Beethoven's heart is full of ideals of freedom, equality and universal love. He was a ardent supporter of the French bourgeois revolution in 1789. In 1798, General Bernadotte (1763-1844) became the French ambassador to Vienna. Beethoven often visited his home and had close contacts with people around him. In 182, Beethoven started writing the Third Symphony for Napoleon at the suggestion of Bernadotte. In his mind, Napoleon was a hero who destroyed the autocratic system and realized his ideals. In 184, Beethoven completed the Third Symphony. Just as he was preparing to dedicate it to Napoleon, the news that Napoleon proclaimed himself emperor spread to Vienna. When Beethoven learned the news from the student Li Si (1784-1838), he roared angrily: "He is just an ordinary man. Now he will trample on human rights to show his personal ambition. He will ride on the heads of everyone and become a tyrant! " As he spoke, he went to the table, tore up the dedication to Napoleon and threw it on the floor, and no one was allowed to pick it up. After many days, Beethoven's anger gradually subsided and he was allowed to make this work public. In December 184, this symphony was first performed in the court of Prince Rob Kovitz in Vienna. The first public performance at the Vienna Theatre in April 185 was conducted by Beethoven himself. The program reads: "A new symphony in D major, composed by Mr. ludwig van beethoven, is dedicated to His Royal Highness Prince Rob Kovitz." Strangely, Beethoven said it was not in E flat major, but in D flat major. When the score was published in October 186, it was printed on the title page: Heroic Symphony was written in memory of a great man. Since then, the Third Symphony has been called "Heroic Symphony".

2. Symphony of Destiny

The first four notes of Beethoven's Symphony in C minor (Op.67) are as strong and heavy as the sound of fate knocking at the door. This work is therefore called "Symphony of Destiny". The Symphony of Destiny was written from 185 to 188. Beethoven wrote to his friend Wegele (1765-1848) in November, 188, and already said, "I want to catch fate by the throat, and it must not overwhelm me completely!" The knock of fate appeared in the third movement of Piano Sonata in C minor (Op.1, No.1) written in 1798, and then appeared in the third movement of String Quartet in D major (Op.18, No.3), the first movement of Passion Sonata (Op.57) and the third prelude of Leonora (Op.72). It can be seen that it is Beethoven's consistent creative thought to overcome fate through struggle. The passion for struggle shown in the Symphony of Destiny has a strong appeal. The Spanish contralto singer Mary Boland was frightened to death when she first listened to the Symphony of Destiny, and had to leave. Napoleon, an old guard, heard the theme at the beginning of the fourth movement and couldn't help jumping up and shouting, "This is the emperor!" " Berlioz regarded the thrilling struggle scene in the Symphony of Destiny as "Othello's terrible rage when he listened to Ego's slanders and mistook Desdemona for having an affair." Schumann said: "Although you often hear this symphony, it always has a constant power for you-just as natural phenomena always scare people." In May and June of 183, Mendelssohn stayed in Weimar for two weeks, met Goethe for the last time, and played famous works of ancient and modern times for him on the piano. Goethe was very excited after listening to the first movement of the Symphony of Destiny. He said, "This is magnificent and thrilling, and it will almost collapse the house. I don't know what will happen if many people play together. " In March 1841, Engels listened to the performance of Symphony of Destiny. In a letter to his sister, he praised the work and said, "If you don't know this wonderful thing, then you haven't heard anything in your life." He said that in the first movement, he heard "that kind of complete despair and sorrow, that kind of sad pain"; In the second movement, I heard "the gentle sorrow of love"; In the third and fourth movements, "the powerful, young and free joy expressed by trumpet" is so inspiring. Engels revealed the essence of the Symphony of Destiny in a few short sentences.

