Curious facts about Beethoven

Beethoven was one of the greatest composers ever known in the history of music. His full name was Ludwig van Beethoven and in addition to being a composer he was a conductor and a wonderful pianist. Did you know that before composing music he immersed his head in cold water? We tell you all the curiosities about the life of beethoven.

The birth of a star

Ludwig van Beethoven He was born in the city of Bonn, Germany on December 16, 1770. His father was a well-known tenor but alcohol did not allow him to succeed even though he noticed that his son had very notable qualities.

His childhood was somewhat disordered and with several illnesses, which did not prevent him from offering his first concert in the city of Cologne at the age of eight. At that age he traveled to Vienna to play for Mozarthis great musical idol and settled in the Austrian capital where he met the great masters HaydnSalieri and Albrechtsberger.

Beethoven Curiosities
  • Before composing, he immersed his head in cold water in order to gain musical inspiration.
  • In 1796 the first symptoms of deafness began at the time when his fame grew, which would be total from 1819. His great love was Julieta Guicciardi, a countess of only 16 years, who was his student and to whom he dedicated the sonata «Moonlight«.
  • The Nazis used the 5th. Symphony in the Second World War as a form of code in war transmissions. His first musical notes were equivalent in Morse code to the letter «V» for victory.
  • Beethoven used to walk down the street with disheveled and old clothes, disheveled hair and screaming the melodies since it could not be heard.
  • At the premiere of the 9th. Symphony, Beethoven was totally deaf. It is even said that once the concert was over he thought that the musicians They had interrupted their task for some reason, when he turned around he saw the entire room applauding on their feet.
  • He was also a nature lover to such an extent that a phrase of his became well known: «I prefer trees a thousand times to any person.» In The Pastoral (6th Symphony) masterfully translates nature through the sounds of the orchestra.