Ludwig Van Beethoven

Ludwig Van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist; many have said that he was the preeminent figure in the transition period between the Classical and Romantic eras of Western Classical Music. While he himself and his music changed how music was composed and played in that early time that passed how did he get to where he was? How did he change the music well after he was gone but his influences lived on and to this day has an effect on the music of all generation before and to come.

Ludwig Van Beethoven was born in a small German city of Bonn on or around December 16, 1770. While his birthday was never documented it is known that his family celebrated his birthday on December 16th. He was born into a family that had some musically talented people his father, Johann and his grandfather, Ludwig. His father was Beethoven's first music teacher until the age of eleven and during that period is when he learned the piano and violin. As a teenager, he took a role of being an assistant to his new teacher Christian Gottlob Neefe, under Neefe he remained to learn from him until he had the chance to go Vienna for a short period hoping to study with Mozart until his mother's death and father's alcoholism which leads him back home to Bonn for five years to care for his two brothers until he got his second change to move back to Vienna where he finally rested.

Those five years Beethoven was able to meet people that later helped his career financially, he meet a medical student of the name Franz Wegeler who introduced to the Von Breuning family who be began giving piano lessons to some of the children. From being acquainted with the Von Breuning family he came to meet the Count Ferdinand von Waldstein, who later helps Beethoven financially through his career. During his years in Bonn he also gained more financially stability when he was granted half of his father's salary to support him and his brothers. While he was still getting help from his father's salary he wanted to pursue music so he played the viola in the court orchestra which allowed Beethoven to get paid to play but he also learned the different varieties of operas.

After learning a little more during his five year in Bonn he was able to move to Vienna in 1792 and arrangement were made for him by the Elector financially and Beethoven had already made arrangement early in the year to study with Joseph Haydn once in arrived to Vienna in November. Shortly after he arrived in Vienna he heard of his father's death but did not return home. As earlier stated he was good friends with Count Waldstein, who was not only his financial support but also his motivator. Count Waldstein motivation led Beethoven to believe he was a successor of Mozart and was to learn Mozart's work and passion through Hayden's direction. With his motivation during his studies with Haydn he wrote many works that were not published at the time but it showed that Beethoven had a growing range and style. While he didn't not set out to be a composer from the start because he wanted to study the art of music which led him to learn more, he took violin lessons from Ignaz Schuppanzigh and Italian vocal composition from Antonio Salieri. Hayden returned to England in 1794 and Beethoven was expected to go home to Bonn since he would not have anymore financial supported from the Elector but he made the decision to stay in Vienna since some of the Viennese nobleman had offered him financially stability because of his talent and ability in music. In Vienna Beethoven had established himself as a piano virtuoso and his music was being published by Nikolaus Simrock, while he spent more of 1794 composing music some of his pieces were not published until 1795 because he wanted them to have a bigger impact. Beethoven performed his first concert in 1795 in which he debuted a piano concerto. After his first performance he began to dedicate his pieces to the Viennese nobleman who had supported him during his stay since 1794 when he was expected to go home to Bonn but staying in Vienna. Beethoven like the artist do today went on a tour of Central Europe, and earned a lot of money for visiting cites and performing.

While he was becoming very popular he still hadn't reached the level of what we know Beethoven as, he still had to compose music so while he did not tour for a while he was still making music for commission for some of the Viennese nobleman. During the time period 1798 and 1802 Beethoven he began to compose his string quartet and symphony, after completing his first string quarter which was published in 1801 his First and Second symphony's were premiered. After the premier of his First and Second symphony people were really seeing Beethoven and saw that he is following the footsteps of Mozart and one day my surpass his fame. While the fame did not get to Beethoven he continued to compose smaller pieces as well, Beethoven did not always compose big symphonies and quartets he liked to compose the smaller pieces because it could show his