Ludwig Van Beethoven, who hasn't heard of him? Well, indians and natives of places where music is still played on tambors and other instruments that Yanni loves to use in his concerts, maybe they haven't.
His music is well known for the feelings it transmits. Even today still moves people, I can't imagine how it made listeners fell at the time. Certainly their ears weren't prepared for all that. I know there was Mozart, Bach and other famous compositors, but there was something special about Beethoven, he refused to follow the rules. Actually it seems that he loved to break them. He often got in trouble for his long and complicated compositions, and by no means he accepted sugestions. ''It should be played as it is written". he would say.
Beethoven battled most of his life with worst thing could happen to a musician. "Deafness'". It could be lead poisoning, or maybe he had an distended inner ear, or something else. The fact is that his loss of hearing haunted him and made him draw into himself, avoiding socializing. At the beginning he hid the problem afraid for his reputation. It was defenetly a major problem, but not big enough to imped him to compose.
Lucky with an amazing talent, unlucky with family, love and money. That was his life. He couldn't seem to ever solve his problems. Perhaps, that's what made him so emotional and was the inspiration for his compositions. Even though, there were several ladies in his life, he never married. It is speculated that he might have had a daughter. Minona. It could be the daughter of the "Immortal Beloved". A misterious lady for whom Beethoven wrote love letters. Altough is tempting to think that he had a secret daughter, there is nothing to prove the theory. I would write the classical 'we will never know the truth' but technology always surprise us. What really matters is what he left for humanity. His amazing music.