Homepage/ Contents/ Previous/ Next Beethoven, Ludwig Van (1770 - 1827)
Born in 1770, Beethoven soon got into music, a hobby and later job that would change and inspire music around the world forever.
Beethoven is probably Germany's best known Classical composer, if not from any era. His most famous work is his Symphony no. 9 which was written 1823 - 24 (da-da-da-dum).
As far as opera was concerned, opera being a big thing at the time, Beethoven did work on them from 1800 - 1815. He started lots but would leave them unfinished, that is all except for one. This one opera, 'Fidelio' as it is called, is set in the French Revolution (when it was written) but its performances were not a success. The opera was too long and required a lot of concentration. After having adjusted the opera three times Beethoven had it perfected and is now one of the world's most famous operas.
Beethoven's father died from excessive drinking of alcohol and his mother died in 1787 although it is unknown how. After his parent's death Beethoven was left in charge of his nephew, Karl. Unfortunatly Beethoven's harshness and lack of child freindliness led Karl to attempt suicide. However the guns in those days were not as advanced as our's and were unreliable, so Karl ended up with only a grazed skull.
Beethoven is among the top two most famous German composer's, J. S. Bach being his compeditor, and among the top five classical composers ever.
He is dead now, of course. He died in 1827, but he is still remembered for the hundreds of peices of music that he left behind.
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