UNIT 14 LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Ludwig van Beethoven was a musical genius. He composed hundreds of songs in his lifetime. The first four notes of his 5th symphony, bum bum bum bum, are the most famous in the world. These notes are played on a trombone. Beethoven was the first composer to use trombones in a symphony. A symphony is a very complex and beautiful song. Beethoven wrote 9 symphonies in all. He said that he first composed symphonies in his head. He heard the part for every instrument in his mind before he wrote the first note on paper. Beethoven was born in 1770 in Bonn, Germany. His birthday was probably in December. Nobody is sure. He gave his first public performance at age 7. He wrote his first composition before he was 12. Sadly, at the age of 28, he started to go deaf. But he continued to compose music and to lead the orchestra. He never got married. After his death in 1827, friends found love letters that he had written to someone he called Immortal Beloved. To be immortal means to live forever. Beloved is a way of saying you love someone. His lover's name still remains a mystery. For these reasons and because of his wonderful music, he is remembered as a remarkable man in history. Perhaps no other composer has had such a large effect on the history of Western music as Beethoven.