A Tragic Miracle

When Beethoven published his first symphony in 1800, he was thirty years old. At the same age, Mozart had written about forty symphonies. Ludwig thought that it was not the number of symphonies, but the meaning of the music that counted. He nicknamed this symphony the “Moonlight Sonata”. He named it this because the first movement is reflective and dreamy, although the rest of the piece cheerful and fiery.

This was when things started going wrong. Beethoven was hearing a ringing noise in his ears. He knew what was happening, but didn’t like to admit it. He was going deaf. This problem made him have a very bad temper. He got annoyed with always telling people to speak up and to write what they say. Many doctors tried to give him hearing pipes, but can you imagine just how irritating it would be if you had to hold a long pipe to your ear all day

Beethoven was nearly completely deaf when he almost gave up on playing music. He could hear this beautiful music in his head, but everyone thought that he was a madman because he made weird grunting noises that he heard as a melody. Ludwig made even more beautiful music than before, but, sadly, he couldn’t hear it. This was around the same time that he wrote “Ode To Joy” or his ninth symphony.

Finding Piano

Beethoven did not like being under the command of his father. He decided that he would work with other musicians in the area. Fortunately, Christian Gottlob Neefe was right around the corner. One day, he decided to run off to Neefe’s study. He taught Beethoven everything he knew about musical theory and piano. Ludwig now knew that he would be playing this instrument forever, just like Neefe or Mozart himself.

At age thirteen, Christian declared “This boy is exceptionally gifted. He is like a young Mozart”. These words gave him confidence and honor. In the same year, he was appointed assistant organist at the Elector’s court. Everyone was amazed by this little Mozart. In fact, one time, Mozart himself said “Watch that boy! Some day he is going to make the world take notice of him!”

Born at Bonn

Ludwig Van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany in 1770. Although, people say he was born twice, once in 1768 and once in 1770. The reason people say this is because when he first performed at age eight, his father claimed that he was only six. Beethoven was confused, and it was a childhood mystery of his whether he was six or eight. He figured out that, at the time, he was eight from going through birth certificates and baptism files.
Ludwig’s father, Johann Beethoven was a drunkard. Every night he would come home at late hours of the night, and force young Ludwig to come out of bed and practice his violin. Beethoven loved music and would have kept on playing violin, but he didn’t think that this was his instrument.