Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer considered being one of the greatest of all times. He was born in Bonn, Germany. His father was one who liked to drink and would discipline Beethoven in a strict manner. At the age of 18 his mother died and, since his father was not a responsible man Beethoven had to grow up quickly and become the head of the house. He had to take care of his two younger brothers who then when they had grown up moved to Vienna, Austria. In Bonn, a German composer taught Beethoven, by the name of Christian Gottlob Neefe during the 1780’s. Neefe used music of Bach to instruct Beethoven then studied with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Vienna in 1787. The next person he studied with was Joseph Haydn, in Vienna where he stayed the rest of his life. Beethoven was cursed early in life with the loss of his hearing. He knew there was something wrong when he was in the fields and the shepard boy blew his horn but Beethoven did not hear it. This eventually put an end to his performing career. This did not stop Beethoven it gave him power instead he wrote beautiful masterpieces one example is Symphony No.5 in C minor.

In 1810 Beethoven became interested in drama and poetry this was introduced to him by Johann Wolfgang Von Gothe. Antonia Brentano was the one who introduced the two. Beethoven then got involved with his sister Bettina Brentano. Who he wrote a famous letter titled “Immortal Beloved”. In the letter it says that Beethoven will not be happy if they are to marry. After this Beethoven was mostly always depressed and never worked. He was never married and never had any children.

In 1814 Beethoven reached the peak of his fame. His pieces such as Wellington’s Victory or known as the (Battle Symphony) was one of the publics favorite. With his popularity being so high he brought back his piece Fidelio which became quite well known.

During the last decade or so of Beethoven’s life he had lost his hearing completely. He became very isolated in hid home bearly ever going out. He gained the guardianship of his nephew Karl, after a long legal struggle with his brother. Beethoven had great affection for Karl, but that still had a lot of friction and anger between them.

Threw the period of time between 1818 and 1826 where Beethoven had taken on many of these problems he composed some of the biggest pieces of his composing career. Some of these pieces included the Sonata in B-flat major op.106 and also The Missa Solemnis in D major op.123.

For the last part of Beethoven’s life he was cursed by getting serious illnesses time and time again, but even threw those illnesses he managed to still compose music. He also tried to stay humorous by telling himself jokes. During the December, 1826 Beethoven contracted pneumonia. Then in March of 1827 Beethoven died in Vienna that is where he was buried. On his tombstone there is one word only and that is “Beethoven”.

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