Ludwig van Beethoven is acknowledged as one of the world's renowned pioneers in classical music of the 18th and 19th Century. Beethoven was born in December 1770 in the city of Bonn in Germany. At a very young age he was taught music by his father, where he soon showed talent.
At just ten years of age he withdrew from school and started studying music full time. His music tutor was Christian Gottlob Neefe, who at the time had just been appointed Court Organist. At the age of twelve Beethoven published his first work, a set of piano variations.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, another great musician, had a powerful influence on Beethoven especially on his earlier works. It is said that in 1787 the two musicians met in Vienna, when Beethoven was just seventeen years old.
Beethoven's innovative works combined vocals with instruments which raised sonatas, symphonies, concertos and quartets to a new level.
His health deteriorated early life, when in his mid-twenties he noticed difficulties in his hearing and by the age of forty-four was almost completely deaf. Some of Beethoven's greatest works were composed during the time he was losing his hearing. His legacy encompasses some of his most beloved compositions include Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67, Adelaide Op. 46, Moonlight Sonata No. 14 Op. 27.
Beethoven influenced many other great composers of the 19th century such as Franz Shubert, Felix Mendelssohn Gustav Mahler, Johannes Brahms, Arnold Schoenberg and many others.
Today, 250 years after his birth, Beethoven remains acknowledged as an important figure who shaped classical music, with over 722 compositions written over 40 years and also as the one who brought forward a new era of Romanticism.
