VAN BENEDEN
266
VAN BENEDEN
this form, his "Christ on the Mount of Ohves". It
is well known that in after years he regretted having
published it. Especially was he dissatisfied with
his treatment of the part of Christ. He had not
yet risen to the height of his capacity, or superior
to the conventional standard of his superficial
surroundings.
When Beethoven was about thirty years old, he contracted a cold which at first impaired his hearing and at length, through neglectful treatment and his careless and irregular manner of living, resulted in almost total deafness. This affliction was destined to have a momentous effect on his life and to deter- mine in a large measure the character of his produc tions. To be shut off to a great extent from social intercourse, for which, on account of his generous nature, he always had a craving, and to be unable to hear even his own creations, was his painful lot till the end of his days. The isolation and suffering brought about by his infirmity, the decep- tion on the part of people whom he had trusted, and the misconduct of the nephew whom he had adopted, involving him in all kinds of money troubles, caused him to experience periods of depression which almost bordered on despair. Extreme sensitiveness, irri- tabihty, and a suspicion of almost everybody he was obliged to have deahngs with, added to his increasing misfortunes. General ill health gradually developed into dropsy. In the last stages of his sickness he was operated on four times without obtaining relief; but through all this time of trial he never ceased composing. Even on his death-bed he sketched a new symphony. He died during a terrific hail storm after having devoutly received the last sacra- ments.
Beethoven has left us some 135 works, among them chamber music in every form, 9 symphonies, 1 oratorio, 1 opera, and 2 Masses. Most of these creations must be classed with the greatest musical compositions the human mind has produced. In Beethoven, instrumental music, the vehicle of sub- jectivism par excellence, finds its culmination after a gradual development extending over almost three centuries. In his hands it becomes the most power- ful voice of the prevailing Zeitgeist. Living in an age and atmosphere of religious liberalism, when Hegehan pantheism pervaded the literature of the day, especially Goethe's fiction and poetry, he could not escape their befogging influence. His statement that "thorough- bass and religion are non-debatable questions", indi- cates both the spirit of the times and his own attitude; it also explains his other saying that "music must strike fire out of the mind of man". It has been pointed out that in most of his instrumental works no less than in his opera "Fidelio" and the Ninth Symphony, the latter ending with a choral finale on Schiller's "Ode to Joy", Beethoven reveals and depicts the inner struggle against and triumphant victory over doubt. His two Masses bear the same subjective character. They are gi'eat works of religious art, but they must be considered apart from liturgical service, to which they do not sub- ordinate themselves, \^■llile the first and shorter one in C major, ordered by Prince Esterhazy, does not exce(>d in length and form what was customary in his day and contains passages of exceptional devotion and beauty, it is still, taken as a whole, too individual and too violent in expression to be admitted for liturgical use. This is true in a far greater degree of his "Missa Solemnis" in D minor at the composition of which he laboured for almost two years. This monumental work has been desig- nated as a St. Stephen's Cathedral in tones. Its extreme length and the extensive requirements needed for its ade(iuate performance — orchestra, organ, solo, tiuartette, and large chorus, together with almo.st HUi)erhuman endurance on the part of
the sopranos and tenor.s — are alone sufficient reasons
for excluding it from liturgical service. Performed
under proper conditions in the concert hall, it is a
mighty profession of faith in a personal God by one
of the greatest geniuses of all times, who composed
it in the midst of the growing doubt and impending
moral and .social disintegration of his age.
ScHiNDLER .^ND MoscHELES. Life of Beethoveti (London, 1841); Wegeler u. Ries, Biograph. Notizen uber L. van Bee- thoven Leben u. Schaffen (Berlin. 1875); Bfe(Ao!ieres Brie/c (Vienna and Leipzig, 1911); Thayer-Deiters-Riemann, Litdwig van BeelhoKiis Leben (Leipzig, 1911) ; Ambros, Cidtur-hislor. Bilder axis dem Musikleben der Gegentart, Das etiscbe u, religose Moment in Beethoven (Leipzig, 1860).
Joseph Otten.
Van Beneden, Pierre-Joseph, b. at Mechlin, Bel- gium, 19 Dec, 1809; d. at Louvain, 8 Jan., 1894. Educated for the medical profession, he was appointed curator of the natural history museum at the Uni- versity of Louvain in 1831. Five years later he be- came professor of zoology and comparative anatomy in the Cathohc LIniversity at Louvain. This chair he held until the time of his death. He was thus able to celebrate the jubilee of his appointment to his chair and the occasion was duly honoured both in his na- tive and his university cities. Throughout his life he was a most diUgent worker, and the hst of his contri- butions to scientific periodicals amounts to over two hundred papers. In the earlier part of his career he directed his attention especially to invertebrates and particularly to marine invertebrates, which he studied during many vacations spent at Ostend. In 1843 he established at his own expense a marine laboratory and an aquarium for the further prosecution of these studies, and this institution is beUeved to have been one of the earliest if not actually the first example of a place of study of the kind in any part of the world. Associated with this part of his work were his classical studies in connexion with parasitic worms, the devel- opment, transformations, and life-histories of which he very fully investigated; indeed, as early as 1858 a memoir of his on this subject was successful in gaining the "Grand prix des sciences physiques"of the Institute of France. It was issued in the "International Sci- entific Series" (1875), under the title "Les commen- saux et les parasites dans le regne animal", and was translated into English and German.
The other direction in which van Beneden's activi- ties found a vent was connected with the ^•ertebrate division of the animal kingdom. During the excava- tions rendered necessary by the fortifying of Antwerp a number of bones of fossil whales were exposed to view. These attracted van Beneden's attention and led him to undertake a detailed study of the group, whose characteristics were at that time very imper- fectly known. On the subject of the cetacea, living and extinct, he published a number of papers and sev- eral large works. The most important of these is his "Osteographie des cetaces vivants et fossiles", which was written in collaboration with Paul Gervais and published between 1868 and 1880. His papers on the extinct species found near Antwerp were pub- lished in the "Annales du mus6e royal d'histoire naturelle de Bruxelles", and with them was incor- porated a description of the fossil seals which were discovered in the same neighbourhood. Van Bene- den attended the celebration of the tercentenary of Edinburgh University, and was there made an hon- orary LL.D. He was a foreign member of the Royal Society and also of the Linniean, Geological, and Zoological Societies of London. He was President of the Royal Belgian Academy in ISSl, and was created Grand Ofhcer of the Order of Leojiold on the occasion of his profe.s.iorial jubilee. He was always a devout and convinced adherent of the Cathohc Church, though, as the writer of his obituary for the Royal Society particularly states, always exhibiting "the widest toleration for the views of others".
