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For someone who was destined to be lionized by the
aristocracy of
his time, Beethoven's start in life was inauspicious. He was
born in
Bonn on 17 December 1770, the son of an obscure tenor singer in
the
employ of the Elector of Cologne. His father was said to be a
violent
and intemperate man, who returned home late at
night much worse for drink and dragged young Ludwig from his bed
in order
to "beat" music lessons into the boy's sleepy head. There are
also
stories of his father forcing him to play his violin for the
amusement of
his drinking cronies. Despite these and other abuses - which
might well
of persuaded as lesser person to loathe the subject - the young
Beethoven developed a sensitivity and vision for music.
When, despite his father's brutal teaching methods, Ludwig
began to
show signs of promise, other teachers were called in. By the age
of
seven he was advanced enough to appear in public. A year or so
later
the composer Christian Gottlob Neefe took over his musical
training and
progress thereafter was rapid. Ch. G. Neefe introduced Beethoven
to the
works of Bach and Mozart. Beethoven must have felt immense pride
when
his Nine Variations for piano in C minor were published, and was
listed
later in a prominent Leipzig catalogue as the work of 'Louis van
Betthoven (sic), aged ten'. (The former is an intentional
misspelling)
In 1787, Beethoven went to Vienna, a noted musical center,
where
then Count Waldstein engaged Beethoven was piano teacher and
became his
friend and patron. Beethoven must have felt a little out of his
depth
for he was clumsy and stocky; his manners were loutish, his
black hair
unruly and he habitually wore an expression of surliness on his
swarthy
face. It was here that Beethoven met the great Mozart, who was
dapper
and sophisticated. He received the boy doubtfully, but once
Beethoven
started playing the piano his talent was evident. "Watch this
lad,"
Mozart reported. "Some day he will force the world to talk about
him."
The death of Beethoven's mother in the summer of 1787 brought
him
back to Bonn.
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