German composer born in Bonn in 1770…

German composer born in Bonn in 1770, who settled in Vienna and studied briefly with Haydn. Creeping deafness drove him to write a despairing letter to his brothers at Heiligenstadt, yet he kept composing, using conversation books once talk failed. His output holds nine symphonies, thirty-two piano sonatas, a single opera called Fidelio and five sonatas for cello. The choral finale of his last symphony sets Schiller's Ode to Joy.

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