Beethoven

BEETHOVEN

Ludwig van Beethoven was born 1770 in Bonn Germany. His mother

was a singer in the service; his father was a court musician that had little

motivation and a drinking problem. His father noticed that Beethoven had a

gift at a young age, and began teaching him piano and violin. But

Beethoven was a hard learner, he was self-involved and impatient. This

probably led to why he was a loner and why he only went to academic

school for three years. Beethoven's father wasn't the only one who saw

Beethoven's talent, Gottlob Neefe (a German Organist) become young

Beethoven's mentor. Gottlob thought Beethoven was the next Mozart, so he

sent him to Vienna to meet him. But Beethoven's mother got sick so he had

to come back home before he met him formally. By the time he came back

to Vienna, Mozart had died so Beethoven sought help from Hadyn, another

German composer. He became Beethoven's second mentor and taught him

new styles of music.

Beethoven did his first shows in Vienna in 1795. He was the first composer

that was not supported by wealthy persons; instead Beethoven supported

himself with money from selling his music. By 1778, Beethoven started

hearing humming and whistling sound in his ears, and it got worse. A few

years later, he became completely deaf. Although he was deaf he could still

write music. He finished his first symphony in 1800.

In 1802, Beethoven became depressed and thought a lot about suicide. He

went to a small village in Germany where he stayed for a few years. The

next couple of years Beethoven created his most impressing masterpieces.

In 1812 he had completed over twelve of his best works and he was known

worldwide. But after this Beethoven did not release any music for awhile

and he got in trouble with the law over some royalties to songs. But in 1817

he began composing again and he did through 1824. In 1824 Beethoven

composed two of his most memorable pieces, the Ninth Symphony, and Ode

to Joy, these were two of Beethoven's best compositions.