Beethoven's Jacket

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Re-worked an older Beethoven of mine. He needed some new clothes!

I was looking at children's books the other day and saw one where Beethoven was one of the characters. The artist nearly got his likeness n one of the drawings--but the others were a bit substandard, even given the possibility that this book was partially an attempt to humanize the composer, make him seem less intimidating.

There's one plate where "Beethoven" is standing on a podium in a concert hall, looking over his shoulder as if wondering where the restroom is, and you're kind of looking up at him. The composition and atmosphere and color work are wonderful, the musicians look great, the hall is beautiful...but Beethoven is fat and shiny, his cheeks ballooning and sagging at the same time, and his expression is utterly hapless. It's fine to use your uncle as a Beethoven reference, as long as he looks a little like Beethoven. And as the artist you can supply whatever's missing--cheekbones, in this case.

Yes, it is intimidating to draw composers, especially when you revere them. I felt that way doing Leonard Bernstein recently. I'm under no illusions that my Beethoven here is the definitive one. This is a caricature, after all. But he works for me. I never think of him as angry or crazy, or whatever the stereotypes are. Was he fat? I don't know, but that's something I might suggest more than emphasize in a drawing, because it's okay to idealize a larger-than-life personality like this. In one of his biographies I read a letter Beethoven sent to a little girl who asked his advice regarding her piano practice. I was completely won over by the tenderness of his response. Where do people get this idea he was a glowering grouch? So not the case.

If as an artist you're going to make Beethoven grotesque, fine—but it’s a cliche. I’ve seen some interesting odd caricatures of him, but the’re often uncharitable.  His art of course couldn’t be further from the grotesque. His resplendent works cover an incredible range, from his early Mozart-like piano concertos to his late quartets, which anticipated 20th-century music. He was a wide-ranging, rigorous and groundbreaking artist, not a chaotic one. The wild-eyed genius with unkempt hair whose mind became distorted with madness may or may not be an accurate image. It’s been done to death, but a bizarre or ugly artistic conception of Beethoven is still better than a bland one.

What bothered me most about the Beethoven character I saw in that children's book, is that he wasn't either ugly or idealized. He just looked like a life insurance salesman. Hey, nothing against life insurance salespeople. But you can't go mediocre with Beethoven. Make a choice, and make it a bold one!

Beethoven wasn't a Caspar Milquetoast, is what I'm getting at.

I thought I'd unearth one of my Beethoven drawings in celebration of his birthday this month. Here he is surrounded by his acolytes, one musical ancestor, and at least one rebellious composer-baby (Chopin) who was probably more influenced by Beethoven than he cared to admit! 

Random classical music radio fact: Occasionally a stickler for accuracy in the listening audience has corrected my pronunciation of the composer's last name. "It's not VON Beethoven, dear, it's VAN Beethoven."

This is accurate enough -- Beethoven's surname was Dutch (or maybe Flemish, as some maintain), but early on some of his patrons started using the "von" prefix and Beethoven never bothered to correct them. A few people get exercised about this, even today. I suppose it's possible Beethoven might have been trying to claim a certain social status  by letting people pronounce his name as if it were von Beethoven (the German prefix "von" implies aristocracy, while the Dutch prefix "van" indicates a more neutral connection to one's forebears' geographical origins). He depended on patrons, and letting the mistake persist certainly couldn't have hurt his professional prospects, but the jury's still out.

To the listening audience, it's difficult to distinguish which version of his name you're using, anyway. They both sound like VAHN. To say van Beethoven and to pronounce it like Van Morrison, is worse than saying von Beethoven -- at least to me.

Anyone who needs to say Beethoven's name on the air would do well to follow conductor Gerard Schwarz'  advice: "Just call him Beethoven."

If you do use the prefix, though, pronouncing it with an initial "F" sound rather than a "V" sound, like FAHN, gives the accuracy sticklers one less stick to beat you with.

Anyway, it's Beethoven's music that really matters!