Episode 52 – The Greatest Who Ever Lived

In the final episode of John Suchet’s ground-breaking series, he tells the story of the great composer’s final days; how the freezing cold journey back to Vienna from his brother’s retreat worsened his already swiftly declining health, and how Beethoven promised his tenth symphony to the Philharmonic Society of London. It was never completed. John also reveals Beethoven’s final words, uttered in response to a case of German wine that was sent to him by his publisher, and explains which composer, in the final days of his life, Beethoven claimed to be “the greatest who ever lived”. He plays the piece in which Beethoven seems to finally bear his soul - the slow movement of his final major work, his String Quartet No.16, along with the short canon that represents the very last notes Beethoven wrote, and the piece that a brass band played as the composer’s funeral cortege passed by; his Piano Sonata No 12. All the Beethoven pieces featured in this podcast are taken from the 90-disc Naxos box set, the Complete Beethoven Edition. You can buy yours by heading to Presto Classical and Europadisc.