Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1896-03-14
Hce.hOvcn'e Anniversary

Kansas City Star. Tuesday. Il: Today
fs the l25th anniversary Of the birth Of
Beethoven. the master mind OF music
IN all the worlds history. At modest
little Bonn, where he was born, the oc-
casion will be commemorated with a
festival. in which eminent musicians
have shown an eagerness 10 assist.
Many of the big musical centera Of Eu-
rope VIII celebrate the day with Beetho-
ven programs, some Of which will un-
doubtedly include his greatest sym
phony, the ninth. the one containing
those wonderful chorals as a setting to
Schiller's "cde 10 joy This grand
work, more than any other, would seem
best suited to SO laudable a purpose.
The last symphony hat Beethoven
wrote contains. as though by divine
guidance, the most inspiring as well as
the most sorrowful emotions If the great
composer = life. IL is a climax In every
sense. a summing up, and in it's various
parts expresses nearly all Of the human
passions, closing with an eXultation and
spiritual outbreathing that seemed 10
foreshadow the death Of Beethoven
Just as his musical soul felt its com
plete freedom from the restrictions Of
~ JhHN dH II lfiA lASf4l IaRaOlN Vi
singing as it would like 20 sing, the
light was e~xtinguished.
But the celebrations OF the aBniver-
sary OF BeethOVcn's birth are not 10 be
confined 10 the old world. Yesterday
the Mannerchor Of New York city be-
gan "A Beethoven festival. which Will
continue through todav II was begun
yesterday FOR the reason that history T.
undecided as 10 whether Beethoven was
born December IS or December II. 100.
1t IL believed that he was born on the
18th, but his parents. both Of whom
were musicians. registered his birth De-
cenber Il. And during this musical
season the various big symphony or
chestras Of the world viii give again the
cyclus Of his nine symphonies. And. no
doubt, there Will DE many concerts in
various cities, American and European,
all for the same purpose. kansas City
may properly be included, for there was
recently begun IN this city under fiat
tering circumstances. a series Of eight
Of the nine symphonies.
Beethoven. unlike mani other IN
pOsers. lived 10 see his works .aci-
ated. yet his life was pathetS AZ .ts over
powerlng sorrow ana adversely. AS
early as 1875, before he began the first
Of his symphonies. the deafness which
later embitte Il his life began 10 show
itself, and vith he steady destruction
OF his heariIs b cthov4n grew more
morose. more depressed and slowly
drew himself entirely away from the
outer world. The majority Of his grand
symphonies were written while he was
deaf and were never heard by him. The
first performance Of his ninth sym
phony witnessed the sad figure Of Bee
thoven standing by the side Of Conduc-
tor Cmlauf 10 indicate the lime OF the
various movements. But the symphony
was finished and Beethoven stili stood
with his back 10 the audience beating
time until one ~ the singers turned him
round that he might see the enthusiast
tic demonstration. What more melan-
choly spectacle
Beethoven was possessed ~ all the
contradictions and peculiarities Of gen.
ius. RE inherited an ungOVernable tenn
per n a nature IN many respects bru-
tai. He was fond OF horse play and IN
his lively moods was exceedingly coarse
in remarks and action. one OF his pet
tricks was 10 throw things at his waiter,
or perhaps pour the soup over the pa
tient ~garcon's head, lie was the son %
a d~runkard ~ though his whole soul
was possessed of music ho QUIZ not
learn 10 dance. In appearance he was
short and stocky. with large feature
and a complexion that suggested q
mulatto IN his normal moods Beetho'
ven was SO uncouth y repulsive In ap'
pearance and dress that he was forbid
ding To those who diq not know him
Yet his wonderful personality and
strangely, his high regard for woman
kind, coupled with his talent as a musl
clan, made him the idol Of many Titled
ladies, who lavished upon him all th'
favors that consistency would allow
Yet he never married. He was fond OF
the best literature and was exceedingly
well read and, though apparently {
stranger to the customary home ties, h'
held a strong regard for a scapegoa'
nephew who, by his neglect. undoubt
eddy fastened his uncle's n
But in his music these adverse quar-
tiles in B~eethoven's temperament neVel
! obtruded themselves. Nothing could b.
purer than his compositions. and II i
due to the ennobling influence which
they carry, even 10 those who can
-
ture. For the good work he has dons
rather than for what he was personally
is a man to be remembered and in Bee
thoven's name music cherishes its great
est master. Wagner likened him {
Shakespeare and summed up his mis-
sion in that he wrought the efnancipa
ton Of melody and freed music from tn
bonds Of fashion.
Beethoven died in Vienna March 70
1927. during a terrible thunderstorm
and his life went out with the shock Of
a ~thunderclap. His last movement wa:
TO rise up and shake his ftst at the lur!c
sky. His funeral drew -, 900 people q
the streets of Vienna.