Ludwig Van Beethoven, (1770-1827)

one of the greatest of musicains was born on Dec. 16, 1770, in Bonn-on-the-Rhine, Germany. His father, a tenor singer in the village choir, was very cruel and used to beat the boy sometimes when he did not practise. His mother was kind and patient. Her death, when he was 17 years old, brought him sorrow which he never seemed to forget. When still a boy, he was made assistant organist in the cathedral a position which he held until 1792. He also played second viola in the theatre orchestra. One day when he was on a visit to Vienna, he met Mozart who was so impressed with beethoven's playing that he exclaimed: "He will give the world something worth listening to."

DID YOU KNOW?

When he composed his 9th symphony, Beethoven was completefly deaf!!! That was when he was at the age of 30....

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Johann Sebastian Bach,(1685-1750)

the greatest of all the masters of music, came of a musical family whose ancestors for nearly 200 years had been noted among the townspeople of Eisenach, Germany. The story is told that his great-great grandfather, a very jovial miller, used to sit in the door of his mill and sing and play his zither while the mill-wheel went 'round and 'round grinding the grain. AT the age of ten, Johann's father died and he went to live his brother, also a musician. As it was difficult to get music in those days, young Bach used to copy his brother's music by moonlight. At the age of 18, he often walked for miles, without food, en route to Hamburg where he could listen to concerts. Toward the end of his life, Bach was a great favourite among the princes and kings. Nothing gave him as much pleasure as having his many children and relations assembled in the Bach home and play music.

DID YOU KNOW?

Bach in Germany means 'little stream'. Beethoven said that he shouldn't have been called Bach, for he is very important during that time., Just like a BIG river

Frédéric François Chopin, (1810-1849)

was born in a village 6 miles from Warsaw, Poland. His father, a frenchman who had come from Nancy, was a captain in the National Guard. He conducted a private school for the sons of the Polish nobility where Fédéric received his early education. His mother, for whom he enterntained profound love, was pure Polish. She encouraged him at an early age to study music and he advanced so rapidly that, at the age of nine years, he played a concerto at a public concert. AFter the concert he seems to have been more concerned about his new collar than the effect his brilliant playing made on the audience for he remarked to his mother "Everybody was looking at my collar." In 1831, Chopin went to Paris to make his home. It was there, in the drawing rooms of the French aristocracy, that he fascinated his hearers with what wonderful playing which earned him the name, The Poet of the Piano. He was never robust about health and during the last years of his life his frail body broke under the strain of his concerts, teaching and social activities. He died in Paris at the age of 39.