Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1802) is one of the most popular composers in Western music, whose work crosses both the Classical and Romantic periods. Though encapsulating the formal classical traditions associated with Mozart and Haydn, his work also pushed the boundaries of and expanded on the philosophy and politics of the time. 

Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany to a family of musicians, including his grandfather who was Kapellmeister at Cologne Cathedral. Due to a decline in family finances, Beethoven left school at 11. At this time, he began to study under court organist Christian Gottlob Neefe, and by 1782, became his assistant.

Soon after, Beethoven was sent to Vienna to study with Mozart, but his trip was cut short by his mother’s death in 1787. He returned to Bonn and continued to perform among the court and teach the children of wealthy townspeople. In 1790, Beethoven came to the attention of Haydn, who was passing through Bonn on his way to London. Haydn encouraged him to move to Vienna, where music had become a pastime of the aristocracy. Though he performed and composed widely throughout the 1790s, earning a name for himself across the city, it was in 1800 that he premiered The Septet and his First Symphony at Vienna's Burgtheater, therein securing his reputation as Vienna's greatest piano virtuoso. 

Around this time and following a serious illness, Beethoven also began to lose his ability to hear. From 1803 to 1812 – known as his ‘middle’ period – he composed an opera, six symphonies, four solo concerti, five string quartets, six-string sonatas, seven piano sonatas, five sets of piano variations, four overtures, four trios, two sextets and 72 songs. The most famous of these are his Moonlight Sonata (1801) and his only opera, Fidelio (originally titled Leonore), which premiered in 1805, and which was later revised in 1814, when Beethoven was reckoning with his near total deafness.