Beethoven, a famous musician in the world, was born in Germany in 1770.
In his childhood Beethoven didn't have a happy life. His father was a singer. When he was only four, his father began to make him practise hour after hour on different musical instruments （乐器）. If he did not put his heart into it, his father would beat him or make it hard on him.
Beethoven loved music and he learned so fast that he was able to go around to give concerts, when he was only a boy of eleven. At the age of seventeen, he won high praise from Mozart, the greatest musician at that time.
Beethoven was often poor and ill during his life. After one illness, he suddenly found he couldn't hear. At that time, he was only thirty-one. It was a great blow（打击） to him.
But he still went on working and writing music pieces. To people's surprise, he wrote some of his best pieces after he lost his hearing.
In 1827, the great musician died. He left more than 300 pieces. But people still remember his name today.
