Ludwig van Beethoven

Short biography Ludwig van Beethoven was baptised on 17 December 1770 in Bonn and died on 26 March 1827 in Vienna. He grew up in Bonn, where his father Johann van Beethoven served as a court musician and gave him his first lessons in music. In 1787 Beethoven travelled to Vienna for the first time, but was obliged to return to Bonn owing to illness; in 1792 he moved to the imperial capital permanently, which remained the centre of his life until his death. In Vienna he studied with leading masters and swiftly established himself as a pianist and composer of considerable standing. From around 1798 he suffered increasingly from hearing loss, which by approximately 1818 had progressed to total deafness – a circumstance that profoundly shaped his later creative process.

Historical placement Beethoven is regarded as a central figure of the Viennese Classical tradition and at the same time as the most important precursor of Romanticism. His works expand the classical forms – sonata, symphony, string quartet – in scope, expressive depth and harmonic boldness far beyond the boundaries set by his predecessors. With works such as the Ninth Symphony and the late string quartets he established benchmarks that defined the whole of the nineteenth century and beyond. His ideal of music as the expression of inner experience and universal ideas was taken up directly by the Romantic movement.

Personal connections
Joseph Haydn taught Beethoven counterpoint following the latter's arrival in Vienna in 1792. Johann Georg Albrechtsberger continued Beethoven's counterpoint studies in Vienna after he had broken off his lessons with Haydn. Antonio Salieri instructed Beethoven in Italian vocal writing and the composition of vocal music. Carl Czerny was a pupil of Beethoven and, through the latter's teaching, went on to become one of the most influential piano pedagogues of the nineteenth century. Ferdinand Ries was likewise a pupil and personal secretary of Beethoven, and later co-authored biographical reminiscences of him together with Franz Wegeler.

Important works
Sinfonie Nr. 5 c-Moll – Symphony (op. 67, 1808)
Sinfonie Nr. 9 d-Moll – Symphony (op. 125, 1824)
Klavierkonzert Nr. 5 Es-Dur „Emperor" – Concerto (op. 73, 1811)
Klaviersonate Nr. 14 cis-Moll „Mondscheinsonate" – Piano sonata (op. 27 No. 2, 1802)
Klaviersonate Nr. 23 f-Moll „Appassionata" – Piano sonata (op. 57, 1807)
Streichquartett Nr. 14 cis-Moll – String quartet (op. 131, 1827)
Violinkonzert D-Dur – Concerto (op. 61, 1806)
Missa solemnis D-Dur – Sacred vocal music (op. 123, 1823)
Fidelio – Opera (op. 72, original version 1805, final version 1814)
Tripelkonzert C-Dur – Concerto (op. 56, 1804)