Ludwig van Beethoven

The eldest son of a singer in the Kapelle of the Archbishop-Elector of Cologne and grandson of the Archbishop's Kapellmeister.

Beethoven settled in Vienna in 1792, where he studied with Joseph Haydn and others, quickly establishing himself as a remarkable keyboard-player and original composer.

By 1815 he realised he was losing his hearing and had to give up concert work. Because of his deafness, he shunned away from mankind, and was, thus called rude and alienated.

His deafness accentuated existing eccentricities in his character and gave him a reputation as a Menschenhasser, a "misanthropist", but he was nevertheless patiently tolerated by a number of rich patrons and his royal pupil the Archduke Rudolph. Once,he refused Countess Thun, who was begging him to play a piece on the floor, while he was sitting on the sofa. But his kindness and patience has been reported by his close friends, such as Ries and Schindler.

The length and complexity of Beethoven’s compositions as he explored new fields of music made heavy demands on his listeners and his works often sounded strange to the ears of his contempories.

His significance in music history was immense and he had a great influence on later generations of composers.

Some of his most famous works are:

Symphony No. 5 (The 'C minor'): Allegro con brio

"Moonlight Sonate" op.27 n.2: 1th mov.

Allegro ma non troppo un poco maestoso

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