People and Places

Beethoven had one great piece of good fortune often denied to composers: he was recognised as a prodigy from his earliest years.

His first public recital took place in Cologne on 26 March 1778, when he was seven years old. His father, who arranged the concert, advertised the recital by "his little son of six years". It was almost certainly a deliberate falsification of Beethoven's age, so his father could proceed to earn money through his son - as Mozart's father had so successfully done.

From that moment on, first in Bonn, and then later in Vienna, Beethoven's extraordinary virtuosity gained him easy entry to the highest and most aristocratic salons in the land.

In these pages, you will find portraits and mini-biographies of Beethoven's friends, his patrons and pages on all his family members.

You will also be able to see my own photographs of all the important locations in Beethoven's life, together with descriptions. And my map of Vienna, published in 1827, is also here. Hold up today's map in front of it, and you will be surprised how little the city of Vienna has changed in 200 years.

© John Suchet