My Research Paper on Beethoven, It's Not My Fault, I was Given A Crap Thesis To Prove

[Nemesis]

Brendan *******
3/24/06
Mr. Hughes Period 6

Research Paper

Ludwig Van Beethoven was arguably, the most innovative and brilliant musician, not only of his time, but of all human history, and his music was largely, if not wholly, the product of the impact that his abusive father, his lack of a social life, his deafness and his near suicidal depression had upon his life. He was the first musician ever to support himself solely upon music composition, when most musicians at the time had to work menial jobs and have church sponsors for their music. Beethoven, without a doubt, gave us some of the most beloved music throughout history, and did it while conquering, surviving his past, present and uncertain future. His music formed a peak in the development of tonal music, and he was truly something to behold, as his music still is today, which was solely impacted by figures and events in his life.

Ludwig Van Beethoven was born in 1770 in Bonn, Germany where the seat of a Rhineland court was situated, and his ancestors were Flemish. His father was a tenor in an electoral music establishment, and attempted to show young Ludwig off as a musical child prodigy, like Mozart. His father was a man known to drink heavily and beat his son for not advancing as quickly as he would have liked. By the age of 12, Beethoven was a promising virtuosic keyboardist. It became obvious, however, that if Beethoven was ever to gain such fame as Mozart, he would have to leave Bonn and settle in a European Musical Capital.

Beethoven left for Vienna, the capital city of the Austrian Empire, in 1792. He was 22 years old and went to seek out Mozart as a teacher. Mozart was apparently too busy to receive Beethoven as a student and so, handed him off to Franz Haydn instead. What Beethoven received from Haydn could hardly be considered teaching, however, and Beethoven soon stopped going to Haydn for lessons and struck out on his own. Beethoven led a quiet, lonely life. The only company he had most of the time was his nephew, Karl. Karl lived with Beethoven after an ugly battle in court over custody of the boy. Different books disagree on who was the worse of the two, wether Karl was simply too much of a burden for Beethoven to handle, or if Beethoven was abusive of the boy. Either way, the two did not get along. Beethoven was never married, he lacked social savvy enough to woo a woman, and he became deeply depressed over his dilemma and was nearly driven to suicide. Towards his later years, Beethoven started to lose his hearing. It went slowly, and he was informed that nothing could be done to stop it. This yet again almost drove him to suicide, however, musicians and music lovers alike all rejoice that he did not commit suicide, as some of his best works came from his "Late Period," a period for most of which, he was nearly or completely deaf.

Beethoven's work can be divided into three distinct groups; his "Early Period," his "Middle Period," and his "Late Period" (clever, no?). His Early Period works fit in very easily with the works that were typical of the time, and were very reminiscent of Haydn and Mozart, for obvious reasons. His middle period saw what were probably some of the most revolutionary pieces of music in history. His Middle Period is at the very least, very much a factor in moving out of the Classical style and into the Romantic Period of classical music. His Late Period was marked by a complete departure from known musical norms and any sense of tonality and stability in his music. This period was influenced solely by the inner workings of this slightly disturbed man's own mind. After all, how could one be influenced by other composers' music when you are so deaf that you must saw the legs off of your piano to feel the sonic vibrations through the floor, just to know it was working?

As stated before, Beethoven's work was influenced almost entirely upon the figures and events of his life. All his music shows a lack of happiness, and an apparent fear of the uncertain future. The man's life was obviously not all tea, crumpets and butterfly filled afternoons, as was shown above. The events in this man's life were anything but sunshiny, which was obviously reflected in his music, and when all is said and done, what does a man have to draw upon for inspiration besides what goes on around him?
What do you think?

[joft]

lay off the commas

[Nemesis]

lay off the commas
You lay off the commas.

[Rajah]

What do you think?Were you just supposed to give background on Beethoven, or are you trying to prove something? :confused:

[charred_heart]

pretty good. It's more like a script for a T.V reportage than an essay. The good thing about that is that it's easy to read for a large group of people while including enough information to get the general idea about Beethoven's life, the bad thing about it is that it's too short. You could include more stories like the one about his relationship with his nephew, more stuff from the late period (how he coped with being deaf). Also I don't think your teacher would find adding "(clever, no?)" between parentheses proper in an essay. I could be wrong and you might have a cool teacher :D

[joft]

Ludwig Van Beethoven was arguably the most innovative and brilliant musician, not only of his time, but of all human history. His music was largely, if not wholly, the product of the impact of his abusive father, lack of a social life, deafness, and near suicidal depression upon his life.

