Ludwig van Beethoven

Born: December 1770 Birthplace: Bonn, Germany Death: 26 March 1827 (cirrhosis of the liver, plus dropsy) Best Known As: The composer of Beethoven's Fifth Mozart aside, Beethoven is the most famous classical composer of the western world. He is remembered for his powerful and stormy compositions, and for continuing to compose and conduct even after he began to go deaf at age 28. The ominous four-note beginning to his Fifth Symphony -- bom bom bom bommmmm -- is one of the most famous moments in all of music. Beethoven never married. After his death his friends found letters to a lover he called "Immortal Beloved," whose identity has never been discovered... Beethoven's precise date of birth is unknown; he was baptized on 17 December 1770, and it is presumed he was born on 16 December.