{"id":20622,"date":"2020-12-17T14:33:26","date_gmt":"2020-12-17T22:33:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/?p=20622"},"modified":"2020-12-17T14:37:25","modified_gmt":"2020-12-17T22:37:25","slug":"happy-birthday-lvb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2020\/12\/17\/happy-birthday-lvb\/","title":{"rendered":"happy birthday, lvb!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

250 years ago today, Ludwig van Beethoven was baptized in Bonn, Germany. His birth date is agreed to have been December 16th, 1770. That’s one of my excuses for being a day late. The other is that I’ve been working on my new project<\/a> and things just got out of hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I love a lot of Beethoven, am meh<\/em> about some Beethoven, and really dislike very little Beethoven. I’ve had friends who actively dislike Beethoven, and we just have to agree to disagree. <shakes head><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In honor of Beethoven’s 250th, I’ve decided to give my list of my favorite Beethoven compositions (in no particular order). Let’s go!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

String Quartet in B-flat major, Op. 130<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The late period quartets are incredible masterpieces that have perhaps been equaled, but never surpassed. The B-flat quartet is where Beethoven really takes the gloves off of the form. He explodes from the usual four movements to six. He starts with a schizophrenic first movement full of contrast and drama, and ends with a colossal, almost impenetrable fugue (so much so that the publisher asked LvB to write an alternate ending). And right before that fugue is one of his most profound utterances, the Cavatina, a breaktakingly intimate song for four instruments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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