Ludwig Van Beethoven vs.

Alea Henry Bell 5

Ludwig Van Beethoven

Beethoven was born in a small town in Germany on December 16th in 1770. He was born into a family of professional musicians. His father and grandfather decided to teach him music right from his childhood. His father took on the job to teach him. His father wanted him to play perfectly. Rumor has it that when Ludwig would mess up his father would beat him. His father and grandfather had a dream of making him a famous musician. He himself was interested in music. However his father would treat him he never let it fade the love and passion he had for music though. Ludwig was later sent to Neefe. Ludwig spent all of his time learning details about music. At the age of 11 Ludwig became the assistant of Neefe. Ludwig learned how to play the violin, piano, and the organ from Neefe too. Ludwig was only 12 when his first musical work was published. He then dropped out of school when he was 13 so he could practice more and perform. In 1787 he went to Vienna to demonstrate his talent and to search for job opportunities. He returned home in Bonn, though when he found out about his mothers illness. In 1792 he finally got to back to Vienna. He learned new things like composition and counterpoint. He even published so of his compositions. From 1800-1813 Beethoven learned high classical music and adopted it into his performances and some of his compositions. With his new style he wrote new symphonies, concerts, and quartets. Beethoven gained a lot of popularity fast. It was a time where he wanted to concentrate on his work and concentrate on making new compositions, but at the time he was suffering from a hearing problem. This problem worsened increasingly fast. The problem with his hearing was reflected in his music. Even his social life was affected by it. At the time everything was pretty much over for Ludwig. He came up with determination that helped him re-enter the music world. He wrote many symphonies, piano and violin concerts, various tones, compositions for orchestras, a couple of operas, a number of famous sonatas, and much much more. Ludwig Proved himself as the greatest of his time. A few years later he went completely deaf. This was the end for him because it was now nearly impossible for him to perform. He stopped creating new stuff and got frustrated. During this period he almost stopped writing new compositions and that was what was giving him money, so he suffered then from economical problems. On March 26th 1827 , he passed away. A couple fact on Beethoven are that he was never married. He began going deaf at the age of 28! More than 20,000 people attended his funeral. Some of his most famous pieces are, Fur Elise, Symphony no.9 in D minor, and piano sonata no. 14 in C sharp.

John Williams

The great John Williams was born on February 8th 1932 in New York. His career expands five decades. He¶s Americas most accomplished and successful composer. He has served as a music director and laureate conductor for the Boston Pops orchestra. He has composed music and served as a music director for more than 100 films. His 35-year partnership with Steven Spielberg has resulted in successful films such as, , Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, Saving Private Ryan, Catch me if you can, E.T The Extra-Terrestrial, ect. He also composed the music for all six movies, the first three Harry Potter films, Superman, JFK, Home alone, Sabrina, and many more. He has worked with legendary directors such as Alfred Hitchcock, William Wyler, and Robert Altman. John has received five Academy Awards and a total of forty-five Oscar nominations, making him the Academy¶s most-nominated living person. He¶s also received 7 British Academy Awards, twenty-one Grammy¶s, four Golden Globes, five Emmys, and numerous gold and platinum records. He began his career in the film industry working with such accomplished people. He went on to write music for more than 200 television films! Mr. Williams has composed numerous works for the concert stage. His cello concert was commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and premiered by Yo-Yo Ma at Tanglewood in 1994. He has directed many of the World¶s leading orchestras. For a time he was conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra, and he has written several classical concert pieces. As America's best-known composer, he has also been commissioned to compose works for some big events such as the Olympics and the unveiling of the Statue of Liberty. John has contributed musical themes for the 1984, 1988, and 1999 Summer Olympic Games and the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. Mr. Williams hold honorary degrees from twenty-one American Universities including, Juilliard, Boston College, Northeastern University, Tufts University, Boston University, New England Conservatory of music, the University of Massachusetts at Boston, The Eastman School of Music and the University of Southern California. In 2003 he received the Olympic Order, the IOC¶s highest honor, for his contributions to the Olympic movement. He served as the grand marshal of the 2004 Rose Parade in Pasadena. In 2009 he composed and arranged ³Air and Simple Gifts´ especially for the inaugural ceremony of President Barack Obama. The Boston Pops Orchestra recently had a 125th Anniversary and John Williams was the Laureate Conductor. They played the main title from Star Wars, Harry¶s Wondrous World- from Harry Potter, and Raiders March in his honor. Some interesting facts about him are that his first Academy Award was for ³Fiddler on the Roof´. He turned 78 this year! He is from Floral Park, New York. From 1980 to 1993 he was the conductor for the Boston Pops. In his early life his family moved to Los Angeles, but he returned back to New York after serving in the air force. In New York he worked as a jazz pianist but went to film production.

Beethoven and Williams

Now that you know a little bit about Ludwig Van Beethoven and John Williams, let¶s see what they both have in common and what they don¶t have in common. First off are the differences. Ludwig was born in Germany but John was born in New York. John never went deaf while Beethoven did. Ludwig never got married while John did and had kids. John Williams composed for movies. Beethoven was from the 18th and 19th century and John Williams is from the 20th and 21 century. Beethoven is dead and John is alive still. John Williams has 21 honorable degrees from different colleges. Beethoven had social problems. Those are the differences. Now for the similarities. They both have a lot in common, here are the similarities. For starters John and Beethoven were both the greatest composer of their times. They both started out in music very early in their life. The two of them both have very famous pieces known around the world. They both play instruments, like piano. Both of the men were born into musical families. They were both very famous. A lot of people know their names. They both have written many pieces in concerts. Now you know many differences and similarities between Ludwig Van Beethoven and John Williams. They both have made a change in the world!

Beethoven John Williams