Ludwig van Beethoven is considered as many to be the greatest musicians of all time. He

was a German composer who lived from 1770-1827. Beethoven composed an incredibly

massive number of pieces. His kinds of compositions included: piano music, an opera,

nine symphonies, songs, two masses, string quartets, and other kinds of chamber music.

Beethoven s life began where he was born in Bonn. He did not have an easy

childhood. His father had a problem with alcohol and exercised very harsh discipline on

him. When Beethoven was 18, and after the death of his mother, he made himself head of

the house; he took responsibility of his two younger brothers

While Beethoven was in Bonn, the most significant composer that he studied under

was Christian Gottlob Neefe. He studied with him during the 1780 s. The foundation of

Neefe s teaching was the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. he encouraged Beethoven to

study with Mozart. Beethoven did briefly meet Mozart in Vienna in 1787. In 1792 he

returned to Vienna and studied with the composer Joseph Haydn. Beethoven stayed in

Vienna for the rest of his life after this.

Beethoven s music was powerful and able to make strong impressions on the

aristocracy of the time. His music earned him many generous patrons to work for.

However, just as it seemed certain that Beethoven would have no limit put on his success,

he began tossing his hearing. Hearing loss is devastating to a musician. His hearing loss

put an end to his performing career over time. He was also unable to have any pupils

because of the hearing loss. Beethoven s composition did not suffer any at the hands of

his hearing impairment.

Beethoven had lost almost every bit of his hearing by the last decade of his life.

Beethoven continued to work with a great deal of creativity

There are generally three main periods used when discussing Beethoven s

creativity. The first of these periods goes up to about 1802. The second period goes on

to about 1812. The third period then gradually emerged with some of Beethoven s most

innovative music ever. Beethoven s music during the first period has been said to be

copying Mozart and Handy. Beethoven was searching for a variety of new approaches to

the musical form at the start of the middle period. The third period was very productive

for Beethoven. He wrote many masterpieces .

Beethoven brought together many aspects of music that had previously been

separated. He persevered despite the problems with his hearing. Being a musician his

hearing loss was for the most part the greatest battle he had to fight. Parts of his musical

career were hurt by the hearing loss, but he went on to compose some of his most famous

pieces after the hearing loss was well set in. Beethoven was a revolutionary musician, and

he changed the boundaries of what humans can do if they set their minds to it.