Someone once challenged J.S. Bach to a keyboard contest (Louis Marchand - the greatest French virtuoso of his day), but when Marchand secretly listened to Bach practicing, he decided to leave town in a hurry. He never showed up for the competition.
Franz Liszt : Grand teacher Beethoven. I have completely fulfilled your dream of making the piano like a grand symphony with my transcription for piano of your 9th symphony.
not any more awesome than having seen Paco de Lucia play for example. (I don't mean his dabbling into jazz, but his original work) Paco was a Beethoven of the guitar. ruclips.net/video/rxYGt1fqZIo/видео.html
he wasn't really moody until his later years, because of his health. He was actually a very humorous, funny guy who everyone instantly liked when he was younger, sadly this is seldom touched upon, even in "documentaries".
In reality, they did not play tunes from the Magic Flute but rather improvised. And it was Steibelt who showed off with his virtuoso style, whereas Beethoven showed the audience how harmonically monotonous his improvisations were by coming up with more harmonically complex stuff with the same level of virtuosity. Edit: for those who don't know, coming up with new harmonic shit on the fly is much harder than just adding bunch of arpeggios and scales here and there, and a faster alberti bass.
Almost none of this is really accurate. Steibelts performance is super dumbed down to demonstrate the difference in quality to make the video make sense, but really he was quite an excellent pianist and improvisor. Beethoven, however, was able to - on a whim - flip Steibelts piece upside down, play the first bar upside down (that shouldnt work at all) and then parody steibelts style while using the inverse of his music in such a skillful and superior fashion that steibelt literally walked out of the city and never came back. And again this was just done for the sake of the video, but it lasted much longer than this.
@@manunited1235 He went based on what he heard by ear. He didn't need to look at the music. He played it in the style of his sonatas which he changes a lot of keys (including minor) and develops the theme. Also his piano gymnastics were probably exhaustively varied.
The contest between Beethoven and Steibelt As the challenger, Steibelt was to play first. He walked to the piano, tossing a piece of his own music on the side, and played. Steibelt was renowned for conjuring up a "storm" on the piano, and this he did to great effect, the "thunder" growling in the bass. He rose to great applause, and all eyes turned to Beethoven, who took a deep breath, slowly exhaled, and reluctantly - to the collective relief of everyone present - trudged to the piano. ----------------------------- Beethoven's turn to play When he got there he picked up the piece of music Steibelt had tossed on the side, looked at it, showed it the audience ..... and turned it upside down! He sat at the piano and played the four notes in the opening bar of Steibelt's music. He began to vary them, embellish them ..... improvise on them. He played on, imitated a Steibelt "storm", unpicked Steibelt's playing and put it together again, parodied it and mocked it. Steibelt makes a dramatic exit… Steibelt, realising he was not only being comprehensively outplayed but humiliated, strode out of the room. Prince Lobkowitz hurried after him, returning a few moments later to say Steibelt had said he would never again set foot in Vienna as long as Beethoven lived there. Beethoven lived in Vienna for the rest of his life, and Steibelt kept his promise - he never returned. Beethoven was never again asked to take on any piano virtuoso - his position as Vienna's supreme piano virtuoso was established. And those four notes - the first bar of Steibelt's music? They became, in time, the impetus that drives the Eroica Symphony.
They exist. In the 40's and 50's, they were called "Cutting Contests" and were primarily the domain of jazz musicians. You can still find these today, but you probably won't find them in the polite society as seen in this video.
It's a bit mean to Steibelt to represent him this badly.. I mean I could improvise that variation he did here. I'm sure in reality he gave Beethoven a much sterner contest.
James Tucker Actually, those who witnessed the event indicated that Beethoven indeed "moped up the floor" with Steibelt. Here is the how it has been recorded. I hope this helps. A native of Berlin, Daniel Steibelt was one of Europe's most renowned piano virtuosos. He was a typical Prussian - formal, correct, proper. In 1800 he came to Vienna, no doubt with the aim of advancing his musical reputation. It was quickly agreed among the city's musical patrons that Steibelt should compete against Beethoven in an improvisation contest. These improvisation contests were a popular form of entertainment among Vienna's aristocracy. One nobleman would support one virtuoso pianist, another would support the other. In the salon of one of the noblemen, the two pianists would compete with each other, each setting the other a tune to improvise on. The playing would go back and forth, increasing in intensity, until a winner was declared. In his early years in Vienna, Beethoven was made to take on the city's best talent and he quickly saw them off.It was agreed that Prince Lobkowitz would sponsor Steibelt and Prince Lichnowsky sponsor Beethoven, the improvisation contest to take place in Lobkowitz's palace. As the challenger, Steibelt was to play first. He walked to the piano, tossing a piece of his own music on the side, and played. Steibelt was renowned for conjuring up a "storm" on the piano, and this he did to great effect, the "thunder" growling in the bass. He rose to great applause, and all eyes turned to Beethoven, who took a deep breath, slowly exhaled, and reluctantly - to the collective relief of everyone present - trudged to the piano.When he got there he picked up the piece of music Steibelt had tossed on the side, looked at it, showed it the audience ..... and turned it upside down! He sat at the piano and played the four notes in the opening bar of Steibelt's music. He began to vary them, embellish them ..... improvise on them. He played on, imitated a Steibelt "storm", unpicked Steibelt's playing and put it together again, parodied it and mocked it. Steibelt, realising he was not only being comprehensively outplayed but humiliated, strode out of the room. Prince Lobkowitz hurried after him, returning a few moments later to say Steibelt had said he would never again set foot in Vienna as long as Beethoven lived there. Beethoven lived in Vienna for the rest of his life, and Steibelt kept his promise - he never returned.Beethoven was never again asked to take on any piano virtuoso - his position as Vienna's supreme piano virtuoso was established. And those four notes - the first bar of Steibelt's music? They became, in time, the impetus that drives the Eroica Symphony.
What is your source for that? I'm incredibly interested if they are seriously saying the incident helped in the formation of the first theme of the Eroica symphony.. Anyway, what I was saying, was that the video was ridiculous, and your source backs up that Steibelt would of given him a much better contest than the pathetic variation of Mozarts theme used in this video. There is no way anyone would think of Steibelt as a virtuoso in the first place if that was all he could do..
