In a Major and Minor Mood
Beethoven's Manic Depression
No one had ever heard music anything like it before. It soared,
it flew, it triumphed against all natural laws, all while struggling
against itself in a way that suggested no possible resolution. On
one hand, he remained true to the classicism of Mozart and Haydn, on
the other the sheer power and passion of his work broke the mold
forever.
Say hello to Ludwig van Beethoven, the most influential composer
of all time.
We know him best, of course, by his Choral Symphony, but the
Beethoven aficionados have their own favorites: The Seventh
Symphony, the Emperor Concerto, the Waldstein Sonata, the later
string quartets ... There's no right or wrong choice, here.
Sometimes, it can be a Beethoven moment as opposed to a whole piece:
the coda in the Egmont Overture, the stormy intro to his Eroica
Symphony, the trombones barking out their lofty challenge in the
last movement of the Fifth Symphony.
His life could fill up a segment on Oprah: an abusive father who
tried to exploit him as a child prodigy, an infatuation for women
who were totally out of reach, a tragic deafness that defies
imagination, the comical frequency in which he shifted residences in
Vienna, his disillusionment with Napoleon, his unkempt appearance
and lack of personal hygiene, a man with a vision of universal
brotherhood increasingly withdrawing into himself.
It's almost tempting to stop right there, as if his tormented
life were reason enough to explain his exalted music, but the
written record demands a closer look. Beethoven wrote a lot of
letters and so did his friends, and in the book,
Manic Depression and Creativity (Prometheus Books, 1999),
authors D Jablow Hershman and Dr Julian Lieb argue quite
convincingly that the great composer was manic depressive:
"I joyfully hasten to meet death," Beethoven wrote as his
deafness made itself apparent, "... for will it not deliver me from
endless suffering?"
This was no isolated event. An 1801 letter to a friend refers to
a two-year-long
depression. The next year he is begging Providence for "but one
more day of pure joy." In 1813, he may have
attempted suicide, disappearing and being found three days
later. In 1816, he wrote: "During the last six weeks my health has
been so shaky, so that I often think of death, but without fear ..."
Ironically, his
manic depression may have enabled him to survive deafness and
loneliness. According to the book's authors:
"[Manic depressives] can be happy without cause, or even in the
face of misfortune It may be that Beethoven survived as a creator
because he was brave or because his love of music kept him going.
What he did have were his manic days of 'pure joy' that he prayed
for, and manias triggered by the process of working, along with the
confidence and optimism mania brings."
His mania seemed to
stoke his creativity, as he crashed and banged on his
pianoforte, taking the instrument to its limits, scribbling on walls
and shutters if paper wasn't available, dousing his head with water
that ran through to the rooms below.
A friend describes one Beethoven session:
"He ... tore open the pianoforte ... and began to improvise
marvelously ... The hours went by, but Beethoven improvised on.
Supper, which he had purported to eat with us, was served, but - he
would not permit himself to be disturbed."
His mania also had its flip side, as he destroyed relationships
with raging quarrels and psychotic delusions. On one occasion, he
flung a gravy-laden platter of food at a waiter's head. His friends
called him "half crazy," and when enraged, "he became like a wild
animal."
Ultimately, Beethoven medicated himself with the only available
drug besides opium - alcohol. He literally
drank himself to death. And as deafness closed in around him, he
withdrew from the world, into himself. He wrote his Eighth Symphony
in 1812. Then his creative output dried up. In 1824, he would
premier his Choral Symphony. It was as if a piece of this magnitude
required a tortuous 12-year gestation. He would also compose his
transcendent string quartets. But soon his liver would give out on
him, and in early 1827 he died at the age of 56, leaving behind
sketches of a tenth symphony the world would never hear.
The authors of Manic Depression and Creativity note a rough
correlation between Beethoven's manic phases and his creative
bursts. Apparently, winter depressions stopped him in his tracks
while summers brought on periods of intense activity. As a friend
noted: "He composes, or was unable to compose, according to the
moods of happiness, vexation or sorrow."
But as to whether manic depression actually constituted the
creative spark in Beethoven, the authors defer to none other than
Beethoven's teacher and fellow composer, Franz Joseph Haydn:
"You will accomplish more than has ever been accomplished," wrote
Haydn at the beginning of Beethoven's career, "have thoughts that no
other has had. You will never sacrifice a beautiful idea to a
tyrannical rule, and in that you will be right. But you will
sacrifice your rules to your moods, for you seem to me to be a man
of many heads and hearts. One will always find something irregular
in your compositions, things of beauty, but rather dark and
strange."
Oh, that there could be five more like him.
Update: Oct 24, 2000
Scientists analyzing eight strands of Beethoven's hair found
"unusually high" levels of lead. According to William Walsh, chief
researcher of the project: "We are quite certain that lead was
responsible for his lifelong illnesses and that lead impacted his
personality."
Buy Manic Depression and Creativity from Amazon.com by clicking
on the following link: Manic Depression and Creativity
Buy the Van Karajan's classic cycle,
Beethoven: Nine Symphonies, from Amazon.com.
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For the most
comprehensive information about Depression, visit our
Depression Community Center
here, at HealthyPlace.com.
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