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    Beethoven

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    Key people in Beethoven's music and life

    Taught by Haydn, inspired by Mozart, encouraged by princes, Beethoven's music was shaped by some very influenical and important people

    1. Mozart and Beethoven

      1. Wolfgang Mozart (1756-91)

      From his earliest days as a prodigy in Bonn, Ludwig van Beethoven's great ambition had been to travel to Vienna to meet - and take lessons with - the man he knew was the greatest living composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart...

    2. joseph haydn portrait

      2. Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)

      The young Beethoven - just over a week past his 20th birthday - first met the renowned Joseph Haydn on 26 December 1790 in Bonn, when Haydn and the impresario Johann Peter Salomon stopped off on their way to London where Haydn was to perform...

    3. Hofburg palace, Vienna

      3. Prince Lobkowitz (1772-1816)

      Prince Lobkowitz, a native of Bohemia, was a leading patron of the arts in Vienna - a great music-lover and enthusiastic and capable violinist...

    4. Prince Karl Lichnowsky (1756-1814)

      4. Prince Karl Lichnowsky (1756-1814)

      When Beethoven arrived in Vienna in November 1792, he had a letter of introduction from Count Waldstein to Prince Karl Lichnowsky, one of Vienna's foremost patrons of the arts...

    5. Marie Antoinette

      5. Maximilian Franz (1756 - 1801)

      Brother of Marie Antoinette (pictured), son of the Holy Roman Emperor, as the youngest son of the Imperial royal family Maximilian Franz was dispatched to an outpost of the Empire, Bonn in Germany, seat of the Elector of Cologne and Archbishop of Münster - to both of which titles he was appointed...

    6. Double bass

      6. Domenico Dragonetti (1763 - 1846)

      The Italian Domenico Dragonetti was Europe's greatest - and possibly only - double bass virtuoso. He regularly toured abroad, performing the limited double bass repertoire...

    7. George Bridgetower, patron of Beethoven

      7. George Bridgetower (1779 - 1860)

      George Bridgetower, the celebrated English violin virtuoso, came to Vienna in 1803 and met Beethoven. They played together and Beethoven was impressed...

    8. Kreutzer Sonata, Beethoven

      8. Rudolphe Kreutzer (1766-1831)

      Rudolphe Kreutzer and Beethoven may never have been great friends, but the celebrated violinist clearly made an impression on the composer as he dedicated his greatest Violin Sonata to him... Picture: Getty

    9. Johann von Goethe

      9. Johann von Goethe (1749-1832)

      Beethoven greatly admired German Johann von Goethe's works and set some of the great writer's works to music, including his tragedy, Count Egmont... Picture: PA Photo

    10. Sheet music

      10. Count Oppersdorff (1778 - 1818)

      Count Oppersdorff was a wealthy music-lover with an orchestra of his own, was the money behind Beethoven's Fourth and Fifth Symphonies... Picture: Thinkstock

    11. Beethoven's house, Pasqualatihaus

      11. Baron Pasqualati (1777 - 1830)

      Beethoven rented in wealthy patron of the arts Baron Johann Pasqualati's Vienna apartment for over a decade and wrote many of his most important works within its four walls... Picture: John Suchet

    12. Razumovsky Palace

      12. Prince Razumovsky (1752 - 1836)

      Prince Razumovsky was Russian ambassador in Vienna, as well as great patron of the arts who commissioned three String Quartets, known today as the Razumovsky Quartets, Opus 59... Picture: Getty

    13. Archduke Rudolph (1788-1831)

      13. Archduke Rudolph (1788-1831)

      Archduke Rudolph, youngest son of Emperor Leopold II and youngest brother of Emperor Franz, was Beethoven's greatest patron... Picture: Getty

    14. Daniel Steibelt (1765 - 1823)

      14. Daniel Steibelt (1765 - 1823)

      A native of Berlin, Daniel Steibelt was one of Europe's most renowned piano virtuosos. He was a typical Prussian - formal, correct, proper. In 1800 he came to Vienna, no doubt with the aim of advancing his musical reputation... Picture: Getty

    15. Baron van Swieten

      15. Baron van Swieten (1733 - 1803)

      Baron Gottfried van Swieten was a good friend of Mozart and great patron of the arts who Beethoven dedicated his First Symphony to... Picture: Getty

    16. 19th century Vienna

      16. Count Waldstein (1762 - 1823)

      Count Ferdinand Ernst Gabriel von Waldstein was the young Beethoven's first great patron in Bonn - and his name will live for ever as the dedicatee of Beethoven's Waldstein Sonata opus 53... Picture: Getty

    17. Beethoven and Schubert

      17. Franz Schubert (1797-1828): Beethoven's biggest fan?

      Once a stern critic of German music, Franz Schubert became passionate devotee of Beethoven later in life, so much so that he asked on his deathbed to be buried with his idol...

    Beethoven News

    See more Beethoven News

    Bad Beethoven t-shirt reviews

    Musicians are leaving savage reviews of this incorrect Beethoven Fifth t-shirt

    Discover Music

    Beethoven in 250 words.

    Beethoven at 250: famous figures share what his music means to them, in 250 words

    3-year-old conductor

    This 3-year-old kid conducting to Beethoven’s Fifth is the future of classical music

    Beethoven Music

    See more Beethoven Music

    Beethoven art

    10 works of Beethoven that actually changed the world

    Beethoven Moonlight Sonata

    Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight’ Sonata: discover the 1801 piano masterpiece

    Beethoven - Symphony No. 9 in D minor ('Choral')

    The remarkable story of Beethoven’s ‘Choral’ Symphony No. 9 and the ‘Ode to Joy’

    Beethoven Pictures

    See more Beethoven Pictures

    San Quentin Prison interior

    10 of the greatest composers who broke the law

    Beethoven composer letters

    Letters of the great composers: 14 moving, funny and inspiring quotations from the documents they left behind

    Discover Music

    Anna-Maria Mozart mother

    Famous composers' mothers

    Discover Music

    Beethoven Album Reviews

    See more Beethoven Album Reviews

    new releases 30th july

    New releases: Irnberger and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra play Beethoven and Rachmaninov with Martin Jones

    new releases 1st may

    New releases: Beethoven with the Royal Northern Sinfonia & Lars Vogt and 'Strauss in St Petersburg'

    new releases 10th april

    New releases: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra plays Brahms and Beethoven with the London Philharmonic Orchestra

    Beethoven Guides

    See more Beethoven Guides

    Ludwig van Beethoven and Nannette Streicher

    Meet Nannette Streicher, ‘the woman who built Beethoven’s pianos’

    Ludwig van Beethoven

    So if Beethoven was completely deaf, how did he compose?

    A step-by-step guide to Beethoven’s nine symphonie

    A step-by-step guide to Beethoven’s nine symphonies

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