Wow - I actually really like Beethoven.

Some quick facts:

1. He was the most dominant composer of the 19th century

2. He brought about the birth of musical romanticism by developing the Viennese Classicism of Mozart and Haydn

3. Born in 1770, he was deaf aged 48, and died in 1827. 10,000 people attended his funeral. To put that number in perspective: 6.3m people watched Micheal Jackson's funeral on the BBC and 80,000 people turned out to see Christiano Ronaldo's unveiling as a Real Madrid player. Changing times eh

My favorite pieces (you can listen to it on the Classical.com site by clicking the link):

Symphony No. 5 in C Minor: 1st Movement

What's yours?! Let me know and I'll have a listen.