[Born at Bonn, in Rhenish Prussia, 1770. Died at Vienna, 1827. Aged
57.]
This great composer was taught music from his childhood; but it was not
until his twelfth year that he at all developed his genius. Sent to
Vienna, he was placed there under the care of the Chapel-Master,
Albrechtsberger, in spite of whose cold and conventional instruction he
advanced in knowledge and strength, and excited general attention by his
extraordinary gift of improvisation, and marvellous execution. In 1805,
he composed “Fidelio;” then followed his oratorio of “Christ on the
Mount of Olives,” the “Heroic” and “Pastoral” symphonies, and his
pianoforte Concertos. At this time Beethoven had scarcely the means of
subsistence, and to save him from want, a pension of four thousand
florins was settled upon him by the Austrian government. He fixed his
abode at the village of Baden, near Vienna, and his life became one of
retirement and self-nurture. He composed his music in his solitary
rambles. The wildest scenery to him was the choicest, for he shrank from
intercourse with men. His habits were known and respected. He died
unmarried. From his twenty-sixth year he had been deaf; but he was
otherwise robust. He was passionately fond of Scott’s romances, and
these works, with the “Odyssey” of Homer, were his consolations during
the illness of which he died. His fertility and variety of production
are marvellous. The passionate soul of melody possessed him. His works
are rich in harmony, tinctured it may be with the delicate mysticism
that ruled his genius in its silent haunts.
[By Ernst Hähnel, of Dresden. Plaster. 1847. In the possession of the
artist, who executed the large statue of Beethoven in bronze, which
stands in the Place at Bonn. This was the study from the life, for the
head of the statue.]
321*. FERDINANDO PAER. _Musical Composer._
[Born at Parma, in Italy, 1771. Died 1839. Aged 68.]
At sixteen, Paer began to write for the stage. Before he was twenty-six
he had already produced twenty-two operas, all in the conventional style
of the old Italian operas, and after the manner of Cimarosa and
Paisiello. After 1797, a laudable change is remarked in his style--more
force in the harmonies, more variety in the modulations, with richer and
more effective instrumentation. In 1801, appointed by the Elector of
Saxony Chapel-Master in Dresden, and, favoured by the repose afforded
here, Paer still improved his style. In 1806, Dresden was taken by the
French. The musician transferred his services to Napoleon, and
accompanied his new master to Paris. In 1810, revisited his native city,
and there composed his master-piece, the opera of Agnèse. His subsequent
career is remarkable for little more than for petty intrigues against
rival composers, and--after his appointment as Director of the Italian
Opera in Paris in 1812--for miserable squabbles with actors and
musicians. He ceased to be an artist, and condescended to become a mere
courtier and “homme de salon.” His death was accelerated by
long-continued habits of intemperance. Paer was gifted with great
fluency, and his works have brilliancy and spirit; but he is without
originality, force, and dramatic power.
[Bust to come.]