Beethoven left school at the age of eleven and became deputy organist at the electoral chapel in Bonn.He visited Vienna in 1787 and played for Mozart who was impressed with his abilities. On his return to Bonn, he was befriended by Count Waldstein and he provided Beethoven with assistance for another trip to Vienna to study under Haydn. Not the most flexible of students, this was not a success and instead he turned to Salieri. He then made Vienna his permanent home and played his first piano concerto (B flat) in public in 1795. He was very popular and in great demand and during these years produced some of his most enduring works such as the Pathetique Sonata and a number of string quartets. His first symphony was conducted by himself in Vienna in 1800. Beginning to go deaf, Beethoven's music began to change, and during the next 10 years he produced his opera, Fidelio, most of his piano sonatas, his Fourth and Fifth Piano Concertos, and the Violin Concerto. By 1814, Beethoven was forced to give up public performances due to his deafness and became more difficult and irascible. His final Symphony (the 9th, or Choral in D Minor) was produced two years before his death. Beethoven is one of the giants of music and probably was the greatest mind that ever composed. |
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