Ludwig van Beethoven: Part I

Ludwig van Beethoven, 1820

It was a time of revolutions. In America, the colonists fought their way to freedom from British rule after declaring independence in 1776, and then electing George Washington as the new nation’s first president in 1789. In France, the people rose up against their monarchy, igniting a revolution of their own that same year. Similar happenings took place around the world.

It was also a time of the Enlightenment — an age of reason and science, of daring ideas and of challenging long-held norms. A revolution in its own right.

All these changes created chaos and uncertainty on the one hand. Yet on the other hand, it was a period of extraordinary societal growth, of new ways of seeing the world, governance, and humanity itself.

Ludwig van Beethoven was born into this age, raised amidst its shifting values, shaped by the new mindset that believed in freedom, individuality, and human thought; he would carry its restless spirit with him. And with his fiery personality, fierce demeanor, and unwillingness to give up, even when facing immense difficulties, Beethoven would challenge the traditions that had made up classical music and redefine the genre. He would also inspire with his music, carrying a spirit of honesty and a call to live with greater courage and compassion. Through it all, he left behind an immortal legacy in his work.

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Beethoven was born sometime mid-December, 1770, in the small city of Bonn on the banks of the Rhine River in the province of Cologne, in what is now Germany. He was the second of seven children born to a dour, alcoholic father and a sweet and loving, but meek mother. Beethoven would say about his mother shortly after she passed away in later years: "She was indeed a kind mother to me, and my best friend."