AFTER THOUGHT The time to compose like Beethoven

The time to compose like

BEETHOVEN

By Evangelos Kilipiris Thessaloniki, Greece

TWO YEARS since WHO declared the COVID-19 health emergency as pandemic, and we all continue to struggle. It was just the beginning of lockdowns, physical distancing, and a tremendous effort to adapt our professional and personal lives into this new normal. The world suddenly looked like a large, distant, and very different place. Since then, all of us have experienced profound disruptions in almost every aspect of our lives. And in a time like this, there is one thing that we need most of all, and that is sounds of conviction, strength and character to help guide us through this difficult period.

For this reason, is worth reflecting the widereaching legacy of Ludwig van Beethoven, the musical genius, whose 250th birth anniversary was celebrated in 2020. The appreciation to his ingenuity is enhanced by the knowledge that many of his masterwork has been created under a disruptive health condition.

This young phenomenon was only eleven years old when his first compositions, three piano sonatas were published in 1781. However, “something strange” happened with his hearing in his late 20s (1796-1798) by experiencing a “strange buzzing”. The first letter where hearing impairment is mentioned was written to a close friend and physician in 1801. The letter indicates: “for the last three years my hearing has grown steadily weaker… in the theater i have to get very close to the orchestra to understand the performers, and… from a distance i do not hear the high notes of the instruments and the singers’ voices”. The same year, a letter to another friend reflects Beethoven’s distress at his condition: “my most prized possession, my hearing has greatly deteriorated… this affliction affects me most when i am in company, not when i’m playing and composing”.

IN 1804 BEETHOVEN CONDUCTS THE THIRD SYMPHONY.

Until this moment, Beethoven’s work has been superior to any other composer of his time. A feeling of a conventional live testimony for modernity, and its subversion in action predominates. Is true that it was beautiful, but not innovative. It was still conventional.

BEETHOVEN’S HEARING LOSS STEADILY PROGRESSES.

By 1814, he uses ear trumpets of different sizes and shapes to assist him in hearing speech and music. During 1818, his deafness was so marked that he could only communicate with his friends relying on writing through conversation books. His late works were composed in a state of near total deafness. But while the hearing loss advances, his writing and playing improves dramatically. Now, intense and conflicting emotions comprise the fabric of his music. We feel a sense of struggle and effort, that bring freshness and magnificent energy to his work. Because of his deafness the composer was shielded from the disturbance and destruction of the external noisy world, and the fancy music of his community. This silence and solitude had great utility, forcing him to live in his inner musical world and to express his internal noises and feelings differently. It was his deafness that protected his creativity from the assaults and seductions of the external world, and guided him to embark to a “new path”, a path that would lead him to establish new boundaries and norms for the future development of music.

Is 1824 and Beethoven creates the eternal composition, the Ninth Symphony, unable to hear his own work.

At present, all of us are separated from people, experiences, and things we ordinarily enjoy. Very little movement, little novelty, few new faces, no face to face events in our activities. We witness fear, anxiety, uncertainty, despair, disappointment, and destabilizing emotions. However, there is a right strategy to bypass our natural tendency to resist transitions, and this is to accept and use them as a source of meaning and improvement.

With this involuntary collective disruption we have the great chance to detach from addictive materialistic practices, to redefine our personal success and to balance it with our happiness. Through this detachment we can gain some insight on how to reorganize our life, that in normal circumstances might take many years to achieve.

While in isolation, we are open to re-evaluate our ideas without getting stuck in superficial external stimuli, and we are capable to understand our self and its role in the society more deeply. With the goal to enrich our lives, but also the lives of the people we love and serve.

Going through this collective transition we can better understand our passions, simplify our workflow, direct our energy to what really matters, and to stimulate innovation, improvisation, creativity and meaningful growth. Now, is the time to reestablish our friendships, cultivate our relationships, our OMFS and family lives.

If we can remember these thoughts and put them into action, then we can establish a healthier equilibrium in the long run. So, let this transition be an opportunity to compose our Ninth Symphony- in our profession, our community, our world, our life. ■