Ludwig Van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn on December 17, 1770, the son of an obscure tenor singer in the employ of the Elector of Cologne. His father was said to be a violent and intemperate man, who returned home late at night much worse for drink and dragged young Ludwig from his bed in order to "beat" music lessons into the boy's sleepy head. There are also stories of his father forcing him to play his violin for the amusement of his drinking buddies. Despite these and other abuses the young Beethoven developed a sensitivity and vision for music. When, despite his father's brutal teaching methods, Ludwig began to show signs of promise, other teachers were called in. By the age of seven he was advanced enough to appear in public. A year or so later the composer Christian Gottlob Neefe took over his musical training and progress thereafter was rapid. Neefe introduced Beethoven to the works of Bach and Mozart. Beethoven must have felt immense pride when his Nine Variations for piano in C minor were published, and was listed later in a prominent Leipzig catalogue as the work of 'Louis van Betthoven (sic), aged ten' (The former is an intentional misspelling). In 1787, Beethoven went to Vienna, a noted musical center, where then Count Waldstein engaged Beethoven, was a piano teacher, and became his friend and patron. Beethoven must have felt a little out of his depth for he was clumsy and stocky; his manners were loutish, his black hair unruly and he habitually wore an expression of surliness on his swarthy face. It was here that Beethoven met the great Mozart, who was dapper and sophisticated. He received the boy doubtfully, but once Beethoven started playing the piano his talent was evident. "Watch this lad," Mozart reported. "Some day he will force the world to talk about him." The death of Beethoven's mother in the summer of 1787 brought him back to Bonn.