About Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827) - deaf German composer

Ludwig van Beethoven mini biography

Perhaps the greatest composer to ever live, ill-tempered Ludwig van Beethoven also had one of the most heart-breaking lives one can imagine. His talent at the keyboards was discovered at an early age, and his drunken, physically and mentally abusive father wanted to make a fortune from his child as a prodigy, but it never came into fruition although Beethoven continued to develop his Ludwig van Beethoven
By Joseph Karl Stieler
Ludwig van Beethoven
Painted in 1820 skills at a dramatic pace. At the age of eleven he could easily stand-in for his music teacher who was a court organist. The young composer headed to Vienna at the age of 17. Reportedly he was to study with Mozart, but Beethoven had to return to home shortly after arriving because his mother was dying. He lost his mother, and when he finally returned to Vienna years later, Mozart had passed away at the early age of 35 making lessons impossible.

His father passed away the same year Beethoven returned to Vienna, but this event didn't prevent his musical career from taking new turns. Now in his early twenties, Beethoven studied under several skilled musicians, and his compositions began to attract attention with their highly emotional and passionate content which was both unusual and groundbreaking at the time dividing critics. Beethoven became firmly established as one of the greatest and most creative improvisers at the keyboard, and it's said he could play the piano in ways other pianists could only dream of. In the years around 1800 he published two sonatas, Pathétique (which means 'to evoke feelings'), and the later dubbed Moonlight Sonata, both widely attributed as huge steps from the classical to romantic era where composers would begin to express their feelings instead of composing solely for the church and court.

But Beethoven's woes weren't over. While generally ill at health, it was also around 1800 he came to realize that what had been an irritating discomfort in his ears would only grow worse, and soon he would be left completely deaf. This was quite obviously a terrible time for the composer, and he both wrote a will and contemplated suicide before opting to continue his life. "Despite all bodily weaknesses my spirit shall rule", he noted before continuing his musical career. Incredibly enough Beethoven's skill continued to develop despite his deafness, and a vast amount of his works where written while he had no hearing at all. Although he managed to continue his career, he increasingly withdrew himself from the world despite being famous throughout Europe. Numerous failed attempts in love would bring him down, and his sporadically heated temper often reared it's head.

At the time of his death in 1827, the German composer had left behind some of the most respected and famous pieces the world has ever seen. They survive hundreds of years later, and while some people may not be able to name them, one will be hard pressed to find someone who are not familiar with several of his works. Beethoven also left behind a final will and letter addressed only to his immortal beloved, but despite lots of theories and guesses it has been impossible to determine who she was. He never married and had no known children. Thousands of people attended his funeral, but perhaps in some ways he still died a lonely, misunderstood man.