Ludwig Van Beethoven

Ludwig Van Beethoven

My hero is Ludwig Van Beethoven but you may know him just as Beethoven. He was known for his beautiful music, often played on the piano. I believe that everybody has to have heard at least one of his symphonies, even though they might not have known it was him. He created nine symphonies and they all were successful. He suffered through a lot of medical problems and the fact that he turned deaf at a young age, but he still kept on going in life. He pushed me to just keep going even when the times get rough. My hero is Ludwig Van Beethoven.

Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany around December 15, 1770. His father and grandfather worked for the electors of Cologne. He was born during a time when Europe was changing. This was a time when people were discovering a new life. Where everyone were beginning to see each other as equals, even men and women. They were going out and trying new things. Many musicians, artists, and writers began to come up with new ideas to begin a great new era of time. This became the Era of the Romantics. Beethoven did his share in changing Europe during this time. He just didn’t sit around watching these changes as they went by. He would be really happy to know that he was a part of a great era.

Beethoven is my hero because he had brought interesting music to the world during his time. His music is even more famous today. He also faced the symptoms of being deaf around the age of thirty and he soon believed that his career was coming to an end. He tried his best to continue his career but his deafness really got to him. He faced many medical problems. After months his suffering ended, he became completely deaf. He is my hero because he really inspired me to keep trying things in life, even though things might get a little tough. He inspired people to follow in his footsteps.

Beethoven once said” Speak louder, shout, for I am deaf…with joy I hasten to meet death. Despite my hard fate …I shall wish that it has come later; but I am content, for he shall free me of constant suffering. Come then, death, and I shall face thee with courage”- October 6, 1802.

Beethoven showed much interest in music as a young child. His father encouraged him to practice both piano and the violin. Beethoven’s father was hoping his child would be as sensational as the Musician Mozart. But his childhood wasn’t as good as everyone thought it was, especially around the time his father started drinking. Beethoven began taking music lessons at the age of eight years old. His music teacher was musician, C.G Neefe. At the age of eleven Beethoven was even Neefe’s assistant as the court’s organist. Thanks to Neefe, Beethoven learned the rules of composition and was able to master the techniques of a professional keyboard player. He was even making money at the court, and was composing his own short piano pieces. Neefe and the Elector believed that their young and talented student should have the opportunity to travel. So the Elector gave Beethoven permission to go to Vienna, which is the Empire’s capital.

When Beethoven went to Vienna he met and had lessons with the musical legend Mozart. But what Beethoven thought was a great time for him, ended very quickly because he had news that his mother was dying from tuberculosis. When he returned to Bonn his mother and baby sister had died. During this hard time Beethoven began to make his name known as a very fine musician. He even began to meet some very wealthy friends. Beethoven had another opportunity to once again visit Vienna with famous music composer Joseph Haydn. He was going to Vienna as a Pupil of Haydn. Once again problems struck because Beethoven wasn’t very safe because there was a battle going on during this time, but he still went.

As time went by Beethoven wasn’t really enjoying working with Haydn because he believed he wasn’t a really good teacher because he was “too keen of rules”. So he began taking different paths. He had to find a job in Vienna even though he was still getting paid from bond, but his father had died and he had to send money back to his two brothers. He began working at private parties. He was beginning to get a reputation as the most exciting pianist in Vienna by the way he amused his audiences.

At the age of thirty, Beethoven was realizing a really horrible thing. He was getting signs that he was going deaf. He was noticing these symptoms about three years earlier in 1798. He honestly thought that his career was over because of how difficult it was for him to do his job. He eventually had to give up playing the piano and teaching altogether. Beethoven created many things during his life time: symphonies, chorals, sonatas and his only opera, Fidelio. He wrote the Heiligenstadt {letters to his brothers}.

On March 26, 1827 around 5:45 p.m., there was a storm going on. It is said to be that Beethoven's room was soon filled with thunder and lightening. His eyes opened wide and he raised his right fist for just a few seconds and then fell back onto his pillow lifeless. Before he died he had put this expression on his face that nobody can tell what it meant or what was going on in his head for those couple of seconds. Twenty thousand people came to see his funeral. He was buried at Währing's Cemetery. But in 1888 his remains were brought to The Central Cemetery of Vienna.