Well, there are two things in +IMSColoradoSpring's quote that makes me find the stark difference a bit believable -- One is the fact that it says that Steibelt was apparently a sort of "formal, correct, proper" fellow, and the other is that it says that these sorts of contests would escalate over multiple back-and-forth rounds. Given that, it sounds as if it was customary to start small and build up to one's 'A' game. If Steibelt was indeed the sort of "proper" character he's made out to be, then it would have been within bounds for him to adhere to that sort of decorum and not bust out of the gates with his very best. It also fits with the style of the variations he played in the video in that much of it (save maybe the ending) was textbook Mozart, which means he was maintaining the spirit of the original composer's style rather than turning it into a Steibelt work. This is also how a lot of pianists do it these days -- i.e. trying to keep the intentions of the original composer intact... Beethoven, otoh, was a well-documented asshat who delighted in humiliating adversaries, so him playing levels apart from Steibelt in Round 1 with a style that is distinctly Beethoven fits his character. This much is echoed in the quote as well. That said, I do agree that whatever Steibelt laid down in his first round would have been much more virtuosic and inventive than what was shown even if it was otherwise a warm-up round for him. Beethoven being Beethoven was rather determined to just crush him in the first blow, and so the gap would still show. Chances are that Steibelt's own reaction to that wouldn't just be a sense of discouragement that he couldn't win, but also anger at Beethoven's ostensibly poor sportsmanship. I suspect that to get to the piece that's actually played in the video, the producers must have combined a few other details from Beethoven's life. There's the tale of Mozart's meeting with a then teenage Beethoven, in which Mozart declared after hearing him improvise on top of a few of his own pieces declared that Beethoven would be someone to watch out for (a tale which might well be apocryphal)... The other is the fact that Beethoven did actually compose a series of variations and cadenzas on Mozart's pieces over the years -- including Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen from the Magic Flute. That said, whoever wrote the Beethoven interpretation of Papageno's Aria for this video knew what he was doing. He threw in so many little key characteristics that are so well-associated with his style as well as taking advantage of the greater limits of the piano of his day. Whoever it was seems to have understood Beethoven almost as well as Dudley Moore did. On a separate note, it's a little saddening to see some of the responses below in which people interpreted the top post in this thread to mean things not even resembling what is said. It is a bit of a sign of failure of education that people's reading comprehension and capacity to ingest the written word in the context of the referenced video is so criminally poor. I weep for the future of humanity.
@@santiago.cervantes9857 I am not quite sure Liszt's piano works can really compare with those of Beethoven. That said, Liszt is said to be an extraordinary pianist, possibly the greatest ever.
You know the bit I really like about this is how right around 3:40 the music starts to take on a bit of a change. Before it was an incredibly impressive improvisation, but it's nothing too out there for the classical period, nothing that you'd be surprised to hear in a piece by Mozart for example. As Beethoven really gets into it however, you can hear something starting to happen. The chords are coming at you so fast and the changes in dynamics so daring, the music is actually starting to take on just a touch of a violent, discordant quality. The guests go from cheering the virtuoso Beethoven to being a bit freaked out, not quite sure what to make of these fierce, volatile new sounds coming out of the piano. The little old pianoforte itself sounds like it's about to collapse under the force of what it's being made to produce. What I really love about this is it shows how the young Beethoven is already starting to discover the big, bold romantic sound that will define his middle and late work. Even better, it shows how he is arriving at that sound by stretching the logic of the classical tradition to its absolute limit, finding the discord inside those perfect classical harmonies.
Beside personal or petty competitions. Ludwig Van Beethoven was a genius in the most pure meaning of the word, the like of which we may see born once every millennia. My utmost respects for the great Maestro Ludwig Van Beethoven and all his timeless, divine music and compositions. The power of his music do grab the soul of every listener - like few others - to this day. His heritage will go on forever, because of the transformative power of most of his works...
Had Steibelt acknowledged and congratulated Beethoven's magnificent skill and talent, he most likely would have had a friend for life in Beethoven. Not to mention, an amazing piano teacher more than happy to help him improve. It's amazing how ego can be such a double-edged sword.
The actor for Beethoven looks like Beethoven in his later years. Steibelt looks like a young Beethoven. So it’s basically Beethoven with and without hearing.
I didn't go through all 1800 comments, but it seems like I'm the only one here who's impressed by the pianist who acted as Beethoven. He definitely deserves some recognition!
Steibelt was a considerable virtuoso and a gifted composer - but he wasn't Beethoven. The story of the contest has, unfortunately, so tarnished his reputation that he is now regarded as a joke; he was certainly no such thing. I cannot imagine that someone renowned for his thunderous piano technique would have come up with the twee variation in this film. Beethoven won out against much stiffer competition than that!
Geoff, I know. Films always do that. Instead of making it realistic, they make the antagonist way worse than he needs to be. Sure, Beethoven would beat him, but why make him look like a chump?
@@Maximilian0011 What? Your comment makes no sense Bubba. He just said he likes the gorgeous actress who plays the role of a Beethoven fan in this documentary.
It's lovely, but I do think it all went much different. There were two meetings. During the first, at Count Fries', B. became annoyed that Steibelts new and elegant Quintet found more acclaim than B's Trio . After the performance of the Quintet, S. improvised on a theme from his own work. In this he used fierce tremolos like thunderstorms, which were something like a novelty, only possible on the newest pianos. They made the ladies faint. One week later, at Fries again, S. unexpectedly improvised on a theme from B's Trio of last week. It was probably well-meant, but it left B. angry and humiliated. Then it was B.'s turn. He was reluctant to enter the contest, but he came to the piano after several requests. While walking to the piano, in an impulse he seized the cello part of another Steibelt Quintet that had just been performed. (This can actually been seen in the clip, but nothing was done with it.) He put it upside down in front of him on the piano, played a part of the newly acquired monstruous melody (because the notes were upside down!), and started to improvise on it. This must have been a terrible offence in the face of Steibelt, and an example of bad taste, only "neutralized" by B's brilliant performance. I was not there, but I am quite sure that B. ridiculized S. even further by imitating his tremolos in a grotesque way. That same night Steibelt left Vienna, never to set a foot again in that beautiful city.
