Beethoven as an American Composer:His Remarkable Boyhood in Bonn Part I

DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (July 30, 2020)

How can we call Beethoven an American composer? He never set foot in the United States, and there is very little written by him about America, except a letter saying that he could certainly understand the Americans' demands for independence.

The first thing to comprehend is that the American Revolution was not a local phenomenon, made by one rich group of Europeans against another rich group of Europeans. The late 18th century was one of the most optimistic times; and movements were afoot all over the world for freedom, equality, education, and an end to feudal forms of government and serfdom. They saw the American Revolution as the great hope of the world. Beethoven was five years old when the Declaration of Independence was signed.

The roles played by Russia, Holland, and France in the support of the American Revolution are well known. But did you know that the first act of physical support came from Morocco in 1777? Sultan Mohammed III offered safe harbor to American ships, despite the menacing power of the British navy.

Another source of support was Haidar Ali, Muslim leader of the Kingdom of Mysore. The Mysore Rebellion tied up British troops and ships meant to be deployed to fight the American colonists. During the Revolutionary war, the Continental Congress commissioned a ship called the Haidar Ali.

Unlike the twentieth century, when artists often portrayed reality and showed people how bad everything is, artists of Beethoven’s time were considered to be leaders. The great Percy Bysshe Shelley called poets "The Unacknowledged Legislators of the World". In his poem "The Artists", Friedrich Schiller challenged his fellow artists to live up to the occasion.

“Man's honor is confided to your hand,--
There let it well protected be!
It sinks with you! With you it will expand!”

The young Beethoven saw himself in that way, as an artist who was a committed leader in the fight for freedom. This sonata, WoO 47, # 2, was written by him between the ages of 11 and 12. You can hear in it the same boldness and fiery spirit present in his later works.

https://youtu.be/whcOslx068U

Max Franz' Bonn

The characterization of Beethoven as "A Titan Struggling Against the Gods", might seem respectful, but it mystifies the man. Where did he come from? Will there ever be another? One commentator said: “He was a phenomenon, a force of nature. We are lucky to have had him, but we cannot comprehend or replicate him."

Actually, the opposite is true. The ideas of liberty and freedom at the time affected even some members of the ruling oligarchy. Emperor Joseph II said he believed that all men were created equal, and brought about changes in education, the law, and religious toleration to that effect. He supported the composer Mozart. Joseph has a brother Max Franz, the Elector of Cologne, who decided to turn the city of Bonn into what we might today call an Apollo-style crash program—to create a center of classical culture, and enlightenment, including music. Beethoven was not a mystery. He came out of a project to nurture and educate genii like himself.

Part of this effort was the “Lesegesellschaft”, or "Reading Society". A plaque in the Beethoven House in Bonn Germany describes it:

“Reading societies were to be found everywhere in Europe between 1770 and 1830. As a rule they were started by a group of like-minded persons who were collectively concerned with the acquisition of new literary works. They were characterised by the fundamental ideas, values and aims their members held in common. The general aim was the perfection of both the individual and society; this was to be attained through such ideals as tolerance in religious matters and equality with respect to the different levels of society...The Bonn Lesegesellschaft was a bulwark of the Enlightenment.

“...About a third of the court musicians were members of the Lesegesellschaft. When Elector Max Franz 1791 travelled to Mergentheim, he had 25 court musicians to accompany him; of the 25, 10 were members of the Lesegesellschaft. Beethoven was also there (he was a scullion, on the kitchen staff, and was proud of it). ...The music critic Carl Ludwig Junker published an extensive report about the stay in Mergentheim. The report includes the following: “With the Cologne electorate one was perhaps used to think of a land of darkness where the Enlightenment had not yet dawned. The court of the [present] elector changed this point of view entirely. Especially among the Kapellisten [the musicians] I found thoroughly enlightened men”

“The Lesegesellschaft had 35 founding members. Paragraph 1 of the statutes (Gesetze) declares that there should be no differences in rank in the society. The humanisation of each individual member and as a result of the whole society is defined as an aim. Public education in all sectors – moral, religious, aesthetic, scientific, economic and political – should be the way forward. Concrete aims included the avoidance of prejudice, stupidity and selfishness, the combatting of hypocrisy, disbelief and fanaticism, then the promotion of the capacity to make artistic judgements, the increase of delight in the sciences, the spreading of new ideas and knowledge useful for the good of all, revealing the origins of nature, the development of citizens' rights...”

More to come in Part II