Ludwig van Beethoven

Baptized in Bonn. Exact birth date unknown. His father Johann is a court musician and alcoholic who beats him into practicing the piano, sometimes dragging him out of bed in the middle of the night. Johann tries to market him as a child prodigy like Mozart, lying about his age to make him seem younger. It doesn't work.

Moves to Vienna at 21 to study with Haydn. Quickly builds a reputation as the fiercest pianist anyone has heard. His playing is wild, aggressive, nothing like Mozart's elegance. Aristocrats compete to sponsor him. He has terrible manners and doesn't care. He tells one patron: "There are many princes. There is only one Beethoven."

Writes the Heiligenstadt Testament, a letter to his brothers describing his despair over his worsening deafness. "I was on the point of putting an end to my life. Only art held me back." He never sends it. It's found in his desk after his death. He's 31 and already having trouble hearing conversations.

Premieres the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies on the same evening in Vienna. The concert is four hours long. The theater is freezing. The orchestra barely rehearsed. The audience is exhausted. It doesn't matter. The opening four notes of the Fifth become the most recognized phrase in Western music. Da-da-da-DUM.

Conducts the premiere of the Ninth Symphony in Vienna. He's almost completely deaf. At the end, the audience erupts but he can't hear them. The contralto soloist turns him around to face the crowd so he can see the applause. Five standing ovations. The police ask the audience to stop because only the emperor gets more than three.

Dies in Vienna at 56. His liver is destroyed, possibly by lead poisoning from his wine. An estimated 20,000 people attend his funeral procession. Schubert is a torchbearer. On his deathbed, during a thunderstorm, he reportedly raises his fist to the sky. His last words may have been about a case of wine that arrived too late.