The Lyric Duo's
Online Study Guide
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Famous musicians we will share with you in our program
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Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was one of the greatest composers to ever live. He was born 1770 and died in 1827.
Beethoven always struggled to perfect his compositions. Mozart was able to write a perfect piece of music the first time, but Beethoven had to write his pieces up to 15 TIMES before it was perfect.
Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, and his father and grandfather were musicians. Ludwig's father was a singer and was his first teacher. Although he had only meager academic schooling, he studied piano, violin, and French horn, and before he was 12 years old he became a court organist. Beethoven's first composition teacher was a man named Christian Gottlob Neefe.
In 1787 Beethoven studied composition briefly Mozart, and five years later with Joseph Haydn. After that, he studied with Antonio Salieri. His father was an alcoholic and would often come home very late at night from the local bar. He would be very drunk and would yell at Beethoven and tell him to get up and practice - IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT. If Beethoven made a mistake his father would hit his hands with a ruler, and even beat him.
Deafness
As he got older, Beethoven began to suffer from deafness. By 1802 Beethoven saw that his problem was getting worse and worse. He often got very depressed because he could no longer perform in public as he had his whole life. BUT HE NEVER GAVE UP.
Even though he never heard some of the greatest pieces that he had ever written, he kept composing because he loved music and never wanted to do anything else in life.
Beethoven died in Vienna on March 26, 1827, and his funeral was attended by over FOUR THOUSAND PEOPLE.