As I remember it, not a first-hand mind you, Steibelt also specified that he was never again to be invited to any future such event that Beethoven was also scheduled to attend.
As far as I have read, in that time, Hummel was Europe's greatest piano virtuso, and Beethoven was the THE improviser. His improvising skills were unmatched.
They play Mozart here (Aria of Papageno), as I read from comments and another article. Would anybody know who composed the variations that Beethoven plays here? I may not be an expert, but it sounds as good as Beethoven's compositions.
I've been trying to look on the internet but to no avail. I can only play a little bit by ear but thats it....I've been wanting to learn in and try to show off myself lol.
''So when are you going to start!?'', i love that. I remember watching this a few years ago, really enjoyed it, i don't know how that guy isn't more well known, he's very talented and he has the look.
Mozar dismissed Beethovan when he met with him.....Until Ludvig begged to show him how he improvised...The Mozart was impressed, ans said "The world will hear of this young man"
@@leostawicki7283 "Watch out for that boy. One day he will give the world something to talk about" Pretty wholesome honestly, especially since when they met Mozart was ill and only 5 years away from his death.
@@chri2453 Mozart heard the 16 year old Beethoven played once and whispered behind to others by saying that this young person will make a big noise in the world some day.
Back is actually ranked above B. in the composing area. Lots of critics rank Bach #1 above anyone else.Bach was born about 50 Km. from Handel and only a year apart.
@@czeynerpianistproducercomp7155 well, it's not easy to compose something difficult to play. but you can't seriosuly compare cernys musical value with beethoven...
Mozart tested Beethoven for three days. He was not impressed with Beethoven the first two days. The third day He tested Beethoven for improvisation and was very impressed and asked him to come back when he was older.
They say the Moonlight Sonata's 3rd movement is supposed to give you a rough idea of Beethoven's improvisation skills. Even if it was only 50% true, it would still be absolutely insane.
It is so sad that Beethoven cannot hear what he wrote in his later years.His last three piano sonatas op 109 110 and 111 can only sing inside his heart.
What you are, you are by accident of birth; what I am, I am by myself. There are and will be a thousand princes; there is only one Beethoven. L.W. Beethoven.
There's no doubt Beethoven was the greatest musician to ever live. Redefined music more than any musician in history. Greatest improve and variation skills. Greatest symphony writer. Greatest solo piano composer. Greatest piano concerto composer. Greatest string quartet composter. To name a few of his achievements.
@Mar. L why the f would I put in not piano but still if I just searched that on the internet and why the f would I say I don't agree on Mozart if I actually didn't have other composers in my mind. And I actually just typed that on the internet, surprise, these are not the first results (with the exception of lwb ofc)🤨🤨. Uhmmm these guys are nearly all romantic composers so they naturally have less pieces, cuz they actually care about their pieces being individually really different on all aspects to any other piece they have written, unlike Mozart. If I had thought of numbers I wouldn't have written romantic composers🥰 Other than that if you really want to hear an explanation here it is: Saint Saens, best concerto orchestration in all concerto writing in the period by far. Beethoven's 4th might be easily argued to be the best concerto of all time, 3 and 5 are also just incredible (five might look a bit like too exaggerated at times but the incredible parts like the octave passage make up for it). Prokofiev's second concerto is one of the most unique pieces of all time, that feeling isnt even captured in any other Prok pieces, other than that best PC cadenza ever. The 3rd is also amazing With Rach, enough has already been said about the 2nd and 3rd concertos, they are just in general incredibly well written with how the orchestra and piano interact, it just shows how more of a piano composer can write overall incredible concertos if they are decent with orchestra (look at Liszt or Chopin for counter examples lmao) Hummel's second concerto is basically one of the best pieces in the concerto repertoire.
... and Beethoven's operas are world famous, unlike that Mozart guy. It's like some people aren't clever enough to cope with having two or more great composers.
Anyone know a similar Beethoven piece to the part at about 3.50 on? I assume this was improvised for the show, but would love to hear a similar piece in it's entirety.
Holy smokes, in the days where the best musicians were actually at the top of their craft. Looking at today, i can only weep and fear what's coming next after all the autotuned heros of today.
Survivorship bias .. I'm sure there was a lot of mediocre and even more downright crappy music back then, too. Do you think everybody got a chance to listen to the masters? Especially when there were no recordings, at all? It's just that nobody bothered to keep the bad stuff. Even a lot of quality stuff drifted into obscurity. We remember a few of the few very best of every period, basically. Not that different today .. do you really remember the bad "stars" of even just a decade ago, besides those who were that f***ing bad that they at least made it into cringy internet memes?
This is one of the resons why, among all musicians and composers, Mozart outstands as the best. History tells that both, Bach and Beethoven were usually challenged by others in order to prove their mastery in music. Consequently, both tried to demonstrate how skillful they were by showing off. Ego was mostly a motivator. Mozart, on the other hand, composed what he felt was right. And no one, not even Beethoven, dared to challenge him. Mozart never tried to show off. He was an engaging showoff himself.
@@philosopher0076 Not really. Actually, after attending Mozart's premiere of the piano concert in C minor KV 491, and frantically applauded at the end, a demoralized Beethoven confessed to his colleague Stadler "I will never be able to compose such music". Beethoven dixit 😉
"The rest is just the same, isn't it?
Wrong movie
@@benittom7062 same sentiment tho
benitto M r/wooooosh
**YOU ARE TOO FUNNY!!**
wrong video mate
Someone once challenged J.S. Bach to a keyboard contest (Louis Marchand - the greatest French virtuoso of his day), but when Marchand secretly listened to Bach practicing, he decided to leave town in a hurry. He never showed up for the competition.
there is a movie i remember bach had played the chromatic fantasy and fugue
Lmao
@@aksiiska9470 do you remember the name of the movie?
The French have always been free to admit that Germans are superior, especially on the battlefield.
@@TeslasMoustache419 and a well-tempered clavier.
Steibelt: 3 years of real piano practice with a piano teacher
Beethoven: 1 week of Simply Piano
Hahahaha
Even better,
Beethoven after a week of piano tiles :
ur genious
LOL
Franz Liszt : Grand teacher Beethoven. I have completely fulfilled your dream of making the piano like a grand symphony with my transcription for piano of your 9th symphony.
