Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven; baptised 17 December 1770 – 26 March 1827) was a German composer. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential of all composers. His best-known compositions include 9 symphonies, 5 piano concertos, 1 violin concerto, 32 piano sonatas, 16 string quartets, his great Mass the Missa solemnis and an opera, Fidelio...
NationalityGerman
ProfessionComposer
Date of Birth16 December 1770
CityBonn, Germany
CountryGermany
Recommend virtue to your children, that alone - not wealth - can give happiness. It upholds in adversity and the thought of it and my art prevents me from putting an end to my life.
Oh, how beautiful it is to be alive - would that I could live a thousand times
Oh you men who think or say that I am malevolent, stubborn, or misanthropic, how greatly do you wrong me. You do not know the secret cause which makes me seem that way to you. Oh how harshly was I flung back by the doubly sad experience of my bad hearing.
Of all my children, this is the one that cost me the worst birth-pangs and brought me the most sorrow; and for that reason it is the one most dear to me.
Handel, to him I bow the knee.
The world is a king, and like a king, desires flattery in return for favor; but true art is selfish and perverse — it will not submit to the mold of flattery.
The barriers are not erected which can say to aspiring talents and industry, 'Thus far and no farther.'
Strange, I feel as if up to now I had written no more than a few notes.
Everything should be at once surprising and inevitable.
To do good whenever one can, to love liberty above all else, never to deny the truth, even though it be before the throne.
I liked your opera. I think I will set it to music.
What I have in my heart and soul - must find a way out. That's the reason for music.
Art demands of us that we shall not stand still.
It is my belief one should not belittle the artist; while, however glorious his fame may seem, his time on Mount Olympus as an honourable guest of Zeus is short. It's a pity, but all too eager will the common folk drag him from this etherial heights to the low and trodden earth.