Ludwig Von Beethoven

Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany in 1770, the son of Johann van Beethoven. Beethoven's first musical lessons were given to him by his father, a very high tempered and grouchy man. By the time he was 18 his father's serious alcoholism and his grandfather's alcoholism (which made his grandfather die at an early age) caused the family to live in poverty.

Beethoven didn't pay much attention to music until he was 11 years old. In 1783, he became the most important player for the Bonn Opera. In 1787 he was sent to Vienna to take lessons with Mozart. However, he returned in two months because of his mother's illness. She died shortly thereafter.

In 1789 he started playing the viola in the opera orchestra while also teaching and composing. In 1790, Beethoven met Hayden, another famous composer, who agreed to teach him in Vienna. With all of his lessons in Vienna, he decided to move to Vienna. In 1795 he performed in public in Vienna for the first time and published op.1 and op.2. In 1796 Beethoven suffered seriously from depression which was brought about by realizing that his hearing was starting to fade away. Even though Beethoven was becoming deaf it did not effect his love for music. In the middle of 1796 he wrote his will to his two brothers on which the same day he confessed he was deaf.

From 1813 he composed less then he usually did when he was younger. Beethoven did his last performance on the piano in 1814 but continued to be a composer. Beethoven died in 1827 at the age of 57 and was called one of the greatest composers of all time.

Beethoven is my hero because I realy enjoy music and playing the piano and I also enjoy listening to his music.