Beethoven’s “So, when are you going to start?”
vs.
Mozart’s “The rest is just the same, isn’t it?”
They're the same picture
Wolfgang's better than mine
@@ludwigvanbeethoven5389 Beethoven, haven't heard any new compositions from you for a while now. Did something happen?
@@banana7558 Nah, I am composing Symphony No 5
@@ludwigvanbeethoven5389 ratio im the real beethoven
Beethoven: “improvises as a God”
Steibelt: “I’m gonna end this man’s whole career”
Beethoven: “Sorry, I can’t hear you”
Underrated comment lmfao
It’s even funny for me
LMFAO
im dead
thats not how quotation marks work though
"improvises as a god" lmao
“ so when you gonna start?”
BURNNNNNN ROASTED
Yeah, he was deaf so...
nath 04 he wasn’t deaf at this point though. He didn’t become deaf till later in his life.
woop Why’d you do an ‘r/woosh’? What nath 04 said wasn’t a joke.
Yes woop idiot
Beethoven is epic
At the end was waiting for Beethoven to do Mozart's laugh....
Hahaha
EHAHAHHAHAHAH
He would have scowled.
*BEETHOVEN NEVER LAUGHS.*
ruclips.net/video/u3-vxsq9sw0/видео.html
"his finger work is finesse itself" - that's what she said
daniel, you could not say more stupid thought yet you did, wow
Maximilian0011 fuck off
^
Devon, you are a maximilian fan same as him
It was what she proclaimed
Wow! Beethoven got to day 3 of Simply Piano! Congrats
underrated comment
Thank you
Lol
Steibelt: "plays piano"
Beethoven: "im about to end this man's whole career"
Scythe Mlbb im about to end this mans whole career
Hey Kaori:3
No doubt, we love a lot of Steibels too and use not to notice that. And we disprize our Beethovens. Who knows Charles Wuorinen who died last week?
Literally
Hey! that's my line against Salieri!
Imagine: there were actually people who had the great good fortune to have seen both Beethoven and Mozart perform. How awesome that must have been.
Beethoven, Mozart, chopin, and Rachmaninoff
and possibly Haydn and Schubert as well ...and probably never realised what a unique privilege they were experiencing
Imagine seeing Franz Liszt play his Liszt-Paganini Etude No. 4 (1838 Version)
@@thebaronv7909 Debussy and Ravel
not any more awesome than having seen Paco de Lucia play for example. (I don't mean his dabbling into jazz, but his original work) Paco was a Beethoven of the guitar. ruclips.net/video/rxYGt1fqZIo/видео.html
*”So, when you gonna start!”*
*”We haven’t got all day!”*
Get oofed by an epic composer
Oofer
*apply ice to the burn*
@@loganfruchtman953 its more like i did it to peter
Mozart listening in heaven: I taught him that (fist bumps Bach)
Beethoven was known to be a moody man but his music was the image of what reality is and a passion to follow your own path.
he wasn't really moody until his later years, because of his health. He was actually a very humorous, funny guy who everyone instantly liked when he was younger, sadly this is seldom touched upon, even in "documentaries".
@@Amphitera i was just gonna comment exactly that.
The moment Beethoven activates 1% of his power, you see Steibelt instantly regrets all of his life choises
In reality, they did not play tunes from the Magic Flute but rather improvised. And it was Steibelt who showed off with his virtuoso style, whereas Beethoven showed the audience how harmonically monotonous his improvisations were by coming up with more harmonically complex stuff with the same level of virtuosity.
Edit: for those who don't know, coming up with new harmonic shit on the fly is much harder than just adding bunch of arpeggios and scales here and there, and a faster alberti bass.
stfu fatass u dont know wut ur talking about /s
You're a good man Bach. You, me, Wolfy, and Ludwig should go out for a pint some day. Beethoven might out-drink us all however!
I quite spontaneously concur with this statement my good Sir, hats off.
Oh god! I kept on seeing dead persons on the comment section!
@@thesweggyglenngouldfan5744 Wouldn't you say he's... *Bach* from the dead?
*Steibelt has left the chat*
And the city...
....
19th century rage quit
ruclips.net/video/idnf-HA9kDI/видео.html
He should leave the earth, oh he did hahaha. Oh me too
Almost none of this is really accurate. Steibelts performance is super dumbed down to demonstrate the difference in quality to make the video make sense, but really he was quite an excellent pianist and improvisor. Beethoven, however, was able to - on a whim - flip Steibelts piece upside down, play the first bar upside down (that shouldnt work at all) and then parody steibelts style while using the inverse of his music in such a skillful and superior fashion that steibelt literally walked out of the city and never came back. And again this was just done for the sake of the video, but it lasted much longer than this.
Ryan Bayer what really happened then?
ManUnited123 he just explained
@@manunited1235 He went based on what he heard by ear. He didn't need to look at the music. He played it in the style of his sonatas which he changes a lot of keys (including minor) and develops the theme. Also his piano gymnastics were probably exhaustively varied.
Ryan Bayer How’d you know though?
Well when you make a movie on Beethoven of steibelt you do it like you say.
The contest between Beethoven and Steibelt
As the challenger, Steibelt was to play first. He walked to the piano, tossing a piece of his own music on the side, and played. Steibelt was renowned for conjuring up a "storm" on the piano, and this he did to great effect, the "thunder" growling in the bass.
He rose to great applause, and all eyes turned to Beethoven, who took a deep breath, slowly exhaled, and reluctantly - to the collective relief of everyone present - trudged to the piano.
-----------------------------
Beethoven's turn to play
When he got there he picked up the piece of music Steibelt had tossed on the side, looked at it, showed it the audience ..... and turned it upside down!
He sat at the piano and played the four notes in the opening bar of Steibelt's music. He began to vary them, embellish them ..... improvise on them.
He played on, imitated a Steibelt "storm", unpicked Steibelt's playing and put it together again, parodied it and mocked it.
Steibelt makes a dramatic exit…
Steibelt, realising he was not only being comprehensively outplayed but humiliated, strode out of the room. Prince Lobkowitz hurried after him, returning a few moments later to say Steibelt had said he would never again set foot in Vienna as long as Beethoven lived there.
Beethoven lived in Vienna for the rest of his life, and Steibelt kept his promise - he never returned.
