Who Is Beethoven Inaccurate Or Flawed?

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I know that my initial reaction to this piece is inaccurate and flawed. Not knowing the time frame nor the intent behind the composition results in erroneous assumptions that gradually become buried over time. Only to resurface due to the reputation this piece by Beethoven has maintained over the years. At first listen without any emotional effort, this piece feels like it is being played by a child prodigy who grew up with minor symptoms of Autism, did not speak till the age of 7, and then one night as everyone was sound asleep, he/she was caught playing this. This may seem like a foolish thought but I believe if you attempt to envision this idea as the piece plays, it would not be too difficult to see my perspective. Though any composition …show more content…

My preliminary assumption is to believe that Elise is a lover of Beethoven's. This automatically changes my initial thoughts about this piece since I did not even think about it as a loving musical gesture. Composing an arrangement for a loved one around Beethoven's lifetime was definitely not a new occurrence (''Ludwig van Beethoven,'' 2015). Berlin musicologist Klaus Martin Kopitz believes that Elise is actually short for Elisabeth Roeckel. Elisabeth was the younger sister of one of the lead singers in Beethoven's operas. She had become close friend with him. Apparently the piece was composed to communicate Beethoven's memory of Elisabeth when she left for Bamberg for theater duties. This eligible theory is supported by the documentation by Elisabeth Roeckel herself. She wrote about a night with Beethoven and several other composers in which she mentions how flirtatious Beethoven was towards her and even pinched her arm solely out of affection (Boutsko, 2009). This undoubtedly suggests that she knew about Beethoven's fondness of her. This theory completely changes how I feel about this piece. Further listening to this piece, I feel a release of heartache that I did not detect before. This could be Beethoven's honest feelings while writing the piece or it may just be me using confirmation bias to support this hypothesis. I realize now that the chromatic descending throughout the melody should have instantaneously made me a hint of desolation. My extended thoughts about it are still arbitrary since a lot of professional music in modern day does not require any authentic compassion so maybe even Beethoven had no better reasoning for this composition. Perhaps Beethoven just said ''hey this sounds good'' and put his pen to

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