Music Historian Robert Greenberg presents a lecture on the life of Beethoven

[@russs7574]

Having purchased and consumed nearly everything Dr. Greenberg has done for The Great Courses, I am glad the algorithm sent this my way. He is one of my 3 or 4 favorite lecturers from The Great Courses, and I especially enjoy when he talks about Beethoven. I would absolutely love to be able to hear him lecture in person.

[@elviajove8289]

I never get tired of listening to Dr. Greenberg talk about almost any composer but especially Ludwig. Thank you always!!! I'm so surprised that there are no other comments but I think it's because many like myself, couldn't comment on the patreon page when this lecture came out. I had to transfer the title to my KZbin account. And I surmise many other of Dr. Greenberg's "students" may not have a Utube account. In any case, I'm sharing this to others who will absolutely enjoy Dr. Greenberg's fantastic way of presenting music history in all of it's aspects.

[@geu6270]

Yes professor Greenberg has entertained me driving cross-country with his audible books on the great composers many years I go.

[@davidmintzer3743]

Great educator. Much needed in these days where the arts are lost.

[@micolsen9824]

Greenberg Beethoven lectures are legendary. I'm glad I got to witness them live.

[@bryanpersaud9947]

Very enlightening. I believe you are right that Beethoven translated his suffering and frustration into his art without making it plaintiff or self-pitying, but rather more like triumphant defiance of the dark forces arrayed against each of us in our own way.

[@srothbardt]

When he was happiest, he wrote his “angriest “ music. When he was sad, he wrote his happiest music.

[@dennistognan3791]

Dr. Greenberg is an extremely talented teacher and gifted lecturer.

[@TheGloryofMusic]

He also makes an excellent eggplant parmesan.

[@markgreenhalgh2464]

Love Dr. Greenburg and his lecture style and sense of humor. I first was exposed to him in the many "Great Courses" lecture series he did. All are fabulous. Yes, his examples are loaded (a point he often concedes in his lecture series) but he is illustrating a point that is true. A weak comparison would hardly serve the educational purpose. A lecture at this level is targeted at novices. Anyone who delves deeper into the subject matter can find the exceptions to all assertions but that doesn't make them less true. I love Beethoven's music and it seems to connect with me more readily than Mozart and Bach even though I love their music as well. As Dr. Greenburg says, Beethoven is more like us mere mortals but achieved the sublime in spite of it.

[@paulandrewsmith_henriksen]

Beethoven and his music has had a great influence on not only my own music but also my entire life. I am happy to discover someone that I can sympathize with, someone that I can relate to. Thank you for delivering this wonderful lecture on the life and work of this special person.

[@srothbardt]

Music is about itself, the motives, keys, and forms. The emotions which come up are the metaphors.

[@folkeholmberg3519]

Thank you for an outstanding and witty speach about my lifelong frontrunner ❤

[@LoyalFriend62]

I have several sets of lectures by Robert Greenberg. Not knowing far better professors, I presently rank him very high indeed. (One mark of his superiority over most other instructors: He does state explicitly that music is a luxury --for all the good that it does in the world. The general practice of many other instructors is to attempt to inflate the importance of their field in the eyes of their audience.) However, there is far too much personal info about composers that go beyond 'rendering them human'. I agree with him that we should not put composers on a pedestal. He more than succeeds in disabusing us of any idol-worship regarding composers. From where I sit, _the most important and urgent thing_ that we can learn about Beethoven is how the best composers of our time can reach his level of competence (preferably without being subjected to the abuse and tragedy that Beethoven the child went through). I know that Brahms's first symphony was deemed close to Beethoven's style. I also think that Schubert demonstrated some ability to follow in Beethoven's footsteps. Berlioz may have gone further in some directions (with access to larger orchestras and better instruments). Wagner ... --I cannot comment. Sadly, I do not know how many people today can lay claim to having reached similar heights. I am not a composer; and some of what I learned about the 'chapters' of Art History that relate to music I learned from Mr. Greenberg. I cannot disprove statements to the effect that Mozart could not have composed in the pre-revolutionary years the kind of works that Beethoven later composed. However, such statements are 'irrefutable' (as Karl Popper would have argued). I do not doubt that much that artists produce is affected (consciously or subconsciously) by the time and place that they live in (I am a self-certified visual artist). That said, it seems obvious to me that some artists can 'escape' their time, and compose or produce art that is closer to works created by artists of a bygone era. If I could compose something like Bach's "Air" ("on the G string"), I would feel no hesitation to do so. In one interview (available on KZbin), Paul Simon said that he would have loved to compose something like "Silent Night" --so simple, and so beautiful. Mr. Greenberg himself samples some of Stravinsky's late compositions that show no trace of his epoch-making "Rite of Spring", but resemble works of the Classical Era. (I am sure Mr. Greenberg can tell you more...) Perhaps, in some ways, a composer like Erik Satie can serve as an example of a composer who managed to 'paint' an imaginary world quite unlike the hectic one he was living in. (I can continue.)

