Beethoven and Shakespeare

These two don't seem a very likely pair. But I was just thinking today about Shakespeare's super famous excerpt from Hamlet..."To be or not to be, that is the question..." and how much of what we know about Beethoven could be tied into those ideas. In Shakespeare's play, I see Hamlet as struggling within himself about whether life is worth living at all. With all the terrible circumstances around him, he is reflecting on human existence and trying to decide whether it is better to "suffer the slings and arrows of misfortune" (I can't remember the exact wording) or end his life. Of course Hamlet knows of the good things in life, but he is wondering "does the good outweigh the bad?" (paraphrased)

This speech reminds me of Beethoven's life and ideals. Beethoven's music is all about struggle, triumph, and the brotherhood of man. It is brutally honest, pure music. You just know that he is telling you exactly how he feels. Only someone that struggled (and even suffered) as much as Beethoven did could have written the utterly tranfigured and exalted music that he was able to compose. At the end of his life, he wrote a set of five string quartets that are some of the most sublime, but cryptic pieces ever composed. The music is many decades ahead of its time, and scholars and performers alike still debate what the music is about, or if it is even possible to explain. The music often does not even sound like Beethoven, and gives the impression that he is operating on some higher plane of existence.

Beethoven's Heiligenstadt Testament, an extremely personal letter explaining his struggles and artistic goals gives us some insight, and in fact even has some undertones of Hamlet's questions about life's paradoxes. Beethoven wrestled with being misunderstood, and it could be said that this is a condition that we all share on at least some level. (to read the Heiligenstadt Testament click HERE). After his monumental symphonies and large scale works, he retreated into these more intimate last quartets, the canvas for his grand questions and answers.

I view this music as an attempt to sum up everything Beethoven has learned about the human condition, and to show a unity in all art and life. The piece below is the Cavatina from his last string quartet, Op. 130 in B-Flat. Beethoven said that this slow movement was the only piece of his that would bring him to tears. Through the tenderness, you can feel the inner turmoil that has already taken place in his life. Now at the end, he has come to terms with it and is resigned to accept what he cannot ultimately change. However, it is not a surrender. It is a new spiritual understanding that we can all share and make our own. In other words...yes, life can be seemingly unending pain and hardship. But the beauty we can experience makes it worth the struggle.

Happy Listening... The music has been set to pictures of Beethoven. You can't help but feel that this was one of the greatest geniuses and members of humanity to have ever lived..

12/16/08 UPDATE: the original video has been deleted by YouTube, so I have replaced it with another of the same piece. No pictures this time, but the music is there, which is the most important thing...