Ludwig van Beethoven
1770 – 1827
Life History
Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany on December
16, 1770. His father was a singer and his mother was the daughter of a cook.
They were very poor. When Beethoven was very young his father noticed that he
had a great deal of talent for music. He was given lessons and when he was eight
years old he played the violin very well.
When he was twelve he composed three sonatas which were
published. These compositions and his remarkable playing began to attract the
attention of some very important people.
It was unfortunate that Beethoven’s father drank too
much. Beethoven’s father was very cruel to him. When young Beethoven was
practicing his father would hit him if he made a mistake. Because Beethoven’s
father was an alcoholic, he was unable to promote his son’s career. Beethoven
wasn’t worried about pleasing people so he didn’t become the child prodigy
that Mozart had been. In spite of these things, Beethoven became the assistant
court organist in Bonn when he was 14 years old.
When Beethoven was 16 he visited Vienna. He met Mozart in
this musical city. He studied with Mozart a little bit but returned to Bonn
because his mother had died. Beethoven visited Vienna again when he was 22.
During this visit his father died but Beethoven did not return to Bonn, but
rather stayed in Vienna. He made his living by playing and teaching piano. He
learned how to compose music from several teachers including Haydn.
Beethoven’s first piano concerto was performed when he
was 25 years old. Five years later his first symphony was played. Beethoven
became very famous for his great music and his rudeness and bad behavior.
In his late twenties Beethoven began to realize that he
was losing his hearing and going deaf. He wrote more music than usual because he
knew that soon he would not be able to hear it.
Beethoven’s deafness as well as his untidy and messy
personal life were very big problems . In spite of these problems Beethoven
continued to work hard and even managed to write great music in his last years.
His magnificent 9th Symphony with the famous "Ode to Joy"
theme was composed at the end of his life. Beethoven died in 1827.
There are many excellent websites featuring biographies of Beethoven's life
as well as midi files of his music.
Link 1