[@darrenlaprise8640]

I have always been interested in Beethoven's life and I have always loved his music. You, Dr. Greenberg, have made me love it even more. Thank you. I will continue to introduce my students to the greatest of "us" human musicians.

[@vickiehorowitz1934]

Always wonderful... thank you Dr. Bob.

[@elisenispee7450]

Da best professor and lecture with in-depth passion along with historical knowledge

[@ES-ge7bb]

The angriest composer wrote some of the most tender pieces of music - think the slow movements from Symphonies 2, 6 & 9, Piano Concerto 5, Violin Concerto, Piano Sonata 25, Romance 2, for example. And yet, such an angry individual was able to write some of the most uplifting and heroic music. His see-saw temperament was with little doubt a result of his health issues.

[@gorankatic40000bc]

Fire in the 1st movement of the 2nd symphony, humor in the finale, thunderstorm in the 6th, militaristic marching like theme in the 1st movement of the 5th PC, syncopated wild swirling dance in the finale with written or unwritten but anticipared "hammer blows" - percussion only or full orchestra it matters not, they're there just like there's their rhytmic "brother" in the 1st movement of the 7th symphony. Health issues with physical and psychological interaction with his childhood thrown into the mix.

[@debrasmith1161]

Thank you for this insight. So much to learn. A sensitive teacher has the ability to increase empathy.

[@daved6168]

Not a word about his great overtures - 3 Leonoras, Fidelio, Coriolan, Egmont, Consecration Of The House. Leonora #1 so incendiary, it could not be published til after his death - still an EXPLOSIVE piece of music!

[@lawrencetaylor4101]

My Radiology Professor always mentioned Beethoven when he presented Pagget's Disease, an abnormal growth of bone after adulthood. Often the first sign would be the patient complained that his hat was too small. Ludwig had bony overgrowth in his ear canals, crushing the auditory nerve. Thank God for us this liberated him to write the Ninth.

[@liyo4950]

God doesn't exist! God is just pretend!

[@jordananderson3543]

Dr. Greenberg is such a wonderful human being.

[@mudhens-r6k]

What a fine lecture. Now Mozart.

[@justicegusting2476]

That was the most awesome presentation I have ever heard even though his most remarkable works, the piano sonatas, were largely skipped-over.

[@babyirene3188]

This was utterly riveting. I want to hear more by this guy. The Swafford bio was sadly a dull slog in comparison to this talk. Wow. Wow. Wow

[@daved6168]

Haydn ignored, no mention of Surprise, Drum Roll or London symphonies or of The Creation, all bold, solid pieces of work.

[@kickywicky4616]

Sure, bring out Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. For emotional profundity, try the middle movements of piano concertos like #17 and 22?

[@tayebkhaldoun7875]

Very intersting lecture. Thank you

[@srothbardt]

The Fifth is “about “ the fact that he realized that he could develop a complete symphony based on four notes.

[@peterandolph7628]

Very nicely done. Thank you.

[@motivationnation6969]

I have all the respect in the world for Professor Greenberg .Rock On . And by the way tell him that drummers are also musicians! You try doing 4 things at once!

[@walterbenjamin1386]

In one of his courses, he pays great homage to percussionists, going into detail about the essential contribution and complexities of the timpani in particular.

[@Jimyblues]

Great lecture- and I’ve seen a lot- no Shade here or in judgement of Beethoven’s life.

[@brandonterzic]

Beethoven and Hendrix--the great Saggitarian musicians...

[@ssvemuri]

very nice topic. Even for my untrained ears, I can get the storm of emotions in some music works

[@diegoandonirubio4436]

Brilliant

[@annkerobyan]

Very interesting prospective of Beethoven music! Thanks for sharing this with us!

[@danielito1979]

which Beethoven Biography do you guys think is a must for Beethoven lovers?

[@themaestroslady1812]

There are several excellent ones: Maynard Solomon's Beethoven is my Go-To. But there are some others also: John Suchet's Beethoven The Man Revealed, Beethoven: Impressions by His Contemporaries edited by Oscar Sonneck, Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph by Jan Swafford. These will get you started.

