The eldest son of a singer in the Kapelle of the Archbishop-Elector of Cologne and grandson of the Archbishop's Kapellmeister, Beethoven settled in Vienna in 1792, where he studied with Joseph Haydn and others, quickly establishing himself as a remarkable keyboard-player and original composer.



By 1815 he realised he was losing his hearing and had to give up concert work.



His deafness accentuated existing eccentricities in his character and gave him the reputation of misanthropist, but he was nevertheless patiently tolerated by a number of rich patrons and his royal pupil the Archduke Rudolph.



The length and complexity of Beethoven’s compositions as he explored new fields of music made heavy demands on his listeners and his works often sounded strange to the ears of his contempories.



His significance in music history was immense and he had a great influence on later generations of composers.