Beethoven's deafness made performance impossible, so his living depended on selling compositions and accepting occasional commissions.
The Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, the oldest orchestra in Finland, won the International Classical Music Award for Best Collection in 2019.
Beethoven was particularly drawn to Friedrich von Matthisson's poem Opferlied ('Sacrificial Song'), setting it multiple times between 1794 and 1824.
Beethoven's Chor auf die verbündeten Fürsten ('Chorus on the Allied Princes') was written to celebrate the Congress of Vienna in 1815.
Beethoven wrote the music for König Stephan, a prologue to a play, to mark the opening of a new theatre in Pest in February 1812.
Unlike Mozart, Beethoven had a less satisfactory association with the theatre, beginning his active connection relatively late in his career.
Beethoven contributed to Leonore Prohaska, a tragedy about a woman who disguised herself as a man to fight against Napoleon in 1813.
