"Beethoven,Mozart and God"

by Judy Joy Jones


Beethoven is considered one of the greatest composers to have ever lived.  Two weeks before he died, he wrote a letter to God thanking him for not letting him die penniless.  And when he was 27 years old, he wrote a letter to his brothers asking for forgiveness for not being nicer to them.  But he explained in his letter, he suffered so greatly with his hearing problems that his pain was often unbearable and was the cause of his rude behavior.  


Beethoven went on to explain that he would have committed suicide due to his horrid physical pain yet he knew God had given him great musical gifts and he had a responsibility to share them with the world before he died.


By 1820, when he was almost totally deaf, Beethoven composed his greatest works. These include the last five piano sonatas, the Missa solemnis, the Ninth Symphony, with its choral finale, and the last five string quartets.


Mozart is thought to be the most perfect composer in the world. His father was concerned that his son needed money and in a letter told Mozart to start teaching students in order to make a living.  Mozart answered his father explaining he could not take on students as God wanted him to compose music, not teach it.


Two of the greatest classical composers the world has ever known referred to God in their everyday vocabularly and I am often amazed at people seemingly afraid to even say the word God.


Do great composers know something other people don't?  Could it be they were chosen to compose divine music because they listened  to Gods spirit coming through them?  


c jj 2021


Below is a link to Beethovens letter to his brothers. 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heiligenstadt_Testament