Omaha daily bee., 1908-03-29

~ II
wv little musical calendar lying
upon the desk and discovered
ESEYEG9I that just eighty-one years ago
k<&tSS4b on that day there passed away
from this earth one of the great beacon
lights of musical history, the immortal
Beethoven. Ludwig Van Beethoven died
on March 26, 1897.
And It occurred to me that a lesson or
two from the life of the great master might
profitably be drawn in this column, to-
gether with a short sketch of some of the
lesser known things in connection with his
existence and perhaps a bit OF encourage
ment from his own words, for we have
several beautiful sentiments on record
Away back in the sixteenth century near
the\city of Louvain in Belgium the records
show that there was family of Van Bee
thovens. who were simple Flemish peas
ants; CVan not being a sign of nobility in
Dutch; and that these peasants were not
richly endowed with this worlds good is
evidenced by the fact that they enjoyed
on Sundays the rare treat of piece OF
fried or boiled bacon with their meals,
subsisting on beans during the week.
Whether, after the Boston tradition, this
had anything to do with the mentality of
the t-great-gFeat-grandson who made
the name famous, history sayeth not
But about the year 1850. so Philip Hale
tells us in a very comprehensive sketch of
the great composers life, one of these
farmer people left the farm and the old
folks and went to Antwerp to try his for
tune
He married, and his son Gullaume, or
Wilhelm, grew in stature and esteem and
became a wine merchant.
In turn, Wilhelm married and had eight
children, complete octave, as it were
and one of them, named Henri. became
tailor and amongst many other suits which
he made was the suit which he paid to
most estimable and charming person who
did not believe in race suicide and whose
name was Catherine de Herdt. She justi-
fled her unbelief by bringing into the
world no less than twelve children; not
BAKERS dozen, but a tailors cozen.
| One of the sons of this marriage, whose
name was Louis, was brought up in the
| Antwerp choirs and received a good musi-
cal education. In 1913 he was appointed a
musician of the court Of the elector OF
Cologne at Bonn.
| He must have lived terribly luxurious
life and it appals one TO think what he
could possibly have done with his money,
! for he drew the princely and munificent
salary of S16O per annum.
This. you will notice, gave him thirteen
dollars and thirty-three cents a month!
After deducting household expenses you
| can easily see that he still had fine and
large allowance for personal expenditures
and for those delcacies and frivolities
which a man on that income might natur-
aIlye be expected to indulge in.
He then married and prospered, becoming
Herr Kapellmeister."
But. alas, his wife. Maria, could not
stand the pressure of success Che had also
added a wineshop to his studio and she
took TO imbibing with too great regularity,
and died
Their son, Johann, born about 174O, in
herited the family name-and the maternal
thirst-and, to make matters worse, became
a tenor, court singer and married a
charming attractive, soft-hearted, 1s-year-
old daughter of the head cook!
Louis. or Ludwig the elder objected, of
course, to the match and blamed the poor
boy, not being acquainted with the adage
that "the way TO a mans heart is through
his stomach"
The young couple, however, were not dis
shaded in their determination to bring into
4 the world a great genius. and on December
16 177O Ludwig the Great came into this
sphere, with the themes and emotions Of the
mine great symphonies" incubating in his
infantile brain.
From his own father, Ludwig Van Bee
thoven received his first lesson, and as
the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty
to Children did not then have a branch at
Bonn. the child was obliged to practice for
hours at a time when he had attained the
age OF L.
He later studied with certain Prof
Pfeiffer, who, with Johann, the boys
father would spend much time. thirst
quenching. at a tavern and, returning con-
science-smitten because the boy had missed
lesson. would drag him from his bed and
keep him at his instrument till daybreak.
Young Ludwig also practiced the violin
and learned the three RS, reading 'ritine
and rithmetic. but not very successfully
for 1t is shown that the fact of his with
drawal from school at the age of 13 caused
him much subsequent grief and embarass-
ment His laundry lady" gave him Sc
we're criticism upon his addition and sub,
! traction While father drank and ''sat
around an day" everybody but him busy
at work mother-the dear. patient mother
sewd and mended and Kept the bakers
! bills paid.
Wen, time is long and space is short, and
after having studied with other, and per
! haps more gentle, teachers We find th'
; young musician on his way to Mozart
Mozart listened at first impatiently to IN,
: playing of Beethoven, but later when h'
, produced fantasia on a theme. Mozar
! said to the people who were present: PAY
attention to this youngster he will max,
noise In the world one of these days"
Then came the friendship of the Coun
Waldstein ana the Bruening family, per
haps especially the sweet daughter Eleo
more Beethoven was not blind to tn,
charms OF the fair sex He loved well.
And then hurrying along we find hin
/ studying with Haydn at Vienna, OF whom
/ he once said: 1T is true he gave me les
sons, but he taught me nothing" Haydn