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Category: File - :Beethoven.jpg|right|thumb|250px|A portrait by Joseph Karl Stieler, 1820

Category: File - :Signature Van Beethoven.svg|right|250px

Ludwig van Beethoven ( (US), (UK); ; baptised 17 December 1770Beethoven was baptised on 17 December. His date of birth was often, in the past, given as 16 December, however this is not known with certainty; his family celebrated his birthday on that date, but there is no documentary evidence that his birth was actually on 16 December. ? 26 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He was a crucial figure in the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western classical music, and remains one of the most acclaimed and influential composers of all time.

Born in Bonn, of the Electorate of Cologne and a part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in present-day Germany, he moved to Vienna in his early twenties and settled there, studying with Joseph Haydn and quickly gaining a reputation as a virtuoso pianist. His hearing began to deteriorate in the late 1790s, yet he continued to compose, conduct, and perform, even after becoming completely deaf.