Beethoven, Ludwig van, 1770-1827

German composer and pianist Beethoven is widely considered to be one of the world’s greatest musical geniuses of all time. His music ranks amongst the most performed of the classical repertoire and he remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music. His innovative compositions combine vocals and instruments, widening the scope of sonata, symphony, concerto and quartet. He is the crucial transitional figure connecting the Classical and Romantic ages of Western music.
Beethoven’s work is divided into early, middle, and late periods. In the early period he forged his craft. His middle period, sometimes characterized as heroic, shows an individual development from the "classical" styles of Hayden and Mozart. During that period, despite becoming increasingly deaf, he composed an opera, six symphonies, four solo concerti, five string quartets, six-string sonatas, seven piano sonatas, five sets of piano variations, four overtures, four trios, two sextets and 72 songs. In terms of the astonishing output of superlatively complex, original and beautiful music, this period in Beethoven's life is unrivaled by any of any other composer in history.
In his late period he extended his innovations in musical form and expression. His Ninth Symphony, one of the first examples of a choral symphony was written in his last years, and his late string quartets of 1825–26 are amongst his final achievements.
Beethoven raised instrumental music to the highest plane of art. His most notable innovation in the symphony and quartet is the replacement of the minuet by the more dynamic scherzo; he enriched both the orchestra and the quartet with a new range of sonority and variety of texture, and their forms are often greatly expanded. With the concerto, his formal innovations were equally influential, as with the entry of a solo instrument before an orchestral ritornello in the Fourth and Fifth piano concerti.
After some months of bedridden illness Beethoven died in 1827.