Beethoven's Life and Death on Day of His Baptism, December 17th

Ludwig van Beethoven, one of the greatest classical musical composers ever, was baptised on 17 December 1770 and on this day many stop to remember what Beethoven contributed to music.

Beethoven was probably born on December 16th but as there is no record of this, his birth day is often celebrated on December 17th, when there was a record of baptism made. Beethoven played a crucial role in the transition from Classical to the Romantic era of music and composition and is still one of the most influencial musicians today. 

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Beethoven was born in Bonn, but only himself and two younger brothers survived to childhood and the rest of the four children born to his parents, died.

Beethoven first recieved lessons from his father at the piano, and when his talent for music was discovered, Johann, his father tried to exploit his son as the next prodigy, after Mozart. Beethoven had his first public appearance in March 1778, when he was just seven years old.

By March 1783 Beethoven had written his first published composition and then in March 1787 Beethoven traveled to Vienna with the hopes of studying with Mozart. It is not documented if they actually met, but after just two weeks in Vienna, Beethoven learned his mother was ill and she died shortly after he returned home. His father took to drinking more, and Beethoven was forced to stay in Bonn for the next five years and look after his two younger brothers.

He was able to move back to Vienna in 1792 and as he had previously met Joseph Haydn in Bonn, Beethoven made arrangements to study with the musical master. Beethoven's father died shortly after he arrived in Vienna.

Beethoven started working towards perfecting his piano playing, and did not have aspirations to become a composer at first. However, as time went on, he started publishing his compositions and he spent most of 1794 just composing. In 1796 he went on a tour of central Europe, and it was in 1797 when he returned to Vienna he first became aware of hearing issues. It is thought that he had suffered from typhus during the summer and that is what affected his hearing; although it could have been syphilis, lead poisoning or auto-immune disorder. In 1787 he had to abandon his concert entirely because his hearing loss was so great.

It was identified that he suffered from tinnitus, which is an intense ringing in the ears that makes it hard to hear anything else. Beethoven also used to dunk his head in cold water to stay awake, and some say that could have contributed to his hearing loss as well.

When Beethoven died and an autopsy was performed, there were large amounts of lead found in his hair and doctors thought he had lead poisoning.

However, his hearing loss did not stop Beethoven from composing but it made performing almost impossible. He never performed in public again after a failed attempt to perform his Piano Concerto No. 5 in public in 1811.

By 1814, Beethoven was almost totally deaf and he used to use a special rod that he could bite, so that he could feel the vibrations of the piano, even if he couldn't hear the notes. Due to his hearing loss however, his conversation books have been preserved, which was where Beethoven and his friends would write to each other. These books are a insight in to the way Beethoven thought.

Beethoven died on March 26 1827 and had been bedridden for the last few months of his life. His autopsy also revealed significant liver damage, possibly from drinking. His funeral was held on March 29 1827 and 20,000 people lined the streets of Vienna to say their goodbyes. Some visitors to his body before he was buried snipped off locks of his hair and some are still preserved today.