Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827)

Ludwig van Beethoven expands the forms inherited from Haydn and Mozart, giving them a new emphasis. Born in Bonn in 1770 into a family of musicians, he settled in Vienna in 1792, where he lived until his death in 1827. A pianist and composer, he developed there a language that permanently transformed the history of music.

His works renew the symphony, the sonata, the concerto and the quartet. The Third Symphony, known as the “Eroica”, the Fifth and the Sixth are among the scores most familiar to the public. With the Ninth Symphony, completed in 1824, Beethoven gives the finale an unprecedented dimension by introducing soloists and a choir.

His hearing began to decline before he was thirty and deteriorated to complete deafness. This ordeal did not interrupt his work: several major works belong to his later years. In Beethoven, the concentration of his writing and the power of his invention make each form an intensely human space of expression.