A sonnet

Hi everyone,

Today I’m posting a sonnet that was part of a failed manuscript a few years ago. Along with two others, I wrote several variations on the sonnet, and all were about famous composers. Here’s one about Ludwig van Beethoven.

Ludwig van Beethoven

1770 – 1827
German pianist and composer
 
Inside himself he mutters down the street,
Conceiving symphonies he plans to write,
Ignoring food and bath another night,
Until he’s satisfied a work’s complete.
Sonatas, string quartets are Ludwig’s meat,
Signs of growing deaf his crippling plight,
Conquering piano his delight,
To be Vienna’s finest his conceit.
As stone abyss of silence seals his fate,
He still imagines music in his head,
Denies his genius leave to lie at rest.
Beethoven earns his place among the great.
While lesser talents might have quit, instead,
As sound retreats, he writes his ageless best.
 
(Petrarchan Sonnet)
 
End Note
 
The genius of Ludwig van Beethoven, born in Bonn, Germany, blossomed early. With his father as his teacher, Ludwig gave his first public performance at age seven and published his first music before age 13. His talent astonished all who heard him. By 14 he was playing the organ professionally, earning money his family sorely needed. He hit his stride at 20 and from then until shortly before his death at 57 produced a remarkable body of symphonies, concertos, sonatas, string quartets, a mass, and an opera, including Moonlight Sonata and his Fifth Symphony. Tragically, Ludwig’s hearing began diminishing in his twenties and would eventually fail altogether. Despite deafness and chronic abdominal pain, Ludwig became one of the most famous and influential composers of all time. Reportedly 20,000 people attended his funeral in Vienna, Austria. 

(c) David L Harrison, 2017

I don’t suppose anything will come of the collection. Editors who saw it found no compelling reason to publish the manuscript. Still, it was fun to write sonnets, which, by the way, come in a variety of constructions. I don’t think the effort was in vain. Trying something different now and then keeps our minds open to possibilities. And did you know that one sonnet contains as much calcium as an 8-ounce glass of milk? Okay, I made that part up.