[charred_heart]

Ludwig Van Beethoven was arguably the most innovative and brilliant musician, not only of his time, but of all human history. His music was largely, if not wholly, the product of the impact of his abusive father, lack of a social life, deafness, and near suicidal depression upon his life.
cool, write an essay about it :D

[Snowflake]

Ludwig Van Beethoven was arguably the most innovative and brilliant musician, not only of his time, but of all human history. His music was largely, if not wholly, the product of the impact of his abusive father, lack of a social life, deafness, and near suicidal depression upon his life.

oye

[Rajah]

What are you looking for... do you want a critique?

[Architectonic]

References?

[ApeTheDog]

Ludwig Van Beethoven was arguably the most innovative and brilliant musician, not only of his time, but of all human history. His music was largely, if not wholly, the product of the impact of his abusive father, lack of a social life, deafness, and near suicidal depression upon his life.

Since he became deaf at a really late age, when his musical style had already entirely formed, I doubt his deafness had any kind of impact whatsoever.

Oh sure, it will have influence some of the pieces he wrote, while being deaf, but I wouldn't put it in this paragraph along with the rest of them.

I haven't read any further than that, but it started out good. I'm way too tired to read essays right now though.

[Rajah]

References?Perhaps Mr. Hughes (Period 6) doesn't care about references?

[Nemesis]

I could be wrong and you might have a cool teacher :D
:) I do. He'll probably think it's funny.

[Melange]

You have to do a thesis someone else choses for you? We have to write our own thesis and we're given really vague directions which makes for interesting papers. But then against, it's AP Lang and Comp.

Lay off the commas and add some periods. Vary the sentence length so it doesn't get dull in structure despite the topic. Pretty good, how long is it supposed to be?

[Edmond Zedo]

It's high school, just hand that fucker in, man!

[Nemesis]

You have to do a thesis someone else choses for you? We have to write our own thesis and we're given really vague directions which makes for interesting papers. But then against, it's AP Lang and Comp.

Lay off the commas and add some periods. Vary the sentence length so it doesn't get dull in structure despite the topic. Pretty good, how long is it supposed to be?
double spaced 3 pages 12 point font. i have references but i didnt think you guys would be interested in them.

[tatsutahime6]

I still want to know what this 'thesis' is about, and how you're supposed to prove it. Could you elaborate a bit on that point?

[Johnny]

All his music shows a lack of happiness, and an apparent fear of the uncertain future.

This is not true, and neither is the claim you make below.


His Late Period was marked by a complete departure from known musical norms and any sense of tonality and stability in his music.

I hope your teacher knows nothing of Beethoven's music, or is more interested in tactics of persuasion than fact.

Grammatical errors exist, and your final question isn't really a question. It's a confession of your limited insight into another human being's soul.

But hey, if it's a high school paper you'll probably do fine here.

[ApeTheDog]

I once almost got someone to use the word "swulking" in his english essay. I had convinced him I was really good at english (by, in actuality, being such) and was helping him. I told him swulking is something volcanoes do when lava pours out of them. I kept trying to get him to use "the volcanoes were swulking" and it would have worked too, if my friend hadn't been exagerating so much and giving it away.

Ah, just an anecdote, though.

By the way, did you know Ludwig Von Beethoven was a belgian?

[dubbeltop]

maybe when you give him the thesis you should give him a cd of beethoven as a 'FREE' gift. :)

[ApeTheDog]

Yeah, he'll be really excited about that.

[Nemesis]

Not surprisingly, I got a 78 on this paper. I was given a thesis which was this "Explain how the musician's life effected their music," to which I vocally replied to my teacher in the middle of class "How the hell doesn't their life effect their music."

He didn't really give an answer, but the part that I love, is that he said, don't make it a biography. Great. How the hell am I supposed to prove that crap thesis again?

The thing is, every other kid in the class (I'm in the B class, because it's senior year and I don't feel like doing anything) chose a vocalist, a popular musician or something. Those kinds of people all have lyrics. How the hell am I supposed to show what I claimed with Beethoven?

I went up to him, and explained to him, that basically the thesis he gave us was just so obvious and broad, that it was damn near impossible to prove. He agreed. I told him that I picked a harder topic than other people. He agreed. I thought that the fact that I didn't pick the easiest damn musician I could find, like everyone else in the class did, warranted some consideration. He disagreed. He basically said "It was a nice biography."

I walked away thinking "Thank's jackass." This guy was, and still is, my favorite teacher, because he teaches well and it's easy for me to get his point of view because he's an ENFJ. He also routinely tells me that I should be in the Honors or AP courses, so maybe this was his way of telling me that I could have done alot better. The thing is, normally he grades based on who did the best out of the class, but this time, he's grading me on my potential. I think that was a little unfair, but I'm obviously biased.[/rant]

[Superstring]

Beethoven pwns

[Nemesis]

Beethoven pwns
My English teacher disagrees.

