This composer was a revolutionary, breaking the rules, stretching musical forms to unleash emotion, and catapulting the Classical Era into the Romantic.
Beethoven’s music is all the more amazing because he wroteso much of it when he was almost or totally deaf. At the end of the premiere of the Ninth Symphony, the composer had to be turned around to see the ovation he could not hear.
Despite his legendary irascibility, Beethoven had a devoted circle of friends who even competed with each other to help him cope with life. Here's one of his closest confidantes and assistant, Ferdinand Ries.
More than 11 billion miles away from Earth, the Voyager spacecraft is carrying a gold vinyl record containing two pieces by Beethoven, among other works. So, presumably, any passing aliens will get the impression that we're a planet of deaf, grumpy geniuses.
