Beethoven, Ludwig van

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German composer. His mastery of musical expression in every type of music made him the dominant influence on 19th-century music. Beethoven's repertoire includes concert overtures; the opera Fidelio (1805, revised 1806 and 1814); 5 piano concertos and 1 for violin; 32 piano sonatas, including the Moonlight (1801) and Appassionata (1804–05); 17 string quartets; the Mass in D (Missa solemnis) (1819–22); and 9 symphonies, as well as many youthful works. He usually played his own piano pieces and conducted his orchestral works until he became deaf in 1801; nevertheless he continued to compose.

Beethoven was born in Bonn. His family were musicians in the service of the Elector of Cologne. He became deputy organist at the court of the Elector of Cologne when he was 13; later he studied under Joseph Haydn, who influenced his early work. From 1808 he received a small allowance from aristocratic patrons.

Beethoven's career spanned the change from Classicism to Romanticism, and he himself contributed to this change through his expansion of classical form, harmony, and thematic development. He was aware of the problems his music created for listeners and performers alike (part of the slow movement of the Choral Symphony had to be cut at its premiere), but although audiences of the day found his visionary late music difficult, Beethoven's reputation was well established throughout Europe. His best-known symphonies are the Third (Eroica) (1803), originally intended to be dedicated to Napoleon, with whom Beethoven became disillusioned, the Fifth (1807–08), the Sixth (Pastoral) (1808), and the Ninth (Choral) (1817–24), which includes the passage from Johann Schiller's ‘Ode to Joy’ chosen as the anthem of Europe.

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