[Conan]

It got a 78 because it states no real thesis (until maybe the last paragraph though its not at all supported by the paper), poor structure, and a lack of substance, not to mention use of the words "woo" and "sunshiny."

[Conan]

How you should have done it:

Thesis: The unhappiness and and fear of Beethoven's life was a constant source of inspiration for his greatest works. (something like that, it doesnt have to be true, it just has to be defendable)

Paragraph 1: Introduce Thesis. Make it clear.

Paragraph 2: General Beethoven background

Paragraphs 3-5: Early Period: Support your thesis, use specific examples from his music, connect it with specific examples from his life

Paragraphs 6-8: Middle Period

Paragraphs 9-11: Late Period

Paragraph 12: Reiterate Thesis. Conclude.

[rivercrow]

And not all of his music is depressing. For instance, my favorite symphony of all time is the Eighth, which cannot be described as depressing at all.

Wikipedia on the Eighth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._8_(Beethoven))


The work was composed during the summer and fall of 1812 when Beethoven was 42. The cheerful mood of the work betrays nothing of the grossly unpleasant events that were taking place in Beethoven's life at the time, which involved his interference in his brother Johann's love life. This dissonance has been cited as a good example of why it is not always wise to make close connections between a composer's life and music.

[Wotton]

Did you have to choose a subject to write about before you found out what the question was?

[Superstring]

My English teacher disagrees.

:ouch:

I pimpslapeth thee in the jugular.

[Eileen]

I think you really want Ivy to talk about how she was sodomized by a Saint Bernard in this thread.

[Ivy]

I think you really want Ivy to talk about how she was sodomized by a Saint Bernard in this thread.

I think that's exactly why he resurrected it. <_<

[Nemesis]

How you should have done it:

Thesis: The unhappiness and and fear of Beethoven's life was a constant source of inspiration for his greatest works. (something like that, it doesnt have to be true, it just has to be defendable)

Paragraph 1: Introduce Thesis. Make it clear.

Paragraph 2: General Beethoven background

Paragraphs 3-5: Early Period: Support your thesis, use specific examples from his music, connect it with specific examples from his life

Paragraphs 6-8: Middle Period

Paragraphs 9-11: Late Period

Paragraph 12: Reiterate Thesis. Conclude.
He would have taken off for it being too long. He's a lazy bastard and wouldn't want to read it. On top of that, none of Beethoven's music clearly comes out and states what it's about. I didn't have the luxury of lyrics or anything like that, and any support I give in the form of music is entirely subjective, on top of which, how the hell am I supposed to put the music into the paper?

It got a 78 because it states no real thesis (until maybe the last paragraph though its not at all supported by the paper), poor structure, and a lack of substance, not to mention use of the words "woo" and "sunshiny."
It was a crap thesis. It's so god damned obvious that it's impossible to prove.

[Stoic]

You have 8 commas in the first sentence. As an INTP, I can relate to using what seems to be infinite comma usage, but I'd try and cut a few of those long running sentences in half.

[Eileen]

You have 8 commas in the first sentence. As an INTP, I can relate to using what seems to be infinite comma usage, but I'd try and cut a few of those long running sentences in half.

My AP US History teacher diagnosed me with comma-itis when I was a junior in HS. Nemesis clearly has the same condition. ;) Fortunately, there's a cure--a thorough review of punctuation conventions.

As for how the hell you could have put music into the paper--come on, now. It's called descriptive language. This is about the extent of the descriptive language about B's music in the entirety of your essay:


His Late Period was marked by a complete departure from known musical norms and any sense of tonality and stability in his music.

You could pull out a pretty typical piece from each period and describe it--what instruments are used, what it sounds like, what mood it evokes, what social/artistic/political reflections it may have made--that sort of thing. "I chose a hard musician" and "I don't have any lyrics" are not any excuse to write a slack-ass paper. You may have chosen a harder subject, but if you don't carry it out as well as other people do their easier topics, you shouldn't get the highest grade. The thesis really isn't that vague or obvious--you just didn't go as far as you should have to prove it.

Also, where the hell are your references and in-text citations?

[Conan]

He would have taken off for it being too long. He's a lazy bastard and wouldn't want to read it. On top of that, none of Beethoven's music clearly comes out and states what it's about. I didn't have the luxury of lyrics or anything like that, and any support I give in the form of music is entirely subjective, on top of which, how the hell am I supposed to put the music into the paper?

It was a crap thesis. It's so god damned obvious that it's impossible to prove.

He gave you a fairly broad topic not a thesis to prove. Your mistake was using this topic as though it were a thesis. The result was a crappy encyclopedia article rather than a well-argued research paper.

Topic: How a musicians life influenced his music.

