Ludwig van Beethoven was baptized upon 17 December, 1770 in Bonn, Germany. He was the eldest child surviving child of Johann and Maria Magdalena van Beethoven. Beethoven was borne into the musical profession. His grandfather, the first member of the Beethoven family to settle in Bonn, was a singer in the choir of the Archbishop-Elector of Cologne. He eventually rose to the post of Kappellmeister--an astounding feat for a person who was not a composer. His son, Johann, Ludwig's father, was also musically inclined. Johann was a singer in the electoral choir.

The Beethoven family, at a time, was very prosperous. However, with the grandfather's death and Johann's affliction with alcoholism, their condition was steadily degraded. By the age of eleven, Ludwig was forced to leave school. Further, once he reached eighteen years of age, he became the primary supporter of his family. Ludwig's father observed in his son an almost prodigious talent for the piano. He planned to market him as was the child prodigy Mozart by his father. Nevertheless, this did not work. Ludwig earned recognition as an adolescent by his own account.

Christian Gottlob Neefe became Beethoven's teacher. It was through Neefe that Beethoven would complete his first work in 1783. Published in Mannheim, his first extant composition was Variations on a March by Dressler. By June of 1782, Beethoven had become assistant court organist to Neefe. In 1783, he had also been appointed continuo player to the Bonn opera. By 1787, his achievements were enough insofar as having Maximilian Francis send him to Vienna to study under the famed Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Lamentably, his instruction was abridged to two months, for Beethoven received word of his mother's death. According to tradition, Mozart was highly impressed with Beethoven's improvisational prowess. He remarked to some of his friends, "this young man will make a great name for himself in the world." For the next five years, Beethoven remained in Bonn. There, playing the viola in the court orchestra was added to his other court duties. Although the archbishop showed Beethoven no special favour, at this time he began making powerful acquaintances. Through one of those powerful acquaintances, Mme. von Breuning, he acquired many wealthy pupils. With the death of Emperor Joseph II, Beethoven was invited to compose a funeral ode by Waldstein, an admirer of Beethoven. The performance of the piece was cancelled due to complaints from the wind players. They found a section far too complex.

The manuscript of these works had been seen by the famed Joseph Haydn as he was passing through Bonn on his way to London. He was sufficiently impressed by it to offer to take Beethoven as his student. Beethoven accepted Haydn's offer, and in the autumn of 1792, he left Bonn never to return. However, before Beethoven had left Bonn, he had established for himself a reputation as an outstanding piano virtuoso, withe a particular talent in extemporization. Although Mozart had been one of the great improvisers of his day, Beethoven surpassed him. No one possessed Beethoven's ability to easily move an audience to tears. For this reason, the Viennese aristocracy immediately solicited him. Of course, the Count Waldstein had a hand in paving the way for Beethoven as "Mozart's successor."

As a composer, Beethoven had many technical problems to overcome. These problems, Haydn was not equipped to exorcise. Thus, Beethoven began taking instruction secretly. He sought the help of Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, a learned contrapuntist of the old school who equipped him with the comprehensive techniques that he needed. Further, he studied vocal composition with Antonio Salieri, Imperial Kappellmeister. By 1794, when Haydn had left for his second visit to London, there was no question of returning to Bonn. At that time, Bonn was under French control, and the elector had disbursed--with him went Beethoven's post. This did not worry him; for beside what he earned from playing and teaching, he was given free board and lodgings from Prince Lichnowsky. During the next three years, he took concert tours in Berlin and Prague. The turn of the century concluded what is generally referred to has Beethoven's first period. A period during which his compositions stayed within the realm of 18^th century techniques.

The change in Beethoven's technique came as he became better aware of his permanent malady, the degradation of his hearing. The incompetent doctors that treated him were unable to cure him. Instead, they seemed to worsen his condition. He spirits were low and he was in ill temper. At some instances, he was tempted to take his own life, "But only Art held back; for, ah, it seemed unthinkable for me to leave the world forever before I had produced all that I felt called upon to produce." With the degradation of his hearing came the degradation of his piano playing. He became an ill-tempered man. He held a hope that should his hearing be ameliorated, "[He] would embrace the whole world." His hopes had not been fulfilled, yet he did embrace the world. Rather than give concerts, which he did occasionally, he focused his efforts on composition and, in an ephemeral effort, the theatre.

In 1801, he provided the score for the ballet, Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus. Two years later he was offered a contract for an opera on a classical subject. The libretto was by Emanuel Schikaneder whom had achieved fame and wealth as the librettist of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. Beethoven had already begun work on the contract before Shikaneder was ousted from management and the contract was annulled. This came as somewhat of a relief to Beethoven, for he found that Shikaneder's verses were "such as could only have proceeded from the mouths of our Viennese applewomen." The year 1804 found the answer to the "Heiligenstadt Testament" search for a symphony on an unprecedented state and at the same time a prodigious assertion of the human will. The answer to the testament came in the form of Beethoven's Third Symphony. Beethoven initially dedicated this work to a hero of his, Napoleon; however, upon hearing that Napoleon took the title of emperor, he struck out the dedication. He substituted the words "for the memory of a great man."

