Who was Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven was one of the greatest composers of all time. A composer is a writer of original music. He wrote wonderful music even when he was deaf and could not hear anything he wrote. He composed music in every style that was known in his time, and explored new and entirely original forms of composition. He was known as the "great musical liberator" because he made people learn to respect musicians as they did doctors. Beethoven was born in Bonn, the city that is now the capital of the Federal Republic of West Germany, but was then just a little town. His grandfather and his father were musicians, and both became Court Singers.

Before Ludwig was five years old he showed signs of musical talent. At that time Mozart had toured Europe as a child prodigy, earning a great deal of money, and Ludwig's father immediately started to give him music lessons. He was forced to practice long hours, so that he came to dread his music lessons. But his love of music was strong, and he learned many things by himself. When he was only 10 years old, he wandered into the cathedral and begged to be allowed to play on the big organ. The organist was highly impressed by his talent, and began to give him lessons. By the time he was 12 years old, Beethoven was acting as organist, and the next year he became a player in the court orchestra and had published his first work, Variations on a March by Dressier. When Beethoven was 16, he traveled to Vienna to meet Mozart. The great composer predicted a brilliant future for Beethoven, and even found time to give him a few lessons. But after only a few weeks, Beethoven received word that his mother was dying, and he hurried back to Bonn.