Universally considered one of the greatest composers of all times, Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn. Ludwig was the eldest son of a singer in the Kapelle of the Archbishop of Cologne and grandson of the Archbishop's Kapellmeister. In 1792 Beethoven moved to Vienna, where he took lessons from Haydn and instantly established himself as a phenomenal pianist and composer. Increasing deafness stopped Beethoven's concert performance career in 1915. Beethoven's eccentricities of character were patiently tolerated by the composer's rich patrons and his royal student and friend the Archduke Rudolph. Beethoven enlarged the possibilities of music and opened a new world for the later generations of composers.