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Biography For someone who was destined to be famous, Beethoven?s start in life was horrible. Ludwig van Beethoven was born on December 17,1770 in Bonn, Germany, the son of an unpopular tenor singer in the employ of the Elector of Cologne. His father was said to be a violent and intemperate man, who returned home late at night drunk to ?beat? music lessons into the young Beethoven?s head. There are also stories of his father forcing him to play his violin for amusement of his drinking friends. Despite these and other abuses, the young Beethoven developed an interest in music. Despite Beethoven?s father?s brutal teaching methods Ludwig began to show signs of determination, other teachers were called in. By the age of seven he was advanced enough to appear in public. A year or so later the composer Christian Gottlob Neefe took over his musical training and progress, from then on Beethoven?s abilities improved greatly. Ch. G. Neefe introduced Beethoven to the works of Bach and Mozart. I