# Beethoven: A composer for all times?



## IpadComposer (Aug 12, 2018)

Hi, I am a brand new member and I need ten posts in order to participate where I really have something to contribute, which is creation of "serious" music on the iPad.

However, I am a total lover of classical music and, my own personal opinion, Beethoven is the greatest master of the symphony. I was surprised to read a forum member's comment that LV made music people wanted to hear. From my understanding that was clearly not the case, as his box office receipts attested. I wonder how this titanic genius would have fared in today's musical landscape?
For sure he would have used modern tools to create his masterpieces on desktop and iOS as well as using live orchestras. But competition was different in the early 19th century. Composers who lead the way have a lot of competition today. He advanced the musical forms of his era. How would he advance them today? Would he be welcomed by a global SoundCloud, YouTube audience? Thanks for any comments.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

He would probably have composed movie scores.


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

Art Rock said:


> He would probably have composed movie scores.


Nah radio jingles in the 70s and 80s and adverts in this century. He may even have knocked out a couple of game show choons. Poor Ronnie Hazlehurst would have been out of a job and Blankety Blank would have sounded very different.


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## IpadComposer (Aug 12, 2018)

Merl said:


> Nah radio jingles in the 70s and 80s and adverts in this century. He may even have knocked out a couple of game show choons. Poor Ronnie Hazlehurst would have been out of a job and Blankety Blank would have sounded very different.


Hmmm, don't think so. I know you ar joking, but I represented commercial artists to ad agencies and Beethoven definitely did not have the head for it.... Client changes and demands, deadlines, etc.

Movie scores, maybe. But Beethoven would have built on the music of today and evolved it. He was an innovator not a refiner of existing material. He would have looked for a teacher early on, as he found one in Haydn. Though Haydn did everything he could to rein Ludwig in, the beast was just too much for him.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

What's the point of woulda, coulda speculation? Beethoven lived in his time, made his contribution, and died like everybody else. I'm content to leave it at that and listen to his music on occasion.


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## Gordontrek (Jun 22, 2012)

If he was born in modern times: heck if I know. He might have become a lawyer, a dentist, a construction worker, who knows.

If the real Beethoven traveled through time to live in our era: I like Art Rock's answer. I imagine he would be quite unwilling to use modern techniques, so film music would probably be his most natural and lucrative outlet. Even there he would have some adjusting to do, though, and directors would probably hate working with him.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Gordontrek said:


> If he was born in modern times: heck if I know. He might have become a lawyer, a dentist, a construction worker, who knows.
> 
> If the real Beethoven traveled through time to live in our era: I like Art Rock's answer. I imagine he would be quite unwilling to use modern techniques, so film music would probably be his most natural and lucrative outlet.


Oh sure, a great innovator like Beethoven would be unwilling to use modern techniques. That's a ridiculous assumption. And film composers use all kinds of modern techniques. Computers, electronics, synthesizers, pop and jazz music influences, etc.


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## Joe B (Aug 10, 2017)

.......................................................


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## IpadComposer (Aug 12, 2018)

Joe B said:


> The answer to the questions posed in this thread should be obvious to anyone who is as soporifically immature as myself. Director Stephen Herek and writers Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon have answered these questions about Beethoven as well as some other famous individuals from history. Don't you guys know anything
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Beethoven was a great genius but he lived at a time when other great geniuses ere flourishing too. Be interesting to know just why there was this explosion of musical genius unparalleled in modern times. It's impossible to know what he would have done today but I would bet on film scores as that's where he would have seen the money to be made.


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## Beet Lover (Jan 11, 2018)

Beethoven did write music for the stage, but it was not as interesting as his instrumental music for music's sake. His instrumental music is like a deep dive into the abyss of the human imagination and human states of consciousness. If you could imagine pure blackness, but shining a lantern and seeing all sorts of "ideas" that were there all along, just waiting to be discovered. A revelation.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Written New Age music maybe?


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