Biography of Ludwig van Beethoven-Part I

-1770 Birth

Ludwig van Beethoven was baptized on December 17th of 1770 in Bonn, Germany; considering the custom of getting baptized within 24 hours of birth, he was probably born on December 16th of 1770. His father Johann was a court musician with a weakness for alcohol. His mother Maria was a gentle woman who he considered to be his friend. Beethoven was the oldest of their three boys that survived.

-1778 First Performance (8)

Ludwig started learning piano from his father at the very early age of four. Johann taught him day and night, when he took time away from the tavern. Ludwig was often ordered in the middle of the night to perform for Johann and his drinking companions, and he would get beaten if he refused. Johann saw the talent in him, and wished to create another child prodigy like Mozart. In March 1778, at the age of seven, Beethoven made his first known public performance. Johann broadcasted his age to be six in order to draw comparisons against Mozart.

-1780 Christian Gottlob Neefe (10)

In 1780, he became the pupil of Christian Gottlob Neefe, a court organist. He learned the organ, composition, and even philosophy from Neefe. Neefe highly appreciated his talents. Neefe would let Beethoven fill in for him when he was out of town, and he even wrote of Beethoven in the Magazine of Music, Cramer’s Magazin der Musik, that if Beethoven had the means to travel and continue to learn, he would become the second Mozart.

In 1783, before the age of 12, he published his first composition: Nine Variations on a March by Dressler. This piano piece starts out with delicate melancholy, and then turns into a relatively joyous melody.

-1787 First Trip to Vienna (17)

He was appointed the assistant court organist of Maximilian Friedrich, Elector of Cologne and Bishop of Münsterf, alongside with Neefe in June 1784. He broadened his social circle there and met good friends. In 1787, the new elector Maximilian Franz sent him to Vienna to meet Mozart and pursue further musical education. Allegedly, Mozart was impressed by his talents and is thought to have agreed to take him on as a pupil, but he had to return to Bonn very soon after to attend to his sick mother. His mother died a few months later. By his next visit to Vienna, in 1792, Mozart had died. In 1789, Johann van Beethoven was forced to retired due to his alcoholism. Because of the unreliability his father, Beethoven always felt responsible for his younger brothers.

-1790 Encounter with Haydn (20)

In 1790, Beethoven composed two cantatas, Cantata on the Death of Joseph II and Cantata on the Elevation of Leopold II. While the orchestra said the first one was unplayable, Haydn, who happened to be passing through Bonn later that year, was highly impressed by them and promised to take him on as a pupil when he came to Vienna.

-1792 Second Trip to Vienna (22)

At the age of 22, he made his way back to Vienna. Though he was on-leave with a six-month grant of absence from Prince Maximilian Franz, he never returned to Bonn. He started taking lessons with Haydn, and later on with some other musicians too. He gained his reputation as the best piano virtuoso in Vienna after an influential patron, Prince Lichnowsky, put him forward into an improvisation contest, but his composing talents remained less known.

-1795 Launching Career as a Composer (25)

In 1795, he premiered one of his two piano concertos at a public performance, which were among his first mature published works. That same year, he got into a heated argument with Haydn who disapproved of his Piano Trios op. 1 no. 3. Later they made amends when Beethoven dedicated his newly composed Piano Sonatas op. 2 to Haydn. With the help of Prince Lichnowsky, Beethoven went on tour in Prague, Dresden, Leipzig, and Berlin in 1796. He composed Cello Sonatas op. 5. By then he had many friends and admirers; he was often in conflict with one or another, but his musical talents made up for his unpleasant personality.

In 1797, Beethoven fell seriously ill, and perhaps that was beginning of his deafness.

-1798 Creativity Burst (28)

Beethoven was very productive in 1798 on the creative side, he composed Piano Sonatas op. 10, the three string Trios op. 9, the Trio op. 11, Pathétique Sonata op. 13, and the three Violin Sonatas op. 12. He also began to work on the Septet op. 20. In 1799, he composed his first String Quartets op.18, and started working on Symphony no. 1.