Reading Beethoven #4 - More Than 60 Coffee Beans

One story from Laura Tunbridge's Beethoven: A Life in Nine Pieces has stayed with me ever since I read it. Beethoven reportedly counted exactly sixty coffee beans every time he made a cup of coffee.

At first, it seems like a fun fact about one of history's greatest composers. But the more I thought about it, the more it changed the way I look at his music.

Someone who carefully counts every coffee bean is unlikely to choose a tempo, articulation, or dynamic marking carelessly. It reminds me that every detail Beethoven wrote in his scores deserves attention. My teachers told me about studying Beethoven, emphasizing the importance of following everything he wrote on the sheet. His accents, slurs, rests, and expressive markings are not random instructions; they are part of a carefully considered musical language.

This doesn't mean we should play mechanically or obsess over every mark without imagination. Instead, it encourages me to ask better questions. Why did Beethoven choose this articulation? Why this dynamic instead of another? Why this tempo? Every marking becomes an invitation to understand his musical thinking rather than simply follow instructions.

Portrait detail of Beethoven, painted by German artist Joseph Willibrord Mähler in 1894, capturing the composer's intense and thoughtful expression.

Learning Beethoven's music has become more than practising passages. It has become an exercise in getting to know the composer himself. His sonata is like an architectural building, with a great deal of thought put into it. Sometimes, a small story like counting sixty coffee beans can reveal something much bigger: that great music is often built from countless thoughtful decisions, one detail at a time.

Perhaps that's one of the most valuable lessons for any young musician. Curiosity about the person behind the music can deepen our understanding of the music itself.