Beethoven’s mother was the reverse of his father; her gentleness, and tender care fell like sunshine upon his hard life. Beethoven's want of self-reliance and carelessness in later years has most unjustly been attributed to his mother's indulgence and care of him, but her gentleness was only a natural outcome of motherly love at the injustice inflicted upon her unhappy boy. Unfortunately she died too early when Beethoven was about seventeen years of age.

The first instrument which the boy in his fifth year began to play was the violin. His father was his teacher, but as the child showed no talent for it, and it became the cause of many a whipping. He made better progress on the piano, when in his eighth year the conductor Pfeiffer undertook his tuition. Beethoven's history was similar to that of little Paganini, he obtained technical proficiency at the cost of his own temperament. In his thirteenth year the Cologne Court Organist van der Eden began his instruction on the organ, and in the theory of harmony and composition; the organist Neefe also continued his studies on the organ.

Owing to the false method of education adopted by his father to attain execution rapidly, the boy, scarcely thirteen years of age, produced six Sonatas for the Piano in 1783, performances which in riper years he rejected and only acknowledged those he had composed from 1795, onwards.

When fifteen years of age, he became assistant organist to the Elector Max Franz, to whom he had dedicated his first sonatas. With his patron (the brother of the Emperor Joseph II), Beethoven went to Vienna, and there made the acquaintance of a passionate lover of music, Count Waldstein, who was so attracted by his pianoforte playing, that he remained his enthusiastic admirer. He induced Beethoven to return to Vienna and become Haydn's pupil.

After Beethoven, in 1792, had made the acquaintance of Joseph Haydn in Godesberg near Bonn on his return from England, the Count, a good pianoforte performer himself, wrote to him thus:

Through Waldstein's influence, the struggling musician gained further patronage, namely that of Prince Lichnowski, Count Rasumowski and others, joined in the course of the next year by Count Brunswick, Baron Gleichenstein and St. von Breuning. Beethoven studied the finest works of Handel and Haydn. The latter attempted to give him some help in the theory of composition, but he is said to have been little adapted for a teacher.

It is a well-known fact, that throughout his whole life, Beethoven was never thoroughly understood and appreciated by his contemporaries, it being reserved for posterity to acknowledge the magnificence of his productions, and to render them their due. Haydn at this time was so biased in his judgment, that he asserted Beethoven would meet with more success as a pianoforte player than as a composer. His misunderstanding of this growing genius strengthened the foundation already laid of Beethoven's embittered nature, the seeds of which, sown in his youth, became continually more noticeable.

Thayer in his unfinished biography of Beethoven makes the following remarks:

“Traits of self-consciousness and even arrogance, faults, which are certainly very common among talented young men who have met with success, and who are far less justified in possessing them than Beethoven was, are unquestionably to be recognized in him. The rather high tone too, which he at times assumed, was an excuse for Haydn's pleasantries. When Beethoven's visits to Haydn became rarer and only followed at longer intervals he used to ask other visitors: "What is our great Mogul doing?"

The same biographer adds another anecdote from Griesinger's memoirs.

When he (Griesinger) was attached in Vienna he once met Beethoven in Prince Lobkowitz's house. At this time they were both young, and Beethoven, except for his pianoforte playing, was but little known. In conversation with another gentleman present, Beethoven remarked that he wished to free himself of all the responsibility attendant upon the disposal of his musical productions, and would like to meet with some person who would pay him a settled income for his life, in return for which the said person should hold the exclusive right of publishing all his compositions, and "I would not be idle" he added. "I believe Goethe does the same with Cotta, and if I am not mistaken Handel’s London publisher made a similar bargain with him."

"My dear young man", replied the other "You must not complain, for you are neither a Goethe nor a Handel, and it is not to be expected you ever will attain to such a height, the world will never again see such genius."

Beethoven bit his lip and was silent.

Lobkowitz sought to re-assure him, and in the conversation which ensued, said to him,  "My dear Beethoven, the gentleman had no intention of hurting your feelings; most men cherish the firm opinion that the present generation are not capable of producing such great talents as those that are gone before."

"So much the worse, Highness" returned Beethoven, "but I will not associate with people who have no faith and confidence in me because I am still unknown to the world in general."

Thus Beethoven even in his earlier years felt that he ranked high in his art.

During the first part of the time in Vienna which he devoted to composing, that is to say until the year 1800, he completed six pianoforte trios, and nine sonatas. The most influential paper then in circulation, the "Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung" published in Leipzig, granted the composer the right to importance but blamed his "harmonious boldness" and "rhythmical extravagances." But all the opposition and admiration which the criticized composer received from his works moved him to no concession, which could be regarded as a deviation from his distinctive character as a musician; he refined his productions gradually, and, but for this one exception, has become an example of immovable constancy; the greater beauty of his later works evinced itself by a better style, and truly gigantic progress in the construction of his harmony, in figurative revision, rhythm, and wealth of ideas, so that in many respects he became an enigma not only to his contemporaries but also to posterity. In the first half, and indeed in the second half of our century, musicians and able conductors had trouble enough in getting Beethoven's works rightly appreciated. What has since been the case, in order to establish a universal musical idea (with Schumann and Wagner) was at all times evident with regard to Beethoven; many musicians neither would nor could penetrate the depths of his innovations, and the unlearned wearied themselves in the attempt. Thus, it was no wonder that the narrow-minded public at the beginning of the nineteenth century was not able to understand what he produced, and objected to placing him on a level with the musicians of the day, Haydn and Mozart, with their gems of harmony and melody and their simple style.

