A Very Brief Biography of Bethoven - 2069 Words

{Quote about Beethoven} According to musicologist Berry Cooper, Beethoven was born on December 16, 1770 in Bonn, Germany, where his father was the Kapellmeister. His father, Johann, was a respected tenor, violinist, and teacher of both the clavier and the piano. Although Beethoven is not considered a child prodigy, Beethoven did start music at an early age. Around age three, he would often sit on his father’s lap and play has his father sang, and abandon his playmates to listen to his father perform. Some historians believe that he started taking formal piano lessons at age five, a normal age to start training in piano, from his father. Between the mix of Beethoven natural talent and his father’s pedagogical experience, Beethoven excelled quickly as a piano and violin player. It was said that Beethoven’s father was so intent on Beethoven’s lessons, that he would often bring Beethoven to tears. When he was seven, he made his public debut in Cologne, with two other of his fatherâ⠂¬â„¢s students, where he astounded the audience by the difficulty of music that was played.1 By 1779, his father could no longer teach the young composer and searched for other teachers. After going through many teachers Beethoven found Christian Gottlob Neefe who was the first to allow him to compose. In 1782, his first recorded work was a set of variations on a march by Ernst Christoph Dressler. This was then arranged by Neefe and published. This work, even from such an early age showed many