falls on 16th December 2020, is such an event. Beethoven is universally recognized as one of the greatest composers of all time. For most lovers of western art music, he was the greatest composer who ever lived.

The Coronavirus pandemic, which is ravaging throughout the world, seriously restricts the ability to mark Beethoven’s birth anniversary with celebrations and festivities such as gala music concerts. However, it does not prevent us from marking this occasion with profound contemplation and earnest prayer. On the contrary, the current plight of humanity, brought about by the deadly pandemic, obliges us to do so. Now is the opportune time to think what Beethoven and his immortal music hold socially and spiritually for mankind, stricken with tragedy. Tragedy was no stranger to Beethoven. In fact, his personal life was so tragic that he considered himself to be one of God’s most miserable creatures. Nonetheless, Beethoven was able to conceive the most beautiful vision of hope and happiness for mankind through his music. However, Beethoven was not only a great visionary but a courageous man of action. He famously declared, “I will take fate by the throat”. He supported the revolutionary social and political transformations of contemporary Europe. More importantly, he did not allow his personal tragedies to prevent him from achieving his life’s mission as a composer.

Music and the social

Beethoven was born to a world, which was very different to ours, socially and politically. The landed aristocracy constituted the ruling class of the day. The social standing of composers, however talented, was low. Most of them, especially the composers of instrumental music, were engaged in the service of the nobility, under the so-called ‘ ‘Patronage System’. They were required to write music according to the tastes of their aristocratic masters. Beethoven successfully rebelled against this oppressive system. He refused to live as a servant of any aristocratic master. Instead, he managed to earn a decent living as a freelance composer and pianist. More importantly, he dared to write music which expressed his innermost personal emotions. Thereby, he inspired and initiated the Romantic Movement of music. His early masterpieces such as the Sonata Pathetique, the Eroica Symphony, and the Appasionata Sonata stand testimony to this. The far-reaching social and political transformations ushered by the French Revolution facilitated this musical and social radicalism, which was for Beethoven one and the same. On his part, Beethoven openly and enthusiastically supported the democratic ideas which flowed from revolutionary France.

Music and the spiritual

When Beethoven was in his early thirties, he began to lose his hearing. This caused him social embarrassment and mental agony to such an extent, that he even thought of committing suicide. However, luckily, he found that his growing deafness would not impair his creative powers as a composer. This hardened his resolve to live on and create great works of music for humanity. Side by side with his growing deafness, Beethoven’s many affairs of the heart fell apart. These, along with his deafness made him social recluse. However, these personal calamities enriched his inner spiritual life. Beethoven’s intense introspection gave rise to a marvelous spiritual awakening, which in turn led to the creation of music of unprecedented profundity. He plumbed the depth of his noble soul and expressed his innermost being through his late masterpieces such as the Ninth Symphony, the late piano sonatas, and the late string quartets. These works, which reveal a deeper reality of a profound spiritual nature, belong to the greatest musical compositions ever created by mankind.

As Beethoven moved away from casual social intercourse, he turned towards nature for solace and inspiration. He spent more time in the countryside and went on long walks. Surely, he would have sensed the oneness of his inner being with Mother Nature. His Sixth Symphony – the Pastorale, stand testimony to this.

A towering personality

As he grew older, Beethoven’s social behaviour became more and more rude and eccentric. He grew suspicious of others, and became a difficult person to associate with. His tragic experiences were largely responsible for this demeanor. However, deep within, he was an exceptionally noble being. He was a man of great moral fibre. He was utterly truthful to his life’s mission. He was a bold and courageous person who did not abandon his noble cause in the face of bitter adversity. His immortal setting of Schiller’s celebrated poem ‘ Ode to Joy’ at a time he was stone deaf proves the point.

Beethoven was outspoken in his criticism of injustice, whenever and wherever he found it. Further, as already mentioned, he openly and enthusiastically supported the democratic ideas which flowed from revolutionary France, which certainly wouldn’t have been to the liking of the reactionary authorities of Vienna, where he resided. These would have, to use the words of the Afro – American civil rights activist John Lewis, got him into quite a bit of ‘ Good Trouble’ with the Austrian police.

Vision for mankind

As mentioned earlier, Beethoven lived in an age, which was in many ways socially and technologically less advanced than ours. Things like democracy, individual freedom, human rights, and civil rights were rarely heard of at that time. There were no antibiotics, anaesthetics, automobiles, locomotives, electrical appliances, and aircrafts, not to mention space crafts, smartphones, and robots. The large-scale subjugation and plunder of numerous nations of Asia, Africa, and America, by a few European colonial powers, the trans-Atlantic slave trade, Russian serfdom, and American slavery, were rampant. However, in spite of its notable evils, the people living at that time, unlike those of the present age, believed of unlimited social and scientific progress. Beethoven, true to his epoch, believed in a better future for mankind. Accordingly, his key message to humanity is consistent with the spirit of his times. That message is his beautiful vision of hope and happiness for mankind. This vision is inseparably intertwined with the social, the personal, the spiritual, and the natural. It was a vision of Oneness. For Beethoven, integrity was indivisible, to say the least.

Although there has been considerable progress in the social sphere since the time of Beethoven, social, political, and economic oppression is still widely prevalent in many forms. The subjugation and plunder of numerous poor nations by a few rich countries continue, albeit covertly through the use of finance capital rather than by the flagrant use of firearms. Certainly more disastrous is the suicidal war which is being waged with Mother Nature, in the interest of short term commercial profit of mega finance capitalists and the illusory GDP rat race of nations. Ever increasing deforestation, carbon emissions, slaughter of animals, and dumping of plastics, and the use of chemicals for agriculture, have become the order of the day. The resulting global warming, environmental pollution and climate change would inexorably lead to more virulent pandemics, social and economic disruptions, mass migration and starvation, and eventually death and total annihilation. Whatever social progress made during the past two centuries could disappear into thin air, together with all what we hold dear, including Beethoven’s music. In this critical moment, the world has much to learn from Beethoven and his music, and put things back on track before it is too late.