Discover more about perhaps the most famous of all composers—Ludwig van Beethoven! What brought him such fame? And why does his music still speak so strongly to us today?

Beethoven would be surprised to know how he is regarded today. He came of age at the end of an era we call the Enlightenment, dominated by the musical style of composers like Mozart and Haydn. But his musical ideas belonged to a new era, one marked by the French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon.

The 19th century brought in the “Age of Individualism”—a period when artistic genius began to be regarded as something extraordinary, even supernatural. But it was only after Beethoven’s death in 1827 that the magnificence of his music would be fully recognized, and he would be embraced as the personification of the Romantic ideal of creativity.

How did his deafness affect his work as a composer? Cut off from normal interactions as a working musician, Beethoven had no choice but to withdraw deeply into his inner creative world. As painful as this was, he might not have given us such extraordinary compositions—music that stretched form, harmony, or melody in ways that still astonish us.