Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn on December 16th, 1770, and baptized on December 17th. He grew up in a musical family, as his father Johann and grandfather Ludwig, after whom he was named, were professional musicians at the Court of the Elector of Cologne. Beethoven moved to Vienna at the age of 21 and made the great cosmopolitan city his base for the rest of his life. It was there he died on March 26, 1827. In this time, Beethoven revolutionized the music world with such great works as the Eroica Symphony, the Razumovsky String Quartets, the Kreutzer Sonata, the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies, his opera Fidelio, the Hammerklavier Sonata, the Missa Solemnis, the Diabelli Variations, the Ninth Symphony, and the Grosse Fuge string quartet, among many others. His deep belief in the ideals of liberty, fraternity and equality, inspired by the Enlightenment and French Revolution, guided his concept of art, human and social progress. For this reason, his music speaks to all of humanity in our own century, and is the reason we celebrate his birthday with such enthusiasm in 2020.
To learn more about Beethoven, we recommend the following websites and resources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_van_Beethoven
More to come soon!