Beethoven's creative life entered its third and final period with the reign of Metternich and his Beidermeir period, marked by simplicity and homeliness of life and art. His deafness, which was achieved in a total state by 1819, he increasingly became a recluse. His rate of composition, as well, became increasingly degraded. His number of compositions between 1815 and 1827 comprised a mere fraction of what he composed after 1792. Nevertheless, they have a density of music that far surpasses any of his previous compositions.

In 1815, all prospects of foreign travel were brought to an end with the death of his brother, Caspar Anton Carl. He left behind a widow and a child, aged nine. His brother, in his will, named his wife and his brother, Beethoven, joint guardians of his son. This was contested by Beethoven on the grounds of the widow's immorality; and after three years of litigation, he won. Beethoven was far from an ideal guardian. Quarrels between nephew and uncle were far too frequent. Once, in 1826, the young Karl attempted suicide prior to sitting in on final examinations. He recovered in the hospital. Beethoven's companions persuaded him to send Karl off to a military career. Subsequently, Karl led a successful life after leaving his uncle. But the events of 1826 upset Beethoven profoundly and undoubtedly hastened his death.

Beethoven spent the summer on an estate belonging to his brother, Nikolaus Johann. Upon his return to Vienna, he contracted pneumonia. Consequently, from which he never fully recovered. He remained bedridden until his death from cirrhosis of the liver. He died in Vienna upon 26 March, 1827. The funeral took place three days later. It was attended by twenty thousand people. Among the pallbearers were the famous pianist Hummel; Schubert was among the torchbearers; Franz Grillparzer, Austria's greatest living dramatist, wrote the funeral oration.
 

Orchestral Music
 

SYMPHONIES: No. 1 in C Major, op. 21 (1800); No. 2 in D Major, op. 36 (1802); No. 3 in E Flat Major, op. 55 (Eroica; 1804); No. 4 in B Flat Major, op. 60 (1806); No. 5 in C Minor, op. 67 (1808); No. 6 in F Major, op. 68 (Pastoral; 1808); No. 7 in A Major, op. 92 (1812); No. 8 in F Major, op. 93 (1812); No. 9 in D Minor, op. 125 (Choral; 1824); Wellington's Victory, op. 91 (also known as The Battle of Vitoria and the Battle Symphony; 1813).
 

CONCERTOS,

PIANO: "No. 1" in C Major, op. 15 (1798); "No. 2" in B Flat Major, op. 19 (in fact composed first 1795, revised 1798); No. 3 in C Minor, op. 37 (1800); No. 4 in G Major, op. 58 (1806); No. 5 in E Flat Major, op. 73 (Emperor; 1809).
 

CONCERTOS,

VIOLIN: Violin Concerto in D Major, op. 61 (1806); Triple concerto in C Major, op. 56 (violin, cello, piano; 1804).
 

OTHER

WORKS: Two romances for violin and orchestra; various overtures, including Coriolan, op. 62 (1807); Leonore No. 1, op. 138, 2, op. 72A, and 3, op. 72B.
 

Chamber Music
 

STRING

QUARTETS: No. 1-6, op. 18 (1798-1800); No. 1-3, op. 59 (Razumovsky; 1806); op. 74 (Harp 1809); op. 95 (1810); and the late quartets (1824-1826); op. 127, 130, 131, 132, 133 (Grosse Fuge, originally the finale to 130), and op. 135.
 

OTHER

WORKS: Octet, op. 103 (winds; 1792); Septet (strings and winds; 1800); Sextet for Horns and String Quartet, op. 81B (1795); Quintet for Piano and Winds, op. 16 (1796); String Quintet in C Major, op. 29 (1801); seven piano trios; five string trios; ten sonatas for violin and piano, including Sonata in A Major (Kreutzer; 1803); five sonatas for cello and piano; sonata for horn and piano.
 

Piano Music
 

Thirty-two sonatas, including Sonata in C Sharp Minor, op. 27, no. 2 (Moonlight; 1801); and Sonata in F Minor, op. 57 (Appassionata; 1804); three sets of Bagatelles; twenty sets of variations; four rondos.
 

Vocal Music
 

Missa Solemnis (mass in D major; 1823); Mass in C Major, op. 86 (1807); Christus am Ölberg (oratorio 1803); various smaller works for chorus and orchestra including Choral Fantasia, op. 80 for piano, chorus, and orchestra (1808); songs, including the cycle An die ferne Geliebte, op. 98 (1816); and Goethe and Gellert settings; Scottish, Irish, and Welsh folk-song settings.
 

Theatre Music
 

One opera, Fidelio (1805; revised versions, 1806, 1814--the final version is the one usually heard today); one ballet, Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus (1801); incidental music to four plays; Egmont, op. 84 (1810), Die Ruinen von Athen, op. 113 (1811), König Stephan, op. 117 (1811), Die Weihe des Hauses, op. 124 (1822).