Ludwig Van Beethoven

By: Ben Wang, Ben K, and Senthan

Biography

Beethoven was born in December of 1770 in Bonn, Germany. Ludwig was

employed as a bass singer at the court of Clemens August, Archbishop-Elector
of Cologne, eventually rising to become, in 1761, music director and hence a
pre-eminent musician in Bonn. The portrait he commissioned of himself
towards the end of his life remained displayed in his grandson's rooms as a
talisman of his musical heritage. His inspiration for composing music came
from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Beethoven held Mozart in high regard; some
of his music recalls Mozart's, he composed several variations on Mozart's
themes and he modeled a number of his compositions on those of the older
composer.
Impact

Back in Beethoven’s day, vocal pieces were cherished far

more than instrumental pieces. Beethoven’s goal was to
write better instrumental music to show that it was just as
good as vocal music, and he succeeded. Beethoven made a
big impact on the musical community and future composers
by introducing new ideas and ways of expressing music that
were different from what other composers were doing.
Beethoven’s music touched his audiences emotionally and
made them have a higher regard of instrumental music.
Representational Piece

One of Beethoven's most representational

pieces was the Moonlight Sonata. It was the
byname of Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp
Minor, Op. 27, No. 2: Sonata quasi una
fantasia. This work by Beethoven was meant to
be a piano solo and was composed in 1801 and
published a year after. The sonata wasn’t
popularized until 1830 which is 3 years after
Beethoven's death. Beethoven dedicated this
work to his 16 year old aristocrat student
named Countess Giulietta Guicciardi.
Moonlight Sonata Link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Tr0otuiQuU&ab_channel=andrearomano