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⁾

During a retreat to Heiligenstadt outside of Vienna in 1802 during a period of sorrow, Beethoven wrote, “I would have terminated my life - it was only my work that kept me back.” Oh, it seemed impossible for me to leave the world until I had brought forth everything that I felt was inside me.“ The Heiligenstadt Testament, as it is currently called, was published in 1828. ¹⁴⁾

Beethoven's early phase is thought to have concluded in 1802, following the Heiligenstadt Testament, and includes his first and second symphonies, a series of six string quartets, piano concertos no. 1 and 2, and perhaps a dozen piano sonatas, including the 'Pathétique' sonata. ¹⁵⁾

Like anything else in the musician-life, composer's there are several hypotheses as to why he went deaf. The widely accepted explanation is that he became deaf as a result of experiencing smallpox and typhus sickness as a child. Beethoven, on the other hand, stated in a letter that falling over as a toddler caused delayed, irreversible impairment to his hearing. ¹⁶⁾

For the film Saturday Night Fever, Walter Murphy created a disco version of the tune titled “A Fifth of Beethoven.” In the film, the 'fifth' in the title referred to a whiskey bottle sold with a fifth gallon. ¹⁷⁾

Despite his distrust of authority, Beethoven admired Napoleon Bonaparte. During the French Revolution, he looked up to him as someone who embodied the ideas of an anti-monarchical and democratic government. Beethoven admired Bonaparte so much that he wrote the Eroica, or Third Symphony, for him in the beginning.¹⁸⁾

When Beethoven knew he would never be able to hear again, he penned the Heiligenstadt Testament. The series of letters, written in 1802, was sent to Beethoven's younger brothers, and discussed the musician's acceptance of his affliction as well as his ambition to overcome it. Unfortunately, he never got the chance to mail it to his brothers, and the letter was discovered in his study after he died. ¹⁹⁾

He continued to make music, with his pals frequently dropping over to express their support. Until his death in 1827, they connected via writing in conversation books. ²⁰⁾