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Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany on December 16th, 1770.
His grandfather Ludwig and his father Johann were both successful
musicians,which probably influenced Beethoven to become like them.
Johann was his son's music teacher for a little while until Beethoven
decided to change his teacher to the court organist C.G. Neefe.At
twelve years of age,Beethoven had his first music published and at
seventeen took a visit to Vienna which, although cut short by his
mother's death, convinced Beethoven that five years later,he would
move to Vienna to live and work.
Once arriving in Vienna in 1792, Beethoven studied composition and
counterpoint under Hadyn, Schenk, Salieri and Albrechtsberger.He was
also at the time,trying to establish himself as a composer and pianist.
He had many friends among the rich and noble aristocrats which soon
gave him a secure income for several years to come. |
| Up until 1813, Beethoven continued to develop and enhance the
classical style by making it more individualistic and dynamic.This
was when he wrote symphonies three to eight, piano concert five and
quite a bit of chamber music.He discovered that his hearing wasn't in
the best condition and it gets much worse as time passes. It even got
as far as that Beethoven wanted to commit sucide because he saw no
other solution to end his despair. Because of this hearing problem,
Beethoven became impossible in social interaction and often had
problems controlling his temper, which usually resulted in him
insulting someone. This may be the reason that Beethoven never got
involved with a woman in a normal relationship.Around 1812, Beethoven
was so hard of hearing that he could no longer perform.
Following this came a few years without much musical endeavours.
Instead, he was busy trying to gain custody of a nephew whose father
had died in 1815.Beethoven did obtain custody of his nephew but didn't
get along well with him and their relationship was so distant that his
nephew, Karl, tried to kill himself in 1826. Beethoven's musical career
by that point was less dramatic and more introvert.Symphony number nine
did give Beethoven some success and he could live the rest of his life
in relative welfare, although he did have a lack of funds because his
aristocratic friends no longer supported him financially. His health
comtinued to deteriorate and Beethoven died March 26th, 1827.
Information based on: http://home.swipnet.se/zabonk/cultur/ludwig/beetbio.htm
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