Beethoven Biography

Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist who was born in Bonn Germany, December 1770. Many people consider him to be the greatest composer ever. He is best known for his Symphony No. 3 also known as "Eroica Symphony". In his life time he composed 9 symphonies, 5 concertos for piano, 32 piano sonatas and 16 string quartets. Beethoven began to lose his hearing at the age of 26 and by the age of 31 he had lost almost 60% of his hearing. At the age of 46 he went completely deaf. He lived to be 56 years old. He died on March 26, 1827 in Vienna, Austria. During his childhood Bethoven's life was not the best. His family consisted of him, his mother, his father, and his brother. His mother, Maria Magdalena Keverich was already a widow when she met Johann van Beethoven. It was said that his parent's relationship wasn't a happy one. Beethoven loved his mother, but she couldn't make up for how his father behaved. His father was an alcoholic who treated him badly. He did brag about how talented his son was but never directly praised him for it. Beethoven had started composing by the age of twelve he had already published his first work, 9 Variations in C Minor. He then soon began receiving lessons from Christian Gottlob Neefe to further his knowledge. He had gotten his musical talents from his grandfather. His family was thankful that he was so skilled because it helped make money for the family. After a while he couldn't handle his family anymore, so he went to live with a friend to get away from his problems at home. As a teenager Beethoven went to Vienna to learn more about music where he briefly studied with Mozart but soon returned home due to his mother's passing. This only made his father angrier, so he began to drink more. Beethoven soon became the assistant of his former teacher Christian Gottlob Neefe. By the age of 20 the leaders of Bonn had heard about how talented Beethoven was, so they asked him to compose a cantata in memory of Joseph II. This became known as Cantata on the Death of Joseph II. As an adult Beethoven moved to Vienna the same year his father passed away. In Vienna he worked with Franz Joseph Haydn for less than a year, but they stopped working together because they didn't get along. Beethoven later studied with Johann Georg Albrechtsberger. In 1800 he performed his first symphony and septet. After that he began getting noticed by more and more publishers. Then at the age of 26 he began losing his hearing. He was so embarrassed that he tried to hide his impairment from everyone. Determined to continue to compose music he wrote symphonies2, 3, and 4 before 1806. Soon after, his fame began to pay off. Beethoven never married but was said to have loved a woman named Fanny. Beethoven is known for many different songs. One of Beethoven's better-known works among modern audiences is "Symphony No. 5. it's most known for its first four notes. He began composing it in 1804, but he stopped writing it to work on other projects. He later released at the same time as "Symphony No. 6. Fur Elise is another one of his more known songs. It means For Elise he completed it in 1810. Although it wasn't released until 1867 which was 40 years after his death. Some people say it was dedicated to a friend of his, Therese Malfatti. Others said it was written for Elisabeth Rockel, another friend of his. He also composed many other song S that are used to this day in all different kinds of ways such as cartoons, movies, tv shows, and many other things. One of the songs that he composed that is used in these different types of ways is the song is his 7th symphony. It was used in the Looney tunes. To this day many people hear his songs and don't even know that they were composed by him. In his adult one thing that caused him was the death of his brother Caspar in 1815. Due to this he fought with his sister-in-law for custody of his nephew Karl Von Beethoven because he saw her to be an unfit parent. The battle for custody ended in 1820, it lasted for five years, but in the end, Beethoven won custody of his nephew. Even after all his success he was still lonely and miserable in life. Yet, despite his depressing life and complete deafness, he composed his best music near the end of his life. Some people consider it the greatest music ever composed. This includes his "Symphony No. 9," his "String Quartet No. 14" and Missa Solemnis. His hearing had deteriorated so much that at the premiere of his Ninth symphony there was another man conducting. At the end he turns around to acknowledge applause he couldn't hear. Beethoven mad his last appearance as a pianist in 1814 in a performance of the Archduke Trio. Beethoven died in 1827, an autopsy showed that he died of post-hepatitic cirrhosis of the liver. Wrote a will several days before he passed leaving his property to his nephew who he had previously gotten custody of. Scientists have tested a fragment of Beethoven's skull and noticed irregularly high levels of lead and hypothesized lead poisoning as a potential cause of death, but that theory has been largely discredited.

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