Beethoven was never again asked to take on any piano virtuoso - his position as Vienna's supreme piano virtuoso was established. And those four notes - the first bar of Steibelt's music? They became, in time, the impetus that drives the Eroica Symphony.
4:00 She realizes this overkill, this daemon, this intensity, is something to be feared, it belongs beyond this room
3:04 i love how that smile slowly fades
Magnificent. They need to have these improvisation contests in our day and age.
Angelius instead we get freestyle rap battles!
They exist. In the 40's and 50's, they were called "Cutting Contests" and were primarily the domain of jazz musicians. You can still find these today, but you probably won't find them in the polite society as seen in this video.
Thanks for that insight !
But why dude? I can just go to the local symphony and hear the same damn Mozart, Tchaikovsky, and Beethoven pieces every year.
Angelius they still do
It's a bit mean to Steibelt to represent him this badly.. I mean I could improvise that variation he did here. I'm sure in reality he gave Beethoven a much sterner contest.
James Tucker Actually, those who witnessed the event indicated that Beethoven indeed "moped up the floor" with Steibelt. Here is the how it has been recorded. I hope this helps.
A native of Berlin, Daniel Steibelt was one of Europe's most renowned piano virtuosos. He was a typical Prussian - formal, correct, proper. In 1800 he came to Vienna, no doubt with the aim of advancing his musical reputation.
It was quickly agreed among the city's musical patrons that Steibelt should compete against Beethoven in an improvisation contest.
These improvisation contests were a popular form of entertainment among Vienna's aristocracy. One nobleman would support one virtuoso pianist, another would support the other. In the salon of one of the noblemen, the two pianists would compete with each other, each setting the other a tune to improvise on.
The playing would go back and forth, increasing in intensity, until a winner was declared. In his early years in Vienna, Beethoven was made to take on the city's best talent and he quickly saw them off.It was agreed that Prince Lobkowitz would sponsor Steibelt and Prince Lichnowsky sponsor Beethoven, the improvisation contest to take place in Lobkowitz's palace.
As the challenger, Steibelt was to play first. He walked to the piano, tossing a piece of his own music on the side, and played. Steibelt was renowned for conjuring up a "storm" on the piano, and this he did to great effect, the "thunder" growling in the bass.
He rose to great applause, and all eyes turned to Beethoven, who took a deep breath, slowly exhaled, and reluctantly - to the collective relief of everyone present - trudged to the piano.When he got there he picked up the piece of music Steibelt had tossed on the side, looked at it, showed it the audience ..... and turned it upside down!
He sat at the piano and played the four notes in the opening bar of Steibelt's music. He began to vary them, embellish them ..... improvise on them.
He played on, imitated a Steibelt "storm", unpicked Steibelt's playing and put it together again, parodied it and mocked it.
Steibelt, realising he was not only being comprehensively outplayed but humiliated, strode out of the room. Prince Lobkowitz hurried after him, returning a few moments later to say Steibelt had said he would never again set foot in Vienna as long as Beethoven lived there.
Beethoven lived in Vienna for the rest of his life, and Steibelt kept his promise - he never returned.Beethoven was never again asked to take on any piano virtuoso - his position as Vienna's supreme piano virtuoso was established. And those four notes - the first bar of Steibelt's music? They became, in time, the impetus that drives the Eroica Symphony.
What is your source for that? I'm incredibly interested if they are seriously saying the incident helped in the formation of the first theme of the Eroica symphony..
Anyway, what I was saying, was that the video was ridiculous, and your source backs up that Steibelt would of given him a much better contest than the pathetic variation of Mozarts theme used in this video. There is no way anyone would think of Steibelt as a virtuoso in the first place if that was all he could do..
+James Tucker The source is www.classicfm.com/composers/beethoven/guides/daniel-steibelt/#MppDJHyVUQxaXm1I.97
You mean you are as prodigiously talented as Mozart? I ask because in the video, Steibelt actually played Mozart.
Well, there are two things in +IMSColoradoSpring's quote that makes me find the stark difference a bit believable -- One is the fact that it says that Steibelt was apparently a sort of "formal, correct, proper" fellow, and the other is that it says that these sorts of contests would escalate over multiple back-and-forth rounds. Given that, it sounds as if it was customary to start small and build up to one's 'A' game. If Steibelt was indeed the sort of "proper" character he's made out to be, then it would have been within bounds for him to adhere to that sort of decorum and not bust out of the gates with his very best. It also fits with the style of the variations he played in the video in that much of it (save maybe the ending) was textbook Mozart, which means he was maintaining the spirit of the original composer's style rather than turning it into a Steibelt work. This is also how a lot of pianists do it these days -- i.e. trying to keep the intentions of the original composer intact...
Beethoven, otoh, was a well-documented asshat who delighted in humiliating adversaries, so him playing levels apart from Steibelt in Round 1 with a style that is distinctly Beethoven fits his character. This much is echoed in the quote as well. That said, I do agree that whatever Steibelt laid down in his first round would have been much more virtuosic and inventive than what was shown even if it was otherwise a warm-up round for him. Beethoven being Beethoven was rather determined to just crush him in the first blow, and so the gap would still show. Chances are that Steibelt's own reaction to that wouldn't just be a sense of discouragement that he couldn't win, but also anger at Beethoven's ostensibly poor sportsmanship.
I suspect that to get to the piece that's actually played in the video, the producers must have combined a few other details from Beethoven's life. There's the tale of Mozart's meeting with a then teenage Beethoven, in which Mozart declared after hearing him improvise on top of a few of his own pieces declared that Beethoven would be someone to watch out for (a tale which might well be apocryphal)... The other is the fact that Beethoven did actually compose a series of variations and cadenzas on Mozart's pieces over the years -- including Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen from the Magic Flute. That said, whoever wrote the Beethoven interpretation of Papageno's Aria for this video knew what he was doing. He threw in so many little key characteristics that are so well-associated with his style as well as taking advantage of the greater limits of the piano of his day. Whoever it was seems to have understood Beethoven almost as well as Dudley Moore did.
On a separate note, it's a little saddening to see some of the responses below in which people interpreted the top post in this thread to mean things not even resembling what is said. It is a bit of a sign of failure of education that people's reading comprehension and capacity to ingest the written word in the context of the referenced video is so criminally poor. I weep for the future of humanity.
