Ludwig van Beethoven, one of the greatest composers ever lived, was born in November 1770 in Bonn, Germany, to a musical family. His father and grandfather were both vocalists in the national choir. Sturdy and self-involved, and yet a lover of his fellow musicians, Beethoven would become a musician of extraordinary talent and a famous composer. They composed nine concertos, symphonies with pianos, piano sonatas, and string quartets.
His work spans the time between the Classical style, as portrayed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Joseph Haydn, as well as the Romantic style, which Frederic Chopin and Franz Liszt governed, and a brand new language of humanism as well as illumination in music. He was a brilliant performer for the bulk of his early years. Even though, in his early thirties, Beethoven began to lose his hearing but continued to compose many of the most significant works in music history.
To commemorate the 250th anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven this month, Here’s a list of things you may not know about the renowned artist with details from the biography of Jan Swafford Beethoven’s The Triumph and Anguish of Beethoven.
Facts About Beethoven
Explore some amazing Facts About Beethoven here!
Ludwig van Beethoven is the 3rd Ludwig within the Beethoven family.
The first one was his grandfather. The other one was his older brother, who died just six days after the birth of his son.
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The father of Ludwig van Beethoven coerced his son to perform.
In the beginning, Johann van Beethoven noticed the boy’s love of playing. He determined to create an extraordinary musician, just like Mozart was several decades before. Johann required his son to work out every day and at night to attain an equivalent level of excellence. Nearby neighbors of Beethoven could recall the young boy who sat on a bench, trying to reach the keyboard, crying while his father watched over him.
Ludwig van Beethoven was bad at math.
After leaving school at the age of 11 to assist with the household’s earnings, Beethoven never learned how to multiply or divide. At the time of his death, when he needed to multiply, say 60 52, he’d lay out 6052 times and add them all up.
Ludwig van Beethoven was a notorious daydreamer.
While talking to a family friend Cacilie Fischer She noticed him staring out. When she asked him to respond to the question she had asked him, the answer was, “I was just in a state of mind with an exquisite deep thought that I just couldn’t bear to be distracted. .”
On his first trip to Vienna 17,-year-old Ludwig van Beethoven performed for Mozart.
Mozart, who was then the most renowned composer of Vienna, was not generally impressed with other musicians, despite being way ahead of the rest in talent and achievements. It is unclear what transpired during the concert; however, apocryphally, Mozart allegedly walked out from the stage saying, “Keep your eyes on him; he’ll one day provide the world with something to talk about.” .”
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Ludwig van Beethoven’s performances were known for improvisation.
One of Beethoven’s contemporaries, the composer Johann Baptist Cramer, told his students that if they hadn’t heard Beethoven perform improvised, you’d never heard of improvisation.
Ludwig van Beethoven took lessons from Haydn.
Following his move to Vienna in his young 20s, Beethoven received lessons in the footsteps of Joseph Haydn, the father of the orchestra. To Beethoven’s habits with teachers, they often became annoyed with each other and, in the end, didn’t get along with each other very much.
Ludwig van Beethoven pioneered composition for piano.
His predecessors wrote for the harpsichord. However, Beethoven focused on the piano as an instrument that no one had yet composed a comprehensive piece.
Romantically, Ludwig van Beethoven had mixed results.
Some women loved him for his talents, while some found him disgusting. A woman he once courted was adamant about him being “ugly and half insane .”
Ludwig van Beethoven was always sick throughout his life.
In an age before modern medical technology, Beethoven suffered from deafness and colitis, rheumatism, Typhus, rheumatic fever, skin disorders, abscesses, various diseases, ophthalmias, and inflammatory arterial degeneration jaundice, chronic liver hepatitis, and liver cirrhosis.
The deafness of Ludwig van Beethoven may have resulted from a childhood illness.
While Beethoven believed that the first signs of deafness in an incident were that he was frightened and fell, it could be an effect of an illness he suffered from as a kid, like smallpox or Typhus. He began hearing constantly buzzing around the age of 27.
Ludwig van Beethoven wrote sonatas for his love interests.
Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-Sharp Minor, popularly called Moonlight Sonata, was a popular piece from its composition in 1801. The next year, Beethoven dedicated the work to his pupil and primary lover, Countess Giulietta Guicciardi.
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Ludwig van Beethoven hated giving piano lessons.
He made exceptions for students who were truly gifted or beautiful young women regardless of their talent level.
Ludwig van Beethoven controlled his public image.
The composer set the standard for critiques of his work published in the top music magazine of the time, the Allgemein Musikalische Zeitung (AMZ). It advised the editor to refrain from coming out with negative remarks should he wish to get copies of the work.
Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, in E-Flat Major, was dedicated to Napoleon.
In the beginning, Beethoven admired Napoleon as an emblem of revolution and an era of change in Europe and composed his third symphony known as Eroica in his thoughts about the possibility of moving to Paris. Beethoven was dismayed when the French general has crowned the emperor himself in the future. However, the symphony would be the most important artistic work of the German Enlightenment.
Friedrich Schiller provided lyrics for Ludwig van Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.
Schiller is a renowned German philosopher who wrote his work An die Freude (Ode to Joy) in 1786. Beethoven modified the poem to fit the magnificent choral finale of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, in D Minor, first played in 1824.
Ludwig van Beethoven never quit his day job.
Despite his fame, the composer was forced to make an adequate income by offering classes in piano, writing pieces commissioned from wealthy Viennese residents,and publishing his work.
Ludwig van Beethoven died during a thunderstorm.
In 1827, aged 56years old, Beethoven passed away from a range of illnesses such as syphilis, cirrhosis, and lead poisoning or infection (the reason for the death is not known). Gerhard von Breuning, the son of Beethoven’s close friend Stephan von Breuning, compared Beethoven’s Symphonies with “crashes that make the sound of hammering on the portals of fate .”
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Many people attended the procession for Ludwig van Beethoven’s funeral.
Vienna’s most renowned poets, playwrights, composers, and residents, participated in this city’s Wahring cemetery. His memorial reads, “BEETHOVEN. “
