Beethoven, Ludwig van ___ 1770-1827 ___ German ___ composer

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany, into a musical family. His father, a musician at the electoral court, taught him at home, but he also received instruction from, and was employed by, Christian Gottlob Neefe. His father developed into alcoholic, and so, for a while after his mother died when he was 17, he supported his brothers. In 1792, he moved to Vienna where he studied with Joseph Haydn and others, and where he established a reputation, first as a piano player, and then as a composer. Unlike other musicians who relied on the church or the royal court for an income, he pursued an independent path, making a living through public performances, sales of his music, and grants from patrons. Nevertheless, he often had financial problems. He was also often beset with emotional difficulties, and never married. During the so-called early period he composed his first and second symphonies, his first two piano concertos, as well as string quarters and piano sonatas, including the famous 'Pathétique'. During a middle period, when he began to go deaf, he composed heroic works, not least six symphonies and his last three piano concertos. Beethoven's ninth symphony and his last string quartets and piano sonatas were written in the so-called later period, which lasted from 1816 to 1826. Beethoven was not a committed diarist, and there are only fragments included in 'Letters, Journals and Conversations' which was first published in the early 1950s.
A biography link
Wikipedia bio

DIARY DATES, CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
1795-1818 ___ music n/a

WEB TEXT LINKS
a bit about
a bit about
a couple of short quotes

ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT LINKS
 

SOME PUBLISHED TITLES
Beethoven: Letters, Journals and Conversations
 

May 2005, September 2008
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IMPORTANT NOTES AND CAUTIONS: 1) The first line of basic information may be incomplete in several ways: some historical figures have different names (titles, pen-names); their birth and death dates may be unknown or uncertain (g - guess, c - circa); similarly, their occupations may be unknown, or they may have had other jobs; and, for early diarists, I've used 'British' a bit too freely. 2) The biographical summary may not be accurate. It was compiled quickly from various sources, mostly on the internet, and the facts were not checked anywhere near as rigorously as they would have been if they'd been intended for publication in a printed form. 3) The journal dates and descriptors (which are in no particular order) must be treated with caution: since I have not examined the diaries myself, the descriptors are only guesses based on bibliographies, anthologies and internet biographies. 4) For the biography and etext links, I have ignored any sites with charges, and I have avoided, wherever possible, those with pop-ups or too much advertising. I have limited myself to providing three etext links where there is some variety between them. 5) For the original manuscript links, I have limited myself to providing a maximum of two (although, for a few diarists, their original diaries are held in more than two places). 6) I have provided the titles - chosen randomly - for up to three printed editions of the diaries.