by Janice Surlin
Beethoven—1770-1827
Da-Da-Da-DUM!
Just hearing these notes,
We’re immediately smitten
With the most famous first four
Ever to be written!
The holidays are a wonderful time
To write another musical rhyme—
And here’s an additional special reason,
For a way to increase our joy this season:
It’s Beethoven’s 250th birthday, you see,
A celebration‘s in order, I think you’ll agree!
We know not his birthday, just baptismal date,
December 17th— day before born
Historians speculate;
The festive meal for Beethoven’s fête —
Macaroni and cheese, his favorite dish,
Bread soup he liked, with “12 drowned eggs,”
As well as potatoes with Pollock fish;
Let’s serve coffee as the beverage,
Which he made himself each day . . .
Counting 60 beans exactly to grind,
Over which he poured hot water, his special way;
But if you’d like to toast the Maestro
With a more celebratory libation,
Living a long time in Vienna
Their fine wines met with approbation:
On a list of wines that he enjoyed,
Vöslau, and other Austria whites,
German Rieslings were another,
And sweet Tokaji wine, a definite delight;
(At the end of his life, still thinking of wine,
He asked his publisher to send bottles of Rieslings—
It arrived as he was dying, with unfortunate fate,
Resulting in his final words, “Pity, pity, it’s too late.”)
His musical genius wasn’t enough
To create a life that wasn’t rough—
Starting as a child with his father’s
Alcoholism and brutality,
Then deafness and other health issues
Affected his behavior and personality:
In attempting to hide his hearing loss
He could come across angry, distant or cold—
While it’s true he was temperamental,
He had “a light, funny” side too, we are told:
A sample of his jocular side,
A stunt he’d liked to do—
Hide behind a door when people arrived,
Calling out an incongruous “BOO!”
A sociable man but with deafness advancing,
Becoming more depressed he lost many friends—
Playing piano violently to hear the music,
Snapping strings,
Live performing inevitably ends;
But blessed with having absolute pitch,
Imagining sounds and harmony in his mind,
He found ways to keep composing throughout his life,
While coping with the suffering he was assigned;
Almost succumbing to despondency,
With thoughts of ending his life,
An immanent sense of his destiny
Helped ease his inner strife;
In a letter he wrote to his brothers,
With words exposing his heavy heart—
He told them that he considered this,
But would continue to live through and for his art;
A lover of nature, his daily walks
Provided salvation and aspiration,
Enhancing his creative drive,
And stimulating inspiration:
An example is how those first 4 notes
Might have begun their famous existence—
Some say it’s the sound of fate knocking at the door,
But another idea also makes sense:
As he went about his nature walks,
To write ideas he brought paper and pencil along—
These 4 notes are said to resemble
A yellowhammer bird’s distinctive song;
To communicate with family, friends and colleagues,
He used “conversation notebooks,” for the speakers’ side,
Replying to comments and questions aloud or in the book—
Gems of history those notebooks provide!
Since Beethoven also wrote notes himself,
We have his thoughts in handwritten words—
Bequeathing not just his music to us,
But “conversations” from then are still “heard!” ***
In 1827, at the moment of his passing,
A storm produced a loud clap of thunder,
Heaven’s welcoming applause?
Gives me a smile and makes me wonder!
There is no way this poem can pay
Proper homage to this composer so great—
But I wanted to share some insights with you
And music I love and appreciate;
Grateful for his immortal legacy,
A toast to Beethoven now I proffer—
As we celebrate this holiday season,
The message and music of “Ode to Joy” I offer:
While some composers wrote holiday music,
Beethoven’s compositions had none—
But the final movement of his last Symphony, the 9th,
“Ode to Joy” is an appropriate one;
He used a 1785 poem by Friedrich Schiller,
“An die Freude,” which expresses and celebrates
The hope, unity and fellowship of humanity,
As our souls his music elevates;
Though completely deaf, in 1824 he insisted
On conducting its first performance—
And naturally the audience was wowed,
But he wouldn’t know about
The wild clapping at the end
Until a soloist gestured,
And he turned around and bowed.
A difficult year for us all, to be sure,
But the holiday season is here–
Let’s aspire to make it happy and bright,
Filled with hope, joy, and love, and good cheer!