Third, the legend of Moonlight Song

"More than one hundred years ago, there was a German musician named Beethoven, who composed many famous songs. Among them, there is a famous piano music called Moonlight Music, and the legend goes like this: One autumn, Beethoven traveled around and performed in a small town by the Rhine. One night, he was walking on a quiet path and heard the intermittent piano sound coming from a hut, playing his music. Beethoven approached the hut, the piano suddenly stopped and someone was talking in the room. A girl said,' How difficult it is to play this song! I've only heard others play it a few times, but I can't remember how to play it. If only I could listen to how Beethoven played himself!' A man said,' Yes, but the tickets for the concert are too expensive and we are too poor.' The girl quickly said,' Brother, don't be sad, I'm just talking casually.' Hearing this, Beethoven pushed open the door and walked in gently. A candle was lit in the hut, and in the dim candlelight, the man was making leather shoes. There is an old piano in front of the window, and in front of it sits a girl of sixteen or seventeen. Her face is very handsome, but she is blind. The shoemaker saw a stranger coming in and stood up and asked,' Sir, who are you looking for? Wrong door, right?' Beethoven said,' No, I'm here to play a tune for this girl.' The girl quickly stood up and offered her seat. Beethoven sat in front of the piano and played the tune that the blind girl had just played. The blind girl was so absorbed that when the song was over, she said excitedly,' How skillfully you play! How deep the feelings are! You, you must be Mr. Beethoven?' Beethoven didn't answer. He asked the blind girl,' Do you like it? Let me play another song for you.' A gust of wind blew out the candle. The moonlight shone through the window and everything in the hut seemed to be covered with silver gauze. Beethoven looked at the poor brothers and sisters standing beside him and pressed the keys by the quiet moonlight. The shoemaker listened quietly. He seems to be facing the sea, and the moon is rising from where the water meets the sky. On the microwave-sparkling sea, silver light is scattered all over for a while. The moon rose higher and higher, passing through a wisp of gauze-like weiyun. Suddenly, the wind blew on the sea and rolled up huge waves. The waves shone brightly by the moonlight, one by one rushing towards the shore ... The shoemaker looked at his sister, and the moonlight was shining on her quiet face and her eyes were wide open. She seemed to see something she had never seen before, the rough sea under the moonlight. Brother and sister were intoxicated by the wonderful piano sound. When they woke up, Beethoven had already left the hut. He flew back to the inn and spent the whole night recording the "Moonlight Music" he had just improvised. This is an article in the seventh volume of Chinese textbooks for primary schools in China, which tells the story of Beethoven playing Moonlight for blind girls. This is indeed a beautiful legend. This piece by Beethoven (Op.27 No.2-Piano Sonata in # C minor) describes the view of moonlight on the sea, which originated from German music critic Rael Staab (1799-186). Russian pianist anton rubinstein (1829-1894) was very opposed to using "moonlight" to explain this piece. He said: "Moonlight should be thoughtful, thoughtful and quiet in music description. In short, it is a soft and bright mood. The first movement of Sonata in #c minor, from the first note to the last note, is completely tragic (implied by minor), a sky full of clouds and a gloomy mood. The last movement is violent and enthusiastic, and it shows exactly the opposite of the gentle moon. Only a short second movement can be said to be a moment of moonlight. " In Germany, some people also call this music a "Garden Pavilion" sonata. The garden pavilion is a pavilion built in the shade of a tree. Obviously, this title is also inaccurate for this sonata. It seems that this piece of music is by no means a clear landscape painting, but an inner gloomy mood. The author of Beethoven's Biography, Tye (1817-1897), said that the first movement was "A maiden prays for her sick father", which is more appropriate than "Moonlight" and "Garden Pavilion" in any case. This piece of Beethoven was written in 181, when he was in love with Julifata Guichardi (1784-1856), and it was dedicated to her. On November 16th of this year, when Beethoven wrote to Wegele, he mentioned her and said, "She loves me and I love her." But by the beginning of 182, she had fallen in love with Count Andrew Hallenborg and married him in 183. Romain rolland associated this song with Beethoven's lovelorn love, saying, "The fantasy didn't last long, and the pain and indignation in the sonata have exceeded love." Roland interpreted the first movement as melancholy, whining and crying. Russian musician Ole Biishev (1794-1858) thought that the first movement was the "deep sorrow" of lovelorn, just like the "hanging fire". However, in 181, Beethoven and Guichardi fell in love, saying that this work is about the pain of lovelorn love may not be true. Perhaps Stasov (1824-196), a Russian art critic, has a reasonable view of this work. After recalling listening to Liszt's performance in Petersburg, he thought that this sonata was a complete tragedy, and the first movement was the tender feelings and sometimes the mental state full of dark premonitions. He had a similar impression when listening to anton rubinstein's performance: "... from a distance, as if from the depths of an invisible soul, a silent voice suddenly rose.

Some voices are melancholy and full of infinite worries; Others are meditative, endless memories and gloomy omens ... "Sonata in # C minor is especially famous for its title and legend of" Moonlight ". Beethoven once said, "People often talk about Sonata in #c minor, but I have written something better than this, such as Sonata in #F major (Op. 78)." It can be seen that Beethoven himself was not very satisfied with Moonlight Song.

