Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, German, in 1770. Like Mozart, he lived and worked in the city of Vienna, Austria, as a composer, adding to the fame of that city as a world-class center for the arts.

Beethoven’s music is so important that all composers who wrote symphonies – even after Beethoven died – compared their work to his. They believed that he had composed such good music that their compositions could not be as good as his.

Late in his life, Beethoven became deaf, but he still composed music that was among his best work. How could he do this? Even though he could not hear, he could look at the notes on the page and know what they sounded like when played by instruments.