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September 10, 2002 ~ Immortal Beloved
I have always loved Beethoven's music. Moonlight Sonata, ever since I first heard it, has held its place in my top ten favorite pieces of music of all time. His music has a passion in it that I cannot express in words.
And Beethoven has always fascinated me as a person, as well. A deaf man creating music of such depth and talent, an angry man who was said to push away the world, a difficult man who, it is said, was hated by many... I wanted to dig into his head and his heart and know him. And I think that I, perhaps, came close on nights when I turned off the lights, turned up the speakers, and let such pieces as the Moonlight Sonata, the first part of the Fifth Symphony, or the Ninth Symphony, rattle the windowpanes. His music can bring tears to my eyes.
At the British Library last January, I leaned in close to the glass of the case that held actual original sheets of composition from famous composers. Mozart's notes were very carefully, lightly, and neatly penciled in, perfectly in order, with no extraneous marks. Beethoven's, however, were angry, dark, messy, erratic slashes across the page.
So Morgan and I watched Immortal Beloved tonight, a film about Beethoven's life and the beloved that no one knew that he had. I don't know how historically accurate this movie is to his life, but I did enjoy it a great deal. The soundtrack alone transported me.
I don't have any Beethoven CDs anymore; I'll have to remedy that.
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