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Beethoven. Beyond
Sezione 1
Sezione 2
Groundbreaking music
BONN, Prince-Elector's Palace. 1788
PLAY ME
With the death of my mother,
my father started to drink even more than before,
so much so that two years later, I had to take over the family affairs. When I was only eighteen, I formally became the head of the family, responsible for him and my two younger brothers.
My father was always getting into drunken brawls and in the end it was up to me to get him out; a heavy burden for a teenager. This pressure only made me even more bitter and irritable, characteristics that would accompany me throughout my life. Yet this experience had also made me resourceful and confident in my abilities.
To pay the bills, I found work at the court in Bonn; the only vacancy was for a viola player. I dedicated a piece to a recently deceased hero, Emperor Joseph II, a beloved enlightened leader. The piece was so difficult to perform that many players refused to play it, a problem I had to face many times in my career.
The performers had to fend for themselves; I did not care if they were difficult pieces. My writing was so incredibly and intensely tiring.... It didn't go from one key to the one you would expect, but to another far away! The beat was not always at the beginning of a measure, in the first half, but... everywhere!
Sezione 3
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