The Range: Beethoven composed the “Hammerklavier” on his new Broadwood piano. It was longer than Viennese pianos, which meant that Beethoven had a larger pitch range to work with than in previous piano works. Beethoven may have preferred Broadwood to Viennese pianos, because they were both louder and had a soundboard on the outside of the piano rather than the inside. This meant that the “vibrations of the instrument were more evenly distributed and could be felt more directly” (p172). As his deafness encouraged Beethoven to favour the Broadwood piano, his deafness led to an increased range in his compositions, shaping the musical language in the work.

The Method of Composition: By the 1810s Beethoven had begun to compose in sketchbooks, rather than at the piano. He was able to imagine sounds in his head so did not always need to hear them out loud. He also structured his work very carefully, shown through his copying out of parts of Bach’” Well Tempered Klavier” alongside his compositional sketches. Tunbridge notes that he was “resistant to allowing his Broadwood to be tuned, which suggests that by this stage intonation was not his top priority” (p. 172). Instead, Beethoven was composing melodies and harmonies in his head, and using the piano only to check what was physically playable. As Tunbridge comments, ‘playing an instrument is a tactile and visual, as well as auditory, experience’ (p.172). This method of composing away from the piano means that whilst the piece is possible to play, it is incredibly demanding.

Reception: Before 1818, Beethoven’s work were received well. After this point, many of his works were greeted with bafflement’ (p.179). The “Hammerklavier” wasn’t even reviewed in the AmZ, a popular music journal of the time. It wasn’t until after his death that Beethoven’s late works started to become appreciated. Before then, his late pieces were seen as for the eye rather than for the ear (it may look good on the page, but it does not sound good). Musicians felt that the “Hammerklavier” sounded as it did because Beethoven could not hear its clashes and excesses. Today we see these moments of dissonance as a sign of greatness, as effort has to be put into both playing and understanding the piece (p.180). Tunbridge suggested that his deafness meant that Beethoven ‘abandoned music that anyone could truly hear’ (p182) because it demanded a level of understanding and performance that isolated listeners in the same way he himself felt isolated.  

The Whole Story of Beethoven’s Deafness

A Guardian review of Tunbridge’s biography

References:

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Wednesday 11th February

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