Beethoven Heroic Years – Evening Concert

Synopsis

Join us at our Evening Concert as we discover three works that epitomize Beethoven's new heroic period: the intimate and highly charged String Quartet in F minor Op. 95 'Serioso'; the last of his Sonatas for Piano and Violin Op. 96 dedicated to his only composition student and an important patron, Archduke Rudolph Rainier of Austria; and the breathtaking Piano Trio Op. 97 'Archduke' which repeat premiere saw the last time Beethoven ever appeared in public again on the piano.

In 1802, a 32-year-old Beethoven retreated away from Vienna to the countryside town of Heiligenstadt, in hope of recovering from a steady loss of hearing that had already begun 3 years before.

At the end of this stay, Beethoven came to face the cold hard fact that his hearing may never improve; and from this came an outpouring of his deepest struggles in one of his most carefully studied letters, the 'Heiligenstadt Testament' where he wrote of his suffering and his yearning to end it by suicide.

But, he wrote on, 'Only art held me back. Ah, it seemed impossible to leave the world until I had produced all that I felt was within me; and so I spared this wretched life - '

And from then, came a new burst of energy and a new sense of determination. He produced in the next decade, what would be a period marked by great heroism and a new expansiveness, his 3rd Symphony 'Eroica', his 5th Symphony, the 'Razumovsky Quartets', the Violin Concerto, his 4th Piano Concerto, and the 'Waldstein' and 'Appassionata' Piano Sonatas.

'Beethoven Heroic Years' is held in collaboration with Tang Tee Khoon Grand Series.

Please visit TTK Grand Series for more information.

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