Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 to 1827)

Beethoven was 12 years old, his father had ruined the family to such an extent that Ludwig had to help earn money. First as an assistant to his teacher, the court organist Christian Gottlob Neefe, then as an assistant organist to the Elector with a monthly salary of 150 gulden.

In 1787, the adolescent was sent to Vienna to be taught by Mozart. After only two weeks, however, this came to an end, as Beethoven's mother fell ill and died a few weeks later. He had to return to the family and take over responsibility there, as his father sank into alcoholism. Mozart predicted a great future for him, but at first it didn't look like it.

The extraordinary talent of Beethoven attracted the attention of the Austrian composer Joseph Haydn. He invited him to Vienna in 1792 and so he turned his back on Bonn forever. Haydn taught Beethoven for more than a year. He also made the acquaintance of a wealthy widow there, whose children he taught and who introduced him to influential people. After Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died in 1791, Vienna was in search of a new star. Beethoven quickly became such a famous musician, and people were willing to pay whatever he asked for his compositions, his publications, and his lessons.

When Bonn was occupied by the French (Napoleon) in 1794, the payments from the Elector failed. Therefore, Beethoven became an independent musician in Vienna.  He was warmly received in the music-loving aristocratic circles of the city, and he established friendly relations with many influential personalities. Beethoven made a name for himself as a piano player and as an improviser, but he soon published important compositions.

From 1803 he composed a series of his most famous works. The "Third" Symphony, the "Eroica" up to the "Eighth". At that time he was undisputedly the most important composer of his time and earned more than any other artist of his time.  But now his problems with hearing began. All the doctors he consulted made different diagnoses but concluded that sooner or later he would become deaf.  

For Beethoven, this was a traumatic experience that drove him to the brink of suicide. He became sullen and suspicious, more and more prone to outbursts of anger and increasingly withdrew from his fellow human beings. Beethoven often had to deal with his publishers, who constantly wanted to cut his fees. His poor health also made him depressed and very impulsive.

Contact with his family in Bonn never broke off. In 1815, his brother Caspar died. He had given the guardianship of his 9-year-old son Karl to his wife Johanna and Beethoven. Beethoven, who did not like Johanna, tried to withdraw her guardianship. After a three-year legal battle, Johanna's guardianship was indeed annulled. But Beethoven, who was alternately very strict and then again very lenient and was not suitable as a guardian. Karl suffered from this, went off the rails and finally attempted suicide.

Although Beethoven earned excellently, he lived in a shabby house in Heiligenstadt near Vienna. Because of his deafness he withdrew more and more. It was tragic: he conducted his own works but could no longer hear the applause. He did not need an instrument to compose, because he had the melodies in his head. He was a perfectionist and therefore often delivered his compositions too late. This was also the case with a mass for the enthronement of the hereditary bishop of Ölmütz in 1820, which was not finished until 1823.

He completed his last work, a string quartet, in 1826, and died on March 26, 1827, probably of cirrhosis of the liver. On the day of his funeral, the schools in Vienna remained closed. 20,000 people gave him his last respects.