[@youmothershouldknow4905]

Check out Greenberg’s courses.

[@lidinhamaria]

@@themaestroslady1812 thanks !

[@ericchaillier3774]

To read a paper is not the best way to give a conference. Beethoven had a very complex personality which is not explained here. He was not only angry, he suffered a lot, was sometimes very kind and helpful for poor peoples. Where are the quotations of the best german musicologists (Paul Bekker, Hermann Abert, etc) ? The theme of the 5th Symphonie was used in several pieces of music of Joseph Haydn and Mozart. Mozart 's music can't be reduced at die Kleine Nacht Musik, listen the 39th Symphonie in E flat major ! Beethoven was strongly influenced by Joseph Haydn and Mozart.This speech is too superficial.

[@daved6168]

The 39th? How about the 38th Prague?

[@Jens0880]

I really like Mr Greenbergs teachings and courses. However I have always wondered why he chooses so slow tempos in his musical examples. Now I think he is actually slowing them down with software, as was evident in the Eine kleine.... I find this strange since it doesn't quite do the music justice.

[@ChickVicious237]

It may be a difference in the recording itself, some orchestras vary greatly from each other in the tempo of their performances. The first CD I owned of Mozart's Requiem was extremely slow compared to almost any other version I've ever heard since, and even today it sounds odd to me when the pieces are played at (what I now suppose is) normal tempo. So it may be just the preference of the orchestra he uses for the examples. Just a possibility

[@juanemilioaranda]

LOL. "Hotter than Bengay on Sophia Loren"

[@pedrosherpa5848]

The 5th IS nice!!! No matter what anyone says. My kids like it, you like it, it's nice. Saying beethoven is an angry man is to reductive, he obviously had a wide range of virtues and defects like everyone else. Don't you just hate it when unoriginal, and ordinary men, opinionate about beethoven?!

[@bluetortilla]

Well sorry to be grumpy again. Great lecture, but revealing that Beethoven's gastronomical disturbances inspired the 4th really ruins it for me. I'll get it over it...Most of us Beethoven lovers are quite aware of how he weaves the crude and grotesque with beautiful melody. It's really apparent in the choral finale of the 9th. it's how the dance of life is here on earth. Nothing to be ashamed about.

[@somasabul3883]

I think this person is irresponsible and knows little about how assertions and motivations work in an historical study.

[@rainerausdemspring894]

How on earth can he compare Beethoven with Steve Jobs? Sponsored by Apple?

[@BeeMichael]

His choice of examples is misleading. For Mozart, why not Don Juan or Marriage of Figero? Beethoven wrote some fluff pieces also. Not arguing against Beethoven's role as an iconoclast or Mozart's classicism, but compare apples to apples.

[@daved6168]

And what about Mozart's Prague?

[@janklaas6885]

📍33:50

[@daydays12]

Please don't abuse the wonderful language of Shakespeare's plays ..in this case 'the Tempest'. I gave up after that.

[@pedrosherpa5848]

Lady gaga? 😂 Not even close. Association between gaga music and beethoven is absurd.

[@edwardlloyd9468]

Of all composers, Beethoven music is most human, not divine like Mozart.

[@opticalmixing23]

24:50

[@bealreadyhappy]

2:03 how do you know Beethoven was the first? How do you know?

[@somasabul3883]

I think this guy says things that lack support and needs to take a course in historiography to help him stop making up stuff.

[@susannehermeling9207]

lowest level gossip

[@SophiaVonHelgastein]

I bet beethoven had an h pylori infection and sibo, and to top it off later...lead poisoning.

[@RochestersGotTalentbyPaulRefic]

he was deaf

[@lancevance60]

Steve Jobs? Seriously?

[@MrChibras]

I hated His pop references like lady Gaga or Steve jobs... Its sacrilegus to put those names next to Beethoven

[@iuriryzewski2648]

He knows what he is saying, and I agree with him. The nowadays people intelligence and creative capabilities are the same as it was in the seventeenth century I’m afraid. Of course the form varies along those centuries. Cheers!

[@MrChibras]

@@iuriryzewski2648 I agree about the capabilities argument, but.... Lady Gaga?.... really?

[@micolsen9824]

It's funny.

[@michaelhanrahanmoore1622]

He psychologically abused his nephew so his music counts for nothing. His ode to joy is the biggest declaration of hypocrisy I've ever heard. He was a monster.

[@stefanhall3219]

You are so wrong. And Beethovan was right.