In December 1770, Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany. His true birth date is unknown. ¹⁾

Beethoven's father, a failing singer, pressed his own expectations on his son by forcing him to rehearse for hours on end every day. In fact, when he played the erroneous notes, his father would frequently beat him. ²⁾

Beethoven had to drop out of school at the age of 11 to help support his family. As a result, he never learned to multiply or divide. ³⁾

Beethoven learned to play the violin as a child and preferred musical improvisation over playing from a score. “I can't tolerate it - scratch by note, else your scratching won't amount to anything!” his father once stated. ⁴⁾

Beethoven had six siblings, four of whom died before he was born. ⁵⁾

Beethoven's father was an alcoholic, a condition Beethoven subsequently inherited. ⁶⁾

Beethoven's first piece was published when he was 12 years old, which is impressive. ⁷⁾

Following Mozart's death in 1791, the Viennese Count Waldstein promised the young Beethoven that if he studied hard enough, he would get “Mozart's soul Through Haydn's hands”. ⁸⁾

Beethoven kept a diary of his everyday activities in Vienna beginning in 1792, providing us with insights into his daily life, from choosing a new wig-maker to locating a location to buy a piano. ⁹⁾

Beethoven, unfortunately, was prone to illness and spent the majority of his life afflicted with colitis, rheumatism, rheumatic fever, typhus, skin disorders, abscesses, a series of infections, ophthalmia, inflammatory degeneration of the arteries, jaundice, chronic hepatitis, and cirrhosis of the liver. ¹⁰⁾

When Beethoven arrived to Vienna in his early twenties, he studied with Joseph Haydn, another important and influential composer. ¹¹⁾

Beethoven despised providing piano lessons unless his students were attractive women or exceptionally gifted. ¹²⁾

By 1793, at the age of 22, Beethoven was frequently playing the piano in the salons of the Viennese nobility, swiftly establishing himself as a piano virtuoso, performing preludes and fugues from Bach's Well Tempered Clavier. ¹³⁾