Was Beethoven a hero

Answer 1

He was certainly a genius, but not necessarily 'like' Mozart. He is a hero of mine, particularly because of some of the ways he was unlike Mozart. I don't mean to diminish Mozart's mythic greatness one bit; Mozart is arguably the greatest composer who will ever draw breath.

The appealing thing about Beethoven's genius is that he had to put enormous effort into his writing, if evidence to that effect is accurate. He labored over what he wrote and re-wrote materials quite a lot before arriving at final versions. Again, if the evidence is sound, Mozart wrote with lightning speed, sometimes in his head, and produced much of his output in final form at the first scoring. There is some evidence that this might not be as true as some have indicated, but it seems clear that he didn't have to struggle nearly as hard as Beethoven. Writing music must have been almost a facile skill for Mozart. This is paraphrased and I do not know the source, but I read years ago that Mozart said "Writing music is the easiest thing in the world to do... once you know how to do it." In all probability Beethoven would never have said anything remotely like this.

Beethoven also lived and wrote at the very dawning of the Romantic period, and much of his music reflects and presages the aesthetics and style of that unfolding era.

Answer 2

Beethoven's father beat him. Mainly around his ears, which may have had some tribute to his deafness. His father beat him because he perhaps did not play a right note, and also because his father drank quite frequently.

Answer 3

Yes. He was one of the most legendary composers ever, battling through illness and deafness and madness to revolutionise music as it was known. If that's not heroic then I don't know what is.

Answer 4

Napoleon Bonaparte