Beethoven’s compositions are dramatic and powerful. His works changed the face of western music and significantly impacted both the classicists (Brahms) and the radicals (Wagner) of the time. Beethoven’s life was tumultuous at best, yet he created music that to this day, moves the spirit and stirs the soul.

As a child, Beethoven’s father recognized his son’s talent and pushed him beyond the boundaries of fairness. He made Beethoven a slave to practicing. When Beethoven got tired and made mistakes, his father would beat him. Where other children would have run away from music, Beethoven clung to it. At the age of 12 he published his first piece, by 20 he was a well-respected composer, and by 30 he was going deaf.

In his teens, Beethoven was a freelance musician. He played the viola in various orchestras in order to support his family while his father succumbed to alcoholism. In 1792 he moved to Vienna to study with Haydn and later, Salieri.

By the mid 1790’s he had gained the reputation as a fine pianist and composer and first noticed his hearing loss around 1880. Beethoven had an extremely difficult personality. He was antisocial from the start and his deafness only intensified his dislike for company...except of course, for the ladies...Beethoven had many scandalous affairs (mostly with married women). He would propose frequently and was in love most of the time, but he never married. In 1827 he died of syphilis.

Beethoven’s works were tremendously important because they bridged the Classical Period to the Romantic Period. He wrote for almost every genre of music at the time, including the piano sonata, string quartet, and symphony. By focusing on dynamics, color and emotion he defined the key elements of the new Romantic Style. He expanded the symphonic form and enriched orchestration by introducing new textures and the concept of programmatic music (music that tells a story). Miraculously he did this while going deaf.