Nevertheless Beethoven withstood the struggle with rigid firmness; he had a strong and influential party, received good remuneration for his compositions—better than Mozart—and without accepting any fixed post received annual salaries, 600 florins from Prince Lichnowski and 4000 from Archduke Rudolph and the Princes Lobkowitz and Kinski, but these he soon lost on account of the unsettled state of politics prevailing at that time and also perhaps on account of his uncouth manners. This personal roughness lay partially in his inclination to democracy, and also in his increasing deafness from the year 1800, which deprived his musical soul of nearly every pleasure. It must also be mentioned that Beethoven's avaricious, inconsiderate and ungrateful relations,—his brothers and nephews, wearied his life out with their begging and intriguing, almost ruining him financially in spite of his good income, so that at times he was incapable of procuring the simplest necessities of life for his own wants. For household affairs he had neither time nor inclination, thus making it easy for others to plunder him.

With regard to Beethoven's political opinions the circumstance connected with the Eroika symphony is proof enough; he is said to have written it in his enthusiastic moments, in honor of Napoleon, but afterwards threw aside his intention of dedicating it to his hero, when Napoleon, throwing off his disguise, became an arrogant tyrant. He also refused a call to Cassel to the Court of the pleasure-loving Hieronymus of Westphalia in the year 1809, preferring to be independent in Vienna. What wonderful power of composition he evinced during this cheerless time, partly in his quiet hermitage at Modling near Vienna, partly in his wanderings through fields and woods in the neighbourhood, producing many symphonies, the Missa Solemnis, numerous Sonatas and Quartets &c. suffering bodily as he did, and leading the life of a poor man. Yet what a depth of enthusiasm for the beautiful and sublime in art must have inspired him, surrounded as he was by so few animating external circumstances, which would not have left a man of ordinary capacity strength enough to perform the most common tasks, yet he was able to execute the greatest works for all time.

His favorite instrument had always been the piano, and the result of this preference was an unsuspected amplification of technical performance extending in all directions, and increasing with the greater importance of his compositions.

As the lyrical melodious style had been the ruling form until his time, it was Beethoven who introduced the dramatic, and in its train a wealth of character, execution, and effect which had never previously been attained. Through him the instrument gained a power and capacity of expression which led to an entirely new epoch of pianoforte playing.

It can be easily imagined that such criticism coming to Beethoven's knowledge would pain him terribly, and that his increasing struggle with the prejudices of narrow-minded and envious people made him, (already rendered morose in his earlier years) still more unsociable and embittered, without even taking into consideration other hardships, his total deafness, bad health, sudden cessation of all tender affections and periods of pecuniary distress. It is also certainly unjust to describe Beethoven as being naturally rough and uncouth; a musician, capable of expressing such tender and lofty musical ideas in so touching and pathetic a manner, must of necessity have possessed delicate feelings himself. A sad chain of circumstances deprived him of almost every thing that in human conception is capable of forming man's happiness; he tried to struggle bravely against misfortune, and in doing so became morose and unsympathetic. The last years of the great musician's life,—now become a model for all posterity— were troubled by painful illness. In addition to the heavy affliction of total deafness, he suffered from dropsy with which he had to contend, and on account of which he underwent an operation. The effects of a severe chill brought on by his habit of wandering over the moor in all sorts of weather and often bare- headed, hastened his death, which occurred on the 26th March 1827. He was deeply regretted by all who knew him personally, or had found delight in his productions. Unlike Mozart's wretched burial, his funeral obsequies were solemnized with all grandeur.

It has often been said in after years of eminent men, who during their, lives have been undervalued or have suffered from envy or rivalry: Ah! if he could return! Of Beethoven this saying constantly recurs: "If he were only amongst us now what triumphs he would achieve!" Indeed united Posterity has for a long time past been engaged in spirit, weaving wreaths of honor for him. Not only has Beethoven's music been appreciated by the upper and more exclusive classes in consequence of their deeper and more cultivated study, but it has forced its way to extended regions. Not confined to larger centers but in much smaller places have those powerful works the "Symphonies" formed the glory and pride of their local concerts.

Every intelligent director now finds himself at ease with those problems which in Beethoven's time were scarcely understood by the most proficient masters. The larger and lay Public accept the solution of those problems with taste and understanding, unwearied by their occasional length and enjoying them with enthusiasm. Players of instrumental parts as also singers have all striven to ensure the understanding and success of their performance, and in that success have been richly compensated for their trouble, whereas seventy or eighly years ago musicians hardly deigned to play those works at all, looking at them with scant courtesy. His violin concerto formerly never found in any program is now recognized as one of the most brilliant pieces for the most perfect players. His later quartets which even 40 years ago were looked upon as "music of the future" are now performed at all chamber-music gatherings and wherever good understanding for classical music exists.

He who can appreciate Beethoven honors himself by the act as he proves thereby what immense progress the cultivation of and interest in genuine classical music has been made.

A still higher acknowledgment of Beethoven's greatness remains to be asserted. Not one of his successors has ever been able to shake the pillar of his glory. Even Richard Wagner never hesitated to acknowledge him as his master. And Beethoven remains that which he was in the second phase of his life: The Master of Masters.