Ludwig van Beethoven
Key Facts
- Child prodigy in Bonn: first public concert at age 7, first published compositions at 12
- Heiligenstadt Testament (1802): a letter of despair over his advancing deafness, a turning point in his creative life
- Symphony No. 3 “Eroica” (1804): originally dedicated to Napoleon, the dedication was later scratched out in disappointment
- Symphony No. 5 (1808): its four-note opening is one of the most recognizable musical themes in the world
- Composes his Symphony No. 9 with the “Ode to Joy” while completely deaf, and cannot hear the applause at its 1824 premiere
- Pioneer of musical Romanticism: a bridge between Classicism (Haydn, Mozart) and modern music
- The “Ode to Joy” theme (fourth movement of the Ninth Symphony) has been the official anthem of the European Union since 1985
Biography
Ludwig van Beethoven was born in December 1770 in Bonn, in the Electorate of Cologne (today Germany). Son and grandson of musicians, he received rigorous training from his father Johann, who hoped to make him a new Mozart. A virtuoso pianist from childhood, he gave his first public concert at seven and published his first compositions at twelve.
In 1792, he settled permanently in Vienna, then Europe's musical capital, on the advice of Joseph Haydn, who briefly became his teacher. Beethoven absorbed the classical forms, sonata, symphony, concerto, quartet, before surpassing and transforming them. His fiery, independent personality distinguished him from the court musicians who preceded him: he was one of the first composers to live by his art without being attached to a single patron.
From 1798, Beethoven began to lose his hearing. This inner drama culminated in 1802 with the Heiligenstadt Testament, a heartrending letter to his brothers expressing despair at the deafness isolating him from the world. Yet, rather than breaking him, this ordeal paradoxically seemed to liberate his creative genius. His "heroic" period (1803-1812) produced his most audacious works: Symphonies No. 3 "Eroica", No. 5, and No. 6 "Pastoral", the "Moonlight" Sonata, and Piano Concerto No. 5 "Emperor".
Totally deaf since 1818, Beethoven continued composing by relying on his inner auditory memory. In 1824, the premiere of his Symphony No. 9 "Ode to Joy" (whose final movement is sung by a chorus) stunned a Viennese audience who gave him a standing ovation while the composer, facing away from the audience, could not hear the applause. Beethoven died on 26 March 1827 in Vienna, aged fifty-six. His funeral procession gathered twenty thousand people.