Beet

(beet.) (Bot.) See BETA. Beethoven, LUDWIG VON, (ba-tō'vn,) an illustrious German musical composer, B. at Bonn, in 1770, studied under Haydn, and abt. 1790, settled in Vienna, where Mozart quickly recognized his marvellous powers. When abt. 40 years of age, he was attacked with deafne , which became total and lasted through life. He became more and more the victim of morbid irritability, causele suspicions, and hopele melancholy, ending in confirmed hypochondria, and, at last,dropsy and delirium. He continued to compose, however, long after he had ceased to hear himself play, and received homage and all kinds of honor from all parts of Europe. His works are very numerous, and in every variety of style -orchestral, chamber-music, pianoforte, and vocal music. Among the most celebrated are the opera of Fidelio; the oratorio of the Mount of Olives; the cantata Adelaide, Sinfonia Eroica, Sinfonia Pastorale, Concerto in C Minor, and Sonata Pathétique. Vast power, intense pa ion, and infinite tenderne are manifest in all his compositions, which abound no le in sweetest melodies than in grand and complicated harmonies. D. 1827. [s. 84]