Ludwig van Beethoven was a mysterious but also very moody and grumpy person. Here are 10 curious facts about the musical genius:
- Little Ludwig did not have a pleasant childhood, because his alcoholic father wanted to earn money with him as a child prodigy. He was often thrown out of bed in the middle of the night and forced to practice the piano.
- Beethoven was known for his quirky and fussy nature. Every morning he washed himself thoroughly with a watering can and then counted exactly 60 coffee beans for his morning coffee.
- He liked living in the countryside because Vienna was too windy for him. In his diary he wrote “The wind, which blows on the second fine day, cannot keep me in Vienna because it is my enemy.”
- Malicious gossip has it that the “van” in his name was very helpful to the composer, as Viennese society considered it a title of nobility. It only refers to his Flemish descent. Beethoven himself did nothing to clear up this misunderstanding.
- The Moonlight Sonata was not named by Beethoven. He simply called it Sonata No. 14. It was only given its poetic name in 1832 by the poet Ludwig Rellstab, who felt that the sonata sounded like moonlight over Lake Lucerne.
- Because he had to support his family financially, he left school at the age of 11. Consequently, spelling was not his forte. When he capitalized words, it was not because they were nouns, but because he wanted to emphasize the importance of the word; the part of speech did not interest him.
- Nevertheless, it was always important to him to complete his inadequate general education through studies, which is why he dealt intensively with the works of Kant, Goethe, Schiller, Herder, and he was also familiar with Shakespeare’s dramas and the Bhagavad Gita.
- The composer moved at least 68 times in his life. Sometimes he didn’t like the coffee, sometimes the water was too cold or the stairs too dark. As soon as he felt unwell, he packed his things and went in search of a better place to live.
- Beethoven can also be heard in space! In 1977 data disks called Voyager Golden Records containing image and audio information were attached to interstellar spacecraft. It was hoped that any intelligent, extraterrestrial life forms would learn about our humanity. His 5th symphony has been in the universe for at least 500 million years, which is the estimated lifespan of these records.
- His last words on March 26, 1827 are said to have been “Too bad, too late!” regarding the new delivery of wine, which he could no longer enjoy.
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