Musicologists usually break up the great Ludwig van Beethoven's career into three periods: early, middle, and late. But to add a touch more flavor, you could call them the "I'm young and getting my feet wet" period, followed by the "Since I'm going deaf, I'm gonna get wacky and break some rules" period, and finally the glorious, isolated-by-deafness, "There are no external influences, all resources come from within" period.

Life

Ludwig van Beethoven was born on December 16, 1770 in Bonn, Germany, and baptized on December 17. Interestingly enough, till his 40th year Beethoven suffered from what is famous as his "birth-year delusion"—he claimed to have been born in 1772.

Family Antecedents

Bonn was the seat of the ArchbishopElector of Cologne in the 18th century. Beethoven's musically talented grandfather, Ludwig van Beethoven (Senior), had come from Flanders to settle in Bonn on the invitation of the Elector. He worked in the Elector's choir, first as a baritone singer and then as Kapellmeister (band leader). He married a Bonn girl, Marie Poll. Of the several children they had, only one—Johann—survived.

Beethoven's father, Johann van Beethoven, also took to music but his abilities were mediocre. He managed to become a tenor singer in the Electoral Choir due to the influence of Ludwig Senior. He married Maria Magdalena Keverich Laym, daughter of the chief cook at the Court of the Elector of Treves, Ehrenbreitstein. They had seven children of whom only three survived—Ludwig, Caspar Karl and Nikolaus Johann. The Beethoven family lived in the poorer part of Bonn. The rough-hewn rebellious streak in Beethoven was the result of this early influence.

Education

Beethoven had little formal education. He studied at the Tirocinium for four years and had to drop out at the age of 11. He managed to get a smattering of Latin and French, but he could never spell correctly in any language. He was later exposed to a few good books, ranging from Walter Scott's novels to Persian poetry.

Early Musical Training

Beethoven's training in music started when he was just four to five years old. His father wanted to make a child prodigy of his son like Mozart. He forced young Beethoven to practise on the piano for long hours, so much so that Beethoven would start crying. But over a period of time, Beethoven developed a taste for music. Johann was confident enough of his eight-year old son's talent to display him in a public concert on March 26, 1778. The success of this concert encouraged him to arrange music lessons for the child with other teachers.

The first tutor Beethoven had was Van den Eeden, a court organist too old to be of any help to him. The young Beethoven got to practise the organ everyday by playing for the morning mass in the churches of Bonn. His next tutor was Tobias Friedrich Pfieffer, a skilled pianist. Pfieffer and Johann would come late at night, totally drunk, and drag the poor little boy from bed to the piano. Beethoven found a better teacher in his maternal uncle Franz Rovantini who was the court violinist. But this came to an abrupt end with his death in 1781.

Court Apprenticeship

In late 1781, Beethoven became an apprentice of Christian Gottlob Neefe, the new court organist. Neefe trained Beethoven in playing the organ and the piano. He recognized his apprentice's genius and made him his assistant as court organist in 1782. Neefe helped Beethoven publish his first composition Variations on a March by Dressler in 1783.

In 1784, Maximilian Francis became the new ArchbishopElector of Cologne. He was a man of culture deeply interested in music. He transformed Bonn into a culturally vibrant city and invited several opera companies to Bonn. This is how Beethoven became familiar with the works of such composers as Gluck and Salieri. The court now had an orchestra of 31 pieces. Beethoven was appointed to play the viola at the age of 14 and was later made the deputy court organist. He was paid a salary of 150 gulden a year.

Meeting Mozart

Beethoven's blossoming talent brought him recognition, and in 1787, the Elector allowed him to go to Vienna to study musical composition under Mozart. Beethoven impressed Mozart with his inventiveness but the lessons did not last long. Mozart's father had died and Beethoven himself had to rush back to Bonn where his mother was on her deathbed. His mother died of tuberculosis on July 17, and this caused untold grief to Beethoven.

The grief of losing his wife and the progressive deterioration of his voice made Johann turn to alcohol even more. Incidentally, Beethoven's grandfather and grandmother were also heavy drinkers, and he too acquired this addiction later in life. Beethoven had to take up the responsibility of the family and supplement his income by giving piano lessons to Eleonore and Lorenz, children of the deceased chancellor Joseph von Breuning. Intimate contact with this cultured family made him more refined.

Through the Breuning family, Beethoven got several offers from wealthy families to teach music. Here he also came in contact with Count Ferdinand von Waldstein, a music lover. He used to gift money to Beethoven and told him that the gifts were from the Elector. Seeing the plight of the Beethoven family, he used his influence to get Beethoven's father superannuated and half his pension paid directly to Beethoven.

When the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II died in 1790, Waldstein asked Beethoven to compose the funeral ode. The performance had to be cancelled because the musicians found some of the passages too difficult to play. Beethoven also added a piece in honor of Leopold II who became the new emperor. He later dedicated his Piano Sonata No.21 in C Major, Opus 53, to Waldstein and named it after him.

