A Unique Epoch of European Civilization. Towards the 250th Anniversary of Beethoven’s Birth

Alexander I. Demchenko

Abstract


The era of Beethoven is for the most part the concluding stage of the Age of Enlightenment,
which chronologically may be indicated as the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries (the 1790s and
the 1800s). In the way of general history, the image of this grandiose period has been determined
by two massive events – the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. And particularly in the
social-political spheres France introduced one of the four key figures of that period – the figure of
Napoleon I. The other such figures of the turn of the 19th centuries we must acknowledge to be
the representatives of Germany” Hegel (philosophy), Goethe (the art of literature) and Beethoven
(the art of music). The article describes the features of spiritual kinship between the great
composer and the three other indicated outstanding personalities, which have demonstrated
themselves differently. Determining the ingenious scale of activities of these historical figures,
it is possible to assert that the time period of the turn of the 18th and the 19th centuries was a
unique epoch of European civilization.

Keywords: turn of the 18th and the 19th centuries, Beethoven and Hegel, Beethoven and Goethe.


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.33779/2587-6341.2020.4.068-076

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