People in Beethoven's Life

Friends and acquintances in and from childhood:


Karl van Beethoven  (1774 - 1815)  Brother of Ludwig.

Johanna van Beethoven (née Reiß [Reiss]; 1786–1869)   Karl's wife.

Karl, Jr.  (1806 - 1858)  Ludwig's nephew who Beethoven gained custody of from Joanna in 1815.

Nikolaus Johann van Beethoven  (1776 - 1848)  Ludwig's brother.

Tobias Friedrich Pfeifer   (d. 1795?)    Beethoven's music teacher at age 8.

Christian Gottlob Neefe   (1748 - 1798)   Beethoven's music teacher at age 11

Franz Wegeler  (1765 - 1848)  Beethoven's childhood friend, later a physician.

Stephan von Breuning  (1774 - 1827)  Lifelong friend of Beethoven's (between fights).  

Helene von Breuning  (1750 - 1828)  Stephan's mother.  She looked after Beethoven when his mother died and cleaned up his street urchin appearance and manners. 

Ferdinand Ries  (1784 - 1838)  A composer from Bonn who was Beethoven's student, friend, and secretary.  Later published a reminiscence of Beethoven.

Archduke Maximilian Francis of Austria (1756 - 1801) Elector of Cologne, Benefactor of Beethoven.
       Son of Francis I and Maria Theresa of Austria, brother of Joseph II, Leopold II 
       and Queen Marie Antoinette of France.  



In adulthood:


Count Ferdinand Ernst Joseph Gabriel Waldstein  (1762 - 1823 )  Patron and friend of Beethoven.

Prince Karl Alois Lichnowsky  (1761 - 1814)  Beethoven patron.

Ignaz Schuppanzigh  (1776 - 1830)  Violinist and longtime friend of Beethoven.  He formed the first professional string quartet and championed Beethoven's music.

Prince Joseph Franz von Lobkowitz  (1772 - 1816)  Beethoven patron of several years.  He commissioned Symphony No. 3.   

Josef Wölfl  (1773 - 1812)  Austrian composer and pianist who had a piano "duel" with Beethoven in 1799). 

Johann Baptist Cramer  (1771 - 1858)  English pianist who met Beethoven in Vienna in 1799.  Beethoven considered Cramer the best technical pianist of the day although Cramer stayed with the older styles of Haydn and Mozart.

Carl Czerny (1791 - 1857)  composer, pianist, and teacher who took lessons from Beethoven at 10.  He premiered Piano Concerto No. 5 ("Emperor") in 1811.  His piano studies for students are still widely used.  

E.T.A. Hoffman  (1776 - 1822)   Prussian romantic poet, writer and music critic.  Championed Beethoven's music.

George Bridgetower  (1778 - 1860)  African-European violin virtuoso and temporary Beethoven friend who premiered the Kreutzer violin sonata with Beethoven in 1803.  

Franz Clement  (1780 - 1842)  Violinist and Beethoven friend who commissioned and premiered  the Violin Concerto in 1806.

Countess Jozefina Brunszvik de Korompa  (1779 - 1821)  An aristocratic woman who had a romance with Beethoven c. 1804 - 1807 and is a candidate addressee of the famous "Immortal Beloved" letter.  She inspired several of his piano compositions.

Archduke Rudolf of Austria  (1788–1831)  Patron and student of Beethoven and brother of Francis II of Austria.

Baroness Dorothea von Ertmann  (1781 - 1849) an excellent amateur pianist who Beethoven respected.  She premiered some of Beethoven's music. 

Louis Spohr  (1784 -1859)  a highly regarded German composer and violinist at the time, Spohr was a friend of Beethoven's from about 1808 - 1815 and witnessed his failing hearing in this period. 

Ignaz Moscheles  (1794 - 1870)  Bohemian Jewish composer and associate of Beethoven's who also witnessed Beethoven's decent into deafness.  Moscheles would become Felix Mendelssohn's teacher.   

Anton Schindler  (1795 - 1864)  An associate and later a biographer of Beethoven's, Schindler's accounts of Beethoven are deemed highly unreliable.

Georg Friedrich Treitschke  (1776 - 1842)  librettist who helped Beethoven revise Fidelio in 1814.  

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe  (1749 - 1832)  German writer and statesman, often said to be the "Shakespeare of German literature."  Beethoven admired Goethe greatly.  The two men met in 1812, but had an awkward experience and did not hit it off.