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!!Biography of Ludwig van Beethoven

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__1712__ The family van Beethoven is of Flemish origin. Beethoven’s grandfather was a choirboy in Mecheln, director

__1733__ Grandfather Beethoven moves to Bonn.

__1740__ Around 1740 Beethoven’s father, Johann van Beethoven, was born in Bonn.

__1770__ December 17th, Ludwig van Beethoven’s baptism in Bonn.

__1778__ His first appearance in an academy concert at Cologne. Beethoven was meant to have similar successes like Mozart as a child prodigy, but his father’s tuition was not very successful and Beethoven’s very nature was not destined for such a career.

__1782__ Christian Gottlob Neefe (1748 - 1798) becomes his teacher. Beethoven found in him an ideal tutor who taught him piano and music theory with pedagogical insight.

__1787__ First stay in Vienna, which had to be cut short, however, because of his mother’s illness. After her death his father’s alcohol addiction grew worse.
1792	Second journey to Vienna in November. He got instruction from Joseph Haydn, Johann Baptist Schenk ("Österreich-Lexikon") and Antonio Salieri. Two years later French troops occupied the Palatinate in Cologne. This meant that an employment in the Court Chapel was no longer possible for Beethoven and a return to Bonn was out of the question.

__1793__ Beethoven travels to Eisenstadt with Joseph Haydn.

__1798__ His hearing begins to deteriorate.

__1802__ On October 6th Beethoven writes his Heiligenstadt Testament, in which he reveals his mental anguish.

__1804__ Composition of the 3rd symphony ("Eroica").

__1808__ Dezember 22nd: In a great academy the 5th and 6th symphonies are first performed at the Theater an der Wien.

__1809__ On March 1st Archduke Rudolph, Prince Franz Joseph Lobkowitz and Ferdinand Kinsky sign a contract which guarantees Beethoven a life-long pension of 4,000 Gulden (florins). Vienna is besieged by Napoleon’s troops.

__1812__ Composition of the 7th symphony.

__1815__ Concerts at the Congress of Vienna. Death of his brother Karl. He becomes guardian of his nephew.

__1819__ Total deafness. He starts writing down conversations. 137 have been preserved (out of the 400 original ones). They give an insight into Beethoven’s everyday life.

__1824__ First performance of his 9th symphony at the Vienna Kärtnertortheater.

__1827__ Liver cirrhosis, 4 operations. Death on the late afternoon of March 26th.

__On March 29th__ he is buried at the Cemetery of Währing. The funeral is attended by more than 20,000 people. A funeral oration by Grillparzer is read by actor Heinrich Anschütz. 



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