"Beethoven" (1936). A new study suggests the German composer and pianist may have suffered from lead poisoning. The Print Collector/Getty Images hide caption
Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven artist page: interviews, features and/or performances archived at NPR Music
Ludwig van Beethoven
Emerson String Quartet performs a Tiny Desk concert at NPR Music in Washington, D.C. NPR hide caption
Scientists say they have sequenced the genome of composer Ludwig van Beethoven. INA FASSBENDER/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Scientists sequence Beethoven's genome for clues into his painful past
Nannette Streicher Piano Kimberly Junod/WXPN hide caption
Piano Maker Nannette Streicher on World Cafe
Daniel Hope performs a Tiny Desk (home) concert. NPR hide caption
Tenor Curtis Bannister sings the role of Stan in Beethoven's Fidelio, in a dress rehearsal. Russ Rowland/Courtesy of Heartbeat Opera hide caption
Prison choirs sing in a reboot of Beethoven's opera about unjust incarceration
Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen's voice has been called one-in-a-million. James Hole/Decca Records hide caption
From Norway With Horsepower: Soprano Lise Davidsen Is Conquering Opera
A portrait of Ludwig van Beethoven, painted in 1804 by W.J. Mähler. Wikimedia Commons hide caption
Jan Vogler and Alessio Bax plays a Tiny Desk (home) concert. NPR hide caption
Borromeo String Quartet plays a Tiny Desk (home) concert. NPR hide caption
Portrait of Beethoven by Joseph Karl Stieler, ca. 1818. Wikimedia Commons hide caption
Jonathan Biss plays a Tiny Desk (home) concert. NPR hide caption
Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique are performing all nine of Beethoven's symphonies in a series of concerts celebrating the composer's 250th birthday. Chris Lee/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Revisiting Beethoven's Beloved, Radical Symphonies For His 250th Birthday
German composer and pianist Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827), painted by Kloeber circa 1805. Hulton Archive/Getty Images hide caption
Brittany Howard's solo debut Jaime appears on NPR Music's best 10 albums of September. Danny Clinch/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
The Calidore String Quartet performs a Tiny Desk Concert on April 5, 2019 (Amr Alfiky/NPR). Amr Alfiky/NPR hide caption
Jeremy Denk's c.1300-c.2000 comes out Feb. 8 on Nonesuch. Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Austrian classical pianist Artur Schnabel, circa 1940. Hulton Archive/Getty Images hide caption
Run-D.M.C. backstage at the Grammy Awards in March 1987. The hip-hop group's 1986 album Raising Hell is one of 25 new inductees to the Library of Congress Recording Registry. Hulton Archive/Getty Images hide caption
Run-DMC, Pauline Oliveros, 'Rumours,' Chic And Beethoven Added To Library Of Congress
In 1959, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony was performed for the first time by an all-Chinese orchestra and sung in Mandarin. Courtesy of China National Symphony Orchecstra hide caption
Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads the Philadelphia Orchestra with pianist Jan Lisiecki at Carnegie Hall in a program inspired by Vienna. Ebru Yildiz/for NPR hide caption