Betthoven Case

Ludwig Van Beethoven was, and remains today, an influential figure in the history of classical music. Perhaps no other composer in history wrote music of such inspiring power and expressiveness. Even though Beethoven gradually lost his hearing, he composed many of the most famous musical works of all time; such has his Ninth and most famous symphony, after he had become totally deaf. His influence on the last 150 years of music is unequalled.

Beethoven possessed an enormous musical mind, and proved himself to be the most influential composer of all time. Beethoven's road to fame was anything but easy. He encountered numerous difficulties along the way. Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany into a dysfunctional family. His father, a court musician, subjected him to a brutal regimen, hoping to exploit him as a child prodigy. (Encyclopedia)

Beethoven possessed an enormous musical mind, and proved himself to be the most influential composer of all time. Beethoven's road to fame was anything but easy. He encountered numerous difficulties along the way. Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany into a dysfunctional family. His father, a court musician, subjected him to a brutal regimen, hoping to exploit him as a child prodigy. (Encyclopedia) Beethoven never showed the impressive characteristics of Mozart, but he was unusually talented, learning the piano, organ and violin at a very early age. As Beethoven developed, it became increasingly clear that to reach artistic maturity he would have to leave provincial Bonn for a major musical center. At the age of 12 he was promising keyboard virtuoso and a talented pupil in composition of the court musician C.G. Neefe. (Biography) Beethoven eventually left Bonn and went to Vienna to study with Joseph Haydn. Even before he left Bonn, he had developed a reputation for fine improvisatory performances. Beethoven rapidly proceeded to make his mark as brilliant keyboard performer and improviser and as a gifted young composer with a number of works to his credit and powerful ambitions. He won entry into the musical circles of the Viennese titled upper classes and gained a number of lifelong friends and admires among them.