Beethoven on stamps

Abstract

To many, Ludwig van Beethoven is the greatest composer that ever lived. He succeeded in closing the classical period in music and opening the romantic age in such a way, that he became the leading representative of both periods. His career was of decisive importance both in music and in the world of the arts as a whole, and shows the development from the world of formal classicism to the threshold of high romanticism. His figure overshadows the whole of 19th century music and his influence on musical writing was unthinkable. He evolved the symphony, piano sonata and string quartet from the many restrictive mannerisms of Mozart's time to the liberated and free-flowing movements, all inter-related to one another. His profound revolutionary spirit, coupled with his extraordinary musical gifts, affected all those who came after him; he all but exhausted the symphonic medium and the younger generation of composers accordingly felt themselves obliged to seek new methods of musical expression, feeling more than a little inhibited by the greatness of his symphonies, sonatas and chamber music. Indeed, in art, he was neither a classicist nor a romanticist but a realist and truth of expression was his constant aim. [excerpt]