Ludwig van Beethoven was born on December 16, 1770 in Bonn, Germany. His parents were Johann and Magdelena Keverich van Beethoven. His father was his first tutor in his early years. Unfortunately, his father was an alcoholic. Beethoven did become a tenor singer in the Electoral Court.

            1779, Beethoven became the protégé of Christian Gottlob Neefe. He taught Ludwig composition. In 1781, he was an assistant organist and in ’84, a paid employee of the court chapel. Beethoven’s first three piano sonatas were published in 1783. The Elector, Maximilian Franz recognized his talents and helped support him through his couple rough years to come.

            1787, traveled to Vienna, but cut short by his mother’s poor health, who later died. He had to stay home for the next several years to take care of his younger brothers, for his father went head-over-heels in his alcohol addiction. Beethoven even got legal order by which half of his father’s income paid to himself for family support. Beethoven also pursued a violin career in the court orchestra.

            With the help of the Elector, Beethoven went to Vienna in 1792. There he studied performed piano concertos. He was under the teaching of Haydn, but he left in 1794 to England. Beethoven stayed in Vienna with the help of other financial supporters.

            Ludwig had his first public performance in Vienna, 1795, with the Second Piano Concerto. Same year, the first of his compositions were published, to which he assigned an opus number, the piano trios of Opus 1. In 1800-02, he wrote the First and Second Symphonies; and in 1800, his first six quartets.

            1801, Beethoven’s hearing began to fail him. He suffered a severe case of tinnitus. The actual cause is unknown, but many say it is of high levels of lead poisoning. Because of this mishap, Beethoven became depressed and had suicide on his mind. He moved out of Vienna to Heiligenstadt, a small Austrian town.

            The “Middle period” (or “Heroic”) began in Beethoven’s lifetime after his hearing left him, in 1802. He declared he wanted something different in his work. He started out with “Eroica” Symphony in E flat. Later he composed the opera Fidelio, Third through Eight Symphonies, string quartets 7-11, the Violin Concerto, and the Waldstein and Appassionata piano sonatas. In 1812, Beethoven’s “middle period” ended with his Seventh and Eighth Symphonies and third version of Fidelio. During this time, Beethoven’s popularity was at its peak. Beethoven turned to writing many string quartets. He wrote Fourteenth Quartet, op. 131 in C# Minor, which is said to be his greatest work in Schubert’s view.

            Beethoven wrote the last few Quartets during his failing health. His last completed work was the final movement of the Thirteenth Quartet. 1821, Beethoven caught a serious case of jaundice, a sign of his liver failure. In 1825, he was bedridden and ill for a month. He soon recovered, only in December of 1826 he fell ill again, having four minor operations to relieve ascites. Unfortunately he fell into an unconscious state dieing that same day on March 26, 1827. He was buried in the Währinger cemetery, west of Vienna. His remains were then moved in 1888 to the Zentralfriedhof.