What makes Beethoven's Music, Beethoven?

Building on the genres, styles and conventions of the classical period, Beethoven’s compositions were created to such a high standard of individualism, that it brought him unprecedented success compared to that of his contemporise; and with that success his music became models for later composers. In this assignment I intend to discuss some of the features of Beethoven’s musical style, which contribute to what we all would identify as being ‘Beethoven’s music’. Beethoven wrote a prolific amount of music, 9 symphonies, 7 concertos (5 for piano), 32 piano sonatas etc throughout his musical career, a career that is traditionally divided into three periods. I intend therefore to discuss his musical style by selecting examples of his compositions from each of the three periods and identify how those composition developed/was influenced through that period of his life.

It was Beethoven’s biographer Wilhelm von Lenz, who first divided Beethoven's musical career into three p...