Klaus Döring's Classical Music/Klaus Döring's Klassische Musik

It’s easy to forget the great composers were ever children – can you imagine Brahms as a young boy, or Tchaikovsky as a toddler? But someone must have told them to eat their greens and dried their tears… 1. Beethoven's mother: Maria Magdalena Keverich Maria Magdalena Keverich was from a well-to-do family of merchants, councillors and senators. After her first husband died, when Maria was just 18, she met Johann van Beethoven. The pair went on to marry and had three children who survived into adulthood – including the great composer, Ludwig van Beethoven. 2. Mahler's mother: Marie Herrmann Mahler Marie Herrmann was the daughter of a rich merchant and soap boiler and she married Bernhard Mahler – a man described as having a fiery temper – in 1857. In total the couple had 14 children – one of which was the young Gustav, in 1860 – but eight died in childhood. 3. Liszt's mother: Anna Liszt Liszt's mother, Maria Anna Liszt, worked as a...

... how did he compose? By ClassicFM London Ludwig was still pumping out the masterpieces - even when he was completely deaf. Here's how he did it. "For the last three years my hearing has grown steadily weaker..." - so wrote  Beethoven , aged 30, in a letter to a friend.   The young Beethoven was known as the most important musician since Mozart. By his mid-20s, he had studied with  Haydn  and was celebrated as a brilliant, virtuoso pianist. By the time he turned 30 he had composed a couple of piano concertos, six string quartets, and his first symphony. Everything was looking pretty good for the guy, with the prospect of a long, successful career ahead.  Then, he started to notice a buzzing sound in his ears - and everything was about to change. How old was Beethoven when he started going deaf? Around the age of 26, Beethoven began to hear buzzing and ringing in his ears. In 1800, aged 30, he wrote from Vienna ...