Beethoven - rude or nice person?

[Henk]

I've heard from people Beethoven was a rude guy. I can't imagine.

Henk

[Gurn Blanston]

I've heard from people Beethoven was a rude guy. I can't imagine.

Henk

He was rude as hell. Fine with me.

[Henk]

He was rude as hell. Fine with me.

So rude, that you hated him as a person, that you wouldn't be in his surroundings, that you wouldn't be friends with him? And don't you think Beethoven would suffer from this? Girls he loved, avoided him, because he was too rude in their eyes. And Beethoven suffered from this, I think, because he wasn't rude, rather gentle, according to himself.

[karlhenning]

Respect mah ear-trumpet!

[Scarpia]

By all accounts Beethoven was a tortured individual.   But I'm sure there were many people ruder than Beethoven who were cobblers, or grooms, or peasants, or ministers.  He excelled at writing music, not at being rude, so I find his putative rudeness to be the least interesting aspect of him, except to the extent that it influenced the music he wrote.

[Opus106]

I've heard from people Beethoven was a rude guy. I can't imagine.

Henk

In general, Beethoven the tempestuous personality is more famous. But if you can find a copy of it, read the letter he wrote to a little girl who had written to him seeking advice. (I came across it in the book by Lewis Lockwood.) It reveals a Beethoven far removed from the one we usually hear or read about.

[starrynight]

His deafness must have caused some problems for him and made him a bit more isolated.  Even his upbringing was difficult with his father.

[Gurn Blanston]

Don't overlook how he treated his patrons. That had nothing to do with anything like deafness or his afflictions in later life. Whether you disapprove of the Class of Patronage or not, or get a vicarious pleasure over abuse being heaped back on the group that frequently abused, you can't deny that he was a rude little shit back around the turn of the century.

[jochanaan]

He was a very rude person--and a very great composer.  I see no inherent conflict between these two "accomplishments."

[starrynight]

He wanted to assert his own status as a composer.  But then didn't Mozart want to do that as well by breaking away from Saltzburg and not going along with what his father wanted?  Perhaps Beethoven thought very well of himself, but then maybe Mozart did too.  Sure people like that will gain some enemies but looking back on it we have to say they were right in that they were great composers, and some acclaimed music around them was as bad as they said it was.  And maybe they were annoyed that some people were born into money and that they couldn't get such respect so easily based on their skills.

[jochanaan]

He wanted to assert his own status as a composer.  But then didn't Mozart want to do that as well by breaking away from Saltzburg and not going along with what his father wanted?  Perhaps Beethoven thought very well of himself, but then maybe Mozart did too.  Sure people like that will gain some enemies but looking back on it we have to say they were right in that they were great composers, and some acclaimed music around them was as bad as they said it was.  And maybe they were annoyed that some people were born into money and that they couldn't get such respect so easily based on their skills.

Mozart was rude too.  At least, if you believe the movie Amadeus.

[starrynight]

Times were changing even in Mozart's day I think. 

[jochanaan]

As Dylan sings, the times are always changin'.

[Holden]

It is very highly likely that Beethoven suffered from Asperger's syndrome so the rudeness part of the equation doesn't really come into it. People with ASD tend to interact on a different social level to those of us who don't suffer (is that the right word?) and what is perceived as rudeness by us is not by them. I think you'll also find that Mozart was similarly afflicted.

[eyeresist]

Beethoven was subject to rages due to lead poisoning, which also caused his deafness and intestinal difficulties. But he was, shall we say, outspokenly self-confident even in his youth. He was also a heavy drinker.

The story of his removing his nephew from his mother's care is fairly horrifying.

I am BEETHOVEN!

[Dancing Divertimentian]

He's never been rude to me.

[Brahmsian]

He's never been rude to me.

I find this to be the perfect answer. 

[Dancing Divertimentian]

I find this to be the perfect answer. 

[DavidW]

So if zombie Beethoven rises from the grave... will he be rude to Donwyn?

[Coco]

I don't think this question matters since everyone he could theoretically have treated rudely or nicely is dead.