IV. Passion Sonata

When Schindler once asked Beethoven about the contents of Sonata in D minor (Op.31 No.2) and Sonata in F minor (Op.57), Beethoven replied, "Please read Shakespeare's The Tempest." Therefore, the former is called "The Tempest Sonata", while the latter is titled "The Passion Sonata" by Crantz (1789-187), a Hamburg music publisher. (On the other hand, the title of "Enthusiasm" was added by German pianist, violinist, composer and conductor Reinecker (1824-191), which seems unfounded. ) The title of "Enthusiasm" is not recognized by Beethoven, but it is quite appropriate for this heroic and magnificent work. Lenin, a proletarian revolutionary mentor, once heard Russian composer and conductor Dobrovan (1894-1953) play this sonata in Moscow, and said, "I don't know anything better than the Passion Sonata. I would like to listen to it every day. This is wonderful and unprecedented music. I always think with perhaps childish boast: what miracles people can create! " On October 3, 187, Paris was surrounded by Prussian troops for more than three months in the Franco-Prussian War. Located in the stronghold of King William of Prussia at Versailles, Bismarck, the iron-blooded prime minister, was negotiating the terms of a truce with thiers, the head of the French bourgeois government. That night, Gertel, a former German ambassador to Italy, played the "Passion Sonata" for Bismarck on a shabby piano in Verham. After listening to the last movement, Bismarck said, "This is the wail of the struggle of the whole generation." He understood Beethoven's "enthusiasm" from the standpoint of a bloodthirsty aspirant. He once said: "If I can often listen to this piece of music, my courage will not be exhausted", because "Beethoven is the best for my nerves". Beethoven said on June 29th, 181, "My art is used to improve the fate of poor people." If Beethoven knew something underground and heard that his music was used by Bismarck, he must be dead.

5. Beating machine Friendship Canon

Beethoven's friend Meltzer (1772-1838) is famous for inventing and manufacturing mechanical musical instruments. In the autumn of 1813, Beethoven wrote a war symphony entitled "Victory of Wellington" or "Battle of Victoria" for the universal piano (that is, the mechanical band) invented by Meltzer, describing the scene that Britain defeated Napoleon in the northern Spanish city of Victoria on June 21 of the same year. On the basis of Winkle's invention (1776-1826), Meltzer once created the general-purpose clapping machine today. Beethoven first adopted it and marked the speed of his work according to the number of beats it beat per minute. Beethoven's hearing aid was also made for him by Meltzer around 181. On one occasion, when Beethoven sent Meltzer on a trip, he wrote that the richest man was the funny Cannon, to praise the creator of the festival machine. This canon, which symbolizes the friendship between Beethoven and Meltzer, was later selected by Beethoven into his eighth symphony (Op. 93) and became the theme of the second movement. Sixth, the Seventh Symphony on the Ballet Wagner called Beethoven's Seventh Symphony (Op.92) "the ultimate dance", "the highest form of dance" and "the most wonderful embodiment of body movement according to the ideal form". It is said that he once imagined that the Seventh Symphony would be represented by dance accompanied by Liszt's piano. Wagner's ideal was later realized by Russian choreographer Masin. In 1938, he compiled this symphony into a ballet to show an allegorical story-the creation and destruction of the world:

The first movement: creation-under the guidance of creative spirit, the chaotic world became an orderly residence for plants and animals. There are men and women, and dangerous snakes. The second movement: the earth-hatred and rape appeared on the earth. A group of men and women mourned the murdered teenager. The third movement: the sky-the gods and goddesses in the sky are indifferent to the riots on the earth and still enjoy themselves. The fourth movement: debauchery and destruction-people indulge in debauchery. God saw them imitate the joy of the upper world badly and destroy the world with fire because of anger. In May, 1938, this ballet was performed for the first time by the Russian Ballet of basire in Monte Carlo, Monaco.

VII. Ode to Joy and Chorus Symphony

In January p>1793, Fischenich, a friend of German poet Schiller and a law professor at Bonn University, wrote to Schiller's wife Charlotte, saying, "There was a young man ... with great and lofty aspirations, who wanted to set Schiller's Ode to Joy to music section by section." This young man was Beethoven, who lived in Bonn at that time and was only 23 years old. Beethoven contributed to the music of Ode to Joy in 1798 and 1812. The theme of Ode to Joy, which was written in 1812, was later used in the Preface of Named Day Festival in C Major (Op. 115) completed in October 1814. Beethoven was written by Bierce around 1795.