Eric Hazen
Ludwig van Beethoven
Throughout History there has been thousands of great musicians, one of the most talented and well known is Ludwig van Beethoven. Playing songs most people can’t play with their hearing, he played and wrote without hearing.
Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany in 1770. Although his birth date is unknown his family celebrates it on December 16th. Beethoven's first music teacher was his father Johann van Beethoven. Some historians say that his father was quite harsh on the boy, some nights coming home late at night after drinking with his friends, drag him out of bed and force him to practice till morning. His talents were recognized at a very young age.
Around 1796, Beethoven began to lose his hearing. Caused by tinnitus, a ringing in his ears. Often because of this he would avoid talking to people, this also made it difficult for him to conduct music, though this didn’t stop him.
Beethoven's career is usually divided into three periods, Early, Middle, and Late periods. His early period was from 1770-1802, the middle period was from 1803-1814, and the late period was from 1815 up to 1827.
Beethoven died of led poisoning in 1827 at the age of 56. Conducting, Playing, Writing, or a mixture of the three, over 1000 pieces of music.