2:36-2:44 He throws the score. Look at Beethoven's swag.
Ppfer
Love Beethoven's whole persona but I'd give an oscar to Steibelt's "oh crap" expression at 3:24 LOL
Never challenge Beethoven or Rachmaninoff to an improvisation on a theme and variations. You will be ruined.
Never challenge Bach to write a 6 parts fugue !
Or Schumann or Liszt or Chopin
Heh. Too bad there can't be a contest between Rachmaninoff and Beethoven. Then B wouldn't stand a chance.
@@oceanelf2512 Incorrect. Beethoven > Rachmaninoff. Deal with it.
Just imagine if Liszt was there.
-Hungarian rhapsody has entered the chat
@@santiago.cervantes9857 I am not quite sure Liszt's piano works can really compare with those of Beethoven. That said, Liszt is said to be an extraordinary pianist, possibly the greatest ever.
Franz Liszt is the best
Painite Eclipse imagine if Chopin was there
God
Steibelt: enters Vienna
Beethoven: I’m about to end this mans whole career
And I did.
You know the bit I really like about this is how right around 3:40 the music starts to take on a bit of a change. Before it was an incredibly impressive improvisation, but it's nothing too out there for the classical period, nothing that you'd be surprised to hear in a piece by Mozart for example. As Beethoven really gets into it however, you can hear something starting to happen. The chords are coming at you so fast and the changes in dynamics so daring, the music is actually starting to take on just a touch of a violent, discordant quality. The guests go from cheering the virtuoso Beethoven to being a bit freaked out, not quite sure what to make of these fierce, volatile new sounds coming out of the piano. The little old pianoforte itself sounds like it's about to collapse under the force of what it's being made to produce.
What I really love about this is it shows how the young Beethoven is already starting to discover the big, bold romantic sound that will define his middle and late work. Even better, it shows how he is arriving at that sound by stretching the logic of the classical tradition to its absolute limit, finding the discord inside those perfect classical harmonies.
Yes I hear the change, it is when Beethoven doesn't just try to perfect the notes but rather plays with emotions.
Damn, Beethoven roasted Steibelt just like me roasting Salieri!
Now a final round Beethoven vs me improvisation on Non piu andrai
This is getting out of hand, now there are two of them
@@loganfruchtman953 non più andrai*Learn italian mozart because the real mozart knew italian
YES
@@loganfruchtman953 Mozart! I am your biggest fan!
Dzaaamn... I never thought I would get to see Beethoven live recorded in action , Just been admiring his pieces
Beethoven face look like a manly MJ
Felipe Medeiros Jackson or Jordan
PianoDude8918 A.K.A Robis 2 Franz liszt??? :V
More like Brandon Fraser
sure, to put down eternal Beethoven
of course. he isn't the REAL Beethoven
Frédéric, Old friend. I will slaughter your Impromptu's with my Sonata's and Concerto's.
Beethoven I thought you dieda
Sire Ludwig Van Beethoven
Could you listen to my music and tell me if I have done justice to being a Beethoven fan?
I don't know if you should be using that account name if Fantaisie-Impromptu is all you know from Chopin.
Liszt be like : let me introduce my etudes
I'd say you should listen to my winter wind etude
Back when the people were smarter and it was cooler to be good at the piano and the girls loved it.
Carlos R People werent necessarily "smarter" Just look at the medical practices that were commonly used around that time lol
Fair point good sir.
no they weren't, the majority of people were peasants and could barely read
All good points here so far. Plus women still like it.
No
There was a point where the audience’s reaction shifted from amazement and cheer to disbelief and silence.
4:18 a worrisome ending to his victory...a deep buzzing from nowhere, a worried look on beet's face...the beginnings of his hearing loss
The piece was taken from Mozart's opera The Magic Flute; the Aria of Papageno. 'Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja'
Thanks so much for that! I've been trying to figure it out, I thought it was that; aaaaaahhhhh Presque Vu! Thanks again :)
David Fromtheberry
Which of the 12 variations of this Papageno's song did Beethoven played in that video?
is there a replay of the scene as told in the description "played upside down"?
You are a true music lover friend Beethoven killed it in this scene though.but it's just a movie
no it's darude - sandstorm
If this were really Beethoven there would have been at least 35 more perfect cadences.
Underrated comment 🤣
True
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Incorrect. Don't confuse Him with Mozart.
@@ultimateconstruction You obviously never heard the finale to the 5th!
Just noticed, Beethoven tosses the music on the ground.
The Shadow Person Yeah.
Mic drop of the day?
Beside personal or petty competitions. Ludwig Van Beethoven was a genius in the most pure meaning of the word, the like of which we may see born once every millennia.
My utmost respects for the great Maestro Ludwig Van Beethoven and all his timeless, divine music and compositions. The power of his music do grab the soul of every listener - like few others - to this day.
His heritage will go on forever, because of the transformative power of most of his works...
Had Steibelt acknowledged and congratulated Beethoven's magnificent skill and talent, he most likely would have had a friend for life in Beethoven. Not to mention, an amazing piano teacher more than happy to help him improve. It's amazing how ego can be such a double-edged sword.
The actor for steibelt looks more like Beethoven than the actual actor for Beethoven in the video
TreeBark Skin yeah the castimg is weird lol
i know right? i was actually confused when the guy said "BEETHOVEN!"
The actor for Beethoven looks like Beethoven in his later years. Steibelt looks like a young Beethoven. So it’s basically Beethoven with and without hearing.
Hellywierd always lies
@@Nikolai_The_Crazed So basically Beethoven broke time and space....
Was Beethoven the first to say "hold my beer"?
That was Mozart 😏
@@kevinx1893 when will time travell come i want to meet them so much
You mean "Halte mein Bier"
Someone should make a film about Steibelt. His life seems like an adventure with both successes and failures.
Successes until he came across LVB.
do we care of the ones that lost ? who cares
I didn't go through all 1800 comments, but it seems like I'm the only one here who's impressed by the pianist who acted as Beethoven. He definitely deserves some recognition!
Yes,absolutely!
That was a stunning performance wasn’t it
Who are you?
I plays it also and I am a amateur.
