Beethoven is often portrayed as an angry, wild and passionate figure whose music exemplifies the antithesis of all things calm, peaceful and contemplative. Chill with Beethoven is a collection of some of the most beautiful, wistful and romantic melodies ever penned by a classical composer. Beethoven was a giant in the history of western classical music, and his compositions (including nine symphonies, five piano concertos, ten violin sonatas, thirty-two piano sonatas) are often seen as the bridge between the restrained delicate music of the Classical period he inherited from Haydn and Mozart to the stormy Romantic music that was to follow with composers such as Brahms, Bruckner and Schumann.

Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn in December, 1770, the son of Johann van Beethoven, a singer in the service of the Archbishop of Cologne, and the grandson of Ludwig van Beethoven, Kapellmeister to the same patron, who died in 1773, but whose disti