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Beethoven was born in Bonn on December 17, 1770. His father was the tenor singer in the service of the Elector of Cologne. Said to be a violent and unreasonable man, he used to beat Beethoven when he came home drunk. He would make Ludwig feel like he was nothing and worthless. His father would make Beethoven play and if Ludwig was tired then he would just “beat” the music out of him. If he messed up on anything that he played then he would get beaten again by his father. Beethoven’s father Despite his father's fierce teaching methods, Ludwig began to show signs of assurance, and other teachers were called in to instruct him more. By the age of seven Beethoven was advanced enough to appear in public. About a year later Christian Gottlob Neefe took over his musical training and his progress from that day on was speedy. Ch. G. Neefe introduced Beethoven to the works of Bach and Mozart. A while after that his Nine Variations for piano in C minor were published, and was listed later in a prominent Leipzig catalogue as the work of 'Louis van Betthoven (sic), aged ten'. (mispelled in the catalogue) In 1787, Beethoven went to Vienna, a famous musical center, where then Count Waldstein met with Beethoven, and became his piano teacher and his friend and client. . It was here that Beethoven met the great Mozart. He was skeptical about Beethoven, but once Beethoven started playing the piano his talent was obvious. "Watch this lad," Mozart noted. "Some day he will force the world to talk about him." The death of Beethoven's mother in the summer of 1787 brought him back to Bonn.
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