Steibelt's face when Beethoven reveals how good he is... THE FACE OF DEFEAT
Steibelt was a considerable virtuoso and a gifted composer - but he wasn't Beethoven. The story of the contest has, unfortunately, so tarnished his reputation that he is now regarded as a joke; he was certainly no such thing. I cannot imagine that someone renowned for his thunderous piano technique would have come up with the twee variation in this film. Beethoven won out against much stiffer competition than that!
I'm sure it was just done for theatrical purposes that is expected of films/or movies
Geoff, I know. Films always do that. Instead of making it realistic, they make the antagonist way worse than he needs to be. Sure, Beethoven would beat him, but why make him look like a chump?
I like that busty Beethoven fan. I'm sure Ludwig did, too. :-)
Guess the type of payment ;)
Beethoven only had patience for pupils who were talented of either sex, or beautiful women of any degree of talent or lack thereof.
@@Maximilian0011
What? Your comment makes no sense Bubba. He just said he likes the gorgeous actress who plays the role of a Beethoven fan in this documentary.
@@fyfyi6053 sorry, you are right, how silly of me... :( I will delete that comment at once, thank you :)
The difference between very gifted and absolute genius!
Steibelt: * brags about his skill as a pianist*
Beethoven: Y O U S H I T
It's lovely, but I do think it all went much different. There were two meetings. During the first, at Count Fries', B. became annoyed that Steibelts new and elegant Quintet found more acclaim than B's Trio .
After the performance of the Quintet, S. improvised on a theme from his own work. In this he used fierce tremolos like thunderstorms, which were something like a novelty, only possible on the newest pianos. They made the ladies faint.
One week later, at Fries again, S. unexpectedly improvised on a theme from B's Trio of last week. It was probably well-meant, but it left B. angry and humiliated. Then it was B.'s turn. He was reluctant to enter the contest, but he came to the piano after several requests.
While walking to the piano, in an impulse he seized the cello part of another Steibelt Quintet that had just been performed. (This can actually been seen in the clip, but nothing was done with it.) He put it upside down in front of him on the piano, played a part of the newly acquired monstruous melody (because the notes were upside down!), and started to improvise on it. This must have been a terrible offence in the face of Steibelt, and an example of bad taste, only "neutralized" by B's brilliant performance. I was not there, but I am quite sure that B. ridiculized S. even further by imitating his tremolos in a grotesque way.
That same night Steibelt left Vienna, never to set a foot again in that beautiful city.
As I remember it, not a first-hand mind you, Steibelt also specified that he was never again to be invited to any future such event that Beethoven was also scheduled to attend.
#YouCopiedThatBoiii
you seem to know very much about this! is there a replay of the scene as told in the description "played upside down"?
I believe the technical term is "being hopelessly outclassed"...
@@aksiiska9470 Read Solomon's book on Beethoven. There is no scene.
obviosly mcgregor won
What, are we talking about golf clubs all of a sudden?
www.macgregor-golf.co.uk/
uzeir gamazsi wrong video
Nah man laurel
it's logan paul man
Nice
rest in pizza steibelt
darwinianpickles rest in pepperoni
Nobody remembers nor care of stainbelt yet Beethoven is eternal, that says it all
@@Maximilian0011 Yeah, his melody still good tho.
The piece is a piano variation on Papagino’s aria ‘ Vogelfanger bin Ich Ja” from Mozarts ‘Magic Flute’ Opera.
As far as I have read, in that time, Hummel was Europe's greatest piano virtuso, and Beethoven was the THE improviser. His improvising skills were unmatched.
2:54 Beethoven was mocking him XD
They play Mozart here (Aria of Papageno), as I read from comments and another article. Would anybody know who composed the variations that Beethoven plays here? I may not be an expert, but it sounds as good as Beethoven's compositions.
I've been trying to look on the internet but to no avail. I can only play a little bit by ear but thats it....I've been wanting to learn in and try to show off myself lol.
''So when are you going to start!?'', i love that. I remember watching this a few years ago, really enjoyed it, i don't know how that guy isn't more well known, he's very talented and he has the look.
nobody beats Beethoven...even Mozart was impressed
Mozar dismissed Beethovan when he met with him.....Until Ludvig begged to show him how he improvised...The Mozart was impressed, ans said "The world will hear of this young man"
I thought they never met each other?
@@chri2453 actually they meet once in Viena in 1787, Beethoven was 16 and Mozart 30
@@leostawicki7283 "Watch out for that boy. One day he will give the world something to talk about"
Pretty wholesome honestly, especially since when they met Mozart was ill and only 5 years away from his death.
@@chri2453 Mozart heard the 16 year old Beethoven played once and whispered behind to others by saying that this young person will make a big noise in the world some day.
The literal musical version of flipping the chess board when you’re losing.
Beethoven: simply the best. End of argument.
But what if he battled against Bach?
Back is actually ranked above B. in the composing area. Lots of critics rank Bach #1 above anyone else.Bach was born about 50 Km. from Handel and only a year apart.
Czerny Op.268 or any Czerny Sonate Is more Hard than any Beethoven Sonate
Alas, in the RUclips comments section, argument is never-ending...
@@czeynerpianistproducercomp7155 well, it's not easy to compose something difficult to play. but you can't seriosuly compare cernys musical value with beethoven...
It's,here we go again,Beethoven'characteristic rhythm variations!
It's so great!
I love the variations on Papageno's aria
1:59 that was beethoven saying "dont look at me"
2:55 love that taunting face he makes “Oh, look at me, I play piano!”
Mozart tested Beethoven for three days. He was not impressed with Beethoven the first two days. The third day He tested Beethoven for improvisation and was very impressed and asked him to come back when he was older.
They say the Moonlight Sonata's 3rd movement is supposed to give you a rough idea of Beethoven's improvisation skills. Even if it was only 50% true, it would still be absolutely insane.
Steibelt ran home to say: ”Grazie Signore”
"when does he start?"
To be fair, Beethoven literally may not have known that it started.
It is so sad that Beethoven cannot hear what he wrote in his later years.His last three piano sonatas op 109 110 and 111 can only sing inside his heart.
chopin: im the most difficult chap
joplin: observe
liszt: am i a joke to you?
beethoven: you dare oppose me mortal?
