Beethoven

Beethoven was a German composer and pianist whose work bridged the Classical and Romantic eras and helped redefine the scope of Western art music. He was born December 16, 1770, in Bonn and died March 26, 1827, in Vienna. A central figure in the transition from the 18th-century style to the 19th, his innovations in form, harmony, and expression reshaped the symphony, sonata, and chamber music genres.

Beethoven moved to Vienna in his early twenties, where he studied with notable teachers, including Joseph Haydn, and established himself as a virtuoso pianist and prolific composer. His early works reflect the dominant Classical idiom, but his later music expanded formal possibilities, deepened thematic development, and broadened emotional range.

He began to lose his hearing in his late 20s, and by the 1810s was nearly completely deaf, yet he continued to compose, conduct, and perform. His late works display remarkable psychological breadth and structural innovation, culminating in some of his most influential music.

Notable works include the nine symphonies, with the Eroica (No. 3), No. 5, No. 6, and No. 9 as landmarks; the late string quartets; and influential piano works such as the Moonlight Sonata (No. 14, Op. 27 No. 2) and the Appassionata (No. 23, Op. 57). His only opera, Fidelio, and the choral finale of the Ninth Symphony, which sets Friedrich Schiller’s Ode to Joy, are among his defining achievements.

Beethoven’s impact on Western music is profound, influencing generations of composers and reshaping ideas about form, development, and expressive potential. He remains widely regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western art music.