| How composers appear | Bach | Beethoven | Brahms | Corelli |
| Chopin | Delibes | Handel | Haydn | Mendelssohn |
| Mozart | Purcell | Schumann | Tchaikovsky | Vivaldi |
In 1787 he briefly studied with Mozart
in Vienna, and then later in 1790 he moved there permanently. He also studied
with Haydn and Salieri. In Vienna, which
at this time was the most important musical city in Europe, Beethoven rapidly
established himself as a virtuoso pianist. His pianistic supremacy was rarely
challenged. He was admired for his amazing powers of improvisation.
He contributed much to the development of the symphony and other musical forms. He was the first of the great freelancers, in that he did not have paid positions under the patronage of a rich nobleman as did his predecessors Mozart and Bach. He did have some noble patrons, but he was never an employee. These include Count Waldstein in Bonn, to whom some music is dedicated, and Prince Lichnowsky. In 1808 Archduke Rudolph started paying him regularly, but as a patron, not as an employer.
Beethoven started to have hearing difficulties in 1797, at the age of only 27. This made it increasingly difficult to continues as a pianist, and he finally stopped playing publicly in 1815. During his later years he was stone-death, and this put him often into a state of near-suicidal depression. However he kept going impelled by his own creativity as a composer. He wrote "it seemed to me impossible to leave the world until I had brought forth all that I felt was within me'. His deathness made him behave with eccentricity and wildness.
Following on from Haydn and Mozart, Beethoven's style was classical. However, he started to create the romantic style with the Eroica symphony, and this became strongly evident with his 6th Symphony, 'The Pastoral'.
Copyright © 2002-2007 Victor Gomersall. All rights reserved