"ragtime" has a name, if you're referring to Scott Joplin
Bach: guess who's Bach
Bach again
JS Bach
Tell a friend
What you are, you are by accident of birth; what I am, I am by myself. There are and will be a thousand princes; there is only one Beethoven. L.W. Beethoven.
Steibelt was musically roasted by Beethoven man. I never thought that I’d hear a dis track without lyrics before, but god damn...
The look Ludwig gives Steibelt at 2:01 is just priceless
He was just like "Yeah whatchu gonna do bout it? Yeah that's what I thought bro"
There's no doubt Beethoven was the greatest musician to ever live. Redefined music more than any musician in history. Greatest improve and variation skills. Greatest symphony writer. Greatest solo piano composer. Greatest piano concerto composer. Greatest string quartet composter. To name a few of his achievements.
@Mar. L I definitely wouldn't agree on Mozart in that department
@Mar. L Bach (keyboard yes, still), Beethoven, Hummel, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, Saint Saens
@Mar. L why the f would I put in not piano but still if I just searched that on the internet and why the f would I say I don't agree on Mozart if I actually didn't have other composers in my mind. And I actually just typed that on the internet, surprise, these are not the first results (with the exception of lwb ofc)🤨🤨. Uhmmm these guys are nearly all romantic composers so they naturally have less pieces, cuz they actually care about their pieces being individually really different on all aspects to any other piece they have written, unlike Mozart. If I had thought of numbers I wouldn't have written romantic composers🥰 Other than that if you really want to hear an explanation here it is:
Saint Saens, best concerto orchestration in all concerto writing in the period by far.
Beethoven's 4th might be easily argued to be the best concerto of all time, 3 and 5 are also just incredible (five might look a bit like too exaggerated at times but the incredible parts like the octave passage make up for it).
Prokofiev's second concerto is one of the most unique pieces of all time, that feeling isnt even captured in any other Prok pieces, other than that best PC cadenza ever. The 3rd is also amazing
With Rach, enough has already been said about the 2nd and 3rd concertos, they are just in general incredibly well written with how the orchestra and piano interact, it just shows how more of a piano composer can write overall incredible concertos if they are decent with orchestra (look at Liszt or Chopin for counter examples lmao)
Hummel's second concerto is basically one of the best pieces in the concerto repertoire.
er ist der einzige Mann welcher in der damaligen Musikwelt,, alles beherrschte,,
... and Beethoven's operas are world famous, unlike that Mozart guy.
It's like some people aren't clever enough to cope with having two or more great composers.
I’d prob give my ability to hear to be able to witness this in person.
I don't know if it's just me but I think that hot blonde with the curly hair was Alice Eve.
You are correct!
correct
03:48 "hmmm...all the things he could do with those fingers...."
😂
LOL
...and he probably did those things later that evening lol
02:56 dude in the background rocking some serious shades
time traveler!
’the rest is just the same, isn’t it ?’
Is there a sheet music anywhere available for the Beethoven version?
V T I can transcribe it for you if you want, write on my inbox
Alex Pashkov can you send the sheet to me? What do you mean with inbox? where can i find that?
Valve Plays Find me on Facebook and we’ll get the deal...
Alex Pashkov Well what’s your name on facebook? If it’s ”Alex Pashkov” I’ll just say that there are at least 200 accounts.
Valve Plays it’s Alex Pashkov with an eye on the profile pick...
1:28 the first roast ever
Beethoven: *plays piano
Girls: IM WET ALREADY
Beethoven: And kids, this is how i met your mother...
Anyone know a similar Beethoven piece to the part at about 3.50 on? I assume this was improvised for the show, but would love to hear a similar piece in it's entirety.
I love how he smiles at him wile shaking his head.
beethoven's frustrated faces whilst steilbelt was playing had me crying haha 1:44
beethoven is not crying he just sweating cause of hot
Rap Battles back in the days
sorry bad taste of comparing music to some nasty rapping of sub humans
" his fingerwork is finesse itself: 😂😂 you know damn well that scene took several takes to film
When beethoven start the piano epic drop*
3:33 Steibelt: *omg omg i cant do this cant hold it :(
(crying outside at the corner*)
Am i wrong or this is the Aria of Papageno of Mozart?
Like...WTF
Yes u right
They're playing Mozart
Yeah, this is "The Magic Flute - I am the bird catcher yes"
Holy smokes, in the days where the best musicians were actually at the top of their craft. Looking at today, i can only weep and fear what's coming next after all the autotuned heros of today.
Survivorship bias ..
I'm sure there was a lot of mediocre and even more downright crappy music back then, too. Do you think everybody got a chance to listen to the masters? Especially when there were no recordings, at all?
It's just that nobody bothered to keep the bad stuff. Even a lot of quality stuff drifted into obscurity. We remember a few of the few very best of every period, basically.
Not that different today .. do you really remember the bad "stars" of even just a decade ago, besides those who were that f***ing bad that they at least made it into cringy internet memes?
It´s so fascinating about the real geniuses, the one´s who change the way we think, listen, an so on. Beethoven truly was on of those.
i wonder if Steibelt unfriended beethoven on facebook
Unfollowed if ever.
this is such a good piece of music.
Beethoven has my gift too. Knowing how to piss someone off the most
This is one of the resons why, among all musicians and composers, Mozart outstands as the best. History tells that both, Bach and Beethoven were usually challenged by others in order to prove their mastery in music. Consequently, both tried to demonstrate how skillful they were by showing off. Ego was mostly a motivator. Mozart, on the other hand, composed what he felt was right. And no one, not even Beethoven, dared to challenge him. Mozart never tried to show off. He was an engaging showoff himself.
Mozart died long before Beethoven was even " a thing " so you quite obviously have no clue and are talking total nonsense.
@@philosopher0076 Not really. Actually, after attending Mozart's premiere of the piano concert in C minor KV 491, and frantically applauded at the end, a demoralized Beethoven confessed to his colleague Stadler "I will never be able to compose such music". Beethoven dixit 😉
Actaully the actor doing Steibelt is a famous youtuber if i'm not mistaken playing amazingly famous songs in piano version. His name iks Peter Bence
Beethoven was the original roaster.
_Mozart would like to know your location_
@@LaserGryph Amadeus is not an honest representation of Mozart. Mozart en sallierie were friends in real life.