top of page
Beethoven. Beyond
Sezione 1
Sezione 2
A genius among nobles
VIENNA, Burgtheater. 1792
PLAY ME
Joseph Haydn was enraptured by my bold new music.
One day, he offered to become my tutor, taking me
back to Vienna to win over the nobility. A month after my arrival, my father died, but I refused to return to Bonn to attend his funeral: by then, I was busy courting the aristocrats and Haydn was my ticket to their salons. At first glance,
I was as far from the refined aristocratic world as one could imagine. I was not an attractive person; I was short in stature, my face was pockmarked with smallpox, my skin was very dark and I had bad hair... My friends called me 'the Sicilian', but my magnificent and intense performances propelled me into the most refined musical circles.
Within a few years, I had performed all over Vienna. I remember very well the Burgtheater in Vienna, where I had the pleasure of performing among my late 18th century performances. I became a bold newcomer. To get rid of all rivals, I included in all my repertoire works of diabolical difficulty and attacked the piano with a passion unheard of by the Viennese.
The art form I was developing put emotion in the foreground. I tried to make the listeners literally lose their balance; women fainted, men cried, objects were thrown at the stage... It was really extraordinary! I, so different, more unique than rare, immediately became a celebrity among the aristocrats.
Sezione 3
bottom of page