The year 2020 has been one of the most challenging in our lifetimes.
Here are a few tips on resilience from the poster boy of triumphing over adversity, Ludwig van Beethoven, who was born 250 years ago this week.
Beethoven would have been fine with social distancing. Photo: CC00
What to do when you are unlucky in love
Beethoven famously fell in love with many women throughout his life. Unfortunately, his efforts came to nothing, other than a few false hopes and, ultimately, heartbreak.
It appears the composer approached affairs of the heart the way he seemed to do everything - with a passionate intensity. Nowhere is this more evident than in a letter he wrote to an anonymous woman known as the Immortal Beloved.
The letter begins: "My angel, my all, my very self..."
The identity of this 'Immortal Beloved' has intrigued historians and musicologists for centuries. What we do know for sure is that like Beethoven's other romantic intrigues, the Immortal Beloved came to nothing. Beethoven wasn't to form a significant lasting romantic relationship.
But this isn't necessarily a negative. The lack of an intimate relationship most certainly gave him more time and energy for his art. Perhaps what he didn't give to another human being, he gave abundantly to music and consequently, to us.
Beethoven's walk in nature, by Julius Schmid. Photo: Public Domain
How to suck up to the aristocrats you resentfully rely on for financial support
"How could a man so clearly unsuited to the refined pursuit of the highest of the arts be such an accomplished practitioner of it?" John Suchet
Beethoven was not good at sucking up – to anyone. His unkempt appearance (he was once mistakenly arrested for vagrancy), his tendency to live in squalor and his rough manners would have made his survival in Viennese high society extremely difficult. Lucky for him, he was "The Great Beethoven" - a reputation that outweighed any personality quirks.
He was initially welcomed by Vienna's elite as a pianistic phenomenon and was ushered into posh drawing rooms where he dazzled with his improvisations and virtuosity. As his reputation as a composer grew, so too did the invitations to high society soirees (most that just happened to have a piano in the room). Beethoven, however, was no performing monkey. He would arrive and make the most of the hospitality but refuse to play.
In one rather contrary instance, he waited until all the guests were in the dining room and just tucking into a meal, whereupon he started to hammer out a few chords from the other room.
What to do when you can't 'fix' your family
It appears there was never a dull moment with the Beethovens.
Beethoven's resting place in Vienna's Central Cemetery. Photo: CC00
Ludwig grew up with an alcoholic father and his mother died when he was still a teenager. He had two younger brothers, but his relationship with each of them was volatile throughout his life.
After his brother Caspar Carl died, Beethoven fought for custody of his young nephew, Karl referring to his sister-in-law, Johanna, as 'a deeply immoral woman'. Johanna fought him through the courts, but Beethoven became Karl's guardian. He saw his young nephew as his successor and tried to mould him into a musician and composer. With an overbearing, at times tyrannical uncle and being forbidden to see his own mother, Karl's suffering culminated in a suicide attempt.
Karl recovered and when Ludwig died, was the beneficiary of his uncle's entire estate allowing him to live comfortably for the rest of his life.
How to cope with a genius brain
"...the dirtiest and most disorderly room possible," Baron de Trémont
This may not sound like adversity, but for someone like Beethoven, the extent of his genius often meant he found every day living difficult. He was untidy, not only in his appearance, but he lived in squalor. A landlord's nightmare, he had a complete disregard for conventional considerations creating noise and damage. He moved constantly, living in around 60 different places during his 35 years in Vienna.
On the upside, plenty of original Beethoven sites now exist in Vienna for fans to visit.
Beethoven Plaza in Vienna, Austria. Photo: CC00
How to cope with a disability
"My poor hearing haunted me everywhere like a ghost, and I avoided - all human society"
Perhaps the most famous fact known about Beethoven is the cruel reality that he began to go deaf in his 20s – just as he was becoming the world’s most famous composer. Initially, he fought it seeing doctor after doctor - some of whom made things worse.
As his hearing loss worsened, Beethoven sunk into horrific depression and contemplated suicide. This is evident in his Heiligenstadt testament – a letter he wrote to his two brothers admitting his disability, his despair and apologising for some of his erratic behaviour.
In the end, it was music that saved Beethoven. In the letter he states: "Only my art held me back" (from suicide) and he went on to compose some of the world's most famous music without being able to hear any of it.
Photo: CC00
