Ludwig van Beethoven (baptized December 17, 1770 – March 26, 1827) was a German composer. He is generally regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of music, and was a crucial figure in the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western classical music. His music and his reputation inspired — and in many cases intimidated — ensuing generations of composers, musicians, and audiences.

While primarily known today as a composer, Beethoven was also a celebrated pianist. Born in Bonn, Germany, he moved to Vienna, Austria, in his early twenties and settled there, studying with Joseph Haydn and quickly gaining a reputation as a virtuoso pianist. Despite gradual hearing loss beginning in his twenties, Beethoven continued to produce notable masterpieces throughout his life, even when he was almost totally deaf. Beethoven was also one of the first composers to work freelance — arranging subscription concerts, selling his compositions to publishers, and gaining financial support from a number of wealthy patrons — rather than seek out permanent employment by the church or by an aristocratic court.

Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany in 1770, to Johann van Beethoven (1740–1792), one of a line of musicians of Flemish ancestry, and Maria Magdalena Keverich (1744–1787), whose father had been overseer of the kitchen at Ehrenbreitstein. Beethoven was one of seven children born to them, of whom only Beethoven and two younger brothers would survive infancy. Beethoven was baptized on December 17, 1770. Although his birthdate is not known for certain, his family (and later, his teacher Johann Georg Albrechtsberger) celebrated his birthday on December 16. Beethoven's first music teacher was his father, a tenor in the service of the Electoral court at Bonn, who was reportedly a harsh and unpredictable instructor. Johann later engaged a friend, Tobias Pfeiffer, to preside over his training, and it is said Johann and his friend would at times come home late from a night of drinking to pull young Ludwig out of bed to practice until morning. Beethoven's talent was recognized at a very early age, and by 1778 he was studying the organ, violin and viola in addition to the piano. His most important teacher in Bonn was Christian Gottlob Neefe who was the Court`s Organist. Neefe helped Beethoven publish his first work: a keyboard varation. In 1787, the young Beethoven travelled to Vienna for the first time, where he played for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart who said that Beethoven would soon astonish the world. After his mother was diagnosed with tuberculosis, Beethoven was forced to return home. Beethoven's mother died on July 17, 1787, when Beethoven was 16. Due to his father's worsening alcohol addiction, Beethoven was responsible for raising his two younger brothers. Beethoven moved to Vienna in 1792, where he studied for a time with Joseph Haydn, though he had wanted to study with Mozart, who had died the previous year. Beethoven received additional instruction from Johann Georg Albrechtsberger (Vienna's preeminent counterpoint instructor) and Antonio Salieri. By 1793, Beethoven established a reputation in Vienna as a piano virtuoso. His first works with opus numbers, a set of three piano trios, appeared in 1795. He settled into the career pattern he would follow for the remainder of his life: rather than working for the church or a noble court (as most composers before him had done), he supported himself through a combination of annual stipends or single gifts from members of the aristocracy; income from subscription concerts, concerts, and lessons; and proceeds from sales of his works.

Loss of hearing

Around 1796, Beethoven began to lose his hearing. He suffered a severe form of tinnitus, a "ringing" in his ears that made it hard for him to perceive and appreciate music; he would also avoid conversation. He left Vienna for a time for the small Austrian town of Heiligenstadt, where he wrote his Heiligenstadt Testament. He resolved to continue living for and through his art. Over time, his hearing loss became profound: there is a well-attested story that, at the end of the premiere of his Ninth Symphony, he had to be turned around to see the tumultuous applause of the audience; hearing nothing, he began to weep. Beethoven's hearing loss did not affect his ability to compose music, but it made concerts — lucrative sources of income — increasingly difficult. As a result of Beethoven's hearing loss, a unique historical record has been preserved: he kept conversation books discussing music and other issues, and giving an insight into his thoughts. Even today, the conversation books form the basis for investigation into how he felt his music should be performed and his relationship to art.

Beethoven's personal life was troubled. His encroaching deafness led him to contemplate suicide (documented in his Heiligenstadt Testament). He was attracted to "unattainable" women (married or aristocratic), and he never married. His only love affair with an identified woman began in 1805 with Josephine von Brunswick, young widow of the Graf von Deym. It is believed the relationship ended by 1807 due both to his own indecisiveness and the disapproval of Josephine's aristocratic family.

