Beethoven (Mähler)

[9] The historian Owen Jander discusses the symbolism embedded within Beethoven's fifth symphony and the portrait, hypothesizing that both works were a "ritualized confrontation" – a public yet veiled declaration of the composer's growing deafness, as a means of learning to accept it.[12] Contrasting gestures between right and left arm are typical and serve to sensitize the viewer to summon interpretation,[13] or in the words of critic Philip Conisbee, a "narrative portrait with a didactic purpose."The bonds of admiration and love between us and our ancestors are maintained and thus have a healing influence on the spirit, as though occasionally the deceased were still sitting among us….a portrait can make almost as powerful an impression upon us humans as can the person himself.(Jander charactizes Beethoven as "nature-loving" and recalls the Heiligenstadt Testament where the composer wrote "as the leaves of autumn fall and are withered…," an allusion very similar to the one depicted in the portrait."[22] In Jander's interpretation "the composer projects himself as turning his back (quite literally) to the darkness, turmoil, and half-dead tree that dominate the area to his left.[23] Around 1815, Mähler produced a series of portraits showing contemporary Viennese composers, including, apart from Beethoven, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Antonio Salieri, Ignaz von Seyfried and Michael Umlauf.As written in the music journal Allgemeine Musikzeitung in August 1815, "all of them distinguish themselves in a most creditable way through the effectual brush stroke, the descriptive resemblance and the distinctive expression of their soul".[28] Since Thayer was still living in 1890, musicologists Luigi Bellofatto and Owen Jander surmise that he must have personally lent the portrait for exhibition and most likely provided the date.Bellofatto and Jander hypothesize that Luib, having unsuccessfully compiled materials for a biography of Franz Schubert, recognized the same research drive in Thayer and presented him with the portrait as a gift.She donated it to the Beethoven Association, a New York-based group that came into existence for the purpose of translating Thayer's biography into English by producing chamber music concerts.At its opening in 1965, the painting hung in the Music Division's Special Collections reading room of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
Mähler's portrait of 1804–05
Leopold Radoux, Lodewijk van Beethoven, 1773 – Beethoven's grandfather. This portrait hung in the main room of the composer's apartment.
Mähler's 1814/15 portrait
Thayer's copy of Mähler's 1804–05 portrait ( c. 1808 )
Joseph Willibrord MählerLudwig van BeethovenVienna MuseumAlexander Wheelock ThayerNew York Public LibraryStephan von BreuningLeonoreKarl van BeethovenAnton SchindlerGerhard von BreuningHeiligenstadt, Viennafifth symphonydeafnessportrait paintingJohannJohann Georg SulzerPolygonum bistortainflorescenceHeiligenstadt Testamentlyre-guitarJohann Nepomuk HummelAntonio SalieriIgnaz von SeyfriedMichael UmlaufGesellschaft der MusikfreundebiographyFerdinand LuibAllgemeine musikalische ZeitungFranz SchubertConsulTriesteHenry Edward KrehbielNew York Public Library for the Performing ArtsKatherine CornellGuthrie McClinticWayback MachineBeethoven HouseHarvard MagazineThayer, Alexander WheelockList of compositionsBirthplaceRelationship with contemporariesMozartImmortal BelovedConcert of 22 December 1808Relationship with C minorCollected editionMusical styleCompositional methodWorks catalogsBiamonti CatalogueBeethoven HallBeethovenhalleList of sculpturesBerlinMexico CityNew York and San FranciscoBeethoven with the Manuscript of the Missa SolemnisEroicaCopying BeethovenOther filmsKasparLudwigJohanna1815 BeethovenBirthplace of Beethoven's motherBeethoven PeninsulaBeethoven quadrangleBeethoven craterBeethoven BurstBeethoven FriezeBeethoven Project TrioBeethoven Quartet SocietyBritish première of Symphony No. 9Eroica PeninsulaIra F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven StudiesThree Bs