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Who were Ludwig van Beethovenās parents?
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Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven, lithograph after an 1819 portrait by Ferdinand Schimon, c. 1870.
Ludwig van Beethovenās parents were Johann and Maria Magdalena van Beethoven.1
His father, Johann, was a singer in the electoral choir in Bonn. While the family was initially prosperous, their financial situation declined following the death of Beethovenās grandfather in 1773 and his fatherās subsequent struggle with alcoholism.1