Beethoven, His life, music and place in history

“...to the cast majority of people suffering is still one of the fundamental characteristics of life, and it is their realization that an experience of suffering, pure and profound, enters as an integral part into Beethoven’s greatest work, that helps to give that work its unique place in the minds and hearts of men.”(Marek, 634) These words of compassion come from J. W. N. Sullivan during Ludwig van Beethoven’s funeral. They express the …

…community, but also to the history of music itself: “To us musicians the work of Beethoven parallels the pillars of smoke and fire which led the Israelites through the desert, a pillar of smoke to lead us by day, and a pillar of fire to light the night. His darkness and his light equally trace for us the road we must follow; both the one and the other are a perpetual commandment, an infallible revelation.”(638)