Beethoven, Ludwig van
(1770–1827)
Beethoven, Ludwig van (15 December 1770, Bonn; 26 March 1827, Vienna) showed a precocious interest in music, and his father gave him his first lessons on the piano, organ, and violin before entrusting him to Christian Neefe , who taught him the rules of composition. The youth learned quickly and was soon placed in the court orchestra of the elector, who sent him to Vienna to continue his studies with Wolfgang Amdeus Mozart (see eighteenth-century volume for Mozart). The young musician had to…