Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
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Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn somewhere around the time of December of the year 1770. He died in Vienna on March 26th 1827.
Early in his life, Ludwig van Beethoven studied piano and music first taught by his father Johann van Beethoven, who himself was also a singer and instrumental musician in the service of the Elector of Cologne at Bonn. Ludwig van Beethoven also studied with court organist Christian Gottlieb (C.G.) Neefe. Beethoven had some of his piano music published by the young age of 12.
Ludwigs father Johann was a rowdy man, and it is said that he would often come home from a night out at a bar and wake young Ludwig van Beethoven out of bed to play piano for him and his drinking buddies.
In 1787 he went to Vienna, but soon returned home to Bonn after learning that his mother was dying. Beethoven returned to Vienna five years later to settle and live out the rest of his life. In Vienna he studied with Joseph Haydn, Schenk, Albrechtsberger and Salieri.
Until 1794, Beethoven was supported by the Elector at Bonn, but once he settled in Vienna he found plenty of music-loving patrons among the Viennese aristocracy. He saw success as a piano virtuoso and soon began playing at palaces and private concerts rather than giving public performances.
Ludwig van Beethoven's public debut was in 1795, and from then until 1801 it is said Beethoven was at his most innovative and original in style and emotion contained in his works. Beethoven completed three sonatas during this time period and it was also during these years that Beethoven saw the composition of the first three piano concertos of his piano career, along with a set of six string quartets and his first two symphonies.
The next year would prove to be a time of crisis for him. By 1802, Ludwig van Beethoven had been noticing for awhile that he had developed a hearing impairment and he came to the realization that it was an incurable condition and would most likely only get worse. On October 6th of 1802, Beethoven wrote a letter known as The "Heiligenstädter Testament" addressed to his two brothers. This letter was similar to a last will and testament, and in it Beethoven described an unhappiness with his condition and even hinted that he thought death may be near for him. Beethoven finally made it through his depression and entered a fresh, new creative phase that is today referred to as Beethoven's "Middle Period." Beethoven's works during his Middle Period are characterized by a heroic tone, perhaps as a result of overcoming his time of depression. This is evident in his Eroica Symphony (no. 3), Symphony no. 5, and in his opera Fidelio in which the heroic theme is seen in the storyline where a wife saves her husband from murder at the hands of an oppressive political enemy that has imprisoned him.
The opera Fidelio was unsuccessful at it's premier, and was revised twice by Beethoven and his librettists. The final version in 1814 was a success. With Fidelio, the emphasis of the story is on morality. Not with only freedom, justice and heroism, but also a story about marriage and love. The heroine of the story is a character named Leonore, who seems to portray Beethoven's lofty idealogical image of women. Ludwig van Beethoven never found his dream woman, although he did fall in love several times with wealthy pupils, some of whom were even married at the time). Each relationship ended with Beethoven realizing the woman was not his type, or with Beethoven being rejected. In July of 1812, Beethoven was in Teplitz he wrote a passion filled love-letter addressed to an "Eternally Beloved" or "Immortal Beloved". It is thought that this letter was meant to be for Antonie Brentano. This letter was found among Beethoven's private papers, and was probably never sent to Antonie.
Ludwig van Beethoven died in 1827, and the cause of his death has been argued ever since. A recent x-ray experiment done by researchers at the Energy Department's Argonne National Laboratory determined the most likely cause of Beethovens death is lead poisoning.