Below are our featured audio selections. 

Ninth Symphony

Missa Solemnis

Fifth Symphony

Moonlight Sonata

Sixth Symphony

Ludwig van Beethoven was born in 1770, and studied music with several great composers -- Mozart and Hayden among them.  When he was still in his teens, Beethoven essentially took over the family mantle from his alcoholic father.

By the age of twenty-eight, Beethoven was confronted with the prospect of impending deafness.  In his famous Heiligenstädter testament -- a heartfelt letter to his brothers -- he revealed his physical and mental condition, and asked for their understanding.  

"Recommend virtue to your children," he counseled near the end of the letter.  "Virtue alone, not money, can make them happy. I speak from experience; this was what upheld me in time of misery. Thanks to it and to my art, I did not end my life by suicide."

"Divine One, who sees my inmost soul," he added as an aside, "you know that in my heart dwells the love of mankind and the desire to do good."

Resembling a blend of idealistic essay, confessional, and last will and testament, the Heiligenstädter letter was never sent.  Beethoven began to overcome his depression, and in the following year wrote his famous Third Symphony (Eroica).

Beethoven was loved and respected in his time, unlike many other composers.  His Missa Solemnis Mass and choral Ninth Symphony, written near the end of his life, are considered among his masterpieces.  A story has it that Beethoven, who wrote and conducted the Ninth Symphony almost completely deaf, had to turn around at the conclusion of the premiere to see his audience's thunderous applause.