Beethoven (German Composer)

(1770 - 1827)

Beethoven is often considered to have been the last classical and the first romantic composer. Troubled by failling hearing from about 30, he nevertheless produced his greater string quartets after he became totally deaf at 45.Beethoven developed the sonatas and symphony from the point reached by Haydn and Mozart, expanding their scale and intensifying their emotional content. He greatly widened the range of expression of the piano and the orchestra, demanding in such works as his 9th symphony for larger forces than had ever used before. This symphony broke new ground in having a choral finale. In his work, a steady progression can be traced from the style he inheritated from his immediate predeccessors toward the romanticism oh his successors.

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