Ludwig van Beethoven was the son of Johann van Beethoven, a singer
of the Hofkappelle in Bonn. His grandfather was the musician
Ludwig van Beethoven (1712-1773) from Mechelen, who had moved
to Bonn. His first music teacher was his father and Franz Anton
Ries taught him the violin. Christian Gottlob Neefe taught him
composition and he worked with him as assistant organist from
1782. He often visited the Von Breuning family where he gave
piano lessons to the children and was cared for by the widowed
Frau von Breuning. Here he met the medical student Franz Wegeler
who became a friend for life. In 1787 his mother died and in
1789 his father was fired from the Court because of his alcoholism.
Late
in 1790 Beethoven probably first met Joseph Haydn. In 1792 they
met again in Bonn. Beethoven travelled to Vienna in November
1792 and Haydn became his teacher until 1794. Afterwards he
was taught by Albrechtsberger and Salieri. In 1795 he gave his
first public performance at the Burgtheater in Vienna. His close
ties with noblemen soon enabled him to live as a free artist.
He explored new musical paths with his symphonies and would
influence a next generation of composers, among them Brahms.
In 1794 he started having trouble hearing. In 1799 he was piano
teacher to the daughters of Countess Anna Brunsvik. He fell
in love with Josephine Brunsvik but she married the much older
Joseph Count Deym. After Deym's sudden death in 1804 and he
continued to see her afterwards.
After 1801 Beethoven's
hearing problems worsened. He wanted to write a symphony based
on Napoleon's career, but after Napoleon crowned himself emperor
in 1804 he removed his name from the title page of the manuscript.
When "Symphony No. 3" (also known as "Eroica") was performed
in 1805 and it was seen as the end of Classicism and the beginning
of Romanticism. He gave piano lessons to Archduke Rudolf of
Austria, the son of Emperor Leopold II. He became friends with
Rudolf and they met until 1824.
In 1808 Jérôme Bonaparte
offered him a position as musical director in Kassel, but Archduke
Rudolf, Prince Kinsky and Prince Lobkowitz managed to keep him
in Vienna by offering him a substantial pension. In 1812 in
Teplitz he wrote a long love letter to his 'immortal beloved'
that he never sent to the recipient, whose identity is still
unknown. Speculations have pointed at Antonie Brentano, Julie
Gicciardi, Therese Malfatti and Josephine Brunsvik.
In
1815 Beethoven performed for the last time. He never went completely
deaf and in his last years he could still hear low tones and
loud sounds. After his death in 1827 the actor Heinrich Anschütz
read a funeral speech written by Franz Grillparzer. Beethoven
was buried at the Währinger Friedhof in Vienna. When that was
closed in 1888 his remains were moved to the Zentralfriedhof
in Vienna.
Family
• Mother: Beethoven, Maria Magdalena
Related persons
• was pupil to Albrechtsberger, Johann Georg
• was a friend of Anschütz, Heinrich
• knew Benedict, Julius
• was admired by Boito, Arrigo
• was visited by Boucher, Alexandre
• was sculpted by Bourdelle, Antoine
• was a friend of Brentano, Antonie
• knew Chézy, Helmina von
• was teacher to Czerny, Carl
• met Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von
• has a connection with Grillparzer, Franz
• was admired by Hanslick, Eduard
• met Haydn, Joseph
• met Hiller, Ferdinand
• was a friend of Hummel, Johann Nepomuk
• has a connection with Kreutzer, Rodolphe
• knew Lachner, Franz von
• met Liszt, Franz
• has a connection with Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Felix
• had work performed by Milder-Hauptmann, Anna
• was a friend of Reicha, Anton
• was pupil to Ries, Franz Anton
• was a friend of Röckel, Elisabeth
• was pupil to Salieri, Antonio
• was a friend of Spohr, Louis
• was visited by Stein, Matthäus Andreas
• was painted by Stieler, Joseph
• has a connection with Unger, Caroline
• knew Varnhagen von Ense, Karl-August
• was visited by Wieck, Friedrich
• was sculpted by Zumbusch, Kaspar, Ritter von
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