In 1812, Beethoven wrote a long love letter to a woman he identified only as "Immortal Beloved". Several candidates have been suggested, but the identity of the woman to whom the letter was written has never been proven. (The 1994 film Immortal Beloved was based on this.)

Beethoven quarreled, often bitterly, with his relatives and others (including a painful and public custody battle over his nephew Karl). He frequently treated other people badly. Nonetheless, he had a close and devoted circle of friends all his life, all of whom are thought to have been attracted by his reputed strength of personality. Towards the end of life, Beethoven's friends competed in assisting him cope with illness and his deafness.

Sources show he indulged in a particular disdain for authority, and for those superior to him in social rank. He would cease to perform at the piano if the audience chattered among themselves and did not give him their attention: nor, at soirées, would he perform if suddenly called upon to do so without any warning from his hosts in advance. Eventually, after many confrontations, the Archduke Rudolph found himself compelled to give orders that the usual rules of court etiquette did not apply to Beethoven.

Beethoven was attracted to the ideals of the Enlightenment and by the growing Romanticism in Europe. He initially dedicated his third symphony, the Eroica (Italian for "heroic"), to Napoleon in the belief that the general would sustain the democratic and republican ideals of the French Revolution. But in 1804 , when Napoleon's imperial ambitions became clear, Beethoven crossed out Napoleon's name on the title page. He renamed the symphony "Sinfonia Eroica, composta per festeggiare il sovvenire di un grand Uomo" ("Heroic Symphony, composed to celebrate the memory of a great man"). The fourth movement of his Ninth Symphony features an elaborate choral setting of Schiller's Ode An die Freude ("Ode to Joy"), an optimistic hymn championing the brotherhood of humanity. Since 1972 , an orchestral version of the fourth movement has been the official anthem of the European Union.

Scholars disagree on Beethoven's religious beliefs and the role they played in his work. For discussion, see Ludwig van Beethoven's religious beliefs. It has been asserted, but not proven, that Beethoven was a Freemason.

Overview

Beethoven is widely regarded as one of the greatest masters of musical construction, sometimes sketching the architecture of a movement before he had decided upon the subject matter. He was one of the first composers to systematically and consistently use interlocking thematic devices, or "germ-motives," to achieve inter-movement unity in long compositions. Equally remarkable was his use of "source-motives," which recurred in many different compositions and lent some unity to his life's work. He made innovations in almost every form of music he touched. For example, he diversified even the well-crystallized form the rondo, making it more elastic and spacious, which brought it closer to sonata form.

Beethoven composed in a great variety of genres, including symphonies, concerti, piano sonatas, other sonatas (including for violin), string quartets and other chamber music, masses, an opera, lieder, and various other genres. He is viewed as one of the most important transitional figures between the Classical and Romantic eras of musical history.

As far as musical form is concerned, Beethoven worked from the principles of sonata form and motivic development that he had inherited from Haydn and Mozart, but greatly extended them, writing longer and more ambitious movements.

The three periods

Beethoven's compositional career is usually divided into Early, Middle, and Late periods.

In the Early period, he is seen as emulating his great predecessors Haydn and Mozart, while concurrently exploring new directions and gradually expanding the scope and ambition of his work. Some important pieces from the Early period are the first and second symphonies, the first six string quartets, the first three piano concertos, and the first twenty piano sonatas, including the famous "Pathétique" and "Moonlight" sonatas.

The Middle period began shortly after Beethoven's personal crisis centering around his encroaching deafness. The period is noted for large-scale works expressing heroism and struggle; these include many of the most famous works of classical music. Middle-period works include six symphonies (Nos. 3–8), the fourth and fifth piano concertos, the triple concerto and violin concerto, five string quartets (Nos. 7–11), the next seven piano sonatas (including the "Waldstein" and the "Appassionata"), and Beethoven's only opera, Fidelio.

Beethoven's Late period began around 1816. The Late-period works are characterized by intellectual depth; intense, highly personal expression; and formal innovation (for example, the String Quartet, Op. 131 has seven linked movements, and the Ninth Symphony adds choral forces to the orchestra in the last movement). Works of this period also include the "Missa Solemnis", the last five string quartets, and the last five piano sonatas.