Overcoming Adversity -- the Source of Beethoven's Power

"In every adversity lies the seed of an equal or greater good."

This theme of the 1931 self-help classic THINK AND GROW RICH by Napoleon Hill can hardly be better expressed in musical history than by the life and music of Ludwig van Beethoven. For most of his adult life, Beethoven suffered the greatest adversity possible for a musician and composer -- deafness.

Yet somehow he found the "seed" in this problem that enabled him to compose some of the greatest and most moving pieces of music in the history of humanity. He is certainly the most well-known composer. Most people, young or old, know the name Beethoven even if they know of no other composer. Beethoven was the last and greatest of the classical period of composers. And the intensity, emotional depth and individual expression of his work launched the following Romantic period.

The last movement of his 9th symphony was chosen as the official hymn of The United Nations. More importantly, it remains the greatest expression of joy. It sounds as though God gave Ludwig a glimpse of the wonder of Heaven.

Ludwig van Beethoven was born in 1770 to an impoverished musician of the Elector of Cologne at Bonn Germany. Johann van Beethoven his father was an alcoholic, and physically and emotionally abusive while giving his son music lessons. Perhaps some of his famous drive and emotional strength resulted from the necessary to escape such a household.

Fortunately, the elder Beethoven, as a musician himself and hopeful of raising another Mozart-like prodigy, did not try to block his son's talents. Ludwig had a variety of teachers, and got musical experience playing for Court opera rehearsals and, at age 16, for Mozart. However, he was a difficult student. His quick temper and bad manners also sometimes offended people. He embodied the spirit of the American and French revolutions. The great writer Goethe scolded him for not showing proper deference toward royalty.

He wrote his friend Prince Carl von Lichnowsky, "What you are, you are by accident of birth; what I am, I am because of myself. There are and will be thousands of princes; there is only one Beethoven!"