Q 01/05

In which German city was Beethoven born?

A) Bonn

B) Leipzig

C) Hamburg

D) Munich

Answer · why

A) Bonn

His birthplace at Bonngasse 20 is now the Beethoven-Haus museum, which also displays several of his ear trumpets.

Q 02/05

Beethoven's exact birth date is unknown, but his baptism was recorded on which date?

A) 1 January 1771

B) 17 December 1770

C) 5 May 1770

D) 26 March 1770

Answer · why

B) 17 December 1770

Because babies were usually baptised within a day or two, his birthday is generally celebrated on 16 December.

Q 03/05

In November 1792 Beethoven left Bonn for good and settled in the capital of which empire?

A) Prussia

B) France

C) Austria

D) Russia

Answer · why

C) Austria

He arrived amid rumours of war spilling out of revolutionary France and never returned to Bonn.

Q 04/05

On arriving in Vienna, Beethoven studied composition with which celebrated older composer?

A) Antonio Salieri

B) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

C) Christoph Willibald Gluck

D) Joseph Haydn

Answer · why

D) Joseph Haydn

Count Waldstein's farewell note promised he would receive "Mozart's spirit from Haydn's hands".

Q 05/05

Which physical affliction, which began around 1798, famously did not stop Beethoven composing?

A) Hearing loss

B) Blindness

C) Paralysis of the hands

D) Loss of speech

Answer · why

A) Hearing loss

He told the English pianist Charles Neate in 1815 that the trouble had started in 1798, when he was still in his twenties.