Ludwig van Beethoven was one of the greatest musicians in the history of music. His name and work still enchants the music lovers all over the world. He was a German, born in 1770 in a family of professional musicians. He learnt the basics from his father and later he also studied music under the guidance of great composers like Mozart and Haydn. Beethoven composed some of the greatest music that included symphonies, concertos, choral and chamber music. In his youth he was a well-known pianist and was admired by many famous people that included the aristocracy.
It is said that adversity brings the best in a person and Beethoven had his share of such circumstances. He didn’t have a happy family life. His mother died when he was 17 and his father began drinking heavily. He learnt his music lessons from his father during the sober intervals of his father’s drinking bouts. He had to look after his two young brothers playing the roles of both mother and father. He left Bonn and sought his fortune in Vienna. But the most tragic episode began when he started becoming deaf at the age of 30. But his deafness could not deter him from composing music; rather he began to concentrate more vigorously and deeply. The depth of human feeling he generated from his pain and sufferings provided him the necessary motivation and inspiration to create some great music.
Beethoven’s music was full of noble ideas and contained a variety of themes. They seemed to tell of struggles between evil forces. In his opera Fidelio, the heroine defends her husband against an evil tyrant. In his Ninth Symphony the great choral ending is a celebration of liberty. The main tune of this symphony is now used as an ‘International Anthem’ for the European community. In some of his quartets and piano sonatas, his music reached beyond anything anyone had yet imagined. Some of his music was then unplayable but now considered as masterpieces. His brilliance lies in the scope of expressions in his music as well as in the technical inventiveness.
This great composer died in 1827 but his music has left a deep imprint in the world of music.