Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven (German: [ˈluːtvɪç fan

ˈbeːtˌhoˑfn̩ ]) was baptized on the 17th of December
1770 and died on the 26th of March 1827. He was
well known as a pianist, a composer and a music
innovator.

Ludwig van Beethoven was the grandson of

Lodewijk van Beethoven—a musician from
Mechelen in the Southern Netherlands. Lodewijk
was a bass singer at the court of the Elector of
Cologne, eventually rising to become a music
director or a so-called “Kapellmeister”. He had one
son—Johann van Beethoven, who is eventually the
father of Ludwig van Beethoven, he worked as a
tenor in the same musical establishment and gave
lessons on the piano and violin to supplement his income.

Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, but there was no authentic record of the date of
his birth. However, in a Roman Catholic service at the Parish of St. Regius on the 17th of
December 1770, there survives the registry of his baptism.

Of the seven children that were born in Johann van Beethoven’s family, only Ludwig van
Beethoven (second youngest), Caspar Anton Carl and Nikolaus Johann (youngest)
survived.

Beethoven’s first music teacher was his father. Tradition has it that Johann van Beethoven
was a rather harsh instructor, he made the child Beethoven “made to stand at the
keyboard, was often in tears”. Beethoven had other teachers as well, like: Gilles van den
Eeden, Tobias Friedrich Pfeiffer, and Franz Rovantini.

It was obvious that Beethoven was talented in music at a young age. His father even
attempted on exploiting him as a child prodigy because of the awarenesss of Leopold
Mozart’s children—Wolfgang and Nannerl.

By the time that Beethoven was 26 (1796), he began to lose his hearing. He suffered from
a severe form of tinnitus—ringing in the ears that made it hard to hear music. The reason
or the cause Beethoven’s deafness is unknown. Some experts say that it was because of his
habit or immersing his head in the cold water in order to stay awake. But later on, the
explanation from Beethoven’s autopsy was that he has a “distended inner ear”.
At the age of 19, Beethoven had already made his earliest masterpiece, which he entitled
“Cantata on the Death of Emperor Joseph II”.
He composed numerous of musical pieces that earned him to be in the title of being a
masterful composer. He composed the “Creatures of Prometheus” in 1801, which was a
wildly popular ballet. He also composed the famous symphonies, such as: “No. 3-8, the
Moonlight Sonata; the Kreutzer violin sonata; and Fidelio, his only opera.

Beethoven even composed a love letter—the “Immortal Beloved”, to a certain woman that
he fell in love with. Though people still don’t know to whom it was for. Candidates are:
Antonie Brentano, Josephine Brunsvik, Julie (“Giulietta”) Guicciardi, therese Malfatti,
Anna-Marie Erdödy, Bettina Brentano and several others.
Franz Joseph Haydn

Franz Joseph Haydn (German: [ˈjoːzɛf ˈhaɪdən]) was

born on the 31st of March 1732 and died on the 31st
of May 1809. Haydn was a prominent and prolific
Austrian composer of the Classical period. He
earned the title “Father of the Symphony” and the
title “Father of the String Quartet” because of his
development of the chamber music—such as the
piano trio. He also gave contribution to the musical
form.

Haydn was the brother of Michael Haydn—who

was a highly regarded composer himself—and
Johann Evangelist Haydn, who is a tenor. Haydn
was also the friend of the famous Mozart and a
teacher of Ludwig van Beethoven.

Joseph Haydn was born in Rohrau, Austria—a village stood on the border with Hungary.
Haydn’s father was Mathias Haydn—a wheelwright who also served as “Marktrichter”,
while Haydn’s mother was Maria, née Koller, who was a cook in the palace of Count
Harrach—the presiding aristocrat of Rohrau. Though none of them knew how to read
music, Mathias was a folk musician, he taught himself on how to play the harp. Haydn’s
childhood family was extremely musical and frequently sang together with their
neighbors.

At the age of 8, he was already enlisted to render a song performance in the choir at St.
Stephen’s Cathedral located in Vienna, Austria, where he also learned how to play the
violin and the keyboard.

Haydn’s job title under the Court Morzin was Kapellmeister—music director. He led the
count’s small orchestra and wrote his first symphonies for this ensemble. Haydn was
married; unfortunately, he was married to the sister of Therese (whom Haydn previously
fallen in love with), Maria Anna Theresia Keller, making their marriage quite unhappy.
Both took as lovers and did not have any children.

Haydn made a living on teaching and playing his violin. While teaching, he was assigned as
the court musician at the palace of the Esterházy family, which supported him financially
for 30 years. He was isolated in this family palace. Even as Haydn stayed and became a
part of the Esterházy family, ha became even more populare outside of the palace and one
of those works were: Paris Symphonies and The Seven Last Words of Christ.

During the time he was at England, he generated new works and those were: The Rider
quartet, The Surprise, Military and the Drumroll and London symphonies.

By the end of 1803, Haydn had declines to the point that he became physically unable to
compose. He suffered from dizziness, unable to concentrate and suffered from painfully
swollen legs. In the past time, the diagnosis was uncertain which was unlikely to identify
the illness, but some suggest that his sickness was arteriosclerosis.

Haydn’s signature on a work of music: di me guiseppe Haydn (“by me Joseph Haydn)

He writes in Italian, the language he often uses professionally.