Meeting Haydn

Franz Joseph Haydn, the greatest Viennese composer of the time stopped at Bonn on his way back from a successful trip to London in 1790. Beethoven met Haydn and presented a recently composed cantata. Haydn was suitably impressed and he offered to take him in as his student. The Elector permitted Beethoven to go to Vienna to study under Haydn and agreed to keep him on his payroll. Beethoven left for Vienna on November 1792. Napoleon's army occupied Bonn soon after, and Beethoven never returned to the place of his birth.

Musical Training in Vienna

Beethoven arrived in Vienna as a promising young man of 22. He was short, stocky and dark-complexioned. He had an unattractive pockmarked face with a broad and flat nose, and deep-set eyes. His only weapon to conquer the new city, which had very high standards so far as music was concerned, was his musical talent. But the very next month his father died of dropsy of the heart. The Elector not only agreed to continue his share of the father's pension, he even doubled it. He also granted three measures of grain for the education of his brothers who had moved in with him.

Haydn started teaching Beethoven for a nominal fee. Soon Beethoven started deviating from the orthodox rules of composition as he found the accepted techniques inadequate. Haydn found these innovations unacceptable. Beethoven felt he didn't have much to learn from Haydn, and therefore quit in 1793. He next went to the organist of St. Stephen's Cathedral, Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, to learn counterpoint. These lessons helped him to develop a comprehensive technique. Beethoven's next teacher was Antonio Salieri, the director of the Vienna Opera. He trained Beethoven in vocal composition. Beethoven's rebellious attitude towards formal musical theory was something that all his teachers found difficult to handle. A series of concerts in 1795 marked the end of Beethoven's formal training in music.

The First Phase, 1792–1802

Most of the compositions of Beethoven in the first phase consist is of chamber music, based especially on the piano. Though he attempted to break away from the conventions, the influence of Haydn and Mozart is clearly seen in these early pieces. He always succeeded in surprising the audience by bringing in unexpected elements through techniques derived from improvisation.

Beethoven's first public performance was held at the Burgtheater on March 29 and 30, 1795 for the benefit of the widows of the Society of Tone Artists. At this first public appearance as a pianist in Vienna, he played his Opus 19, Piano Concerto No.2. He played the piano in a concert organized by Konstantine Mozart. He also wrote some of the dances for the ball of the Society of Fine Artists held on November 22. Beethoven played his own piano concerto at a grand musical concert given by Haydn at the Redoutensaal. Beethoven published his Opus 1, Three Trios for Piano, Violin and Cello on October 17, 1795. The world of music had discovered someone to carry on the legacy of Mozart.

The occupation of Bonn by the French Revolutionary forces had resulted in the discontinuance of the financial aid to Beethoven. Beethoven had become famous as a pianist and he came to be regarded highly for his improvisations. He found two patrons in Vienna. Prince Karl Lichnowsky invited him regularly for his Friday musicals and provided him with free boarding and lodging for sometime. Later in 1799, Beethoven dedicated his Opus 13, Piano Sonata No.8 "Pathétique" to him. He had a more enthusiastic patron in Prince Lobkowitz, himself a great violinist. In spite of quarrels, their relationship lasted lifelong.

Beethoven went on concert tours to Berlin and Prague during the next three years. His plans for further tours had to be cancelled when Napoleon's army neared Vienna in 1797. Beethoven contributed to the war effort by composing music for a war song Ein grosses deutsches Volk sind wir. The French army overran Vienna. But since Beethoven had Republican sympathies, he admired Napoleon. He had no qualms about attending the French ambassador General Bernadotte's receptions. Beethoven presented his two major piano concerti, the Septet and the First Symphony in 1800, and the Moonlight Sonata in 1801.

Deafness: Heiligenstadt Testament

Beethoven began realizing even before 1800 that he was gradually becoming deaf. For a musician there could not be a greater calamity. He couldn't muster enough strength to disclose this to the public. He became very irritable and stopped going to social functions. He first revealed his affliction to his close friends Franz Gerhard Wegeler and Carl Amanda in 1801. But Beethoven had not given up hope. He went to Heiligenstadt, a small village near Gottingen, whose sulfur baths were believed to have medicinal properties. One day he saw a shepherd playing a pipe but he could not hear anything. It was then that the severity and finality of his disorder struck him. He realized that he could hear only the louder sounds of an orchestra. On October 6, 1802, he wrote the Heiligenstadt Testament.

Beethoven addressed the Heiligenstadt Testament to his brothers "to be read and executed after his death". But he never sent it to them, and it was discovered among his papers only after his death. The document shows how much he suffered in silence on knowing of the irreversible and progressive nature of his deafness. The loss of hearing implied he would neither be able to enjoy music nor revel in simple human company. The testament shows the strength of character of the man who faced the grim reality.