I’m not going to recreate the wheel. I’m merely going to copy and paste the biography of Beethoven from his entry on Wikipedia:
Ludwig van Beethoven (17 December 1770 – 26 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Classical music, he remains one of the most recognised and influential of all composers. His best-known compositions include 9 symphonies, 5 piano concertos, 1 violin concerto, 32 piano sonatas, 16 string quartets, his great Mass the Missa solemnis, and one opera, Fidelio.
Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of the Holy Roman Empire, Beethoven displayed his musical talents at an early age and was taught by his father Johann van Beethoven and by composer and conductor Christian Gottlob Neefe. At the age of 21 he moved to Vienna, where he began studying composition with Joseph Haydn and gained a reputation as a virtuoso pianist. He lived in Vienna until his death. By his late 20s his hearing began to deteriorate, and by the last decade of his life he was almost completely deaf. In 1811 he gave up conducting and performing in public but continued to compose; many of his most admired works come from these last 15 years of his life.
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And there you have it – Beethoven’s life in a nutshell.
A number of years ago (April 15, 2014 – July 9, 2014 – 86 straight days), I listened to everything Beethoven composed. It moved me deeply. I declared Beethoven to be my favorite Classical composer.
I got the idea for this, my latest, Beethoven project from the ones I undertook for Anton Bruckner, 144 Days With Bruckner and Me (October 3, 2016 – February 23, 2017), and 63 More Days With Bruckner And Me (February 24, 2017 – May 5, 2017).
I had such a wonderful time exploring the symphonies of Anton Bruckner that I wanted to do the same thing with the symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven.
And so here I am.
By the way, I’m drawing from other books about Beethoven, as well as the entry about him on Wikipedia.
Specifically, I have John Suchet’s book Beethoven: The Man Revealed.
Also, I have the highly praised two-volume biography Thayer’s Life of Beethoven, revised and edited by Elliot Forbes.
Finally, I have a slim (but fascinating) volume called Beethoven: The Man and the Artist, As Revealed In His Own Words edited by Friedrich Kerst & Henry Edward Krehbiel.
