Four-hundred and sixty-four.  That is the number of compositions Beethoven wrote in his life span. He is one of the most well known composers of the music history.  Ludwig Van Beethoven lived a short but meaningful life full of accomplishments in the music world. In my opinion, Beethoven is very influential because of his childhood, family life, the types of the music he composed, and the personal struggles and experiences in failure he went through.   
Beethoven had an unique childhood that lead to him being famous. Ludwig Van Beethoven was born on Sunday, December 16, 1770 to his parents name John Van Beethoven and Maria Magdalena Keverich.  It is interesting to note that Beethoven was named after his grandfather Lodewijk, who was a choirmaster.  It’s incredible that Beethoven first studied at the age of 8 with his dad.  He then later on went to study with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and then his best friend Joseph Haydn.  Through out his life, Beethoven went to several different schools, which included Neugasses (Neu-ga-sses), Münsterchule (M/ü/n-ster-chu-le), and then finally before he quit school school Tirocinium (Tiro-cini-um).  It is true that Beethoven quit school to dedicate himself to music full time.  Surprisingly, Beethoven also helped to support his family.
You wouldn’t believe it that when Beethoven returned from Austria his mother died. Maria Magdalena Keverich died on June 7, 1787 due to tuberculous.  Soon after that Beethoven’s baby sister Maria Margaretha Josepha died but the cause is unknown.  It is interesting and sad to note that Beethoven put money in to take care of Casper and Nikolaus, his younger brothers.  Only seven weeks later, his father Johann van Beethoven died because he was an alcoholic.  In later years of Beethoven's life, his two brothers joined him in going to Vienna and then were never to return again.
Later in his life, Beethoven created different and intelligent pieces of music.
Beethoven created different varieties of music such as symphonies, concertos’ chambers, opera, themes & variations, sonatas, masses.  You wouldn’t believe that Beethoven’s symphonies usually had four parts or movements.  The style of music he mainly composed was Classical and influenced the romantic period.  Some of Beethoven's most popular works today are Symphony no. 3 in E-Flat (“Eroica”) (1804), Violin Concerto in D (1806), Symphony No. 5 in C Minor (1808), Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-Flat (Emperor”) (1809) and Symphony No. 9 in D Minor (1824).  People loved to gather at Beethovens concerts and watch his powerful hands move rapidly along the piano and hear his imaginative playing of his music.    

In the last year of his life, Beethoven had a difficult time that caused him to become more famous.  In the 1800’s Beethoven’s hearing started to deteriorate when he was 38 years old.  It came to a point where Beethoven had to press his ears into the wood of the piano. Some of Beethoven's music was completely disasterous.  In his old age, Beethoven neglected practice and came across to others as crabby and unfriendly. However, Beethoven had often ignored people due to the fact that he could simply not hear them.  During the time Beethoven was deaf, wrote one of his best known pieces of work, the ninth symphony.  Beethoven’s teachers felt he was hopeless.  At the age of 57, Beethoven died on March 26, 1827 in Vienna Australia.  Beethoven died because of pneumonia. 
Beethoven had a short and meaningful life, full of accomplishments that made him an influential person today. Because he had a rough childhood with his family dying and becoming deaf at the last stage of his life, Beethoven showed how he never gave up.  This is why Beethoven has influenced many people.  In honor of Beethoven’s successful life, there are festivities that support Beethoven called Beethovenfest.  In addition, there are also many scholarship and commentary at Bard Music Festivals.  Even though Beethoven had a difficult life, he experienced failure and struggles that shaped him into the person he was.