Ludwig van Beethoven
(1770-1827)
Born 17 December 1770, he was the second-oldest child of the court musician and tenor
singer Johann van Beethoven. Beethoven was born in Bonn. Ludwig gave his first public performance as a pianist when he was eight years old.
In 1787, Beethoven went to Vienna, a noted musical center, where then Count Waldstein engaged Beethoven was piano teacher and became his friend and patron. It was here that Beethoven
met the great Mozart, who was dapper and sophisticated. He received the boy doubtfully, but once Beethoven started playing the piano his talent was evident. "Watch this lad," Mozart reported. "Some day he will force the world to talk about him." "He will give the world something worth listening to."
The death of Beethoven's mother in the summer of 1787 brought him back to Bonn. Beethoven left Bonn for good early in November 1792. When he returned to Vienna, Mozart had already died so he chose to study composition with Hayden. He made his first appearances in Vienna in 1795 playing his Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat, and was soon established as the city's leading pianist.
He was the first composer to become a freelance by choice, as
opposed to depending on patrons. However, it was his skill as a pianist rather than as a composer that brought him recognition during his twenties. He was one of Vienna's dominant music
personalities surrounded by aristocrats and famous musicians. Until the coming of his deafness, he had five principle resources: Pianoforte Playing, Teaching, Composition, Dedications, and Concert-giving.
The first concert of his own responsibility occurred on April 2, 1800 he launched his first Symphony and introduced his world famous Septet op. 20.
The Heiligenstadt Testament, as it is known, marks the start of a
new period in Beethoven's output; the next ten years saw one of the most prodigious outpourings of masterpieces in the history of music. By 1812 he had completed Symphony 2, 3 Eroica, 4, 5, 6 Pastoral, 7 and 8, Piano Concerto No. 4 and No. 5 Emperor, the Violin Concerto, his opera Fidelio, the three Rasumovsky String Quartets and a wealth of piano sonatas and other works.
He died March 26, 1827. He was buried in Wahring Cemetery; in 1888 his remains were removed to Zentral-friedhof in Vienna - a great resting place for musicians - where he lies side-by-side with Schubert.
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