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...changes in musical style and by emotional crises. In his ‘first period’ Beethoven worked mainly as a virtuoso pianist. The second is marked by the shattering episode of the famous ‘Heiligenstadt Testament’, the third by a series of personal catastrophes. Born in Bonn in 1770, Beethoven was the eldest child of a large family. His first music lessons were with his...

...change in the four nations of the British Isles which created tensions and crises. Revolutionary ideas from America and France threatened the social hierarchy and encouraged an uprising in Ireland. There were struggles between workers and their employers, and disputes between slave owners and anti-slavery campaigners. Between 1793 and 1815, Britain was almost continuously...