Beethoven 250: The ultimate song of health after illness

Beethoven 250: The ultimate song of health after illness Getty Images In 1825, while recuperating from a near-death experience, Beethoven composed one of the most profound pieces of music in Western history. In the Lydian Mode is based on the third movement of one of Beethoven’s late string quartets, known as the Heiliger Dankgesang – the Holy Song of Thanksgiving. “You observe that in people who have had extremely hard lives – they have found that attitude of gratitude.” Start listening to the Heiliger Dankgesang and reality seems to hold its breath and wait. Beethoven is famous for these shattering changes, of course, but Kapilow argues that the Heiliger Dankgesang is “unique” even compared to other wild Beethoven U-turns. “There are no other pieces with this staggering contrast between a Lydian mode section – the convalescent music, the sickness music, the timeless music – and the new strength section.” Getty Images TS Eliot’s Four Quartets was inspired by the opus 132; in 1933, the poet said that he wanted to get “beyond poetry, as Beethoven in his later works, strove to get beyond music” If the movement ended there, with the triumph of health over sickness, it would be easy to understand what Beethoven was trying to convey.