Thesis (for example): The unhappiness and and fear pervasive throughout Beethoven's life was a constant source of inspiration for his greatest works.

[Nemesis]

He gave you a fairly broad topic not a thesis to prove. Your mistake was using this topic as though it were a thesis. The result was a crappy encyclopedia article rather than a well-argued research paper.

Topic: How a musicians life influenced his music.

Thesis (for example): The unhappiness and and fear pervasive throughout Beethoven's life was a constant source of inspiration for his greatest works.
His exact word's to the entire class were "Your thesis is: The events of [insert musician's name here] had a large effect on their music."

My AP US History teacher diagnosed me with comma-itis when I was a junior in HS. Nemesis clearly has the same condition. ;) Fortunately, there's a cure--a thorough review of punctuation conventions.

As for how the hell you could have put music into the paper--come on, now. It's called descriptive language. This is about the extent of the descriptive language about B's music in the entirety of your essay:



You could pull out a pretty typical piece from each period and describe it--what instruments are used, what it sounds like, what mood it evokes, what social/artistic/political reflections it may have made--that sort of thing. "I chose a hard musician" and "I don't have any lyrics" are not any excuse to write a slack-ass paper. You may have chosen a harder subject, but if you don't carry it out as well as other people do their easier topics, you shouldn't get the highest grade. The thesis really isn't that vague or obvious--you just didn't go as far as you should have to prove it.
Damnit.

Also, where the hell are your references and in-text citations?
We use MLA in my school.

[Nadiar]

Not surprisingly, I got a 78 on this paper. I was given a thesis which was this "Explain how the musician's life effected their music," to which I vocally replied to my teacher in the middle of class "How the hell doesn't their life effect their music."

That was exactly how the question was phrased? This wasn't a crap thesis. These are the kind of questions you should DREAM of getting. You can answer whatever the hell you want, and its completely unverifiable. You could pick the HAPPIEST song you could find, and say that it was just a futile attempt to pull himself out of depression. And NO ONE could prove you wrong. No one documented their lives "January 24th. I was depressed. So I wrote this insipid song"

[Eileen]

We use MLA in my school.


Huh, MLA uses in-text parenthetical citations (I know because I can do MLA backwards in my sleep). Perhaps it wasn't your teacher's priority. *shrug*

[Nemesis]

Huh, MLA uses in-text parenthetical citations (I know because I can do MLA backwards in my sleep). Perhaps it wasn't your teacher's priority. *shrug*
Lol. That would imply that my teacher actually has any priorities, besides calling in sick when he wants to watch the entire season of 24.

[Conan]

It is your fault. Your paper offered NOTHING specific to support your "thesis." If the musician was too difficult a subject to do you should have just picked a different one. Like Bob Dylan.

[Eileen]

Lol. That would imply that my teacher actually has any priorities, besides calling in sick when he wants to watch the entire season of 24.

Teachers need days off too. Doesn't matter what for.

(I called in sick yesterday to hang out with my sister--though to be fair I'm trying to help her find a car to buy and I hadn't seen her since Christmas.)

[Biff_Loman]

Lol. That would imply that my teacher actually has any priorities, besides calling in sick when he wants to watch the entire season of 24.

.

Edit: personal attack, brought about by anger at non-appreciation of the difficulty of teaching

[Nemesis]

It is your fault. Your paper offered NOTHING specific to support your "thesis." If the musician was too difficult a subject to do you should have just picked a different one. Like Bob Dylan.
I know it's my fault. I've acknowledged that thank you very much.

.

Edit: personal attack, brought about by anger at non-appreciation of the difficulty of teaching
I appreciate that teaching is difficult, which is why I finally decided not to be a music teacher as I had planned, I wouldn't have been able to handle it.

Teachers need days off too. Doesn't matter what for.

(I called in sick yesterday to hang out with my sister--though to be fair I'm trying to help her find a car to buy and I hadn't seen her since Christmas.)
Well when it happens basically a few times a month when my Spanish and Chemistry teachers haven't been absent once yet this year?

BTW. How is she doing? I read that post about the crash.

[Ivy]

His exact word's to the entire class were "Your thesis is: The events of [insert musician's name here] had a large effect on their music."


There were a lot of other directions you could have taken this. It probably would have been more effective to be less general and more specific. Like, focus on the deafness or his early life or something like that. That topic is, by the way, a very standard college-type essay topic: how biography influences art/literature. The idea is to get specific and make parallels between the biography and the art.

I wrote my senior thesis in this vein on Mary Shelley. The basic argument was that she used themes of the macabre and the supernatural to work through some of the disturbing events in her life. Then there were 50 pages of crap. I got credit for it, but all of the professors who read it before I defended it said it was too general.